the Scriptures make evident by Doctrine Threatnings Examples Eating the Forbidden Fruit was not the Personal Sin of any of Adam's Posterity and yet they all are punished for it For by one Man sin entred into the World and by sin Death and Death passed over all men c. Josuah and the Princes of the Congregation of Israel swear unto the Gibeonites not to put them to death Saul 450 years and more afterwards slays them and so violates that Oath For this sin of that King Israelâ—â—â—ers â—â—â—ers three years Famine and this sin is not expiated nor the Judgment turn'd away 〈◊〉 7. of Saul's Son long after were given to the Gibeonites and hanged up unto the Lord. Saul sins Israel suffers Famine and 7 of Saul's Sons are slain and this by the direction of God declaring the Perjury of Saul to be the cause of Israelsâ—â—sfering â—â—sfering Achan commits Sacriledge not onely He but his Sons and Daughters are stoned to death for it But I shall have occasion hereafter to say something more of this Particular The Socinians in opposing this truth deny plain Scriptures and charge God with injustice by consequence and whilest they deny Christ's Sufferings to be Punishments lest they should make God unjust they charge Him with injustice For if it be unjust to punish Christ being innocent for the sinnes of others for whom He voluntarily suffered according to the Appointment and Command of His Heavenly Father much more unjust it must needs be to afflict him and that so grievously without any cause at all or demerit of others And whereas they say That though some may suffer for the sins of others when they are sinful themselves and not otherwise they do but trifle For if one may justly be punished for the sin of another whereof he is not guilty then an innocent person may justly suffer for another who is guilty This was the case of Israel when David sinned He out of Pride numbers the People God is offended herewith and punisheth for this sin and that with death 70000 of his Subjects The King sins the People suffer and they suffer death for the Kings sin whereof they were not guilty as appears by those words of David's Repentance But these sheep what have they done 2 Sam. 24. 17. That is I not they have sinned They are innocent in this particular By all this we may understand how and how far Christ's Sacrifice is communicable to us How we come to be actuall Partakers of these Benefits shall be shewed hereafter Before I proceed § VIII I will take occasion to examine the Extent of Christ's Death Whether He died for all men and so Redemption be universal as some use to speak or no. 1. That Christ dyed for all in some sense must needs be granted because the Scripture expresly affirms it For by the Righteousness of One the free gift came upon All Men to justification of life Rom. 5. 18. And if One died for all then were all dead 2. That onely Believers actually enjoy the Benefit of this Death unto Salvation is as clear also 3. Neither God's love in giving Christ nor Christ's love dying for Man do exclude any as love 4. The benefit of Salvation is communicable to all upon certain tearms expressed in the Covenant which yet limits the actual benefit of Remission and Eternal Liâ—e by prescribing a qualification in the Parties to be saved by Christ's death 5. The Qualification is such that it excludes no man as a man or a sinful man but as impenitent and not believing at least So that it may truly be said that by Christ's Sacrifice all men are save-able some way though all shall not be saved And if any become not save-able it 's upon some demerit and speciall cause antecedent The immediate Effects called Satisfaction and Merit both signified by the word Propitiation make God propitious and in that respect man in a capacity of Salvation or save-able and do not precisely exclude or include any But Justification Reconciliation Adoption Glorification are so simiâ—ed by God's Promise that they formally and immediately belong to none but Believers This Question is needless if men would content themselves with the plain and simple truth of the Scriptures and rather use all means to believe then dispùte For if I once sincâ—rely believe I may be sure I have a right unto those Benefits If I believe not I can have no comâ—ort in this blessed and most meritorious Sacrifice There is another question and the same unprofitably handled Whether the Propitiation which includes both satisfaction and merit be to be ascribed to the active or passive obedience of Christ as their distinction and expression proposeth it For solution whereof it s to be observed 1. That both his active personal perfect and perpetual obedience which by reason of his humane nature assumed and subjection unto God was due and also that obedience unto the great and transcendent command of suffering the death of the Crosse both concur as causes of Remission and justification 2. The Scriptures usually ascribe it to the Blood Death and Sacrifice of Christ and never to the personall active obedience of Christ to the Morall law 3. That yet this active obedience is necessary because without it he could not have offered that great sacrifice of himself without spot unto God and if it had not been without spot it could not have been Propitiatory and effectuall for expiation 4. That if Christ as our surety had performed for us perfect and perpetual obedience so that we might have been judged to have perfectly and fully kept the law by him then no sin could have been chargeable upon us and the death of Christ had been needlesse and superfluous 5. Christs propitiation frees the Believer not onely from the obligation unto punishment of sense but of losse and procured for him not onely deliverance from evil deserved but the enjoyment of all good necessary to our full happinesse Therefore there is no ground of Scripture for that opinion That the death of Christ and his sufferings free us from punishment and by his active obedience imputed to us we are made righteous and the heyres of life 6. If Christ was bound to perform perfect and perpetuall obedience for us and he also performed it for us then we are freed not onely from sin but obedience too and this obedience as distinct and seperate from obedience unto death may be pleaded for justification of life and will be suffiâ—ient to carry the cause For the tenour of the law was this Do this and Live And if man do this by himself or surety so as that the law-giver and supreme Judge accept it the Law can require no more It could not bind to perfect obedience and to punishment too There never was any such law made by God or just men Before I conclude this particular concerning the extent of Christs merit propitiation I thought good to inform the Reader that as the
in the end to encline so farr as to look upon the fruit to cover it to touch it and tast it too And so the Vâ—nome of the Serpent infected Soul and Body Neither staid it here but did diffuse and Communicate it self to man who hearkened to his Wiâ—e and did eate and so transgresse Upon which the victory became compleat And though the temptation and plot was deeply laid and managed with greatest subtlety yet they could not be excused For the law was plain the power to observe it sufficient and God did in no wayes desert them in any thing necessary They did both willingly consent and yield They were too precipitate and did too hastily determin and resolve before they had sufficiently considered the matter either severally or joyntly together And their sin was in the issue so much the more heynous because they believed the false suggestions of the Devill and harkened to his damned Counsel contrary to the clear Command and peremptory Commination of their Creator In all this they had not the least cause to complain of God Their Sin and misery was from themselves and there was much of will in the transgression The Woman was first in the sin and was deceived Yet the Man followed her example Otherwiâ—e it might have been better with all mankind And in this place something may be â—aid of the permission of sin and Gods providence in respect of the same No doubt God could have prevented both the sin and the temptation yet being no wayes bound to do either he suffered both And this is one of the deep Counâ—ells of God whereof man can give no reason Arminiuâ— doth discourse of this subject and observes the acts of Divine providence about sin to be reducible to three heads 1. In respect of the Beginning 2. Of the Progress 3. The Consummation of it In respect of the Beginning the Acts of Providence are either permission or hinderance In respect of the Progress Direction and Limitation In respect of Sin Consummate Punishment or Remission But he that will accurately discuss this Point of Doctrine must distinguish 1. Between the first sin of Angels and the first sin of Man and other sinnes following these For in respect of these later that which we call permission may be a Desertion and to a Punishment which in the first sinnes cannot be 2. He must put a difference between a Moral and a Physical permission and also between the