crucified dead and buried he descended into Hell. Quest. What did Christ suffer Answ. Besides his previous Sufferings particularly in the Garden where the wrath of God was strongly represented and Hell let loose upon him under which 't is said he was exceeding sorrowful even unto death Mat. 26. 37 38. and thrown into an Agony wherein he sweat great drops of Blood Luke 22. 44. Besides these previous Sufferings I say he suffered also after his Apprehension all manner of rudeness from the inraged Rabble and Soldiery who mocked him spit upon him buffeted and scourged him bound his Head about with a wreath of sharp Thorns which every where like Darts pierced his tender flesh and at last nail'd his Hands and Feet to a Cross a most acute and lingring Death and to make that most ignominious Suffering more ignominious still hung him in the midst between two Thieves Quest. Who were the Executioners of all these Cruelties Answ. The Jewish Rulers and People went as far in it as they could But because the Romans who had conquer'd them had not left among them as they say any Power and Authority to put any man to death Joh. 18. 31. they drew in Pontius Pilate the Roman Governour to sentence his Crucifixion against his Conscience Quest. Did not Pilate believe Christ to deserve all this Answ. No he knew they had delivered him for envy and malice Matt. 27. 18. He declared he was a just person Matt. 27. 24. and that upon examination he found no fault at all in him Luk. 23. 4 14. No nor yet Herod when he sent him to be judged by him v. 15. But because by their importunity a tumult was made he yielded to pass sentence against him for his own quiet Matt. 27. 24. and to content the people whom he durst not offend Mar. 15. 15. Luk. 23. 23 24. Quest. What need had he to fear them that such an abject fear should betray him into so unjust and vile an Action Answ He had incensed them and made himself obnoxious to be articled against by his former violences being a man very Cruel and Tyrannical for which on the complaint of the Samaritan Jews he was presently after removed as Josephus reports And in this case they terrified him moreover by threatning to accuse him to his jealous Governour Tiberius Caesar as no friend to him for letting Christ go who called himself a King which they said was speaking against Caesar Joh. 19. 12. Quest. Christ did testify indeed before Pilate that he was a King and that for this end he came into the World that he should bear witness of this Truth Joh. 18. 37. And did not this give Caesar just cause to be afraid of him Answ. No because as he declared his Kingdom was not of this World neither should his Servants fight for him as the Subjects of worldly Princes do for them Joh. 18. 36. so that he would take nothing from the Emperor nor pretend to thwart him or resist his just Power But his Kingdom was in relation to another World a Spiritual Kingdom set up in men's Hearts and administred by the expectation of future Rewards and Punishments leaving Princes still to govern as they did in all the Affairs of this life And this did not intrench any thing upon the Prerogatives of the present Powers whom he left all in the same Authority and their Subjects under the same Duty as he found them As Pilate plainly perceiv'd by Christ's Answer wherewith he was satisfied and pronounced him innocent upon it Quest. These Sufferings of Christ you mention were most barbarous and horrible things But amidst all these bodily Tortures had he not ease within and great support of inward spiritual Comforts as he afforded the Martyrs and Confessors afterwards in theirs Answ. No the Horrours of his Mind were beyond the Anguish of his Body as if he were design'd to suffer the extremity of what Nature could bear His Soul was troubled Joh. 12. 27. very heavy Mat. 26. 37. Sore amazed Mark 14. 33. Exceeding sorrowful even unto death Mat. 26. 38. and in such an Agony as I noted at the apprehension of the Divine Wrath he was conflicting with as put a most unwonted force upon Nature and made him sweat as it were great drops of Blood Luk. 22. 44. Under all which he was so over-born with the Burden that he needed an Angel to be sent to strengthen him v. 43. Quest. Could Christ have avoided these Sufferings if he would Answ. Yes he could have had Legions of Angels for his Rescue Matt. 26. 53. But for our sakes he voluntarily submitted to them I have power to lay down my life and to take it again No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self Joh. 10. 18. Quest. And was God consenting to them Answ. Yes they came about not only by his Permission but by his Counsel and Determination He did no ways excite the Jews to this abominable Act but left them to their own envy and malice which were more than enough to push them forward But when they of themselves were wicked enough to do it he by his infinite Wisdom accomplishes what his Son and he had before agreed viz. the working our Redemption by it He suffered according to what was determined Luk. 22. 