whether you are spiritually alive or not for if so you are quickned and made alive by the Operations of the Spirit and there is a Principle of Divine Life infused into your Souls So that from a holy and new Nature you can and do breath forth your Desires freely and frequently to God and see the excellency of spiritual Objects and Things Christ is must precious and lovely in your sight Your Eyes see and your Ears hear and you have spiritual feeling and you can and do act and move that is believe repent and obey God with great Activity and a strong Propensity or gracious Inclinations of Heart There is also much of the Beauty of Holiness shining forth in your Lives 2. This also by the way may serve to detect that Doctrine some nay too many maintain of the Power of the Creature Alas alas what can the Dead do For evident it is that those who are thus dead have no Principle or first Power of living unto God or to perform any Duty to be accepted of him It is with them as to all Acts and Ends of spiritual Life as with the Body as to the Acts and Ends of natural Life when the Soul is departed from it or else God would never say they are dead call them dead Does God make use of an improper Metaphor Dare they affirm that It must be so if Man naturally be not dead but wounded in a spiritual Sense only True a wicked Man is naturally alive and his Soul is in his Body and he is endowed with Vnderstanding Will and Affection and may perform many Duties God requires of him But what of this for in spiritual Life the Holy Ghost is unto the Soul what the Soul is unto the Body in respect of natural Life namely the quickning Principle And as a Learned Author well observes to deny such a quickning Principle of spiritual Life superadded unto us by the Grace of Christ distinct and separate from the natural Faculties of the Soul is upon the Matter to renounce the whole Gospel It is all one as to deny that Adam was created in the Image of God which he lost and that we are renewed unto the Image of God by Jesus Christ 2 dly They may also as well assert Man hath a creating Power for Regeneration is called the New Creature which is created in us after the Image of God according to his own glorious Power 3 dly Therefore whatsoever Sinners act in spiritual Things by their Understanding Will or Affections that are not renewed they do it naturally and not spiritually and are therefore called dead Works We may also from hence infer what a mighty Blessing and Favour it is to be made spiritually alive How should such admire God and his Free Grace in Jesus Christ for as they have an internal holy Life so they shall never die but have eternal Life nay that this Eternal Life is begun in them here I give them Eternal Life But to proceed Secondly I am to shew how Salvation or Everlasting Life is a free Gift or by Grace only 1. Life and Salvation is of Grace in opposition to Nature we have it not as the Product of Nature Which were born not of Blood nor of the Will of the Flesh nor of the Will of Man but of God To be born signifies to receive a Principle of Life and those that are the Children of God have not that spiritual Life that is in them from the Motions or Powers of Nature not from the Power of Man's Will nor from their fleshly or natural Parts and Abilities however improved 2. Life and Salvation is wholly of Grace or a free Gift in opposition to Merit we cannot purchase or procure it by our Acts of Obedience By Grace are ye saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God not of Works c. Not by Works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he saved us Not the desert of our Works let them be what they will either before or after Grace but from God's own sovereign Mercy and Goodness whose Bowels yerned towards his Elect in Misery For the VVages of Sin is Death but the Gift of God is Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Death Natural Death Spiritual and Death Eternal are the Wages and Desert of Sin And who will deny a Servant his Wages Wicked Men are the Servants of Sin and they shall have their Wages But though Death is the Wages or Merit of Sin yet Eternal Life is not the Wages of our good Works no but the Gift of God through the Righteousness of Jesus Christ It is not by our Works or for our Worthiness The Apostle as our Annotators note varies the Phrase on purpose to shew that Salvation is wholly of God's Grace and not of our own Merits 'T is of Grace or the Gift of God through Jesus Christ that is through his Merits De gratia libero arbitrio saith Augustine 3. Life and Salvation is by Grace only or the free Gift of God in opposition to the Law The Law could not give Life that could not save us For had there been a Law given that could have given Life verily Righteousness should have been by the Law The Law requires perfect Obedience and lays every one under the Curse that continues not in all things that is written therein to do them Therefore no Life by the Law that being weak through the Flesh Man could not perfectly fulfil it and so could have no Life by it 4. Life and Salvation is the free Gift of God in opposition to any acceptable Service done for it by us as some times great Gifts are bestowed on Persons for the sake of some small Service performed for them But it is not so here though Salvation be a Reward of Grace yet it is not given for the sake of any acceptable Service done by us we know that a small Matter sometimes purchases that which is of great Value but nothing we do or can do can purchase Life and Salvation for our Souls True Eternal Life is a Purchase it is a Reward of Merit but O mistake me not it is not of our purchasing it is no Reward for any Work done by us but it is the Purchase of Jesus Christ the Reward of his Work by his fulfilling of the Righteousness of the Law for us in our Nature in his holy and spotless Life and by his satisfying the Justice of God for our breaking and violating of his Holy Law which he did by the painful and cursed Death of his Cross For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh and for Sin condemned Sin in the Flesh that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit That the
to rake into the Sores of God's sincere Servants No doubt the Falls and grievous Sins of the Holy Saints of God are by the Spirit left on Record for blessed Ends and Purposes 1. To shew what need the best of Men and Women have to pray and stand upon their Watch at all times 2. To discover the Strength of Indwelling Sin or the natural Corruptions of the Hearts of such who are truly gracious and the absolute Necessity there is for all to depend upon the Divine Help and Assistance of God under Temptations 3. That no true Christian that is suffered to fall into Sin should despair of the pardoning Grace of God 2 dly The Saints of God or true Believers may fall from Grace as well as into great and immoral Evils and Acts of Wickedness I mean they may fall from Degrees of Grace or decay in Grace lose the Strength and Power of Divine Grace as to the Acts and Exercise thereof They may decay in Faith in Love in Humility Patience Hope c. Yet nevertheless I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first Love Love may cool in the best of Saints though it shall never be quite extinguished for nothing can utterly quench it How low was the Faith of Christ's Disciples when they said We trusted that it had been he that should have redeemed Israel Job also intimates that his Hope was cut off He hath destroyed me on every side and I am gone and mine Hope hath he removed like a Tree There are Weaknesses in the Strongest and Imperfections may come upon those who are perfect as Mr. Caryl notes Ebbings after the greatest Flowings and Declinings after the greatest Heights of Graces and gracious Actings My Days are spent without Hope David also said I shall one day fall by the Hand of Saul so low was his Faith 3 dly God's Saints may also fall from the true Doctrine of the Gospel which is called a falling from Grace Christ is become of no effect unto you whosoever of you are justified by the Law ye are fallen from Grace that is such who seek or desire to be justified by a Law any Law of Obedience or by their own Righteousness for the End of Christ's Death and the Gospel is to cast away Man 's own Righteousness in point of Justification and to supply us with the Suretiship-Righteousness of Jesus Christ and such who seek to be justified any other way are fallen from Grace they renounce the Free Grace of God exhibited in the Gospel The Apostle doth not here refer to a State of Grace but to the Doctrine or Gospel of Grace in which is manifest the free Love of God in offering Christ to Sinners for Righteousness and Life 4 thly True Believers or the Sheep of Jesus Christ may fall from the publick Profession of the Faith from a visible owning and maintaining their Testimony to Christ and his Gospel through slavish Fear Thus not only Peter but all the other Disciples fell also they all forsook their Blessed Master when he was apprehended and led away as a Sheep to the Slaughter then all the Disciples forsook him All these Disciples had promised him that they would not forsake him but when the Trial comes not one of them stands they shrunk from professing themselves to be his Disciples and Followers But they recovered this Fall and after Christ's Resurrection made a glorious profession of him and his Gospel unto the Death 5 thly The Saints of God may fall so as to break all their Bones and grievously to wound their own Consciences O Lord heal me for my Bones are vexed My Soul is also sore vexed but thou O Lord how long My Pain and Anguish is bitter by the Burden of my Sin and Sense of thy Anger Again he saith My Strength faileth because of mine Iniquities and my Bones are consumed I am feeble and sore broken Elsewhere he speaks as if all his Bones were broken all his Strength was gone Bones we know are the Strength of the Body from thence the Metaphor seems to be taken Now that is a grievous Fall which breaks all the Bones 6 thly The Saints or Sheep of Christ may so fall or to such a degree lose the exercise of their Faith and Hope in God as to be deprived of the Light of God's Countenance and the Joy of his Salvation Restore to me the Joy of thy Salvation Nay may wholly be in Darkness for a time or have no Light He hath kindled his Wrath against me and he counteth me to him as one of his Enemies I am gone ver 10. I am a lost Man as if he should say Thou hast laid me in the lowest Pit in Darkness in the Deeps Free among the Dead like the slain that lie in the Grave whom thou remembrest no more and they are cut off from thy Hand That walk in Darkness and have no Light I do not say that Desertion is always the Fruit and Punishment of Sin though sometimes it is yet it is always occasioned through the decay or want of the Exercise of Grace or through God's withdrawing his sweet Presence and Influences of his Spirit from the Soul It may not be amiss here before I proceed to answer a Question that some perhaps may have in their Thoughts to propound viz. What are the Causes that sometimes the Saints fall so far as hath been hinted Answ The Grounds or Causes of their falling may be divers 1. It is through the Remainders of Corruption or Indwelling Sin that abide in all Believers The chiefest Saints of God are but renewed in part Though they are renewed in every Part there is a Law in the Members that wars against the Law of the Mind But I see another Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind and bringing me into Captivity to the Law of Sin which is in my Members O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of Sin and Death These two Laws are in all true Believers or in all regenerate Persons and they are directly contrary the one to the other and by reason of this there is continual War and Combating between them And evident it is thro the Power or Policy of the fleshly Part the Godly are sometimes overcome not only by common Failings but fall into great Transgressions also Our chief Enemies are those of our own House the Devil could do us little hurt from without had he not such a strong Party for him and siding with him in our own Bowels or within us This inbred Enemy always lies in wait to betray us and if we take not the more care will prevail against us and at one time or another trip up our Heels especially that Sin which doth chiefly beset us most Christians having their Constitution-Sin though no godly Man hath a beloved Sin yea the Seed of all Sin still remains in
Sins and Iniquities I will remember no more Though they will be sick none can live and sin not yet they have a Physician that can and will heal them The Covenant hath a healing Antidote in it for every spiritual Malady of the Soul of a poor dejected Believer And because God hath promised to give Repentance to his Israel Sin not being actually forgiven without Repentance or before Repentance therefore God will give Repentance to all his Children he will look upon them as Christ look'd upon Peter and then they shall and do weep as he did bitterly Nay Brethren Jesus Christ is exalted on high to this very End Him hath God exalted with his right Hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance unto Israel and forgiveness of Sins That is to cover to conquer and subdue all their Corruptions and to supply their Wants and to protect and defend them from all Enemies and eternally to save their Souls For which End he had his Name given him And thou shalt call his Name Jesus for he shall save his People from their Sins from the Guilt of them the Power of them and the Punishment of them Also therefore Sin cannot separate them from God's Love and ruin their precious Souls Sixthly No Sin can destroy the Soul nor separate it from God but such Sins only that have dominion that rule and reign in Men and Women such that the Sinner loves and allows in himself Nay all unrenewed Persons are Servants of Sin but no Sin reigns in a true Believer he loves no Sin allows of no Sin therefore cannot commit Sin Sin shall not cannot reign in them for Sin shall not have Dominion over you for you are not under the Law but under Grace Grace will prevent it the Covenant of Grace and the Influences of Grace and the Promises of Grace The Law commands but gives no Power to obey but Power to subdue Sin goes along with the Gospel the Law is the Strength of Sin but the Gospel is the Death of it Object But for all this good Men may be overcome and backslide from God and God may leave them and love them no more Answ 1. I answer They may be overcome for a Time or worsted in the Conflict but they shall not finally be overcome though they fall they shall rise again And as it is said A Troop shall overcome Gad but Gad shall overcome at last so it may be said of every Believer Hence the Apostle says We are more than Conquerors through him that loveth us Rejoice not over me O mine Enemy when I fall I shall rise 2. Though they backslide from God for a time yet he will recover them again I will heal their Back-slidings and will love them freely See here that God's People by their Backslidings do not lose his choice Love and Affections No no he will love them still and that freely too and will not rest till he heals them of that Sickness which is the worst they can relapse into 3. The Elect are another sort they are not of them that backslide so that God's Soul takes no pleasure in them But we are not of them who draw back unto Perdition but of them that believe to the Salvation of the Soul There are some that so draw back after they have made a high Profession of the Gospel but Christ's Sheep are not Sons of Perdition but Sons of Faith or true and sincere Believers they cannot so sin so apostatize because the Seed remains in them they cannot commit Sin they cannot sin as others do not so as to lose God's Love or not sin unto Death therefore cannot perish They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us c. They were not such that had real Union with Christ the true Anointing was not in them they were not of Christ's Sheep not sincere Believers not Elect Ones From hence let me draw this Argument Arg. 2. All those that sin cannot separate from the Love of God in Christ nor eternally destroy nothing can but they shall be certainly saved but Sin cannot separate true Believers or the Sheep of Christ from the Love of God in Christ nor eternally destroy them therefore nothing can but they shall certainly be saved Object But doth not this give encouragement to Believers to sin and so a Licentious Doctrine Answ 1. The Apostle answers this very Objection to anticipate such a sort of Men that were in his Days which we meet with in these of ours What shall we say then shall we continue in Sin that Grace may abound God forbid He having largely in the foregoing Chapters proved the Doctrine I am upon viz. That Salvation is alone by Christ by the Free Grace of God in him that our Justification is by the Righteousness of Christ imputed and no other way And that Everlasting Life is sure and certain to all the Seed to all in Christ or to all who do believe in him and he shews that where Sin abounded Grace hath much more abounded Particularly in the precedent Verse he asserts That as Sin hath reigned unto Death even so might Grace reign through Righteousness unto Eternal Life by Jesus Christ our Lord. From hence he raises this Objection to anticipate carnal and blind Mortals who see no further and answers it with God forbid how shall we that are dead to Sin live any longer therein 2. Let me tell you that they who leave Sin refrain from Sin upon no higher better or more noble Principles than the fear of Wrath or eternal perishing or only act from slavish Fear have doubtless not one Dram of true Grace in them Brethren to abstain from Sin to strive against Sin to resist Temptations and to be found in all Duties of Obedience and Holiness lies in high sublime and evangelical Principles and from such Motives that have greater Force and Power on the Soul than the fear of Wrath or Hell can have As 1. Saith a Believer Is Sin hateful to God doth God's Soul loath it is it abominable to him and shall it not be so to me but shall I sin God forbid 2. Hath Sin pierced my dear Redeemer Was it the Spear that let out his Heart's Blood that wounded and tore him to pieces that made him sweat great Drops of Blood that let out Divine Wrath upon him and made him a Curse for me and shall I sin and wound him again God forbid 3. Did Christ die for me to redeem me did he stand in my stead and bear mine Iniquities and shall I sin God forbid 4. Hath God bestowed such Grace upon me as to love me from Everlasting to chuse me to redeem me to renew me and all to this End that I should be to the Praise of his Glory and bring forth the Fruits of Holiness and not sin against him and shall
