but the precious blood of the Son of God can be a Ransom Infer 2. How is the Wisdom of God to be admired in the contrivance of such a way for the ransoming and redeeming of lost sinners His wisdom is to be adored in all his Works in Creation in Dominion in all his works of Providence but his wisdom in the work of Redemption transcends all This is the chief of all the works and ways of God Herein he is said to have abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence Ephes 1.8 Wisdom referreth to the mystery of it Prudence to the time and way of discovery Wisdom in the eternal counsel Prudence in ordering things to attain the end of his counsel There is all Wisdom in the contrivance and all Prudence in the accomplishment Here is the Debtor discharged without being at any cost and yet Satisfaction made without any abatement Sin punished without shewing mercy Rom. 8.32 and yet the sinner acquitted without bearing the penalty And so God at once infinitely righteous and yet infinitely gracious O how doth all wisdom and prudence abound herein The Apostle in Ephes 3.10 calls it the manifold wisdom of God It is as various as it is mysterious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A conjunction of excellent ends and excellent means to bring them about The ends are the glory of God and the salvation of man The means are God made Man the union of two infinitely distant Natures in one person and so made fit to be a Redeemer Ransoming us from Death by dying Delivering us from the pit by going down into the Grave Redeeming us from the Curse by being made a Curse O how should this Wisdom be admired by all who share in this Ransom Infer 3. How unspeakable great is the Love and Grace of God the Father in the work of Redemption We are more apprehensive of Christ's Love because he bled and died for us then we are of the Love of the Father because that lies more out of sight it is not so visible in its effects I would not speak one word that should look like a lessening the Love and Grace of Christ God forbid It was great it was wonderful All his Transactions were nothing else but Love expounded and made manifest What was his Incarnation but Love in Swadling Clothes What were his Sufferings but Love in travel What was his Burial but Love laid in the Grave What was his Resurrection and Ascension but love in its triumph Nothing could have brought Christ to do what he did and suffer what he suffered but Love He knew what the Redemption of Souls would cost how dear it would be to him and yet Love consents to be at all the charge He loved us and gave himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour Ephes 5.2 Let that new Song therefore be for ever sung to his praise Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood But yet the Father had the first hand in it Redemption had its first rise in the Eternal purpose of his Free Grace he ordained and anointed and sent Christ to bring it about so that the ransom was of his finding And therefore let all the ransomed of the Lord for ever admire the riches of his Grace herein Infer 4. How willing and ready must God be to pardon and save the worst of sinners who come to him by Christ What greater Argument can there be to prove it then giving the Lord Christ for a Ransom to effect it Who spared not his own Son Rom. 8.32 It pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief Isai 53.10 What can be more abhorrent to the heart of a tender Father then to have a hand in the Death of his own Son especially if he be an only Son and a dutiful Son a Son that never in the least displeased or offended him Who can bear to part with such a Son It goes to the heart of a Parent but to stand by and see the Death of a Child And therefore Hagar when her Son was in distress lays him down and sat at a distance And why Alas she could not bear to see him die Let me not see the death of the Child said she and she lift up her voice and wept Gen. 21 16. But to contrive a Son's death to resolve it to have a hand in it to order all things about it who can do this and yet all this God did And can there be a greater proof of his willingness to save sinners Why then should any entertain such hard and unbecoming thoughts of God as many do O what Jealousies and Fears arise in awakened sinners concerning God! from a sense of the greatness of their sins and unworthiness They dare not come to God they dare not pray they dare not believe will God own such a vile sinner such a polluted wretch as I am They look on him as a God of Wrath rather then as a God of Peace rather with a Sword in his hand then Love in his heart Aggravate thy sins to the highest in order to humbling but let it not work to discouragement for this Red Sea of Christ's blood is deep enough to drown all these Egyptian Lusts tho they are a mighty Host Whatever thy Bondage and Vassalage