being as broad and as long as the Law and our transgressions of it Above the Mercy-seat on either side were the Cherubims and the Majesty of God appeared between the Ceerubims Christ interposeth between God and his Law to make him propitious to his People From above the Mercy-seat Ver. 22. between the two Cherubims will I meet thee and commune with thee So you see this Mercy-seat this Cover of Gold typified Christ the true Propitiatory or Mercy-seat covering out of God's sight all our Transgressions of the Law and God through him meeting with us and made propitious and reconciled to us And here now Christ is called by the name of his own type as often elsewhere when he is called the Lamb and Lamb slain and so called the Propitiatory or Propitiation God having made him really that to us which that did but typifie Christ was made an Expiation and Ransom and Propitiation for Sins for these things the Hebrew word signifies Here now under this Head I will make it my business irrefragably to prove to you what I have taken hitherto almost for granted 1. He died not for Himself He was the Lamb without spot as indeed he that was to wash away others spots was to be without spot Himself Messiah cut off but not for himself 2. He could not die but for some Sin Death befalleth not Men as Men but as Sinners The Apostle proveth all to be Sinners because all die else it was impossible in justice God Act. 2. 24 raised him up having loosed the pains of death for it was not possible he should be holden of it Death being but the Servant of God's Justice and Christ having satisfied Justice it could not but let go its hold He could not but be taken from prison and from judgment We may use the same argument it was impossible Death could not have taken hold of Him at all had it not been for Sin 3. It remains therefore that he died for our sins according to the Scripture for none else come in competition None will pretend He died for the Sins of Angels good or bad or of Brutes which are not capable of sin Was delivered to death for our sins Bore the sins of many Gave himself for us that he might redeem us The professed Adversaries of this Doctrine the Socinians will grant He died in some sense for our Sins Therefore How died he for our Sins 1. He died for our Sins so as to turn us from them this is truth but this is as they suppose all and they will grant no more But we must go further 2. He died for our Sins as a meritorious deserving cause of his Death For the transgression of my people was he smitten Wounded for our transgressions Isa 53. Rom. 4. 25. Delivered to death for our sins So that if it be asked What meaneth the heat of this great anger wherefore was he thus wounded We must answer He was wounded for our transgressions We have pierced him this hath been by our means we have ate sowre grapes and his teeth were set on edg the Children ate sowre grapes and the everlasting Father's teeth were set on edg 3. He died for our sins in our place and stead that we might not perish for them In our place and stead for expiation for satisfaction for compensation though not in such an unâ—ound irrational sense as some pretend and I shall have occasion to speak of hereafter in a more convenient place I shall prove this first from express Scriptures second from the peculiarity of his Death third from the Sacrifices that typified Him 1. From express Scriptures in three Instances 1. We often read of his Sufferings for our fins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This man after he had â—ffered one sacrifice for sins Heb. 1. 12 Gal. 1. 4. Who gave â—imself for our sins Now this word translated for may signifie only the final cause as to turn us from them But words must be understood secundum subjectam materiam according to the subject matter and in such speeches the subject matter will not bear that sense We never read in Scripture or any where else of one dying and suffering for sins but it is for them as the meritorious cause of the sufferings as some compensation for the fault as when he saith I will punish you for your iniquities And Israel suffered for the sins of Jeroboam 2. We often read of his Suffering for persons I lay down my life for my sheep Redeemeth us from the curse Joh. 10. 17. Gal. 3. 17. of the Law being made a curse for us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the usual sense of this is instead of another As Paul could wish himself accursed for his brethren Yet I know this phrase for another may in some instances signifie only the final cause only for their good and not in their stead A man may be said to die for his Country only as the final cause for their good and to lay down his life for his brother only for his good to save his life But it is not capable of such a narrow sense when one dieth for another as a sinner as an offender Now we read of Christ's dying the just for the unjust there it must be meant in his stead And when sinners he died for us And Hs who knew no sin was made sin that is a Sin-offering for us * The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the words the Septuagint express a Sin-offering by called in Hebr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that place Rom. 8. 3. which as it is translated is scarce sence should have been translated God sending his own Son in the likeness of â—inful flesh and a Sin-offering 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 condemned â—â—a in the flesh as the same words are well translated Heb. 10. 6. In Burnt-offering and Sacrifice for sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou hast no pleasure And so again vers 8. It is good sense to say such a one died for his Country as in the Warrs only to denote the final cause for the good of his Country But because Men go not into the Warrs because of their faults neither are they killed in the Warrs ordinarily for any fault Men die not in the Warrs as Malefactors but as Soldiers It would not be sense to use such speeches He died for his Country though an innocent man it would be a frigid sapless dilute manner of speaking for here would be no Opposition in it But you see He who knew no sin was made sin for us We esteemed him smitten of Isa 53. God But he was wounded for our sins 2 Cor. 5. 15. c. Because we thus judg if one dyed for all then were all dead and he dyed for all c. This place would not be true if one interpret dying for all only for the good of all not in their stead For it
