with the Divine must always partake of the power virtue and efficacy of the Divine 2. If the spring of grace which is in the Divine nature do never fail or be dryed up then the grace in the humane nature which is always fed and maintained by this spring can never cease 3. Believers standing in union and conjunction with their Head as members of his body must needs partake of the virtue and influence of their Head 1 Cor. 6.17 Eph. 5.30 1.23 I shall conclude this particular with a passage of one of the Ancients Those things which a meer man received might be taken away from him as they were from Adam that therefore grace and the gifts of God may remain firm therefore Christ who is God and man received power as he was man which he had always as he was God that his humanity receiving all things those things might be delivered over to us out of his humanity to be firmly and surely possessed by us Learn from what hath been spoken Vse 1 what it is that must comfort us in reference to the ruines of the Fall Man was a glorious creature an excellent piece as first he came out of the hand of God but what ruine what deformity hath sin brought upon this glorious and excellent creature Who is there that turns his eyes in and upon himself and hath not cause to lament the sad and miserable ruines sin hath made there The understanding is full of darkness the will perverse and wholly carried off from God the chief good the affections wholly bent and set upon sensible objects the whole man depraved and out of order lying under the sad effects of original sin What is it that may comfort us in reference to these ruines and this sad deformity sin hath brought but only the consideration of the Incarnation of the Son of God By the Incarnation of the Son of God our nature is restored to its ancient beauty and perfection let us turn our eyes upon the Head of the Church and there we may see Holiness shining forth in its greatest beauty and perfection there we may see our nature without sin a mind full of Divine light and knowledge a will exactly conformed to the Divine will affections most pure and regular Now our nature being thus repaired and restored to its ancient purity in our Head we have this assurance it shall be repaired in us We have in Christ an instance what we may expect if we be his members for God hath predestinated us to be conformed to the image of his Son and he is the first-born among many brethren Rom. 8.29 Vse 2 By way of Exhortation to poor Sinners that are in a natural condition O labour to get into Christ You are by nature children of wrath unlovely unacceptable in the sight of God if ever you be taken from being children of wrath to be children of God if ever you be made sons and daughters of God you must first of all be implanted by faith into him who is the natural Son of God if ever your persons be made lovely and acceptable in the sight of God you must be accepted in him who is the beloved Son of God This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased There is not one drop of Gods love runs out of Christ all the love of the Father descends upon the Son incarnate and it is conveyed and let down by him upon the sons of men If you be found out of Christ you cannot expect to see or taste one drop of the love of God towards you O labour to get into Christ Is it not sad to lye under Divine wrath to be alienated and estranged from God to be able to lay no claim to God as your God and your Father to have no ground for the acceptation of your persons Till you get into Christ and be implanted into him this is your condition you are under Divine wrath you are alienated and estranged to God you are able to lay no claim to God as your God and Father you have no ground for the acceptation of your persons For this is the beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased The Father looks upon none with a favourable eye but whom he looks upon in the beloved Son if you have nothing to do with the beloved Son you have nothing to do with the Fathers love Let this press such as are yet strangers to Christ to give themselves no rest day nor night till they get into Christ By way of Exhortation to Believers Vse 3 to exhort them to keep close to Christ It is the interest and concernment of Believers to labour to keep close to Christ and to see that Christ dwell in their hearts by faith yet more and more The Apostle prays for the Ephesians Eph. 3.17 that Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith The more Christ dwells in our hearts by faith the greater sense we shall have of our Adoption and the acceptation of our persons The Son of God taking our nature lays the foundation for our Adoption and the acceptation of our persons therefore the more firmly we embrace the Son of God cloathed with our nature in the arms of our faith the greater sense we shall have of our sonship and acceptation Christ is the natural Son of God if we embrace him and adhere to him by faith the greater evidence shall we have that we are the adopted sons of God by faith in him Gal. 3.26 Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus That which makes us sons at first will be the means to continue the sight and comfort of this sonship to us It is faith makes us the sons of God therefore if we would have the comfort of our sonship let us look to this that Christ dwell in our hearts by faith When Christ promises to manifest the Fathers love to us how is it that he will do it He saith I in them Joh. 17.26 Let us consider it well the way by which Christ manifests the Fathers love to the Elect is by his being in them If ever we expect the manifestation of the Fathers love Christ must be in us and we in him Let us take heed therefore how we let our eye go off from Christ we can expect no love from the Father but as he looks upon us through the Son and we cannot expect to have the sense of the Fathers love let in upon us through the Son but as we take hold of the Son The more possession we have of Christ in our hearts by faith the greater sense and manifestation of the Fathers love will be let in upon us Learn from what hath been opened Vse 4 where to go for all supplies of grace We have a fountain near at hand we have grace brought down into a part of our own nature grace is lodged in the Son of God incarnate as in its proper fountain there may we repair and
