BOOK I. OF THE BLESSINGS OF GRACE, WHICH COME BY CHRIST; AND OF THE DOCTRINES IN WHICH THEY ARE HELD FORTH. OF REDEMPTION BY CHRIST.' HAVING, in the preceding Book, gone through the twofold state of Christ, his Humiliation and Exaltation; and considered the several offices of Prophet, Priest, and King, sustained and exercised by him therein; I shall now proceed to consider the blessings of grace, which come by him, through the exercise of them; and especially his priestly office; for he is come a High-Priest of good things to come, which under the former dispensation, were promised, prophesied of, and prefigured in it; but not accomplished; for the law had only a shadow of these good things to come, but now they are come, and are actually obtained, through Christ's coming in the flesh; and through what he has done and suffered in it; as redemption, satisfaction, and reconciliation for sin, remission of sin, justification, adoption, &c.; and as redemption stands in the first place, and is a principal and most important blessing and doctrine of grace, I shall begin with that. I. I shall settle the meaning of the word; and show what it supposes, includes, and is designed by it. Our English word Redemption, is from the Latin tongue, and signifies, buying again; and several words in the Greek language, of the New Testament, are used in the affair of our Redemption, which signify the obtaining of something by paying a proper price for it; sometimes the simple verb ayopaço, to buy, is used: so the redeemed are said to be bought unto God by the blood of Christ; and to be bought from the earth; and to be bought from among men; and to be bought with a price; that is, with the price of Christ's blood, 1 Cor. vi. 20; hence the church of God is said to be purchased with it, Acts xx. 28. Sometimes the compound word e§ayopacw, is used; which signifies, to buy again, or out of the hands of another; as the redeemed are bought out of the hands of justice; as in Gal. iii. 13, and iv. 5. In other places AvTpow is used, or others derived from it; which signifies, the deliverance of a slave, or captive, from his thraldom, by paying a ransom-price for him: so the saints are said to be redeemed, not with silver or gold, the usual price paid for a ransom; but with a far greater one, the blood and life of Christ, which he came into this world to give, as a ransom-price for many; and even himself, which is avriλUTρov, and answerable, adequate, and full price for them, 1 Pet. i. 18. There are various typical redemptions, and that are of a civil nature, which may serve to illustrate our spiritual and eternal redemption by Christ. I. The deliverances of the people of Israel out of their captivities, Egyptian and Babylonian; the latter I shall not much insist upon; since, though the Jews were exiles in Babylon, they did not appear to be in much slavery and thraldom: but built houses, planted gardens, and had many privileges; insomuch that some of them, when they might have had their liberty, chose rather to continue where they were; and though their deliverance is sometimes called a redemption, yet sparingly, and in an improper sense, Jer. xv. 21; for they were redeemed without money; and Cyrus, their deliverer, neither gave nor took a price for them; and is never called a redeemer. But the deliverance of the people of Israel out of Egypt, was a very special and remarkable type of redemption by Christ, out of a worse state of bondage than that of Egypt. The Israelites were made to serve with rigour, and their lives were made bitter with hard bondage, in brick and mortar, and service in the field; and they cried to God, by reason of their bondage, it was so intolerable; and it was aggravated by the task-masters set_over them; who, by the order of Pharaoh, obliged them to provide themselves with straw, and yet bring in the full tale of brick as before; which fitly expresses the state and condition that men are in; who, through sin, are weak and unable to fulfil the law; yet it is as regardless of want of strength, as the Egyptian task-masters were of want of straw: it requires sinless and perfect obedience to it; and curses and condemns such as continue not in all things to do it. The deliverance of the people of Israel, is called a redemption; God promised to rid them of their bondage, and to redeem them with a stretched-out arm; and when they were delivered, he is said to have led forth the people he had redeemed: and the bringing them out of the house of bondage, or redeeming them out of the house of bondmen, is used as an argument to engage them to regard the commandments of God, Exod. vi. 6, and xx. 2. And which redemption by Christ, from sin, the law, and death, lay the redeemed under a still greater obligation to do; Moses, who was the instrument God raised up, and whom he called and sent to redeem Israel, is said to be a deliverer, or as it should be rendered, a redeemer, Acts vii. 35; in which he was a type of Christ, whom God raised up, called, and sent to be a Redeemer of his spiritual Israel and there was, in some sense, a price paid for the redemption of literal Israel; since they are expressly said to be a purchased people, bought by the Lord, and their deliverance was owing to blood, the blood of the passover lamb, sprinkled on their door posts; typical of the blood of Christ, the price of our redemption. Besides, as it has been observed by some, the redemption of the people of Israel, being the Lord's people, was by : |