22. He was delivered to them by the determinate Counsel and Foreknowledge of God Acts 2. 23. Herod and Pontius Pilate did only what his Hand and Counsel had determined before to be done Act. 4. 28. And he was a Lamb fore-ordain'd to be slain before the foundation of the World 1 Pet. 1. 19 20. His death and his exaltation therefore to be a Mediatory King and our Redeemer was a Bargain driven and a Matter concerted long before betwixt him and his heavenly Father My Father hath appointed the word is covenanted to me a Kingdom that is in the everlasting agreement between God and him it was promised as the Reward of his undertaking Luk. 22. 29. And on this account his Servants are said to be given to him as a Retribution He gave himself for them that is to purchase them Tit. 2. 14. Thine they were says he to his Father and thou gavest them me that is on this consideration Joh. 17. 4 6. Quest. But since the things he endured were the absolute perfection of shame and sorrow why should Christ submit or God bring Christ to that end was it to punish his own sins Answ. No he did no sin 1 Pet. 2. 22. He was tempted in all points of Natural Infirmities as we are but yet without sin Heb. 4. 15. Quest. For whose sins was it then for all death is the wages of sin Rom. 6. 23 Answ. For ours for we had sinned and were all to die but he comes by the Allowance of God and bears our iniquity by dying in our place God laid on him the iniquities of us all Isa. 53. 6. He tasted death for every man Heb. 2.
it cut off all hopes of impunity and utterly discourage all future offenders Answ. Because God has no more Sons to die for us and when he was sollicited to remit the punishment of our sins he would not do it upon a less exchange When man sinn'd against the Law of unerring Obedience upon the Merits and Death of his Son God pardon'd that and admitted them to favour again upon their Repentance But if they shall offend against this Law too and be finally impenitent there are no Sons of God to suffer again to purchase their Forgiveness Quest. So that Christ's Suffering for us salved all the Honour of God's Attributes and served all the Purposes of his Justice that would have been served by our suffering for our selves Answ. It did so and to the full as well too the punishing of his own Son when he answered for Sinners shewing a more implacable hatred of sin and inexorable Justice than he could have shewn by punishing all the World who were Sinners themselves And therefore his death was a satisfaction to God for the sins of the whole World. Not only a satisfaction to Benevolence and yielding Goodness as when easy and indulgent Natures are appeas'd by any small returns and incompetent Recompences but a Satisfaction to Justice by way of full Compensation and Equivalence Christ by his one suffering displaying the Honour of all God's Attributes as much as God could have display'd them by punishing the whole Humane Race Quest. If the Death and Sacrifice of Christ were so full a satisfaction at first there is no more now to be paid and it need never be repeated Answ. No nor ever must it The Jewish Sacrifices needed constantly to be repeated because being of little worth and very imperfect their virtue was soon spent so that year by year they were continually offered Heb. 9. 25. and 10. 1 3. But his being full and perfect from the first and leaving nothing to be added He is not to be offered often but at once hath he put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself Heb. 9. 25 26. and 10. 14. But altho his Sacrifice is no more to be really acted as it needs not the whole effect of it being as fresh and full now as it was at first yet is it daily still commemorated and the virtue thereof apply'd in every good Prayer but especially in every Sacrament Quest. What learn you from Christ's dying a Ransom for our sins Answ. 1. To abhor sin since it is so odioâ—â— to God that he can spare it in no person no not in his own Son when he took other men's sins upon him And if he spared not him when he would bear the punishment for us how can we hope he will in the least spare us when we come to undergo it for our selves If these things were done in the green Tree what shall be done in the dry Luk. 23. 31. 2 To give our selves up to the service of Christ who hath bought us for his own property at so dear a rate This is the least we can do in Equity and Justice Ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your Bodies and Spirits which are God's by such costly purchase 1 Cor. 6. 