more willing now to do it when Christ has done all that was required and failed not and that at the due time as it is said Rom. 5. If Christ had failed or come short but of a little of what he was to do God might have denyed to let the world go upon trust any longer But now Jesus Christ hath performed all and is aforehand with him and hath put in stock enough to pardon sinners to the end of the world Yet 5. Now even Justice it self will call upon him to discharge sinners it will not let him rest in quiet till he has pardoned and shewed mercy unto poor sinners that come to Christ and hath given in their bond and this though we had no promise to shew for it yea though Christ himself had nothing to shew for it Gods very justice would trouble him I may so speak with reverence for he himself sayes that he was troubled for Ephraim Ier. 29. till he had given out an acquitance because he knows the debt is paid and also that Christs and his own intent was that when Christ had once dyed sinners should thereby be justified Even as if an honest man had a bond for a debt that is discharged lying still in his hands of which payment he whose debt it is knowes nothing although he or they that paid this debt were dead so that there were no one left that were able to challenge an acquaintance from him and a cancelling of that bond yet meer honesty would cause him to give it in Now Jesus Christ dyed and God himselfe put him to death meerly to pay our debts and says Christ at his death Let sinners require my blood and the merits of it at thy hands and have out in pardon That was Christs will which he made at his death as you have it Heb. 9. 16 17. where the Apostle calls it Heb. 9. 16 17. where the Apostle calls it a Testament confirmed by the death of the Testator now there is nothing so sacred as the performance of the will of the dead And now Christ himself is alive again and is ordained by God to be his own Executor and so lives to claime an acquitance therefore certainly God will never withhold it In justice he cannot he will not have a bond lie by him that is discharged Hence it is said that God is just to forgive our sinnes 1 Iohn 1. There are three things which do cry for Justice and all do meete in this 1. The wages of a hireling if detained are said to cry So in the 5. of Iames it is said The wages of Hirelings detained do crie in the eares of the Lord of Hosts They cry wages being due in justice and because Gods Justice is thereby provoked and cannot be quiet till God hath avenged it And so would Christs satisfaction having been made for us It would restlesly cry to God and not suffer his Justice to be quiet unles we were pardoned For he was truly and indeed Gods hired Servant in this work And God covenanted to give him the salvation of those he dyed for as his wages and reward as Isaiah often represents it Chap. 53. and elsewhere So that if God be just he must give forth salvation otherwise Christs obedience would cry as the work of an hireling doth for wages A Second thing that cries for justice is the will of one that is dead unperformed who hath bequeathed legacies left wherewith to pay and discharge them And this is yet a louder cry then the former Now Christ before he dyed did thus make his will and bequeathed pardon of sin and justification and that eternall inheritance in heaven as legacies to those for whom he dyed and to be given out by God after his death as I observed even now out of Heb. 9. 15 16 17. where it is said that Christ was The Mediator of the New Testament that by meanes of death they who are called might receive the promise or bequeathed legacie of eternall life And thereupon ver. 16 17. the Apostle calls this a Testament confirmed by his death and which at his death began to be in force so ver. 17. And of all things that in justice are held due the performance of the will of the dead hath ever been held most sacred There is yet a third thing which cries for justice and that is innocent blood spilt And this cries lowder then all the rest So Genes 4. 10. And the Apostle Heb. 12. 24. sets forth the cry of Christs blood for us by Abels blood crying against Cain It may be notwithstanding this that God may put the bond in suit against a sinner to make him come to acknowledge the debt as the Apostle there speakes If we confesse our sins But if any soul doth say I have sinned and it profited me not God then cannot withhold from throwing down his bond canceld saying Deliver him I have found a ransome Iob 33. God will not have innocent blood such as his Sons is to ly upon him If he should not pardon sinners Christs blood would be upon him for it was for them only that Christ dyed being in himself innocent 6. God mends not himself by damning those for whom Christ dyed Now there were not only an injustice to Christ and us in it but God himself also would prove a loser For the end of Christs death was not simply to satisfie justice so as without it justice could not have permitted a pardon that might have been dispensed with but it was chiefly to declare the glory of Gods justice which required such a satisfaction as the Apostle sayes Rom. 3. 25. To declare his righteousnesse for the remission of sins that are past through Gods forbearance Is was we see the manifestation or declaration of the glory of his justice that he aimed at in it So as if any one mans sin satisfied for by Christ should be left unforgiven Gods justice should lose so much glory And if justice should think to get a greater glory out of the sinners that could never be for the sinner is unable ever to satisfie and so to glorify Gods justice by suffering as Christ hath done Yea and besides God would be a further and a greater loser in the glory of his mercy also which by his pardoning sinne is advanced The second part of the Observation Demonstrations of Christs willingnesse to receive sinners that come to him First how his heart stood from everlasting AND so now I come to Christs willingnesse which was the second thing propounded in the doctrine to be demonstrated Now though his will was not first in it as was said yet we shall finde him to have been no lesse willing then his Father As Christ in subsisting is the second person and hath his personall subsistence from his Father so he is second also in order of working and consequently of willing too yet he is not second to him in heartinesse of willing but as his Father and he
