was not convenient the Father should For 1. He must then have been sent into the World which is incongruous to the Relations that are between those glorious Persons For as they subsist in a certain Order so their Operations are according to the manner of their subsistence The Father is from Himself and the first motions in all things are ascribed to Him the Son is from the Father and all his actions take their rise from him The Son can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father do The effecting our Redemption is refer'd to the Fathers Will as the supreme cause our Saviour upon his entrance into the world to undertake that work declares I come to do thy will O God Upon this account the Apostle addresses his thanks to the Father as the first Agent in our Salvation which is not to lessen the glory of the Son and Spirit but to signifie that in the accomplishment of it their working follows their being 2. It was not fit that the Father should be incarnate for He must then have sustained the part of a Criminal and appear'd in that quality before the Supreme Judg But this was not consonant to the order among the Persons For although they are of equal Majesty being one God yet the Father is the first Person and to him it belongs most congruously to be the Guardian of the Laws and Rights of Heaven to exact Satisfaction for offences and to receive Intercessions for the Pardon of the Penitent 3. Neither was it fit that the Third Person should undertake that work For besides the Sacrifice for Propitiation it was necessary the Divine Power should be exerted to enlighten the Minds and encline the Wills of men to receive the Redeemer that the Benefits of his Death might be applied to them Now the Redeemer is consider'd as the Object and the Holy Spirit as the Disposer of the faculty to receive it And in the natural order of things the object must exist before the operation of the faculty upon it There must be Light before the Eye can see it So in the disposition of the causes of our Salvation the Redeemer must be ordain'd and Salvation purchas'd before the Divine Power is put forth to enable the Soul to receive it and accordingly 't is the Office of the Spirit who is the Power of God and by whom the Father and the Son execute all things to render effectual the Redemtion procured by the Son Briefly The Mission of the Persons is according to their principle The Father sends the Son to acquire Salvation for us the Son sends the Spirit to apply it Thus there is no disturbing of their Sacred order more particularly in appointing the Son to assume the Humane Nature and to restore lapsed Man the Wisdom of God is evident For by that 1. The Properties of the Sacred Persons are preserved intire the same Title is appropriated to both Natures in our Redeemer His state on Earth corresponds with his state in Heaven He is the only Son from Eternity and the first-born in time and the Honour due to the eternal and divine and to the temporal but supernatural Sonship is attributed to Him 2. To unite the glorious Titles of Creator and Redeemer in the same Person The Father made the world by the Son By this title he had an original propriety in Man which could not be extinguisht Though we had forfeited our Right in Him He did not lose his Right in us Our contract with Satan could not nullifie it Now 't was consonant that the Son should be employed to recover his own that the Creator in the begining should be the Redeemer in the fulness of time 3. Who could more fitly restore us to Favour and the Right of Children than the only begotten and only beloved Son who is the singular and everlasting object of his Father's delight Our relation to God is an imitation and expression of Christs He is a Son by nature a Servant by condescention we are Servants by Nature and Sons by Grace and Favour Our Adoption into the line of Heaven is by the purchase of his Blood The Eternal Son took flesh and was made under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of sons Who was more fit to repair the Image of God in Man and to beautifie our Natures that were defiled with Sin than the Son who is the express Image of his Fathers person and brighness and beauty it self Who can better communicate the Divine Counsels to us than the Eternal Word 4. The Wisdom of God appears in making the Remedy to have a proportion to the cause of our Ruine that as we fell in Adam our Representative so we are raised by Christ who is made the Head of our Recovery The Apostle makes the comparison between the first and second Adam Therefore as by the offence of one Judgment came upon all to condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men to the justification of Life For as by one Mans Disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one many shall be made righteous They are consider'd as Causes having the same respect to the effects produced by them The effects are Sin and Righteousness Condemnation and Justification As the Disobedience of the first Adam is meritoriously imputed to all his natural Posterity and brings Death upon all so the Righteousness of the second is meritoriously imputed to all his spiritual Progeny to obtain life for them And as the carnal Adam by his Rebellion made forfeiture of our original Righteousness and derives a corrupt nature to all that descend from him So the spiritual hath by his Obedience purchased Divine Grace for us that being the price without which so rich a treasure as Holiness could not be obtain'd And from him there is a vital efficacy conveighed to renew his People The same Spirit of Holiness which annointed our Redeemer doth quicken all his race that as They have born the Image of the earthly they may bear the Image of the heavenly Adam 5. The Divine Wisdom is visible in the manner whereby our Redemption is accomplisht that is by the Humiliation of the Son of God By this He did counterwork the Sin of Angels and Man Pride is the poison of every Sin for in every one the Creature prefers his pleasure and sets up his Will above Gods but it was the special Sin of Adam The Devil would have levell'd Heaven by an unpardonable usurpation he said I will be like the Most High and Man was infected with his breath you shall be like God and became sick of the same Disease Now Christ that by the quality of the Remedy he might cure our Disease in its source and cause He applies to our pride an unspeakable humility Man was guilty of the highest Robbery in affecting to be equal with God and
was so fram'd as to make a visible discovery of the Prerogatives of his Creation And when he reflected upon his Soul that animated his dust its excellent endowments wherein 't is comparable to the Angels its capacity of enjoying God himself for ever he had an internal and most clear testimony of the glorious perfections of his Creator For Man who alone admires the works of God is the most admirable of all 2. The Image of God was resplendent in mans Conscience the seat of practical Knowledg and Treasury of moral Principles The directive faculty was sincere and incorrupt not infected with any disguising tincture 't was clear from all prejudices which might render it an incompetent Judg of good and evil It instructed Man in all the parts of his relative Obligations to God and the Creatures 'T was not fetter'd and confin'd fearfully restraining from what is Lawful nor licentious and indulgent in what is forbidden Briefly Conscience in Adam upright was a subordinate God that gave Laws and exacted obedience to that glorious Being who is its Superior 3. There was a Divine Impression on the Will Spiritual Reason kept the Throne and the inferiour Faculties observed an easy and regular subordination to its dictates The Affections were exercis'd with proportion to the quality of their Objects Reason was their inviolable Rule Love the most noble and Master-affection which gives being and goodness to all the rest even to hatred it self for so much we hate an object as it hinders our enjoyment of the good we love this precious Incense was offer'd up to the excellent and supreme Being which was the Author of his Life Adam fully obeyed the first and great Command of loving the Lord with all his heart soul and strength His love to other things was regulated by his love to God There was a perfect accord between flesh and spirit in him They both joyn'd in the service of God and were naturally mov'd to their happiness In short the image of God in Adam was a living powerful Principle and had the same relation to the Soul which the Soul hath to the Body to animate and order all its Faculties in their Offices and Operations according to the Will of his Creator 2. The Image of God consisted though in an inferiour degree in the happy state of man Herein he resembled that infinitly Blessed Being This happiness had relation to the two Natures which enter into Mans Composition 1. To the Animal and Sensitive and this consisted in two things 1. In the excellent disposition of his Organs 2. In the enjoyment of convenient Objects 1. In the excellent disposition of the Organs His body was form'd immediately by God and so not liable to those defects which proceed from the weakness of second causes No blemish or disease which are the effects and footsteps of sin were to be found in him His health was not a frail inconstant disposition easily ruin'd by the jarring elements but firm and stable The humours were in a just temperament to prevent any destemper which might tend to the dissolution of that excellent frame Briefly all rhe senses were quick and lively able to perform with facility vigour and delight their operations 2. There were convenient Objects to entertain his sensitive faculties He enjoyed Nature in its original Purity crown'd with the benediction of God before 't was blasted with the curse The World was all Harmony and Beauty becoming the goodness of the Creator and not as 't is since the Fall disorder'd and deform'd in many parts the effect of his Justice The Earth was liberal to Adam of all its Treasures the Heavens of their Light and sweetest Influences He was seated in Eden a place of so great beauty and delight that it represented the Celestial Paradise which is refresht with Rivers of Pleasure And as the ultimate End of the Creatures was to raise his mind and inflame his heart with the love of his great Benefactor So their first and natural use was the satisfaction of the Senses from whence the felicity of the Animal Life did proceed 2. His supreme Happiness consisted in the exercise of his most noble Faculties on their proper Objects This will appear by considering that as the spiritual Faculties have objects which infinitely excel those of the sensitive So their capacity is more inlarged their union with objects is more intimate and their perception is with more quickness and vivacity and thereby are the greatest instruments of pleasure to the rational being Now the highest Faculties in Man are the Understanding and Will and their happiness consists in union with God by Knowledg and Love 1. In the Knowledg of God As the desire of Knowledg is the most natural to the humane Soul so the obtaining of it produces the most noble and sweetest pleasure And proportionably to the degrees of excellency that are in objects so much of rational Perfection and Satisfaction accrues to the mind by the knowledg of them The discovery of the Works of God greatly affected Man yet the excellencies scatter'd among them are but an imperfect and mutable shadow of God's infinite and unchangable Perfections How much more delightful was it to his pure understanding tracing the footsteps and impressions of God in Natural things to ascend to him who is the glorious Original of all Perfections And although his finite understanding could not comprehend the Divine excellencies yet his knowledg was answerable to the degrees of Revelation wherein God was manifested He saw the admirable Beauty of the Creator through the transparent vail of the creatures And from hence there arose in the Soul a pleasure pure solid and satisfying a pleasure divine for God takes infinit contentment in the contemplation of Himself 2. The Happiness of Man consisted in the Love of God 'T was not the naked speculation of the Deity that made him happy but such a knowledg as ravisht his Affections For happiness results from the fruitions of all the Faculties 'T is true that by the mediation of the understanding the other Faculties have access to an object the Will and Affections can't be enclin'd to any thing but by vertue of an act of the mind which propounds it as worthy of them It follows therefore that when by the discovery of the transcendent excellencies in God the Soul is excited to love and to delight in Him as its Supreme Good 't is then really and perfectly happy Now as Adam had a perfect knowledg of God so the height of his love was answerable to his knowledg and the compleatness of his enjoyment was according to his Love All the Divine Excellencies were amiable to him The Majesty Purity Justice and Power of God which are the terrour of guilty creatures secur'd his happiness whilst he continued in his Obedience His Conscience was clear and calm no unquiet fears discompos'd its Tranquillity 't was the seat of Innocence and Peace Briefly His love to God was perfect without any
the Soul yet to the bringing of it forth the concurrence of the external Faculties is requisite Thus a Voluptuary who is restrain'd from the gross acts of Sensuality by a Disease or Age may be as vicious in his Desires as another who follows the pernicious swing of his Appetite having a vigorous Complexion Briefly The variety of circumstances by which the inward corruption is excited and drawn forth makes a great difference as to the open and visible acts of it Thus an ambitious person who uses Clemency to accomplish his design would exercise Cruelty if 't were necessary to his end 'T is true some are really more temperate and exempted from the tyranny of the flesh than others Cicero was more vertuous than Catiline and Socrates than Aristophanes But these are priviledged persons in whom the efficacy of Divine Providence either by forming them in the Womb or in their Education or by conducting them in their maturer Age hath corrected the malignity of Nature All men have sinn'd and come short of the glory of God's image And that Sin breaks not forth so outragiously in some as in others the restraint is from an higher Principle than common and corrupt Nature 4. This Corruption although natural yet 't is Voluntary and Culpable 1. Voluntary All Habits receive their character from those acts by which they are produced and as the Disobedience of Adam was voluntary so is the Depravation that sprung from it 2. 'T is inherent in the Will If Adam had derived a Leprosie to all Men it were an involuntary evil Because the Diseases of the Body are forreign to the Soul But when the Corruption invades the internal Faculties 't is denominated from the subject wherein 't is seated 3. 'T is the voluntary cause of actual Sins and if the acts proceeding from this corruption are voluntary the principle must be of the same nature 2. 'T is Culpable The formality of Sin consists in its opposition to the Law according to the definition of the Apostle Sin is a transgression of the Law Now the Law requires an entire rectitude in all the Faculties It condemns corrupt inclinations the originals as well as the acts of Sin Besides Concupiscence was not inherent in the humane Nature in its Creation but was contracted by the Fall The Soul is stript of its native Righteousness and Holiness and is invested with contrary qualities There is as great a difference between the corruption of the Soul in its degenerate state and its primitive purity as between the loathsomness of a Carcass and the beauty of a living Body Sad change and to be lamented with tears of confusion That the Sin of Adam should be so fatal to all his Posterity is the most difficult part in the whole order of Divine Providence Nothing more offends carnal Reason which forms many specious Objections against it I will briefly consider them Since God saw that Adam would not resist the Temptation and that upon his Fall the whole race of Mankind which he supported as the foundation would sink into ruine Why did he not confirm him against it was it not within his Power and more suitable to his Wisdome Holiness and Goodness To this I answer 1. The Divine Power could have preserved Man in his Integrity either by laying a restraint on the apostate Angels that they should never have made an attempt upon him or by keeping the Understanding waking and vigilant to discover the danger of the Temptation and by fortifying the Will and rendring it impenetrable to the fiery darts of Satan without any prejudice to its freedom For that doth not consist in an absolute Indifference but in a judicious and deliberate choice so that when the Soul is not led by a blind instinct nor forc'd by a forreign power but embraces what it knows and approves it then enjoyes the most true Liberty Thus in the glorified Spirits above by the full and constant Light of the Mind the Will is indeclinably fixt upon its supreme Good and this is its Crown and Perfection 2. It was most suitable to the Divine Wisdom to leave Man to stand or fall by his own choice 1. To discover the necessary dependance of all Second Causes upon the first No Creature is absolutely impeccable but the most perfect is liable to imperfection He that is essentially is only unchangeably Good Infinite Goodness alone excludes all possibility of receiving Corruption The Fall of Angels and Man convince us that there is one sole Beeing immutably Pure and Holy on whom all depend and without whose Influence they cannot be or must be eternally miserable 2. 'T was very fit that Adam should be first in a state of trial before he was confirm'd in his Happiness The reason of it is clear he was left to his own judgment and election that Obedience might be his choice and in the performance of it he might acquire a title to the reward A determining vertue over him had crost the end of his Creation which was to glorifie God in a free manner Therefore in Paradise there were amiable objects to allure the lower Faculties before they were disordered by Sin The forbidden Fruit had beauty to invite the Eye and sweetness to delight the Palate And if upon the competition of the Sensual with the Intellectual Good he had reâ—ected the one and chose the other he had been rais'd to an unchangeable state his Innocence had been crown'd with Perseverance As the Angels who continued in their Duty when the rest revolted are finally establisht in their Integrity and Felicity And the Apostle gives us an account of this order when he tells us That was first which was natural then that which is spiritual and supernatural Man was created in a state of perfection but 't was natural therefore mutable the confirming of him immediatly had been Grace which belongs to a more excellent Dispensation Now to bring Man from not being to a supernatural state without trial of the middle state of Nature was not so congruous to the Divine Wisdome 3. The permission of the Fall doth not reflect on the Divine Purity For 1. Man was made Upright He had no inward Corruption to betray him There was Antidote enough in his Nature to expel the strongest Temptation 2. God was not bound to hinder the commission of Sin 'T is a true Maxime that in debitis causa dâ—ficiens efficit moraliter But God is not only free from subjection to a Law as having no Superiour but was under no voluntary Obligation by Promise to prevent the Fall 3. Neither doth that first Act of Sin reflect on Gods unspotted Providence which suffer'd it as if Sin were in any degree allowed by Him The Holy Law which God gave to direct Man the terrible Threatning annext to warn him declare his irreconcileable Hatred against Sin He permits innumerable Sins every day yeâ— He is as jealous of the Honour of his Holiness now as in the beginning
