effectual calling Jesus Christ was made a curse and so became a sacrifice for sinners not that they might immediately without any more ado be made partakers of the redemption purchased thereby or be actually redeemed upon the very offering made but that having first made this benefit feasible so that now there is such a thing to be had which without him neither is nor could be he might afterwards communicate it to the Elect and give them the personal possession of it that they might enjoy it for themselves And this he doth by a powerful drawing them to himself and so by union to him they have a real interest in this benefit Therefore the Apostle sometimes speaks of it as appropriated to beleevers Eph. 1.7 Col. 1.14 and Jehovah stiles himself the Churches Redeemer Isa 49.26 as often elsewhere and Job calls him his Redeemer Job 19.25 Both these considerations are here implied as depending necessarily the one upon the other in respect of those that shall be saved and that they are not to be confounded but distinguished appears by Heb. 9.15 where we may observe a clear difference betwixt the death of the Mediator for the redemption of transgressions and receiving the promise of the inheritance This latter being laid down as a consequent or fruit of the former and limited to them that are called To conclude Take the whole in this short summe Redemption is the buying out and delivering of sinners from the curse of the Law and so from the guilt of sin and the wrath of God and the condemation of hell due thereunto by the death and satifaction of Christ the Mediator Sect. 2. Proof from Scripture-reason FOr the latter this main truth concerning the redemption of sinners by Christ now made a curse for them may receive further confirmation from grounds of Scripture-reason whether we consider the fitness of the person to undertake such an enterprise or the efficaciousness of his sufferings 1 The person was every way fit to redeem us being both God and man 1 He is true God 1 Joh. 5.20 blessed for ever Rom. 9.5 the only begotten of the Father Joh. 1.14 the onely begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father vers 18. and therefore very gracious with him which the Father himself did solemnly testifie by a voice from heaven Matth. 3.17 He is the mighty God Isa 9.6 therefore the Father hath laid help on him Ps 89.20 the Horn of David Psal 132.17 and the Horn of salvation Luke 1.69 mighty to save Isa 63.1 he was infinite lyable to break through all difficulties and with an holy scorn to sleight an whole host of the most terrible enemies to march through them without danger and in despite of them all to fetch waters of life for us out of the Well of Bethlehem He is the Lord 1 Chro. 11.18 Is there any thing too hard for him Jer. 32.27 2 He is true man also in one and the same person flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone next a kin to us therefore he is not ashamed to call us brethren Heb. 2.11 It was a Levitical Ordinance that if an Israelite were fallen into decay and had sold himself to a stranger any of his brethren or nigh of kin unto him might redeem him Lev. 25.47 48 49 and the same might be done if he had sold any part of his possession vers 25. therefore these two phrases are used indifferently to note the same thing a near kinsman and one that hath right to redeem Ruth 2.20 3.9 Of this we have an instance in Hanameel Cosen-german to the Prophet Jeremy Chap. 32.7 8. c. This doubtless had some reference to Christ We had sold our selves to a stranger even to Satan to serve him Christ is a near kinsman one of the same stock and blood with us therefore the right of redemption is his It was also a statute and a custome in Israel That if a man dyed having no childe to inherit after him then his brother or next kinsman should take his wife and raise up seed to his deceased brother Deut. 25.5 c. and withall if the inheritance were alienated or set to sale he was to buy it out or redeem it for the use of the first-born that so it might continue settled upon the Family of the dead man Wee have a clear instantial Gospel-truth lys hid as I conceive Old Adam dyed and left no seed behinde him that might inherit heaven and moreover the inheritance was quite extinct and lost as to him and all his and therefore the Lord thrust him out of Paradise Gen. 3.24 Onely Jesus Christ is found the next kinsman who begetting sons and daughters by the word of Truth doth therby raise up a seed of God redeem the forfeited inheritance and so settle it upon the first-born of Adams family for ever yet with this difference that this seed shall not be called after the name nor inherit in the right of the first Adam but they shall be called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord shall name Isa 62.2 And they shall inherit in the right of the second Adam onely Act. 26.18 Eph. 1.11 2 The sufferings of Christ were fully efficacious to redeem us for thereby 1 He hath given abundant satisfaction to the justice of God and so hath weakned yea nullified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and taken away sin in the guilt and condemning power of it God sent his Son in the similitude of sinful flesh and for sin that is upon the sad and woful occasion of sins being in the world or that he might abolish and destroy it And what is the fruit of this glorious designe Why he hath condemned sin in the flesh that is by laying the curse which the Law threatned against sinners upon that very flesh or nature which had sinned he hath cast sin in its own plea. A mans work may be said to plead for his pay the crime of a Malefactor cryes for the execution of the Law upon him so sin pleads against the sinner and calls for death its wages to be inflicted upon him Sin although as an act it be transient yet in the guilt of it lyes in the Lords high Court of Justice filed upon record against the sinner and calling aloud for deserved punishment saying Man hath sinned and man must suffer for his sin But now Christ having suffered for sin that plea is taken off Lo here saith the Lord the same nature that sinned suffereth mine own Son being made flesh hath suffered death for sin in the flesh the thing is done the Law is satisfied and so he non-suits the action and casts it out of the Court as unjust Thus whereas sin would have condemned us he hath condemned sin and there is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 3. The blood of the Mediator out-cryes the clamor of sin We read Lev. 16.7 c. of two Goats which were
to be presented before the Lord the one to be offered for a sin-offering the other to be kept alive for a Scape-goat that Aaron having laid his hands on his head and confessed over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel might afterwards send him away bearing their iniquities into a Land not inhabited All this is fulfilled in Christ he hath both given himself to be a sin-offering for us and thereby removed guilt so far that when it is sought it cannot be found Jer. 50.20 So much is implied in that expression Heb. 9.26 He hath put away sin by the sacrifice of himself therefore redemption and propitiation are put together as the effect and cause First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pâ—acamentum he is a propitiation pacifying Gods wrath and rendring him propitious to sinners and thence follows Redemption Rom. 3.24 25. When the debt is discharged then the Law with the arrests and executions of it are void and of no force So Christ having paid our debt hath thereby both removed sin and guilt and voyded the curse of the Law so that now it hath nothing against us 2 He hath broken the Serpents head according to the ancient Prophesie given out in Paradise Gen. 3.15 by taking part of flesh and blood with us he hath through death destroyed him that had the power of death that is the devil and so wrought our deliverance Heb. 2.14 15. The Son of God was manifested that he might loose or dissolve the works of the Devil 1 Joh. 3.8 he hath as it were shattered them all to peeces Isa 30.14 and will still be shattering them hee will not spare so that there shall not be left so much as a shred Now this was one of his works to hold poor sinners fast bound and shut up under the brazen bolts of the curse of the Law unto condemnation but he hath broken the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron in sunder Psal 107.16 He hath met those terrible enemies the Philistims of hell and grappled with them hand to hand he hath discomfited them and brought them under and he will not cease till he hath beaten them small as the dust before the wind nor turn again till they be consumed That which David spoke of himself as the Type See Isa 63.3 4 c. is eminently fufilled in Jesus Christ onely Psal 18.37 38-42 He is that little David that prevailed over the great Champion Goliah of Gath with a sling and with a stone and smote him and slew him 1 Sam. 17.50 51. He is that strong invincible Sampson that rent in peeces that infernal roaring Lion as easily as if he had been a Kid Judg. 14.5 6. that slew the Philistims hip and thigh with a great slaughter Chap. 15.8 and when they had him fast bound with new cords they became as flax upon his armes and with the jaw-bone of an Ass laid heaps upon heaps vers 14 15 16. that carried away the door of the gates of Hell to set the prisoners at liberty Chap. 16.3 and made the noblest conquest when he seemed to be wholly conquered and no hope was left that ever he could look up again slaying at his death far more than hee had slain in his life vers 21-30 He hath spoyled Principalities and powers and triumphed over them on the Cross Col. 2.15 When the High commission Court and Star-chamber were cast down then all fell with them that appertained to them as there are no more informations pleadings censures punishments So there are no Serjeants Bayliffs Apparitors Pursevants even so this Lord Jesus having thrown down the Court of sin by his death and thereby disabled the Law he hath also judged the great Catch-pole of hell and put him out of office so that he cannot now execute the curse and wrath of God upon poor sinners as gladly hee would and although for the present he can reach to bruise their heel and doth often work them wo yet the Redeemer will tread him under their feet shortly Romans 16. ver 20. Sect. 3. An Objection If by Ransome then not by Rescue Answered THus much for the clearing and prooving of the Conclusion but here lieth a Doubt in the way for answering whereof wee may borrow a little light from the premises If our Redemption was by