your comfort: 1. There still hangs a cloud between the two camps, and its bright side is towards the church, Exod. 14: 20. 2. The enemy's camp is again surrounded by the church's succors, and kept in a pound, as by "chariots and horsemen of fire," 2 Kings 6: 17. And, 3. That "he who sits in the heavens, will have them in derision," Psal. 2: 4. Jerusalem will prove a burdensome stone to all that trouble themselves with it: and if other means fail, and to make a total end, "fire comes down from God out of heaven, and devours them," Rev. 20: 9.

But there is yet a more dreadful sort of enemies than these; the devil, in the head of original sin, is a beast not to be dealt with. The church itself, reflecting on self, and looking no higher, may cry out with amazement, "Who is able to make war with the beast?" Indeed the whole of your native militia, with all the troops of free-will auxiliaries, will not do it; they are but mercenaries; and if you trust them, they will turn against you in the battle; or, if they stand to it, according to their best skill, it shall not avail you; they are with this beast but as stubble to his bow; yet be not discouraged, but renounce them all, and depend on the triple league above, that omnipotent and inviolable confederation, of all whose forces the Lord is commander in chief. This lion of the tribe of Judah is able to deal with that beast, and to tear him in pieces; yea, ke hath done it already; "On his cross he triumphed over them," Col. 2: 15. yea, and which is more, he followed the rout to the gates of hell; there he shut them in, and carries the key on his shoulder: they cannot wag but by license from him, nor tarry a moment beyond his prescript. To be short, the only dreadful thing is sin; the devil, death, and hell, are but subordinate attendants, as effects on their causes, and therefore that taken away, the rest are unstung, they have lost their power of hurting: so that the church still remains invincible; and the reason of all is, "It is founded upon a rock," Matt. 16: 18. " and that rock is Christ," 1 Cor. 10: 4. All which being true, not only of the church in gross, but of members in particular. Therefore,

Infer. III. Let every one that is of this body be well pleased with his lot; be glad, and rejoice for ever in this your portion: this is the exaltation the brother of low degree should value himself by, James 1: 9. Be your rank

and condition ever so mean in the world, care not for it; but rest contented with your place, and be thankful for it: desire not yourself to change it, but strive to fill it up, and be as useful in it as you can. Look also for troubles, and think them not strange, 1 Pet. 4: 12. the "Captain of your salvation was made perfect through suffering," Heb. 2: 10. and the servant may not look to fare better than his Lord," Luke 23: 41.

66

Infer. IV. If Jesus Christ be your head, be confident, then, of all love, counsel, care, and protection from him; union with him entitles to all that is his. It is natural to the head to love and cherish the body, and every member of it; to contrive and cast about for its welfare and safety: "As a man cherisheth his own flesh, so doth Christ his church," Ephes. 5: 29. What though thou be, in thyself, an uncomely member? He will put the more comeliness upon thee, 1 Cor. 12: 23, he will clothe thee, and feed thee, and physic thee. "He will give grace and glory, and no good thing will he withhold from thee," Psal. 84:11. For he being the first-born, prince, and head of the family, all the younger brethren are to be maintained upon his inheritance.

Infer. V. Rest also assured of safe-conduct to the promised land. Adversaries and difficulties you will certainly meet with; remaining corruptions, like the mixed multitude, will be tumultuating and tempting within; the Amalekites, and people of his wrath, will stand in your way without, and be falling on your rear, to cut off the weak and feeble; and the serpent will yet be nibbling and bruising your heel; but higher than that he toucheth not: your heart and your head are out of his reach, therefore safe: if it come to the worst, ye can but die, and death itself shall not hurt you: nay, you conquer in dying: it shall but mend your pace heavenwards, and hasten you up to the throne of God. Therefore quit you like men, and as men of nearest relation, by blood and spirits, to the man Christ Jesus: for, "God shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly," Rom. 16: 20. Come (will your captain say to you, come,)" set your feet on the neck of this king of pride," Josh. 10:24. and do by him as he hath done by others, and would have done also by you; give him double according to his works, Rev. 18: 6. This is the time when ye shall judge angels, 1 Cor. 6: 3. and all under the conduct of this your head

and captain, who will now " present you faultless, even before the presence of his glory, with exceeding joy," Jude, verse 24.

II. That our Lord Jesus Christ gave his life a ransom for the elect.

That the elect are Christ's peculiar portion is shewn before; and what engagements were upon him, on that ac count, for their redemption, will appear afterwards. By ' giving himself a ransom," I understand the whole of his humiliation, whatever he did or suffered as Mediator, from his incarnation to his resurrection; all which are summarily expressed by the blood of his cross;" as all the precious fruits of his death are by "forgiveness of sins, and reconciliation with God." That was the price wherewith he bought them that should be saved; and this the salvation he bought for them, and them for it. For although Satan (through their free-will-failings in Adam) had got a temporary mortgage upon the elect themselves, they are not his; the fee-simple, or right of inheritance, remains in Christ; and therefore, at the year of jubilee, they return to him, as the right heir; though not without both conquest and full price; which two together make redemption complete.

