fundamental guilt no no but he was made sin by imputation and law-account he was our Surety and so our sins were laid on him in order to punishment And to prefigure this all the iniquities of Gods people were imputed to their sacrifice though they were not inherently his own as we read Levit. 16. 21 22 Aaron shall put all the iniquities of all the children of Israel and all their transgressions and all their sins upon the head of the Goat and the Goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities and why then should it seem strange that the perfect righteousness of our sacrifice and surety though it be not our own inherently should be imputed to us by the Lord and made ours Frequently and seriously consider that the word answering this imputing is in the Hebrew Chashab and in To impute in the General is to acknowledg that to be another's which is not indeed his and it is used either in a good or bad sense so that it is no more than to account or reckon It is the Righteousness of Christ imputed to us and accepted for us by which we are judged righteous the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which the summ as the learned say comes to this That though the words in the general signifie to think to reason to imagine c. yet very frequently they are used to signifie to account or reckon by way of computation as Arithmeticians use to do so that it is as it were a judgment passed upon a thing when all reasons and arguments are cast together And from this it is applied to signifie any kind of accounting or reckoning and in this sence imputation is taken here for God's esteeming and accounting of us righteous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to reckon or account 't is taken by a borrowed speech from Merchants reckonings and accounts who have their debt-books wherein they set down how their reckonings stand in the particulars they deal in Now in such debt-books Merchants use to set down whatever payments are only made either by the debtors themselves or by others in the behalf of them an example whereof we have in the Epistle to Philemon vers 18. where Paul undertakes to Philemon for Onesimus if he hath wronged thee or oweth thee any thing put that on my account that is account Onesimus his debt to Paul and Paul's satisfaction or payment to Onesimus which answers the double imputation in point of justification Psal 32. 1 2. that is of our sins to Christ and of Christ's satisfaction to us both which are implyed 2 Cor. 5. 21. He made him to be sin for us that is our sins were imputed to him that we might be the righteousness of God in him that is that his rightcousness might be imputed to us The language of Jesus Christ to his father seems to be this Oh holy Father I have freely and willingly taken all the debts and all the sins of all the believers in the world upon me I have undertaken to be their pay-master to satisfie thy justice to pacifie thy wrath to fulfil thy Law c. and therefore Loe here I am ready Psal 40. 6 7 8. Heb. 10. 4 5 6 7 8 9. to do what ever thou commandest and ready to suffer whatsoever thou pleasest I am willing to be reckoned a sinner that they may be reckoned righteous I am willing to be accounted cursed that they may be for ever blessed I am willing to pay all their debts that they may be set at liberty I am willing to lay down my life that John 10. 11 15 17 18. Rev. 20. 6. they may escape the second death I am willing that my soul should be exercised with the most hideous Agonies that their souls may be possessed of heaven's happinesses Oh what wonderful wisdom grace and love is here manifested that when we were neither able to satisfie the penalty of the Law or to bring a conformity to it that then Christ should interpose and become both redemption and righteousness for us Now from the imputed righteousness of Christ a believer may form up this fifth plea as to all the ten Scriptures Eâ—cles 11. 9. cap. 12. 14. Mat. 12. 14. cap. 18. 23. Luk. 16. 3. Rom. 14. 10. 2 Cor. 5. 10. Heb. 9. 27. cap. 13. 17. 1 Pet. 4. 5. in the margent that refer to the great day of account Oh blessed God thou hast given me to understand that the mediatory righteousness of Christ includes first the habitual holiness of his person in the absense of all sin and in the rich and plentiful presence of all holy and requisite qualities Secondly the actual holiness of his life and death by obedience By his active obedience he perfectly fulfilled the commands of the Law and by his passive obedience his voluntary sufferings he satisfied the penalty and commination of the Law for transgressions That perfect satisfaction to divine justice in whatsoever it requires either in way of punishing for sin or obedience to the law made by the Lord Jesus Christ God and man the Mediator of the new Covenant as a common head representing all those whom the father hath given to him and made over unto them that believe in him This is that righteousness that is imputed to all believers in their Justification and this imputed righteousness of thy dear son and my dear saviour is now my plea before thy bar of Justice Imputed righteousness is the same materially with that which the Law requireth The Righteousness which the Law requireth upon pain of damnation is a perfect obedience conformity to the whole Law of God performed by every son and daughter of Adam in his own person Now imputed righteousness is the same materially with that which the Law requireth it is obedience to the Law of God exactly and punctually performed to the very utmost Iota and tittle thereof without the least abatement Christ hath paid the uttermost farthing He is the fulfilling of the Law for righteousness and he hath fulfilled the Law in the humane nature to the intent that it might be fulfilled in the same nature to which it was at first given and all this he hath expresly done in all their names and on all their behalfs that believe in him That the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in them Rom. 8. 3 4. It is as if our dear Lord Jesus had said oh blessed father this I suffer and this I do to the use and in the stead and room of all those that have ventured their souls upon me that they may have a righteousness which they may truly call their own and on which they may safely rest and in which they may for ever glory Isa 45. 24 25. Now it will never stand with the unspotted holiness justice and righteousness of God to reject this righteousness of his son or that plea that is bottomed upon it Oh the matchless happiness of believers who have so
that appertains to him alone to be able to bring in an everlasting Righteousness and to make reconciliation for Iniquity Dan. 9. 24. It is by Christ alone That they who believe are justified from all things from which they cannot be Ecclâ—s 11 9. cap 12. 14 Matth. 1â— 14. cap. 18. 2â— Luk. 16. 3. Rom. 1â— 10. 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 10. Heb 9. 27. cap. 13. â—7 1 Pet. 4. 5. justified by the Law of Moses Act. 13. 39. Now from the active obedience of Christ a sincere Christian may form up this third plea as to the ten Scriptures in the Margent that refer either to the general judgment or to the particular judgment that will pass upon every Christian immediately after death O! blessed God thou knowest that Jesus Christ as my Surety did perform all that active obedience unto thy holy and righteous Law that I should have performed but by reason of the in-dwelling power of sin and of the vexing and molesting power of sin and of the captivating power of sin could not There was in Christ an habitual righteousness a conformity of his nature to the holiness of the Law for 1 Pet. 1. 19. he is a Lamb without spot and blemish the Law could never have required so much righteousness as is to be found in him and as for practical righteousness there was never any aberration in his thoughts words or deeds Hâ—b 7. 26. The Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me John 14. 30. The Apostle tells us That we are made the Righteousness of God in him he doth emphatically add that clause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 6. 21. in him that he may take away all conceit of inherence in us and establish the Doctrine of imputation As Christ is made sin in us by imputation so we are made righteousness in him by the same way Augustines place which Beza cites is a most full Commentary God the Father saith he made him to be sin who know no sin that we might be the Righteousness of God not our own and in him that is in Christ not in our selves and being thus justified we are so Righteous as if we were Righteousness it self O! holy God Christ my Surety hath universally kept thy Royal Law he hath not offended in any one point yea he hath exactly and perfectly kept the whole Law of God he stood compleat in the whole will of the Father his active obedience was so full so perfect and so adaequate to all the Laws demands that the Law could not but say I have enough I am fully satisfied I have found a Ransom I can ask no more Neither was the obedience of Christ fickle or transient but permanent and constant it was his delight his meat and drink yea his Heaven to be still a doing the will of his Father Assuredly whilst our Lord Joh. 4. 33 34. Jesus Christ was in this world he did in his own person fully obey the Law he did in his own person perfectly conform to all the holy just and righteous commands of the Law Now this his most perfect and compleat obedience to the Law is made over to all his Members to all Believers to all sincere Christians it is reckoned to them it is imputed to them as if they themselves in their own persons had performed it All sound Believers being in Christ as their head and Surety the Laws righteousness is fulfilled in them legally and imputively though it be not fulfilled in them formally subjectively inherently or personally sutable to that of the Apostle That the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us mark not by us but in us for Christ in our Nature Râ—m 8 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Beza well tenders 〈◊〉 legis that the right of the Law might be fulfilled in us hath fulfilled the right of the Law and therefore in us because of our communion with him and our ingrafting into him God hath condemned sin the flesh of his Son that all that which the Law by a right could require of us might be performed by him for us so as if we our selves had in our own persons performed the same The Law must have its right before a Sinner can be saved we cannot of our selves fulfil the right of it But here 's the comfort Christ our Surety hath fulfilled it in us and we have fulfilled it in him Certainly whatsoever Christ did concerning the Law is ours by imputation so fully as if our selves had done it Do's the Law require obedience saith Christ I will give it Do's the Law threaten Curses saith Christ Math 3 15. cap. 5 17 18 they shall be borne The precept of the Law saith Christ shall be kept and the promises received and the punishments endured that poor Sinners may be saved Our Righteousness and Title to eternal life do indispensably depend upon the imputation of Christs active obedience to us there must be a perfect obeying of the Law as the condition of life either by the Sinner himself or by his Surety or else no life which doth sufficiently evince the absolute necessity of the imputation of Christs active obedience to us the Sinner himself being altogether unable to fulfil the Law that he may stand Righteous before the great and glorious God Christs fulfilling of it must necessarily be imputed to him in order to righteousness There are two great things which Jesus Christ did undertake for his redeemed ones the one was to make full satisfaction to Divine Justice for all their sins Now this he did by his Blood and Death the other was to yield most absolute conformity to the Law of God both in nature and life by the one he has freed all his Redeemed ones from Hell and by the other he has qualified all his Redeemed ones from Heaven This is my Plea O Lord and by this plea I shall stand Well saith the Lord I accept of this plea as honourable just and righteous Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Secondly As Jesus Christ did for us perform all that active obedience which the Law of God required so he did also suffer all those punishments which we had deserved by the transgression of the Law of God in which respect he is said 2 Cor. 2. 22. To be made sin for us 1 Pet. 2. 24. Himself to bear our sins in his own body on the Tree 1 Pet. 3. 18. For Christ also hath once suffered for sin the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God Phil. 2. 8. To humble himself and to become obedient unto death even the death of the Cross Gal. 3. 13. To be made a Curse an Exceration for us Ephe. 5. 2. To give himself for us an Offering and Sacrifice unto God Heb. 9. 15. And for this cause he is the Mediator of the New Testament that by means of Death for the Redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament they which
magnitude and multitude great drops and those so many so plentious as that they went through his Apparel and all streamed down to the ground and now was the time that his garments were dyed with crimson red that of the Prophet though spoken in another sense yet in some respect may be applyed to this Wherefore art thou red in thy Apparel and thy garments like him that treadeth the Wine-fat O what a sight was here his Isa 63. 2. head and members are all on a bloody sweat and this sweat trickles down bedecks his garments which stood like a new firmament studded with stars portending an approaching storm Nor stays it there but it falls down to the ground Oh happy garden that was watered with such tears of blood Oh how much better are these rivers than Abana and Pharpar rivers of Damasâ—us yea then Bernard all the waters of Israel yea than all those rivers that waters the Garden of Eden so great was Scanderbegs ardor in Battel that the blood burst out Bucholeer of his lips but from our Champions not lips only but whole body burst out a bloody sweat Not his eyes only were Fountains of tears or his head waters as Jeremy wished but his whole body was turned as it were into Jer. 9 1. Rivers of blood A sweet comfort to such as are cast down for that that their sorrow for sin is not so deep and soaking as they could desire Christs blood is put in Scripture by a Synecdoche of the part for all the sufferings which he underwent for the sins of the Elect especially his bloody death with all its concomitants so called First Because death especially when it is violent is joyned with the effusion of blood If we had lived in the days of our Fathers we would Math 23. 30. not have been partakers with them in the blood of the Prophets And so again Pilaâ—e said I am Innocent of the Math. 27. 24. blood of this just person that is of his death Secondly Herein respect is had to all the Sacrifices of the Law whose blood was poured out when they were offered up Hâ—b 9. 22. Almost all things are by the Law purged with blood and without shedding of blood there is no remission so that the blood of Christ is the Anti-type aimed at in the blood of those Sacrifices that were slain for Sinners sins But Secondly As the death of Christ on the Cross was a bitter death a bloody death so the death of Christ on the Cross was a lingring death It was more for Christ to suffer one hour than for us to have suffered for ever but his death was lengthened out he hung three hours on the Cross he dyed many deaths before he could dye one from the sixth hour till the nineth hour that is from twelve till three in the Afternoon there was darkness over Math. 27. 45. all the Land About twelve when the Sun is usually brightest it began now to darken And this darkness was so great that it spread over all Luk. 23. 