it declare The Commission of the Apostles from his own mouth was to preach Repentance and Remission of sins in his name to all Nations and he was exalted by God to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sin The establishing of this order is not a meer positive command wherein the will of the Law-giver is the sole ground of our duty but there is a special congruity and reason in the nature of the thing it self For Christ hath satisfied Justice that God may exercise pardoning Mercy in such a manner as is suitable to his other perfections Now 't is contrary to his Wisdom to dispense the precious benefits of his Sons Blood to impenitent Unbelievers to give such rich Pearls and so dearly bought to Swine that will trample them under their feet to bestow Salvation on those who despise the Saviour 'T is contrary to his Holiness to forgive those who will securely abuse his favour as if his pardon were a priviledge and license to sin against him Nay final Impenitency is unpardonable to Mercy it self For the objects of Justice and Mercy cannot be the same now an impenitent sinner is necessarily under the revenging Justice of God 'T is no disparagement to his omnipotency that he cannot save such For although God can do whatsoever he will yet he can will nothing but what is agreeable to his Nature Not that there is any Law above God that obliges him to act but he is a Law to himself And the more excellent his perfections are the less he can contradict them As 't is no reflection upon his power that he cannot die neither is it that he can do nothing unbecoming his perfections On the contrary it implies weakness to be liable to any such act Thus supposing the Creature Holy it is impossible but he should love it not that he ows any thing to the Creature but in regard he is infinitely good and if impenitent and obstinate in sin he cannot but hate and punish it not that he is accountable for his Actions but because he is infinitely Just. And from hence it appears that the requiring of Repentance and Faith in order to the actual partaking of the blessings our Redeemer purchased doth not diminish the value of his Satisfaction they being not the causes of pardon but necessary qualifications in the subject that receives it 2. It doth not lessen the Compleatness of his Satisfaction that Believers are liable to Afflictions and Death For these are continued according to the agreement between God and our Redeemer for other ends than satisfaction to Justice which was fully accomplisht by him This will appear by several Considerations 1. Some Afflictions have not the nature of a Punishment but are intended only for the exercise of their Graces That the trial of their Faith Patience and Hope being much more precious than of Gold that perisheth though it be tried by the fire might be found unto praise Now these Afflictions are the occasion of their Joy and in order to their Glory Of this kind are all the Sufferings that Christians endure for the promotion of the Gospel Thus the Apostles esteemed themselves dignified in suffering what was contumelious and reproachful for the Name of Christ. And St. Paul interprets it as a special favour that God call'd forth the Philippians to the Combat To you it is given in the behalf of Christ to suffer Not only the Graces of Faith and Fortitude but the Affliction was given So Believers are declared Happy when they are partakers of Christs Sufferings for the Spirit of Glory rests on them Now it is evident that Afflictions of this nature are no Punishments For since 't is essential to Punishment to be inflicted for a Fault and every Fault hath a turpitude in it It necessarily follows that Punishment which is the brand of a crime must be alwaies attended with infamy and the Sufferer under shame But Christians are honourable by their Sufferings for God as they conform them to the Image of his Son who was consecrated by Sufferings 2. Afflictions are sent sometimes not with respect to a Sin committed but to prevent the commission of it and this distinguishes them from Punishments For the Law deters from Evil not by inflicting but threatning the Penalty But in the Divine Discipline there is another Reason God afflicts to restrain from Sin As St. Paul had a thorn in the flesh to prevent Pride 3. Those Evils that are inflicted on Believers for Sin do not diminish the power and value of Christ's Passion For we must distinguish between Punishments which are meerly castigatory for the good of the Offender and that are purely vindictive for the just Satisfaction of the Law Now Believers are liable to the first but are freed from the other For Christ hath redeemed them from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for them The Popish Doctrine of Satisfaction to offended Justice by our suffering temporal Evils is attended with many pernicious Consequences 1. It robs the Cross of Christ of one part of its Glory as if something were left to us to make up in the degrees and vertue of his Sufferings 2. It reflects on Gods Justice as if He exacted two different Satisfactions for Sin the one from Christ our Surety the other from the Sinner 3. It disparages his Mercy in making Him to punish whom He pardons and to inflict a Penalty after the Sin is remitted 4. 'T is dangerous to Man by feeding a false Presumption in him as if by the merit of his sufferings he could expiate Sin and obtain part of that Salvation which we entirely owe to the Death of our Redeemer The difference between Chastisements and purely vindictive Punishments appears in three things 1. In the Causes from whence they proceed The severest Sufferings of the Godly are not the effects of the Divine Vengeance 'T is true they are Evidences of Gods displeasure against them for Sin but not of Hatred For being reconciled to them in Christ He beares an unchangeable Affection to them and Love cannot hate though it may be angry The motive that excites God to correct them is Love according to that testimony of the Apostle Whom the Lord loves He chastens As somtimes out of his severest displeasure He forbeares to strike and condemns obstinate Sinners to Prosperity here so from the tenderest Mercy he afflicts his own But purely vindictive Judgments proceed from meer wrath 2. They differ in their measures The Evils that Believers suffer are alwaies proportioned to their strength They are not the sudden eruptions of Anger but deliberate Dispensations David deprecates Gods Judgment as 't is opposed to Favour Enter not into Judgment with thy Servant O Lord and Jeremiah desires Gods Judgment as 't is opposed to Fury Correct me Oh Lord in thy Judgment not in thy Fury 'T is the gracious Promise of God to
nor of Adam's Subjection to it But when that which in it self was indifferent became unlawful meerly by the Will of God and when the Command had no other excellency but to make his Authority more sacred this was a confining of Man's liberty and to abstain was pure Obedience Besides The restraint was from that which was very grateful and alluring to both the parts of Mans compounded Nature The Sensitive Appetite is strongly excited by the Lust of the Eye and this fruit being beautiful to the sight the forbearance was an excellent exercise of vertue in keeping the lower appetite in obedience Again The desire of Knowledg is extremely quick and earnest and in appearance most worthy of the rational Nature Nullus animo suavior cibus 'T is the most high and luscious food of the Soul Now the Tree of Knowledg was forbidden So that the observance of the Law was the more eminent in keeping the intellectual Appetite in Mediocrity In short God required Obedience as a Sacrifice For the Prohibition being in a matter of natural Pleasure and a curb to Curiosity which is the Lust and Concupiscence of the Mind after things conceal'd by a reverent regard to it Man presented his Soul and Body to God as a living Sacrifice which was his reasonable service CHAP. II. Mans Natural state was mutable The Devil moved by hatred and envy attempts to seduce him The Temptation was suitable to Mans compounded Nature The Woman being deceived perswades her Husband The quality of the first Sin Many were combin'd in it 'T was perfectly voluntary Man had Power to stand The Devil could only allure not compel him His Understanding and Will the causes of his Fall The punishment was of the same date with his Sin He forfeited his Righteousness and Felicity The loss of original Righteousness as it signifies the purity and liberty of the Soul The torment of Conscience that was consequent to Sin A whole Army of Evils enter with it into the World MAN was created perfectly holy but in a natural therefore mutable state He was invested with power to prevent his Falling yet under a possibility of it He was compleat in his own order but receptive of sinful impressions An invincible Perseverance in Holiness belongs to a supernatural state 't is the priviledg of Grace and exceeds the design of the first Creation The rebellious Spirits who by a furious ambition had raised a war in Heaven and were fallen from their obedience and glory designed to corrupt Man and to make him a companion with them in their revolt The most subtile amongst them sets about this work urged by two strong passions Hatred and Envy 1. By Hatred For being under a final and irrevocable Doom he lookt on God as an irreconcileable enemy And not being able to injure his Essence he struck at his Image As the fury of some beasts discharges it self upon the Picture of a Man He singled out Adam as the mark of his malice that by seducing him from his Duty he might defeat God's design which was to be honoured by Mans free obedience and so obscure his Glory as if He had made Man in vain 2. He was sollicited by Envy the first native of Hell For having lost the favour of God and being cast out of Heaven the Region of Joy and Blessedness the sight of Adam's Felicity exasperated his Grief That Man who by the condition of his nature was below him should be Prince of the world whilst he was a Prisoner under those chains which restrain'd him and tormented him the power and wrath of God this made his state more intollerable His torment was incapable of allay but by rendering man as miserable as himself And as hatred excited his envy so envy inflam'd his hatred and both joyn'd in mischief And thus pusht on his Subtilty being equal to his Malice he contrives a Temptation which might be most taking and dangerous to Man in his raised and happy state He attempts him with art by propounding the lure of Knowledg and Pleasure to inveigle the Spiritual and Sensitive Appetites at once And that he might the better succeed he addresses to the Woman the weakest and most liable to seduction He hides himself in the body of a Serpent which before Sin was not terrible unto her And by this instrument insinuates his Temptation He first allures with the hopes of impunity Ye shall not die then he promiseth an universal knowledg of good and evil By these pretences he ruin'd innocence it self For the Woman deceived by those specious Allectives swallowed the poison of the Serpent and having tasted Death she perswaded her Husband by the same motives to despise the Law of their Creator Thus Sin enter'd and brought confusion into the World For the moral Harmony of the World consisting in the just subordination of the several ranks of beings to one another and of all to God When Man who was placed next to God broke the Union his Fall brought a desperate disorder into God's Government And although the matter of the Offence seems small yet the Disobedience was infinitely great it being the transgression of that command which was given to be the instance and real proof of Mans subjection to God Totam legem violavit in illo legalis obedientiae praecepto The Honour and Majesty of the whole Law was violated in the breach of that symbolical Precept 'T was a direct and formal Rebellion a publick and universal renouncing of Obedience Many Sins were combin'd in that single act 1. Infidelity This was the first step to ruine It appears by the order of the Temptation 't was first said by the Devil Ye shall not die to weaken their Faith then ye shall be like gods to flatter their ambition The fear of Death would have contrould the efficacy of all his Arguments till that restraint was broke he could fasten nothing upon them This account the Apostle gives of the Fall The woman being deceiv'd was in the transgression As Obedience is the effect of Faith so Disobedience of Infidelity And as Faith comes by hearing the Word of God so Infidelity by listening to the words of the Devil From the deception of the Mind proceeded the depravation of the Will the intemperance of the Appetite and the defection of the whole Man Thus as the natural so the spiritual Death made its first entrance by the Eye And this Infidelity is extremely aggravated as it implies an accusation of God both of envy and falshood 1. Of Envy As if he had deni'd them the perfections becoming the humane Nature and they might ascend to a higher Orb than that wherein they were placed by eating the forbidden fruit And what greater disparagement could there be of the Divine Goodness than to suspect the Deity of such a low and base Passion which is the special character of the Angels of Darkness And 't was equally injurious to the honour of God's Truth
For it is not easy to conceive that Adam who was so lately the effect of Gods Omnipotence should presently distrust it as unable to inflict the punishment threatned but his assent was weakened as to the truth of the threatening He did not believe the danger to be so great or certain upon his Disobedience And he that believes not God makes him a Liar An impiety not to be thought on without horror And that which heightens the affront is that when he distrusted the Fountain of Truth he gave credit to the Father of Lies as appears by his compliance the real evidence of his Faith Now what viler contumely could be offered to the Creator 2. Prodigious Pride He was scarce out of the state of nothing no sooner created but he aspir'd to be as God Not content with his Image he affected an equality to be like him in his inimitable Attributes He would rob God of his Eternity to live without end of his Soveraignty to command without dependance of his Wisdome to know all things without reserve Infinite Insolence and worthy of the most fiery indignation That Man the Son of the Earth forgetful of his Original should usurp the Prerogatives which are essential to the Deity and set up himself a real Idol was a strain of that arrogancy which corrupted the Angels 3. Horrid Ingratitude He was appointed Heir apparent of all things yet undervaluing his present portion he entertains a project of improving his Happiness The excellent state newly conferr'd upon him was a strong obligation to pay so small an acknowledgment to his Lord. The use of all the Garden was allowed to him only a Tree excepted Now in the midst of such variety and plenty to be inflam'd with the intemperate appetite of the forbidden Fruit and to break a Command so equal and easie what was it but a despising the rich Goodness of his great Benefactor Besides Man was endued with a diviner Spirit than the inferiour order of Creatures Reason and Liberty were the special priviledges of his Nature and to abuse them to Rebellion renders him as more unreasonable so more disingenuous than the Creatures below him who inflexibly obey the Will of God 4. The visible Contempt of God's Majesty with a slighting his Justice For the Prohibition was so express and terrible that till he had cast off all respects to the Lawgiver 't was not possible he should venture to disobey him The Sin of Adam is therefore called by the Apostle Disobedience as eminently such it being the first and highest instance of it 'T was the profanation of Paradise it self the place of God's special presence There he fell and trampled on God's Command before his face What just cause of astonishment is it that a reasonable creature should bid open Defiance to the Author of its Life That a little breathing dust should contemn its Creator That Man should prefer servile compliance to the will of the Tempter before free subjection to his Father and Sovereign To depose God and place the Devil in his Throne was double Treason and provok'd his infinite jealousie 5. Unaccountable and amazing Folly What a despicable acquisition tempted him out of Happiness If there had been any possible comparison between them the choice had been more excusable But that the pleasures of Taste and Curiosity should outvie the favour of God which is better than Life that the most pernicious evil guilded with the thin appearance of good should be preferr'd before the substantial and supreme Good is the reproach of his Reason and makes the choice so criminal And what less than voluntary Madness could encline him to desire that which he ought infinitely to have fear'd that is the knowledg of evil for nothing could destroy his Happiness but the experience of Evil. What but a wilful distraction could induce him to believe that by defacing God's image he should become more like him Thus Man being in honour but without understanding became like the beasts that perish 6. A bloody cruelty to himself and all his Posterity When God had made him a depositary in a matter of infinite moment that is of his own Happiness and all mankinds this should have been a powerful motive to have kept him vigilant But giving a ready ear to the Tempter he betraid his trust and at once breaks both the Tables of the Law and becomes guilty of the highest Impiety and Cruelty He was a Murderer before a Parent he disinherited all his Children before they were born and made them Slaves before they knew the price of Liberty And that which increases the malignity of this Sin and adds an infinite emphasis to it is that 't was perfectly voluntary his Will was the sole cause of his Fall And this is evident by considering 1. That Adam innocent had a sufficient power to persevere in his holy State There was no substraction of any Grace which was requisite to his standing He left God before he was forsaken by Him Much less was there any internal impulsion from God 'T is inconsistent with the Divine Purity to encline the Creature to sin As God cannot be tempted to evil neither tempts he any man 'T is injurious to his Wisdom to think that God would spoil that work which he had compos'd with so much design and counsel And 't is dishonourable to his Goodness He loved his Creature and Love is an inclination to do good 't was impossible therefore for God to induce Man to sin or to withdraw that power which was necessary to resist the Temptation when the consequent must be his inevitable ruine 2. The Devil did only allure he could not ravish his consent Though his malice is infinite yet his power is so restrain'd that he can't fasten an immediate much less an irresistable impression on the Will he therefore made use of an external Object to invite him Now Objects have no constraining force they are but partial agents and derive all their efficacy from the Faculties to which they are agreable And although since Sin hath disordered the flesh there is difficulty in resisting those objects which pleasantly insinuate themselves yet such an universal rectitude was in Adam and so entire a subjection in the sensual Appetite to the superiour power of Reason that he might have obtain'd an easie conquest A resolute Negative had made him victorious by a strong Denial he had baffled that proud Spirit As the heavenly Adam when he who is only rich in promises offer'd to him the Monarchy of the World with all its glory disdain'd the offer and cast off Satan with contempt The true Rock was unmov'd and broke all the proud waves that dasht against it 3. It will fully appear that the Disobedience was Voluntary by considering what denominates an action to be so The two springs of humane actions are the Understanding and Will and as there is no particular good but may have the appearance of some
