not the light of his word and his Law written in the Scriptures to many Nations yet he giveth to them all the light and Law of Nature and therefore the transgressions of the Law of Nature are sins against God The Apostle saith until the Law sin was in the world but sin is not imputed where there is no Law nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after tbe similitude of Adams transgression Sin was in the world before the Law was given on mount Sinai But how can it be just to charge sin upon them who had no Law against which to sin Nevertheless death raigned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression Who are they Some seem to understand Infants only who sinned not actually in their own persons as Adam did yet dying in their infancy were guilty of original sin Others take it for all that lived between the time of Adam and Moses who sinned not after the similitude of Adams transgression because they sinned not against an express Law given by revelation from Heaven as Adam did who sinned against that express prohibition of God forbidding him to eat of the fruit of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil under the pain of certain death and destruction I conceive this latter sense more probable because of that special limitation of time from Adam to Moses for the case of those that dye in their Infancy for ought I know is the same whether before or after the time of Moses before and after the Law written but the condition of those that lived between Adams time and that of Moses differed from those that lived after Now the Apostle sheweth that death the punishment of sin fell upon them so did many other judgements the flood destroying the old world the showr of fire and brimstone upon Sodom fell within the compass of that time and therefore certainly they were guilty of sin and justly punished because these calamities were the just judgements of God who is the righteous judge of all the world and therefore although these sinned not against any positive Law of God delivered to them either by word or writing yet they sinned against the light and Law of Nature which God had given them Secondly This may shew us the reason and the justice of those severe executions of God upon Heathen Nations who had no Scripture nor written Law to sin against They sinned against the Light and Law of Nature for the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness because that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them c. The Judgements and Calamities publick national private personal brought upon any of mankind in several ages are evidences of Gods wrath and displeasure against them and therefore proofs of their sin and guiltiness against God otherwise the Lord who is perfectly righteous would not bring these evils upon them and among the rest the death of the body is a universal declaration of the wrath of God against mankind for sin If any should be free from all other evils yet this alone would be a sufficient proof of their sinfulness and therefore the Lord said unto Adam and in him to each particular person of his posterity soon after he had sinned and they had sinned in him Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return By one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Euery dead Corps every Funeral that ye see or hear of all the persons that have died from the beginning of the world unto this day have by their death manifested the wrath of God against sin and mens guiltiness before the Lord for though through the grace and mercy of God in Christ the death of a true believer is turned into a blessing and made an inlet or entrance into everlasting life yet in its own Nature it is a consequent of sin and sin was the original of it In special the Heathens who had not the mind of God so fully revealed to them as those within the Church yet had the Light and Law of Nature and in sinning against that Light and Law were justly punished for they held the Truth in unrighteousness This common Light and Law of Nature was the Truth of God und they by opposing their wills and lusts against it and so not following the guidance of it were found guilty of fighting against God and crossing that Light which the Lord had given them and therefore the Lord dealt with them as Enemies So the Lord punished Sodom and the Cities adjoynning with fire and brimstone So the Canaanites and Amorites were destroyed for their sins against the Light and Law of Nature and Israel was planted in their Land The Lord told Abraham that his seed should possess it but not until after four hundred years Why Because the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full so that it was the fullness of their iniquity which was the cause of their destruction it was because their sin was come to its full height that they were rooted out So the Lord having forbidden Israel the practice of divers great sins saith Defile not your selves in any of these things for in all these things the Nations are defiled which I cast out before you And the Land is defiled therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it and the Land it self vomiteth out the Inhabitants The Lord threatned divers grievous Judgements by the Prophet Amos against many Heathen Nations Syria the Philistines Tyrus Edom Ammon Moab All the miseries of war brought upon Heathen Nations what were they but revelations and reall demonstrations of the wrath of God from Heaven for their sins against the Law and Light of Nature The ruining of the Babylonish Monarchy by the Medes and Persians of the Persian by the Macedonians and Grecians the Macedonians by the Romans of the Roman by the Saracens and Turks on the one side and divers Northern Nations on the other these and the like were just Judgements of God upon Heathens for sins against the Light and Law of Nature So I conceive the cruel Spaniards were unjust executioners of the righteous Judgements of God upon the poor Indians or Americans for their sins against the same common Light and Law of Nature for the Lord executeth just Judgements by wicked men yea by Divels who aime not at all at the Lords end but either delight to exercise their malice and cruelty or act thus to make a ful conquest and utterly disable a people to make head again Thirdly This may clearly convince us that the sins of Christians are far more heinous then the sins of Infidels and Heathens because they sin against the same Law
