expecting a reward so that to deny him our hearts is to joyn Sacrilege and folly together when we rob God and impoverish our selves We are all covetous of Life and of Life too in its best estate For though sin has corrupted mens choice of the way yet it has not blasted their desires of the end But our Lord has farther provided those desires should not be frustrated if we follow his rule and strictly adhere to his Commands in mortifying our affections and lusts and as it were spirituallizing the whole man to be thereby fitted for his Kingdom It is from us he expects this work should be performed and not from age Age may indeed prove the mortifier of a Lust but withall it kills the service Little is the glory of overcoming the Tempter when he does not assault us but to break fleshly motions in all their strength this is a true Conquest Neither should it be thought strange for any Disciple to deny thus self in Christianity for Heaven being the object of that work will easily destroy the Miracle of doing it How can any of us contemplate the happiness above and yet not be willing to forsake his proper sins sins how colour'd soever yet in the midst of their Varnish deform'd Where is true beauty but that of Life which only in the Counterfeit we admire where is true wealth but that of Immortality which only in the Glitter we esteem since then such a fair and substantial Treasure is there offer'd us we ought like wise-men to determine our choice and forsaking the vanities of other objects become fixt and settled in our endeavours that we may obtain and compass that Good which yields so bright so weighty so glorious a recompence to the Pursuer The Fourth Discourse Rom. 8.34 Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again THe Justification of a Sinner and the way God has prescribed to save men by is so mistaken in the world that no Point has begot more disputes nor is there any Theme wherein Scripture has more suffer'd Yet this quarrel amongst men cannot be charg'd upon any want of evidence in this particular but either an humour of pride to contradict or the interest of a Party to pursue or the prejudice of Opinion to defend have been the main cause of that contention Would we come with a sincere mind to the reading of the Word especially the Writings of this Apostle we should find the difficulty of that Truth clear'd and the glorious effects of Christs Mediatorship laid open upon which our Justifying does depend Now for the better handling this Text which I have here chosen to discuss I shall a little explain the verse before it by reason of their necessary connexion together In which verse we may observe 1. The Triumphant Challenge he makes summoning any Adversary to appear in Court 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who will charge or accuse 2. The Ground of his confidence how little that Accusation would avail because of the mercy of the Judge that acquits the offendor It is God that justifies 3. The limitation of the Charge in respect of the party against whom it is drawn and the limitation of the act of Justifying Grace in respect of the party to whom it belongs Who will lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect It is God that justifies that is those Elect where by Gods Elect he means the same that are spoken of in the first verse of the Chapter namely such as are in Christ Jesus that walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit that is who perform all the conditions required in the New Covenant For these alone are the chosen of God whom He has decreed to reward with Eternal Life But because the grace of Justification does necessarily suppose a work of Satisfaction since the goodness of God could have no place for justifying a sinner were not the way first made by attoning his Justice he therefore proceeds in my Text to clear that point and show whence Pardoning Mercy springs namely from Christs undertaking our Cause and reconciling us to his Father by the vertue of his Mediatorship Acts 4.11 12. He indeed is the Stone upon which all our salvation is built so that without him there neither is nor can be given either Pardon of sin here or Glory hereafter Hence the Apostle with regard to his satisfaction does further urge and more strongly confirm what he laid down in the former verse Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again The words contain in them a True Believers full discharge and the Reason or Ground of it The fulness of the discharge is held forth in that Question Who is he that condemneth The reason of it is exprest in that double work of our Redeemer but one of them more dignified than the other It is Christ that died yea rather is risen again The sense of the whole may be resolv'd into these Three Propositions 1. That there is a Proper and Peculiar Vertue to be ascribed to Christs Death in the act of redeeming us 2. That there are Proper and Peculiar Advantages in Christs Rising above that Death 3. That Christs Death in particular but more eminently his Rising has procur'd the Saints freedom from Condemnation 1. That there is a Proper and Peculiar Vertue to be ascribed to Christs Death in the act of Redeeming us In the handling of it I shall premise some Truths First I take for granted what Scripture so clearly reveals that the breach of a Positive Law which was given to Adam in Paradise did not onely involve him but his Posterity too in the Curse there threatned so that the propagation of Mankind from him was but the propagation of persons condemn'd all of us being lyable thereby to Death Temporal and Eternal Secondly though God considered in his Absolute Power could forgive Man the sin he had committed yet considered in the Decree he had made of punishing his Sin and as a Governour bound to maintain it so he was hindred from the exercise of that power Thirdly No creature could possibly reverse that Decree nor expiate the violation of this Governours Authority for want of a Satisfaction which He demanded For where was the Creature that could give it Angels withdraw from the brightness of Gods Glory how then would they flee from the Fire of his wrath Man cannot bear the punishment due to one of his own how then would he sustain the sins of a World Had either of them been deputed to this Task they had sunk under it poor Mankind had been lost and God still unreconcil'd For to the work of Satisfying him Srength as well as Innocence is required but the Creature at best is too weak to intercede the price of its suffering too mean the merit of which cannot extend to another and so Divine Justice instead of accepting would quite devour the Sacrifice Therefore
