BOOK 2. FROM ETERNITY.
CHAPTER 1.
2.1.3. Of that Great Treaty in Eternity betwixt God and Christ to save Souls.
Of that Great Treaty in Eternity betwixt God and Christ to save Souls.
Now was it that God the Father called forth his Son to perform the office of the Mediator, that in him all those that should be saved might be chosen. Concerning this call of God the Father, in a special sort the apostle is clear, "No man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron: so also Christ glorified not himself, to be made an high-priest, but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to-day have I begotten thee." He called him to this honour; Heb. v. 4, 5. Christ thrust not himself into this office, but he came to it by the will of God the Father, and by his appointment; "For it pleased the Father, by him to reconcile all things unto himself," Col. i. 19, 20. and "him hath God the Father sealed," John vi. 27. And why? But the more to assure us of the good will of God to save us, seeing he hath called his Son unto it: for therefore will he accept of all that Christ should do for us, as that which he himself hath ordained.
And now was it that God the Son embraced the call of the Father and undertook the office of Mediator, "Then said I, Lo, I come," Heb. x. 7. No question it was truth from everlasting; "The Lord God opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back," Isa. l. 5. And "as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do," John xiv. 31. and vi. 27. No sooner the Father called, but Christ accepts the office to which he was designed by the Father: this is plain by those words, "Him hath God the Father sealed;" sealed by ordination, and sealed by qualification, and sealed by way of investiture, as public officers are invested in their places by receiving their commissions under seal. And it must needs be so, because whatsoever the Father wills, the Son wills also, "I and my Father are one," saith Christ, John x. 30. How one? Why, one in will, and one in power, and one in nature.
1. One in will, that appears in the words precedent concerning Christ's sheep, "My Father gave them me, -- and I give unto them eternal life," verses 28, 29. They are both agreed to save Christ's sheep; the Father is willing, and Christ is willing: look, how much the will of the Father is in it, so much the will of the Son is in it, "For he and the Father are one."
2. One in power; that appears likewise in the words precedent, "These sheep shall never perish," (saith Christ) "neither shall any pluck them out of my hand: my Father is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand," verses 28, 29 . Here is first the power of Christ, and all in him engaged for the salvation of his sheep, that if he have any power in him, and be able to do anything, not one of them shall perish; and he gives the reason of the prevalency of his power from his Father's power, engaged as much as his own in this business; they are alike fast in his hands, and in his Father's hands, "For he and the Father are one."
3. One in nature, and of this I suppose are the words more especially understood; the Father and the Son are both of one nature, of one essence, of one being, and this is not only an argument that they did both agree, and were like to agree in that great transaction of saving souls, but that they can never disagree; two that essentially have two wills, though for the present agreeing in one yet they may come to disagree, and will not the same things, but if essentially they have but one will, it is impossible then but that they ever must agree. So then the Father from everlasting calls the Son to the office of Mediator, q.d. "Come, my Son, the Son of my joy, and high delight; my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased;" there is a thought in my heart to communicate myself out of this aloneness everlasting into somewhat else; and my thought, or purpose, or intention lies in this order: First, I intend my own glory, then Christ, then the church, then the world; thus is my providence to dispose every thing so much more principally and timely, by how much it is the more excellent, next to my glory, and the manifestation of it, I will have a Christ, and this Christ shall be the chief pattern of me election of grace; and next to Christ the head I intend a body, and this body I will predestinate to be made like, or to be conformed to the image of my Son. And now, behold, I call thee to the office of Mediator, thou art my Son, to-day (even in this day of eternity) have I begotten thee; and to-day (even in this day of eternity) do I call thee to this honour to be an high priest forever. And as the Father calls, so the Son from everlasting accepts the office to which he is designed by the Father, q.d. Come, is that the voice of my everlasting Father? Why, lo I come in the volume of thy book it is written of me; to do thy will, O God. This is my mind; yea, and this shall be my mind forever; when I am incarnate this shall be my meat, to do the will of him that sent me to finish his work, Heb. x. 7. Glorious Father, thy will is my will; I seek not mine own will (as if I had a will distinct from thine) but the will of my Father, John iv. 34. Now therefore I accept this honour. Be it to me, or be it with me even as thou pleasest, John v. 30. This call of the Father, and answer of the Son is fully confirmed by that saying of Christ, "I was set up from everlasting," Prov. viii. 23.
But concerning the particular passages of these treaties betwixt God and Christ to save souls, I shall show in following sections, 1. The project. 2. The counsel. 3. The foreknowledge. 4. The purpose. 5. The decree. 6. The covenant. We shall find all these in our first period, in that eternity before all times until the creation.