of God to man which is together with God eternal that is eternal as God is eternal Where can we place the beginning of this love The Scripture teacheth us expresly that it was before the foundation of the world and therefore consequently before all time and if before all time then it must needs be from Eternity Christ loved us before we had a being yea it was his love that first of all gave us a being and he therefore gave us a being that he might demonstrate and set forth the riches of that grace and love he had in his heart towards us Rom. 9.23 That he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had before prepared unto glory The Lord had prepared glory in his thoughts and purpose for the vessels of mercy from Eternity and he therefore gave them being that he might bestow that glory on them which he had prepared for them from Eternity Christs delights were with the sons of men from Eternity Prov. 8.31 Christs delight from Eternity was to think what he should do for us before ever we had a being even then when he was the object of the Fathers delight as it is in the verse immediately preceding I was daily his delight Even then when the eternal Son who lay in the bosom of the eternal Father was the Fathers delight yet if we may so speak he had another delight that took him up and that was to think what he should do for us It is the property of love not to be pleased in its own happiness only but have desires of the happiness of the person whom it loves Christ was infinitely happy in the Fathers bosom in being his delight but he loved us and therefore was not satisfied with his own happiness but pleased himself with the thoughts of making us happy 2. Christs love is a free love The freeness of Christs love appears in three respects 1. Christs love is free because it was not necessary Christ was not drawn from any necessity of nature to love us as if he could not chuse but love us he might have chosen whether he would have loved us God indeed loves himself necessarily he loves himself and cannot but love himself but God loves the creature freely and arbitrarily he might have chosen whether he would have set his love upon it yea or no Rom. 9.15 I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy Gods will is the reason of his own love to the creature God was under no constraint to shew mercy but he therefore shews mercy because mercy pleases him he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy Gods goodness and perfections were sufficient for himself and if he had needed any thing the creature could have given him nothing for the creature had nothing to give him but what God had first given to it and therefore Gods love was most free God was not necessitated to have made the creature or to have given it a being much less was he necessitated to have given it such a supernatural good as grace and glory was God might have made man and never ordained him to the glory of Heaven he was not necessitated to make man at all to give him so much as a natural being much less was he necessitated to give the happiness and glory of Heaven to him 2. Christs love is free for as much as there is no advantage or profit that comes to him by loving us Rom. 11.35 Who hath first given to him and it shall be given to him again God did not stand in need of any thing out of himself he had alsufficiency and perfection in himself within the compass of his own essence if we may so speak whatsoever is in the creature is first in God after an eminent manner before it is in the creature There is nothing in the effect but is first in the cause therefore the Ancients have this observation All created things are more perfectly in God than they are in themselves even as silver is more perfect in gold than in it self That virtue whereby the creatures were produced was first in God as the cause before it was drawn forth in the creature as the effect and therefore it is well observed by Austin God had a purpose from Eternity to make the creatures but he therefore made them in time that he might shew he did not stand in need of the creatures but had been perfect and happy without them from Eternity 3. Christs love is free for as much as it was without respect of merit in us Rom. 9.11 13. The children being yet unborn neither having done good or evil it was said Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated 2 Tim. 1.9 Who hath saved us and called us not according to our works c. Rom. 8.28 All things work together for good to them who love God to them who are the called according to his purpose It is true the Elect do love God yea but they are first called first loved of God It was not our love to God was the cause of Gods love to us but Gods love to us is the cause of our love to him God first elects and then calls us and then we love him God decrees to give to the Elect both faith and obedience Tit. 1.1.1 Pet. 1.2 therefore his love cannot possibly be grounded upon the foresight of our faith and obedience but is every way most free Sweet are the expressions which Bernard hath Amat Deus nec aliunde hoc habet sed ipse est unde amat ideò vehementiùs quia non amerem tam habet quà m hoc ipse est Bern. God saith he loves neither hath he his love from any thing out of himself but himself is the cause of his own love and therefore his love is most strong because he is not so properly said to have love as himself is love 1. It is a special peculiar love There is a common general love which God bears to all creatures but there is a special peculiar love which God bears to his people God loveth all his creatures with a general love but it is some only he loves with a special and peculiar love God Omnes quidem diligit sed non ad aequale honum Tolet as one observes loves all his creatures indeed but he doth not love them so as to will the same good or to bestow the same equal good upon them all God is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works He feeds the ravens cloaths the lilies gives life breath being to all creatures but then there is a special love which he bears to his people First he gives himself to them Heb. 8.10 This is the covenant I will make with them I will be their God Secondly he gives them his Son Having given us his Son Rom. 8.32 Joh. 3.16 Thirdly he gives Heaven Salvation and eternal life unto them Luk. 12.32 1
be there were none above him whose will he were bound to take notice of Hence is that expression in the Book of Job Job 21.15 Who is the Almighty that we should serve him This is the language of wicked men this is virtually the language of every sin Every sin is a disavowing of Gods Authority it is virtually and interpretatively a renouncing Gods Authority 3. Man by sin as he doth virtually and interpretatively cast off Gods Authority so he doth properly and formally cast off his own subjection unto God God gives to man a Law as the Rule of his obedience and he doth plainly refuse to be subject to that Law This is that which the Lord complains of in many places Jer. 11.7 8. For I earnestly protested to your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt even unto this day rising early and protesting saying Obey my voice Here is Gods command but what follows Yet they obeyed not but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart Sin is a perfect casting off of the creatures subjection unto God 4. Another account upon which sin is so displeasing unto God is this Man by sin prefers his own will before his Creators will God hath declared this or that to be his will in such or such a Law of his but mans will lies cross and contrary hereunto and when man sins he makes Gods will to stoop to his will now what is this but a manifest contempt of God when man who is but a creature prefers his own private will above the supreme and soveraign Will of his Maker 5. Sin is most displeasing unto God upon this account because man by sin makes himself his last end and refers all to