men do illegally and unlawfully break loose from the Law which is their Husband whilst he is yet alive and ought to have Dominion over them and marry themselves to another Husband which Husband 's name is Carnal Liberty or Licentiousness too often miscalled in these latter Times by the name of Christian Liberty and such as these may well be styled in the Scripture-language Adulterers and Adulteresses But there is another Freedome from the Law which is a due and just Freedome when we do not make our selves free before the time violently breaking loose from it but when we stay till the Law which is our Husband is dead and the Compulsory power of it taken away by the Mortification of our Lusts and Affections and so marry another Husband which is Christ or the Spirit of Righteousness Rom. 8. 2. The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death Wherefore there are Three general states of Men in order to God and Religion that may be here taken notice of The First is of those that are alive to Sin and dead to the Law This the Apostle speaks of Rom. 7. 9. I was alive without the Law once These are those whose Consciences are not yet considerably awakened to any Sense of their Duty nor to the Discrimination of Good and Evil but sin freely without any check or controll without any disquieting Remorse of Conscience The Second is when men are at once alive both to the Law and Sin to the Conviction of the one and the Power and Love of the other both these strugling together within the Bowels of the Soul checking and controlling one another This is a broken confounded and shatter'd state and these in the Apostles language are said to be Slain by the Law I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandment came Sin revived and I died And the Commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death For Sin taking occasion by the Commandment deceived me and by it Slew me Here is no Peace Rest nor Comfort to be had in this state mens Souls being distracted and divided by an intestine and civil Warr between the Law of the Minde and the Law of the Members conflicting with one another Wherefore the Third state is when men are dead both to the Law and Sin and alive unto God and Righteousness the Law of the Spirit of Life freeing them from the Law of Sin and Death In the First of these Three states which is the most wretched and deplorable of all we are Sin 's Free-men that is free to commit Sin without check or controll In the Second we are Bondmen to God and Righteousness and serve God out of a Principle of Fear and according to an outward Rule onely Children of Hagar the Bond-maid and of the Letter In the Third we are God's Free-men and Sons and serve him in the Newness of the Spirit out of a Love to God and Righteousness Children of the New Testament and of Sarah the Free-woman Wherefore here are Two Mistakes or Errors to be taken notice of that defeat and disappoint the Design of Christ in giving us Victory over the Law The first is of those that we have already mentioned that seek to themselves a Freedome from the Bondage of the Law otherwise then by Christ and the Spirit of Righteousness namely in a way of Carnal Liberty and Licentiousness whereby instead of being Bond-men to God and Righteousness they become perfect Free-men to Sin and Wickedness which is the most deplorable Thraldome in the World Wherefore these men instead of going forward from the Second state unto higher Perfection wheel back again unto the First just as if the Children of Israel after they had been brought out of Egypt and travelled awhile in the Desert of Arabia where the Law was given instead of entring into Canaan should have wheeled back into Egypt and then enjoying the Garlick and Onions and Flesh-pots thereof should persuade themselves that this was indeed the true Land of Promise that floweth with Milk and Honey And there is very great danger lest when men have been tired out by wandring a long time in the dry and barren Wilderness of the Law where they cannot enjoy the Pleasure of Sin as formerly and yet have not arrived to the relish and love of Righteousness by reason of their Impatience they should at last make more haste then good speed being seduced by some false shews of Freedome that are very tempting to such weary Travellers and promise much comfort and refreshment to them inviting them to sit down under their shadow Such as are a Self-chosen Holiness Ceremonial Righteousness Opinionative Zeal The Tree of Knowledge mistaken for the Tree of Life High-flown Enthusiasm and Seraphicism Epicurizing Philosophy Antinomian Liberty under the pretence of Free Grace and a Gospel-Spirit The Second Mistake that is here to be heeded is of those that would by all means persuade themselves that there is no higher State of Christian Perfection to be aimed at or hoped for in this Life then this Legal State That the Good they would doe they doe not the Evil they would not doe that they doe That the Law of Sin in their Members still leads them Captive from the Law of their Minds having no other Ground at all for this but a novel Interpretation of one Paragraph in the Epistle to the Romans contrary to other express Places of Scripture and the Sense of all ancient Interpreters and yet with so much zeal as if it were a principal part of the Gospel-Faith to believe this which is indeed arrant Infidelity