sinful Disposition and immediate Act of the Will as sinful and such Acts as follow and are not formally and intrinsecally sinful but bâ— participation 3. He must discern which of these Acts belong to Judgment as the two last evidently do and which not 4. It should be distinctly known what this Permission is For it 's not any Licence or Liberty to sin given by God to the Creature nor any toleration connivence indulgence much less any approbation of sin The proper and immediate first subject and cause of sin is the Will as free Therefore when Scotus had defined sin to be Carentia justitiae actui inesse debitae Occam corrects him and defines it to be Carentia justitiae voluntati inesse debitae And whereas many out of Austin take it for granted that Peccatum non habet causam efficientem sed deâ—icientem He â—aith That 's true onely of sins of Omission not of Commission and doth positively â—ffirm that God is the Author of every sin of Commission because in Commission there is something positive which is forbidden by the Law directly as well as that which is privative yet gives the reason why man is guilty and God not because man is under a Law and bound God is not And whereas some in sins of Commission distinguish between the Act whereof they grant God to be the Author and the Sinfulness of the Act whereof he is not the Author He answers That in sins of Commission the very Act is forbidden and therefore the very Act is so sin that you cannot make it the subject of sin is any ways different from sin In this making of God the Author of all sins he seems to be very bold and heterodox though very acute But let his Judgment in this be true or false these things are certain 1. That all the difficulty in this point ariseth from our ignorance of the manner how God concurs with the Free will of man in sin 2. That God could prevent all sins and every sin though he doth not 3. That God doth not necessitate much less force the intelligent Creature to sin for then sin could be no sin 4. That let Permission be what it will yet he so permits sin that he can justly punish it in the Parties guilty who alone are chargeable with it 5. The reason why God doth not cannot sin is not onely because he is under no Law but because he is absolutely just and holy and hates sin as he doth forbid it threaten it give power against it and punisheth it 6. We must not think that God doth so permit sin as not to order the sinner and out of evil bring good as once out of Darkness he created Light To think that God who is the Universal Judge is a bare Spectator of sin must needs be an Errour The cause of this sin § XI which was blameless was the Law which did forbid sin command obedience promise life to the Obedient threaten death to the Disobedient This could not by any inward native power or quality be a cause of Sin or Death for it was spiritual holy just good and so contrary to sin For every thing acts according to the inward power and quality And how should that be for sin which was the Rule of Holiness and for Death which was given for Life Yet a cause of sin it might be though not per Se yet per Accidens as the Logicians speak Not by any thing in it self yet by something from without in Man or the Devil Some instance in the dashing of a Pitcher against a Wall so that it 's broken The breaking of the Pitcher is an Effect but the Cause thereof is rather the force of him who purposely casts it against the wall then the Wall it self yet this Comparison is not so fuâ—l and perfect If there had been no Law there had been no sin For where there is no Law there is no Transgression saith the Apostle Rom. 4. 15. An if no transgression then no guilt no punishment If there had been no Law man might have done â—omething worthy of punishment yet without a Law he could have contracted no guilt so as to be bound to suffer punishment And though God knew that if he did give a Law it would be disobeyed yet he might justly give it For as he knew man would transgress it yet he knew likewise that he might keep it No Governour will forbear to enact Laws to regulate his People because he knows many will disobey them That the Law
4. It had annexed the whole Body of the Judicials and Ceremonials to continue in force whilest they should be a State Civil and Ecclesiastical even till the glorification of Christ and the Revelation of the Gospel 5. It had joyned with it many Temporal Promises and Curses Yet as before 1. It did minister no power of the Spirit to keep it 2. It promised no Pardon or Spiritual Blessing for those belonged unto the Law of grace in Christ who was promised to Abraham 3. It had no Priest that could expiate Sin or Sacrifice which could purge the Conscience from dead Works 4. It ran in strict tearms as Do this and live 5. It was given in such a manner as to strike a terrour into them as guilty Wretches who seemed to be summoned before God not so much to receive a Law as to hear the Sentence of Death passed upon them The special use therefore unto them was to give them a clearer and more perfect knowledge as of their duty so of their sin and misery Of their Sin by the Precepts of their misery by the threatnings And this to humble them cause them to desire a remedy and have recourse unto the Promise of Christ and that with a longing after his Exhibition And seeing there was no promise of power to keep it or of pardon and the Priesthood Sacrifices and other Services being in themselves an heavy burthen could no ways be able to free them from the guilt of sin they had the greater cause to rely upon him and expect his coming It was also a Rule of their lives both as single persons and as Members of a Body Politick that by obedience unto it they might live happily in that good Land of Canaan and not be obnoxious to those fearful judgments God had threatned and their Posterity for their sin did afterwards suffer Other uses of it as joyned with the Ceremonials I have formerly delivered That many of them sought Righteousness and Justification by this Law together with the Ceremonial was their great mistake For 1. There was no power in the Moral Law to justifie them except they could keep it but seeing they could not do it it was added for transgression Gal. 3. 19. 2. The Law Ceremonial had no power to sanctifie them and free them from sin For the Law was weak and unprofitable and made nothing perfect that is it justified and sanctified no man Heb. 7. 18 19. The Priests by their Offerings and Sacrifices could not take away sin Heb. 10. 11. The use of it to the Church § X especially Christian who have a clearer knowledge of Moral Duties by the example of our Blessed Saviour who was the perfect Mirrour of all Heavenly Virtues and by the Doctrine of the Gospel is 1. To discover Sin 2. To be a Rule of Obedience And of this use it was always both to Patriarchs to Israel and to all Christians The first end is to discover Sin For as where there is no Law there is no Sin so where there is no knowledge of the Law there is no knowledge of Sin Therefore it is said that by the Law is the knowledge of sin Rom. 3. 20. And the more clearly and distinctly God in his Law shall represent our Duty and that measure of Righteousness and Holiness which God requires at our hands and we by the Law of Creation were bound to perform or else suffer eternal death the more vile abominable and miserable we plainly see our selves to be We easily understand what need we have of Christ's death and intercession God's mercy and the Spirit of Regeneration lest we run on endlesly upon this heavy score The more we know our vile and sad condition the more we know the freeness of God's grace and the abundance of his mercy if He will be pleased to deliver us And lest the Law should work despair it was always in the Church joyned with Christ either to come or else exhibited Therefore it 's said That the Law entred that the offence might abound but where sin abounded grace did much more abound From which words we may understand 1. That the Law was not given to justifie us 2. It 's never to be separated from Christ and God's abundant grace in Jesus Christ our Lord. And this is one use to be made of the Law not onely before we are in Christ to prepare us for him but also after that we are in Him that we may renew our Faith and Repentance till we be fully sanctified Yet the Law without the power of the Divine Spirit can never so clearly and distinctly represent unto us our sins and make us sensible of them or keep us from despair In this respect the Law may be said to be Evangelical because subservient to the Gospel He that shall preach the Law without Christ is truly a legal Preacher And he that shall preach Christ without the Law to discover sin is an Antinomian This use cannot be made of the Law without Self-examination and a serious and distinct Review of our lives laid to the Line of this Law And though the Moral Law be the principal in this use yet all positive Laws in force serve to the same end This was not the proper and first intended end for as it found man holy and righteous at the first so it required he