019 1 Cor. i. 18. 24. xxi. 2 Tim. i. 9. , Cor. xv. 2. pinefs) to be worthily deemed, and thankfully ac- s E R M. knowledged their Saviour, although not all men, yea IV. although not one man fhould receive the defigned benefit. Accordingly we may obferve, that in the A&ts xvi. Scripture-ftyle, thofe perfons are faid to be faved, 17; who are only in a way toward falvation, although an iðiv clnthey do not arrive thither; and the means conducing to falvation are faid to fave, although their effect Acts ii. 47may be defeated; σωζόμενοι and σεσωσμένοι are terms Apoc. και. applied to all Chriftians, and Chrift is owcas, he that Eph. ii. 5. bath faved them; and faith is faid to have faved them, although fome of them six iristeav, have be. Tit. iii. 8. hieved in vain, or to no effect, forfaking and renounc- 2 ing their faith; and baptifm faves them who partake it, although being washed, they return to their wallowing in the mire. And as our Lord is fo termed a Saviour in refpect to them, who are, by faith and admiffion into the Church, put into a more near capacity of falvation, as St. Paul ipeaketh: iyyuregor nμwv ǹ owrngía ἢ ὅταν ἐπιςεύσαμεν (Now is our falvation nearer than when Rom. xiile we believed); fo is he in respect of all thofe, who are in any capacity thereof, although a more remote one. 1 Pet iii. 21. Pet. ii. 22. II. But let us now view more nearly and diftinctly the refpects in which he is a Saviour of all men, or the particular benefits and advantages conducing to falvation, which by his performances accrue to mankind; for πάμπολυ τὴν σωτηρίαν ἀπάσῃ χαρίζεται τῇ ἀν- Clem. Alex, SewrórnTi, In very many ways he bestoweth falvation Pædag. upon all mankind, as Clemens Alexandrinus fpeaks. αν 1. Our Lord is the Saviour of all men, as having effected that Almighty God (who upon great provocations was justly difpleafed and angry with man, who had averted his face, and withdrawn his favour from mankind, whom our apoftacy and rebellion had rendered a stranger and an enemy to us) hath depofed his wrath toward mankind, hath conceived a kind affection to it, doth caft a favourable afpect upon it; being throughly reconciled and made a friend thereto by our Saviour's mediation. This is my beloved Matt.iii. 17. Son, xii. 18. IV. SER M. Son, vevdóunca, in whom I have been well pleased, was the atteftation given from God to our Lord; the meaning whereof in regard to men, the holy choir of angels did interpret, when after the gladfome report Luke ii. 10. of his birth (that great joy, which should be to all peo14. ple), they fang, Glory be to God on high, on earth peace, Col. i. 20. good-will toward men. Which St. Paul farther deEph. i. 10. clareth, when he faith, that by him eudónσe, God pleased to reconcile unto himfelf all things, upon zCor. v. 29. earth, and in heaven; and when he faith, That God was in Chrift reconciling the world unto himself, not imRom. v. 10. puting their fins. And, When we were enemies (faith he again) we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son: When we were enemies, that implies God antecedently to any man's converfion to have been appeafed, and become favourably difpofed toward all men, or toward thofe whom St. Paul fpeaketh unto, as men; fo the reafon of the cafe doth import, and fo the analogy which St. Paul immediately after propounds between the refults of Adam's tranfgreffion and our Saviour's obedience (as to provocation and reconciliation, to condemnation and absolution, to the intents of bringing death and life upon all men) doth enforce. Whence it is, that God declareth himfelf now to bear an univerfal good-will to mankind, that he doth earneftly defire the welfare of all men, and is displeased with the ruin of any man; that he 1 Tim. ii. 4. would have all men to be faved, and to come to the know2 Pet. iii. 9. ledge of the truth, becaufe there is one Mediator between God and man; that he would not have any perish, but that Heb. vi. 16. all should come to repentance; this he affirms, yea (for the confirmation of our faith and our confolation Eze. xxxiii. therein) he in the Evangelical Prophet fwears it, As I live, faith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. So far toward our falvation is done, God meets us half way; he is reconciled unto us, it remains only that we be reconciled to him; that we hearken to 2 Cor. v. 20, the embaffy from him: Be reconciled to God. 18. 11. 2. Jefus IV. 2. Jefus is the Saviour of all men, by fatisfying the S ER M. divine juftice, and repairing God's honour in their behalf. The difloyal and ungrateful behaviour of man had fo wronged, fo endamaged, fo difhonoured God (had fo abufed the goodness, difparaged the wifdom, flighted the power, impeached and flurred the authority of his Creator, had fo prejudiced all the rights and interefts of God), that by the divine wifdom it was thought fit, that he should not be restored into a capacity of mercy and favour, without a fig-nal compenfation made, and an exemplary punishment undergone, whereby the right of God fhould confpicuously be afferted, his love of goodness and diflike of wickednefs fhould be remarkably demonftrated, and every creature in heaven and earth fhould be folemnly admonished of its duty; of the reverence and obedience it owes to the great Creator, of the heinous guilt and horrible mischief it incurs by offending him. Such a compensation man was no wife able to make, or fit to undergo fuch a punishment: our Saviour therefore, out of infinite pity and charity, did undertake both; by a voluntary con- Phil. ii. 7defcenfion putting himself into the low and weak state of man; subjecting himself unto that law which man was obliged unto, and fuffering the pains which man had deferved. This he was pleafed to do in man's behalf, and in our ftead; and God was pleafed to accept it as fo donet. His incarnation (or exinanition of himself, as St. Paul calleth it) was an act of that high duty and goodness, that it in virtue furpaffed all the obedience, which all creatures • Λοιπὸν δὲ οἱ ἄνθρωποι ἐκέτι μετὰ τὰ ἴδια πάθη μένεσιν, ἁμαρτωλοὶ οι καὶ νεκροί· ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ λόγου δύναμιν ἀνασάντες ἀθάνατοι καὶ ἄφε Gapro dei diapérovow. Atban. in Arian. Orat. 4. 