not Adam's sin alone but our own too are the Reason why we die and consequently that our Justification is not from Adam's Offence only but from those many that we are guilty of By one Man sin enter'd into the World and Death by sin and so Death passed upon all Men for that all have sinned v. 12. i.e. All Men die as well as Adam because all have sinned as well as he For untill the Law sin was in the World And again Death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression v. 13 14. i.e. All that lived between Adam and Moses died though they did not Transgress a positive Law as Adam did but only sinn'd against the Law of Nature But if we look a little narrowly into the Apostle's discourse the contrary will be evident For when he instanceth in a time when there was no Law that condemn'd Men to die for their own Offences his design is to prove that the Sin and Judgment that pass'd upon Adam does reach to all Men For what account else shall we give saith he of the Death of those that died before the Law of Moses was given They sinn'd 't is true but that could not be the Reason why they died because they were not under any Law that threatned them with Death if they sinned and therefore since they died it could be by vertue of no other Law but that by which Adam was Judg'd and Condemn'd He does say indeed that Death pass'd upon all Men for that all have sinned Yet Sin is not imputed where there is no Law which was the case of all that lived between Adam and Moses The summ then of the Apostle's discourse is this That Adam's Sin and the Judgment that was pass'd upon him is the Reason why all Men die but we are not to think that Men die only for Adam's Sin in such a sense as if themselves were not Sinners For though all have sinned yet all die because of Adam's Sin Obj. But if this be the meaning of the Apostle how comes it to pass that he tells us afterwards that the free gift is of many offences unto Justification Ans To which I reply That though by the undertaking of our gracious Mediatour we are justified from our own particular Offences i.e. Are put into such a state that we have no reason to fear being condemned when we come to answer for our own Actions if with sincerity we conform our Lives according to the Rules of the Gospel though we be guilty of many Errours and Mistakes Yet it is plain from what he discoursed before that it is Adam's Offence alone is the reason why we die because it is for Adam's Offence alone that we are born Mortal and are under a Sentence of Condemnation But by being justified from Adam's Sin and Condemnation we by sincerely submitting to the Law of Grace are acquitted of all those particular Sins that in our Natural state we are guilty of Because Adam's Sin being the Root and Original cause of our own particular Offences by being discharged from the Punishment that Adam's Sin brought upon Mankind we upon our embracing the Law of Grace are accepted by God to a liberty of working out our own Salvation notwithstanding our own Sins The many Offences that the Apostle here speaks of are those that in their Natural state Men are guilty of For of these alone he spoke in the foregoing Verses when for the proving it was for Adam's Transgression that we all die he instanced in those that lived between Adam and Moses who were not under the Government of any other Law but that of Nature and therefore did not die for their own particular Offences And of these he tells us the free gift is to Justification as well as of Adam's Sin because by being discharged from the Punishment of Adam's Transgression we shall not be condemned for those that no positive Law does threaten with Death But as for those Sins that in our Christian i.e. our Justified state we are guilty of we must be justified or condemned for them by the Sentence of our Mediatour according to the very Voice of the Law that he has given us to live by 2. Then Justification puts us into a possibility of living again after Death for ever For since it is the taking off from us the Curse that is come upon our Nature for the publick Transgression of our first Parents it takes away that which is the Cause why we die and which if it was not taken away would for ever hold us in a state of Death The Reason why we die is because God has doom'd us to it and that which is the Reason why we die would be a Reason too why we should never live again if God in Mercy had not pitied our Condition and absolved us from the Guilt for which we are condemned to die For as it is upon the account of God's Wrath that we die if we had for ever lain under that Wrath we must for ever have continued in a state of Death i.e. according to the Sentence God had pass'd upon us we had forfeited the Immortality of that Life that consists in the vital Union of the Soul and Body So that the import of the Sentence of Death we fell under was nothing less than an Eternal separation of the Soul and Body A Doom that adjudged the Body to Dust for ever and the Soul to live without its Body under the Dominion of that Evil Spirit that seduced us and the dreadfull Marks of the Divine displeasure for ever And as this is the meaning of that Judgment to Condemnation that is come upon all Men so the meaning of that free gift that is come upon all Men to Justification of Life is the hopes of rising again to that Immortality we lost For by Justifying us God acquits us from the Punishment he had condemn'd us to and by withdrawing that Wrath from us which sentenced us to an Eternal Dissolution of the Soul and Body he puts us into a hopefull condition of living again for ever As when he condemn'd us his Justice laid us under an obligation of satisfying his Wrath by a perpetual separation of our Souls from our Bodies So when he justifies us his Mercy re-instates us in his Favour and by discharging us from the Curse we are fallen under gives us an Assurance that Death shall not be Eternal but that there will come a time when our Bodies shall come out of their Graves and our Souls and Bodies shall happily by united again So that 3. Justification is an Act of mere Mercy and Goodness It is mere Grace and Favour that spares the Life of a Criminal when he is condemn'd to die For in such a case he can have no hopes of living unless he who has the Power of Life and Death does by reversing the Sentence save him from the Punishment Whereas a Law that allows
A DISCOURSE OF The Resurrection SHEWING The Import and Certainty of it BY WILLIAM WILSON M. A. Rector of Morley in Derbyshire LONDON Printed by J. H. for William Rogers at the Sun against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet MDCXCIV IMPRIMATUR Geo. Royse R. R. in Christo Patriac Dom. Dom. Johanni Archiep. Cantuar à Sacris Domest April 26. 1694. Advertisement LAtely Printed A Discourse of Religion shewing its Truth and Reality or The Suitableness of Religion to Humane Nature By the same Author TO THE Right Reverend Father in God RICHARD Lord Bishop of Bath Wells My Lord IT is not above a day or two since I thought of recommending this Discourse unto the World under the Patronage of some Great Name not that I believed it sufficient of it self to walk abroad without such a support but because I was unwilling to lay the Burden of its faults upon such a one as had not Fame and Reputation enough to bear the weight of them and on the other hand I did believe it too great a Crime to charge any person with them that had And had not Your Lordship obliged me so much as of late you have done I should not have thought of doing it now much less of doing it under Yours Men had need be well assured of the Goodness of those Discourses which they publish under the Name of some known Friend because Dedications detract from those whom they design to Honour if what is offer'd to the World under their Protection be mean and trifling But this is not the worst of my case For though I know Your Lordship by the report of Your Exemplary Piety and Vertue yet I am so altogether unknown to You that I am ashamed to think that That which gives a Lustre to Your Goodness should be an Aggravation of my Crime in defaming Your Judgment so publickly and that too while I tell the World I am bound in Gratitude to confult Your Honour The Subject My Lord I here present You with is great and worthy the most serious Consideration of every Christian For it sets before us the Glad-tidings of the Gospel and the indispensible Necessity of a Holy Life Two things of that vast moment that were they well consider'd it would not be a very easie thing for Men to do themselves so much mischief as to forfeit their Hopes of an Immortal Life merely for the sake of a Bodily Lust when they judge it a hardship upon us to be condemn'd to a Mortal condition for Adam's fault And though I know my own Defects too well to believe I can write any thing upon a Subject of so lofty a Nature suitable to the Dignity of it yet if it will but contribute any thing towards the awakening Men to a sense of that Obligation to Holiness that our Religion by acquainting us with the ground of that Hope we are begotten to le ts us know we are under I shall presume upon Your Lordship 's known Goodness for a Pardon for the weakness of my Performance And the World I hope will believe that at least I meant well when I ventured this way to own my self Your Lordship's Most Faithfull and Obliged Servant Will. Wilson THE Introduction AS in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive saith the Apostle 1. Cor. 15.22 In which words he sets before us the Reason of that Mortality we are subject to and the great advantage of the Christian Religion upon the account of the Hopes of a glorious Immortality after Death that we are restored to If we take a view of our own Nature nothing can be more unaccountable than that a Creature who carries an Immortal Principle in him should die And therefore the Apostle acquaints us that Death is not a Natural Calamity but the Effect and Consequence of that Condemnation that in Adam we fell under In Adam all die i.e. It is upon the account of Adam's Sin that Humane Nature is corruptible and that Death has any Power over us Whereas had he maintain'd his Innocency Immortality according to the Divine Constitution had been the reward of his Perseverance But the Calamity which Justice doom'd us to Mercy has provided a Remedy for And the Design of the Gospel is to acquaint us with the wonderfull Method whereby Life and Immortality are brought to light That for the conquering Death and delivering us from the Power of it God appointed his only begotten Son to bear our Sins and to became a Curse for us Such a Person he chose to die for us as could rise again from under the Wrath that would have lain for ever upon us and who by rising from the Dead has given the World an Instance of the Mighty Power of that Life and Spirit which he communicates to his sincere Disciples and in respect of which he is styled the Resurrection and the Life So that though in Adam all die yet in Christ shall all be made alive i.e. We shall not suffer an Eternal Death our Souls shall not for ever be separated from our Bodies upon the account of that fault that at first subjected us to Death But though we die because Adam sinned yet we shall rise to another Life because Christ who is our Life had appeared to take away Sin This is that comfortable and joyous Message that our Religion does publish to the World And it is the only Tidings that could revive our Spirits since Nature within us droops and languishes upon the account of the Mortality we are doom'd to And therefore for the delivering poor Mortals from those fears that all our life-time keep us in Bondage as St. Paul speaks Heb. 2. the main subject of the Apostle's preaching was Jesus and the Resurrection That indeed is an Article so little accountable to our Reason that some Men are upon that very account apt to look upon Faith as a very unreasonable Duty because it consists in the taking such things for granted which we have no Natural knowledge of But now that which the Enemies of Believing do find fault with Faith for is the very thing which God accepts and is pleas'd with it for Thus it was in the case of Abraham who upon the account of the Excellency of his Faith is styled the Father of the Faithfull For when God promis'd him a Son that which he took so well from him was his believing this Promise against Hope If he had consulted his own Reason what he should have believed in the case it would have been as much against Believing that he should have a Child when Old Age had wasted his strength and Sarah's Womb was dead as it can be pretended to be against a Resurrection But when he did not ask his Reason what was possible or what was fit to be believed but did depend upon the Divine Promise notwithstanding all the Difficulties he might have urged God was so well pleased with him that he accepted him as an approved Servant And thus God by
