his and the Fathers Pleasure it was us he was to Buy but it was he alone stood obliged to Pay He engaged to die for us but that is not engaging for us as Principals that he would die a thing which we never were obliged to He did not engage we should not Sin nor if we sinned that we should make satisfaction but he engaged that he would satisfie God that we might not die for our Sins even one Christ for all of us once to die instead of our eternal Death 2 R. Were Christ a proper pecuniary Surety in his Death and Obedience there would be no room for God's Forgiving us any Sin or giving us any Mercy as of Free Gift unless he forgave us more than Christ satisfied for or bestowed what he did not merit This is evident for if my Surety be bound with me to a Creditor for a Thousand Pounds if my Surety pay as my Surety this Thousand Pounds the Creditor forgives me nothing I pay him all So as to Merit If I buy a Jewel for an Hundred Pounds and give Bond for it with a Surety bound with me for that Sum if my Surety shall pay that â—undred Pounds can the Seller be said to give me that Jewel No. I in a Law-sense paid him because my Surety did it Whereas the Gospel lays the Stress of our Felicity upon Forgiveness Rom. 4.8 Acts 13.38 And though Justice do not suffer as having received Glory by Christ yet that is not to exclude Forgiveness but to make way for Forgiveness in a Consistency with his Perfections And further God no more sells us any Blessing notwithstanding Christ's Merits than Christ sells them to us Whereas he must sell all Benefits and forgive no Faults if he be considered as a Creditor and Christ our Money Surety Obj. God may be said to forgive us being he admitted Christ to be a Pecuniary Surety though we pay by him Ans. That goes a very little way towards Forgiveness yea and to refuse it in Money-Matters is hardly admittable by the Rules of Equity It sounds low to hear a Creditor say You were bound to me for a Thousand Pounds which I was paid by one that I allowed to be your Surety and because I would take it from you by him I forgave it you though I got from you legally by your Surety every Farthing of your Debt This is not Forgiving and such a Change whilst the very Debt in kind is paid is not an Abatement Obj. God procured Christ to be our Surety and therefore he forgave us Ans. In Solution of Money this will not amount to Forgiveness If one owes me Ten Pounds for which I cast him in Prison and finding him Insolvent do I forgive him if I get one that wisheth him well to pay it for him I befriend him but am paid all my self even by him in his Surety without forgiving I know nothing more Suspicious to be an Error than what tends to overturn the Doctrine of the Forgiveness of Sins which is the great Support of a poor Sinner and of this the Notion of strict Money-Suretiship whereby we paid all to God is guilty whereas if you consider God as Ruler and Christ as Mediator making Satisfaction for Criminals by enduring Punishment in their stead we avoid all the Difficulties which that of Money-Debts perplex the Work of Redemption with The Socinians main strength lies in Objections from Sin being as a Money-Debt and Christ's Death being the Payment of a Debt even the Idem This is perceived and therefore denied by our best Authors against the Socinians as Lubbertus Essenius Turretin Owen Stillingfleet c 3 R. Were Christ a proper Pecuniary Surety in the same Law of Works with them then every Believer would be entitled to the same Reward as Christ is entitled to yea and as much or more than Christ. This is evident for if I Covenant with another that in Consideration of my paying a Thousand Pounds I shall enjoy such an Estate of Fifty Pounds a Year I have a Surety engaged with me for the Payment of that Money I by my Surety pay the Thousand Pounds upon which I have the Legal Right to that Estate rather than my Surety but at most my Surety can have a Right to no more than that Fifty Pounds a Year in common with me by those Covenants 〈◊〉 here be other Covenants between me and 〈◊〉 wherein I engage to repay him that or mâ—â—e in those Covenants he is not my Surety but a distinct Party Hence it follows that we are entitled to be exalted over all and have a name above every name to see our Seed to be regarded as Saviours at least to be Satisfiers to God for our selves and our own Redeemers in Law-sense Obj. Christ paid all Personally and not we and therefore he hath peculiar Rewards and Honour Ans. The Principal and Surety is one Legal Person and therefore if the Law reckon we satisfied in Christ the Reward promised on that Satisfaction is common to us with Christ The Law gives the Honour as it receives the Tribute and distributes the Recompence as it estimates the Obedience One Person in Law made up of us and Christ alike obeyed in Law-sense and then one Person in Law made up of him and us must be alike rewarded as we are reckoned to do all so we are adjudged to have a Right to have all due upon that doing I shall say more of this presently 4 R. If Christ be a strict Pecuniary Surety I think it will be impossible to confute many very erronious Opinions which naturally are deduced therefrom What can be said against our being Justified actually before we believe For if we satisfied the Law in Christ How can our Justification be suspended till we believe unless there be some other Law The Law acquits us as soon as the Condition is performed by us Obj. We do not apply Christ to our selves before Faith Ans. 1 But God by the Law applies him to us if we have satisfied it and he hath applied him already in making him our Money-Surety the Law will execute it self whether we apply or no. 2. When the Conditions are performed by us it 's against the Law to deny us the Reward or at least to continue us under its Curse a Moment yea or to injoyn any Terms on us for possessing the Reward besides its own Conditions which are fulfilled by us The laying of Guilt on our Persons any time is unjust Obj. We are not Christ's Seed till we Believe Ans. All will not own that but if we ever satisfie in Christ it must be when he satisfied it is not to be done now when the Act of Performing the Atonement and Paying the Debt is over Can we by becoming his Seed now be esteemed to pay what he paid so many Years since if we did not pay it then Or can he be our Money-Surety by whom we pay now when he hath done paying and not then when he was
confine his Conceptions according as the Subject in the Question is Stated unless they will deceive others and themselves I shall offer these Reasons to prove that Christs incarnation was a partt of his Humiliation 1 R. The Word of God in express Terms affirms this Phil. 2.7 But made himself of no Reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of Men. Let us for the better apprehending the force of this Text consider 1. The Context 2. The Words in the Verse 3. The Objection that can be offered to enervate it from V. 8. For if the Context tend to prove that Christs Incarnation was a part of his Humiliation and the text in plain Words affirm it and there be nothing in the whole against it the Proof must be express only let me give you the 7 verse as it is in the Original which by our translation is Darkened Christ emptied Himself taking on him the force of a Servant being made in the likeness of Men. 1. Le ts consider the Context The Apostle had commanded Self-denial Charity and Humility ver 3 4. This charge he inforceth by Christs example ver 5. Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus lhat he might give this instance the greater Advantage 1. He shews the glorious dignity of Christ as God ver 6. Who being in the form of God thought it no Robbery to be equal with God He was equally glorious he that assumed our Nature and suffered in it was as excellent and the Beams of his Glory as Illustrious as God himself being of one Essence and Nature with God and having no other Nature besides his Divine 2. He then proceeds to tell them how this Glorious One humbled and debased himself v. 7. of which presently and thereby lets them see how meet it was that they should not grudge at denying themselves or being the most lowly and humble when Christ so infinitely more Glorious was content to become so low and mean as to take our Nature and suffer in it You see the Context requires that whatever is affirmed in this seventh Verse must refer to Christ's Debasement or it cannot answer the plain scope of the Apostles Reasoning which is to perswade Men to be Self-denying from this Example of Christ's humbling himself 2. The words of the seventh Verse are next to be considered He made himself of no reputation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the first Expression if you regard the derivation of the word it amounts to this He rendered himself such as if his Perfections and Glory were vain or useless The word is consonantly translated 1 Cor. 9.15 Make my glorying void It 's render'd by Tertullian Se Exhausit c. Of all made himself nothing By Beza Quasi