of the Devil and more evidently by the Institution of Sacrifices For it is a most absurd Derogation from the Soveraignty of a Creator and Contradiction to the Duty of a Creature to impose upon God the necessity of accepting the groundless Fancy of a guilty Malefactor in the highest degree of desperate Wickedness to be a Price of Redemption from everlasting Wrath Considering also that Man had no Title of Interest or rightful Power over any of his Follow-Creatures to substitute any of them a Sacrifice for his Sin Indeed It was an early and due Apprehension that every Sin was of capital Guilt and Forfeiture of Life But it could never have entered into the Heart of Man to conceive how God could be just and the Justifier of Sinners until God had revealed it by his Spirit and the Word of his Grace The Apprehension of Propitiation attainable by Sanguinary Sacrifices could not be a Primary Notion in any Human Mind but consequent and derivative from the Institution of Sacrifices by the express Command and Appointment of God without which it was impossible to please God For Faith cannot be or subsist without a word of Command and Promise But to fancy a Religious Worship to appease the just Wrath and to conciliate the Favour of the Majesty of the Great and Terrible God the Creator of all Beings by any performance of Offering not instituted expresly by God is a presumption becoming a dumb Idol or some precarious Superstition and is an effectual practical Denial of the insinite Perfections of God obtruding and imposing the Blood and Carcass of a wretched Calf or Sheep to expiate the Guilt of most nefandous Crimes and satisfy infinite Justce Neither can there be any possible ground of Reason to imagine that the Ceremonial Ordinances of Sacrifices and other Rites of Divine Worship and Service were instituted by God with respect to or Motive from the superstitious Practice or Expectation of profane Sinners who offered their Devotion to Devils as the Word of God expresly testifies That the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to Devils and not to God But Sacrifices and all other Typical Services and Ordinances were by God appointed until the time of Reformation when Christ came an High Priest of good things to come that is everlasting who by the eternal Spirit offer'd himself without Spot to God by his own Blood to purge our Consciences from dead Works that is from Sins deserving Death to serve the living God The Ceremonial Law had a Shadow of good things to come but not Virtue to make the Comers thereunto perfect For it is not possible that the Blood of Bulls and of Goats should take away Sin Therefore because in Sacrifices and Offerings for Sin God could not take Pleasure as therein receiving any Satisfaction to Justice When Jesus Christ came into the World he faith A Body hast thou prepared me Lo I come to do thy Will O God by the which Will we are sanctisied through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once But this Will of God was not induced by any Temporary Consideration it was from everlasting God hath chosen us in Christ before the Foundation of the World God hath saved us and called us with an holy Calling not according to our Works but according to his own Purpose and Grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the World began In hope of Eternal Life which God that cannot lie promised before the World began Who verily was fore-ordained before the Foundation of the World but was manifested in these last Times It could not then be in Compliance with any Human Apprehension of Expiation of Sin by any Sacrifice of any Creature that Jesus Christ was constitued and given by God to be the Propitiation and Redemption for Sinners But contrariwise God having according to the Counsel of his own free Will made known to our first Parents in their dismal Fall the Mystery of his Will in the Promise of the Seed of the Woman to break the Serpent's Head And then for the Confirmation of that Promise and for the support of Faith instituted Sacrifices revealed first to Adam then to Noah and consequently in them to the whole World of Mankind Noah builded an Altar unto the Lord and took of every clean Beast and of every clean Fowl and offered Burnt-offerings upon the Altar And the Lord smelled a sweet Savour or a Savour of Rest and Satisfaction Now this could not he affirmed or believed unless such Sacrifices had been according to the express Institution of God who as was before observed only could appoint the Discrimination of Beasts clean and unclean All which also was performed and accepted with respect to and in virtue of the Offering and Sacrifice of Christ himself to God for a sweet smelling Savour Immediately upon Noah's Sacrifice God established his Covenant with Noah and his Seed after him Thus all Mankind was by Divine Institution initiated in the Religion of Propitiatory Sacrifices all in reference to and deriving Virtue and Acceptance from the Merits of Jesus Christ the Lamb of God which taketh away the Sins of the World But as it is charged upon Israel both by