Thomas Manton · 56 of 57

The Twelfth Verse. · Part 4

But to come to the sense of the phrase, ‘And he bare the sins of many.’ I shall content myself with the assertion of the text, and show you what it implieth. He bare the sin importeth two things:—

1. The susception of our guilt: he bare it.

2. The sustaining of our punishment. Both were upon Christ as a heavy burden, our guilt and our punishment He was made sin, and was under wrath. In one respect sin is made to be laid upon him by God in ver. 6, ‘The Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all;’ and in the other he is said to ‘bear our sins in his body on the tree,’ 1 Peter ii. 24, which noteth the enduring of the punishment of them. Both yield a great deal of comfort to those that have interest in Christ: he bare their guilt, and he bare their punishment. It is comfort in three cases:—

[1.] When their hearts are ready to sink within them under the multitude and greatness of their provocations: Ps. xxxviii. 4, ‘Mine iniquities are gone over my head, as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.’ Oh, it is heavy and sad with that soul that is compassed about with innumerable evils! This will cause heart-failing and quaking when our sins, our pride, and haughtiness, are set in order before us. Here conscience accuseth for sins of the highest aggravation, slighting of means, abuse of mercies, wantoning in all manner of provocations, serving divers lusts and pleasures, cursed worldliness, carelessness of the great salvation, neglect of our family duties, ill example, gross omissions, seldom praying, or, when it is done, in a drowsy, dead way, little discussion with your hearts and ways. When these things are mustered up against us, the soul is bowed down under its own fears, and cannot look up, nor scarce groan out a sigh for mercy. Oh, consider you are not to bear your sins, but Jesus Christ; see all this load transacted upon the back of Jesus Christ: Mat. xi. 28, ‘Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ By putting the burden upon his own back, he bare our sins.

But you will say, I have sinned, but God must have satisfaction; the guilt and punishment must be borne by somebody.

Oh, consider it is borne by Jesus Christ. As Aaron was to bear the iniquity of the holy things of the children of Israel, Exod. xxviii. 38, so Christ will bear the sins of your duties. His soul was heavy unto death, Mat. xxvi. 38. A little before the showers there is a gloominess and sad blackness; so there was upon Christ’s spirit a little before the showers of wrath were poured out upon him. To lighten you, Christ’s own soul is heavy and exceeding sorrowful; he bare your sins. Thus, in the burden of guilt, it is a lightening of the eyes and a relieving of your bondage.

[2.] When you are oppressed with the burden of punishment, fears of death and hell. We are naturally subject to these things: Heb. ii. 15, ‘Who all their lifetime were subject to bondage through fear of death.’ Conscience, that convinceth of sin, assureth of judgment: Rom. i. 32, ‘Who knowing the judgment of God, that they who commit such things are worthy of death.’ Our hearts and our own despairing thoughts are upon us; then we smell the brimstone and the stench of the pit that cometh up into our nostrils. Oh, what shall we do, for these everlasting burnings will consume us? Consider, the satisfaction will not be required of you; ‘He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.’ Christ, that took your sin, bare your punishment; ‘even Jesus who hath delivered us from wrath to come,’ 1 Thes. i. 10.

[3.] In the case of afflictions. Providence is against us; and then afflictions without raise troubles and discontents within. We think God is against us, and all is ordered by way of satisfaction to divine vengeance; all is wormwood and gall, and the terrors of the Lord possess our spirits. Oh, but hold up the head, and consider nothing is done to a believer by way of punishment and satisfaction of divine vengeance: all that was required of Jesus Christ; he bore that in his body upon the tree. We are not to bear our own sins. Natural men do think that all their misery is formally penal, and ordered by way of punishment, the sting of death, and all afflictions. But yours are not punishments; that is the wormwood and gall of afflictions. The idol priests were to bear their own iniquities, Ezek. xliv. 10. But Christ hath taken the sins of his people upon himself. You may have the same afflictions with wicked men, or that you had before conversion; but their habit and use is changed to you. Either they are chastisements or corrections, whose use is to instruct or humble.

To instruct them in their duty: Their ‘ears are opened to discipline,’ Job xxxvi. 10; and Christ ‘learned obedience by the things he suffered.’ Heb. v. 8.