Christ's becoming a Curse for us and so by buying us out with the price of his blood How could it then be by strength of hand and a forcible rescue These two seem to destroy one another Ransome and Rescue Vâ—de Musculum loc com de redemptâ—one To be delivered by the paying of a price and to be delivered by conquest are inconsistent as to the same persons The nature of the things is so different that they cannot concurre in the same deliverance Ans Although these two do usually stand at a distance yet in this great business of the Redemption of mankinde they close well together To clear this take these three Considerations 1. Mankinde by the breach of the Law being become a debtor to justice and under the curse even in the extremity of it and Almighty God who is the party wronged being the onely soveraign Lord and Lawgiver Therefore the principal and most proper way to effect man's deliverance was to give satisfaction to justice so that either sinners must die the death in their own persons or Christ their surety must give his life a ransome for them being at an utter loss in themselves Against this it may be objected Then we must say that Christ redeemed us from God and himself being God he redeemed us out of his own hands by paying a price to himself which is absurd Ans This seeming absurdity will vanish if we keep to Scripture phrase and take along with us these Two things 1. The person of the Redeemer was not onely God but also man and although as to the sufficiency for the work and the valour and efficacie of it he must necessarily be God yet both the right and act of Redemption belonged to him properly as man so that we may say It was the man Christ that bought us out of the hands of the curse and wrath of God 2. God the Father himself had a special hand in this business the whole dispensation and managing of it was by his supream and soveraign appointment as we heard before and thus it is no more absurd to say that God took a course to satisfie his own justâ—ce and to redeem us from himself than to say that a King doth so when he gives his own son to lay down his life Or a Creditor when he requires the debt of his own Son for which the son was surety by the Fathers consent for the saving of Traitors from the stroak of his Law 2. Man being thus obnoxious to the justice of God and therefore delivered up by him into the hands of Sathan as his jaylour or executioner to keep him as his
by his absolute power or why he would do it thus rather then otherwise His Word tells us what he would do and we see by the event what he hath done This way was the will of God and none other and therefore this way Christ took and none other and thereby attained his end Heb. 10.9 10. We may safely rest here and make no further search for who hath known the mind of the Lord Rom. 11.34 His meer will and pleasure Volunt as Dei est pro lege pro causa causarum pro ratione rationum is a reason abundantly sufficient and beyond exception 2. The Lord hath revealed his minde so farr in this particular that we may be bold to go a little further and to resolve thus God who is great in counsell and excellent in working had store of means at hand whereby to set free and recover lost mankinde yet he was pleased to pitch upon this as being most agreeable to his holy nature and most suteable to his high and soveraign ends man's salvation and his own glory I explain it thus God is infinite in all his attributes in his justice as well as his mercy These two cannot interfeere as justice may not intrench upon mercie so neither may mercie encroach upon justice the glory of both must be maintained Now by the breach of the Law the Justice of God is wronged Nec misericordia Dei praescribit justitiam nec justâ—tia aufert misericordiam Aug. so that although mercie be apt to pardon yet Justice requires satisfaction and call's for vengeance on sinners Every transgression must receive just recompence Heb. 2.2 and God will not in any case absolve the guiltie Exod. 34.7 till this be done the hands of Law-mercy are tied that she cannot act And seing satisfaction could not be made to an infinite Majestie but by an equal person and price therefore the Son of God must become a Curse for us by taking our nature and pouring out his soul to the death and by this means Justice and Mercie are reconciled and mercy hath her free course to save sinners So that now presupposing God's Decree we may safely say It must be thus and it could be no otherwise God will have his Justice satisfied to the full and therefore Christ must bear all the punishment due to our sin or else God cannot set us free For he cannot go against his own just will Quod vuli necesse est esse Observe the force of that phrase Luke 24.26 46. Christ ought to suffer and Matth. 26.24 Thus it must be A just earthly Prince holds himself bound to inflict punishment impartially upon the malefactour or his surety it stands upon his honour he saith it must be so I cannot do otherwise This is true much more of God who is Justice it self And as this great design of Christs redeeming sinners by being made a curse for them doth sound out aloud the glory of divine Justice so it also bears visible characters of some other Attributes as 1. His Truth He had passed a peremptory doom and made a solemn declaration of it in his word that he that sinneth shall die the death Gen. 2.17 Rom. 6.21 23. and he will not break his word So he had foreordained Jesus Christ and set him forth to take upon himself this burthen to become a propitiation for sin through his blood Rom. 3. 25. 1 Pet. 1.20 and made known his minde eoncerning it in his written word plainly Isa 53.7 If we read the words It is exacted or strictly required meaning Exigitur as Junius and some others the iniquity or punishment of us all vers 6. is required at his hands he must answer for it in our stead and so he is afflicted and this affliction reacheth even to the cutting him off ver 8. yea the Spirit of Christ in the Prophets did signifie unto them not onely his sufferings but also the very particular time of them 1 Pet. 1.11 Therefore when Christ puts this work upon an ought and must be hee laies the weight of all on the Scriptures thus it is written as we may see in the texts before-cited as if he should say God hath spoken it and his truth ingageth him to see it done 2. His wisdome For hereby 1. he maintains the authority of his righteous Law when a law is solemnly enacted with a penalty in case of transgression all those whom it concerns may conclude for certain that the Lawgiver will proceed accordingly And it is a rule in policie That Laws once established and published should be vigorously preserved If the Lord should have wholly waved the execution of the Law upon sinners or their surety it might have tended greatly both to the weakening of its authority and the diminishing of the reverence of his Soveraignty in the hearts of the sonnes of men 2. He provided a curse against Licentiousness Impurity is apt to lay the reins loose upon the necks of sinners If sin had been pardoned without exacting the penaltie of the Law it might have emboldened men in their sinfull wayes their hearts would have been wholly set upon mischief Eccles 8.11 they will say Where is the God of Judgement Mal. 2.17 But now he lets sinners see that he will not pardon sin no not to repenting persons but upon condition of Christ's bearing the curse for them whence they may conclude that he will not spare them if they be bold to continue in their rebellion 3. And probably that he might hereby also cut of all occasions which the devil his enemy might take to calumniate and traduce him He might accuse him 1. of inconstancy and changeableness that having threatned death to transgressours he did quite forget himself in waving the threatning and dispensing wholly with his Law by granting them free remission Yea 2. of partiality and respect of persons that he should be so easie and forbearing as to let them pass without any punishment at all Quasi tam facilis fuisset antea sâ—verus erga seipsum having been formerly so severe and rigid against himself in casting him and his angels into everlasting flames without hope of recovery Sathan might say Lord thou mightest have spared me as well as man But the Lord may answer man hath made satisfaction he hath borne the curse and thereby fully discharged all the demands of the Law if he had not I would not have spared him any more than thee 3. His goodness and loving kindeness God the great Lord and Governour of the world might have rigorously exacted the penalty of the Law on the persons of sinners themselves but he hath so farr dispensed with the Law as to admit of a Suretie by whom the end of the Law that is the manifestation of his justice and hatred of sin might be fulfilled and yet a considerable part of mankinde might be preserved from the jaws of the second death which otherwise must have perished eternally Saith the Lord I
of their own Tenents or the answering of Objections brought against them they do generally turn aside from the usuall and received signification of the words and offer violence to the Text to make it speak what they please For to touch a little on the 4 ends before-mentioned To the first Where doth the Scripture make the confirmationâ— of his Doctrine the professed adequate end of his sufferings He saith indeed that he came into the world that he might bear witness to the truth but this most properly belongs to his prophetical office Jo. 18. â—7 whereas his death belongs to his priesthood and besides his miracles served more peculiarly for the confirmation of his doctrine To the second Christ had power to forgive sinnes even while he lived on earth Mat. 9.6 and exercised that power frequently There was therefore no absolute necessity of his death for the purchasing of a priviledge which he had in possession already although it was necessary for the satisfying of Justice Jâ—h 10.28 17.2 He died to purchase for sinners a right to recâ—iv â—ot for himself a power to give them eternal life that mercie might have a free course to give out pardons which otherwise could not be To the Third It is credible that the death of Christ and such a death as it was in all the circumstances of it should be able to perswade sinners to that faith and hope nay rather it should be the ready way to diswade and knock them off Luke 21.21 To the Fourth it is granted as a secondary subordinate end 1 Pet. 2.21 Nec humilâ—tatis exempla nec charitatis insignia praeter Redemptionis sacramentum sâ—nt aliquid Bern. but doth not take away the other