make some short reflections upon the Types of the Law to show how they are compleated in Christ. The Mosaic Dispensation was so contriv'd as to bear a resemblance of the Messiah in all its parts The Law had a shadow of good things to come Christ was the end of the Law the substance of those shadows The main design of the Epistle to the Hebrews is to shew that in the antient Tabernacle there were models of the Heavenly things reveal'd in the Gospel The great number of Types declares the variety of the Divine Wisdom and the admirable fulness of Christ in whom they are verified Three sorts were instituted 1. Some were things without Life whose qualities and effects shadowed forth his Vertues and Benefits 2. Things endued with Life and Sence 3. Reasonable Persons that either in their offices actions or the memorable accidents that befel them represented the Messiah Of the first sort I will briefly consider the Manna that miraculously fell from Heaven the Rock that by its stream refresht the Israelites in their Journey to Canaan and the Brasen Serpent premising two things 1. That in comparing them with the Truth we are to observe the design of God and not to seek for Mysteries in every thing As in Pictures some strokes of the Pencil are only for ornament others for signification Besides when Superlative things are spoken of them exceeding their Nature and that cannot be applied to them without a violent figure the full and entire Truth is only found in Jesus Christ. 1. Manna was an eminent Type of him Accordingly the Apostle declares of the Israelites they did all eat the same Spiritual meat not in respect of its Material but Symbolical Nature The express Analogy between Manna and Christ is visible in respect of its marvelous production The Mosaical Manna was not the fruit of the Earth procur'd by humane industry but form'd by the Divine Power and rain'd down upon them therefore 't is called the Corn of Heaven This typified the celestial original of our Redeemer He is the true bread from Heaven given by the Father He is call'd the gift of God eminently being the richest and freest without any merit or indeavour of Men to procure it And we may observe the truth infinitely exceeded the Type for Manna descended only from the Clouds therefore our Saviour tells the Jews Moses gave ye not that bread from Heaven But he really came from Heaven where the great and Glorious Presence of God is manifested and appear'd under a visible form in the World Manna was only stil'd the Bread of Angels to signify its excellency above common food but the bread of God is he which cometh down from Heaven 2. Manna was dispenst to all the Israelites equally not as the delicious fruits of the Earth that are the portion of a few but as the light and influences of the Heavens that are common to all and herein 't was a representation of Christ who is offer'd to all without distinction of Nations to the Jews and Gentiles to the Graecians and Barbarians and without the distinction of quality to the Honourable and Mean the Rich and the Poor the Learned and Ignorant And here we may observe the excellency of the Spiritual Manna above the Mosaical for that â—ed but one nation but the bread of God gives life to the World his infinite merit is sufficient for the Salvation of all 3. Manna was a delicious food the Taste of it is described to be like wafers mixt with honey that have a pure chast sweetness this typified the Love of Christ shed abroad in the hearts of Believers Such an exalted ravishing pleasure proceeds from it that the Psalmist breaks forth in an extasy Taste and see how Good the Lord is 4. Manna was their only support in the Wilderness strengthning them to vanquish their Enemies and endure the hardships to which they were incident in their passage to Canaan In this regard 't was a lively image of Christ who is our Spiritual food whâ—e we are in the desert of the lower World the place of our trial exposed to dangers By him alone we shall be finally victorious over the Enemies of our Salvation And in this also the Truth is infinitely above the Type that prefigured it For Manna could only preserve the Natural Life for a time As our Saviour tells the Jews your Fathers eat Manna in the Wilderness and are dead But Jesus Christ is the living bread that came down from Heaven and hath a Supernatural Vertue to convey a Life incomparably more noble and answerable to the quality of his Original 'T is incorruptible as Heaven from whence He came If any man eat of this Bread he shall live for ever Death is so far from extinguishing that it advances the Spiritual Life to its perfection 2. The Apostle testifies that the Israelites drank of that Spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ. That the Miracle was mysterious is evident from the circumstances related of it When the Israelites were in great distress for water The Lord said to Moses I will stand before thee there upon the Rock in Horeb and thou shalt smite the Rock and there shall come water out of it that the People may drink If there had been no other design but the relieving their necessity that might have been supplied by rain from Heaven or if only to give a visible effect of the Divine Power that had been discovered in causing new Springs to rise from the Earth or the Command of God had been sufficient to strike the Rock But he went to it to signifie the respect it had to himself He was the Son of God that spake to Moses and conducted the People For this reason He is stiled the Angel of Gods presence not with respect to his Nature but Offices I will briefly observe the parallel between the Rock and Christ. 1. A Rock is the ordinary Title of God in Scripture to represent his unchangeable Nature and infinite Power whereby He upholds the World And in a special manner it resembles the Messiah He is called The Stone which the builders refused that was made the head of the corner He is the Rock upon which the Church is built and secur'd against the violence of Hell Now Israel was not supplied from the Clouds or the Valleys but the Rock to shew that the mystical Rock the Son of God can only refresh the Spiritual Israel with living Water 2. The quality of the Rock hath a proper Signification For although it had in its Veins a rich abundance of Waters yet to appearance nothing was more dry and hard In this it was a Figure of the Spiritual Rock The effects have discovered in him unfathomable depths of Righteousness Grace and Salvation yet at the first view we had no hopes For if we consider Him as God He is infinitely Holy and Just encompast with everlasting flames against Sin and