To show us the vanity of the creature: Ps. xxxix. 11, ‘When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth. Surely every man is vanity.’ Then they see it to humble them, Job xxxvi. 8; and if they be bound in fetters, and holden in cords of affliction, it is to show them they have been proud. Now, it is a great mercy when we can look upon afflictions under this notion. It is a great mercy to have our afflictions sanctified: Ps. xciv. 12, ‘Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest out of thy law.’ Want maketh the prodigal child think of returning, Luke xv. And for prevention, they are an antidote to keep off poison. It would have been worse with me if it had not been so: Ps. cxix. 71, ‘It is good for me that I have been afflicted.’ It is a corrosive, like Paul’s messenger of Satan, to cure his pride, 2 Cor. xii. 7; and to mind them of duty: Hosea v. 15, ‘I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offences and seek my face; in their afflictions they will seek me early.’ And for the exercise of graces, and to conform them to their head, as patience, obedience, and faith; bruised spices are the more fragrant. So that in all these respects, and many other such like, we may take comfort in the saddest things that befall us: Ps. xxiii. 4, ‘Thy rod and thy staff doth comfort me.’ We do not fear our iniquities when we bear these things.

It followeth in the text, ‘He bare the sins of many;’ that is, of the elect, not of all without exception. The same was in the former verse, ‘For he shall bear their iniquities.’ And so in other places: Rom. v. 19, ‘As by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.’ So in the 15th verse, ‘The gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded to many.’

Observe, that the merit of Christ’s death was not extended to all. He bare the sins of many.

I shall propose these arguments:—

1. Christ died for no more than are elected.

2. The death of Christ is usually restrained in scripture to such a number and such a company that shall be saved.

3. Christ must needs save all that he intended to save.

4. All those to whom Christ intended the merit of his sufferings, they shall have it applied to them.

5. Because Christ’s special love was only to few.

6. Because Christ doth not pray for all, and therefore he did not die for all.

7. Christ’s offices are of equal extent; those that have Christ have whole Christ.

Use 1. If Christ did not intend the merit of his sufferings to all, and bore only the sins of many, it standeth us upon to see that we be of the number of those for whom Christ died. I shall use a motive or two to you.

1. The misery of those that bear their own sins. In what a sad case are you if you should bear the heavy and insupportable load of your own sins! Consider and look about you for the Lord’s sake, and see if you be some of Christ’s royal priesthood, and a chosen generation. You may know it by the effects of Christ in the hearts of the faithful, in your own sense and experiences, in the communications of the word, and how it will be with you hereafter.

[1.] By what Christ felt when he took our sins from us. Job saith, Job vi. 4, ‘The arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison thereof drinketh up my spirit; the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.’ Christ lost the comfortable apprehensions of God’s favour. Wherever there is sin, there will be a separation. ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ His soul was exceeding sorrowful, felt strange agonies and passions, which are the more remarkable because of the eminency of the person; had these things been found in us, it had not been so notable. Weak spirits are soon dismayed and terrified at anything that hath but a dreadful appearance. Glover, the martyr, was so affected with the sense of some backsliding, that for some years he lost the use and pleasure of his senses. But for Christ to be sad, Christ in agonies, Christ to sweat drops of blood, it maketh it the more noted.

[2.] By what effects it hath upon the saints. When the little finger of God hath been upon them, oh! how have they roared through their own folly all the day long! Ps. xl. 12, ‘Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, therefore my heart faileth.’ All life and spirit is gone when the soul laboureth under the guilt of one sin. All the racks in the world are nothing to the rack of conscience: Luke xxiii. 31, ‘For if they do these things in the green tree, what shall be done to the dry?’

[3.] Consider your sense and experience. When conscience hath been a little opened, oh! what horrors and disquiets have they felt, and how sore a bondage has there been upon men, good or bad! Sometimes God giveth his own people a taste what it is to bear their own sins, especially under some great judgment or fears of death. A man can divert other griefs: Prov. xviii. 14, ‘The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can bear?’ Oh, the intolerableness of a conscience wounded with sin! Do not your joints smite one another for fear when you see the handwriting against you? A man hath the best apprehension of such things in such a case. And then, oh! for thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of oil, Micah vi. 7. Then ten thousand worlds would he give to set his soul free. What would Spira have done when under terrors? So Mr Democke, under what desertion was he for eating with too much delight and inconsiderate greediness, who, as Mr Bolton witnesseth, crieth out, Oh, the hell of my conscience! So for ungodly men. Cain crieth out, Gen. iv. 13, ‘My punishment is greater than I can bear,’ desperately murmuring against justice. And Judas hanged himself, thinking thereby to be rid of the terrors of his conscience. Even in the experiences of this life, God showeth what it is to bear sin.