ex omni seipsum ad nihil redegit Zanthius raiseth it higher Se Evacuavit omni gâ—oria aequalitate cum patri He emptied himself of all Glory and Equality with the Father Indeed who can comprehend the utmost of this Examinition Now these words must refer to his Incarnation as what let in and made him â—â—pable of all the subsequent Sufferings The next words are He took on him the form of a servant or taking on him the form of a Servant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherein was this I answer In taking our Nature For by assuming this Nature he became God's Servant and subject to his Authority as if not his own Master thô a Servant to Man he never was He that was in the form of God that is truly so was in the form of a Servant that is truly so that is the sense the next words confirm and was made or being made in the likeness of Man Not likeness in opposition to the reality of the Humane Nature but a conformity in Nature and the natural Operations thereof He assumed our very Humane Nature I hope then the plain order and import of the words appear to be this The Lord Iesus did greatly empty and humble himself in taking our Nature by the very assumption of which Nature he was a Servant And lest you should think that by being a Servant is meant some Servile Debasement after he assumed this Nature and not his meer Incarnation the Apostle explains it yet more Being made in the likeness of a Man is added after the form of a Servant Nay lest any one should deny his Incarnation to be part of his Humiliation by inverting the order of the words He proceeds v. 8. And being found in habit or fashion as a man he humbled himself q. d. Being thus emptied and debased in taking our Nature and being to observance in a State common with other meer Men he went on to undergo those sensible Sufferings which his Humane Nature rendred him capable of enduring Which leads me 3. To the Objection from v. 8. Being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself becoming obedient unto death even the death of the cross Whence may be objected That his Humiliation is confined to his dying in the Humane Nature after he had assumed it A. Christ's Dying was a great part of his Humiliation but that doth not argue that it was all his Humiliation Christ's Death and lying in the Grave finished his Humiliaiton but it doth not follow that was the beginning of it His Incarnation did begin it thô he proceeded to Consummate it by obeying unto Death And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Emptying himself which is ascribed to his Incarnation doth as truly express an Humiliation as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render Humbled Yea the former denotes a far greater Humiliation as to the significancy of the word To conclude this I cannot conceive how the Apostle could more expresly assert that Christ's Incarnation was a part of his Humiliation nay he seems to lay a very great stress upon it and variously expresseth Christ's assuming our Nature as that wherein the Wonder consisted most Oh that he who had a Glory shining equally with the Father should so submit to the with-holding of it as to be made a Man Let me mind you that the Socinians will thank any Man that denies the sense I give of this Text. 2. R. Christ did in his very Incarnation in obedience to God's Command voluntarily submit to the concealing and suspending of his manifestative Glory that he might be capable to suffer the utmost Punishments he had engaged to endure This Argument will appear in greater strength if we consider it in its several Parts 1. By shewing what a concealing and suspending of Christ's Manifestative Glory there was in his very Incarnation 2. That submiting and enduring this in obedience to God and for the Ends he thus assumed our Nature was truly a Degree of Humiliation 3. I shall answer an Objection that may be offered against the Son of God being capable of being humbled 1. There was a great suspending and concealing of Christ's Manifestative Glory in his very Incarnation Our
Nature was taken as an obscuring Vail and in the manner of Assuming it that Vail was exceeding thick which will appear in these Things 1. Christ was conceived in a Woman's Womb there was he confined the usual time he was born he sâ—ent part of his time in the unactive state of Infancy and Childhood He was capable of growing in knowledge Luke 2.52 This points to the manner of his Incarnation and is there no concâ—alment of his Glory herein no laying it aside Oh for God-Man to be at any time unactive as an Embrio or Child in the Womb for him to be born of a Woman for him to pass through the Incapacities of Infancy and the like necessary Consequences of the manner of his Incarnation Sure here 's a Suspension of Glory Eve was formed in a way more Glorious Whereas the Apostle notes it of Christ that he was made of a woman made under the law Gal. 4.4 2. Christ in his very Incarnation assumed the Humane Nature when in a low State yea after the Fall and subject to many Effects of that Fall It was not a Glorious Body a Spiritual Body a Body cloathed with Immortality but a Body subject to Hunger Thirst Weariness yea Death it self The Apostle leaves a Remark on this 2 Cor. 5.16 Thô we have known Christ after the Flesh yet know we him so no more Further what a Vail was it that he assumed our Nature after Man had sinned after he was condemned and part of the Sentence executed Yea there was need of an extraordinary way of Generation to prevent the propagation of Guilt and Defilement to him our Lord was subject to Grief Fear Trouble Temptations from without c. and the same Infirmities as we fallen Men are Sin only excepted Heb. 4.15 And was all this no Humiliation his meer Incarnation was his assuming a Body in the frame and habit whereof these Infirmities had actual place and not a Body exempted from these He was in the likeness of sinful flesh Rom. 8.3 3. The Apostle includes Christ's Incarnation in his Inferiority below Angels Heb. 2.9 We see Iesus who was made a little lower than the Angels for the suffering of death c. Thô his Exaninition in assuming our Nature be not all yet it is a great part of his Minoration as taking a Nature below the Angelical Thô he could soon raise it above Angels when he had assumed it and finished his Work therein and hence some render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a little while But it 's plain that the Humane Nature in it self is below the Angelical and therefore in taking this lower Nature he was so far Humbled and went so far further from his Glory 2. Christ's receding from his Glory in taking our Nature in this state and after this manner in obedience to God and for the ends for which he assumed such a Body was truly a degree of Humiliation That Christ should become Man was one Article submitted to by him Heb. 10.5 It was a Debt Heb. 2.16 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was Incarnate and that in the very described manner that he might be capable of enduring those full effects of Sin that he might tast Death for every Man be Tempted and the like Had not he assumed our Flesh he was not capable of enduring these yea had he not assumed our Nature in an humbled State and submitted to a Vail on his Glory the World would have been dazled with his Brightness above the Sun 's and none durst have blasphemed or assaulted him But our Lord was thus Incarnate his Humane Nature was in this humbled Condition and not in an exalted State when he assumed it and begun not to be humbled afterwards he laid by his Glory when he put on our Flesh in his Conception and therefore Iohn 17.5 he prays Glorifie me with that glory which I had with thee before the world began And the Apostle reckons it as a degree of his Humiliation Gal. 4.1 Made of a woman made under the law Yea I think it might be demonstrated that the Lord 's quitting the Display of his Divine Glory in his Conception Birth and the whole time of his Life was the greatest degree of his Humiliation And what can exclude his Incarnation especially in such a manner from being a part of Humiliation unless this following Objection for it was in a way of Obedience his Glory obscured and this to abasing Purposes Obj. How could the Divine Nature be humbled A. It was the Eternal Word or the Second Person that was humbled as far as his Incarnation obscured his Glory in the way above described 1. The Divine Nature essentially considered could neither be humbled nor exalted nothing can add to or take from it 2. Neither could the Divine Nature feel or resent Sufferings in the same manner as the Humane Nature it was not capable of Passion 3. Yet the Eternal Word was capable of laying aside his Manifestative Glory of subjecting himself to do so in obedience to the Father and persuant to his Covenant Undertaking and to make himself capable of drinking the whole of the Cup by being cloathed with such Flesh and that in a manner so obscuring of his Glory It 's more strange that this should be questioned