should continue Obedience and life were the end To discover disobedience and man's sad condition thereupon and to cause him to look and cast about for a Deliverance and desire Christ represented as a Saviour was not intended at the first but made an end by God-Redeemer in Christ to prepare him for Christ. This use was merely accidental to the Law and was super-added by the Divine Wisdom and Mercy and in this respect it can no ways belong to the first Covenant of Works To strike terrour into guilty man cause him to despair of life might be an effect of it according to that Covenant And now if it be represented as first given to Adam it can have no other effect But thus it was not to be understood after God had signified that He would provide a Redeemer Another use in the second place § XI is to be a Rule of Obedience But 1. It 's not a bare Rule to inform our Understanding of the Duty and so give direction but it 's a binding Rule as every Law is It 's not merely given us for Advice Exhortation Perswasion but with a strong Obligation 2. This Obedience is performed by sinful Man by way of Return For this Law finds man sinful guiltys and disobedient both by Nature and Practise Therefore the Scripture calls so often for turning to the Lord which implies two things 1. That turning from our sins we should for time to come subject our selves to God as our Redeemer and acknowledge Him 2. That being subjected we should be obedient unto His particular Commands And this Obedience by way of Return is called Repentance which cannot
honour them And whosoever will not perform this duty must needs transgresse against the very light of nature and those principles which God hath imprinted in their Soules So that as Philo saith The offenders are guilty of impiety against God and inhumanity against man and stand liable before the Tribunal both of God and man and those that are undutifull to their Parents are usually prophane and irreligious towards God This duty in respect of Children is generall and binds them all and every one none can be exempted All and every one have Father and Mother too since Adam and Eve were created by God and not procreated by man Therefore Adam is called the Son of God Luke 3. 38. The conception of Jesus Christ and his birth were extraordinary for he had a Mother but no immediate Father therefore he may be excepted Yet it was said that he was subject unto them that is not onely to his Mother Mary but his Father by law Joseph to give example to all Children seeing he the Son of God subjected himself unto them This duty ariseth from the relation as the foundation thereof For by the manner of the receiving and continuing of their being they are inferiours depending upon Parents and under their power The partyes to whom the duty is to be performed are Father and Mother Father who begets them and Mother who conceives beares bring forth nurseth and taketh care of them in their helplesse age In this respect they have propriety superiority of power above them And lest Children should think it sufficient to be subject to their Father he adds and thy Mother For though the Mother be subject as a Wife to her Husband yet she is superiour to her Child as she is a Mother and may command and must in no wiâ—e be neglected or disobeyed The duty it self is expressed in the word Honour which is but single § V yet comprehends severall dutyes as Reverence to their persons in respect of their dignity subjection to their power obedience to their commands maintenance if they be in want and they able to relieve them and covering their infirmityes for maintenance is sometimes called honour and Shem and Japhet honoured their Father when in a modest manner they covered his nakednesse Reverence must be in the heart and expressed in their words their gestures and outward carriage towards them Subjection is a resigning of their own Wills and acknowledgement of their power and superiority and that they themselves are not Sui juris their own Masters but their duty till the time of emancipation is to serve Obedience is to do their just commands and must be regulated by their directions for they must hearken unto their instructions both for the matter to be done and the manner how it ought to be performed and they must execute it freely and with diligence for if it be not free and willing it s no obedience If Parents fall into want grow decrepit and faile not onely in strength but understanding and so cannot help themselves Reason it self much more the Word of God will dictate unto us that Children should not onely cover their infirmities and bear with their imperfections but also help succour relieve them and endeavour to recompence that tender love and kindnesse which their Parents shewed unto them when they were Children And this is to be done unto them with all due respects as unto Parents for in their lowest condition such they are and such they must be accounted And if all these dutyes be not performed how can Children be said to honour Father and Mother as here they are commanded to do And if Heathen Children be bound thus to honour their Parents and some of them by the light of nature have done it how much more are Christian Children of Christian Parents obliged to this duty which should be performed out of knowledge the love of God and Faith in Jesus Christ as a part of Christian obedience and thankfulnesse This is the duty commanded § VI The reward promised is That they may live long in the Land which the Lord their God had given them and that it might go well with them The reward is 1. An enjoyment of that good land God should give them 2. A long life 3. Prosperity and comfort This is said to be the first Commandement with promiâ—e It s the first Commandement and it hath a promise The second Table is called the Law Rom. 13. 8. 10. And all the Law Gal. 5. 14. That is all the Law which prescribes the duty of man to man It hath severall Commandemnents and this is the first of them and it hath a promise and so none of the rest following have It 's neither the first Commandement of the Decalogâ—e nor the first with promise But it 's the first of that Law which prescribeâ— our duty towards man and hath a promise annexed The end of this promâ—â—eâ— to encourage Children For though they are bound by the law of thankfulnesse unto it anâ— by the performance thereof cannot recompence the love and care of their Parâ—nts and they should be very unworthy if they should neglect it yet it was Gods superâ—bundant mercy to add the promise and the Apostle makes the use of it to move Children to obedience The land which the Lord their God should give them was the land of Canaan and therefore it had special reference to the Isralites yet so that all other dutifull Children of all nations have a right in it and especially Christians Why else should the Apostle take it up to move Christian Children to obedience Ephes. 6. 1 2 3. The enjoyment of our own native Country is opposed to captivity banishment dispossession disinheritance and a Vagabond life Long life to an unnatural or a violent death which takes away life even then when natural vigour continues and there be no internal causes of immediate dissolution A prosperous life is opposed to the cuâ—ses and miseryes which others suffer Yea all these mercyes are opposed to all those judgements as inflicted by God and suffered by wicked and undutifull Children for their neglect disobedience contempt and rebellion against their Parents These blessings promised are but temporall not spirituall and Eternal For those are acquired by Faith and derived from Christ and the promises in Christ in whom Christian Children receive not onely this temporal but a spiritual reward upon this obedience performed in Faith Neither doth this promise take effect in all dutifull Children so as that alwayes they enjoy this reward and be free from the like judâ—ements in generall which arâ— contrary to this reward For even dutifull Children many times suffer Captivity banishment untimely death and other miseryes but not for this sin of obedience whereof they are not guilty but for tryall and some other cause best known unto God who will recompence the want or losse of this reward with some far greater mercy There be extraordinary and reserved cases wherein good Children