of compensation and expiation in their stead What possible reason can be given why no Sacrifices were to be offered for them that were to be taken away out of the land of the living 3. Now Christ is called our Sacrifice Walk in love as Christ also hath Eph. 5. 2. loved us and hath given himself for us an Offering and Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour He alludeth to the expression of the Old Testament where God is said to smell a sweet savour or a savour of rest in their Sacrifices He is called as was said before Gen. 8. 21 Lev. 1. 9. by the name of his own Types Lamb without spot Behold the Lamb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lamb of God the eminent Lamb the true propitiatory Lamb indeed that did that in reality which others but represented that did really take away and expiate the sins of the World So he is called our Passeover I will here answer two Objections more before I pass to another general head Object But can one satisfie himself Christ was God and so the party offended as well as Man Answ Passing by what may colourably be said upon consideration of the distinctions of Persons I answer 1. Do we not read of God reconciling the World to himself God was 2 Cor. 5. 19. the Agent in it and this he could not do but by finding out some way to satisfie and propitiate himself that he might not impute their sins 2. Did not Zaleucus in part help to satisfie his own Law by his own suffering losing one of his own eyes as we heard in the story fore-mentioned And this is not accounted an imprudent act but commended highly by the Authors that relate it as a worthy noble act and expedient and I told you we have only one thing to object against it which cannot be objected here 3. Tell me O vain dark man that wouldst teach God that repliest against God What way was there else possible Think a little on that What way so ever you will propound as suppose of less satisfaction by some meer creature or no satisfaction you may see the reason why you like it better is because you have not the hatred of Sin and love of Holiness and care of Law and Justice that God hath nor indeed such as you ought to have or else you must say You would have had God suffer Mankind remedilesly to perish and then it is because you have not that love to Mankind that God and Christ had And this last is the most seeming rational ground of our offence and surely we will easily be prejudiced against and offended with what God doth when God displeaseth us because he did not leave us irrecoverably to perish without remedy O curvae in terris animae caelestium manes O the crooked mind ef dark man Object But some have objected It is impossible one cannot suffer for another I have already answered what can be objected about the injustice but here the impossibility is objected Answ 1. God's ways are above our ways and understandings Shall we say that is impossible which he hath said he hath done because we cannot understand it 2. It is not oriously possible God's forbidding Men to punish one for another argueth the thing possible he would not forbid impossible things The Heathens knew it very possible we may see by their offering up the fruit of their body for the sin of their soul 3. It is so highly possible that it hath been and is common amongst Men. How common is the translation of punishment from one to another as in Hostages and men undertaking to bring out the offender liable to the mulct of the offender Solomon writeth much about avoiding suretiship because the debter failing he must pay Which takes it for granted as a thing common 4. If the Papists who yet would not be accounted Socinians and many of them are not should scoff at this doctrine of Justification by Christ's Righteousness and Satisfaction as absurd impossible as some of them do you may tell them how shamefully they contradict themselves and grant it eminently possible by their proclaiming a Justification by the merits and sufferings of Saints Saint Francis his Wounds and Becket's Blood yea the Virgin 's Milk will justifie Men yea the scourgings and severities and good deeds of Men of their religious Orders will so stand Men in stead as if they had done those things themselvs And yet some of them can make little or nothing of Christ's Death 5. To declare his Righteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to declare plainly his Righteousness There is such a rectitude in God's Nature as causeth him to hate sin and inclineth him to punish it and this natural justice inclineth him to punish fin in the person that commits it but yet not as fire burneth that cannot do otherwise but this inclination or this which we must conceive as analogical to an inclination is subject to his wisdom and orderable by it And this Oeconomy or dispensation concerning a Satisfaction was as Governour and Rector of the world that he might not dishonour Himself in pardoning to secure the glory of his Justice which would otherwise have been aspersed by sins impunity and to please himself in displaying the glory of his Attributes God is just and this was an act of justice governing justice to declare at this time c. We are prone to think that this time of the Gospel was only a time of love grace and compassion to sinners but we see it was also a time of Demonstration of Justice of the strictest justice and most inflexible holiness and hatred of sin He hereby sheweth how little he respecteth persons that if the dearest Son of his love will intercede undertake for the pardon of sinners He shall pay dear for it Here is inexorable Justice indeed There were indeed former demonstrations of God's justice in the Destruction of the Old World Overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the Babylonian Captivity but never any like this at this time to vindicate his injured Law and Honour before Men and Angels It is natural to God to have a regard to himself to his own honour and concernment that he make not himseif contemptible slighted as a patron of sin or no great en 〈…〉 to it And as Rector it beho 〈…〉 assert his Majesty and keep up the repute of his Law and Government How unworthy is it of a Rector by impunity and indulgence to seem to have a confederacy with the breakers of his Law Though he pardon offenders yet it must be in such a way as there may be no ground of suspition as if he was pleased with sin become such a one as themselves or not highly displeased with the violators of his Law it must be upon dreadfully-awing honourable terms What can you imagin Christ's Death was a compensation for or a satisfaction unto but to those high and glorious Attributes of his