Christ therefore by his rising had a Testimony from Heaven of his uprightness and the Evidence seal'd by Omnipoteoce it self That He was the True Prophet which came into the world 2. It declared the Divinity of his Power For He raised up himself Now to raise the Dead is beyond the strength of a Finite Agent and to restore things as well as create them does equally require an Almighty hand both which works not being to be found in Nature the Heatheris thence taking their measures judg'd them Impossible to be done which is an unreasonable limiting of the God of Nature when Men will not consider what reserves of Power He ought to have that is the Fountain of all the actions of his Creatures That Christ would thus raise up himself He in his life-time foretold and He particularly appeals to the Divinity of that act He would one day show as a sign of his Authority to purge that Temple which they profan'd 2 Joh. 19. And the Apostle S. Paul expresly tells us how by his resurrection from the dead He was declared to be the Son of God with power Rom. 1.4 that is with power He had in himself to give life not with power his Father alone put forth in quickning him for then his Rising would be common to him with others But did not the Miracles He wrought when living declare him likewise to be the Son of God Not so convincingly as this for the Wonders He then did meer men such were the Prophets had the Priviledg of doing before him but none except the Son of God could thus rise much less did his dying reveal him in that Majesty which could only declare him to be the Son of Man with weakness For what more argues it then to dye what greater scandal of that weakness than to die on the Cross wherein the Godhead stooped to the lowest infirmities of Flesh and the worst malice of his Persecutors Then his Enemies could grow bold and scoffingly demand some proof of his Power and the contemptibleness of that state He was in which hid all his Greatness made them ask such a sign of it as that was of saving himself which if granted had kept the world from being saved But his Rising from death had all marks of glory in it the breaking up of the Sepulcher the Ministry of Angels the shaking of Earth and the trembling of Keepers which were but several wayes of Homage due to the Power of his Resurrection Here He discovered himself to be truly God and confirm'd the Faith of his Disciples with the Reason they had to worship him 3. It invested him in his Rights and put him into actual possession of his Kingdom This was the Covenant betwixt Him and his Father that He should first make Attonment for sin by his Death and receive afterwards the reward of that work in Dominion Hence we read how for becoming obedient to Death Phil. 2.9 even the Death of the Cross He was therefore highly exalted Psa 110.7 for drinking of the brook of the way he should therefore lift up his head King He was indeed from his very birth but He receiv'd not then the oyl of gladness above his fellows the Honour of his Anointing was as imperfect as the Form He assum'd which was the Form of a Servant where He was put under subjection to the Law and the Curse but after He rose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was made perfect that is actually crown'd This is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matt. 19.28 the Regeneration or New state mention'd namely the Kingdom of the Messiah which takes its date from the time of his Resurrection for then He showed his Conquest of the chief Rebel Satan by overturning the Foundation of his Empire which was laid in the Grave so that whereas all other Princes Glory ends in that place this Princes Triumph there began then He commissioned his Disciples to Preach every where and Baptize to gather him a Church made up of Jews and Gentiles where He would alwayes rule and preside when as before they continued Members of the Synagogue And his Authority to do this He grounds upon that Universal power that was given him both Mat. 28. in Heaven and in Earth whereto He had right in his Flesh as the Heir but the exercise of it as a Possessor was suspended till his rising Should we compare his condition under death with this his condition after it we shall find a vast difference for at his death He was so far from having the Ensigns of Soveraignty that He bore onely the looks and wore the chains of a Captive The great mark of his Kingship appear'd in the Title of his Charge King of the Jews which being set over his head and He crucified under it it showed He was the object more of mens Mockery than Fear But when He rose He put on Greatness took the Scepter in his hand and made his way as a Prince by victory Here He manifested the Vertue of his Kingly Office and convinc'd the World of his right to command and what obedience is due to his Laws Hitherto I have insisted upon the Dignity of the Resurrection as it relates to Christ I shall next consider the Advantages of it as it relates to us Yea rather is risen again And they are these 1. It manifested a full discharge of our Debt and Gods ready accepting of that price which was paid When a Surety that undertakes anothers Debt is cast into prison by the Creditor if he comes out of it it argues the Creditor is fully satisfied so Christs coming out of the Grave whether He was delivered by the Judg for our offences declares the obligation is taken off and no more left for Him to suffer To this purpose the Apostle speaks Rom. 4.25 That He rose again for our Justification or in other terms to give us assurance by the Satisfaction of his Death that our Acquittance is obtain'd The work of Redemption was perform'd in the dark when He dyed all the time He was held in the Grave we could have no sense of a deliverance but when He who was slain for a Sin-offering presented himself afterwards alive before the Lord this brought us light to behold the Perfection of that Attonement Look then on his Death as the cause of thy freedom but on his Rising as the ground of thy comfort in the one He was the Priest to offer in the other the Messenger to assure us a preceding requisite to give us the joy of a Saviour and compleat our notion of his performance when we should see his love in the strength of it find out the Price He laid down for us by Death in the Power of that Evidence He gave us by Life The Scape-goat under the Law was but a poor uncomfortable Type that had all the iniquities sins and transgressions of Israel put upon his head and was after this sent away into the