himself Man when he sins seeks not to please God but seeks to please himself only and what is this but to make himself his last end Now as the quintessence of Holiness lies in love to God so the very quintessence of sin lies in self-love Now when man is wholly taken up in self-love and self-pleasing he is perfectly carried off from God as his last end and wholly centers in himself and when man makes himself his last end what doth he do but as it were make himself a God to himself For what is more proper to God than this to be his own end to make himself his last end that which is proper to God is to be the first cause and the last end Now man by sin makes himself his last end and so by consequence makes himself a God to himself If this be the nature of sin that it causeth man to dethrone God and to set up himself for God instead of God this must needs render sin most displeasing unto God and he must needs be highly offended with man by reason of it 5. The fifth Proposition is Man having sinned the Nature of God as he is just as well as the Will of God as he is true and faithful to his word inclines him to punish sin I will not enter into that dispute whether or no God out of his absolute Power might not have pardoned sin without satisfaction This is a Question much agitated but I shall wave that Controversie and shall content my self to lay down such Principles as are more plain and may be more easily taken in by all 1. Then I say That the Nature of God as he is just inclines him to punish sin God is often called in Scripture a Just and a Righteous God and as he is a righteous God so he loves Righteousness Psal 11.7 The righteous God loveth righteousness And in that place the Righteousness of God is given as the reason why it is that God punisheth wicked men for in the verses immediately foregoing it is said Vpon the wicked he shall rain snares fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest this shall be the portion of their cup. And then the reason is added in those words For the righteous God loveth righteousness As much as if it had been said The Righteousness of Gods Nature inclines him to deal righteously with men Justitia est suum cuique tribuere It is the part of justice to distribute to every man his own Therefore since punishment belongs to wicked men it is the Righteousness of God to measure out to them what they do deserve To understand this we must consider that man standing in the relation of a creature unto God and upon that account being under a Law of obedience to his Maker God having also laid so great an obligation upon man by giving him so excellent a Being in case man sin against the duty which he is under as a creature and if he sin against that obligation which is laid upon him by his Creator in giving him a Being and so excellent a Being man in so doing sins against all right and equity and God as he is the Rector and Governor of the World cannot but take notice of such obliquity in man and testifie his displeasure against man for violating the Law of Right and Equity Hence is that of the Apostle Rom. 1.18 The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men The plain meaning I take to be That God is highly offended with men by reason of sin and he testifies his displeasure against sin by executing his Judgments in an open manner many times even as by a hand from Heaven The wrath of God is revealed from heaven c. there is a finger stretched out from Heaven in the Judgments of God whereby God doth testifie and declare to all the world his displeasure against sin So Rom. 1. ult This is the judgment of God that they which commit such things are worthy of death This is the Judgment of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Judgment of God I take to be the just and upright determination of God the dictate of the Divine Vnderstanding to speak after the manner of men determining what is just what is fit and equal this is that which the Divine Understanding determines that man sinning he is worthy of death This is the judgment of God saith the Apostle that they that commit such things are worthy of death It is that which the Divine Wisdom and Understanding determines as just fit and equal that mans sinning should be punished with death there is a condignity in the nature of sin that requires punishment so that either God must go contrary to what his infinite and most unerring Wisdom determines to be right fit and equal or else he must punish sin for this is the Judgment of God saith the Apostle that the sinner is worthy of death therefore that must not be done which the Divine Wisdom thinks just fit and equal should be done or else the person that sins must fall under punishment Now the Apostle tells us Rom. 2.2 That the Judgment of God is according to truth and this
is when he is speaking of this very judgment of his in inflicting death upon the sinner The judgment of God is according to truth that is God in determining to punish men for sin determines according to right and equity God is not too rigorous and severe in so doing but he doth determine according to the equity and righteousness of the cause Now that the Nature of God as he is a just and a holy God inclines him to punish sin will appear from three considerations 1. God hates sin infinitely Jer. 44.4 O do not that abominable thing which I hate Sin is that abominable thing which God hates and Gods hatred of sin ariseth from the Holiness of his Nature God is so holy that he cannot but hate sin It is not a matter of liberty to God for him to hate sin or not to hate it God hates sin necessarily he cannot but hate it as he is necessarily holy so he doth necessarily hate sin Now if God do hate sin if he hate it infinitely if he hate it necessarily then he cannot to speak after the manner of men but have an infinite aversation from it for what we hate we have a perfect aversation from and if God hath an infinite aversation from sin as we may suppose that he hath because he hates it how should he manifest and declare this aversation but by punishing of it This is sufficiently declared in the Text I mentioned before Rom. 1.18 The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men As much as if it had been said God hates sin infinitely and hath all along manifested this his hatred and indignation against sin by the judgments which he hath executed in all Ages of the World The drowning of the old World the burning of Sodom and Gomorrha by fire and brimstone from Heaven the swallowing up of Corah Dathan and Abiram and all those remarkable Judgments which we read of in the Word of God what are these but so many infallible proofs of Gods hatred of sin and his indignation against it His nature is set against it and he declares the Holiness and Righteousness of his Nature by the Judgments he inflicts upon men for the commission of it 2. That the Nature of God as he is a holy and just God inclines him to punish sin this also will evince it That it is a Principle that is inlaid in the minds of men that there is corrective or punitive Justice in God whereby he is inclined to punish men when they sin Hence was it that the Heathens