44. the Land of Jewry yea some think over all the world so we translate it in Luke And there was darkness over all the Earth to shew Gods dislike of their horrid cruelty He would not have the Sun give light to so horrid an act the Sun as it were hid her face that she might not see the Sun of Righteousness so unworthily so wickedly handled It was dark 1. To shew the blindness darkness ignorance of the Jews in crucifying the Lord of glory 2. To shew the detestation of the fact 3. To shew the â—vileness of our sins This darkness was not a natural Eclipse of the Sun for first it cannot be so total so general Nor Secondly It could not be so long for the interposed Moon goeth swiftly away Certainly this was no ordinary Eclipse of the Sun seeing the Passover was kept at the full Moon when the Moon stands right opposite to the Sun on the other side of the Heaven and for this cause cannot hinder the light of Exod. 10. 12. the Sun but a supernatural work of God coming to pass by Miracle like as the darkness in Aegypt The Moon being now in the full it being the mid'st of the Lunar moneth when the Passover was killed and so of necessity the body of the Moon which useth to Eclipse the Sun by its interposition and being between us and the Sun must be opposite to and distant from the Sun the diametrical breadth of the Hemisphere the Full Moon ever rising Suid. in viâ—ae 5. Dion at the Suns setting and therefore this Eclipse could never be a natural Eclipse Many Gentiles besides Jews observed this darkness as a great Miracle Dionysius the Areopagite as suidas relates could say at first sight of it Amos 8. 9. Either the World is ending or the God of Nature is suffering of this darkness Amos long before had Prophesied And it shall come to pass in that day that I will cause the Sun to go down at Noon and I will darken the Earth in the clear day The opinion of Authors concerning the cause of this darkness are various some think that the Sun by Divine power withdrew and held back its beams others say that the obscurity was caused by some thick Clouds which were miraculously produced in the Ayre and spread themselves over all the Earth Others say that this darkness was by a wonderful interposition of the Moon which at that time was at full but by a Miracle interposed it self betwixt the Earth and Sun Whatsoever was the cause of this darkness it is certain that it continued for the space of three hours as dark as the darkest Winter Math. 27. 46. Nights About three which the Jews call the nineth hour the John 19. 28 30. Sun now beginning to receive his light Jesus cryed with a loud voice Eli Eli Lama sabachthani My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And then that the Scripture might be sulfilled he said I thirst and when he Luk. 23. 46. had received the Vinegar he said It is finished and at last crying with a loud voyce he said Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit and having said thus he gave up the Ghost Christs words were ever gracious but never more gracious than at this time You cannot find in all the books and writings of men in all the Annals and Records of time either such sufferings or such sayings as were these last words and wounds sayings John 19. 30. and sufferings of Jesus Christ And having said thus he gave up the ghost or as John relates it He bowed his head and gave up the ghost Christ would not off the Cross till all was done that was here to be done Christ Emisit nâ—n amisit Ambrose bowed not because he was dead but first he bowed and then dyed that is he dyed freely and willingly without constraint and
he died chearfully and comfortably without murmuring or repining O what a wonder of love is this that Jesus Christ who is the Author of life the Fountain of life the Lord of life that he should so freely so readily so cheerfully lay down his life for us c. About four in the Afternoon he was pierced with a Spear and there issued out of his side both blood and water John 19. 34. And one of the Souldiers with a Spear pierced his side and forthwith came thereout blood and water Out of the side of Christ being now dead there issues water blood signifying that he is both our Justification Sanctification Thus was fulfilled that which was long before foretold Zach. 1â— 10. 1 Jâ—◠〈◊〉 Zach. 12 1. They shall by water and by blood Thus was there a Fountain opâ—â—ed to the house of David and the Inhabitants of Jerusalem even to all the Elect for sin and for uncleanness The Souldiers malice lived when Christ was dead The water and blood forthwith issuing out as soon as 't was pierced with a Spear did evidently shew that he was truely dead The Syriack paraphrase saith he pierced his rib that is the fifth rib where the pericardium lay It is very likely that the very Pericardium was pierced now the Pericardium is a film or skin like unto a Purse wherein is contained clear water to cool the heat of the heart The blood saith one signifies the perfect expiation of the sins of the Church and the water the daily Ambrose on Luk. â—â— washing and purging of it from the remainder of her corruption Water and blood issued on t of Christs side saith another to teach us that Christ justifieth none by his merit but such whom he sanctifieth by his Spirit Christ was pierced with a Spear and water and blood presently issued out of his side that his Enemies might not object that he rose again because he was but half dead on the Cross and being so taken down he revived to testifie the contrary truth John so seriously affirmeth the certainty of his death he being an eye-witness of the streaming out of Christs blood as he stood by Christs Cross O Gates of Heaven O Windows of Paradise O Palace of Refuge O Tower of strength O Sanctuary of the just O flourishing Bed of the Spouse of Solomon Me-thinks I see water and blood running out of his side more freshly than these golden streams which ran out of the Garden of Eden and watered the whole world But here I may not dwell c. But to shut up this particular about five which the Jews call the eleventh and the last hour of the day Christ was taken down and Buried by Joseph and Nichodemus But Thirdly As the death of Christ on the Cross was a lingring death so the death of Christ was a painful death this appears several ways First His Legs and Hands were violently racked and pulled out to the places fitted for his fastenings and then pierced through with Nails his Hands and Feet were nailed which parts being full of sinnews and therefore very tender his pains could not but be very acute and sharpe Secondly By this means he wanted the use both of his Hands and Feet and so he was forced to hang immoveable upon the Cross as being unable to turn any way for his ease and therefore he could not but be under very dolorous pains Thirdly The longer he lived the more he endured for by the weight of his body his wounds were opened and enlarged his Nerves and Veins were rent and torn asunder and his blood gushed out more and more abundantly still Now the invenomed Arrows of Gods wrath shot to his heart this was the direful Catastrophe and caused that vociferation and out-cry upon the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me The Justice of God was now inflamed and heightned to its full 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8. 32. God spared not his Son God would not abate one farthing of the debt But Fourthly He dyed by piece-meals he dyed by little and little he dyed not all at once he that dyed on the Cross was long a dying Christ was kept a great while upon the rack it was full three hours betwixt his affixion and expiration and certainly it would have been longer if he had not freely and willingly given up the Ghost I have read that Andrew the Apostle was two whole days on the Cross before he dyed and so long might Christ have been a dying if God had not supernaturally heightened the degrees of his torment Doubtless when Christ was on the Cross he felt the very pains of Hell though not locally yet equivalently But Fourthly As the death of Christ on the Cross was a painful death so the death of Christ on the Cross was a shameful death Christ was in medio positus he hung between two Thieves as if he had been the principal Malefactor Math. 27. 38. Here they placed him to make the world believe that he was the great ring-leader of such men Christ was crucified in the mid'st as the chief of Sinners that we might have place in the mid'st of Heavenly Angels the one of these Thieves went railing to Hell the Zach. 3 7. other went repenting forth right to Heaven living long in a little time If you ask me the names of these two Thieves who Q. were crucified with Christ I must answer That although the Scripture nominates them not yet some Writers give them these names Dismas and Gâ—smas Dismas the happy and Gesmas the miserable Thief according to the Poet Gesmas damnatur Dismas ad astra levatur That is When Gesmas died to Dives he was sent When Dismas died to Abraham up he went Well might the Lamp of Heaven withdraw its light and mask it self with darkness as blushing to behold the Sun of Righteousness hanging between two Thieves He shall be an Apollo to me that can tell me which was the greater The blood of the Cross or the shame of the Cross Heb. 12. 2. It was a mighty shame that Sauls Sons were 2 Sam. 21. 6. hanged on a Tree O what a shameful death was it for Christ to hang on a Tree between two notorious Thieves But Fifthly and lastly As the death of Christ was a shameful death so the death of Christ was a cursed death Cursed is every one that hangeth on a Tree The death on Deut. 21. 23. the Tree was Accursed above all kinds of death as the Serpent was Accursed above all Beasts of the field both for Gen. 3. 14. the first transgression whereof the Serpent was the instrument the Tree the occasion Since the death of any Malefactor might be a Monument of Gods Curse for sin it may be questioned why this brand is peculiarly set upon this kind of punishment that he that is hanged is Accursed of God To which I Answer that the reason of this was because this was
esteemed the most shameful the most dishonourable and infamous of all kinds of death and was usually therefore the punishment of those that had by some notorious wickedness provoked God to pour out his wrath upon the whol Land and so were hanged up to appease his wrath as we may see in the hanging of those Princes that were guilty of committing Numb 25. 4. Whordom with the Daughters of Moab and in the hanging of those Sons of Saul in the days of David when 2 Sam. 21. 6. there was a Famine in the Land because of Sauls perfidious oppressing of the Gibeonites nor was it without cause that this kind of death was both by the Israelites and other Nations esteemed the most shameful and accursed because the very manner of the death did intimate that such men as were thus Executed were such execrable and accursed wretches that they did defile the Earth with treading on it and would pollute the Earth if they should dye upon it and therefore were so trussed up in the Ayre as not fit to live amongst men and that others might look upon them as men made spectacles of Gods Indignation and Curse because of the wickedness they had committed which was not done in other kinds of death And hence it was that the Lord God would have his Son the Lord Christ to suffer this kind of death that even hence it might be the more evident that in his death he bare the Curse due to our sins according to that of the Apostle Christ hath Redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us for it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth on a Tree The Gal. 3. 13. Chaldee translateth For because he sinned before the Lord he is hanged The Tree whereon a man was hanged the Stone wherewith he was stoned the Sword wherewith he was beheaded and the Napkin wherewith he was strangled they were all Buried that there might be no evil memorial of such a one to say This was the Tree Sword Stone Napkin wherewith such a one was Executed This kind of death was so execrable that Constantine made a Law that no Christian should dye upon the Cross he abolished this kind of death out oâ— his Empire When this kind of death was in use among the Jews it was chiefly inflicted upon Slaves that either falsly accused or treacherously conspired their Masters death But on whomsoever it was inflicted this death in all Ages among the Jews hath been branded with a special kind of ignominy and so much the Apostle signifies when he saith He abased himself to the death even to the Phil. 2. 2. death of the Cross I know Moses's Law speaks nothing in particular of Crucifying yet he doth include the same under the general of hanging on a Tree and some conceive that Moses in speaking of that Curse sore-saw what manner of death the Lord Jesus should die and let thus much sussice concerning Christs sufferings on the Cross or concerning his corporal sufferingâ— I shall now in the second place speak concerning Christs spiritual sufferings his sufferings in his Soul which were exceeding high and great Now here I shall endeavour to do two things First To prove that Christ suffered in his Soul and so much the rather because that the Papists say and write That Christ did not truly and properly and immediatly suffer in his Soul but only by way of simpathy and compassion with his body to the Mystical body and that his bare bodily sufferings were sufficient for mans Redemption 2. That the sufferings of Christ in his Soul were exceeding high and great for the first that Christ suffered in his Soul I shall thus demonstrate First Express Scriptures do evidence this Isa â—3 When thou shalt make his Soul an offering for sin he shall see his Seed c. Joh. 12. 27. Now is my Soul troubled and what shall I say Father save me from this hour but for this cause came I unto this hour Math. 26. 37. 38. He began to be sorrowful and very heavy These were but the beginings of sorrow he began c. Sorrow is a thing that drinks up our spirits and he was heavy as seeling an heavy load upon him v. 38. My Soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death Christ was as full of sorrow as his heart could hold every word is Emphatical My Soul his Psal 6â— 1. 2. sorrow pierced his Heaven-born Soul As the Soul was the first Agent in transgression so it is here the first Patient in affliction The sufferings of his body were but Christs Soul was beleagured or compassed round round with sorrow as that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sounds 26 Math. 28 the body of his sufferings the soul of his sufferings were the sufferings of his Soul which was nòw beset with sorrows and heavy as heart could hold Christ was sorrowsul his Soul was sorrowful his Soul was exceeding sorrowsul his Soul was exceeding sorrowful unto death Christs Soul was in such extremity of sorrow that it made him cry out Father if it be possible let this Cup pass and this was with strong cryings and tears To cry and to cry Heb. 5. 7. with a loud voyce argues great extremity of sufferings Mark 14. 33. Mark saith And he began to be amazod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to be very heavy or we may more fully express it thus according to the original He begun to be gastred with wondersul astonishment and to be satiated filled brim full with heaviness a very sad condition All the sins of the Elect like a huge Army meeting upon Christ made a dreadful on-set on his Soul Luk. 22. 43 44. 'T is said He was in an Agony That 's a conflict in which a poor Creature wrestles with deadly pangs with all his might mustring up all his faculties and force to grapple with them and with-stand them Thus did Christ struggle with the Indignation of the Lord praying once and again with more intense fervency O that this Cup may pass away if it be possible let this Cup pass away while yet an Luk 22 42 43. Angel strengthened his outward man from utter sinking in the conslict Now if this weight that Christ did bare had been laid on the shoulders of all the Angels in Heaven it would have sunk them down to the lowest Hell it would have crackt the Axel-tree of Heaven and Earth It made His blood startle out of his body in congealed cloddered heaps The heat of Gods fiery Indignation made his blood to boil up till it ran over yea Divine wrath affrighted it out of its wonted Channel The Creation of Geâ— 1. the world cost him but a word he spake and the world was made but the Redemption of Souls cost him bloody sweats and Soul-distraction What conflicts what struglings with the wrath of God the powers of darkness what weights what burdens what wrath did he undergoe when his Soul