by such who ascribe to Christ Acts properly Mediatorial before his Incarnation 3. R. Christ for his very Incarnation among other things received Authority as a Reward Iob. 5.27 He hath given him authority to execute judgment because he is the son of man If you say he was not capable of such a Gift but as the Son of Man even that argues a degree of Humiliation that the Person to whom all was due by virtue of his Divine Essence should assume another nature to be capable of this as a Gift But the words express his being the Son of Man to have a Causality 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Authority is a Reward for his Incarnation among other things And if this be rewarded it must come within the compass of his Humiliation for all Christ's Meritorious Acts come under the consideration of his being humbled and the Acts of his exalted State are not properly Meritorious I might add other Reasons as from the dependant State to which Christ became subject by assuming our Nature and from the way how the Glory of Christ's Person added to value the Sufferings of the Humane Nature c. But I think what is already offered is sufficient Obj. If Christ's Incarnation was a part of his Humiliation then he is in a state of Humiliation in Heaven A. 1. Christ's continuing in the Nature assumed when he hath exalted it may not be a part of his Humiliation and yet his assuming that Nature was a part of his Humiliation The Act of Assumption is one thing remaining United is another The Nature in a humble State as it was when he was Incarnate is one thing that Nature in a perfected glorious State as it is now in
justified by his blood It 's by this Blood as the procuring Cause this was the Propitiation Hence his Blood is said to cleanse us 1 Iohn 1.7 I hope you will not doubt that that of Christ for which we are justified is at least a part of Christ's Righteousness 4. If Christ's Poverty merited Riches for us then his Sufferings merited for us but Christ's Poverty merited Riches for us 2 Cor. 8.9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ that thô he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich He was Owner of all Things but for a time he quitted as it were his Claim to acquire Treasures for us who has forfeited all He had not a Cottage of his own to lay his Head in that he might purchase Mansions for us 5. That in the Virtue whereof Christ intercedes for and gives out the saving Blessings we receive did merit for us but it 's in the Virtue of his Death and Sufferings that Christ intercedes for and gives out the saving Blessings we receive He is entred into the holy place Heb. 9.12 Into heaven it self v. 24. There he presents the Offering he had finished on Earth that is in the Virtue thereof he claims and expects the Blessings promised thereto and merited thereby The dispensing thereof is committed to him and each of them is given to us and received by us in the express Virtue of that Offering I shall enumerate some and shew that each is assigned to Christ's Death and Sufferings Col. 1.14 In whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins Which Blood was shed for the remission of sins Matth. 26.28 Eph. 1.7 We have redemption through his blood Heb. 13. 12. Wherefore Iesus that he might sanctifie the people with his own blood suffered without the gate Reconciliation is owing to the same cause Col. 1.21 22. Now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy c. Yea eternal Life the sum of all promised good is granted on the same account Heb. 9.15 That by means of death for the redemption of their transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance Can you suppose that we have Remission Sanctification Peace and an eternal Inheritance for Christ's Death and Sufferings and that his Intercession for these and other Blessings is in the Virtue of his Blood and yet his Death merited not these 6. I might add Heb. 10.14 He hath by one offering perfected for ever them that are sanctified Which must not only prove that Christ's Death and Sufferings merited for us but that all saving Blessings are under their Influence as the meritorious Cause thereof Object Christ's Death and Sufferings were but the paying of a Debt and therefore merited nothing 1. A. Was not our Obedience a Debt Yea it was so more properly than our Sins or Punishment Sins are metaphorically called Debts but they are not Things we owe to God but are the neglect of that Obedience which we do owe to God and so oblige us to Punishment Punishments are called a Debt not as what God owes to us as a Debt or we to him but as what we are obnoxious to â—or Disobâ—dience if God is pleased to inflict them But yet he is not so obliged to Punish us as to exempt him from a Pardoning Right in the way his infinite Perfections will adjust If the Objection then will prove that Christ's Death merited nothing because it was the payment of a Debt theâ— it will more follow that Christ's Active Obedience merited nothing for that 's as much at least the paying of a Debt yea more properly The Confusion which this word Debt hath induced weak Men into especially as a Pecuniary Debt in the Doctrine oâ— Satisfaction I shall afterwards be necessitated to speak to 2. A. Christ's Death and Sufferings were Acts of Obedience in Christ and so they merited Our undergoing of Punishment would have been no Act of Obedience in us but an involuntary enduring of Vengeance It was not by a Divine Precept made our Duty but by the Sanction rendred due to us There was a Threatning whence it must be endured but no Commandment that made our being Punished an Obediential Act in us Is it an Act of our Obedience to die a Spiritual Death or to be hated and abhorred by the Lord Yea Is being eternally Damned a Duty performed to God by the Tormented But whatever our Lord Jesus suffered was obedientially and voluntarily endured It was God's Commandment to him and in him an Act of the highest Obedience to God he pleased God therein Ioh. 10.17 Therefore doth the father love me because I lay down my life He was obedient unto death Phil. 2.8 His willing subjection to God's Authority and Design herein was that which gave Life and Enâ—rgy to his Sufferings Truly Christ's Dying was the highest Act of Obedience and what we call his Active Obedience yields no Instance that equalleth this It followeth then that if Christ's Obedience could merâ—â— then his Death and Sufferings merited because they were strictly Acts of Obedience His very ensuring them was Obediential 3. A. Thô Death was due to us as Sinners yet Death was not due to Christ but as it was to be Satisfactory and Meritorious It was thus proposed to him by the Father and thus consented to by Himself He was to bear it as a Punishment for the satisfaction of Governing Justice and to merit the Pardon of Sinners his Sufferings were a Pardoning Price He had committed no Crime and therefore deserved no Punishment nor needed any Pardon But he was willing to bear the Punishment of our Crimes that thereby he might merit our Forgiveness in a way consistent with the Perfections of God and conducive to the Glory of Divine Government Hence Is. 53.5 The chastisement of our peace was upon him It on him was a Chastisement for our Peace as it s designed End True it was for Sin or it had not been necessary nor yet a Punishment but yet it was to purchase our Salvation or he had not submitted to it 4. A. The immediate Efficacy and Operation of Christ's Sufferings upon us are as they be Meritorious Christ's Death must be satisfactory to God or he would not have accounted it Meritorious of Peace to us nor granted us Benefits on the account thereof Provoked Justice and the Injury to Divine Government by Sin stood in the Sinner's way yea stood in the way of all Merit for good to us There must be a Propitiation for Sin to God and this being made to God it 's accepted as a Ransom and Price by him and so it operates on the Sinner in a way of Merit consequential of that satisfaction we are redeemed by Christ's Blood as a Redeeming Price we are saved by it as Meritorious of Salvation Thô it was also offered as an