must fly to the pit Let no man stay him Prov. 28. 17. He that endeavours to save a bloody person must needs be guilty of blood himself Some make bloody lawes to take away most unjustly the lives of their innocent Subjects Some wrest the lawes just in themselves and by unjust Judgement condemn the guiltlesse to death and this is done in time of peace All such as wage unjust wars or manage just wars cruelly and unjustly are great transgressours Such also are all seditious and tumultuous persons and also the Authours of civil Wars and enemies to the administration of justice Some are too remisse in just wars to revenge that blood which was cruelly and causelesly shed by the enemy This was the sin of King Saul in that he destroyed not the Amalekites from under Heaven Besides the former differences § VI and degrees of this sin there be others For even of Wilfull Murders those are most heynous 1. Which are committed out of pure malice or a contempt of the precious life of man Some are so bloody as they make no more account of the life of man then of a beast nor so much Others are so cruel as that they delight in the torment which others suffer and therefore take away the lives of others so as to put them to lingring and extreame paine 2. To Murder Father Mother Children as the Canaanites and after some cursed Israelites did sacrifice their Children to the Devil is most unnaturall grievous and abominable 3. To Murder Magistrates Judges publick Officers and especially Kings and Princes upon whom the publick peace and safety doth much depend is a far more heynous transgression then to slay a private person 4. To Murder innocent persons and such as have done no wrong nor given any cause is far more then to Murder injurious and abusive provoking persons 5. The blood of Abel and the Saints and faithfull Servants of God do cry most loud because the cursed Caines and Perfecutours slay them because their works were good and their own evill and out of an hatred of the power of Godlinesse in them For the more of God is in them the more they hate them The most heynous Murther in respect of the person the injustice the malice the reproach was the crucifying of Christ the Son of God 'T is difficult § VII if not impossible to reckon up all kinds and different ways of murther For the life of man is exposed to a thousand dangers and is easily taken away and the malice of the Devil that old murtherer and of bloudy men is very great So that it 's the great mercy of God that man lives half his days or that any dyeth a natural death And therefore our duty is to be thankful to our God as for other mercies so for the continuance and preservation of our life And every day should we commit our selves into his hands prepare for death set our soules in order desire his protection and the guardance of his Blessed Angels And in this place we might take occasion to speak of self-murther which is certainly unlawful For we have not the absolute propriety but the use of our lives given us of God to use and to make an account to him of the same A man may be unmerciful and unjust unto himself both in respect of life and other things Unto all the former sorts of murther may be added all unjust Punishments and especially such as grant life yet upon such tearms that it is worse then Death as when innocent persons are condemned to cruel Servitude or to the Gallies or to Banishment or the Mines By what hath been said we may in some measure understand what God hath forbidden The Preceptive § VIII and Affirmative part is implied and may be easily understood by the former which is Negative For as the Duty is so our care must be to preserve the life of our Neighbour as our own which is dear and pretious to us To this end 1. We must be humble meek patient peaceable placable and ready to forgive and be reconciled upon reasonable tearms unto our Enemies 2. We must be pittiful kind liberal and ready to give or do what shall be necessary for the preservation of the lives of others and not suffer them through out own default to perish 3. We must be bold resolute couragious and ready to hazard our goods credit liberty and sometimes our own lives to save innocent persons and especially the servants of God and rescue them out of the hands and jaws of wicked and cruel men Open thy mouth saith God by the Wise-woman for the Dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction Prov. 31. 8. 4. We must in a just War be willing to lay down our lives for our Countrey that by the Death of few many may be preserved 5. As our hearts must be well affected so our words must be words of meekness patience love humility peace kindness comfort And as we must avoid the causes and occasions of doing hurt so all our inward affections outward carriage words deeds must be so ordered as shall most tend to the safety of the life of others Neither must our Prayers and Endeavours be wanting to prevent the death of innocent persons Thus Reuben sought to save the life of his Brother Joseph Esther adventured her life to prevent the ruine of her people Esth. 4. 11 12 c. Thus Ebedmeleck delivered the Prophet out of the Dungeon Jer. 38. 7. 8. And God remembred the Work of Mercy to reward it Jerem. 39. 15 16. Besides all this we must not conceal but discover and that betimes all Plots Designs Intentions of Murther known unto us do what we can to prevent the effusion of innocent bloud severely and carefully prosecute all Bloudy Murtherers And herein all Judges Magistrates Higher-Powers who are trusted with the Sword must by the Sword cut off bloudy men and not suffer them to live The Reasons why we should abhor § IX and take heed of this sinne are many For 1. The life of man is precious and the greatest and chiefest Earthly Treasure man can have it 's the best thing under Heaven and in it self the greatest blessing of God in this World 2. It was given of God to serve him and seek a better and more glorious life in the World to come To take it away before the great work be done and Man hath made his peace with God and secured his Title to Heavens Kingdom is a most horrid crime and tends to the destruction of Soul and Body at once and may be a privation and prevention of Eternal Life to be enjoyed in Heaven Therefore it 's no wonder God doth so much detest it And many are so malicious and revengeful as that if it were in their power they would destroy and punish both Body and Soul in Hell fire 'T is reported of a bloudy man of Millain in Italy that when he had suddainly surprized one
absolute Power might have done so yet His Wisdom did not think good to do it neither do we read that he doth it The principal thing to be noted is that this is the principal if not the onely place that speaks of Imputation of Righteousness and this Imputation is Remission of Sinne by a Sentence of the Supream Judge 3 Remission and Justification and Eternal Life is ascribed to the Sacrifice of Christ's Death as the meritorious cause thereof in many other places especially Heb. 9. And Christ is said by one Offering to have perfected that is consecrated the Sanctified for ever Hebr. 10. 14. To be consecrated for ever is to be made compleat Priest to serve the Living God in the Temple of Heaven and to be eternally glorified And this is ascribed to the Death and Offering of Christ. QUESTION III. Whether Justification continued and finally consummate be by Works and not by faith alone as the first Justification is MIne Answer hereunto is negative § XII that neither Justification continued nor finally consummate is by Works but faith onely though that faith be not alone For the Scriptures inform us that there is but one way of Justification of a sinfull man and that is by faith in Christ. For seeing the Apostle determines but two wayes possible the one by Works the other by faith and proves that no man living by Works can be justified in God's sight because all are sinfull no man no not the best without sin no man performs perfect and perpetuall Obedience it seems strange to me that any man should affirm that Justification either continued or finall should be by Works If it be by Works then the reward of Righteousnesse is of debt according to the Law of Works and then it 's not of Grace If it be by works then works must be perfect and such as can endure the severity of God's Justice at our last triall If by works then the worker is so righteous in himself by reason of them that no one can lay any thing to his charge For Justification first and last must look upon man as chargeable with no sin otherwise he will not be justifiable by the most just God But no works of man are such If by works then by faith as a work we may be justified but that cannot be If by works then works may receive Chirst as our Propitiatour and Intercessour But that 's the proper act of faith If by works then we receive not the reward of righteousnesse and eternall Glory as merited by Christ and derived immediately from Christ to us as believing on him and renouncing all righteousnesse in our selves If by works then our finall Justification is not a Remission of sin If by good works then our good works may be pleaded in the title unto righteousnesse and eternal life before the Tribunal of God But the Promise it self and the Reward promised were merited by Christ and God promiseth this righteousnesse and reward for Christ's sake and for his sake alone and he promiseth it unto him and onely unto him that resteth upon Christ and Christ alone for it and pleads Christ's merit and onely Christ's merit upon the promise of God If by good works then good works can expiate our sins and satisfy for our evill works If by works then there is some promise made in the Gospel to justifie us by them and as righteous through them and so righteous that we need not plead Christ or remission upon Christ's propitiation But there is no such promise in the Gospel The Law indeed saith Do this and live But the Gospel saith Confesse with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead and thou shalt be saved Rom. 10. 