Christian Classics
‹ Discourse of God's Being the Author of Reconciliation
Contents
A Discourse of God's being the Author of ReconciliationIntroduction1. First, What reconciliation is.2. Second thing. That God the Father must needs be, and is, the author of this reconciliation.III. Third thing. Wherein the agency of the Father in this affair does appear. · Part 1III. Third thing. Wherein the agency of the Father in this affair does appear. · Part 2III. Third thing. Wherein the agency of the Father in this affair does appear. · Part 3III. Third thing. Wherein the agency of the Father in this affair does appear. · Part 4III. Third thing. Wherein the agency of the Father in this affair does appear. · Part 5III. Third thing. Wherein the agency of the Father in this affair does appear. · Part 6III. Third thing. Wherein the agency of the Father in this affair does appear. · Part 7III. Third thing. Wherein the agency of the Father in this affair does appear. · Part 8III. Third thing. Wherein the agency of the Father in this affair does appear. · Part 9III. Third thing. Wherein the agency of the Father in this affair does appear. · Part 10III. Third thing. Wherein the agency of the Father in this affair does appear. · Part 11III. Third thing. Wherein the agency of the Father in this affair does appear. · Part 12III. Third thing. Wherein the agency of the Father in this affair does appear. · Part 13III. Third thing. Wherein the agency of the Father in this affair does appear. · Part 14General use of the doctrine. · Part 1General use of the doctrine. · Part 2General use of the doctrine. · Part 3General use of the doctrine. · Part 4General use of the doctrine. · Part 5General use of the doctrine. · Part 6General use of the doctrine. · Part 7

Stephen Charnock · 25 of 25

General use of the doctrine. · Part 7

9. Glorify God for this. Since God sends out such a blessing to us, we should send out loud prayers to him. Heaven smiles upon earth, and earth should bless heaven Glorify God as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though we have all immediately from Christ, yet Christ has all from the Father. He is the for our sins, but he was appointed by the Father. He came to , but he was sent by God upon that errand. He paid our debts as a surety, but he was accepted by God. He was a to bring us to God, but he was Commissioned by God to that end. What a love did God retain to his creatures, though he abominated their Sins, and in the midst of his indignation against their had bowels for their persons! How did God forecast for us, when we were 'prisoners in the pit wherein was no water,' Zech. ix. 11, the captives of the mighty, and the prey of the terrible! Isa. xlix. 25. When the law of God was against us, and his truth taking part with his law, his wisdom and mercy found a way to preserve his truth, and satisfy the curses of the law, that we might enjoy the blessings of the gospel, when we could not in the least deserve it, unless peevishness and perversity, treachery and disloyalty, weakness and wilfulness could pass for allurements; we had then been inconceivable meriters. Such free and full compassion deserves our thank fullness, though we could not merit his . It is not a contracted, half-made, or oppressive peace, It is an extensive, tender, and abundant peace, like a river and a flowing stream, a peace whereby we are borne in his bosom, Isa. lxvi. 12. How should we adore the depth of that wisdom which found a refuge for us, when heaven and earth were at war with us; adore this goodness, that when we were no sooner born, but we were He objects of a cursing law, the scorn of a malicious devil, our Jesus should be sent to pacify the law, and shame the devil our enemy I Angels glorify him for this peace; should we be outstripped by beings less concerned in it? God is only praised in and through Christ; God and Christ are joined together in the ' praise: Rev. v. 13, 'Blessing, honour, glory, and power be unto him that sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb, for ever and ever;' and so they should be in ours. How beautiful will this whole work appear, when the whole methods of it come to be read in heaven in the original copy, when they shall be seen in the face, in the bosom of God, in fair and plainer characters! To conclude. If all the sparks that ever leapt out of any fire since the creation, and all the drops of rain that have fell upon the world; were so many angelical tongues, their praise would come short of the excess of this love. Let the praise of God for this, be not the business of a day, but the work of our lives, since eternity is too short to admire it.

End.