spake of an avenging Eye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such an Eye as saw and beheld all mens evil actions and was ready to avenge them The Apostle speaks of the Gentiles in common who knowing the judgment of God in the Text I mentioned before Rom. 1. ult As there is such a thing as corrective or punitive Justice in God so all men by the light of Nature retain some sense of it in themselves It is one of those common notions that is impressed in the minds of men and I think we may say it is indelible that God is just most just and as he is just so he is inclined to render to all men according to their works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This the Apostle calls the righteous judgment of God and this righteous judgment of God consists in this that he will render to all men according to their works The Apostle speaks of this at large Rom. 2.5 c. But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up to thy self wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God The Apostle calls it the righteous judgment of God and wherein doth this righteous judgment of God consist he tells us in the next verse Who will render to every man according to his deeds To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil but glory honour and peace to every one that worketh good This is the righteous judgment of God And if we compare this with the foregoing verses it will appear that men have some sense of this righteous judgment of God in themselves for in the first verse of the second Chapter it is said Thou art inexcusable O man whosoever thou art that judgest What is it that men judge They judge that which is spoken of in the last verse of the first Chapter Who knowing the judgment of God that they which commit such things are worthy of death Men have this judgment in themselves that when they sin they are worthy of death this is the judgment which they have in their own consciences 3. As this impression is left in the hearts of men that God is just so men are under some fear and expectation of punishment after they have sinned upon this account because God is just Hence is it that God tells Cain In case thou do evil sin lieth at the door Gen. 4.7 Sin lieth at the door that is the guilt of sin No sooner doth a man commit sin but conscience if it be awakened will tell him presently that punishment is due for that sin Now these three considerations shew that God is holy and just and as he is holy and just so his nature inclines him to punish sin 2. The second thing is this The Will of God as he is true and faithful to his word inclines him to punish sin God threatned that in the day that man sinned he should dye the death Now God must be true to his own word This is certain God decreed to punish sin and he could decree nothing but what was just God having therefore justly decreed to punish sin and manifested that Decree in his word of threatning God must be true to his own Decree and his Word in punishing man when he sinned Pertinent to this is that passage which I have met with in a Learned man God saith he cannot act or do any thing contrary to his own will now God wills that which is just and this was just that the punishment and all the punishment that was due by the Law should be suffered and undergone Hence he infers that this Proposition is always true That God could not have delivered mankind from misery but by a full satisfaction and that all that which the Law requires to be undergone should be undergone Dei posse velle est non posse nolle God could not because he would not he could not because he had determined that the punishment which the Law did denounce should be undergone and inflicted It is a good speech of one of the Ancients Quod ad potentiam Dei omnia ei possibilia funt quod adjustitiam possibilia sola quae
justa As to the power of God all things are possible unto God but as to the justice of God nothing is possible but what is just Therefore God having decreed and that most justly to punish sin God could not but punish sin 6. The sixth Proposition is That God being merciful as well as just doth in his infinite Wisdom find out a way how his Justice may be salved and man not perish This is that which the Apostle declares to us Rom. 3.24 25 26. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God being justified freely by his grace through the redemption which is in Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood To declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God to declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus The scope of the Apostle is plainly this To shew that God hath a mind to forgive sin and yet he would be just too therefore that he might be merciful and just both at once God found out a way how he might forgive sin and yet his Justice not be prejudiced Hence was it that God appointed Christ to be a ransom for us that so Christ bearing the punishment that we deserved the Justice of God might be satisfied in what Christ suffered and yet his Mercy might be glorified in remitting the punishment to us Him hath God ordained to be a propitiation through faith in his blood saith the Apostle God remits sin freely as to us and so his mercy is glorified as to us and yet he receives full satisfaction from Christ and so his Justice is glorified in him Thus mercy and truth are met together righteousness and peace have kissed each other Psal 85.10 God having found full satisfaction to his Justice in the blood of Christ there is a sweet reconciliation between those two seeming contrary Attributes the Justice and Mercy of God This is elegantly set forth by one of the Ancients after this manner There is a controversie or a strife as it were between the Justice and the Mercy of God Altercatio est inter Dei justitiam misericordiam but this strife is ended in the death of Christ because in the death of our Saviour Divine Justice is satisfied in all that it did desire Divine Justice saith If Adam dye not I am lost and Mercy on the other hand saith If Adam doth not obtain mercy one way or other I am lost now Christ interposing by his death each of these Attributes have what they do desire Learn from what hath been said the Justice Vse 1 Equity and Righteousness of God in punishing of sin Psal 98.9 With righteousness shall he judge the world and the people with equity Ezek. 18.29 Art not my ways equal are not your ways unequal The ways of God are full of equity when God punisheth sin there is the greatest equity that he should do so there is that demerit in sin and there is that Holiness and Justice in the Nature of God that calls upon him to punish sin Sin is after a sort infinitely evil not that it is simply and in it self so but sin may be said to be infinitely evil with respect to the object as it is contrary to the glory of God who is Bonum infinitum an infinite good God also who is the Governor of the World seeing how much the Sinner had violated the Law of Right and Equity judges it a just and righteous thing that Sinners should undergo punishment therefore no man hath cause to quarrel with God and to think hardly of him for inflicting