David and Moses so all Nations soon forgot God's Works they forgot God their Saviour which had done great things for their Preservation they corrupted themselves their Spot was not the Spot of his People they for sook God which made them and lightly esteemed the Rock of their Salvation they provoked him to Jealousy with strange Gods they sacrificed to Devils not to God So that the offering of Propitiatory Sacrifices by the Universality of Mankind was not a Human Invention but a Derivation from Divine Institution tho wretchedly corrupted by Satanical Suggestion Neither was there any Rite of Religious Worship among the Heathen but what was pretended to be a Direction and Command from Heaven so deeply engraven was the Impression in every Rational Mind that Divine Worship could not be acceptable unto God unless commanded by God The whole Work of Redemption and Salvation of Mankind by Jesus Christ was in every part and respect proceeding originally from and effectually to fulfil the Will of God Salvation by Christ was promised before the World began In the fulness of Time he was made of a Woman his Sufferings in every particular Circumstance was to fulfil the Scriptures Our Lord died according to the Scriptures and rose again according to the Scriptures that is for the End appointed by the Word of God to make full Satisfaction to the infinite Justice of God so as to make perfect the Comers unto God by Jesus Christ by Faith in whom the Heart is sprinkled from an evil Conscience that is from the Conscience of the Guilt of Evil To obtain the Answer of a good Conscience towards God by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
God can be well-pleased with sinners even through the Blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God who purgethi'geth our Consciences from the dead Works of Sin to serve the Living God For by one Offering he hath perfected ever them that are sanctisied Therefore to imagine any Possibility of the Pardon of Sin without out the atoning Propitiation and Satisfaction only obtained by the Blood of Christ is an evil Figment to palliate the desperate Wickedness and Sinfulness of Sin to make void the Law of perpetual Righteousness which is the inâ—sible Rule and Judg of all Affections and Actions and doth indeed effectually contemn and blaspheme the infinite Majesty Holiness and Justice of God the Creator and Preserver of all Beings and consequently miserably deprives a Sinner of that strong Consolation given by God to those that fly for Refuge unto Christ to obtain by his Resurrection the Evidence of his compleat Satisfaction to Divine Justice the Answer of a good Conscience The Worshippers thus purged as the Scripture saith having no more Conscience of Sins the Lord having laid on him the Iniquities of us all who do the Work of God to believe on him whom he hath sent For this is the true Cabala the faithful Saying and worthy of all Acceptation That Christ Jesus came into the World to save even chief Sinners In the Cases of Life and Death according to universal Justice in the World it is fatal not only to be an Outlaw flying from Justice Mute in refusing to answer Justice but it proves no less mortal to suggest a Plea which the Law will not allow If a Criminal condemned to die be favoured with some Reprieve and then by the Soveraign's Commission intrusted with an important Imployment the faithful Discharge of that Trust is meer Duty but not Merit and he remains still a condemned Malefactor liable to the former Sentence by the Law of Attaint and Death from which not any thing can deliver but a Pardon from the Soveraign laid hold on and legally pleaded by the Criminal It is thus according to the Rule of Righteousness between the Judg of all the World and every Mortal Creature that God might be just and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus Therefore we must not be ignorant of Saton's Devices the Popish Doctrine of Merit by Works sprinkled as they say by the Blood of Christ available to Justification and Salvation is an Antichristian Departure from the Faith and the teaching of Lies in Hypocrisy For there cannot be any Work possible to be accepted by Divine Justice but what is an Act of Obedience to the Law and the best Performances of such is but as our Saviour saith that of an unprofitable Servant When we shall have done all those things which are commanded us we must say We have done that which was our Duty to do Therefore the Observance of a present Duty the Neglect or Male-performance whereof would be criminal Guilt cannot in any just Construction be assumed or imputed to expiate a precedent Transgression guilty of Felony and Treason Yet this Truth doth not in any degree exempt from the Obedience of Faith which is the inseparable and indispensable Obligation and Duty annexed to the Covenant of Grace So that there is not in the least degree any Pretence for Antinomian Libertinism For the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all Men teaching us that denying Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World Because Faith