had in his Creation an original Power to perform 2. There is a moral Impotence which arises from a perverse disposition of the Will and is join'd with a delight to Sin and a strong aversion from the holy Commands of God and the more deep and inveterate this is the more worthy 't is of punishment Aristotle asserts That those who contract invincible Habits by Custome are inexcusable though they cannot abstain from evil For since Liberty consists in doing what one wils this impossibility doth not destroy Liberty the depravation of the Faculties doth not hinder their voluntary operations The Understanding conceives the Will chooses the Appetite desires freely A distracted Person that kils is not guilty of Murder and therefore secure from the Sentence of the Law For his Understanding being distemper'd by the disorder of the images in his Fancy it doth not judg aright so that the action is involuntary and therefore not culpable But there is a vast difference between the causes of Distraction and those which induce a carnal Man to sin The first are seated in the distemper of the Brain over which the Will hath no Power whereas there should be a regular subjection of the lower appetite to the Will enlightned and directed by the Mind The Will it self is corrupted and brought into captivity by things pleasing to the lower Faculties It cannot disintangle it self but its impotence lies in its obstinacy This is the meaning of St. Peter speaking concerning unclean Persons That their eyes are full of adultery and they cannot cease from Sin 'T is from their fault alone that they are without power Therefore the Scripture represents Man to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 weak but wicked His disability to supernatural Good arises from an inordinate Affection to that which is sensual So that 't is so far from excusing that it renders inexcusable being voluntary and vitious And in this the Diseases of the Body are different from those of the Soul In the first the desire of healing is ineffectual through want of knowledg or power to apply Sovereign Remedies Whereas in the second the sincere desire of their Cure is sufficient for the Diseases are corrupt desires The Natural Man is wholly led by Sence by Fancy and the Passions and he esteems it his infelicity to be otherwise as the degenerous Slave who was displeased with a Jubile and refused Liberty Servitude is his Sensuality He is not only in love with the unworthy object but with the vitious affection and abhors the cure of it As one in the Poet that was so delighted in his pleasant Madness that he was offended at his Recovery Cui sic extorta voluptas Et demptus per vim mentis gratissimus error This is acknowledged by St. Austin in his Confessions where he describes the conflict between Conviction and Corruption in his Soul He tells us in the strife between Reason and Lust that he had recourse to God and his Prayer was Da mihi continentiam sed noli modo he desired Chastity but not too soon This is the general sence though not the general discourse of men As the Sick Person that desired his Physician to remove his Fever but not his thirst which made his drink very pleasing to him So Man in his sensual state would fain be freed from the aestuations of Conscience but he cherishes those carnal desires which give a high tast to objects suitable to them From hence it appears that although in the corrupt Nature there is no liberty of indifferency to good and evil yet there is a liberty of delight in evil and though the Will in its natural capacity may choose good yet 't is morally determin'd by its love to evil· In short There is so much power not to sin as is sufficient to sin that is that the forbidden action be free and so become a Sin Which strange combination of Liberty and Necessity is excellently exprest by St. Bernard That the Soul which fell by its own choice can't recover it self is from the corruption of the Will which overcome by the vitious love of the Body rejects the love of Righteousness so that in a manner as strange as evil the Will being corrupted with Sin makes a necessity to it self yet so that the necessity being voluntary doth not excuse the Will nor the Will being pleasantly and powerfully allur'd exclude Necessity The Law therefore remains in its full force and God is righteous in the commanding and condemning Sinners From all that hath been discours'd 't is evident how impossible it is for corrupt Man to recover his lost Holiness For there are only two Motives to induce the reasonable Creature to seek after it 1. It s Beauâ—y and Loveliness 2. The Reward that attends it And both these Arguments are ineffectual to work upon him 1. The Beauty of Holiness which excels all other created Perfections it being a conformity to the most glorious Attribute of the Deity doth not allure him For Unusquisque ut affectus est ita judicat Man understands according to his Affections The renewed Mind can only see the essential and intimate Beauty of Holiness Now in faln Man the clearness of the discerning power is lost As the natural Eye till 't is purged from vicious qualities can't look on things that are bright and sublime and if it hath been long in darkness it suffers by the most pleasing Object the light so the internal eye of the Mind that it may see the lively lustre of Holiness it must be cleansed from the filthiness of carnal Affections and having been so long under thick darkness it must be strengthned before it can sustain the brightness of things spiritual Till it be prepar'd it can see nothing amiable and desireable in the Image of God 2. The Reward of Holiness hath no attractive power on the carnal Will because 't is Future and Spiritual 1. 'T is Future and therefore the conceptions of it are very dark and imperfect The Soul is sunk down into the Senses and they are short-sighted and can't look beyond what is present to the next life And as the images of things are weaken'd and confus'd proportionably to their distance and make a fainter impression upon the Faculty so the representation of Heaven and Blessedness as a Happiness to come hereafter and therefore remote doth but coldly affect the Will A present vanity in the judgment of the carnal Soul outweighs the most glorious futurity 'Till there be taken from before its eyes the in Tertullian's language thick curtain of the visible World it cannot discern the difference between them nor value the reward for its excellency and duration 2. 'T is Spiritual and there must be a divine Disposition of the Soul before it is capable of it The pure in heart can only see the pure God The Felicity above is that which Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it
for ever and is not compleated Secondly Faln Man considered only in his corrupt and miserable state is incapable of real Repentance which is a necessary Condition to qualifie him for Pardon For whereas Repentance includes an ingenuous sorrow for Sin past and a sincere forsaking of it he is utterly indispos'd for both 1. He cannot be ingenuously sorrowful for his offence 'T is true when the circumstances are changed that which was pleasing will cause trouble of Spirit As when a Malefactor suffers for his Crimes he reflects upon his Actions with Sorrow But this hath no moral worth in it For 't is a forc'd act proceeding from a violent Principle and is consistent with as great a love to Sin as he had before and is intirely terminated on himself But that grief which is divine and is accompanied with a change in heart and life respects the stain more than the punishment of Sin and arises from Love to God who is disobeyed and dishonored by it Now 't is not conceivable that the guilty Creature can love God whilst he looks on him as an irreconcileable enemy Distrust of the favour of a person which is a degree of fear is attended with coldness of affection a strong fear which still intimates an uncertainty in the event inclines to hatred But when fear is turn'd into despair it causeth direct hatred An instance of this we have in the Devils who curse the Fountain of Blessedness If the Evil be past Remedy the sence of it is attended with rage and transports of blasphemy against God himself A despairing Sinner begins in this life the gnashing of teeth against his Judg and kindles the fire that shall torment him for ever 'T is for this reason the Scripture propounds the Goodness of God as the most powerful persuasive to lead men to Repentance There can be no kindly relentings without filial Affection and that is alwaies temper'd with the expectation of favour Without hope of Pardon all other motives are ineffectual to melt the heart Now the first Covenant obliged Man to Obedience or Punishment It required Innocence and did not accept of Repentance The final voice of the Law is Do or Die Guilty Man cannot look on God with comfort under the notion of a Holy Creator that delights to view his own resemblance in the innocent creature nor of a compassionate Father that spares an offending Son but he apprehends him to be an inexorable Judge who hath Right and Power to revenge the Disobedience He â—an find no expedient for his Deliverance nor conceive how Mercy can save him without the violation of Justice an Attribute as essential to the Divine Nature as Mercy And what can induce him to make an humble confession of his fault when he expected nothing but an irrevocable Doom An instance of this we have in Adam who being under the conviction of his Sin and an apprehension that God would be severe did not sollicite for Mercy but endeavour'd to transfer the guilt on God himself The woman thou gavest me she gave me of the tree and I did eat As if she had been design'd for a snare and not to be an aid in his innocent state 2. A sincere Resolution to forsake Sin is built on the hopes of Mercy Till the reasonable Creature know that Heaven is open to Repentance to his second and better thoughts he is irreclaimable He that never hopes to receive any good will continue in doing evil Despair of Mercy causeth a despising of the Law The Apostate Angels who are without the reserves of Pardon are confirm'd in their Rebellion their Guilt is mixt with Fury they persist in their war against God though they know the issue will be deadly to them And had there not been an early revelation of Mercy to Adam he had been incorrigibly wicked as the Devils For despair had inflam'd his hatred against God which is of all the Passions the most incureable Those vicious Affections that depend on the humours of the Body which are mutable alter with them But Hatred is seated in the superiour part of the Soul which is of a Spiritual nature and Diabolical in obstinacy In short When the reasonable Creature is guilty and vitious and knows that God is Just and Holy and that He will be severe in revenging all Disobedience he hath no Care nor Desire to reform himself He will not lay a restraint on his pleasing Appetites when he expects no recompence he esteems it lost labour to abstain And all his design is to allay and sweeten the fear of future Evils by present enjoyments When he is scorcht with the apprehensions of wrath to come he plunges himself into sensual excesses for some relief He resolves to make his best of Sin for a time according to the Principle of the Epicures Let us eat and drink while we may to morrow we shall die The Sum of all is this that an unrelenting and unreformed Sinner is incapable of Pardon For unless God should renounce his own Nature and deny his Deity He cannot receive him to favour And it is inconceivable how the rational Creature once lapsed should ever be encourag'd to Repentance without the expectation of Mercy And there being an inseparable alliance between the integrity and felicity of Man by the terms of the first Covenant the one failing he could not entertain the least degree of Hope concerning the other By all which it appears he is under an invincible necessity of sinning and suffering for ever his Misery is compleat and desperate CHAP. V. Of the Divine Wisdome in the contrivance of Man 's Redemption Understanding agents propound an End and choose Means for the obtaining it The End of God is of the highest consequence his own Glory and Man's Recovery The difficulty of accomplishing it The Means are proportionable The Divine Wisdome glorified in taking occasion from the Sin and Fall of Man to bring Glory to God and to raise Man to a more excellent State It appears in ordaining such a Mediator as was fit to reconcile God to Man and Man to God 'T is discovered in the designation of the Second Person to be our Saviour And making the Remedy to have a proportion to the cause of our Ruine 'T is visible in the manner whereby our Redemption is accomplisht And in the ordaining such contemptible means to produce such glorious effects And laying the design of the Gospel so as to provide for the comfort and promote the holiness of Man GOD by his infallible Prescience to which all things are eternally present viewing the Fall of Adam and that all Mankind lay bleeding in him out of deep compassion to his Creature and that the Devil might not be finally victorious over him in his Councel decreed the Recovery of Man from his languishing and miserable state The design and the means are most worthy of God and in both his Wisdom appears This will be made visible by considering that
all understanding Agents first propound an end and then choose the means for the obtaining of it And the more perfect the Understanding is the more excellent is the end it designs and the more fit and convenient are the means it makes use of for the acquiring it Now when God whose Understanding is infinite and in comparison of whom the most prudent and advised are but as dark shadows when he determines to work especially in a most glorious manner the end and the means are equally admirable First The end is of the highest Consequence Were it some low inconsiderable thing it were unworthy one thought of God for the effecting it To be curious in the contriving how to accomplish that which is of no importance exposes to a just imputation of Folly But when the most excellent Good is the end and the difficulties which hinder the obtaining of it are insuperable to a finite understanding it then becomes the only wise God to discover the Divinity of his Wisdom in making a way where he finds none And such was the end of God in the work of our Redemption This was declar'd by the Angels who were sent Ambassadors extraordinary to bring tidings of peace to the world They praised God saying Glory to God in the highest and on Earth Peace good Will towards men The supreme End is his own Glory and in order to it the Salvation of Man hath the nature and respect of a medium The subordinate is the Recovery of the world from its lapsed and wretched state 1. The supreme End is the Glory of God This signifies principally his internal and essential Glory and that consists in the Perfections of his Nature which can never be fully conceived by the Angels but overwhelm by their excellent greatness all created Understandings But the Glory that results from Gods works is properly intended in the present Argument and implies 2. The manifestation whereby he is pleased to represent Himself in the exercise of his Attributes As the Divine Nature is the primary and compleat Object of his Love so he takes delight in those Actions wherein the image and brightness of his own vertues appear Now in all the works of God there is an evidence of his Excellencies But as some Stars shine with a different glory so there are some noble effects wherein the Divine Attributes are so conspicuous that in compare with them the rest of Godâ—s works are but obscure expressions of his Greatness The principal are Creation and Redemption The Heavens declare the glory of God and the Firmament his handy-work And when God surveyed the whole Creation and saw that all which he had made was good He ordain'd a Sabbath to signifie the content and satisfaction he had in the discovery of his eternal Perfections therein But especially his Glory is most resplendent in the Work of Redemption wherein more of the Divine Attributes are exercisâ—d than in the Creation and in a more glorious manner 'T is here that Wisdom Goodness Justice Holiness and Power are united in their highest degree and exaltation Upon this account the Apostle useth that expression The glorious Gospel of the Blessed God It being the clearest revelation of his excellent Attributes the unspotted mirrour wherein the great and wonderful effects of the Deity are set forth 3. The Praise and Thanksgiving that ariseth from the discovery of his Perfections by reasonable Creatures who consider and acknowledg them When there is a solemn veneration of his excellencies and the most ardent affections to Him for the communication of his goodness Thus in Gods account Whoso offers praise glorifies him An eminent example of this is set down in Job 38.7 when at the birth of the World The Morning Stars sang together and all the Sons of God shouted for joy And at its new Birth they descend and make his praise glorious in a triumphant Song It will be the eternal exercise of the Saints in Heaven where they more fully understand the Mystery of our Redemption and consider every circumstance that may adde a lustre to it to ascribe Blessing Honour Glory and Power to him that sits on the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever Secondly The subordinate End is the restoring of Man And this is inviolably joyn'd with the other 'T is exprest by Peace on earth and good will towards men Sin had broke that sacred Alliance which was between God and Man and exposed him to his just displeasure A misery inconceivable And what is more becoming God who is the Father of Mercies than to glorifie his dear Attribute and that which in a peculiar manner characterises his Nature by the Salvation of the miserable What is more honourable to Him than by his Almighty Mercy to raise so many Monuments from the dust wherein his Goodness may live and reign for ever Now for the accomplishing of these excellent Ends the Divine Wisdom pitcht upon those means which were most fit and congruous which I shall distinctly consider The Misery of faln Man consisted in the Corruption of his nature by Sin and the Punishment that ensues And his Happiness is in the restoring him to his primitive Holiness and in Reconciliation to God and the full fruition of him The way to effect this was beyond the compass of any created Understanding That God who is rich in Goodness should be favourable to the Angels who serve him in perfect Purity we may easily conceive for although they do not merit his favour yet they never provokt his Anger And 't is impossible but that he should love the Image of his Holiness wherever it shines Or suppose an innocent creature in Misery the Divine Mercy would speedily excite his power to rescue it For God is Love to all his Creatures as such till some extrinsecal cause intervenes which God hates more than he loves the Creature and that is Sin which alone stops the effusion of his Goodness and opens a wide passage for wrath to fall upon the guilty But how to save the Creature that is undone by its own choice and is as sinful as miserable will pose the wisdom of the world Heaven it self seem'd to be divided Mercy enclin'd to save but Justice interpos'd for satisfaction Mercy regarded Man with respect to his misery and the pleas of it are Shall the Almighty build to ruine Shall the most excellent creature in the lower world perish the fault not being solely his Shall the enemy triumph for ever and raise his Trophies from the Works of the most High Shall the reasonable Creature lose the fruition of God and God the subjection and service of the Creature and all Mankind be made in vain Justice consider'd Man as guilty of a transcendent Crime and 't is its nature to render to every one what is due now the wages of Sin is Death and shall not the Judg of all the world do right All the the other