me I am against it Grace hath the upper Hand in my Soul I am for the Law of God I give my Voice for Christ I that is my renewed part that 's the I he speaks of 6. He cannot sin unto Death sin so as to fall finally fall and perish for ever 'T is evident that this is intended here though there may be a Truth in the other respects If any Man see his Brother sin a Sin which is not unto Death he shall ask and he shall give him Life for them that sin not unto Death There is a Sin unto Death I do not say he shall pray for it The Elect sin but not unto Death there is Pardon for all their Sins if they ask their Sins shall be forgiven them but there is a Sin unto Death a falling into Heresy or Debauchery or such an Apostacy that shall never be forgiven but thus they cannot commit Sin that are born of God so as to perish Which indeed the Apostle in the same Chapter shews to be his meaning All Vnrighteousness is Sin and there is a Sin not unto Death Mind his next words We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not He clearly shews us what he intendeth by sinning not namely he sinneth not unto Death but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself that the Wicked one toucheth him not This is the great Happiness and Advantage of the Children of God who partake of his Holy Nature they are furnished with a self-preserving Principle the Seed remains they shall never lose their New Nature therefore cannot sin unto Death For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the World the World in all its Snares Sins Allurements and Temptations whatsoever that is they shall at last overcome Because he that is in them is stronger than he that is in the World 6 thly The very Relation of Children secures them and fully shews they cannot shall not sin fall and perish for ever for what Father a dear and tender Father will suffer any one of his Children to be torn into Pieces and cruelly devoured before his Face if he be able to preserve and deliver it Or should he suffer it would not all say that he was a cruel and unmerciful Father one that had no Love no natural Affections to his poor Child If therefore any one Child of God falls into the Enemy's Hand I mean into Sin 's Hand or Satan's Hand and is torn into pieces or is destroyed and ruined for ever it must be 1. Either for want of Love in God to that poor Child of his 2. Or else for want of Power and Ability in God he being not strong or able enough to save his distressed Child out of the Hands of those cruel Enemies Or 3. For want of Care and Watchfulness in God from whence the Enemy took an Advantage and destroyed his Child that was begotten and born of him Now it cannot be that God wants Love to all or any one of his Children we have shewed you that he loves them with an everlasting infinite and inconceivable Love such a Love as nothing can separate his Children from it and to say he either wants Power to save them or Care and Faithfulness is Blasphemy O what is the Love the Care and Faithfulness of God Besides he has committed them into Christ's Hand to keep and preserve them as my Text holds forth And can any think that Christ has not received a Charge to keep them from the Danger of Sin that they be not finally lost thereby as well as from any other Enemy Or do you think Christ will fail in his Care and Faithfulness who is their great Shepherd Sponsor Surety or Trustee Moreover if he should as I shall hereafter shew you lose one Child he loses one of the Members of his own Mystical Body Now from the whole let me draw this general Argument and so conclude with this 1. If every true Believer is begotten and born of God 2. If they partake of his Holy and Divine Nature 3. If Children cannot cease being Children or that Relation continues as long as Life continues however disobedient the Child may be and if it be thus with the Children of God who are begot and born of him or by his Spirit that they cannot cease being his Children nor lose that Divine Nature they derived from him in Regeneration 4. If God hath provided so well for his own Children in the Covenant that they shall not depart from him 5. If no Child that was born of God did ever perish that we read of 6. If they are the Children of God or Heirs of God and joint Heirs with Christ 7. If they cannot sin unto Death Then no true Believer can so sin and fall away as eternally to perish But all these things affirmed are true certainly true therefore no true Believer can so sin and fall away as eternally to perish Brethren I shall apply this and pass to the sixth Argument APPLICATION Infer 1. From hence we infer that those Men who affirm that such who are the Children of God begotten and born of the Spirit may perish are strangely beclouded for they must suppose that a Child may utterly lose the Nature and Relation of a Child and degenerate so far as to become a Dog a Swine c. which is impossible in Nature and much more in Grace for as none but the Almighty Power of the Infinite God could change the Soul so it is impossible for any Diabolical Power to turn or change that Holy Nature again and that not only because the Divine Nature and Image of God is such in self but also by reason of the Design and Purpose of God in and by Jesus Christ in our Restauration that being such that it cannot be lost any more without the highest dishonour to God and a frustration of his Eternal Purpose and Counsel which was to destroy the Works of the Devil If any should object that Adam had the Image of God in him before he fell and lost it I answer He was the Son of God by Creation only not by Grace he was not begotten by the Holy Spirit nor did he stand as we do in Christ Infer 2. This may also therefore inform all Believers that they are in a most happy and safe Condition because they are born of God and brought by Grace and Regeneration into an unchangeble State Exhort O see that you are the Children of God begotten of God for if so though you are but Babes yet you are out of Eternal Danger Let me give you Brethren here a few Marks or Characters of Babes in Christ or of a Child of God 1. Babes have all the Parts and Lineaments of a Man if it be a perfect Birth So a Babe in Christ hath all the Essentials of a true Christian he hath all the Parts and Lineaments of the New Creature There is a Formation of God's Image or a gracious Work of
Ghost useth is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 6. 8. For when we were without strength Christ died for the Ungodly He spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all I lay down my Life for my Sheep This is my Body that is given for you Now the Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among other Significations saith he that it hath signifieth sometimes the Impulsive Cause Phil. 2. 13. Ephes 5. 16. Rom. 15. 9. Sometimes the Substitution of one in the room of another 2 Cor. 5. 10. Philem. v. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Demost Ego pro te molam Terent. Particularly when the Sufferings of one for another is expressed by it it always signifies the Substitution of one in the place of another Whenever it is used to imply one's dying for another it signifies the dying in his stead even as the Son of Man came to give his Life a Ransom for many repeated again Mark 10. 45. This Preposition says he whenever applied to Persons or Things it always imports a substituting of one in the room of another So that from the whole we may confidently conclude that Christ did not only suffer for our Good but in our room 8. Christ was once offered to bear the Sins of many Now to bear Sin usually in Scripture-Phrase is to bear the Punishment of Sin Levit. 5. 1. 7. 8. Numb 14. 33. He hath born our Griefs and carried our Sorrows For the Transgression of my People was be stricken Which clearly shews the Ground and Cause of his Suffering and not the Issue and the Event 9. If all the other pretended Grounds and Causes are frivolous and vain that Men bring of Christ's dying for us suffering for us besides this of dying in our stead or room then that is the proper and only meaning thereof but all other pretended Grounds are vain and frivolous How idle is it for any to say He died only to remove or take away the rigid Law of Works and to merit a milder Law of Grace Which seems to imply as if God repented he ever gave the Law of perfect Obedience Or as if God could allow of Sin or else as if the Law of perfect Obedience did not result from his Holy Nature but that he might have given a Law at first like their new Law of Grace Or according to others that he died to fulfil and take away the Ceremonial Law and to be a Pattern of Abasement Humility and Self-denial Now had that been could not God have substituted Peter to have been such a Pattern as well as his own Son and set him up as an Example or else some other most choice and renowned Saint or Prophet or have caused and Angel to be incarnate to have done it that we might have followed his Steps And how vain is that which some of the Arminians assert viz. That he died to satisfy for Original Sin or for the Breach of the first Covenant and to purchase Salvation upon the Condition of Repentance Faith and Obedience or to merit God's Acceptance of the Creature 's Faith Love Holiness and sincere Obedience instead of perfect Obedience to the Law of Works so that God is become reconcilable through Christ's Death But that he may be actually reconciled lies wholly upon the Creature as his part and thus he died for the Good of all Men but not in the place or stead of any one Now by this Notion Salvation is principally wrought out by the Creature God having put Man into a Condition or Capacity to work it out for himself And according to this Notion Man may or may not be saved God having left the whole of Salvation in order to the making Christ's Death to become effectual to the Will of Man So that Man's Will as I before intimated determines the Case whether Christ's Death shall effect any Eternal Blessing unto Sinners in general or to any one Sinner in particular or not God as one of them once preached puts Man into a Capacity to work and to do but works not in any the Will or the Deed of his own good Pleasure Now how false and frivolous all these pretended Grounds or Designs of Christ's Death are I have already shewed Arg. 1. And from the first Argument taken from the Death of Christ I argue thus All those that Jesus Christ died in the room or stead of shall never die or eternally perish But Christ died in the room or stead of all his Elect or all such who believe and are his Sheep therefore not one of them shall die or eternally perish Arg. 2. If Christ died for all the Sins of his Elect both before Grace or before they are called and for those committed after Grace or after they are called so that they might not be condemned for any of them then none of them can eternally perish But this I have proved therefore none of them shall ever eternally perish Secondly The Death of Christ doth deliver every true Believer from Eternal Wrath and Condemnation I prove thus Because the Sufferings of Christ or the Sacrifice of Christ is imputed to them or is accounted to them that do believe This follows from what I said last He took our Sins upon himself and satisfied for them as if he had actually sinned and freely of his own Grace gives us the Benefit of his Suffering as if we had actually suffered our Sin was imputed to him that his Righteousness and Obedience might be imputed to us even both that which is called his Active and Passive Obedience Sin was imputed to Christ yea every Sin we have or ever shall commit so that in Christ we have born already all that Vindictive Wrath and Vengeance of God that was due to them according to his Holy Law and Threatning denounced against us Christ and his Elect are as one Person or as one entire Corporation and what he did was as if every one that he represents had done it The Sufferings of our Saviour was in lieu of the Life of the Sinner the Just for the Vnjust By his Stripes we were healed And that by God's charging our Sin judicially upon him he as our Surety standing in our room He was as the Apostle says made Sin for us that knew no Sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him Arg. 3. If Christ hath born all that Vindictive Wrath that was due to his Elect for their Sins then not one of them can eternally perish But Christ hath born all that Vindictive Wrath that was due to his Elect for their Sins therefore not one of them can eternally perish The Justice of God hath nothing to lay to the Charge of God's Elect because it is Christ that died he whose Death hath an infinite Worth and Satisfaction in it this is the Apostle's very Argument If God's Justice is satisfied and his Wrath appeased in Christ's Death if our blessed Jonah's being thrown into the Sea of
Divine Wrath hath made so sweet a Calm that God declares in him i. e. in his Son he is well-pleased and that Fury is not in him now no more for ever towards Believers who can or shall then condemn them Jesus Christ hath turned away God's Anger by impairing of his Right and Soveraignty without derogation from his Perfections So that now he can and doth receive us who believe into his Eternal Love and Favour through the Death of his own Son it being the Judgment of God that they who sin are worthy of Death But that Death which Sin incurred and the Sinner deserved Christ hath endured for his Elect and delivered them for ever from the Pain and Punishment thereof and stand acquitted of and justified from for ever Thirdly It is because Jesus Christ who was the Antitype of the Scape-Goat hath carried away all our Sins who do believe The kill'd Goat made the Atonement for the Sins of all God's Israel and because one Goat could not prefigure the whole of Christ's Undertaking therefore there were two Goats appointed And Aaron shall lay both his Hands upon the Head of the live Goat and confess over him all the Iniquities of the Children of Israel and all their Transgressions in all their Sins putting them upon the Head of the Goat and shall send him away by the Hand of a fit Person into the Wilderness And the Goat shall bear upon him all their Iniquities unto a Land not inhabited c. Brethren pray observe here is mention four times of all the Sins of the Children of Israel all their Iniquities all their Transgressions all their Sins And again the Goat shall bear upon him all their Iniquities The Goat was a Type of Christ to shew that not one Sin of a Child of God shall ever be laid upon him charged upon him because Christ had them all laid upon him and he hath carried them all away all their Sins great Sins as well as smaller Sins Sins before Grace and after Grace were all laid upon Jesus Christ yea Sins of all sorts Sins of Commission and Sins of Omission no Sin could be expiated without the Death and Blood of Christ Also a full and free Confession was to be made upon the Head of the Scape-Goat of all Sins Brethren as the smallest Sins needed such a Sacrifice such an Atonement namely the Death of Christ so the greatest Sins were not excluded from that Atonement and blessed Benefit of his Death Moreover the Scape-Goat carried all their Sins away into the Wilderness or into an unknown Land or into a Land of Forgetfulness never to be remembred any more this hath our Lord Jesus done Christ hath put away Sin and put it away for ever and that by the Sacrifice of himself once for all He hath laid on him the Iniquities of us all and also all our Iniquities He could not be supposed to have suffered for our Sins if our Sins respecting the Guilt of them were not laid upon him or charged upon him and imputed to him his Sufferings otherwise would have been Arbitrary and Unjust had he not been substituted by the Father and called forth as our Surety nor could his Death been accepted the Law no where condemning or punishing any one who in a Law-sense is an innocent Person He was made Sin without knowing Sin He knew the Guilt by Imputation but he knew not Sin any otherwise neither Original nor Actual He was born without Sin and lived without Sin in his Mouth was found no Guile yet he had our Sins upon him and carried them away he being the Antitype of the slain Goat satisfied for all our Sins and as he is the Antitype of the live Goat he hath born them away for ever Arg. 4. If any one Sin of the Children of God shall ever be charged upon them as to that Vindictive Wrath that is due to Sin so that they may come under Eternal Condemnation of it then hath not Christ born all their Sins nor carried them away into the Land of Forgetfulness But Christ hath born all their Sins and carried away all their Iniquities as he is the Antitype of the slain and living Goat therefore their Sins shall never be charged upon them as to the Vindictive Wrath that is due to them so that they can never come under Eternal Condemnation Fourthly None of Christ's Sheep or no Believer can fall so as eternally to perish upon the Consideration of the Death of Christ 1. Because Christ hath by his Death delivered them from the Curse of the Law as well as from the Guilt of Sin the Law is the Strength of Sin it is by that Sin condemneth the Sinner The Law lays every Man under the Wrath and Curse of God and unless it be answered God might be said to change his Will should he justify any Man nay it would seem to reflect upon his Holiness the Precepts must perfectly be kept by Man or his Surety the Breach we had made of it by Sin must be satisfied for both these Jesus Christ hath done not for himself he needed not to have come to keep the Law to justify himself for as God he is infinite Holy but as Mediator he did this for us he obtained a perfect Robe or Righteousness to give away and put on us He hath brought in everlasting Righteousness and made an end of Sin How made an end of Sin Not that there shall be no Sin any more in the World No but he has made an end of the condemning Power of it the strength it had to kill and damn the Soul is took away for ever from all that believe from all that he hath put his Righteousness upon God's justice being satisfied we are furnished with an exact and compleat Righteousness that shall last for ever 't is an Everlasting Righteousness that every Believer hath in Christ Who therefore shall condemn Christ hath delivered us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us Sin is our Sickness Sin is that by which we stand charged and the Law condemns us pronounces a Curse against us but Christ hath cured us of this Sickness and delivered us from this Curse As it is written Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the Book of the Law to do them Till we believed we lay under that fearful Curse but from this we are discharged and Christ hath undergone that great Curse for us and there is no other Curse can come on Believers all separation from God and Wrath is by the Curse of Law but this is ended and gone for ever to every one that believeth Nothing therefore now can separate them from God the Curse is taken away and the Blessing is put on us 2. From hence it appears that the Veracity of God is ingaged to acquit all them that believe in Christ as his Justice is obliged to leave Sinners under the Curse of