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
Poison which required such a dreadful Cure And the benefit we receive in so costly a way is justly magnified by us Now what is more apt to inflame our love to God than the admirable expression of his Love to us in that with the most precious Blood he ransom'd us from Hell How doth it endear Obedience that God hath sacrificed his Son to keep us from acts of hostility So that the Grace of the Gospel is so far from indulging Sin that it gives the most deadly wound to it Especially when the tenour of the new Covenant is That the Condemned Creature in order to receiving Pardon and the Benefits that are purchased must receive the Benefactor with the most intire consent for his Prince and Saviour The Law of Faith requires us to submit to his Scepter as well as to depend upon his Sacrifice The Gospel is a conditional Act of Oblivion that none may venture to sin upon confidence of Pardon And since the occasion of the Fall was from a conceit that Man could better his estate by complying with the Tempter and obtain a more desirable Happiness in the Creature than in the Favour of God his Recovery is by revealing to him wherein true Blessedness consists and giving him an assurance that he may obtain it For Man will never subject himself to God as his Highest Lord till he looks on him as his last End and Soveraign Good Now the Gospel offers to us the most effectual means to convince Man of the folly of his choice in making the Creature his Happiness For the Son of God who was Heir of all things when He came into the world was in the perpetual exercise of Self-denial He lived a despised Life and died an ignominious Death to discover to us That as the miseries of this Life can't make us miserable so the good things of it can't make us happy Besides how is it possible that the wretched enjoyment of this World should be the Blessedness for which He spent his Sweat his Tears his Blood The rich price he laid down doth most powerfully convince us That our Felicity is infinitely more valuable than all earthly things and can be no less than the fruition of God himself Thus the Divine Wisdom hath so ordered the way of our Salvation that as Mercy and Justice in God so Holiness and Comfort may be perfectly united in the reasonable Creature CHAP. VI. Practical Inferences A superlative degree of Praise and Thankfulness due to God for the revelation of the Gospel 'T is not discovered by the Creation 'T is above the reach of Natural Reason The Heathen World is intirely ignorant of it 'T is pure Grace that distinguishes one Nation from another in sending the Gospel Evangelical Knowledg deserves our most serious study The Gospel exceeds all contemplative and practick Sciences Contemplative in the greatness of its object and the certainty of its principle Practick in the excellency of its End and the efficacy of the Means 1. WHat a Superlative degree of Praise and Thankfulness is due to God for revealing his eternal and compassionate Counsel in order to our Salvation The Fall of Man was so wounding and deadly that only an Infinite Understanding could find out the means for his Recovery And if that Mercy which mov'd the Lord to ordain the Remedy had not discover'd it a thick cloud of Despair had cover'd Mankind being for ever unable to conceive the way of our Redemption 'T is a Mystery which eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor â—ath entred into the heart of man to conceive All Humane Knowledg is acquir'd by two sorts of Faculties the external and internal Of the first Sight and Hearing are the most spiritual and convey the knowledge of the most worthy objects They are the Senses of Discipline the other three or immerst in matter and are incapable to make such clear discoveries Besides those impressions that are made on the senses we may form some Ideas in the imagination upon which the mind reflecting may argue and discourse Thus far the light and vigour of the understanding can only go So that the Apostle declares that the whole plot of the Gospel was without the compass of our most searching faculties this will be evident by considering 1. There was no discovery of it in the Creation the Voice of the Heavens instruct us concerning the being of God but not in the secrets of his Will The oeconomy of Mans Redemption is the merciful design of God which hath no connection with the existence of the creatures but depends only upon his good pleasure 'T is as impossible to read the Divine Decrees in the Volume of the World as for the eye to discover a sound which hath neither Figure Colour nor visible motion Besides the Glorious Nature of God in three Persons which is the foundation of this Mysterious Mercy is not made known by the visible frame of the Universe 'T is true in all External Works the three Persons are equally concerned being of one Essence they are of one Efficacy and the Essential perfections of the Deity as they concur so they are evident in the production of all things The first motive is Goodness that which orders and directs is Wisdom that which executes is Power And the several ranks of Creatures according to their state reflect an honour on their Author Things endued with life declare him to be the fountain of Life and intellectual creatures represent him to be the Father of Lights But the personal being as Personal operating nothing out of the Divine Nature there is no resemblance in the World that expresses the Distinction Propriety and Singularity of the Persons so as to discover them to the humane understanding Those deeper Mysteries of the Deity are only made known by the Word of God 2. 