Formalists among the Jews had who without the Messiah closed with Promises and rested in Types to cleanse them without looking unto Christ the end of them and as propounded to their faith in them This is to goe to God without a Mediator and to make the Promises of the Gospel to be as the Promises of the Law Nehushtan as Hezekiah said of the Brasen Serpent a piece of brasse vaine and ineffectuall like the waters of Bethesda they heale not they cleanse not till this Angel of the Covenant come downe to your faith in them Therefore at a Sacrament or when you meet with any Promise get Christ first downe by faith and then let your faith propound what it would have and you may have what you will of him There are three sorts of Promises Three sorts of Promise and how Christs Person is the object of faith in applying them all and in the applying of all these it is Christ that your faith is to meet with 1. There are absolute promises made to no Conditions as when Christ is said to come to save sinners c. Now in these it is plaine that Christ is the naked object of them so that if you apply not him you apply nothing for the onely thing held forth in them is Christ 2. There are Inviting Promises as that before mentioned Come to me you that are weary The promise is not to wearinesse but to comming to Christ they are bidden Come to him if they will have rest 3. There are Assuring Promises as those made to such and such qualifications of sanctification c. But still what is it that is promised in them which the heart should onely eye It is Christ in whom the soule rests and hath comfort in and not in its grace so that the sight of a mans grace is but a back-doore to let faith in at to converse with Christ whom the soule loves Even as at the Sacrament the elements of Bread and Wine are but outward signes to bring Christ and the heart together and then faith lets the outward elements goe and closeth and treats immediately with Christ unto whom these let the soule in So Grace is a signe inward and whilst men make use of it onely as of a bare signe to let them in unto Christ and their rejoycing is not in it but in Christ their confidence being pitcht upon him and not upon their grace whilst men take this course there is and will be no danger at all in making such use of signes and I see not but that God might as well appoint his owne work of the new creation within to be as a signe and help to communion with Christ by faith as he did those outward elements the works of his first creation especially seeing in nature the effect is a sign of the cause Neither is it more derogatory to free grace or to Christs honour for God to make such effects signes of our union with him then it was to make outward signs of his presence SECT II. CHRIST the object and support of faith for Justification in his death ROM 8. 34. Who shall condemne Christ hath dyed CHAP. I. How not Christs Person simply but Christ as dying is the object of Faith as justifying TO come now to all those foure particulars of or about Christ as the object of faith here mentioned and to shew both how Christ in each is the object of faith as justifying and what support or encouragement the faith of a Beleever may fetch from each of them in point of Justification which is the Argument of the maine Body of this Discourse First Christ as dying is the object of justifying faith Who shall condemne Christ hath dyed For the explanation of which Explained 1. By two Directions I will 1. Give a direction or two 2. Shew how an encouragement or matter of triumph may from hence be fetcht 1. 1. Direction The first Direction is this That in seeking forgivenesse or justification in the Promises as Christ is to be principally in the eye of your faith so it must be Christ as crucified Christ as dying as here he is made It was the Serpent as lift up and so looked at that healed them Now this direction I give to prevent a mistake which soules that are about to beleeve doe often run into For when they heare that the person of Christ is the maine object of faith they thus conceive of it that when one comes first to beleeve he should looke onely upon the personall excellencies of Grace and Glory which are in Jesus Christ which follow upon the Hypostaticall Union and so have his heart allured in unto Christ by them onely and close with him under those apprehensions alone But although it be true that there is that radicall disposition in the faith of every Beleever which if it were drawne forth to view Christ in his meere personall excellencies abstractively considered would close with Christ for them alone as seeing such a beauty and suitablenesse in them yet the first view which an humbled soule alwayes doth and is to take of him is of his being a Saviour made sinne and a curse and obeying to the death for sinners He takes up Christ in his first sight of him under the likenes of sinfull flesh for so the Gospel first represents him though it holds forth his personall excellencies also and in that representation it is that he is made a fit object for a sinners faith to trust rest upon for salvation which in part distinguisheth a sinners faith whilst here on earth towards Christ from that vision or sight which Angels and the souls of men have in heaven of him Faith here views him not onely as glorious at Gods right hand though so also but as crucified as made sin and a curse and so rests upon him for pardon but in heaven we shall see him as he is and be made like unto him Take Christ in his personall excellencies simply considered and so with them propounded as an Head to us he might have been a fit object for Angels and men even without sin to have closed withall and what an additon to their happinesse would they have thought it to have him for their husband but yet so considered he should have been and rather is the object of love then of faith or affiance It is therefore Christ that is thus excellent in his person yet farther considered as clothed with his garments of bloud and the qualifications of a Mediator and Reconciler it is this that makes him so desirable by sinners and a fit object for their faith which looks out for justification to prey and seize upon though they take in the consideration of all his other excellencies to allure their hearts to him and confirme their choice of him Yea I say farther that consider faith as justifying that is in that act of it which justifies a sinner and so Christ taken onely or mainly in his