would not be chastisements or corrections for it is of the essence of chastisement that it be a punishment for punishment is the genus and the whole nature of it is in every species in every chastisement Punishment is truly defined the infliction of a natural evil for a moral evil and this is in every chastisement If a Father should whip his Child not for any fault but only to do him good we might possibly call it blood-letting but not chasâ—isement because it is not pe 〈…〉 If â—e tye up his Child not for any 〈◊〉 but left he run into dangers in his absence you cannot call this correction or chastisement though grievous to the Child because it is not for a fault And if God do punish his people with temporal chastisements then they are so far and as to those temporal chastisements unpardoned so far as they are punished so far they are unpardoned If a Traytor be pardoned but must lose some part of his Goods he is then pardoned as to his Life and Lands but not as to that part of his Goods It is not less absurd to speak of chastening for a fault never committed than for a fault perfectly and every way pardoned You may see how this answers these difficulties If it be a Satisfaction he may pardon the offenders as to their ruin and destruction by their sins and yet leave some part of the penalty on them that may make their hearts ake and eyes weep though they be as brands plucked out of the fire yet he may chuse not to make them immediately in this life be like those whose garments smelled not of it without any shew of injustice 3. If the Sufferings of Christ were a Satisfaction a refusable payment then As God is bound no further to acquit the parties for whom it is paid than he accepting it and Christ paying it agreed so which is the main thing I have spoken all this to answer He is bound only in such a way and on such terms and conditions to acquit the Offender as the party paying the price and the party accepting of it agreed on Now God did not set forth Christ a Propitiation and Christ did not give himself a Pr 〈…〉 ion that sinners should immediately be acquitted without any more ado only be sinners for the Father and Son had a care not only of the offender's good but also of their own honourâ— for if we shall suppose that through this Satisfaction it might now well have consisted with God's Justice yet it is certain it was not consistent with his wisdom and prudence in Government to pardon and deliver those that should slight deliverance so to reâ—eem Creatures as to have them lawless to lose his Rule and Government over them that they may say We are delivered to commit all these abominations to be like School-boys that have their orders that they may do well if they will but if they will not the Master cannot justly according to those Temporary Laws punish them Christ was not properly a Surety though Metaphorically once so called who hath only a care of one party to get deliverance for the Debtor and careth not for the Creditor but he was a Mediator a middle person and had care of both would have their redemption and deliverance only in such a way as should no way dishonour God He had a care of the Worship Service and Honour of God as well as of man's impunity and deliverance and he would also have a care that he should not be reproached as an unholy Saviour to have redeemed one to live as if the Blood of the Covenant was an unholy thing and would allow them impunity in all sin He would not for his part have his unspotted Righteousness to serve as a covering to wrap and cover wilfully continuing running sores Nay Christ was so far from meerly designing and bargaining for the salvation of them that should continue wilful contemners of God and his Laws from intending his death for a Sanctuary where wilful continuing enemies might find refuge and safety that his design was to bring Religion into the World and to fetch it back from that swoon wherein it must needs have lain had not Christ dyed had there been no hope for repenting returning sinners He was so far from meerly purchasing the pardon of any live they as they list that one of the great ends of his death was That purchasing such hope for them that returned they might purifie themselves purchasing such Promises they might cleanse themselves from all pollutions of flesh and spirit Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself Tit. 2. 14. a peculiar people zealous of good works He bare our sins that is the 〈◊〉 Pet. 2. 24 punishment of our sins in his own body on a tree that we being dead unto sin might live unto righteousness That whereas God would have had no service no obedience there being no forgiveness with him that he might be feared but Earth would have been like Hell now God might have such poor shattered service as our degenerate estate is capable of Therefore be sure He would not use such an unlikely means as this to bargain for and purchase of his Father pardon of sinners so absolutely that should they wilfully slight their Redeemer they should yet have the benefit of his death and he should be unjust in denying them pardon and therefore wish them only to repent believe reform out of good nature and ingenuity and by way of thankfulness but if they should refuse he should be unjust according to such an Oeconomy if he deny to them the pardon and justification procured by Christ Nay let any man that is not forsaken of Reason as well as Religion that is not giddy and drunk with error and is not ignorant of the wickedness of man's nature judg Whether this would be as likely a means for Christ to bring Religion into the World to obtain that they should have the fruit and benefit of his death to justification and salvation whether they repent return or noâ— you shall have these things live as you list only I beseech you by way â—f gratitude repent reform Or for God to give his Son and Christ give himself that whosoever should believe repent return should have 〈◊〉 benefit of it and otherwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 short Whether of these are 〈…〉 lier way to lay such a sound 〈…〉 the world judg 〈◊〉 Would 〈…〉 pardoning sins against the first 〈…〉 nant shew so dreadfully by the death of his Son how hardly and difficultly he dispensed with his Law that men might after go on in sin without danger Surely one of the ends of Christ's dying was to shew that if he would not pardon sinners against the first Covenant without such a stupendious Satisfaction how hopeless will their condition be that perform not the terms of this second Covenant founded in the blood of Christ