of a Resurrection For the thoughts of a Resurrection can never be sufficient to fortifie our Minds against the Fears of Death if after we are risen again Death will still take its turn to carry us to our Graves For in this case there is nothing after Death to bear up our Minds against so great an Evil. But this is not the Life we shall rise to but a Life that Death shall have no more power over This corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality and then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written Death is swallowed up in victory O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory 1 Cor. 15.54 55. And among all the other advantages of that Life we shall then enter upon St. John reckons this That there is no more Death Rev. 21.4 But the great Question is How we can be said to begin to live an Immortal Life then when the Soul that lives in these Bodies is an Immortal Principle now and does not lose its Life by being separated from the Body but does continue to live when the Body is returned to Dust To this I say that though the Soul be Immortal and does not cease to live after it has left the Body yet the Man that consisted of a Body and a Soul does And the Life that the Soul lives is not that Life which a Man by Dying loses For though the Soul be a principal part of us yet it is but one part and the Body is another and it is in the vital Union of these two parts that the Life of Man consists And as it is this Life that Death deprives us of so it is this Life that the Resurrection will restore us And this Life will then begin to be Immortal It is not the Soul that will then begin to be Immortal For Immortality is the privilege of this part of us even while it is now in the Body But the Immortal Life we shall then begin to live is the Life we now live only made Immortal i.e. When the Resurrection has united the Soul and Body together again this Union will never more be broken So that an Immortal Soul shall then live in an Immortal Body for ever And it is in this sense we are to understand the Scriptures when they speak of our putting on Immortality and the Gospels bringing Immortality and Life to light For if we consider the Immortality of the Soul that was a Principle acknowledg'd and believed long before the Gospel was preach'd So that it cannot be the making our Souls Immortal when it tells of our putting on Immortality Now is it the Soul's Immortality that is brought to light by the Gospel for that was known long before But the Immortality and Life that we owe our knowledge of to the Gospel is that indissoluble Union of Body and Soul which will begin at the Resurrection And now from hence we may observe 1. That it is then only we shall begin to live We date our Lives from the time we come into the World and reckon that we have lived through so many Ages of our Infancy our Childhood our Youth our Manhood and Old Age when we arrive to three or fourscore Years This is a Life that we account very long and when so many Years have not drawn it off we reckon it deserves a great deal of respect and reverence And yet all this Life which makes such a noise among us and is of such mighty repute with us is only the Dregs and Relicks of that Life which the Curse that is come upon us has taken from us That liveliness and vivacity that belong'd to innocent Man is sinn'd away and gone And the Spirits that are left us are the very Refuse and Bottom of what we were once stored with And because these serve to feed Life and are not run off sometimes till three or fourscore Years we persuade our selves that we live a great while And yet if we arrive to the utmost length of Life the truest account that can be given of it is this That we have been so many Years a Dying For the first step we take into the World is toward our Graves And though we live to see Thousands fall beside us and Ten thousand at our right hands before it come nigh us yet all that can be said of us is this That we die a more lingring Death than others And besides a Life of fourscore or a hundred Years is so short in comparison of that which is Eternal that it does not in the style of Scripture deserve the name of Life It is styled Vanity and compared to a shadow to instruct us that it has nothing of Reality in it And when it is once spent what is become of all those Years that we are said to live Though Man be so strong that he comes to fourscore Years yet is his strength then but labour and sorrow for it is soon cut off and we flee away Psal 90.10 But when the Resurrection gives us Life again then it is that we shall in the most proper sense be born to live For then we shall receive all that spirit and vigour that we have lost so much Spirit that Eternity shall never waste it And if we account a Life of fourscore Years venerable how much Reverence ought we to have for a Life that has no Death at the end of it Now this is the Life we shall be born to and begin to live when at the Resurrection our Souls take possession of our Bodies again And could we but with steadiness enough apply our Minds to the consideration and meaning of Immortality this Life would appear so much like a Vapour or a suddain Flash that gives us no time to consider whether it be any thing or no as would abate of that respect and value we have for it For 't is sure we can then only be said to begin to live when we begin to feel our selves free from Corruption and the Approaches of Death 2. We shall then begin to live that Life we are appointed to For a mortal and corruptible Life was not that which God design'd and made us for But it is the Curse that Sin has let in upon us the Punishment God has subjected us to for Adam's Transgression By one Man sin enter'd into the World and Death by sin saith the Apostle Rom. 5.12 i.e. The Mortal state we are now in is owing to Adam's Disobedience For had not he disobey'd the Command not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge we had not known what Death meant In his state of Innocency he was a Probationer for Immortality and the Law that threatned him with Death in case of his Disobedience did implicitly at least assure him of Immortality if he did not disobey For it implies that as while he was innocent he was not condemn'd to a Mortal condition so on the other hand he was not
that when they had eaten their Eyes were opened v. 7. But the mischief of the Temptation lay in this That they were prevailed upon to Eat of it before their time before they were prepared and qualified for it or fitted for so great a Benefit as was designed them in it And therefore it was that God turned them out of the Garden lest they should Eat likewise of the Tree of Life and live for ever i.e. Lest they should make themselves Immortal when by setting their Appetites at liberty they had made their improvements in Vertue more difficult than they would have been and when in the Condition they were in Immortality would have been no Blessing For I don't suppose that the Tree of Life was planted in Eden to repair the decays of a mortal Body but that by Eating of it they might be made Immortal when by a course in Vertue and Piety they were become fit for a Translation to that place where they should no more need Meat or Drink to support their Lives And therefore St. John tells us that in the New Jerusalem that glorious City we shall after the Resurrection dwell in for ever There is the Tree of Life whose Leaves are for the Healing of the Nations Rev. 22.2 i.e. Whose Fruit shall make us Immortal as the Tree of Life in the midst of Paradise should have made Adam had he not disobey'd the Divine Command The Sum of all is this Adam was created in so sound and healthfull a State that Age and Infirmities could not Naturally have prevail'd over him But as he was not Naturally subject to Death so neither was he Created in an Immortal Condition But Life and Death were set before him and as he was a Probationer for Immortality so God having created him Innocent left it to his own choice whether he would live or die i.e. Whether by Obeying he would procure to himself when the time of his Tryal was over a grant to Eat of the Trees of Knowledge and of Life or whether by disobeying God he would be debarr'd of this privilege and instead of being translated to a state where he should live without Food as the Angels do be doom'd to a Life of Sorrow and Labour So that as Mortality was the Judgment that came upon him for his Sin so Immortality was the gift God would have bestow'd on him for his Obedience had he improved himself for it This then being that perfection of Life that God when he made Man innocent design'd him for The Resurrection 't is plain is design'd to restore us to that way of living that God in our Creation fitted us for For although Man was not created Immortal yet it is plain he was created for an Immortal Life because God put an Immortal Principle into these Bodies of Clay which now are Mortal For why should he unite two such Principles together and make it Natural for an Immortal Soul to live in a Body if he did not design they should live always together And if this was the way of living that Man was intended for in his Creation the Life that the Resurrection is designed to give us is the same Immortal Life that we were Created for For he that over-cometh i.e. maketh those Improvements in Vertue as Adam should have done shall after he is risen again for the confirming of Life to him eat of the Tree of Life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God Rev. 2.7 i.e. We shall be made Immortal as Adam should have been The Life we now live which is subject to Diseases and Death is not the Life that God gave us but the sorry