any flee from sin and not rather add sin to sin doing evil that good may come that Gods grace may be the more manifested to his glory The Apostle rejecteth these with detestation shewing that notwithstanding all their perverse cavils they shall find God a severe judge and that their damnation is just for it doth no way lessen the guilt of sin that God getteth glory by it for sin in its own nature tendeth to the darkning of Gods Glory and men by sinning dishonour God but such is the infinite perfection of God that as he commanded the light to shine out of darkness though darkness be contrary to the light so he can work good and get himself glory out of the evil of sin which in it self tendeth to rob him of his glory So in the sixth Chapter of this Epistle shall we continue in sin that grace may abound The Apostle had shewed before that all had sinned in Adam besides the guilt of their own actual sins yea even such as lived before the Law was given by Moses and that by the publishing of the Law sin abounded the guilt of sin increased but then withal he added that where sin abounded grace did much more abound the free love and favour of God was gloriously manifested in pardoning sin thus heightned and aggravated by the express Law and in freely justifying sinners condemned by the written Law Hence this Question or Objection to which the Apostle answers with detestation as before and withal sheweth that they who are justified by the righteousness of Christ have received the Spirit and so dye to sin and live to righteousness and are engaged hereunto by their Baptisme and therefore it is in vain for any to hope for justification and pardon of sin through Christ who yeild themselves up to the service of sin So verse 14th he saith to Believers Ye are not under the Law but under Grace Hence again a Question or Objection of corrupt nature or carnal reason What then Shall we sin because we are not under the Law but under Grace May we not therefore sin securely if we be free from the Law if the Law have no power nor authority over us to condemn us The Apostle answereth this after his usual manner with detestation and then more fully Know ye not that to whom ye yeild your selves servants to obey his servants ye are to whom ye obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness They that are justâ—fied by Christ and freed from the curse the condemnation and rigour of the Law are the Members of Christ and servants of righteousness but they that sin securely upon a conceit that they are freed from the Law are indeed the servants of sin and this service of sin tendeth to everlasting death The Reason of this in general is the contrariety of mans nature unto God and his Truth since the fall since the Image of God was defaced and the Nature of man corrupted by sin so that the powers of the soul thus degenerated are become cross and opposite unto the counsel and truth of God They are of the world therefore speak they of the world and the world heareth them we are of God he that knoweth God heareth us he that is not of God heareth not us hereby know we the spirit of Truth and the spirit of Error all of us are naturally of the world and all remain so unless the Lord do effectually by his grace call them out of the world and so their worldly minds and hearts are unsutable and opposite unto the mind and truth of God More particularly 1. Ignorance is a great cause why men deprave the Scriptures and pervert the Truths of God the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not All are naturally darkness and therefore full of contrariety to the light and truth of God ye were sometimes darkness saith the Apostle to those that then were light in the Lord the best of those whom God hath savingly inlightned by his spirit were sometimes darkness Lye not one to another seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the Image of him that created him They that are regenerated are renewed as in other regards so in knowledge This sheweth that the old man is possessed with darkness Corrupt Nature is void of saving knowledge and therefore in that condition men are apt to put light for darkness and darkness for light The Sadduces that denied that great Mystery of the Resurrection of the body I conceive were much pleased with an Argument whereby they hoped to non-plus the Lord Jesus Christ they seemed not directly to deny the Resurrection but only to desire a Resolution in a difficult case concerning â—a woman that had seven husbands out-liv'd them all The Question was which of those seven should enjoy her for his wife at the Resurrection but the Lord Christ telleth them they shewed gross ignorance in that wherein they thought themselves veâ—y acute saith he Ye do err not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God and first sheweth them how by the Almighty power of God the bodies of the Saints at the Resurrection should be so wonderfully transformed and glorified that they should not need nor desire marriage or other things of the like natrue no more then the Angels do which are Spirits and have no bodies then he proveth by the Scripture that the dead shall rise Now this ignorance is more or less gross in several persons some that are not so grossely ignorant as others yet being weak in knowledge and judgement are apt to miscarry in this kind First by misunderstanding some Texts or passages of holy Scripture so it seemeth the Saints at Thessalonica mistook what the Apostle had written to them in his former Epistle when speaking of the last day he saith This we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the Trumpet of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air. Where twice he speaketh of himself if we look on the bare words as if he should live to the end of the world as if Christ should come in glory before Paul should leave this world I conceive he spake by way of supposition that if he and other Believers then living should remain to the last day then they should be thus translated to Glory and as he saith elsewhere they should not dye but should be changed and this he might do to teach others by his example to live in a continual expectation