and as if it were no less then Presumption or Impiety to expect a Living Law written upon our Hearts But this is nothing else but instead of seeking Liberty out of the Bondage of the Law to fall in love with our Bonds and Fetters and plainly to deny the Victory over the Law by Christ and to affirm that the Gospel is but the Ministration of a dead and killing Letter not of the Spirit that quickneth and maketh alive I Come now in the Third and last place to the Victory over Death expressed by the Resurrection of the Body to Life and Immortality which as it was meritoriously procured for us by Christ's dying upon the Cross his Resurrection afterward being an assured pledge of the same to us so it will be really effected at last by the same Spirit of Christ that gives us Victory over Sin here Rom. 8. 11. If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you As if he should have said If the Spirit of Christ dwell in you regenerating and renewing your Souls the very same Spirit hereafter shall also immortalize your very Bodies Avicen the Mahumetan Philosopher in his Almahad hath a conceit That the
Vulgar minds and make more palpable impressions on them and be alwaies of more present and ready use then any Philosophical Reasons and Demonstrations And the Scripture is herein very harmonious and agreeable to itself both in the Old and New Testament for as in the one it makes the original of Death's entrance into the world to be the Sin and Disobedience of the First Adam who was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the earth earthy so in the other it attributes the recovery of Life and Immortality to the meritorious Obedience of the Second Adam that was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord from heaven heavenly who by his Death vanquished destroyed Death For as Sampson who was a Type of our Saviour when he was besieged by the Philistines in the City Gaza Judges 16. rose up at midnight and pulled up the Gates of the City and the Posts and laying them upon his shoulders carried them up to the top of the Hill in like manner Christ our Lord when he was environ'd and encompass'd by Death after he had been awhile detain'd under the custody thereof he ascended victoriously out of the Power of the Grave and carried the Gates of Hell and Death upon his Shoulders along with him triumphantly into Heaven he slighted and dismantled that mighty Garrison whose Walls were stronger then Brass and Gates harder then Adamant that it should no longer be a Prison with doors and barrs to shut up those that believe in him but an open and free passage and a broad High-way to Life and Immortality He is the Resurrection and the Life John 11. 25. and he that believeth in him though he were dead yet shall he live For he that liveth and was dead and is alive for evermore even he hath the Keys of Hell and of Death Revelat. 1. 18. But that which I chiefly aim at at this time concerning Jesus his Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven is this That by and after it he was made Lord and Christ King and Saviour and Sovereign of his Church Not but that Christ's Humanity was alwaies hypostatically united to the Divinity but because the Oeconomical Kingdome of Christ as Mediatour according to the Scripture-calculation seems not to commence till after his state of Humiliation was over and so begins its Epocha from Christ's Resurrection or his Exaltation to sit at God's right hand in heaven Acts 2. 36. Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ. Acts 5. 31. Jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a Tree him hath God exalted on his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour c. Philip. 2. 9. Who humbled himself and became obedient to the death of the Cross Wherefore hath God highly exalted him and given him a Name above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow c. and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father And that Article of our Creed concerning Christ's sitting at God's right hand in Heaven signifies thus much unto us That Christ after his Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven hath all Power given him both in Heaven and in Earth all things being made subject to him excepting him onely that hath put all things under him He being for the Comfort of his Church and Members here upon Earth according to his Humanity made God's Vicegerent and seated in his Father's Throne and having a Mediatorious Kingdome bestowed upon him that shall continue till he hath put down all Authority and Power and hath subdued all his Enemies under his feet and then hath delivered up this Oeconomical Kingdome to God the Father that God may be all in all And this is an unspeakable Consolation that Christian Religion affords to us and a most gracious Condescension of the All-wise God That forasmuch as we that dwell in these houses of Clay are so far removed from the pure and abstracted Deity and so infinitely disproportioned unto it that there should be such a contrivance as this set on foot That we should have one of our own Flesh and Bloud that was in all things tempted like unto us and had experience of all our difficulties and calamities who demonstrated his infinite love to us in laying down his Life for us and therefore we cannot doubt but hath a most tender Sympathy and fellow-feeling with us in all our infirmities