Remains of that Life which he appointed us to It is only so much as has been left us But at the Resurrection we shall begin to live like Men. For then our Immortal Souls shall be united to Immortal Bodies And the Life we should have lived if we had never sinned will then Commence when Corruption and Mortality which are the Punishments of Sin shall be changed into Incorruption and Immortality which are the glorious Privileges of the Sons of God 3. We shall then be freed from the Reproach of Mortality and Corruption The Reproach I call it for there can be no greater Reproach to a Creature that was made for Immortality than to die And especially when we consider that Death is the Punishment of Sin and that we die for our Disobedience to our Creator and Soveraign Lord. In this case Death puts us to open shame in the sight of all the World We seem to have a Natural sense of the fault that is the occasion of it when we lament the Funerals of our Friends and Relations And the natural dread and horror of Death that is in all Men does express a mighty Regret that such a thing as Mortality and Corruption should belong to us who have an Immortal Principle within us We go out of the World like Criminals and can any thing grate more upon an ingenuous Mind than to think we die because we are under an offence and we condemned to die And had not our gracious Redeemer born our Shame for us and appeas'd the Wrath that is come upon us and made it a more easie thing to enter upon another state with what shame and horror with what confusion and disorder can we imagine that our Souls would have crept out of these Bodies For in this case they would have been dragg'd like Apprehended Malefactors to that separate state whither they go when they leave the Body as to a Gaol over which the Devil has the power For according to St. Paul's Expression he has the power of Death Heb. 2.14 i.e. Death would have deliver'd our Souls into his hands as a condemn'd Criminal is put into the hands of an Executioner They would have been consigned over to him who has the power over that State whither Death sends us And oh with what Vexation and Anguish would they have been tormented to think that all this was come upon them by the just Judgment of God! Think with how much shame a Man that was born to a plentifull Estate appears among Men or is haled to a Prison when by his Folly he has reduced himself to Beggary and Rags and the common Reproach of all that knew him is See the Man that has undone himself by his Extravagancies And how much more grievous would it have been to us had not Christ by dying and rising again taken away our Reproach to have been pointed at by Angels when we had gone into the other World without the Bodies that by the Law of our Creation we were appointed to live in and when we had fall'n under the Power and Dominion of Evil Spirits to have had it said of us That we were the Spirits of Men and had brought our selves into that Condition by our own Folly and want of Consideration But Christ by Death has destroyed him that had the power of Death
Mankind Upon which account the full Discovery of it was reserved to him who by conquering Death was to ascertain the Truth of it to us If it be enquired whence then good Men of old had their Notice of it I answer 1. That it was contained in the Promise made to Adam that the Seed of the Woman should break the Serpent's Head For the Expression of breaking the Serpent's Head must mean that he who was promised should by dispossessing the Devil of that power he had gain'd over the Souls of Men deliver us from the Calamity that by the Serpent's subtilty we were fall'n into Now this Calamity was Mortality and that Power of leading the Captived Souls of Men to that invisible state where the Devil exercises a Tyrannical Authority that he had gain'd over us And because the Serpent by his Subtilty had brought this mischief upon us God promises that the Seed of the Woman should bruise his Head i.e. He would out-wit him by the Seed of that Woman whom he had deceived and deprive him of the fruit of his Subtilty by restoring Immortality to Man whom he had brought under a Curse Thus no doubt Adam understood this Promise which assured him of a Deliverance from the Curse he was fall'n under For how could he be freed from the Curse that Sin had brought upon him but by having the Life which the Justice of God sentenced him to lose assured to him again Or how could the Serpent's Crafty design to deprive him of an Immortal Life be disappointed but by a Promise that gave him hopes of rising again to Life And therefore St. Paul observes That as in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive Implying That as Death was the Curse that came upon us by the first Transgression so it was a Resurrection from the Dead that was promised to Adam Because that Promise not only teaches us in general That God designed us some great Blessing by the Seed of the Woman but that the Blessing should be a Remedy to the Mischief that by the Serpent's Subtilty was fall'n upon us 2. The Promise made to Abraham of giving him and his Seed the Land of Canaan does imply it For this Promise was not made to his Posterity alone but to him also All the Land which thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy seed after thee Gen. 13.15 Now though this Promise was not made good to him nor his Sons who were the Heirs of the Promise but as the Apostle saith they sojourned in the Land of Promise as in a strange Country Heb. 11.9 Yet God made himself known to him and to Isaac and Jacob to be their God By which he would have them to believe him to be that faithfull God that keepeth Promise And accordingly it was by Faith that they sojourn'd there though as Strangers believing that though they did not live to see the Promise made good yet there would come a time when God would be mindfull of them and put them into a full possession of it These all saith the Apostle died in faith not having received the Promises but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the Earth v. 13. And therefore when they were dead God still styled himself The God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob to let their Posterity know that he was mindfull of them and of the promise he had made them From which Text our Blessed Saviour convinced the Sadducees that they should rise again i.e. Though they did not receive the Promise in this Life yet because God had assured them he was their God they should assuredly live again and enjoy the Benefits of it The design of the Argument was to teach that Sect that denied a Resurrection that in this Text God had given the Jews a sufficient ground for the Belief of a Resurrection because God is not the God of the dead but of the living It is not sufficient to style him the God of the living though there be no Resurrection only because the Souls of Men do live in a separate state For though the Soul of Abraham be alive yet Abraham is dead And if Abraham was not to live again he could not with a Respect to Abraham be styled the God of the living The meaning of our Saviour's Argument is this That though Abraham Isaac and Jacob be dead by vertue of that Curse that is come upon all Men yet they must rise again from under this Curse because though they are dead they are not consigned over to the Power of that Evil Spirit who has the Power of Death For God still styles himself their God which implies that their Souls are in a place of safety under the protection of God where they rest in hope of seeing the accomplishment of the Promise made to them For the least that we are to conclude from hence is That God has reserved some special favour for them But what friendship could he be supposed to bear them if he was resolved they should bear the Curse for ever that took away their Lives He could not surely style himself their God if he had forsaken them for ever For to be a God to any one does at least signifie that he designs some great Good to such a person But what great Good can he design for those whom he has forgotten and leaves to bear those Marks of his Displeasure with which they go out of this World If then God has not totally forsaken them as his being their God does imply that he has not though they be dead because of the Doom that was pass'd upon Adam yet they are not by Death deliver'd as Captives into the hands of him that has the Power of Death but shall be deliver'd out of that state of the Dead where they live under the protection of God because he is their God Or we may take the design of our Saviour in order to the asserting the Doctrine of the Resurrection to have been only to over-throw that Belief of the Sadducees concerning the Annihilation of the Soul upon which they grounded their disbelief of a Resurrection And indeed to them who believed there was no Resurrection because they believed the Souls of Men are extinguish'd by Death it was sufficient for the proving there is a Resurrection to prove That the Souls of Men do live in a separate state after Death Because this was to destroy the foundation on which they grounded their Belief And 't is sure if our Souls did not remain alive after Death there would be no part of us that could be sensible of the Mischief that Death is to us nor of the Blessing a Resurrection will be to us But since our Souls do continue alive the Hopes of a Resurrection does speak so much favour toward them who do not live like themselves while they are out of the
Sentence And accordingly in Scripture it sometimes signifies to do Justice in general whether by acquitting or condemning a person that stands charged with a Crime according to the true and strict Merits of his Cause In which sense the Prophet Isaiah useth it chap. 43.9 Let all the Nations be gather'd together and let the People be assembled i.e. Call a Court and let them bring forth their Witnesses that they may be justified i.e. that Justice may be done them In other places it signifies the acquitting or discharging an accused person from the Punishment that the Law threatens the Crime with that he is charged with This Justification or acquitting an accused person is either Legal according to the Rules of strict Justice or it is of Favour and Grace The former is the acquitting and Innocent person or the declaring him who has stood his Tryal not to be guilty of the Crime charged upon him In which sense it is taken in the following Texts Deut. 25. If there he a Controversie between Men and they come into Judgment that the Judges may Judge them then they shall justifie the Righteous and condemn the Wicked i.e. They shall proceed according to strict Justice and give Sentence according to Right the same Sentence as the Law gives in the Case without any partial respects to the Persons whose Cause is before them He that justifieth the Wicked and condemneth the Just even they both are an Abomination to the Lord Prov. 17.15 The latter is the dispensing with the Rigour of the Law and remitting the Punishment that a guilty person has deserved in favour or in respect to the Mediation of an acceptable person And of this nature is that Justification which St. Paul speaks so frequently of and which the Christian Religion which is a Law of Grace does make known to the World For if God's justifying us did