foundation of the Lord remains sure having this seal The Lord knoweth who are his And if it were but a Kings seal it could not be reversed but this is Gods Yea he hath sealed up their sins also by and through Christ Dan. 9. 24. never to be remembred or lookt upon more Thirdly God rested not in a Decree only but entred into Covenant with Christ to save sinners by him if he would die This Covenant you have Dialogue-wise set out Esay 49. Frist Christ begins at the first and second verses and shewes his Commission telling God how he had called him and fitted him for the work of Redemption and he would know what reward he should receive of him for so great an undertaking God answers him ver. 3. and at first offers low only the Elect of Israel Christ who stood now a making his bargain with him thought these too few and not worth so great a labour and work because few of the Jewes would come in but would refuse him therefore ver. 4. he sayes he should labour in vain if this were all his recompence and yet withall he tels God that seeing his heart was so much in saving sinners to satisfie him he would do it however for those few comforting himselfe with this that his work was with the Lord Upon this God comes off more freely and openeth his heart more largely to him as meaning more amply to content him for his paines in dying It is a light thing sayes God to him that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob that is not worth the dying for I value thy sufferings more then so I will give thee for a salvation unto the ends of the earth Upon this he made a promise to Christ 1 Tit. 2. and a promise is more then a purpose A purpose may be in ones selfe as Ephes. 1. 9. but a promise is made to another Now God cannot lie in himselfe but most of all not to his Son A second sort of Demonstrations The engagements of Gods heart to sinners from and upon Christs having dyed at his request A Second sort of Demonstrations are drawn from Christs having already come and performed all this for 1. Christ is now to be satisfied for that his dying as well as he by his death had satisfied God he is now to have his reward God never set any on work but he gave them wages Thus unto Nebuchadnezzar he gave Egypt as his hire for his service at Tyre and to Cyrus he gave hidden treasure Now it is not Christs own glory that will satisfie him for that he could have had and never have dyed there remains therefore nothing that can or will satisfie him but to have the end of his death To see his seed and be satisfied and to see of the travaile of his soule and to justifie many as it is Isa. 53. He dyed as himselfe speaks Iohn 12. 24. that he might not be alone in heaven his desire is that those whom he dyed for might see his glory 2. If we consider the act it self of delivering Christ unto death there was not nor could there ever be any thing more abhorrent unto God no act ever went so much against his heart for if he be afflicted in all our afflictions and doth not willingly punish the sonnes of men neither wils the death of a sinner that deserves it much lesse would he will the death of his own Son Now what was there to sweeten the death and sufferings of his Son unto him except his end in it for it is the end that sweetens and facilitates the meanes tending unto it Now the end of Christs death could be no other but to take sinnes away and to procure the pardon of sinners and so it must needs be infinitely delightfull unto him and his heart strongly set upon it seeing it did sweeten unto him an act otherwise so abhorrent and of this end therefore it is impossible he should ever repent Now Ephes. 5. 2. the very offering of Christ is called a Sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour and what was it that made it so but even the end for which it was done and which is there put upon it that it was out of love unto us and out of a mind to have sinners pardoned for else in it selfe it must needs have been abominable unto him Agai 3. if at any time he would have repented him of his purpose it would have been at the time of Christs being crucified when he came to bruise him then his heart would have recoyled and especially when Christ poured out his soule with such strong cries and teares as he did At other times in punishing but his children we find that when he comes to do it his heart as it were fails him as Hos. 11. 8. How shall I give thee up the rod falls out of his hand and his bowels yearn within him yet he relented not when he saw the soule of his Ioseph in bitternesse but still made an impossibility of it for him to avoid suffering because his purpose was thereby to take sinnes away Therefore Christs request was Father if it be possible let this cup passe The necessity lay only in Gods will in reference to his end to forgive sinnes If God would ever have relented or repented him of this purpose it would have been then we read of his repenting him of other of his works but his mind is so fully carried to take away sins that he did not then or can ever repent of putting his own Son to death for the effecting of it To pardon sinners is more naturall to him then to kill his Son was unnaturall Now his end and purpose being thus fully set to pardon and save sinners if he should be frustrated of this his end he would then indeed repent him of using his Son as he had done Nay it is not only said that he repented not but that it pleased him to bruise Christ in respect to that his end which was so pleasant to him So you have it Isa. 53. 10. And therefore surely it pleaseth him much more to pardon sinners now he hath thus bruised him and so indeed it followes there The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand It is spoken of his saving and justifying of sinners It troubled God to heare a soul bemoan it self for its sin Ier. 31. 20. but we read not that it did so when Christ bemoaned himself in his sufferings and the reason was because the work that Christ was about to do was a sweet Sacrifice to him and it would trouble God more to condemn a sinner that Christ dyed for then it did to sacrifice Christ for him 4. Upon that ancient agreement between God and Christ God pardoned millions of men under the Old Testament upon the bare word of Christ before he came into the world or had paid one peny of the debt he must needs therfore be supposed to be much