an offering for sin Ergo Christ offered his Soul as well as his Body Again Our Saviour himself saith My Soul is Math. 26. 38. very heavy unto death Certainly it was not the bodily death which Christ seared for then he should have been weaker than many Martyrs yea than many of the Romans who made no more of dying than of dining therefore Christs Soul was verily and properly stricken with heaviness and not with the beholding of bodily torments only as some dream But Fourthly That whereby Adam and we ever since do most properly commit sin by the same hath Christ the second Adam made satisfaction properly for our sin but Adam did and we all do properly commit sin in our souls our bodies being but the instruments Ergo Christ by and in his soul hath properly made satisfaction First The truth of the proposition is confirmed by the Apostle As by one mans disobediâ—nce we are made Sinners so by the Rom. 5 19. obedience of one many shall be made Righteous Christ then satisfied for us by the same wherein Adam disobeyed Nâ—w Adams soul was in the transgression as well as his body and accordingly was Christs very soul in his sufferings and satisfaction and Christ obeyed that is in his soul for obedience belongeth to the soul as one observeth upon those words of the Apostle Phil. 2. 8. He became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross Who Agatho Epist ad Constantin upon Phil. 2. 8. doth not understand saith the same Author that obedience doth belong to the humane will That there is a kind of dying in the soul when it is pierced with grief besides the death of the soul either by sin or damnation is not disagreeing to the Scripture Simâ—on saith to Mary A sword shall pierce through thy soul Luk. 2 35. Look as then the body dyeth being pierced with a sword so the soul may be said to dye or languish when it is pierced with grief what else is Crucifying but dying Now the soul is said to be Crucified as is evident by that passage of the Apostle I am Crucified to the World when as yet his body was alive So Ambrose doubts not to say Gal. 6. 14. Mens mea in Christo Crucifixa est My soul was Crucified Ambâ—ose lib. 5. â—â— Luc. in Christ that is Christ in His Soul was Crucified which he calleth our soul because he did assume our soul and body or else where he saith Mea est voluntas quam suam dixit Ambrâ—se lib. 2. de sid c. 3. c. It is my will which he calleth his it is my heaviness which he took with my affections yet was it properly and personally Christs Soul and Will but ours by community of nature Secondly For the Assumption 1. Howsoever it be admitted that the body is the instrument of the soul both in sinning and suffering yet the conclusion is this That because sin is committed in the soul principally and properly therefore the satisfaction must be made in the soul principally and properly If this conclusion be granted we have that we would for the bodily pains affecting the soul are not the proper passions of the soul neither is the soul said to suffer properly when the body suffereth but by way of compassion and consent 2. We grant that in the proper and immediate sufferings of the soul the body also is affected As when Christ was in his Agony in the Garden his whole body was therewith stirred and mâ—â—â— and that it did sweat drops of blood But it is one thing when the grief beginneth immediatly in the soul and so affecteth the body and when the pain is first infliâ—ted upon the body and so worketh upon the soul there the soul suffereth properly and principally of which sufferings we speak here neither properly nor principally which is not the thing in question 3. It is not the reasonable soul that is affected with the body for it is a ground in Philosophy that the soul suffereth not but only the sensitive part But the grief that we speak of that is satisfactory for sin must be in the very reasonable soul where sin took the beginning and so Ambrose saith upon those words of Christ Ambrose de Incarnat cap. 7. My Soul is heavy to death Ad rationabilis assumptionem animae c. naturae humanae refertur affectum It is referred to the assumption of the reasonable soul and humane affection Pride Ambition Infidelity began in Adams soul and had their determination there in the committing of those sins the body had no part indeed with the ear they heard the suggestion of Satan but it was no sin till in their minds they had consented unto it Wherefore seeing the first sin committed was properly and wholly in the soul for the same the soul must properly and wholly satisfie Because sin took beginning from Adams soul the satisfaction also must begin in Christs Soul as Ambrose saith Inciplo in Christo vincere unde in Adam victus sum Ambrose lib 4. in Luc. I begin there to win in Christ where in Adam I was overcome Then it followeth that the sufferings of Christs soul took beginning there and were not derived by simpathy from the stripes and pain of the body We infer then that therefore Christs Soul had proper and immediate sufferings besides those which proceeded from simpathy with his body and all Christs sufferings were satisfactory Ergo Christ did satisfie for our sins properly and immediatly in his soul But if you please take this fourth Argument in another form of words thus The punishment which was pronounced against the first Adam our first Surety and in him against us that same did Christ the second Adam our next and best Surety bear for us or else it must still lye upon us to suffer it But the punishment threatned and denounced against Adam for transgression was not only corporal respecting our bodyes but spiritual also respecting our souls There was a spiritual malediction due unto our souls as well as a corporal c. Look as God put a Sanction on the Law and Covenant of works made with all of us in Adam that he and his should be liable to death both of body and soul which Covenant being broken by sin all Sinners became obnoxious to the death both of body and soul so it was necessary that the Redeemed should be delivered from the death of both by the Redeemers tasting of death in both kinds as much as should be sufficient for their Redemption O Sirs as sin infected the whole Man soul and body and the Curse following on sin left no part nor power of the mans soul free so Justice required that the Redeemer coming in the room of the persons Redeemed should feel the force of the Curse both in body and soul But Fifthly He shall see of the travel of his soul Isa 53. Here the soul is taken properly and the travel of Christs
Burial Resurrection and Ascension and besides they make rehearsal of very small circumstances therefore we may safely conclude that they would never have omitted Christs local descent into the place of the damned if there had been any such things besides the great end why they penned this History was That we might believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that thus believing Jâ—h 20. 31. we might have life everlasting Now there could not have been a greater matter for the confirmation of our Faith than this that Jesus the Son of Mary who went down to the place of the damned returned thence to live in all happiness and blessedness for ever But Secondly If Christ did go into the place of the damned then he went either in soul or in body or in his Godhead not in his God-head for that could not descend because it is every where and his body was in the grave and as for his soul it went not to Hell but immediatly after his death it went to Paradise that is the third Heaven a place of joy and happiness This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise which words of Christ must be understood Luk. 23. 43. of his Man-hood or Soul and not of his Godhead for they are an answer to a demand and therefore unto it they must be sutable The Thief makes his request Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom vers 42. to which Christ Answers Verily I say unto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise I shall saith Christ this day enter into Paradise and there shalt thou be with me Now there is no entrance but in regard of his Soul or Man-hood for the God-head which is at all times in all Psal 139 7 13. Jer 23. 23 24. places cannot be properly said to entertain into a place But Thirdly When Christ saith To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise He doth intimate as some observe a resemblance which is between the first and second Adam The first Adam quickly sinned against God and was as Gen. 3. quickly cast out of Paradise by God Christ the second Adam having made a perfect and compleat satisfaction Heb 9. 26 28 cap. 10. 14. to the justice of God and the Law of God for mans sin must immediately enter into Paradise Now to say that Christ in Soul descended locally into Hell is to abolish this Analogy between the first and second Adam But Secondly 'T is not impossible that the pains of the second death should be suffered in this life time and place are but circumstances the main substance of the second death is the bearing of Gods fierce wrath and indignation Divine favour shining upon a man in Hell would turn Hell into a Heaven all sober seeing serious Christians will grant that the true though not the full joys of Heaven may be felt and experienced in this life 1 Pet. 1. 8. Whom having not seen ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory or glorious either because this their rejoycing was a tast of their future glory or because it made them glorious in the eyes of men the original word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is glorified already a piece of Gods Kingdom and Heavens happiness afore-hand Ah how many precious Saints both living and dying have cryed out O the joy the joy the inexpressible joy that I find in my Soul Ephe. 2 6. He hath made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus What is this else but even while we live by Faith to possess the very joys of Heaven on this side Heaven Now look as the true joys of Heaven may be felt on this side Heaven so the true though not the full pains of Hell may be felt on this side Hell and doubtless Cain Judas Julian Spira and others have found it so That Father hit the mark who Gen. 4. 13. said Judicis in mente tua sedet ibi Deus ad est accusator conscientia tortor timor The Judges Tribunal seat is in Augustin in Psal 57. thy soul God sitteth there as Judge thy Conscience is the Accuser and fear is the tormentor Now if there be in the soul a Judg an Accuser and a Tormentor then certainly there is a true tast of the torments of Hell on this side Hell Thirdly The place Hell is no part of the payment the laying down of the price makes the satisfaction this is all that is spoken and threatned to Adam Thou shalt dye Gen. 2. 1â— Peter saith the Devils are cast down to Hell and kept in chains of darkness 2 Pet. 2. 4 And Paul calls the Devil the Prince that ruleth in the Ayr. Ephe. 2. 2. The Ayr then is the Devils Hell well then seeing this ayr is the Devils present Hell we may safely conclude that Hell may be in this present world and therefore it is neither impossible nor improbable that the Cross was Christs Hell the death and this may be suffered here The wicked go to Hell as their Prison because they can never pay their debts otherwise the debt may as well be paid in the Market as the Goal Now Christ did discharge all his peoples debts in the days of his flesh when he offered up strong crys and tears Heb. 5 7. and not after death Look as a King entring into Prison to loose the Prisoners Chains and to pay their debts is said to have been in Prison so our Lord Jesus Christ by his souls sufferings which is the Hell he entred into hath released us of our pains and chains and paid our debts and in this sense he may be said to have entred into Hell though he never actually entred into the local place of the damned which is properly called Hell for in that place there is neither vertue nor goodness holiness nor happiness and therefore the holiness of Christs person would never suffer him to descend into such a place in the local place of Heaven and Hell It is not possible for any neither to be at once nor yet at sundry times successively for there is no passing from Heaven to Hell or from Hell to Heaven Luk. 16. 26. The place of suffering is but a circumstance in the business Hell the place of the damned is no part of the debt therefore neither is suffering there locally any part of the payment of it no more than a Prison is any part of an earthly debt or of the payment of it The Surety may satisfie the Creditor in the place appointed for payment or in the open Court which being done the Debtor and Surety both are acquitted that they need not go to Prison if either of them go to Prison it is because they do not or cannot pay the debt for all that Justice requires is to satisfie the debt to the which the Prison is meerly extrinsical Even so the Justice of God
person should fulfil the righteousness of the Law that it might be satisfied in its commands now in this plenary satisfaction made to the Law the Wisdom of God does gloriously shine The heart of God was so set upon a full satisfaction to his Law that rather than it should not be done his own Son must come from heaven and put on flesh and be himself made under the Gal. 4. 4 5. Law he must live a holy life and die a cursed death and all to satisfie the Law and to keep up the Authority of it But Fourthly God doth stand upon full satisfaction and will not forgive one sin without it that he might hereby cut off all occasions which the Devil his Arch-enemy might take to calumniate and traduce him for if God did not stand upon full satisfaction the Devil might accuse him 1. of Inconstancy and Changeableness that having threatned death to transgressors he did quite forget himself in waving the threatning and dispensing wholly with his Law by granting them free remission Yea 2. of Partiality and respect of persons that he should be so easie and forbearing as to let them pass without any punishment at all having been formerly so severe and rigid against himself in casting him and his Angels down to hell and keeping them in everlasting flames and chains of darkness without the least 2 Pet. 2. 4. Jude v. 6. hope of recovery Satan might say Lord thou mightest have spared me as well as Man but the Lord can now answer Man hath made satisfaction he hath born the Curse and thereby fully discharged all the demands of the Law if he had not I would no more have spared him than thee Ambrose brings in the Devil boasting against Christ and challenging Judas as his own He is not thine Lord Jesus he is mine his thoughts beat for me he eats with thee but is fed by me he takes bread from thee but money from me he drinks with thee but sells thy blood to me Had God pardoned sin without satisfaction ah how would Satan have boasted and triumphed over God himself But Fifthly and lastly God's standing upon full satisfaction and his not forgiving one sin without it bears a visible character of his goodness and loving kindness as well as it sounds out aloud the glory of divine Justice The great and the holy God whose Name is holy Exod. 15. 1 11. might have rigorously exacted the penalty of the Law on the persons of sinners themselves but he hath so far dispensed with his own Law as to admit of a Surety by whom the end of the Law that is the manifestation of his Justice and hatred of sin might be fulfilled and yet a considerable part of Mankind might be preserved from the jaws of the second death Rev. 20. 6. which otherwise must unavoidably have perished to all eternity God seems to speak at such a rate as this I may not I will not suffer this high affront of Adam Rom. 7. 12 14. and his posterity against my holy and righteous Law whereby the honour both of my Justice and Truth is in danger to be trampled underfoot and yet if I should let out all my wrath upon them they were never able Psal 78. 