being as broad and as long as the Law and our transgressions of it Above the Mercy-seat on either side were the Cherubims and the Majesty of God appeared between the Ceerubims Christ interposeth between God and his Law to make him propitious to his People From above the Mercy-seat Ver. 22. between the two Cherubims will I meet thee and commune with thee So you see this Mercy-seat this Cover of Gold typified Christ the true Propitiatory or Mercy-seat covering out of God's sight all our Transgressions of the Law and God through him meeting with us and made propitious and reconciled to us And here now Christ is called by the name of his own type as often elsewhere when he is called the Lamb and Lamb slain and so called the Propitiatory or Propitiation God having made him really that to us which that did but typifie Christ was made an Expiation and Ransom and Propitiation for Sins for these things the Hebrew word signifies Here now under this Head I will make it my business irrefragably to prove to you what I have taken hitherto almost for granted 1. He died not for Himself He was the Lamb without spot as indeed he that was to wash away others spots was to be without spot Himself Messiah cut off but not for himself 2. He could not die but for some Sin Death befalleth not Men as Men but as Sinners The Apostle proveth all to be Sinners because all die else it was impossible in justice God Act. 2. 24 raised him up having loosed the pains of death for it was not possible he should be holden of it Death being but the Servant of God's Justice and Christ having satisfied Justice it could not but let go its hold He could not but be taken from prison and from judgment We may use the same argument it was impossible Death could not have taken hold of Him at all had it not been for Sin 3. It remains therefore that he died for our sins according to the Scripture for none else come in competition None will pretend He died for the Sins of Angels good or bad or of Brutes which are not capable of sin Was delivered to death for our sins Bore the sins of many Gave himself for us that he might redeem us The professed Adversaries of this Doctrine the Socinians will grant He died in some sense for our Sins Therefore How died he for our Sins 1. He died for our Sins so as to turn us from them this is truth but this is as they suppose all and they will grant no more But we must go further 2. He died for our Sins as a meritorious deserving cause of his Death For the transgression of my people was he smitten Wounded for our transgressions Isa 53. Rom. 4. 25. Delivered to death for our sins So that if it be asked What meaneth the heat of this great anger wherefore was he thus wounded We must answer He was wounded for our transgressions We have pierced him this hath been by our means we have ate sowre grapes and his teeth were set on edg the Children ate sowre grapes and the everlasting Father's teeth were set on edg 3. He died for our sins in our place and stead that we might not perish for them In our place and stead for expiation for satisfaction for compensation though not in such an unâ—ound irrational sense as some pretend and I shall have occasion to speak of hereafter in a more convenient place I shall prove this first from express Scriptures second from the peculiarity of his Death third from the Sacrifices that typified Him 1. From express Scriptures in three Instances 1. We often read of his Sufferings for our fins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This man after he had â—ffered one sacrifice for sins Heb. 1. 12 Gal. 1. 4. Who gave â—imself for our sins Now this word translated for may signifie only the final cause as to turn us from them But words must be understood secundum subjectam materiam according to the subject matter and in such speeches the subject matter will not bear that sense We never read in Scripture or any where else of one dying and suffering for sins but it is for them as the meritorious cause of the sufferings as some compensation for the fault as when he saith I will punish you for your iniquities And Israel suffered for the sins of Jeroboam 2. We often read of his Suffering for persons I lay down my life for my sheep Redeemeth us from the curse Joh. 10. 17. Gal. 3. 17. of the Law being made a curse for us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the usual sense of this is instead of another As Paul could wish himself accursed for his brethren Yet I know this phrase for another may in some instances signifie only the final cause only for their good and not in their stead A man may be said to die for his Country only as the final cause for their good and to lay down his life for his brother only for his good to save his life But it is not capable of such a narrow sense when one dieth for another as a sinner as an offender Now we read of Christ's dying the just for the unjust there it must be meant in his stead And when sinners he died for us And Hs who knew no sin was made sin that is a Sin-offering for us * The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the words the Septuagint express a Sin-offering by called in Hebr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that place Rom. 8. 3. which as it is translated is scarce sence should have been translated God sending his own Son in the likeness of â—inful flesh and a Sin-offering 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 condemned â—â—a in the flesh as the same words are well translated Heb. 10. 6. In Burnt-offering and Sacrifice for sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou hast no pleasure And so again vers 8. It is good sense to say such a one died for his Country as in the Warrs only to denote the final cause for the good of his Country But because Men go not into the Warrs because of their faults neither are they killed in the Warrs ordinarily for any fault Men die not in the Warrs as Malefactors but as Soldiers It would not be sense to use such speeches He died for his Country though an innocent man it would be a frigid sapless dilute manner of speaking for here would be no Opposition in it But you see He who knew no sin was made sin for us We esteemed him smitten of Isa 53. God But he was wounded for our sins 2 Cor. 5. 15. c. Because we thus judg if one dyed for all then were all dead and he dyed for all c. This place would not be true if one interpret dying for all only for the good of all not in their stead For it