Atonement and supposed to be so ere Life could be granted to Men for the sake thereof 5. A. It were a great Reflection on the Father and upon Christ as well as destructive to Sinners to suppose that Christ by his Death and Sufferings merited nothing for us God is strangely represented if he will have his innocent Son die for Sinners and yet his Death not be allowed Meritorious of the Release of Sinners We conceive not of Christ according to his Wisdom that he would make his Soul an Offering for Sin and not thereby purchase the Release of Sinners in his way And as to the concern of Sinners What avails it them that Christ died to honour Justice if their Pardon Adoption and Glory be not merited thereby If we should conceive that Christ died for us and yet thereby merited not that we should not die but live it would infer that Christ's Satisfaction did no more than make it consistent with God's Glory to save Believers but not certain that God would save those that believe I say Believers because Christ died to purchase Salvation absolutely for none but them that would believe Thô he purchased Faith for the Elect whereby their Happiness is as sure as if absolutely purchased and the serious Offers of Salvation on the Terms of the Gospel for all Men that hear the Gospel I hope these Considerations will induce you to conclude that the Death and Sufferings of Christ are Meritorious of saving Blessings for us Thô I grant Christ's Active Obedience was Meritorious yea and in a very proper sense Satisfactory too yet if it were necessasary which it is not that we must confine the Merit of Salvation to either his Active or Passive Obedience I should esteem it abundantly safer to confine it to his Passive Obedience as Olevian Piscator Windelin Gataker Pitcairn and many of our greatest Divines have done I shall contract the Application of what you have heard and leave the Improvement of such Inferences as these to your Minds 1. How great and awful an Evil is Sin Besides the Defilement which it brings the Debasement of our Rational Nature by it and that Obnoxiousness to Punishment which attends it we have seen how contrary it is to the Holy Nature of God and what an Injury to the Glory of his Government This is that Provocation which Essential Justice required an Atonement for and the Wisdom of God saw necessary to punish in the most awful manner in his very Son What an Offence was that which when his boundless Grace made him willing to forgive yet his other Perfections would not admit to pass unpunished that the Government of God might receive no damage by Man's Impunity The Agony and Death of our Redeemer as convincingly testifie the Evil of Sin as the Howlings of the Damned yea in many respects far more This is that of which without blood there is no remission Heb. 9.22 Yea for which the Blood of Christ alone was a fit Propitiation 1 Ioh. 2.2 The Blood of him alone that was God could wash it out of God's Books and fetch its Stain out of our Consciences Whatever Wonder is displayed in the method of Redemption proclaims the Odiousness and Disorder of Sin Let us then humbly bewail our past Offences wonder that we can make a Mock of Sin be in Distress till our Pardon be sealed to us watch and be afraid of all Sin for the future and be restless whiles this worst of Evils hath any room in our Hearts or advantage to break out in our Lives 2. The Governing Justice of God is strictly exact and his Authority sacred God is infinite in Mercy but not to the least Detriment of Justice he bare a good Will to the Elect but will not eclipse his Throne in forgiving them He will be just even when he Pardons Rom. 3.25 His Son must obey in our Nature if we neglect or fail to obey his Son must die in our Flesh if we offend and yet obtain Remission Angels irremediably perish for their Rebellion having no God in their Nature to atone for them If sinful Man escape it 's by a Satisfaction made by Christ in their Nature as their Sponsor Heb. 2.14 16. More of this afterwards Let us reverence his Laws tremble at his Threats submit to all he Prescribes and serve him with Reverence and godly Fear for our God is a consuming fire Heb. 12.28 29. 3. How amazing is the Love of the Father in giving his Son for us and as astonishing is the Love of Christ in giving himself for us The Indignation of God against Sin and the Love of God to Sinners contend in this Instance God takes occasion to display his Love while he vindicates the Honour of his Justice Rom. 5.8 But God commendeth his love towards us that whiles we were yet sinners Christ died for us He doth herein not only assure us of his Love but gives to Angels and Men an instance of the Infiniteness of that Love of his By this beyond any other he proclaims how much he can love Can you question it when you consider him so provoked by Sin when you weigh the Dignity and Dearness of his Son to him the humble State he was to enter into and the astonishing Miseries he was to endure in that State and this for vile Worms and careless resolved Enemies Well might the Apostle say Herein is love not that we loved God but that God loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 4.10 Alas all Creatures love to God is not worth the name of Love in comparison with his Love to us How should this aggravate our Unkindness raise our admiring Thoughts heighten our Esteem unite our Hearts to him render him the Object of our supreme Delight and render our Obedience to his Commands exact and pleasing yea join'd with the greatest Zeal for his Glory and Serviceableness to his Interests The Father's Love must not be overlook'd which too many are guilty of by representing him to their Mâ—â—ds as only exacting Satisfaction from Christ not minding that he provided and gave Christ to make that Satisfaction Our blessed Redeemer's Love is alike unaccountable he was not ignorant of what attended his Undertaking when he subscribed it he knew all the Abasement of his humble State he understood all the bitter Ingredients of the Cup how deep every Nail in the Cross was to pierce what Impressions Divine Wrath would make and what an Eclipse his own vailed Glory would occasion But yet his Love was sufficient to take on him all this weight and carry him through the utmost of his Undertaking His Kindness was not quenched by floods of Sorrow nor his Heart changed when he felt the most with the bitter Cup in his hand he embraced them for whose sake he was to drink it Ioh. 13.1 When Iesus knew that his hour was come having loved his own he loved them to the end What care took he of them
as free from Condemnation as if they had never sinned and accepted and entitled to eternal Glory as if they had kept the whole Law Rom. 8.1 There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit These are in that State wherein the Curse is restrained from arresting them Yea they are Heirs joynt heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 the Gospel-Covenant is their Charter of right which is secured by the Death of Christ the Oath of God and Sacramental Seals The Death of Christ is to be considered not only as what purchased the Covenant-Blessings of which I have spoken before but also as what ratifies the Covenant to our Faith by Death its irrevocable as a Testament and it must be sure or the Lord of Glory had never died to secure the ends of it his Death is too great a thing to admit a doubt of the certainty of that Charter by which the Effects of that Death are granted Christians being thus free and thus accepted and entitled proclaims them Righteous Exh. Be comforted notwithstanding your Faults and Weaknesses whilst your Hearts are upright in God's Covenant What is not a just Challenge to the Sincerity of thy Faith ought not to make thee conclude thy self Accursed or quit thy hopes of Glory Failings may cause Mournings that we are so Imperfect when they ought not to perplex us as if we were in a lost Condition The same Mouth that delivered the Curse against Sinners in the Law hath published Forgiveness and applied Redemption to Believers though Sinners by the Gospel Gal. 3.13 14. If your Faults be objected Christ hath answered them If the Weakness of Graces be objected Christ hath made up that If the Greatness of Gospel-Benefits be objected it 's Christ hath purchased them and they are bestowed not for thy Graces but for Christ's Obedience though it be to such as even thou art if a sincere Penitent that they are given for the Gospel-Rule doth only appoint the Persons who receive the Benefits but not ordain us to make the Satisfaction for the Sin to be pardoned or to purchase the Glory to be received Wilt thou not let Christ appoint his own Legatees to his own Bequeathments and rejoyce in the Gifts whilst thou art the Person to whom he declares they belong If he had promised Heaven to a meer Sinner as such thou oughtest as a Sinner to expect it with Joy But he hath promised it to all believing Saints however imperfect and must not thou with Comfort look for it and not quit thy hopes till thou cease to be a believing Saint Yea he hath ministred further to thy Joy That he will influence thy Soul by his Warnings against Apostasie by Sacraments and by constant Supplies so that thou shalt Persevere 10 Pro. Christians become thus Righteous upon believing by the Righteousness of Christ imputed to them in their Justification and by the continuance of this Imputation they remain Righteous Upon our first believing we are justified Rom. 3.29 and there is a constant Imputation of Christ's Righteousness to the Believers for his continued Justification Did Men cease to be Believers God would cease to impute the Righteousness of Christ to them Did God cease to impute Christ's Righteousness Men would cease to be justified and did we cease to be justified we should be subject to Condemnation But blessed be God he will cause the true Believer to persevere in Faith and so he shall