'T is above the strain and reach of natural Reason to attain to the knowledge of it There are seminal sparks of the Law in the heart of Man some common principles of Piety Justice and Charity without which the World would soon disband and fall into confusion but there is not the least presumption or conjecture of the contrivance of the Gospel Though misery sharpens the mind and makes it more ingenious to find out wayes of Deliverance yet here Reason was utterly at a loss How could it ever enter into the thoughts of the Israelites that by erecting a Brazen Serpent on a Pole and looking towards it the wounds made by the Fiery Serpents should be healed And how could guilty Man find out a way to satisfie Infinite Justice by the Sufferings of a Mediator and to heal the wounded spirit by believing on him The most inquiring Reason could never have thought of the Wonders of the Incarnation that a Virgin should conceive and a God be born nor of the Death of the Prince of Life and the Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord of Glory We may see how impossible it is for
will I remember no more 2. The excellency of the Evangelical Covenant above the Legal is in that supernatural Assistance which is conveyed by it to Believers whereby they shall be certainly victorious over all opposition in their way to Heaven 'T is true Adam was endued with perfect holiness and freedom but he might intangle himself in the snares of Sin and Death The Grace of the Creator given to him was alwaies present but it depended on the natural use of his Faculties without the interposing any extraordinary operation of God's Spirit The Principle of Holiness was in himself and 't was subjected to his Will He had a power to obey if he would but not that actually determined his will for then he had persevered But the Grace of the Redeemer that flows from Christ as our quickening Head and is conveyed to all his Members enclines the Will so powerfully that 't is made subject to it God works in us to will and to do of his good pleasure The use of our Faculties and the exercise of Grace depends on the good pleasure of God who is unchangeable and the operations of the Spirit which are prevailing and effectual And upon these two the stability of the New Covenant is founded 1. On the Love of God who is as unchangable in his Will as in his Nature This Love is the cause of Election from whence there can be no separation This gives Christ to Believers and Believers to Him Thine they were saith our Saviour and thou gavest them me Which words signifie not the common title God hath to all by Creation for Men thus universally consider'd compose the world and our Saviour distinguishes those that are given him from the world but that special right God hath in them by election And all those are given by the Father to Christ in their effectual Calling which is exprest by his drawing them to the Son and are committed to his care to lead them through a course of Obedience to Glory For them Christ absolutely praies as Mediator Father I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am and see my Glory And he is alwaies heard in his requests 'T is from hence that the Apostle challenges all Creatures in Heaven and Earâ—h with that full and strong persuasion that nothing could separate between Believers and their Happiness For I am persuaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor heigth nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. His assurance is not built on the special Prerogatives he had as an Apostle not on his rapture to Paradise nor Revelations nor the Apparition of Angels for of these he makes no mention but on that which is common to all Believers the Love of God declar'd in the Word and shed abroad in their hearts And 't is observable that the Apostle having spoken in his own person changes the number I am persuaded that nothing shall separate us to associate with himself in the partaking of that blessed Priviledg all true Believers who have an interest in the same Love of God the same Promises of Salvation and had felt the sanctifying work of the Spirit the certain proof of their Election For how is it possible that God should retract his merciful purpose to save his People He that chose them from Eternity before they could know Him and from pure Love there being nothing in the Creature to induce Him gave his Son to suffer Death for them will He stop there without bestowing that Grace which may render it effectual What can change his Affections He that prevented them in his Mercy when they were in their pollutions will He leave them after his Image is engraven upon them He that loved them so as to unite them to Christ when they were strangers will He hate them when they are his Members No His loving kindness is everlasting and the Covenant that is built on it is more firm than the Pillars of Heaven and the Foundations of the Earth This supported David in his dying hours that God had made with him an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for that was all his Salvation 2. The New Covenant is secur'd by the efficacy of