20. And if there is any spark of Love and Gratitude in our Hearts we can do no less in Resentment of such stupendious kindness For the Love of Christ constrains us because we thus judge that if Christ died for all they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him that died for them 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. Quest. Ought it not also to teach us Faith in God and to beget in us a firm Trust that he will perform whatsoever he has promised Answ. Yes as plainly shewing that nothing is too great for his love to make good He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him freely give us all things Rom. 8. 32. Quest. Must not his Patience and Charity in his Sufferings not reviling again but praying for his Enemies teach us the same when we are called to suffer Answ. Yes for in suffering thus without threatning and when he was reviled not reviling again he hath left us an example that we should follow his steps 1 Pet. 2. 21. 23. Quest. Should not God's imposing so many and great secular hardships and sufferings on his own most dear Son make us have easier thoughts of these things than others have and reconcile us to Affliction Answ. In all Reason it should For it shews how inconsiderable worldly Goods and Glories are in Gods Eyes how temporal evils are allotted to the dearest persons how proper they are to Discipline and improve the most virtuous how they perfect Piety and what a step they are to Felicity and Glory Jesus himself tho' he were a Son yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered Heb. 5. 8. He was made perfect through suffering Heb. 2. 10. He ought to suffer and so enter into his Glory Luk. 24. 26. We see him for suffering death crowned with Glory and Honour Heb. 2. 9. And seeing Sufferings not only thus providentially allotted but also thus profitably undergone and highly recompenced in him the blessed Apostles and primitive Saints whose Ambition it was to be in all things his true followers did not repine and mourn but rejoyce and glory in them Quest. And since in dying for us he has shewed us such stupendious Love must not that mutually endear us and teach us if we would be his followers most tenderly to love one another Answ. Yes if God so loved us we ought also to love one another 1 Joh. 4. 11. Nay since hereby we perceive the love of God to us because he laid down his life for us we ought upon just occasion to lay down our lives for the Brethren 1 Joh. 3. 16. Quest. In the Creed you say dead and buried When Christ expired upon the Cross was his Body taken down and buried Answ. Yes it was laid in a Tomb and a great Stone roll'd before its mouth according to the Jewish Custom And for fear his Disciples should come by night and steal him away the Jewish Rulers when they had sealed the Stone got a Guard from the Governour to watch it Mat. 27. 64 66. Quest. What mean you by Christ's descent into Hell Answ. His abode in that state of Death and Separation or his Soul 's being in the place of Separate Souls till it was united again to his Body at his Resurrection as it is written Thou shalt not leave my Soul in Hell Acts 2. 27. which St. Peter there says was fulfilled in the Resurrection of Christ when he ceased to continue under the power of death and gloriously arose to triumph over it v. 30 31. Quest. Doth the word Hell sometimes signifie only the state of the Dead or the place of Souls departed Answ. Yes as David says of all men What man is he that
To prove any thing Sinless and Lawful then it is not necessary to produce a Law or Example for it since a Law commanding it would render it not barely Lawful but necessary but it is enough that there be no Law against it Answ. Very right for till a Law forbids a thing there is no sin in it Quest. What is a Wilful Sin Answ. A Sin against Knowledge or doing what we know to be displeasing to God. And this either when we are aware of the Evil at the Time we commit it or should have been so but that we have accustomed our selves to it which makes us sin without observing that we do so Quest. If a Man by custom brings himself to Swear or Lye or the like without thinking of it his Sin you say say is wilful for all he doth not bethink himself in committing it Answ. No doubt of it for he wilfully contracted this Custom and Habit which is so far from being an excuse for his Sin that it is one of the greatest aggravations of it The Habit of Sin is called the Law of sin Rom. 7. 23. and the Body of Death ver 24. Quest. What if a man has such a mind to a Sin that he will not see it but checks and stifles all Thoughts that would arise in his mind against it Nay perhaps endeavours to deceive himself and come to a Persuasion that there is no Fault or it may be some Praise in it Answ. He is a wilful Offender indeed because his own Will makes him ignorant as it did the Pharisees and other Jews who were wilfully Blind Mat. 13. 