38. to stand under it but their spirits would fail before me and the souls that I have made I will therefore let out Isa 57. 16. all my wrath upon their Surety and he shall bear it for them that they may be delivered and thus the Lord in wrath remembers mercy Hab. 3. 2. But Fourthly we can receive no benefit by the Righteousness of Christ for Justification in the sight of God nor can we be pardoned and accepted thereupon until that righteousness become ours and be made over unto us how can we plead this righteousness before God except Isa 45. 2â— 25. we have an interest in this righteousness how can we rejoyce and triumph in this righteousness if this righteousness 2 Cor. 2. 14. â—al 6. 14. Rom. 5. 1. â—â—b 4. 15 16. â—sal 22. 1 2. Rom. 4. 7 8 9 10 11. Rom. 4. 3. If Christ's obedience be imputed to us it must be so imputed as to be our righteousness before God no imoutation beâ—ow this will serve our turns â—hâ—ar our heart â—nd save our souls Rev. 14. 8. Isa 63. 1. Râ—v 3. 18. be not made ours how can we have peace with God and boldness at the throne of grace through this righteousness except we can lay claim to this righteousness how can we conclude that we are happy and blessed upon the account of this righteousness except it be made over to us There is none of us that have such an inherent righteousness in our selves that we dare plead before the Bar of God and though God hath provided such a glorious Robe of righteousness for poor sinners as is the wonder and amazement of Angels yet what would all this avail the poor sinner if this righteousness be not made over to him O sirs remember this Christ's Righteousness must be yours it must be made over to you or else it will never stand you in stead Rom. 5. 17. For if by one mans offence death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in glory by one Jesus Christ except they receive the Righteousness of Christ it is nothing to them Christ's Righteousness is in it self white rayment and beautiful and glorious apparrel but it will never cover our nakedness except it be put on and we are cloathed with it it must be made over to us or we can never be justified by it 1 Cor. 1. 30. He of God is made to us righteousness if he be not made to us righteousness we shall never be righteous Though man hath lost a righteousness to be justified by yet there is an absolute necessity of having one God cannot love nor delight in any thing but righteousness God is a holy God a righteous God and therefore can only love and take pleasure in those that are righteous both by a righteousness imputed and a righteousness imparted Isa 45. 24. Surely shall one say in the Lord have I righteousness and strength ver 25. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory Isa 54. 17. Their righteousness is of me saith the Lord Psal 71. 16. I will make mention of thy righteousness even of thine only Look as no man can be made rich by another mans riches except they are made his so no man can be made righteous by the righteousness of Christ except his righteousness be made over to him hence he is called the Lord our righteousness Jer. 23. 6. and hence we are said to be the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5. 21. hence we are said by his obedience to be made righteous 2 Cor. 5. 21. Fifthly and lastly The way whereby this Righteousness of Cods providing is
conveyed and made over to us that we may receive the benefit thereof and be justified thereby it is by way of Imputation the meaning is this God doth reckon the righteousness of Christ unto his people as if it were their own he doth count unto them Christ's sufferings and satisfaction and makes them partakers of the vertue thereof as if themselves had suffered and satisfied This is the genuine and proper import of the word Imputation when that which is personally done by one is accounted and reckoned to another and laid upon his score as if he had done it Thus it is in this very case we sinned and fell short of Rom. 3. 21. Isa 53. Imputed righteousness seems to be prefigured by the skins wherewith the Lord after the fall cloathed our first parents the bodies of the beasts were for sacrifice and the skins to put them in mind that their own righteousness was like the sig-leaves imperfect and that therefore they must be justified another way the glory of God and became obnoxious to the vindictive Justice of God and the Lord Jesus Christ by his obedience and death hath given full content and satisfaction to divine Justice on our behalf now when God doth pardon and accept us hereupon he doth put it upon our account he doth reckon or impute it unto us as fully in respect of the benefit thereof as if we our selves had performed it in our own persons and this is the way wherein the holy Ghost frequently expresseth it Rom. 4. 6. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works and ver 11. That righteousness might be imputed to them also and therefore it highly concerns us to mind this Scripture-rule That in order to the satisfaction of the Justice of God the sins of Gods people were imputed and reckoned unto Christ and in order to our partaking of the benefit of that satisfaction or deliverance thereby Christ's righteousness must be imputed and reckoned unto us The first branch of this Rule you have Isa 53. 5 6. He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities c. and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all And for the other branch of the Rule see Rom. 5. 19. As by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous ver 17. As by one man's offence death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ From the comparison between the first and second Adam it is evident that as Adam's transgression of the Law of God is imputed to all his posterity and that in respect thereof they are reputed sinners and accursed and liable to eternal death so also Christ's obedience whereby he fulfilled the Law is so imputed to the members of his mystical body that in regard of God they stand as innocent justified and accepted to eternal life Look as Adam was the common root of all Mankind and so his sin is imputed to all his posterity so Jesus Christ is the common root of all the faithful and his obedience is imputed to them all for it were ridiculous to say that Adam's sin had more power to condemn than Christ's righteousness hath to save and who but fools in folio will say that God doth not impute Christ's righteousness as well as Adam's sin The Apostle's parallel between the two Adams does clearly evidence That as the guilt of Adam's disobedience is really imputed to us insomuch that in his sinning we all sinned so the obedience of Christ is as really imputed unto us insomuch that in his obeying reputatively and legally we obey also How did Adam's sin become ours Why by way of imputation he transgressed the Covenant Gen. 3 6 11 12. As imitation of Adam only made us not sinners so imitation of Christ only makes us not righteous but the imputation Dewâ— of Justification and did eat the forbidden fruit and it was justly reckoned unto us it was personally the sinful act of our first Parent but it is imputed to all of us who come out of his loyns for we were in him not only naturally as he was the Root of Mankind but also legally as he was the great Representative of Mankind In the Covenant of works and the transactions thereof Adam stood in the stead and acted in the behalf not only of himself but of all his posterity and therefore his sin is reckoned unto them even so saith the Apostle after the same manner the obedience and righteousness of Christ is made over to many for Justification I cannot understand the analogy betwixt the two Adams wherein the Apostle is so clear and full unless this imputation as here stated be granted Look as Christ was made sin for us only by imputation so we are made righteous only by the imputation of his righteousness to us as the Scripture every where evidences 2 Cor. 5. 21. 1 Pâ—t 2. 21. He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him How was Christ made sin for us not sin inherent for he had no sin in him he was holy harmless and undesiled separate Heb. 7. 26. from sinners and made higher than the heavens but by imputation Christ's righteousness is imputed to us in that way wherein our sin was imputed to him Now our sin was imputed to Christ not only in the bitter effects of it but he took the guilt of them upon himself as I have in this Treatise already evidenced so then his righteousness or active obedience it self must be proportionably imputed to us and not only in the effects thereof The Mediatory righteousness of Christ can no way become the believers but as the first Adam's disobedience became his posterities who never had the least actual share in his transgression that is by an act of imputation from God as a Judge the Lord Jesus having fulfilled the Law as a second Adam God the Father imputeth it to the believing soul as if he had done it in his own person I do not say that God the Father doth account the sinner to have done it but I say that God the Father doth impute it to the believing sinner as if he had done it unto all saving intents and purposes Hence Christ is called the Lord our righteousness Jer. 23. 6. An awakened soul that is truly sensible of his own baseness and unrighteousness would not have this golden sentence The Lord our righteousness blotted out by a hand of heaven out of the Bible for as many worlds as there are men in the world so is that Text to a believer living and dying a strong cordial In this 1 Cor. 1. 30. the Apostle 1. distinguisheth Righteousness from Sanctisication imputed Righteousness from inherent Righteousness 2. he
in one is guilty of all 2 Jam. 10. Now that ye may not mistake Aquinas nor the Scripture he cites you must remember that the whole Law is but one copulative Exod. 16. 18. Ezek. 18. 10 11 12 13. v Mark he that breaketh one Command habitually breaketh all not so actually Such as are truly Goâ—ly in respect of the habitual desires purposes bents byasses inclinations resolutions and endeavours of their Souls do keep those very commands that actually they daily break But a dispensatory Conscience keeps not any one Commandement of God he that willingly and wilfully and habitually gives himself liberty to break any one Commandement is guilty of all That is 1. Either he breaks the chain of duties and so breaks all the Law being copulative or 2. With the same disposition of heart that he willingly wilfully habitually breaks one with the same disposition of heart he is ready prest to break all The Apostles meaning in that Jam. 2. 10. is certainly this viz. That suppose a man should keep the whole Law for substance except in some one particular yet by allowing of himself in this particular thereby he manifests that he kept no precept of the Law in obedience and conscience unto God for if he did then he would be careful to keep every precept thus much the words following import and hereby he manifests that he is guilty of all Some others conceive that therefore such a one may be said to be guilty of all because by allowing of himself in any one sin thereby he lyes under that Curse which is threatned against the transgressors of the Law Dan. 27. 26. Eighthly Every Christian should carry in his heart saith another a constant and resolute purpose not to sin in any thing for Faith and the purpose of sinning can never stand together This must be understood of an habitual not actual of a constant not transient purpose But Ninethly One flaw in a Diamond saith another takes away the lustre and the price One puddle if we wallow in it will defile us One man in Law may keep Possession One piece of ward Land makes the Heir liable to the King So one sin lived in and allowed may make a man miserable for ever But Tenthly One turn may bring a man quite out of the way One act of Treason makes a Traytor Giddcon had seventy Sons but one Bastard and yet that one Bastard destroyed all the rest Judg. 8. 13. One sin as well as one Sinner lived in and allowed may destroy much good saith another Eleaventhly He that favoureth one sin though he forgoe many do's but as Ben adab recover of one disease and dye of another yea he doth but take pains to go to Hell saith another Twelfthly Satan by one Lye to our first Parents made fruitless what God himself had Preached to them immediatly before saith another Thirteenthly A man may by one short act of sin bring a long Curse upon himself and his Posterity as Ham did when he saw his Father Noah Drunk Gen. 9. 24 25. And Noah awoke from his Wine and knew what his younger Son had done unto him and he said Cursed is Canaan a Servant of Servants shall he be unto his Brethren Canaan was Hams Son Noah as Gods mouth Prophesied a Curse upon the Son for his Fathers sin Here Ham is cursed in his Son Canaan and the curse entailed not only to Canaan but to his Posterity Noah Prophesies a long series and chain of curses upon Canaan and his Children he makes the curâ—e Hereditary to the Name and Nation of the Canaanites A Servant of Servants shall he be unto his Brethren that is the vilest and basest Servant for the Hebrews express the superlative degree by such a duplication as Vanity of Vanities that is most vain a Song of Songs that is a most excellent Song So here a Servant of Servants that is the vilest the basest Servant Ah heavy and prodigious Curse upon the account of one sin But Fourteenthly Satan can be content that men should yield to God in many things provided that they will be but true to him in some one thing for he knows very well that as one dram of Poyson may poyson a man and one stab at the heart may kill a man so one sin unrepented of one sin allowed retained cherrished and practised will certainly damn a man But Fifteenthly Though all the parts of a mans body be sound save only one that one Diseased and Ulcerous part may be deadly to thee for all the sound members cannot preserve thy life but that one diseased and Ulcerous member will hasten thy death So one sin allowed indulged and lived in will prove killing and damning to thee Sixteenthly Observe saith another that an unmortified sin allowed and wilfully retained will eat out all appearance of Vertue and Piety Herods high esteem of John and his Ministry and his reverencing of him and observing of him and his forward performance of many good things are all given over and laid aside at the instance and command of his master-sin his reigningsin Johns head must go for it if he won't let Herod enjoy his Herodias quietly But Seventeenthly Some will leave all their sins but one Jacob would let all his Sons go but Benjamin Satan can hold a man fast enough by one sin that he allows and lives in as the Fowler can hold the Bird fast enough by one wing or by one claw Eighteenthly Holy Policarp in the time of the fourth Persecution when he was commanded but to swear one Oath he made this Answer Four-score and six years have I endeavoured to do God Service and all this while he never hurt me how then can I speak evil of so good a Lord and Master who hath thus long preserved me I am a Christian and cannot swear let Heathens and Infidels swear if they will I cannot do it were it to the saving of my life Nineteenthly A willing and a wilfull keeping up either in heart or life any known transgression against the Lord is a breach of the holy Law of God it is a fighting against the honour an glory of God and is a reproach to the Eye of God the Omnipresence of God Twentiethly The keeping up of any known transgression against the Lord may endanger the souls of others and may be found a fighting against all the crys prayers tears promises Vows and Covenants that thou hast made to God when thou hast been upon a sick bed or in eminent dangers or near death or else when thou hast been in solemn seeking of the Lord either alone or with others these things should be frequently and seriously thought of by such poor souls as are entangled by any Lust Twenty-one The keeping up of any known transgression against the Lord either in heart or life is a high tempting of Satan to tempt the soul it will also greatly unfit the soul for all sorts of duties and services that he either owes to God