the Law that believe not because nothing but a perfect Righteousness can deliver from the Curse thereof 3. Moreover God is obliged upon the account of his Covenant with his Son for us to discharge us for ever because Christ hath fully performed all things as the federal Conditions of our Restoration and Deliverance from Sin and the Curse of the Law which he covenanted to do Arg. 5. All that are delivered from the Curse of the Law and to whom there remains no more any legal and just Cause in God of Wrath and Separation from him unto their Eternal Condemnation cannot eternally perish But all that believe in Christ are delivered from the Curse of the Law and to them there remains no more any legal and just Cause in God of Wrath and Separation from him unto their eternal Condemnation therefore no Believer shall eternally perish Fifthly Christ dying for our Sins was a full and compleat Paiment of all our Debts which bound us over to Death and Condemnation we owed ten thousand Talents and Christ our Surety was charged with it even with all we owed to Justice and by his Death he paid the uttermost Farthing Now the Principal and the Surety are legally and judicially one Person so that in Christ we paid all though it was God and not we that found out the Surety and paid himself with his own Money and therefore we are acquitted in a way of Sovereign Grace we have it in a way of Mercy though in a way of Righteousness also That God might be Just and the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesus From whence I argue Arg. 6. All those for whom Christ hath paid all their Debts or made a full Compensation for shall never perish But Christ hath paid all the Debts of Believers or made a full Compensation for them therefore they shall never perish Would it not be look'd upon as an Act of Injustice in a Creditor to arrest and throw a poor Debtor into Prison for those Debts his Surety paid for him and laid down every Farthing of his Money Now then say I either some of the Sins of Believers or some of their Debts Jesus Christ did not die for pay or satisfy for or else all must conclude it is impossible because God is Just any one of them should perish Now who is it that dares to affirm that Christ did not die and satisfy for all the Sins of Believers or for his Elect Ones If we confess our Sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our Sins and to cleanse us from all Vnrighteousness He will not exact from us the Satisfaction which he hath accepted in the Atonement of his own Son our Surety and in his own way applied God will not require double Payment Sixthly From the Death of Christ I further argue No Believer can eternally perish because his Death was the highest and greatest Expression and Demonstration of Divine Love both in the Father and Son Now say I as I hinted once before He that gave the great Gift will not deny the lesser Sure if God gave his Son to die for our Sins he will give us Grace to resist Sin to mortify Sin and will also pardon all our Sins And if Christ died for us spilt his Blood for us he will pray for us he will not refuse to intercede for us that our Faith may not fail or we lose the Benefit and Blessings purchased for us by his Death He that would not pray for his Friend or for his Neighbour will not die for him But on the other Hand if he yields himself up to die for him he will pray for him Christ died for his Sheep he will therefore both feed them heal their Diseases and preserve them that they may not be devoured by any Enemy whatsoever neither by Sin nor the Devil c. See Rom. 5. 10. Rom. 8. 32. Seventhly Jesus Christ by his Death purchased Grace and all things his Saints need or shall need in order to make them meet for Glory therefore they shall not perish Do they need Faith need Patience need Power against Sin need Pardon need Purging c. all these things and whatsoever else they stand in need of they shall have My God shall supply all your need according to his Riches in Glory by Jesus Christ All Grace is in Christ as the Fruit of his purchase And of his Fulness all we receive and Grace for Grace And this is to shew forth the Riches of God's Glory Will he lose his Glory Shall Satan insult over the Majesty of Heaven after this manner viz. Lo here is one of them for whom thou gavest thy Son to die whom thou hast left to me and I have destroyed him for ever Will God think you suffer this since his main Design in the Gift of Christ is the Glory of his own Rich and Sovereign Grace Nay and after he has with such large Expence of rich Treasure and such Pains restored his lost Image to a poor Believer will he suffer Sin and Satan utterly to deface it again whilst he looks on Our Opposites are Men for Natural Reason Now Sirs what think you of this is there any reason for you to believe God will suffer either of these things to be done Eighthly The Death of Christ preserves all Believers to Everlasting Life because he hath by one Offering perfected for ever them that are sanctified Christ as the Effects of his Death before he hath done will bring all for whom he was a Sacrifice to Heaven Justification in the Perfection of it shall be continued Sanctification shall be compleated our Interest in him shall not be lost Can any think that Christ will not maintain Life in that Soul which he made alive by his own Death Arg. 7. If therefore Christ's Blood was not shed for none in vain but that he shall have his whole Purchase then none of his Sheep or Elect Ones shall ever perish But Christ's Blood was shed for none in vain therefore he shall have his full Purchase none of his Elect shall perish No Man would lay down a Sum more in value than a whole Kingdom but would first see himself sure of it upon laying down that Price the Father's Covenant and Promise also made all the Elect certain of Eternal Life upon Christ's dying for them Besides Beloved the Sacrifice of Christ unites all the Holy Attributes together to secure a Believer's Interest Justice and Mercy are both agreed in Christ they meet together and kiss each other yea and join Hands to help and save every Believer The Flood-gates of Mercy are opened and the Fire of Divine Wrath confin'd in its Flames or rather quenched by the Streams of Christ's Blood that Mercy might flow down to us abundantly Christ's Blood hath eternal Virtue in it it is called the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant therefore extendeth to the Expiation of Sins to come as well as what are already
a godly Life therefore is in Christ Jesus and shall be saved 12. It is also by the Holy Spirit that Believers are sealed unto the Day of Redemption Also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of Promise Strange Can these fall away Can such perish that have received the Earnest of Heaven and have the Witness of the Spirit and have it sealed to them No no God hath put his Seal or Mark upon them he by his Seal hath secured them to and for himself and all this is the Effects of Christ's Death and Resurrection 13. The Spirit also thus purchased by Christ's Death and given as the Fruits and Effects thereof to Believers the Promise of the Father is that it shall abide with them for ever it is the great Promise made to Christ in the Covenant My Spirit which is upon thee shall not depart from thee nor from thy Seed henceforth and for ever See the Words Isa 59. 21. there is the Promise of the Father it is an absolute Promise and it runs thus it shall be in Christ and in his Seed henceforth and for ever The Spirit is called the Promise of the Father Also we have a Promise of the constant abiding of the Spirit in all Believers made by Christ the second Person in the Trinity he told his Disciples The Spirit of Truth the Comforter should abide with them and be in them forever Unto these add the Testimony of the Holy Ghost himself for it is he that doth in the Word assure us of his own abiding with us he hath chosen our Souls to be his own Temple and Habitation for ever and also assures us That all the Promises are in Christ yea and amen to the Glory of God So that we have this great Truth sealed and confirmed to us by the Three that bear witness in Heaven Fourthly Pardon of Sin is another Effect and Fruit of the Death of Christ In whom we have Redemption through his Blood that is as the Effects of his Blood even the Forgiveness of Sin True Jesus Christ satisfied God's Justice for our Sins he paid our Debts it is not Remission without a Satisfaction but yet we are freely forgiven we have it of God's Free Grace but it is through the Blood of Christ Remission of our Sins follows Redemption as the necessary Effects thereof Christ hath procured this Favour and Blessing for us and Gospel-Remission or Pardon of Sin is for ever I will remember their Sins no more they are blotted out for ever he hath cast our Sins into the Depth of the Sea put them behind his Back yea he hath put them far away from him as the East is from the West Fifthly Adoption is the Fruit and Effect of Christ's Death He hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons God takes us through Christ or by virtue of Christ's Death into the Relation of Sons which Privilege we have for ever we shall never cease being Sons and Daughters of God Sixthly Free Access to the Throne of Grace or unto the Father is the Effect of Christ's Death Having therefore Brethren boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus by a new and living Way which he hath consecrated for us through the Vail that is to say his Flesh Christ's Blood His Death opened this Way it is by him we have access to the Throne of Grace Seventhly Another Fruit and Effect of the Death of Christ is Redemption from all Iniquity He gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity c. Tit. 2. 14. Therefore this Glorious Effect his Death shall have upon all Redeemed Ones it was not to redeem only from the Curse of the Law as some talk but from the Guilt Pollution Power and Punishment of Sin therefore Believers shall never perish Eighthly Justification is also another Effect of the Death and Resurrection of Christ which is to acquit absolve and to pronounce us Righteous in God's Sight God accepting us Righteous by the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness which is ever the same Now Christ's Death being the Meritorious Cause thereof we are said to be justified by his Blood Rom. 5. 9. And pray see the Apostle's Argument from hence Much more then being now justified by his Blood we shall be saved from Wrath through him It is more to be reconciled and justified than it is to be saved such are justified and Christ's Blood having done the former will much more effect the latter those that Christ justifies he will glorify nay and his Death and Resurrection cannot be without this Effect And by him all that believe are justified from all things c. The Word Justified is opposed to Condemnation those that are justified are justified for ever Justification is not a gradual Act as Sanctification is it results not as the Fruits of our Repentance or inherent Holiness but as the Fruits of Christ's Death and Merits it is never less nor more as our Holiness cannot add any thing to it so the Sins and Infirmities of true Believers cannot diminish any thing from it there may be additions to our inherent Sanctification but not to our Justification Christ rose again for our Justification I may also challenge all the Men in the World to prove that any Man that was justified in the sight of God did ever fall away and come under Condemnation Ninthly Sanctification is another Effect of the Death of Christ You may again read that Text Heb. 9. 13 14. Christ died not only to justify Believers but to sanctify them also Object But some may say A Man may be sanctified and yet be defiled again We read of some that escaped the Pollution of the World through the Knowledg of Christ yet were again entangled and overcome Answ 1. If any sincere Christian be defiled again through any Sin or Corruption they shall be washed and cleansed again 2. Those that Peter speaks of were such that only had escaped gross Pollution through the common Operations of the Spirit it appears their swinish Nature was never changed he therefore saith It is happened to them according to the true Proverb The Dog it turned to his Vomit again and the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the Mire Such therefore never were sanctified in Heart they never experienced the Effects of Christ's Blood not that Soul-purifying Virtue that is in it they were cleansed from gross Idolatry through the Knowledg of Christ and also from some gross Acts of Prophaneness they had obtained a reformed but no renewed Life of Grace and Holiness therefore such fall into Sin again and are so overcome that the latter End is worse with them than the Beginning As to true Believers see what the Apostle says For by one Offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified By this one Offering our Lord Jesus hath procured our Sanctification
many Devices whereby he strives to do this which I shall not now insist upon he shews them the Glory of this World thereby to allure them into his hungry Jaws to devour them and destroy their Souls for ever He has many Nets spread and Multitudes are caught by him either one way or another 1. Some he deprives of this Salvation through love of sinful Profits or worldly Gain This way he destroyed the young Man mentioned in the Gospel that came running to Christ and also Demas who forsook the Gospel and fell away for love to the sinful Profit of this evil World And how many daily by Earthly-mindedness and abominable Covetousness lose this Salvation through the Craftiness of the Devil and the Evil of their own Hearts 2. Some by sinful Honours O how many love worldly Grandure and a Name among Men above the Salvation of their Souls These are like those jews who are said to believe on Christ but did not confess him for fear of being put out of the Synagogue for they loved the praise of Men more than the praise of God 3. Others by earthly Pleasures and sinful Delights he catches in his Net and makes a Prey of 4. Also Multitudes he destroys by cursed Errors and damnable Heresies That way he deceives them and robs them of this Salvation concluding that those Principles they have sucked in are the undoubted Truths of Jesus Christ and do not doubt of the Goodness of their Condition Fourthly And lastly Consider the Vanity of all those things for the take of which Men neglect this so great Salvation What is Sin the Pleasures of Sin or all the Râ—â—hes and Glory of this World when compared to the Salvation wrought by Jesus Christ Sin is the Soul's Sickness the Scabs and Sores the Plague and Poison of the Soul 't is the Spâ—wn of the old Serpent and yet Sinners lick it up and esteem it above all that Good that is in God and in Jesus Christ and value it more than the Crown of Glory in Heaven Sin is the Leprosy and Plague of the Soul 't is compared to the rottenness and stinking Putre action of a filthy Sepulchre nay to the superfluity of Naughtiness O that Men should neglect so great Salvation and expose themselves to eternal Flames and Wrath in Hell for love to that which the Holy Ghost thus paints out and discovers the detestable Nature of Besides how soon are Men deprived of all those things which their deceived Hearts are set upon they are not sure of enjoying them one Day no not for one Hour O how soon will all the seeming Sweet of Sin and of this World be turned into Bitter and all earthly Joy into Sorrow all their Pleasures into eternal Pain and Misery And O how will they cry out against themselves for slighting the Salvation of their Souls for the sake of and love to these things when it will be too late HEB. II. 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation I Closed the last Day with the second Point of Doctrine namely That the great Salvation of the Gospel may be neglected I shall now proceed to the third and last Proposition Doct. 3. There is no possibility for such or any one Soul of them to escape that neglect the great Salvation of the Gospel First I shall shew you what it is they cannot escape Secondly Why they cannot escape Thirdly When or at what time they shall not escape Fourthly Shew why the Gospel hath such fearful Comminations and Threatnings contained in it First They shall not escape the Curse of the Law which all ungodly and unbelieving Sinners lie under for no Man is nor can be delivered from the Curse thereof but only those who believe in Jesus Christ and embrace the Salvation of the Gospel For Christ is the End of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth to them that believe and to every one of them but not to those that believe not Christ hath born the Curse of the Law he by his actual Obedience fulfilled the Righteousness thereof and by bearing the Penalty of it which our Sins incurr'd by his Death he hath delivered all that believe from the Curse thereof but the Curse of it remains on all them who receive not Jesus Christ it hath its full blow and stroke on all Gospel neglecters because it is by him and no other ways we can be delivered from the Curse thereof 2. Therefore it follows in the second place that they cannot be delivered from the Guilt and Punishment of their Sins their Sins lie upon them they are charged upon all that neglect or refuse the Salvation wrought out by Jesus Christ It is the Decree of the Eternal God that all such that believe not shall bear their own Sins because they reject Jesus Christ who hath born the Punishment that was due to Sin Some conceit that they need not this Salvation need not the Righteousness of Christ or Faith in Christ and this through Ignorance concluding their State is good Jesus said unto them If ye were blind ye should have no Sin but now ye say We see therefore your Sin remaineth They thought their own Righteousness was sufficient and were ignorant of God's Righteousness and hence the Guilt of their Sin remaineth upon them 3. All those that neglect this so great Salvation shall not escape the Wrath of God This follows as the natural Consequence of the former Divine Wrath parsues them and every Soul of them that believe not but refuse the Grace of God offered by Jesus Christ in the Gospel like as the avenger of Blood pursued the Man slayer under the Law The Cities of Refuse were a type of Christ 't is to him all guilty Sinners must fly if they escape the Wrath and Vengeance of God Divine Justice is only satisfied in Christ and Sinners for not accepting and receiving by Faith that Atonement and pleading that Satisfaction he hath made Wrath follows them even at their Heels and will strike them down He that believeth not shall not see Life but the Wrath of God abideth on him Wrath is upon all naturally we are all by Nature the Children of Wrath but it remains no longer upon them that believe but it abideth on such that believe not 4. They shall not escape the Damnation of Hell or everlasting Burning Our Saviour speaking to the Scribes and Pharisees saith How can ye escapâ— the Damnation of Hell Yet they were a People that appeared outwardly righteous to Men and boasted that they were not Extortioners Vnjust Adulterers or such as Publicans were But alas no Righteousness will carry a Man to Heaven but a perfect compleat sinless Righteousness Paul was not an Hypocrite as some of the Pharisees were before he believed yet his Righteousness tho according to the Letter of the Law was such that few attained unto As touching the Righteousness which is of the Law