meant of those that are actually Believers or fore-seen and looked on as such by him for he saith they shall come unto me shall believe on me and this belief and coming is named as the effect of God's giving men to Christ and so the giving is antecedent to the coming in all consideration So Ver. 44. No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him Ver. 45. It is written They shall all be taught of God every man therefore that hath heard and learned of the Father commeth unto me Ver. 65. No man can come unto me except it be given him of my Father This he said knowing that there were some that believed not Such is the wilful wickedness of the world that all would reject Christ yea and they cannot do otherwise in some sense though they can in another sense which senses I could make plain to you but it would take up too much time and be too large a digression so that the working the Condition the first Grace the first difference is to be ascribed to Election 4. Though the common saying is That Christ's death merited no Volitions no Decrees and so his fore-seen death merited not that God should will such and such things and the most build much upon Aquinas his saying Deus vult hoc propter hoc sed non propter hoc vult hoc meaning there are reasons and motives causes of the things willed but not of the willing of those things yet I look upon this saying as meer words and void of truth and we ought to have other conceptions or else we shall have conceptions unworthy of God Yet many go in such a method in speaking of God's Decrees that they make this such a main Pillar of their Fabrick that for one to hold that God's love or pity or man's misery was any motive to God to send his Son to dye which God forbid any should deny would destroy their whole method for it is impossible that any thing should be or be considered as ratio rei volitae a reason of the thing willed but it must be and must be considered as ratio actus voluntatis as the reason of the willing For a reason or motive is essentially a motive to the will of the principal Agent for what can it possibly be conceived to move but the Will Can it be a Motive and move nothing or can it be actually a prevailing-reason and not prevail with the Will What ever God doth in time for the Merits of Christ he decreed and willed from eternity to do it in time for the Merits of Christ for whatsoever God doth now in time for any end whatsoever or upon any motive whatsoever he decreed and willed for that end and upon that motive from eternity to do it If God in time created rain to make the earth fruitful then the reason why he decreed and willed to cause rain was that the earth might be fruitful And for us to conceive otherwise of God would be for us to conceive him to act irrationally as willing things for no end and would put a stop to all admiration of the wisdom of God seen in his Providence and therefore such a conception of him would be offensive to him for we ought to conceive of him in the most honourable way we are able and that is the most pleasing to Him who is above our best conceptions If he condemn men in time for their refusal of Christ then he decreed to condemn them because he foresaw that they would refuse Christ If he save none justifie none in time but for their believing then he willed and decreed from eternity to save none with any decree or violence that we are to conceive of as distinct from his Will or Decree to work the Condition in men that they might be justified and saved but those he foresaw should believe And it seems plain that as he absolutely and without condition justifieth and saveth none so neither did he absolutely and without condition decree to justifie and save any But God foreseeing what an order and concatenation of things he would make and was bound in Honour to make notwithstanding Christ's death As in time without Condition though not without means He worketh Faith and Repentance worketh the Condition in the Elect that they may be justified and saved by Christ So he willed and decreed absolutely and without condition to work the condition the first Grace that they might be justified and saved by Christ 5. Though Christ's death as a satisfaction expiation was the cause of no more to us than this That if we repent and believe we shall be justified and saved Satisfaction and Propitiation being only for sin yet considering this suffering of Christ as a highly pleasing meritorious act as a worthy voluntary undertaking for the Honor of God we may say Christ did merit that God should give this Faith work this Condition and keep it in the Elect for all would notwithstanding this and the easie reasonable terms made of their interest in it through their own wilful wickedness have perished and he deserved that his blood should not thus far be lost as water spilt on the ground but that he should have some fruit of the travel of his soul in seeing a Seed actually to honour