is insufficient to restore man to his original integrity and felicity Reason sees that Man is ignorant and guilty mortal and miserable that he is transported with vain passions and tormented with accusations of Conscience but it could not redress these evils Corrupt Nature is like an imperfect Building that lies in rubbish the imperfection is visible but not the way how to finish it for through ignorance of the first design every one follows his own fancy whereas when the Architect comes to finish his own project it appears regular and beautiful Thus the various directions of Philosophers to recover fallen Man out of his ruines and to raise him to his first state were vain Some glimmerings they had that the happiness of the reasonable nature consisted in its union with God but in order to this they propounded such means as were not only ineffectual but opposit Such is the pride and folly of carnal wisdom that to bring God and Man together it advances Man and depresses God The Stoicks ascribed to their Wiseman those prerogatives whereby he equall'd their Supreme God They made him the architect of his own vertue and felicity and to vie with Jupiter himself to be one of his Peers Others reduced the Gods to live like Men and Men like Beasts by placing happiness in sensual pleasures Thus instead of curing they fomented the hereditary and principal Diseases of mankind Pride and Concupiscence which at first caus'd the separation of man from God and infinitely increas'd the distance between them For what sins are more contrary to the Majesty and Purity of God than Pride which robs him of his Excellency and carnal lust which turns a man into a beast Besides all their inventions to expiate sin to appease the Deity and make him favorable to calme the Conscience were frivolous and unprofitable And their most generous principles and accurate Precepts were short of that purity and perfection werewith moral duties are to be perform'd to God and men Briefly they wasted their Candle in vain in searching for the way to true happiness But God who created Man for the enjoyment of himself hath happily accomplisht his eternal Decree by the work of our Redemption wherein his own Glory is most visible And the Gospel which reveals this to us humbles whom it justifies and comforts those that were condemned it abases more then the Law but without dispair and advances more then Nature could but without presumption The Mediator takes away the guilt of our old sins and our inclination to new sins we are not only pardoned but preferred made Heirs of God joynt-Heirs with Christ. For these reasons the Apostle sets so high a value upon the Heavenly Doctrine that reveals a Saviour to the undone World He desired to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him Crucified He despised all Pharisaical and Philosophical Learning in comparison of the Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Jesus Other knowledge swells the mind and increases the esteem of our selves this gives us a sincere view of our state It discovers our misery in its causes and the Almighty Mercy that saves us Other knowledge inlightens the understanding without changing the heart but this inspires us with the love of God with the hatred of sin and makes us truly better In seeking after other knowledge the mind is perplext by endless inquiries here 't is at rest as the wavering Needle is fixt when turn'd to it s beloved Star Ignorance of other things may be without any real damage to us for we may be directed by the skilful how to preserve Life and Estate But this Knowledge is absolutely necessary to Justifie Sanctifie and Save us All other knowledge is useless at the hour of death then the richest stock of Learning is lost the vessel being split wherein the treasure was laid but this Pearl of inestimable price as 't is the ornament of our prosperity so 't is the support of our adversity A little ray of this is infinitely more desirable then the light of all humane Sciences in their lustre and perfection And what an amazing folly is it that men who are possest with an earnest passion of knowing should waste their time and strength in searching after these things the knowledge of which can't remove those evils which oppress them and be careless of the saving knowledge of the Gospel Were there no other reason to diminish the esteem of earthly knowledge but the difficulty of its acquisition that error often surprises those who are searching after truth this might check our intemperate pursuit of it Sin hath not only shortned our understandings but our lives that we cannot arrive to the perfect discovery of inferior things But suppose that one by his vast mind should comprehend all created things from the Centre of the Earth to the Circumference of the Heavens and were not savingly inlighten'd in the Mystery of our Redemption with all his knowledge he would be a prey to Satan and increase the triumphs of Hell The Historian upbraids the Roman luxury that with so much cost and hazzard they should send to foreign parts for Trees that were beautiful but barren and produc'd a shadow only without fruit With greater reason we may wonder that men should with the expence of their precious hours purchase barren curiosities which are unprofitable to their last end How can a condemned Criminal who is in suspence between Life and Death attend to study the secrets of Nature and Art when all his thoughts are taken up how to prevent the execution of the Sentence and 't is no less than a prodigy of madness that men who have but a short and uncertain space allowed them to escape the wrath to come should rack their brains in studying things impertinent to salvation and neglect the Knowledg of a Redeemer Especially when there is so clear a Revelation of him The righteousness of Faith doth not command us to ascend to the Heavens or descend into the deep to make a discovery of it but the Word is nigh us that discovers the certain way to a happy immortallity Seneca a Philosopher and a Courtier valued his being in the world only upon this account that he might contemplate the Starry Heaven He only saw the visible beauty of the Firmament but was ignorant of the Glory within it and of the way that leads to it yet to our shame he speaks that the sight of it made him despise the Earth and without the contemplation of the Celestial bodies he esteem'd his continuance in the World not the life of a Man but the toil of a Beast But what transports had he been in if he had been acquainted with the contrivance of our Redemption the admirable order of its parts and the beauty that results from the composition of the whole But we that with open face may in the Glass of the Gospel behold the Glory of the Lord turn away
infinitly above the ordinary course of Nature The Maxims of Philosophy are not to be extended to Him We must adore what we cannot fully understand But those things are against Reason and utterly inconceivable that involve a contradiction and have a natural repugnancy to our Understandings which cannot conceive any thing that is formally impossible And there is no such Doctrine in the Christian Religion 2. We must distinguish between Reason corrupted and right Reason Since the Fall the clearness of the Humane Understanding is lost and the light that remains is eclipsed by the interposition of sensual lusts The carnal Mind cannot out of Ignorance and will not from Pride and other malignant habits receive things spiritual And from hence ariseth many suspicions and doubts concerning supernatural Verities the shadows of darkned Reason and of dying Faith If any Divine Mystery seems incredible 't is from the corruption of our Reason not from Reason it self from its darkness not its light And as Reason is obliged to correct the Errors of Sense when 't is deceived either by some vicious quality in the organ or by the distance of the object or by the falsness of the medium that corrupts the image in conveying of it So 't is the office of Faith to reform the judgment of Reason when either from its own weakness or the height of things Spiritual 't is mistaken about them For this end supernatural Revelation was given not to extinguish Reason but to redress it and enrich it with the discovery of Heavenly things Faith is called Wisdom and Knowledg it doth not quench the vigour of the Faculty wherein 't is seated but elevates it and gives it a spiritual preception of those things that are most distant from its commerce It doth not lead us through a mist to the inheritance of the Saints in light Faith is a rational Light For 1. It arises from the consideration of those Arguments which convince the Mind that the Scripture is a Divine Revelation I know saith the Apostle whom I have believed And we are commanded Alwaies to be ready to give an account of the hope that is in us Those that owe their Christianity meerly to the Felicity of their Birth without a sight of that transcendent excellency in our Religion which evidences that it came from Heaven do not believe aright As the Eye that is clouded with a Suffusion so that all things appear yellow to it when it judges things to be yellow that are so its judgment is vitious Because it proceeds not from the quality of the object but from its own indisposition So those that believe the Gospel upon a false Principle because 't is the Religion of their Country though in its self the word of Truth yet they are not right Believers 'T is not Judgment but Chance that enclines them to embrace it The Turks upon the same reason are zealous votaries of Mahomet as they are Disciples of Christ. 2. Faith makes use of Reason to consider what Doctrines are revealed in the Scripture and to deduce those Consequences which have a clear connexion with supernatural Principles Thus Reason is an excellent instrument to distinguish those things which are of a Divine Original from what is spurious and counterfeit For sometimes that is pretended to be a Mystery of Religion which is only the fruit of Fancy and that is defended by the sacred respect of Faith that Reason ought not to violate which is but a groundless imagination so that we remain in an Error by the sole apprehensions of falling into one as those that die for fear of Death The Bereans are commended for their searching the Scriptures whether the Doctrines they heard were consentaneous to them But 't is a necessary Duty that Reason how stiff soever should fully comply with God where it appears reasonable that He hath spoken Briefly The richest Ornament of the Creature is Humility and the most excellent effect of it is the sense of the weakness of our Understanding This is the temper of Soul that prepares it for Faith partly as it puts us on a serious consideration of those things which are reveal'd to us in the Word Infidelity proceeds from the want of consideration and nothing hinders that so much as Pride Partly as it stops all curious enquiries into those things which are unsearchable and principally as it entitles to the Promise God will instruct and give Grace to the humble The knowledg of Heaven as well as the Kingdom of Heaven is the inheritance of the poor in spirit A greater progress is made in the knowledg and belief of these Mysteries by humble Prayer than by the most anxious study As at Court an hour of Favour is worth a years attendance Man cannot acquire so much as God can give And as Humility so Holiness prepares the Soul for the receiving of Supernatural Truths The Understanding is clarified by the purification of the Heart 'T is not the difficulty and obscurity of things reveal'd that is the real cause of Infidelity since men believe other things upon far less Evidence but 't is the prejudice of the lower Faculties that hinders them When all Affections to sin are mortified the Soul is in the best disposition to receive Divine Revelation He that doth the will of God shall know whether the Doctrine of the Gospel came from Heaven The Spirit of God is the alone Instructer of the Spirit of Man in these Mysteries so as to produce a Saving Belief of them That Knowledg is more clear and satisfying that we have by his Teaching than by our own Learning The Rational Mind may discern the Literal Sense of the Propositions in the Gospel and may yield a naked assent to the truth of them but without supernatural irradiation by the Spirit of Life there can be no transforming and saving Knowledg and Belief of them And as the vast expansion of Air that is about us doth not preserve Life but that part which we breath in so 't is not the compass of our Knowledg and Belief though it were equal to the whole revealed Will of God that is vital to the Soul but that which is practised by us The Apostle saith Though he had the understanding of all Mysteries and all Knowledg and all Faith yet if it were not joyned with Love the Principle of Obedience it were unprofitable There is the same difference between the Speculative Knowledg of these Mysteries and that which is Affectionate and Operative as between the wearing of Pearls for Ornament and the taking of them as a Cordial to revive the fainting spirits In short Such a Belief is required as prevails upon the Will and draws the Affections and 〈◊〉 the whole Man obsequious to the Gospel For 〈◊〉 a Faith is alone answerable to the quality of the Revelation The Gospel is not a meer Narrative but a Promise Christ is not represented only as an innocent Person dying but as the Son
of God dying to deliver Men from Sin and the effects of it The fallen Angels may understand and believe it without any Affections being unconcernâ—d in it To them 't is a naked History but to Men 't is a Promise and cannot be rightly received without the most ardent Affections This is a faithful Saying and worthy of all acceptation That Jesus Christ came into the world to save Sinners 'T is essentiaâ—â—â— good as true its Sweetness and Profit are equal to its Certainty So that it commends it self to all our Faculties There are severe and sad Truths which are attended with fearful expectation and the Mind is averse from receiving them As the Law which like Lightning terrifies the Soul with its amazing Brightness and there are pleasant illusions which have no solid Foundation And as Truth doth not delight the Mind unless united to Goodness such as is suitable to its Palate so Goodness doth not affect the Will unless it be real Now the Doctrine of the Gospel is as certain as the Law and infinitly more comfortable than all the Inventions of Men. 'T is in the knowledg of it alone that the sensible and considering Soul enjoys perfect Satisfaction and the most composed Rest. 