[4.] Consider the life to come, and the threatenings of the word concerning those that die in their sins and bear their own transgressions. Oh, how sad will it be to be haled by devils, and added to the rest of the spirits now in prison, and reserved in chains of darkness unto the judgment of the great day! When sins, that now are like sleepy lions, shall arise enraged and tear our souls, and there be none to deliver, as Ps. l. 22. Oh, this is the portion of them that bear their own burden and their own transgression!

2. The happiness of those whose sins are borne by Christ. No guilt can be charged upon them, no punishment can be laid upon them, no sins, no guilt shall be laid upon them; the scapegoat hath carried them away into a land of darkness: Jer. l. 20, ‘In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquities of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found.’ So Ps. ciii. 12, ‘As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.’ They are quite out of sight; our iniquities are not where we are. No punishment is to be laid upon us; God will not exact the debt twice, of us and Christ too. Something corrective may be done to us, but nothing penal; justice is satisfied, anger appeased, the sting of afflictions is plucked out, and all serveth to make us the more meet for glory. It were but a poor pardon if God should retain the punishment. The rod comforteth.

Let these things then persuade you to consider whether you are of the number of those whose sins Christ bare in his body.

But you will say, How shall we know whether we be of that number?

I answer in these propositions:—

1. Your first care must not be to look to God’s election. Hidden things belong to God; man must regard duty: Deut. xxix. 29, ‘The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children for ever.’ We are overwise when we would pry into the secrets of heaven. God’s secret will hath relation to his own actions, his revealed will to ours. We must not look to what he will do, but what he will have us do.

2. Our duty is to believe till the matter be cleared to us. Beg faith, or act faith. There is a double act: To look upon Christ as bearing the sins of the world, and to see a full satisfaction in Christ, and so at least a possibility for our souls being saved: John i. 29, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world.’ See him bearing sins upon the cross. Men bear their own sins when they cannot look up: Ps. xl. 12, ‘Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up.’ Oh, be not always poring upon sin; a wound always rubbed cannot be cured. See a satisfaction made by Christ, and so you may have comfort in Christ. Secondly, To present Christ to the Father in your own behalf; show him your surety, lay your hands upon the head of the sacrifice before the Lord: when the debt is satisfied, God looketh that you should come to him for an acquittance. Oh, desire it may be sealed up to your souls; say, Lord, was not thy justice satisfied in Christ? Do not make particular exceptions where God makes none. This is that God hath required of thee, to believe and fetch out your pardon. Oh, there hangeth a weight of guilt upon you, and he invited the heavy laden to come to him for ease and rest. Thus doing, you may haply come to know and to determine that you are of the number.

3. This being done, God is many times pleased to clear it up fully to some of his people, that their names were some of those that were given to Christ, whose sins he was to bear and expiate; thy name is written upon the breast of thy High Priest, and thy sins upon his back. Those that lie in the bosom of Christ, they have the Spirit of Christ, that revealeth the secrets of heaven to them, the purposes and decrees of love; the sealed fountain is broke open, and joys flow in upon their spirits. And there are dispositions by which the soul concludeth her interest in Christ. I shall name two. They are—

[1.] A humble and thankful acknowledgment in the sense] of so great a privilege; the soul admireth the mercy, and wondereth that he should look after such poor worms as we are, that he should give Christ a charge concerning us, and trust Christ with the care and good of their souls, the expiation of their sins. I say, the sense of all this maketh them humble and thankful: 1 Peter ii. 9, ‘That ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.’

[2.] There will be answerable effects to such a privilege in heart and life: 1 Peter ii. 24, ‘Who his own self bare our sins in his own body upon the tree, that we, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness.’ Corruptions are more mortified, and graces more quickened. If Christ bare our sins, we shall feel his Spirit; he will exchange with us. He felt the wrath of God, and we feel the joys of his Spirit. He took our sins, and he will not leave till he hath communicated to us his grace and glory.

And he made intercession for the transgressors.

These words are the fourth considerable particular in Christ’s conflict, a noted circumstance either at or upon his death. Some make them to be of a more private and restrained sense; others, of a more public and general. I shall exclude neither, for they are one subordinate to the other. Those that look upon them as words of a private and particular concernment, make them to relate to that prayer of Christ on the cross, Luke xxiii. 34, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do;’ a circumstance that extremely commendeth the love and patience of Christ, when, in the midst of the extremity of his sufferings, he doth not think of revenge and retaliation, but of mercy, and doing his persecutors good. Others look upon them as if the prophet did aim at some greater matter, namely, as implying the whole mediation and intercession of Christ, which as a high priest he presenteth to the Father, and by virtue of it pleadeth to him in our behalf. I shall exclude neither of these senses; for the former is but a part and pledge of this, it is a discovery of those bowels that are in Christ to poor sinners.

