He was raised again for our Justification Chap 8. 34. He lives for ever to make intercession for us So his Godhead concurs with his Man hood in applying his purchase to us and thus his Divine Power gives us all things that pertain to Life and Godliness But this hath nothing in it to prove that considered meerly as God he is our Saviour and that he never as God man purchased Salvation for us or that he applies salvation to us without any respect to his purchase or that his manhood doth not at all concur in applying salvation to us God is our Saviour but in saving us he give us nothing but what is purchased Let it be remembred that since Christ as God-man did purchase our salvation and still his Manhood concurrs with his Godhead in applying it Christ as God man is our Saviour and not as God only And to deny that Christ is our Saviour as God-man is to contradict all promises and Prophecies concerning Christ as the Son of Man the Seed of the Woman the seed of Abraham of David that a bone of him shall not be broken that he should be a man of sorrows In the old Testament And to contradict the whole History of the New and indeed the whole Gospel of Christ What saith he of himself Rev. 22.16 I am the Root and Of-spring of David As God the Root as man the Of-spring And what was his main design in taking our nature Mind that Scripture Matt. 26.28 This is my blood of the new Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins His design was by dying for us to purchase our pardon and consequently salvation Act. 20.28 God purchased the Church by his blood This never could be excluding his manhood As God man then he is our Saviour It follows If the light in every man can of it self Reveal Chrst as our Saviour then it must without the help of supernatural Revelation discover that the Son of God took our Nature on him that he did dye for us that he did purchase forgiveness and salvation for us by his death If it cannot Reveal these things it cannot reveal our Saviour for by these things he is our Saviour Let me a new propound my Argument That that Reveals not Christ as God-man that hath dyed for us to purchase our forgiveness cannot be a full Rule cannot guide us to salvation But this Light cannot so Reveal him I prove the Major by that Scripture John 6.53 Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood ye have no life in you Except by a lively Contemplation of your humane nature assumed into one person with my divine Nature faith in Gods mercy springs and is dayly nourished and strengthened and quickned in you Your souls are not sanctified not reconciled to God and his wayes you have no heart to serve God in sincerity so as to be accepted of God and to live with him in Eternity You are dead in your sins If life Eternal be to know him as Jesus Christ whom the Father sent John 17.3 Then not to know him as Jesus Christ whom the Father hath sent is to be deprived of Eternal life The Jews therefore though they trust in a promised Messiah yet not looking on him as already sent they perish God hath now set him forth to be a propitiation through faith in his Blood Rom. 3.25 If we have have not faith in his blood then there is but little hope to have Gods wrath turned away from us But the light in every Man as hath been shewn cannot of it self reveal Christ at all much less thus reveal him We have a Maxim in Philosophy nil fit in intellectu quod non fuit prius in sensu All our knowledge comes in by our senses And it holds good here for as we in this age could never have known that there was such a man as Alexander the great were it not that we read and hear of him so by the bare light in every man never could we attain to know that Christ was born that he lived a sinless life that he suffered death suffered for our sins by the appointment of the Father and thereby obtained Eternal Redemption for us and that he rose the third day and is now removed up into glory God doth not ordinarlly give us this knowledge any other way but by our senses Rom. 10.17 Faith comes by hearing vers 14. How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard This knowledge then comes not from our light within but from our light without viz. the Gospel read or preached to us The Conclusion 1 hope is now evident that this light in every man is no full Rule nor by it self is it any Rule at all to Heaven Object G. W. Divinity of Christ p. 41. Then all the Gentiles that have not the Gospel preached to them perish Answ 1. The Scriptures Reveals but one way of Salvation for the Jew and for the Gentile or Heathen and that his knowledge of and faith in Christ Rom. 3.30 Seeing it is one God shall justifie the Circumcision by Faith and the Vncircumcision through Faith Gal. 3.8 The Scripture foreseeing that God would justifie the Heathen through Faith Preached before the Gospel unto Abraham 2. Therefore where God designs the saving