I say that we should have such a one exalted to God's right hand and invested with all Authority and Power both in Heaven and in Earth that he might administer all things for the good of his Church and Members and supply them in all their wants and necessities Which consideration must needs be farre more comfortable chearing and reviving to every true Christian then it was to the Sons of Jacob when they went down to Egypt to buy Corn and provision for their necessities to think that Joseph their Brother was made Ruler over all the Land And yet notwithstanding this is wholly eluded and evacuated by those high-flown Spiritualists of these latter times that slight and reject the Letter of the New Testament as a mean and carnal thing and will acknowledge no other Death and Resurrection of Christ no other Ascension and Sitting at God's right hand nay no other Day of Judgement nor Resurrection of the Body but what is Mystical and Allegorical Whereby they do not onely impudently slurre the Gospel according to the History and the Letter in making it no better then a Romantical Legend or a mere Aesopick Fable that contains a good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Moral under it but also plainly defeat the Counsel of God against themselves and mankinde by antiquating Christianity and bringing in instead thereof old Paganism again disguised under a few canting Phrases of Scripture-language For though Moses had a Veil over his face though there were many obscure Umbrages and Allegories in the Law the Children of Israel being then not able to bear the brightness of that Evangelical Truth that shined under them yet now under the Gospel we do all with open face behold as in a Glass the glory of the Lord nakedly represented to us being changed into the same image from glory to glory But to let pass these and still to improve our former Meditation further Let us in the next place consider that Christ who received all this Power after his Resurrection and Ascension did not receive it in vain and to no purpose either taking no notice of our humane transactions here below as having removed his Pavilion too farre into those Regions of Light and Glory from us or else remaining notwithstanding an idle Spectator and no way concerning or interesting himself in the Issues of our humane affairs Which will be so much the more improbable if we consider what the Scripture and experience tell us that the
Intrinsecal Evil in it greater then that of Outward Punishment then certainly it cannot be so transcendent a Happiness as some men carnally conceit to have an Impunity in Sinning to all Eternity that th◠Accomplishment thereof should be thought the onely fit Undertaking for the Son of God to engage in and that which would deservedly entitle him the Saviour of Mankinde For that of Socrates in Plato must then needs be true Tò 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That in those which are not incorrigible and incurable it is the greatest Evil that can possibly befall them to continue in Wickedness unpunished and the greatest Kindness that they can receive by the lesser Evil of Punishment and Castigation to be cured of the greater Evil of Sin For as the same Philosopher speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chastisement and Correction is the natural Remedy and Cure of Wickedness which our Saviour confirms when he saith As many as I love I rebuke and chasten and sure the Remedy is not worse then the Disease Wherefore it was so farre from being the Ultimate End of Christ's undertaking to die for Sin that men might securely live in it that on the contrary the Death of Christ was particularly intended as an Engine to batter down the Kingdom of Sin Satan and to bring men effectually unto God and Righteousness as the Scripture plainly witnesseth 1 Pet. 2. 24. His own self bare our Sins in his Body on the Tree that we being dead to Sin might live to Righteousness The Death of Christ conducing to this great End not onely as it was Exemplary and Hieroglyphically instructed us that we ought to take up our Cross likewise and follow our crucified Lord and Saviour suffering in the Flesh and ceasing from Sin but also as it doth most lively demonstrate to us God's high Displeasure against Sin and the malignant Nature of it that could not otherwise be expiated then by the Bloud of that innocent and immaculate Lamb the onely-begotten Son of God and lastly as the Hope of Pardon and free Remission of Sin in the Bloud of Christ for the truly Penitent might invite and animate men to chearful vigorous endeavours against Sin Others there are that tell us there is indeed something farther aimed at in the Gospel besides the bare Remission of Sins but that it is nothing else but the Imputation of an External Righteousness or another's Inherent Holiness which is so completely made ours thereby to all intents and purposes as if we our selves had been really and perfectly righteous and this upon no other Condition or Qualification at all required in us but onely of mere Faith scrupulously prescinded from all Holiness and Sanctification or the laying hold and apprehending onely as they use to phrase it of this External and Imputed Righteousness that is the merely believing and imagining it to be ours Which kind of Faith therefore is but the Imagination of an Imagination or of that which