to himself or others it will also put a sting into all a mans troubles afflictions and distresses it will also lay a foundation for dispair and it will make Death which is the King of terrors and the terror of Kings to be very terrible to the soul Twenty-two The keeping up of any known transgression against the Lord either in heart or life will fight against all those patterns and examples in holy Writ that in duty and honour we are bound to immitate and follow Pray where do you find in any of the blessed Scriptures that any of the Patriarks Prophets Apostles or Saints are ever charged with a willing or a wilfull keeping up either in their hearts or lives any known transgression against the Lord. Twenty-three The keeping up of any known transgression against the Lord will highly make against all clear sweet and standing communion with God Parents use not to smile nor be familiar with their Children nor to keep up any intimate communion with them in their neglects and disobedience 't is so here Twenty-four The keeping up either in heart or life of any known transgression against the Lord will fight against the standing joy peace comfort and assurance of the soul Joy in the Holy-Ghost will make its nest no where but in a holy soul so far as the Spirit is grieved he will suspend his consolations Lam. 1. 16. A man will have no more comfort from God than he makes Conscience of sinning against God A Conscience good in point of Integrity will be good also in point of Tranquility If our hearts condemn us not then have we considence towards God and I may say also towards men Act. 24. 16 Oh what comfort and solace hath a clear Conscience he hath somthing within to answer accusations without I shall conclude this particular with a notable saying of one of the Ancients The joys of a good Conscience are the Paradise of Souls the delight of Angels the Garden of delights the Field of blessing the Temple of Solomon the Court of God the habitation of the Spirit Bernard Twenty-five The keeping up of any known transgression either in heart or life against the Lord is a high contempt of the All seeing Eye of God of the Omnipresence of God It is well known what Ahashuerus that great Monarch said concerning Haman when coming in he found him cast upon the Queens bed on which she sate What saith he will he force the Queen before me in the house Esth 7. 8. There was the killing Emphasis in the words before me Will he force the Queen before me What will he dare to commit such a Villany and I stand and look on O Sirs to do wickedly in the sight of God is a thing that he looks upon as the greatest affront and indignity that can possibly be done unto him What saith he whilt thou be Drunk before me and Swear and Blaspheam before me and be wanton and unclean before me and break my Laws before my Eyes This then is the killing aggravation of all sin that it is done before the Face of God in the presence of God whereas the very consideration of Gods Omnipresence that he stands and looks on should be as a Bâ—r a Remora to stop the proceedings of all wicked intendments a disswasive rather from sin than the least encouragement thereunto 'T was an excellent saying of Ambrose If thou canst not hide thy self from the Sun which is Gods Minister of light how impossible will it be to hide thy self fâ—om him whose Eyes are ten thousand times brighter than the Sun Ambrose offic l. 1. c. 14. Gods Eye is the best Marshal to keep the Soul in a comely order Let thine Eye be ever on him whose Eye is ever on thee The Eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good Prov. 15. 9. There is no drawing of a Curtain between God and thee God is totus Oculus all Eye He seeth all things in all places and at all times When thou art in secret consider Conscience is present which is more than a thousand Witnesses and God is present which is more than a thousand Consciences It was a pretty fancy of one that would have his Chamber painted full of eyes that which way soever he lookt he might still have some eyes upon him and he fancying himself according to the Moralists advice always under the eye of a Keeper might be the more careful of his carriage O! Sirs if the eyes of men makes even the vilest to forbear their beloved lusts for a while that the Adulterer watcheth for the twy-light and they that are Drunken are Drunken in the Night How powerful will the Eye and Presence of God be with those that fear His Anger and know the sweetness of his Favour The thought of this Omnipresence of God will affrighten thee from sin Gehezi durst not ask or receive any part of Nahamans Presents in his Masters presence but when he had got out of Elisha's sight then he tells his Lye and gives way to his Lusts Men never sin more freely then when they presume upon secrecy They break in pieces thy people O Lord and afflict thy Heritage They slay the Widdow and Stranger and murder the Fatherless yet they say The Lord doth not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it Psal 94. 5 6 7. They who abounded in abominations said The Lord seeth us not the Lord hath forsaken the Earth Ezek. 8 9 12. The wise man disswadeth from wickedness upon the consideration of Gods Eye and Omniscience And why wilt thou my Son be ravished with a strange Woman and embrace the bosom of a Stranger for the ways of man are before the Eyes of the Lord and he pondereth all his goings Proverbs 5. 20 21. Joseph saw God in the Room and therefore durst not yield but his Mistress saw none but Joseph and so was impudently alluring and tempting him to folly I have read of two Religious men that took contrary courses with two lewd Women whom they were desirous to reclaim from their Vicious course of life One of the Men told one of the Women that he was desirous to enjoy her Company so it might be with secrecy and when she had brought him into a close room that none could pry into he told her All the barrs and bolts here cannot keep God out The other desired the other Women to company with him openly in the streets which when she rejected as a mad request he told her It was better to do it in the eyes of a multitude than in the eyes of God O why shall not the presence of that God who hates sin and who is resolved to punish it with Hell-flames make us ashamed or afraid to sin and dare him to his face Twenty-six There have been many a Prodigal who by one cast of the Dice have lost a fair Inheritance A man may be kill'd with one stab of a Pen-knife and one hole
out thy transgressions Isa 43. 25. Isa 4â— 22. for my own sake and will not remember thy sins I have blotted out as a thick Cloud thy transgressions and as a Cloud thy sins Who is this that blots our transgressions he that hath the keys of Heaven and Hell at his girdle that opens and no man shuts that shuts and no man opens he that hath the power of life and death of condemning and absolving of killing and making alive he it is that blotteth out transgressions If an Under-Officer should blot out an Indictment that perhaps might do a man no good a man might for all that be at last cast by the Judge but when the Judge or King shall blot out the Indictment with their own hand then the Indictment cannot return now this is every Believers case and happiness Secondly To those glorious expressions of Gods not remembring of their sins any more Isa 43. 25. And I Jer. 31. 34. will not remember thy sins And they shall teach no more every man his Neighbour and every man his Brother saying Know ye the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them saith the Lord for I will forgive their Iniquity and I will remember their sin no more So the Apostle For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness Heb. 8 12. and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more And again The same Apostle saith This is the Covenant that I will make with them After those days Heb. 10. 17. That which Cicero said flatteringly of Caesar is truly affiâ—med of God Nihil oblivâ—sci solet praeter injurias he forgetâ—eth nothing but the wrongs that daily are done him by his saith the Lord I will put my Laws into their hearts and in their minds will I write them and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more The meaning is their iniquities shall be quite forgotten I will never mention them more I will never take notice of them more they shall never hear more of them from me though God hath an Iron memory to remember the sins of the wicked yet he hath no memory to remember the sins of the righteous Thirdly His not bringing their sins into Judgment doth most and best agree with those blessed expressions of his casting their sins into the depth of the Sea and of his casting them behind his back He will turn again he Mic. 7. 19. will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the Sea Where sin is once Pardoned the Remission stands never to be repealed pardoned-sin shall never come in account against the pardoned man before God any more for so much doth this borrowed speech import If a thing were cast into a River it might be brought up again or if it were cast upon the Sea it might be discerned and taken up again but when it is cast into the depths the bottom of the Sea it can never be buoyed up again By the Metaphor in the Text the Lord would have us to know that sins pardoned shall rise no more they shall never be seen more they shall never come on the account more he will so drown their sins that they shall never come up before him the second time And so much that other Scripture imports Behold Isa 38. 17. for Peace I had great bitterness But thou hast in love to my Soul delivered it from the Pit of Corruption for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back These last words are a borrowed speech taken from the manner of men who are wont to cast behind their backs such things as they have no mind to see regard or remember A gracious soul hath always his sins before his face I acknowledge Psal 51. 3. my transgressions and my sin is ever before me and therefore no wonder if the Lord cast them behind his back The Father soon forgets and casts behind his back those faults that the Child remembers and hath always in his eyes so doth the Father of Spirits Fourthly His not bringing their sins into Judgment doth best agree with that sweet and choice expression of Gods pardoning the sins of his people And I will cleanse them from all their Iniquity whereby Jer. 33. 8. they have sinned against me and I will pardon all their Iniquities whereby they have sinned and whereby they have transgressed against me So in Micah Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth Iniquity and passes by the transgressions of Mic 7. 18. the remnant of his heritage as though he would not see it but wink at it He retaineth not his Anger for ever because he delighteth in Mercy The Hebrew word Nose from Nasa that is here rendered pardoned signifies a taking away when God pardons sin he takes it shier away that if it should be sought for yet it could not be found Jer â—0 20. as the Prophet speaks In those days and in that time saith the Lord the Iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none and the sins of Judah and they shall not be found for I will pardon them whom I reserve and these words and passeth by in the afore-cited seventh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gnabâ—â— he passed over of Micah and the 18th according to the Hebrew Vegnober Gnal is and passeth over God passeth over the transgression of his heritage that is he takes no notice of it as a man in a deep muse or as one that hath hast of business seeth not things before him his mind being busied about other matters he neglects all to mind his business As David when he saw in Mephibosheth the feature of his friend Jonathan took no notice of his lameness or any other defect ot deformity So God beholding in his people the glorious Image of his Son winks at all their â—sa 40 1 2. faults and deformities which made Luther say Do with me what thou wilt since thou hast pardoned my sin and what is it to pardon sin but not to mention sin Fifthly His not bringing their sins into the Judgment of Discussion and Discovery doth best agree to those expressions of forgiving and covering Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered In the Original Psal 32. 1. it is in the plural Blessednesses so here is a plurality of Blessings a chain of Pearls The like expression you have in the 85th Psalm and the second v. Thou hast forgiven the Iniquity of thy people thou hast covered all their sin Selah For the understanding of these Scriptures aright take notice that to Cover is a Metaphorical expression Covering is such an action Sic velâ—â—tur ut in judicio non râ—vel ntur which is opposed to disclosure to be covered it is to be so hid and closed as not to appear Some make the Metaphor from filthy loathsome objects
Cor. 5. 10. Heb 9. 27. cap. 13. 17. 1 Pet. 4 5 to the ten Scriptures in the Margent that refer either to the general judgment or to the particular judgment that will pass upon every Christian immediately after death O blessed God Jesus Christ has by his own blood ballanced and made up all reckonings and accounts that were between thee and me and thou hast vehemently protested that thou wilt not bring me into Judgment that thou wilt blot out my Transgressions as a thick Cloud and that thou wilt remember my sins no more and that thou wilt cast them behind thy back and hurl them into the depth of the Sea and that thou wilt forgive them and cover them and not impute them to me c. This is my Plea O Lord and by this plea I shall stand Well saith the Judge of Quick and Dead I own this plea I accept of this plea I have nothing to say against this plea the plea is just safe honourable and righteous enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Secondly Every Sinner at his first believing and closing with Christ is justified in the Court of glory from all his sins both guilt and punishment Justification Act. 13. 39. doth not increase or decrease but all sin is pardoned at the first act of believing All who are justified are justified alike there is no difference amongst Believers as to their justification one is not more justified than another for every justified person hath a plenary Remission of his sins and the same Righteousness of Christ imputed but in Sanctification there is difference amongst Believers Every one is not sanctified alike for some are 1 Cor. 12. 19 1â— 14. 1 Joh 2 1. 12 13 14. stronger and higher and others are weaker and lower in grace As soon as any are made Believers in Christ all the sins which they have committed in time past and all the sins which they are guilty of as to the time present they are actually pardoned unto them in general and in particular Now that all the sins of a Believer are pardoned at once and actually unto them may be thus demonstrated First All phrases in Scripture imply thus much Esa 43. 25. I even I am he which blotteth out thy Transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins Jer. 31. 34. I will forgive their Iniquity and I will remember their sin no more Jer. 33. 8. And I will pardon all their Iniquities whereby they have sinned and whereby they have Transgressed against me Ezek. 18. 22. All his Transgressions that he hath committed they shall not be mentioned unto him Heb. 8. 12. I will be merciful unto their Vnrighteousness and their sins and their Iniquities I will remember no mâ—re ergo all is pardoned at once But Secondly That Remission of sins that leaves no Condemnation to the party offending is the Remission of all sins for if there were any sin remaining a man is still in 2. At a sinners first Conâ—ersion his sins are truly and perfectly pardoned 1. All as to sin already past 2. All as to the state of Remission they had a perfect right to the pardon of all their sins paâ—t present and to come though not an equal 〈◊〉 the state of Condemnation but Justification leaves no Condemnation Romans 8. 