9. If by works then why doth the Apostle say By Grace you are saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God Not of works c. Why might he not as well have said By Grace ye are saved through faith and works It was as easy for him to say the one as the other The power to do good works and our doing of them is a reward derived from Christ by faith For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works Ephes. 2 8 9 10. After that we are once ingrafted into Christ Jesus we derive all the good from first to last whether for duty or reward from him All the vertues which we have all the good works which we do on earth or in heaven presuppose us in Christ and justified by and for his merits All good works of regenerate persons are virtually in faith receiving Christ and no such faith continuing can be without good works It is certain that as God in the Gospell commands good works commends such as do them promiseth rewards unto Well-doers â—o he will in his last Judgment justifie good Works and the doers of them so as Wisdom is justified of her Children But this Justification is onely Approbation whereby man may justify God as well as God justify man in this manner Therefore we must needs say that as good Works are commanded by God pleasing unto God so they are approved and rewarded of God They so farr as good prevent future guilt take away no former guilt do evidence our faith and Title unto everlasting Glory strengthen our union with Christ because they strengthen faith confirm our hope glorify God give good example unto men make us more capable of Communion with God tend towards the possession of Glory distinguish us from the prophane and hypocrites give some content to our Consciences and there is a kind of happinesse in the doing of them and in the remembrance of them done Blessed are they who alwayes abound in them For they know that their labour is not in vain in the Lord. Yet Bellarmin though a great advancer of Merit thought it not onely safe but the safest Way to put our whole and sole trust not in these our good Works but in Christ. But it is not onely the safest but the onely way so to do if we would be justified before God To say that good Works are a condition of the Covenant of Grace we shall be judged according to our works remission of Sin is promised to such as forgive others and that such as love God fear him serve him do his commandements shall be rewarded and have eternall life therefore We are not justified by faith alone but by good works also is no good arguing If the Sequel be denied as it must be no wit of man can prove it and make it good They may be a condition of the Covenant yet not such a condition as faith receiving Christ as Propitiatour and Advocate and resting upon God's Promise in him alone and such must of necessity be that condition whereby we are justified and stand blamelesse and without Spot before the Throne of God Though we shall be judged according to our works it
they should see him sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the Clouds of Heaven This answer they expected and from his own words condemn the Judge of Heaven and Earth to be guilty of Blasphemy After his most unjust condemnation He as one out of all Protection and unworthy of any benefit of Law is exposed to the abuses of the vilest Wretches who did hood wink him mock him spit upon him blaspheme him who was now already betrayed by Judas presently denied by Peter and forsaken of all his Disciples These miseries this ingratitude these indignities the glorious Son of God and Lord of Angels did endure This Trial in the Ecclesiastical Court § IV being finished He is brought before the Civil Judge and tried there again What the Reason hereof was is not so evident It may be the High-Priests still were afraid of the People lest they should rise against them if they shou'd proceed to publique and open execution or it might be because the Romanes denied them Jurisdiction in Capital Causes This seems to be implied in their words to the Procurator It 's not lawful for us to put any man to death Joh. 18. 31. He is brought before Pilate and sent by Pilate to Herod Herod finds in him no cause of death neither doth Pilate and therefore out of Justice and Natural Conscience and other Reasons justifies him as unworthy of death several times and several times seeks to release him And as he was unwilling to condemn him because there was no cause and for that He knew the Rulers out of Envy had delivered Him into His hands so He was afraid to do it is admonished by His Wife and that in some sort from Heaven to have nothing to do with that righteous man but especially when He heard He was the Son of God Yet they accuse Him vehemently of haynous crimes as Sedition and High-Treason against Caesar and importune him to do justice and seeing him unwilling to pass judgment against Him and willing and very earnest to release Him they perswade the people to desire Barabbas a cruel Murtheret to be delivered to them according to the Custom and to cry without ceasing Crucifie crucifie Jesus and that which was of greatest force they tell Pilate plainly that if He released Him He was not Caesars friend and in these words imply that they would accuse Him if he let Him go So in the end the cries of the tumultuous Rabble the fear of a Tumult and much more of his Masters displeasure prevail with him to condemn him to death against all Justice all Admonitions and his own Conscience though he had formerâ—y scourged him So vile a thing it is in any Judge especially to fear Man more than God and Temporal more than Eternal punishments Thus Barabbas is released the guilt of Christ's bloud charged upon the Jews who take it upon them and their children to their condemnation and confusion And Christ is delivered to the Souldiers 1. To be abused 2. To be executed As He was accused and so condemned for this cause alleadged that He said He was the King of the Jews so they accordingly abuse Him They divest Him of His outward garments crown Him with thorns array Him with a purple garment as signs of Royal Dignity put a Reed for a Scepter into his hands bow before him and salute him as King of the Jews and withall smite Him on the Head to make the Thorny-Crown pierce into His Temples And after they had made themselves sport with His miseries and satiated themselves they take off those Ornaments of derision and lead him to the place of Execution which followed immediately upon this unjust Judgment and so many indignities offered him He is led out of the City as a prophane unhallowed person unworthy to abide in that holy place and he must carry his cross which yet Simon of Cyrene was afterward compelled to do Being brought to the place of execution he is divested of his garments which are divided amongst the Souldiers who cast lots upon his seamless coat which done He is nailed to the Cross and suffers cruel torment Instead of ease and comfort they give him gall to eat and vinegar to drink they mock him give him vile and cutting words In midst of this condition He is deserted for a time the sweetest comforts of Heaven restrained from Him the Devils of Hell permitted to exercise their malice cruelty and power upon Him And that we might understand his sufferings to be far greater then we can imagine He cries out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and complains of such miseries as never any suffered Job's afflictions were many and grievous and came nearest unto these of Christ yet were far short He suffered thus upon the Cross from the 6th unto the 9th hour of the day and then died and commended his Soul into the hands of his Heavenly Father Thus the Consecration of the great High Priest was finished the things fore-told concerning his Suffering fulfilled and his bitter suffering had an end That day his body being dead pierced by a Souldier though no bone of this true Paschal Lamb was broken sent forth water and bloud and being taken down from the Cross yielded by consent of the Governour into the hands of Joseph of Arimathea was by him and Nicodemus decently and honourably interred in a new Sepulchre where never any man was buried continued separate from His Soul as His Soul from it unto the third day and saw no corruption And this was the deep Humiliation of the Son of God whereby this universal and eternal Power was acquired CHAP. III. A more large Discourse of Christ's Obedience unto the Death of the Cross. I Will not here take up time in shewing both how many § I and also how grievous the sufferings of Christ were For that hath been done by many others and it may be sufficiently understood by what hath been said nor onely that they were many and grievous but also far greater then we can understand But I will 1. Consider this Humiliation of Christ as it was an Obedience unto Death and a Sacrifice of Him as a Priest 2. I will declare the Effects thereof 3. I will endeavour to shew how far the benefit of this Humiliation was communicable or derivable unto sinful Man And 4. The Attributes God manifested in this Humiliation Many with great Eloquence and Art have methodically set forth the Passions of our Saviour and their intention was to affect the Hearts of their Auditors and stir up to sorrow and other passions Yet these four things are matter of greatest moment give a clearer light to understand the great mystery of Redemption and are effectual to melt our hearts with godly inccour for our sins to make us sensible of God's wonderful love to revive our hearts with heavenly comfort and to mortifie our corruptions 1. Therefore this Humiliation was an Act of Obedience unto God his Heavenly Father