15. Quest. When is a wilful Sin against Conscience Answ. When 't is acted against the present checks of our own minds and under Fears and Relentings Quest. And when is a Sin against Conscience called Deliberate which I suppose is a higher pitch of Wilfulness Answ. When 't is committed after Fears and Debates and we consider'd and disputed with our selves for some time whether to do it or no before we ventur'd on it Quest. What is a sin of Ignorance Answ. When we do an Evil thing not knowing it to be a sin nor seeing its sinfulness Quest. Doth Ignorance excuse any Offences Answ. Yes when men are not ignorant through culpable Neglects nor blinded by wicked Lusts. For in this ease 't is said Christ can have compassion on the Ignorant and Erroneous Heb. 5. 2. But when they have no mind to see a Thing nor care to find it out that Ignorance is faulty because chargeable on their own wills Quest. What say you when their Judgments are resolv'd on the wrong side and they act under Erroneous Opinions Are they not excusable in any Actions so long as they only follow their Conscience Answ. No except their Conscience Errs so pitiably as to be reasonably qualified for excuse The Jews followed their Consciences when they crucified Christ Act. 3. 17. and 1 Cor. 2. 8. but yet God esteemed them wicked Murderers Act. 7. 52. Paul verily thought that he ought to Persecute the Church Act. 26. 9. But in that he declares he was the greatest of sinners 1 Tim. 1. 13 15. The times are coming saith our Lord that they who kill you will think therein they do God service Joh. 16. 2. But yet God would take vengeance on them for the Blood of these Righteous Persons Mat. 23. 35. 'T is no sufficient warranty in what a Man doth that he follows his Conscience except he take care to have a right Conscience or when 't is wrong it err only through misfortunes not out of a wilful Neglect a wicked Lust or an unteachable Temper Quest. What is a Sin of inadvertence Answ. When in the general we know a thing to be a sin but are not free at the time of acting it to consider and reflect upon its sinfulness This generally happens because we do the evil suddenly e're we can bethink our selves whence they are called sins of Surreption i. e. which steal upon us unawares and sins of Surprise And thus it falls out in the many sudden envious lustful repining or otherwise ill thoughts or Desires the beginnings of Anger the rash Words and Censures Good People are Guilty of All which till they can come to observe them if then they are careful to check and Repress them are pitiable inadvertences and surprises which because we are all apt daily to fall into more or less are call'd sins of Daily incursion Quest. What think you of sins of Passion when either mens own Consciences or other Friendly Monitors tell them they are doing ill but they go on notwithstanding because Passion is strong and Lust or Anger hurries them away being very high in them Answ. These are not perfectly wilful because when their Passions are at such height their Wills are captivated and have little Power over them for that time But they are punishable as wilful sins are because it is Mens voluntary Fault if they do not mortifie all such inordinate Passion and they that belong to Christ must not suffer Passion to arise so high that it can captivate and reign in them They that are Christ's have Crucified the Flesh with the Affections or Passsions and Lusts Gal. 5. 24. Quest. From what you have said I perceive what Sin is but what is meant by the Forgiveness of it Answ. A Release of the Punishment which is due to it For then God forgives a sin when he acquits Men of the Punishment of it And because this is a passing over sins as if they had never been and taking no notice of them it is called covering sins and not imputing them Rom. 4. 7 8. Quest. What are the Punishments due to Sin Answ. Death and Diseases and all the Miseries of this World. But especially the Eternal Torments of Hell Fire in the next Quest. The Eternal Pains of Hell must needs be acquitted when a Sinner is pardon'd For we can never think any sin pardon'd whilst the Sinner is eternally suffering for it But when the everlasting Punishments of the other Life are released are all the Temporal Inflictions in this Life struck off too Answ. No for Death is the Wages of sin and that still is all Mens Portion And when Men by their sins have greatly dishonoured God or given great Scandal unto others to manifest the justice of his Providence God oft-times here chastiseth them by present Judgments yea even after they have Repented and he has thereupon remitted to them all eternal Pains Thus when Nathan told Penitent David that God seeing his Repentance had put away his sin so that as to the last account he would be acquitted Yet because thereby he had given occasion to the Enemies of God to Blaspheme he should be punished here and the Child should die for it 2 Sam. 12. 13 14. And at Corinth several of those who on the score of their Repentance should not be condemned with the Wicked World at last Yet for their