Christ never agreed for the salvation of final impenitent Unbelievers never satisfied for that though he did for impenitency and unbelief and rejection of Christ for a time provided they came in at last He obtained of God not to take every denial every rejection for an utter loss of all for then we had all perished but obtained that God would wait and be long-suffering to sinners and accept them to righteousness and life provided they come in before death They that have a mind to it notwithstanding Christ's bearing their sins may bear them themselves and many will do so even they that knowing the terms of Justification and Salvation by Christ do chuse rather his eternal wrath and displeasure than to accept him on the condition of his love and favour They agreed that they and they only shall have benefit by this Propitiatory death of Christ that shall in this life perform the conditions whereon it is offered and if they finally refuse it on these terms they shall have no benefit by it but the wrath of God shall abide on them yea and they shall perish with heavier perdition with soâ—â—r punishment because of their treading under foot the blood of the Covenant slighting of it as not worthy their acceptance upon the terms of it Which is this new Covenant this second Covenant made in the blood of Christ So that I may say Though immediately and antecedently to the consideration of fixing the terms and making this second Covenant Christ dyed as I told you before that God might be just though he should pardon sinners yet he dyed eventually and the new Covenant being considered that God might be just and the justifier of him that is of the faith of Jesus He so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believed c. And for this cause he is the Mediator of the new Covenant that by means of death for the redemption of Transgressions they which are called that is Heb. 9. 15 effectually called converted might receive the promise of the eternal Inheritance Now it is necessary for your instruction herein that I make out to you these three things 1. What Justification is 2. What the Covenant 3. What the Condition First What Justification and to justifie â—s If you know what Condemnation is you may by it know what Justification is for contraries are mutually known by one another Now Condemnation is contrary to Justification Who shall lay any thing to Rom. 8. 33 the charge of Gods Elect it is God that justifieth Who is he that condemneth If there be a controversie between men Deu. 25. 1 and they come unto judgment that the Judges may judg them then they shall justifie the righteous and condemn the wicked Now there is a two fold Condemnation viz. by the Law and according to the Law that is by the Law and by the sentence of the Judg. A man that transgresseth a Law is immediately condemned by the Law Adam in the very moment he transgressed the Law was condemned in Law that is made guilty the death threatned was made due to him And again when an offender is proceeded against according to the Law and by the sentence of the Judg sentenced according to the Law then he is Sententially condemned First the Law condemns him and then the Judg according to the Law So there is a Justification in Law and a Justification by the Sentence of the Judg. And these two senses of the word can only challenge any kind of propriety one is called Sentential Justification by the sentence of the Judg pronouncing him righteous and one that ought to be acquitted according to the Law The other is called * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Constitutive Rom. 5. 19 Justification or Justification in Law which is of one that hath right to be acquitted when accused When the Scripture speaketh of Justification by Christ by faith or to life it constantly useth it in one of these senses He that is a believer that hath performed the Gospel-condition is justified immediately ipso jure in Law-title by the Law of Grace he is constitutively justified by that Covenant or Gospel-grant He that believeth shall be saved hath right to not-perishing and a right to eternal life by this promise though he is not sententially justified till the day of Judgment The Lord grant he may find mercy at that day saith the Apostle By the Law of Grace or Promise immediately the sinner upon his believing hath right to impunity as to Hell and right to the Inheritance by Promise and at the last day shall be adjudged to it to the immediate possession of all those Immunities which were given by the Law of Grace or Promise Not the hearers but the doer of the Law shall be justified In the Gal. 5. 5. day when God shall judg the secrets of all men according to my Gospel We through the spirit do wait for the hope of righteousness by faith that is for justification by faith at the last day But this Sentential justification is to come Therefore whensoever the Scripture speaketh of justification in this life as for the most part it doth being justified by faith we have peace with God But you are sanctified you are justified it is to be understood of justification in Law-title and in this sense it is to be understood here We may say of a man whose case is good according to the Law that ought to be acquitted when it cometh to trial The Law justifieth him the Law acquits him he is justified already in Law and so are believers in this life There is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit The justification here spoken of is expressed by another word in the Text viz. Remission of sins And the Scripture constantly useth Justification in the Gospel-way and pardon or remission of sins as equipollent terms and the Apostle proveth there is no justification now by works but by pardon of sins Rom. 4. 7 8. citing it out of the Psalms Blessed are they whose iniquities are pardoned and whose siâ—â— are covered Blessed is the man to whâ—â— the Lord doth not impute iniquity Observe the place and you will see he useth imputing righteousness without works and not imputing iniquity as the very same Again in the Text justified freely by his grace through the 〈…〉 pt 〈…〉 â—hat is in Christ is thâ—s 〈…〉 Scriptures Redemption through his Eph. 1. 7. blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace And redemption through his blood even Col. 1. 14. the remission of sins Be it known unto Acts 13. 38 39. you therefore brethren that through this Man is preached unto you the remission of sins and by him all that believe are justified from those things from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses The blood of the Matt. 26.