are to Seed which they seem to lock up and bury in the ground but indeed improve it for multiplying If this be a cleansing from all filthiness of the flesh then let them that study an increase of their lust be styl'd the only Champions to overcome it But wouldst thou have the true glory of it then deny thy self constantly in a Temptation and hold out to the last in the discipline of Repentance So this Body of Sin will appear utterly defeated when thou bringest Time as a witness of thy Victory But there remains in the second place another sort of cleansing 2. From all filthiness of the Spirit This is not so much considered in the world but surely there is in some respects more of sin and consequently more of defilement than in Carnal corruption Such are those inward spots of Pride Malice Envy Hypocrisie Distrust of God to conclude all those sinful motions which it is proper for Spirits to be guilty of The Enormity of them will appear upon Three accounts 1. In that they are the spring of all outward filthiness For from the Heart it is or the spiritual part in man that Fornication Drunkenness and Blasphemy flow whence if these and the like sins have all the foulness of tincture on them the Sink whence they issue must be much more defil'd Were evil Thoughts effectually restrain'd in us all the stream of carnal wickedness would be cut off which made Solomon call for our greatest care over the Heart where sinful Imaginations are cherished Keep thy heart says he with all diligence for out of it are the Issues of Life ay and of Death too when it is not rightly govern'd in its motions An evil Heart makes an adulterous Eye a deceitful Tongue a violent Hand All outward crimes are the Offspring of the Thoughts therefore these being the parent-Parent-sins are the more aggravated in their guilt as the cause of others 2. In that they are purely the Souls work and that in its strength without the dregs of matter or the weakness of flesh to interpose What Jacob said to Reuben Thou art my First-born my might and the beginning of my strength the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power the same may be applied to those actions which primarily issue from the Soul And so when they prove sinful they derive from the Dignity of those noble faculties the greater shame It is the Devils way thus to offend and howsoever he may tempt us to deeds of Flesh yet he is as to himself only an Agent in such sins that pollute the mind and defile the conscience so that he is a Rebel in all the height and excellency of Being and knowing no Body to defile him as an Unclean Spirit he dishonours his nature and against the God of Spirits does immediately make war So then when our hearts are alike stain'd when our Filthiness becomes spiritual we then bear his Image in the true Character Now what can be greater disgrace to our Natures than this is For the highest Perfection we can ever arrive to is to be like God and that is to resemble him in Holiness which chiefly consists in the purity of our minds On the other side the greatest Fall we can be ever condemn'd to is to be like Satan and that is to resemble him in Uncleanness which chiefly consists in the foulness of our Souls whence these Souls of ours must needs contract a great guilt when bad thoughts do defile them wherein we carry the very picture of the Father and bear his stamp in the crime 3. As they are the work so they are the full delight of the Inward man Here the Soul centers within it self and uncontrollably embraces its own actings and the secretness of those stains renders them difficult to be cleansed whereas these fleshly motions cannot breed any fulness of pleasure and their pollutions being evident do often check the committer with those Three restraints to a Rational Being which are Law Conscience and Fame And therefore changes are many times wrought in the greatest Sinners but when Sin once retires to Invisible Garrisons it is seldom destroy'd because neither Law nor Fame have here place and Conscience is too weak to overcome Upon this account the labour of cleansing is here necessary and the Soul must be brought to encounter it self in all the subtilty of a reforming that we may present to our God in Pure Flesh a mortified Spirit Now should Uncleanness be inwardly cherished what-ever the outward acts of sanctity be they are to be reckoned no better than Pilate's purifying before the Multitude when he washt his hands but suffered the guilt of the most innocent Blood to pass uncleansed Yet how many are there that rest in a Shape and Outside of Piety a Privilege if they will call it one which the Old Serpent can challenge who in the midst of his Curse does yet gild his Spots with fair Light and in a form of Blessedness lays his Sting But a Bodily purging take it at the best is only the Preface to a new Life an introductory part to true Holiness It is a Dedication of the Court to prepare the Offering upon the Altar and 't is the Altar you know sanctifies the Gift so 't is the Heart that qualifies the performance If we go no higher than bare Flesh we are but like the Bullocks that were cleansed but if besides that Purifying we are spiritually Holy we become like the Priest that sacrificed Now to attain such a state as that is a watchful jealousie is requisite over our Souls and here as we must doubtfully suspect so we ought immediately to suppress any springing Temptation It is easie to cast out the Adversary while he is weak such are all Filthy Thoughts in their Infancy but let them once spread and grow in the mind then it is difficult for any one to check and subdue them Who knows not what easiness there is in quenching a spark or turning as one pleases a little current But if the Spark gets fewel to feed on and enlarges it self into a great Flame how often does it mock mens labour and pains to hinder the mischief of its progress So likewise a little current if it be supplyed from Floods and allowed to swell with fresh streams how ungovernable is its course After the same manner do Spiritual Lustings prove furious and wild when they get their fewel and supply from the will and affections flowing in It is very needful then for thee to guard thy Heart which is so apt to breed sin and so ready to strengthen an evil purpose But for the better securing of it oh labour stedfastly to apprehend thy God not only as the accurate Beholder but as the severe Judge and Punisher of the Inner man Indeed God does not exercise such a Visible Judgment upon any spiritual filthiness in this World because He is mainly concern'd here as a Governour to prevent the mischiefs of outward actions