grace and were aimed all for boasting as S. Paul says of them And several Rules of estimate and valuation they had to secure this to themselves one was from the number and tale of their good deeds if they had but done one more good than bad actions to make their merits preponderate their demerits Another was from their weight and importance if they had either the Skill or good Fortune to make choice of such as God set most by which might be put in the Scale against several others Nay such in their account was the desert of every good work if they continued to keep any one of their Sixteen hundred and thirteen Precepts out of Love to it and not from any worldly respect though at the same time the rest were neglected Or if when they had nothing else to produce they could but say they were the natural Seed of Abraham a ground of Jewish confidence tax'd by S. John the Baptist and were literally circumcised they thought there was enough in them to merit the future reward And being thus liberal in undervaluing what came from God and over-valuing what they did for him whilst they thus set their own rates they were sure not to want desert enough for the greatest recompences Yea so far as to make out their common saying that all Israelites shall have a portion in the world to come And for all these things sufficient testimonies are produced by learned Men out of their own Writings Quest. So that I perceive the Jewish deeds set up for Righteousness by their Doctors were the deeds of their own Law especially those distinguishing Laws which were peculiar to themselves And those not any secret and spiritual but only external acts such as fell under the cognizance of their own Courts of Justice Which were cried up for Righteousness as performed in virtue of their own strength and meriting the reward by their own worth and excellence Ans. Very right And the asserters of such works must needs be under a great surprise to hear of Justification by Gospel-duties Extending not only to Overt-Acts but their Hearts and Spirits which were to be performed by the help of God's inward Grace and rewarded through Christ's merits and God's merciful acceptance And their way of meriting acceptance by meer external Mosaick works performed in vertue of their own free-will and Humane strength being in all its points a way of their own setting up but disowned and rejected by God S. Paul calls their own Righteousness and opposes to the other of being esteemed Righteous through Christ's merits and God's merciful acceptance on Faith and Obedience to the Gospel wrought by the help of God's Grace which he calls God's Righteousness and the Righteousness of faith Phil. 3. 9. Rom. 10. 3 5 6. Quest. Do the Apostles in their disputes of Justification with the Jews set themselves to beat down these points Ans. Yes and more especially S. Paul both at Rome and Galatia and other places For in this matter they declare how by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified so that the Gentiles must not live like Jews but only by faith and obedience of Christ or faith working by love so that the natural Jews must live as Christians That this Obedience avails when it is not only with the outward but also with the inward Man containing together with the external Practice a renewal of the mind a circumcision of the heart and spirit and a new creature That 't is wrought in us not through meer humane strength but the internal grace of God so as to be truly the fruit of â—he Spirit and the renewal of the Holy Ghost And that the Gospel offering such inward Grace is thereupon a ministry of the Spirit and a ministration of Righteousness but that the Law wanting it is therefore only an external Revelation a ministration of the letter of death and condemnation which seeing it could not give the life it required but only an outward direction how to lead it therefore Righteousness could not come by it That this is counted Righteousness only in virtue of Redemption by Christ and of the merit of his Sacrifice first purchasing the pardon of our sins and then the acceptance of our services Christ being the end of the law for Righteousness and we being justified through the redemption that is in Jesus whose blood is a propitiation for our sins and who is made to us of God redemption and righteousness That in him God accepts and rewards it not for its own merits but out of his meer bounty and free grace without and infinitely beyond its deserts We being justified freely by his grace And that this way as God's free Grace is exalted so all Jewish boasts are excluded Lastly instead of the Jewish barter and exchange in weighing out good against bad actions or merits against demerits they tell us that he who continues to offend in one point is as liable to be condemned though not to so sore a punishment as he that is guilty of all And that he who sincerely endeavours to keep all after he has done the most must say he has done no more than his duty and is still an unprofitable servant All which with sundry others every where observable by any careful peruser of the Apostolical Writings are directly levelled against the foresaid Jewish Tenets Quest. And such Jewish Deeds you say are the deeds of the law which S. Paul opposes Rom. 3. 