really is not and as Pindar calls Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very Dream of a Shadow For though this be pretended by some to be spoken onely of Justification as contradistinct from Sanctification the latter of which they conceive must by no means have any Conditional Influence upon the former yet it is plain that it will unavoidably extend to the taking away of the Necessity of Inherent Righteousness and Holiness and all Obligation to it upon which very account it is so highly acceptable because under a specious shew of Modesty and Humility it doth exceedingly gratify mens Hypocrisie and Carnality For he that is thus completely Justified by the Imputation of a mere External Righteousness must needs have ipso facto a Right and Title thereby to Heaven and Happiness without Holiness for Rom. 8. 30. Whom he justifieth them he also glorifieth Neither can any thing be required inherently in them where all Inherency is perfectly supplied by Imputation And though it be pretended that Sanctification will spontaneously follow after by way of Gratitude yet this is like to prove but a very slippery hold where it is believed that Gratitude it self as well as all other Graces is already in them by Imputation Neither can it be reasonably thought that true Holiness should spring by way of Gratitude or Ingenuity from such a Principle of Carnality as makes men so well contented with a mere Imaginary Righteousness But this Opinion as it makes God in Justifying to pronounce a false Sentence and to conceive of things otherwise then they are and to doe that which himself hath declared to be abominable to Justifie the wicked in a forensick sense and as it is irreconcileable to those many Scriptures that assure us God will render to every man according to his Works so it also takes away the Necessity of Christ's Meritorious and Propitiatory Sacrifice for the Remission of Sins for where a complete Righteousness is imputed there is no Sin at all to be pardoned And lastly it vainly supposes Righteousness and Holiness to be mere Phantastical and Imaginary things for otherwise it were no more possible that a Wicked man should be made Righteous by another's Righteousness imputed then that a Sick man should be made Whole by another's imputed Health If a Brother or Sister be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you say unto them Depart in peace be you warmed and be you filled notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful for the body what doth it profit James 2. 15 16. Even so what doth it profit my Brethren if a man say he hath Faith or Imputed Righteousness and have not Works that is Real and Inherent Righteousness or Inward Regeneration can such a Faith that is Imagination or Imputation save him Certainly no more then mere words can clothe a naked mans Back or feed a hungry mans Belly or warm and thaw him whose Bloud is frozen and congealed in his veins Nay it is no more possible for a man to be made Holy then to be made Happy by mere Imputation which latter few men would be contented withall and were it not for their Hypocrisie they would be as little contented with the former and it would as little please them to be Opinione tantùm Justi as Opinione tantùm Beati to use Tully's expressions against the Epicureans Nay since it is most certain that the greatest part of our Happiness consisteth in Righteousness and Holiness it will unavoidably follow that if we have no other then an Imputative Righteousness we can have no other then an Imputative Happiness and a mere Imaginary Heaven which will little please us when we feel our selves to be in a true and real Hell But it is not our Intention here to quarrel about Words and Phrases as if Christ's meritorious Satisfaction might not be said to be Imputed to those that Repent and Believe the Gospel for Remission of Sins much less to deny what the Holy Scripture plainly asserts True
meaning of the Resurrection of the Body is nothing else but this to persuade Vulgar people that though they seem to perish when they die and their Bodies rot in the Grave yet notwithstanding they shall have a real Subsistence after Death by which they shall be made capable either of future Happiness or Misery But because the apprehensions of the Vulgar are so gross that the Permanency or Immortality of the Soul is too subtile a Notion for them who commonly count their Bodies for Themselves and cannot conceive how they should have any Being after Death unless their very Bodies should be raised up again therefore by way of Condescension to vulgar Understandings the future Permanency and Subsistence of the Soul in Prophetical Writings is expressed under this Scheme of the Resurrection of the Body which yet is meant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which conceit how well soever it may befit a Mahumetan Philosopher I am sure it no way agrees with the Principles of Christianity The Scripture here and elsewhere assuring us that the Resurrection of the Body is to be understood plainly and without a Figure and that the Saints departed this life in the Faith and Fear of Christ shall not be mere Souls without Bodies to all Eternity as Avicen Maimonides and other Philosophers dreamed but consist of Soul and Body united together Which Bodies though as the Doctrine of the Church instructeth us they shall be both Specifically and