CHRIST SET FORTH In his Death Resurrection Ascension Sitting at Gods right hand Intercession As the CAUSE of Iustification OBJECT of Iustifying Faith Upon ROM 8. VER 34. TOGETHER WITH A TREATISE DISCOVERING The Affectionate tendernesse of CHRISTS HEART now in Heaven unto Sinners on Earth By THO GOODWIN B. D. LONDON Printed by W. E. and J. G. for Robert Dawlman MDCXLII TO THE READER WHat the scope of this treatise it selfe is the Title-page and the Table that followes will sufficiently informe you I shall onely here acquaint you with what was mine in a few words I have by long experience observed many holy and precious soules who have clearely and wholly given up themselves to Christ to be saved by him his owne way And who at their first conversion as also at times of desertion have made an entire and immediate cloze with Christ alone for their Justification who yet in the ordinary course and way of their spirits have beene too much carried away with the Rudiments of Christ in their owne hearts and not after Christ himselfe The streame of their more constant thoughts and deepest intentions running in the channell of reflecting upon and searching into the gracious dispositions of their owne hearts so to bring down or to raise up as the Apostles words are Rom. 10. 8. and so get a sight of Christ by them Whereas Christ himselfe is nigh them as the Apostle there speakes if they would but nakedly look upon himselfe through thoughts of pure and single faith And although the use of our owne graces by way of signe and evidence of Christ in us be allowed us by God and is no way derogatory from Christ if subordinated to faith and so as that the heart be not too inordinate and immoderate in poring too long or too much on them to fetch their comfort from them unto a neglect of Christ yet as pleasures that are lawfull are unlawfully used when our thoughts and intentions are too long or too frequent or too vehement in them so as to dead the heart either to the present delighting in God or pursuing after him with the joint strength of our soules as our onely chiefest good so an immoderate recourse unto signes though barely considered as such is as unwarrantable when thereby we are diverted and taken off from a more constant actuall exercise of daily thoughts of faith towards Christ immediately as he is set forth to be our righteousnes either by the way of Assurance which is a kind of enjoyment of him or Recumbency and renewed Adherence in pursuit after him And yet the minds of many are so wholly taken up with their own hearts that as the Psalmist sayes of God Christ is scarce in all their thoughts But let these consider what a dishonour this must needs be unto Christ that his traine and favourites our graces should have a fuller Court and more frequent attendance from our hearts then himselfe who is the King of Glory And likewise what a shame also it is for beleevers themselves who are his Spouse to look upon their Husband no otherwise but by reflection and at second hand through the intervention and assistance of their own graces as Mediators between him and them Now to rectifie this errour the way is not wholly to reject all use of such evidences but to order them both for the season as also the issue of them For the reason so as that the use of them goe not before but still should follow after an addresse of faith first renewed acts thereof put forth upon Christ himselfe Thus whensoever wee would goe downe into our owne hearts and take a view of our graces let us be sure first to looke wholly out of our selves unto Christ as our justification and to cloze with him immediately and this as if we had no present or by past grace to evidence our being in him And if then whilst faith is thus immediately clasping about Christ as sitting upon his Throne of Grace we finde either present or fore-past graces comming in as Hand-maids to attend and witnesse to the truth of this adherence unto Christ as after such single and absolute acts of faith it oftentimes falls out The Holy Ghost without whose light they shine not bearing witnesse with our spirits that is our graces as well as to our spirits And then againe for the issue of them if in the closure of all we again let fall our viewing and comforting our selves in them or this their testimony and begin afresh upon this encouragement to act faith upon Christ immediately with a redoubled strength if thus I say we make such evidences to be subservient onely unto faith whilst it makes Christ its Alpha Omega the beginning and end of all this will be no prejudice at all to Christs glory or the workings of faith it selfe for by this course the life of faith is still actually maintained and kept upon wing in its full ure and exercise towards Christ alone for justification Whereas many Christians doe habitually make that onely but as a supposed or taken for granted principle which they seldome use but have laid up for a time of need But actually live more in the view and comfort of their owne graces and the gracious workings thereof in duties towards Christ The Reason of this defect among many other I have attributed partly to a Barrennes as Peters phrase is in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and of such things revealed about him as might be matter for faith to worke and feede upon As also to a want of skill whilst men want assurance to bend and bow and subjugate to the use of a faith of meere adherence all those things that they know and heare of Christ as made justification unto us It being in experience a matter of the greatest difficulty and yet certainly most feasable and attainable for such a faith as can yet onely relie cast it self upon Christ for justification yet rightly to take in and so to make use of all that which is or may be said of Christ his being made righteousnesse to us in his Death Resurrection c. as to quicken and strengthen it selfe in such acts of meere Adherence untill Assurance it selfe comes for whose use and entertainment all such truths lie more fair and directly to be received by it They all serve as a fore-right wind to assurāce of faith to fil the sails thereof carry it on with a more full and constant gale as the word used by the Apostle for Assurance imports whereas to the faith of a poore recumbent they serve but as a halfe-side-wind unto which yet through skill the sailes of such a faith may be so turned and applyed towards it as to carry a soule on with much ease and quietnesse unto Christ the desired Haven It notwithstanding waiting all that while for a more faire and full gale of assurances in the end Now to helpe or instruct beleevers in