dye to sin to mortifie their members which are upon the earth to live to righteousness to walk in newness of life Thirdly the pride of corrupt Nature is very contrary to the Gospel which teacheth to be poor in spirit to empty our selves of all self-sufficiency to go out of our selves to become fools that we may be wise to be less than nothing in our own eyes to receive all of meer grace the free love and favour of God to present our selves in anothers garment before God in the righteousness of Christ for the covering of our shame and cloathing of our nakedness to look for no acceptance of any service but by anothers worthiness the merit of Christ. Fourthly corrupt and inordinate self-love may move men to reject or corrupt the Truths of the Gospel which teacheth self denyal and the renouncing of all that is dear unto us so far as it standeth in opposition against Christ Then saith Iesus unto his Disciples If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me The Gospel striketh at the right eye at the heart and root of the most beloved lusts How then will self-love rise up against it Fifty inordinate love of the world of things below being deeply rooted in corrupt Nature raiseth rebellion against the Gospel and moveth men either to reject or corrupt the Truths revealed in it Felix trembled at Pauls discourse and commanded him away the young man went away sorrowful when Christ required him to fell all and give to the poor and follow him in hope of treasures in Heaven The Pharises who were covetous when they heard Christ speak against that sin deâ—ided him Love not the world neither the things that are in the world if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him So if any man love the world inordinately the love of the Truth is not in him for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world The Use of this may be First to teach us to see and bewayle the corruption of our nature and withal to make us sensible how dangerous it is to continue in our natural estate destitute of the spirit of Christ Our corrupt nature is apt to corrupt and deny the precious Truths of the Gospel it were a dangerous and malignant disease of the body that should turn the best physick into poyson and either cast it out of the stomach as soon as it is taken in or grow worse by occasion of the remedy Our natures are wholly overspread with the deadly disease of sin and corruption and there is no part â—ound in them as the Apostle saith I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing He had much good in him through grace a great measure of the spirit of Christ but in his flesh so far as he was carnal so far as he was not renewed by the holy Ghost â—o far there was no good thing dwelling in him which sheweth that in them which are not regenerate there is nothing spiritually good nothing suitable and pleasing to God Whence these two great evils follow First an inclination to reject the Remedyâ— like a corrupt Stomack that gives no entertainment to the Physick leaveth it no time to work the cure but presently casteth it out So do many in the state of corrupt Nature they hear the Truths of the Gospel which the Lord hath appoynted as preâ—ious Remedies against that disease and reject them cast them up again either denying them in the secret thoughts not believing them or not seriously minding or regarding them So the Apostle told the unbelieving Iews it was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you but seeing ye put it from you and judge your selves unworthy of everlasting life Lo we turn to the Gentiles He charged them for putting the word of God from them The Apostle had put the word of God home to them and they put it from them thus it is with many The Gospel is tendered to them as necessary physick sent down from Heaven and ministred to them by the Preachers of the word but they put it from them either they do not take it down or presently cast it up again Secondly there is an inclination in corrupt Nature to corrupt the Truths of the Gospel and to make them occasions of increasing the disease and so to make the Gospel to become the servant of death unto death Corrupt Nature is apt to make both the law and the Gospel occasions of increasing these diseases of the soul concerning the Law the Apostle saith when we were in the flesh the motions of sin which were by the Law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death This explaineth afterwards as in other passages wherefore the Law is holy and the Commandment holy and just and good the Law is perfectly holy and just and good and therefore cannot be properly the cause of any thing sinful and unholy Was that then which is good made death unto me God forbid But sin that it might appear sin working death in me by that which is good that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful such is the malignity of corrupt Nature that it worketh evil out of good and maketh the pure and holy Law of God an occasion of sin the more sin is forbidden reproved threatned condemned by the Law the more vehemently is the corruption of nature carried after sin So for the Gospel the Apostle Peter saith that Christ preached in the Gospel is to them that are disobedient a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence when to them which stumble at the word being disobedient whereunto also they were appointed They stumble and take offence because they like not those terms upon which Christ is offered to them in the Gospel How dangerous is it then to continue in this estate of corrupt nature How earnest should poor souls be with the Lord to deliver them The body is in a sad estate when all both food and physick increaseth some deadly disease in it The word and Gospel of God is both food and physick and corrupt Nature is apt to make it an occasion to increase sin and aggravate condemnation Cry mightily to the Lord to work a through cure upon your souls to change and renew your natures to send his spirit along with his word that it may overpower the diseases of your souls and be unto you the favour of life unto life Secondly This may teach us not to think it strange that so many pretious Truths of the Gospel are denyed and rejected in these days so many parts of Scripture abused with false interpretations and corrupt glosses so many errors and lyes maintained instead of Truths Corrupt nature