Practices and become utter Enemies to God and his People 7. Lastly All Atheists or such who deny the Being of God or the Eternal Godhead and Deity of the Majesty of Heaven and ridicule and contemn all supernatural Knowledg or Revelation of God these shall receive and undergo the Wrath of God from which they cannot escape APPLICATION This may serve to awaken all secure Sinners who have false Notions of God's Mercy What will you do if you persist still in your evil Ways I am afraid here may be some of one sort or another of them which I have named that shall not escape the Wrath of God O that we could but hear that Cry which we read of Acts 2. 36. What shall we do Were Sinners pricked in their Hearts they would break forth into Tears in the sight and sense of the Evil of Sin Hath Sin put the Lord of Life and Glory to death Was the Wrath of God due to us let out upon him that we might never feel the weight thereof O how should this fill our Hearts with Revenge and Indignation against Sin Certainly the Sufferings of Christ for our Sins shew forth the Evil of it beyond all the Torments the Damned endure in Hell and if God did not spare him who as our Surety stood in our Place and Room what will become of thee O Sinner that goest on presumptuously in thy evil Way and dost not regard or lay to Heart the great Salvation of the Gospel Shall not the Love of God overcome thee then fear his Wrath which is so dreadful and will be let out in Fury Quest What is the Reason Men do no more fear and dread the Wrath of God Answ 1. It is because they do not know the direful Nature thereof We knowing the Terror of the Lord saith the Apostle perswade Men. The faithful Servants of God know it but Sinners know it not therefore fear it no more 2. It is because God doth not execute the Sentence against their evil Works presently This is the Reason Solomon tells us why The Hearts of the Children of Men are fully set in them to do wickedly 3. Sinners are blinded by the Devil and think God takes no notice of their Ways and evil Doings and so go on boldly may be think no Eye seeth them And because God is so gracious patient and slow to Anger and long before he strikes they think the Blow will never come at all O it is sad that the Goodness Mercy and Long-suffering of God which should lead Men to Repentance should tend to harden them in their evil Ways but though they now despise his Goodness and Forbearance c. yet they shall not escape the Judgment of God Quest What should Sinners do to escape the Wrath of God Answ 1. Sinner if thou wouldst escape God's Wrath find out the Original Cause thereof ponder well thy State by Nature and the Pollution of thy Heart from whence all actual Sins flow 2. Find out the immediate Cause of his Displeasure and Wrath that is ready to break forth against thee and cry out What have I done O see what Guilt lies upon you and the Nature of it 3. Labour to know what it is that hath appeased God's Wrath nothing but a Sacrifice an Atonement could do it thy Tears thy Prayers thy Repentance could not do it the Storm was great and our beloved Jonas was thrown into the Sea of God's Wrath to allay it and to cause a Calm 4. Get a thorow Sense of the great Evil of Sin 5. And then loath your selves Nothing but Grace poured forth from the Lord can do this O when once you can mourn for your Iniquities as a Man mourns for his First-born by beholding him whom you have pierced there will be hope 6. Pray and cry mightily to the Lord cease not Day nor Night until you find out the Plague of your own Hearts 7. Above all things fly to Jesus Christ look up to him and neglect not this Salvation one Hour but throw down your Arms sight against God no more nor fence against the two-edged Sword of his Mouth but as a poor lost and burdened Sinner come to him and thou shalt find rest unto thy Soul Object But perhaps some may object Is not this Doctrine a Legal Doctrine Answ I say no but I shall answer this Objection the next time and so close with this Text. HEB. II. 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation I Shewed you the last Time wherefore the Gospel is clothed with such fearful Threatnings against Sinners that neglect the great Salvation that is offered unto them therein Also what sort of Sinners are like for ever to fall under the Wrath of God Moreover you may remember I mentioned an Objection which possibly some may raise viz. Object Is not this Doctrine a Legal Doctrine or a legal way of preaching to insist so much upon the Threatnings of Wrath and Divine Vengeance I answered No it is not I therefore now shall endeavour God assisting to do two things First Shew you what is not a Legal Doctrine or a Legal Way of Preaching Secondly Shew you what is a Legal Doctrine or not Evangelical Preaching 1. To preach God a Just and Holy God is no Legal Doctrine though the Law it is true holds him forth so to be that discovers that God is Just but his Mercy was vailed under dark Shadows Types and Legal Sacrifices But now the Gospel sets forth the infinite Justice of God beyond the Law for in a Ceremonial Way the Blood of Beasts seemed to pacify God's Wrath. Though we deny not but the Blood of Jesus Christ the great Sacrifice which alone in a proper sense can satisfy for Sin was held forth thereby But in the Gospel the Justice and Holiness of God so clearly shines forth in Jesus Christ that it is with open Face manifested unto all all may behold therein the Just actually slain and made a Sacrifice for the Vnjust Never did God's Justice appear so fully as it doth in the Suffering and Death of Christ for Sin Therefore to preach the Severity and Justice of God against Sin and Sinners can be no Legal Doctrine 2. To preach Repentance the Necessity of Repentance Regeneration and Holiness is no Legal Doctrine but it is pure Gospel The Law allowed of no Repentance For those that sinned against Moses 's Law died without Mercy under two or three Witnesses Do not mistake me I do not say that there was no Repentance for such who lived under the Dispensation of the Law for tho the Law or first Covenant allowed of no Repentance yet the Gospel was preached to Adam to Abraham to Moses David c. But pray remember and consider it well that Repentance came in not through the Law but through the Gospel upon the account of Christ's Satisfaction and therefore it is only a Gospel-Blessing which being duly considered Men have little reason to
think Repentance a harsh Doctrine no no it is sweet and blessed Tidings to hear that there is Repentance vouchsafed to poor Sinners yea for the worst of Sinners Besides was not Repentance the very first Doctrine Jesus Christ preached when he entered upon his Ministry He calls upon Men to repent and believe the Gospel he declares there is a Way found out for Pardon and Remission of Sin And what can so kindly and sweetly excite or stir up Sinners to Repentance as the sight of the infinite Mercy and pardoning Grace of God through the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ His Mercy only melts and breaks the hard Heart of guilty Criminals 3. To preach the Combinations and Threatnings of God's Wrath and Vengeance against all ungodly and impenitent Sinners who slight and neglect the Salvation of the Gospel can be no Legal Doctrine 1. Because the Gospel abounds with them yea and more fearful Threatnings than those were under the Law for the one were Threats of Temporal Punishment but the other are Eternal even the Denunciation of God's Wrath in Hell for ever 2. Because of the greatness of that Mercy and Divine Grace and Goodness which such who sin under the Gospel do abuse and tread under their Feet 3. To shew the Justice Headship and Authority of Jesus Christ who is God as well as Man that so all Men may stand in awe of him and dread and fear him because of his great Love and Goodness extended through his suffering for Sin and enduring the heavy Wrath of God for us and for many other Reasons which you have heard 4. Because the Threatnings of the Gospel do not only render God as a just Revenger but also as a merciful Redeemer not only as a Judg to pass Sentence but as a gracious Soveraign ready to give forth Pardon to all convicted broken and self-condemned Rebels The Law threatens Death but affords no Offers of Life on any Terms that can be attained to therefore no Encouragement given by it to Sinners to humble themselves it commands perfect Obedience but affords no Strength to perform it pronounces the Sentence against us but produces no Pardon for us it commands us to trust in God but reveals not a Mediator who is the immediate Object of Faith and Trust 5. The Threatnings of the Gospel are a Manifestation of God's Goodness As a Father threatens his Child from that Love and Bowels he hath to it that so it might not feel the Lashes of his Rod and Anger And O how are Gospel-Threatnings mixt with alluring Motives and endearing Arguments and Perswasions intimating how ready God is to pass by our Offences if we submit our selves to him and accept of the Offers of his Grace and Favour If such preaching of Wrath therefore be Legal I must acknowledg my great Ignorance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ Besides how long are the Threatnings of the Gospel deferred before executed The Contemners of the Law died presently as well as it discovered no Remedy But so it is not here God seems to be ready to forgive and slow to Wrath he waits long before he strikes and brings Wrath and Judgment upon Offenders as well as he directs them to a way to escape Secondly I shall shew you what is a Legal Doctrine or Legal Preaching 1. The Doctrine or Preaching of such Persons is legal that say that all who will be eternally saved must arrive to a perfect and sinless Righteousness in themselves i. e. keep the Law perfectly and sin not in their own Persons or they cannot be justified William Penn speaking of that Text Rom. 2. 13. Not the Hearers of the Law are just before God but the Doers of the Law shall be justified saith From whence how unanswerably may I observe that unless we become Doers of that Law which Christ came not to destroy but as our Example to fulfil we can never be justified before God nor let any fancy that Christ hath so fulfilled it for them as to exclude their Obedience from being requisite to their Acceptance but only as their Pattern Now this is a Legal Doctrine with a witness these Men would be look'd upon as true Preachers of the Gospel but let all Men be aware of them Is any Man able perfectly to keep the Law if so why doth the Apostle say What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh God sending his Son c. Besides if there had been a Law that could have given Life verily saith Paul Righteousness should have been by the Law And again he saith By the Works of the Law no Man is justified and if Righteousness come by the Law then is Christ dead in vain Christ it seems by what this Man saith came only to fulfil the Law as our Example that we might conform to him therein and so be justified by it But he forgot that we and all Mankind have broke the Law and stand charged and condemned thereby unto eternal Condemnation and who shall make Atonement for that Breach and deliver us from the Curse thereby incurred No Doctrine can cast higher Contempt upon Christ and invalidate his Suffering and Justification by Faith alone in him than this Doctrine doth 2. Such preach a Legal Doctrine who preach up Obedience by us to the Law or Gospel either as the procuring or moving Cause and Condition of our Justification and Eternal Life 3. Such also preach a Legal Doctrine who preach up Wrath and Divine Vengeance to scare or frighten Men out of their Sins and as if by the bare leaving and forsaking of Sin Men might escape Death and Wrath. Such a Doctrine as Reverend Dr. Owen notes may fill an unregenerate Man with Horror and servile Fear whereby as Bond-Servants or Slaves by the Whip of this Doctrine they may be forced to break off from some gross Acts of Sin and perform some outward Duties of Religion which otherwise they are unwilling to do for as it is not from Love to God nor from Faith in Christ so they find no Delight nor Sweetness in it but being often remiss and seeing cause to doubt of the Sincerity of their Obedience they fall under Terror and slavish Fear they only acting from an enlightned Conscience and not from Faith or renewing Grace These Men neither love the Law nor Gospel tho they are forced to keep up in some degree of Obedience to it 4. Such preach a Legal Doctrine that affirm Man 's own Faith and inherent Righteousness for the sake of Christ's Merits is part of our Righteousness to Justification in the sight of God and that Christ hath procured or merited a mild Law of Grace of Faith and sincere Obedience in the room of the Law of perfect Obedience Which Law of sinless Obedience Christ having given to God a full Recompence for our Breach of he hath taken that Law-away and that so far as we faithfully live up to this new Law of Grace we are justified in
accounted all things as loss or as nothing for the Excellency of Jesus Christ his Lord. 4. Doth Jesus Christ rule and reign in thee by his Spirit He that hath Christ in him may feel his ruling Power and that he by his Spirit hath spoiled the ruling and predominating Power of Sin every evil Habit in the Heart and Life of such being broke 5. Moreover if Christ is in thee and thou by Faith art in him then thou art a new Creature This the Apostle positively doth assert Therefore if any Man be in Christ he is a new Creature old things are passed away behold all things are become new Such have new Understandings or are renewed in their Understandings Wills and Affections they have also new Thoughts new Love new Fears new Joy new Desires new Companions and new Conversations all things with such are become new Lastly And to conclude with all I shall say from this Text here is also Matter and Cause of Comfort and great Consolation to all Believers to all who have a part in this Salvation I need not shew you which way this appears for every one that hath heard what a kind of Salvation it is may easily infer from thence that all that have a part in it are happy for ever 't is a great and glorious Salvation Remember what you are delivered from by it and what you are raised up unto by it and also that it is a sure and certain Salvation no Enemy no Sin no Devil can dispossess you of it if you are Believers and have received the Earnest thereof which is the Holy Spirit by which also you are sealed to the Day of Redemption Therefore it remains that you endeavour to shew forth the Praises of him who hath called you out of Darkness into his marvelous Light and hath given you a true sight of and interest in this great Salvation wrought by Jesus Christ To whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be Glory Honour and Praise now and for ever Amen FINIS A. Access FREE access to the Father an Effect of Christ's Death Pag. 262 Accompany What those things are that do accompany Salvation 323 366 Adoption Adoption a glorious Privilege 417 Afflictions Afflictions compared to a Refiner's Fire 17 Afflictions Christ's Fan 17 Aggravation The Aggravations of Sin opened in ten Particulars 356 All. Christ died not eternally to save all Men proved 248 to 256 Christ in some sense did die for all universally or for every individual Person 256 Angels Angels pry into our Salvation 433 Angels great understanding yet learn by Experience of the Church 434 Arian Heresy what 85 Arminianism Arminianism detected 146 147 Arminianism again detected 158 Arminianism further detected 228 to 256 Attributes All the Attributes glorified equally in our Salvation by Jesus Christ 372 All the holy Attributes united together in Christ to save Believers 247 All the Attributes of God in Arms to cut down such who neglect the Salvation of the Gospel 467 468 B. Backbiting a notorious Evil such may be guilty of Murder 7 Baptizing is dipping 132 Baptism of great use to Believers 133 Beguiled Christ's Sheep may be beguiled by Deceivers how far 89 90 Blood unlawful to be eaten The whole World forbid to eat it because it is the Life of the Creature Pag. 256 Business The Salvation of our Souls the chief Business we have to mind whilst in this World shewed in many Particulars 441 442 443 C. Cease Such who are begotten and born of God cannot cease being his Children 214 Chaff Why false or hypocritical Professors are compared to Chaff shewed in six things from p. 18 to 25 Who are Chaff from p 18 to 25 Charity Ministers should exercise Charity towards such Christians that seem dull and drowsy 322 Child John Child's Sin what 48 Some Passages of his Desparation 48 49 50 He hang'd himself 51 Children The happy State of being the Children of God born of God 222 to 227 How God's Children are known 219 220 Christ Christ is God and Man wherefore 93 94 Christ coequal to the Father 380 Christ the express Image of the Father's Person 368 How Christ is the Power of God and the Wisdom of God 273 274 Condition Conditional Christ not a Conditional Redeemer 251 The Condition that Arminians say the Creature is to perform is impossible 250 251 252 Their Conditional Redemption no Redemption at all 250 251 252 253 254 It renders Salvation not free or wholly by Grace 151 Cornelius not saved without Faith in Christ tho his Prayers are said to be heard 385 Curse of the Law remains on all Unbelievers 474 D. Darkness Hell a Place of utter Darkness Pag. 5 Dead Man naturally dead 145 How Men may know they are spiritually dead or dead in Sin 146 Death The Nature of natural Death 145 Natural and Spiritual Death compared 145 146 Death of Christ secures the Saints Final Perseverance 235 Christ suffered Death in our stead 239 Dear How a dear Child of God may be known 219 220 Despair a great Sin 449 455 456 Utter Despair will add to the Damneds Misery 61 Devil The Devil the Cause of Sinners spiritual Blindness 445 The Devil will torment the Damned by upbraiding them 61 Devils and wicked Men tormented together 62 Discipline The Fan of Church Discipline twofold 13 14 15 E. Effect 1. Appeasing God's Wrath an Effect of Christ's Death 257 2. Reconciliat an Effect of Christ's Death 258 3. The Holy Spirit as given to the Elect an Effect of Christ's Death 259 4. Adoption an Effect of Christ's Death 262 5. Pardon of Sin an Effect of Christ's Death and Satisfaction 262 6. Free Access to the Throne of Grace an Effect of Christ's Death 262 7. Redemption an Effect of Christ's Death 262 8. Justification an Effect of Christ's Death 263 9. Sanctification an Effect of Christ's Death 263 10. Glorification an Effect of Christ's Death 265 First Effect of Christ's Death in us by the Spirit is Life 267 Second Light Conviction 267 Christ's Death shall have its Effect on all for whom he died like as a Corn of Wheat that is sown will have its Effect 253 Elect Election There is Election of Grace Personal Election proved 170 171 172 c. Christ the Head of Election 170 Election secures the Saints Final Perseverance 172 177 178 179 181 182 Envy a great Sin 7 Essentials What the Essentials of Christianity are 85 86 Every Man doth not intend oft-times all and every individual Person in the World 299 Eutychians What the Eutychian Heresy is 85 F. Faith Justifying Faith is a reliance on Christ A full perswasion that Christ is mine not essential to the being of Faith 420 Of a direct Act of Faith 420 A general Faith to believe Christ died for all therefore for me not to be valued and may be a false Faith 268 Fall Fallings Saints may fall foully 162 Causes of the Saints Fallings 164 165 166 167 Falling from Grace No final falling from Grace proved
