on before there is a consequent guilt and torment attends it Adam whilst obedient enjoyed peace with God a sweet serenity of mind a divine calm in the Conscience and full satisfaction in himself But after his Sin he trembled at God's Voice and was tormented at his Presence I heard thy voice and was afraid saith guilty Adam He lookt on God as angry and arm'd against him ready to execute the severe Sentence Conscience began an early Hell within him Paradise with all its Pleasures could not secure him from that sting in his Breast and that sharpen'd by the hand of God What confusion of Thoughts what a combat of Passions was he in when the Temptation which deceived him vanisht and his spirit recovered out of the surprise and took a clear view of his guilt in its true horrour what indignation did it kindle in his Breast How did Shame Sorrow Revenge Despair those secret executioners torment his spirit The intelligent Nature his peculiar excellency above the brutes arm'd misery against him and put a keener edge to it 1. By reflecting upon the foolish exchange he made of God himself for the fruit of a tree That so slender a Temptation should cheat him of his Blessedness His present misery is aggravated by the sad comparison of it with his primitive Felicity Nothing remains of his first Innocence but the vexatious regret of having lost it 2. By the foresight of the Death he deserved The conscience of his Crimes rackt his Soul with the certain and fearful expectation of judgment Besides the inward torment of his Mind he was expos'd to all miseries from without Sin having made a breach into the World the whole Army of Evils enter'd with it the Curse extends it self to the whole Creation For the World being made for Man the place of his residence in his punishment it hath felt the effects of God's displeasure The whole course of Nature is set on fire Whereas a general Peace and amicable Correspondence was establisht between Heaven and Earth whilst all were united in subjection to the Creator Sin that broke the first Union between God and Man hath ruin'd the second As in a State when one part of the Subjects fall from their Obedience the rest which are constant in their Duty break with the Rebels and make war upon them till they return to their Allegiance So universal Nature was arm'd against rebellious Man and had destroyed him without the merciful interposition of God The Angels with flaming Swords expell'd him from Paradise The Beasts who were all innocent whilst Man remained innocent they espouse Gods interest and are ready to revenge the quarrel of their Creator The insensible Creation which at first was altogether beneficial to Man is become hurtful The Heavens somtimes are hardened as Brass in a long obstinate serenity Sometimes are dissolved in a Deluge of rain The earth is barren and unfaithful to the Sower it brings forth Thorns and Thistles instead of Bread In short Man is an enemy to Man When there were but two Brothers to divide the World the one stain'd his hand in the Blood of the other And since the Progeny of Adam is increast into vast Societies all the disasters of the world as Famine Pestilence Deluges the fury of Beasts have not been so destructive of Mankind as the sole malignity of Man against those that partake of the humane Nature To conclude Who can make a list of the evils to which the Body is liable by the disagreeing Elements that compose it The fatal Seeds of Corruption are bred in it self 'T is a prey to all Diseases from the torturing Stone to the dying Consumption It feels the strokes of Death a thousand times before it can die once At last Life is swallowed up of Death And if Death were a deliverance from miseries it would lessen its terror but 't is the consummation of all The first Death transmits to the second As the Body dies by the Souls forsaking it so the Soul by separation from God its true Life dies to its Well-being and Happiness for ever CHAP. III. All Mankind is involv'd in Adam's guilt and under the penal consequences that follow upon it Adam the natural and moral Principle of Mankind An hereditary Corruption is transmitted to all that are propagated from him The account the Scripture gives of the Conveiance of it 'T is an innate Habit. T is universal Corrupt Nature contains the seeds of all Sins though they do not shoot forth together 'T is voluntary and culpable The permission of the Fall is suitable to the Wisdom Holiness and Goodness of God The imputation of Adam's Sin to his Posterity is consistent with God's Justice THe Rebellion of the First Man against the great Creator was a Sin of universal efficacy that derives a guilt and stain to Mankind in all Ages of the World The account the Scripture gives of it is grounded on the relation which all men have to Adam as their natural and moral Principle 1. Their Natural God created one Man in the beginning from whom all others derive their beings And that the unity might be the more entire he form'd of him that aid which was necessary for the communicating his kind to the world He made of one Blood all Nations of Men to dwell on the face of the earth And as the whole race of Mankind was virtually in Adam's Loins so it was presumed to give virtual consent to what he did The Angels were created immediatly and distinctly without dependance upon one another as to their Original therefore when a great number revolted from God the rest were not complicated in their Sin and Ruine But when the first Man who was the Father of Mankind sinn'd there was a Conspiracy of all the Sons of Adam in that Rebellion and not one Subject left in his Obedience 2. He was the moral Principle of Mankind In the first Treaty between God and Man Adam was consider'd not as a single person but as caput gentis and contracted for all his desccndants by ordinary generation His Person was the Fountain of theirs and his Will the representative of theirs From hence his vast Progeny became a party in the Covenant and had a title to the benefits contain'd in it upon his Obedience and was liable to the Curse upon his violation of it Upon this ground the Apostle institutes a parallel between Adam and Christ. That as by one Mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of One many were made righteous As Christ in his Death on the Cross did not suffer as a private person but as a surety and sponsor representing the whole Church according to the testimony of Scripture If one died for all then all were dead so the first Adam who was the figure of him that was to come in his Disobedience was esteem'd a publick Person representing the whole race of Mankind and by a just
and are the measures of his duty to God to himself and to his fellow creatures This was publisht by the voice of Reason and is holy just and good Holy as it enjoins those things wherein there is a conformity to those Attributes and Actions of God which are the pattern of our imitation So the general Rule is Be holy as God is holy in all manner of conversation and this is most honourable to the humane nature 'T is just that is exactly agreable to the frame of mans faculties and most suitable to his condition in the world and good that is beneficial to the observer of it In keeping of it there is great reward And the obligation to it is eternal it being the unchangeable will of God grounded on the natural and unvariable relations between God and Man and between Man and the Creatures Besides the particular directions of the Law of Nature this general Principle was planted in the reasonable Soul to obey God in any instance wherein he did prescribe his pleasure Moreover God was pleased to enter into a Covenant with Adam and with all his Posterity naturally descending from him And this was the effect 1. Of admirable Goodness For by his Supremacy over Man he might have signified his Will meerly by the way of Empire and requir'd Obedience But he was pleased to condescend so far as to deal with Man in a sweeter manner as with a Creature capable of his Love and to work upon him by rewards and punishments congruously to the reasonable Nature 2. Of Wisdom to secure Man's obedience For the Covenant being a mutual engagement between God and Man as it gave him infallible assurance of the reward to strengthen his Faith so it was the surest bond to preserve his Fidelity 'T is true the Precept alone binds by vertue of the authority that imposes it but the consent of the Creature increases the Obligation It twists the cords of the Law and binds more strongly to Obedience Thus Adam was God's servant as by the condition of his nature so by his choice accepting the Covenant from which he could not recede without the guilt and infamy of the worst perfidiousness The terms of the Covenant were becoming the Parties concern'd God and Man It established an inseparable Connexion between Duty and Felicity This appears by the Sanction In the day thou eatest of the forbidden fruit thou shalt die In that particular species of Sin the whole genus is included according to the Apostles Exposition Cursed is every one that doth not continue in all the works of the Law to do them The threatning of Death was exprest it being more difficult to be conceiv'd The promise of Life upon his Obedience was implied and easily suggested it self to the rational Mind These were the most proper and powerful motives to excite his Reason and affect his Will For Death primarily signifies the dissolution of the vital union between the Soul and Body and consequently all the preparatory dispositions thereunto Diseases Pains and all the Affections of Mortality which terminate in Death as their center This is the extremest of temporal Evils which innocent Nature shrunk from it being a deprivation of that excellent state which Man enjoyed But principally it signified the separation of the Soul from God's reviving presence who is the only Fountain of Felicity Thus the Law is interpreted by the Lawgiver The Soul that sins shall die Briefly Death in the threatning is comprehensive of all kinds and degrees of evils from the least Pain to the compleatness of Damnation Now 't is an inviolable Principle deeply set in the Human Nature to preserve its being and blessedness so that nothing could be a more powerful restraint from Sin than the fear of Death which is destructive to both This constitution of the Covenant was founded not only in the Will of God but in the nature of the things themselves And this appears by considering 1. That Holiness is more excellent in it self and separately considered than the reward that attends it 'T is the peculiar glory of the Divine Nature God is glorious in Holiness And as He prefers the infinite purity of his Nature before the immortal felicity of his state so he values in the reasonable Creature the vertues by which they represent his Holiness more than their perfect Contentment by which they are like Him in Blessedness Now God is the most just esteemer of things his judgment is the infallible measure of their real worth 't is therefore according to natural order that the Happiness of Man should depend upon his Integrity and the reward be the fruit of his Obedience And although it is impossible that a meer Creature in what state soever should obtain any thing from God by any other title but his voluntary Promise the effect of his Goodness yet 't was such Goodness as God was invited to exercise by the consideration of Mans obedience And as the neglect of his Duty had discharged the Obligation on God's part so the performance gave him a claim by right of the Promise to everlasting Life 2. As the first part of the alliance was most reasonable so was the Second that Death should be the wages of Sin It is not conceivable that God should continue his favour to Man if he turn'd Rebel against Him For this were to disarm the Law and expose the Authority of the Lawgiver to contempt and would reflect upon the Wisdom of God Besides If the reasonable Creature violates the Law it necessarily contracts an obligation to punishment So that if the Sinner who deserves death should enjoy life without satisfaction for the offence or Repentance to qualifie him for pardon both which were without the compass of the first Covenant this would infringe the unchangable rights of Justice and disparage the Divine Purity In the first Covenant there was a special clause which respected Man as the inhabitant of Paradise That he should not eat of the Tree of Knowledg of good and evil upon pain of Death And this Prohibition was upon most wise and just reasons 1. To declare God's Sovereign Right in all things In the quality of Creator he is Supreme Lord. Man enjoyed nothing but by a derived title from his Bounty and Allowance and with an obligation to render to him the Homage of all As Princes when they give estates to their Subjects still retain the Royalty and receive a small rent which though inconsiderable in its value is an acknowledgment of dependance upon them So when God placed Adam in Paradise he reserved this mark of his Soveraignty that in the free use of all other things Man should abstain from the forbidden Tree 2. To make trial of Mans Obedience in a matter very congruous to discover it If the Prohibition had been grounded on any moral internal evil in the nature of the thing it self there had not been so clear a testimony of God's Dominion