own works performed in obedience to the Law cannot stand together Christ died to purchase forgiveness of sins and justification for his people but if any would be justified by the Law they go about to frustrate the grace of God as if Christ had died in vain Christ is become of none effect to you whosoever of you are justified by the Law ye are fallen from grace when he saith Whosoever c. he doth not grant that any are or can be justified by the Law but whosoever rely upon the works of the Law for justification hoping to be justified by the Law they loose the benefit of Christs death and satisfaction The Lord Christ is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him and therefore none of them do save themselves or justifie themselves in any part There is a most clear place to shew that justification by works and justification by faith cannot stand together that no man is justified by the Law in the sight of God is evident for the just shall live by faith or the just by faith shall live and the Law is not of faith but the man that doth them shall live in them Justification righteousness everlasting life and salvation is obtained by faith in Christ applying his righteousness to the soul but the Law is not of faith but the man that doth them shall live in them The Law is a Covenant of another Nature the man that doth the works of the Law shall live in them There is no possibility of being justified by the Law unless a man could perfectly fulfill it this is impossible for any man to do 1. Because of the corruption of his Nature which is every way contrary to the Law 2. Because all and far more than all that he can do for the time to come is due debt to the justice of God and cannot make the least satisfaction for his sins past no not for any one of those numberless sins whereof he was formerly guilty 3. Because the best mans righteousness is imperfect and falleth short of the perfection of the Law no righteousness can satisfie the justice of God but that which is compleat and perfect and therefore the righteousness and performances of the holiest men are of no account at all in the sight of God towards their justification But it may be said that the Apostle Iames saith Ye see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only For Answer to this I conceive That this Apostle Iames here directeth his speech to this end sâ—il to shew the vanity and folly of those who deceive themselves with a shadow of faith presumptuously fancying to themselves an interest in Christ imagining that their sins are forgiven and their persons justified by his death satisfaction and righteousness but their faith is not sound it is not such a faith as truly receiveth Christ into the heart whereby Believers are made one with Christ possessing him partaking of his spirit which stirreth them up to conform themselves to Christ to follow him to bring forth the fruits of the spirit and therefore he saith ver 20. Faith without works is dead So it is a working faith which justifieth because such a faith alone doth truly lay hold of Christ and his righteousness On the other side holiness and good works do not at all justifie believers in a proper sense but evidence the persons to be justified because they shew that such by faith unfeigned are united unto Christ whose righteousness alone doth justifie and therefore he saith What doth it profit my Brethren if a man say he hath faith and have not works Can faith save him He speaketh of such as say they have faith not of those that have a lively saving faith indeed So ver 19. he speaketh to such Thou believest that there is one God thou dost well the Divels also believe and tremble So that he sheweth that a dead faith is but such a faith as the Divels have which is far from justifying and saving those that have it 2. I conceive his meaning is that holiness and the fruits of faith do declare and manifest true believers to be justified before men A man will say thou hast faith and I have works shew me thy faith without thy works and I will shew thee my faith by my works as if he had said Natural life shews it self by the motions and actings of life so doth spiritual life evidence it self by the motions and actings of spiritual life True faith embracing Christ and his righteousness for justification is a principle of spiritual life Thou therefore who pretendest to have this faith how canst thou make it appear how canst thou shew or declare it when thou puttest forth no motions or actings of spiritual life The use of this may be 1. To shew us the miserable and woful estat of all that are not in Christ. They are no justified they cannot be justified in that condition for there is no way for men to be justified in the fight of God by any works of their own performed in obedience to the Law and if they be not justified then they are condemned there is no middle estate between these two So the Apostle implieth where speaking of those that are in Christ he faith It is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth This sheweth that they that are justified and accepted as righteous in the sight of God are not condemned and so on the contrary they that are not justified are condemned All then that are not in Christ are in the state of condemnation so it is implied ver 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Iesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit So on the other side there is no justification no salvation to them that are not in Christ Jesus He that believeth not is condemned already he is condemned for his sin the sentence of condemnation is passed upon him by the Lord and he wanteth a sound saving faith to lay hold on Christ and his righteousness whereby alone he might be justified and freed from the sentence of condemnation and therefore while poor souls remain in this condition what can they do but treasure up wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgement of God People may attend upon ordinances perform divers duties in publick and in private and yet still lye under the sentence of condemnation They may make some kind of reformation refraining from some outward gross acts of sin they may be civil and orderly in their conversations above many other and yet the wrath of God may still abide upon them In this case it is not enough to alter your course in some things but your state and condition must be altered nothing can help you while you are out of Christ and stand upon your