28. new Covenant shed for the remission of sins And this justification of sinners or forgiveness of sins is reckon'd as one Article of the Creed as essentially necessary to salvation to be believed And indeed the Justification in law of faln man is all one with the pardon of sin And as for the respective difference of pardon being a discharge from the obligation of the Law to punishment and justification from the condemnation and accusation of the Law it is so little that it is not worth while to clear it to you for the obligation of the Law to punishment and the condemnation and accusation of the Law are one and the same act Justification of one guilty is all one with pardon of sin Yet there is this difference between Justification taken at large and pardon viz. None can be pardoned but an offender but a man that was never an offender is capable of being justified as Adam would have been had he stood against any charge pleaded or pleadable against him But if once a man be guilty of the breach of a Law his Pardon and Justification are all one for there can be no justification of offenders but by a legal discharge of the sinner from the obligation to punishment which is pardon So that Justification actively taken is an act of God whereby he pardoneth our sins or dischargeth us from condemnation or giveth right to salvation notwithstanding our sins All these are the same and only differ in words If you should define Justification An act of God whereby he pardoneth our sins and constituteth us righteous all the fault here is only this You do tautologize for there needeth no more to righteousness than pardon of sin for that which putteth an offender into such a state as if he had performed the Law in all things that doth perfectly justifie or constitute him righteous but pardon of all sins both of omission and commission doth put a man into that state as if he had performed the Law in all things for it putteth him into that estate as if he had transgressed the Law in nothing therefore as if he had performed the Law in all things It is impossible to find a middle I say there needeth no more to righteousness than pardon of sin If all his sins be pardoned he is ipso facto non reus not guilty and if not guilty he is justus just It is impossible to find any medium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in capaci in a capable Subject In a subject uncapable where there is not debitum inessendi there may be not-guilty not-unjust and yet not-just as in a Brute or Stone If a man by his sin be guilty be obliged to lose Heaven and go to Hell if his sin be once pardoned this obligation once dissolved he is in statu quo prius hath right to Heaven and to be free from Hell If right to any good thing that a man should have if innocent should yet be wanting to a man pardoned as you may see I did yield such a thing before as to this liâ—e the want of that good thing is part of punishment and therefore he is not wholly pardoned no more than wholly justified as yet except the right to that good thing be restored If the poena damni the loss of the enjoyment of God be punishmentâ— then pardon of sin restoreth right to the enjoyment of God else not fully pardoned no more than justified If a Traytor be pardoned but must lose his Goods he is then pardoned and justified as to his Life and Lands but not as to his Goods So that they are the same thing his pardon and justification and there is no more in the justification of an offender than pardon of sin Those learned men that oppose this constantly grant That if pardon of sin put an offender into such an estate as if he had performed the Law in every thing then it would apparently be the whole of Justification and also that pardon of sin putteth him into such an estate as if he had offended the Law in nothing and also that the satisfaction of Christ is enough for pardon of sin But they maintain that it is possible for a man not to have offended the Law in any thing and yet not to have fulfilled the Law in every thing which I should by no means tell them that know it not was it not in duty to instruct you that it is opposed without shew of reason And by the way you may see how contrary to Reason as well as Scriture that way of theirs is who hold That Christ's fulfilling of and Christ's obedience to the Law is accounted imputed as if believers had fulfilled and obeyed the Law in his so doing You may hold the active and passive righteousness of Christ a satisfaction to Justice for our breach of the Law both of them a valuable consideration on which God will acquit the offenders so they do but perform the Gospel-conditions and I can easily answer all the Arguments I have read to exclude his active obedience from being part of the satisfaction to Justice for the breach of the Law But to hold over and beside such a satisfaction for our disobedience that there is made over to us a right to his obedience so as God to account us as if we had obeyed the Law in him beside the danger of making God account men as perfect as Christ and accounting that which is not true First It is altogether needless for the Law requireth not of us both suffering and obedience in respect of the same time and actions but only one of them either our obedience or our undergoing the penalty And it is vainly alledged that it requireth suffering for the time past and obedience for the future It is in effect to deny Christ hath satisfied for future sins Ere long those future sins will be past and if we do not obey for the future we sin and if we sin the Law requireth only our suffering for expiation and that Christ's Satisfaction Expiation Propitiation hath satisfied for Secondly It maketh the death and sufferings of Christ needless for if we obeyed the Law in him he being in our stead so as God accounted us to have obeyed in him then there was no need of his death for though we obeyed not in our selves yet we obeyed in Christ If a Soldier be by the Martial Law to watch his hour or dye if another be accepted to watch for him so as it may be said another hath watched for him though he did not watch what Must this other Soldier dye for him as well as watch for him No Law requires both It was not Do this and dye If his obedience was so formally for us as to be accepted by God for us as if we had fulfilled the Law in every thing What need was there of a Satisfaction to make as if we had bâ—oken the Law in nothing vice versâ Thirdly If Christ fulfilled