Divine and Supernatural Grace This is the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel saith the Lord I will put my Laws into their minds and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a People The Elect are enabled to perform the conditions of the Gospel to which Eternal Life is promised Our Redeemer blesses us in turning us from our Iniquities And although the instability of the humane Spirit by reason of remanent Corruptions and those various Temptations to which we are liable may excite our fear lest we should fall short of the high prize of our Calling yet the Grace of the Gospel secures true Believers against both 1. Whilst we are in the present state our Corruptions are not perfectly healed but there are some remains which like a Gangrene threaten to seize on the vital parts wherein the spiritual Life is seated But the divine Nature which is conveyed to all that are spiritually descended from Christ is active and powerful to resist all carnal desires and will prevail in the end For if sin in its full vigor could not controul the efficacy of converting Grace how can the reliques of it after Grace hath taken possession be strong enough to spoil it of its conquest There is a greater distance from Death to Life than from Life to Action That Omnipotent Grace that visited us in the Grave and restored life to the dead can much more perpetuate it in the living That which was so powerful as to pluck the heart of stone out of the Breast can preserve the Heart of Flesh. 'T is true the Grace that is given to Believers in its own nature is a perishing quality as that which was bestowed on Adam Non only the slight superficial tincture in hypocrites will wear off but that deep impression of sanctifying Grace in true Believers if it be not renewed would soon be defaced But God hath promised to put his Spirit into their hearts and to cause them to walk in his Statutes and they shall keep his Commandments He is a living reigning Principle in them to which all their faculties are subordinate The Spirit infused Grace at first and enlivens it daily he confirms their Faith inflames their Love encourages their Obedience and refreshes in their minds the Idea's of that glory which is invisible and future In short his influence cherishes the blessed beginnings of the spiritual Life So that sincere Grace though weak in its degree yet 't is in a state of progress til it come
any allay in the highest degree of its Perfection The Life of Adam was alwaies in a circle of low and mean functions of the Animal Nature which being common to him and Beasts the acts of it are not strictly Humane But the Spiritual Life in Heaven is entirely freed from those servile necessities and is spent in the eternal performance of the most noble actions of which the intelligent Nature is capable The Saints do alwaies contemplate admire love enjoy and praise their everlasting Benefactor God is to them all in all In short That which prefers the Glory of Heaven infinitely before the first state of Man is the continuance of it for ever 'T is an unwithering and never-fading Glory Adam was liable to Temptations and capable of Change he fell in the Garden of Eden and was sentenc'd to die But Heaven is the Sanctuary of Life and Immortality 't is inaccessible to any evil The Serpent that corrupted Paradise with its Poison can't enter there As there is no seed of Corruption within so no cause of it without Our Redeemer offer'd Himself by the Eternal Spirit and purchased an eternal Inheritance for his People Their Felicity is full and perpetual without encrease for in the first moment 't is perfect and shall continue without declination The Day of Judgment is called the Last Day For Daies and Weeks and Months and Years the Revolutions which now measure Time shall then be swallowed up in an unchangeable Eternity The Saints shall be for ever with the Lord. And in all these respects the Glory of the Redeemed as far exceeds the Felicity of Man in the Creation as Heaven the bright Seat of it is above the fading beauty of the terrestrial Paradise CHAP. XI Redeeming Love deserves our highest Admiration and humble Acknowledgments The illustration of it by several Considerations God is infinitely amiable in Himself yet his Love is transient to the Creature 'T is admirable in Creating and Preserving Man more in Redeeming him and by the Death of his Son The discovery of God's Love in our Redemption is the strongest persuasiue to Repentance The Law is ineffectual to produce real Repentance The common benefits of Providence are insuffâ—cient to cause Faith and Repentance in the guilty Creature The clear discovery of pardoning Mercy in the Gospel can only remove our Fears and induce us to return to God The transcendent Love of God should kindle in us a reciprocal Love to Him His Excellency and His ordinary Bounty to Mankind cannot prevail upon us to love Him His Love to us in Christ only conquers our Hatred Our Love to Him must be sincere and superlative The despising of Saving Mercy is the highest Provocation It makes the Condemnation of Men most just certain and heavy 1. ' THis Redeeming Love deserves our highest Admiration and most humble acknowledgments If we consider God aright it may raise our wonder that He is pleased to bestow kindness upon any created being For in Him is all that is excellent and amiable and 't is essential to the Deity to have the perfect knowledg of Himself and perfect Love to Himself His Love being proportioned to his Excellencies the act is infinite as the object And the perfections of the Divine Nature being equal to his Love 't is a just cause of admiration that 't is not confined to himself but is transient and goes forth to the Creature When David looked up to the Heavens and saw the Majesty of God written in