'T is evident that the Understanding doth not behold these Truths in their proper light when the Will doth not embrace them For the rational Appetite follows the last judgment of the Mind When the Apostle had a powerful Conviction of The Excellency of the Knowledg of Christ this made him so earnest to gain an interest in Him For this reason those who are only Christians in Title Having a form of Godliness and denying the power of it are in Scripture-language stiled Infidels It being impossible that those who truly and heartily believe this great Mystery of Godliness should remain ungodly 'T is a strong and effectual Assent that descends from the Brain to the Heart and Life that denominates us true Believers So that when the Death of Christ is propounded as the cause of our Reconciliation with God the wonder of the Mystery doth not make it incredible when as the reason of the Mortiâ—â—â—ation of our Lusts the Pleasures of Sin do not disguise its horrour When Salvation is offer'd upon our accepting of Christ for our Prince and Saviour the Soul is ravisht with its Beauty and chooses it for an everlasting portion To conclude The Doctrine of the Gospel clearly discovers its Divine Original 'T is so reasonable in itself and profitable to us so sublime and elevated above Man yet hath such an admirable agreement with Natural Truths 't is so perfectly corresponding in all its parts that without affected Obstinacy no man can reject it And if after the open revelation of it we are so stupid and wicked as not to see its Superlative Excellency and not to receive it with the Faith Love and Obedience which is due to it what contempt is this of that infinite Wisdom which contriv'd the astonishing way of our Salvation What a reproach to the Divine Understanding as if it had been employed from Eternity about a matter of no moment and that deserves not our serious Consideration and Acceptance The neglect of it will justly bring a more severe punishment than the Hell of the uninstructed Heathens who are strangers to Supernatural Mysteries CHAP. VIII The Mercy of God is represented with peculiar advantages above the other Attributes 'T is eminently glorified in our Redemption in respect of its freeness and greatness The freeness of it amplified from the consideration of the original and object of it God is perfectly happy in Himself and needs not the Creature to preserve or heighten his felicity The glorious reward conferred upon our Saviour doth not prejudice the freeness of his love to Man There was no tie upon God to save Man The Object of Mercy is Man in his lapsed state 'T is illustrated by the consideration of what he is in himself No motives of love are in him He is a rebel impotent and obstinate The freeness of mercy set forth by comparing him with the fallen Angels who are left in perfect irremediable misery Their first state fall and punishment The Reasons why the Wisdom of God made no provision for their recovery ALthough all the Divine Attributes are equal as they are in God for one Infinite cannot exceed another yet in their exercise and effects they shine with a different glory And Mercy is represented in Scripture with peculiar advantages above the rest 'T is God's natural off-spring he is stiled the Father of Mercies 'T is his dear Attribute that which he places next to himself He is proclaim'd the Lord God Gracious and Merciful 'T is his delight Mercy pleases him 'T is his Treasure he is rich in Mercy 'T is his triumphant Attribute and the special matter of his Glory Mercy rejoyces over Judgment Now in the performance of our Redemption Mercy is the predominant Attribute that sets all the rest a working The acts of his Wisdom Justice and Power were in order to the illustration of his Mercy And if we duly consider that Glorious Work we shall find in it all the ingredients of the most sovereign Mercy In discoursing of it I shall principally consider two things wherein this Attribute is eminently glorified the Freeness and the Greatness of it The Freeness of this Mercy will appear by considering the original and object of it 1. The Original is God and the notion of a Deity includes infinite perfections so that it neeessarily follows that he hath no need of the creatures service to preserve or heighten his feliâ—ity If thou be righteous what givest thou him or what receiveth he of thine hand From Eternity he was without external honour yet in that infinite duration he was perfectly joyful and happy He is the fountain of his own blessedness the Theatre of his own Glory the Glass of his own Beauty One drop encreases the Ocean but to God a million of Worlds â—an add nothing Every thing hath so much of Goodness as it derives from him As there was no gain to him by the Creation so there can be no loss by the annihilation of all things The World proceeded from his Wisdom as the Idea and Exemplar and from his Power as the efficient cause and it so proceeds from him as to remain more perfectly in him And as the possession of all things and the obedience of Angels and Men is of no advantage to God so the opposition of impenitent Rebels cannot lessen his Blessedness If thou sinnest what doâ—t thou against him or if thy transgressions be multiplied what dost thou unto him The Sun suffers no loss of its light by the darkness of the night or an Eclipse but the World loâ—es its day if intelligent Beings do not esteem him for his Greatness and love him for his Goodness 't is no injury to him but their own infelicity Were it for his
ye his Servants and there was aâ— it were the voice of mighty thundrings saying Hallelujah for the Lord God Omnipotent reigns They are now the most eminent examples of revenging wrath Their present misery is insupportable and they expect worse When our Saviour cast some of them out of the possest persons they cried out Art thou come to torment us before our time Miserimum est timere cum sâ—eres nihil 't is the height of misery to have nothing to Hope and something to Fear Their guilt is attended with despair they are in everlasting Chains He that carries the Keys of Hell and Death will never open their Prisoâ— If the sentence did admit a Revocation after a million of years their torment would be nothing in comparison of what it is for the longest measure of time bears no proportion to Eternity and hope would allay the sense of the present sufferings with the prospect of future ease But their Judgment is irreversible they are under the blackness of darkness for ever There is not the least glimps of hope to allay their sorrows no Star-light to sweeten the horrours of their Eternal night They are serâ—i poenae that can never be redeemed It were a kind of pardon to them to be capable of Death but God will never be so far reconciled as to annihilate them His Anger shall be accomplished and his Fury rest upon them Immortality the priviledge of their nature infinitly increases their torment for when the Understanding by a strong and active apprehension hath a terrible and unbounded prospect of the continuance of their Sufferings that what is intolerable must be Eternal this inexpressibly exasperates their Misery There wants a word beyond Death to set it forth This is the condition of the sinning Angels and God might have dealt in as strict Justice with rebellious Man 'T is true there are many Reasons may be assigned why the Wisdom of God made no provision for their Recovery 1. It was most decent that the first Breach of the Divine Law should be punisht to secure Obedience for the future Prudent Lawgivers are severe against the first Transgressors the Leaders in Disobedience He that first presumed to break the Sabbath was by Godâ—s command put to Death And Solomon the King of Peace punisht the first attempt upon his Royalty with Death though in the person of his Brother 2. The Malignity of their Sin was in the highest degree For such was the clearness of the Angelical Understanding that there was nothing of Ignorance and Deceit to lessen the voluntariness of their Sin 't was no mistake but Malice They fell in the light of Heaven and rendered themselves incapable of Mercy As under the Law those who sinned with a high hand that is not out of Ignorance or Imbecillity to please their Passions but knowingly and proudly despised the Command their Presupmtion was inexpiable no Sacrifice was appointed for it And the Gospel though the Declaration of Mercy yet excepts those who sin the great Transgression against the Holy Ghost Now of such a nature was the Sin of the Rebellious Angels it being a contemptuous violation of Gods Majesty and therefore unpardonable Besides they are wholly spiritual Beings without any allay of flesh and so fell to the utmost in evil there being nothing to suspend the intireness of their Will whereas the Humane Spirit is more slow by its union with the Body And that which extremely aggravates their sin is that it was committed in the state of perfect Happiness They despised the full fruition of God 't was therefore congruous to the Divine Wisdom that their final Sentence should depend upon their first Election whereas Mans Rebellion though inconceivably great was against a lower Light and less Grace dispensed to him 3. They finn'd without a Tempter and were not in the same capacity with Man to be restor'd by a Saviour The Devil is an original Proprietor in Sin 't is of his own Man was beguiled by the Serpents subtilty as he fell by anothers Malice so he is recovered by anothers Merit 4. The Angelical Nature was not entirely lost Myriads of blessed Spirits still continue in the place of their Innocency and Glory and for ever ascribe to the Great Creator that incommunicable Honour which is due to Him and perfectly do his Commandments But all Mankind was lost in Adam and no Religion was left in the lower world Now although in these and other respects it was most consistent with the Wisdom and Justice of God to conclude them under an irrevocable Doom yet the principal cause that enclin'd him to save Man was meer and perfect Grace The Law madâ— no distinction but awarded the same Punishment Mercy alone made the difference and the reason of that is in Himself Millions of them fell Sacrifices to Justice and guilty Man was spared 'T is not for the excellency of our Natures for Man in his Creation was lower than the Angels nor upon the account of Service for they having more eminent Endowments of Wisdom and Power might have brought greater honour to God nor for our Innocence for though not equally yet we had highly offended Him But it must be resolved into that Love which passeth Knowledg 'T was the unaccountable Pleasure of God that preferr'd babes before the wise and prudent and herein Grace is most glorious He in no wise took the nature of Angels though immortal Spirits He did not put forth his hand to help them and break the force of their Fall He did nothing for their relief they are under unallayed wrath but He took the Seâ—d of Abraham and plants a new Colony of those who sprung from the Earth in the Heavenly Country to fill up the vacant places of those Apostate Spirits This is just matter of our highest admiration why the milder Attribute is exercised towards Man and the severer on them Why the vessels of clay are chosen and the vessels of Gold neglected How can we reflect upon it without the warmest Affections to our Redeemer We shall never fully understand the Riches of distinguishing Grace till our Saviour shall be their Judg and receive us into the Kingdom of Joy and Glory and condemn them to an Eternal Separation from his Presence CHAP. IX The Greatness of Redeeming Love discovered by considering the Evils from which we are freed The Servitude of Sin the Tyranny of Satan the Bondage of the Law the Empire of Death The measure of Love is proportionable to the degrees of our Misery No possible Remedy for us in Nature Our Deliverance is compleat The Divine Love is magnified in the Means by which our Redeemer is accomplishâ—d They are the Incarnation and Sufferings of the Son of God Love is manifested in the Incarnation upon the account of the essential Condition of the Nature assumed and its Servile state Christ took our Nature after it had lost its Innocency The most evident Proof
will be fit to consider them with respect to his Soul and his Body The Gospel delivers to us the relation of both 1. Upon his entrance into the Garden He complains My Soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto Death There were present only Peter James and John his happy Favourites who assured him of their fidelity there was no visible enemy to afflict Him yet his Soul was environ'd with Sorrows 'T is easie to conceive the injuries He suffered from the rage of Men for they were terminated upon his Body But how to understand his inward Sufferings the wounds of his Spirit the cross to which his Soul was nailed is very difficult Yet these were in expressibly greater as the visible effects dedeclare The anguish of his soul so affected his body that his Sweat was as it were great drops of Blood the miraculous evidence of his Agony The terror was so dreadful that the assistance of an Angel could not calm it And if we consider the causes of his grief the dispositions of Christ and the design of God in afflicting him it will further appear that no sorrow was ever like his The Causes were 1. The evil of Sin which infinitely exceeds all other for the just measure of an evil is taken from the good to which it is opposit and of which it deprives us Now Sin is formally opposit to the Holy nature and will of God and meritoriously deprives of his blessed presence for ever Therefore God being the supreme Good Sin is the supreme evil And grief being the resentment of an evil that which is proportioned to the evil of Sin must be infinite Now the Lord Christ alone had perfect light to discover Sin in its true horrour and perfect zeal to hate it according to its nature for who can understand the excellency of good and the malignity of evil but the Author of the one and the Judge of the other who can fully conceive the guilt of rebellion against God but the Son of God who is alone able to comprehend his own Majesty On this account the grief of our Redeemer exceeded all the sorrow of repenting Sinners from the beginning of the World For our knowledge is so imperfect and our zeal so remiss that our grief for sin is much beneath what 't is worthy of but sin was as hateful to Christ as it is in it self and his sorrow was equal to its evil 2. The Death he was to suffer attended with all the Curses of the Law and the terrible marks of Gods Indignation From hence 't is said he began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy 'T is wonderful that the Son of God who had perfect patience and the strength of the Deity to support him who knew that his Passion should soon pass away and that the issue should be his own glorious Resurrection and the recovery of lapsed Man that he should be shaken with fear and oppressed with sorrow at the first approches of it how many of the Martyrs have with an undisturbed courage embraced a more cruel death but to them 't was disarm'd whereas our Saviour encountered it with all its formidable Pomp with its Darts and Poison 3. The Wrath of God was inflamed against him For although he was perfectly Innocent and more distant from sin than Heaven is from the Earth yet by the ordination of God and his own consent being made our Sponsor the Iniquity of us all was laid upon him He suffered as deeply as if he had been guilty Vindictive justice was inexorable to his Prayers and Tears Although he renewed his request with the greatest ardency as 't is said by the Evangelist that being in an Agony he prayed more earnestly yet God would not spare him The Father of Mercies saw his Son humbled in his presence prostrate on the Earth yet deals with him in extream severity He was stricken smiten of God and afflicted And who is able to conceive the weight of God's Hand when he punishes sin according to its desert who can understand the degrees of those Sufferings when God exacts satisfaction from one that was obliged and able to make it how piercing were those sorrows whereby Divine Justice infinitely incens'd was to be appeas'd Who knows the consequence of those words My God My God why hast thou forsaken me 'T is impossible to comprehend or represent that great and terrible Mystery But thus much we may understand That Holiness and Glory being essential to the Deity they are communicated to the Reasonable Nature when united to it But with this difference that Holiness necessarily results from Union with God For Sin being infinitely repugnant to His Nature makes a Separation between Him and the creature But Glory and Joy are dispensed in a free and arbitrary manner This dereliction of our Saviour must be understood with respect to the second not the first Communication In the extremity of his Torments all his Affections were innocent and regular being only raised to that degree which the vehemency of the object required He exprest no murmur against God nor anger against his enemies His Faith Love Humility Patience were then in their Exaltation But that glorious and unspeakable Joy which in the course of his Life the Deity conveyed to Him was then withdrawn An impetuous torrent of pure unmixed Sorrows broke into his holy Soul He felt no refreshing emanations so that having lost the sense of present Joy there remained in his Soul only the hope of future Joy And in that sad moment his Mind was so intent upon his Sufferings that he seems to have been diverted from the actual consideration of the Glory that attended the issue of them Briefly All comforting Influences were suspended but without prejudice to the Personal Union or the Perfection of his Grace or to the Love of his Father toward Him His Soul was liable to sorrows as his Body to death For the Deity is the Principle of Life as well as of Joy and as the Body of Christ was three days in the state of Death and the Hypostatical Union remained entire so his Soul was left for a time under the fearful impressions of wrath yet was not separated from the God-head And although He endured what ever was necessary for the Expiation of Sin yet all vitious Evils as Blasphemy Hatred of God and any other which are not inflicted by the Judg but in strictness are accidental to the Punishment and proceed from the weakness or wickedness of the Patient he was not in the least guilty of Besides when his Father appear'd an enemy against him at that time He was infinitely pleased in his Obedience But with these exceptions our Blessed Lord suffered whatever was due to us The Sorrows of his forsaken state were inexpressibly great for according to the degree and sense we have of Happiness such in proportion is our grief for the loss of it Now Christ had the fullest enjoyment and the highest valuation of Gods favour