28. Ans. Yes Quest. Indeed the Apostles Disputation there of Justification is evidently against the Jews Ans. Yes and the way whereby they sought to be justified was by the Law of Moses That they cried up as the great Rule and Dispensation of Righteousness and Perfection they stumbled as he declares at that stumbling stone Rom. 9. 31 32. And they looked to be justified by it in virtue and merit of their own works as I have shew'd not through the merit of Christ's Sacrifice and the Grace of God pardoning their offences which made S. Paul declare to all who would be justified by the Law that Christ was become of none effect to them and that they were fallen from grace Gal. 5. 2 4. Quest. But is it clear he speaks of such Jewish deeds Ans. Yes because as I say such were set up by the Jews against whom he argues Nay as he adds they were such as would make it necessary for all Men to turn Jews For that way says he God would be the God of the Jews only and not of the Gentiles verse 29. Besides they are such works as are a ground of boasting verse 27. and make the reward reckoned out of debt or desert without grace or being beholden for it Rom. 4. 4. excluding grace as being inconsistent with it Rom. 11. 6. And so the Jews believed and taught of theirs accounting Heaven a just and deserved Wages for
Gentiles together with their abominable Idolatries they walked in lasciviousness excess of wine revellings 1 Pet. 4. 3. as the Israelites joyning themselves to the Idol Baal Peor committed whoredoms Num. 25. 1 2 3. They served Moloch that is Saturn by most horrible and unnatural cruelties dropping their own Children into the Fire through the Hands of his Statue and so burning them alive to him which the Scripture calls making them pass through the fire to Moloch as a burnt-offering Lev. 18. 21. Jer. 19. 5. But the True God is most utterly opposite to all such impositions He commands nothing but what is pure and virtuous and for our own good and advantage what is honorable and perfective of our Natures nay what is worthy not only of Men but of Angels and when he would submit to any Laws as he did when in Christ he became Man of God himself Quest. This shews the excellency of his Laws But what say you to the equity of them Are they not rigorous and over-burdensome requiring more than we are able to perform Ans. No though he requires great things yet together with that he offers such help and grace as will render them not only possible but tolerably easie to us His commandments are not grievous 1 John 5. 3. His yoke is easie and his burden light Matth. 11. 30. Quest. Is God Righteous also as a Judge that is when he comes to Judgment will he impartially execute his Laws without favour or respect of Persons Ans. Yes For in his Righteous Judgment he will render to every Man according to his deeds To those who by continuance in well-doing sought Glory eternal Life But to all that obey unrighteousness and are impenitent sinners wrath and anguish and that on every one that doth evil without respect of persons Rom. 2. 5. to 12. Quest. What will become then of all those that break his Laws Ans. Unless they make their peace by Repentance they must be condemned to that eternal Death which his Law threatens Quest. But doth not God sometimes punish one Man for another's sin as the Children for the Parents or the Parents for the Children whereas the rule of Justice is to give every Man his own Ans. No in all his allotments he assures us the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him Behold saith he all souls are mine as the soul of the father so also the soul of the son and one shall not suffer for another but the soul that sinneth it shall die Ezek. 18. 4 19 20. Indeed if a Father shares in a Child's fault by setting an evil example to it or by being too indulgent and not seasonably correcting it then he shall suffer as Eli did but this is not for his Child's but for his own sin in as much as he concurred to it And if a Child follow his Father's sin he shall partake in his punishment as is implied in Ezekiel chap. 18. 14. but that is not because his Father sinned but because he imitated it But if we do not communicate in the sins of other Men we shall not answer for their guilt for every man shall bear his own burden Gal. 6. 