From the former observe, that Christ prayed for his persecutors. Our translation inclineth to this sense, as reading in the praeter tense: ‘He made intercession for the transgressors;’ whereas the original will bear, ‘He shall make intercession for the transgressors,’ as referring it to some particular men, not transgressors indefinitely. The point being historical, the prophecy of the text and the testimony of Luke is confirmation sufficient. I shall inquire under what notion and consideration he made this prayer, and so apply it.

Christ in this and such like actions is to be considered in a double regard:—

1. As a holy, godly man; so he was to fulfil all righteousness.

2. As a mediator and public person, that was to be our High Priest, to satisfy and intercede.

In the first sense the scripture proposeth Christ as an example; in the second, as an object of our faith. His actions are partly for satisfaction, so his mediatory actions; and partly for our imitation, as an exemplary pattern. Which distinction and several references not being weighed, we lose much comfort and instruction which otherwise we might find. You shall see these actions of Christ in scripture are joined both together in one place: 1 Peter ii. 21, ‘Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.’ In the former clause he is to be looked upon and considered as Mediator; in the other as an eminent, holy, and godly man, as a pattern. Both these two must be carefully distinguished, as in all other matters of this nature, so especially in the prayers of Christ; as in that prayer, ‘Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me,’ Mat. xxvi. 39. That prayer was uttered by Christ as a private, godly man, for as Mediator he did not desire it. As a private godly man, he was to have such natural abhorrences of evil as we have, and to refer himself to the will of God. And this distinction is the rather to be marked, because Christ’s prayers as a godly man, his private prayers, were only a testimony and instance of duty, and so might not be granted. But as to his mediatory prayers, he was heard always, John xi. 42; for these were of equal merit with his sufferings, whose fruit and intent could not be frustrated and disannulled.

To apply this to the matter in hand: Was this prayer of Christ for the persecutors uttered as the private prayer of a godly man in obedience to the law, or as Mediator of the covenant?

I answer—You must consider it both ways:—

1. As of a private man, a man subject to the law, and that would fulfil all righteousness, and would exemplify his own doctrine: Mat. v. 44, ‘But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you.’ Christ would teach us by his practice, as well as by his precept, to pray for enemies. For ‘knowing what was in man,’ John ii. 25, that is, the state of men’s hearts, whether they would be saved or no, and knowing some of these would not be saved, he could not pray for them as Mediator, but as a private man; his prayers were conditional, that God would forgive them, in case they did repent and believe. As when we pray God to bless a wicked man, and give him eternal life, we imply by giving him faith and repentance; so did Christ as a testimony of duty and obedience, and so far as he prayed for them he was heard; and therefore to some of the persecutors they were but as the prayers of a private godly man, with a condition.

2. The prayers of a mediator, and so Christ absolutely prayed that God would look upon them in mercy; and so he did, upon all those that did it in ignorance, for they enjoyed the fruit of these prayers. That intercession was the cause of the conversion of the three thou sand; for to those Peter speaketh, Acts ii. 23, ‘Ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain;’ and from the 37th verse downward, you shall see their conversion described, ver. 41, ‘There were three thousand souls added to the church;’ they began to feel the effect of Christ’s prayer. So Acts iii. 17, ‘And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.’ He goeth by that argument that Christ useth in his prayers: the Mediator prayed for the pardon of those that did it in their ignorance. So that you see Christ’s prayers were partly as the prayers of a mediator, and partly as of a private person. In the one there is something propounded to our imitation; in the other, to our comfort and faith.

First, For our imitation. Consider this act as the duty of a glorious saint who is gone before us. Christ is a rare and eminent instance of meekness, and patience, and love, nay, even love to his enemies. Oh that we could transcribe this copy, that such instances of obedience might be found in our hearts and ways! We are poor, passionate spirits, that are ready to lose our lives with our sting; like fine glasses, broken as soon as touched. We take up every discontent, and aggravate it, being ready to revenge the wrongs that are done to us, and cannot put up the least injuries and affronts without storming and indignation. Angry spirits will have satisfaction. We think provocation an excuse for passion. The son of an Israelitish woman and an Israelitish man strove in the camp, and the son blasphemed the name of the Lord, for which he was stoned to death, Lev. xxiv. 10-14. Christ was provoked, but he was not passionate, but prayed for his persecutors.