which is the chiefe and principal These two accord well hee dyed to satisfie for our sins and he dyed to to leave us an example of patience and obedience Great is the example of his humility and of his charity but they have no foundation to rest upon if there be no redemption But to go no further than the Text. There be three expressions which they wrest for the supporting and maintenance of their Errour 1 He was made a curse True say they as he was made sinne 2 Cor. 5.21 that is hee was judged by men to be a sinner and he was used accordingly so he was accounted a cursed man and therefore was sentenced to suffer a bodily death on the Cross which was a death proper to an accursed person But this falls short for God saith the Apostle made him to be sin and consequently a curse for us Man was no more but an instrument sinfully acting what God had holily purposed and Christs voluntarily undertaken Besides the Text which is here cited from Moses Deut. 21.23 runs thus He that is hanged is the curse of God or a curse unto God which being applied to Christ can import no less than this that God laid upon him our sin and the punishment due unto it by the doom of his righteous Law that the pleasure of the Lord might be executed upon him for answering whatsoever the Law could exact Nostra causa nostro bono Ut a peccatis retrahamur Nostra vâ—ce nostro loco 2 He was made a curse for us yea say they for us that is for our cause on our behalf for our good and so he gave himself he dyed for our sins that is our sins were the occasion of his death and he died that we might be drawn back from sin We yeeld all this but is there no more Yes assuredly We say for us that is in our room and stead who should else have born the curse in our own persons and for our sins to wit as the foregoing meriting cause thereof and that satisfaction being made to justice the curse might not fall on our heads The Greek word which is most frequently used in this argument 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is rendred for although sometimes it be put to note no more So Rom. 5.7 but the good or profit of another yet it signifies also in anothers stead and in some places cannot be fitly taken otherwise as 2 Cor. 5.14 If one dyed for all then were all dead which implies plainly that the death of that One was in stead of the death of All. And when the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 13. Was Paul crucified for you Thereby denying it he must mean that he was not crucified in their stead for he professeth elsewhere that he suffered for the Church and for the Elects sake that is for their spiritual benefit as Col. 1.24 2 Tim. 2.10 But to put all out of doubt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Scripture sometimes makes use of another word which signifies commutation or exchange or being in the place or room of another and must necessarily be so taken when it s applied to this business as Matth. 20.28 1 Tim. 2.6 He bare the curse and gave himself a ransome in our stead 3 Hereby he hath redeemed us from the curse Being made a curse for us he brought us out of the hands of the curse so that God was moved hereby to set us free from the guilt and punishment of our sin Here they bring two things to darken the clear truth 1 That the terme of Redemption Apud Grot. in defens c. 8. must be taken improperly for a deliverance without price or satisfaction such as that of the Children of Israel from Egypt whom God redeemed by the hand of Moses yet he paid no price nor gave in consideration either by death or otherwise for the compassing of it To this we say when the Scripture makes Redemption the effect of Christs bearing the curse of his suffering death of the shedding of his blood c. it can signifie no less than redemption in propriety of speech that is the freeing of poor sinners from the stroak of justice by giving due satisfaction This high extraordinary cause should in all reason produce a nobler effect than such a loose and frozen gloss gives to it Yea how doth this derogate from the worth of that glorious benefit to say it comes at so cheap a rate As for the redeeming of Israel by Moses although it was a type of our redemption by Christ yet wee know that the type and thing typified do not answer one another in all things Christ and Moses are compared as Redeemers but with a vast difference both as to the nature of the thing and the special means by which it was effected That of Moses was onely corporal from the servitude of the body This of Christ is chiefly spiritual from the bondage of eternal death Therefore there was no need that Moses should dye for them and if he had as it could have been no way effectual to their spiritual deliverance so it might probably have been rather destructive to their temporal freedome But Christ our Redeemer must necessarily dye for us else no possibility of
imputing of righteousness go together as it appears by the Apostles explication of the Prophet David's meaning Psal 32.1 2. Romans 4.6 7 8. God sees no iniquitie in Jacob and when the sins of Judah are sought for they shall not be found Jer. 50.20 understand this not in regard of the inordinacie and blameableness of the acts nor yet simply in reference to the just desert of sin considered in it self for these are of the very nature of sin and cannot be separated from it but in respect of the particular guilt and punishment of those persons which being taken away they do thereupon stand right in the Court of heaven We see it here in Courts below if nothing come in against a man if there be no accuser he is quit and stands as innocent in point of Law as if he had not been questioned So when Christ hath by his satisfaction disabled the Law from giving in any evidence against the poor sinner he then is absolved and stands clear before the great Judg when the Lord hath found a ransome then he doth not onely say Deliver the sinner but he shews unto him his uprightness that is he makes him partaker of the righteousness of Christ Iob 33.23 24. c. and so looks upon him as righteous through his satisfaction This was one end why the Lord made Christ sin for us 2 Cor. 5 21. Let the poor convinced soul take notice of this also Thou feelest much guilt on the spirit thou groanest under it and fearest damnation but here is thine acquittance When the poor woman's accusers were slunk away Christ said to her Woman hath no man condemned thee neither do I John 8.10 11. so saith the Lord to thee See poor soul the Law saith nothing against thee the mouth of thine accusers are stopp'd none can condemn thee neither will I yea thou mayest make the same challenge that the Apostle make's Who shall lay any thing to my charge God justifies c. Rom. 8.33 34. Sect. 3. Other four benefits flowing from Redemption 4. Adoption by Creation we were the sons of God we bare his image as a son bears the image of his father Luke 3.38 but yielding to Sathan's temptation and affecting a new fancied Divinity we fell from God lost the title and dignitie of sons forfeited all our birth-right and made our selves no better then the bratts of hell But the son of God manifested in the flesh hath not onely washed off our sin in the guilt and curse due to us but hath restored us to the dignity of children This was one of those high ends which the Lord had in his eye when he sent him in that humbled posture to redeem us it was that we might receive the adoption of sonnes Gal. 4.4 5. The Apostle Paul reckoning up eight several honours which God had conferred upon the people of the Jews wherein they excelled all other nations he sett's adoption first as the most eminent Rom. 9.4 according to that Exod. 4.22 Israel is my son even my first born This being but an external dignity to continue for a time till the partition wall should be broken down was a shadow and resemblance of that Gospel-honour which we have by the work of Redemption even the right or dignity to be the sons of God Jo. 1.12 the Congregation of the first born Heb. 12.23 and if children then heirs yea joint heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 for being now in Christ and made partakers of his righteousness we have fellowship also with him in his Sonship Gal. 3.26 This is a fruit of the abundant grace of Christ and an high advance of the work of Redemption applied If the Lord be pleased to have pity on base runagate prodigalls he might have bought us out into the condition of hired servants that had been favour far beyond expectation But to adopt us into his family Luk. 15.19 22 23. Dignitas quaedam sablimis Ames to kill the fatted calf for us to put upon us the best robe to set us at his table and to grace us with the honour of sonnes yea heirs of God a better estate than Adam lost what an high dignity is this behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed on us and admire it 1 Jo. 3.1 2. Indeed it doth not yet appear what we shall be our happiness lyes under a cloud vailed from the eyes of the world and in a great part from our selves also but yet we are even here the Lord's first born and the glory of this condition shall one day be revealed in despite of hell and the world Judge not your selves miserable because your neighbours so account you but know that your Redeemer hath purchased your enfranchisement and now the Lord takes you for his sonnes and daughters never to be disinherited or cast out any more 5. Sanctification The first Adam having wantonly engaged in a rebellion against his Maker did thereby not onely implunge himself and all his into the gulf of Gods curse but also forfeit that matchless Jewel of his Image which was infinitely too good to be prosticuted to his inordinate lust Whence followes a wofull change in our natures by a depravation of the whole frame of our soules in all the powers of them and making us like unto Sathan So that now we are every way dead as to our spiritual estate both by sin in the loss of God's favour which is better then life and in sin by the loss of that conformity to him which once we enjoyed But our great redeemer frees us from this death also by Sanctification This was one end of Christs giving himself for the Church that he might sanctifie and cleanse it Eph. 5.25 26. his death hath a soveraign vertue to work the death of sin as his life hath to work the life of righteousness Rom. 6.4 5 6. He is made of God to us Sanctification 1 Cor. 1.30 and now as there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ so they are set free from the Law of sin and death by that law of the spirit of life which is in Christ and all this ariseth from God's sending him to condemn sin in the flesh Rom. 8.1 2 3. Christ was put to death in the flesh and for a requital he puts to death the flesh that is the body of sin in us The law laid the Curse upon him and he having borne it turn's it upon the Law of sin which is in our members and blasts that rotten stump saying to it as once he said to the unprofitable fig-tree Let no fruit grow on thee henceforth for ever Matth. 21.19 and seting a new plant of holiness in the soul to bring forth fruit unto God Indeed we see it not yet fully done but the Curse is gone out against the old man and he is wasting and shall be utterly destroyed in time Let the Lords people see their happiness in this also Poor soul thou cryest out unclean unclean I