will be fit to consider them with respect to his Soul and his Body The Gospel delivers to us the relation of both 1. Upon his entrance into the Garden He complains My Soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto Death There were present only Peter James and John his happy Favourites who assured him of their fidelity there was no visible enemy to afflict Him yet his Soul was environ'd with Sorrows 'T is easie to conceive the injuries He suffered from the rage of Men for they were terminated upon his Body But how to understand his inward Sufferings the wounds of his Spirit the cross to which his Soul was nailed is very difficult Yet these were in expressibly greater as the visible effects dedeclare The anguish of his soul so affected his body that his Sweat was as it were great drops of Blood the miraculous evidence of his Agony The terror was so dreadful that the assistance of an Angel could not calm it And if we consider the causes of his grief the dispositions of Christ and the design of God in afflicting him it will further appear that no sorrow was ever like his The Causes were 1. The evil of Sin which infinitely exceeds all other for the just measure of an evil is taken from the good to which it is opposit and of which it deprives us Now Sin is formally opposit to the Holy nature and will of God and meritoriously deprives of his blessed presence for ever Therefore God being the supreme Good Sin is the supreme evil And grief being the resentment of an evil that which is proportioned to the evil of Sin must be infinite Now the Lord Christ alone had perfect light to discover Sin in its true horrour and perfect zeal to hate it according to its nature for who can understand the excellency of good and the malignity of evil but the Author of the one and the Judge of the other who can fully conceive the guilt of rebellion against God but the Son of God who is alone able to comprehend his own Majesty On this account the grief of our Redeemer exceeded all the sorrow of repenting Sinners from the beginning of the World For our knowledge is so imperfect and our zeal so remiss that our grief for sin is much beneath what 't is worthy of but sin was as hateful to Christ as it is in it self and his sorrow was equal to its evil 2. The Death he was to suffer attended with all the Curses of the Law and the terrible marks of Gods Indignation From hence 't is said he began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy 'T is wonderful that the Son of God who had perfect patience and the strength of the Deity to support him who knew that his Passion should soon pass away and that the issue should be his own glorious Resurrection and the recovery of lapsed Man that he should be shaken with fear and oppressed with sorrow at the first approches of it how many of the Martyrs have with an undisturbed courage embraced a more cruel death but to them 't was disarm'd whereas our Saviour encountered it with all its formidable Pomp with its Darts and Poison 3. The Wrath of God was inflamed against him For although he was perfectly Innocent and more distant from sin than Heaven is from the Earth yet by the ordination of God and his own consent being made our Sponsor the Iniquity of us all was laid upon him He suffered as deeply as if he had been guilty Vindictive justice was inexorable to his Prayers and Tears Although he renewed his request with the greatest ardency as 't is said by the Evangelist that being in an Agony he prayed more earnestly yet God would not spare him The Father of Mercies saw his Son humbled in his presence prostrate on the Earth yet deals with him in extream severity He was stricken smiten of God and afflicted And who is able to conceive the weight of God's Hand when he punishes sin according to its desert who can understand the degrees of those Sufferings when God exacts satisfaction from one that was obliged and able to make it how piercing were those sorrows whereby Divine Justice infinitely incens'd was to be appeas'd Who knows the consequence of those words My God My God why hast thou forsaken me 'T is impossible to comprehend or represent that great and terrible Mystery But thus much we may understand That Holiness and Glory being essential to the Deity they are communicated to the Reasonable Nature when united to it But with this difference that Holiness necessarily results from Union with God For Sin being infinitely repugnant to His Nature makes a Separation between Him and the creature But Glory and Joy are dispensed in a free and arbitrary manner This dereliction of our Saviour must be understood with respect to the second not the first Communication In the extremity of his Torments all his Affections were innocent and regular being only raised to that degree which the vehemency of the object required He exprest no murmur against God nor anger against his enemies His Faith Love Humility Patience were then in their Exaltation But that glorious and unspeakable Joy which in the course of his Life the Deity conveyed to Him was then withdrawn An impetuous torrent of pure unmixed Sorrows broke into his holy Soul He felt no refreshing emanations so that having lost the sense of present Joy there remained in his Soul only the hope of future Joy And in that sad moment his Mind was so intent upon his Sufferings that he seems to have been diverted from the actual consideration of the Glory that attended the issue of them Briefly All comforting Influences were suspended but without prejudice to the Personal Union or the Perfection of his Grace or to the Love of his Father toward Him His Soul was liable to sorrows as his Body to death For the Deity is the Principle of Life as well as of Joy and as the Body of Christ was three days in the state of Death and the Hypostatical Union remained entire so his Soul was left for a time under the fearful impressions of wrath yet was not separated from the God-head And although He endured what ever was necessary for the Expiation of Sin yet all vitious Evils as Blasphemy Hatred of God and any other which are not inflicted by the Judg but in strictness are accidental to the Punishment and proceed from the weakness or wickedness of the Patient he was not in the least guilty of Besides when his Father appear'd an enemy against him at that time He was infinitely pleased in his Obedience But with these exceptions our Blessed Lord suffered whatever was due to us The Sorrows of his forsaken state were inexpressibly great for according to the degree and sense we have of Happiness such in proportion is our grief for the loss of it Now Christ had the fullest enjoyment and the highest valuation of Gods favour
to this Punishment The Death which the Law threatned for Sin was to be accompanied with Dishonour and Pain And he suffered the Death of the Cross to which a special Curse was annext And this was not onely in respect of the Judgment of Men before whom a Crucified person was made a Spectacle of publick Vengeance for his Crimes but in respect of Gods declaration concerning it The Jews were commanded that none should hang on a Tree longer then the Evening lest the Holy Land should be profaned by that which was an express mark of Gods Curse Now the legal Curse was a Typical signification of the real that should be suffered by our Redeemer Besides his Death was attended with exquisite pains he suffer'd variety of torments by the scourges the thorns the nails that pierc'd his Hands and Feet the least vital but most sensible parts He refused the Wine mix'd with Myrrh that was given to stupifie the senses for the design of his Passion requir'd that he should have the quickest sense of his Sufferings which were the Punishment of Sin And his inward Sorrows were equivalent to the pains of loss and sense that are due to Sinners 'T is true there are circumstances in the Sufferings of the damn'd as Blaspemy Rage Impotent fierceness of mind which are not appointed by the Law but are accidental arising from the perversness of their Spirits For the punishment of the Law is a Physical evil but these are Moral and that punishment is inflicted by the Judge but these are onely from the guilty Sufferers Now to these he was not possibly liable Besides the Death that the Sinner ought to Suffer is Eternal attended with despair and the intolerable anguish of Conscience Now our Redeemer having no real Guilt was not liable to the worm of Conscience and his Temporary Sufferings were equivalent to the Eternal upon the account of his Divine Person so that he was not capable of Despair But he endur'd the unknown terrours of the second Death so far as was consistent with the Perfection of his Nature The anguish of his Soul was not meerly from sympathy with his Body but immediately from Divine Displeasure It pleased the Lord to bruise him this principally respects the Impressions of Wrath made upon his inward Man Had the Cup he fear'd been onely Death with the bitter ingredients of dishonour and pain many have drank it with more appearing resolution The Martyrs endured more cruel torments without complaint nay in their sharpest conflicts have exprest a triumphant joy Whereas our Redeemer was under all the innocent degrees of fear and sorrow at the approach of his Sufferings From whence was the difference Had Christ less Courage He was the Fountain of their Fortitude the difference was not in the disposition of the Patients but in the Nature of the Sufferings He endured that which is infinitely more terrible than all outward torments The Light of Joy that always shined in his Soul a sweet Image of Heaven was then totally eclips'd God the Fountain of Compassion restrain'd himself his Father appear'd a severe inexorable Judge and dealt with him not as his Son but our Surety Under all the Cruelties exercis'd by men the Lamb of God open'd not his mouth but when the Father of Mercies and the God of all Consolations forsook him then he broke forth into a mournful complaint Now by this account of Christs Sufferings from Scripture 't is evident they were truly penal for they were inflicted for Sin by the Supreme Judg and were equivalent to the Sentence of the Law And the benefit we receive upon their account proves that they are satisfaction to Divine Justice for we are exempted from Punishment by his Submission to it He freed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us The Chastisements of our Peace was upon him by whose stripes we are healed So that his Death being the Meritorious Cause of freeing the Guilty is properly Satisfaction Before I proceed to the second Consideration of Christs Death I will briefly answer the Objection of the Socinians viz. That 't is a Violation of Justice to transfer the Punishment from one to another so that the Righteous God could not Punish his innocent Son for our Sins Now to show the invalidity of this Pretence we must consider 1. That Justice is not an irregular appetite of Vengeance arising from Hatred that cannot be satisfied but with the Destruction of the Guilty It preserves Right with pure Affections and is content when the Injury is repair'd from whomsoever satisfaction comes 2. Though an innocent person can't suffer as innocent without Injustice yet he may voluntarily contract an Obligation which will expose him to deserved sufferings The Wisdom and Justice of all Nations agree in punishing one for anothers fault where consent is preceding as in the case of Hostages And although it is Essential to the Nature of Punishment to be inflicted for Sin yet not on the Person of the Sinner for in Conspectu fori the Sinner and Surety are one 3. That exchange is not allowed in Criminal Causes where the Guilty ought to suffer in Person 't is not from any Injustice in the Nature of the thing for then it would not be allowed in Civil but there are special Reasons why an Innocent Person is not ordinarily admitted to suffer for an offender 1. No man hath absolute Power over his own life 'T is a depositum consigned to him for a time and must be preserv'd till God or the Publick good calls for it 2. The Publick would suffer prejudice by the loss of a good Subject Therefore the Rule of the Law is just Non auditur perire volens The desire of one that devotes himself to ruine is not to be heard And the guilty person who is spared might grow worse by impunity and cause great disorders by his evil example But these considerations are of no force in the case of our Saviour For 1. He had full Power to dispose of his life I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again this Commandment have I received of my Father He declares his Power as God that his life intirely depended on his will to preserve it or part with it and his subjection as Mediator to the order of his Father 2. Our Saviour could not finally Perish 'T was not possible he should be held under the power of Death Otherwise it had been against the Laws of reason that the precious should for ever suffer for the vile Better ten thousand Worlds had been lost than that the Holy One of God should perish He saved us through his Sufferings though as by fire and had a glorious reward in the issue 3. There is an infinite good redounds from his Sufferings for Sinners are exempted from Death and the preservation of the guilty is for the glory of Gods government for those who are redeemed by his Death
David with respect to Solomon If he commit Iniquity I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the childaen of men that is Chastise him moderately For in the stile of the Scripture as things are magnified by the Epithet Divine or of God as the Cedars of God that is very tall And Nineve is called The City of God that is very great So to signifie things that are in a mediocrity the Scripture uses the Epithet humane or of Men And according to the Rule of Opposition the Rod of God is an extraordinary Affliction which destroys the Sinner 't is such a Punishment as a man can neither inflict nor endure But the Rod of Men is a moderate Correction that doth not exceed the strength of the Patient But every purely vindictive Punishment which the Law pronounces is in proportion to the nature of the Crime not the strength of the Criminal 3. They are distinguisht by the intention and end of God in inflicting them 1. In Chastisements God primarily designs the Profit of his People That they may be partakers of his Holiness When they are secure and carnal He awakens Conscience by the sharp voice of the Rod to reflect upon Sin to make them observant for the future to render their Affections more indifferent to the World and stronger towards Heaven The Apostle expresses the nature of Chastisements When we are judged we are instructed by the Lord They are more lively Lessons than those which are by the Word alone and make a deeper impression upon the heart David acknowledges Before he was afflicted he went astray but now have I kept thy words Corrupt Nature makes Gods Favours pernicious but his Grace makes our Punishments profitable Briefly They are not satisfactions for what is past but admonitions for the time to come But purely vindictive Judgments are not inflicted for the reformation of an Offender but to preserve the honour of the Sovereign and Publick Order and to make compensation for the breach of the Law If any advantage accrue to the Offender 't is accidental and besides the intention of the Judg. 2. The end of chastisements upon Believers is to prevent their final destruction When we are Judged we are Chastened of the Lord that we may not be condemned with the World And this sweetens and allays all their Sufferings As the Psalmist declares Let the Righteous smite me and it shall be a kindness let him reprove me it shall be an excellent oile which shall not break my head But the Vindictive Punishment of a Malefactor is not to prevent his condemnation for Death is sometimes the Sentence In this respect the temporal evils that befal the Wicked and the Godly though materially the same yet legally differ For to the Wicked they are as so many earnests of the compleat payment they shall make to Justice in another World the beginnings of Eternal Sorrows but to the Godly they are in order to their Salvation They are as the Red-Sea through which the Israelites past to the Land of Promise but the Egyptians were drowned in it Briefly their Sufferings differ as much in their issue as the Kingdoms of Heaven and of Hell 2. That Death remains to Believers doth not lessen the perfection of Christs Satisfaction 'T is true considered absolutely 't is the revenge of the Law for sin and the greatest temporal evil so that it may seem strange that those who are Redeemed by an Alsufficient ransom should pay this Tribute to the King of Terrors But the nature of it is changed 't is a Curse to the wicked inflicted for Satisfaction to Justice but a Priviledge to Believers As God appointing the Rainbow to be the Sign of his Covenant that he would drown the World no more ordain'd the same Waters to be the token of his Mercy which were the instrument of his Justice Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. And the Psalmist tells us that precious in the sight of the Lord is the Death of his Saints Christ hath taken away what is truly destructive in it 'T is continued for their advantage 1. Corruption hath so depraved the sensitive appetite that during our natural state we are not intirely freed from it but Death that destroyes the natural frame of the Body puts an end to sin And in this respect there is a great difference between the Death of Christ and of Believers the end of his was to remove the guilt of sin of theirs to extinguish the reliques of it 2. 