for the better defence of humane Fellowship but when all worldly Societies shall cease and every one be summoned to his Tribunal He will then proceed as a Lawgiver demanding a strict account according to the full extent and compass of his Laws and so these Spiritual Sins will be visibly punished in that they are such evident breaches of his Spiritual Commands It is my duty then chiefly to prepare for that Day nor am I so much to examin the manner of this Government in this life as how He will deal with me in another Since that is the proper state wherein I shall be ever fixt and determined and wherein his Justice that summons me will be clearly revealed Thus should every one employ his Meditations and whoever busies himself in them he will find this to be the fruit and success of them that he will thereby get armour of defence within and discourage the Tempter from assaulting Thus much for the Duty The Third Particular I am to handle is 3. The Manner of performing the Duty enjoyn'd us namely a Perfecting of Holiness in Gods Fear where we may note Two things 1. The Degree or Measure we should contend after namely Perfection 2. The Inward Principle that ought to quicken us a Godly Fear The former shows we need a continual Progress in a Religious course the latter shows we need a faithful direction to a right object 1. For the Degree or Measure we should contend after this imports no less than a summoning of all the Powers of the Soul and the setting of a Task to our outward members that both in Mind and Body we may render to our God an unspotted Sacrifice Such an Offering as this is is not in an instant to be performed nor does God so sit any Saint as that his Initials should be full His Justification of a Sinner may be compleat in one act when he gives him a Legal discharge but his Sanctifying of us is not thus perfected because it is such a work of his Spirit in us that gradually proceeds to the expelling of Sin and takes in our Endeavours to grow up and encrease in holy duties There is first an Infancy in the new nature where all the parts being form'd Innocence is written as a Character to be kept but not its Weakness for a farther advancement is still look'd for whence the strength of Men and perfectness of Stature is required in a Christian Truly how can we imagine beginnings should suffice or that we safely can rest in them when the remainders of concupiscence within the temptations without to which we are subject the proper fruits and effects of a Faith justifying lastly the necessity of imitating our Divine Pattetn do all call for labour strife and diligence in our Christian race that we fall not short of Heaven by but a little entring the way thither Naaman's washing in Jordan seven times as it represented to him the Greatness of his Leprosie so it represents to us those repeated acts God expects from us of a naked search into our ways and that accompanied with a frequent purging of all the filth we contracted Here is an evidence of Gods adopting us that we do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is finish and bring to end the work of Holiness otherwise we are as unsafe in our cleansing as those Swine were which the Devil hurried into the Sea making their first cleanness and their last destruction to go together But we must observe in the second place 2. The Principle that ought to quicken us a Godly Fear and this is the Point I shall conclude with But some may ask why is Fear brought in when Gods Promises are the motive Is not Love the natural consequent of such offers and a Principle too of it self more binding I answer Love is not the sole consequent but Fear also by reason of those conditions upon which the Promises hang and this Fear of the Two is more binding as urging upon us a sense of danger and thereby quickning us unto action whereas Love without is faint and altogether languishes in its working Now this Principle of Godly Fear excludes utterly the Heathens way of purifying as a Rite in its using unclean For so every thing becomes to an Unbeliever It excludes likewise those seeming religious acts of Pretending Christians who in the good things they do have either a dread of Punishment or the vanity of Opinion for their Object The one consists not with this in my Text which purely terminates in God alone and the other destroys all the notion of a true Worship when it sets up an Idol of Applause Yet thus do Hypocrites boast of Holiness to some parts of which perhaps Legal Terrors or the regard of Men may constrain them nothing is natural in their Religion but forc'd and the spring of their motion is without them so that they are rather to be counted artificial Engines produced to cast forth water upon an open burning than Christians that are free and active at all times to extinguish the Flame But if such as these be excluded how much more the loosely prophane who cannot be thought to have a touch of this Passion when they defy God and his Laws Did a right fear once rule and sway the Conscience it were neither possible for vice to be barefac'd nor for Hypocrisie to be disguised The awe of a God would shame the one and strip the other of its Covering But behold the masque the disguise is not so much the danger of this Age we are fallen from shows to a contempt of Christianity from colours to open war our paint is turn'd to rottenness and the perfume of our Profession is become like the air of snuffs nay the noisome smell of corrupted Bodies that can kill at a distance and by their power of Execution sadly manifest Death has not destroy'd them O the extremes of Sin whither is the triumph glory of our Religion departed Is it not now a matter of boasting to kick at Heaven while the head at the same time knocks the Earth and calls for the opening of a Grave Is it not the triumph of wit to sport at a Lust when it reproaches the Committer in the act and tells him farther by its sting that his own scoffs are reveng'd But what is it we trust to in this our offending God we know is above has a hand of Justice to strike nor can any promise tye it up when once forfeited by our transgressions All our shift for sinning is to hinder Conscience from interposing by cutting off all seriousness of thought and desperately throwing our selves into a Gulf of pleasure In the mean time while we are sunk in ways of iniquity Judgment is ripening over us clouds gather about us thicker and blacker and the lightning of Gods wrath is fitted and prepared nor can we escape the force of it except we remove the Seeds of our ruine by a speedy and universal repentance The