in Religion and in common conversation which they kept on foot from father to son as things of necessity and helps to holiness as standing by themselves in the Synagogue to pray by themselves Luke 18.11 that they might not be defiled by being near to sinners washing their hands to their very elbows lest some uncleanness had crept beyond the wrests before they eat washing of cups and tables and many other things in a superstitious imitation of their predecessors From this vain conversation they were redeemed by the blood of Christ and the grace of the Gospel taught them not onely to abandon the lusts of their former ignorance and the apparent breaches of the Law but also those foolish and unsavoury traditions Wilt thou now bring thy state and wayes to this Touchstone Thou hopest that thou art redeemed but canst thou shew us these tokens this resolution and endeavour Hast thou learned to cast away thy old iniquities Dost thou feel really a separation betwixt thy soul and thy formerly beloved sin If not thou deceivest thy self But observe further there be sundry by courses too usual not onely with the men of the world but those also that profess Religion some clearly sinful others at least groundless and unprofitable as communicating onely or necessarily at Easter coming to the Sacrament fasting as more holy dropping down to prayer in the Assembly in time of publick worship idle and unnecessary meeting in the Ale-house to drink shots for good-fellowship mixt dancing garish attire curious dressings flaring long haire Doing one ill turn for another Mat. 5 38 â—9 So did they and so do we these and the like practices are at the best but so many parcels of a vain conversation and if thy soul have truly tasted the sweetness of this precious benefit thou canst freely let them fall both out of thine heart and hands and say unto them Get you hence If thou hast no minde to part with them but holdest them fast and stretchest thy wit to plead for them I feare thou hast yet no portion in this benefit Sect. 3. Other three marks of interest in Redemption 4. SEparation from the world from the earth from men They are not of the world even as their Redeemer is not of the world Joh. 17.14 St. Paul doth solemnly profess that the world was crucified to him 1 Ioh. 5.4 and he to the world by the Cross of Jesus Christ Gal. 6.14 Those hundred forty four thousand which stood on Mount Sion with the Lamb are redeemed from the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and from among men Rev. 14.3 4. They are partakers of the Divine nature and so escape the corruption that is in the world through lust 2 Pet. 1.4 They are more excellent than their neighbours Prov. 12.26 Their designes desires delights aimes are higher than the earth they aspire above it On the contrary those that abide in their sin have their portion in this life Psal 17.14 And its one bad property of the enemies of the Cross of Christ that they minde earthly things Phil. 3.19 What saith thy heart to this Art thou carried up above the world Doth the earth and the things of it seem mean and base and vile in thine eyes Art thou in the frame and carriage of thy soul above the common pitch and scantling of the sons of men So that thou thinkest not willest not affectest not as they do but goest in an higher orbe thy conversation is more in heaven than in earth Phil. 3.20 This is a sweet evidence of a redeemed soul But art thou a friend to the world Is it thy Darling Do the profits pleasures Iam. 4.4 contentments of it allure and prevaile with thee to fall down and worship them and to devote thy self to their service Is the earth thine element Do the things of this life take up thy thoughts thy cares thy imployments so that thou art even drowned in them and thou hast not an heart that can savour things of a better life Dost thou walk as a man Are thy words actions aimes like thy neighbours Are they no better nor higher than other mens Why then it seems thou art still in thine old bondage 5. Walking in and after the Spirit The walk of the natural man who is the Devills bond-slave is in and after the flesh The corrupt wisdome of the old man which is enmity to God Rom. 8.7 is his light and the will thereof is the very life of his soul He hath neither light nor life within him available to salvation the instinct and dictatings of his fallen nature carry him on in his whole course But when the grace of Redemption is brought home to the soul and the Son hath set him free then the Spirit of the Son who of a slave hath made him a Son doth animate act lead and guide him all along in the residue of his conversation according to that remarkable promise Ezek. 36.27 and the Apostles grave Aphorisme Rom. 8.14 The flesh abiding in him will be still lusting against the Spirit and drawing him out of his way but his frame bent desire and constant endeavour is to be at the direction and appointment of the Spirit in all his wayes He looks upon the flesh as a very bad guide and not to be trusted therefore if at any time he be misled by it when he perceives it he turns away from it with sorrow for his folly It is the Spirit of God which he chuseth for his guide unto it speaking in the word he repairs continually for counsel and resignes himself up to follow it in all things This is the signal evidence which the Apostle gives of those that are freed from condemation by Jesus Christ and he makes it out upon this ground Because the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath freed them from the law of sin and death Rom. 8.1 2 3. When the Angel of the Lord had rowsed up Peter in the prison and caused the chaines to fall off from his hands he gave him a command to follow him Peter being now set at liberty goes after him from one place to another Act. 12.7 8. c. Even so when the Spirit of God hath loosed a sinner from his bonds by setling upon him the benefit of Redemption he is then fit and ready to walk after the same Spirit from one stage of duty to another As in Ezekiels Vision the Spirit that was in living creatures acted the wheels to go when they went and to stand when they stood Ezek. 1.19 20 21. So the members of Christ are carried on by the breathings of his Spirit dwelling in them in all their wayes But take notice that it is not a private spirit but the Spirit of God speaking in the word not a spirit opposed to the Scriptures but the Spirit speaking in the Scriptures which is the Guide whom the Redeemed follow The word of God revealed in them is the breathing and voice of
a sufficient and satisfactory price unto God for the party Redeemed 1 Cor. 6.20 Therefore we are said to be bought with a price And this Price is called a ransome price Matt. 20.28 A price to ransome us out of our spirituall captivity Matt. 20.28 and it is said to be laied down 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now the preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as learned men know signifieth a substitution and Surrogation of one in the roome of another As Matt. 2.22 Archelaus is said for to raign 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the roome of Herod Adde further That this Price which Christ laid down for our Redemption is called not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Counter-prise or a price correspondent and answerable 1 Tim. 2.6 to the debt it is paid for It was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If any shall ask what this price was Saint Peter tells us 1 Pet. 1.19 Act. 20.28 It was the most pretious bloud of Christ and Saint Paul tells us It was the Bloud of God It is called the Bloud of God because shed in his humane nature by him whose Person was God blessed for evermore Rom. 9.5 and hereby it came to have an infinite virtue and efficacy in it Ex infinita Personae dignitate infinitum erat pretium sanguinis et carnis quam pro nobis obtulit Hence it was that the Bloud of one man became sufficient to Redeem all beleevers and the Bloud shed in a little space able to satisfy for sins which deserved eternall punishment because the Person that suffred was God as well as man All this and much more which might be added doth clearly prove That Jesus Christ hath made Satisfaction to God for the Sins of all who beleeve in him This great and fundamentall truth is very pithily soundly Orthodoxly practically and profitably handled in this ensuing Treatise It is written by a grave ancient and religious Minister of very good repute amongst the Godly in Yorkshire A Master-builder in Gods House If any shall not relish and taste the sweetness of it he will thereby make it appear that his Palate is much out of tune For to a real Christian it must needs be very welcom Let not our ignorance of the Author hinder us from buying and reading of it but let us consider that it is recommended to us by one who well knowes him Mr. Edw. Bowles Mininster at York and who is well-known to the world and in whose judgment we may safely confide The subject matter of this discourse is to shew how Jesus Christ who is the fountain of all blessedness volutarily submitted himself to be made a curse not onely accursed but a curse to Redeem us from the curse of the Law due to our sins And that this may not seem a riddle or a Paradox you must know that Christ Jesus may be considered 2 wayes 1. As he was the Sonne of God 1 Pet. 2.24 2. As our surety bearing our sins in his body upon the Cross In the first respect he was alwaies the well-beloved Sonne of God in whome he is well-pleased But as he was our Representative in this respect he underwent the wrath of God and the curse of the law due to us not due to him simply Mâ—tt 3.17 but due to us and born by him as our surety The hatred was against us and our sins God never hated his Sonne But yet as he stood in our stead and was made sin for us who knew no sin he suffered the