5. Quest. But what say you when God punishes a wicked Parent with want or an infirm body doth not that transmit Diseases or Poverty to his innocent Posterity Or when he scourges a sinful Nation with the Sword Famine or Pestilence do not those involve the innocent in common with the Criminals Ans. Yes but these not being directed by Almighty God upon themselves but seizing them through the necessity of second causes and course of things by reason of their joynt Interests and Relations they are not vindictive strokes nor in the way of punishments but only their calamities and misfortunes 'T is their mixt Interests not God's Justice which brings these upon their heads Quest. But when Men have forfeited by their own sins is not God who would otherwise spare oft-times moved to exact the forfeiture for the sins of others who will be afflicted and are intended to be punished in their misfortunes Ans. Yes and that 't is like may be a reason why when God says in the Second Commandment he will punish the sins of Idolatrous Fathers who are particularly called haters of him on the Children he limits it to the third and fourth generation For 't is very possible the Parents may live so long to see their Sufferings and so be punished themselves in beholding what their unfortunate Posterities endure for their sakes But since in this case God only takes just forfeitures and withholds undue favours and forbearance when he has great and wise reasons it is no reflexion at all on his Justice or other Attributes Quest. I see God doth not misplace punishments by punishing one for another's offences But may he not seem to misproportion them when he punishes momentany sins with eternal torments Is that consistent with Rules of Justice Ans. Yes whatever punishments are justly proposed may be justly exacted For what a just and wise Law-giver denounces a just Judge may execute And if Men feel the smart of it they can only blame themselves For why would they deserve it The punishment was denounced to the sin before they had made themselves guilty of it And this denunciation was intended to restrain them from committing it And if they would by God's help they might have been restrained by it So that be their suffering hard or their punishment what it will they have none to accuse but themselves for having voluntarily called it down upon their own heads Quest. But is it just to propose and denounce such heavy punishments Ans. Yes because there is need of them and Mankind will not be restrained by less For so strong is the sinful byass and inclination of our Natures so many and great our temptations and so much the advantage of sensible and present pleasures above future and unseen recompences that Men would never forego the pleasures of their sins on smaller Considerations Not only the offers of all temptations but also the reluctancies of our own Natures are to be out-weighed and the great disadvantage of remote and unseen things is to be compensated by the immensity and eternal duration of these punishments So that less than these would not discourage any numbers in our circumstances Nay alas how few do these hinder and discourage as the general wickedness of those who profess to believe them is a lamentable and abundant evidence Quest. But between sin and punishment as 't is usually said there should be some proportion Whereas sins that are soon at an end and sufferings that have no end bear no proportion Ans. Since sins and sufferings are no material bodily things they are not capable of being proportioned to each other by weight or measure to be weighed out equally in Scales or measured by a Rule and Line as Bodies are Their
9. He died for our sins 1 Cor. 15. 3. He poured out his Soul a Sin-Offering Isa. 53. 5 10. Quest. What are we the better for his dying for them Answ. Infinitely the better every way but particularly his death will save us from dying for them if we truly repent of them He hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law by being made a Curse that is enduring a cursed death for us Gal. 3. 13. 2 Cor. 5. 21. He bought us off from death by dying for us whence he is called our Redeemer and our Ransom 1 Tim. 2. 6. Quest. But has not his death bought us off from the Punishment of our Sins till we repent of them Answ. No for we must Repent and be converted that our sins may be blotted out for his sake Acts 3. 19. and being made perfect that is inaugurated into his Princely Power by suffering he became the Author of Eternal Salvation to all them that obey him Heb. 5. 9. Quest. If men remain impenitent then they must die for their own sins I perceive notwithstanding Answ. Yes Except they repent they must all perish Luk. 13. 3. Quest. But since Christ hath died for them once already will not that be dying twice and so being twice punished for the same sin Answ. No for he profered and God accepted his death not as an unlimited exchange for all Sinners but only for those who will leave their sins and repent of them He died indeed for all men but he died as their Sacrifice Eph. 5. 2. and Sacrifices were accepted in lieu only of Penitent Offenders and as God still told the Jews would never put away sins without the Repentance of those they were offered for To what purpose is the number of your Sacrifices said he to those who went on still in their wickedness Isa. 1. 