Characters of light he admires that Love which first made Man a litle lower then the Angels and Crowned him with Glory and Honour and that providential care which is mindful of him and visits him every moment Such an inconceivable distance there is between God and Man that 't is wonderful God will spend a thought upon us Lord what is Man that thou takest knowledge of him or the Son of Man that thou makest account of him Man is like to vanity his dayes are as a shadow that passeth away His being in this world hath nothing firm or solid 't is like a shadow that depends upon a cause that is in perpetual motion the light of the Sun and is alwayes changing till it vanishes in the darkness of the night But if we consider Man in the quality of a sinner and what God hath wrought for his recovery we are overcome with amazement All temporal favours are but foils to this miraculous Mercy and unspeakably below the least instance of it without it all the priviledges we enjoy above inferior Creatures in this life will prove aggravations of our future misery God saw us in our degenerate state destroyed by our selves and yet O Goodness truly Divine he loved us so far as to make the way for our recovery High Mountains were to be levelled and great depths to be filled up before we could arrive at blessedness all this God hath done He hath brought the Curse of the guilty upon the innocent and exposed his beloved Son to the Sword of his Justice to turn the blow from us What astonishing goodness is it that God who is the Author and end of all things should become the means of our Salvation And by the lowest abasement What is so worthy of admiration as that the Eternal should become mortal that being in the form of God he should take on him the form of a Servant that the Judge of the World should be condemned by the guilty that he should leave his Throne in Heaven to be nailed to the Cross that the Prince of Life should taste of Death These are the great Wonders which the Lord of Love hath performed and all for sinful miserable and unworthy Man who deserved not the least drop of that Sweat and Blood he spent for him and without any advantage to himself for what content can be added to his felicity by a cursed Creature Infinite Love that is as admirable as saving Love that passeth Knowledge and is as much above our comprehension as desert In natural things admiration is the effect of ignorance but here 't is increased by Knowledg For the more we understand the excellent Greatness of God and the vileness of Man the more we shall admire saving Mercy And the most humble acknowledgments are due for it When David told Mephibosheth that he should eat bread with him at his Tâ—ble continually he bowed himself and said What is thy Servant that thou shouldest look on such a dead Dog as I am A speech ful of gratitude and humility yet he was of a Royal extraction though at that time in a low condition With a far greater sense of our unworthiness we should reflect upon that condescending Love that provides the Bread of God for the food of our Souls without which we had perisht for want David in that divine thanksgiving recorded in the Scripture reflects upon his own meanness and from that magnifies the favour of God towards him Who am I
O Lord God and what is my house that thou hast brought me hitherto and this was yet a small thing in thy sight O Lord God but thou hast spoken of thy Servants house for a great while to come and is this the manner of Man O Lord God if such humble and thankful acknowledgments were due for the Scepter of Israel what is for the Crown of Heaven and and that procured for us by the sufferings of the Son of God Briefly Goodness is the foundation of Glory therefore the most solemn and affectionate Praise is to be rendered for transcendent Goodness The consent of Heaven and Earth is in ascribing blessing and honour and glory to him that sits on the Throne and the Lamb for ever 2. The Love of God discovered in our Redemption is the most powerful persuasive to Repentance For the discovery of this we must consider that real Repentance is the consequent of Faith and always in proportion to it Therefore the Law which represents to us the Divine Purity and Justice without any allay of Mercy can never work true Repentance in a Sinner When Conscience is under the strong conviction of guilt and of Gods Justice as implacable it causes a dreadful flight from him and a retchless neglect of means Despair hardens Neither is the discovery of God in Nature prevailing over the impenitent Hearts of men 'T is true the visible frame of the World and the continual benefits of Providence instruct Men in those prime Truths the Being and Bounty of God to those that serve Him and invite them to their Duty God never left himself without a witness in any age His Goodness is design'd To lead men to Repentance And the Apostle aggravates the obstinacy of Men that render'd that method entirely fruitless But the Declaration of Gods Goodness in the Gospel is infinitely more clear and powerful than the silent revelation by the works of Creation and Providence For although the Patience and general Goodness of God offered some intimations that he is placable yet not a sufficient support for a guilty and jealous Creature to rely on The natural notion of Gods Justice is so deeply rooted in the Humane Soul that till He is pleased to proclaim an Act of Grace and Pardon on the conditions of Faith and Repentance 't is hardly possible that convinced Sinners should apprehend Him otherwise than an Enemy and that all the common Benefits they enjoy are but Provisions allowed in the interval between the Sentence pronounc'd by the Law and the Execution of it at Death Therefore God to overcome our fears and to melt us into a compliance hath given in