'T is a delivery from Temporal evils and an entrance into Glory Death and Despair seize on the Wicked at once but the Righteous hath hope in his Death 3. The Grave shall give up its spoils at the last It retains the Body for a time not to destroy but purifie it Our Saviour tells us that whoever believes on him shall not see death for he will raise them up at the last day He that dies a Man shall revive an Angel cloathed with Light and Immortality I will conclude this argument with the words of St. Austin Ablato criminis nexu relicta est mors Nunc vero majore mirabiliore gratia Salvatoris in usus justitiae peccati poena est conversa tum enim dictum est Homini morieris si peccaveris nunc dictum est Martyri morere ne pecces Et sic per ineffabilem Dei misericordiam ipsa poena vitiorum transit in arma virtutis fit justi meritum etiam supplicium peccatoris Although the Guilt of Sin is removed yet death remains But by the admirable Grace of the Redeemer the punishment of sin is made an advantage to Holiness The Law threatned Man with Death if he sinned the Gospel commands a Martyr to die that he may not sin And thus by the unspeakable Mercy of God the punishment of Vice becomes the security of Virtue and that which was revenged upon the sinner gives to the Righteous a title to a glorious reward CHAP. XV. Inferences In the Death of Christ there is the clearest discovery of the evil of sin The strictness of divine Justice is most visible in it The consideration of the ends of Christs Death takes off the scandal of the Cross and changes the offence into admiration The Satisfaction of Justice by Christs Sufferings affords the strongest assurance that God is ready to pardon sinners The absolute necessity of complying with the terms of the Gospel for Justification There are but two wayes of appearing before the supreme Judge either in Innocence or by the Righteousness of Christ The Causes why men reject Christ are a legal temper that is natural to them and the predominant love of sin The unavoidable misery of all that will not submit to our Saviour 1. FRom hence we may discover most clearly the evil of Sin which no Sacrifice could expiate but the Blood of the Son of God 'T is true the
devoted themselves to Death The Spirit of Holiness who formes the powerful and lasting habits of true Vertue in the Soul that effectually enclines from the Love of God and with an intention for his Glory to obey his Will as it was purchas'd by Jesus Christ so it is peculiar to the Dispensation of the Gospel that reveals Him The Doctrine of it is not delivered with so much Pomp but with infinite more efficacy than the most eloquent Instructions of Philosophers One plain Sermon that represents Christ as Crucified before our eyes to obtain Pardon of Sin for us inflames the Soul with a more ardent Love to God and vehement hatred of Sin than all their elegant and sublime Discourses There is the same difference between their Morals and the Evangelical Institution as between two Nurses The one is adorned and looks lovely to the eye but wants Milk to nourish the Infant in her Arms the other is not so amiable in appearance but hath a living spring of Milk to nourish her Child Philosophy hath the advantage of artificial beauty but cannot supply the nourishment that is necessary to maintain the spiritual Life But the Gospel affords the sincere rational milk to the Soul that it may grow thereby 'T is therefore call'd the Word of Life a title that distinguishes it from the Law and all humane Institutions 4. Jesus Christ hath presented the strongest inducements and motives to perswade us to Holiness The way which he takes to save us is not by a meer act of Power to raise us above our selves but he deals with us conveniently to our frame in making use of our Affections to bring us to himself And whereas there are three Affections that have a mighty power over the reasonable Nature and are the inward springs of humane actions viz. Fear Hope and Love He hath propounded such Objects to them which being duely considered are infinitely more efficacious than any thing that may divert us from our duty The great temptations to sin are from the terrors or delights of Sense and to overcome these he hath brought to our assistance the Powers of the World to come that is hath revealed the dreadful preparations for the Punishment of the Wicked and the Glorious Rewards that attend the Godly in their future State Now to discover the efficacy of those Objects for the perswading Men to be Holy I will consider 1. Their Greatness as 't is described in the Gospel 2. Their Truth and Reality of which our Saviour hath given us convincing evidence and assurance 1. To excite our Fear he threatens Torments extreme and eternal These are set forth by such representations as may impress the quickest sense of them upon Men. For the Imagination depends on sensible experience and is strongly affected with those things that are terrible to our outward faculties Now Hell is described by a Worm gnawing the most tender parts that are most capable of pain to signify the furious reflections of the guilty Soul the sting of the inraged Conscience the torment of those perfect Passions that continually vex the Damned And 't is set forth by Fire and Brimstone that is most fierce to sense the serious consideration of which is enough to cause terror and amazement in all that are liable to it And if the sole apprehension be intolerable how much more will the dwelling with devouring Fire and everlasting burning 'T is called the blackness of darkness to signifie the compleat horrour of that state The Fire hath only force to burn not to give any light to mitigate the obscurity 'T is called the second Death in comparison of which that of the body is but the shadow of Death Nothing of Life remains but the sense of Misery and that will be as strong for ever as at the first entrance into it This infinitely increases the Torment that it shall never end The suffering Soul knows it shall be Eternal and as such it is felt and afflicts The Fire that devours shall never say 't is enough that sad Night shall never have a Morning that horrible Tempest never any Calm The Damned have no breathing of Rest in their extreme pains no shadow of Hope to refresh them in their intolerable heat but are under torment day and night for ever and ever Now what can be more powerful to restrain Men from sin than the terrours of the Lord if the desires of carnal and momentaâ—y pleasures are impetuous and urgent what can be more effectual to give check to them than the consideration that they are attended with a painful Eternity that within a little while nothing will remain of the most pleasant lusts but the Worm and the Fire Thus one extreme is cured by another Or if the fear of Men who can inflict but outward evils and Death on the Body at any time resists the performance of our Duty what is more proper to lessen the impression than to remember how dreadful a thing it is to fall into the revenging hands of the living God who lives for ever and can punish for ever Thus our Saviour fortified his Disciples against Persecution I say unto you my Friends Be not afraid of them that kill the body and after that have no more they can do but I will forwarn you whom you shall fear fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into Hell yea I say unto you fear him Eternal Damnation is infinitely more fearful than Temporal Death As the Rod of Moses devoured the Rods of the Magicians So the fear of Hell overcomes the fear of Death and all the Torments which end with this Life I shall add further to shew how fit an Argument this is to work on mankind That usually the Fear of evil more deeply affects than the Hope of good When the Imagination is violently struck with an object it hath a mighty force to turn the Mind and Will it self Therefore Laws are secured by Punishments not by Rewards Indeed the fear of Hell at first disposes us for the love of Heaven to escape the one we fly to the other As the virtue of the Loadstone is increast by arming it with Iron which although it hath no attractive power in it self yet by conjunction it makes the others more forcible So the promise of Heaven makes a stronger impression upon us by the threatning of Hell to all that despise it Were it not for the Torments of Hell which are more easily conceived by us whilst we are cloathed with flesh than Celestial Joys and therefore more strongly affect us Heaven would be neglected and be as empty of Saints as 't is full of Glory To awaken us out of the deep Lethargy of sensual Lusts the most pleasant Musick is ineffectual nothing less is requisite than cutting and scarifying And not only those that begin and first enter in the ways of Godliness but those who are advanc'd in Christianity have need of this Bridle For there are
the Church from all these will be the last Glorious Act of Christs Regal Office And 't is observeable the Day of Judgment is call'd the Day of Redemption with respect to the final accomplishment of our Felicity that was purchas'd by the infinite Price of his Sufferings The day of Christs Death was the Day of Redemption as to our Right and Title for then our Ransom was fully paid and 't is by the Immortal efficacy of his Blood that we partake of the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of God but the Actual enjoyment of it shall be at the last day Therefore the perfection of all our Spiritual Priviledges is refer'd to that time when Death our Lâ—st Enemy shall be overcome The Apostle saith and not only they but our selves also which have the first Fruits of the Spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our Bodies During the present Life we are taken into Gods Family in the quality of his Children but the most Solemn Act of our Adoption shall be at the last Day In this there is a similitude between Christ and his Members for although he was the Son of God by his marvelous Conception and own'd by him while he perform'd his Ministry upon the Earth yet all the Testimonies of Gods Favour to him were not comparable to the Declaration of it in raising him from the Grave Then in the face of Heaven and Earth He said Thou art my Son this Day have I begotten thee So in this Life God acknowledges and treats us as his Children he cloaths us with the Righteousness of his Son feeds us with his Word defends us from our Spiritual Enemies but the most Publick Declaration of his favour shall be in the next Life when all the Children of the Resurrection shall be born in a Day Add further although the Souls of Believers immediately upon their Separation are receiv'd into Heaven and during the sleep of Death enjoy admirable Visions of Glory yet their Blessedness is imperfect in comparison of that excellent degree which shall be enjoyed at the Resurrection As the Roman Generals after a compleat Conquest first enter'd the City privately and after having obtain'd License of the Senate made their Triumphant entry with all the magnificence splendour becoming the Greatness of their Victories So after a Faithful Christian hath fought the good fight and is come off more than a Conquerour he enters privately into the Coelestial City but when the body is rais'd to Immortality he shall then in the company and with the acclamations of the Holy Angels have a Glorious entry into it I will briefly consider why the Bodies of the Saints shall be rais'd and how the Divine Power will be manifested in that last Act. 1. The General reason is from Gods Justice As the Oeconomy of Divine Providence requires there must be a Future State when God shall sit upon a judicial Throne to weigh the Actions of all Men and render to every one according to their quality so 't is as necessary that the Person be Judged and not one Part alone The Law Commands the entire Man compos'd of his Essential Parts the Soul and Body And 't is obeyed or violated by both of them Although the Guilt or Moral Goodness of Actions is chiefly Attributed to the Soul because 't is the Principle of them yet the Actions are imputed to the whole Man The Soul is the Guide the Body the Instrument 't is reasonable therefore that both should receive their recompence We see the Example of this in Humane Justice which is a copy of the Divine The whole Man is punisht or rewarded The Soul is punisht with Disgrace and Infamy the Body with Pains the Soul is rewarded with Esteem and Honour the Body with External marks of Dignity Thus the Divine Justice will render to every one according to things done in the Body whether Good or Evill 2. The special reason of the Saints Resurrection is their Union with Christ for he is not only our Redeemer and Prince but our second Adam the same in Grace as the first was in Nature Now as from the first the Soul was destroyed by Sin and the Body by Death so the second restores them both to their Primitive state the one by Grace the other by a Glorious Resurrection Accordingly the Apostle saith that by Man came Death and by Man came the Resurrection from the Dead Christ removed the Moral and Natural impossibility of our Glorious Resurrection the Moral by the infinite merit of his Death whereby Divine Justice is satisfied that otherwise would not permit the Guilty to be restor'd to Eternal Life and the Natural by his rising from the Grave to a Glorious Imortality For his Infinite Power can do the same in all Believers 'T is observable the Apostle infers the Resurrection of Believers from that of Christ not only as the Cause but the Original Example For the Members must be conform'd to the Head the Children to their Father the younger to the elder Brother Therefore he is call'd the first-fruits of them that sleep and the first begotten of the Dead In Christ's Resurrection ours is so fully assur'd that the event is infallible Now no less than Infinite Power is requisite to raise the Bodies of the Saints from the dust and to transform them into the similitude of Christs 1. To raise them Nothing is more astonishing to Nature than that the Bodies which after so many Ages in the perpetual circulation of the Elements have past into a thousand different Forms one part of them being resolved into Water another evaporated into Air another turn'd into Dust should be restor'd to their first State What Wisdom is requisite to separate the Parts so mixt and confounded what Power to recompose them what Vertue to reinspire them with new Life It may seem more difficult than to revive a Dead Body whose Organs and matter is not chang'd of which we have Examples in the Scripture When the Spirit of the Lord plac't Ezekiel in the midst of a Valley cover'd with bones and caused him to consider attentively their Number which was very great and their extream dryness he askt him whether these bones could live upon which as one divided and ballanc't between the seeming Impossibility of the thing in it self and the consideration of the Divine Power to which nothing is impossible he answered Lord thou knowest Upon this God commanded him to Prophesie upon those bones and speak to them as if they had been endued with Sense and Understanding O ye dry Bones hear the Word of the Lord Thus saith the Lord God unto these Bones Behold I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live And I will lay sinews upon you and will bring in flesh upon you and cover you with skin and put Breath in you and ye shall live and ye shall know that I am