mean no more than his declaring those to be Just who Legally are so there would be no standing before him If thou Lord should'st mark iniquity O Lord who shall stand Psal 130.3 There would be no escaping from Death when once it has laid hold upon us if there was not forgiveness with God for he that transgresses a Law that threatens Death must die by that Law unless Mercy interposes The Law that condemns him does for ever determine of his Condition And it is not possible that such a person should be Justified but by a Pardon When therefore God justifies a Sinner he does not Pass the same Sentence upon him as the Law he has transgressed does For then there could be no such thing as Justification at all in our Circumstances For whom the Law condemns God must do so too if his Judgment be Legal But when he justifies a Sinner he justifies him whom the Law condemns And when he does this it must be by remitting the Severity of the Law and sparing the Life of the Offender out of mere Grace and Mercy And of this nature is the Justification that the Gospel speaks of only with this difference That it does not only respect us as Sinners such as by Transgressing the Divine Law have deserved to die but such as for our Disobedience are already condemned to die So that it is God's Act of Mercy towards Adam's condemn'd Race whereby through the Mediation of his Son he is pleas'd to remit the Sentence of Death that in Adam we are fall'n under and to restore us to a state of Probationership for Immortality and Glory For my part I know of no other Justification that the Gospel which is designed to be a Remedy to the Mischief that by the first Transgression is come upon us speaks of as a Blessing we are already possess'd of but this of acquitting us so far from the Sentence that is already pass'd upon us that we shall not die Eternally because we are already condemn'd to die but shall assuredly live again I know indeed that in our Gospel-state we stand in need of Mercy for innumerable Sins that we are daily guilty of and for all the Sins that we do commit the Gospel does assure us of Pardon upon our sincere Repentance i.e. that God will justifie us But it is not upon account of this Mercy that we are in a justified state but of that favour alone that has remitted Adam's fault to us and assures us of a Resurrection to Life again But after this we must expect to undergo another Trial whether we deserve the Forgiveness that is with God i.e. Whether our Repentance for our own Sins and our Endeavours to do the Will of God in our Gospel i.e. Our justifying state have been so sincere that he will accept of it And this will be when the Author of our Religion shall come to try whether we deserve the Life that he will raise us to Then he will justifie all his sincere Followers but his Justifying at that day means his accepting and approving of the sincerity of our Faith and Repentance according to the very Terms of the Law of Mercy that he has given us to live by But then this supposes that we are in a justified state as we are discharged from the Eternity of the Punishment that Adam's Transgression has exposed us to otherwise we could not rise again nor would there be any need of a second Judgment to be pass'd upon us By being thus justified our Gracious Redeemer puts us into the state of Probationers for Immortality So that so long as we are in this World we are in our state of Trial whether we will chuse Life or Death not in such a justified state that we may assuredly say of our selves that we shall undoubtedly be glorified For thus we shall not be justified till our Lord comes the second time to try what use we have made of that Mercy that set Life and Immortality before us But for the clearing this matter I shall observe 1. That our Justification is a delivering us from a state of Condemnation For nothing is more plain in the Holy Scriptures than that it does suppose a Judgment to be already pass'd upon us and that we are in a condemn'd condition For it is that Mercy whereby we are discharged from some punishment which we have deserved and are adjudged to It is not God's declaring our Innocency or a Legal adjudging us to an Immortal state because the Law whereby we should have been thus Justified is Transgress'd and we are condemned to die for that Transgression Thus indeed Adam would have been Justified for if he had not sinned he would not have deserved to die and if he had not merited Death according to the Law of entire Nature by which he was to live he must have lived an Immortal life i.e. He would have been made Immortal without being justified from Death as now we must In this case there would have been no need of Mercy to assure Immortality to him that had no Crime for Mercy to pardon nor no
Punishment for Grace to save him from But the case is not thus with us For the Scripture saith he has concluded all under sin Gal. 3.22 i.e. He has already given Judgment upon us and therefore his Justifying us cannot be by declaring us Righteous according to the Law of Integrity but by acquitting us of the sin he has concluded us under And what other Judgment is it that the Apostle has a respect to in this Expression but that which he gave upon Adam when for his Disobedience he condemn'd him to die God 't is true does in a secret and invisible way govern and judge the World in all Ages of it He hurls contempt upon Princes he humbles the proud and makes a Land barren for the wickedness of those that dwell therein And when he does any thing of this nature he concludes that sinfull People under their own Sins whom he punishes for their Wickedness But yet these and such-like Calamities though they are the Judgments of God and argue him to have pass'd a doom upon such a People Yet it is secret and does not determine of Men's state and condition any further than as to the Temporal comforts of this life But the sin that the Scripture tells us we are concluded under does respect all Men and the Judgment it speaks of had finally determin'd of our state had not Mercy interposed And of this nature was the Sentence that God pass'd upon Adam For his Judging him was of the same nature as the great Judgment at the End of the World will be It was open and by way of Process and Accusation Adam was cited charged admitted to plead for himself and at last convicted and condemned And this Sentence did determine of the final condition of Mankind appointing him and his Posterity irrevocably to Death So that he had died immediately and this Wrath of God would have lain upon us for ever had not the Divine Mercy contrived a means to justifie and save us And since it is by vertue of that Sentence we all die we are concluded under the guilt of Adam's sin i.e. We know our Doom and what we are to expect upon the account of that corrupt and mortal Nature that we receive from him If then Justification be from some punishment that we are already condemned to suffer it must be from this of Dying because no other Sentence is as yet pass'd upon us And unless we be discharged from this it is in vain that we have a new Law given unto us For we are not capable of Immortality till we are pardon'd the fault for which we are condemned and no Man can qualifie himself for a Blessing that he is not capable of This is the account of Justification that St. Paul gives us when he opposes it to Condemnation and makes it to consist in the Abolishing of Death Forasmuch as the Children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself took part of the same that through Death he might destroy him that had the power of Death that is the Devil and deliver them that through fear of Death were all their life-time suject unto bondage Heb. 2.14 15. i.e. The reason of Christ's Incarnation and Death was that he might bear our Punishment and set our Minds at rest which upon the account of that Sentence that doom'd us to die are full of Anxiety and Trouble at the thoughts of losing a Life that we are so fond of He under-went all that we account an Evil in Death His Body was turn'd to a Carcase and his Soul went to Hell or the place whither Death transports our Souls that state where the Devil designed when he robb'd us of our Immortality to erect a Tyranny over the Souls of Men where having vanquish'd that wicked Spirit he return'd triumphant with the spoils of our Enemy to his Body again And therefore as St. Paul saith there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 In which words he has not a respect to the last Judgment in which all Flesh shall be Eternally sentenced either to an Immortal Life or an Eternal Death as if no Christian need to fear being condemn'd at that day For there are no doubt many vicious and leud Chrisitians that will be judg'd unworthy of the Name they bear and of the Hopes that belong to it But his meaning is that they are absolved and acquitted from the Sentence of Death that Adam and his Posterity long since received that their Souls being rescued out of his hands who has the Power of Death shall at the Resurrection return in a Triumphant manner to their Bodies again which is the great Privilege we have by Jesus Christ For these words are an Inference from what he discoursed in the foregoing Chapter where he consider'd and complain'd of the Misery of Man's Natural state as we are obnoxious both to Sin and Death Oh wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death Rom. 7.24 And sets before us the Goodness of our Christian state which assures us of pure and glorious Bodies Bodies perfectly deliver'd from Mortality and those corrupt Affections and Appetites which Adam's Sin has let loose upon us I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord v. 25. So that they who are in this state and take care to approve the things that are Excellent that they may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ are in as good a condition as if Sin and Death had never enter'd into the World For there is no Condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus i.e. By Christ we are deliver'd from the Body of this Death or this Mortal sinfull Body And shall for ever enjoy the benefit of this Deliverance if we walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit And in this respect Jesus Christ is styled the second Adam in opposition to the first from whom Sin Mortality and Death are derived to us That as by the Apostasie of the first we are condemned to die by the Obedience of the second we are discharged from so dreadfull a Punishment and restored to the Hopes of living again And this he discourses more fully in the fifth Chapter where having observed the Calamity of that Mortal condition we are doom'd to by reason of Adam's Transgression he magnifies the Grace of God in this respect That through the Redemption we have by Jesus Christ we are deliver'd from this Effect of Adam's Offence As by the offence of one Judgment came upon all Men to condemnation i.e. As all Men were condemned to die for Adam's sin even so by the Righteousness of one the free gift came upon all Men to justification of life v. 18. i.e. All Men were discharged from the severity of this Sentence and allowed the liberty of providing for a Life that is Eternal as if they had never sinn'd nor ever been condemn'd to die It is true the Apostle discourses as if it was