remain in a justified State God will preserve the Habit of Faith enable him to frequent Acts of Faith and still prevent damning Infidelity he will keep thee from a prevailing distrust and rejection of Christ as a Saviour Luke 22.32 and from reigning Disobedience to him as thy Lord. I shall explain this great Truth of Justification by the imputed Righteousness of Christ which may be conceived of according to the following Heads 1. There is a making us Righteous as it is a giving a Believer a right to Pardon Absolution from the Curse Adoption and Acceptance which is by imputing the Righteousness of Christ to the Believer We must be made Righteous before a just God can pronounce us so or deal with us as such there must be a right to Pardon e're God will Pardon this right to Pardon is given by God's imputing to us the Righteousness of Christ and the effect of that imputing Act seems to be the first Consideration in the Change made in our State as justified For the better apprehending of this you may remember I have before informed you that Christ's Righteousness may be considered 1 As the full Performance of the Conditions of the Covenant of Redemption which included a full Conformity to the Law of Works yea and morâ— 2 An adjudged Right to the promised Reward for his performance of those Conditions Now both these are imputed to the Believer in this first Consideration Of giving a Believer a right to Pardon c. 1. The Righteousness of Christ as it was the Performance of the Conditions of our Salvation is mediately imputed to the Believer God adjudgeth that what Christ did and suffered for the actual Remission of Sinners was really done and suffered for us it belongs to us we are the designed Objects of that actual Remission to procure which for us that Obedience was rendred Iohn 3.16 God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting Life Here we see that God gave his Son to do and suffer what he did that Believers thereby might not Perish but eternally Live Now by Grace beinâ— Believers that we may have a right not uâ— Perish but Live we have what the Son â— given did and suffered reckoned and accounteâ— to us God looks on what Christ did as donâ— for us and esteems us Believers them whom his Son did that for and therefore by his gracious Ordination we are the very Persons thaâ— have a right to Pardon of those Sins for whicâ— we were liable to Perish and excluded from Life I say Christ's very Performance of the Conditions is imputed mediately in this manner If one give me my Liberty which he voluntarily purchased for me at a dear Rate he mediately gives me what he paid for my Ransom though immediately I receive my Liberty and a right thereto whereas the redeeming Price was paid to my Detainer in whose hands I was Captive So it was to God that Christ made Satisfaction and yielded the Meriting Price yet it is applied and reckoned so to the Believer that he receives the same Blessings thereby as if himself had rendred it because it was for his Title to those Benefits that it was rendred by Christ. Yea by this Imputation it becomes his Security for all saving Benefits and pleadable with God by him with respect to what is purchased for Believers thereby as if he had endured and performed the things Christ did Since God
adjudgeth he is the Person in whose stead Christ died and obeyed that even he might be entitled to Life and not die 1 Thess. 5.10 Who died for us that we should live by him We have hereby the Benefits of his Death and his Death to secure those Benefits yea and as the Foundation of our right to those Benefits Hence we are said to have Redemption and Forgiveness by his Blood Eph. 1.7 By Christ we have now received the Atonement Rom. 5.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Reconciliation And herein the Blood which did reconcile is applied it being shed and accepted to be a Propitiation through Faith therein Rom. 3.25 The Virtue of this Blood still remains though the Act of shedding is long since past and that very Act of shedding is still so referred to in the Communication of the Benefits to such for whom it was shed that it is still called a Blood of sprinkling Heb. 12.24 not now sprinkled as material Blood on usâ— but as it speaks those better things for us in Christ's Intercession and to us in the Promises and as we come to it by believing therein as our Security in all we receive it being shed for us that we might have a right to Pardon thereby as the procuring cause It was given to God as a Satisfaction 't is given to us as Christ's Blood triumphing in our Peace Though God doth not adjudge that Believers made Satisfaction by it as their Blood yet he accounteth it that which is actually satisfactory for them being designed and accepted to be so and therefore they are therein adjudged to be entitled to Pardon In the same manner I might speak of Adoption c. but one Instance sufficeth By this you see that Christ's Righteousness as it is his Active and Passive Obedience the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Performance of the Legal Conditions oâ— Life and Pardon is applied in the manner it is truly capable of being applied Here the Vertue and Merit of it is displayed and operative the designed end of it is obtained God expresly acknowledgeth and rewardeth it in what he bestows it 's owned and relied on by the Believer as the Price of Peace and Merit of all Good it 's made the Souls Security and Plea as to all its Hopes and Enjoyments Rom. 5.18 2. The Righteousness of Christ as it is his adjudged right to his Seeds Pardon Absolution from the Law Curse Acceptance and Adoption is immediately imputed to Believers as his Regenerate Seed and Members of his Mystical Body This right is esteemed yea made theirs they have not meerly the Benefits given themâ— but they are invested in Christ's right to those Benefits Christ's Righteousness is Ius adjudicatum ad praemium he acquired a right to the Reward and it was adjudged that he had that right upon his perfect Obedience he was justified Now part of the Reward was That all the Elect should become his Actual Seed and made Believers Also That all his Actual Seed even Believers should be Forgiven Absolved Adopted c. Christ hath as great a right to this as to be exalted yea it 's part of his Glory This right he carried into Heaven with him this right he pleads in his Intercession not as what is to be tried and argued anew but what is already adjudged yet it 's still to be executed and the Blessings he hath that right to are to be dispensed Believers therefore are not only pardoned yea not only have â—â—ey a right to Pardon by the Promise of Pardon to Believers but they have Christ's right to that Pardon even his adjudged right that Believers shall be pardoned This Righteousness is communicable more immediately than the very Acts are whereby that right was acquired it 's transferred to them but without an Alienation from Christ. This is included in that Gift of Righteousness Rom. 5.17 and is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Rom. 5.18 His Obedience must be supposed to lose its Efficacy and his Title be reversed if his living Members fail of Pardon Isa. 53.11 one Article in his Covenant as his reward being that By his knowledge shall my righteous Servant justifie many for he shall bear their Iniquities It may be you will better apprehend the whole by this familiar Instance A Person purchaseth a Thousand Pounds a Year for a valuable Price and hath by Covenants a legal sure Title thereto he that purchased gives me by a Deed of Gift Twenty Shillings a Year of that Estate to hold in dependance on him and his Title mediately he gives me the Purchase-Money of this Gift immediately he gives me this part of the Estate and his Title for my Security without which I should possess precariously It 's a Title by Purchase as to him that gave it me it comes to me by Gift for I paid him nothing for it nor can I be said to pay the Seller though I have by Gift the Title for my Security which he that gave it me acquired by his Payment yet still in dependance on him who paid all hath the main of the Estate and is possessed of the original Covenants as in himself This answers our case excepting that God is as truly said to give us all as Christ himself can be said to give us all God having given his own Son to redeem us and purchase all for us I need not apply this Parallel more than to tell you that as Christ acquired our Pardon and Acceptance so we have his very right thereto to secure us the whole is exemplified in 2 Cor. 5.21 Christ was made Sin for us who knew no Sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him Christ was made Sin not esteemed the Committer of the Fact or as filthy by it but he stood liable and obliged to the Punishment of it and became the Sacrifice for it which is often in Scripture called Sin This Obligation to bear the Punishment is Reatus poenae or if you call it Reatus culpae quoad poenam it 's much the same though not so safe Yet in this Christ is not charged as if he committed the Sin so we are made the Righteousness of God in him that is We have given us that right of Christ to what was promised him for Believers and which was contrived and appointed by God to be the way of our Salvation the Debitum poenae for our Sins became his the Debitum praemii for his Obedience becomes ours But we no more paid the Purchase of that Right or Title than Christ did commit the Sins the Punishment whereof he obliged himself to undergo he was made Sin i. e. obliged to die a Sacrifice for Sin to which answers that we are made Righteous in him i. e. invested in his Right for obtaining the Blessings promised to him for us in the Covenant of Redemption and promised to us for his sake in the Gospel Covenant when we believe Herein I have stated the first thing included