1. vers There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus and ver 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth and ver 38 39. Nor things present nor things to come shall be able to separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord and Joh. 5. 24. He that heareth my Word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into Condemnation but is passed from death to life ergo all sins are pardoned at once or else they were in a state of Condemnation c. Thus you see it evident that there is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus therefore there is full remission of all sins to the soul at the first act of believing But Thirdly A Believer even when he sinneth is still united to Christ Joh. 15. 1. 6. Joh. 17. 21 22 23. 1 Cor. 6. 17. And he is still Cloathed with the Righteousness of Christ which covers all his sins and dischargeth him from them so that no guilt can redound to him Isa 61. 10. Jer. 23. 6. 1 Cor. 1. 30. Phil. 3. 9. c. But Fourthly A Believer is not to fear Curse or Hell at all which yet he might do if all his sins were not pardoned at once but some of his new sins were for a while unpardoned c. But Fifthly Our Lord Jesus Christ by once suffering suffered for all the sins of the Elect past present and to come the infinite wrath of God the Father fell on him for all the sins of the chosen of God Isa 53. 9. Heb. 12. 14. chap. 10. 9 10 12 14. If Christ had suffered for ten thousand worlds he could have suffered no more than he did for he suffered the whole infinite wrath of God the Father the wrath of God was infinite wrath the sufferings of Christ were infinite sufferings ergo Look as Adam's sin was enough to infect a thousand worlds so our Saviours merits are sufficient to save a thousand worlds those sufferings that he suffered for sins past are sufficient to satisfie for sins present and to come That all the sins of Gods Isa 54. 5 6. people in their absolute number from first to last were laid upon Christ who in the days of his sufferings did meritoriously purchase perfect remission of all their sins to be applyed in future times to them and by them is most certain But Sixthly Repentance is not at all required for our justification where our pardon is only to be found but only Faith therefore pardon of sin is not suspended until we repent of our sins But Sevently If the Remission of all sins be not at once it is either because my faith cannot lay hold on it or because there is some hinderances in the way But a man by the hand of faith may lay hold on all the merits of Christ and the word reveals the pardon of all and the Sacrament of the Lords Supper seals and confirms the pardon of all and there is no danger nor inconvenience that attends this assertion for it puts the highest obligation imaginable upon the soul as to fear and obedience Psal 1 30. 3. v. If thou Lord shouldest mark Iniquities O Lord who shall stand ver 4. But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared Forgiveness makes not a Christian bold with sin but fearful of sin and careful to obey as Christians find in their daily experience By this Argument it appears clear that the forgiveness of all sins is made to the soul at once at the first act of Believing But Eightly If new
by charging them all upon Christs score That is a great expression of Nathan to David The Lord hath put away thy sin But the Original runs thus The Lord hath made thy sins to pass over that is to 2 Sam 12. 13. pass over from thee to his Son he hath laid them to his charge Now Christ hath discharged all his Peoples Debts and Bonds There is a two-fold debt which lay upon us one was the debt of Obedience unto the Law and this Christ did pay by fulfilling all Righteousness Math. 3. 15. The other was the debt of punishment for our transgressions and this debt Christ discharged by his Death on the Cross Isa 53. 4 10 12. and by being made a Curse for us to redeem us from the Curse Gal. 3. 13. Hence it is that we are said to be bought with a price 1 Cor. 6. 20. chap. 7. 23. and that Christ is called our Raâ—som Lutron Math. 20. 28. and Antilutron 1 Tim. 2. 6. The words do signifie a valuable price laid down for anothers Ransom The Blood of Christ the Son of God was a valuable price a sufficient price it was as much as would take off all Enmities and take away all Sin and to satisfie Divine Justice and indeed so it did and therefore you read That in his blood we have Redemption even the forgiveness of our sins Ephes 1. 7. Col. 1. 14 20. and his death was such a full compensation to divine Justice that the Apostle makes a challenge to all Rom. 8. 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect and vers 34. Who is he that Condemneth it is Christ that dyed As if he had said Christ hath satisfied and discharged all The Greek word Antilutron is of special Emphasis The vulgar Latine renders it Redemptionem Redemption Beza Redemptioms precium a price of Redemption but neither of them fully expressing the force of the word which properly signifieth a counter-price when one doth undergoe in the room of another that which he should have undergone in his own person As when one yields himself a Captive for the Redeeming of another out of Captivity or giveth his own life for the saving of anothers There were such Sureties among the Greeks as gave life for life body for body and in this sence the Apostle is to be understood when he saith that Christ gave himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Ransom a counter-price paying a price for his people Christ hath laid down a price for all Believers they are his dear bought Ones they are his choyce redeemed Ones Isa 51. 11. Christ gave himself Antilutron a counter-price a Ransom submitting himself to the like punishment that his redeemed Ones should have undergone Christ to deliver his Elect from the Curse of the Law did subject himself to that same Curse of the Law under which all man-kind lay Jesus Christ was a true Surety one that gave his life for the life of others as the Apostle saith of Castor and Pollux that the one redeemed the others life with his own death So did the Lord Jesus he became such a Surety for his Elect giving himself an Antilutron a Ransom for them Joh. 6. 51. Tit. 2. 14. 1 Pet. 1. 18. Rev. 1. 5. chap. 5. 9. O what comfort is this unto us to have such a Jesus who himself bare our sins even all our sins left not one unsatisfied for laid down a full ransom a full price such an expiatory Sacrifice as that now we are out of the hands of Justice and Wrath and Death and Curse and Hell and are reconciled and made near by the Blood of the everlasting Covenant the Blood of Christ as the Scripture speaks is the Blood of God Act. 20. 28. So that there is not only satisfaction but merit in his Blood there is more in Christs Blood than meer payment or satisfaction there was merit also in it to acquire and procure and purchase all spiritual good and all eternal good for the people of God not only immunities from sin Death Wrath Curse Hell c. but priviledges and dignities of Sons and Heirs yea all Grace and all Love and all Peace and all Glory even that glorious Inheritance purchased by his Blood Ephes 1. 14. Remember this once for all that in justification our debts are charged upon Christ they go upon his accounts you know that in sin there is the vicious and staining quality of it and there is the resulting guilt of it which is the obligation of a Sinner over to the Judgment Seat of God to answer for it Now this guilt in which lies our debt this is charged upon Christ Therefore saith the Apostle God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself not imputing their Trespasses unto them 2 Cor. 5. 19. And hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin ver 21. You know in Law the Wifes Debts are charged upon the Husband and if the Debtor be disabled than the Creditor sues the Surety Fide jussor or Surety and Debitor in Law are reputed as one person Now Christ is our Fide jussor He is made sin for us saith the Apostle for us that is in our stead A Surety for us one who puts our scores on his accounts our burden on his shoulders so saith that Princely Prophet Isaiah Isa 53. 4 5. He hath born our griefs and carried our soroows how so He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities that is he stood in our stead he took upon him the answering of our sins the satisfying of our debts the clearing of our guilt and therefore was it that he was so bruised c. You remember the scape-Goat upon his Head all the Iniquities of the Children of Israel and all their transgressions in all their sins were confessed and put And the Goat did bâ—ar upon him all their Iniquities Lev. 16. 21 22. What is the meaning of this Surely Jesus Christ upon whom our sins were laid and who alone died for the ungodly Rom. 5. 6. and bear our burdens away Therefore the Believer in the sence of guilt should run unto Christ and offer up his Blood unto the Father and say Lord it is true I owe Thee so much yet Father forgive me remember that thine own Son was my Ransom his Blood was the price he was my Surety and undertook to answer for my sins I beseech thee accept of his Attonement for he is my Surety my Redemption Thou must be satisfied but Christ hath satisfied thee not for himself what sins had he of his own but for me they were my debts which he satisfied for and look over thy book and thou shalt find it so for thou hast said He was made sin for us and that he was wounded for our transgressions Now what a singular support what an admirable comfort is this that we our selves are not to make up our accounts and reckonings but that Christ hath cleared all accounts and
being without sin could neither by Indignation displease his Father nor by Desperation destroy himself So that if you consider either the adjuncts of Hell or the effects then I say we do remove all them as far off from the holy soul of Christ as Heaven is from Hell or the East from the West or darkness from light c. Thirdly Consider the punishment it self Now concerning this we say That our blessed Saviour as in himself he bare all the sins of the Elect. So he also suffered the whole punishment of body and soul in general that was due unto us for the same which we should have endured if he had not satisfied for it and so consequently we affirm that he felt the anguish of soul and horror of Gods wrath and so in soul entred into the torments of Hell for us sustained them and vanquished them One spaking in honour of Christs passion saith Cum iram Dei Calvin in Math. 2â— 39. sibi propositum videret When he saw the wrath of God set before him presenting himself before Gods tribunal loaden with the sins of the whole world it was necessary for him to fear the deep bottomless pit of death Again Calvin in Math. 27. 46. saith the same Author Cum species Christo objecla est c. Such an object being offered to Christs view as though God being set against him he were appointed to destruction he was with horror affrighted which was able an hundred times to have swallowed up all mortal Creatures but he by the wonderful power of his spirit escaped with Victory What dishonour was it to our Saviour Christ saith another to suffer that which was necessary for Fulk in Act 2. Sect. 11. our Redemption namely that torment of Hell which we had deserved and which the Justice of God required that he should endure for our Redemption Or rather what is more to the honour of Christ then that he vouchsafed to descend into Hell for us and to abide that bitter pain which we had deserved to suffer Eternally and what may rather be called Hell then the anguish of soul which he suffered when he being yet God complained that he was forsaken of God O Sirs this we need not fear to confess that Christ bearing our sins in himself upon the Cross did feel himself during that combat as rejected and forsaken of God and accursed for us and the flames of his Fathers wrath burning within him so that to the honour of Christs Passion we confess that our blessed Redeemer refused no part of our punishment but endured the very pains of Hell so far as they tended not neither to the derogation of his Person deprivation of his Nature destruction of his Office c. Here it may be query'd whether the Lord Jesus Christ underwent the idem the very self-same punishment that we should have undergone or only the tantundem that which did amount and was equivalent thereunto To which I Answer That in different respects both may be affirmed The punishment which Christ indur'd if it be considered in its substance kind or nature so 't was the same with that the Sinner himself should have undergone but if it be considered with respect to certain circumstances adjuncts or accidents which attend that punishment as inflicted upon the Sinner so 't was but equivalent and not the same The punishment due to the Sinner was death the curse of the Law upon the breach of the first Covenant now this Christ underwent For Gal. 3. 13. he was made a Curse for us The adjuncts attending this death were the Eternity of it Desperation going along with it c. These Christ was freed from the dignity of his Person supplying the former the sanctity of his Person securing him against the latter therefore in reference unto these and to some other things already mentioned it was but the tantundem not the idem but suppose there had been nothing of sameness nothing beyond equivalency in what Christ suffered yet that was enough for it was not required that Christ should suffer every kind of Curse which is the effect of sin but in the general accursed death Look as in his fulfilling of the Law for us it was not necessary that he should perform every holy duty that the Law requireth for he could not perform that obedience which Magistrates or Married persons are bound to do It s enough that there was a fulfilling of it in the general for us So here it was not necessary that Jesus Christ should undergo in every respect the same punishment which the offender himself was lyable unto but if he shall undergoe so much as may satisfie the Laws threatnings and vindicate the Law-giver in his Truth Justice and Righteous government that was enough Now that was unquestionably done by Christ But some may object and say How could Christ suffer Obj. 1 the pains of the second death without dis-union of the Godhead from the Man-hood for the God-head could not dye Or what interest had Christs God-head in his humane sufferings to make them both so short and so precious and satisfactory to Divine justice for the sins of so many Sinners especially when we consider that God cannot suffer I Answer It followeth not that because Christ is United Answ 1 into one Person with God that therefore he did not suffer the pains of Hell for by the same reason he should not have suffered in his body for the Union of his Person could have preserved him from sufferings in the one as well as in the other and neither God Angels nor Men compelled him to undertake this difficult and bloody work but his own free and unspeakable love to Man-kind as himself declares Joh. 10. 17. Therefore my Father Isa 53. 12. Psal 40. 7 8. Heb. 10. 9 10. loves me because I lay down my life ver 18. No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self If Christ had been constrained to suffer then both men and Angels might fear and tremble but as one saith well Voluntas Bernard sponte morientis placuit Deo The willingness of him that dyed pleased God who offered himself to be the Redeemer of fallen man But secondly I Answer from 1 Joh. 3. 16. Hereby Answ 2 perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us The person dying was God else his person could have done us no good The Person suffering must be God as well as man but the God-head suffered not As if you shoot off a Cannon in the bright ayr the ayr suffers but the light of it suffers not Actions and passions belong to persons Nothing less then that person who is God-Man could bear the brunt of the day satisfie Divine justice pacifie Divine wrath bring in an everlasting Righteousness and make us happy for ever But Thirdly I answer thus Albeit the passion of the humane Nature could not so far reach the God-head of Christ that it