and may expect a Supply of all Grace according to our Wants and Necessities Like as the Wife needs not to fear Want if it be in her Husband's Hand provided he be a loving and faithful Husband and that by reason of that Union she hath with him and that Relation she stands in unto him Christ is a Head of Influence to thee O Believer Thou holdest the Head from whence all the Body by Joints and Bands having nourishment ministred and knit together increaseth with the Increase of God 5. This also shews us that we shall be fruitful to Christ because we are united to him have Union with him We are married to him that we should bring forth Fruit unto God even all the Fruits of Holiness and good Works yea such Works and good Fruit as is acceptable to God And that because we are accepted in Christ our Persons are first accepted as Abel's was and then our Sacrifices or Performances The good Lord help you to weigh well and seriously ponder these things 6. Terror One word to you Sinners which will be first by way of Terror What will you do that have not yet obtained Union with Christ Tremble for your State is deplorable All that are not united to Christ stand united to dead Adam condemned Adam lost Adam and if you die before you obtain Union with Jesus Christ you are lost for ever nay you are as you heard just now united to your Sin and to the Devil all your Sins stand charged upon you and cleave to you But may be you will say Is there no Hope no Help for us Answ God forbid Jesus Christ is tendred to Sinners as Sinners And those that have now Union with him once were in your State and Condition but know this you must labour after Divine Grace and come to this resolve viz. to break your Affinity with Sin While you see not your Folly in keeping your Agreement and Affinity with Hell there is but little Hope O throw down your Arms fight against God no more when once you come to hate your old Lovers and are resolved to leave them forgo them and seek after this Union with Christ there is ground to hope you are not far from the Kingdom of Heaven JOHN X. 28. And I give unto them Eternal Life and they shall never perish neither shall any pluck them out of my Hand BRETHREN I am upon the Proof and Demonstration of the last Proposition or Point of Doctrine raised from these words viz. That none of the Sheep of Christ or Saints of God can so sin and fall away as eternally to perish but that they shall all certainly be saved The last Time I was upon the Sixth general Argument which was taken from the Nature of that sacred high and sublime Vnion which is between Christ and every true Believer I shall proceed to the next Argument Seventhly The Argument which I shall now insist on and produce further to prove this great and comfortable Doctrine shall be taken from the Death of Jesus Christ For it is indeed I find that great Argument the Apostle makes use of to prove the final Perseverance of the Saints or Elect of God See Rom. 8. 33 34. Who shall lay any thing to the Charge of God's Elect It is God that justifieth Who can implead such or put in an Accusation against them that shall be heard admitted or allowed at God's Bar He brings in four or five Reasons why none can 1. From their Election they are God's Elect. 2. Their Justification they are actually justified they are acquitted declared Righteous in Christ and that by God himself It is God that justifieth If the Supreme Judg he whom they have offended doth acquit and discharge them who shall bring in any Accusation against them To which he adds ver 34. Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died Such a One as our Annotators note may throw down the Gauntlet and challenge all the Enemies in the World let Conscience carnal Reason the Law Sin Hell the Flesh and Devils bring forth all they can say and shew what they can do yet after all they cannot bring under Condemnation that Soul all that they can do will fail to condemn those that Christ died for The 3. Reason is because 't is Christ that died because he died for them that is in their stead or room Should one be condemned for High-Treason against the King's Person and he should accept of another who is his Surety to die for him whose Death according to the Constitution of the Kingdom and Laws thereof would every way serve and answer for the Offence of the guilty Criminal and yet the King should afterwards take the Offender and hang him for that very Offence for which his Surety was put to Death would not all cry out and say it was a piece of great Injustice Even so here should God condemn and cast into Hell one Soul for whom or in the room and stead of whom Christ died would it not be great Injustice in God O shall not the Judg and King of Heaven and Earth do right Brethren It was God himself who substituted his own Son to die instead of the Elect and to that End that they should not die or perish for ever But it may be some will object Object It is granted that Christ died for us and satisfied for all Sins we committed before Grace before we were called or for all Sins against the Law But if we believe not or sin after Grace and Conversion we may be condemned for ever Answ I answer Do not these Men think that Christ did not die for Sins committed against the Gospel and for the Sin of Unbelief even for all such Sins that a Believer does commit after Grace and Regeneration as well as Sins against the Law or Sins committed before they were renewed Alas how long do some of God's Elect Ones continue in a State of Unbelief and refuse the Offers of the Gospel before they do believe and close with Christ Why now if Christ did not die for those Sins which were committed against the Gospel as also for the Sins they do commit after they are in a State of Grace there is not one Soul can be saved because without shedding of Blood there is no remission that is without the shedding of Christ's Blood It is the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son that cleanseth us from all Sin Christ satisfied the Justice of God for all the Sins a Child of God hath doth or ever shall commit against him Original and Actual from the Day of his Birth unto the Day of his Death So that if a Believer perishes for any Sin or Sins he perishes for that Sin or Sins for which Christ died and suffered for in his stead Object I like not say some your Notion viz. That Christ died in our stead or room For though he died for our good yet not in our stead I
doubt of that And if you can make it appear that he so died for us as you affirm namely in the room or stead of all his Elect then your Argument is not to be answered Answ I answer That Jesus Christ did not suffer Death for our Good only but in our room or stead also I shall prove and make clearly to appear 1. This Notion if you will so call it of Christ dying for us must denote his dying in our stead because it is so always generally taken when one Person is said to die for another one is condemned and another dies for him that is in his Room to save the guilty Person from Death And should not this be granted we should be all confounded and not know either what Men or the Scripture means when they say such a Man such a Person died for another or for others when the Person for whom that great Love and Favour was shewed to was as a Criminal and condemned to die which moved his Friend or Surety to step in and suffer the Penalty for him or in his stead Now it was so here we were all Criminals guilty of the highest Treason against the God of Heaven and were by the holy Law of our offended Soveraign condemned to die and to bear Eternal Wrath and our Blessed Saviour was chosen in our room and given up as an Act of the Father's Infinite Love and Favour and as an Act of no less Love Favour and Compassion in Christ to die for us and to satisfy Divine Justice for us or to bear the Punishment we were to have born and must had not he born it for us for ever 2. Is it not plainly foretold that the Messiah should be cut off but not for himself Now since he had no Sin of his own and yet was cut off for Sin it follows he was put in our Place and stood charged with our Guilt or Debt and so was penally cut off he was cut off for us to save us from Divine Wrath and Vengeance It was not for himself it was not for the fallen Angels it was therefore for us that we might not die but live eternally 3. Pray Brethren see what our Saviour saith upon this Account Greater Love hath no Man than this that a Man lay down his Life for his Friends Can this Expression intend any thing more or less than in the room or stead of his Friend or die for them Thus Christ died Even the Just for the Vnjust the Just in the place or stead of the Unjust or us the guilty Persons Hereby perceive we the Love of God Because he laid down his Life for us we ought to lay down our Life for the Brethren These Texts fully prove the Notion He that lays down his Life for his Brother or dies for the Brethren dies in their stead to save them from Death as some have done For scarcely for a righteous Man will one die yet peradventure for a good Man some would even dare to die But God commendeth his Love towards 〈◊〉 in that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us Now then seeing Christ underwent Death and bore that Punishment that was due for Sins and there being no Cause in himself why he should suffer that Pain and Penalty it unavoidably follows that it was because he stood in our Place charged with our Offences 4. Again it must be thus taken and understood because it is said The Lord laid on him the Iniquity of us all Our Sins were made to meet in him He was wounded for our Transgressions he was bruised for our Iniquities It was not by Christ's praying and interceding to the Father for us to forgive us our Iniquities No no that was not enough it was his dying for them He bore our Sins in his own Body on the Tree He prayed again and again but that Cup could not pass by if we are delivered and saved from our Sins he must die nay his Soul must be made an Offering for Sin 5. That Christ died in our stead will further appear because he was made Sin for us that knew no Sin He bore the Sins of many that is the Punishment of them Our Sins were charged upon him though he had no Sin of his own in a moral Sense but was pure from all Iniquity yet in a judicial Sense he was made Sin as he was constituted and put in the Sinner's Place dying and making Satisfaction in our stead as our blessed Head and Surety And how frivolous is the Cavil of the Socinians who would have it be understood where it is said Christ was made Sin that he was accounted a Sinner by wicked Men. This cannot be the meaning of the Place because as he was made Sin for us that knew no Sin so it was that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him Do wicked Men account Believers to be made the Righteousness of God in him Or does not God look upon us or count us in him so to be 6. But why is it said by the Holy Ghost But when the fulness of Time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law c. Had he not stood in our Law-place why is it thus expressed Certainly God saw it necessary to substitute him and to accept of him in our stead and therefore he was made under the Law i. e. he was obliged to keep the Law perfectly for us God requiring that of us in order to Justification which we being fallen were not able to do therefore he did it for us and in our Nature being made of a Woman he took our Nature upon him and suffered Death making a full and compleat Satisfaction for our Breach thereof whose Sufferings and Obedience upon the account of his being God as well as Man had an infinite Worth and Merit in them And if this which the Apostle saith in this place doth not prove that he suffered in our room I must confess I know nothing of this great Gospel-Mystery 7. That he suffered not only for our Good or Profit but also in our room and stead doth further appear because it is said He died for our Sins Who was delivered for our Offences and rose again for our Justification This Particle saith a Learned Man joined with an Accusative doth generally signify the impulsive Cause and not final Mat. 10. 22. 13. 5. 14. 9. John 20. 19. 2 Cor. 4. 11. And particularly when it is used in reference to Sufferings it hath that signification and no other see Levit. 26. 18 28. Deut. 28. 11. 2 Kings 23. 26. Jer. 13. 22. John 10. 32. In all these Places it necessarily signifies the Meritorious and Impulsive Cause and nowise the Final for our Offences must needs be understood that our Offences were the Meritorious and Impulsive Cause of Christ's Sufferings Another Particle the Holy
past Christ's Death hath glorious Effects as the Apostle shews For if the Blood of Bulls and Goats and Ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the Flesh how much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself to God purge your Consciences from dead Works to serve the living God To talk of Christ's Death and see no Effects of it alas what 's that All that Christ died for shall see and feel too its Glorious Effects and Operations upon their Souls and Consciences though the Sacrifice be over the Virtue and excellent Causality of it abides for ever Ninthly Christ by his Death redeemeth his People from all Iniquity and this was his End in dying What signifies such a Redemption that leaves a poor Slave in his Chains and Irons without procuring a Release for him In this lies the Glory of our Redemption by Christ 't is not only from the Curse of the Law and Wrath of God but from a vain Conversation also See the Apostle's Words Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works If this was his End and Design in his Death do any think he will see himself frustrated in it Shall any Enemy of the Soul bring Christ under a Disappointment Compare this with 1 Pes. 1. 17 18 19. Tenthly and Lastly Jesus Christ hath by his Death purchased Eternal Redemption or Everlasting Life for all his Sheep and by his Spirit hath also given to them the Earnest of it therefore his Death preserves them to Salvation In whom ye also trusted after ye heard the Word of Truth the Gospel of your Salvation in whom also after ye believed ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise which is the Earnest of our Inheritance until the Redemption of the purchased Possession unto the Praise of his Glory Now I should come to speak more particularly to the Effects of the Death of Christ and inlarge upon some things that I have but a little touched upon but that I must leave until the next Time and shall only speak something by way of Improvement of this Argument APPLICATION First To you that are Believers O praise and bless God for a Crucified Saviour What in Heaven and Earth is cause of greater Wonder and Admiration Christ's Death is the meritorious Cause of all Spiritual and Eternal Joy and Comfort all Grace flows out of the Wounds the Spear and Nailâ— made in his Blessed Body and from the Death and Pangs his Soul underwent Nothing is a greater Evidence of Christ's Love to us than the Death of his Cross 2. Apply his Blood draw Virtue from his Blood fly to his Death see how that stands to save thee from the Justice and Wrath of God in his Death is thy Hope and Succour when pursued by Satan and under all Temptations 3. Triumph in the Cross of Christ thou O Child of God wast crucified with Christ thy Sins were punished in him and thou art acquitted in him and raised in him O labour to know Christ and him crucified Labour to know him and the Power of his Death and the Fellowship of his Sufferings c. 4. And as to you Sinners is not here Ground of Hope for you Christ died for the chiefest of Sinners And whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting Life But wo to such who slight this bleeding Saviour that sin because Grace hath abounded or that make the Death of Christ an Incouragement to them to continue in Sin Tush say some trouble not your self with me Christ died for Sinners O Souls will you crucify Christ again I tell you if you do not feel the Effects of his Death in vain is all your present Hope 5. This may serve also to detect such and severely to reprehend them that say Christ died to save all or for all and every Man and Woman in the World Brethren if he died for all that is in the Stead and Room of all then all shall be saved God will not condemn such whom Christ laid down his Life for or in the place or stead of as I have proved from God's Word But further to detect this Error of General Redemption 1. Consider that Redemption is a Word easy to understand it is the saving of a Person that is in Slavery or Captivity commonly procured or obtained by a Price paid or a Ransom but if the Person is indeed redeemed he is set at Liberty To say a Man is redeemed and yet left in Chains and strong Bonds out of which he cannot come unless the Redeemer break those Chains and Bonds to pieces is to speak untruly or in plain English a Lie Now are all Men redeemed Redemption cannot be more universal than it is in Matter of Fact If ten Men were in Slavery in Argiers and a Sum of Money was paid to redeem them and yet after all care is not taken to make that Ransom to be effectual for their Redemption but six or seven of them are left in Captivity can any Man say all the ten were redeemed out of that Slavery and Thraldom wherein they are held Even so it is here for Men to say that the Redemption by Christ is for all the World and yet the greatest part of Mankind lie in Bonds under the Power of Sin and Satan and have not the Death of Christ made effectual to them is a great Mistake and indeed not true as to Matter of Fact 2. Are we redeemed only from the Curse of the Law and from the Wrath of God and are we not also redeemed from Sin and from being under the Power of Satan That Redemption that is by Christ is you hear from all Iniquity and are all so redeemed The Apostle Peter saith Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as Silver and Gold from a vain Conversation but with the precious Blood of Jesus Christ c. So many as are and shall be redeemed from all Iniquity from a vain Conversation or whom Christ hath redeemed from the Power of Satan he setting them at Liberty who naturally are bound and bringing them out of the Prison-House so many and no more did he die for and no further doth Redemption by Christ extend 3. If there are many left in the Enemies Hand and under their Power and eternally perish then there is no general or universal Redemption but there are Multitudes so left and perish 4. That Grace Love and blessed Price that doth not procure Universal Salvation is not cannot be an Universal Redemption But God never shewed such Grace and Love by the Price of Christ's Blood that doth procure Universal Salvation therefore there is no Universal Redemption for that Price or Paiment which doth not actually pass or terminate in Salvation is no Redemption at all an Attempt to redeem unless it be
