CXLV expository sermons upon the whole 17th chapter of the Gospel according to St.…

¹First, This signifieth, That Christ was wholly set apart for us, that he had no other work or employment, but to mind our good, and procure it for us. In the Scripture phrase to be sanctified, is often used for to set apart and dedicate to such a work, that if it be otherwise employed, there is a kind of profanation and pollution; so if the vessels dedicated to Gods service, and sanctified, were employed, as Belshazzar did in any common use, this was the polluting and defiling of those vessels. In some sense it holds here, Christ was made man, and made under the Law, not for himself, but for us; Insomuch that if he had done other work then this, he had, as it were, polluted himself, he would not then have been doing the work of a Mediator. Though some learned men think, That Christ obeyed the Law for himself, yet that cannot be, because all glory and happiness was due unto him from the first beginning of his Incarnation: He prayed indeed for the manifestation and external possession of that glory, which yet (he saith) he had before the world was made with the Father: Seeing therefore that Christ had by virtue of the personal Union all blessedness and happiness due unto him, He could not observe the Law, that by the obedience thereof he might inherit eternal life, but the whole course of his life, whether in doing or sufferings, was wholly for our good: That as the Sun was made not for it self, but for the world, so this Sun of Righteousness did arise with healing in his wings for us alone. He came as a Physician, of whom we could not say, Physician heal thy self. This then is a treasure of infinite consolation, That whatsoever Christ was, or did, it was wholly for us, had it not been for man fallen, the Scripture doth not intimate he would have become man. It is true, some Schoolmen say, That the Incarnation of Christ was in it self so glorious a demonstration of Gods wisdom and power, and so desirable in it self, that though man had not sinned, yet Christ would have been made man, this being a more glorious thing then the creation of the world, or any thing therein; yet the Scripture supposeth no other end why Christ came into the world, but to be a Saviour, which implieth man a lost sinner. Hence Isa. 9. To us a ⟨p. 507⟩Son is born, To us a child is given; and Paul, who gave himself for me, Gal. 2.20