My scope here is to shew that "the body, or church of Christ, are especially concerned and interested in redemption:" and, in order thereto, I would consider two other of the divine works, both which respect the world universally, as redemption doth, and yet have a specialty in them, as redemption also hath, namely, creation and providence.

1. Creation: one God was the maker of all; but all were not made for the same use and end: he had a peculiar scope in the making of some, which was not common to the whole; yea, the whole was made for the sake of that some. As in the great house are many vessels (all of one master's providing, and all for his own service,)" some to honor, and some to dishonor;" so in the world, some God raised up to be monuments of his power and justice, Exod. 9:16. Jude 4. Rom. 9: 22. 1 Pet. 2: 8. called therefore "vessels of wrath," Rom. 9: 22. Others are "vessels of mercy," whom he formed for himself, Isa. 43: 7, 21. and are there. fore said to be "afore prepared unto glory," Rom. 9: 33,

2. Providence: this also extends to all, and to each individual: he hath power over all, and doth govern them in

their most ungoverned designs and actions: but as touching his church, the "people of his holiness," Isa. 63: 18. he holds a peculiar kind of government over them, and steerage of their concerns: and this so far exceeds the other, that, in comparison, it is said, "He never bore rule over them," ver. 19. and, which is still to be remarked, the others' concerns are made subservient to theirs; "He is head over all to the church," Eph. 1: 22. in like manner redemption may be said to be general, and yet to have a specialty in it: it is general, 1. In respect of persons. 2. In respect of things. Both which are true apart, though not conjunctly: it purchaseth some good things for all; and all good things for some. As it respects persons, it obtains a general reprieve, extensive to all the sons of Adam: the sin of the world was so far expiated, that vengeance was not presently executed; which must have been, had not the Son of God interposed himself: his being slain from the foundation of the world, was the foundation of the world's standing, and of all the good things which the world in general are partakers of. All that order and usefulness which yet survives among the creatures, with all the remains of our primitive state, was preserved, or rather restored, by redemption: Christ is "that light which lighteth every one that cometh into the world," John 1: 9. that is, the light and blessings which any man hath, he has them from Christ, as a Redeemer; " by him all things consist," Col. 1: 17. Thus far redemption was general as to persons; and in this sense Christ is the Saviour of all men. But let us not omit, that all this had a special respect to the church elect: for them it was that the world was made: they are the substance of it, Isa. 6: 13. and but for them it had been dissolved into a lake of fire. What the prophet' speaks of Israel, was true of the universe, " Except the Lord of hosts had left us a remnant, we had been as Sodom," chap. 1: 9. as those days of tribulation were shortened for the elect's sake, Matt. 24: 22. (not yet in being) so for them it was, that when sin came in, destruction was warded off.

But temporary things, though ever so great and good, were of too low an alloy to be the purchase of divine blood; their line is too short to measure redemption by, and their bulk too narrow to fill up the height and depth of that great abyss: there must, by that glorious achievement, be some

stees

other

nobler obtainment than short-lived blessings; and an higher end than to bring men into a mere possibility of being saved. The life of the Son of God was infinitely too pre. cious to be given for perishing things; nor would it be consistent with divine wisdom to venture it for an uncertainty. It had been a light thing for Christ, and not worthy his sufferings, to raise up the ruins made by Adam to such a degree of restoration as would only have set him in his former state, and that upon terms more unlikely to succeed: this had been to give a greater value for things of lesser moinent; for it needs must be a happier state, to be made upright, without bias to evil, than to be moved with all manner of motives, while fettered by unbelief, and a natural bent to revolt further; for notwithstanding all those motives and means, not the majority only, but the universality of mankind might have perished, and gone to hell; which would in no wise have answered God's end in making the world, much less in redeeming it. It was therefore necessary redemption should have a further reach than to bring men into a mere salvable state, and that could not be less than a state of certain salvation. And, in order to this, redemption was general as to things, even all that pertaineth to life and godliness; eternal life, and whatever conduceth thereto, as will after be made evident. And this is that redemption we are treating of; and this is the sense of the present position, namely, that redemption, thus qualified, is peculiar to the church; and that election is the pattern by which redemption is to be measured: "the Son can do nothing but what he sees the Father do," John 5: 19.

To make redemption larger than electing love, is to overlay the foundation; which (all men know) is a very momentous error in building, especially of such a tower whose top must reach to heaven. It therefore behooves us to see that we separate not what God hath conjoined, either by stretching or straining the bounds he hath set. The Jews were of opinion that the promise of the Messiah belonged only to them, exclusive to the Gentiles: others since would extend it to all the sons of men universally, and alike; not considering the reason why the promise was made to the woman's seed, and not to Adam's: but the Messiah himself, who best knew the line of the promise, and end of his mission, exempted none; but extends it to "all nations" indifferently; yet so as that he restrains it to the elect