venerate and adore their Redeemer Though I must say for the honour of our Redeemer in this great affair He will have some reward in those that perish in that he did a wonderful kindness for them it being only through their own chosen refusal that they had no benefit by it His Goodness and Grace is not therefore no Grace because men reject it And to do a good and gracious act is a reward and satisfaction in it self And you may as well maintain That except God be ignorant and know not that men will reject his mercy he cannot be righteous and just in punishing them for it which is contrary to the knowledg of the whole world as to say Except God be ignorant and know not that they will through their wicked wilfulness refuse his Mercy his Grace and Mercy is no Grace and Mercy If one of you take a long tedious and hazzardous journey to disswade your friend from something you hear he designs to do which you know will undo him though he wilfully persist and will not be perswaded by you and so is undone by it yet he is bound to thank you all his life after and your kindness ceaseth not to be kindness and you have this satisfaction and reward You did a kind act though he reap no benefit And suppose you might have prevailed with him if you had there stayed longer with him and taken more pains yet your kindness ceaseth not to be a kindness because you did no greater kindness since that which you did would have been enough had it not been for his wilful obstinacy And his after-ruing of his own folly bears a loud testimony to
Wisdom Justice and Holiness that saving the honour of these he might pardon and advance to dignity rebells against Heaven upon their returning to their subjection and allegiance that the honour and credit of these might be maintained and yet the offenders not perish And this atrocious death of the Son of God for sin did do God great honour in the face of the Sun and of the World did assert his holiness and ha 〈…〉 proclaim his Righteousness and is a loud Thunder-clap of terror against such as shall again a second time and after such hope brought in undo themselves And by this all the dishonour that would have come to God by pardoning submitting and yielding enemies and rebells is cleared and wiped off and the repute of the Law as well secured and kept up and offenders considerate no more imboldened to sleight Him and his Laws and Threats by looking on him as no great enemy to sin than if the penalty had been executed upon all Men for ever I shall add no more here because I have prevented my self in speaking largely of this before 6. That God might be just and a justifier of faln man that God might be just and merciful 1. That God might be just it would not be sense to stop here for God would have been just without this Propitiation inflicting the punishment on sinners themselves but then he would have been meerly just and no justifier of faln man because man could never have satisfied he would have been always paying and yet the debt always to pay still so that there could never have been any Justification of sinners 2. But that he might be just and a justifier He set out Christ a Propitiation for the remission of sins Here you see two causes of Christ's death The love of God to Man one and the justice of God the other He was induced to this amazing act by his Philanthropy his love of man and zeal of justice He so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believed on him might not perish but might have everlasting life And here his justice did not swallow up his Mercy nor his Mercy his Justice but they are of quite distinct considerations Here is a loud Testimony of his Love to us and love to his Law and Justice of love to us that Christ should die rather than we perish and of love to his Law and Justice in that he hereby took order that they should not be injured by his pardoning of us Yet observe well here for the understanding of the things I have spoken of and shall speak of depend much upon it that this love was not the love of Complacency or Rectoral love for that is and was the fruit of Christ's Death but a love of pity such as was consistent with Rectoral and Legal hatred Zaleucus might lawfully have a love of pity to his Son before his invented Satisfaction but Rectoral wrath and hatred He was bound in honour as a iust Rector to execute the Law to keep it sacred and unblemished and this restrained his natural pity from doing an injury to justice And this Love that I am speaking of was the Love of one that was bound in honour and justice to be an enemy as things stood but yet of one willing to find out some way that he might with safety to his honour and justice be a friend as Governour that is might justly not inflict the penalty Thus you see the love of Pity that sent Christ was not the fruit of Christs Death But his love of Complacency his justifying love Pardoning love Rectoral love that is the fruit of his Death 7. Justifier of Sinners of faln Man that is implied in the word Propitiation and remission of sin and in the whole texture of the words And here I will shew you he died for Justification of the greatest of sinners upon their acceptance of him yea and of sinners then long since dead 1. For the Pardon and Justification of the greatest Sinners worst of Men whose throat was an open Sepulcher and their feet swift to shed blood as is expressed before in this Chapter The greatest Sins cannot exceed the price paid for they are but the Sins of Man but the Sufferings were the Sufferings of God They that were guilty of the hainousest act that ever the Sun saw of that horrid act of Crucifying Christ upon their repentance and being pricked in their hearts were forgiven