contents than sin and displease our God and endanger our poor souls Many are not Chast at all few and very few perfectly Chast and this Commandement discovers much sin and manifests an absolute necessity of Christs merit and Gods mercy in this particular Many are wicked the best are frail and all imperfect at least in our strange and unclean thoughts which are very hardly prevented in them who abhor the sin and love the virtue I might in this pâ—ace take occasion to enlarge but I will not debate either of the nullity of some marriages or what doth make a nullity or determine the severall degrees of consanguinity or affinity and so discover what marriages are inceâ—â—uous or enquire into the nature of divorce and the causes thereof and whether divorce for Adultery doth totally dissolve the matrimoniall bond or onely separate à mensa thoro the bond continuing still or declare in what cases Man and Wife may live asunder As for living or not living together when the one party is a Believer the other an Unbeliever the Apostle 1. Cor. 7. hath sufficiently determined These particulars might take up a Volume Let the Reader observe that in this Commandement God saith to all single Persons Be Chaste To all Married Persons Be Faithful CHAP. XIV The Eighth Commandement THE Sin forbidden in this Commandement § I is THEFT Thou shalt not steal Theft is the unjust usurpation of anothers goods or the taking away or detaining anothers goods unjustly By unjust Usurpation I mean a making that our own which is not our own and to which we have no right For the better understanding of Theft we must consider 1. The matter of it 2. The form 3. The Persons that are guilty under which comes in the several distinctions of Theft 4. The Causes and Antecedents which make way unto it 5. The Degrees thereof The matter of Theft are the goods of other men Therefore as the former Commandement presupposed Marriage so doth this Propriety and a right to those things we call goods which are such things as God hath given us for the preservation comfort and ornament of this bodily life and in that respect called our lively-hood because they are not onely convenient but necessary in a competent measure for the continuance of life The absolute and highest degree of Propriery in these Earthly goods is onely in God because He made them For the Earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof the World and they that dwell therein for He hath founded it upon the Seas and establisht it upon the Floods Psal. 24. 1 2. The Earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof This is God's Propriety He hath founded and prepared it This is the reason and ground of this absolute Propriety Yet He was willing that seeing He made these things for Man he should have some right unto them and an inferiour kind of Propriety in them Therefore it is written The Heaven even the Heavens are the Lords but the Earth hath He given to the Children of Men Psal. 115. 16. So that Man derives his Right unto them from God by way of Donation and that from the Creation Gen. 1. 28 29. This Donation is from God not as Redeemer but Creatour and Preserver Therefore it 's true that Dominium non fundatur in Gratia That Man by Sin might â—orfeit there can be no doubt yet if God took not the Forfeit so as to re-enter the Right remains unto men as men not as sanctified The sanctified onely have a sanctified use of them and will be able to make a good account God renewed his Charter and Donation Gen. 9 3. and this after the Flood Yet this is but a common and general Right given unto man in general and might stand good though all things continued as common This gave neither publike Right to many nor private to any yet was a just Foundation of the Division and Appropriation of things which was once introduced by the Law of Nations and of several States and by the consent of private persons and though this Division and Appropriation leâ—t some things common and did onely constitute a publike or private Title yet to make that publike which God and Nature have made common as to drink water out of the River c. or that private which is publike is a breach of this Commandement Besides the Laws and consent of men there is a special Providence of God both in disposing the several parts of the Earth to several Nations as the Land of Canaan to Israel of Mount-Seir to Esau c. and also making private men rich or poor and giving to one more to another less This Donation of God is not absolute and unlimited for He gives with a Proviso to dispossess and take away at will and pleasure especially when whole Nations States or private men by their heynous crimes do forfeit These goods which God gave licence to be divided are either in no man's possession or propriety or in some man's possession or propriety For such as no man claims any right unto nor can justly do it they fall to the first Inventour and Possessour and this is a good Title as also Presciption For such goods as others have a Right unto whilest that Right continues we cannot in Justice challenge as ours except they be given us by the Owners or sold or exchanged or left by Inheritance or deserved by some Service or be made Lords thereof upon Conquest in a just War There be other just ways of acquiring but I remember them not These goods are corporeal or incorporeal corporeal are immoveable as Lands or moveable as other goods incorporeal as usages to pass to drive to carry through another mans ground and other such like There be degrees of this propriety Some have onely the use of another mans goods but not the profit some the use and profit but no right of alienation some have right of alienation some have onely Dominium Eminens as chief Lords and can onely demand a chief Rent which the Vassal in alienation must always except A man may be wronged in all or any of these and to deprive a man of the least right he hath in these things by the Laws of God and just Laws of men is Theft So that the Form is in the injustice of the Possession of these goods § II and to know when this Possession is unjust we must 1. Distinguish betwixt things common things publike things private that we may understand and that distinctly the common the publike the private Propriety and Right 2. We must consider that some Propriety and Right is grounded upon the Laws of God some upon the Laws of Men whether the Law of Nations or Laws of particular States some upon both 3. We must observe that some things may be proper and due by the Laws of men which are not due by the Laws of God and on the contrary and some things are due both by the Laws of
difference and the abrogation of the Law of Works which to a guilty person denyes all possibility of salvation To come nearer to the intended Scope § III These punishments may be distinguished 1. In to those of losse and paine Because some deprive us of that good we have or may have Some vex us with some evil which either lyes upon us or threatens us Some do both But this is a generall distinction and agrees to punishments in generall 2. They may be distinguished in respect of the principall cause or instrumentall For some are from God immediately Some are inflicted from him by some of his Creatures as by fire destroying Sodome by the water drowning Pharoah by the earth swallowing up Dathan and Abiram by the Pestilentiall vapours of the aire infecting many thousands by Wild Beasts Locusts Cater-pillars Frogs and other animate or inanimate Creatures by Angels good or bad and God punisheth man by man and that many wayes For all the just judgments and penaltyes inflicted by humane jurisdiction are punishments of God who judgeth amongst the Gods and rulers of the earth Many times the unjust judgments of man are the just judgments of God For man may be adjudged unjustly to death in a cause wherein he is innocent and yet justly suffer that death from God for some other Crime whereof he is guilty 3. They may be distinguished in respect of the subject whether single persons or societyes lesse or greater A single person may be the subject of these punishments in respect of his goods his body his person his Soul A society may be considered as one body in respect of it self for the present or joyntly with posterity for time to come There are penaltyes proper to Familyes to Cityes to Viâ—inityes to States and whole nations wherein they are involved at one time There may be penaltyes transmitted from Parents to their Familyes as from Gehezi to his posterity and so likewise from Joab and from Judas and so from States and other Societyes But I spake before particularly though briefly of the punishments both of Civil and Ecclesiasticall Polityes 4. The punishments may be distinguished into ordinary and usual incident to the generality of Mankind or extraordinary For the punishment of Cain the old World Babel's builders Sodome Lots Wife and such like were extraordinary and rare and so will be the burning of the World in the end But 5. The principall distinction of punishments is that of Temporal and Spirituall and by temporall I mean all such as are different from spirituall The one deprives men of the comfort and happinesse which we may enjoy in this life and the other touch a man more nearly and tend more directly to his eternall misery hereafter The temporall punishments of single persons are easily known by the History of the Scriptures and others Writers and especially by Gods threatnings against the Jews for their disobedience Levit. 