of any among the Gentiles he doth bring them to the knowledge of Christ and works faith in them and this ordinarily by the Gospel which the word of Faith Ro. 15.12 There shall be a Root of Jesse and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles in him shall the Gentiles trust 3. Therefore where the Gospel is not given generally they perish Where no Vision is the people perish Object Divination of Christ p. 40. This layes the blame upon God that they are not saved Answ Methinks Men should dread to oppose so clear a truth by so desperate a deduction least God condemn them for Blasphemers of his Majesty at the last day A fallen creature without a Saviour cannot be saved now is the blame to be laid on God that Devils are not saved because God provided not a Saviour for them What a wicked and hellish Position is this if God gives not every sinner what is necessary to Salvation the blame is to be laid on God that he is not saved Without Regeneration no man can be saved is the blame of every damned mans perdition to be laid on God because he did not Regenerate him Is God thus a debter to sinners Who hath first given to him By sin all mankind hath forfeited salvation God was not bound to provide for us a Saviour any more then for the fallen Angels therefore it cannot be he should be bound to give the Gospel to every one of us though without this we ordinarily perish The Gospel is Gods own and may he not without blame do what he will with his own give it to whom he please and deny it to whom he
alwaies when it makes use of the word Job 1.1 Job was a perfect man yet not without sin for he cursed his day Phil. 3.15 As many of us as are perfect It signifies not free from all sin for in this sense saith he ver 12. I am not already perfect Hence it follows an Argument from the use of the word in Scripture as I spake wisdome among them that are perfect c. concludes not unless it be first proved that the sense of the word in that place be free from all sin In the First Dispute G. W. objected many things As 1. Christians to destroy the works of the Devil It was Answered So he will in his time He took Six dayes to create the world when he could have done it in a moment Thus he mortifies sin more and more in this Life and will remove its being in the next Quest But why will he not in this Life Answ It is his good pleasure Quest p. 22. Can he see good not to abolish it Can he see the Continuance of evill good Or that his Commands should not be kept Answ He sees good to suffer the ungodly to go on in sin for the eternal advancement of his Justice If it were not so how easily could he change them He sees good to suffer Corruptions in part mortified in his Saints to keep them humble exercise them drive them to his blood and Righteousness for shelter from wrath and to render the infinite perfection of his merits and of his Fathers pardoning grace to all eternity more resplendent and glorious Ob. 2. Then his pleasure and commands are contrary for he hids us be perfect Answ God commands to offer Isaac he purposeth Isaac shall not be offered This shews he doth not efficaciously will every thing he commands Yet though here is a seeming here is no real contrariety By commanding he made it Abrahams duty his pleasure was to make it Abrahams duty Yet was it his pleasure it should not indeed be performed What real contrariety is here If he had further Objected God commandeth us nothing but what he enables us in this life to perform Answ He commands us from the beginning of Life to the end of Life to continue in all things written in the Law to do them yet he enables none of us to obey this command because he will not save us without Covenant of Grace and the continued sinless obedience of Jesus Christ our surety Ob. 3. Either sin is perfectly remeved in this Life or after death If after death whether doth it remain one moment after death Answ It sufficeth me to be assured from Gods word it is not done away in this Life it shall in the next Let the Lord take his own time to effect it Because I see mention of Purgatory p. 20. I further adde that since no unclean thing shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven since Christ is to present us holy unblameable unreproveable in his sight a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle As part of what Christ hath merited touching this point is applyed from time to time to a Believer whereby he dyes unto sin by degrees so at his death the whole of Christs merit is applyed immediately whereby sin is for ever totally abolished and the soul prepared to see God to his unspeakable comfort face to face Ob. 4. But it is the end of the Ministry which is to continue till we come to a perfect man Eph. 4.13 It was Answered That perfect man is Christ with all his Members for he consists of many till we all come to a perfect man And he is thus to be a