that latter namely the use of such a skill is not so directly the drift of this Treatise I having reserved that part if God assist me and give leisure and this find acceptance unto another about the acts of justifying Faith wherein this art now mentioned is to be the maine scope That which I have here endeavoured is to set forth to all sorts of beleevers whether they have assurance or not Christ as he is the Object of our faith as justifying and as the cause of justification to us and so I send forth this as a premise and preparatory to that other And to that purpose I have run over some few Articles of our Faith or Creede as I found them put together in one bundle by the great Apostle namely Christ in his Death Resurrection Ascension Sitting at Gods right hand and Intercession and have handled these no further then as in all these he is made Justification unto us therin having punctually kept unto the Apostles scope By all which you may in the mean time see what abundant provision God hath laid up in Christ in the point of Justification for all sorts of beleevers to live upon Every thing in Christ whatsoever he was or whatsoever he did with a joynt voice speaking justification unto us You may see also that God hath in Christ justified us over and over and thereby come to discerne what little reason you have to suffer your hearts to be carried aside to other comforters and so be spoiled and bereft of these more immediately prepared and laid up for us in Christ himselfe To have handled all those considerations which his obedience unto death affords unto the justification of a beleever and his comfort therein in this small tractate would have made that part too disproportioned to the rest it alone deserves will require a distinct Tract which therefore I have cast into another method and so in this Treatise have toucht only upon what may for the present be sufficient to furnish that part to keep company with its fellows Onely when I had thus presented Christ along from his Death Resurrection and Ascension unto his Sitting in Heaven and there performing that great part of his Priesthood the worke of Intercession I judged it both homogeneall to all these and conducing to the greater encouragement of beleevers in the exercise of their faith to subjoyne that other Treatise How Christs Heart now he is in Heaven stands affected to us sinners here below And a better token take the Arument it selfe if I could have fully represented it how to present unto his Spouse I know not then a true character of her Husbands heart now he is in glory And but for methods sake I would have placed it first it being more suited to vulgar capacities whose benefit I aime at Now in that discourse I confesse I have not aimed to keepe so strictly unto the matter of justification only as in the other I have done But have more generally discussed it and shewne how his heart stands towards us under all sorts of infirmities whatsoever either of Sin or misery yet so as it wil serve for the matter of justification also The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ grant us according to the riches of his glory that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith and that we may know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge Amen THO. GOODVVIN THE TABLE OR Series of all the Materials in this TREATISE SECT I. A generall Introduction to the whole Christ the Object of Justifying Faith CHAP. I. The scope of the words of the Text That they were Christs originally Christ the highest example of beleeving Encouragements to our faith from thence Pag. 1 Christ an example of Faith explained by two things 2 1. He had a faith for the justification of himselfe 3 2. A faith for the justifying of us 4 Use To draw us on to faith and encourage us therein 5 Especially against the greatnesse of sins 6 CHAP. II. The scope and argument of this whole Discourse 1. A Direction unto Christ as the Object of faith 2. Encouragements to Beleevers in their faith from these particulars in the Text. 9 Christs 1. Death 2. Resurrection 3. Being at Gods right hand 4. Intercession CHAP. III. DIRECTIONS to Christ as the object of Faith How in a three-fold consideration Christ is the Object of Justifying faith 12 1. As in joynt commission with God the Father Faith is to eye both God and Christ in seeking Iustification 12 Yet God the ultimate object of it ibid. Yet Christ under the New Testament the more immediate Object 13 2. Christ the object of faith in opposition to all things in our selves 15 As 1. To Humiliation Wee are not to rest therein ibid. 2. To Dutyes and Graces We are not to rest in them 16 3. Christs Person is the object of Faith in distinction from the Promises ibid. How the Promises are the Object of Faith and how Christ in the Promises 18 Three sorts of promises and how Christs person is the object of faith in applying them all 20 SECT II. Christ in his DEATH the Object and support of Faith for Justification Chap. I. How not Christs Person simply but Christ as Dying is the object of faith as Iustifying 22 Explained 1. By two Directions 1. That in seeking forgivenesse Christ as dying Christ as crucifyed is to be eyed by faith 23 How not Christs Person singly considered in the excellencies thereof but as dying is the object of justifying faith as such 24 Chap. II 2. Direct That faith is principally to look unto the end and intent of God and Christ in his sufferings namely that sinners might have forgivenesse 28 Without this the meditation of the story of Christs Passion is unprofitable ibid. Cap. III 2. By shewing the ENCOURAGEMENTS or matter of triumph that Christs death affordeth unto faith in point of justification 34 The fulnesse of Christs satisfaction in his DEATH 35 How Christs satisfaction may be opposed to the guilt of any sins whatever 36 1. Against the hainousnesse of sin in the generall 37 2. Against any aggravation of particular sins As ibid. 1. Against the greatnesse of the act of any particular sinne 38 2. Against the corruption or of the heart in sinning ibid. 3. Against delight and greedinesse in sinning ibid. 4. Against deliberatenesse in sinning 39 5. Against presumption in sinning ibid. 6. Against the aggravating circumstances of Time Place Persons c. ibid. The conclusion of this Section 40 SECT III. Christ in his RESURRECTION the object and support of faith in point of Justification CHAP. I. Two generall Heads propounded That Christs Is an EVIDENCE of Hath an INFLUENCE into Iustification Resurrection 42 1. An Evidence Christs Resurrection a a visible signe that God is satisfied by his death 44 2. Hath an Influence Though the matter of our justification be the price of Christs Death yet the act of pronouncing us righteous depends on Christs