the Scripture the highest assurance of his willingness to receive all relenting and returning Sinners He interposes the most solemn Oath to remove our suspicions As I live saith the Lord I delight not in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live And have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die saith the Lord God And not that he should return from his ways and live The majesty and ardency of the Expressions testifie the truth and vehemency of his desire so far as the Excellency of his Nature is capable to feel our Affections And the Reason of it is clear for the Conversion of a Sinner implies a thorough change in the Will and Affections from Sin to Grace and that is infinitely pleasing to Gods Holiness and the giving of Life to the converted is most suitable to his Mercy The Angels who are infinitly inferiour to Him in Goodness rejoyce in the Repentance and Salvation of Men Much more God doth There is an eminent difference between his inclinations to exercise Mercy and Justice He uses expressions of regret when He is constrained to punish O that my People had hearkned to me and Israel had walked in my wayes And how shall I give thee up Ephraim how shall I deliver thee Israel mine heart is turned within me As a merciful Judg that pities the Man when he condemns the Malefactor But He dispenses Acts of Grace with pleasure He pardons Iniquity and passes by transgressions because He delights in Mercy 'T is true when Sinners are finally obdurate God is pleased in their Ruine for the honour of his Justice yet t is not in such a manner as in their Conversion and Life He doth not invite Sinners to transgress that He may condemn them He is not pleased when they give occasion for the exercise of his Anger And above all we have the clearest and surest discovery of pardoning Mercy in the Death of Christ. For what stronger evidence can there be of God's readiness to pardon than sending his Son into the World to be a Sacrifice for Sin that Mercy without prejudice to his other Perfections might upon our Repentance forgive us And what more rational argument is there and more congruous to the Breast of a Man to work in him a serious grief and hearty detestation of Sin not only as a cursed thing but as 't is contrary to the Divine Will than the belief that God in whose Power alone it is to pardon Sinners is most desirous to pardon them if they will return to Obedience The Prodigal in his extream distress resolved to go to his Father with penitential acknowledgments and submission and to use the words of a devout Writer His guilty Conscience as desperate asks him Qua spe with what hope He replies to himself Illa qua Pater est Ego perdidi quod erat filii ille quod patris est nâ—n amisit Though I have neglected the duty and lost the confidence of a Son he hath not lost the compassion of a Father That Parable represents Man in his degenerate forlorn state and that the Divine Goodness is the Motive that prevails upon him to return to his duty 3. The transcendent Love that God hath exprest in our Redemption by Christ should kindle in us a reciprocal affection to him For what is more natural than that one flame should produce another We love him because he loved us first The original of our Love to God is from the evidence of his to us this alone can strongly and sweetly draw the heart to him 'T is true the divine excellencies as they deserve a superlative esteem so the highest affection but the bare contemplation of them is ineffectual to fire the Heart with a zealous Love to God For Man in his Corrupt state hath a Diabolical Seed in him he is inclined not only to Sensuality which is an implicit hatred of God for an eager Appetite to those things which God forbids and a fixed Aversation from what He commands are the Natural effects of Hatred But to malignity and direct hatred against God He is an enemy in his mind through wicked Works and this enmity ariseth from the consideration of Gods Justice and the effects of it Man cannot Sin and be
with corruptible things as Silver and Gold but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot And by his knowledg shall my righteous Servant justifie many 4. 'T was requisite the Mediator should be God and Man He must assume the nature of Man that he might be put in his stead in order to make satisfaction for him He was to be our representative therefore such a conjunction between us must be that God might esteem all his People to suffer in him By the Law of Israel the right of Redemption belonged to him that was next in blood Now Christ took the Seed of Abraham the original element of our nature that having a right of Propriety in us as God He might have a right of Propinquity as Man He was allied to all Men as Men that His sufferings might be universally beneficial And He must be God 't is not his Innocency onely or Deputation but the Dignity of His Person that qualifies Him to be an all-sufficient Sacrifice for Sin so that God may dispense pardon in a way that is honourable to Justice For Justice requires a proportion between the Punishment and the Crime and that receives its quality from the dignity of the person offended Now since the Majesty of God is infinite against whom sin is committed the guilt of it can never be expiated but by an infinite Satisfaction There is no name under Heaven nor in Heaven that could save us but the Son of God who being equal to Him in greatness became Man If there had been such compassion in the Angels as to have inclined them to interpose between Justice and us they had not been qualified for that Work not only upon the account of their different nature so that by substitution they could not satisfie for us nor that being immaterial substances they are exempted from the dominion of death which was the punishment