his supreme Dominion which extends it self to all things in Heaven and Earth Now in the Participation of these the Image of God did principally consist The Holiness of Man was the copy of the Divine purity his Happiness a representation of the Divine Felicity and his Dominion over the lower World the resemblance of Gods Soveraignty I will take a particular survey of them 1. Man was conformed to God in Holiness This appears by the expressions of the Apostle concerning the Sanctification of corrupt man which he sets forth by the renewing of him in knowledg righteousness and holiness after the image of the Creator The Renovation of things is the restoring of them to their Primitive state and is more or less perfect by its proportion to or distance from the Original Holiness Righteousnesse are the comprehensive Sum of the Moral Law which not only represents the Will but the Nature of God in his Supream Excellency and in conformity to it the Divine likeness eminently appear'd Adam was created with the perfection of Grace the progress of the most excellent Saints is incomparably short of his beginning By this we may in part conjecture at the Beauty of Holinesse in him of which one faint ray appearing in renewed persons is so amiable This primitive Beauty is exprest in Scripture by rectitude God made Man upright There was an universal entire rectitude in his Faculties disposing them for their proper Operations This will more fully appear by considering the distinct powers of the Soul in their regular Constitutions 1. The understanding was inrich'd with knowledg Nature was unveiled to Adam he enter'd into its Sanctuary and discover'd its mysterious Operations When the Creatures came to pay their Homage to him whatsoever he called them that was the name thereof And their Names exprest their Natures His knowledg reach'd through the whole compass of the Creation from the Sun the glorious vessel of Light to the Gloworm that shines in the hedg And this knowledg was not acquir'd by Study 't was not the fruit of anxious inquiry but as the illumination of the Air is in an instant by the light of the Morning so his Understanding was enlightned by a pure beam from the Father of Lights Besides He had such a knowledg of the Deity as was sufficient for his Duty and Felicity His mind did not stick in the material part of things but ascended by the several ranks of Beings to the Universal Cause He discover'd the Glory of the Divine Essence and Attributes by their wonderful effects 1. Almighty Power When he first open'd his eyes the stupendious Fabrick of Heaven and Earth presented itself to his view and in it the most express and clear characters of that Glorious Power which produced it For what could overcome the Infinite distance between not being and being but Infinite Power As there is no proportion between not being and being so the cause which unites those terms must be without limits Now the Divine Word alone which calls the things that are not as if they were caused the World to rise from the Abyss of empty nothing At Gods Command the Heavens and all their Host were created And this led him to consider the Immensity of the Divine Essence For Infinite Power is incompatible with a finite Essence and by the consideration of the Immensity he might ascend to the Eternity of God To be Eternal without beginning and Infinite without bounds infer one another and necessarily exist in the same subject For 't is impossible that any thing which is form'd by another and hath a beginning should not be limited in its Nature by the cause that produced it Therefore the Apostle declares that the Eternal Power of God is set forth in the Creation of the World joyning with the discovery of his Power that of his Eternity 2. Admirable Wisdom appear'd to Man in the Creation For by considering the Variety and Union the Order and Efficacy the Beauty and Stability of the World he clearly discerned that Wisdom which so regularly disposed all 'T is thus that Wisdom speaks in the Book of Proverbs When he prepared the Heavens I was there when he set a compass upon the face of the depth When he established the Clouds above When he strengthened thâ— Fountains of the Deep when he gave the Sea his Decree that the Waters should not pass his Commandments when he appointed the Foundations of the Earth I was with him contriving all in the best manner for Ornament and Use. The knowledg of this fill'd his Soul with wonder and delight The Psamist breaks forth with astonishment as one in the midst of innumerable Miracles O Lord how manifold are thy works in Wisdom hast made them all And if he discovered such wonderful and Divine Wisdom in the Works of God when the vigour of the humane Understanding was so much impair'd by the Fall how much more did Adam who perfectly understood Universal Nature the offices of its parts the harmony of the whole and all the just Laws of Union by which God hath joined together such a multitude of beings so distant and disagreeing and how the Publick Peace is preserved by their Private Enmity This discovery caused him to acknowledge that Great is the Lord and of great Power his Understanding is infinite 3. Infinite Goodness shin'd forth in the Creation This is the leading Attribute that call'd forth the rest to work As there was no matter so no motive to induce God to make the World but what arose from his Goodness For he is an All-sufficient Being perfectly blessed in himself His Majesty is not encreased by the Adoration of Angels nor his Greatnesse by the Obedience of Nature neither was he less happy or content in that Eternal Duration before the existence of any Creature than he is since His Original Felicity is equally incapable of accession as of diminution 'T is evident therefore that only free and unexcited Goodness moved him to create all things that he might impart being and happiness to the Creature not inrich his own And as by contemplating the other works of God so especially by reflecting upon himself Adam had a clear sight of the Divine Attributes which concurr'd in his Creation Whether he consider'd his lowest part the Body 't was form'd of the Earth the most artificial and beautiful piece of the visible World The contrivance of its parts was with that proportion and exactness as most conduc'd to Comliness and Service It s stature was erect and raised becoming the Lord of the Creatures and an observer of the Heavens A Divine Beauty and Majesty was shed upon it And this was no vanishing ray soon eclips'd by a Disease and extinguisht by Death but shin'd in the countenance without any declination The Tongue was Man's peculiar glory being the interpreter of the mind and capable to signifie all the Affections of the Soul In short the Body
Pilate from reason of State to accomplish the death of Christ and he then seemed to be Victorious now what was more honourable to the Prince of our Salvation than the turning the Enemies point upon his own breast and by dying to overcome him that had the power of Death This was signified in the first promise of the Gospel where the Salvation of Man is inclos'd in the curse of the Serpent that is the Devil cloathed with that figure It shall bruise thy Head and thou shalt bruise his Heel That is The Son of God should by Suffering in our Flesh overcome the Enemy of Mankind and rescue innumerable Captives from his Tyranny Here the Events are most contrary to the probability of their Cause And what is more worthy of God than to obtain his ends in such a manner as the Glory of all may be in solidum ascribed to Him 7. The Divine Wisdom appears in laying the design of the Gospel in such a manner as to provide for the comfort and promote the holiness of Man This is Gods signature upon all heavenly Doctrines which distinguishes them from carnal Inventions they have a direct tendency to promote his Glory and the real benefit of the rational Creature Thus the way of Salvation by Jesus Christ is most fit as to reconcile God to Man by securing his Honour so to reconcile Man to God by encouraging his Hope 'Till this be effected he can never be happy in communion with God For that is nothing else but the reciprocal exercise of Love between God and the Soul Now nothing can represent God as amiable to a guilty Creature but his inclination to Pardon Whilst there are apprehensions of inexorable Severity there will be hard thoughts burning in the Breast against God Till the Soul is released from terrors it can never truly love him To extinguish our Hatred He must conquer our Fears and this He hath done by giving us the most undoubted and convincing Evidence of his Affections 1. By contracting the most intimate alliance with Mankind In this God is not only lovely but Love and his Love is not only visible to our Understandings but to our Senses The Divine Nature in Christ is joyned to the Humane in an union that is not typical or temporary but real and permanent The Word was made Flesh. And in him dwells the Fulness of the Godhead bodily Now as Love is an Affection of Union so the strictest union is an Evidence of the greatest Love The Son of God took the Seed of Abraham the original element of our Nature that our interest in Him might be more clear and certain He stoopt from the height of his Glory to our low embraces that we might with more confidence lay hold on his Mercy 2. By providing compleat Satisfaction to offended Justice The guilty convinced Creature is restless and inquisitive after a way to escape the wrath to come For being under the apprehension that God is an incensed Judg 't is very sensible of the greatness and nearness of the danger there being nothing between it and eternal Torments but a thin vail of flesh Now God hath prepared such a Satisfaction as exceeds the guilt of Sin that is a temporary act but of infinite evil being committed against an infinite object the Death of Christ was a temporary Passion but of infinite value in respect of the subject the honour of the Law is fully repaired so that God is justly merciful and dispenses Pardon to the glory of his Righteousness He hath set forth his Son to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his Righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him who believes in Jesus And what stronger Security can be given that God is ready to pardon Man upon his accepting the termes of the Gospel than the giving his Son to be our Atonement If the Stream swell so high as to overflow the Banks will it stop in a descending Valley Hath He with so dear an expence satisfied his Justice and will he deny his Mercy to relenting and returning Sinners This Argument is powerful enough to overcome the most obstinate Infidelity 3. By the unspeakable Gift of his Son he assures our hopes of Heaven which is a Reward so great and glorious that our guilty Hearts are apt to suspect we shall never enjoy it We are secure of his Faithfulness having his infallible Promise and of his Goodness having such a Pledg in our hands As the Apostle argues If he hath given us his Son will he not with him give us all things Will He give us the Tree of Life and not permit us to eat of the Fruit of it Is it conceivable that having laid the Foundation of our Happiness in the Death of his Son an act to which his tender Affection seem'd so repugnant that He will not perform the rest which He can do by the meer signification of his Will 'T is an excellent encouragement St. Austin propounds from hence Sâ—â—urus esto accepturum te vitam ipsius qui pignus habes mortis ipsius c. Be assured thou shalt partake of his Life who hast the Pledg of it in his Death He hath performed more than He promised 'T is more incredible that the Eternal should die than that a mortal Creature should live for ever In short Since no mortal Eye can discover the Heavenly Glory to convince us of the reality of the invisible state and to support our departing Souls in their passage through the dark and terrible Valley our Saviour rose from the Grave ascended in our Nature to Heaven and is the model of our Happiness He is at the right Hand of God to dispense Life and Immortality to all that believe on Him And what can be more comfortable to us than the assurance of that Blessedness which as it eclipses all the glory of the World so it makes Death it self desirable in order to the enjoyment of it 2. As the Comfort so the Holiness of Man is most promoted in this way of our Redemption Suppose we had been recovered upon easier terms the evil of Sin would have been lessen'd in our esteem We are apt to judg of the danger of a Disease from the difficulty of its Cure Hunger is reputed a small trouble although if it be not satisfied 't will prove deadly because a small price will procure what may remove it And the Mercy that saves us had not appeared so great He that falls into a Pit and is drawn forth by an easie pull of the Hand doth not think himself greatly obliged to the person that helpt him though if he had remained there he must have perish'd But when the Son of God hath suffered for us more than ever one Friend suffered for another or a Father for a Son or than the strength and patience of an Angel could endure Who would not be struck with horrour at the thoughts of that