effects of Gods hatred even the puishment due to our sins 2 Cor. 5.21 And whereas the Socinians and those who are against Christs Soule-sufferings say That Christ is therefore onely said to be made a curse because he suffred the bodily death of the Cross which by the law was a cursed way of dying and this they say is evident by what the Apostle addes in the latter end of the curse for it is written Gal 3.13 Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree This is notoriously false as appears 1. Because that curse which Christ redeemed us from that curse Christ was made or else the Apostle had not reasoned soundly in saying Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us That curse which Christ redeemed us from that curse he was made But Christ redeemed us from the corporal spiritual and eternal curse And therefore such a curse he was made secundum aequipollentiam though not secundum omnimodam Identitatem Jesus Christ for our sins suffered so much of the curse of the law as was possible D. Willet and necessary for him to suffer And as a learned man saith he suffred all such pains of hell which were neither dishonourable to his person nor defiling to his nature nor obstructive to the works of Redemption 2. The bodily death of Christ upon the Cross is brought in by the Apostle as one very well saith not as the formal reason of the Curse Calovâ—us in his Socinismus profligatus but onely as a signe and declaration of it The Curse did not precisely consist in the death of the cross neither were they that were hung upon a Tree therefore accursed because hung upon a Tree but the hanging on the Tree was a signe they were accursed as Hierome excellently Hier. upon Galat. 3.13 Non quicunque pependerit in ligno maledictus coram Deo sed qui propter scoelus suspensus Not every one that hangeth on a Tree is cursed of God but he that hangeth there for his sinne If Haman had prevailed for the hanging of innocent Mordecah upon the gallowes he should not have stood accursed Wherefore it was not the death of the Cross but our sinnes hanging upon the Cross that derived this curse upon Christ. This is evident by the very words of Moses quoted by the Apostle Deut. 21.22 23. If a man hath committed a sinne worthy of death and he be to be put to death and thou hang him on a Tree his body shall not remain c. By which words it appeares That it was not so much the kinde of death as the desert of death which made it ignominious It was our sinnes hanging with Christ upon the Cross which made the same an accursed death Adde what Moses saith Deut. 21.23 He that is hanged is accursed of God But now no death is in it self more ignominious then another before God 3. The shame thereof is external and concerneth men Ergo the Curse was not onely nor especially in the shamefulness of the death The ordinary gloss thus noteth upon the words Non est hoc in contumelia Domini quid mirum si maledictus dicitur a Deo qui habet in se quod Deus odit id est peccatum This redoundeth not to the reproach of God for what marveil if he be said to be accursed of God in 3 Gal. that
hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law Ergo. But I rather chuse to take it for an amplification of that ver 10. concerning the curse of the Law although to our purpose it matters not whether way we take it by way of prevention of an objection Some might say if that be so indeed that the Law doomes all men accursed which do not keep it then we are all in a wofull case * Magna vox Quomodo igitur sanabâ—mur Olevian in Loc. for none of us are able to keep it therfeore the Law having pronounced us accursed we are accursed with a witnesse past help remedy then your doctrine of Justification proves a bootlesse thing Not so saith the Apostle for although by the sentence of the Law we lie under the curse yet we are not therefore helplesse for Jesus Christ hath wrought our redemption disanulled the curse and rescued us from it and so hath laid a ground-work for Justification by himself alone and eternall blessednesse thereby as v. 14. I may call my Text a sacred Oracle or a Divine Axiom holding forth the great work of Redemption by Christ Observe in it 1. The miserable estate of mankind implyed under the curse of the Law 2. The remedy provided Christ hath redeemed us from it 3. The means whereby he hath procured this benefit being made a Curse c. Or thus Three main Truths are here presented to our view 1. What we are in our selves under the curse of the Law 2. What Christ is made for us a curse 3. What good he hath procured for us thereby he hath redeemed us from it So that we have here three conclusions or Doctrines which I shall propound and prosecute in their order 1. All men are under the curse of the Law 2. Christ was made a curse for us which are under the curse of the Law 3. Christ by being made a curse for us hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law CHAP. II. Sect. 1. The first Conclusion cleared in four propositions THe first Conclusion or Doctrine is this All men are under the curse of the Law This is the condition of all mankind as they stand since the fall that they are liable to the curse of Gods Law I shall evidence this Truth by four Propositions I. All men are under the Law I speak now of man in his first condition and as he was made in Adam God did set the first man and all his posterity with him in the day of his Creation under the authority and command of his own Law We may look upon it under a double Notion 1. As a Platform of righteousnesse and thus we were under it by conformity the Law was written in mans heart so much is implyed Rom. 2.15 God made man after his own image Gen. 1.26 Which standeth in knowledge righteousnesse and holinesse of truth Col. 3.11 Eph. 4.24 His mind will and affections and all being conformable to the mind of God as the counterpart to the Original 2 As a rule of obedience and so we were under it by subjection As God bestowed upon man sufficient ability to obey the Law so likewise he tyed him to walk according to the prescript thereof exactly Man was not made * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 self-soveraign or Independant there was never any creature formed that might stand upon it's own bottom and say as Psa 12.4 Who is Lord over me or as those Jer. 31.2 We are Lords we will no more come unto thee Yea further besides the morall Law written in his heart God gave him a positive Law restraining him from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil upon pain of death and this was to serve both for the probation and the manifestation of his obedience to his Maker I need not insist longer on this proposition but shall take it for granted II. All men have broken the Law they have swarved from this Platform are gone aside from this Rule This must be branched out and explained in three particulars 1. Our first Parents broke the Law flew off from the holy commandment given to them and so made an escape from God their Master The story is plain Gen. 3. which Solomon expresseth thus Man hath found out many inventions Eccl. 7.29 Adam having a strict charge given not to eat of thaâ— one tree hearkened to the counsel of his wife who was before bewitched and ensnared by Satan speaking to her in the Serpent And although he had strength enough to have repelled the temptation and to have kept himself free yet he willingly yielded and withdrawing his heart from God went crosse to his charge Being set in an estate of happinesse and honour he proved disloyal and departed away wantonly and causlesly from the blessed God and betook himself to the creature this was a woful breach being not one single Iniquity but a compound or fardell of many as Divines observe especially these 4. 1. Distrust of God giving credit rather to the false tales and whisperings of Satan then to the word of the everliving God and entertaining thoughts tending to question the realnesse and sincerity of his commands promises and threatnings 2. Unthankfulnesse to God who had set him in such an excellent condition but he playes the part of an ambitious discontented subject who is displeased with that preferment which the Prince confers upon him he slights it and will have a better 3. Rebellion against God in going point blank against the commandment of God adventuring upon that which he had expresly forbidden not fearing the threatning but putting the Lord to it and tempting him to see what he would do 4. Apostasie from God * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a falling away a revolting from the Lord and so from righteousness holiness obedience subjection to him unto the service and obedience of Satan casting off his Creator leaving his Soveraign and Commander as it were on the plain field and running into the tents of his Enemy 2. We all broke the Law in them We were all in Adams loyns what he was we were what he did we did Although we did not in our own persons either talk with the Serpent or put forth our hands to take the fruit yet we did eat the forbidden fruit as well as he and so broke the Law and turned aside in him for he was not a single person standing for himself alone but a publick one standing in the room of all mankind therefore his sin being not meerly the sin of his person but of the whole nature of man is justly imputed to us all If Adam had stood in his uprightnesse we should have been partakers of the gains he forfeiting all we must share with him in the losse See Romans 5.12 In whom all have sinned and ver 19. By one mans disobdience many are made sinners Adam was the Head all his posterity the members If the Head plot and practise treason against the State is