as we read in the Acts of the Apostles 2. For the Pardon and Justification of Sinners then dead before Christ's death God now declareth his righteousness in the remission of those past sins Whether all those that were justified and saved under the Old Testament did know of this to come satisfaction or not I do not now dispute But this is plain whether they knew of it or not they were not justified and saved without God's having respect to this to come Propitiation it was by virtue of this which is now declared It is now declared to Men and Angels that it was upon the account of the Satisfaction intended and promised They were justified by virtue of Satisfaction designed and undertaken by Christ and in due time to be exacted and paid but through the forbearance of God the exacting of the price for sins past and fore-committed was deferred till the time of the Gospel A Meritorious cause is a Moral cause and for a Moral cause to operate and have its effect it is not necessary that it do exist it sufficeth that it have an Esse cognitum a beeing in knowledg A man may be properly said to have bought that which he hath not yet paid for and may have the actual benefit of his purchase if he hath undertaken the payment and the other accepts of and rests satisfied with his promise and undertaking Grotius lib. de Satisf thus interpreteth this place remission of sins past And it seemeth probable enough to be the meaning of this difficult place Sanguis Christi profuit antequam fuit Both the Ancients were and we are saved by Christ and God hath now set him forth a Propitiation for those past sins And indeed till Christ thus came the Satisfaction was not paid but through the forbearance of God thus served the turn that it was undertaken and promised and typified and represented by the Sacrifices and Types which shadowed it out but the Truth Reality and true Sacrifice came not till Christ And God did forbear to inflict wrath on them because he should at length have satisfaction and now he declareth his Righteousness in exacting the prefigured Satisfaction They drank of the spiritual Rock that followed them which Rock was Christ Hence it is not improbably concluded by some that he is called The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world * Yet I rather encline to them that read it written from the foundation of the world in the book of the Lamb slain Because in the same Book
the Law for us in this sense so as it is to be imputed to us as if we had fulfilled the Law our selves then we should be freed altogether from any obligation from the Law to obedience just as we are freed from the condemnation of the Law because Christ underwent it as a Satisfaction for us we should not then sin in not-obeying the Law and we could not be pardoned by Christ for our sins in not obeying the Law for they are no sins according to this Hypothesis If there be a Law That if a servant hired for a year shall refuse to serve his year's service if his Master require he shall lye in the prison a year Suppose one hired did not serve a year but another served a year good and faithful service for him Must this hired man also serve a year for himself or he is to blame and Must this man accepted to serve a year for him also lye in prison for him What if I did not serve a year yet another served for me and better service than I can perform What need is there may he say that I should serve it my self Do I think I can mend his work do it better my self than I have done it in him I am almost ashamed to lay open the weakness of them that hold these things after such multitudes of learned Protestants have shown their absurdity How much clearer is the Scripture way of God for Christ's sake justifying and pardoning us for Christ's Satisfaction Propitiation than to talk of our fulfilling the Law yea or which is not so ill our satisfying in Him suffering in Him or redeeming our selves in Him or God accounting us to have satisfied in Him These are Phrases the Scripture is a stranger unto though if they will say as some They mean no more by such speeches but that God for Christ's Satisfaction gives us all these Gospel-mercies I shall only say They might speak plainer And our satisfying in Him is true in a figurative sense though not in a proper sense and so God's accounting us to have satisfied in Him yet in no possible sense is our fulfilling the preceptive part of the Law in Him true for this would make Christ's satisfaction needless Now since I have defined Justification by pardon of sin it is necessary that I tell you what Pardon is Pardon is a dissolution or discharge from the obligation to punishment It is none of these four things that only pretend to come in competition 1. Pardon of sin is not A making sin cease to be for that is to be ascribed to Sanctification which is a real change in opposition to relative 2. It is not making that it should be said that the sin was never committed this is impossible 3. It is not making sin that it do not in its own nature deserve damnation 4. It is not the executive taking off the penalty for this is a consequent of pardon by virtue of justice and faithfulness Yet sometimes it is used in this improper sense in Scripture But it is A dissolution of the obligation to punishment the dueness of the penalty is taken away immediately by pardon and so remotely and ultimately the penalty God being just and faithful will not inflict what is not due what he hath made not due by his Law of Grace So that Justification actively taken for God's act is an act of God whereby he pardoneth our sins or dissolveth the obligation to punishment And then Justification when taken passively for the effect of Justification