Numerically the same with what they were here yet notwithstanding the Scripture tells us they shall be so changed and altered in respect of their Qualities and Conditions that in that sense they shall not be the same V. 36 37. Thou fool that which thou sowest is not quickned except it die Thou sowest not that Body that shall be but bare grain it may chance of Wheat or of some other grain but God giveth it a Body as it pleaseth him and to every seed his own Body The Apostle here imitating the manner of the Jews who as appeareth from the Talmud were wont familiarly to illustrate the business of the Resurrection of the Body by the Similitude of Seed sown into the Ground and springing up again Accordingly he goes on It is sown in Corruption it is raised in Incorruption sown in dishonour it is raised in glory sown in weakness raised in power sown a Natural Body raised a Spiritual Body Which Epithet was used also in this case both by the Philosophers and the Jews for Hierocles upon the Golden Verses calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vehicula Spiritualia Spiritual Bodies and R. Menachem from the ancient Cabbalists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Spiritual Clothing Lastly the Apostle concludes thus Now this I say Brethren that Flesh and Bloud cannot inherit the Kingdome of God neither doth Corruption inherit Incorruption For which cause he tells us elsewhere that they which do not die must of necessity be changed And indeed if men should be restored after death to such gross foul and cadaverous Bodies as these are here upon Earth which is the very Region of Death and Mortality without any change at all what would this be else but as Plotinus the Philosopher against the Gnosticks writes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be raised up to a Second Sleep or to be entombed again in living Sepulchres For the corruptible Body presseth down the Soul and the earthly Tabernacle weigheth down the Mind that 〈…〉 seth upon many things Wisedome 9. 15. Wherefore we must needs explode that old Jewish conceit commonly entertained amongst the Rabbinical Writers to this day That the future Resurrection is to be understood of such Gross and Corruptible Bodies as these are here upon Earth to eat drink marry and be given in marriage and which must needs follow afterward to die again Nachmanides in his Shaar Haggemul is the onely Jewish Author that ventures to depart from the common rode here and to abandon this Popular Error of the Jews endeavouring to prove that the Bodies of the Just after the Resurrection shall not eat and drink but be Glorified Bodies but Abravanel confutes him with no other Argument then this That this was the Doctrine and Opinion of the Christians Let us therefore now consider how abundantly God hath provided for us by Jesus Christ both in respect of our Souls and of our Bodies Our Souls in freeing us by the Spirit of Christ if we be not wanting to our selves from the Slavery of Sin and the Bondage of the Law as it is a Letter onely Our Bodies in that this Corruptible shall put on Incorruption and this Mortal Immortality and that these Vile Bodies shall be made like to Christ's glorious Body In both which the compleat Salvation of Man consisteth the Perfection and Happiness both of Soul and Body For though our Salvation consist chiefly in the former in the Victory over Sin and in the Renovation of the Mind yet without the latter which is the Victory over Death and the immortalizing of our Bodies it would be a very lame and imperfect thing For Righteousness alone if it should malè habitare dwell alwaies in such inconvenient houses as these earthly Tabernacles are however the high-flown Stoick may bragg it could not render our condition otherwise then troublesome sollicitous and calamitous Wherefore the Holy men in Scripture not without cause longed for this future Change Rom. 8. 23. We grone within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our Bodies 2 Cor. 5. 2. In this we grone earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from Heaven But there is no obtaining of this future Victory over Death and Mortality except we first get a Victory over Sin here For this is that Crown of Life that Christ the First-begotten from the dead will set upon the Heads of none but those that have here fought a good Fight and overcome For as Death proceeds onely from Sin and Disobedience so the way to conquer Death and to arrive at Life and Immortality is by seeking after an inward Conquest over Sin For Righteousness is immortal Wisd. 1. 15. and will immortalize the entertainers of it and as the Chaldee Oracle speaks ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 HAving hitherto shewed what are the great things we hope for by Christ and are to endeavour after namely to procure an Inward and Real Victory over Sin by the Spirit of Christ that so we may hereafter attain a Victory over Death and Mortality We cannot but take notice briefly of some Errors of those that either pretending the Impossibility of this Inward Victory over Sin or else hypocritically declining the Combate make up a certain Religion to themselves out of other things which are either Impertinent and nothing to the purpose or else Evil and noxious For first Some as was intimated before make to themselves a mere phantastical and imaginary Religion conceiting