of men but of God The same Apostle saith that Abraham received the sign of Circumcision and seal of the righteousness of faith These Scriptures compared together shew that Circumcision did seal the Covenant of Grace between God and his people on the one side confirming the promises of God to them as a seal added to the blood of his Covenant on the other side engaging them to answer the ends of the Covenant by Circumcising their hearts mortifying their corruptions and forsaking their sins The sum of Gods promises sealed by the Sacrament of Circumcision is delivered in these words I will establish my Covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting Covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee I conceive this conteineth as much as all the promises of the Gospel For what is there in all the promises concerning pardon of sin justification adoption the graces of Sanctification the comforts and joyes of the holy Ghost Communion with God strength against temptation protection against the assaults of Satan and the world hearing and answering of prayers support under afflictions victory over death everlasting life and salvation and other promises and priviledges granted to Believers in the Gospel I say what is there in all these which is not comprehended in this promise I will be their God God is all sufficient he is all in all and when he giveth himself he giveth all good things and blessings and this was sealed by Circumcision Now this promise and Covenant is fulfilled in Christ for out of Christ men and women are both strangers and Enemies to God and have no interest in him The Lord is so far from being their God that he is their Enemy saith the Apostle When we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son The best of men and women are in a state of enmity with God until they are reconciled by Christ. And that Covenant sealed by Circumcision wherein the Lord promised to be the God of Abraham and of his seed was the same for substance with that where he saith I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing and I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed I conceive the promise of Christ is twice included here when it is said I will make thee a blessing and again in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed Abraham was made a blessing and the Nations and families of the Earth were blessed in him in this regard because Christ according to the flesh or humane nature was to issue out of his loynes according to that in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed that is in Christ. So that Abraham found that in Christ which was sealed to him by Circumcision Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness and he received the sign of Circumcision a seal of the righteousness of faith which he had yet being uncircumcised Circumcision attained its end in Christ and he was the substance of this shadow in him believers are reconciled to God and he becometh their God and they are made his people being justified by his righteousness and by his spirit they are circumcised in heart their corruptions are mortified and their body of sin destroyed which is an evidence of their union with Christ and justification by him and this may move us to labour to be found in Christ that we may be circumcised in heart that the power of sin may be killed in us that we may be conformed unto his death our sinful lusts and affections being crucified by virtue of his death on the Cross that so as the Apostle saith we may be circumcised with the circumcision made without hands in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the Circumcision of Christ. 2. In as much as circumcision was a seal of that Covenant whereby God gave himself to his people to be their God in Christ and a seal of the righteousness of saith and so of the pardon of sin and justification through the righteousness of Christ apprehended by faith It is clear that all the Arguments of the Anabaptists fall to the ground which they build either upon the pretended difference of Baptisme and circumcision or of the Covenants sealed by them or upon the incapacitie of Infants for it is evident that the same Covenant which is confirmed by Baptisme was also sealed by circumcision and if Infants under the old Testament were capable of circumcision how are they made uncapable of Baptism under the Gospel And accordingly you may observe how the Apostle compareth baptisme and circumcision together and sheweth how the latter cometh in place of the former for having warned believers not to hearken to those who would bring them in bondage unto Iewish Ceremonies he telleth them ye are compleat in hi scil in Christ aâ—d so need not to observe those shadows of the Law in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. So that they have the same circumcision in Christ w ch their Fathers had under the Law and therefore needed not the outward circumcision But lest any should think thus our faith under the Gospel needeth outward helps to confirm it as well as theirs under the old Testament he addeth these words ver 12 Buried with him in baptisme wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from the dead as if he had said instead of Circumcision ye have the Sacrament of baptisme signifying the same thing and sealing the Covenant of grace and righteousness of faith Secondly The other Sacrament was that of the Passeover this was instituted by the Lord while Israel was in Egypt and was first celebrated that same night that they came out of that house of Bondage The sum of the ordinance was this that every family should chuse a Lamb a male of the first year without blemish they were to separate it from the rest of the flock on the tenth day of the Month setting apart four days until the fourteenth day at even when it was to be killed they were to take of the blood and strike it upon the two side-posts and on the upper door-posts of the houses wherein the Lambs was to be eaten and the same night they were commanded to eat the flesh of the Lamb roasted with fire and with unleavened bread and bitter herbs but if any family were too little for a Lamb it was to joyne with the next and they were to eat it in hast with their loines girded their shoes on their feet and their staffe in their hand as men prepared to travel