Spartans we read were great Worshippers of the Passions and therefore had Temples erected to them but Fear was the Goddess they chiefly worshipped in regard of its use and influence to preserve States Certainly though they erred in thus dedicating their Temples yet they did not erre in their notion of the advantage of Fear but had a godly one fully possessed them they would much more have concluded the safety of a Nation to depend on it as being the surest Bond of Law and the only preventer of Gods Plagues I need not endeavour to prove either of these for where such a Fear has due place it will in the closest secresie oblige men to obey and engage God openly to defend them But whether outward prosperity be always the fruit I shall not enquire I am sure the success is of the last day and the sentence of mercy waits onely upon those that religiously fear to offend To these no death can be sudden nor untimely which alone is the portion of impenitent sinners who fall often to the earth with their Youth and with their Sins too as full blown and being cast down by a Judgment are not allowed a space to recover them Why then will we abuse the promises that are offer'd us There is a Golden thread of them let down from Heaven but tyed to a Sword with the point over us and while we are rioting and indulging the Flesh the thread is ready to break and the Sword to fall on us Pardon the harshness of denouncing these things for soft words are not for Ministers to deliver It is your conscience we are bound to strike whereas your eyes are enough enlightned And the Corruption of mens natures requires this Method that Promises and Threatnings should be joyn'd to chastise and temper our hopes and settle upon our spirits a right frame Otherwise we should boldly presume and learn no Holiness in Gods Fear but that Good and Evil possessing our thoughts help to quicken us in our Obedience So then I beseech you contemplate Divine Love as withal fatal to the refuser joyn the Father with the Judge and the Adoption he offers with his Severity in condemning farther consider how the Dignity of Humane Nature lies in the pureness of its faculties as a Reward follows their Exercise First you are advanced by it to be like God next in that likeness to enjoy him Last of all search out every motive to press you to Holiness which if you enter upon and persevere in the same God who was Gracious in making and is Faithful in performing what He has promised will enstate you in the Inheritance of Sons and add Eternity for its Crown The Third Discourse St. John 6.68 Then Simon Peter answered him Lord to whom shall we goe Thou hast the words of Eternal Life IF you examin the scope of these words they are a full and passionate reply to that Question Christ made in the verse foregoing where He tries the Faith of his Apostles whether they would constantly adhere to his Laws or with the rest of the Multitude forsake him For we read in this Chapter how that great Crowd of people which followed him began now to shrink and fall off because his Doctrine was like his Person no wayes suited to a carnal Apprehension And the colour they had for this their Apostacy was some supposed absurdity of what he taught as when He styl'd himself the Living Bread which came down from Heaven vers 51. and whoever eat of that Bread should live for ever So that we find upon an enquiry that a bare Metaphor was the quarrel and a Figure of Speech the foundation of the Controversie But waving the subject matter of their Dispute which is at large described in the Chapter it will not be impertinent to observe the strange levity and ingratitude of the Vulgar who being the worst judges of a discourse will yet presume to sit upon it and if it once crosses their fancy they are ready to throw off the Authority of their Lord ay and such an Authority that was before highly commended to them in all the Wonders of Mercy Hence it is said v. 66. That many of his Disciples went back and walked no more with him Upon so general a revolt He appears at that accident unconcern'd whatever pitty He had for their persons yet He leavs them to be punished by that flight they had made but as for the Twelve whom He had particularly chosen for his Attendants these He deals with as a Friend sounds their Loyalty and by his very seeming to doubt of it shows all the Tenderness of a Saviour Then said He to the Twelve Will ye also go away Then Simon Peter answered him Lord to whom shall we go Thou hast the words of Eternal Life In this Answer of St. Peters we may consider Two Particulars 1. The Sense of all the Apostles delivered by one of them which was plainly this That they ought not to seek another Master 2. The Reason of their Choice drawn from the singular excellency of his Teaching Thou hast the words of Eternal Life I begin with their General Sense Lord to whom shall we go which kind of speech does imply that should they offer to leave Christ yet a Master was needful to be their Guide in Religion For such is mans weakness and poverty by nature that he requires somewhat without him to rest on for Happiness but it here farther fignifies that they were already fixt upon a Teacher and could find out nothing comparable to him they heard This is the scope and meaning of the Question From the Matter thus declared and from the Occasion of doing it we may note Two things 1. The Nobleneness of a right Faith when once seated in the Soul 2. The Authority of Truth notwithstanding the Opposition of the World 1. The Nobleness of a right Faith c. And it is this That it sets upon Difficulties and conquers them Let the times of Profession be bad and reproachful too for those numbers that backslide yet he that is well grounded in his Belief has his thoughts higher planted He is above the Poor Circumstance of time and beyond the Contagion of an Example Now the rules that govern most men in their course are Private Interest and Publick Opinion so that like Puppits they move and the principle of their acting is without them but he that is led by neither of these but makes Religion his Interest and obedience to it his Fame he may be call'd a Believer indeed for he expresses the Man and the Christian together Others are but Reeds in their Station shaken with every wind and mark'd for their barrenness while they stand but he is a Tree set by the Rivers of water that has depth of root and fruitfulness to crown it Yet the constancy he has is not any stiffness of mind that proceeds from the prejudice of Education for that is no better than the stiffness of earth