wilt say Christ was Christ one personally united to God and so knew that he could satisfie him but I am a sinfull man Well but if thou beleevest and so art one of those who are one with Christ then Christ speaking these words in the name both of himselfe and of his Elect as hath been shewed thou hast the very same ground to utter them that he had and all that encouraged him my embolden thee for he stood in thy stead It was onely thine and others sins that put him in any danger of condemnation and thou seest what his confidence before-hand was that God would justifie him from them all And if he had left any of them unsatisfied for he had not been justified and withall in performing his own part undertaken by him he performed thine also and so in his being justified thou wert justified also His confidence then may therefore be thine now onely his was in and from himselfe but thine must be on him yet so as by reason of thy communion with him in his both condemnation and justification thou mayst take turn all that emboldned him to this his trust and confidence to embolden thee also in thine as truly as he did for himselfe Yea in this thou hast now a farther prop and encouragement to thy faith then he then had for now when thou art to beleeve Christ hath fully performed the satisfaction he undertooke and we now see Iesus crucified acquited yea crowned with glory and honour as the Apostle speaks But he when he took up this triumph was as Esay here foretold and prophecyed it of him but as then entring upon that work The Prophet seeing the day of his arraignment and Agonie utters these words as his shewing what thoughts should then possesse his heart when Pilate the Jews should condemn him and our sins come in upon him God is neere that justifies me who therefore shall contend with me But now this comes to be added to our challenge here that Christ HATH dyed and is also risen again that he WAS condemned justified who therefore shall condemne may we say and say much more But thou wilt yet say He knew himselfe to be the Son of God but so doe not I. Well doe thou but cast thy selfe upon him to be adopted and justified by him with a giving up thy soule to his saving thee his owne way and though thou knowest it not the thing is done And as for that so great and usuall discouragement unto poore soules from doing this namely the greatnesse and multitudes of sins this very example of his faith and the consideration of it may alone take off and help to remove it more then any I have ever met with for He in bearing the sins of his Elect did beare as great and infinitely more sins then thine yea all sorts of sins what ever for some one of his elect or other for he said upon it that All that is all sorts of sins shall be forgiven unto men therefore were first born by him for them and yet you see how confident afore-hand he was is now clearly justified from them all And by vertue of his being justified from all sorts of sins shall all sorts of sinners in and through him be justified also and therefore why mayst not thou hope to be from thine certainly for this very reason our sins simply and alone considered can be supposed no hinderance Thus we have met with one great and generall encouragement at the very Portall of this Text which comes forth to invite us ere we are entred into it and which will await upon us throughout all that shall be said and have an influence into our faith and helpe to direct it in all that follows CHAP. II. The Scope and Argument of this Discourse is either Direction to Christ as the Object of Faith or Encouragement to Beleevers from all those particulars in Christ mentioned in the Text. FAith and the supports of it or rather Christ as by his Death and Resurrection c. hee is the foundation of Faith and the cause of our Justification is the main subject of these words All which therefore to handle more largely is the intended subject of this Discourse And therefore as we have seene Christs faith for us so now let us see what our faith is to be towards him Onely take this along with you for a right bounding of all that follows That the Faith the object and support of which I would discourse of is onely Faith as justifying for Justification was properly here the matter of Christs faith for us and is also answerably here held forth by Paul as that faith which Beleevers are to have on him Now faith is called justifying onely as it hath Justification for its object and as it goes out to Christ for Justification So that all that shall be spoken must be confined to this alone as the intendment of the Text. And concerning this the Text doth two things Two things in the Text. 1. It holds forth Christ the object of it Who shall condemne Christ hath dyed 1. Christ the object of faith for justification c. And he being the sole subject of those foure particulars that follow as encouragements to faith must needs be therefore the object here set forth unto our faith 2. In Christ we have here all those foure made things matter of triumph to Beleevers 2. His Death Resurrection c. matter of triumph unto faith to assure them that they shall not be condemned but justified In that Christ 1. Dyed 2. Rose againe 3. Is at Gods right hand 4. Intercedes So that for the generall I am to do two things and therein I shall fulfill the Texts scope 1. Direct your faith to Christ as to its right object 2. To encourage your faith from these severall actions of Christ for us and shew how they all containe matter of triumph for faith in them also teach your faith how to triumph from each of them herein I am to keepe close to the argument propounded namely faith as justifying or to shewhow faith seeking justification in Christ may be exceedingly raised from each of these particulars supported by them as by so many pillars of it So as although Christs Death Resurrection c. may fitly serve to encourage our faith in many other acts it useth to put forth as in point of Sanctification to be had from Christ into which his Death and Resurrection have an influence yet here we are limited to the matter of Justification onely It is God that justifies who shall condemne seeing Christ hath dyed and herein to shew how his Death Resurrection c. may and doe afford matter of comfort and triumphing in point of Justification from all these And thus you have the summe of these words and of my scope in this ensuing Treatise CHAP. III. First Directions to Christ as the object of faith How in a