that are made he hath upon the compleating our Redemtion by the rising of Christ from the Dead made the First-Day Sacred for his Service and Praise there being the clearest illustration of his Perfections in that Blessed Work God is more pleased in the contemplation of the new World than of the old The latter by its extraordinary Magnificence hath lessen'd the dignity of the former as the greater Light obscures the less Therefore the Sabbath is changed into the Lords-Day And what a just reproach is it to Man that he should be inobservant and unaffected with this glorious Mercy wherein he may alwaies find new cause of Admiration O Lord how great are thy Works and thy Thoughts how deep a brutish man knoweth not neither doth a fool understand this The admiring of any other thing in comparison of this Mystery is the effect of Inconsideration or Infidelity 2. It produces the most sincere and lasting pleasure As the taste is to meat to allure us to feed for the support of our bodies that is delight to Knowledge to excite the mind to seek after it But it s vast capacity can never be satisfied with the knowledge of inferior things The pleasure is more in the acquisition than in the possession of it For the mind is diverted in the search but having attained to that knowledge which cannot fill the rational appetite 't is disgusted with the fruits of its travel and seeks some other object to relieve its langour From hence it is that variety is the spring of delight and pleasure is the product of novelty We find the pleasure of the first taste in learning something new is alwayes most sensible The most elegant compositions and excellent discourses which ravisht at the first reading yet repeated often are nauseous and irksome The exercise of the mind on an object fully known is unprofitable and therefore tedious whereas by turning the thoughts on something else it may acquire new knowledge But the Apostle tells us that the Mystery of our Redemption contains all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge to intimate their excellence and abundance the unsearchable riches of Grace are laid up in it There is infinite variety and perpetual matter for the inquiry of the most excellent understanding no created reason is able to reach its height or sound its depths by the continual study and increase in the knowledge of it the mind enjoys a persevering pleasure that far exceeds the short vehemence of sensual delights 2. It excels other Sciences in the certainty of its Principle which is divine Revelation Humane Sciences are built upon uncertain maximes which being admitted with precipitation and not confirm'd by sufficient Experiments the Mind can never fully acquiesce in them Those Doctrines which were esteemed in one Age the vanity of them is discovered in another Modern Philosophy discards the Antient. But the Doctrine of Salvation is the Word of Truth its original is from Heaven it bears the characters and marks of its Divine descent 'T is confirmed by the Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power 'T is alwaies the same unchangeable as God the Author and Christ the Object of it who is the same yesterday to day and for ever And the knowledg which the sincere and enlightned Mind hath of it is not uncertain opinion but a clear solid and firm apprehension 'T is a Contemplation of the Glory of God with open face This appears by the effects it produces in those that have received the true tincture of it in their Souls they despise all things which carnal Men admire in comparison of this inestimable Treasure 2. The Doctrine of the Gospel exceeds all practic Sciences in the excellency of its end and the efficacy of the means to obtain it The end of it is The Supreme Happiness of Man the restoring of him to the Innocence and Excellency of his first state And the means are appointed by infinite Wisdom so that the most insuperable obstacles are removed and these are the Justice of God that condemns the guilty and that strong and obstinate aversion which is in corrupted man from true Felicity Here is a Mediator reveal'd who is able to save to the uttermost who hath quencht the Wrath of God by the Blood of his Divine Sacrifice who hath expiated Sin by the value of his Death and purifies the Soul by the vertue of his Life that it may consent to its own Salvation No less than a Divine Power could perform this work From hence the superlative excellency of Evangelical Knowledg doth arise all other Knowledg is unprofitable without it and that alone can make us perfectly blessed This is Life eternal to know thee and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent I will briefly consider how ineffectual all other Knowledge is whether Natural Political or Moral to recover us from our Misery The most exact insight into Natural things leaves the Mind blind and poor ignorant of Happiness and the way to it Solomon who had an extraordinary measure of Natural Knowledg and was able to set a just price upon it tels us that the increase of knowledg was attended with proportionable degrees of sorrow For the more a man knows the more he discerns the insufficiency of that knowledg to supply his defects and satisfie his desires He was therefore weary of his Wisdom as well as of his Folly The Devils know more than the profoundest Philosophers yet their Knowledge doth not alleviate their Torments 'T is so far from directing how to escape misery that it will more expose to it by enlarging the Faculties and making them more capable of Torment 'T is the observation of St. Ambrose that when God discovered the Creation of the World to Moses He did not inform him of the greatness of the Heavens the number of the Stars their Aspects and Influences whether they derive their light from the Sun or have it inherent in their own bodies from whence Eclipses are caused how the Rainbow is painted how the Winds fly in the Air or the causes of the ebbing and flowing of the Sea but so much as might be a foundation of Faith and Obedience and left the rest Quasi marcescentis sapientiae vanitates as the vanities of perishing wisdom The most knowing Philosopher though encompast with these sparks yet if ignorant of the Redeemer shall lie down in sorrow for ever And as natural so political Knowledge in order to the governing of Kingdoms and States hath no power to confer happiness upon man It concerns not his main interest 't is terminated within the compass of this short life and provides not for Death and Eternity The Wisdom of the World is folly in a disguise a specious Ignorance which although it may secure the temporal state yet it leaves us naked and exposed to Spiritual enemies which war against the Soul And all the moral knowledg which is treasur'd up in the Books of the Heathens
His enjoyment was rais'd above what the most glorious Spirits are capable of All his Faculties were pure and vigorous never blunted with Sin and intimately united to the Deity How cutting then was it to his Soul to be suspended from the perfect vision of God To be divorc'd as it were from himself and to lose that Paradise He alwaies had within Him If all the Angels of Light were at once depriv'd of their glory the loss were not equal to this dreadful eclipse of the Sun of Righteousness As if all the Stars were extinguisht the darkness would not be so terrible as if the Sun the fountain of light were put out Whatever his Sufferings were in kind yet in degree they were answerable to the full and just desert of Sin and surpast the power of the Humane or Angelical Nature to endure In short His Sorrows were only equall'd by that Love which procured them And as the Sufferings infflicted by the hand of God so the Evils He endured from men declare the infiniteness of our Redeemers Love to us For the further discovery of it 't is necessary to reflect upon his Death which is set down by the Apostle as the lowest degree of his Humiliation in which the succession of all his Bodily Sufferings is included it being the complement of all And if we consider the quality of it the Goodness of our Redeemer will be more visible in his voluntary submission to it Two Circumstances make the kind of death which is to be suffered very terrible to us Ignominy and Torment and they eminently concur in the Death of the Cross. 1. The greatest Ignominy attended it and that in the account of God and Men. As honour is in honorante it depends upon the esteem of others so infamy consists in judgment of others Now in the acount of the World every Death inflicted for a Crime is attended with disgrace But that receives its degrees from the manner of it To be executed privately is a favour but to be made a spectacle to the multitude encreases the dishonour of one that suffers When Death is speedily inflicted the sence of shame is presently past but to be exposed to publick view for many Hours as a Malefactor whilst the Beholders detest the Crime and abhor the Punishment is an heavy aggravation of it Beheading which is suddenly dispatcht by a Sword a military Instrument and therefore more honourable was a Priviledg But to hang on the Cross was the most conspicuous mark of the publick Justice and Displeasure a special Infamy was concomitant with it Among the Jews hanging on a Tree was branded with the Curse Therefore God commanded that the bodies of those that were hanged on a tree should be taken down in the Evening that the Land might not be defiled with a Curse And the judgment of other Nations was answerable for it was only inflicted on the most infamous Offenders as Fugitives Slaves Thieves and Traitors such whom the lowness of their Quality or the height of their Crimes rendred unworthy of any respect Hence 't is that Cicero to aggravate the Cruelty of Verres in crucifying a Roman Citizen calls it an unnamed wickedness No Eloquence could equal the evil of it 2. The pain of that Death was extreme The Hands and Feet those parts wherein the complexion of the Nerves meet and are of exquisite Sence were nailed Crucified persons suffered a slow Death but quick Torments They felt themselves die Therefore in pity the Soldiers broke their Legs to put a period to their Misery And to compleat their Punishment they were judg'd unworthy of Burial the last consolation of the dead they were deprived of Repose in the bosom of the Earth our common Mother and exposed as a prey to Birds and Beasts Now the Son of God endured no gentler or nobler Death than that of the Cross. His pure and gracious Hands which were never stretcht out but to do good were pierced and those Feet which bore the Redeemer of the World and for which the Waters had a reverence were nail'd His Body the precious workmanship of the Holy Ghost the Temple of the Deity was destroyed He that is the Glory of Heaven was made the scorn of the Earth The King of Kings was crucified between two Thieves in Jerusalem at their Sacred Feast in the face of the World His naked Body was exposed on the Cross for three Hours only covered with a Veil of Darkness This was such a stupendious submission of the Son of God that his Death astonisht the Universe in another manner than his Birth and Life his Resurrection and Ascension Universal Nature relented at his last Sufferings The Sun was struck with horrour and withdrew its light it did not appear crown'd with beams when the Creator was with thorns The Earth trembled and the Rocks rent the most insensible creatures sympathis'd with Him and 't is in this we have the most visible instance of Divine Love to us The Scripture distinctly represents the Love of God in giving his Son and the Love of Christ in giving Himself to die for Man and both require our deepest consideration The Father exprest such an excess of Love that our Saviour himself speaks of it with admiration God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes on Him should not perish but have everlasting Life If Abraham's resolution to offer his son was in the judgment of God a convincing Evidence of his Affection how much more is the actual sacrificing of Christ the strongest proof of God's Love to us For God had a higher Title to Isaac than Abraham had The Father of Spirits hath a nearer claim than the Fathers of the Flesh. Abraham's readiness to offer up his son was Obedience to a Command not his own choice 't was rather an act of Justice than Love by which he render'd to God what was his own But God Spared not his own Son in whom he had an Eternal Right And He was not only free from Obligation but not sued to for our Salvation in that wonderful way For what Love of Men or of the most charitable Spirits in Heaven could have conceived such a thought that the Son of God should die for our Redemption It had been an impious Blasphemy to have desired it so that Christ is the most absolute gift of God to us Besides The love of Abraham is to be measured by the Reasons that might excite it For according to the amiableness of the object so much greater is the love that gives it Many endearing cirumstances made Isaac the joy of his father yet at the best he was an imprafect mortal creature so that but a moderate affection was regularly due to him Whereas our Redeemer was not a meer Man or an Angel but God's only begotten Son which Title signifies his unity with him in his state and perfections and according to the Excellency of his Nature such