satisfy the Law and Justice for you Friend you are acquitted Brethren thus it is here Christ offered himself and the Father accepted him in our stead to die for us and to bear that Wrath that was due to us for our Sins and this he did then even when we first sinned in Adam So that we may say in due time Christ died for the Ungodly just as the Stroke of Wrath and Divine Justice was falling on us for it was all one as if he had then actually suffered And also his Blood was as efficacious to save and absolve Adam and all that did believe and apply the Virtue thereof before it was shed as it is to us who believe in these latter Times of the World after it has been shed more than sixteen hundred Years Would not such a guilty Malefactor I mentioned say O this is a great Salvation indeed nay stand and admire at it he expecting nothing but Death and had none to help him or afford any hope or relief to him in the least APPLICATION 1. We may from hence infer God's Love to Mankind is inconceivable nay his Love to sinful Man to lost Man rebellious Man What is Man that thou art mindful him such a vile Creature a Worm a filthy and loathsom Worm a cursed Rebel and Traitor against God that God should let out his Thoughts from Eternity upon him when the Sentence was past against him and he ready to go down to the Pit of Everlasting Wrath and Misery that he should say Deliver him from going down into the Pit I have found a Ransom 'T is not he that is Man himself hath found a Ransom No no I have saith God found a Ransom the Just for the Vnjust or in the room and place of the guilty Sinner It is not I have found Man's good Works Man's reformed Life his Repentance his Faith his Tears his sincere Obedience no but it is the Obedience of Christ the Blood of Christ the Sacrifice of Christ the Merits and Righteousness of Christ this God hath found to be our Ransom God hath found a full Ransom a perfect Ransom God accepted of Christ's Sacrifice for a Compleat Satisfaction it is more satisfactory than if we had lain in Hell for ever for we must always have been paying but never could have made Satisfaction O who could have thought of such a Ransom of such a way of Salvation in this lies the Depth of Divine Wisdom and the Great Mystery of the Gospel How should we adore and admire the Grace of God in Jesus Christ 2. To you poor Sinners let me speak one word by way of Exhortation Did God so early contrive our Salvation O then do you set your Hearts on work to seek this Salvation I mean an Interest in it be early at it do not defer it You young Men think upon it in the morning of your Days this Salvation calls for your utmost diligence to understand and find out the Gospel is a Mystery 't is not easily understood The Preaching of a Crucified Christ is to some Men Foolishness but to them that are saved it is the Power of God Many stumble at the Stumbling-stone God hath laid in Sion Christ is to some a Stumbling-stone and a Rock of Offence but take heed he is not so to you 3. Was there a Council held in Eternity about our Salvation O then consult with all Wisdom the grand Design of God herein It is to exalt his own Glory his own Name his own Free Grace and this being so let it be all your care to advance the Riches of his Grace and let God be wholly exalted and do you lie low at his Feet O close in with God's Counsel accept of this way of Life do not think there is any other way 4. And lastly Consider that the Greatness of God's Mercy and Divine Goodness to us was also one grand End and Design in finding out this Salvation It doth display his unspeakable Love and Bowels towards his poor Creature Man True he had the like regard to his Justice but his Justice had been magnified in our Destruction if his Mercy had never appeared But that his Mercy might be manifested what hath he done his own Son hath born our Sins he hath laid the Hand of his Justice and let out that Wrath that must have lain upon us for ever upon his own Son that Mercy might flow forth to us This should teach us to study Acts of Mercy and contrive that way to be like unto the Holy and Merciful God This is that which he requires of us even to do justly love Mercy and to walk humbly with our God HEB. II. 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation I AM upon the Proof and Demonstration of the first Point of Doctrine raised from our Text viz. That Gospel-Salvation is a Great and Glorious Salvation I have spoken to this already under five Considerations Sixthly The Salvation of the Gospel is Great and Glorious if we consider the Glory and Greatness of those Persons who sat in Counsel about bringing of it in and working of it out for sinful Man We commonly judg of the Greatness of the Undertaking and the Glory of the Work by considering the Dignity Glory Wisdom Power and Greatness of the Persons concerned in it Now if this Work I mean the Salvation of sinful Man had been put into the Hands of the mighty Angels and they had called a Council about it and shewed their uttermost Skill Wisdom and Power in order to the actual accomplishment thereof would not all say this must needs be some great and wonderful Work or a great Salvation But alas they could neither have sound out a way of Salvation for us much less have wrought it out Could they any way have thought how the Glory of every Attribute of God might have been raised and have shone forth in equal Lustre could they have secured the Glory of God's Justice and Holiness and have made up the Wrong we had done to God by our Sin and so have opened a Way for Mercy and Goodness to run down like a mighty Stream and secured the Sanction of the Law and yet have delivered Man from the Curse thereof God must not will not lose the Glory of any one of his Attributes let what will become of the Rebellious Sinner Alas they could never have found out a way whereby the Attributes of Mercy and Justice might meet together and Righteousness and Truth kiss each other the Persons then who found and wrought out this Salvation were not the Holy Angels of God No no none but God himself could do it The Salvation of Israel is of the Lord He is our Saviour How often is this expressed in the Psalms and in other places of the Holy Scripture Salvation is ascribed to the Lord to him only yea to his own Arm to the greatness of his Power Therefore my own Arm brought Salvation
afterwards Alas what do the greatest part of Mankind more than provide for one Day Nay should the whole Time of our natural Lives be seventy Years it is not as one Hour to Eternity Now that the Salvation of our Souls is matter of the highest Moment will appear many ways And first by giving you a summary Account of what I have said 1. Must not that be of highest Moment or ought not the Matters of that Salvation be our chiefest Business when all Salvations compared to it are nothing or not worth regard 2. Must not that be Business of the highest Concernment for us to look after which God so early even in Eternity thought of and contrived the Way of bringing it in or for the 〈…〉 of in his infinite Wisdom 3. Must not that be minded before all things that God in Eternity as I may so say held a Council about the actual accomplishment of 4. Ought not we to look upon that Salvation as matter of the highest Concernment which God designed for such great and glorious Ends As 1. To manifest his own Glory 2. The utter ruin of Satan's Kingdom And 3. to make us everlastingly happy in the injoyment of himself 5. Ought not that Salvation to be our greatest Business that raises us up to such a Blessed State who were fallen so low and delivered us from eternal Wrath just as the Hand of Justice was up and ready to strike the fatal Blow 6. That which was so seasonable and when all hopes of Relief and Help was gone 7. Must not we needs think that Salvation of the highest Moment that the Son of God himself came to work out for us which he and none but he could accomplish nay both the Father Son and the Holy Ghost the whole Trinity join together and take each of them a part to effect and perfect for our Souls 8. Must not that needs be our only Business to look after that Christ shed his most precious Blood to procure 9. Ought we not to prefer that Salvation before all things that delivers us from the greatest Evil the Plague of all Plagues 10. Must not that Salvation be of the greatest Moment and preferred above all things in the World that is the Salvation of our precious and immortal Souls nay of Soul and Body too from everlasting Burning and Damnation in Hell 11. Ought we not to make that Salvation our chiefest Work whilst in this World that raises us up so high and makes us so great honourable and happy for ever as you have heard 12. Must not that Salvation needs be our great and chiefest Business to mind and seek after that is so full so comprehensive perfect and compleat 13. Must not that Salvation be of highest Moment that the Son of God in his own Person came from Heaven to preach and make known to Men on Earth 14. Is not that Salvation of the greatest Concernment for us to give up our selves to look after and to be chiefly affected with which the Holy Angels desire to pry into and stand astonished at the thoughts of it is so great and sublime 15. Is not that Salvation business of the greatest Moment of all that is so great so sweet so rich so admirable and so free and easy to be obtained 'T is but looking to Christ to come to Christ to rest on Christ 't is but to take and eat 't is but to drink when we are thirsty 't is without Money and without Price 16. And lastly Ought not that Salvation to be our chiefest Concernment that is an eternal and everlasting Salvation i. e. that such that obtain it shall have a Crown of Glory for ever or be everlastingly saved and they that neglect it shall be everlastingly damned Now Brethren he that makes this Salvation the least of his Business does neglect it yea utterly neglect it let him think what he will And all that make not Religion their chiefest Business who prefer not the Honour of God and their own Salvation before all things will at one time or another expose God's Name to Reproach and their own Souls at last to eternal Wrath and Misery Brethren doth not he neglect his Trade his Family c. that makes it the least of his worldly Concernments Lastly They neglect this Salvation that do not look up to God to give them the Knowledg of their State the true sense of Sin and to reveal Christ to them and work Faith in them HEB. II. 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation THE last time I entred upon the second Doctrine viz. That the Salvation of the Gospel may be neglected I shewed you who they are that may be said to neglect this great Salvation that was the second general Head I propounded to do I shall now proceed Thirdly In the third place I shall shew you from whence it is or comes to pass some Persons nay so many People in the World do neglect the Salvation of their own precious Souls 1. Some are ignorant of the Way of Salvation and from hence neglect this Gospel-Salvation Thus it was with the Jews For they being ignorant of God's Righteousness went about to establish their own Righteousness Rom. 10. 3. Suppose a Man that is sick were resolved to make use of such or such a Medicine to cure him of his Disease which he is told the Nature of and that it is an infallible Potion yet if he knows not how to apply it he understands not that why now from thence he utterly neglects to make use of it at all but seeks some other way of Cure Even so it is here many hear of Christ and Salvation by him but understand not how to apply his Blood how to fly to his Merits and Righteousness and therefore seek to be saved some other way and so neglect the Salvation by Jesus Christ Or suppose that a Man who is going a long Journey yet he knows not the Way but thinks he is right and so rides on boldly but goes the quite contrary Way now he neglects the right Way through Ignorance even so it is with many blind and deceived Mortals they think they have the right and proper Medicine or are in the right Way to Heaven and they go confidently on take their own Courses apply their own Antidote when alas it is a Counterfeit 1 st May be think that is Christ and the true Saviour which is nothing but the Dictates of natural Conscience Some suppose the Light of Nature or a sober and moral Life will bring them to Heaven and eternally save their Souls 2 dly Others conclude their being Protestants and born of Christian Parents and owning the Christian Religion is sufficient and that they need not trouble themselves any further about their Salvation 3 dly Mankind generally see not know not that they are born in Sin and by Nature are Children of Wrath they know not that they are under the Curse of the Law
God's sight and accepted for the sake of Christ's Merits Not that Christ's Righteousness alone is the matter of our Justification exclusive of all our inherent Righteousness and Obedience no no but rather it is our Righteousness which doth justify us The Gospel according to these Men is propounded as a Law and God as a Rector or just Governour commanding Obedience thereunto as the procuring Cause of our Justification So that our Faith and Obedience is a Cause and Condition of Life as Unbelief and Disobedience is the Cause of Eternal Death But having formerly detected this dangerous Error I shall not further insist upon the Confutation of it here 5. Such preach a Legal Doctrine that render Man a Co-worker with Christ in the Salvation of their own Souls by which means there is room left for him to boast and glory Such a Doctrine they preach who magnify the Will of Man or the Power of the Creature which I hope I have by the Assistance of God sufficiently detected and refuted in this Treatise All boasting being excluded by the Grace of God in the Gospel Man being abased and God alone exalted APPLICATION I shall now come to make the general Application of what I have said unto you from this great Text and so conclude with all I shall say from it First Inform. First by way of Information the Doctrine which hath in these Sermons been insisted on may inform us That Gospel-Sins are the greatest Sins and that the blind Heathens are not cannot be so guilty and culpable before God nor in such a dangerous Condition as those are who live under the preaching of the Gospel and yet slight and neglect the Salvation of it O what will they do in the Day of Judgment that live in England in London in a Land and City of so great Light and perish through their Sin and Contempt or Neglect of Gospel-Grace Secondly This may also inform us how strangely Mankind are blinded and deceived by the God of this World in that small things are accounted great and that which is of the greatest Concernment is little or not at all regarded but esteemed as a trivial matter O says some we must mind the main Chance they mean the main Business in respect of their Earthly Subsistence which is to get Bread and to provide for the Body for their Wives and Children Now the Doctrine which you have heard shews you how you are deluded that look upon Earthly Things to be the main Business you should look after What is of such Importance as the Salvation of your precious and immortal Souls and to be providing for an endless Eternity Thirdly I may infer from hence That the greatest part of Mankind are Unbelievers for all that neglect this Salvation and look not upon this matter as their chief Business are doubtless in a State of Unbelief They do not credit this holy Doctrine they believe not God's Word If one should tell you that are going a Journy that if you go such a Way you will certainly be destroyed by Thieves or wild Beasts yet you will go on Would it not follow clearly that you believe not what was told you Why thus it is here Sinners are told and assured from the Word of God as certain as God is true and his Word true that if they leave not their Swearing their Pride their Drunkenness their Lying their Lusts and Uncleanness their Worldly-mindedness and their preferring Earth and the things of the World above the things of God or if they do not believe repent and be born again they shall certainly perish for ever yet they go on and live in those ways of Sin and believe not repent not this is an evident sign that they do not give Credit to what is told them and so are Unbelievers and if they still persist in their way they will be certainly damned 1. Our Saviour saith Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish ye shall not escape eternal Wrath be ye great Sinners or not Sinners of the first Rank The Wicked shall be turned into Hell and all the Nations that forget God 2. Christ saith He that believeth not the Wrath of God abideth on him and they that do not believe are told there is no other way to escape this Wrath and that this Wrath will be poured forth upon them like Fire unless they believe in Christ receive Christ obtain an Interest in Jesus Christ nay that they are condemned already but they believe not 3. Moreover such who live a sober moral Life are told that notwithstanding that yet unless they are born again unless they get Faith in Jesus Christ and their Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees and they obtain the Righteousness of Christ they cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Now they will not believe this but conclude their State is good and that Morality is sufficient to save their Souls which shews that these are Unbelievers also 4. Others are told that their good Deeds their good Duties their Prayers their hearing of Sermons or their being Baptized and having Communion with God's People will not do unless they are savingly renewed and sanctified having the true Grace of God in their Hearts and lead a Godly Holy and Spiritual Life finding the powerful Operations of the Spirit changing them into the Likeness of Jesus Christ but they believe it not but rest upon their Duties and outward Privileges tho they are told the Kingdom of God is not in Meat and Drink but in Righteousness and Truth and Joy in the Holy Ghost or that the Kingdom of God is not inward only but in Power also and that Lamps of Profession will not save them except they have Oil in their Vessels many of these are like the foolish Virgins and believe it not but rest on a bare Name of Christians on a Form of Godliness and may be fall short too as to an outward Profession of Godliness for so do they who pray not in the Closet nor in their Families neither read God's Word nor make it their Business to hear the Word preached in Season and out of Season but every small Matter takes them off of those Duties Be sure all prayerless Souls are graceless Souls it is to be feared many of this sort make Religion but little of their Business who neither read pray nor meditate nor perhaps call upon their Children and Servants so to do but let their Children have their Carnal Lusts their Pride ambitious and wanton Inclinations indulged and nourished in them O how little is the outward Part of God's Worship kept up in the Families of some Professors Fourthly This may serve also for a Use of Terror to secure Sinners 1. May not Cry out Fire Fire Such a Cry hath often startled and amazed many of you that live in and about this City Sirs a Fire is just a breaking out which you cannot escape unless you look about you the sooner