all the Elect by causing them to Believe and that he would bring each of the Elect to Eternal Glory in a way of Faith and Holiness of which before But you must not hence infer that Christ engaged to repent for us or Believe in himself for us which to do would suppose him a sinner and to need a Mediatour He was a real Sponsor engaging to do all that belonged to him 3. Christ accordingly died in our Nature and that not only for our good but in our stead nostro loco We were liable to Die he stept in and Died that we might not Die who otherwise might have Died but now Live by his Dying for us He was a proper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he gave his Life for ours yea and this to vindicate the Glory of God in exempting us from Death He also Obeyed for us not indeed to exempt us from Obeying for by it we are brought to Obey instead of Rebelling not only to be a holy Offering and Example But that the want of our perfect Obedience might not exclude us from Acceptance and Heaven and that by his Obedience and Sufferings he might acquire for all his Members a Title to Happiness in his Right and not to be merited by any Work or Obedience of their own That the Lord Jesus did suffer properly in our stead is plain in Scripture Mark 10.45 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Ransom for or instead of many Compare Matt. 2.22 it 's said 1 Tim. 2.6 he gave himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Ransom in the room of all He was typified in the Sacrifices whose Lives were given up instead of theirs for whom they were offered and he is oft called a Sacrifice Neither is it to be doubted but he actively obeyed in our stead in the sense above given yea and hath excluded also the Necessity and Place of our Obedience for the Impetration of any Saving Benefits Thus far the Word of God directs us to call Christ either Surety Sponsor Representative c. 2. The thing that I deny is That Christ by his Obedience made Atonement or merited for us as a proper Pecuniary Surety in the Law of Works The thing is far otherwise for Christ suffered and obeyed as a Principal and Sole Undertaker and not as a Surety that supposed us Principals in that Undertaking He bound himself to God to give his Life by dying in our stead to save ours but he never was bound in one Bond with us that he should do so I shall give you a few Reasons of many 1 R. God never proposed it to fallen Sinners to make Atonement for their Sins and by Merit recover eternal Life which they had forfeited Where is the Law or Covenant whereby God proposed this to Sinners as their Duty and a way for their recovery By the Law of Works it was impossible and a Contradiction The Gospel condemns a Thought of it as contrary to the whole Scope of it The Compact between the Father and Son was not a Law or Covenant proposed to Sinners for their Performance of the Conditions thereof Now a Money-Surety is bound to no more than the Principal is bound to do If I am not obliged to pay a Hundred Pounds neither is my Surety bound to pay a Hundred Pounds Obj. You 'll say by the Law we were bound to obey the Law perfectly or to die for it Ans. Yes To obey was your Duty to die was the Penalty if you disobey'd But 1. You were not bound to die though you obey'd perfectly but Christ was bound to obey and Suffer though he obey'd 2. Were you bound when you did Sin and suffer the Penalty to obey afresh in a way of Merit of forfeited Blessings But Christ suffered and yet obey'd to Merit forfeited Blessings and more 3. Were you bound to suffer as your Duty and that in a way of Propitiation to reconcile the offended God by it as an Act of Obedience Yet Christ engaged in this manner 4. Were you bound by the Law that the Son of God should assume your Flesh and therein obey and suffer Yet thereupon depends the Satisfaction and Merit of the Obedience yielded thence is the Value of the Acts done and Sufferings endured ◠it were not a Payment without that for Dying and Obeying too would not serve to Save Sinners if it were not the Son of God in our Nature did both This goes into the Price and Payment Could Men have done it it had been no Payment supposing but one Sin before So that in this very respect Christ was bound to redeem you by paying a Million in the value of his Person and the same Actions and Passion as done and suffered by you would not have been one Penny in value and is he but your pecuniary proper Surety when he is bound for a Million and you not for a Penny as in Redemption Work 5. You are supposed fallen and the Covenant of Works broken e're Christ undertakes to pay any thing And can the Bond be the same when the Parties are changed the Conditions so changed on both parts even the Creditors and Debtors too the former granting other things the latter paying greater things the first in the Rewards the latter in the Duties Is it the same Bond and you Principals when transacted without your Privity your Consent not given the Terms not exacted from you and unless to reproach you not possible to be proposed to you God knew you and himself too well to propose to you that if you will make your Souls an Offering for Sin and perfectly keep my Law I will then receive you again into Favour Yet this would change the Bond Or if you would be thought Principals in the Covenant of Redemption it must thus be proposed to you If you will procure and send the Son of God to take your Flesh and die and obey the Law for you then I will be reconciled to you Had he been thus in your disposal and he had done it at your disposal you might claim at the rate as some do But though God gave his Son and his Son gave himself to redeem you yet you never gave him no nor were engaged to give him as the Condition of your Recovery These and many other Considerations should lead us to conclude that Redemption Work was proposed only to Christ in the Covenant of Redemption and that he was Principal and Sole Undertaker as well as the Sole Performer and of the People there was none with him Isa. 63.3 He alone undertook to satisfie Justice that we might be redeemed he alone engaged the whole Impetration Work and to find the Merit of our Happiness Though part of his Obedience was that we were obliged to do yet not for Redemption at all nevertheless his Obligation to do it was not as our Money-Surety but by a voluntary Sponsion he entred into a Bond that depended not upon our Consent or Performance and by which we have no Claim but at
paying Obj. He being given by God to be our Surety and not appointed by us to die God may suspend giving us the Benefits of his Death until we Believe Ans. If God made him a strict Money-Surety with us in the Law of Innocence he either did change the Law or precluded himself from a Right of suspending the Benefits at least the Restauration of his Image and Freedom from the Reign of Sin the Curse and Wrath of God till we Believe for the Law is changed if it say thou shalt be Free from the Dominion of Sin and the Guilt thereof but not till thou Believe in Christ though thou hast already legally performed all the legal Conditions If it be not changed it immediately entitles to the Reward and must be violated if at least any Punishment lie upon the perfect Performer of the Conditions for it 's a punishing us after the Debt is legally paid by us Now though there is hardly a Truth more plain in the Word of God than that The Wrath of God abides still upon all Vnbelievers notwithstanding Christ's Death yet you see how this Notion of Money-Suretiship shakes it I might instance others as we ought not to confess our Sins nor pray for Forgiveness God afflicts only from Sin but not for Sin at all God will Judge and Justifie us only by the Law of Works and we are Saved by that Law If God charge us with Sin we may charge him with Unrighteousness David was as acceptable to God whilst he murthered Vriah as when he obeyed God most God requires nothing from us to escape his Wrath and Curse for Sin we must not propose any Benefit to our selves by any Duty or acting of Grace nor are we the better a Jot by them These and the like spring from this very Opinion That we satisfied the Law fully and perfectly obeyed it in Christ as