His Sufferings were equivalent to the Sentence of the Law The Effect of them is our Freedom An Answer to the Objection That 't is a violation of Justice to transfer the Punishment from the guilty to the innocent The Death of Christ is the Price that redeems from Hell This singular effect of his Death distinguishes it from the death of the Martyrs An Answer to the Objections How could God receive this Price since he gave his Son to that Death which redeems us And how our Redeemer supposing him God can make Satisfaction to Himself The Death of Christ represented as a Sacrifice The Expiatory Sacrifices under the Law were substituted in the place of guilty Men. The Effects of them answerable to their threefold respect to God Sin and Men The Atonement of Anger the Expiation of Sin and Freedom from Punishment All sorts of Placatory Sacrifices are referr'd to Christ and the effects of them in a sublime and perfect manner No prejudice to the Freeness and Greatness of God's Love that Christ by his Death reconciled Him to men HAving premised these things I shall now prove that the Divine Justice is really declar'd and glorified in the obedient Sufferings of Christ. For the opening this point 't is necessary to consider the account the Scripture gives of his Death which is threefold 1. 'T is represented under the relation of a Punishment inflicted on him for Sin and the effect of it is Satisfaction to the Law 2. As a Price to redeem us from Hell 3. Under the notion of a Sacrifice to reconcile God to Sinners First As a Punishment inflicted on him for Sin This will appear by considering 1. That Man by his Rebellion against God was capitally guilty He stood sentenced by the Law to Death 2. Christ with the allowance of the Supreme Judg interposed as our Surety and in that relation was made liable to Punishment Sins are by resemblance called Debts As a Debt obliges the Debtor to payment so Sin doth the Sinner to Punishment And as the Creditor hath a right to exact the Payment from the Debtor so God hath a right to inflict Punishment on the guilty But with this difference the Creditor by the meer signification of his will may discharge the Debtor for he hath an absolute power over his estate whereas publick Justice is concern'd in the Punishment of the guilty This is evident by many instances For 't is not sufficient that a Criminal satisfie his Adversary unless the Prince who is the Guardian of the Laws give him Pardon The interest of a private Person who hath received an injury is so distinct from that of the State that sometimes the injured party solicites the Pardon of the offender without success Which shews that principally 't is not to satisfie the particular person that the Crime is punish'd but to satisfie the Law and prevent future Disorders Now our Debt was not pecuniary but penal And as in civil Cases where one becomes Surety for another he is obliged to pay the Debt for in the estimate of the Law they are but one person So the Lord Jesus Christ entring into this relation He sustained the person of Sinners and became judicially one with them and according to the order of Justice was liable to their punishment The displeasure of God was primarily and directly against the Sinner but the effects of it fell upon Christ who undertook for him The Apostle tells us That when the Fulness of time came God sent his Son made under the Law that he might redeem them that were under the Law He took our Nature Condition He was made under the Law Moral and Ceremonial The directive part of the Moral Law He fulfilled by the Innocency of his Life the penalty he satisfied as our Surety being under an Obligation to save us And he appeared as a Sinner in his subjection to the Law of Moses That Hand-writing was against us He therefore enter'd into the Bond that we had forfeited In his Circumcision He signed it with those drops of Blood which were an earnest of his shedding the rest on the Cross. For whosoever was Circumcised became a Debtor to the whole Law And we may observe 't is said That as Moses lifted up the brazen Serpent so the Law of which Moses was a type and Minister lifted up the Messiah on the Cross. 3. The Scripture is very clear and express in setting down the part that God had in the Sufferings of Christ as Supreme Judg the impulsive cause that moved Him their proportion to the punishment of the Law and the effect of them for our Deliverance He was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledg of God All the various and vicious actions of men were over-ruled by his Providence The falsness of Judas the fearfulness of Pilate and the malice of the Jews were subservient to Gods eternal design And as He wills not the Death of a Sinner much less of his Son but for most weighty Reasons these are declared by the Prophet All we like sheep have gone astray and turned every one to his own waies Our Errours were different but the issue was the same that is Eternal Death And the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all that is the Punishment of our Iniquities His Sufferings had such a respect to Sin as included the imputation of it 'T was an act of Sovereignty in God to appoint Christ as Man to be our Surety but an act of Justice to inflict the punishment when Christ had undertaken for us 'T is said He hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows The expressions are comprehensive of all the Miseries of his Life especially his last Sufferings The Hebrew words Nasa and Sabal signifie such a taking away as is by laying upon one who bears it from us And thus it is interpreted by St. Peter He himself bare our sins in his own Body on the tree This necessarily implies the derivation of our guilt to him and the consequent of it the transferring of our punishment Those words are full and pregnant to the same purpose He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our Iniquities the chastisement of our peace was on him and with his stripes we are healed Where the meritorious cause of his Sufferings is set down as appears by the connexion of the words with the former The Jews thought him stricken smitten of God and afflicted that is justly punisht for Blasphemy and usurping Divine Honour In opposition to this conceit 't is added But he was wounded for our transgressions This the Apostle expresly telleth us when he declares that Christ died for our Sins This will appear more fully by considering what the desert of Sin is By our Rebellion we made the forfeiture of Soul Body to Divine Justice Death both the first and the second was the Sentence of the Law Now the Sufferings of Christ were answerable
are renewed by his Spirit He covers their sins that he may cure them He is made Righteousness and Sanctification to his People The serious belief that Christ by dying hath rescued us from Hell produces a superlative Love to him an ingenuous and grateful fear lest we should offend Him an ambition to please Him in all things briefly Universal Obedience to his Will as its most natural and necessary effect So that in laying the punishment on Christ under which Mankind must have sunk for ever there is nothing against Justice 2. The Death of Christ is the price which redeems us from our woful Captivity Mankind was fallen under the dominion of Satan and Death and could not obtain freedom by escape or meer power For by the order of Divine Justice we were detained Prisoners So that till God the Supreme Judg is satisfied there can be no discharge Now the Lord Christ hath procured our deliverance by his Death according to the testimony of the Apostle We have Redemption through his Blood even the forgiveness of sins His Blood is congruously called a price because in consideration of it our Freedom is purchased He is our Redeemer by Ransom He gave himself a Ransom for all and that signifies the price paid for the freeing of a Captive The word used by the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath a special Emphasis it signifies an exchange of conditions with us the redeeming us from Death by dying for us As the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who devoted themselves to Death for the rescuing of others Our Saviour told his Disciples that the Son of Man came to give his Life a ransom for many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a commutation or exchange with respect of things or persons Thus we are commanded to render to none Evil for evil And if a Son ask of his Father a Fish will he give him a Serpent for a Fish When 't is used in respect of persons it imports a substitution in anothers place Archelaus reigned instead of his Father Herod and Peter paid tribute for Christ that is representing Him the effect therefore of our Saviours words that He gave his Life a Ransome for many is evidently this that he dy'd in their stead and his Life as a Price intervened to obtain their Redemption 'T is for this Reason the Glorified Saints sung a Hymn of Praise to the Divine Lamb saying Thou art worthy for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy Blood This singular and blessed effect of Christs Death distinguishes it from the Death of the most Excellent Martyrs If he had dyed only for the Confirmation of the Gospel or to exhibit to us a Pattern of Suffering Graces what were there peculiar and extraordinary in his Death How can it be said that he was Crucified for us alone For the Martyrs Sealed the Truth with their Blood and left admirable Examples of Love to God of Zeal for his Glory of patience under Torments and of Compassion to their Persecutors yet it were intolerable Blasphemy to say that they redeem'd us by their Death And 't is observable when the Death of Christ is propounded in Scripture as a Pattern of Patience 't is with a special Circumstance that distinguishes it from all others Christ suffered for us leaving us an Example that we should follow his steps who his own self bare our Sins in his own Body on the Tree by whose stripes ye were healed The truth is if the sole end of Christs Death were to induce Men to believe His Promises and to imitate His Graces there had been no such necessity of it for the Miracles he did had been sufficient to confirm the Gospel yet Remission of Sins is never attributed to them and the Miseries he Suffered during the course of his Life had been sufficient to instruct us how to behave our selves under Indignities and Persecutions and at the last he might have given as full a Testimony to the Truth of his Doctrine by his descent from the Cross as by dying for us But no lower Price than his Blood could make Compensation to the Law and satisfaction to God and to deny this is to Rob him of the Glory of his Death and to destroy all our Comfort 'T is objected by those who nullifie the Mystery of the Cross of the Lord Jesus How could God receive this Price since he gave up his Son to that Death which Redeems us And how can our Redeemer supposing him God make satisfaction to himself To this I answer 1. The infinite Goodness of God in giving our Redeemer doth not devest him of the Office of Supreme Judge nor prejudice his examining of the Cause according to his Sovereign Jurisdiction and his receiving a Ransom to preserve the Rights of Justice inviolable There is an eminent instance of this in Zaleucus the Prince of the Locrians who past a Law that Adulterers should lose both their eyes and when his Son was convicted of that Crime the people who respected him for his Excellent Vertues out of pity to him interceded for the Offender Zaleucus in a Conflict between Zeal for Justice and Affection to his Son took but one Eye from him and parted with one of his own to satisfie the Law And thus he paid and received the Punishment he paid it as a Father and received it as the Conservator of Publick Justice Thus when guilty Mankind in its Poverty could not pay the Forfeiture to the Law God the Father of Mercies was pleased to give it from the Treasures of his Love that is the Blood of his Son for our Ransom And this he receives from the Hand of Christ offer'd upon the Cross as the Supreme Judge and declares it fully valuable and the Rights of Justice to be truly performed 2. It is not inconsistent with Reason that the Son of God cloathed with our Nature should by his Death make Satisfaction to the Deity and therefore to himself In the according of two Parties a Person that belongs to one of them may interpose for Reconciliation provided that he devests his own Interest and leaves it with the Party from whom he comes Thus when the Senate of Rome and the People were in dissension one of the Senators trusted his own Concernment with the Council of which he was a Member and mediated between the Parties to reconcile them Thus when the Father and the Son both possest of the Imperial Power have been offended by Rebellious Subjects 't is not inconvenient that the Son interpose as a Mediator to restore them to the Favour of the Prince And by this he reconciles them to himself and procures them Pardon of an Offence by which his own Majesty was violated This he doth as Mediator not as a a Party concern'd Now this is a fit Illustration of the Great Work of our Redemption so far as Humane things can represent Divine For all the Persons of the
Glorious Trinity were equally provok'd by our Sin and to obtain our Pardon the Son with the consent of the Father deposits his Interest into his Hands and as a Mediator intervenes between us and him who in this Transaction is the Depositary of the Rights of Heaven and having performed what Justice required he reconciled the World to God that is to the Father Himself and the Eternal Spirit In this Cause his Person is the same but his Quality is different he made Satisfaction as Mediator and receiv'd it as God 'T is in this sense that the Apostle saith We have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous Not to exclude the other Persons but in regard the Father as the First Person is the Protector of Justice our Mediator in appeasing Him appeases the others also 3. The Death of Christ is represented under the notion of a Sacrifice offer'd up to God For the more full understanding of this we must consider that Sacrifices were of two kinds 1. Some were Eucharistical They are called Peace-offerings by which the Sacrificer acknowledged the Bounty of God and his own unworthiness and rendered Praise for a favour received and desired the Divine Blessing 2. Expiatory The Sin-offerings for the averting of Gods wrath The Institution of them was upon a double Reason 1. That Man is a sinner and therefore obnoxious to the just indignation and extreme displeasure of the Holy and Righteous God 2. That God was to be propitiated that he might pardon them These Truths are engraven in the natural Consciences of Men as appeares by theâ—â— pretended Expiations of sin among the Heathens But are more clearly reveal'd in the Scripture Under the Law without the effusion of Blood there was no Remission To signifie that God would not forgive Sin without the atonement of Justice which required the Death of the Offender but it being tempered with Mercy accepted a Sacrifice in his stead And that there was a Substitution of the Beast in the place of the guilty Offender appeares by the Law concerning Sacrifices 1. None were instituted for Capital Offences as Murder Idolatry Adultery c. Because the Sinner himself was to be cut off But for other Sins which although in strictness they deserved Death yet God who was the King of Israel was pleased to remit the Forfeiture and to accept the life of the Sacrifice for the Life of the Sinner 2. The guilty Person was to offer a clean Beast of his own to signifie the Surrogation of it in his stead For in the relation of a Possessour he had a dominion over it to apply it to that use 3. The Priest or the person that offer'd was to lay his hands on the head of the Sacrifice thereby Consecrating it to God and Devoting it in his stead to bear the Punishment For this reason 't was called a Sin and a Curse 4. The Confession of Sin by the People or the Priest as in the day of Atonement signified that the guilt of all met on the Sacrifice for Expiation 5. The Blood was to be shed wherein the vital spirits are an express representation what the Sinner deserved and that it was accepted for his Life 6. Lastly The deprecating of God's Anger was joyned with the Sacrifice As when a Man was slain and the Murderer was not found the Elders of the City next to the dead Body were to kill an Heifer in a Valley and to pray that innocent Blood might not be laid to their charge otherwise the Land could not be clensed from the guilt of Blood but by the Blood of the Murderer 2. The Effects