26. and Deut. 28. which though they had some speciall reference to the Law and the Jewes yet are incident to all even those that live under the Gospel The greatest punishments § IV and most to be feared which men do suffer in this life are spirituall When it 's said The Wages of sin is Death Rom. 6. 23 By death is meant not onely that death which is seperation of Soul and body for the time and all the fore-running miseryes of this life but all kind of punishments and especially spirituall because death in that place is opposed to eternall life which is an aggregation of all spirituall mercyes If we should follow the order of time then all the spirituall penaltyes inflicted by God and suffered by man since the first promise of Christ for the sins following are reducible to this head as the rejection of Cains offering his excommunication the Rejection of the greatest part of the World before the flood as being the Sons of men and seperated from the Sons of God After the flood seeing all first in Noah's person then in his family had the Word and other means of conversion yet the greatest part of them for Apostasie were punished with the losse of these meanes and were left without the Oracles of God the promise of Christ and the power of the restoring Spirit and this punishment lay many yeares upon their posterity continuing Apostates After God had singled out the Posterity of Abraham by Jacob and renewed the promise unto them and continued the meanes of conversion in that nation the rest of mankind being rejected were called Heathens Yet to these he left the light of nature and some remnants of the truth continued from their first Apostate-Parents and Ancestours by tradition and some if not very many had not onely a possibility but opportunityes to be Proselytes and so incorporated into the Church of the Jews Yet these did generally not onely neglect these opportunities but held the truth in unrighteousnesse lived contrary to the light of nature left unto them and worshipped the creature above the Creatour God blessed for ever And for this sin God gave them up to vile affections delivered them up unto a reprobate mind whereby they became full of all unrighteousnesse and this was that fearfull judgment and penalty whereby all hope of Salvation was taken from them Their sad condition is described unto us not onely at large Rom. 1. from verse 18. to the end but briefly yet fully Ephes. 2. 1 2 3. 11 12. The taking away the Word and the Spirit of grace and sending upon them the spirit of slamber was also the punishment of the Jew after they refused their Saviour and rejected the Gospel But to proceed to the particular degrees of these punishments § III according to the different nature and degrees of sin against the Law of grace and the Lord Redeemer we must distinguish of persons never sincerely converted and â—o regenerate and of such as have been truly regenerate and are entred the state of justification Amongst those who were never truly regenerate some reject some receive the meanes of conversion and their punishments are inflicted in this life or after death For here I speak not of Heathens which never enjoyed the meanes neither can say that they were tendred unto them For such as to whom God sends his Messengers and by them offers the meanes their sin if they reject them is Rebellion and they refuse to submit themselves to their Lord and Saviour These say We will not have this man reign over us Luk. 19. 14. Their punishment is this for the present that they shall be accounted enemyes be devoted and deâ—â—ined to final and utter destruction verse 27. Such must be sure and they must certainly know this that the Kingdome of God came nigh unto them and their Condition shall be very sad and wofull For Christ himself saith that it shall be more tolerable in the last day for Sodom then for them Luke 10 11 12. Others receive these meanes and proceed to profession
which doth not cannot rellish affect heavenly and spirituall things so as to be moved by them effectually Because the word finds the heart of man under the guilt and dominion of sin § V and his corrupt lusts therefore one of the first things man is made sensible of is his sinfull and miserable condition Upon this the heart begins to bleed grieve smart as being deeply and mortally wounded And it may be God doth not at the first represent unto man all his sin but it may be one and the same principall or more predominant or some other nor discover all the punishments due but some few or one especially the eternall This may be called that part of judgment which we tearme to be Conviction upon Summons and a charge and the same confessed For when God hath thus made the heart of man sensible he is convinced confesseth accuseth and condemneth himself And though at the first the work begins with the apprehension and sense of one sin yet afterwards he begins to see his sins to be many and heinous and so his condition to be very miserable And in this case a man may continue a longer or a shorter time as it shall please God and this his sad condition is sometimes made more sad by outward afflictions or inward terrours or both and all this while the sinfull wretch is in danger of dispair if God prevent it not by restraining Satans rage who then will be very busie Yet God gives man no occasion to cast away all hope because he doth not at the first represent sin as unpardonable but pardonable nor the punishment as unavoydable but avoydable Some say this is done by the Law and they meane the morall Law discovering unto man his sin by the precept and his misery by the commination But 1. God doth not use onely the morall law but all other laws or any law in force and he maketh use of the History of the first sin and â—all of man nay of the sufferings and death of Christ of his judgments executed upon others 2. No man ought to preach the law of works unto sinfull man as in force for that makes sin unpardonable and is the high way to cause dispaire He indeed that will onely threaten death and punishments according to the Law of works and silence and conceale the promise of the Gospel is a Legal-Preacher indeed and can be no faithfull Servant unto Christ in this work 3. It 's not the Law nor any other Doctrin preached by man which can break his stony heart without the Spirit and power of the Gospel That Doctrin which used by God in this work is most effectuall is the Doctrin of Christ Jesus crucified for our sins and it must be the law of the Spirit of life that must free us from the Law of sin and death In this sad condition § VI whilst man continues guilty and convicted by his own conscience at the bar of divine Justice he will begin to cast about and look on every side to see whether there be any help deliverance and hope of escape and he finds nothing in himself nothing in any Creature no not in Angels to help him and so despairs of any comfort in any thing excepting Christ and so casts away all confidence in any other things and with the Jews pricked in their hearts cryes out Men and Brethren what shall we do Acts 2. 37. And with the Jaylour Sirs what shall I do to be saved Act. 16. 30. To this question made in the anguish and bitternesse of Spirit the answer is Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the Remission of sins and ye shall receive the Holy-Ghost Act. 2. 38. And Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved Act. 16. 31 This implyes 1. That the Sinner is Savable and remission possible 2. That Remission and Salvation is onely by Jesus Christ. 