cannot be satisfied for the transgression of the Law but by the death of the Sinner but it doth not require that this should be done in the place of the damned The wicked go to Prison because they do not they cannot make satisfaction otherwise Christ having fully discharged the debt needed not go to Prison Object But the pains and torments that are due to mans Obj. 5 sins are to be everlasting and how then can Christs short sufferings countervail them Answ That Christs sufferings in his soul and body Answ were equivalent to it although to speak properly Eternity is not of the essence of death which is the reward of sin and threatned by God but its accidental because man thus dying is never able to satisfie God therefore seeing he cannot pay the last farthing he is for Math. 18 28. 35. ever kept in Prison Look as eternal death hath in it eternity despair necessarily in all those that so die so Christ could not suffer but what was wanting in duration was supplyed 1. By the immensity of his sorrows conflicting with the sense of Gods wrath because of our sins imputed to him so that he suffered more grief then if the sorrows of all men were put together Christs Hell sorrows on the Cross were meritorious and fully satisfactory Isa 53. for our everlasting punishment and therefore in greatness were to exceed all other mens sorrows as being answerable to Gods justice 2. By the dignity and worth of him that did suffer Therefore the Scripture calls it the blood of God The damned must bear the wrath of God to all Eternity because they can never satisfie the justice of God for sin therefore they must lye by it world without end but Christ hath made an infinit satisfaction in a finit time by undergoing that fierce battel with the wrath of God and getting the Victory in a few hours which is equivalent to the Creatures bearing it and grapling with it everlastingly This length or shortness of durance is but a circumstance not of any necessary consideration in this case Suppose a man indebted a 100 l. and likely to lye in Prison till he shall pay it yet utterly unable if another man comes and lays down the money on two hours warning is not this as well or better done that which may be done to as good or better purpose in a short time what need is there to draw it out at length The justice of the Law did not require that either the Sinner or his Surety should suffer the Eternity of Hells torments but only their extremity it doth abundantly counterpoise the eternity of the punishment that the person which suffered was the eternal God Besides it was impossible that he should be detained under the sorrows of death Act. 2. 24. And if he had been so detained Then he had not spoiled principalities and powers nor triumphed over them Col. 2. 15. but had been overcome and so had not attained his end But Secondly The pains of Hell which Christ suffered though they were not infinit in time yet were they of an infinite price and value for the dignity of the person that suffered them Christs temporal enduring of Hellish sorrows was as effectual and meritorious as if they had been perpetual the dignity of Christs person did bear him out in that which was not meet for him to suffer nor fit in respect of our Redemption for if he should have suffered Eternally our Redemption could never have been accomplished but for him to suffer in soul as he did in body was neither derogatory to his person nor prejudicial to his work Infinitly in time Christ was not to suffer as one well observes Christ dyed secundum tempus Ambrose in 5. ad Rom. 6. in time or according to time Tempora in mundo sunt c. Times are in the world where the Sun riseth and setteth unto this time he dyed but where there is no time there he was found not only living but conquering Christ God-Man suffered punishment in measure infinit and therefore there is no ground why he should endure it eternally and indeed it was impossible that Christ should be Act. 2. 24. holden of Death because he was both the Lord of life and the Lords holy One 1 Cor. 2. 8. Act. 2. 27. But Thirdly If the measure of a mans punishment were infinit the duration needs not be infinit sinful mans measure of punishment is finit and therefore the duration of his punishment must be infinit because the punishment must be answerable to the infinit evil of sin committed against an infinit God O Sirs continual imprisonment in Hell arises from mans not being able to pay the price for could he pay the debt in one year he needs not lye two years in Prison Now the debt is the first and second death and because sinful man cannot pay it in any time he must endure it eternally but now Christ has laid down ready pay upon the nail to the full for all his chosen Ones and therefore it is not reâ—uired of him that he should suffer for ever neither can it stand with the holiness or justice of God to hold him under the second death he having paid the debt to the utmost Farthing Now that he hath fully paid the debt himself witnesseth Joh. 19. 30. saying when he had received the Vinegar It is finished so vers 28. After this Jesus knowing that all things were accomplished Though there are many interpretations given of this place by Augustine Chrysostom Jansenuâ— and others yet doubtless this alone will hold water viz. That the heavy wrath of the Lord which did pursue Christ and the second death which filled him with grievous terrors is now over and past and mans Redemption finished he speaketh here of that which presently should be and in the yielding up his Ghost was accomplished And thus you see that Jesus Christ did feel and suffer the very torments of Hell though not after a Hellish manner and you see also that Christ did not locally descend into Hell Shall we make a few inferences from hence First then O! how should these sad sufferings of Christ for us endear Christ to us O! what precious thoughts should we have of him O! how should we Psal 136. 17 18. prize him how should we honour him how should we love him and how should we be swallowed up in the admiration of him as his love to us has been matchless so his sufferings for us has been matchless I have read of Nero that he had a Shirt made of a Salamanders skin so that if he did walk through the fire in it it would keep him from burning So Christ is the true Salamanders skin that will keep the soul from everlasting burnings Isa 33. 14. and therefore well may Christians cry out with that Martyr None but Christ none but Christ Tigranes in Zenophon Lambert coming to Redeem his Father and Friends with his
yeâ— the unprofitable servant into outer darkness Into a darkness beyond a darkness into a Dungeon beyond and beneath the prison The darkness of Hell is compared 2. Pet. 2. 4. Juâ—le verâ—â— 6. Acts 12. 10. This priâ—on was without the gate near mount â—alâ—â—ry and it was the loathsoâ—est and vilest prison of all for iâ— it the Thieves who were carried to Calvary to be executed were kep't and Christ alludeth to this prison in that Matth. 8. 12. and that Matth. 22. 13. and that Matth. 25. 30. Cast him into utter darkness Which allusion could not be understood unless there had been a dark prison without the City where was utter darkness to the darkness of those prisons which were often times out of the City By outer darkness the Holy-Ghost Would signifie to us that the wicked should be in a state most remote from all heavenly happiness and blessedness and that they should be expulsed out of the blessed presence of God who is mentium Lumâ—n It is usual among the Greeks by a comparative to set forth the superlative degree by outer darkness we are to understand the greatest darkness that is as in a place most remote from all light They shall be cast into outer darkness that is they shall be cast into the corporal and palpable darkness of the infernal prison Immediately after death Sinners Souls shall be cast into the infernal prison and in the day of judgment both their souls and their bodies shall be cast into outer darkness Darkness is no other thing than a privation of light Now Light is twofold viz. 1. Spiritual as Wisdom Grace Truth now the privation of this light is internal darkness and ignorance in the spirit and inward man 2. There is a sensible and corporal light whose privation is outer darkness and this is the darkness spoken of in the three Scriptures last cited For although there be fire in hell yet it is a dark and smoaky fire and not clear except only so as the damned may see one another for the greater encrease of their misery as some write Now I shall leave the ingenious Reader to conclude as he pleases concerning the place where Hell is desiring and hoping that he will make it the greatest business of his life to escape Hell and to get to Heaven c. Thirdly and Lastly If Jesus Christ did feel and suffer the very torments of Hell though not after a hellish manner then let me infer that certainly the Papists are greatly out they are greatly mistaken and do greatly err who boldly and confidently assert that Christs Soul in substance went really and locally into Hell Bellar. de Christ Animâ— lib. 4. cap. 10. 11 12 13 14 15 16. Teâ— 1. Vide Calvin in Instituâ— lib. 2. cap. 16. Sect. 9. Bellarmine takes a great deal of pains to make good this assertion but this great Champion of the Romish Church may easily be confuted First because that limbus patrum and Christs fetching the fathers from the skirts of Hell about which he makes so great a noise is a meer fable and not bottomed upon any solid grounds of Scripture Secondly because upon Christs dying and satisfying for our sins his soul went that very day into Paradise as Adam sinning was that very day cast out of Luke 23. 43. Gen. 3. 23 24. John 18. 30. Heb. 9. 12. 1 Thâ—s 1. 10. Eph. 4. 8. Heb. 2. 14. 15. Coloss 2. 14. 15. 'T is a plain allusion to the Roman Triumphs where the Victor ascended to the Capitol in a Chariot of State the prisoners following on foot with their hands bound behind them c. Paradise and his soul could not be in two places at once Thirdly because this descent of Christs Soul into Hell was altogether needless and to no end what need was there of it or to what end did he descend not to suffer in Hell for that was finished on the Cross not to redeem or rescue the Fathers out of Hell for the elect were never there and Redemption from Hell was wrought by Christs death as the Scriptures do clearly evidence not to triumph there over the Devils c. For Christ triumphed over them when he was on the Cross Christ in the day of his solemn inauguration into his Heavenly Kingdom triumphed over Sin Death Devils and Hell when Christ was on the Cross he made the Devils a publick spectacle of scorn and derision as Tamerlane did Bajazet the great Turk whom he shut up in an Iron Cage made like a Grate in such sort as thaâ— Turk Hist 220. â—e might on every side be seen and so carried him up and down all Asia to be scorned and derided by his own people By these few hints you may see the vanity and folly of the Papists who tell you that Christs soul in substance went really and locally into Hell I might make other inferences but let these suffice at this time Fourthly As Jesus Christ did feel and suffer the very torments of Hell though not after a hellish manner so Jesus Christ was really certainly made a curse for us Jesus Christ did in his soul and body bear that curse of the Law which by reason of transgression was due to us Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law Gala. 3. 13. being made a curse for us for it is written cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree He saith not Christ was cursed but a curse which is more it shews that the curse of all did lie upon him The death on the tree was accursed above all kinds of deaths as the Serpent was Gen. 3. 14. accursed above all the beasts of the field This Scripture Not that all that are hanged should be damned for the contrary appears in that Luke 23. 43. Neither is hanging in it self or by the law of nature or by civil law more execrable than any other death refers to Deut. 21. 33. His body shall not remain all night upon the tree but thou shalt in any wise hury him that day for he that is hanged is accursed of God The holy and wise God appointed this kind of punishment as being the most cruel and reproachful for a type of the punishment which his Son must suffer to deliver us from the curse Hanging on a tree was accounted the most shameful the most dishonourable the most odious and infamous and accursed of all kinds of death both by the Israelites and other nations because the very manner of the death did intimate that such men as were thus executed were such execrable base vile and accursed wretches that they did defile the earth with treading on it and would pollute the earth if they should die upon it and therefore were hang'd up in the air as persons not fit to converse amongst men or touch the surface of the ground any more But what should be the reason why the ceremonial Law affixed the curse to this death rather than any
3. 13. 15. He 's called the man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2. 5. 1 Cor. 15. 21. Since by man came death by man came also the resurrection of the dead God's justice would be satisfied in the same nature that had sinned 16. God's son made of a woman Gal. 4. 4. 17 Man 1 Tim. 2. 5. The man Christ Jesus 18. The son of David Mat. 1. 1. Mar. 12. 35. How say the Scribes that Christ is the son of David In that the Scribes and Pharisees knew and acknowledged according to the Scripture that Christ should be the son of David that is should be born and descend of the stock and posterity of David according to the flesh Hence we may easily gather the truth of Christ's humane nature that he was ordained of God to be true man as well as God in one and the same person for else he could not be the son of David Now that he must be the son of David even the Scribes and the Pharisees knew and acknowledged as we see here and this was a truth which they had learned out of the Scriptures and not only they but even the common sort of Jews in our Saviour's time John 7. 42. some of the common people spake thus Hath not the scripture said that Christ cometh of the seed of David and the Messiah was then commonly called the son Rom. 1. 3. of David so then Christ being of the seed of David after the flesh he must needs be true man as well as God for which cause he was incarnate in the due time appointed of God that is to say he being the son of God from everlasting did in time become man taking our nature upon him together with the infirmities of our nature sin only excepted John 1. 14. Now thus you see that the 18 denominations that are given to Christ in the blessed Scriptures do abundantly demonstrate the certainty of Christ's humane nature But Thirdly Christ took the whole humane nature he was truly and compleatly man consisting of flesh and spirit body and soul yea that he assumed the entire humane nature with whatever is proper to it Christ took to himself the whole humane nature in both the essential parts of man soul and body the two essential and constitutive parts of man are soul and body where these two are there 's the true man now Christ had both and therefore he was true man First Christ had a true humane and reasonable soul the reasonable soul is the highest and noblest part of man this is that which principally makes the man and hath the greatest influence into his being and essence if therefore Jesus Christ had only a humane body without a humane soul he had wanted that part which is most essential to man and so he could not have been looked upon as true and perfect man O Sirs Christ redeemed and saved nothing but what he assumed the redemption and salvation reach no farther than the assumption our soul then would have been never the better for Christ had he not taken that as well as our body Hence said Augustine Aug de civ Dei lib. 10. c. 27. p. 586 Therefore he took the whole man without sin that he might heal the whole of which man consists of the plague of sin And Fulgentius to the same purpose As Fulgent ad Thrasymund lib. 1. p. 251. the Devil smote by deceiving the whole man so God saves by assuming the whole man If he will save the whole man from sin he will assume the whole man without sin saith Nazianzen The Scriptures do clearly evidence that Christ had a real humane soul Mat. 26. 