We learn three things in this instance, which we cannot reflect upon without the shame of our own faces. This mirror will kill like the basilisk when we look on it.

1. Not to retaliate, hate, curse, revile, and pursue injuries with in juries. We cannot come to this: 1 Peter ii. 23, ‘Who when he was reviled, reviled not again.’ It is otherwise with us; rather than take an example from Christ, we take it from our enemies, do as they do to us. Why should a man imitate that which he judgeth evil in others? Revenge and injury differ but in order; the one is first, the other second. Revenge is a sweet evil; nothing more pleasing to nature, and more contrary to grace. Nothing more pleasing to nature: Patience, in the eye of nature, is a kind of weakness and servility. Men will plead for this; but Solomon saith, Prov. xxiv. 29, ‘Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me.’ Aristotle saith, it is as reprovable to love an enemy as to hate a friend; and he saith, it argueth a servile, slow wit, and a disingenious spirit. In direct opposition to which Solomon saith, Prov. xix. 11, ‘The discretion of a man deferreth his anger, and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.’ It is a man’s honour; it is not a servile, but a Christian and free spirit. And it is the most contrary to grace; for giving is many times made the condition of the promises, and the measure of our expectations from God: ‘Forgive as we forgive.’ It is much, even a meritorious act in our thoughts, if we do but pass by an offence.

2. We learn to do good, and seek the good of others, to feed and supply a hungry, thirsty enemy: Prov. xxv. 21, ‘If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink.’ David saith, Ps. xxxv. 12, ‘They rewarded me evil for good, to the spoiling of my soul.’ But in ver. 13, he saith, ‘When they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth, I humbled my soul with fasting.’ It is much that the scripture requireth obedience in the least and lowest offices, where one would think our care were excused: Exod. xxiii. 4, 5, ‘If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. If thou seest the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.’ To reduce the straying ox or ass, and to ease the oppressed, these are offices of humanity that men express to their friends; but God requireth it to enemies: ‘Do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you,’ Mat. v. 44. Nay, do not excuse yourselves by a colour and show of religion. Religion, that should be the judge, is a party, and the restraint is made the fuel to passion. The very persecutors are named. We are apt to allow ourselves in the exorbitancy of our passions, under the colourable pretences of religion and duty; nay, not only when it is your enemy, but God’s: when a man is a persecutor, you are to do him good.

3. To do the best good for them, not only to wish them all the good in the world, but seek the good of their souls. Christ prayed, ‘Father, forgive them;’ that God would convince them of their sin, and reform and pardon them. Thus John converted a man that came to rob him. Our duty is expressed, not only by doing good, but by blessing and praying for them, Mat. v. 44. You should mind their good; pity poor blind souls, which we too often neglect for our friends, and those to whom we are engaged. Oh, when have you done this to those that have wronged and injured you? Alas! they have no light, they have no better principles; go and mourn over their souls to God. What sweet comfort shall a man have in his spirit, when he doth so really mind their good. This is a hard lesson, how shall we make it easy?

[1.] Consider you have God the Father’s pattern for it, and the special precept of Christ for it: ‘Do good to them that hate you, bless them that curse you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you.’ And you have the pattern of Christ for it, who prayed for the persecutors and transgressors. And the pattern of God the Father: Mat. v. 45, ‘He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and unjust.’ They come not by chance and the ordinary course of nature. None can be so much an enemy to you as sinners are to God, yet they have his rain and his sun. It is at God’s disposal to exclude their right; there are none of these things but God could keep from them, and that justly too. yet it is godlike to bestow them, and it is man’s perfection. It is the glory of man to imitate the superior beings, God and angels. Children, you know, when they first come to have the use of their reason, their pride is to imitate the actions of grown men. Why should not we then imitate those of God? Nay, further, you have the pattern of the saints, as well as the pattern of the Most High, that you may not think it an inimitable pattern. Stephen cried with a loud voice, ‘Lord, lay not this sin to their charge,’ Acts vii. 60. Note his vehemency, ‘He cried with a loud voice;’ his tender love and compassion, ‘Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.’ The sense of your privileges and prerogative should make you do more than others. It was an accusation, 1 Cor. iii. 3, ‘Ye walk as men.’ Should not Christians do more than publicans and heathens? Mat. v. 46, ‘If ye love them that love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same?’ Christians must have something eximious and rare. Where is your differing excellency? Oh, go and shame your selves with these considerations.