imagine when the Apostle saith Gal. 2. 16. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but by the faith of Christ we have believed that we might be justified c. That he means we did not repent that we might be justified did not obey turn from sin that we might be justified or not be condemned All that I will do here further shall be to speak so as to keep you from dangers on both sides if you will observe this distinction and it will be plain I hope to the meanest capacity There is in this Justification by Christ spoken of there being two Laws or Covenants one of Works and the other of Grace a lex remedians and both in force else if the old Law as a Law with its penalty was repealed it would be no sin not to obey perfectly and we might say Christ his death had not satisfied for our sins and the legal desert of them but prevented them from being sins and from legally deserving damnation there is in this Justification as it were a two-fold Righteousness or Justification and the distinction of these two is so necessary to any competent measure of understanding this Doctrine of Justification and would be so helpful to make us understand it and speak intelligibly of it that I desire you would never forget it Passive Justification the effect of active is our right constituted as I have shewed you But to speak of active Justification It is essentially from some Charge pleaded or possibly pleadable against us 1. Suppose the Accusation be We are sinners have offended God deserved wrath broken the first Covenant the Law of Works and under this are comprehended sins against the Gospel for they are sins against the Moral Law which Christ hath satisfied for all the breaches of that ever were or shall be For the Original Law of Nature is this Keep all my Commandments which I have or shall reveal to thee any way whatsoever whether by Nature or any other way of making my will known the eating of the forbidden fruit was against this Moral Law though immediately against a particular Revelation or thou shalt dye Now if this be the Accusation thou art a sinner hast deserved death transgressed the Law refused Christ and the Gospel a long time yea and hast notoriously sinned since conversion Here nothing will justifie nothing will answer this Accusation but this Christ hath dyed satisfied God hath set him forth to be a Propitiation It would be improper and vain here to plead We have repented believed for thou art a cursed Creature and there is no blood or satisfaction in these thou wilt rather be damned for thy failings in these they are imperfect at best and however cannot buy off thy former sins Here we must plead nothing in our selves to this Accusation nay we must confess we have nothing in our selves to justifie us against this Accusation of being sinners deserving wrath That that must answer this Accusation is altogether without us To plead to justifie from this Accusation something within us is to spit in Christ's face is damnable for whatever we plead must be a Righteousness or it is no way pleadable If we have a Righteousness to answer this Christ dyed in vain 2. But now suppose another Accusation which is possibly pleadable against us suppose the accusation be But thou hast no lot or portion in this Satisfaction for all have not interest in it but there was a second Covenant made wherein God made it over only upon Gospel-terms and conditions of repenting believing obeying sincerely upon sincerity and uprightness and truth in the inward parts for it was enacted that none should have the benefit of it to justifie them against the old Law but they that performed the condition Here now is no danger of pleading to answer this Accusation something in our selves nay it is duty and we wrong our selves if we have the condition and do not Ye must say Yea through grace I have repented believed endeavoured to obey God sincerely and have lamented when I have faln short I have received Christ for my Lord and Saviour endeavoured to serve him and do at this day And this will be your righteousness against this Accusation will justifie you against this Accusation It would be foolishly impertinent to plead here Christ hath dyed hath made satisfaction to the Law when the Charge the Accusation is Thou hast no interest in him and his death and the purchased benefits And it would be false and ridiculous to plead what they that falsly are called the only Preachers of Free-grace would have you plead viz. That Christ hath repented for thee performed the Gospel-conditions for thee Here you may and must plead something in your selves even the performance of the Gospel-condition You must not confess you have nothing to plead except you have not and then I would say Are you mad wilfully to refuse Christ I know men may think they have not and yet have this condition and then God knows there is this good thing in them toward God and Christ though they think not so and so they are justified and know not But if you say I have nothing in me to answer this Accusation and say true and continue in this estate you will be condemned upon this Accusation at the last day when judged according to the Gospel and are at present under condemnation in law But if you be sincere Christians and in some comfortable measure know it you may in this sense rejoyce in your selves you may say I have proved my own work and so have joy in my self and not in another This is our rejoycing the testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in this world You may say of a godly man he hath that within him that will bear him out and mean by it the sincerity of his heart but then you must not mean it to satisfie for his ill deeds or against the first accusation but against this only of having no part in Christ Here a man may glory Let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth me Jer. 9. 24. We may say in the Apostle John's sense and words Our hearts our consciences acquit us and condemn us not 1 John 3. 20 21. If our hearts truly condemn us God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things Beloved if our hearts condemn us not then have we confidence toward God and whatsoever we ask we receive of him because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight So that you may now see that 1. God justifieth as the principal Efficient 2. The Promise or Covenant of God If thou believe thou shalt be saved as the instrument or less principal efficient for an Instrument is essentially an efficient and the act of the principal and instrument are
The Great Propitiation OR CHRISTS SATISFACTION AND Man's Justification by it upon his FAITH that is Belief of and Obedience to the Gospel Endeavoured to be made easily intelligible and to appear rational and well accountable to ordinary Capacities and so more lovely and amiable In some Sermons preached c. By JOSEPH TRVMAN B. D. late Minister near Nottingham The Second Edition Corrected and Enlarg'd LONDON Printed by A. Maxwell for K. Clavell in Cross-key Court in Little Britain 1672. The Great Propitiation c. Rom. 3. 24 25 26. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God To declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is of the faith of Jesus of the Christian Faith MY Design here is to make the Christian Religion in these great parts of it Christs Satisfaction and Mans Justification by it plainly accountable and so more amiable unto you I shall enter into the Body of this Discourse by these praeliminary steps 1. God having created man a rational creature capable of moral government is by immediate resultancy his King and Governour and so giveth him a Law which was not only a Law with a Commination but a Covenant with a Promise of eternal Happiness upon perfect and perpetual Obedience and as a Law threatned Death upon every Disobedience Cursed is he that continueth not in all things written in the law to do them 2. Man loseth all becometh obnoxious to the Curse to such a Curse as might make us say with Moses We exceedingly fear and quake when we hear or speak or think of it 3. What should God now do Should he pardon Should he let go this hold of us Should this horrible Threat and Sanction of the Law vanish into smoak We would be apt indeed through