up to Heaven and that as far above Angels and Principalities as the Apostle speaks Eph. 1. as the Heavens are above the Earth will you not in your faiths hopes proportionably ascend and climb up also have thoughts of pardon as far exceeding your ordinary thoughts as the heavens are above the earth Therefore first view him as ascending into Heaven ere ever hee comes to be at Gods right hand and see what matter of triumph that will afford you for that you must first suppose ere you can see him at Gods right hand and so is necessarily included thought not expressed here But that place fore-quoted out of Peter 1 Pet. 3. gives us both these two particulars included in it 1. His Ascension Who is gone into Heaven And 2. his power and authority there Is at Gods right hand and hath all power and authority subject to him and prompts both these as fit matter to be put into a good conscience its Answer and Apologie why it should not be condemned therfore both may here as well come in into faiths triumph and that as being intended also by the Apostle and included in this one expression He speaks with the least to shew what cause faith had to triumph for the least expression of it his purpose being but to give a hint to faith of that which cōprehensively contains many things in it which he would have us distinctly to consider for our comfort CHAP. II. Shewing first what evidence for our justification Christs Ascension into Heaven affords unto our Faith upon that first forementioned consideration of his being a Surety for us FIrst then to see what triumph his ascending into Heaven will add unto our faith in matter of non-condemnation And herein 1. By considering what was the last action he did when he was to Ascend Blessing his Disciples first there is not nothing in it to consider what he then did and what was his last Act when he was to take his rise to fly up to Heaven He blessed his Disciples and thereby left a blessing upon earth with them for all his elect to the end of the World The true reason and minde of which blessing them was that he being now to go to execute the eternall office of his Priest-hood in Heaven of which God had sworn Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec As Melehisedec in the Type blessed Abraham and in him all the faithfull as in his loins therefore the Apostle said that Levi paid tithes unto Melchisedec in Abrahams loines therefore he was blessed in his loines so did Christ begin this new and second part of his Priest-hood with blessing the Apostles and in them all the elect to the end of the World This was the last thing that Christ did on earth yea this he did whilst ascending he was taken up whilst he did it So Luke 24. 50. 51. And thus solemnly he now did this to shew that the curse was gone and that sin was gone and that action speakes thus much as if Christ himselfe had said To shew the curse was removed and their sins pardoned O my brethren for so he styled his Disciples after his Resurrection I have been dead and in dying made a curse for you now that curse I have fully removed and my Father hath aquited me and you for it and now I can be bold to blesse you and pronounce all your sins forgiven and your persons justified For that is the intendment and foundation of blessing Blessed is the man whose sins are forgiven him and therefore that was the true meaning of his blessing them which he reserved thus as his last Act to shew how by his death he had redeemed them from the curse of the Law now going to Heaven was able to blesse them with all the spirituall blessings that are there and which Heaven can afford for Heavenly they are called in that respect And in blessing his Apostles thus he blessed all that should believe in him Ephes 1. 4. And as in Abraham blessed by Melchisedec all the faithfull were blessed so in these Apostles all the elect to come are blessed As when God individually blessed Adam and Eve at the first Creation yet he in them blessed all that were for ever to come of them so Christ in blessing them blessed us and all that shall beleeve through their word to the end of the World And that they were thus then to be considered as common persons receiving this blessing for us all appeareth by Christs words then uttered I am with you to the end of the World i. e. with you and all your successors both Ministers other believers Mat. 28. ult And Christ herein did as God did before him When God had done his worke of creation He looked upon all he had done and saw that it was good and he blessed it Thus did Jesus Christ now that he had by that one offering perfected for ever all the elect he comfortably vieweth and pronounceth it perfect and them blessed and so goes to Heaven to keepe and enjoy the Sabbath of all there Now Secondly let us see him Ascending A second support from the very Act of Ascending and see what comfort that will also afford our faith towards the perswasion of Iustification The Apostles stood gazing on him and so doe you lift up your hearts to gaze on him by faith and view him in that act as he is passing along into Heaven as leading sin hell death and devill in triumph at his Chariot wheeles And therewith let your faith triumph in a further evidence of justification Thus Ephesians 4. 8. out of the 68. Psalme ver 18. the Apostle saith How it was an act of Triumph over death hel sin c. When he ascended up on high he led captivity captive to which Hebraisme the Latine phrase vincere victoriam to win a victory doth answer then He led captive all our spirituall enemies that would have captived us they being now captived Now leading of captives is alwaies after a perfect victory And therefore whereas at his Death he had conquered them at his Rising scattered them now at his Ascension he leades them captive And so that Psal in the Type begins ver 1. Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered let them flee before him so at his Resurrection they did And then he ascends in triumph ashere in token of victory he is ascended up on high ver 18. he ascends as David after his victory up to Mount Sion for the celebrating of which that Psal seemes to have beene made by David whereof this was the intended Type Two Acts of Triumph in it And two Actus triumphales triumphing Acts there were here mentioned 1. Leading the captives bound to his Chariot wheeles as the manner of the Roman triumphs was when the Conqueror went up to the Capitol and other Heathens in Davids time As Achilles led Hector captive who