again So that Christ's rising for our Justification does imply these things 1. That God discharged him from the Punishment that he bore for our Offences 2. That he has received Power to justifie us 1. His rising for our Justification means his being discharged from the Punishment he suffer'd for our Offences If we consider his Resurrection with a respect to himself and his Sufferings as personal none can deny but God did in a very glorious manner bear witness to his Innocency thereby and acquit him of those Crimes wherewith his Accusers charged him and that unjust Sentence that his Enemies gave upon him When he was taken by wicked hands and haled before a Judge when he was accused condemned and executed upon a Cross between two Thieves he appear'd as a vile Criminal in the Eye of the World according to what the Prophet Isaiah spoke of him long before We esteem'd him stricken and smitten of God and afflicted i.e. That a just Providence had deliver'd him up to suffer a deserved Punishment But when he rose to Life again he was justified in the sight of Angels and Men to be that Holy and Innocent Person that had done nothing worthy of Death This his Enemies were so sensible of that when his Apostles publish'd to the World how that he was risen again they exclaim'd against them and by Threats and severe Usages endeavour'd to silence them because they brought his Blood upon them This was a visible Justification of his Innocence For no other way was more effectual to take away his Reproach and to procure him Honour among Men than by giving him the Life that was taken from him This indeed was his own Personal Justification But it teaches us That it is not agreeable to the Nature of Justice that Death should hold those that are Innocent And although we cannot plead our Innocence to excuse our selves from Dying yet when the Offences for which we die are pardoned Justice can no longer consider us as under an Offence For since Death is a Punishment for our Offences the same Mercy that pardons the Offence does likewise remit the Punishment i.e. it gives us a Right to our Lives And it is but just that we should have our Lives restored i.e. that we should rise again when Justice can no longer treat us as Offenders by keeping us under the Power of Death And in this sense God by justifying his Son has likewise justified us For though he was Innocent yet for the accomplishing the Redemption of Mankind he was content to charge himself with the Sins of the whole World And as it was by Sin that Death enter'd into the World he who would bear our Transgressions was according to the just Judgment of God that doom'd sinfull Man to die appointed to bear our Punishment likewise So that his Resurrection is not only an Argument that God looked upon him as a Righteous Person that had been unjustly condemned to die but as a Person that having sufficiently satisfied for the Offences for which he died Justice had no right to keep under the Power of Death As it was an Attestation of his Innocence and the spightfull Accusations that his Enemies loaded him with it was an Act of Justice i.e. it was Justice that acquitted him from the unjust Sentence of Pontius Pilate But as it was a freeing him from the Punishment of the Offences for which he was deliver'd it was a mercifull Discharge from an Obligation to Punishment So that since he was deliver'd for our Offences and died because a Sentence of Death was pass'd against Offenders his Rising again is a visible Declaration of that Mercy that pardons Offences For he who dies upon the account of Sin must rise from under a Sentence of Condemnation when he returns to Life again And thus it was that Christ rose He rose from under a Curse and was deliver'd from Death not as a Calamity but as a Punishment And since his Resurrection was of this nature let us consider in what respect it is for our Justification Now as to this matter we may observe these things 1. That by rising from the Dead he has given us an instance that it is possible that a Creature that is condemn'd to die because of an Offence may rise again 2. That that Justice which has condemn'd us to die is fully satisfied and therefore we shall rise again 3. That his Resurrection was not a Personal Privilege but the Triumph of our Representative and Mediatour over Death and consequently a publick Discharge of Mankind from the Sentence of Condemnation 1. That by rising from the Dead he has given us an instance that it is possible that a Creature that is condemn'd to die because of an Offence may rise again One of the greatest Difficulties that lies against this Doctrine is this That we are condemn'd to die by the just Judgment of God and undergo it as a Punishment of our Sin For is it possible that a Punishment when it is inflicted a Sentence after it is executed should be reversed A condemn'd Person before the Sentence is executed upon him may be reprieved and pardon'd And if we were not deliver'd over to Death at all i.e. if we did not see Men die it might easily be believed that we could live an Immortal life But when we are condemn'd and die because we are condemn'd it appears too late to hope for a Pardon after the Punishment is inflicted But this will be no such difficulty if we consider that the Divine Mercy provided that the Death we are adjudged to should not be Eternal by promising before Sentence was given upon us That the seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpent's head So that although Justice did require that we should lose our Lives for ever as Malefactours do and does 't is true inflict such a Death upon us as for ever separates us from this present World what Difficulty can there be in a Resurrection which restores us no more than what Divine Mercy reserved for us when his Justice condemn'd us and is the fulfilling of that Original Promise made to Adam Had we been condemn'd never to live again neither in this life nor in another Mercy could not have saved us when once the Sentence had been executed up us because a Pardon would then have come too late to save us But when it is only a Death that deprives us of the Hopes of living again in this life that we are condemned to our being condemned to such a Death cannot render it impossible that we should live again in another This is the difference between the Death that we are all condemned to already and that which wicked Men will be condemned to in the Day of Judgment This deprives us only of the Hopes of living again in this life but not in another and therefore a Resurrection from the Death we are now condemned to is not impossible upon the account of the Sentence we are fall'n under
keep us the Reputation of his Government And although Clemency does very well become a Governour yet it ought to be such Mercy as will not weaken that Awe and Reverence as is due to Authority Now the Mercy of a Soveraign is not to pardon all Offendours nor any too easily because the End of Government is to restrain Wickedness which could not be done if none that offend were made Examples to others So that Mercy is to be directed by Wisdom i.e. it is the Office of Wisdom to consider when and upon what considerations a Criminal is to be pardon'd otherwise the not punishing a Criminal is not Mercy but Remissness If then it was just that Adam and his Posterity should be condemned to a Mortal condition when Humane Nature was corrupted it was not fit that the wise Governour of the World should deliver us from our Mortal state without making known the severity of that Justice that should awe the World for the future But this could not be done without inflicting the Punishment either upon us whom his Justice has condemn'd or some other person as our Representative So that considering God as a Governour who was to take care of the Honour of his Justice and the Reputation of his Wisdom the only Mercy he could show us that would do us any good was this of delivering our Mediatour for our Offences For by laying our Iniquities upon him he has taken that wise method that he can be just in justifying us i.e. in giving us our Lives that his Justice condemn'd us to lose If it be said that he could have promised us our Lives again upon our future good deportment without a satisfaction such a deportment I mean as that which he is willing to accept of from us For unless he had condescended as low as the Gospel does such a promise of pardoning us what was past would not have carried that Mercy in it that we need who are disabled for such an Improvement as was expected from innocent Man So that they who suppose that God's Mercy is of that nature that he could without a satisfaction have remitted what was past to the truly Penitent and that his revealing such Mercy to us would have been sufficient encouragement to a Pious behaviour for the future must suppose likewise a Remission of the Rigour of the Law of perfect Obedience as well as of the Sentence he pass'd upon us And allowing thus much I answer 1. That this would have been Mercy indeed but not such Mercy as would have secured an Awe and Reverence of him in the Minds of Men. For they who suppose this may as well go on supposing That in case of our neglect of this second Law there is still further Mercy to be hoped for till they suppose he is so mercifull as to forgive where there is no Repentance 2. That such a Promise would not have been a sufficient Encouragement to a Holy Life The great Motive to live well is the Hopes we have of returning to Life again after we are dead And if this Doctrine has with so much difficulty found belief among Men though the Possibility of it has been Exemplified by the Resurrection of our Lord how much more should we have objected the Impossibility of it And therefore when God would deliver us from the fears of Death it was necessary he should make use of such a method as was sufficient to this purpose 'T is true we die still thought the Sentence of Death be remitted but yet to die because we have sinned and to be pardoned because Christ was deliver'd for our Offences are not unaccountable At least such an account of our Dying still though we are Justified may be given as is sufficient to justifie the Divine Wisdom and such an account too as will I doubt not reconcile a state of Mortality with a state of Pardon We die still though we are pardon'd because we have so corrupted our Nature that it is impossible we should live without a Miracle But yet though we do die the Resurrection of our Redeemer who rose to Life again after he suffer'd as a Sinner is an evident proof of our being pardon'd the extremity of that Death we should have suffer'd we are not justified so as not to die because the Resurrection is our Justification or at least the fruit of it But since we must not die to perish for ever unless we fall under another Sentence when we return to Life again we shall feel and rejoyce under the sense of that pardon that has deliver'd us from Death For though we are not pardon'd so as to be exempted from dying yet it is by vertue of a Pardon that we shall be deliver'd from Death at the Resurrection This is the Justification that the Death of Christ has procured and his Resurrection does declare For his Resurrection is a satisfaction to us that there is nothing will keep us for ever in the Grave when we go