punishment upon him because of sin for This is the judgment of God that they which do such things are worthy of death Rom. 1.32 This is the judgment of God as much as if it had been said God hath determined this in his infinite Understanding It is the upright and just determination of the most wise God that the Sinner is worthy of death God is not too rigorous in his judgment in this case he judges according to the equity of the cause Rom. 2.2 The judgment of God is according to truth Isa 3.11 Wo unto the wicked it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hands shall be given him The reward of his hands shall be given him O this is certain every mans condemnation will be found just at last and it will appear to him that it is most just God condemns no man but for sin and there is that desert in sin for which God may justly condemn men and I conceive that a great part of the torments of the Damned consists in this That they shall have their eyes opened and their understandings inlarged which are now shut and closed up to see that turpitude baseness unworthiness monstrousness unreasonableness that was in sin and that they are justly punished for committing that which was so contrary to the Law of their Creation and to the Principles of their own Beings as they are reasonable creatures For what is more just equal and reasonable than that the creature should honour obey and serve his Creator and take notice of his Laws and yield conformity to them And what more unjust unreasonable and unequal than the creature should cast off Gods Authority and live in contempt of his Maker and defiance of his Laws Now when men shall have their understandings opened to take in this more fully then they will see that God is just in punishing sin and that their condemnation is most just Learn from hence Vse 2 that there is no way for a guilty Soul to appear before God but by flying to the Satisfaction of Christ God is so holy that he cannot but hate sin so just that he cannot but punish sin How then can a poor guilty creature appear before the presence of the Divine Majesty laden with all his sins O it is an easie thing for a secure Sinner that knows neither what the nature of sin is nor what the nature of God is to slight sin But he that once comes to see a little of the turpitude and deformity that is in sin and will summon himself into Gods presence and consider what the Holiness Purity and Justice of Gods Nature is will soon have other thoughts of sin and of his own condition by reason of sin God is of purer eyes than to behold the least iniquity and he will by no means clear the guilty therefore he that hath but a little sight of Gods Holiness and of his infinite Justice and Righteousness will soon cry out with the Prophet I am undone Isa 6.5 And nothing can ease or quiet a poor trembling Soul in this case but flying to the Satisfaction of Christ When a man compares his impurity with Gods infinite Purity and Holiness when he compares his own sinfulness and unworthiness with Gods
God by a strict life they renounce the world spend their time in retirement abridge themselves of their delights and pleasures and live by such and such rules These and many more ways have men invented to satisfie God withal But it is a true speech of a moderate Papist Whatsoever was not God Quicquid Deus non est non potuerit sufficere was not sufficient to satisfie God All those ways that have been devised by men are too short to make satisfaction to the great God and if we summon our selves to God Tribunal and think with our selves how just and holy he is we shall soon apprehend his Justice will not be put off with such poor things as men bring to him to satisfie him withal nothing less than God can satisfie God The satisfaction of Christ is the satisfaction of that person who is God as well as man otherwise it had not been available and herein did the excellency of Christs Satisfaction appear that it was abundantly sufficient The dignity and excellency of Christs Satisfaction may yet farther appear from these considerations 1. That Christs Satisfaction was once made and but once the Sacrifice was but one and the Satisfaction made by it but one The Sacrifices under the Law were many The Sacrifices offered by the Heathen were many but Christs Sacrifice was but one and offered once for all Heb. 10.14 By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified 1 Pet. 3.18 Christ also hath once suffered for sin the just for the unjust Heb. 10.10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering up the body of Christ once for all once only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Greek word hath a great force in it as Learned men observe It signifies that what was once done was so perfect and compleat that it was not necessary it should be done again nay that it was impious to repeat it Christs one Sacrifice comprehended the virtue of all other Sacrifices in it All the Sacrifices that were offered by men in all Ages both by Jews and Gentiles were a plain intimation that there was some Sacrifice by which God must be pacified and that men had an apprehension that God could be pacified no other way Now Christs Sacrifice was the true Sacrifice that which the world aimed at but could never attain was attained only by the Sacrifice of Christ that which the world would fain have been at and attained was to pacifie God now this could never be accomplished any other way but by the Sacrifice of the Son of God Christs Sacrifice was but one and yet by that one Sacrifice he hath for ever perfected them that are sanctified 2. The Satisfaction of Christ was perfect and compleat there was nothing wanting in it of what was necessary to make it compleat 1. The person who offers it was most holy and without sin Such an high Priest became us who was holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners Heb. 7.26 The Priests under the Law were to offer Sacrifices first for their own sins then for the sins of the people but Christ needed none of this for Christ had no sin therefore he that was without all sin in himself was most fit to make atonement for the sins of others 2. As the person himself that offered the Sacrifice was most perfect and compleat so the Sacrifice it self was most perfect and compleat and that appears by the effect of it Heb. 10.14 By one offering hath he perfected for ever them that are sanctified If the Offering and Sacrifice of Christ had not been most perfect in it self it could never have perfected others For this is a sure rule That the effect cannot rise higher than the cause therefore if Christs Offering had not been perfect in it self it could not have perfected others But now saith the Apostle he hath perfected and for ever perfected them that are sanctified that is Christ by his Sacrifice hath perfectly reconciled us to God There need be no more done to reconcile a person to God than what Christ hath done Now if the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ hath that virtue and efficacy in it as to bring us into perfect reconciliation with God so as that there is no danger of losing it nor falling from it then