is A dissolution of or discharge from the obligation to Hell and Punishment or a right to Salvation or a right to be free from Condemnation which is nothing else but a right to salvation It doth not in this Discourse concern me to speak of the further degrees of Happiness superadded for Justification of it self comprehendeth no more than right to what would have been due to us if we had been righteous without pardon had never transgressed the Law for Justification is from some thing as well as to some thing Yet this on the by Greater things than we fell from do come to man by the same Law of Grace by the same blood of Christ and upon the performance of the same condition that Justification or pardon of sin doth As for the meritorious cause of this Justification I have spoken very largely of it already for whose sake merit Cujus intuitu I told you that he justifies us through the redemption that is in Christ and I dare not ever and anon return to speak of it here lest I should confound your understandings I shall after this speak of God's working Faith in us that we might be justified and Christ's meriting of it Therefore do not in your too forward thoughts over-run me as if I denied any thing I come not yet to speak of Now I will tell you what this act of God is how God dischargeth the sinner and dissolveth this obligation to Punishment and so giveth right to salvation which we lost by our sins It is by some new Law or Constitution by some Covenant or Promise founded in Christ's Satisfaction It is some judicial juridical act and therefore by some Law-act I thus prove it 1. It is impossible that a man that is a sinner should have right to be freed from condemnation but it must be by some Law of Grace some legal discharge Such a jus or right cannot possibly pass but by some Law-act If a Rector should refuse to inflict the penalty on a man guilty or condemned this is not Pardon or Justification You may call it Suspension Impunity but the offender hath no right to the Impunity the obligation to punishment is not dissolved by it Yea suppose God should have resolved within himself never to inflict the penalty yet he might inflict it when he would without injustice though I confess not without mutability the offender hath no right to impunity by such an intention no jus the obligation is not dissolved till some lex remedians some remedying Law some Rectoral Law of Oblivion some Act of Pardon and Oblivion else it is only forbearance but no acquittance no discharge no pardon no justification 2. God will be true to his own Laws and will not leave a man unpunished to whom punishment is due by his own Constitutions all things considered but his judgment and execution will be according to Truth and Law He that condemneth Prov. 17. 15. the righteous and justifieth the wicked they both are an abomination to the Lord. He will sentence men according to his own Laws and he will not justifie or condemn pro libitu but according to his own declared Laws He will not sententially hereafter justifie nor will he account justified here any sinner but whom the new Law of Grace the Gospel founded in the blood of Christ justifieth which only justifieth Believers 3. Condemnation is by some Law therefore Justification must be by some Law for
and tends to the honour of your kindness Oh that I had hearkened to my Friend How have I hated instruction and would not incline mine ear to him that instructed me They in Hell if they would and could do as befits them or as Christ hath deserved from them would spend time as well in admiring the love of God and the Redeemer in this wonderful once offered and urged Kindness as in ruing that they lost it through their own chosen wilful madness Some go on such grounds in speaking of these things that holding to their way they must necessarily deny that sinners in Hell will ever rue and befool themselves for their loss of salvation by Christ But if any will hold so much power in man to receive Christ as that they will rue it as their madness and folly and sin to reject him and perish by so doing I can from that demonstrate as clearly as I can do any thing that this I now speak in this digression inevitably follows Let me but ask you this Was there no cause for Adam when faln from the benefit to thank God for making that promise Obey and Live when as God might have annihilated him notwithstanding his obedience had it not been for that promise And do you never thank God for it though God knew he would fall But to return As Christ's sufferings did not as an expiation or satisfaction but as a highly meritorious act deserve or obtain that God should give greater things to those that believe than Adam lost for the honour of the Redeemer and of this great work of Redemption so he did deserve that God should cause some to believe and so from eternity his death foreseen or undertaken was a cause a meritorious cause or motive why God would that is decreed to make some and so though more remotely such particular persons the Elect to accept offered mercy and Christ which they would otherwise as others have rejected Some call this the Covenant of Redemption but it is an immanent act and from eternity and an elicite act of the will and therefore is properly a Decree and belongeth to the Will of Purpose and not to his Legislative Will his Rectoral Will Methinks you may see hence how it cometh to pass that we sometimes read of Christ's dying for the world and in other places that he laid down his life for his sheep sometime tasted death for every man dyed for all sometime again gave himself for the Church in one place a Saviour of the Body in another a Saviour of the world He dyed for the Elect and World both so far that whosoever should believe on him should not perish but for the Elect as they which were much in his eye being those who certainly should believe and so be actually saved Though God and Christ did as one saith aequè intend this satisfaction a propitiation conditionally applicable to every one yet he did not ex aequo as fully intend it for to be actually applied to every man There is much of truth in that frequently cited passage of Ambrose Christus passus est pro omnibus pro nobis tamen specialiter passus est Like that a Saviour of all men especially of them that believe Will any dare to say Here is nothing of grace or kindness to the World Joh. 3. 