of these Sacrifices declare their nature And they are answerable to their threefold respect to God to Sin to Man To God that his Anger might be appeased to Sin that the fault might be expiated to Man that the guilty person might obtain Pardon and Freedom from Punishment Thus when a Sacrifice was duly offered 't is said to be of a sweet savour unto the Lord and to atone him Lev. 1.17 and the Remission of Sins with the Release of the Sinner followed The Priest shall expiate it that is declaratively and it shall be forgiven him Now there was a double Guilt contracted by those that were under the Mosaical Dispensation 1. Typical From the breach of a Ceremonial Constitution which had no relation to Morality Such were natural Pollutions accidental Diseases the touching of a dead Body c. which were esteemed vicious according to the Law and the Defiled were excluded from Sacred and Civil Society Now these Impurities considered in themselves deserved no punishment For involuntary and inevitable Infirmities and corporeal things which do not infect the inward man are the marks of our abject and weak state but are not in themselves sinfull Therefore Ceremonial Guilt was expiated by a Ceremonial Offering For 't is according to the nature of things that Obligations should be dissolved by the same means by which they are contracted As therefore those Pollutions were penal merely by the positive Will of God So the exercise of his Supreme Right being tempered with Wisdome and Equity he ordained that the guilt should be abolisht by a Sacrifice and that they should be fully restored to their former Priviledges Thus the Apostle tells us that the Blood of those Sacrifices Sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh that is communicated a legal Purity to the Offerers and consequently a right to approach the holy Place Now the reason of these Institutions was that the legal Impurity might represent the true defilements of Sin and the Expiatory Sacrifices prefigure that great and admirable Oblation which should purge away all Sin 2. A real Guilt which respects the Conscience and was contracted from the breach of the Moral Law and subjected the Offender to Death temporal and eternal This could not be purged away by those Sacrifices For how is it possible the Blood of a Beast should cleanse the Soul of a Man or content the Justice of an offended God Nay on the contrary they reviv'd the guilt of Sin and reinforced the rigour of the Law and were a publick profession of the Misery of Men For this reason the Law is called the Ministry of Death As the Moral contained a declaration of our guilt and Gods right to punish so all the parts of the Ceremonial were either arguments and convictions of Sin or images of the punishment due for them But as they had a relation to Christ who was their Complement so they signified the expiation of moral guilt by his Sacrifice and freed the Sinner from that temporal Death to which he was liable as a Representative of our freedom from Eternal Death by the Blood of the Cross. This will appear more clearly by considering 1. That all kinds of placatory Sacrifices are referred to Christ in the New Testament 2. That all their Effects are attributed to him in a sublimer and most perfect
is said that His Blood cleanseth from all sin and that it purgeth the Conscience foom dead Works and that we are washt from our sins in His Blood The frequent Sprinklings and Purifications with Water under the Law prefigured our cleansing from the defilements of sin by the Grace of the Spirit but the shedding of the Blood of Sacrifices was to purge away sins so far as they made liable to a Curse Thirdly Our exemption from punishment and our restoration to Communion with God in Grace and Glory is the fruit of his expiating sin For this reason the Blood of the Mediator speaks better things then that of Abel For that cryed for revenge against the Murderer but his procures remission to Believers And as the just desert of sin is separation from the presence of God who is the fountain of felicity so when the guilt is taken away the person is received into God's favour and fellowship A representation of this is set down in the 24 of Exod. where we have described the manner of dedicating the Covenant between God and Israel by bloody Sacrifices after Moses had finisht the Offering and sprinkled the Blood on the Altar and the People the Elders of Israel who were forbid before to approach neer to the Lord were then invited to come into his presence and in token of reconciliation feasted before him Thus the Eternal Covenant is establisht by the Blood of the Mediator and all the benefits it contains as remission of sins freedom to draw near to the Throne of Grace and the enjoyment of God in Glory are the fruits of his reconciling Sacrifice The sum of all is this That as under the Law God was not appeased without shedding of Blood nor sin expiated without suffering the punishment nor the sinner pardoned without the substitution of a sacrifice so all these are eminently accomplisht in the Death of Christ. He reconciled God to us by his most precious Blood and expiated sin by enduring the Curse and hath procured our pardon by being made sin for us So that 't is most evident that the proper and direct end of the Death of Christ was that God might exercise his Mercy to the guilty sinner in a way that is honourable to his Justice 'T is objected that if God from infinite Mercy gave his Son to us then antecedently to the coming of Christ he had the highest love for mankind and consequently there was no need that Christ by his Death should satisfie Justice to reconcile him to us But a clear answer may be given to this by considering 1. That Anger and Love are consistent at the same time and may in several respects be terminated on the same subject A Father resents a double affection towards a rebellious Son he loves him as his Son is angry with with him as disobedient Thus in our laps'd state God had compassion on us as his creatures and was angry with us as sinners As the injured party he laid aside his anger but as the preserver of Justice he required satisfaction 2. We must dinstinguish between a love of good-will and compassion and a love of complacency The first is that which moved God to ordain the means that without prejudice to his other perfections he might confer pardon and all spiritual benefits upon us the other is that whereby he delights in us being reconciled to him and renewed according to his Image The first supposes him placable the latter that he is appeased There is a visible instance of this in the case of Job's Friends The Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite My anger is kindled against thee and thy two Friends because ye have not spoken of me the things that are right as my Servant Job Here is a declaration of God's anger yet with the mixture of Love for it follows therefore take unto you now seven Bullocks and seven Rams and go to my Servant Job and offer up for your selves a burnt-offering and my Servant Job shall pray for you for him will I accept He loved them when he directed the way that they might be restored to his Favour yet he was not reconciled for then there had been no need of Sacrifices to atone his anger 2. T is further objected that supposing the Satisfaction of Christ to Justice both the freeness and greatness of God's Love in pardoning sinners will be much lessen'd But it will appear that the Divine Mercy is not prejudiced in either of those respects First The freenss of Gods Love is not diminished for that is the original mover in our Salvation and hath no cause above it to excite or draw it forth but meerly arises from his own will This Love is so absolute that it hath no respect to the sufferings of Christ as Mediator for God so loved the World that he gave his Son to die for us and that which is the effect and testimony of his Love cannot be the impulsive cause of it This first Love of God to Man is commended to us in Christ who is the medium to bring it honorably about Secondly Grace in Scripture is never opposed to Christs Merits but to ours If we had made Satisfaction Justice it self had absolved us For the Law having two parts the command of our Duty which consists in a moral good and the sanction of the punishment that is a physical evil to do or to suffer is necessary not both or if we had provided a Surety such as the Judge could not reject we had been infinitely obliged to him but not to the favour of the Judg. But 't is otherwise here God sent the Reconciler when we were enemies and the Pardon that is dispenc'd to us upon the account of his Sufferings is the effect of meer Mercy We are justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ. 'T is pure Love that appointed and accepted that imputes and applies his Righteousness to us And as the Freeness so the Riches of his Mercy is not lessened by the Satisfaction Christ made for us 'T is true we have a pattern of God's Justice never to be parallel'd in the Death of Christ but to the severity of Justice towards his only beloved Son his clemency towards us guilty Rebels is fully comensurate For He pardons us without the expence of one drop of our Blood though the Soul of Christ was poured forth as an Offering for Sin Thus in an admirable manner He satisfies Justice and glorifies Mercy and this could have been no other way effected for if He had given His Spirit alone to restore us to His Image His Love had eminently appeared but the honour of his Justice had not been secured But in our Redemption they are infinitely magnified His Love could give no more than the Life of His Son and Justice required no less for Death being the Wages of Sin there could be no satisfaction without the Death of our Redeemer CHAP. XIV The
internal Malignity of Sin abstracted from its dreadful effects is most worthy of our hatred For 't is in its own nature direct enmity against God and obscures the Glory of all his Attributes 'T is the violation of his Majesty who is the universal Sovereign of Heaven and Earth A contrariety to his Holiness which shines forth in his Law A despising his Goodness the atractive to Obedience The contempt of his Omniscience which sees every sin when 't is commited The slighting of his terrible Justice and Power as if the Sinner could secure himself from his Indignation A denial of his Truth as if the threatning were a vain terror to scare Men from sin And all this done voluntarily to please an irregular corrupt Appetite by a despicable Creature who absolutely depends upon God for his being and happiness These Considerations seriously pondered are most proper to discover the extremity of its evil But sensible demonstrations are most powerful to convince and affect us and those are taken from the fearful Punishments that are inflicted for Sin Now the Torments of Hell which are the just and full recompence of Sin are not sensible till they are inevitable And temporal Judgments cannot fully declare the infinite Displeasure of God against the wilful contempt of his Authority But in the Sufferings of Christ 't is exprest to the utmost If Justice it self had rent the Heavens and come down in the most visible Terrour to revenge the Rebellions of Men it could never have made stronger impressions upon us than the Death of Christ duely considered The Destruction of the World by Water the miraculous burning of Sodom and Gomorrah by showers of Fire and all other the most terrible Judgments do not afford such a sensible instruction of the evil of Sin If we regard the Dignity of his Person and the depth of his Sufferings He is an unparallel'd example of Gods Indignation for the breach of his Holy Law For He that was the Son of God and the Lord of Glory was made a Man of Sorrowes He endured Derision Scourgings Stripes and at last a cruel and cursed Death The Holy of Holies was crucified between two Thieves By how much the Life of Christ was more precious than the lives of all men so much in his Death doth the wrath of God appear more fully against Sin than it would in the destruction of the whole world of Sinners And His Spiritual Sufferings infinitely exceeded all His Corporeal The Impressions of Wrath that were inflicted by Gods immediate Hand upon his Soul forced from him those strong Cries that moved all the powers of Heaven and Earth with Compassion If the curtain were drawn aside and we should look into the Chambers of Death where Sinners lie down in Sorrow for ever and hear the woful expressions and deep Complaints of the Damned with what horrour and distraction they speak of their torments we could not have a fuller testimony of God's Infinite displeasure against sin than in the Anguish and Agonies of our Redeemer For whatever His Sufferings were in kind yet in their degree and measure they were equally terrible with those that condemned Sinners endure Now how is it possible that Rational Agents should freely in the open light for perishing vanities dare to commit sin Can they avoid or endure the Wrath of an Incensed God If God spared not his Son when he came in the similitude of sinful flesh how shall Sinners who are deeply and universally defiled escape Can they fortifie themselves against the Supreme Judge Can they encounter with the fury of the Almighty the apprehensions of which made the Soul of Christ heavy unto Death Have they patience to bear that for ever which was to Christ who had the strength of the Deity to support him intolerable for a few hours If it were so with the green Tree what will become of the dry when exposed to the fiery Tryal If he that was Holy and Innocent suffered so dreadfully what must they expect who add impenitency to their guilt and live in the bold commission of Sin without reflection and remorse What prodigious Madness is it to drink iniquity like water as a harmless thing when 't is a poison so deadly that the least drop of it brings certain ruine What desperate Folly to have slight apprehensions of that which is attended with the first and second Death Nothing but unreasonable Infidelity and Inconsideration can make men venturous to provoke the living God who is infinitely sensible of their Sins and who both can and will punish them by Torments extreme and eternal 2. The strictness of Divine Justice appears that required Satisfaction equivalent to the desert of sin The natural Notion of the Deity as the Governour of the World instructed the Heathens That the transgression of his Laws was worthy of Death This proves that the obligation to punishment doth not arise from the mere will of God which is only discovered by Revelation but is founded in the nature of things and by its own light is manifested to reasonable creatures From hence they inferred That it was not becoming the Divine nature as qualified with the relation of Supreme Ruler to pardon Sin without Satisfaction This appears by the Sacrifices and Ceremonies the Religions and Expiations which were performed by the most ignorant Nations And although they infinitely abused themselves in the conceit they had of their pretended efficacy and vertue yet the universal consent of Mankind in the belief that Satisfaction was necessary declares it to be true This as other natural Doctrines is more fully revealed by Scripture Under the Law without shedding of blood there was no remission not that common Blood could make Satisfaction for Sin but God commanded there should be a visible mark of its necessity in the Worship offer'd to him and a prefiguration that it should be accomplisht by a Sacrifice eternally efficacious And the Oeconomy of our Salvation clearly proves that to preserve the honour of Gods Government Sin must be punisht that Sinners might be pardoned For nothing was more repugnant to the Will of God absolutely considered than the Death of his Beloved Son and the natural Will of Christ was averse from it What then moved that Infinite Wisdome which wills nothing but what is perfectly reasonable to ordain that event Why should it take so great a circuit if the way was so short that by pure Favour without Satisfaction Sin might have been pardoned Our Saviour declares the necessity of his suffering Death supposing the merciful Will of his Father to save us when He saith That as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believes in him should not perish 'T is true Since God had foretold and prefigured his Death by the oracles and actions under the Law it necessarily came to pass But to consider things exactly the unchangeable truth of Types and Prophesies is not