denounc'd against the sinner and to which his Surety must be subjected but principally that being finite Creatures they are incapable to atone an incensed God Who among all their glorious Orders durst appear before so consuming a fire who could have been an Altar whereon to sanctifie a Sacrifice to Divine Justice no meer Creature how worthy so ever could propitiate the supreme Majesty when justly provoked Our Redeemer was to be the Lord of Angels The Apostle tells us that it pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell This respects not his original Nature but his Office and the reason of it is to reconcile by the blood of the Cross things in Heaven and in the Earth From the greatness of the Work we may infer the quality of the means and from the quality of the means the Nature of the Person that is to perform it Peace with God who was provoked by our Rebellion could only be made by an infinite Sacrifice Now in Christ the Deity it self not its influences and the fulness of it not any particular perfection only dwelt really and substantially God was present in the Ark in a shadow and representation He is present in nature by his sustaining Power and in his Saints by special favour and the eminent effects the Graces and Comforts that proceed from it but he is present in Christ in a singular and transcendent manner The Humanity is related to the Word not only as a Creature to the Author of its being for in this regard it hath an equal respect to all the persons but by a peculiar conjunction for 't is actuated by the same subsistence as the Divine Essence is in the Son but with this difference the one is voluntary the other necessary the one is espoused by Love the other received by Nature Now from this intimate Union there is a communication of the special qualities of both natures to the Person of Christ Man is exalted to be the Son of God and the Word abased to be the Son of Man As by reason of the vital Union between the Soul and Body the essential parts of Man 't is truly said that he is rational in respect of his soul and mortal in respect of his body This Union derives an infinite merit to the obedience of Christ. For the humane nature having its complement from the Divine Person 't is not the nature simply considered but the person that is the fountain of actions To illustrate this by an instance the civil Law determines that a tree transplanted from one soile to another and taking root there it belongs to the owner of that ground in regard that receiving nourishment from a new earth it becomes as it were another tree though there be the same individual root the same body and the same soul of vegetation as before Thus the humane nature taken from the common mass of Mankind and transplanted by personal Union into the Divine is to be reckoned as intirely belonging to the Divine and the actions proceeding from it are not meerly humane but are raised above their natural worth and become meritorious One hour of Christs Life glorified God more than an everlasting duration spent by Angels and Men in the praises of him For the most perfect creatures are limited and finite and their services cannot fully correspond with the Majesty of God but when the Word was made Flesh and entered into a new state of subjection he glorified God in a Divine manner and most worthy of him He that comes from above is above all The all sufficiency of his Satisfaction arises from hence He that was in the form of God and thought it no robbery to be equal with God that is in the truth of the Divine Nature He was equal with the Father and without sacriledge or usurpation possest Divine Honour he became obedient to the Death of the Cross. The Lord of Glory was Crucified We are purchased by the Blood of God And the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sin The Divine Nature gives it an infinite and everlasting efficacy And 't is observable that the Socinians the declared enemies of his Eternity consentaneously to their first impious error deny his Satisfaction For if Jesus Christ were but a titular God his Sufferings how deep soever had been insufficient to expiate our offence in His Death He had been only a Martyr not a Mediator For no Satisfaction can be made to Divine Justice but by suffering that which is equivalent to the guilt of sin which as 't is infinite such must the Satisfaction be CHAP. XIII Divine Justice is declared and glorified in the Death of Christ. The threefold account the Scripture gives of it As a Punishment inflicted for Sin as a Price to redeem us from Hell as a Sacrifice to reconcile us to God Man was Capitally guilty Christ with the allowance of God interposes as his Surety His Death was inflicted on him by the Supreme Judg. The impulsive Cause of it was Sin
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
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
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