it was necessary to our recovery one should undertake for us that could answer the rigour of the Decree by his Sufferings and supply the defects both of Men and Angels by the Innocence and Worth of a Sacrifice Innocence to prepare and Worth to crown the Oblation Now that Christ was thus qualified to appear in our stead may be easily evinc'd if we will but consider either the purity of his Humane nature which was without spot 1 Pet. 1.19 Rom. 9.5 or the Majesty of his Person who is God blessed for ever The first of these would serve to make his Offering holy the latter would give it infinite value by both which he was fitted to pay our debt and bear all the wrath of his Father due to our sins And that He actually did what He was so qualified to perform we have the like evidence from Scripture The whole Oeconomy of the Jews and the strain of the Gospel confirms it The Sacrifices of the Old Law were Types and dark Images of this Great one that was once to be offered for the sins of the people The Gospel-phrase points altogether to this Truth and therefore when it speaks of Christ Mat. 20.28 it calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a price of ransome nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a price by way of exchange 1 Tim. 2.6 in supplying our place again we are said to be justified by his Blood reconciled through his Death and to have redemption by his Sufferings all which expressions signifie the proper effect of his Death was the remission of our sins This He himself testifies how that his Blood was shed for the remission of sins Matt. 26.28 whence we may take comfort in his Death and rejoyce in the vertue of his Attonement whereby our pardon is obtain'd Should we now with the Socinian make plain words that express all this to be meer Metaphors and Figures we may as well joyn with the old Hereticks the Valentinians that made a Figure of his Living Dying and Rising in that they denied the reality of his Flesh nor can their Opinion be more contrary to the Faith than this For as to hold He was but the Image of a Man destroys a Christ so to hold He was but the Image of a Priest destroys a Saviour Thus to wrest the Scripture is to wrest it to our destruction for what follows upon it If he be not in a true sense offer'd for us we are still in our sins the Curse of the Law yet abides and his Death becomes altogether unprofitable when it brings us deliverance but in shadow I might add how his suffering upon any other account than in our stead to redeem us has nothing of justice in it and therefore cannot demonstrate the justice of another whereas his Blood and the declaring of Gods righteousness are joyned together Rom. 3.25 but if He who was all innocence in himself did not bear our guilt when He suffer'd the Death He underwent being properly a punishment because sins wages would be so far from declaring Gods righteousness that it could onely manifest the Tyranny of the Inflicter Yet these kind of men are the great pretenders to Reason who reject the Doctrine of Satisfaction but cannot maintain what they deliver without laying their ground-work in impiety which is to assert He was no God that suffer'd where how grosly they renounce their reason will appear in this that denying him to be God they deny themselves to be True Worshippers and proclaim to the world their Idolatry in adoring Man But their absurdity farther appears when denying the Meritoriousness of his Satisfaction they can yet make his Sufferings to be meritorious of Divine Power as if there were any proportion betwixt meer humane actions and so high a reward Now what Merit is this that could raise him to be the Head of Angels and Governour of all created Beings nay to be adored and worshipped equally with the Father which Honours the collected services of the whole Creation cannot reach to May not the Heathens scoff at their Idolatry who pretending to Christianity set up a made God to pray to and expect Salvation from One who is exalted for the vertue of his sufferings in maintaining his Religion as they consecrated theirs for the Gallantry of publick actions Behold this is onely to refine but not to change the nature of Gentilism as likewise it utterly overthrows the Mystery of Godliness and destroys the Greatness of Divine Love which consisted chiefly in abasing the Deity for Mans sake whereas this makes it ridiculous and dishonourable in thus exalting the Humanity But I leave them to their Judg above and their Books to Judges below I shall now onely briefly inquire into Two things for the better opening this Point and so proceed to my Second Observable 1. How Christs Death is the Cause of the remission of our sins 2. From what Time we should date the Benefit of that remission as it is made ours 1. How Christs Death is the Cause c. I answer thus God the Father was mov'd for that price his Son layd down which was his precious Blood to free us from that punishment we deserved in our own persons and to enter into a New Covenant with us offering us Pardon of sin and Eternal Life upon new easie terms of faith and sincere obedience whereas before rigorous Justice bore the sway and shut us all up under a a sentence of condemnation without hope of mercy Therefore He is called the Mediator of a better Covenant and whereas in the old League we were used as Gibeonites and made slaves in this New one procured by Christ we are treated as a free People and made capable of the Privileges of his Kingdome This He ratified in his own Blood whence his Blood is called the Blood of the New Testament wherein all his promises of Grace are confirm'd and the Legal Curse done away See here the Love of a Saviour that would thus die to restore us buy our peace at the price of himself and bring us terms of salvation so dearly purchased which before we could not hope for This shows the wretchedness of our state and the need we stood in of such an Expiation when He who could create us at first with the ease of a word is not allowed to create us anew but with the pain of suffering The Cross upon which He did this work is a sad spectacle to Sense but a glad object of Faith the one presents him naked in our Flesh but the other covered with our Sins the one shows him in his Blood but the other in our Guilt the burden of which He carried up thither encountred his Fathers wrath and at the very point of death proclaimed his Victory It is finished which is all one with this The Attonement is wrought because the Victim is slain 2. From what time we should date the Benefit of that Remission when it is made ours