thither and that our Souls shall not be left in Hell because the opening of that Prison is proclaimed by his Resurrection Because I live saith our Saviour ye shall live also Joh. 14.19 i.e. My Resurrection rection will satisfie you that there is another Life after this and that at the last though you die because Offenders Death will be swallow'd up of Victory because I have conquer'd it 3. Therefore his Resurrection was not a Personal privilege only and on that account only the Justification of his own Innocence but the Triumph of our Redeemer over Death and the publick Discharge of the Representative of Mankind from a condemn'd state and therefore is for the Justification of all the sinfull Posterity of Adam Had his Death been only a misfortune upon himself for an Innocent person may be put to Death by violent hands though he has not deserved to die Justice would require that he who lost his life without any fault should have it restored for the Justification of his Innocence So that if we should consider Christ as a most Holy and Innocent person only a person that knew no Sin there is no question but after so much Violence as he suffer'd from the wicked Hands of the Jews Divine Justice would have vindicated him from so unjust a Sentence as was pass'd upon him by raising him from the Dead and giving him that Life again that had been wrongfully taken from him Upon which reason no doubt that ancient Opinion that the Holy Martyrs who bravely sought the good fight of Faith and were slain for the Testimony which they held should rise first was grounded It being looked upon as a thing very equal and righteous with God to Honour those with this Prerogative who lost their Lives for the sake of Christ and his Gospel But had his Resurrection been only for the justifying of himself it would have given no encouragement to those that die because in an Offence to hope they might live again likewise The utmost then
that could have been concluded would have been this That if at any time after there should be any Man that lived as Holily add deserved Death as little as he did Divine Justice would do them the same right as it did him if their Lives should be violently torn from them as his was But since he undertook to deliver a sinfull Race from Death by becoming a Curse for us he rose as our Triumphant Redeemer not for his own Justification only but ours And his Resurrection does not only proclaim to the World that Divine Justice will not suffer an Innocent person who is unjustly condemn'd and with Violence put to Death to lie for ever under the Power of so unjust a Sentence But that Divine Mercy has pardon'd the Offences for which we who are under a Sentence of Codemnation do die and will not suffer us who die for our own faults as Criminals to lie for ever under the Sentence that is pass'd upon us For 1. His Resurrection was a Justification from guilt For since he bore our Sins when he died we are not to consider his Resurrection as the Justification of an Innocent person only but of a person laden with Iniquity And if we may inferr That it is agreeable to Divine Justice to restore a person that lives as much without Sin as he did his Life again if it should be wrongfully taken from him because he thus justified the Innocence of his beloved Son the least that we can conclude from his rising from under a Curse and the burthen of our Sins is That our Sins and the Curse that is come upon us are not of that weight but that we may likewise hope to rise from under them But further 2. It informs us that our whole Nature is Redeem'd and Hallowed And therefore the Holy Scriptures represent him as another Adam to inform us that he bore the same Relation to us in all he has done to restore Life to the World as Adam did when by his Fall and Punishment Sin and Death came upon us As in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive 1 Cor. 15.22 i.e. As Humane Nature was corrupted and made Mortal by Adam's Transgression and the Sentence of Death that he fell under came upon us who are his Posterity so Humane Nature is quickned and revived in Christ and his Resurrection is the great Instance of that Grace that remits to us the Punishment we are condemn'd to He is as well the Root from whom Immortality and Life are derived to us as Adam was the Root from whom came Mortality and Death And upon this Reason he is styled the first-fruits of the Dead Now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first-fruits of them that sleep For since by Man came Death by Man came also the Resurrection of the Dead v. 20 21. i.e. A Resurrection to another Life is come by Man in the same manner as Death came by Man For as we are all condemned in Adam so we are all acquitted from Death and made alive in Christ So that he is the first-fruits of them that sleep not only as he was the first Man that after Death rose to an Immortal Life but as his Resurrection is the consecrating Humane Nature afresh or the taking of the Curse that in Adam came upon us In this Expression the Apostle alludes to the Jewish Custom of offering the first-fruits of all their Encrease unto God which Oblation did not only sanctifie the Fruits that were offer'd but consecrated the whole Harvest And that which he informs us is this That God by raising up Jesus from the Dead has Hallowed us to an Immortal Life Obj. If it be objected that this is to put wicked Men into a Justified state Ans I reply That without doubt they have this advantage be the Death of Christ that with the rest of Mankind they are acquitted from the Condemnation that is come upon us in Adam else no reason can be given why they rise from the Dead and why they must be judg'd and condemn'd again for their own faults which supposes that here in this Life they are in a state of Probation That they shall rise again is as plainly revealed to us as that every good Christian shall Marvel not at this saith our Saviour for all that are in their Graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the Resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation Joh. 5.28 29. All that die the bad as well as good must rise again because the bad as well good do die And if the bad as well as good must arise it must be because they are freed from the Condemnation that came upon all Men in Adam For if they still lie under that Curse the Wrath that kills them would for ever give Death a power over them Neither would there be any reason why they should rise again to receive another Sentence if they be not freed from the former and restor'd to a possibility of saving their Souls So that since they must rise to receive another Sentence for their own faults it implies that they were in the same condition in this Life with those that made a better use of the Mercy that is granted us i.e. That they were pardon'd as to the Sentence that was given upon Adam but that they must be condemned because their own Sins will not suffer them to live when they are risen which will be so much the more dreadfull as it will be the Sentence of a Redeemer that came to save them And now let us consider what improvement we may make of this And. 1. Let us consider how comfortable a state we are restored to It is as I have observed a state of Pardon and Forgiveness A state that frees us from the Terrours of Divine Justice and puts us under the favourable influences of Grace and Mercy and gives us the liberty of a second Trial whether we will chuse Life or Death And therefore the Apostle takes notice of it as the peculiar Privilege and Blessing of our present Condition that we are not under the Law but under Grace Rom. 6.14 We are not under the Dominion of Justice that condemns but under the Rule of Mercy that justifies us The Law has condemn'd us and it is certain justly enough because it gives no other Sentence upon us than what by corrupting our Nature sin does naturally oblige us to suffer For it is naturally impossible that a Creature that is corruptible should not see Corruption But being justified by the Divine Grace we are put into a Condition of gaining that Immortal life that we are condemned to lose So that though Corruption and Mortality be the Natural fruits of Sin yet the Mercy that is procured us by the Mediation of Jesus Christ does give us a comfortable prospect of rising to an Incorruptible and Immortal state He who
to a sensible Creature But that which is most grievous in it is That it comes upon us as a Punishment and that we die by the just Judgment of God upon us And how much comfort must it give us to think that we are discharged from that Condemnation which is the severest Consideration in Death How may it revive our Spirits and raise our Heads to think That though in Adam all die yet in Christ shall all be made alive To know that we are justified in the Resurrection of him who died for our Offences is such a healing Consideration to our Minds as leaves nothing in Death that is troublesome but those little Aversions that Nature has to a Dissolution It is 't is true and always will be difficult matter to meet Death without concern and something of consternation because there is something praeter-natural in it But yet how unwilling soever Nature is to submit to so hard a fate yet we know we must and since the Law that has appointed us to die is irreversible the only wise thing we have to do in such Circumstances is to reconcile our selves to the thoughts of dying as well as we can that we may go out of the World with as little disquiet and aversion to a thing that we cannot help as is possible And the only Consideration that is sufficient in this case is this of our being in a Justified state and that we know the Reason of that Hope which alone is sufficient to bear up our Minds For with what peace and satisfaction may we go to our Graves when we know that the place our Souls go to will not be an Eternal Prison to them and that Death is not inflicted as an Eternal Punishment 5. Let us consider with how much care we ought to live while we are in this World For since we are acquitted from Condemnation we are not in so hopeless a Condition as those that must die without Mercy For the Grace and Favour of God that has remitted to us that Sentence has favour'd us with an opprtunity of escaping from the Wrath that is Eternal This is the favour that he publishes to the World in the Gospel and that which he calls upon us to do is to lay hold on this opportunity and to make a good use of it The grace of God i.e. the Gospel which brings or acquaints us with this Salvation teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts Tit. 2.12 For it sets Life and Death before us i.e. it lets us know that God is willing to try us once more and therefore favours every Man as he did Adam with the Liberty of chusing for himself which of these two he pleaseth And surely it is but a just and reasonable Expectation that we should lay hold of the opportunity that is put into our Hands of escaping for our Lives That if Death be so terrible a thing to us as we make it and we cannot very easily brook being condemned for a fault that is none of ours we should be very carefull for the future not to do any thing that may provoke God to condemn us for our own faults and be extremely fearfull of offering Violence to our selves and having our own