unites us to the Principle of Life and works in us by Love which is the Operation or Activity of Life in the fulfilling of the Law There is also another Method of the Depths of Satan to cloud the Glory of God's free Grace and the compleat Merit of Christ's Satisfaction and Righteousness and also to shake the Confidence of a Sinner's Hope to obtain Remission and Acceptance by suborning the Act of Faith to share in the Merits of Christ Now how weak and unreasonable this Supposition is will appear by the Consideration of parallel Cases of Civil and Natural Instances in Judicature Tho the guilty Person cannot have Benefit unless he plead the Royal Pardon yet there is no Virtue in the Plea and humble Claim but only in the extensive Validity of the Pardon Likewise in desperate Sickness or deadly Wound the healing Virtue is not in the meer Application or receiving the Sovereign Balm or Elixir not withstanding the Patient cannot be healed without the Reception or Application of the Remedy Thus it is with a Sinner before the Divine Tribunal Faith believes the Truth and Goodness of the Promise and embraces and relies upon it that is upon the Redemption purchased by Jesus Christ for compleat Salvation from the Condemnation and Corruption of sinful Death for Reconciliation and Acceptance with God and for Participation of Eternal Life which is in Christ Jesus to be communicated to all those who by Faith receive Christ and so have an Union of Life with Christ Now as in the Body the Artery and Nerve is the Ligament the Vessel and Conveyance for vital Union and Motion unto all the Members by the Blood and Animal Spirits So Faith to the Soul is a Means of vital Union with Christ and of the Application and Merits of Christ All which is effected by the Spirit of Christ without which we are none of Christ's and Faith it self is dead The Look of one stung with the deadly fiery Serpent to the Brazen Serpent had no share in the healing Virtue of that Divine Ordinance yet without looking up to the Brazen Serpent the Person stung could receive no Benefit but must die So Faith hath no justifying Virtue inherent in it self For what may prevail to justify must make the Conscience perfect Consequently the Efficient of Perfection must of it self be perfect but Faith cannot be such for it is not of our selves it is the Gift of God Now whatsoever is received is received according to the Measure and Capacity of the Recipient which 〈…〉 and frail 〈…〉 it cannot be 〈…〉 the Law was weak and 〈…〉 through the Flesh so even the Gift of Faith is not able through the remainder of Corruption to perform any perfect Work Therefore the Scripture represents the Lord Jesus Christ under the Notion of the most tender Compassion to the weak in Faith that he will not break the bruised Reed nor quench the smoaking Flax but will bring forth Judgment unto Victory which proceeds not from any Virtue and Power inherent in the Work of Faith but from the Righteousness and Strength which only is to be found in the Lord Jesus by perishing Sinners who sly for Refuge unto the Hope that is set before them Jesus Christ the Son of God Even as the Man-slayer under the Law could not be secure from the Avenger of
Mystery of Iniquity the Doctrine of Devils to suborn the Worship of Baalim of many Lords or middle Gods Mediators between God and Man Now the Spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter Times some shall depart from the Faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils This is the notorious Apostacy from the absolute Simplicity and Purity of Christian Religion unto the fabulous Superstition and Will-worship which gangren'd both Eastern and Western Churches The Mediation of Saints and Angels being introduced as succedaneous to the Heathen Adoration of Baalim Heroes and middle Deities called Dii Medioximi Those Pagan Idols having been cast to the Moles and Bats by the Divine Influence of Gospel Light in the Manifestation of Truth even this faithful Saying and worthy of all Acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the World the only Mediator between God and Men to save Sinners Now also for these last hundred and fifty Years the Gospel-Reformation miraculously both begun and preserved hath again as it were brought Life and Immortality to light exploded the fabulous Legends of Popery evidenced the pretence of Antiquity to be no other than as Defection from Primary Institution precedes Restitution and Reformation convinced the Idolatry of the Mass and the Superstition of their Will-worship and Adoration of Saints and Angels all cherished by an imposed Ignorance the Parent not of Devotion but of crual Persecution But as in the first Manifestation of the everlasting Gospel unto the World that lay in Darkness and the Shadow of Death the Serpent cast out of his Mouth a Flood of deceitful Errors of desperate Wickedness to carry away with that Flood the Church from the Rock of Truth So now the Reformed Churches have been and are infested not only with the Dragon 's great persecuting Wrath but no less dangerously with the