is by reason of them yet here is a sufficient ransom For with him there is plenteous Redemption Psal 130.7 None shall ever be able to lay their Destruction at God's Door nor to say Lord I was willing to come to thee but thou wouldst not receive me I would have renounced all my sins and took thee upon thy own terms and thou wouldst not No for God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance 2 Pet. 3.9 He makes a free tender of his Ransom to all in the Ministry of the Gospel Act. 20.25 And therefore if the Apostle Paul could say I am pure from the blood of all men because he had preached Christ surely God may say so much more who hath freely given Christ that whoever believes in him might not perish but have everlasting life John 3.16 How should the consideration of this scatter all our Doubts and Fears for ever If God had not been infinitely willing to save the worst of sinners from going down to the pit he would never have found out such a Ransom Infer 5. What precious Jewels are our immortal Souls The Ransom found out and paid down for them is a sufficient evidence of the value of them Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Gold and Silver may redeem Men from Algier or Trepoly but not from Hell and Eternal Misery Only the blood of God is an equivalent price for the redemption of Souls from that state And yet which is sad to consider at how cheap a rate do most Men
to such a Man his uprightness Job 3.23 i. e. to convince him that his heart is right tho his way be dark 2. Some understand the uprightness here called his uprightness of the righteousness of Jesus Christ in and by which we are reconciled to and made one with God And this says a late Expositor is the uprightness chiefly intended here And indeed there is no Righteousness like this especially when a Man's case is such as Elihu here speaks of when he is so chastened with pain upon his bed Job 33.19 22. that his soul draws near to the grave and his life to the destroyers Let a Messenger then shew to him this Righteousness and he will say of it as David did when he asked Ahimeleck for a Sword 1 Sam. 21.8 9. and the Priest told him here is the Sword of Goliah if thou wilt take that take it O says David there is none like that give it me No Righteousness like the Righteousness of Christ to such a one Tell him of his own Duties and Good Works his Prayings Repentings Fastings Alms-Deeds c. and he counts them all but Dung in compare with this Righteousness Phil. 3.8 This is a Righteousness which satisfies offended Justice appeases the Wrath of God silences the Curse and the Tumults of our own Consciences This Righteousness affords a Remedy for the sting of sin and the doubts and fears of our minds It is a righteousness which covers our Nakedness and beautifies our Souls Thy beauty was perfect through my Comliness which I put upon thee Ezek. 16.14 It is a Righteousness that pleads for us in Heaven that hath more strength then our sins and more prevalency then our Accuser It is a Righteousness that secures us against the Terrours of Death and intitle us to the Glory of Heaven And therefore no Righteousness like this for it is not the Righteousness of a meer Man but of God blessed for ever Wherever God sees this Righteousness he imputes no sin he discharges the Person from Guilt and receives him into Grace and Favour And that is the sense of the next words Then he is gracious unto him and saith Deliver him from going to the Pit I have found a Ransom As in the former words you had the Messenger described in these you have the Message declared And that is a Deliverance from the Pit by a Ransom found out by God In which you have The Inventor I. The Invention A ransom The manner of Inventing Found The fruit of the Invention Deleverance from the Pit The Spring and Source of all The Grace of God Then he is gracious to him and saith Deliver him from going down to the Pit I have found a Ransom I cannot speak to the words so distinctly as I would I shall indeavour to open them a little in speaking to four Questions 1. What Pit is it that is here intended 2. What Deliverance is it that is here spoken of 3. What Ransom is this that is said to be found 4. Who finds this Ransom and where doth he sind it Quest. 