11. The Sacrifice of God is a broken Spirit that is the Sacrifice God accepts must be accompanied with it a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Psal. 51. 17. Quest. But was not his death a satisfaction for sins And if he has satisfied for them already what need we do more must we satisfie for them again Answ. All the fruit and estimate of his Satisfaction must be taken from the Argument between God and him His death who was an innocent man would have signified nothing at all towards our release unless God had been graciously pleased to admit of him in commutation and exchange for our Suffering It avails and operates nothing by it self alone but only so far as God accepted him And the nature and effect of his Satisfaction as it was joyntly designed and concerted between his Father and him was not that no sinner whatsoever should be accountable for his own sins but only that none should who had repented of them Quest. What then were his merits or that which he deserved and obtained of God for us by his death Answ. The Grace and Favour of Repentance or that if we truly repent we shall not die for our selves So St. Peter expresses that benefit the Gentiles had received in being admitted Christians then hath God also to the Gentiles granted Repentance unto life Acts 11. 18. And again God exalted him to be a Saviour to give Repentance unto Israel and remission of sins Acts 5. 31. So that the merit of Christ's death is the Pardon of all our sins on true Repentance and likewise the Grace to enable us thus to repent of them Quest. Is this Pardon on Repentance a Grace and Favour which we needed him to purchase for us Answ. Yes for the Law of Works which condemned us all was Do this and live not as thro' Christ the Gospel is either do it or repent where you fail So that God was not bound to pardon Sinners when they did repent Nay the Honour of his Holiness and Justice the maintaining the Authority of his Laws and the seriousness and veracity of his threatnings were ready to interpose and hinder him from doing it But when Christ came to die in our stead and pay his own Blood as a price to induce God pardon Penitents Then since he doth it not without such a valuable Recompence he might pardon them without any Reflection on those glorious Attributes And this is the fruit of his Satisfaction and the Merit and Purchase of his Death viz. the Favour of Pardon of sin upon Repentance Quest. Is there no other Merit and Fruit of Christ's Death Answ. Yes besides the forgiveness of sin and the gift of Eternal Life thereupon he has also merited as I said the Grace to cure it But this is so much favour and indulgence as he ever sought or has procured of God towards the pardon of it Quest. But if we cannot partake of the benefit of his death but upon these terms how is all the favour we receive by it said to come freely and to be of free Grace Answ. Grace may be called Free on two accounts either as it is not given us for our deserts or as it is not given upon any conditions Quest. Is the Grace of God free in the first sense as that excludes all Merits or so free as not to be given us for our deserts Answ. Yes and this is the Scripture-sense of Free-Grace for there Free-Grace is the same as Undeserved-Grace Quest. How doth that appear Answ. Because Free-Grace is there opposed to Boasting which has place only on the Plea of Merit or desert We are justified freely by his Grace then where is Boasting it is thereby excluded Rom. 3. 24 27. And by Grace ye are saved not of works i. e. by the desert of any works lest any man should boast Eph. 2. 8 9. Quest. If the Scripture had been silent 't is easie to apprehend this Grace must needs be undeserved by us because all we can do is by the help of his Spirit and is but his just due which we do not give but pay as Debters and were it our own it is yet defective and mean and utterly unwâ—rthy of so vast a Recompence But tho' it be thus absolutely undeserved by us yet has not Christ fully merited and deserved it for us Answ. Yes he was bound to nothing but voluntarily subjected himself to the Law and took our Nature upon him All the perfect Obedience he shewed either in doing or suffering the Will of God was his free and gratuitous Offering and was good in the highest degree and perfection and received an infinite estimate from the Divinity of his Person and gratified the Father in his greatest designs for his own Glory and mens Salvation So that by his Services so free and gratuitous in themselves and so worthy of the most infinite Recompence he has justly merited all that Grace which for his sake God bestows on us Quest. The Grace of the Gospel I see is absolutely free to us in the first sense that is it comes to us without the least of our deserts But