38. My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death every word is emphatical my soul his sorrows pierced his soul Psal 22. 16. and sorrowful round about even to death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is heavy round about Look as the soul was the first Agent in transgression so it is here the first Patient in affliction to death that is this sorrow will never be finished or intermitted but by death My soul is exceeding sorrowful then Christ had a true humane soul neither was his Deity to him for a soul as of old men of corrupt minds have fancied for then our bodies only had been redeemed by him and not our souls if he had not suffered in soul as well as in body The sufferings of his body were but the body of his sufferings the soul of his sufferings were the sufferings of his soul which was now beset with sorrows and heavy as heart could hold John 12. 27. Now is my soul troubled and what shall I say The Greek word signifies a vehement commotion and perturbation as Herod's mind was troubled when he Mat. 2. 3. heard that a new King was born or as the Disciples were Mat. 14. 26. troubled when they thought they saw a spirit walking on the sea and cryed out for fear or as Zachary was troubled Luk. 1. 12. at the sudden sight of the Angel The rise and cause of Christ's soul-trouble was this the Godhead hiding it self from the humanitie's sense and the father letting out not only an apprehension of his sufferings to come but a present taste of the horrour of his wrath due to man for sin he is amazed overwhelmed and perplexed with it in his humanity and no wonder since he had the sins of all the Elect laid upon him by imputation to suffer for And so this wrath is not let out against his person but against their sins which were laid on him Now though Christ was here troubled or jumbled and puzzled as the word imports yet we are not to conceive that there was any sin in this exercise of his for he was like clean water in a clean vessel which being never so often stirred and shaken yet still keeps clean and clear neither are we to think it strange that the son of God should be put to such perplexities in this trouble as not to know what to say for considering him as man encompassed with our sinless infirmities and that this heavy weight of wrath did light upon him on a sudden it is no wonder that it did confound all his thoughts as man O Sirs look that as sin hath infected both the souls and bodies of the Elect and chiefly their souls where it hath its chief seat so Christ to expiate this sin did suffer unspeakable sorrows and trouble in his soul as well as torture in his body for my soul is troubled saith he Though some sufferings of the body be very exquisite and painful and Christ's in particular were such yet sad trouble of mind is far more grievous than any bodily distress as Christ also found who silently bare all his outward troubles but yet could not but cry out of his inward trouble Now is my soul troubled Isa 53. 10. Thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin when Christ suffered for us our sins were laid upon
Law he did come up to perfect and universal consâ—rmity to it he did whatever the Law enjoyns and he suffered whatever the Law threatens Christ by his active and passive obedience hath fulfilled the Law most exactly and completely Gal. 3. 13. As he was perfectly holy he did what the Law commanded and as he was made a curse he underwent what the Law threatned and all this he did and suffered in our steads and as our Surety what ever Christ did as our Surety he made it good to the full so that neither the righteous God nor yet the righteous Law could ever tax him with the least defect And this must be our great Plea our choice our sweet our safe our comfortable our acceptable Plea both in the day of our particular accounts when we die and in the great day of our account when a crucified Saviour shall judge the World Although sin as an act be transient yet in the guilt of it it lies in the Lord 's high Court of Justice filed upon record against the sinner and calling aloud for deserved punishment saying Man hath sinned and man must suffer for sin but now Christ hath suffered that plea is taken off Lo here saith the Lord the same Nature that sinned suffereth mine own Son being made flesh hath suffered death for sin in the flesh the thing is done the Law is satisfied and so non-suits the action and casts it out of the Court as unjust Thus whereas sin would have condemned us Christ hath condemned sin he hath weakned yea nullified and taken away sin in the guilt and condemning power of it by that abundant satisfaction that he hath given to the Justice of God by his active and passive Obedience so that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus for Rom. 8. 1 3. the blood of the Mediator out-cries the clamour of sin and this must be a Christians joy and triumph and plea in the great day of our Lord Jesus As Christ was made 2 Cor. 5. 21. sin for us so the Lord doth impute the sufferings of Christ to us that is he accepts of them on our behalf and puts them upon our account As if the Lord should say unto every particular believer My Son was thy Surety and stood in thy stead and suffered and satisfied and took away thy sins by his blood and that for thee in his blood I find a ransom for thy soul I do acknowledge my self satisfied for thee and satisfied towards thee and thou art delivered and discharged I forgive thee thy sins and am reconciled unto thee and will save thee and glorifie thee for my Sons sake in his blood thou hast Redemption the forgiveness of thy sins As when Simile a Surety satisfies the Creditor for a debt this is accounted to the Debtor and reckoned as a discharge to him in particular I am paid and you are discharged saith the Creditour so it is in this case I am paid saith God and you are discharged and I have no more to say to you but this Enter into the joy of your Lord Matth. 25. 21. The Fifth Plea that you are to make in order to the 5. Eccles 11. 9. cap. 12. 14. Mat. 12. 14. cap. 18 23. Luk. 16. 3. Rom. 14. 10. 2 Cor. 5. 10. Heb. 9. 27 cap. 13. 17. 1 Pet. 4 5. Ten Scriptures in the Margin that respects the account that you are to give up in the great day of the Lord is drawn from the imputed Righteousness of Christ to us the Justification of a Sinner in the sight of God upon the account of Christ's Righteousness imputed to him whereby the guilt of sin is removed and the person of the Sinner is accepted as righteous with the God of Heaven is that which I shall open to you distinctly in these following Branches First That the Grace of Justification in the sight of God is made up of Two parts 1. There is Forgiveness of the offences committed against the Lord 2. Acceptation of the person offending pronouncing him a righteous person and receiving him into favour again as if he had never offended This is most clear and evident in the blessed Scriptures First there is an Act of absolution and acquittal from the guilt of sin and freedom from the condemnation deserved by sin the desert of sin is an inseparable accident Rom. 8. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't is a forensick word relating to what is in use amongst men in their Courts of Judicature to condemn 'T is the sentence of a Judge decreeing a mulct or penalty to be inflicted upon the guilty Person or concomitant of it that can never be removed it may be truly said of the sins of a justified person that they deserve everlasting destruction but Justification is the freeing of a sinner from the guilt of his iniquity whereby he was actually bound over to condemnation as soon as any man doth sin there is a guilt upon him by which he is bound over to the wrath and curse of God and this guilt or obligation is inseparable from sin the sin doth deserve no less than everlasting damnation Now forgiveness of sin hath a peculiar respect to the guilt of sin and removal of that when the Lord forgives a man he doth discharge him of that obligation by which he was bound over to wrath and condemnation Rom. 8. 1. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus vers 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect it is God that justifieth vers 34. who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died Beloved the Lord is a holy and just God and he reveils his wrath from heaven against Rom. 1. 18. Gel. 3. 10. Râ—m 1. 32. Rom. 6. 23. all unrighteousness and there is a curse threatned to every transgression of the Law and when any man sinneth he is obnoxious unto the curse and God may inflict the same upon him but when God forgives sins he therein doth interpose as it were between the sin and the curse and between the obligation and the condemnation When the sinner sins God might say unto him sinner by your sinning you are now fallen into my hands of Justice and for your sins I may according to my righteous Law condemn and curse you for ever but such is my free my rich my sovereign grace that for Christ's sake I will spare you and pardon you and that curse Jer. 31. 20. and condemnation which you have deserved shall never fall upon you Oh! my bowels my bowels are yearning towards you and therefore I will have mercy mercy Jâ—b 33. 13 24 28 30. upon you and will deliver your souls from going down into the pit when the poor sinner is indicted and arraigned at God's bar and process is made against him and he found guilty of the violation of God's holy Law and accordingly judged guilty by God and adjudged to Job
33. 24. everlasting death then mercy steps in and pleads I have found a Ransom the sinner shall not die but live When the Law saith ah sinner sinner thus and thus hast thou transgressed all sorts of duties thou hast omitted and all sorts of sins hast committed and all sorts of mercies thou hast abused and all sorts of means thou hast neglected and all sorts of offers thou hast slighted then God steps in and saith ah sinner sinner what dost thou say what canst thou say to this heavy charge is it true or false with thou grant it or deny it what defence or plea canst thou make for thy self Alas the poor sinner is speechless Mat. 22. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was muzzled or haltered up that is he held his peace as though he had a bridle or a halter in his mouth this is the import of the Greek word here used he hath not one word to say for himself he can neither deny nor excuse or extenuate what is charged upon him why now saith God I must and do pronounce thee to be guilty and as I am a just and righteous God I cannot but adjudg thee to die eternally but such is the riches of my mercy that I will freely justifie thee through the righteousness of my son I will forgive thy sins and discharge thee of that obligation by which thou wast bound over to wrath and curse and condemnation so that the justified person may triumphingly say who is he that condemneth He may read over the most dreadful passages of the Law without being terrified or amazed as knowing that the curse is removed and that all his sins that brought him under the curse are pardoned and are in point of condemnation as if they had never been This is to be justified to have the sin pardoned and the penalty remitted Rom. 4. 5 6 7 8. But to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justisieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man to whom God imputeth righteousness without works saying Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin It is observable that what David calleth forgiveness of sin and not imputing of iniquity St. Paul stiles a being justified But Secondly as the first part of Justification consists in the pardon of sin so the second part of Justification consists in the acceptation of the sinners person as perfectly righteous in God's sight pronouncing him such and dealing with him as such and by bringing of him under the shadow of that divine favour which he had formerly lost by his transgressions Cant. 4. 7. Thou art all fair my love and there is no spot in thee that is none in my account Deut. 32. 5. nor no such spots as the wicked are full of Look as David saw nothing in lame Mephibosheth but what was lovely 2 Sam. 9. 3 4 13 14. because he saw in him the features of his friend Jonathan so God beholding his people in the face of his son sees nothing amiss in them They are all glorious within and without Psal 45. 13. Look as Absolom had no blemish from head to foot so they are irreprehensible and Jer. 2. 32. without blemish before the throne of God Rev. 14. 5. The pardoned sinner in repect of divine acceptation is without Eph. 5. 26 27. spot or wrinkle or any such thing God accepts the pardoned sinner as compleat in him who is the head Colos 2. 10. of all principality and power Christ makes us comely through his beauty he gives us white raiment to stand before the Lord Christ is all in all in regard of divine acceptance Eph. 1. 6. He hath made us accepted in the beloved All persons out of Christ are cursed enemies objects of God's wrath and Justice displeasing offending and provoking creatures and therefore God cannot but loath them and abhor them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath made us favourites so Chrysostom and Theophilact render it God hath ingratiated us he hath made us gracious in the son of his love through the blood of Christ we look of a sanguine complexion ruddy and beautiful in God's eyes Isa 62. 4. Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken but thou shalt be called Hephzibah for the Lord delighteth in thee The acceptation of our persons with God takes in six things 1. God's honouring of us 2. His delight in us 3. His being well pleased with us 4. His extending love and favour to us 5. His high estimation of us 6. His giving us free access to himself It is the observation of Ambrose that though Jacob was not by birth the first-born yet hiding himself under his brother's cloaths and having put on his coat which smelled most fragrantly he came into Gen. 27. 36. his father's presence and got away the blessing from his elder brother so it is very necessary in order to our acceptation with God that we lie hid under the precious Robe of Christ our elder brother that having the sweet 2 Cor. 2. 15. savour of his garments upon us our sins may be covered with his perfections and our unrighteousness with the Robes of his righteousness that so we may offer up our selves unto God a living and acceptable sacrifice not Rom. 12. 1. Isa 64. 6. Phil. 3. 9. having our own righteousness which are but as filthy rags but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith Thus you see that Justification for the nature of it lies in the gracious pardon of the sinners transgressions and in the acceptation of his person as righteous in Gods sight But Secondly In order to the partaking of this grace of the forgiveness of our sins and the acceptation of our persons we must be able to produce a perfect righteousness before the Lord and to present it and tender it unto him and the reason is evident from the very nature of God who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity Habak 1. 13 that is Habak 1. 13. Heb. And to look on iniquity thou canst not do it with patience or pleasure or without punishing it There are four things that God cannot do 1. He cannot lie 2. He cannot die 3. He cannot deny himself 4. He cannot behold iniquity with approbation and delight Josh 24. 19. And Joshua said unto the people ye cannot serve the Lord for he is an holy God he is a jealous God he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins such is the holiness of God's nature that he cannot behold sin Psal 5. 4 5 6. that he cannot but punish sin where ever he finds it God is infinitely immutably and inexorably just as well as he is incomprehensibly gracious Now in the justification of a sinner God doth act as a God of justice as well