a Dream is slight and vanishing so the uncertain expectation of felicity did but lightly touch their Spirits Briefly they had no true Knowledge nor firm Belief of Eternal Blessedness in the Vision of God nor of the endless Torments in Hell and wanting those great Principles from whence the Rules and Power to live in a holy manner are derived they fell short of that Purity which is a necessary qualification to prepare Men for Heaven They were in a confused labyrinth without true Light or Guide intangled with miserable Errours and stumbled every step whilst they sought after Happiness But the Lord Christ hath instructed the World concerning those invisible future Recompences He hath expresly threaten'd what-ever is to be feared by Man as a rational or sensible Creature the Worm that never dies and the Fire that shall never be quencht in case of Disobedience and he hath promised what-ever is to be hoped for in case of Obedience The Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven in the Gospel against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men. And our Saviour hath brought Light and Immortality to light He hath declared the nature and quality of Eternal Life that it consists in the most perfect acts of our raised and most receptive Faculties upon the most excellent objects That it contains perfect Holiness and pure Felicity being for ever distant from the infirmities and defilements of our mortal state He hath revealed as the quality so the extent of it relating to the Body as well as the Soul Whereas the Philosophers of all sorts the Academicks Stoicks Peripateticks Epicureans labouring with all the force of their understanding formed a Felicity according to their Fancies which was either wholly Sensual or else but for half of man For of the Resurrection and consequently the Immortality of the Body not the least notice for many Ages ever arrived to them Our Saviour who alone had the words of eternal life hath promised a Happiness that respects entire man The Soul and the Body which are his essential parts shall be united and endued with all the glorious qualities becoming the Sons of God And of all this he hath given to the world the highest assurance For he verified his Doctrine by his own Example rising from the Grave and appearing to his Apostles crown'd with Immortality and visibly ascending before them to Heaven Since there is no greater Paradox to Reason than the Resurrection which seem'd utterly incredible to men and not to be the object of a rational desire God by raising him from the Grave hath given the most convincing Argument that our Redeemer was sent from him to acquaint the World with the future state Thus the Apostle speaks to the Athenians The times of ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men eve ry where to repent because he hath appointed a day wherein he will judg the World in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all Men in that he hath raised him from the dead Jesus Christ who was attested from Heaven to be the Son of God by that great and powerful Act declared the Recompences that shall attend Men after Death Therefore a full and perfect assent is due to his Testimony Hell with all its Dread and Terror is not a Picture drawn by fancy to affright the World but is reveal'd by him whose Words shall remain when Heaven and Earth shall pass away The Heavenly Glories are not the Visions of a contemplative person that have no existence but are great Realities promised by him who as he died to purchase so he rose to witness the Truth of them And to bring these Great Things that are separate and distant from this present state nearer to us He sometimes causes Hell to rise up from beneath and flash in the face of secure sinners that they may break off their Sins by Repentance and sometimes he opens Heaven from above the Paradise of true delights and sends down of the precious fruits of the Sun of the precious things of the lasting Hills that by the sight of their Beauty and the taste of their sweetness we may for ever abhor the pleasures of Sin By the frequent and sensible experience of the truth of the Gospel in its Threatnings and Promises innumerable persons have been converted from Sin to Holiness from Earth to Heaven from Vanity to Eternity 3. Love is a prevalent affection stronger than Death and Kindness is the greatest endearment of Love Now the Lord Jesus exprest such admirable Love to us that being duly considered it cannot but inspire us with Love to him again and with a grateful desire to please him in all things He descended from Heaven to Earth and delivered himself to a shameful Death that He might redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works And what Argument is more powerful to cause in us a serious hatred of Sin than the Consideration of what Christ hath suffer'd to free us from the punishment and power of it If a Man for his Crimes were condemned to the Gallyes and a Friend of his who had been extremely injur'd by him should ransom him by a great sum when the guilty person is restor'd to liberty will he not blush for shame at the memory of what he hath done But how much more if his Friend would suffer for him the pains and infamy of his slavery if any spark of Humanity remain in him can he ever delight himself in those Actions which made such a benefit necessary to him And is it possible for a Christian to live in those Sins for which Christ died Will not Love cause an humble Fear lest he should frustrate the great Design and make void the most blessed effect of his terrible Sufferings why did he Redeem us with so excellent a price from our cruel Bondage but to restore us to his free service why did he vindicate us from the power of the Usurper to whom we were captives but to make us Subjects to our Natural Prince Why did he purifie us with his most precious Blood from our deadly Defilements but that we might be intirely consecrated to his Glory and be fervent in good works What can work upon an ingenious Person more than sense of Kindness What can oblige more strongly to duty than Gratieude What more powerful attractive to Obedinnce than Love This pure Love confirms the Glorified Saints for ever in Holiness For they are not Holy to obtain Heaven because they are possest of it nor to preserve their Blessedness because they are past all hazard of losing it but from the most lively and permanent sense of their Obligations because they have obtained that incomparable Felicity by a Gift never to be reverst and by a Mercy transcendently great And the same Love to God that is in the Saints above in the highest degree of perfection and makes them for