to his command should learn of him who is meek and lowly of heart and be content to be conformed to him in sufferings taking up his Cross and following him They should be useful and serviceable as Christ was who was figured by such creatures offered in Sacrifice 2. Ye may note in general that an offering presented to the Lord was called in the Hebrew Korban of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to draw near This may teach us that none was fit to offer an offering to the Lord but only the Lord Jesus Christ and those that come to God by him for all mankind since the fall were a far off at a great distance from God but the Lord Iesus Christ being God and Man is nigh unto the Father In regard of his Godhead he is the only begotten Son of God in the bosom of the Father as he is man personally united to the Son of God he is one person with the Son of God and being without spot of sin he came near to God to present himself an offering and a Sacrifice unto him Secondly none can come nigh unto the Lord to offer any spiritual Sacrifice to him or to have any inward communion with him but in and by the Lord Jesus Christ But now in Christ Iesus Ye who sometime were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Christ being nigh to God drew nigh unto him actually with the sacrifice and offering of himself and so made way for sinners who were afar off from God by their sin and guilt to draw nigh to God by virtue of his blood that applying his blood satisfaction and righteousness to themselves they might be made nigh unto God in regard of their estate being taken into Covenant with him as his confederates and so into Communion and that they might draw nigh unto him from time to time in offering spiritual services and sacrifices to him by Jesus Christ. Let us all see our great need of Christ there is no coming nigh unto God but by him neither in respect of our estate nor of our services but in Christ there is access to be had in both respects But more especially First The burntoffering This was called in Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth ascending or ascension because all the flesh of the beast being burned upon the Altar was to ascend or go up towards heaven in fire so the Lord Jesus Christ when he was here on earth in the flesh offered up himself to his father in heaven the infinite virtue of his Sacrifice ascending to the Throne of God for the appeasing of his wrath and satisfying of his justice for sin This may teach us also that we should present our whole selves souls and bodies sacrifices living holy acceptable to God and that they which will thus present themselves to the Lord must be heavenly minded their souls and hearts must be raised and ascend upward How many carnal outward dead hearted services are dropped down before the Lord that never ascend upward having nothing of heaven nor of Christ his spirit in them Secondly He that offered the burntoffering was to lay his hand upon the head of the creature that was to be slain so he that will have benefit by the sacrifice of Christ must lay hold of him by the hand of faith Thirdly The Bullock for the burntoffering was to be killed the blood of it to be poured out this 1. was fulfilled in Christ according as it was Prophesied of him He is brought as a Lamb to the slaughter He was cut off out of the land of the living ver 9. His grave and death are expresly mentioned thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin ver 12. He hath poured out his soul unto death And Daniel Prophesied that Messiah or Christ should be cut off or slain and without shedding of blood there is no remission 1. This may move Christians to pitty and earnestly pray for the poor blinded Israelites that the Lord would be pleased to take the vail from their hearts Is it not lamentable to consider that they should make the Cross and death of Christ a stumbling block whereas his death and sufferings are so clearly foretold in the Law and the Prophets which themselves acknowledge to be the word of God Yea all those millions of sacrificâ—s slain and offered according to the Lord his appointment did clearly foreshew the death of Christ and the shedding of his most pretious blood for the sins of the world But how is man left to the darkness of his own mind and blinded by Satan Secondly See here how odious sin is in the sight of God which nothing could wash away but the blood of Christ figured by the death and blood of these legal Sacrifices for it is not possible that the blood of Bulls and Goats should take away sins these did signifie the blood of the Son of God infinitely more pretious of sufficient virtue to wash away the greatest and foulest sins How should we tremble at sin Should we not look upon every sin as bloody as murtherous either as slaying the sinner himself or as killing his Saviour either thy sin must be washed away with the blood of Christ or it will cost thee more then thy best blood is worth Thirdly This is for comfort to souls burdened and oppressed with the guilt of sin that that one sacrifice even Christ himself figured by so many millions oâ— sacrifices is offered to satisfie for sin that that blood figured by the blood of so many offerings is shed to take away sin and that God hath purchased his Church with his own blood it is the blood of God because of him who is God and man in one person though not the blood of the God-head The blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God cleanseth from all sin it is of infinite value it is of more virtue then all the bloody sacrifices of the Law 4. Woe unto those wretches that dare to swear prophanely by this pretious blood or by those bleeding wounds of the Son of God Is not this to trample under foor the blood of the Covenant 4. The death of these sacrifices may teach us 〈◊〉 kill our dearest sins to slay our lusts to mortifie our corruptions Christ did not dye for sin that thou mightest live in sin but that thou mightest dye to sin and live to him ye righteousness and holiness I beseech you therefore Brethren by the mercies of God that 〈◊〉 present your bodyes a Sacrifice living holy and acceptable to God a Sacrifice and therefore slain and yet a living Sacrifice Present your selves a sacrifice dying to sin and a sacrifice living quickned with grace living in the spirit Again among all the burnt offerings ye may take particular note of the continual burnt offerings sacrificed to the Lord every day one Lamb in the morning and another in the evening