1. What Pit is it that is here intended Answ A Pit in general is any Mischief or Evil that a Man falls into either Temporal Spiritual or Eternal Sometimes Temporal Evils tho outward are called a Pit So Psalm 7.15 He made a Pit and digged it and is fallen into it himself i. e. He devised Mischief against others and the Mischief is fallen upon his own Head Sometimes the Grave is called a Pit and that frequently So Psalm 88.3 4. My life draws nigh to the grave I am counted with them that go down to the pit So Job 17.16 They shall go down to the bars of the pit when our rest together is in the dust The Grave is a Pit with bars The Decree of God is the Bar of the Grave and his Purpose locks it up till the appointed time comes when all shall arise to Judgment and then the sound of the last Trumpet shall break the bars of the Pit and bring forth all both good and bad to make their Appearance at the Bar of God Sometimes Spiritual Evils are called a Pit either Sins or Temptations or Desertions So Psalm 40.2 He brought me up out of an horrible Pit It is meant of Soul Distresses And Zech. 9.11 By the blood of thy Covenant I have sent forth thy Prisoners cut of the Pit wherein is no water Tho this literally is spoken of their deliverance from Babylon yet it points to the deliverance of the Soul from the misery of a natural state and the bondage of Corruption Sometimes Hell is called a Pit So Rev. 9.1 you read of the bottomless pit and of the smoke of the pit and of the Angel of the bottomless pit Verso 11. and of the Beast out of the bottomless pit Rev. â—1 7 In all these places the Pit is meant of Hell You see there are many Pits in Scripture The Pit of Mischief the Pit of the Grave the Pit of Temptation the Pit of Desertion and the Pit of Hell And all these Pits sin digs to bury the Comforts of the Soul in Now I take the Pit in the Text to be chiesly intended in the last sense And so it is in the 18th and 28th verses He will deliver his Soul from going into the pit Now what Pit is that the Soul goes into not into the Grave but into Hell And if we take it thus the sense of the Text will be more plain and obvious Deliver him from going down to the pit I have found a ransom All for whom Christ is a ransom are not delivered from the Pit of the Grave Job 30.23 for that is the House appointed for all living But they are all delivered from the Pit of Hell The highest degree of Spiritual Life as Man is constituted cannot free him from Natural Death Wherever sin hath but a being Death will have a footing And therefore as dieth the fool so dieth the wise man Eccles 2.16 that is as to the first death but not as to the second for over such the second death hath no power Rev. 20.6 And why because the Grace of God hath signed a Warrant sealed with the Redeemers Blood for his Discharge so ye have it in the Text He is gracious to him and saith Deliver him from going down to the pit for I have found a ransom Quest. 2. What Deliverance is this that is here spoken of Why such as the Pit is such is the Deliverance As the Pit is intended of Death and Damnation so the Deliverance carries in it a compleat Redemption A Redemption from sin the cause of Damnation and a Redemption from Damnation the fruit of sin 1. It implies a redemption from sin A state of sin is a state of bondage and thraldom As while he is under the power of sin he is inslaved to Satan so while he is under the guilt of sin he is bound over to damnation When sin is
pardoned and the guilt removed then the bonds that held his Soul are loosed Thou hast loosed my bonds says David Psal 116.16 And here our redemption begins according to that of the Apostle Eph. 1.7 In whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins So that when God pardons sin then he is gracious and says Deliver him from going down to the pit 2. This Redemption is compleated in Salvation There is a state to which he is redeemed as well as from which The state from which is a state of Condemnation There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 The state to which is Salvation and Glory It is not enough to be redeemed from Sin and Death and Hell and Satan unless we are redeemed to God The Blood of Christ purchased positive Mercies as well as negative He doth not see the travel of his soul to satisfaction in delivering us from Hell and Satan till he hath lodged us safe in the bosom of God And therefore this is that which compleats the Song of the Beasts and Elders Rev. 5.9 Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood And therefore Redemption is spoken of in Scripture as a thing to come a priviledge to be injoyed in the next World and therefore 't is to be waited for at present Rom. 8.23 We which have the first fruits of the Spirit groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our Body And when is that not till the general Resurrection Therefore that is called the Day of Redemption Ephes 4.30 Ye are sealed to the Day of Redemption We have Redemption now in the application but not in full possession It is bogun but it is not perfected We are redeemed from the guilt and power of sin but not from the defilement Gal. 1.13 and penal effects of sin We are now redeemed from the curse of the Law but we are not yet possessed of all the Comforts of the Gospel The Priviledges we now injoy are the Fruits of Christ's purchase but we do not injoy all which he hath purchased We have a right by Faith to the whole inheritance but we cannot as yet