self-love to say Yea by all means pardon us and do not inflict the Penalty But could give no reason but Pardon us right or wrong But this is as if an offender should say The Law is just and equal execute it therefore upon others but spare me it is I as if a weak Mother should say when her Son is convict of Felony Spare him he is my Son But these words are not dictates of Reason but meerly of folly self-love and interest All mercy is not a vertue but that which will consist and comport with other perfections of Wisdom and Righteousness otherwise it is a blemish weakness and foolish pity I grant here The Truth of God would be no hinderance to this Pardon For a Rector and Law-giver by meer threatning by making a Law with an annexed Penalty doth not in so doing part with his supra-legal Power with his Power of dispensing with his Law except he reveal that he will not in any case dispense with it For Threatnings of themselves do only constitute the dueness of punishment and make the Offender obnoxious Promises indeed give a right to the party to whom they are made which the party promising cannot dissolve or take away without his consent and to break them would be falshood and unfaithfulness If a Parent threaten to beat his Child if he commit such an offence he is ordinarily bound so to do it would be â—ickleness and a loosning of his Authority which he is bound to keep up to do otherwise but he is not so bound as to be guilty of untruth if he do otherwise you cannot say he lyed Threatnings immediately and essentially do only constitute this That the Rector shall have this authority over you which he may at his pleasure execute and it would be to destroy government ordinarily not to execute them not to keep his laws sacred and inviolable But he that threatneth may yet pardon without being guilty of untruth his truth doth not hinder but other things And we are sure God hath not executed this Law else all offenders had utterly perished for it threatned the offenders And Truth doth as much oblige to inflict it on the offenders as to inflict it at all Now these things ordinarily hinder Governours from dispensing with their Laws and so they would be hinderances unto God here from meerly pardoning 1. Should God meerly pardon This doth not become a Governour that hath made a Law in wisdom to do so would be to cast an imputation on himself of weakness either in Power or Wisdom In Power as if he was weak and unable to vindicate his injured Law In his Wisdom as if he thought his Law unequal or rashly and unadvisedly made and as if he thought his injured Law unworthy of a vindication Meerly to pardon would be to cast diâ—t in his own face and to prostitute the honour of his Power Wisdom and Holiness through foolish pity as if his Law was not holy just and good 2. Should God meerly pardon it would be to weaken his rule and government over Angels and Men. To suffer mâ—n to trample on the Majesty of God without a vindication of his Honour would be to encourage offenders by impunity That Rector is guilty of violating the authority of his own Laws that executeth not the threatned severity of the Laws against offenders And if God should do thus we might put the Apostle's question How should God judg the world How should he then rule the Rom. 3. 5. world Who but they would have said If God dispense once so lightly vvith his threatnings and vvithout a valuable satisfaction why may he not do so again and who will value his threats To ask for this That God would meerly pardon would be to ask That God would cease to be King of the World and he might say as Solomon to Adonijah Let him ask the kingdom also as well as ask that which in honour I cannot grant How could he maintain State and Port and Government in the World if he make himself appear so facile and fickle Thus you see reasons why God should not pardon and dispense with his Law Meerâ—y to pardon would have been an intolerable foul blot and stain in the face of that his Government wherein he designed to please himself in the displaying and contemplating the glory of his Attributes 4. Should God therefore execute the Law according to the threat upon all offenders to all eternity this indeed would be just and righteous and plain without difficulty and we must have said Thy ways O Lord are equal for ours were unequal But then these inconveniences had followed 1. God would have lost the glory of this Gospel-Justice this kind of Justice this wise and stupendious Justice of this Justice and Righteousness in a Mystery the glory of being just and merciful punishing the just for the unjust of laying the chastisement of
which I never saw or heard endeavoured to be answered except by the Pope as I said and therefore I shall be the more large in answering of it and thus it lies We are sure that God's becoming man was more than if all the men in the world had ceased to be and then on the other hand God was not so prodigal of his Sons blood as to have poured it all out if one drop would have served the turn and answered the ends of Satisfaction for which it was shed Ans I shall answer it plainly in these few Propositions 1. Christ's Sufferings were not proper solution a payment of the same but a satisfaction a refusable though valuable consideration His Sufferings were not an execution of the Law or Threat but a Satisfaction that it might not be executed See this more fully explained afterward 2. Satisfaction consists not in indivisibili in a Mathematical point that we can say Just so much is just and no more 3. Satisfactions being refusable payments one may require more than a valuable consideration without any injustice yea as much more as wisdom seems meet If some useful member in a Commonwealth as a man fit for a General should commit some crime which he is to be banished for by the Laws of the Land and some Noble-man should intercede to the Rector the King and offer himself to be whipped through the City to save this mans banishment here though the whipping of a Nobleman be a greater matter intrinsically and of greater value yet if he to keep up Law and Justice should refuse to accept of this offer here is nothing of injustice yea suppose five Nobles should then offer themselves to be used in like manner there is no injustice if he should say I will not pardon him except ten Nobles will be thus treated to save his banishment Here is nothing of injustice because it is only a Satisfaction it is refusable and he may refuse in infinitum though a thousand should thus offer themselves 4. Those are more honourable Satisfactions and do more answer the ends of Satisfactions that are of greater value than the penalty it self the greater the Satisfaction is it doth by so much the more speak inexorable Justice and shew how little ground offenders have for the future to expect pardon and impunity 5. Those are more honourable Satisfactions caeteris paribus that keep as near as may be to the penalty threatned by the Law because they represent the penalty more lively and call it to mind more effectually As if the Noble-man himself should be banished to save the others banishment rather than be scourged or pay money The known story of Zaleucus is worth relating here This Zaleucus was King of the Locrians and he designing the welfare and reformation of his people makes many good Laws amongst which this