it is a perfect and compleat satisfaction This shews us the dignity and excellency of Christs Satisfaction therefore we ought to have an high esteem of it and be so much the more incouraged to make use of it The end of the fourteenth Sermon SERMON XV. Joh. 15 1◠Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends TO proceed a little farther to shew the dignity of Christs Satisfaction 3. Consid 3 The Satisfaction of Christ was adequate and commensurate to what the Law and Divine Justice did require All that the Law could require was the death of the sinner In the day that thou eatest thou shalt dye the death thou shalt undergo a double death death natural and death supernatural Now Christ in the work of his Satisfaction hath undergone both these deaths he hath undergone natural death and supernatural death All that Divine Justice could require was that the sinner should undergo the utmost punishment that the nature of man was capable of now the sufferings of Christ were consummate sufferings in the highest measure and degree whatever the humane nature supported by the Deity could suffer that our Saviour did undergo therefore his satisfaction was adequate and commensurate to the Law and Divine Justice 4. We may see the dignity and excellency of Christs Satisfaction in this That the Satisfaction of Christ in some respect was more than sufficient Christ in respect of some circumstances attending his satisfaction hath paid and given more than the Law required for it is well observed by a Learned man The Law did not require that God should dye the Law required that man sinning man should dye but now the person dying and satisfying for us was God as well as man God hath redeemed the Church with his own blood Act. 20.28 Neither 1 did the Law require that any person should dye but for his own proper sin The language of the Law is The soul that sins shall dye Now every soul was to bear his own iniquity Neither 2 did the Law require such a death that should be of so great efficacy that it should not be only able to abolish death but also be able to introduce life and that a life far more excellent than that terrene and earthly life which Adam lost In these respects the Satisfaction of Christ was more than sufficient and therefore one of the Ancients hath this expression Christ hath paid for us much more than we owed and so much the more was that which Christ paid by how much the vast and immense Ocean excels the least drop Let us learn then to have high thoughts of the dignity and excellency
That Christ hath given himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2.14 Observe that expression That he might purifie unto himself Christ did not give himself that he might purifie to the Father only a peculiar people but also that he might purifie to himself a peculiar people So Eph. 5.25 Christ gave himself for his Church that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church Here it is said That he might present it to himself a glorious Church As Christ by his death and sufferings reconciled us to God the Father so he reconciled us to himself also It is true the Scripture when it speaks of the work of reconciliation doth in a peculiar manner attribute it to the Father as the Person to whom we are reconciled and it speaks of our reconciliation to God by Christ 2 Cor. 5.18 All things are of Godâ— who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ Col. 1.20 By him to reconcile all things to himself By him that is by Christ To reconcile all things to himself that is to the Father by Christ then we are reconciled to the Father But we must understand this aright When it is said We are reconciled to the Father by Christ we must not suppose that the other Persons are excluded We are not only reconciled to the Father but we are reconciled to the whole Trinity and Christ considered as Mediator as God-man reconciles us to himself considered as God simply And here lies the Mystery of Divine wisdom and goodness that God is in Christ reconciling the world to himself God is the person offended and yet in and by his Son it is he that offers reconciliation to the world 3. The greatness of Christs love in laying down his life for us appears in this That there was no merit in us to move Christ to lay down his life for us It is well observed by Austin It was our sins not our merits that drew Christ from Heaven to earth As we could not merit Christs Incarnation so neither could we merit his death and sufferings for us For what is it that we can suppose that should merit Christs death and sufferings for us Was it our fore-seen faith or our fore-seen obedience This is all that can be supposed Now these were the effects of Christs death and sufferings therefore they could not be the cause of them It is observed by Alvarez That Christs fore-seen Merits were the cause of all that grace that was bestowed upon man in the state of lapsed nature Joh. 1.17 Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ All the grace that we receive in lapsed nature is by Jesus Christ Eph. 1.4 God hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Christs Merits are the foundation of our faith and obedience Whatever faith and obedience is found in us is wrought by the Spirit of Christ in us Now the Spirit it self that works all grace in us is the purchase and fruit of the death of Christ Tit. 3.4 After that the kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man appeared not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour The Holy Ghost is shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour that is through the Merit of Jesus Christ our Saviour Now it is by this Spirit that faith it self and all other effects of grace are wrought in us therefore it is said By grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God Eph. 2.8 4. We were so far from having any merit to oblige Christ to suffer and dye for us that we were full of demerit full of evil merits We were sinners enemies rebels against God and herein God commended his love to us that while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us Rom. 5.8 The greatest love amongst men is when one friend will dye for another Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friend But where was it known that ever any man laid down his life for his enemy Yet Christ hath commended his love to us in that while we were enemies he dyed for us Col. 1.21 You that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death It is commonly said That sin is a kind of God-murther Peccatum est Deicidium the sinner would dethrone God and take away the life and Being of God if it lay in his power Now herein the admirable and transcendent love of God to man appeared That when man by sin would dethrone God and take away the life and Being of God if it were in his power that God would lay down his life for them that would take away his life and Being God redeemed the Church with his own blood and Hereby perceive we the love of God that he laid down his life for us Learn to study much the greatness of Christs love in his sufferings Vse 1 and in the work of his Satisfaction Let us often have