Ch. 6. 10. Rom. 6. 14. Cant. 1. 1 2. Psal 91. 11. Cant. 8. 6. Isa 54. 10. Psal 37. 31. 1st Exhort Joh 42. 5. 1 Chron. 17. 16. 1 Sam. 25. 41. Rev. 3. 19. Cant. 1. 4. Eph. 3. 19. The fourth A 〈◊〉 taken from the Nature of the Covenant of Grace Isa 53. 10 11. Zech. 6. 12 13. Psal 89. 20. Verse 28 29. John 6. 37 38 39. Phil. 1. 6. Psal 57. 2. Isa 26. 12. Phil. 2. 13. Psal 110. 3. Dr. Owen â— Sam. 23. 5. Isa 27. Ephes 2. 2 3. Gal. 3. 4 25. Ephes 2. 1 2. Eph. 1. 18. Zech. 9. 11. Rom. 8. 1. Heb. 7. 22. Dr. Owen on Heb. 2. 22. p. 223. Ps 89. 34. Jâ—â— 33. 20 21. Rom. 4. 16. Isa 53. 10. Psal 89. 28 29. Gal. 3. 16 29. 2 Cor. 1. 20. Tit. 1. 2. Heb. 6. 13 17 18. Ephes 1. 13 14. Ch. 4. 30. Isa 54. 9 10. Isa 55. 3. The general Argument Sermon X. 5th Arg. Taken from their being the Children of God Jam. 1. 18. Joh. 1. 13. Mat. 3. 8 9 10 11 12. John 3. 5. 1 Joh. 5. 1. Gal. 3. 26. John 3. 6. Gen. 5. 3. 2 Pet. 1. 4. Gal. 4. 23. Jer. 32. 40. Ch. 3. 14. Rom. 8. 17. Isa 53. Psal 89. 29. How Believers may be said not to commit Sin 1 Joh. 3. 9. 1 Joh. 1. 8. Eccles 7. 20. Rom. 7. 25. Rom. 8. 1. Rom. 7. 15. 1 Joh. 5. 16. V. 16 17. Ver. 18. 1 Joh. 5. 4. 1 Joh. 4. 4. The general Argument Eph. 4. 24. John 3. 6. Acts 9. 1 Pet. 2. 1 2. Mal. 1. 6. 1 Joh. 5. 1. Eph. 5. 1. Zech. 2. 8. 1 John 3. 1 2. Sermon XI The Sixth Argument taken from the Soul's Union with Christ Dr. Owen 1 Cor. 6. 17. Joh. 6. 56. Eph. 5. 31 32. 1 Cor. 12. 12. Eph. 5. 30. Ephes 4. 15 16. 1 Cor. 15. 45. Ps 139. 16. Rom. 11. 17. Dr. Owen Joh. 15. 2 6. Mat 13. 21. John 15. 16. Gal. 2. 20 21. John 19. 36. Isa 29. 21. John 14. 19. Rom. 8. 1. John 3. 36. John 5. 24. Col. 1. 27. Heb. 6. 18. 19 20. Luk. 22. 32. John 11. 42. Charnock 2 Cor. 3. 18. 2 Cor. 6. 14 15. Col. 2. 19. Rom. 7. 4. Sermon XI The seventh Argument taken from the Death of Christ Heb. 9. 22. 1 John 1. 11. Dan. 9. 26. John 15. 13. 1 Pet. 3. 18. Rom. 5. 7. Isa 53. 6 7. 2 Cor. 5. 21. Isa 53. 12. Gal. 4. 4 5. Rom. 4. 24. Mr. F. Dr. Owen shews the same and many others Rom. 8. 32. John 10. 15. Luk. 22. 19. Heb. 9. 28. Isa 53. 4 5 6 8. Christ hath delivered all Believers from Condemnation 1 Pet. 2. 24. Isa 53. 5. Isa 27. 4. Rom. 1. 32. Christ the Antitype of the Scape-Goat and carried away our Sins Levit. 16. 21 22. Heb. 9. 26. Christ by his Death hath delivered us from the Curse of the Law Dan. 9. Gal. 3. 4. 5. Gal. 3. 13. Christ hath born all God's Vindictive Wrath due to Believers Rom. 3. 23 24 25 26. 1 John 1. 9. Christ by his Death purchased Grace for us Phil. 4. 19. Joh. 1. 14 16. Heb. 10. 14. Christ by his Death redeemeth us from all Sin Tit. 2. 14. Eph. 1. 13 14. Phil. 3. 10 11 12. John 3. 16. Assertors of General Redemption reprehended 1 Pet. 1. 18. Examen confectionis pacificae Joh. 17. 9. Ver. 20. Examen confectionis pacificae John 12. 23 24. Dr. Chauncy in his Treatise of the Doctrine of Godliness p. 203 204. Eph. 5. 25. * Joh. 17. 19 20. 10. 11. 16. 13 14. Mat. 3. 5 6. Joh. 3. 26. John 12. 32. 1 Cor. 12. 7. 1 Tim. 4. 4. A Minister in Glostershire as I am told of the Presbyterian Perswasion Gen. 9. 4. To eat Blood the Life of the Creature unlawful Joh. 1. 29. 1 Tim. 4. 10. Sermon XIII The Eighth Argument taken from the Effects of Christ's Death and Resurrection Rom. 6. 5 6. Col. 2. 12 13. 1 Pet. 4. 1. Rom. 6. 10 11. 1 Cor. 5. 15. Reconciliation the Effect of Christ's Death Eph. 2. 16. Rom. 8. 34. Rom. 5. 10. 1 Tim. 2. 5. Zech. 6. 13. Acts 2. 32 33. Isa 44. 3. Ezek. 36. 25. Rom. 15. 16. 2 Thess 2. 13. Ezek. 36. 27. Rom. 8. 26. Gal. 4. 5 6. 1 Joh. 4. 4. Eph. 1. 13. Rom. 8. 16. Eph. 1. 14. 4. 30. John 14. Col. 1. 14. Gal. 4. 5. Heb. 10. 19 20. Reader these things were enlarged upon when this Sermon was preached which I am forc'd to leave out here Acts 13. 39. 2 Pet. 2. 20. Ver. 22. Heb. 10. 14. Rom. 6. 5. Phil. 3. 10 11 12. Eph. 5. 25 26 27. Heb. 9. 12. Rom. 8. 30. The general Argument Acts 2. 37. Sermon XIV 9th Arg. taken from their being in the Hand of the Father and in Christ's Hand Isa 9. 1. Act. 4. 28. Rom. 11. 33. Isa 14. 24. 1 Cor. 1. 18. John 11. 28. Col. 1. 15. Psal 8â— 15. Isa 42. 3. 53. 10. Heb. 9. 22. 1 King 20. 39. Gen. 43 9. Gen. 42. 37. Philem. 18 19. Phil. 4. 19. Isa 63. 1. Mat. 28. 18 19. Heb. 7. 25. Joh. 17. 2. Isa 49. 10. Joh. 6. 37. Mat. 12. 20. John 6. 39. 1 Cor. 10. 13. Heb. 2. 18. Heb. 5. 1 2. In what respect the Saints are said to be in Christ's Hand Joh. 16. 13. Isa 42. 16. Psal 73. 2 23. Isa 49. 13 16. Jer. 17. 8. 2 Cor. 8. 5. Psa 10. 14. Psal 12. 7. Verse 5. The general Argument Sermon XV. Mat. 13. 31. Mat. 17. 20. Contin of Mr. Pool 's Annotat. 1 Joh. 5. 4. Mat. 13. Joh. 4. 14. Hos 14. 7. Mat. 13. 33. Grace compared to Leaven Grace compared to Fire Grace is a Vital Principle 1 Joh. Rom. 6. 14. Tit. 2. 12. True Grace is of a saving Nature Grace the Off-spring of Heaven Gen. 1. 26. God the Father is the Foundation of Grace 1 Pet. 2. 9. Grace God's Workmanship in the Soul Eph. 2. 10. The Power of God concerned to preserve Grace in us 1 Pet. 1. 5. The Promises of God secures Grace in us Psal 37. 23 24. Phil. 1. 6. It cannot stand consistent with the Wisdom of God and all other Attributes to let Grace utterly fail in us 2 Tim. 1. 9. Christ is the Purchaser the Author and finisher of Grace Tit. 2. 14. Acts 2. 33. Charnock 1 Joh. 3. 5 8. Heb. 12. 2. Verse 12. The Intercession of Christ secures the Saints in a State of Grace 1 Joh. 2. 2. Heb. 7. 25. Heb. 10. 21 22. The general Argument 1 Cor. 1. 30. Mat. 13. Luke 10. 20. Rom. 7. 24. Isa 40. 11. Tit. 2. 11 12. Sermon XVI How could the Birth of Christ be cause of Joy to all People answered Joel 2. 28. Col. 1. 23. Luk. 2. 34. Mark 16. 16. See p. 174. 175. of this Treatise Doctrine of Election and Perseverance opens no Door to Sin â—â—b 12. 14. Eph. 1. 4. 1 Cor. 4. 7. Col.
his Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ without Works Now to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the Vngodly his Faith is counted for Righteousness 'T is not because we are righteous in our selves therefore we are justified no but being justified by the Righteousness of Christ we are declared righteous in him and this is wholly by God's free Grace 4. Faith is a Grace or a Gift freely given to all that believe To you it is given in behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but to suffer for his sake For by Grace ye are saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God 5. Repentance is of Grace Him hath God exalted with his right Hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance to Israel c. God in the New Covenant promises to take away the Heart of Stone and to give a Heart of Flesh that is a broken tender and a repenting Heart If God peradventure will give them Repentance to the acknowledging the Truth If God will give them a Power and an Heart to repent it is his own free and gracious Gift to poor Sinners 6. Forgiveness of Sin is also freely given of God it is of Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ So that it appears Eternal Life from the first to the last is wholly of Grace both the Author of it the Means of it and the End thereof all is of Grace Heaven it self is the Gift of Grace Fear not little Flock it is your Father's good Pleasure to give you the Kingdom The Crown of Glory is the Gift of Christ Be thou faithful unto Death and I will give thee a Crown of Life Take the Water of Life freely buy Wine and Milk without Money and without Price Salvation was contrived by Infinite Grace and all things that do concur or accompany it are freely given Bread of Life and Water of Life is freely given A new Heart will I give them and a new Spirit will I put into them To you it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven c. Thirdly To proceed to the Grounds of the Point I shall give you the Reasons why Eternal Life is the Gift of Christ or of the free Grace of God 1. It is because Sin and Death cannot be removed out of the Way to Life but only by Jesus Christ and so by Grace only The Law of God is broke and Justice calls for Wrath and Vengeance to be executed upon the Transgressor Justice must be satisfied but Man cannot make a Compensation for the Violation of God's Holy Law nor will God acquit the Sinner unless that be done the Law is but an Impression of God's Holy Nature it resulted not from a bare Act of his Sovereignty but from his Holiness and perfect Rectitude of his blessed Nature If Man could have attained to Life by any Works of Obedience done by him Christ died in vain and if it had consisted with the Wisdom and Holiness of God to have accepted of imperfect Obedience provided it had been sincere he could at first have given Man such a Law and so have saved the Life of his Son For any therefore to affirm that God accepteth sinful Man for the sake of his imperfect though sincere Obedience it is to assert in effect that he accepted of some sinful and polluted Acts as a Recompence and Satisfaction for other sinful Acts and Deeds of Darkness for all our best Services are unclean in themselves Paul accounted all his own Righteousness but Dung c. Besides the Obedience under the Gospel which God requires is to be performed in the highest perfection imaginable Be ye Perfect as your Father in Heaven is Perfect The Law of the Gospel is the same in Nature with the Moral Law therefore if it may be called a Law it is a perfect Law we are still commanded to love the Lord our God with all our Hearts with all our Souls and with all our Strength yea and to live and sin not Little Children these things write I unto you that ye sin not Our Faith Love and Patience c. ought to be perfect the Law or Commands of the Gospel know no Bounds nor Limits Vntil we all come in the Vnity of the Faith and of the Knowledg of the Son of God unto a perfect Man unto the measure of the stature of the Fulness of Christ It would therefore be a Work becoming the New-Lawyers to shew where the Commands lie in the Gospel that God's Law only requires sincere Obedience unto the Law certainly loses no part of its Sanction by the Gospel that is as Holy Just and Good as ever and a perpetual Rule of Life and Obedience Therefore as a reverend Person Notes either the Gospel-Law or Law of Faith must require Perfection of Obedience in these Duties or some other Divine Law or else God would become an indulger of Sin by Law if it be by another Law viz. the Moral that requires perfect Obedience and this sincere only then these Laws differ but in Degree not in Specie or Kind because both require the same Duties or Works and so this Gospel-Law would be no distinct Law but only the Measure of sincere Obedience would receive a new use which we own it has to wit to be an Index and Mark of our Justification tho we cannot own that use of its giving Right c. But to proceed saith he a distinct Law they must hold or quit their Cause or this Foundation of it for the Text sets the Law of Faith down as an opposite Law to that of Works and that they hold Then if it be a perfect Law requiring perfect Obedience there is no possibility of Justification in this Life Poppius the Arminian grants the Conclusion that our Obedience must be consummate before our Assurance and others distinguish between a compleat and partial Justification the former is not they say until the Day of Judgment But this is not all the Difficulty for it 's the adding a Load to a Burden Is this Gospel to a Man that is unable to perform the least part of the Moral Law to tell him that God or the Mediator requires perfect Obedience to it for the future and another too Or is this Gospel to say you shall perish eternally and have the Fire of Hell seven times heated if you obey not this Gospel It 's indeed a conditional Hell but it is more dreadful than the Fire of Hell and the Condition is more impossible because we have less power to shun this Difficulty of two perfect Laws Mr. Bull owns no other perfect Law but this Gospel since Man fell but by shunning one Difficulty he falls into two as great 1. Then the Moral Law is abrogated besides the falsness of the Doctrine it self for it is impossible that should cease to be
our Duty to love God with all our Heart and Soul What Advantage brings Christ's Death to abrogate one perfect Law and establish another here is little Gospel A second Difficulty is we must either say Christ has purchased to us Pardon for Sins against the Gospel-Law or none at all but that one Sin of Adam's if the Moral Law be abrogated after the Fall we never sinned against any Law but the Gospel for we were under no other Law according to him c. The Sum of that I drive at is this viz. There is a necessity we must be justified and saved by Grace only because we cannot be saved by a Law of Obedience but by Christ and Grace alone If we sly not to Christ by trusting believing and depending on him and the Grace of God in him who hath satisfied the Justice and Law of God for us and brought in Everlasting Righteousness the Law of God will cut us down and throw us into Hell for ever 2. It is by Grace alone that we are saved because all boasting is excluded and cause of boasting And this is the Design of God in the Gospel viz. That Man might not have whereof to glory but in the Lord alone Nor could this be done any other way but by his contriving our Salvation to be wholly by his own free Grace Where is boasting then it is excluded by what Law of Works nay but by the Law of Faith not of Works lest any Man should boast 3. It is only by Grace that we are saved or Eternal Life is the free Gift of God and Gift of Christ because he will have all the Glory of it God will not give the Glory of our Salvation unto others Having predestinated us to the Adoption of Children by Jesus Christ according to the good Pleasure of his Will to the Praise of the Glory of his Grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved 4. It is by Grace only because God would magnify his Son by whose Righteousness and Obedience imputed to us we are justified and saved and it is to this end I say that God might exalt Jesus Christ his Design was to magnify Christ in our Salvation and to abase Man Thou hast given him Power over all Flesh that he should give Eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him 5. And lastly It is by Grace because God would have Salvation sure to all Believers Therefore it is of Faith that it might be by Grace to the end the Promise might be sure to all the Seed c. If Salvation were by our Works and Obedience it might be very uncertain or if the whole of our Happiness and Eternal Life be not in Christ's Hand but that it dependeth on the Will of Man or on the condition of our Faith and Holiness or in the improvement of our Abilities and it is possible that we may or may not answer the Condition thereof it might so fall out that not one Soul might be saved Besides should it be so those that are saved would then have something to glory in or boast of in the Great Day They in effect may thank themselves and admire their own Wisdom Care and Industry that brought them to Heaven Fourthly Why doth and will Christ give Eternal Life to all his Sheep to all his Saints Answ 1. Because Eternal Life was purchased for them by his Death But by his own Blood he entred once into the Holy Place having obtained Eternal Redemption for us 2. Because all that are given unto Christ are ordained unto Everlasting Life 3. Because Christ was sent into the World to this End to give Life unto them I am come that ye might have Life and that ye might have it much more abundantly It was that he might give his People the Knowledg of Salvation and save them from their Sins 4. Because Life is given to Christ to this End viz. to communicate it to all his Elect he is made a quickning Spirit that he might quicken all his As in Adam all die so all that are in Christ shall live Spiritually here and Eternally hereafter Because I live ye shall live also 5. Because all his Elect were quickned together with him virtually when he rose from the Dead yea and also virtually they entred into Heaven with him for he ascended as their Head and blessed Representative 6. Because Eternal Life was promised to them in Christ before the World began and they have many firm and sure Promises made of it to them since also 7. Because they are united to him and Christ hath prayed That they may all be made perfect in one and he hath prayed that they may have Eternal Life Now Union with Christ gives right to Glory a whole Christ shall be glorified and not a part only Quest What doth Eternal Life import Answ I answer It doth import a Deliverance from all Evil present and to come and a full and perfect possession and injoyment of all true spiritual and everlasting Good and Glory above Quest But doth not this seem to diminish or lessen the Glory of God the Father to assert That it is Christ that gives Eternal Life c. Answ No not in the least for all things are of God and through Jesus Christ All things are of God who hath reconciled us unto himself by Jesus Christ It is God that hath reconciled us unto himself 't is by Christ we are reconciled his Blood being the Price of our Reconciliation God the Father gave Christ for us and also gives him to us And this is the Will of him that sent me that every one that seeth the Son and believeth on him may have Everlasting Life and I will raise him up at the last Day And thou hast given him Power over all Flesh that he should give Eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him It is the Father that gave Christ the Power as Mediator to give Eternal Life unto his Sheep APPLICATION First This may serve to reprehend those that would not have Salvation to be wholly of Grace it clearly condemns Free-Will for if it be only by God's Grace it is not at all of Man's Will They 't is true do acknowledg the Contrivance of our Salvation to be of God's Grace alone or the Effects of his great Love and his sending of Christ into the World to be an Act of Infinite Grace but withal deny Regeneration and effectual Vocation to be wholly the Effects of God's special and distinguishing Love but do affirm that Grace which those Men have who perish at last would have been sufficient to have renewed them had they improved it They assert that all Men have Power to believe and that that Grace which God affords to Men to save them 't is in the preaching of the Word or consisteth in no more than Moral Swasions Arguments or Excitements in a rational way But