Justification First It serveth to a double use to support our faith as an evidence to our faith that God is fully satisfied by Christs death his Resurrection may give us full assurance of it Secondly it had and hath an influence into our Justification it selfe yea and as great an influence as his Death had In both these respects it deserves a rather to be put upon it and Paul had them both in his eye when he writ these words So as first if you ask an account of his faith and a reason of his so triumphant assurance hee alledgeth his Resurrection to confirme it Christ is risen Or Secondly if you would have a reason of the thing how it comes to passe that we who are Beleevers cannot be condemned Christ is risen sayes he He alledgeth it as a cause that hath such an influence into Justification it selfe as it makes all sure about it 1. 1. By way of Evidence By way of Evidence Although Christs obedience in his life and his death past do alone afford the whole matter of our Justification and make up the summe of that price paid for us as hath been shewn so as faith may see a fulnesse of worth and merit therein to discharge the debt yet faith hath a comfortable signe and evidence to confirme it selfe in the beliefe of this from Christs Resurrection after his death It may fully satisfie our faith Faith hath a visible signe of it that God is satisfied that God himselfe is satisfied and that he reckons the debt as paid So that our faith may boldly come to God and call for the Bond in as having Christs Resurrection to shew for it that the Debt is discharged And hence the Apostle cryes Victoria over Sin Hell and Death upon occasion of and as the Coronis and conclusion of that his large Discourse about Christs Resurrection 1 Cor. 15. 55 56 57. O death where is thy sting that is Sinne and the power of it for so it followes The sting of death is sinne and O grave where is thy victory Thanks be to God who hath given us victory through Iesus Christ our Lord namely as risen againe for of his Resurrection and of that chiefly had he spoken throughout that Chapter 2. 2. By way of Influence But surely this is not all that it should onely argue our Justification by way of Evidence This alone would not have deserved such a rather to be put upon it if Christs Resurrection had not had some farther reall causall influence into Justification it selfe and been more then simply an evidence of it to our apprehensions Therefore secondly in Justification although the materiale or matter of it be wholly the obedience and death of Christ Though the matter of our Justification be the price of Christs death yet the act of pronouncing us righteous depends on the Resurrection yet the act of pronouncing us righteous by that his obedience which is the formale of Justification doth depend upon Christs Resurrection Ordinarily there hath been no more expressed concerning this dependance then that the Resurrection of Christ justifies by working actuall faith to lay hold upon what Christ hath done in his life and death which is called the applying of it of which more anon But that speech of Paul 1 Cor. 15. 17. seems to import more If Christ be not risen again ye are yet in your sins and your faith is in vaine That is although you could suppose faith to be wrought in you upon the merit of Christs dying yet it would be in vain if Christ were not risen again for your title to Justification it self would be void You were yet in your sins Which is said because his Resurrection was it wherby sins though satisfied for in his death were taken off and they acquited from them Which I take to be the meaning also of that Rom. 4. ult He was delivered for our sins and rose again for our Iustification When the Apostle sayes for our sins he was delivered he means his laying down that which was the price for them a satisfaction for them which his death was And in that sense He dyed for our sins that is his death stands in stead of our death and so satisfies for sin But yet still that upon which the act of Gods justifying us his discharge given us from our sins and whereby he reckoneth us justified that depends upon his Resurrection He rose again for our justification Note that Justification there imports the act of imputation and reckoning us just which he had spoken of in the verses immediately fore-going ver 22 23 24. In a word to the full discharge of a Debt and freeing the Debtour two things are requisite 1. The payment of the debt 2. The tearing or cancelling the Bond or receiving an Acquitance for the freeing of the Debtor Now the Payment was wrought by Christs death and the Acquitance to free from the debt was at and by his Resurrection CHAP. II. For the explanation of both these is shewne how Christ sustained a double relation First of a Surety for us Secondly of a Common person in our stead The difference of these two and the usefulnesse of these two considerations for the explaining all the rest that follows in this whole Discourse NOw the better to explicate both these you must consider how that Christ in almost all that he did for us as the phrase is here and is to be annexed to each particular did stand in a double relation for us unto God 1. Of a Surety bound to pay the debt for us and to save our soules 2. Of a Common person or as an Attorney at Law in our stead And both these as they have a distinct and differing consideration in themselves so those severall considerations of them will conduce to the understanding of those two things fore-mentioned as wayes and arguments to shew how the Resurrection of Christ may support our faith both by way of evidence that the debt is paid and by way of influence that we are thereby acquited and cannot be condemned The notion of his being risen who is our Surety clears the first and that of his rising as a Common person illustrates the other And I shall here a little the largelyer insist upon the explication of these two relations because their consideration will be of use through all the rest that follows to illustrate thereby the influence that his Ascension and Sitting at Gods right hand c. have into our Justification and so I shall carry them along throughout this Discourse 1. 1. To be a Surety what A Surety is one that undertakes and is bound to doe a thing for another As to pay a debt for him or to bring him safe to such or such a place or the like so as when he hath discharged what he undertook and was bound for then the party for whom he undertook is discharged also 2. 2. A Common person what A