inherit upon that right Though Redemption be perfectly wrought by Christ yet it is applied but in part in the present state We must stay till the great Resurrection before we can be put into full possession This Body that is sown in dishonour 1 Cor. 15.43 must first be raised in glory and this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality Vers 54. and then as Elihu says in the words following the Text his flesh shall be fresher then a Childs Job 33 25 26. he shall return to the days of his youth And then God will be favourable to him and he shall see his face with joy All this is included in the Deliverance here mentioned 1 Thess 1.10 Eph. 1.14 It is not only a deliverance from wrath to come but a redemption to the purchased possession This Ransom reaches from Death to Life from Satan to God from the Pit to Paradise from Hell to Heaven It is such a Deliverance as carries a compleat Salvation in it and nothing short of this can be fully expressive of that Grace which found it out For he is gracious and saith Deliver him from going down to the pit I have found a Ransom And that brings me to a third Query Quest. 3. What Ransom is this that God is said to find and upon the account of which Souls are delivered from the Pit A Ransom properly is that which purchases Redemption It is a Redemption by price To be redeemed and to be ransomed is the same thing The redeemed shall walk there and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Sion with Songs Isa 35.9 10. It is the Lord Jesus Christ that is the Ransom in the Text his Merit and Righteousness both in doing and suffering is the price of our Redemption and that from the Curse of the Law from the Justice of God from the Power of Satan and from Death spiritual and eternal There is a redemption by power and a redemption by price We are redeemed out of the Soul destroying hand of Satan by power but we are redeemed out of the Sin revenging hand of God by price And that price is no common price it is no less then the Blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot Therefore Christ is called the Redeemer Isa 59.7 The Redeemer shall come to Zion And under this Title Job appropriates him to himself Job 19.25 I know that my Redeemer lives And he is said to obtain eternal redemption for us Hebr. 9.12 And this is the Ransom in the Text and it implies two things 1. The Misery of the state sin had brought us into A state of Bondage and Thraldom a state of Death and Damnation That is the case of every Son of Adam by the Fall all Humane Nature was dropping into everlasting Destruction 2. It implies the voluntariness of Christ in giving himself for a Ransom Had not his undertaking been free and voluntary it could not have been meritorious For he who acts by constraint cannot merit by his doing He who parts with what he cannot keep can merit nothing by parting with it The Apostle tells us Rom. 4.4 what Merit is It is such an adjunct of obedience as whereby the reward is reckoned not of grace but of debt God in the covenant of Redemption having proposed to Christ a Law of Obedience with promises of such and such Rewards upon condition of his fulfilling the Obedience required and Christ having performed that Obedience hence the reward is reckoned to him of debt For whatever was promised to Christ upon a Condition he performing that Condition might righteously claim as the reward of his Merit There are two things in the Death of Christ payment and purchase satisfaction and procuration By the one we are ransomed from Misery by the other we are intitled to Glory The first fruit of his Death is Deliverance wrought the next is an Inheritance purchased Now the blood of Christ had been unavailable to both had it not been laid down freely Had he been compelled to die he could not have merited ought for us by dying What was the fruit of Force could not have been meritorious Therefore he says No man takes my life from me I lay down of my self John 10.18 And from the voluntariness of his Death in pursuance of the eternal compact between the Father and the Son and the insinite value of it as being the blood of God so it became a sufficient price not only to ransom us but to purchase all grace and glory for us O how great is the Grace of Christ how should the