power and Authority striving to abolish the Law and to deface the likeness of God's holiness out of the minds of all mankind for ever that God should have none amongst the children of men to serve obey and honour him but all of them should become slaves and vassals to the Devils being led captive by them at their will 2. They aimed at the destruction of mankind to bring them into the same condemnation with themselves by blotting out the Law written in their minds according to which they should have walked and according to which they shall be judged and bringing them under a contrary Law of sin and death so then God having written this Law in the soul and the Devil having blotted it out and brought mankind under a contrary Law of sin In the third place let us consider the work of the Lord Iesus Christ that was to destroy the works of the Devil Saith the Apostle Iohn He that committeth sin is of the Devil for the Devil sinneth from the begining for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil He that committeth sin he that maketh sin his business sinning with the full bent of his will is of the Devil He remaineth in that condition into which the Devil brought mankind at the first subject to the Law and power of sin which is quite contrary to that Law of righteousness and holiness which God imprinted upon the soul of man in the Creation for the Devil sinneth from the beginning he sinned and fell from God and he drew men into sin and still leadeth them on in a course of sin and disobedience against God Now saith the Apostle for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil He doth not say barely that the Son of God destroyed the works of the Devil but for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that c. one great work of the Devil as ye heard was to deface the likeness of God in the soul of man and to bring him under a Law of sin This work among others Christ came to destroy where note 1. That no meer Creature was able to destroy this work of the Devil It may be some may think that good and holy Angels might be as able to undo this evil work as Devils or evil Angels were to do it But it is not so the reason is not because the good Angels have less power than the Devils but because of the nature of that work of the Devil for the work of the Devil was a destroying work as hath been shewed it was the destroying of the Law of mans Creation which was written in his soul the defacing and blotting out of Gods hand-writing the likeness of Gods holiness and the subjecting of man to the destroying Law of sin it was the taking away of mans spiritual life by dividing him from God the fountain of life Now to destroy or undo this destructive work of Satan is to abolish that Law of sin and death in man and to write that contrary Law in the soul of man which Satan had blotted out that is to restore man to the likeness of God to fashion him again after the Image of God in knowledge Righteousness and holiness to raise man whom Satan had murdered to spiritual life Now it requireth a far greater power to repair and restore then to destroy one Murderer may take away life all the Angels in Heaven nor all the men on earth cannot restore life to the dead None but the living God can do it who is the fountain of life So the Devil and man yeilding to the Devils suggestion could destroy spiritual life The Law written in the heart of man that primitive perfection and integrity of mans Nature framed after the Image of God in knowledge righteousness and holiness but no meer Creatures none but the Prince of life the supream Law-giver by whom all things were made could restore spiritual life write this primitive Law in the soul of man But it may be Objected That this work which the Apostle Iohn saith Christ came into the world to do is a work of destroying I Answ. We are to consider the object of this destroying work of Christ what it was that Christ destroyed that was a destructive work wrought by the Devil that great destroyer and Murderer Christ came to destroy that destruction which Satan had wrought to destroy destruction is to repair and restore that which was destroyed to destroy death is to restore life So the Apostle speaking of the Resurrection of Believers to glory saith When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written Death is swallowed up in victory Death had slain thousands of Saints and Christ by restoring them to life raising them to immortality and everlasting life shall swallow up death in victory So in the Prophecy of Hosea I will ransome them from the power of the grave I will redeem them from Death O death I will be thy Plague O Grave I will be thy destruction The Lord may be said as it were to kill death and to destroy or bury the grave when he ransometh his people from death and the grave and raiseth them up to everlasting life So in this case when Christ is said to destroy the destructive works of Satan ye must understand that he was to restore that which Satan had ruined This no meer Creature in Heaven and Earth was able to do and therefore in the second place the Son of God undertook it it was a work of Almighty power to restore the Law of mans Creation spiritual life the Likeness of God his Righteousness and Holiness to any of Adams posterity to any of the seed of the woman and to inable any of them to perform â—ull and perfect obedience to the Law None but God could do it and therefore the Son of God who is very God performed it The Devil seemed for ever to have deprived mankind of the Image of God and for ever to have disabled all the Sons of men from fulfilling the Law but the Son of God confounded Satan herein and destroyed this destroying work of the Devil by restoring that which he had destroyed by framing one of Adams posterity one of the seed of the woman after the Image of God in righteousness and holiness and inabling him perfectly in every point to fulfill the Law Thirdly The Apostle shews how the Son of God performed this great work it was by the manifestation of himself For this purpose the Son of God was manifested c. His manifestation was his incarnation his being made flesh taking the nature of man into the unity of his person for the Son of God in his divine nature is invisible not manifested but when he became Man he was
