He was not Man He could not undertake that Office, if He was not GOD He could not perform it: If He was not Man He could not be capable of being Bound for me, if He was not GOD He would not be able to pay my Debt: It was Man by whom the Covenant was broken, and therefore Man muft have fuitable Punishment laid upon him; it was GOD, with whom it was broken, and therefore GOD must have fufficient fatisfaction made unto Him: And as for that fatiffaction, it was Man that had offended, and therefore Man alone could make it fuitable; it was GOD that was offended, and therefore GOD alone could make it fufficient.

The fumm of all is this, Man can fuffer, but he cannot fatisfy; GOD can fatisfy, but He cannot fuffer; but Christ being both GOD and Man, can both Suffer and Satisfy too, and fo is perfectly fit both to fuffer for Man, and to make fatisfaction unto GOD, to reconcile GOD to Man, and Man to GOD. And thus Chrift having affuin'd my Nature into his Perfon, and fo fatiffied Divine Juftice for my Sins, I am re ceived into Grace and Favour again, with the most High GOD. Upon this Principle it is, that I believe, that I, by NaG 2

ture

ture the Son of Man, am made, by Grace, the Son of GOD, as really as Chrift, by Nature the Son of GOD, was made, by Office, the Son of Man: And fo tho' in myself I may say to Corruption, thou art my mother, yet, in Chrift, I may fay to GOD, Abba Father. Neither do I believe this to be a metaphorical Expreffion, viz. Becaufe He doth that for me which a Father doth for his Child, even provide for me whilft young, and give me my Portion, when come to Age; but I believe that in the fame propriety of Speech, that my earthly Father was called the Father of my Natural-felf, is GOD the Father of my Spiritual-felf: For why was my earthly Father called my Father, but becaufe that I, as to my Natural Being, was born of what proceeded from him, viz. his Seed; why fo, as to my Spiritual Being, am I born of what proceeds from GOD, his Spirit: And as I was not born of the very Subftance of my Natural Parents, but only of what came from them, fo neither is my Spiritual-felf begotten again, quickened, and constituted of the very fubftance of my heavenly Father GÓD, but of the Spirit, and fpiritual Influences proceeding from Him. Thus therefore it is that I believe, that Chrift the Son of GOD became the Son of Man;

Man; and thus it is that I believe myfelf, the Son of Man, to be made thereby the Son of GOD. I believe, O my GOD and Father, do Thou help mine unbelief; and every Day more and more encrease my Faith, till itself shall be done away, and turned into the most perfect vifion, and fruition of thine own most glorious Godhead.

ARTICLE VI.

I believe that Christ lived to GOD, and died for Sin, that I might die to Sin, and live with GOD.

A

ND thus, by Faith, I follow my Saviour from the Womb to the Tomb, from his Incarnation to his Death and Paffion, believing all that He did or fuffer'd to be for my fake; for Chrift did not only take my Nature upon him, but He fuffered, and obeyed, He underwent Miferies, and undertook Duties for me; fo that not only his paffive, but likewife his active Obedience unto GOD, in that Nature, was still for me. Not as if I believed his Duty as Man was not GOD's Debt, by the Law of Creation; yes, believe that He owed that Obedience unto GOD, that if He had committed but one Sin, and that of the higheft Tincture, in all his Life-time, He would have been fo far from being able to fatisfy for my Sins, that He could not have fatisfied for his own; For fuch an high-priest became us, who is holy, harmlefs, undefiled, feparate from finners, and

made

made higher than the heavens Who needeth not daily, as thofe high-priests, to offer up facrifice first for his own fins, and then for the peoples, Heb. 7. 26, 27. So that if He had not had thefe Qualifications in their abfolute Perfection, He could not have been our High-Prieft, nor, by confequence, have made attonement for, nor expiated any Sins whatfoever. But now, though both as Man, and as God-Man or Mediator too, it behoved Him to be thus faithful and fpotlefs, yet, as being GOD coequal and coeffential with the Father, it was not out of Duty, but meerly upon our Account, that He thus fubjected his Neck to the Yoke of his own Law, Himfelf, as GOD, being the Legiflator or Lawgiver, and fo no more under it than the Father Himself.

And hereupon it is, that I verily be lieve, that whatfoever Chrift either did or fuffer'd in the Flefh was meritorious; not that his Life was righteous towards GOD, only that his Death might be meritorious for us, (which I believe otherwife it could not have been) but that his Life was equally meritorious as righteous. So that I believe my Perfon is as really accepted as perfectly Righteous, by the Righteoufnefs of his Life imputed to me, as my Sins are pardon'd by GOD,