recourse to the Cross of Christ and by the eye of faith behold the Son of God in our nature giving himself a Sacrifice for our sins The more we study the love of Christ in his sufferings and in the work of his Satisfaction we shall find two notable effects of it 1. Hereby we shall be strengthened and confirmed in our belief of Christs love to us 2. This will be a means to beget greater measures of love in our hearts to Christ 1. The more we contemplate the love of Christ to us in his sufferings and satisfaction the more shall we be strengthened and confirmed in our belief of Christs love to us 1 Joh. 4.16 We have known and believed the love that God hath towards us for God is love How come we to know and believe the love that God hath towards us Compare this with the former verses and they will shew us vers 8 9 10. God is love In this was manifested the love of God to us that he sent his only begotten Son that we might live through him Herein was love not that we loved God but that God loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins When by faith we can apprehend and believe that God hath sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins this will confirm us in the certain belief and perswasion of the love of God to us Who hath reason to doubt of Gods love when he is certainly perswaded and doth firmly believe that God hath sent his Son from Heaven to earth to take our nature and being in our
nature to lay down his life and dye for our sins Certainly he that believes this will find no reason to doubt of the love of God If God sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins if he had no other end in sending of him and if the Son of God did freely lay down his life for us then there is no reason that we should retain suspicious and jealous thoughts of the Father or the Son We know and believe the love that God hath to us How so Because God hath sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins If we can realize the sufferings of Christ to our minds by the eye of faith this will confirm our souls in the love of God towards us 2. Another effect of our studying the love of Christ in his sufferings for us is This will be a means to beget much love in us to Christ What more powerful argument to inflame our love to Christ than to consider what Christ hath done and suffered for us Can we behold the Son of God the second Person in Trinity God equal with the Father Emmanuel God with us God come down into our nature can we behold this great and excellent Person giving himself to suffer and dye for us taking the whole curse and punishment upon himself that we deserve and not love this person who hath so loved us and hath done and suffered such things for us The Apostle tells us 2 Cor. 5.14 The love of Christ constrains us The love of Christ that is Christs love to us the apprehension of Christs love to us constrains us why so Because saith the Apostle we thus judge That if one dyed for all then were all dead If Christ had not dyed we must all have dyed If Christ had not suffered the wrath of God we must have suffered it to Eternity If Christ had not been deserted we must have been deserted If he had not undergone dereliction and the hiding of Gods face the face of God must have been turned away from us for ever If Christ had not conflicted with the Divine displeasure we must have conflicted with the wrath of God for ever If Christ had not been cast into that Agony wherein he sweat drops of blood we must have been cast into those inexpressible horrours and torments of soul and body which would have pressed us down to all Eternity The deep and serious consideration of these things cannot but constrain us to love Christ The love of Christ constrains us saith the Apostle because we thus judge That if one dyed for all then were all dead The consideration of this That Christ hath freed us from that by his death which otherwise we must necessarily have undergone must needs be a strong ingagement upon us to love Christ We love him because he first loved us Learn how great the sin and ingratitude of the world is in slighting and abusing all this love Vse 2 and also how just that revenge is which God takes upon the world for slighting and abusing all this love If the love of Christ be so eminently seen in his suffering and dying for sinful men for the sinful world then how great is the sin and ingratitude of the world in slighting and abusing all this love God hath sent his Son from Heaven to save the world he hath sent his Son from Heaven to dye for the world but all this love is little thought of little regarded or esteemed by the generality of men this is the cause of the Lords great indignation against the world The world is guilty of many other sins it is guilty of great immoralities and many abominations in point of practice and these may have their influence and no doubt have as to the bringing down Gods displeasure upon the sinful world but that which is the fundamental sin the root sin of all it is the contempt of Christ and the Gospel the slighting and rejecting Gospel-love Gospel-grace This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light And we may say This is the condemnation that love is come into the world that the Son of God who is love it self the Son of God who hath all the love of the Father in him and God is love that he is come into the nature of man and hath dyed for men that they might be saved and this is not at all regarded by them When all this love of his hath been published and made known to men the generality of men have taken no notice of Christ and his love so they may have their honours pleasures and profits take Christ and his grace who will for them for this so great contempt of Christ and his grace when God hath offered his love and the grace of his Gospel to the world and men have slighted it taken no notice of it hath God come to revenge himself upon the ingrateful world and I speak it with a bleeding heart I fear will yet revenge it more sorely The end of the sixteenth Sermon SERMON XVII Job 15.13 Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends I Come now to other Particulars that set forth the greatness of Christs suffering for us 5. The greatness of Christs love in laying down his life for us appears in this That there was no one else that could have satisfied for us If men or Angels had attempted this work their sufferings had been but the sufferings of finite creatures there would not have been infinite worth and value in them to have satisfied for the sins of the whole world The expiation of sin requires a price of infinite value and the reason is because every sin is committed against an infinite Majesty an infinite Majesty being offended there must be a price of infinite value to expiate the offence Now whoever had been but a meer man could not have offered a price of infinite value but Christs sufferings were of infinite value because he was God as well as man and this is that which enhanceth the price of Christs love that none else could have suffered for us but Christ so as to have satisfied Gods Justice this Christ himself sets before us Isa 63.3 I have trod the wine-press alone and of the people there was none with me So vers 5. I looked and there was none to help and I wondered there was none to uphold therefore mine own arm brought salvation This commends the greatness of Christs love in his sufferings That when none was able to suffer for us so as to satisfie Gods Justice Christ undertook the work The sixth Consideration is The greatness of Christs love in his sufferings appears in this That so great and excellent a person should come to suffer for us 1 Joh. 3.16 Hereby perceive we the love of God that he laid down his life for us that is that he who was the Son of God and God that