3. That the meanes to obtaine both by Christ is repentance and faith Upon this follows an appeal from the Throne of Justice to the Throne of Grace and mercy Christ is pleaded the guilty person offers the sacrifice of a broken heart and bruised Spirit to the supreme Judge and earnest suit is made not onely for pardon of sin past but for power against sin for the time to come And though man desires and endeavours to repent and beleive and quiet his mind in Christ's merits and Gods promises yet he cannot do these things to purpose nor any man in the world can give him effectuall comfort by the application of the promises till God put his laws in his mind and write them in his heart by his Divine Spirit Thus to do is a work of the Divine Spirit who alone can write immedâ—ately and imprint the Divine precepts and promises of the Gospel upon the heart of man and so give him a divine power to repent to believe to understand to do the Laws of God and apply his promises The word now is no longer onely in books or in mens mouths or in their eares but also in the heart Yet it 's here to be noted 1. That this great promise of the Gospel is not absolute as though God pre-required no duty to be performed by man 2. That he doth not this work without the word both taught heard and learned 3. That this Law is not fully and perfectly written in any mans heart in this life 4. That therefore the most illuminated and sanctified man in this life hath need of the written Word This is not any precept or promise of the Law it 's a performance of a promise upon some precepts performed and so an act of judgment and the same not a bare sentence pronounced out of man but executed in the soul of man and not a punishment but a blessed reward Upon this follows another performance § VII and that is repentance and belief and the same of a far higher degree then can be performed by any strength natural and moral They are divine and supernaturall not performed by any acquired power but by a strength from Heaven For in writing these divine precepts in the heart of man God himself so immediately speaks to man that he receives the Word of God as the Word of God indeed is taught of God drawn to Christ and comes unto him never to depart from him again I will not deny but there may be some supernaturall illumination and alteration in the heart of man and some comforts thereupon in an heart not fully humbled But for God so to write his laws in our hearts as to cause us to walk in his statutes and keep his judgments to do them and that sincerely and constantly Ezek. 36. 27. is a far higher degree of grace in Christ and the duty performed thereupon is far more perfect and excellent In this repentance and faith there are severall branches The 1. Is a sincere and totall submission unto Christ alone as our onely Saviour and to
said to be set forth or ordained to be a propitiation through faith in His blood Rom. 3. 25. For we are not immediately made justifiable either by Christ dying or Christ pleading but by Christ dying and pleading believed upon The righteousnesse of God is by faith in Jesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe Rom. 3. 22. This is an unspeakable comfort to sinfull guilty man deserving to be sentenced unto eternall death and the extreme punishments in Hell that 1. There is a Court of Grace Equity and Mercy ever kept in Heaven 2. A propitiated and most merciful God is the Judge 3. Jesus Christ His Son being once tempted and having suffered cruel punishments is very sensible of our miserable condition and full of compassion 4. Every penitent and believing sinner on Earth is his client and he will vndertake his cause and plead it as his own 5. A prayer a sigh a groan will mind him of our cause 6. A most righteous Advocate pleading vehemently and before a Father of eternal mercy for penitent believing and heart-bleeding sinners and that with his own blood and urging Gods own promise must needs prevaile Oh! fear not guilty Wretch thy cause will be carried in Heaven There can be no doubt of it Yet the Saints of God who lived and died before Christ's exaltation to glory had faith in Christ and were justified by it as Abraham was Their faith indeed was implicit and far short of ours yet it pleaded Mercy a Promise a Messias a Sacrifice though very darkly and God did look upon Christ though to come as a Propitiatour and intercessour and for his propitiation and intercession foreseen and fore-accepted and imperfectly yet sincerely believed did justifie them This Faith whereby we are justified is opposed by the Apostle Paul § IV to the Faith of the Jew in his Letter to the Romans to the Faith of the Judaizing Christian in that to the Galatians unto the Faith of Jews of Philosophers of the Worshippers of Angels in that to the Colossians It s opposed to these severall faith 's in a twofold respect 1. As an assent and perswasion 2. As a confidence or reliance The Jew believed that he might be justified by the Works of the Law and so trusted unto and relied upon his own Works alone The Judaizing Christian believed that Christ alone without the Law could not save him but with the Law he might and so his confidence was not in Christ alone but in Christ and the Law The Jew the Jewish Christian the Philosopher the Worshipper of Angels were perswaded either that Christ was needlesse or yet if he was needful he was not sufficient without the Law or without Philosophy or without the Worship of Angels and did either trust in Christ with these or in these without Christ and none of these would be compleate without or with Christ without some of these The Doctrine of the Gospel different from and opposed to all these proposeth Christ and him only and Christ alone as the complete High Priest Sacrificing himself and pleading his Sacrifice as the meanes and only meanes of justification Justifying faith believes all this and out of this belief rests upon Christ and Christ alone and pleads him and him alone and none else nothing else This Faith is not a perswasion that our sins are already forgiven § V nor a speculative assent to the truths of the Gospel concerning Christ as our Saviour which vanisheth with the speculation and doth not pierce the inwards of the soul nor is it any kind of resting upon Christ as our High Priest and Mediatour neither is it a sincere receiving of Christ as our Lord and King much lesse is it a generall act of faith in God Redeemer meerly considered under that generall notion 1. It cannot be a perswasion that our sins for Christs sake are already forgiven For we must believe before we can be justified much more before we can be assured that we are justified But this perswasion follows justification and remission it self It puts the act before the object and the reward before the performance of the duty and so makes justifying faith which is antecedent to be consequent and needlesse and from hence its consequent that a man may be justified without faith by a faith which follows justification But these things are absurd to a considerate Christian. 2. It 's not a mere speculative assent to the truths of the Gospel concerning Christ for it presupposeth practicall acts antecedent and issues from a practicall habit It looketh upon and closeth fast with the object wherein there be the Highest and most powerfull motives unto practise and obedience that ever were or possibly can be How is it possible that a man should believe seriously that stupendious love of God which moved him to give his onely begotten Son That whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life and not be powerfully stirred up to love that most loving and mercifull God who loved him so much How can Faith look upon the Son of God bleeâ—ing and dying for his sins upon the Crosse and not hate sin with an eternall hatred and give himself wholly to Christ as infinitely more pretious and beneficiall to him then many Worlds Our reformed Writers had good reason to say that though this faith in receiving Christ Satisfying meriting interceding was Sola yet not Solitaria for it must of necessity work and work by love For it 's a lively principle of all heavenly virtues and sincere obedience That faith which is not predominant over all lusts and a mother of universall obedience is no faith whereby a man can be justifiable and justified 3. It 's not any kind of resting upon Christ as our High Priest and Mediatour For we may rest in part on Christ and in part on the Law and our own Works and in Saints and Angels and Superstitious rites of men We may rest on Christ for benefit and not duty We may rest on Christ and yet continue in sin be Hypocrites and so presume It must be a totall and a sincere dependance with a detestation of sin 4. It 's not a receiving him as Lord and King in that it presupposeth him as so received already For faith it self is a duty of obedience and presupposeth a submission unto him as Lord and King to command and bind us to obedience But it 's one thing to receive Christ for duty another to receive him for benefit Justification is a Benefit a reward not a duty not an act of obedience And though faith receiving Christ as Priest for justification be a duty as doing that which is commanded yet it 's but the generall nature of it whereby it agrees with and differeth not from any duty commanded by God Redeemer And consider it as a duty it 's a work and faith it self as a Work is not justifying But to come more closely up to the point and head of the matter now by some