sell their Souls for a little gain for a puff of honour for a momentary pleasure for a lust for a strumpet for any thing for nothing O what folly and madness is this the Lord awaken Men to see it before it is too late Infer 6. Seeing God hath been so gracious to find a Ransom it is our duty to labour to find it too And that is by a diligent seeking after Christ who is the Ransom here intended It is not enough that God hath found him for notwithstanding this we shall be utterly lost unless we find him We are at present every one of us by the Fall in a lost estate And as God hath sent Christ to seek and save them that are lost Matth. 18.11 so he hath promised that they that are lost shall find him if they seek him and search for him with all their heart Jer. 29.13 And therefore let us give all diligence so to seek him that we may find him and be found in him not having our own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith Phil. 3.9 Infer Last What admirable Comfort results from this Truth to all that are made sharers in this Ransom who are the redeemed of the Lord. 1. It is matter of Comfort with respect to the Law For you are for ever freed from all the rigid Exactions of it as it is a binding Covenant So that it hath no more to do with you in that sense for ye are not under the Law Rom. 6.14 A Believer is still under the Law for conduct but not for judgment He is under the Law for direction Rom. 8.1 but not for condemnation for the Son hath made him free And if the Son make you free then are ye free indeed John 8.36 So that the Law shall never be able to hurt one Believer Indeed it hath terrible Inditements against all that are under it but it shall never be able to produce any thing against such as are freed from it Gal. 5 23. For against such there is no Law And is not this Comfort If the Law frowns Christ smiles and the frowns of the Law cannot extinguish the smiles of Christ If the Law threatens Christ promises and the threats of the Law can't make void the promises of Christ If the Law curses Christ blesses and the curses of the Law can't reach that Soul that is blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ Eph. 1.3 2. By this Ransom the Believer is for ever freed from sin Tho he is not as yet freed from the presence of it yet he is freed from the power of it both its condemning and its raigning power 1. Sin hath no condemning power in a Believer Tho he often condemns himself for sin yet sin shall never condemn him And why Because it hath been it self condemned by Christ Rom. 8.3 God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin i.e. by being a Sacrifice for sin condemned sin in the flesh And if sin was condemned in the flesh of Christ how can it condemn the Christian That which hath been charged upon Christ shall never be charged upon you Hath God received a full Satisfaction of Christ or hath he not If not why was he taken from Prison and from Judgment Isa 53 8. 1 Tim. 3.16 Hebr. 8.1 How came he to be justified in the Spirit and received up into Glory Why is he set on the right hand of the Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens These are undeniable proofs that God is fully satisfied And if so then how can sin condemn any Soul in Christ Therefore every Believer may triumphingly take up the Apostles challenge in his own right Rom. 8.33 34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect It is God that justifies Who is he that condemns It is Christ that died This is the Ransom which being once paid can never be unpaid having been once accepted it can never be refused God can no more condemn a Believer when he looks upon Christ then he can drown the World against his promise when he looks upon the Rain-bow in the Clouds And is not this Comfort 2. Sin hath no raigning power in a Believer Tho it hath still a being in him yet it hath not dominion over him I do not say he is perfectly redeemed from the power of sin at present Rom. 7.18 Rom. 7.23 It hath not such a power as it hath in the Unregenerate but yet a power it hath still a molesting power a warring power a captivating power a tyrannical power but yet it hath not a raigning power Sin cannot be said to raign in any Believer God hath said it shall not Rom. 6.14 It is still present but it is not predominant Corruption is still working but it is not raigning It may trouble us but it shall not govern us It is with sin in a Believer as with the Beasts in Daniel's Vision who tho their lives were prolonged for a season yet their Dominion was taken away Dan. 7.12 Austin speaks of Man in a four-fold State Before the Law under the Law under Grace and in Glory Before the Law we did neither fight nor strive against sin Under the Law we fight but are overcome Under Grace we fight and conquer But in Glory there is all Conquest and no more Combates to eternity But that state is yet to come In the mean time wherever the virtue of Christ's Cross takes place it is the ruine of sins throne And is not this Comfort For no Dominion so vile so intollerable as that of sin and no Service so base in the use Rom. 6.21 and so destructive in the issue for the end of these things is death But wherever sin is now put out of dominion there it shall shortly be put out of being Christ's first coming was to free you from sins power his next coming shall be to free you from sins presence His great design is to perfect Sanctification in you that you may