I answer not immediately from his Satisfaction but from the time of our rightly believing in him We are justified by his Blood in one sense and we are justified by faith in his Blood in another His bloody Death procur'd for us the Pardon which is nothing else but putting us into capacity of being pardoned but True Faith applies the Pardon to the Soul whereby we actually enjoy it How Faith here will be understood may be found out by comparing two places of Scripture namely Acts 10.43 with Acts 3.19 In the one it is said Whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins in the other Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out so that True Faith is the Principle of a new life the beginning of Sanctification when the Heart is resign'd up to God and with sincere resolutions turns to him No Faith can justifie us but as Faith that thus worketh for as God will take no unsanctified person to his Glory so neither will He seal to him in that condition pardon of sin here which is the earnest of that Glory Trust not then to his Wounds if thou bearest not the marks of them in thy Soul rely not on his Death if sin in thee be not crucified They were Reprobate Jews that turn'd his Passion into a Sight and came off not wounded but true Christians are pierced with beholding him and find it operative upon their lives Should we be justified without doing any thing on our part obedience to Gods Commands would rather be a Gift than a Debt whereas the Gospel enjoyns it us as necessary to please Him let us then so come to his Grave as not idly to bury our selves there for we are but dead men in doing so neither will our Master be found since the Angel can tell us He is not there but is risen whence we ought not to rest in that place but go forth to seek him All the vertue that is in the Sepulcher comes out to those that rise and resemble him who is risen That like as he was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father so they likewise might walk in newness of life Thus much for the First Observable I proceed to handle the Second Proposition II. That there are proper and peculiar Advantages in Christs rising above that death yea rather is risen again All the time Christ slept in the Grave was a time of gloominess and thick darkness but here God speaks as he did in the old Creation Let there be light His rising bring us day and the joyes of it wherein Death has lost all its spoyls and Life his victory Sin has spent all its force and Mercy triumphs the Synagogue it self ends and our Church begins A Day very pleasant in the speculation but may no doubt come in that it is artificially fram'd and devised by Christians Truly doubts cannot be hindred where corruption and infidelity so much reigns but the reason of our doubting is taken away by the clear evidence that is given us of his Resurrection If you ask what that is behold it is grounded upon Prophets that fortell Eye-witnesses that confirm and God himself attesting the truth of both by the power of his Spirit that worked in the Preachers to make this Point undeniable To the Prophets St. Acts 2. Peter appeals for convincing the Jews and St. Paul makes it a standing proof how He rose again according to the Scriptures 1 Cor. 15.4 Eye-witnesses are produc'd to convince the Gentiles not onely a few Women and Apostles whom he had chosen but Five hundred Brethren at once and those He appear'd to were not so much considerable for their number as for their nicety in believing men that had scruples of sense which kept them from being deceived as well as scruples of concience which kept them from deceiving others The first of these is manifest from hence That they would not thoroughly believe He was risen though they saw him till they were convinc'd by the very touch the latter is cleer from that Doctrine they embraced which forbad the least sin and how can we imagine they durst propagate a Cheat under all discouragements when they knew they not onely ran the hazard of losing their Lives as they did by professing him but their Hopes too of a better life the onely Anchor of their Profession from which a Lye would certainly exclude them Add to this the Spirit they received the Wonders they wrought and the Success they had in their Ministry when their Doctrine spread through the world from poor naked beginnings meerly by the force of this Article it shows the Body of their Master was not stoln away as the Keepers absurdly reported but that God himself was risen to defend them These things well consider'd if they amount not to Demonstration yet afford so rational a proof as will engage our assent to the Truth and convince us of folly in denying it Now the Advantages of Christs Rising above his Death have a double aspect for they either relate to Christ or to Us. First to Christ and so the Dignity of his Resurrection is seen in these Particulars 1. It justified the Innocence of his Humanity When Christ was laid hold of and carried away to be condemn'd by the Jews then his very Cause seem'd to be given up It was counted criminal with them that He would submit to an Arrest and a sufficient evidence to make him a Malefactor that He did so tamely yield to the Trial. But when He endured the Sentence to be pronounced went patiently to his Cross and suffer'd his Body to be fastned with the nails as if He had the guilt of a Slave with the punishment here was the Hour to overcome Truth and the Power of darkness to cover him who is the light of the world But his Rising from death removed that Eclipse cleard that Innocence by the distinction it made of his Fate when the Vileness of his Execution gave Authority to the Charge This caused such boldness in Peter to plead for his Master and return the fault upon his Persecutors which He was so guilty of himself Ye have denyed the holy one and the just Acts 3.14 and he proceeds farther to aggravate their Crime and maintain the righteousness of his Cause by that convincing Argument of Gods raifing Vers 15. him from the dead Now it is easie for any one to conclude that had our Lord been an Impostor or an evil doer he could not rise such kind of men would surely rot in the Grave and know no other Resurrection than that of the last Day to a worse Judgment because for God to punish them with Death here and allow them presently to rise that so they might confirm their own followers in those Errors they taught and those Evils they practised here a work of Divinity would be employed to destroy the true worship of it which is a flat contradiction to his Goodness