485. + Τότε γδ δὲ θάνατος, και κατάρα ἐλύετο, και δαίμονες κατησχύνοντο καὶ ἐδειγματίζοντο θριαμβευόμενοι, καὶ τὸ χειρόγραφον τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν τῷ σαυρῷ #gonλйτo, &c. Chryf. in Joban. i. 14. † Ἡ ἔνσαρκος παρουσία τοῦ σωτῆρος θανάτε λύτρον και κτίσεως πάσης ☛wingía yiyou. Atkan. ad Adelph. Ep. were IV. in Eph. ανθρώπει φύσ €1, &c. SER M. were able to render; that it yielded God more satisfaction and more honour than the joint endeavours of all the world could confer. His with so intense Vide Cyrill. charity and cheerfulness fulfilling all righteousness Conc.p.133. did far more please God, than all our moft exact obeAixat dience could have done; his enduring bitter pains and difgraces (confidering the infinite dignity of his perfon, his near relation and dearnefs to God, his perfect innocence and rectitude, yea his immense charity, contentedness and patience) more than countervailed the punishment due to the fins of all men. Such a payment was more than ferved to discharge Eph. v. 2. all our debts (it ferved to purchase an overplus of graces and bleffings); fo rich a price was more than Heb. x. 10. fufficient to ranfom all the world from captivity; fo goodly, fo pure, fo fweet, fo precious a facrifice might 1 Pet. i. 19. Worthily expiate and atone all the guilts of men. ix. 12. XCV. Now if we enquire what our Saviour did redeem, Aug. in Pf. the confideration of what he paid, may (as St. Austin tells) help to inform us; Quæritis quid emerit? Videte quid dederit, et invenite quid emerit. Do ye feek (faith he) what he bought? See what he gave, and find what he bought. However, that as the value and fufficiency of our Lord's performances, fo the defign and effect thereof did reach fo far in regard to man; that his charity was no lefs extenfive than his performance was complete, for our good, the holy Scripture teaches John i. 29. us. For, He is the Lamb of God that taketh away the John vi. 51. fins of the world (faith the Baptift). And, The bread (faith he) which I gave is my flesh, which I will give for ■ John ii. 2. the life of the world. And, He is a propitiation (faith St. John) for our fins; and not only for our fins, but for Tim. ii. 5. the fins of the whole world. And, He is the mediator of God and man, who gave himfelf αντίλυτρον ὑπὲρ πάντων, a ransom, in the ftead, and for all men (faith St. Paul). Heb. ii. 9. And, He tafted death for every one (faith the Author to * Μὴ θαυμάζης εἰ κόσμος ὅλος ἐλυτρώθη· οὐ γὰρ ἦν ἄνθρωπος ψιλός, ἀλλ' υἱὸς Θεοῦ μονογενής, ὁ ὑπεραποθνήσκων, &c. Cyrill, Cut. 13. the IV. xviii. 14. 23, 24. the Hebrews). And, He was that one Man, who, as s E R M. it was expedient, did die for the whole nation of men. And, God was in him reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their fins. And, He came into the world, John xi. 50. not to condemn the world, but that the world might by iii. 17. him be faved (or freed from condemnation). And, As Rom. v. 17. by the offence of one man judgment came upon all men to condemnation, fo by the righteousness of one mercy came. upon all to juftification of life. The end we fee of our Saviour's performances was, that he might wipe off the guilt of fin from all mankind, that he might reverse the condemnation paffed thereupon, and that he might remove the punishment due thereto; or, that, abfolving the first man's fin, he might take it away from the whole race (as St. Athanafius fpeaks). All men have finned, and come fhort (or are deftitute) Rom. iii. of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace, by the redemption that is in Chrift Fefus. Chrift hath re- Gal. iii. 13. deemed us from the curfe of the law, being made a curfe iv. 5. for us. He was born under the law, that he might redeem thofe which were under the law. He that knew no 2 Cor.v.21. fin, was made fin (was punished and dealt with as a finner), that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (that we might be capable of being efteemed and dealt with as righteous by God upon this account). So that the refult is, divine juftice being fully fatisfied, and the honour of God fully repaired (in regard to all fins paft and future), the mouth of vengeance being ftopped, the claims of death and hell being evacuated, that general fentence of condemnation (paffed upon all the fons of Adam) is fufpended, Death ceafes to reign by any juft power, or inevitable neceffity; (it is, as St. Paul faith, abolished 2 Tim. i. 10. or abrogated as to any lawful right, or neceffary force it hath) the rigour and feverity of that law, which upon pain of death exacteth moft punctual obe Ινα ἐκείνει λύων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, ἀπὸ παντὸς αὐτὴν ἄρῃ τοῦ γένους. Atban. in pa |