Serpâ—â—iâ—â—â—â— Suggestions of false Teachers â—â—vily introducing damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them This being the Master-stroke of Satan by verisimilar Errors to suppress the Fundamental Truth of Salvation for Sinners by the Expiatory Propitiation of the Death of the Lord Jesus Christ in Satisfaction of the Justice of God according to his good Pleasure which he had purposed in himself before the Foundation of the World That this Truth may appear in a right Light it must be considered that all the Divine Attributes are equally of infinite Perfection Consequently to detract from or limit any is to evacuate and effectually to deny the Essential All-sufficiency of God Therefore to retrench the particular and universal efficacious Providence of God and to impeach the supreme absolute Justice of God is under the Prosession of owning God not to glorify him as God but to change the Glory of the incorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible Man a meer Idol which is nothing in the World and as the Prophet expresses neither able to do Good or Evil. But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord is God Who knoweth the Power of his Anger According to his Fear so is his Wrath according to the infinite Perfections for which God is indispensably to be feared so is his Wrath in the Vindictive Execution of his Justice upon every Violation of his holy just and good Laws the natural Rules of perpetual Righteousness to direct and judg all the Affections and Actions of all Mankind Herein therefore the manifold Wisdom of God is glorified in the Establishment of the infinite Perfections of Justice and Mercy in the Redemption and Salvation of Sinners It being impossible to make way for immense Mercy to be manifested without Satisfaction to infinite Justice which otherwise must be exposed to blasphemous Contempt and Annihilation Accordingly the Apostle Paul expresses that we are justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth for a Propiriation through Faith in his Blood to declare his Righteousness for the Remission of Sins that he might be just and the Justifier of him even of the ungodly which believeth in Jesus So that Faith cannot fly for Refuge unto Mercy until plenary Satisfaction be made unto Justice thereby to obtain the Answer of a good Conscience towards God through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ The Scripture fully and always testifies that Remission of Sins is an Act of absolute Sovereign Justice vouchsafed upon plenary Satisfaction represented under the Notion and Terms of Redemption Propitiation Ransom which word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by the Septuagint Numb 35.31 32. is duly translated Satisfaction And the learned in the Hebrew observe that the word in the Original imports sufficient Preservation which a Sinner can only find in the compleat Merits of the Death Resurrection and Righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ applied by Faith and imputed by Grace Accordingly the Scripture stiles the Act of Divine Pardon to be Justification Reconciliation Atonement Righteousness all which words are juridical Phrases evidencing such a Person to be Rectus in Curia right in Court according to the judicial Authoritative Sentence of Law This cannot possibly be obtained or performed unless due Satisfaction were made to the infinite Justice of the Divine Majesty For Pardon upon any other less or diluted account must leave the Justice of God violated and void of Satisfaction Also the Sinner must be without possbility of a Conscience free from Guilt consequently never able to arrive at Peace which flows from being justified by Faith in Jesus Christ who is our Peace with God It is also absurd Contradiction to imagine any Benefit can possibly be obtained by the atoning Virtue of the Death of the Lord Jesus Christ without the quickning regenerating Power of the Spirit of Christ make the Sinner a new Creature There is the manifold multifarious Wisdom of God magnisied to a Sinner that the Work of Grace may be compleatly perfect in respect of the Justice and Mercy of God and of the damning Guilt and deadly Corruption inherent in the desperate Wickedness of every Sin Yet the manifold Wisdom of God decreeing from Eternity and effecting in the fulness of Time the Redemption of Sinners by the Blood of the everlasting Covenant could not possibly have any Cause or Motive antecedent to the Eternal Purpose of God which he purposed in Christ Jesus out Lord and from the beginning of the World was hid in God For it was both impossible for a sinite narrow Intelligence to conceive how God should be manifest in the Flesh And it would have been impious blasphemous Presumption to imagine that the Son of God who knew no Sin should be made a Propitiatory Sacrifice for Sin unless the Will of God had so promised and declared Indeed the immense Goodness of God made this known immediately after Man's Apoltacy by the Promise of the Seed of the Woman to break the Serpent's Head that is to destroy the Works