a pecuniary Surety with us in that Law To say nothing of the advantage the Socinians have thereby These things may Caution us in our Conceptions especially when the considering of Christ as a Pecuniary Surety of the Law of Works paying Debts to a Creditor is not necessary to any one Gospel End neither the Glory of Christ the Government of God the Salvation of the Elect the Spiritual Comfort of Believers or promoting of Holiness All which are more clearly subserved by this word as Surety of the New Covenant joined with other words frequently used by the Holy Ghost as Mediator Redeemer Saviour Ransomer and the whole Oeconomy of Redemption plainly stated thereby 5 R. Christ's being a strict Money-Surety would be a very great loss to us If he be our Surety in the Covenant of Works then we can have no Claim to any Benefit but what the Covenant of works promiseth whereby we shall lose Union with Christ the in-dwelling Spirit and whatever degree of Glory is to be expected by Christ above what Adam was to enjoy in case he had not fallen of which I have spoken before The reason is if I have a Surety in a Bond wherein I have certain Immunities upon paying a Sum of Money if my Surety pay that Money I can thereby have a Right to no more Immunities than that Bond contains 6 R. Christ where he is called a Surety was a Surety of the better Testament and therefore not of the Law of Works which enjoined Obedience and inflicted Death on sinners Heb. 7.22 The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sometimes rendred Testament sometimes Covenant and well it might be rendred a Legal Disposition But call it which you will this Testament or Covenant of which Christ is Surety here cannot be the Covenant of Works It was not the Covenant that obliged us to die for Sin or perfectly Obey in a way of Merit that here he is called Surety of Is the Law of Works that better Covenant or Testament Or must Christ be a Surety for us in the Covenant of Works because he is Surety of the better Covenant which is not the Covenant of Works If you doubt whether this better Covenant be not the Covenant of Works consider the whole Context This better Covenant is opposed to the Iewish Covenant as the Priesthood of Christ is opposed to the Levitical Priesthood which Priesthood of Christ the Apostle proved to be higher and better than the Levitical by many Arguments As Christ was a Priest after the Order of Melchisedeck who was greater than Abram or Levi He succeeded the Levitical Priesthood as it was unable to attain the great Ends of Priesthood His Priesthood is unchangeable because he ever lives and those Priests were Mortal Christ was made Priest by an Oath they without an Oath And to add no more Christ was Surety of a better Testament which is again expressed Heb. 8.6 He is the Mediator of a better Covenant or Testament and ver 7. If the first Covenant had been faultless there had been no place for a second The better Covenant or Testament in Chap. 8.6 must be the same as this better Testament or Covenant in this Chap. 7.22 the word there and here is the same And there you have a full Account what this better Covenant is It 's the New Covenant wherein forgiveness of sin among other Blessings is promised Heb. 8.9 to 13. At most it's the Covenant of Grace as in the last Edition Of which Covenant but on different Accounts Christ is called the Mediator the Surety the Testator And the betterness of this Edition of the Covenant is founded on the betterness of Christ's Priesthood who by his Blood purchased it with all its Benefits confirmed it by his Death and by his intercession secures the great ends of it q. d. By how much he had a better Priesthood By so much he was made a Surety of a better Testament Heb. 7.22 and repeats it Heb. 8.6 He hath obtained a more excellent Ministry By how much also he is the Mediator of a better Covenant which was established upon better Promises Was this the Covenant of Works Surely no for the Law of Works pronounced the Curse this the Blessing The Law of Works bindeth guilt this Assures us that God will be merciful to our unrighteousness and our sins and iniquities he 'll remember no more The Law of Works is a killing Letter By this Covenant of which Christ is Surety God writes his Law in our Hearts and is to us a God and we to him a People Yea â—â—rseverance is secured Our Lord Jesus is a Surety of this blessed and better Covenant he will see it kept by all the parties he undertakes to have its Ends accomplished and it fulfilled Believers shall persevere New Testament Saints shall generally have freer Access to God Fear and Know God more and be Holier than Old Testament Saints Yea I grant all the Elect shall be brought into this Covenant and be saved by it As Mediator of this Covenant he died for the Redemption of Transgressions even those under the
first Testament viz. Before his Incarnation which were pardoned on the prospect of it And by his Death he purchased that his Called might receive the Promise of the Eternal Inheritance Heb. 9.15 As Testator he bequeaths and disposeth by and according to this Gospel Testament what he acquired by his Obedience even to a Bloody Death and by that Death this Testamentary Disposition is irrevocable As Surety he undertakes that his Testament which is also God's Covenant with us shall be fulfilled even on our parts and also unto us And this the Apostle directly applies to Christ's ever-living and interceding as what fitted him for it and whereby he executeth this Suretiship Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost who come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them Heb. 7.24 25. Many Testaments are unfulfilled because the Testastor being Dead cannot see to the Execution of them and so the Legatees are wronged but Christ ever lives and attends to the fulfilling his Testament which is the same with God's Covenant with respect to whâ—â—â— as God's Covenant he still intercedes as well as ever lives You 'll find this Apostle Lodge the height of the Security of Christians against and from Condemnation upon this Intercession of Christ Rom. 8.34 Who is he that Condemneth it 's Christ that Died yea rather is risen again who is even at the Right Hand of God who also maketh Intercession for us He ascribes our Safety to his Living and Interceding rather and more than to his meer Dying for though by his Death he acquired and bequeathed Absolution c. for his Seed yet it 's by his Living again and Interceding he secures and sees his Seed possessed of that Absolution and all other Blessings And if we consider that this Covenant mentioneth here rather Benefits promised to his Seed than Conditions of any Benefits as required either of him or his Seed He seems to be pointed at here more directly a Surety to see God's Promises made good to his Seed than that their New Covenant Engagements shall be made good by his Seed though it 's a great Truth he is a Surety on our part that we shall keep Covenant or we should soon undo our selves I think then it 's past Contradiction That the Covenant Christ is Surety of in this place which is the only place he is called Surety is the Gospel Covenant and if so he can even as a Money Surety hereby be bound with us to no more than what we are engaged to do and suffer by this Gospel Covenant It 's true by the Covenant of Redemption he was engaged to suffer Death in the Humane Nature for Satisfaction and this in our place and also to Obey the whole Law and both for the Salvation of his Seed But in that Covenant he was Principal for God never obliged us to Redemption-Work either by our selves or by any other and therefore Christ herein is what the Civilians call ex promissor He is obliged alone though he acts for another But how strange is it that from Christ's being a Surety of the New Covenant or Testament Men should conclude that Christ is a Money-Surety of the Covenant of Works and as such paid all our Old Covenant Debts as Debts and that altogether in Kind and so as we are accounted to pay that Debt and merit Life by that very Covenant yea and damn all that will not say as they say though to say so makes either Christ's Obedience or his Suffering needless all Forgiveness impossible all Gospel-terms of Application of Christ's Merits Unjust a suspension of a Right to those â—enefits for any time Injurious a Right in Men to Equal Rewards with Christ Inviolable all remains of Displeasure on and the Reign of Sin in the unconverted Elect matter of just Complaint against God and a Claim to any greater Blessings than the Law of Works promised Impossible I might further argue this Point by other Considerations as its Inconsistency with Christ's being a Mediator he being a Party also with Christ's being a proper Redeemer of Sinners any more than of himself yea it excludes the True Gospel Imputation of Christ's Righteousness in our Justification upon Believing as having no Righteousness of Christ's given us for it was Legally in us as much as in him we having Legally performed the