doe this and they doe it He blinds their minds hardens their hearts and works in them powerfully Eph. 2.2 Indeed they spitt at him and say they defie him yet neverthelesse they are his drudges and carry his pack and doe his worke And while they professe that they scorne to serve him yet even then they serve him willingly and with both their hands Oh miserie beyond all expression 3. Unfruitfulness towards God He may complaine of Mankind as once of Israel Jer. 2.21 I had planted the a noble Vine wholly a right seed how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange Vine unto me All our fruit is fruit unto death we can bring forth no fruit unto God The curse of the Law hath blasted us we are as it were Thunder-struck and made unserviceable We can doe nothing that is truly good or wel pleasing to God Rom. 8.8 When Christ came neere to the figtree and saw nothing on it but leavs he cursed it and then it withered Mat. 21.19 So the Lord seeing Adam and his posteritie now by their Apostasie become degenerate plants pronounced a curse upon them saying Never fruit grow on you any more and so we are become no better than withered stumps Thou thinkest that thou dost good duties this and that good work thou hadst thy hand in such and such good fruits thou canst shew but alas it s nothing so thou art a drie and a barren tree 4. Liablenes to all the plagues and judgments of God The curse setts us in such a posture as we are continually exposed to some mischiefe or other The ground which brings forth bryars and thornes being neere unto cursing its end is to be burned Heb. 6.8 The foolishman thinks his tongue is his owne to use as he will Psal 12.4 But Solomon tells him his mouth is neere to destruction Pro. 10.14 See Ezech. 7.5 6 7. 2. Pet. 2.3 Speaking of false Teachers he saith their judgment lingers not but is hastening on its way their damnation slumbreth not it keeps waking to seize on them in due time And indeed what is it that hindreth vengeance from falling on sinners but onely the Lords patience Thaâ— consuming fire is at hand readie to lick thee up and to destroy thee there is but one stepp betwixt thee and death The Lord might forthwith stop thy breath anâ— then thou art gone for ever the ladder iâ— every moment like to be turned thoâ— hangest but by one weake threed and wheâ— that is broken then thou droppest into thâ— flames of hell 5. Punishing sinne with sinne a very sad effect of the curse when the Lord hath determined to set home the curse upon a sinner with a witnesse then he leaves him to himself for his former provocations either to run himself deeper into the same sinnes or else to fall into more vile and vicious courses and so to heap up wrath against himself As sometimes a father saith of an hopeless child Seeing he will not be reclaymed let him take his course let him run himself out of breath and hasten to his owne ruine Thus he scourged the Gentiles for their wilde courses against the light of Nature Rom. 1.26.28 And the Jewes for their contempt of the word Psal 81.11 12. And their opposing the Gospell 1. Thes 2.15 16. Thus the Lord deales with many of the secure sleepie sinners they give no regard to the offer of mercie therefore the Lord shutts them up in ignorance and saith let him that is ignorant filthy carnall be so still they are not bettered by mercies or judgments therefore they shall be made worse The close deceiver becomes a grosse robber and God gives him over to lying swearing forswearing c. The immoderate use of the creatures becomes grosly riotous God gives him up to beastly drunkenness mispending of his time wasting his estate yea sometimes to wantonness and bodily filthyness to hatred yea scorning of good counsel and the like abhominable practices 6. Hellish terrours startlings of conscience feare of death and of the Judgment to come These are the sparkles which flie up out of these everlasting burnings while the furnace is in heating to devoure the ungodly of the earth Isa 33.14 Fearfulness surprizeth the hypocrites Heb. 2.15 It s one maine branch of mans naturall miserie that through feare of death he is all his life subject unto bondage Act. 24.25 When the Aostle Paul preached of the Judgment to come Felix trembled The sinner feeles many a privie nippe while he is walking on in the wayes of his owne heart he hath gripings in his spirit that torment him and he feeles the flashing of hell fire sometimes in his conscience so that he is appaled with the foresight of the wrath to come His heart smites him and tels him that Vengeance lyes in wait for him because of ignorance drunkenness contempt of the Gospell c. The thoughts of death and judgment damp him and strike him to the heart and he saith oh I must once goe downe into the dust what shall then become of this poore soule * Animula vagula blandula Quae nunc abâ—bis in loca I must be brought to judgment how shall such a sinful wretch as I look the great Judge of heaven and earth in the face Alas poore sinner thou settest a good face on the matter before men but thy heart knowes that it is thus 2. The strange properties or qualities of the curse Strange properties of the Curse are especially these 5. I call them strange because 1. Most of them lie out of the road of the naturall mans apprehension and beliefe they are hid from his eyes he will not easily be perswaded of them 2. Yea the godly themselves doe not so clearly discerne nor so carefully observe or make use of them as they might 1. It is a grievous and a bitter curse Can there be any thing more grievous and bitter than the abandoning of the creature from God It was a very girevous curse which Shimei the Benjamite shott against King David as David himself termes it 1. Kin. 2.8 A strong sore forcible curse so the originall word signifies How much more rightly may all this be spoken of the curse of Gods Royall Law When the Angel of the Lord would measure out a curse against the Merozites according to the bredth of their sinne he bids curse them bitterly Jud. 5.23 Gods curse against sinners is bitter Jer. 4.18 It s made up of gall and worme-wood * Ier. 8.14.9.15 When Solomon would give warning of the danger which may come by the ensnaring of an whorish woman he tells us that in his owne experience he finds her more bitter than death Eccl. 7.26 If he had knowne any thing more bitter he would have mentioned it Now the curse of the Law is the death 〈◊〉 â—he sinner Gen. 2.17 The curse of the people upon Merciles self-seeking persons is grievous it bites sore Pro. 11.26 28.27 Oh
distinctness to his heart and conscience for doubtless every natural man may say of the Law as the Eunuch of the Text in the Prophecy of Isaiah How can I understand it except some man should guide me Act. 8.31 God sends Moses to conduct the children of Israel towards the Land of Canaan but they must go thorow the wilderness and there the Law must be promulgated in a terrible manner with thundrings and lightnings c. that the fear of the Lord might be before their faces Exod. 20.20 Sinners must come to mount Sinai before they come to mount Sion Jesus Christ himself when he comes with healing in his wings and his heart and mouth full of blessing for sinners yet even then he will send his messenger before his face to prepare the way before him they must remember the Law of Moses in the mean time and before his coming he will send them one to go before him in the spirit and power of Elias c. lest he come and smite the earth with a curse Mal. 4.2 4 5 6. Luke 1.17 So that to shut up this use we must crave your excuse if we harp sometimes on this harsh string for although it be not toothsome physick yet it is wholsome We should be both unfaithfull to our great Master and treacherous to your souls if we should withhold from you this so necessary a part of Gods counsel We were not worthy to be admitted Counsellors at Law if we would not plainly tell our Clients the worst of their causes We know the terrour of the Lord therefore we perswade you by the light of the Law to consider of your misery 2 Cor. 5.11 That speech of the Pharisees is a truth though ill meant and worse applied by them John 7.49 The people which know not the Law are cursed When people cannot endure to hear of their sin and curse by the ministery of the Law it is too probable a sign that they lie fast bound hand and foot under the curse Oh my brethren were it not better to hear the curse ringing aloud in your ears in this world while there is a possibility of escaping it than to feel it lying on your souls and bodies in the full power and fury of it in the world to come when the time of mercy and blessing is expired Oh consider it and the Lord give you understanding Sect. 6. Vse 7 8. 7. SUffer the words of exhortation and give me leave to impart unto you counsel from God Oh that your ears were open and your hearts pliable that this counsel mght be acceptable unto you about a matter of so great importance Let this exhortation run in two streams 1. To all the sons and daughters of Adam you see in what wofull case you stand by the just verdict of the holy Law of God I beseech you weigh it well it s the great curse of Almighty God that you lie under Would you see it yet more clearly in its hideousness then look upon it in all its dimensions for breadth it wraps in all mankind Adam and his whole generation to the last man that shall stand upon the earth and all creatures which serve for his use for length it reacheth to eternity for depth it goes down to hell and there puts forth its greatest mischief for height it gets up to heaven and inâ—ects it the moon and stars are not pure in his sight Job 25.5 Review the sad effects and strange properties before mentioned and then tell me are you now convinced of your misery is it come so near to your consciences that you cannot now shake it off any longer Oh then I intreat you for the love of your souls get from under it how dare ye abide in this condition how can ye eat or drink or sleep with such a massie weighty curse lying upon your souls Say Oh wretch that I am I was born at first to blessedness but I am now implunged into a most wofull curse and shall I lie still under it and not go about to recover my first estate Oh no haste away and escape for thy life the longer thou continuest under the curse the more sinfulness and guilt thou contractest and so makest thy self more accursed Deliver thy self betimes how long wilt thou linger in this blacke Sodome 2. To parents and such as have the charge of others alas your children are under the curse of the Law Suppose that some of them were infected with the leprosie pestilence or any contagious disease threatening death or were under any calamity at present which would certainly be their ruine if not timely prevented would ye not use the best means for their help especially if your hearts can tell you that you have had a great hand in bringing them into this danger Oh then if you have the bowels of parents earning in your bellies you will spare no cost nor pains but lay out your selves freely in all ways possible for their seasonable recovery you you have been the immediate instruments of putting them into this lamentable pickle you have begotten and brought them forth and from you they have derived together with their being this dolefull curse and will you suffer them to lie under it still and not put forth your hands to help them out Do ye not tremble to think into what a deep gulf you have implunged them Oh what joy can you have in them in their beauty comeliness towardliness or their sweet natural parts whiles this sad thought is ever and anon coming into your mindes Alas these tender babes these hopefull children are in themselves no better than accursed creatures But we may well mourn over the desperate carelesness of the greatest part of parents and masters which suffer those that are under them to continue in that wofull plight without looking after their recovâ—ry yea give them leave in these licencious days to run up and down from one sect to another and from one wickedness to another and to make themselves still more vile and yet do not restrain them as it is said of Eli 1 Sam. 3.13 And what shall we think of those parents that encourage their children to sinfull ways they may swear scorn at godliness break the Lords day profane his worship neglect yea trample upon his Ordinances and they give them good leave to do so saying in effect to them as Rebecca said to her darling Jacob when she set him on to get the blessing Upon me be thy curse my son Gen. 27.13 While you carry thus towards them I tell you you may bless them morning and evening yet God curseth them Ah cruel father mother master dame you must one day answer for their souls and their blood will be required at your hands You say you love them and would see them do well but I beseech you love them better than thus or you will one day waile and wring your hands to see them irremedilesly miserable 8. This truth being duly