as to violate the Fidelity of Marriage without the wounding of Chastity or to poison a Parent without failing in the duty that is owing to them And to express his indignation he tells them Sic ergo ipsi salva venia in Gehennam detruduntur dum salvo metu peccant Let them expect that God will cast them into Hell without prejudice to their Pardon as they pretend to Sin without prejudice to the respect they bear him To sum up all Jesus Christ as by his Doctrine and Life he clearly discover'd our Duty so he offers to us the Aid of his Spirit for our assistance by which the Commands of the Gospel are not only possible but easy And to enforce our obligations he hath threatned such Vengeance to the rebellious and promised such a Reward to those that obey the Gospel that it is impossible we should not be deeply affected with them if we seriously believe them and He hath given such evidence of their truth that 't is impossible we should not believe them unless the God of this world hath blinded our minds 'T is matter therefore of just astonishment that Christians should not express the efficacy of the Gospel in their actions How can a reasonable Creature believe that eternal Damnation shall be the Punishment of Sin and yet live in the wilful practice of it The Historian speaking of Mushroms that somtimes prov'd deadly to whole Families asks with wonder What pleasure could allure them to eat such doubtful Meat Yet they may be so corrected as to become innocent But when 't is certain that the Pleasures of Sin are mortal Can any one be tempted by those attractives to venture on that which will undoubtedly bring Death to the Soul Let Sense itself be Judg and make the comparison between whatsoever the present Life can afford for delight in Sin and what the future Death will bring to torment it Let the Flesh see into what torments all its delights shall be changed and with what other fire than of impure Lust it shall burn for ever Besides We are encouraged to our Duty with the assurance of a Happiness so excellent that not only the enjoyment of it in the next World but the just expectation of it here makes us truly blessed If the Reward were small or the Promise uncertain there might be some pretence for our not performing the Conditions to obtain it but when the one is infinitely great and the other as true as the God of truth what more powerful motive can be conceiv'd to make us holy 'T is the Apostles chosen Argument that We should walk worthy of him who hath call'd us to his Kingdom and Glory The Heathens were in a great measure strangers to the Secrets of another World they had but a shadow of probability we have the Light of Truth brought down from Heaven by the Son of God that reveals to us a Blessedness that deserves our most ardent active Affections But if Men are not wrought on by natural Reason nor divine Faith if neither the Terrours of the Lord nor the blessed Hope can perswade them from Sin to Holiness their condition is irrecoverable In this the Rules of Natural and Spiritual Healing agree Where neither Corrosives nor Lenitives are successful we must use the Knife if cutting off be unprofitable we must fear the part if the Fire is ineffectual the Ulcer is incurable If the threatning of Hell-fire through Unbelief and Carelesness is not fear'd and hath no efficacy to correct and change Sinners what remains but to make a presage of eternal Death that will unavoidably and speedily seize on them And if so clear a discovery of the Heavenly Glory doth not produce in men a living Faith that works by Love and a lively Hope that purifies the Heart and Conversation what can be concluded but that they are wholly sensual and senseless and shall be for ever deprived of that Blessedness they now despise and neglect CHAP. XX. The Divine Power is admirably glorified in the Creation of the World in respect of the greatness of the effect and the manner of its production T is as evident in our Redemption The Principal Effects of it are considered The Incarnation of the Son of God is a work fully responsible to Omnipotence Our Redeemers Supernatural Conception by the Holy Ghost The Divine Power was eminently declared in the Miracles Jesus Christ wrought in the course of his Ministry His Miracles were the evidence of His Celestial Calling they were necessary for the conviction of the World their Nature considered The Divine Power was Glorified in making the Death of Christ Victorious over all our Spiritual Enemies The Resurrection of Christ the effect of Glorious Power The Reasons of it from the quality of his Person and the nature of his Office that he might dispense the Blessings he had purchased for Believers His Resurrection is the foundation of Faith It hath a threefold reference to his Person as the Son of God to his Death as an Alsufficient Sacrifice to his Promise of raising Believers at the last day THE Divine Power is admirably glorified in the Creation of the World not only in regard of the greatness of the Effect that comprehends the Heavens and Earth and all things in them but in regard of the marvelous way of its Production for He made the great Universe without the concurrence of any material cause from nothing For this reason the raising this glorious Fabrick is producâ—d as the distinctive character of the Deity from the troop of false gods The Psalmist declares The Lord is to be fearâ—d above all gods for all the gods of the Nations are Idols but the Lord made the Heavens And as He began the Creation by proceeding from nothing to real existence so in forming the other parts He drew them from infirm and indisposed matter as from a second nothing that all his Creatures might bear the real testimonies of Infinite Power Thus He commanded Light to arise out of Darkness and sensible Creatures from an insensible Element He created Man the accomplishment of all his Works from the lowest and grossest Element the Earth Now although at the first view we might conceive that the visible World is the greatest Miracle that ever God performed yet upon serious reflection we shall discover that the works of Grace are as wonderful as the works of Nature and that the Power of God is as evidently exprest in our Redemption as in the Creation For the fuller understanding of this I will consider some of the principal Effects of the Divine Power in order to our blessed Recovery 1. The Incarnation of the Son of God in accomplishing whereof such Power was exercis'd as no limited Understanding is able to comprehend The Word was made Flesh. This signifies the real Union between the Humane Nature and the Divine in our Redeemer Before his Incarnation he appeared in an humane form to the Patriarchs and
the Lord. And immediately there was a general commotion among them they joyn'd together the sinews and flesh came upon them and the skin cover'd them And upon a second Prophesy they were all inspir'd with the Breath of Life and stood up an exceeding great Army Now whether this was really represented to his outward senses or only by the efficacy of the Spirit to his imagination no doubt so strange a Spectacle vehemently affected him as with Joy in hope of the miraculous Restoration of Israel which that Vision foretold so with admiration of the Divine Power But when the Trumpet of the Arch-Angel shall sound the Universal Jubilee and call forth the Dead from all their Receptacles when the Elements as Faithful Depositaries shall effectively restore what was committed to them How Admirable will the Power of God appear 2. No less than Infinite Power is able to change the raised Bodies into the likenesse of Christs The Apostle speaks with an exaggeration of it For our Conversation is in Heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our Vile Bodies that it may be fashioned like unto his Glorious Body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself This resemblance will be only in the Person of Believers All Men shall rise to be judged but not all to be transform'd There is a Resurrection to Death as well as to Life Unhappy Resurrection Which only serves to make the Body the Food of Eternal Death But the Saints who endeavoured to be like to Christ in purity shall then have a perfect conformity to him in Glory and Immortality How Glorious the Body of Christ is we may conjecture in part by what the Apostle relates to Agrippa At mid-day O King I saw in the way a light from Heaven above the brightness of the Sun shining round about me Which was no other but the Light of the Face of Christ that struck him with Blindnesse One Ray of this reflecting upon the first Martyr Saint Stephen in his Sufferings gave an Angelical Glory to his countenance And Saint John tells us when he appears we shall be like him He alludes to the rising of the Sun but with this difference when the Sun appears in the Morning the Stars are made invisible but the Bodies of the Saints shall be cloathed with a Sun-like lustre and shine in the midst of Christs Glory Omnipotency alone that Subdues all things can raise and refine them from their Dross unto such an admirable Brightness The Angels will be surpris'd with wonder to see Millions of Stars spring out of the Dust. The Lord Jesus Christ will be admir'd in all them that Believe 2. Their Bodies shall be raised to a Glorious Immortality In this the General Resurrection is Different from that which was Particular as of Lazarus by the one Death was overcome and put to flight only for some time for his second life was no more exempt from Death than his first But by the other Death shall be swallowed in Victory and lose its force for ever Then shall our true Joshua be magnified in the sight of the whole World and the Glorious number of Saints shall cast their Crowns at his Feet and sing the Triumphant Song Thou hast Redeem'd us to God by thy Blood and rescued us by thy Power from all our Enemies and art worthy of Honour and Glory and Blessing for ever CHAP. XXII The extraordinary working of the Divine Power is a convincing proof of the Verity of the Christian Religion The internal Excellencies of it are clear marks of its Divinity to the purified Mind The external Operations of God's power were requisite to convince men in their corrupt state that the Doctrine the Gospel came from God The miraculous owning of Christ by the whole Divinity from Heaven The Resurrection of Christ the most important Article of of the Gospel and the demonstration of all the rest How valuable the Testimony of the Apostles is concerning it That 't was impossible they should deceive or be deceived The quality of the Witnesses considered There cannot be the least reasonable suspicion of them 'T is utterly incredible that any humane temporal respects mov'd them to feign the Resurrection of Christ. The nature of the Testimony considered It was of a matter of fact and verified to all their Senses The Uniformity of it secures us there was no corruption in the Witnesses and that it was no illusion They seal'd the truth of it with their Blood The Miracles the Apostles did in the Name of Christ a strong demonstration that he was rais'd to a glorious life That Power was continued in the Church for a time The Conclusion how reasonable it is to give an entire Assent to the truth of Christianity 'T is desperate Infidelity not to believe it and the highest Madness to pretend to believe it and to live in disobedience to it 1 FRom what hath been discours'd concerning the extraordinary working of the Divine Power we have a most convincing proof of the Verity of the Christian Religion For since God hath by so many miraculous Effects the infallible indications of His Favour to the Person of Jesus Christ justified his Doctrine no reasonable doubt can remain concerning it Indeed the internal excellencies of it which are visible to the purged Eye of the Soul are clear marks of its Divinity The Mystery of our Redemption is made up of various parts in the Union of which such an evident Wisdom appears that the rational Mind unless enslaved by prejudice must be ravisht into a compliance Even that which most offends Sense the Meanness of our Saviours condition in the world and the miseries to which He was expos'd do so perfectly correspond with his great design to make Men holy and heavenly that it appears to be the effect of most wise Counsel And such a Beauty of Holiness shines in the Moral part as clearly proves God to be its Authour It denounces war against all Vices and commands every Vertue All that is excellent in humane Institutions it delivers with infinite more authority and efficacy And what natural reason did not reach to it fully describes in order to the Glory of God and the Happiness of Man Now as God the Authour of Nature hath by Tasts and Smells and other sensible qualities distinguish'd things wholsom from noxious even to the lowest living Creatures So He hath much more distinguish'd objects that are saving from deadly that is the true Religion from the false by undoubted evidences to any who will exercise their Spiritual Senses and sincerely desire to know and obey it And that all the wise and holy embraced it in the face of the greatest discouragements is an unanswerable Argument that 't is pleasing to God For how is it possible that the Good God should suffer those to fall into mortal Errour who from an ardent Affection to Him