16. He so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life V. 17. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved Cannot you see plainly here what is meant by the World and that his first coming was to save it though his second will be to take a severe account V. 18. He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he believeth not Can you say a sick man dyed because he took not such a Medicine when if he had taken it it would not have cured him You cannot say the Devils continue to be condemned because they reject Christ because if they should accept him they would still perish for there was no satisfaction made for them And may not the same be said of them that perish if no satisfaction be made for them So John 12. 47. If any man hear my words and believe not surely you will say this is meant of a non-elect man I judg him not for I came not into the world to condemn the world but to save the world Which reason would have no shew of reason except Christ came to save that man except he be one of that World he came to save If Election and Redemption were of the same latitude and strictness you might as well say to sinners Repent for you are elected for you are foreknown in the Scripture-sense for you are given to Christ by the Father in that special sense as Repent for you are redeemed Christ dyed for you you are bought with a price therefore glorifie God with your bodies and spirits which are his But the Apostle would not venture to speak thus You are elected therefore repent glorifie God for he should have spoken what he knew not to to be true I will say no more but this here Whether is it a more likely way to lay a foundation for Religion in the World to encourage and draw mens hearts to repent return to tell them Christ hath dyed for you and hath obtained this of the Father for you That if you return you shall live notwithstanding all your former sins or to say Repent return for for any thing you know Christ hath dyed for you for any thing you know he hath obtained this from God That if you turn you shall live though it is ten to one he hath not or however we cannot tell whether he hath or no. And if he hath not then as this is true that if the Devils should repent and return they should yet perish because no Satisfaction was made for them so if you should repent and believe you should yet perish because no Satisfaction made for you Application FRom all that hath been spoken we may learn these things Vse 1. This informeth us That God could not in Justice without a Satisfaction pardon our sins I know such moral things consist not in a point I dare not therefore say He could not pardon the least offence without a Satisfaction or such a great Satisfaction It is enough to say He could not pardon such and so great sins as ours and the worlds upon repentance without Satisfaction Many men of renown of late days have in this too much symbolized with Socinus and have maintained that God could if he had so pleased have pardoned the world and received them on the Gospel-terms into favour without a Satisfaction and that the death of Christ was from the Will of God and not from his Justice and some of the Ancients have thus
righteously to punish offences and not to let things run at random And God is not to be considered as a private person that pardoneth as a party offended or as a Creditor that parteth with his own right but as the publick Judg and Governour of the World who is by taking this place upon him engaged to judg and rule righteously and to render to men according to their works There is a wide difference between Pecuniary debts which one forgives as a private man or injuries done to a man in particular which he forgives as a private man and Criminal offences against Law and Government A Magistrate being also in another respect a private man having a private interest of his own may as other men forgive things which belong to his profit as Debts and may forgive injuries and affronts done to him so far as they prejudice his private Interest But he may not justly however ordinarily forgive things which belong to his Office and Duty incumbent on him as Governour to punish in vindictive Justice for hereby he would be wanting in his duty and also guilty of violating the authority of his own Law and Rule and of undoing of the Commonwealth by lenity and indulgence I know a Rector or Governour may in some cases dispense with and not execute his Law For sometimes Laws are unjustly made sometime about low petty matters that do not much concern the Common-weal to have them executed sometime it would tend to the destruction of the Community to execute them though not unwisely made at first and sometime he wants power to execute them the offenders being too numerous or too potent and so it may be his duty to pardon and dispense with the penalty without any more ado e. g. Saul intentionally made a good Law threatned death to any that should eat before the evening that he might obtain the greater conquest over his flying Enemies