wrath And verse 34. he complains thus my soul is exceeding sorrowfull or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Crux anto crucem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beset round with sorrow unto death So Luke comprehends all this in one word calling it an agony Luke 22.44 where he also describes it by the effects both that it put him upon more than ordinary vehemency and as it were more outstretchedness in prayer which the Apostle expresseth by strong crying and tears Hebr. 5.7 and also that it caused him to sweat as it were great drops of blood trickling downe to the ground 2. On the cross here was the main blow he bare our sins on the tree 1 Pet. 2.24 here the wrath of Almighty God lay on his soul in the whole weight of it Now the justice of God musters all his forces and gathers together all his regiments to fall upon Christ with his whole army as if he would rout him at once He descended into hell I mean not locally into the place of the damned for after death his body went down to the grave and was locally there for the space of three days and his soul went into paradice that is into heaven the place of bliss and glory as Luke 23.43 but onely virtually and effectively in that being Mediator and standing in our stead he did even while he was on the cross before he gave up the ghost undergo those hellish pains and sorrows in his soul which were due to us for sin The Lord took him and plunged him into the sea of his wrath all the waves and billows of it came rouling over his head and he sunk down into the very depths of death The Prophet Jonah being in the belly of the whale was a type of Christ both in his corporal and spiritual death therefore those things may truly be applied to his soul-sufferings which he complains of John 2.3 4 c. the extremity whereof forced him to cry out with a loud voice Why hast thou forsaken me Matth. 27.46 even as Jonah had said long before I am cast out of thy sight Jon. 2.4 To conclude this Christ on the cross hath the fury of the battel poured down upon him so that he bare the very heat and burden of it here he drank up the very dregs and bitterness of the cup even to the bottom Sect. 2. Some usefull observations tending to clear it further FRom all these particulars we may observe onely as by the way these three things 1. That the sufferings of Christ were not seeming and in shew onely but real and indeed 2. That the bodily sufferings and death of Christ were not sufficient to satisfie for the sins of the world but he must also undergo the sufferings and death of the soul For the proper seat and subject of sin is the soul not the body which is but as the souls shop using it as the Smith doth his hammer and anvile therefore if he had not suffered in soul the plaister had been narrower than the sore 3. That the sufferings of the soul were not barely mediate or by consent from the body as sympathizing onely with it but proper and immediate The soul is the first and principal in sin the body but the instrument It is most agreeable to justice that the principal should be rather deeper in the punishment than the instrument which holds not here if the body suffer immediately and the soul onely by sympathy Doubtless that same wrath of God those terrors and torments of hell for the substance of them fell down-right upon the soul of Christ which sinners should and reprobates must endure in their souls for sin Yet still this must be understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in such a way as suits with the dignity of the person suffering there was a mitigation or abatement in his soul-sufferings from the rigour which the damned shall be put to in three particulars 1. In the place of suffering this is but a circumstance in the business hell the place of the damned is no part of the debt therefore neither is suffering there locally any part of the payment of it no more than a prison is any part of an earthly debt or of the payment of it The surety may satisfie the creditor in the place appointed for payment or in the open court which being done the debtor and surety both are acquitted that they need not go to prison if either of them goe to prison it is because they do not or cannot pay the debt for all that justice requires is to satisfie the debt to the which the prison is meerly extrinsecal even so the justice of God cannot be satisfied for the transgression of his Law but by the death of the sinner but it doth not require that this should be done in the place of the damned The wicked goe to prison because they do not they cannot make satisfaction otherwise Christ having fully discharged the debt needed not to go to prison 2. In the time of continuance the damned must bear the wrath of God to all eternity because they can never satisfie the justice of God for sin therefore they must lie by it world without end but Christ hath made an infinite satisfaction in a finite time by undergoing that fierce battel with the wrath of God and getting the victory in a few hours which is equivalent to the creatures bearing it and grapling with it everlastingly The lenth or shortness of durance is but a circumstance not of any necessary consideration in this case Suppose a man indebted 100 l. and likely to lie in prison till he shall pay it yet utterly unable if another man comes and lays down the money on two hours warning is not this as well or better done That which may be done to as good or better purpose in a short time what need is there to draw it out at length The justice of the Law did not require that either the sinner or his surety should suffer the eternity of hells torments Non aeternitatem sed duntaxat extremitatem but onely their extremity It doth abundantly counterpoise the eternity of the punishment that the person which suffered was the eternal God Besides it was impossible that he should be detained under the sorrows of death Act. 2.24 and if he had been so detained then he had not spoiled Principalities and Powers nor triumphed over them but had been overcome and so had not attained his end 3. In a companion of the pains of the second death unavoidably attending it in reprobates to wit desperation an utter hopelesnesse of any good a certain expectation and waiting on the worst that can befall I shall not enter into a dispute whether the despair of the damned in hell be properly a sin ot not there be good Divines both ancient and modern that hold the negative which to me seemes most probable not so much from that ground on which they go that there is no sin
in their first birth this Livery that they are children of wrath Eph. 2.3 and his wrath is revealed from heaven against sin Rom. 1.18 yea the Lord is said to hate not onely sin but sinners Psal 11.5 Hos 9.15 and they are called haters of God Psal 5.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dei osores Deo exosi Pareus sic Theophyl Deut. 5.9 Rom. 1.30 But now by the Redemption which is in Christ as the Curse is taken off so the enmity also is slain wrath is turned away reconciliation is wrought The Messiah was to make reconciliation for iniquity Dan 9.24 which is as much as that 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself Being enemies we are reconciled by his death Rom. 5.10 and when poor sinners being by sin enemies and strangers do receive Jesus Christ then in him they receive the Attonement Rom. 5.11 so that now they are actually reconciled Col. 1.20 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and set in an estate of firm amitie and friendship with the glorious God through the blood of the Covenant In the first Adam he disclaimes us as base Rebels but in the second he owne's us as reconciled friends Let the Lord's Redeemed ones lift up their heads and know their happiness Jesus Christ hath slain the enmity which was betwixt God and you This price of Reconciliation hath broken down the wall of separation and although the Lord be still a consuming fire marching against the briars and thornes and burning them altogether yet even then he saith to his vineyard Furie is not in me Isa 27.4 2. Remission of sinnes This goes hand in hand with reconciliation 2 Cor. 5.19 As the violation of the Law of an earthly Governour brings upon the offender besides the Governour 's displeasure an obligation to punishment and when that obligation is voyded then he is said to be pardoned so man's disobedience against the great Lord of heaven and earth did oblige him to such punishment as the royal Law had threatned but Christ our Surety by bearing it for us hath voided that obligation and so we are discharged from it and in this stands our Pardon Therefore the Apostle joynes Redemption and Remission together as being upon the matter both one Eph. 1.7 Col. 1.14 and expresly ascribes them both to his blood as the meritorious cause Vide Grot. defens cap. 6. Ludov. Luc. Assert contra Mich. Gittich arg Iun. Non idem sed tantundem Whence by the way we may discover the weakness of that Socinian Argument against Redemption by Christ's satisfaction because our Redemption is called Remission For where satisfaction is made say they by undergoing due