Hands in the blood of our Souls It might be judg'd a hard Law by us that the fault of others should be charged upon us and that we should be under a Condemnation to Death because our first Parents sinn'd Therefore he calls upon us to look to our selves and tells us there is no more occasion for complaint as if the Children's teeth were set on edge by the sowre Grapes that our Fathers have eaten For he has remitted to us that Sentence that assigned us over to the power of Death and has privileg'd us with the liberty of taking care of the Life we are so unwilling to lose And if Life be so precious a thing to us as by our Apprehensiveness of Death we would be thought to account it what a wretched Madness is it while we are complaining of the hardship of our Circumstances as we are condemn'd in Adam to take so little care of it now it is put into our own hands to secure it as if it was all one to us whether we lived or died If Death be an indifferent thing to us why do we tremble at it Why does the near approach of it put us into terrible Agonies Why do we seem to account it a hard fate to be doom'd to die for a fault that was not in our power to help But if it be as really frightfull as it appears why should we neglect so favourable an opportunity of providing for our future safety as it put into our hands This will be a very great Aggravation of the Folly and Misery of wicked Men when they come to be condemn'd to a second Death that there will be no altering of that Sentence no more Mercy to be expected for the delivering them from the Wrath that their own faults will then bring upon them Oh how many sad Reflections will it occasion to think that they have twice forseited Life and that it is in spight of Mercy and Grace that they have destroy'd themselves by their own saults That they have been tried a second time whether they would chuse Life and Immortality but have made no better a choice for themselves than their first Fathers did So that the Mercy that deliver'd them from the Death they were condemn'd to in Adam was thrown away upon them and which will not a little add to the Misery of the second Doom as much as they fear'd dying they have yet made it their choice And since this will be the Fate of all Men that neglect so great Salvation ought we not to be carefull how we use it Surely after such an escape as this is there is great reason that God should expect that we should look well to our Ways and be very watchfull over our selves for the future That when-ever any sensual Appetite begins to be over-craving or the Riches Pleasures or Honours of this World do tempt us to Covetousness or Oppression to Sensuality or Intemperance to Pride or Ambition we should call to mind the Danger we have escaped and that we shall perish with scorn and contempt if we let our Love of our Bodies undo us twice This use we ought to make of our being in a Justified state for since the Sentence of Death is remitted we have a fair opportunity put into our Hands of securing a Life that is Immortal But if we lose this opportunity we shall sorfeit our Lives again and all the Mercy that would save us 2. His being raised for our Justification does imply his receiving Power and Authority to justifie us And here we are to consider Two things 1. That he is invested with Power and Authority to deliver us from Death 2. That this Power he received when he rose from the Dead 1. That he is invested with
Power and Authority to deliver us from Death 1. By raising us again out of our Graves And in this respect he is styled the second Adam in whom all shall be made alive in opposition to the first in whom all died to denote him to be the Author of Life to a condemn'd World as the first Adam was the Author of Death to a race that was designed for Immortality But yet he is not the Author of Life and Immortality only as he was merited it as Adam's Offence has entailed Death upon us but as he is that Person whom the Father has constituted to be the Dispenser of that Grace and Mercy that pardons the Offences for which we die and to communicate that Spirit of Life by which we shall rise again at the last day In which respect it is that he so often styles himself the Life of the World and the Resurrection and the Life by which he informs us of the great Authority the Father has put into his hand and that the Nature of that Office which as the Mediatour between God and Man be executes is for the discharging us from that Obligation to die Eternally which was the fruit of Sin As the Father hath life in himself so has he given to the Son to have life in himself Joh. 5.26 i.e. He has made him the Lord of Life and given him Power to bestow it For as the Father raiseth up the dead so the Son quickneth whom he will i.e. He as well as the Father has the Power of Life in his Hand We are not to understand this Expression as if there were some whom he would not restore Life unto but that the Power of giving Life which he has received is unlimited so that he can give and take away Life to and from whom he pleases Verily verily I say unto you the Hour is coming and now is when the Dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live Thus the Scripture does constantly represent the Power of abolishing Corruption and Death to be in the Hands of the Son of God And that Renovation of all things when the Creature that now groans under Corruption shall be redeemed from Vanity and Corruption and restored to an indissoluble state will be the work of him that came to redeem us from Death For as the Father is the first Fountain of Life from whom all Creatures received Life and Being in the first Creation of all things so the Son is appointed to be the Fountain of Life to all things again when the World shall be created a-new and put into such a state as shall endure for ever For we are to consider that when God first made the World it was a much more excellent thing than now it is being designed to be the Habitation of Innocent Man But when Man fell and lost his Innocency all this visible Creation suffer'd with him and was accurs'd for Man's sake i.e. It was put into a state proper for a Creature that was doom'd to Labour and Sorrow to dwell in Cursed is the ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life Thorns also and Thistles shall it bring forth to thee Gen. 3.17 18. Of what nature this Curse was is not easie to tell But however thus much it plainly imports that the Nature of this World was much alter'd for the worse and that it does not nourish us now as it would have done had we not been doom'd to a laborious and mortal Life But this is not all For the Scriptures represent it as such a Change as that which we our selves have undergone when instead of Immortality Mortality and Corruption seiz'd us And that at the last this World must undergo a purgation by Fire by means of which it will be restored to its ancient incorruptible State The Heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat Nevertheless we according to his promise look for new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness 2 Pet. 3.12 13. Which is the thing that St. Paul means when he tells us That the earnest expectation of the Creature waiteth for the Manifestation of the Sons of God Rom. 8.19 i.e. The visible Creation waits for that time when we shall become the Sons of God being the Children of the Resurrection at which time it will be freed from its Curse as well as we shall be deliver'd from the Wrath that is come upon us For the Creature was made subject to vanity not willingly but by reason of him that hath subjected the same in hope Because the Creature it self also shall be deliver'd from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Children of God v. 20 21. i.e. As it does partake of our Curse so it shall of our Blessing when we rise to an Immortal life being new made And as the first Creation was the work of the Father who has Life in himself i.e. from whom all that Life that is in the World is Originally derived So the second Creation when all things shall be put into a lasting incorruptible State will be the work of the Redeemer of all things For he came to give Life to the World and to be the restorer of all things i.e. to take away the Curse under which we and all this visible World do suffer The Authority that is conferr'd upon him is for the repairing those breaches that Sin has made in our Nature and for the putting a disorder'd World into its right indissoluble Frame And therefore the account he gives us of himself and his Errand is the giving Life to the World I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly Joh. 10.10 or in a more perfect and excellent degree than here they have He does 't is true give us a Specimen of his Power in the Renovation of our Souls in this Life which is the first beginning of that Life that he came to bestow upon the World But the great Exercise of his Authority will be at the Resurrection when all that are in their Graves shall hear his voice and come forth which will be his great Act of justifying us personally from the Sentence that has appointed us to die The Spirit that he communicates for the raising us to a new and holy Life is styled the Earnest of our Inheritance For nothing can be a more lively Emblem of our future Resurrection when we shall be deliver'd from Death than that New life we are raised to here by the Power of his Spirit For it is every whit as great an Instance of his Power to quicken and revive a dead Soul to its own Spiritual life as to raise a dead Body to life again And this is a great Evidence that God has given him Power to justifie a condemn'd World because that Spirit by which we begin to live again to God