what was it for Not that himself should be glorified by so great a miracle even the greatest that ever he wrought but sayes he I am glad for your sakes that I was not there to the end that you might beleeve He rejoyced if any of his got a little more or further degree of faith And on the other side as sorry was he when men came not in Witnesse his tears over Jerusalem and those speeches of his Iohn 5. 34. These things I speake that you might be saved And thereupon in the ensuing verse he complainingly utters himself You will not sayes he come to me that you may have life He speaks as one greedy of winning soules and as sorry that any customers or hearers of his should passe by and not turne in You will not come to me c. And he relieves himself with this that there wâ—â—e others that would though they would not So here in this place when in the verse before my Text he had complained of them that they would not beleeve he comforts himself with this in the words of the Text All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me And the like you have Ioh 5. 25 26. You beleeve not but my sheep they heare my voice c. And then at his death when he was upon the Crosse he then converts a thiefe that was crucified with him and prayes for those that crucified him And after his Resurrection his last words recorded in Luke 24. 47. are That remission of sins should be preached in his name beginning at Ierusalem that so those whom he had prayed for though they had crucified him might be converted and saved Thus stood his heart all the while he was on earth both before and after his death And then in the third place now that he hath dyed and laid down that price which was to purchase the salvation of sinners he must needs be much more willing if it were possible he should be then ever Many Demonstrations there are from those obligations which Christs sufferings and death do put upon him which I have already given in a Treatise upon this very argument The heart of Christ in Heaven Part 2. onely I have reserved one or two for this place As 1. It was the aim and utmost intent of Christs soul in his being crucified to have sinners saved and saved effectually It was that travaile which his heart was then big with And certainly Christ would not that so many and so great sufferings now that they are past and over should be in vaine The Apostle makes a motive of it unto the Galatians Gal. 3. 34. Are ye so foolish have ye suffered so many things in vain To be sure Christs death shall not be in vain He will not lose the end of his sufferings as the same Apostle intimates but 4. verses before Chap. 2. ult. A businesse that a man hath praied for much how doth he long to see it accomplished and fulfilled and how glad is he when it falls out as he hath prayed and why but because it is the fruit of his Prayers Now much more glad is Christ to see the fruit of his death The travaile of his soul and thereby is satisfied Isai. 53. 10. a place I often quote to this purpose I will add but this to it When a woman hath been in travaile she forgets all her paines for joy that a man-childe is borne which is the fruit of that her travail and so doth Christ And then again for that other word that Christ is said to be satisfied Satisfaction is the accomplishment of desire or the fulfilling of ones longing So in that speech of Christ Blessed are those that hunger for they shall be satisfied So that this doth argue and presuppose the most vehement desires and longings in Christ for the salvation of souls and his having dyed must needs encrease them And 2. Adde this engagement unto that former That his death can be put to no other use then for the pardon of sinners So as if he should not expend it that way he should utterly lose the fruit of it or let it lye uselesse by him For divert it to any other use he cannot And yet if he knew how to improve it to any other purpose yet his love he having intended it for the sons of men would not suffer him to do it But besides if it be not imployed and bestowed this way it will be wholly in vaine for the good Angels though they stand in need of his Personall mediation to confirme them in grace yet his blood was not requisite thereunto And for the bad Angels they are utterly excluded the benefit of it And then Christ himself he stands in no need of it nor can he have any benefit by it all that Personall glory which now he hath in Heaven being due unto him by that Hypostaticall union So that his death serves for no end if not for this Christ indeed hath an honour in Heaven besides the glory of the personall union but then it ariseth to him from the salvation of sinners through his death which salvation is the purchase of his blood as you have it Ephes. 1. which might afford a third engagement In that Christ should not only lose the fruit of his death but that glory that is ordained him by the salvation of men So that he should be a loser not only of his sufferings by-past but of all that glory that is to come from the salvation of believers which is no small thing unto him As Officers in Courts of Law or in Universities get the more fees the more Clients and the more Commercers there are so it is the more for Jesus Christs gain that many sinners get out and are received to grace and mercy Some Extrinsecall demonstrations of Gods and Christs willingnesse to pardon sinners ANd unto all these secret engagements both of God and Christ mutually to each other and to us we may adde all the professed publications of their minds herein unto us which have been made upon all occasions and by all means possible As First This newes hath been published by all three persons first God the Father he began to preach it to Adam in Paradise and hath renued it again and again as with his own immediate voice from Heaven when Christ was baptized This is my welbeloved Son in whom I am well pleased heare him which the Apostle Peter records and confirmes as spoken a second time upon the Mount as a matter of highest moment to be known by us which voyce he heard sayes he and is no fable 2 Pet. 1. 16 17. Secondly Christ who is the faithfull and true witnes Rev. 1. 5. he came from the bosome of his Father and preached peace Ephes. 2. 17. Yea and it was one of his first texts he preached upon Luke 4. 18. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anoynted me to preach the Gospel to preach deliverance to