we were dead with Christ even then when he dyed so in the 2. of Coloss 13. we are said to be risen with him in respect of our justification which is the thing in hand The words are And you being dead in your sins namely the guilt of your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh that is in respect of the power of corrupt nature hath he quickned together with him having forgiven you all your trespasses See here the forgivenesse of our sins or our justification is called a quickning or a raising up of us as the 12. ver hath it together with him in a conformity and relation to that justification from our sins which at his Resurrection he received in our names His meaning is he was justified then in our names and so we are now justifyed through the vertue of that our communion with him therein For if you mark the connexion of the words with what follows ver 14. you will finde this forgiving of their trespasses ver 13. through their being quickned together with him not onely to have been done when they beleeved and so when they had that justification personally first applyed to them of which it is true the words in the 12. ver are to be understood but also then to have been done when he having as it follows in the 14. ver blotted out the hand-writing of Ordinances which was against us nailing it to his Crosse and having spoiled Principalities and Powers and got the victory namely in his rising again had made a shew of them openly in his ascending to heaven triumphing over them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in himselfe as the Margent hath it of which words I shall farther speak in the next Head So as then when Christ did this in himselfe then were our sins forgiven then were we acquited with him and triumphed with him he doing all this in our stead representing us CHAP. VII How all this both the support of our faith and our Justification by Christs Resurrrection is sealed up to us in Baptisme The Conclusion How faith may make use of Christs Resurrection in its pleas to God ANd all this our communion with Christ in his Resurrection both in respect of Sanctification which the 6. of the Rom. holds forth and of Justification which this place in the Coloss holds forth is lively as both places declare set out and sealed up to us in the Sacrament of Baptisme Rom. 6. 3 4. we are said to be buried with him in Baptisme c. and Col. 2. 12. Buryed with him in Baptisme wherein also you are risen with him The ominent thing signified and represented in Baptisme is not simply the bloud of Christ as it washeth us from sin but there is a farther representation therein of Christs Death Buriall and Resurrection in the Baptized's being first buryed under water and then rising out of it and this not in a bare conformity unto Christ but in a representation of a communion with Christ in that his Death and Resurrection Therefore it is said We are buryed with him in Baptisme and Wherein you are risen with him It is not simply said like as he was buryed and rose but With him So as our communion and one-nesse with him in his Resurrection is represented to us therein and not onely our conformity or likenesse unto him therein And so Baptisme representeth this to us that Christ having once in himselfe sustained the persons of all the Elect in his Buriall and Resurrection that now upon the party himselfe who is baptized is personally particularly and apparently re-acted the same Part againe in his Baptisme thereby shewing what his communion with Christ before was in what was then done to Christ that he then was buried with Christ and rose with him and upon that ground is now in this outward sign of Baptisme as in a shew or representation both buryed and also riseth againe And moreover hence it is that the Answer of a good conscience which is made the inward effect of this Ordinance of Baptisme 1 Pet. 3. 21. is there also attributed unto Christs Resurrection as the thing signified and represented in Baptisme and as the cause of that answer of a good conscience Even Baptisme saith he doth now also save us as being the Ordinance that seales up salvation not the putting away of the filth of the flesh or the washing of the outward man but the answer of a good conscience towards God By the Resurrection of Iesus Christ To open these words Our consciences are that principle in us which are the seat of the guilt of all the sinnes of the whole man unto whose Court they all come to accuse us as unto Gods Deputy which Conscience is called Good or Evill as the state of the man is If his sinne remain unpardoned then as his estate is damnable so his conscience is evill If his sins bee forgiven and his person justified his conscience is said to bee good Conscience having its denomination from the mans state even as the Urine is called good or bad as the state of the mans body is healthful or unsound whose Urine it is Now in Baptisme forvivenesse of sins and justification being sealed up to a believers faith conscience under that lively representation of his Communion with Christ in his Resurrection hence this is made the fruit of Baptisme that the good conscience of a believer sealed up in Baptisme hath where withall from thence to answer all accusations of sin that can or doe at any time come in upon him and all this as it is there added By vertue of the resurrection of Iesus Christ namely in this respect that his Communion with Christ in his Resurrection hath been represented in his Baptisme as a ground of his faith and of that Answer unto all accusations So that indeed the same thing that Paul sayes by way of triumph and defiance to all accusations Who shall condemne Christ is risen the very same thing Peter here mentions though not by way of Defiance yet of a Beleevers Answer and Apologie That if sinnes doe come to condemne or accuse a good conscience is ready to say Christ is risen and I was then justified in him There is my Answer which nothing in heaven nor hell is able to reply unto This is the answer of a good conscience by the Resurrection of Iesus Christ Now to crown this second Pillar of Faith with this Coronis or Conclusion Application by way of Application or Direction to a believers faith How saith is to make use of this in pleading our Justification How to make use of Christs Resurrection in point of non-condemnation You heard before out of Rom. 6. that in respect of Mortification as the Apostle there reasoneth we may be truly said to have been perfectly dead to all sinne in Christs dying unto sin once and through his representing us therein as dying unto sinne in and with him So as although we be for