be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing Eph. 5.27 And therefore it will not be long before you shall be perfectly redeemed from all sin for ever 3. Christ a Ransom affords great comfort against the temptation of Satan There are two things in the Children of God which are the matter of his envy their Graces and their Comforts And his design is levelled against the one and the other to extinguish both our Graces and our Comforts But because he knows he can never succeed in the former therefore he sets himself with the greater subtilty and malice against the latter that if he cannot make us walk sinfully yet he may cause us to walk dejectedly And this greatly serves his design for it dishonours God it grieves the Comforter It reproaches Religion as if it were the troubler of all peace and comfort it stops
its true Basis The more we come to live by Faith the more secure and quiet will our lives be What sad Complaints and desponding Out-cries are often heard out of the Mouths of good men enough to make such as judge according to outward appearance to take them for Reprobates and Castaways whereas these for the most part are nothing but the pinings of spiritual sense cut short of it wonted Meals and so crying for lack of Bread This was the reason of Job's complaining Chap. 29. O that I were as in Months past as in the days when God preserved me when by his light I walked through darkness A Soul that hath once enjoyed the comfort and sweetness of this light cannot bear it to have his Spirit benighted by the hidings of God from him But to be brief 6. God doth some times deal thus with his own Children in Judgment to the Children of this World that they that will not be convinced of the goodness and excellency of the ways of God by the light of the word of God may never be drawn by the comforts of the Children of God As there are Mysteries in the Word of God so there are also the Works of God 2 Cor. 4 3. Psal 83.3 As his Gospel is to some a hidden Gospel so are his People a hidden People Their Graces are hidden under many Infirmities their Beauty is hidden under mean outward Appearances their Comforts are hidden under much spiritual darkness and this is in Judgment to the World As Christ's coming in such a poor and low condition was John 9.39 For Judgment I am come into this World 7. These dealings of God are suitable to their present state which is a state of conflict This Life is a season of manifold Temptations 1 Pet. 1.6 and therefore we should be so far from wondering that any are tempted so much that it should rather be matter of wonder that all are not tempted more only the wise God knows what kind of temptation is needful and how much and how long and debates in measure Who wonders to see Storms and Tempests Frosts and Snows and lowring Heavens in Winter Is it not the proper Season Tho the day be more pleasant than the night yet the night is as useful as the day Books sold by John Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultry GEll's Remains being sundry pious and learned Notes on the New Testament opening and explaining it In Folio The Jesuites Catechism according to St. Ignatius Loyola wherein the Impiety of their Principles Perniciousness of their Doctrines and Iniquity of their Practices are declared 4o. Several excellent Discourses viz. 1. Of Purity and Charity 2. Of Repentance 3. Of seeking first the Kingdom of God By Hezekiah Burton D. D. Published by the most Reverend Father in God John Lord Archbishop of Canterbury 8o. Man's whole Duty and God's wonderful Intreaty of him thereunto set forth from 2 Cor. 5.20 By Daniel Burgess Minister of the Gospel In 12o. Advice to Parents and Children The sum of a few Sermons contracted and published at the request of many pious Hearers By the same Author In 12o. The Triumph of Grace or the last Words and edifying Death of the Lady Margaret de la Musse a noble French Lady who died in May 1681. Aged but sixteen years In 12o. The Map of Man's Misery or the Poor Man's Pocket Book being a perpetual Almanack of Spiritual Meditations or a Compleat Directory for one endless Week 12o. A Help to true Spelling or Reading or a very easie Method for the teaching of Children or elder Persons rightly to spell and exactly to read English By William Scoffin Minister of the Gospel In 8o. Institutio Grammaticae ad Juventutis Captum summo studio artificio concinnata Inqua certiâ— Ratio genuina Noteo accurati disquiritur atque enucleatino enodatur In 8o. Lately published The Death and Rest Resurrection and Portion of the Saints in a Discourse on Dan. 12.13 on occasion of the Funeral of the Reverend Dr. Dan. Rolles Together with the work of the Redeemer and work of the Redeemed By Dan. Burgess Minister of the Gospel 12o. Miscellanca Sacra Containing Scriptural Meditations Divine Ineathings Occasional Reflections and Sacred Poems In 12o.