Son who are one God and two distinct persons then his God-head is expresly asserted And the word was God the same God with the Father all things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made all the Creatures were made by Christ of nothing and therefore he is very God for by him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers all things were Created by him and for him and he is before all things and by him all things consist not only all visible Creatures on Earth but also all the glorious Angels of Heaven were created by him and his eternity is declared He is before all things his Almighty power is asserted by him all things consist The frame of the world would fall in peices the Beings of the Creatures would be disjoynted dissolved did not his Almighty Arm hold all together He upholdeth all things by the word of power and least any blasphemous adversary of Christ his God-head should object that Christ might create the world as aâ— instrument and inferiour Agent under the Father The Apostle telleth us All things were created not only by him but also for him He is the principal Agent and he is the cheif end of the Creation They were made for his glory a clear evidence to prove him to be very God the same God with the Father for it is the peculiar Prerogative of God to be the highest of the whole Creation for whom all things were made for of him and through him and to him are all things to him in this place and for him in the other have the same sense and the original is the same in both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Apostle shews That Christ being in the form of God thought or judged it to be no Robbery to be equal with God in all eternity he was in the form of God he was really properly essentially God and therefore judged it to be no robbery to be equal with God This cutteth off all cavils for how could it have been less then an high degree of robbery or Sacriledge for any one that was not as truly and properly God as the Father even the same God with the Father to judge himself equal with God in as much as God the Creator is infinitely above the most excellent of the Creatures Secondly He took upon him the Nature of man the word was made flesh The eternal word or Son of God who was before all time without beginning of dayes was pleased in the fulness of time to be made flesh not by transmutation but by assumption not by turning his unchangeable God-head into flesh but by taking flesh that is a true humane Nature soul and body into the unity of his person so uniting the nature of man to his God-head as to make it properly his own to become one person with himself the God-head being never separated again from the manhood nor confounded with it both natures remaining distinct but never divided from each other the same Christ remaining perfect God and perfect man so where it is shewed that being in the form of God c. it followeth But made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of men and found in fashion as a man c. And without controversie great is the mystery of Godliness God was manifest in the flesh This is indeed a great mystery of such an height and depth and far exceedeth the reach of mens understandings yet a most certain and infallible truth to be received by faith and it was necessary the Redeemer of manking should be both God and man that he might satisfie the justice of God and bear the penalty of the Law due to the sins of the world First It was necessary that he should be God 1. That he might inable the humane nature to bear the weight of Gods wrath and revenging justice to support the manhood from sinking under it and being swallowed up of it whom God hath raised up having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it death had taken a prisoner whom it was no way able to hold Jesus Christ as he was man suffered death and lay dead in the grave but as he was God he raised his humane nature from the dead Secondly That the infinite worth and excellency of his God-head might make his sufferings of sufficient value to satisfie the justice of God and the severity of the Law for the numberless sins of the world the same man that suffered being one person with God and so his sufferings being though not the sufferings of the God-head yet the sufferings of God that is the sufferings of him who is God and therefore it is said that God hath purchased a Church with his own blood And what is there which the blood of God was not sufficient to purchase Secondly It was necessary Christ should be man that he might satisfie the Law and bear the penalty 1. That he might be subject to the Law for it was impossible that the God-head should be made under the Law because the Law received its Authority from God and therefore could have no Authority over him therefore he was made of a womnn and so made under the Law 2. That he might be in a capacity to suffer the full penalty of the Law for it is impossible for the God-head which is the fountain of life to dye or to bear the Curse being the fulness of blessedness and therefore saith the Apostle We see Jesus who was made a little lower then the Angels for the suffering of death He that being very God was infinitely higher then the Angels took into the unity of his person a nature a little lower then the Angels scil the nature of man and that for the suffering of death and so for the satisfying of the Law 3. That He might make Satisfaction to the Law and bear the punishment of it in the sâ—me nature of man in which the Law was transgressed and broken for verily He took not on him the nature of Angels but He took on him the seed of Abraham wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his Brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful High-Priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people to make satisfaction for the transgressions of the people against the Law and to reconcile them to God the Law-giver 3. He took upon him the guilt of mens sins putting himself into the state and standing in the state of guilty sinners as it were putting his Name into their Bond and voluntarily taking their debts upon himself all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the