perfect man in the other world not this Quest Is the Ministry to continue in the other World It was Answered The Ministry is to continue to the last Trump and to the last Trump will sin be in the Saints but then in a Moment will the Saints be changed and perfected and in the same moment will the Ministry cease In the second dispute he urged ver 12. Christ gave Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints Here I asked how long was the Ministry to continue in perfecting of the Saints whether till death or no After a pause he answered not so long as death I gave him a Scripture to prove that the Ministry and Scriptures were perfecting the Saints as long as they live Deut. 17.19 The King shall read therein all the days of his Life that he may learn to fear the Lord his God If he is to learn to fear God all the dayes of his Life Hence thus I argue whilst the Ministry and Scriptures are perfecting the Saints they are not perfected As whilst a Carpenter is building an house the house is not builded whilst God was creating the world the world was not created In the very moment when the world was created in that very moment God did cease from creating But the Ministry and Scriptures are perfecting the Saints all the dayes of their Life therefore the Saints are not perfected all the dayes of their Life He answered the Jews are under another dispensation or Covenant I asked in regard the Scriptures were perfecting the Jews all the dayes of their Life whether he would grant that the Jews at least were not porfected all the dayes of their Life here he was gone for he knew not how to deny it being made so plain though he would not grant it I could get no answer from him Here we may see how false that Assertion of theirs is that there is no coming to heaven for any in the other world who are not first freed from all sin in this It is evident God brought the Jews to heaven yet was not one of them made free from sin in this Ob. Psal 119.1 Blessed are the undefiled It was Answered 1. In point of Justification Believers are in Christ their head spotless clear as the Moon fair as the Sun 2. In point of Sanctification through renewing and assisting grace they do not allow themselves in any known sin but in Gods fear oppose all and this is their evangelical perfection or sincerity Ob. 6. Psal 119.3 They also do no iniquity To which may be added Divin of Christ p 3. He that abideth in Christ sinneth not doth not commit sin in whose spirit is no guile Answ 1. They allow themselves in no sin but sincerely strive to do their duty Answ 2. So far as regenerate and acting from the regenerate part they do no iniquity a Parallel place is Rom. 7.17 It is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me Where Paul manifestly distinguisheth between his regenerate and unregenerate part nor is this Tautologie as G. W. insinuates Glory Christs Light p. 21. For to say a man acteth from his regenerate part speaks the springing of his actions from a right principle to say he doth no iniquity speaks the conformity of his Life to a right Rule It follows not hence the Saints are perfectly free
it would be his sin Eli's not punishing his Sons cost him dear and so did the like offence cost David The Lord would have us forgive private Injuries for his sake who will make us satisfaction when the Offender cannot as he himself is willing to forgive us for Christs sake who hath made him satisfaction which we cannot Eph. 4.32 Forgive one another even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you And since we have assurance that it is the free pleasure and purpose of God according to the truth of his Word and as he judgeth it meet to punish all sin and that he hath punished our sin in his Son how vain is it now to question Cannot God appease his own wrath If God will not justifie us without satisfaction we are not to look for it any other way but rather admire and heartily embrace his Mercy in that for Christs sake he is willing to forgive us Obj. 2. Christs Sufferings could not be any satisfaction to Gods Justice for our sins For they were Persecutors that imputed sin to him p. 63. Nothing but a Creature suffered He suffered by sinners and under the burden and weight of their Transgressions His tender Spirit suffered for Transgressors foreseeing wrath coming on them p. 58. He suffered not eternal death not that height of revenge as goes against Reprobate Angels p. 9. Not infinite Wrath pag. 45. Answ Whatever Persecutors did it must not be denied that God laid on him the iniquity of us all Nor that God made his Soul an Offering for Sin though men were Instruments of part of his Sufferings Not only did he grieve foreseeing mens misery but he bore the killing stroak of Gods Justice to prevent the misery of all that believe in him Without his Death Justice would not suffer that we should be forgiven Without shedding of