Jonathan his Son transgresseth it Saul resolves to execute the Law the people hinder him and rescue Jonathan now Saul could not execute the Law for want of strength for the people are the strength of the King And there seemeth to be much reason in what Jonathan said It was an ill Law and proved a hinderance to the slaughter of his enemies and in what the people plead to wit That he might well dispence with this Law as to Jonathan because he had wrought with God that day a great salvation There was indeed such a deed done by him that day such a high meritorious act as would amount to a partial if not a total satisfaction So that it would not much weaken Government encourage Offendors take off from the repute of Saul's Rectoral Justice to pardon one in such a circumstance But a Rector cannot without injustice ordinarily and in weighty causes dispense with his Laws since it would be To be wanting to his duty and it would certainly tend to the debauching and ruin of the Community by breaking the reins of Government and encouraging Offenders It is ordinarily as much the duty of the supream Magistrate to execute good Laws or some way to keep them sacred and honourable as it is to make good Laws for both duties are built upon the same foundation Who will say That Parents may justly lawfully and honestly cast off all care of correcting their Children for their faults and leave all things to their wills This would be not so much a parting with their right as the Objection speaks as a ceasing from and being wanting in their duty and office and God's Rectorship and Government is to be conceived of by us analogically to an Office 2. Hence learn the Excellency and Satisfactoriness of the Christian Religion and our great felicity in living in these last days and shiningdays of the Son of Man wherein the Earth is and hath been filled with the glory of the Grace and Mercy and of the Justice and Holiness of God in comparison of former days The Christian Religion discovers plainly to us that which the Heathens were fearfully bewildred about They had Convictions of sin and terrors and consternations of mind for sin and fearful lookings for of judgment and fiery indignation They knew that they that did such things as they did were worthy of death they saw need of Rom. 1. 31 attoning God need of an Expiation and some of them saw the blood of Bulls and Goats could not take away sin Some offered not knowing what they did the fruit of their body for the sin of their soul when they might be flying and hovering about in their meditations and enquiries after these things like Noah's Dove and find no rest We have this safe Ark of the Righteousness and Satisfaction of Christ discovered and opened to us where there is Rest for the sole of the foot of our souls When their soul drew near to the grave and their life to the Destroyer they had none to tell them of such a Righteousness such a Ransome The Heathens had indeed some obscure wavering knowledg of this fundamental Article of Religion the Remission of sins partly by Tradition which in ancient times was more convincing in after and corrupter days more obscure and doubtful partly by the Law of Nature in the Book of Providence seeing the goodness and benignity of God to them notwithstanding their great provocations they might and did thence waveringly gather That God was merciful and would be found in mercy of them that did turn and seek him diligently He left not himself without witness in that he did them good and gave them rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons filling their hearts with food and gladness and this was that Acts 14. 17. 17. 27. they should seek the Lord if haply they might feel after him and find him But this knowledg was so weakned by the contrary arguments that militate against it That that very deep apprehension of God's Holiness and Justice and those very consternations of mind for sins which were likely to conduce in working this repentance and reformation would be very apt much to weaken if not almost to blot out this notion That there was hope for them and forgiveness with him that he might be served and feared That it is no wonder if it was ineffectual to work this change and these diligent enquiries after God and that Salvation which they were not fully sure was attainable though yet it was their hainous sin and high irrationality and madness not thus to seek him though to the undoing of themselves in this life upon these probabilities and half-promises if haply and it may be if we turn we shall live and this will be their greatest condemnation It is no wonder if never any did sincerely and thoroughly turn from sin to God amongst them since Tradition was quite worn out or rendred suspicious and unconvincing without some supernatural Revelation as by the Prophets and their Writings I say since Tradition lost or corrupted for in