and live unto Righteousness which is the Souls Resurrection The great design of his rising was to bless us in turning away every one from his iniquities Acts 3.26 which implyes the very nature of his Blessing consists in the cleansing of us from sin as our Taste of hereafter consists in being purified No unclean liver can enter Heaven for he wants the condition of Bliss no nor relish it if granted him because of the unsutableness of that Glory For the vast disproportion which is betwixt those objects that are pure and spiritual and such a mans desires that are filthy and carnal would turn the very Joyes of Heaven into a Punishment so that either way he is miserable in the Denyal of Heaven he has no hope in the Gift no pleasure We see a sanctity of nature is necessary to the fruition of Happiness and need we motives from some powerful example to encourage our obedience I can produce no greater than in my Text the manner of Christs love to us when He dyed and the manner of his acting for us when He rose are sufficient arguments to quicken us If we consider his love to us when He dyed it is the Picture of strength in weakness which could carry him chearfully to submit to Gods wrath the Jews malice and Human frailty and worked too his end by that submission for he nail'd our sins to the Cross when He was nail'd there himself and by death cancell'd our Bond. Such was the vertue of his Sacrifice that it did not require a Second Offering what is this else but a Pattern to our Mortification that we would dye to sin as He did for it that we need not kill it a Second time If we consider the manner of his Rising here strength of love is visible in the activity of the Conqueror He rose from the dead before day so He would often rise in his life-time He lov'd Early Devotions and Early Conquests the one to show his speed in interceding for us the other in comforting How is this a Lesson to us for following his steps and rising to a life of Righteousness in the very dawn of our Time when the Morn is fresh and our day begins that as He made haste to do us good so we might to fit our selves for him Youth is as much consecrated to his service as the Morning was to his rising if we come late to him we are unthankful Worshippers and besides the feebleness of such a course takes off from the value of the performance But his early leaving of the Sepulcher wherein the quickness of our Redeemer is manifested does not so much instruct us in duty as the perfectness of his Resurrection which discovers the absoluteness of his Conquest All others that were raised dropt agen into their Graves had not life so properly as death restored to them but Christ being raised from the dead dyes no more death hath no more dominion over him That glorious Body of his has put off mortality and all signs of it except wee 'l say the wound in his side and the prints of the nails are which yet He bears for another use which is this that whereas before they were Characters of his Weakness they might now be Trophies of his Strength whereas before they were marks of the Enemies Victory they might now prove marks of his own With the like strength of Perfection should we live to him so quit the deadness of corrupt nature as never to admit its return infuse such a Soul into our Good works that may make them vigorous and lasting Thus we shall copy out his Death and Life in our selves and bring that comfort home Who is he that condemns To think salvation for us is so wrought that we need not work it out our selves is miserably to delude our expectation since all those glorious effects which issue from his Dying and Rising are appointed to be Mercies to the doers but Wonders onely to lookers on Let us then put off the Old man with his deeds and keep up the memory of our Master in the Newness of our lives that when our Earthly Tabernacle is dissolv'd we may have a Building of God not made with hands eternal in the Heavens FINIS Books printed for and sold by Richard Chiswell FOLIO SPeed's Maps and Geography of Great Britain and Ireland and of Foreign Parts Dr. Cave's Lives of the Primitive Fathers Dr. Cary's Chronological Account of Ancient Time Wanly's Wonders of the Little World or History of Man Sir Tho. Herbert's Travels into Persia c. Holyoak's large Dictionary Latin and English Sir Ric. Baker's Chronicle of England Causin's Holy Court. Wilson's compleat Christian Dictionary Bishop Wilkin's Real Character or Philosophical Language Pharmacopaeia Regalis Collegii Medicorum Londinensis Judge Jone's Reports of Cases in Common-Law Judge Vaughan's Reports of Cases in Common-Law Cave Tabulae Ecclesiasticorum Scriptorum Hobb's Leviathan Lord Bacon's Advancement of Learning Bishop Taylor 's Sermons Sir Will. Dugdale's Baronage of England in 2 Vol. Raranelli Bibliotheca Theologica 3 Vol. QUARTO THe several Informations exhibited to the Committee appointed by Parliament to inquire into the burning of London 1667. Godwin's Roman Antiquities Dr. Littleton's Dictionary Bishop Nicholson on the Church Catechism The Compleat Clark Dr. Pierce on Gods Decrees History of the late Wars of New-England Dr. Outram de Sacrificiis Bishop Taylor 's Diswasive from Popery Garissolius de Christo Mediatori Corpus Confessionum Fidei Spauhemii Dubia Evangelica 2 Vol. Dr Gibb's Sermons Parkeri Disputationes de Deo Caryl on Job compleat 12 parts Description and History of the Future State of Europe 1 s. Fowler 's Defence of the Design of Christianity against John Bunyan 1 s. Lyford's Discovery of Errors and Heresies of the Times 4 s. Dr. Sherlock's Visitation Sermon at Warrington 1659. 6 d. Dr. West's Assize-Sermon at Dorchester 1671. 6 d Mr. Dobson's Sermon at Lady Farmers Funeral 1670. 8 d. Directions for Improvement of Barren Land 6 d. Culverwel's Discourse of the Light of Nature 3 s. 6 d. Dr. Meric Casaubon's Letter to Dr. Du Moulin about Experimental Philosophy 6 d. Lord Hollis's Relation of the Unjust Accusation of certain French Gentlemen charged with a Robery 1671. 6 d. The Magistrates Authority asserted in a Sermon by James Paston OCTAVO Conold's Notion of Schism according to the Antients with Reflections on Mr. Hales The Posing of the Parts Elborow's Rationale upon the English Service Burnets Vindication of the Ordination of the Church of England Winchester Phrases Wilkin's Natural Religion Hardcastle's Christian Geography and Arithmetick Ashton's Apology for the Honours and Revenues of the Clergy Lord Hollis's Vindication of the Judicature of the House of Peers in the case of Skinner Jurisdiction of the House of Peers in case of Appeals Jurisdiction of the House of Peers in case of Impositions Letter about the Bishops Vote in Capital Cases Xenophontis Cyropoedia Gr. Lat. Duporti Versio Psalmorum Graeca