favour Now the Angels are sent forth to minister for them who are Heirs of Salvation Besides in two other things the peculiar affection of the Prince would be most evident to that Nation 1. If he put on their habit and attire himself according to their fashion 2. If he fixt his residence among them Now the Son of God was cloathed with our flesh and found in fashion as a man and for ever appears in it in Heaven and will at the last day invest our bodies with glory like to his own He now dwells in us by his Spirit and when our warfare is accomplisht he shall in a special manner be present with us in the eternal Mansions As God incarnate he converst with Men on Earth and as such he will converse with them in heaven There he raigns as the first-born in the midst of many Brethren Now all these Prerogatives are the fruits of our Redemption And how great is that Mercy which hath raised Mankind more glorious out of its ruines The Apostle breaks out with a Heavenly astonishment Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God! that we who are Strangers and Enemies Children of Wrath by nature should be dignified with the honorable and amiable title of his Sons 'T was a rare and most merciful condescension in Pharaoh's Daughter to rescue an innocent and forsaken Infant from perishing by the waters and adopt him to be her Son but how much greater kindness was it for God to save guilty and wretched Man from Eternal Flames and to take him into his Family The Ambition of the Prodigal rose no higher than to be a Servant whaâ— an inestimable favour is it to make us Children When God would express the most dear and peculiar affection to Solomon he saith I will be his Father and he shall be my Son this was the highest honour he could promise and all believers are dignified with it 'T is the same relation that Christ hath when he was going to Heaven he comforted his Disciples with these words I ascend to my Father and your Father to my God and your God There is indeed a diversity in the foundation of it Christ is a Son by Nature we are by meer Favour he is by Generation we are by Adoption Briefly Jesus Christ hath made us Kings Priests unto God his Father These are the highest Offices upon Earth and were attended with the most conspicuous Honour and the Holy Spirit chose those bright Images to convey a clearer notice of the glory to which our Redeemer hath raised us Not only all the Crowns and Scepters in this perishing World are infinitely beneath this dignity but the honour of our innocent state was not equal to it Secondly The Gospel is a better Covenant than that which was establisht with Man in his Creation and the excellency of it will appear by considering 1. 'T is more beneficial in that it admits of Repentance and Reconciliation after sin and accepts of Sincerity instead of perfection The Apostle magnifies the Office of Christ By how much he is a Mediator of a better Covenant which was established upon better promises The comparison there is between the Ministry of the Gospel and the Mosaical oeconomy And the excellency of the Gospel is specified in respect of those infinitely better promisses that are in it The ceremonial Law appointed Sacrifices for sins of ignorance and error and to obtain only legal impunity but the Gospel upon the account of Christ's all-sufficient Sacrifice offers full Pardon for all Sins that are repented of and forsaken Now with greater reason the Covenant of Grace is to be preferr'd before the Covenant of Works For the Law considered Man as holy and endued with perfection of Grace equal to whatsoever was commanded 'T was the measure of his Ability as well as Duty and requir'd exact Obedience or threatned extreme Misery The least breach of it is fatal A single Offence as certainly exposes to the curse as if the whole were violated And in our lapsed state we are utterly disabled to comply with its Purity and Perfection But the Gospel contains the Promises of Mercy and is in the hands of a Mediator The tenor of it is That Repentance and Remission of Sins be preached in the Name of Christ. And if we judge our selves we shall not be judged 'T is not if we are innocent for then none could be exempt from Condemnation But if the convinced Sinner erect a Tribunal in Conscience and strips Sin of its disguise to view it in its native deformity if he pronounce the Sentence of the Law against himself and glorifie the Justice of God which he cannot satisfie and forsake the Sins which are the causes of his sorrow he is qualified for pardoning Mercy Besides The Gospel doth not only apply Pardon to us for all forsaken Sins but provides a Remedy for those Infirmities to which the best are incident Whilst we are in this mortal state we are exposed to Temptations from without and have Corruptions within that often betray us Now to support our drooping Spirits our Redeemer sits in Heaven to plead for us and perpetually renews the Pardon that was once purchased to every contrite spirit for those unavoidable frailties which cleave to us here The promise of Grace is not made void by the sudden surprizes of Passions If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous The rigour of the Law is mollified by his Mediation with the Father A title of Love and Tenderness God deals not with the Severity of a Judg but He spares us as a man spares his own son that serves him And as He pardons us upon our Repentance so He accepts our hearty though mean services Now the Legal that is unsinning and compleat Obedience cannot be performed the Evangelical that is the sincere though imperfect is graciously received God doth not require the duties of a Man by the measures of an Angel Unfeigned Endeavours to please Him unreserved Respects to all his Commands single and holy aims at his Glory are rewarded Briefly Although the Law is continued as a Rule of living yet not as the Covenant of Life And what an admirable exaltation of Mercy is there in this new Treaty of God with Sinners 'T is true the first Covenant was holy just and good but it made no abatements of favour and 't is now weak through the flesh that is The carnal corrupt Nature is so strong and impetuous that the restraints of the Law are ineffectual to stop its desires and therefore cannot bring Man to that Life that is promised by the performance of the Condition required But the Gospel provides an Indulgence for relenting and returning Sinners This is the language of God in that Covenant I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their Iniquities
with corruptible things as Silver and Gold but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot And by his knowledg shall my righteous Servant justifie many 4. 'T was requisite the Mediator should be God and Man He must assume the nature of Man that he might be put in his stead in order to make satisfaction for him He was to be our representative therefore such a conjunction between us must be that God might esteem all his People to suffer in him By the Law of Israel the right of Redemption belonged to him that was next in blood Now Christ took the Seed of Abraham the original element of our nature that having a right of Propriety in us as God He might have a right of Propinquity as Man He was allied to all Men as Men that His sufferings might be universally beneficial And He must be God 't is not his Innocency onely or Deputation but the Dignity of His Person that qualifies Him to be an all-sufficient Sacrifice for Sin so that God may dispense pardon in a way that is honourable to Justice For Justice requires a proportion between the Punishment and the Crime and that receives its quality from the dignity of the person offended Now since the Majesty of God is infinite against whom sin is committed the guilt of it can never be expiated but by an infinite Satisfaction There is no name under Heaven nor in Heaven that could save us but the Son of God who being equal to Him in greatness became Man If there had been such compassion in the Angels as to have inclined them to interpose between Justice and us they had not been qualified for that Work not only upon the account of their different nature so that by substitution they could not satisfie for us nor that being immaterial substances they are exempted from the dominion of death which was the punishment denounc'd against the sinner and to which his Surety must be subjected but principally that being finite Creatures they are incapable to atone an incensed God Who among all their glorious Orders durst appear before so consuming a fire who could have been an Altar whereon to sanctifie a Sacrifice to Divine Justice no meer Creature how worthy so ever could propitiate the supreme Majesty when justly provoked Our Redeemer was to be the Lord of Angels The Apostle tells us that it pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell This respects not his original Nature but his Office and the reason of it is to reconcile by the blood of the Cross things in Heaven and in the Earth From the greatness of the Work we may infer the quality of the means and from the quality of the means the Nature of the Person that is to perform it Peace with God who was provoked by our Rebellion could only be made by an infinite Sacrifice Now in Christ the Deity it self not its influences and the fulness of it not any particular perfection only dwelt really and substantially God was present in the Ark in a shadow and representation He is present in nature by his sustaining Power and in his Saints by special favour and the eminent effects the Graces and Comforts that proceed from it but he is present in Christ in a singular and transcendent manner The Humanity is related to the Word not only as a Creature to the Author of its being for in this regard it hath an equal respect to all the persons but by a peculiar conjunction for 't is actuated by the same subsistence as the Divine Essence is in the Son but with this difference the one is voluntary the other necessary the one is espoused by Love the other received by Nature Now from this intimate Union there is a communication of the special qualities of both natures to the Person of Christ Man is exalted to be the Son of God and the Word abased to be the Son of Man As by reason of the vital Union between the Soul and Body the essential parts of Man 't is truly said that he is rational in respect of his soul and mortal in respect of his body This Union derives an infinite merit to the obedience of Christ. For the humane nature having its complement from the Divine Person 't is not the nature simply considered but the person that is the fountain of actions To illustrate this by an instance the civil Law determines that a tree transplanted from one soile to another and taking root there it belongs to the owner of that ground in regard that receiving nourishment from a new earth it becomes as it were another tree though there be the same individual root the same body and the same soul of vegetation as before Thus the humane nature taken from the common mass of Mankind and transplanted by personal Union into the Divine is to be reckoned as intirely belonging to the Divine and the actions proceeding from it are not meerly humane but are raised above their natural worth and become meritorious One hour of Christs Life glorified God more than an everlasting duration spent by Angels and Men in the praises of him For the most perfect creatures are limited and finite and their services cannot fully correspond with the Majesty of God but when the Word was made Flesh and entered into a new state of subjection he glorified God in a Divine manner and most worthy of him He that comes from above is above all The all sufficiency of his Satisfaction arises from hence He that was in the form of God and thought it no robbery to be equal with God that is in the truth of the Divine Nature He was equal with the Father and without sacriledge or usurpation possest Divine Honour he became obedient to the Death of the Cross. The Lord of Glory was Crucified We are purchased by the Blood of God And the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sin The Divine Nature gives it an infinite and everlasting efficacy And 't is observable that the Socinians the declared enemies of his Eternity consentaneously to their first impious error deny his Satisfaction For if Jesus Christ were but a titular God his Sufferings how deep soever had been insufficient to expiate our offence in His Death He had been only a Martyr not a Mediator For no Satisfaction can be made to Divine Justice but by suffering that which is equivalent to the guilt of sin which as 't is infinite such must the Satisfaction be CHAP. XIII Divine Justice is declared and glorified in the Death of Christ. The threefold account the Scripture gives of it As a Punishment inflicted for Sin as a Price to redeem us from Hell as a Sacrifice to reconcile us to God Man was Capitally guilty Christ with the allowance of God interposes as his Surety His Death was inflicted on him by the Supreme Judg. The impulsive Cause of it was Sin
Compleatness of Christ's Satisfaction proved from the Causes and Effects of it The Causes are the Quality of his Person and Degrees of his Sufferings The Effects are His Resurrection Ascension Intercession at Gods right hand and his exercising the Supreme Power in Heaven and Earth The excellent Benefits which God reconciled bestows on Men are the Effects and Evidences of his compleat Satisfaction They are Pardon of Sin Grace and Glory That Repentance and Faith are required in order to the partaking of the Benefits purchased by Christ's Death doth not lessen the Merit of his Sufferings That Afflictions and Dâ—ath are inflicted on Believers doth not derogate from their All-sufficiency THe Third thing to be considered is the Compleatness of the Satisfaction that Christ hath made by which it will appear that Gods Justice as well as Mercy is fully glorified in his Sufferings For the proof of this I will first consider the Causes from whence the compleatness of his Satisfaction arises Secondly The Effects that proceed from it which are convincing Evidences that God is fully appeas'd The Causes of his compleat Satisfaction are two 1. The Quality of his Person derives an infinite value to his obedient Sufferings Our Surety was equally God and as truely Infinite in His Perfections as the Father who was provoked by our Sins therefore he was able to make Satisfaction for them He is the Son of God not meerly in respect of the honour of his Office or the special Favour of God for on these accounts that Title is communicated to others but his only Son by Nature The sole preheminence in Gifts and Dignity would give Him the title of the first-born but not deprive them of the quality of Brethren Now the wisdom and justice of all Nations agree that Punishments receive their estimate from the quality of the Persons that suffer The Poet observes that the Death of a vertuous Person is more precious than of Legions Of what inestimable value then is the death of Christ and how worthy a Ransom for lost mankind For although the Deity is impassible yet he that was a Divine Person he suffered A King suffers more than a private person although the strokes he endures in his body cannot immediatly reach his honour And 't is specially to be observed that the Efficacy of Christs Blood is ascribed to his Divine Nature This the Apostle declares In whom we have Redemption through his Blood even the forgiveness of Sins who is the image of the invisible God Not an artificial Image which imperfectly represents the Original As a Picture that sets forth the Colour and Figure of a Man but not his Life and Nature But the essential and exact Image of his Father that expresses all his glorious Perfections in their immensity and eternity This is testified expresly in Hebr. 1.3 The Son of God the brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person having purged by himself our sins is set down on the right hand of Majesty on High From hence arises the infinite difference between the Sacrifices of the Law and Christs in their value and vertue This with admirable Emphasis is set down in Hebr. 9.13 14. For if the blood of Bulls and of Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purification of the flesh How much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offer'd himself without spot to God purge your Consciences from dead works to serve the living God Wherein the Apostle makes a double Hypothesis 1. That the Legal Sacrifices were ineffectual to purifie from real guilt 2. That by their Typical Cleansing they signified the washing away of moral guilt by the Blood of Christ. 1. Their insufficiency to expiate Sin appears if we consider the subject Sin is to be expiated in the same nature wherein 't was committed now the Beasts are of an inferiour rank and have no communion with Man in his nature Or if we consider the object God was provoked by Sin and He is a Spirit and not to be appeased by gross material things His Wisdom requires that a rational Sacrifice should expiate the guilt of a rational Creature And Justice is not satisfied without a proportion between the Guilt and the Punishment This weakness and insufficiency of the Legal Sacrifices to expiate Sin is evident from their variety and repetition For if full Remission had been obtained The worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sin 'T is the sense of Guilt and the fear of Condemnation that required the renewing of the Sacrifice Now under the Law the Ministry of the Priests never came to a period or perfection The Millions of Sacrifices in all Ages from the erecting the Tabernacle to the coming of Christ had not vertue to expiate one Sin They were only shadows which could give no refreshment to the inflamed Conscience but as they depended on Christ the body and substance of them But the Son of God who offered himself up by the Eternal Spirit to the Father is a Sacrifice not only Intelligent and Reasonable but incomparably more precious than the most noble Creatures in Earth or in Heaven it self He was Priest and Sacrifice in respect of both His Natures His entire Person was the Offerer and Offering Therefore the Apostle from the excellency of his Sacrifice infers the unity of its Oblation and from thence concludes its Efficacy Christ did not by the Blood of Bulls and Goats but by his own Blood He entred in once to the Holy Place having obtained eternal Redemption for us and by one Offering He hath for ever perfected them who are sanctified Upon this account God promised in the New-Covenant That their Sins and Iniquities He would remember no more having received compleat satisfaction by the Sufferings of his Son 'T is now said that once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself And as it is appointed for all men once to die and after Death comes Judgment So Christ was once offered to bear the Sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin As there is no other natural death to suffer between Death and Judgment so there is no other propitiatory Sacrifice between his all-sufficient Death on the Cross and the last coming of our Redeemer There is one Consideration I shall adde to shew the great difference between Legal Sacrifices and the Death of Christ as to its saving vertue The Law absolutely forbids the eating of Blood and the peoples tasting of the Sin-offerings to signifie the imperfection of those Sacrifices For since they were consumed in their Consecration to Gods Justice and nothing was left for the nourishment of the Offerers 't was a sign they could not appease God The Offerers had communion with them when they brought them to the Altar and in a manner