Conditions as much as him and so we need not look out of our selves for Righteousness though our Surety did the Acts from whence that Righteousness resulted yet the Law-Right was in us as well as in him with many other All that I aim at by insisting on this Point is to guide your thoughts to true apprehensions of the Doctrin of Satisfaction and secure you against the Vulgar Mistakes and Dangerous Notions that are gathered from the abusive straining of the word Surety Whereas if you consider God as Rector Sinners as Criminals Sin as a Crime making Sinners liable to the Curse according to the Law which Law must be Honoured in the Satisfaction of Justice and Vindication of Divine Government And the Lord Jesus on the Law-givers proposing it freely undertaking and promising in the Covenant of Redemption to submit to â—â—e Obligation of bearing the punishment due to and in the Stead of those Sinners this Punishment being to be endured in the Humane Nature and of equal Weight yea in many things of the same Kind with what they were to endure And the Law-givers promising to Christ for his enduring this Punishment and perfectly Obeying his Will a great and certain Number that should certainly Believe in him and that all Believing on him should in his Righteousness be Pardoned Adopted Sanctified and Eternally Saved in a way of Faith and persevering Holiness to his Glory And that Sinners should have an Offer of these Benefits on the Terms of the Gospel Covenant and the Benefits to be dispensed assuredly in that Gospel Way c. I say in this manner every thing is Consistent and with these Limitations the Terms Sponsor Mediator Surety and Redeemer are Proper and Consistent I proceed to the Second Point viz. To prove that we are not Equally Righteous as Christ and shall have occasion to shew we are not so as to his Suretiship Righteousness 1. We are not Equally Holy as Christ this is a Conformity to the Divine Image and Will and is called Righteousness Have we an Habitual Holiness in a measure comparable to his Or can we pretend to that Purity of Heart and Life or that exalted Obedience to the Will of God which he rendered Our Hearts must condemn such a Thought nay Angels dare not be Rivals with him therein much less can we whose Defects are so manifest and Defilements are so many Iob 40.4 He is our Example proposed but in what can we imitate him in Equality Mal. 11.29 2. It is not true that we performed the Conditions of Redemption and Life Equally with Christ. I suppose they mean this by Suretiship
Righteousness who chuse that word They think that because a Principal may be said in Law to pay to the Creditor the very same Money as the Surety pays and in Law equally with the Surety therefore all Sinners for whom Christ Died and Obeyed did then Equally Die and Obey as Christ himself or as others wheâ— they believe God doth account that they Died and Obeyed Equally with Christ and in Law Sense they fully answered the Law of Works and they are Justified by that very Law being truly and legally Innocent by the Satisfaction they have made and Obedience they as one Legal Person with Christ yielded And so they are Righteous as Christ not in Similitude but in Equality But though I grant that the Righteousness of Christ's for which we are Justified be a Righteousness adequate to the Law yea supra-legal as well as in substance truly Legal yet I deny that to be a Suretiship Righteousness in a sense that can infer us Equally Righteous as Christ. 1 R. I have fully proved that Christ was not a Money-Surety with Sinners or Believers in the Law of Works though he Died in their stead and his Death secured their Release and Happiness because the Law-giver in the Covenant of Redemption admitted and promised this and the Gospel doth proclaim this and assure Christians that they shall be treated as Believers yea and as if themselves had Obeyed and Satisfied viz. As to all the Blessings promised to Believers But all this doth not infer that we paid the Price of Heaven that we Legally endured the Wrath of God there 's no Suretiship that amounts to this and therefore no Suretiship Righteousness that connotes it Christ was not our Money-Surety in the Law of Works in performing the Law of Redemption and therefore we cannot be said to do and suffer what Christ did Equally with him nor consequently to be as Righteous as he in Equality Obj. Christ was made under the Law to Redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons Gal. 4.4 5. Ans. 1. I might shew how the Context doth confine to the following sense viz. Christ was made under the Jewish Law as delivered Four Hundred Years after the Promise which could not give Life nor the Spirit under which Law the Jewish Believers were shut up and it their Schoolmaster and they as Servants in Bondage under the Elements of this World i. e. The Ceremonies and far from the designed Liberty of adopted Sons But Christ was made under this Law to Redeem and Rescue those Jewish Believers from this Bondage and to bring the Gentiles as well as they and at one instant with them to the Gospel Freedom and Liberty called the adoption of Sons even a Liberty from the Jewish Yoak and Bondage which many were still fond of Consult Chap. 3. and 4. In this sense it 's not the Law of Innocency as a proper Covenant of Works that 's meant by the Law under which Christ was made The Law of Innocency or Works had not in it these Ceremonies Ordinances and the like 2. I grant that Christ in taking our Nature became a Servant and subject to the Law of Innocency to its Precepts and its Punishments as a Mediator according to the Terms adjusted in the Covenant of Redemption 3. But how follows it that because he obliged himself in the Covenant of Redemption that he would be in our Nature subject to the Law for our Redemption that therefore he was such a Surety in what he did as that we Legally did what he did and that in the Estimate and Sentence of that Law as a Law of Works It 's so far from concluding this that it concludes the contrary we did it not because he did it he did it to Redeem us we were to do it to prevent the need of Redemption and had we done it there had been no room for his doing of it And Obeying alone would have serv'd our turn before Sin and neither our obeying nor suffering have served the turn after Sin Further 4. Christ did not then become a Surety or Undertaker to Die for us by being made under the Law but he was made under the Law because he had undertaken to Die for us His very being made under the Law of Works was but a performance of a previous Engagement to to the Law-giver this being one Article in the Covenant of Redemption That he should take our Nature be a Servant under the Law and make his Soul an Offering for Sin Heb. 10.9 Isa. 53. Can any infer then that because Christ was made under the Law in performance of his Prior Engagement to Redeem lost Sinners to which Engagement these Sinners were never obliged that therefore these Sinners did truly do and suffer whatever Christ did and suffered to Redeem and Save them It 's true but for Sinners and the Law and Divine Justice Christ needed not to enter into any Obligation that he would be under the Law and Die for Sinners and Obey to make the Law Honourable But what is this to make us Principals in that Bond whereby hâ— became obliged to come under the Law and Die for us The Law is Honoured and Justice Satisfied but not by us though for us because he stood alone obliged by his Bond to Honour the Law and Satisfie Justice It was not from any Obligation the Law of Works had upon him that he become obliged to be a Subject or if he became a Subject that he must Die whilst he was an Innocent Person Nor was it the Law of Works that gave him a right to his Reward if he should Obey and Die this Law never promised his Death would be a Ransom for all and he be Glorious as a Redeemer the Law of Works hath nothing of this Christ had to do with a higher Law before he submitted to this A Law wherein he was Principal transacting without us though for our Recovery I 'll give you an instance There is a Law made that he that Commits High Treason shall Die a Thousand Persons Commit High Treason in various degrees and are Condemned But the Law-giver or absolute Supreme Ruler makes a Law that if such a great Monarch will become his Subject and Die to Expiate this Treason those Condemn'd Traitors shall be forgiven and released in such a time and way as is agreed between the Law-giver and this Monarch This Monarch becomes a Subject and Dieth to Expiate the Treason and deliver the Traitors Now here the Law-giver is satisfied the End of the Law is answered the Monarch Dies in the stead and place of the Traitors and they in a fit time and way are released But yet they cannot be said to Die nor pay a Ransom for their Lives much less to say that they paid as much as the Monarch 2 R. We did not equally with Christ perform the Legal Conditions of Redemption otherwise we equally vindicated the Honour of Divine Justice as Christ did