punishment or paying a valuable price there is no place for pardon But surely the Holy Ghost knowes better then we how to speak properly It 's Redemption by his blood and yet it is forgiveness of our sinnes And their argument hath more shew then weight For this satisfaction was not made by paying the very same but the as much not the proper strict debt which the Law changeth upon the sinner but the full value or weight of it with some alteration The Law saith The soul that sinneth shall die even the self same person and it must be death eternal because the sinner can never pay the uttermost farthing Had this been there had been no place for pardon Psa 69.4 But now Christ comes in and voluntarily undertakes to restore the things which he took not away that sinners which took them away might be set free Suppose a subject hath committed a crime deserving in rigour of Law perpetual imprisonment if now the King's Son be content to undergo 6 moneths imprisonment in his stead which considering the quality of the person is as much as a mean man's suffering it during life the King indeed may refuse this way of satisfaction because it is not the very letter of the Law but if he accept it what doth it import less then a pardon to the subject This is the Case The Son of God giving himself a sacrifice for sin doth in a short time wrastle through and master those sufferings which would have mastered sinners and hold them under to all eternity Now although Almighty God the great Law-giver might have refused this kinde of payment as not being the very same which the Covenant of works exacteth yet having not onely consented but devised and settled it as the most covenient way for the security of sinners and the manifestation of his glory thereupon he is well pleased with it being as full satisfaction to justice as if the sinner had satisfied in his own person So that the Lord 's accepting of it upon this account is so far from excluding remission that it rather makes way for it and gives it a being This appears further by the Apostles ruled case Heb. 9.22 See Jun. paral Pareus without shedding of blood no remission which holds both in Legal sacrifices and in the great sacrifice of Christ typified thereby as the scope of the place shews But to return The Law chargeth the curse upon the sons of men The Lord Jesus takes the curse upon himself and thereby makes an end of sinnes for this was one of the works which he was to do Dan. 9.24 the debt being paid the book is cross'd the bond is cancelled No forfeiture to be taken no penalty to be undergone Let wretched sinners take notice of their happiness in this also Christ was sent to purge away all your iniquities 1 Ioh. 1.7 Psal 65.3 Redemption blots out all your Items and layes up pardons in heaven for your use to be readie for you in the time of need 3. Justification of our persons Obligation to punishment doth imply liableness to accusation and condemnation for the offence which deserves such punishment The righteous Law of God finding man a transgressour and so unrighteous threatens death as his due And in order to the inflicting of it stands up as an Accuser and passeth sentence against him Now Christ being made sinne and a curse in the sinners stead doth thereby with one and the same labour both set him free from the punishment of sin and acquit him from the accusation and condemnation of the Law Whereupon he may plead that although the demerit of his sin doth crie aloud for punishment yet it is not due to his person because Jesus Christ hath borne it for him and made full satisfaction to justice Rom. 3.24 The Apostle makes justification an effect of the Redemption which is in Christ Jesus Dan. 9.24 the Messiah was to bring in everlasting righteousness Jer. 23.5 6. a righteous Branch is promised to be raised up to David and his name shall be called Jehovah our Righteousness And thus he is made of God to us Righteousness 1 Cor. 1.30 When the offence is taken away by a pardon the person is accounted righteous Therefore the not imputing of sin and the
marriage motioned upon assurance that the man would not rest till he had finished the thing Ruth 3.18 So much more should we learn silently to wait for the happy issue of this great transaction betwixt Christ and us in our compleat Redemption and full marriage in heaven 3. Hearty rejoycing in the foresight of it Let those strong desires and lively hopes be carried on and sweetned with the mixture of spiritual joy which may comfortably refresh and chear your soules all along in every condition upon the view of this day before-hand The Apostle speaking in the Name of justified persons saith We rejoyce in hope of the glory of God yea even in tribulations Rom. 5.2 3. and of himself he saith a crown of righteousness is laid up for me having fought a good fight c. The manner of his expression breathes out joy and contentment in the forethought of it 2 Tim. 4.8 and long before this holy Job discovers the same spirit of gladness I know saith he that my Redeemer livâ—th and that he shall stand up at the last day and then I shall see God in my flesh Job 19.25 26. How doth the apprentice or hired servant rejoyce to think on the expiration of his Terme and the last day of his service Thou poor soul who art still forced to serve the Law of sinne in thy flesh look forward and see the time of thy freedome coming on and be comforted How do the Mariners and Sea-faring men that have been wether-beaten and tossed with tempests rejoyce Psal 107.30 when they see the haven afarre off where they may be quiet If thou be put upon hard adventures and art sailing through a rough sea of stormes and troubles in this world yet lift up thine eyes and behold the haven of perfect liberty and glory whereunto thy Redeemer will wafâ— thee shortly and let this chear up thy Spirit How greatly doth it glad the heart of a condemned prisoner that lies bound in affliction and iron to hear the report of a pardon sealed at Court for him which shall be put into his hands at the Assises and solemnly proclaimed for his benefit the welcome thought of these things makes his heart even leap for joy and he begins to insult upon the prison his bonds and fetters and all the instruments of his restraint and saith I shal get rid out of all your hands ere long Thou ransomed soul Thy pardon is sealed in heaven the report thereof is comed to thine eares and heart by the ministerie of the Gospel It shall be effectually pleaded for thee at the day of Christ's appearing and thou shalt be possessed of an absolute freedome never to know bondage under sinne and the Curse any more Oh then Plal. 126.1 1. let thy mouth be filled with laughter and thy tongue with singing Let thy meditations on this subject be sweet and feast thy soul thereon with great delight Say thus to the glory of thy Redeemer Lord Jesus thou camest once to be accursed for me that was my shame but thou wilt come again at that day to be admired in me that shall be thy honour 2 Thes 1.10 Beloved Christians let us learn these lessons and practise them But truly such carriage requires a spiritual frame of heart I shall therefore adde a few particulars commending them to your observation as necessary helps to further us in the main dutie 1. Carefully keep thy self unspotted of the world let not the pleasure of any carnal lust so tickle thy soul as to get within thee and seise upon the vitals of grace give not libertie to thy foot to walk in any forbidden path but take pains to purge out thy dross and baggage more and more that thou mayest be pure in heart and undefiled in the way Through this gross neglect too many Christians suffering iniquitie to cleave to their hands disable themselves from loving the appearing of Christ they do not desire it but are averse from it they do not hope for it but rather fear it they cannot sensibly rejoyce in it but the thoughts of it put them into dumps and sadness Onely this taking heed to thy self will dispose thee to lift up thy face without spot yea thou shalt be secure because there is hope Jâ—b 11.14 c. 2. Preserve in thy self a willingness to die Thâ—s was the failing of Elijah 1 Kin. 19.4 and Jonah Chap. 4.3 8. I mean a well-grounded reall willingness not slavish or constrained through impatience under sufferings or discontent in an unwelcome condition but sincere and cordial from a longing after Jesus Christ to enjoy him in the full fruit of his Redemption This was S. Paul's temper Phil. 1.21 There is indeed in every man naturally an aversness from death being the dissolution of his frame and an evil of punishment and the grace of Regeneration doth not wholly take it away but onely keeps it within due Bounders and raiseth up in the soul a supernatural desire of blessedness with Christ in heaven and a willingness to submit to death in order to the attaining thereof Get thy heart wrought to this frame and held up By death the Lord will set thee free from all thy chaines and not till then if thou canst not make it welcome it seems thou art not wearie of thy chaines yet alas how common is this distemper We look upon the grace of Redemption as very desireable and we would enjoy it at the very height yet we hang still in the bodie and are loth to die The prisoner that knowes his Supersedeas is granted or his pardon sealed will he be loth to see the prison doores set open or shrink at the knocking off his bolts from his leggs If the Lord Jesus came down from heaven took upon him the curse of the Law and bare the wrath of God due to us Rebels and all that he might bring us to God in glory shall we stand off and so cause him to lose his labour Is heaven and the pleasures of God's right hand of no more worth in thine eye Oh Christians death may well be terrible to such as are strangers to Christ but he hath taken away the sting of it for you Therefore labour to get up above your feares and be freely content to be unclothed that you may be present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5.1 8. 3. In thy whole course after conversion commit thy soul and all the hopes of thy happiness unto Jesus Christ Lay up thy crown with him commend thy darling thy choicest treasure unto him and let him keep it for thee He hath ransomed thy soul which thou hadst lost and recovered the inheritance of heaven which thou hadst forfeited by thy treason therefore put them over into his hands by faith and hope and let him have the custody of them Do this in every condition of life wherein the Lord shall set thee When the light shines about thy Tabernacle and thou enjoyest prosperitie in things below say