besides all this there is a personall or an actuall Iustification to be bestowed upon us that is an accounting and bestowing it upon us in our own persons which is done whē we beleeve and it is called Rom. 5. 1. a being justifyed by faith and ver 10. receiving the atonement now this depends upon Christs Intercession and it was typified out by Moses his sprinkling the people with blood mentioned Heb. 9. 19. which thing Jesus Christ as a Mediator and Priest doth now from Heaven For Heb. 12. 24. it is said You are come to Heaven and to Iesus the Mediator of the new Covenant and as it is next subjoyned to the blood of sprinkling he shed his blood on the Crosse on earth but he sprinkleth it now as a Priest from Heaven For it is upon Mount Sion to which he had said first in the former verse ye are come and so to Christ as a Mediator standing on that mount and sprinkling from thence his blood and so therein there is an allusion unto Moses Christs Type who sprinkled the people with the blood of that ceremoniall covenant the type of the covenant of grace Now in the 1 Pet. 1. 2. The sprinkling of Christ his blood as it is there made the more proper work of Christ himselfe in distinction from the other persons and therefore was done by Moses who was his type so is it also put for our first justification And this sprinkling as it is there mentioned is from the vertue of his intercession And therefore in that place of the Heb. forecited he attributes an intercession unto it as the phrase that follows which speaks better things c. doth imply of which more hereafter Yet concerning this first Head let me adde this by way of caution which I shall presently have occasion to observe that though this our first justification is to be ascribed to his Intercession yet more eminently Intercession is ordained for the accōplishing our salvation this other more rarely in the Scripture attributed thereunto Secondly 2. The continuance of our justification depends upon it The continuation of our Iustification depends upon it And as his Intercession is the virtuall continuation of his Sacrifice so is it the continuing cause of our justification which though it be an act done once as fully as ever yet is it done over every moment for it is continued by acts of free Grace so renewed actually every moment There is a standing in Grace by Christ spoken of Rom. 5. 2. as well as a first accesse by Christ and that standing in grace and continuing in it is afterwards ver 11. attributed to his life that is as it is interpreted Heb. 7. 25. his living ever to intercede We owe our standing in grace every moment to his sitting in Heaven and interceding every moment There is no fresh act of justification goes forth but there is a fresh act of intercession And as though God created the World once for all yet every moment he is said to create every new act of providence beeing a new creation so likewise to justifie continually through his continuing out free grace to justifie as at first and this Christ doth by continuing his Intercession he continues a Priest for ever and so we continue to be justifyed for ever 3. A full security of our justification given thereby forever There is hereby a full security given us of justification to be continued for ever The danger either must lie in old sins comming into remembrance or else from sins newly to be committed Now first God hereby takes order 1. Against the remembrance of sins past that no old sins shall come up into remembrance to trouble his thoughts as in the old Law after the Priests going into the Holy of holies their sins are said yet to have done Heb. 10. 3. and to that end it was that he placed Christ as his Remembrancer for us so neere him to take up his thoughts so with his obedience that our sinnes might not come into mind not that God needed this help to put himself in mind but onely for a formality sake that things being thus really carryed between God and Christ for us according to a way suiting with our apprehensions our faith might be strengthened against all suppositions and feares of after reviving our guilts Look therefore as God ordained the Rain-bow in the heavens that when he lookt on it he might remember his Covenant never to destroy the world againe by water so he hath set Christ as the Rain-bow about his Throne And look as the Bread and Wine in the Lords Supper are appointed on earth to shew forth Christs death as a Remembrancer to us so is Christ himselfe appointed in heaven to shew forth his death really as a Remembrancer thereof to his Father and indeed the one is correspondent to the other Onely the Papists have perverted the use of the Lords Supper by making it on earth a commemorative sacrifice to God when as it is but a Remembrancer thereof to men and besides their Priests therein do take upon themselves this very office of presenting this sacrifice to God which is proper onely to Christ in Heaven But God when he would make sure not to be tempted to remember our sins any more nor trouble himselfe with them hath set his Christ by him to put him in minde of his so pleasing an offering So the High-Priests going into the Holy of holies was for a memoriall and therein the Type of Christ And this is plainly expresly made the use of this execution of his Priestly office in Heaven Heb. 8. where the Apostle having discoursed of that part of his office as the chiefe thing he aimed at in this Epistle ver 1. and of the necessity of it ver 3 4 and 5. and excellencie of it in this respect ver 6. he then shews how from thence the new Covenant of pardon came to be sure and stedfast that God will remember our sins no more ver 12. which he there brings in as the proper use of this Doctrine and of this part of his Priesthood 2. 2. To prevent the accusing condemning us by new sinne for times to come As by reason of intercession God remembers not old sins so likewise he is not provoked by new For though God when he justifies us should forgive all old sins past for ever so as never to remember them more yet new ones would break forth and he could not but take notice of them and so so long as sinne continues there is need of a continuing intercession Therefore for the securing us in this it is said Rom. 5. 10. That if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Sonne much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life Where we see that his Death is in some more speciall manner said to procure reconciliation at first for sinnes of unregeneracie and to bring us to