Twenty sermons preached at Oxford before His Majesty, and elsewhere

The dignity of a Prince is so great, that ten thousand will not countervail the loss of him. If this be the esteem and worth of David, what is the worth of David's Prince? If thus with a King, what with the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords? This is a great ground of the sufficiency of Christ's suffering. Heb. 9.13. If the blood of Bulls and Goats sanctify to the purifying of the flesh; how much more, vers. 14. shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge your Consciences from dead works, to serve the living God? It is not the offering of the body only, but he did it through his eternal Spirit. When the Martyrs and Saints offered themselves a sacrifice, they offered it through the flames of their love, and therefore embraced the stake; and love is described as strong as death: but Christ did not offer his Sacrifice with the flames of his love, though love was in him the greatest that ever was; but with the everlasting flames of his ⟨p. 69⟩Godhead and Deity; with that fire from heaven, which is a consuming fire? He did the deed, that will purge our Consciences from dead works. Act. 20.28. Take heed unto your selves, and to the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseer•, to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood: God hath purchased the Church with his own blood: whose blood? God's blood. The blood of God must be shed. He who thought it no robbery to be equal with God, must shed his own blood: As Zippora saith to Moses, a bloody husband hast thou been to me, Exod. 4.25. So may Christ say to his Church, a bloody Spouse hast thou been to me, that my blood must be shed for thee: 1 Cor. 2.8. Had they known, they would not have crucified he Lord of Glory; that is, they would not have crucified God. He that was crucified, was the glorious Lord God. Act. 3.15. You denied the holy one, and killed the Prince of life. Here's the matter, unless the Prince of life had been killed, thou couldst not have life. This the Apostle sets down as the ground of all, before he comes to the particularities of his humiliation; and sets down who it was, who was thus humbled: He whom the Heaven of Heavens could not contain, he must descend into the lowermost parts of the earth; that's a descent indeed. His Humiliation appears in this, that he who was thus high, became a man;