him giving himself to us for these are no vain words This is my body which was broken for you setting aside those gross conceits of the Papists That the bread is transubstantiated into the body of Christ and that Christ is corporally present under the outward form of the Elements I say setting aside their gross conceits there is certainly a real though spiritual presence of Christ to every believing soul in the Sacrament The humane nature of Christ indeed is really present in Heaven therefore is it said Whom the heavens must contain till the time of the restitution of all things Act. 3. Yet the virtue of Christs body and blood is still really communicated to every believing soul Corpus ipsum in quo passus est resurrexit yea not only so saith Calvin Not only the virtue of his Death and Resurrection but that very body that dyed and rose again this is offered to us in the Sacrament these are great Mysteries indeed Now not to have a due reverence to such great and sublime Mysteries as these are to come to these as if they were common and ordinary things or to come to them with a common and slight spirit this is to come unworthily 2. Then do we come unworthily to the Sacrament when we live in the practice of any gross sin or retain the love of any sin We profess by our coming to the Sacrament that we believe that Christ dyed for such and such sins and yet we love these sins or continue in the practice of those sins that cost Christ his life this is to offer the greatest indignity to the Son of God This is as if a Traitor should come to sit at Table with the King to dine or sup with him and yet never repent of his treason but retain a traiterous mind and intention in his heart all the while When a man sits at the same table to eat and drink with another it is a sign of friendship no one would willingly admit another to his table but whom he accounts to be his friend When we come to the Lords Table we profess the highest friendship to Christ now when we profess the highest friendship to Christ and yet retain that in our love and practice that is most directly contrary to the honour and glory of Christ this is the greatest indignity that can be This is that the Apostle calls the crucifying the Son of God afresh and putting him to an open shame Heb. 6.6 What is this but crucifying Christ afresh and making Christ as contemptuous as possibly we can whenas we profess to expect salvation by the death and sufferings of Christ and yet in the mean time love harbour entertain and practise those very things we say we believe Christ dyed for Certainly every loose Christian that makes a profession of Christ and yet lives in gross open sins makes a plain mock of Christ and his sufferings for he professeth that he believes he shall be pardoned by the sufferings and death of Christ and yet he continues in the love and practice of those sins as if so be the end of Christs death were that men might continue in their sins and not be delivered from them 3. Then do men come unworthily to the Sacrament when they come without examining themselves Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup 1 Cor. 11.28 It is observable the Apostle opposeth this examining a mans self to his eating unworthily In the former verse he had said He that eats this bread and drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord now he adds But let a man examine himself so then if a man do not examine himself then he eats unworthily But it may be said Object What ought a man to examine himself about Concerning two things Answ 1. Concerning his state 2. Concerning the present frame and dispostion of his heart 1. A man ought to examine himself concerning his state whether he be in Christ whether he have a right to such an Ordinance 2 Cor. 13.5 Examine your selves whether ye be in the faith prove your own selves Know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobate We must examine our selves concerning our fundamental estate whether that be good yea or no to examine what standing we have in Christ 2. We ought to examine our selves concerning the frame and disposition of our souls whether we be in a fit frame to partake of such an Ordinance We ought to examine our selves whether our hearts be strongly bent and inclined to any sin whether we be under the power of any sin this is the examination of our repentance We ought to examine what the frame of our hearts is God-ward whether the bent of our hearts be towards God and the ways of God this is the examining of our other graces Now when we rush upon the Sacrament without reflexion and examination of our spiritual state this is unworthy coming And here let us observe That the children of God themselves may in a degree come in an unworthy manner for there are several degrees of unworthy receiving They that have slight and contemptuous thoughts of this Ordinance they that live in gross and scandalous sins they are guilty of unworthy receiving in the highest degree But then they that have true grace and do not retain in their hearts the love of any sin yet if they are remiss in searching into their hearts to find out their secret corruptions and to judge themselves for them they come unworthily in a lesser degree and God may correct his own children for their spiritual remisness in this kind The Apostle tells us For this cause many were sickly and weak and many were fallen asleep 1 Cor. 11.30 that is for coming to the Sacrament without due preparation Others who grosly profane this Ordinance that come to this Ordinance and live in gross sins and continue to live and dye in them God punisheth them otherwise he punisheth them with eternal condemnation He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself or judgment to himself as the word may be rendred The godly themselves coming in a rude and careless manner to this Ordinance may and oftentimes do bring the judgment of temporal chastisement upon themselves for not coming in a right manner to so great an Ordinance But such as are profane who come to this Ordinance and yet live in sin they eat to themselves the judgment of eternal condemnation Now to return unto what we first propounded to come unworthily to the Sacrament is one way of contemning Christs sufferings And if it be asked What is the reason of it why is the unworthy receiving of the Sacrament a contemning of Christs sufferings I answer 1. Because the Sacrament is a plain revelation and exhibition of Christ crucified This is my body which was broken