is derived from him For if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal Bodies by the Spirit that dwelleth in you Rom. 8.11 i.e. The Spirit whereby Christ does now raise us to a New life will likewise quicken our mortal Bodies and give New lise to us after Death But this is not all that is meant by his Power to justifie us For 2. He has Power and Authority given him as the Supreme Judge of the World to acquit us Eternally from Death or when we are risen to give us Eternal life And this is a distinct thing from God's justifying us from the Sentence pass'd upon Adam His raising us to life again after we are dead is owing to our Justification from that Sentence For had not he by dying satisfied the Justice that takes away our Lives we should not rise again to Life But whether we shall live for ever after we are risen or die again does depend upon that Sentence that as our Judge he will pass upon us God has appointed a day in which he will judge the World in Righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained saith St. Paul Act. 17.31 i.e. God has given him Power to take an account how Mankind has used the Mercy that he has favour'd us with and to declare who according to the Gospel are worthy of Eternal life and who are not and accordingly to determine of our Eternal condition either by justifying us to Eternal life or condemning us to a second Death And this he intimates to us in the fore-mentioned Text I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly That they might have life i.e. That I might by raising them from the Dead restore them the Life that Death deprives them of And that they might have it more abundantly i.e. That I might justifie them to a Life that is Eternal when at the Resurrection they are Judged a second time His Resurrection 't is true does assure us that we are now in a Justified state i.e. That we are acquitted from the Sentence that has pass'd upon Adam and that in respect of this Justification we shall certainly rise to Life again But though we be absolved from that Sentence we must expect another to be pass'd upon us which will finally and eternally save us from Death if when we appear before that great Tribunal he that is to Judge us does find we have not neglected so great Salvation and sinn'd away the favour that has been granted us And this Power to absolve us for ever from Everlasting Death is given to him who came into the World to suffer for our Offences and rose again for our Justification And therefore the Apostle to the Hebrews tells us That as it is appointed unto Men once to die and after Death the Judgment So Christ was once offer'd to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation Heb. 9.27 28. i.e. Though we die by vertue of that Sentence that God gave upon us in Adam yet Christ having undergone the Punishment for us we shall not die Eternally by vertue of that Sentence For Christ who bore our Sins will come again to Judge us and then shall all his faithfull Servants be Eternally acquitted from that more dreadfull Curse that he will denounce against all that have lost their opportunity to save their Souls 2. This Power to justifie us i.e. to deliver us from Death by raising us to Lise again and acquitting us as our Judge at the last day he received when he rose from the Dead For then it was that he enter'd upon the publick Administration of the Affairs of his Kingdom and was made of God both Lord and Christ Then it was he received a Name that is above every Name and was dignified with the Honour of being Head over all things Thus he himself told his Disciples after his Resurrection That all Power was given unto him both in Heaven and Earth Matt. 28.18 By which he means the Power of that Kingdom that by vanquishing him that has the Power of Death he has obtained The Power of pardoning Sin and raising the Dead and giving Eternal life to all that faithfully and sincerely serve him The God of our Fathers saith St. Peter raised up Jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a Tree Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance unto Israel and remission of sins Act. 5.30 31. In which words the Apostle informs us that the Power God has given him is the Power of dispensing that Grace and Mercy that he has obtain'd for us The Power of delivering us from Death and of justifying us as our Judge to Eternal life And that this Power God advanced him to when he raised him from the Dead 'T is true while he was in this World he styles himself the Resurrection and the Life and tells us That God had given him Authority to execute Judgment because he is the Son of Man But yet in these Expressions he means no more than that he was the Person who was designed by his Father to this Eminent Dignity and Power of abolishing Death and Judging the World and giving Life and Immortality to mortal Men. And of this he gave a convincing proof by raising Lazarus from the Dead But yet the Life he restored Lazarus to was not that Immortal life which he will give his sincere Followers when he utterly destroys Death but the same Mortal life that he was possess'd of before But the Power of raising us to an Immortal life which he gave a proof that he was designed to be instated in by raising Lazarus from the Dead was not conferr'd upon him till he was risen from the Dead Then it was that he enter'd upon his Regal Office and was invested with that Power and Authority by which he has put all Enemies under his feet He is sat down on the right hand of God saith the Apostle expecting till his Enemies be made his foot-stool Heb. 10.12 13. Designing at the End of all things to subdue Death which is the last Enemy he is to destory and in a most solemn and glorious manner to deliver his faithfull Servants from their Captivity and all Power of Death for the suture and to put them into an actual possession of that immortal life that they live in an expectation of srom him And now if Christ be thus risen for our Justification or that he might receive Power to justifie us Let us consider 1. What Reason we have to depend upon him for Everlasting life This is that Faith that he expects from us and which in the Gospel we are so frequently exhorted to A believing that Death is vanquish'd by the Power of our Mediatour when he rose from the Dead and
has received this Power we may observe upon what Reason it will go worse with wicked Christians at the last than with ignorant Heathens That it will do so our Saviour has assured us in those dreadfull Denunciations against Chorazin Bethsaida and Capernaum the Cities where he frequently taught and wrought his Miracles Wo unto thee Chorazin wo unto thee Bethsaida for if the mighty Works that have been done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in Sackcloth and Ashes But I say unto you It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the Day of Judgment than for you And thou Capernaum which art exalted to Heaven shalt be brought down unto Hell For if the mighty Works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom it would have remained untill this day But I say unto you It shall be more tolerable for the Land of Sodom in the Day of Judgment than for thee Matt. 11.21 22 23 24. And that there is a great deal of Reason it should be so is evident from hence That wicked Christians sin against that Mercy and despise that Salvation that the Heathen part of the World know nothing of For all the Mercy that Heathens have by the Death and Resurrection of Christ is that they shall assuredly rise again from Death because Christ who died for our Offences has discharged all Mankind from Death as it is a Punishment of Sin But how the great Judge will deal with them when they are risen we know not because the Mercy that shall be shown them is not revealed Christ by the Power he has received will raise them to Life again though they know not of it But when they are risen they will not be Judged for not improving this Mercy because they know nothing of it neither Neither have they that Revelation that ascertains to Christians both their Duty and Reward and therefore shall not be condemn'd for not improving themselves to that height of Vertue that the Christian Religion teaches But now the case of wicked Christians is quite otherwise For they must rise to answer for all the abuse of that Mercy that the Gospel acquaints them with And they must die again because they have despised that Life that they must then lose when it was in their Power to have secured it Though they have the means of knowing that they shall not for ever lose their Souls upon the account of the Judgment that came upon all Men to Condemnation in Adam and that they are favour'd with a new Trial whether they will chuse Life or Death they lose the time of their Trial and must die because they chuse Death And this will aggravate their Condemnation that when they were favour'd with the care of their own Souls they foolishly lost the time in which God put them to their choice whether they would live or die So that when they are condemn'd again it will be a startling Consideration to them that they must die for their own neglect of themselves and that they have taken no warning by their former Condemnation but have to no purpose been pardon'd the fault for which they lose this present life And besides it will beget terrible Reflections in them when they come to consider that the Judge before whom they stand is he that came into this World to deliver them from Death by vanquishing that subtil Enemy that betray'd us into Mortality That it is he that will condemn them that when he appears the second time comes with Power to save i.e. to conferr upon us the fruits of his bloody Victory And that he will condemn them because they have taken their Souls out of his hand when he had deliver'd them and have deliver'd them up again to the slavery of those Evil Spirits out of whose power he had rescued them So that their Condemnation will be with the greatest Indignation for disappointing the Hopes and thwarting the Design of him that has procured a Power from his Father to save It will be with bitter Wrath and Vengeance for deserting the protection of a Saviour after all the Sweat and Blood that he was at the expence of to deliver them Those mine Enemies that would not that I should reign over them bring hither and slay them before me Luk. 19.27 And oh with what Consternation and Agonies in their Souls will they then be tortured when they see the direfull Executioners of that terrible Sentence coming upon them to seize them and that they must lose their Lives again which they have but just received and which is worse to lose them within the sight of Immortality He will condemn all that do Unrighteousness but a wicked Heathen will not fall under so much Wrath as a wicked Christian because he sins only against the Light of his own Mind and loses the Benefit of that Salvation that he never heard of But that which will heighten the wicked Christian's Condemnation is this That he has received the Grace of God in vain and must be condemn'd by him whose Kindness they have been frequently told of and whose Mercy they have been courted to accept of and to improve Oh! with what weight will the Wrath of a Redeemer fall upon the Heads of wicked Christians How scorching will that Justice be which the Love and Mercy of a Saviour will be forced to give way unto Because you would none of my Counsel but have despised all my Reproof and trampled on my Blood and turned my Grace into Wantonness Therefore shall ye eat the fruit of your own Ways and be filled with your own Devices Go ye cursed into everlasting burnings Such a Sentence out of the Mouth of a Saviour will come with such Astonishment and Horrour as no Heathen has any reason to dread Neither is this the worst of their case For every one that calls himself a Christian does profess to have put himself under the protection of their Redeemer's Mercy And therefore every Christian that does wickedly must expect to die without pity because he renounces his Trust in that Mercy without which when he embraced the Christian Religion he declared he could not be saved and repenting of his subjection to his Saviour revolts from him who alone has the Power to justifie The case of the Heathens is pitiable because of their Ignorance And therefore the Apostle tells us God winked at the time of the Heathen Ignorance He seem'd to over-look their Follies and out of mere pity to take no notice of their Mistakes But what Mercy can they expect who make light of that Mercy that calls them to Repentance and puts it into their Power to provide better for themselves than their first Parents did 5. We may hence likewise observe how little reason we have to dread a future Judgment There are a great many Considerations that are sufficient to remove those Fears that the thoughts of that Great Day are apt to terrifie us