David with respect to Solomon If he commit Iniquity I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the childaen of men that is Chastise him moderately For in the stile of the Scripture as things are magnified by the Epithet Divine or of God as the Cedars of God that is very tall And Nineve is called The City of God that is very great So to signifie things that are in a mediocrity the Scripture uses the Epithet humane or of Men And according to the Rule of Opposition the Rod of God is an extraordinary Affliction which destroys the Sinner 't is such a Punishment as a man can neither inflict nor endure But the Rod of Men is a moderate Correction that doth not exceed the strength of the Patient But every purely vindictive Punishment which the Law pronounces is in proportion to the nature of the Crime not the strength of the Criminal 3. They are distinguisht by the intention and end of God in inflicting them 1. In Chastisements God primarily designs the Profit of his People That they may be partakers of his Holiness When they are secure and carnal He awakens Conscience by the sharp voice of the Rod to reflect upon Sin to make them observant for the future to render their Affections more indifferent to the World and stronger towards Heaven The Apostle expresses the nature of Chastisements When we are judged we are instructed by the Lord They are more lively Lessons than those which are by the Word alone and make a deeper impression upon the heart David acknowledges Before he was afflicted he went astray but now have I kept thy words Corrupt Nature makes Gods Favours pernicious but his Grace makes our Punishments profitable Briefly They are not satisfactions for what is past but admonitions for the time to come But purely vindictive Judgments are not inflicted for the reformation of an Offender but to preserve the honour of the Sovereign and Publick Order and to make compensation for the breach of the Law If any advantage accrue to the Offender 't is accidental and besides the intention of the Judg. 2. The end of chastisements upon Believers is to prevent their final destruction When we are Judged we are Chastened of the Lord that we may not be condemned with the World And this sweetens and allays all their Sufferings As the Psalmist declares Let the Righteous smite me and it shall be a kindness let him reprove me it shall be an excellent oile which shall not break my head But the Vindictive Punishment of a Malefactor is not to prevent his condemnation for Death is sometimes the Sentence In this respect the temporal evils that befal the Wicked and the Godly though materially the same yet legally differ For to the Wicked they are as so many earnests of the compleat payment they shall make to Justice in another World the beginnings of Eternal Sorrows but to the Godly they are in order to their Salvation They are as the Red-Sea through which the Israelites past to the Land of Promise but the Egyptians were drowned in it Briefly their Sufferings differ as much in their issue as the Kingdoms of Heaven and of Hell 2. That Death remains to Believers doth not lessen the perfection of Christs Satisfaction 'T is true considered absolutely 't is the revenge of the Law for sin and the greatest temporal evil so that it may seem strange that those who are Redeemed by an Alsufficient ransom should pay this Tribute to the King of Terrors But the nature of it is changed 't is a Curse to the wicked inflicted for Satisfaction to Justice but a Priviledge to Believers As God appointing the Rainbow to be the Sign of his Covenant that he would drown the World no more ordain'd the same Waters to be the token of his Mercy which were the instrument of his Justice Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. And the Psalmist tells us that precious in the sight of the Lord is the Death of his Saints Christ hath taken away what is truly destructive in it 'T is continued for their advantage 1. Corruption hath so depraved the sensitive appetite that during our natural state we are not intirely freed from it but Death that destroyes the natural frame of the Body puts an end to sin And in this respect there is a great difference between the Death of Christ and of Believers the end of his was to remove the guilt of sin of theirs to extinguish the reliques of it 2. 'T is a delivery from Temporal evils and an entrance into Glory Death and Despair seize on the Wicked at once but the Righteous hath hope in his Death 3. The Grave shall give up its spoils at the last It retains the Body for a time not to destroy but purifie it Our Saviour tells us that whoever believes on him shall not see death for he will raise them up at the last day He that dies a Man shall revive an Angel cloathed with Light and Immortality I will conclude this argument with the words of St. Austin Ablato criminis nexu relicta est mors Nunc vero majore mirabiliore gratia Salvatoris in usus justitiae peccati poena est conversa tum enim dictum est Homini morieris si peccaveris nunc dictum est Martyri morere ne pecces Et sic per ineffabilem Dei misericordiam ipsa poena vitiorum transit in arma virtutis fit justi meritum etiam supplicium peccatoris Although the Guilt of Sin is removed yet death remains But by the admirable Grace of the Redeemer the punishment of sin is made an advantage to Holiness The Law threatned Man with Death if he sinned the Gospel commands a Martyr to die that he may not sin And thus by the unspeakable Mercy of God the punishment of Vice becomes the security of Virtue and that which was revenged upon the sinner gives to the Righteous a title to a glorious reward CHAP. XV. Inferences In the Death of Christ there is the clearest discovery of the evil of sin The strictness of divine Justice is most visible in it The consideration of the ends of Christs Death takes off the scandal of the Cross and changes the offence into admiration The Satisfaction of Justice by Christs Sufferings affords the strongest assurance that God is ready to pardon sinners The absolute necessity of complying with the terms of the Gospel for Justification There are but two wayes of appearing before the supreme Judge either in Innocence or by the Righteousness of Christ The Causes why men reject Christ are a legal temper that is natural to them and the predominant love of sin The unavoidable misery of all that will not submit to our Saviour 1. FRom hence we may discover most clearly the evil of Sin which no Sacrifice could expiate but the Blood of the Son of God 'T is true the
the primitive and main reason of the necessity of things but only a sign of the certainty of the event In strictness things do not arrive because of their prediction but are foretold because they shall arrive It is apparent there was a Divine Decree before the Prophesies and that in the Light of God's Infinite Knowledg things are before they were foretold So 't is not said a Man must be of a ruddy complexion because his Picture is so but on the contrary because he is ruddy his Picture must be so That Christ by dying on the Cross should Redeem Man was the reason that the Serpent of brass was erected on a pole to heal the Israelites and not on the contrary Briefly the Apostle supposes this necessity of Satisfaction as an evident principle when he proves wilful Apostates to be incapable of Salvation Because there remains no more Sacrifice for sin For the consequence were of no force if sin might be pardoned without Sacrifice that is without Satisfaction 3. This account of Christs Death takes off the scandal of the Cross and changes the offence into admiration 'T was foretold of Christ that he should be a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offence not a just cause but an occasion of offence to the corrupt hearts of Men and principally for his Sufferings The Jews were pleased with the titles of honour given to the Messiah that he should be a King Powerful and Glorious But that poverty disgrace and the suffering Death should be his character they could not endure therefore they endeavoured to prevert the sense of the Prophets His Disciples who attended him in his mean state expected those sad apappearances would terminate in visible Glory and Greatness but when they saw him arrested by his Enemies Condemned and Crucified this was so opposite to their expectation that they fainted under the disappointment And when Christ Crucified was Preacht to the Gentile World they rejected him with scorn His Death seemed so contrary to the Dignity of his Person and the design of his Office that they could not relish the Doctrine of the Gospel They judged it absurd to expect Life from one that was subjected to Death and Blessedness from him who was made a Curse To those who look on the Death of Christ with the eyes of carnal wisdom and according to the Laws of corrupt reason it appears folly and weakness and most unworthy of God but if we consider it in its principles and ends all the prejudices vanish and we clearly discover it to be the most noble and eminent effect of the Wisdom Power Goodness and Justice of God To the eye of sense 't was a spectacle of horrour that a perfect Innocent should be cruelly tormented but to the eye of Faith under that sad and ignominious appearance there was a Divine Mystery able to raise our wonder and ravish our affections For he that was naked and nailed to the Cross was really the Son of God and the Saviour of Men And his Death with all the penal circumstances of dishonour and pain is the only Expiation of sin and Satisfaction to Justice He by offering up his Blood appea'sd the wrath of God quencht the flaming Sword that made Paradise inaccessible to us he took away sin the true dishonour of our natures and purchased for us the Graces of the Spirit the richest ornaments of the reasonable Creature The Doctrine of the Cross is the only foundation of the Gospel that unites all its parts and supports the whole building 'T is the cause of our Righteousness and Peace of our Redemption and Reconciliation How blessed an exchange have the Merits of his Sufferings made with those of our Sins Life instead of Death Glory for Shame and Happiness for Misery For this reason the Apostle with vehemence declares that to be the sole ground of his boasting and triumph which others esteemed a cause of blushing God forbid that I should Glory save in the Cross of Christ. He rejects with extreme detestation the mention of any other thing as the cause of his Happiness and matter of his Glory The Cross was a tree of Death to Christ and of Life to us The supreme Wisdom is justified of its Children 4. The Satisfaction of Divine Justice by the Sufferings of Christ affords the strongest assurance to Man who is a guilty and suspicious creature that God is most ready to pardon sin There is in the natural Conscience when opened by a piercing conviction of sin such a quick sense of Guilt and Gods Justice that it can never have an intire confidence in his Mercy till Justice be atoned From hence the convinced Sinner is restlesly inquisitive how to find out the way of reconciliation with a Righteous God Thus he is represented inquiring by the Prophet Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the most High God shall I come before him with Burnt-Offerings with Calves of a year old will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousand rivers of oil shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my Body for the sin of my Soul The Scripture tells us that some consum'd their Children to render their Idols favourable to them But all these means were ineffectual their most costly Sacrifices were only food for the fire Nay instead of expiating their old they committed new sins and were so far from appeasing that they inflamed the Wrath of God by their cruel oblations But in the Gospel there is the most rational and easy way propounded for the Satisfaction of God and the Justification of Man The Righteousness of Faith speaketh on this wise Say not in thy heart Who shall ascend into Heaven that is to bring down Christ from above Or who shall descend into the deep that is to bring up Christ again from the dead But if thou wilt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved The Apostle sets forth the anxiety of an awakened Sinner he is at a loss to find out a way to escape Judgment for things that are on the surface of the Earth or floating on the Waters are within our view and may be obtain'd but those that are above our Understanding to discover or Power to obtain are proverbially said to to be in the Heavens above or in the Deeps And 't is applied here to the different wayes of Justification by the Law and the Gospel The Law propounds Life upon an impossible condition but the Gospel clearly reveals to us that Christ hath performed what is necessary for our Justification and that by a lively and practical Faith we shall have an Interest in it The Lord Jesus being ascended hath given us a convincing proof that the Propitiation for our Sins is perfect For otherwise He had not been received into Gods Sanctuary Therefore to be under
Happiness we cannot without extream ingratitude and disobedience neglect to glorifie Him in our Bodies and Spirits which are his This Religious tendency of the Soul to God as the Supreme Lord and our utmost End sanctifies our Actions and gives an excellency to them above what is inherent in their own nature Thus moral Duties towards Men when they are directed to God become Divine Acts of Charity are so many Sacred Oblations to the Deity Men are but the Altars upon which we lay our Presents God receives them as if immediatly offer'd to his Majesty and consumed to his Honour Such was the charity of the Philippians towards the relief of the Apostle which he calls An odour of a sweet smell a Saerifice acceptable well pleasing to God The same Bounty was an act of Compassion to Man and Devotion to God This changes the nature of the meanest and most troublesome things What was more vile and harsh than the employment of a Slave yet a respect to God makes it a Religious Service that is the most noble voluntary of all humane Actions For the Believer addressing his service to Christ and the Infidel only to his Master he doth chearfully what the other doth by constraint and adorns the Gospel of God our Saviour as truly as if he were in a higher condition All Vertues are of the same descent and family though in respect of the matter about which they are conversant and their exercise they are different Some are heroical some are humble and the lowest being conducted by Love to God in the meanest offices shall have an eternal Reward In short Piety is the principle and chief ingredient of Righteousness and Charity to Men. For since God is the Author of our common Nature and the relations whereby we are united one to another 't is necessary that a regard to him should be the first and have an influence upon all other Duties I shall further consider some particular Precepts which the Gospel doth especially enforce upon us and the Reasons of them 1. That concerning Humility the peculiar Grace of Christians so becoming our state as Creatures and Sinners the parent and nurse of other Graces that preserves in us the light of Faith and the heat of Love that procures Modesty in Prosperity and Patience in Adversity that is the root of Gratitude and Obedience and is so lovely in God's eyes that He gives Grace to the Humble This our Saviour makes a necessary qualification in all those who shall enter into his Kingdom Except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven As by Humility he purchas'd our Salvation so by that Grace we possess it And since Pride arises out of Ignorance the Gospel to cause in us a just and lowly sense of our unworthiness discovers the nakedness and misery of the humane Nature devested of its primitive Righteousness It reveals the transmission of Original Sin from the first Man to all his Posterity wherewith they are infected and debased a Mystery so far from our knowledg that the participation of it seems impossible and unjust to carnal Reason We are dead in Sins and Trespasses without any Spiritual strength to perform our Duty The Gospel ascribes all that is good in Man to the free and powerful Grace of God He works in us to will and to do of his good pleasure He gives Grace to some because He he is Good denies it to others because He is Just but doth injury to none because all being guilty He owes it to none Grace in its being and activity entirely depends upon Him As the drowsie Sap is drawn forth into flourishing and fruitfulness by the approaches of the Sun so habitual Grace is drawn forth into act by the presence and influences of the Sun of Righteousness Without me our Saviour tells his Disciples ye can do nothing I have laboured more abundantly than they all saith the Apostle yet not I but the Grace of God in me The operations of Grace are ours but the Power that enables us is from God Our preservation from Evil and perseverance in Good is a most free unmerited Favour the effect of his renewed Grace in the course of our Lives Without his special assistance we should every hour forsake Him and provoke Him to forsake us As the Iron cannot ascend or hang in the Air longer than the virtue of the Loadstone draws it So our Affections cannot ascend to those glorious things that are above without the continually attracting Power of Grace 'T is by humble Prayer wherein we acknowledg our wants and unworthiness and declare our dependance upon the Divine Mercy and Power that we obtain Grace Now from these Reasons the Gospel commands Humility in our demeanor towards God and Men. And if we seriously consider them how can any crevise be opened in the heart for the least breath of Pride to enter How can a poor diseased wretch that hath neither Money nor can by any industry procure nourishment or Physick for his deadly Diseases and receives from a merciful person not only Food but Soveraign Medicines brought from another World for such is the Divine Grace sent to us from Heaven without his desert or possibility of retribution be proud towards his Benefactor How can he that only lives upon Alms boast that he is rich How can a Creature be proud of the Gifts of God which it cannot possess without Humility and without acknowledging that they are derived from Mercy If we had continued in our Integrity the praise of all had been entirely due to God For our Faculties and the excellent dispositions that fitted them for action were bestowed upon us freely by Him and depended upon his Grace in their exercise But there is now greater reason to attribute the Glory of all our goodness solely to him for He revives our dead Souls by the infusion of Grace without which we are to every good work reprobate Since all our Spiritual Abilities are Graces the more we have received the more we are obliged and therefore should be more humble and thankful to the Author of them And in comparing our selves with others the Gospel forbids all proud reflections upon our selves as dignified above them For who maketh thee to differ from another And what hast thou that thou didst not receive And if thou didst receive it why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it If God discern one from another by special gifts the Man hath nothing of his own that makes him excellent Although inherent Graces command a respect from others to the Person in whom they shine yet he that possesses them ought rather to consider himself in those qualities that are natural and make him like the worst than in those that are divine proceeding from the sole Favour of God and that exalt him above them Add further that God hath ordained in the Gospel