this the Apostle shews and affirms Therefore it is impossible such should fall away or suffer a Spiritual Death here or an Eternal Death in Hell hereafter 2 dly My second Argument from hence is this Because the Child of a natural Parent cannot cease to be his Child whilst he liveth or Life abideth in him this every Man must grant True he may prove a Rebellious and a Disobedient Child but still he is his Child and the Man that begat him is his Father that Relation cannot be lost nay and that Nature which the Child derived from his Father continues and must continue he is of his Flesh and Blood still Even so it is here and impossible it is that it should be otherwise that Man or Woman whose Soul is begotten and born of God cannot cease to be a Child of God though he may prove disobedient to his Heavenly Father and grieve and dishonour him but yet nevertheless he is a Child of God still and God who by his Spirit in a spiritual manner begot him is his Father and that blessed Relation continues and that holy Nature or Seed of Grace which he derived from God continues and must abide also in him as long as that Life he hath in him as a Child of God doth remain and that Life is as I have proved by the former Argument Eternal or Immortal 3 dly Besides I have made it most evident by my former Arguments that God in the Covenant of Grace and through the Suretiship of Jesus Christ hath provided that his Children shall never so rebel against him as finally to depart I will put my Fear into their Hearts and they shall not depart from me Though they may be backsliding Children yet God saith he is married to them which denotes that intimate Union there is between the Lord Jesus and them according to another Metaphor 4 thly None of those who were truly Regenerate or indeed the Children of God as being begotten and born of him though some of them grievously sinned against him were ever cast out so as to cease to be God's Children Where is he that can contradict this by shewing some that were indeed Children begotten of God who have by their Disobedience ceased from being his Children or never were restored after they sinned and fell Who fell worse than David and Peter I have before clearly proved though they may sin and fall yet they shall rise again Arg. 2. If all those that were the Children of God who sinned were restored and not one Instance can be given of any one of this sort i. e. that were truly regenerated that sinned fell and rose no more then none of the true Children of God can so sin so fall as eternally to perish But all those that were the Children of God who sinned were restored and not one Instance can be given of any one of this sort i. e. that were truly regenerated that sinned and fell and rose no more therefore none of the true Children of God can so sin so fall as eternally to perish 5 thly Those that are the Children of God begotten by him cannot sin so as eternally to perish and lose Eternal Life because all that are his Children are Heirs of God and joint Heirs with Christ This I grant is not always true of the Children of earthly Parents or earthly Princes for they are oft-times disinherited but it is otherwise here they are all born Heirs their being regenerated and united to Christ gives them a sure and undoubted Right and Title to Eternal Life The Holy Ghost positively asserts this very thing And if Children then Heirs Heirs of God and joint Heirs with Christ 6 thly It is because the Children of God are the Seed of Christ which the Father said Christ should see He shall see his Seed Nay the Father assured him that his Seed should indure for ever And they are all given to him and Christ will say at the last Day Lo here am I and the Children that thou hast given me none of them are lost 7 thly I argue yet further upon this Argument from that blessed Text in the first Epistle of John Whosoever is born of God doth not commit Sin for the Seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God I am very much mistaken if I have not my Argument here in express Terms Evident it is the Apostle means not that they do not sin at all that 's evident because he elsewhere says If we say we have no Sin we deceive our selves and the Truth is not in us James also says in many things we offend all neither is there as Solomon declares a just Man upon the Earth that doth Good and sinneth not Therefore that is not the sense of the Text I will give you my understanding of it 1. So far as he is born of God he doth not commit Sin or so he sins not that is the New Creature doth not sin that never yields to Sin but evermore wars against it and resisteth it This is that which Paul calls the Law of his Mind it is the renewed or regenerated Part or 't is that which is born of God that lusteth against the Flesh or wars against it 2. He doth not nay he cannot sin as others do this appears by that I mentioned last because of that new Nature or blessed Seed he hath received 3. He cannot live in a Course of Sin or make a Trade of Sins He cannot live in a custom of Sinning because all evil Habits are broken by Divine Grace in him That Man that lives in any way of Sin the old Habit of Lying Pride Lusts Drunkenness Covetousness or any other Sin being not broken is not born of God for it is impossible a Child of God should so sin i. e. live in a course and practice of committing of known Sins or in a constant and continual omission of known Duties Though he may fall into gross Sins as David and other Children of God did yet they continue not in a Course of such Sins that once possibly they were overcome by nay be sure they set a greater Watch against such Sins and hate them rather more than all other Sins because thereby they greatly dishonoured God and wounded their own Souls 4. Therefore Sin is not his Way or Walk he doth not commit Sin as to walk after it he walks not after the Flesh but after the Spirit He may step into the Way of Sin but he soon steps out of it again whereas others walk in that Way every Day it is the high Way the common Road of the Ungodly 5. He doth not commit Sin with Liking Allowance and Love Though the fleshly Part may like love and allow of it yet he finds another Part in him that hates it What I hate that do I. And hence it is the Apostle saith It is not I that doth it but Sin that dwells in
and under the Sentence of Eternal Death being Enemies to God and having Enmity in their Carnal Mind against God and great Mountains of Guilt lying upon them I say thus it is with them but they know it not It is with them as it was with the Church of the Laodiceans Because thou sayest I am Rich and increased in Goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked See what a sad State this professing People were in and yet ignorant of it thought they were perfect as that Man must needs suppose that thinks he wants nothing they no more knew their great Danger than did the old World of the Flood and Sodom of those Flames which suddenly consumed them all 4 thly Some conclude they believe and have true Grace they make a profession of the Gospel and have been baptized having great Gifts and Parts and yet for all this never were effectually changed never obtained the Faith of God's Elect but through Ignorance they are perswaded all is well with them and so they come not to look out to Christ but do neglect the Means of Conâ—â—rsion by being perswaded they are converted already Now this Ignorance may be occasioned several ways 1. Chiefly it arises from that natural Darkness that is in them and which naturally cleaves to all Mankind Sin has put out the Eyes of our Understanding But 2. It may also arise partly from the Ignorance of those blind Guides whose Teachings and Doctrine they may I mean some of them sit under My People are destroyed for lack of Knowledg and the Cause was those that taught them caused them to err If the Blind lead the Blind they will both fall into the Ditch O take heed under what Ministry you venture your Souls The Pharisees and Scribes were learned Men and some of them great Preachers but wholly ignorant of the Doctrine of the Gospel and of Salvation by Jesus Christ Many like the false Teachers of old Cry Peace Peace when there is no Peace 3. Moreover this Ignorance arises partly from Satan he hath too great an Influence on the Hearts and dark Minds of Men But if our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost In whom the God of this World hath blinded the Eyes of those that believe not lest the Light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine unto them Satan hath a mighty Power over sinful Men by his cunning Devices to keep them in Ignorance and to hinder them from studying knowing and believing the Gospel and by this Means they neglect this Salvation Such are blinded by Satan that believe not he may perswade them that a general Faith or a common Faith is true Faith and sufficient and so he cheats them with a Counterfeit instead of saving Faith or Satan blinds Mens Eyes by moving them to seek Salvation in some other way than by Christ alone and by believing in him resting relying and depending on him like an evil Person who puts a poor Traveller out of his way or directs him the direct contrary way that so he may be robbed and murdered by him and by other Thieves that may way-lay him 2. Some neglect the Salvation of the Gospel from that inordinate Love they have to the things of this World Thus the young Man that came running to Christ neglected it he had his Heart so set upon his great Possessions that he went away from our Saviour sorrowful and refused the Salvation of his own Soul he could not part with the World for a Part in Christ and Eternal Life So they that were invited to the Marriage-Supper out of an inordinate Love to the things of the World refused to come The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a certain King which made a Marriage for his Son and sent forth his Servants to call them that were bidden and they would not come But they made light of it and went their ways one to his Farm another to his Merchandise This Marriage-Supper is this great Salvation but the things of the World are more valued by most People than the Salvation of their Souls Luke saith And he sent forth his Servants at Supper-time to say to them that were bidden Come for all things are now ready Many Persons refuse to feed on Christ they believe not will not eat of this Supper will not feed on a crucified Christ or eat his Flesh and drink his Blood by Faith through Love to their carnal Pleasures Honours and worldly Profits And they all began with one consent to make excuse The first said unto him I have bought a Piece of Ground and I must needs go and see it I pray thee have me excused And another said I have bought five Yoke of Oxen and I go to prove them I pray thee have me excused Another said I have married a Wife and therefore I cannot come Lawful things may be abused and the Heart so set upon them that they drown Men in Perdition and Destruction Mens Hearts naturally are earthly and sensual and as they know not so they desire not the Knowledg of God and Jesus Christ they are satisfied with that Portion they have this World is for them they care not regard not the things of another Life 3. Some neglect this Salvation out of Love to unlawful things They will feed on forbidden Fruit I mean on their filthy Lusts they will swear steal whore be drunk grind the Face of the Poor deal unjustly give way to Pride c. and from hence neglect the Salvation of their Souls I was lately told of a gracious Woman living near this City whose Daughter wore a very high Head-dress or that shameful Mode now in fashion which so grieved the Mother that she gave her a rich Ring upon condition she would leave off that Dress or Top-knots Her Daughter took the Ring and conformed for a while to her Mother's just Desire but it was not long before she gave her the Ring again and repented of her Reformation and got on her old Dresses again Alas some will not leave off and forsake their Lusts for Chains of Gold they will live in their Sins persist on in their ungodly Courses let what will come they matter not who they grieve they prefer their cursed Lusts and Pleasures above this Salvation though it be so great as you have heard 4. Moreover some neglect Salvation because there is a Cross joined to the Crown they must take Christ's Yoke upon them and be exposed to Reproach for his sake and this they cannot endure the Yoke is uneasy to the Flesh the Flesh cannot bear it No it is only easy to such whose Hearts are renewed who have got a new Nature The Cross makes many lose the Crown but Brethren had Jesus Christ refused the Cross where had we been 5. Some Persons neglect Salvation through the treachery and
saith he I was blameless yet he esteemed it but Dung in comparison of God's Righteousness and renounced it all in point of Justification that he might be found in Christ And as it is Christ's Righteousness that is our Title for Heaven so it is his Death his bearing the Punishment of Sin that delivers us from eternal Damnation in Hell Hell is a fearful Place it is made deep and large The Fire is not quenched and the Worm dieth not and that Place is prepared for all Unbelievers for all who continue in their Sins and under the Power of Unbelief and neglect this so great Salvation the Damnation of which they cannot escape Secondly I shall shew you the Reasons why such cannot shall not escape God's eternal Wrath that neglect the Salvation of the Gospel 1. It is because this is the way yea the only way which Infinite Wisdom hath found out for the Salvation of our Souls If there is but one way to cure a Mortal Disease that may seize upon a Person then if he neglect that one Remedy he must die Sirs as there is but one way to escape starving and that is to eat so there is but one way to escape perishing and that is by believing or by feeding on Jesus Christ or by eating of his Flesh and drinking of his Blood There are many ways to be damned but there is but one way to be saved Verily verily I say unto you Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood ye have no Life in you If you neglect this way of Salvation there is no other way whereby you can be saved Neither is there Salvation in any other for there is no other Name given under Heaven whereby we must be saved 2. Such that neglect this Salvation cannot shall not escape the Wrath of God because it is just and equal that all such Persons who slight and neglect this Salvation should be destroyed and that for ever 1. By reason they neglect an Offer of Pardon and Peace contrived by the Infinite Wisdom of God and it is the highest Demonstration of admirable Mercy and Goodness therefore there cannot be a higher Indignity and Contempt cast upon God's Sovereign Grace and Favour Many of those Sinners that neglect this Salvation are so vile and ungrateful as not to enquire what this Grace means nor on what Terms this Salvation may be had And is not this in plainness to tell the Holy God that they scorn his Love and Goodness and despise the Offers of Peace and Reconciliation by Jesus Christ and fear not what he can do unto them and so no less than a trampling the Blood of Christ under their Feet Let Men deal thus with their provoked Rulers or with an earthly Prince when guilty of High-Treason and see how unpitied they will die yea be drawn hang'd and quartered What guilty of the worst of Treason and have an Offer of Pardon and slight or neglect the suing of it out How equal and just a thing would it be that such should die So it will be here Brethren God will not be mocked Sinners shall one Day see what it is to neglect the Salvation wrought out by Jesus Christ I mean the Way and Means of the Application thereof they will be forced to subscribe to the Righteousness Justice and Equity of their own Damnation in loving and cleaving to their Lusts and counting their earthly Riches Pleasures and Honours better than Jesus Christ and a part in this Salvation Remember it is the Sinner's own Salvation that he neglecteth it is his own Good his own Cure his own Relief his own Happiness Can any perish more justly and deservedly than such who refuse to be saved who choose Death rather than Life and Darkness rather than Light 3. They cannot shall not escape because it is Salvation in such a way a way that cost so dear even the Blood of the Son of God Should the King yield up his own Son as a Sacrifice to answer the Law for a cursed Traitor and yet he should despise and slight his Goodness how would that aggravate his Guilt O with what a Price is this Salvation procured by what a Sacrifice What Tears did Christ shed O what drops of Blood did he sweat and what Wrath did he bear What a Curse did he undergo to save us from Hell and Death How can any think to escape that neglect the Means of this Salvation 4. Because it is Salvation on such easy Terms as to us had God offered Sinners Salvation on hard and difficult Terms their Sin might not seem to be attended with such Aggravations Had God required a thousand Rams or ten thousand Rivers of Oil of every one that would be saved or to sacrifice their Sons and Daughters or their First-born the Fruit of their Bodies for the Sin of their Souls this would seem hard but none of this God requires of us it shall not be must not be our Son our Child our First-born but his Son the holy Child Jesus his First-born that must die or be a Sacrifice for our Sins it must be my Son as if God should say and all that I require of you is to apply his Blood and to sacrifice your Sins in love to me 5. That which the Apostle builds the Righteousness of God's proceeding against such that neglect this Salvation upon and shews the unavoidableness of their perishing from is the greatness of the Salvation it self Shall God's Justice be eclipsed shall his Honour be marr'd his Goodness be despised his Law be violated his Holiness stained it would be thus should such be saved who neglect and slight this Salvation Therefore all such cannot escape his Wrath. 6. The Apostle further argues the impossibility of their escaping who neglect this great Salvation from that impossibility there was of their escaping who refused to hear Moses For if the Word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every Transgression and Disobedience received a just Reward How shall we escape c. It was a just Reward they received for their Sins and Disobedience And if so how shall these escape God will render a just Retribution a righteous and proportionable Punishment it will be far worse or much greater howbeit it is against greater Light greater Grace and despising a Person of far greater Honour and Dignity He that despised Moses Law died without Mercy under two or three Witnesses Of how much sorer Punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Blood of the Son of God c. Sirs to love Sin to love this World or any Person or Thing above Jesus Christ is in effect to tread the Son of God under your Feet 't is such an undervaluing and vilifying of him God doth as it were propound the Case to us he would have Sinners themselves to be Judges how just their Condemnation will be if they neglect this Salvation and