Blood there is no Remission For the sake of his Death Gods wrath is appeased towards us he forgives accepts loves saves us What can be more evident than that Gods Justice is satisfied in his Death And for that person who is God to suffer a Temporal Death though in his humane nature only this is of infinite value an infinite abasement a stroak of infinite wrath for had not Gods wrath against sin been infinite he would not thus have struck a person of infinite worth and dearness to him interposing as Surety between him and us miserable sinners For God in our Nature to suffer what he did this is more than for Men or Devils to suffer Gods eternal wrath or revenge this wrath more clearly shines in the Infinitude of it in thus smiting the Brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person than in the eternal damnation of Men and Devils in the unquenchable Flames of Hell Obj. 3. It cannot be that God should punish our sins in Christ to satisfie his Justice God doth not hate his Son p. 52. God bears Infinite love to his Son His Law is the Son shall not bear the iniquity of the Father but every man his own sins Answ That Law admits exceptions One is this Except one man voluntarily becomes Surety for another In this case Gods Law is Take his Garment And he that is Surety for a Stranger shall surely smart for it In regard then Christ voluntarily became Surety for us in punishing him for our Sins God doth not act contrary to this Rule And in regard Christ could conquer his Sufferings and they according to the everlasting appointment of God were to be a Step to his own eternal advancement as well as the Salvation of his chosen it was an act of Gods Dear Love to chuse him forth for this Undertaking though for a time he poured forth his wrath upon him for our Iniquities Isa 42.1 Behold my Servant whom I uphold mine Elect in whom my Soul delighteth Obj. 4. Christs death did not make satisfaction to Gods Justice for our sins God promiseth pardon upon our repentance and turning p. 40. If satisfaction be made what need could there be of Christs Intercession p. 15. Why are not all out of Prison and Fetters Why doth the Debt of Obedience still remain p. 60. Why are those for whom Christ died still punished p. 61. Answ It is for Christs sake that God doth pardon upon repentance there is no pardon for fallen Angels promised upon their repentance because Christ satisfied not for them But having purchased Salvation for us at the hands of Justice by his Intercession he obtains the purchase at the hands of free Grace and so applies it to us Christs Death doth so glorifie Gods Justice in our Salvation as if therein he had put forth no act of Grace Christs Intercession doth so glorifie Gods Grace in our Salvation as if therein he had put forth no act of Justice This Satisfaction was designed for all them who through special Grace in time believe These all are delivered here from the guilt and reigning power of their sins and so are out of their Fetters and shall hereafter be delivered from the being of sin It is required of them that they be obedient which is but Gratitude Being disobedient they shall be corrected for their good which is but Love and Kindness They are to suffer nothing from revengeful wrath nothing in order to the satisfying of Gods Justice they shall never come into Condemnation Obj. 5. This Doctrine is mans Invention Did Christ satisfie that man might take liberty to sin As if a Prince should grant an Act of Indempnity that his Subjects might spread Dung on his Face p. 48. Answ How will mad men spurn away Gold and cast Dirt on those that tender it to them Since Mankind fallen must needs according to the truth of Gods Laws established perish for ever as well as fallen Angels if we had had no Mediator to expose himself to the Stroak of Gods Justice engaged and resolved to punish our sins Since for Christs sufferings sake it is that we are pardoned accepted saved all this according to the unerring Scriptures of our most glorious God He must shut his eyes against the Sun who will not see that this Doctrine of Satisfaction is according to truth Nor doth it tend to Licentiousness If a discovery that the least sin deserves Gods infinite wrath that upon commission of the least sin nothing can free us from everlasting burnings but the Death of Jesus Christ in our stead that for the sake of Christs death God is most freely ready to forgive all our sins if this tends not to break the heart for sin to turn the heart to God to engage the heart with everlasting indignation against what is displeasing to the Lord what is Nor can this Writer nominate one of us that encourageth men to take liberty of sinning from the consideration of Christs satisfaction Nay he cannot but know that our common doctrine is none are sharers in the benefit of this satisfaction but those who have such lively apprehensions of