For this Holiness they have in a more glorious manner than our Christ within us our imperfect holiness can present to their view This was not that Christ crucified that the Apostle did so prize the knowledg of And this work of Grace could never have been within us had it not been for a Christ without us and had it been within us yet it would never have been available to Salvation or Justification but for the Christ without us There is no blood no satisfaction in this Christ within us nothing but what would have been esteemed by God and is in reality as menstruous rags in respect of attaining Justification without this work of Christ without us upon the Cross And yet these would make Grace should I say I rather say Morality and Civility yea to speak truly of some of them Incivility and Discourtesie their righteousness though it be a Gospel-command to be courteous These delight so little in our Christ without us that it is with much difficulty that they will confess Christ come and crucified in the flesh if indeed they will confess it for-some shrink at such a question and would fain put it off And I dare say That any of you that ever heard them talk can bear witness that they speak not as men delighting in or making any account of this Propitiation Ransom c. Cursed are they that love not our Lord Jesus These honour not God The honour that cometh to God by works of Creation and Providence is counted as no honour in comparison of the honour that comes to him by this Redemption therefore it is said He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father God accounteth all honour as no honour in comparison of this Hence we read Ephes 3. ult Vnto him be glory in the Church by Jesus Christ Phil. 1. 11. Being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God And Spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ And in Heaven the loudest and highest praises will be upon this account Worthy is the Lamb to receive honour c. These seeking to establish their own righteousness make void the righteousness of God through their ignorance of the righteousness of God Wonderful that ever the Devil should so bewitch people that ever the God of this world should so far blind men's eyes that ever he should so prevail with this device to work Christianity out of men's hearts so as to make them renounce the Christian Religion under pretence of high Christianity to look on Christ as a carnal Christ or the blood of Christ as a common or unholy thing on our Redeemer whom all Christians venerate and adore as a low nothing and to call his faithful Ministers Lyers and Deceivers But study you these things that you may admire Christ for he is and is to be admired in and of all his people Here is not such obscurity as to discourage your endeavoâ—rs nor such facility as to occasion your contempt You may easily see enough to admire all your days and yet still you are to learn It may be said to them of the highest form Go and learn what it means what Christ crucified means Here is a riddle of Mercy a riddle of Wisdom a riddle of Justice Christ is called Wonderful He is so in his Natures Offices Death Let these things be much in your mind It is like his complaint Diem perdidi I have lost a day to have cause to say I have lived another day and have not had a serious thought of Christ and his Death Do this in remembrance of me Look upon him whom we have pierced Study the reasons and ends of his sorrows and sufferings He dyed not as a fool dieth it was for some great End and this end must not be frustrated Wo to us if it be as to us This knowledg would be better to us than our daily bread this study is more necessary than our appointed food Is there but one Medicine in the World to heal us and will you not learn it study it and the use and virtue of it and how to apply it by Meditation that it may have its diversity of effects upon us St. Paul desired to know nothing but Christ and him crucified And Peter's last words of Exhortation in his last Epistle are Grow in grace and in the knowledg of our Lord Jesus And acting our faith and knowledg of these things by Meditation would be hugely influential to work and encrease Grace Come to other knowledg and he that encreaseth knowledg encreaseth grief and sorrow but he that encreaseth in this knowledg and is suitably affected with it layeth a foundation for perfect peace quietness and assurance for ever Let Ministers study this more and so preach this more I desire to know nothing among you that is to know so as to preach nothing among you save Christ and him crucified Preach not your selves but Christ Vse much plainness of speech Preach not like Moses with a vail on your face Let not people live and dye in ignorance of Christ if you can help it Discover all to sinners Let them see the Lord their Righteousness Now in studying and contemplating these things Admire 1. Admire the Justice of God Never was such Justice heard of since the world began Justice in a Mystery He spared not his Son that he might spare Sinners He hardned his heart against the cry of his Son that he might opeu his heart to the cry of Sinners Behold how he not only loved us but hated sin The dreadful instances of man cast out of Paradise the drowning of the World the destruction of Jerusalem the reservation of the faln Angels in horror and darkness are fearful Monuments of God's hatred of sin But here Justice and Holiness shine as the Sun in the Firmament When his beloved Son stood in the place and stead of Sinners he must dye such a shameful painful accursed death Surely had there been any respect of persons with God could Justice have been perverted and drawn aside with any considerations his only beloved Son should have escaped Here is inexorable Justice inflexible Justice This declared his Righteousness indeed that he would not spare Sin but punish it though on his innocent Son Here is infinite Justice fear it dread it Make this God thy fear and thy dread 2. Admire the love of the Father and the Son The Father Bless God for this Propitiation How dreadful was our condition How if Justice had taken thee by the throat and said Pay me what thou owest thou couldst not have reply'd Have patience with me and I will pay thee all God lays great engagements upon us in causing his Sun to shine in giving rain and fruitful seasons in making provision for our bodies but that which should endear him most to the world and should occasion our highest praises should be the providing a Righteousness for our souls Oh that