Persecutors he had certainly obtained it He tells his Disciples that upon his request his Father would send twelve Legions of Angels for his rescue But he resigned the whole Power of his Will to his Fathers not my will but thy will be done was his Voice at his privat Passion in the Garden He submitted the act and exercise of his will not what I will but what thou wilt he saith in another Evangelist he yielded not only the faculty and exercise of his will to do what God enjoyned but in that manner which was pleasing to Him Not as I will but as thou wilt he expresses in the words of a third Now what is there in Heaven or Earth that can move our Wills to entire Obedience if this marvellous Pattern doth not affect us Let the same Mind be in you that was in Christ saith the Apostle How glorious is it to do what he did and what a reproach to decline what he suffer'd who had the Holiness of God to give excellency to the Action and the infirmity of Man to endure the sharpness of the Passion 3. Love to Mankind is exprest by our Saviour in a peculiar manner For although God is Infinitely Good to us yet he doth not prefer the happiness of Man before his own Blessedness The Salvation of the whole World were not to be purchas'd with the least diminution of the Divine Felicity But the Son of God suffer'd the extremest Evil to procure the most sovereign Good for us who were in Rebellion against his Laws and Empire Briefly The Life of Christ contains all our Duties towards God and Man exprest in the most perfect manner or Motives to perform them We may clearly see in his deportment innocent Wisdom prudent Simplicity compassionate Zeal perfect Patience the courage of Faith the joy of Hope the tenderness and care of Love incomparable Meekness Modesty Humility and Purity He spent the night in Communion with God and the day in Charity to Men. He perfectly hated Sin and equally loved Souls The nearest and readiest way to Perfection is a serious regard to his Precedent For the causes of all Sin are either the desire of what he despised or the fear of what He suffer'd He voluntarily deprived himself to Riches Honours Pleasures to render them contemptible and endured outrages of all sorts the contradiction of Sinners and the sharpest Sufferings to make them tolerable He ascended Mount Calvary to his Cross before he ascended from Mount Olivet to his Throne He was naked before He was cloathed with Light and crowned with thorns before with Glory And thus he powerfully teaches us to follow his steps who suffered for us If a Physician of great esteem in a Disease takes a bitter Potion it would perswade those who are in the same danger to use the same Remedy Since the Son of God to purchase our Happiness denied himself the enjoyment of worldly delights and endured the worst of temporal Evils nothing can be more effectual to convince us that the Pleasures of the world are not considerable as to our last end and that present Afflictions are so far from being inconsistent with our supreme Blessedness that they prepare us for it In short His excellent Example not only enlightens our Minds to discover our Duty but inables and excites to perform it As the Eye in beholding visible objects receives their Image so by contemplating the Graces that are conspicuous in our Redeemer we derive a similitude from them We all saith the Apostle with open face beholding as in a glass the Glory of the Lord that is by viewing in the Gospel the Life of Christ which was glorious in Holiness We are changed into the same Image from â—lory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord that is gradually fashioned in Grace according to his likeness And what can more powerfully move and perswade us to Holiness than to consider the President that Christ hath set before us For how honourable is it to be like the Son of God By conformity to Christ we partake of the Divine Perfections The King of Heaven will acknowledge us for his Children when we bear the resemblance of our elder Brother Besides the motive of Honour Love doth strongly incline to follow Holiness in imitation of our Redeemer This is one difference between Knowledge and Love the understanding draws the object to it self and transforms it into its own likeness Thus material objects have an immaterial existence in the mind when it contemplates them But Love goes forth to the object loved the Soul is more where it loves than where it lives that is there is more of its intellectual presence its thoughts and desires and it always affects a resemblance to it Thus Love humbled God and made him like to us in Nature and Love exalts Man by making him like to God in Holiness for it excites us to imitate and express in our actions the Vertues of him who hath called us to his Kingdom and Glory 3. In order to the restoring of Holiness to lapsed Man the Lord Christ purchas'd and conveys the Spirit to them A state of Sin includes a total privation of Holiness and an active contrariety against it The Sinner is dead as to the Spiritual Life and aâ—â—â—nable to revive himself as a carcase is to break the gates of Death and return to the light of the world but he lives to the Sensual Life and expresses a constant opposition to the Law of God He is without strength as to his Duty not able to conceive an holy thought or to excite a sincere and ardent desire towards Divine things but hath strong inclinations of Will and great Power for that which is evil Now to restore Spiritual Life to the dead Soul and to conquer the living enmity that is in it against Holiness no less than the Divine Power was requisite And the effecting this is peculiarly attributed to the Spirit Our Saviour tells Nicodemus Except a man be born of water and of the Holy Ghost he cannot see the Kingdom of God And the Apostle saith That according to his Mercy He saves us by the washing of Regeneration and by the renewing of the Holy Ghost As in the Creation where all the Persons concurr'd 't was the motion of the Spirit that conveyed the Life of Nature So in the Renovation of the World where they all cooperate 't is the powerful working of the Spirit that produces the Life of Grace He visits us in the grave and inspires the breath and flame of Heaven to animate and warm our dead hearts 'T was requisite not only that the Word should take Flesh but that Flesh should receive the Spirit to quicken and enable it to perform the acts of the Divine Life 'T is for this reason the third Person is frequently stiled in Scripture the Holy Spirit That Title hath not an immediate respect to his Nature but to the Operations which are assign'd to
a Dream is slight and vanishing so the uncertain expectation of felicity did but lightly touch their Spirits Briefly they had no true Knowledge nor firm Belief of Eternal Blessedness in the Vision of God nor of the endless Torments in Hell and wanting those great Principles from whence the Rules and Power to live in a holy manner are derived they fell short of that Purity which is a necessary qualification to prepare Men for Heaven They were in a confused labyrinth without true Light or Guide intangled with miserable Errours and stumbled every step whilst they sought after Happiness But the Lord Christ hath instructed the World concerning those invisible future Recompences He hath expresly threaten'd what-ever is to be feared by Man as a rational or sensible Creature the Worm that never dies and the Fire that shall never be quencht in case of Disobedience and he hath promised what-ever is to be hoped for in case of Obedience The Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven in the Gospel against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men. And our Saviour hath brought Light and Immortality to light He hath declared the nature and quality of Eternal Life that it consists in the most perfect acts of our raised and most receptive Faculties upon the most excellent objects That it contains perfect Holiness and pure Felicity being for ever distant from the infirmities and defilements of our mortal state He hath revealed as the quality so the extent of it relating to the Body as well as the Soul Whereas the Philosophers of all sorts the Academicks Stoicks Peripateticks Epicureans labouring with all the force of their understanding formed a Felicity according to their Fancies which was either wholly Sensual or else but for half of man For of the Resurrection and consequently the Immortality of the Body not the least notice for many Ages ever arrived to them Our Saviour who alone had the words of eternal life hath promised a Happiness that respects entire man The Soul and the Body which are his essential parts shall be united and endued with all the glorious qualities becoming the Sons of God And of all this he hath given to the world the highest assurance For he verified his Doctrine by his own Example rising from the Grave and appearing to his Apostles crown'd with Immortality and visibly ascending before them to Heaven Since there is no greater Paradox to Reason than the Resurrection which seem'd utterly incredible to men and not to be the object of a rational desire God by raising him from the Grave hath given the most convincing Argument that our Redeemer was sent from him to acquaint the World with the future state Thus the Apostle speaks to the Athenians The times of ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men eve ry where to repent because he hath appointed a day wherein he will judg the World in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all Men in that he hath raised him from the dead Jesus Christ who was attested from Heaven to be the Son of God by that great and powerful Act declared the Recompences that shall attend Men after Death Therefore a full and perfect assent is due to his Testimony Hell with all its Dread and Terror is not a Picture drawn by fancy to affright the World but is reveal'd by him whose Words shall remain when Heaven and Earth shall pass away The Heavenly Glories are not the Visions of a contemplative person that have no existence but are great Realities promised by him who as he died to purchase so he rose to witness the Truth of them And to bring these Great Things that are separate and distant from this present state nearer to us He sometimes causes Hell to rise up from beneath and flash in the face of secure sinners that they may break off their Sins by Repentance and sometimes he opens Heaven from above the Paradise of true delights and sends down of the precious fruits of the Sun of the precious things of the lasting Hills that by the sight of their Beauty and the taste of their sweetness we may for ever abhor the pleasures of Sin By the frequent and sensible experience of the truth of the Gospel in its Threatnings and Promises innumerable persons have been converted from Sin to Holiness from Earth to Heaven from Vanity to Eternity 3. Love is a prevalent affection stronger than Death and Kindness is the greatest endearment of Love Now the Lord Jesus exprest such admirable Love to us that being duly considered it cannot but inspire us with Love to him again and with a grateful desire to please him in all things He descended from Heaven to Earth and delivered himself to a shameful Death that He might redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works And what Argument is more powerful to cause in us a serious hatred of Sin than the Consideration of what Christ hath suffer'd to free us from the punishment and power of it If a Man for his Crimes were condemned to the Gallyes and a Friend of his who had been extremely injur'd by him should ransom him by a great sum when the guilty person is restor'd to liberty will he not blush for shame at the memory of what he hath done But how much more if his Friend would suffer for him the pains and infamy of his slavery if any spark of Humanity remain in him can he ever delight himself in those Actions which made such a benefit necessary to him And is it possible for a Christian to live in those Sins for which Christ died Will not Love cause an humble Fear lest he should frustrate the great Design and make void the most blessed effect of his terrible Sufferings why did he Redeem us with so excellent a price from our cruel Bondage but to restore us to his free service why did he vindicate us from the power of the Usurper to whom we were captives but to make us Subjects to our Natural Prince Why did he purifie us with his most precious Blood from our deadly Defilements but that we might be intirely consecrated to his Glory and be fervent in good works What can work upon an ingenious Person more than sense of Kindness What can oblige more strongly to duty than Gratieude What more powerful attractive to Obedinnce than Love This pure Love confirms the Glorified Saints for ever in Holiness For they are not Holy to obtain Heaven because they are possest of it nor to preserve their Blessedness because they are past all hazard of losing it but from the most lively and permanent sense of their Obligations because they have obtained that incomparable Felicity by a Gift never to be reverst and by a Mercy transcendently great And the same Love to God that is in the Saints above in the highest degree of perfection and makes them for
His Sufferings were equivalent to the Sentence of the Law The Effect of them is our Freedom An Answer to the Objection That 't is a violation of Justice to transfer the Punishment from the guilty to the innocent The Death of Christ is the Price that redeems from Hell This singular effect of his Death distinguishes it from the death of the Martyrs An Answer to the Objections How could God receive this Price since he gave his Son to that Death which redeems us And how our Redeemer supposing him God can make Satisfaction to Himself The Death of Christ represented as a Sacrifice The Expiatory Sacrifices under the Law were substituted in the place of guilty Men. The Effects of them answerable to their threefold respect to God Sin and Men The Atonement of Anger the Expiation of Sin and Freedom from Punishment All sorts of Placatory Sacrifices are referr'd to Christ and the effects of them in a sublime and perfect manner No prejudice to the Freeness and Greatness of God's Love that Christ by his Death reconciled Him to men HAving premised these things I shall now prove that the Divine Justice is really declar'd and glorified in the obedient Sufferings of Christ. For the opening this point 't is necessary to consider the account the Scripture gives of his Death which is threefold 1. 'T is represented under the relation of a Punishment inflicted on him for Sin and the effect of it is Satisfaction to the Law 2. As a Price to redeem us from Hell 3. Under the notion of a Sacrifice to reconcile God to Sinners First As a Punishment inflicted on him for Sin This will appear by considering 1. That Man by his Rebellion against God was capitally guilty He stood sentenced by the Law to Death 2. Christ with the allowance of the Supreme Judg interposed as our Surety and in that relation was made liable to Punishment Sins are by resemblance called Debts As a Debt obliges the Debtor to payment so Sin doth the Sinner to Punishment And as the Creditor hath a right to exact the Payment from the Debtor so God hath a right to inflict Punishment on the guilty But with this difference the Creditor by the meer signification of his will may discharge the Debtor for he hath an absolute power over his estate whereas publick Justice is concern'd in the Punishment of the guilty This is evident by many instances For 't is not sufficient that a Criminal satisfie his Adversary unless the Prince who is the Guardian of the Laws give him Pardon The interest of a private Person who hath received an injury is so distinct from that of the State that sometimes the injured party solicites the Pardon of the offender without success Which shews that principally 't is not to satisfie the particular person that the Crime is punish'd but to satisfie the Law and prevent future Disorders Now our Debt was not pecuniary but penal And as in civil Cases where one becomes Surety for another he is obliged to pay the Debt for in the estimate of the Law they are but one person So the Lord Jesus Christ entring into this relation He sustained the person of Sinners and became judicially one with them and according to the order of Justice was liable to their punishment The displeasure of God was primarily and directly against the Sinner but the effects of it fell upon Christ who undertook for him The Apostle tells us That when the Fulness of time came God sent his Son made under the Law that he might redeem them that were under the Law He took our Nature Condition He was made under the Law Moral and Ceremonial The directive part of the Moral Law He fulfilled by the Innocency of his Life the penalty he satisfied as our Surety being under an Obligation to save us And he appeared as a Sinner in his subjection to the Law of Moses That Hand-writing was against us He therefore enter'd into the Bond that we had forfeited In his Circumcision He signed it with those drops of Blood which were an earnest of his shedding the rest on the Cross. For whosoever was Circumcised became a Debtor to the whole Law And we may observe 't is said That as Moses lifted up the brazen Serpent so the Law of which Moses was a type and Minister lifted up the Messiah on the Cross. 3. The Scripture is very clear and express in setting down the part that God had in the Sufferings of Christ as Supreme Judg the impulsive cause that moved Him their proportion to the punishment of the Law and the effect of them for our Deliverance He was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledg of God All the various and vicious actions of men were over-ruled by his Providence The falsness of Judas the fearfulness of Pilate and the malice of the Jews were subservient to Gods eternal design And as He wills not the Death of a Sinner much less of his Son but for most weighty Reasons these are declared by the Prophet All we like sheep have gone astray and turned every one to his own waies Our Errours were different but the issue was the same that is Eternal Death And the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all that is the Punishment of our Iniquities His Sufferings had such a respect to Sin as included the imputation of it 'T was an act of Sovereignty in God to appoint Christ as Man to be our Surety but an act of Justice to inflict the punishment when Christ had undertaken for us 'T is said He hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows The expressions are comprehensive of all the Miseries of his Life especially his last Sufferings The Hebrew words Nasa and Sabal signifie such a taking away as is by laying upon one who bears it from us And thus it is interpreted by St. Peter He himself bare our sins in his own Body on the tree This necessarily implies the derivation of our guilt to him and the consequent of it the transferring of our punishment Those words are full and pregnant to the same purpose He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our Iniquities the chastisement of our peace was on him and with his stripes we are healed Where the meritorious cause of his Sufferings is set down as appears by the connexion of the words with the former The Jews thought him stricken smitten of God and afflicted that is justly punisht for Blasphemy and usurping Divine Honour In opposition to this conceit 't is added But he was wounded for our transgressions This the Apostle expresly telleth us when he declares that Christ died for our Sins This will appear more fully by considering what the desert of Sin is By our Rebellion we made the forfeiture of Soul Body to Divine Justice Death both the first and the second was the Sentence of the Law Now the Sufferings of Christ were answerable