was one That whosoever should commit Adultery should lose both his eyes The Prince and Heir apparent was found guilty the King resolves to execute the Law on his Son the people intercede in his behalf and no doubt would shew him a great necessity of dispensing with the Law it would damage the Commonwealth to have his Successor blind At last overcome with their importunities he finds out this expedient to keep up Law and Government he put out one of his own and one of his Son's eyes Suppose Zaleucus had cut off both his own arms or had put out out one of his Son's eyes and cut off his own right hand it would wonderfully have declared inexorable Justice and they would have had little ground to have upbraided him with partiality for there was some necessity to dispense with the Law and it was done upon a dreadfully awing consideration and his Subjects would have had very little encouragement to transgress in hope of relaxation of his Law for the future But yet it more kept up the repute of the Law when he did keep so near the very penalty of it self Here were exacted two eyes his own and Son 's This is Answer enough to this Question God though he could for the reasons formerly mentioned admit of change of persons yet he thought it not good in wisdom to admit change of penalties or however as little a change as was necessary for the main ends that we might be saved and Christ overcome death and be compleatly a Redeemer Death was threatned and Death shall be inflicted and without blood there shall be no remission Yea Soul-death was threatned and shall for some time be inflicted and if man could not see Soul-suffering yet Angels might yea and men might in some measure by his crying out by his sweating of clods of blood and by his telling us of it and God atâ—esting whatever he testified by Miracles So that whatever intrinsecal value a little penalty inflicted on Christ might be of which I have you see freely granted yet God made account that a little penalty inflicted on Christ would not be enough to declare his righteousness but would have some great and wonderful sufferings to awe the World Men and Angels to declare his hatred of sin and how difficulty he obtained of himself to dispense with his Law and how little hope transgressors may have of impunity that shall make their condition hopeless the second time by refusing Christ and Mercy God would have satisfaction to the purpose plenteous redemption a plenteous price of redemption good measure pressed down shaken together and running over You see there is no inconveniency in saying He hath received at the Lord Christ's hand double for all our sins God will magnifie his Law and make it honourable for his righteousness sake saith the Prophet He means I suppose Isa 42 2â— in the punishing of transgressors and indeed God hath magnified his Law and made it honourable in this way of pardoning transgressors All the Earth should be filled and resound with the glory of this Justice Thus you see this part He set him forth to dye And under this head I will set before you these six Qualifications or Modifications of his death 1. He dyed a grievous painful death that God might be just c. His whole life was indeed a continued suffering of God a continued abasement It is observed we read of his weeping but never of his laughing This I know doth not prove he never did laugh and suppose it did it would not prove it unlawful for us for what was the power and faculty given for If for use we are sure it was not to laugh at spiritual things It may be he never did laugh it is possible that never 〈◊〉 was seen on that face that was tâ— be the cause of our joy laughter and cheerfulness He was ever and anon thinking of the bitter Cup he was to drink for our health One of the bravest days that ever he saw in the days of his servitude was the Transfiguration day when Moses and Elias appeared with him in Glory yet then
it is added and they talked of his decease His whole life was a life of sorrows Faith in his blood doth not exclude his obedience and other parts of his sufferings but all are comprehended under this most eminent part which was most grievous and painful to body and soul 1. His Body What torments did that endure What scourgings piercings and the exquisiteness of his bodily temperature and constitution would augment his torture He had not dulled and blunted his spirits and sense by intemperance 2. His Soul What punishment of sense was there on his Soul in his Agony in the Garden when he sweat as it were clods of blood and complained My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death and an Angel was fain to comfort him when he cryed Father if it be possible let this cup pass sure there were some dregs some gall and wormwood in his cup. What punishment of loss when he cryed out Why hast thou for saken me We hid as it were our faces from him saith the Prophet but this was a small matter in comparison of God's hiding his face His Disciples forsook him but he complains not of their forsaking but why hast thou forsaken me If it be asked What need of soul-suffering soul-trouble was not bodily enough It is answered already God would have sufferings as near the same threatned as could be would dispense as little with the Law as might be How are the Socinians here upon the rack when to give an account of his crying out and discomposure beyond the ordinary rate of Martyrs for they shouted and triumphed since they maintain he suffered no otherwise and on no other account than they did only to attest the truth and leave us an example of patience They make his groaning heavier than his strokes if he had no more of bitterness in his Cup than they 2. A shameful death God set him forth to a publick notorious shameful death that he might be just c. It was at a solemn time the Passover when the Jews were come from all parts of the Land and Proselytes and others from remote parts of the World and at the most publike place Jerusalem Then and there the God of Heaven was spit on stripped and whipt naked in the sight of the multitude crucified before all Israel and in the sight of the Sun All Nations have as it were by consent agreed that hanging on a tree crucifying should be the most contemptible death of the vilâ—st of Creatures and vilest of men Whom you sâ—â—w and Acts 5. 20 hanged on a tree the emphasis of the shame is hanged on a tree So endured the Cross and despising the shame It is a shame for a King â—o suffer an ignominious death how much more for God He suffered as a Malefactor as a Traytor against Caesar his Prince as a Blasphemer of his God as a Deceiver and Impostor Yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted We that is the generality of the people esteemed him as one smitten for his own sins justly condemned for his own sins and so far from taking away condemnation from others He was numbred with transgressors accounted a wicked person suffered with thieves as being accounted the fittest companion for them To live with iâ—famy is accounted worse than death What is it then to dye with infamy Many men could with less regret bear the pain of hanging than the shame of it He is insulted over in his miseries nothing is so intolerable as shame to noble ingenuous spirits He is scoffed at in all his Offices as Priest He saved others himself he cannot save As Prophet Prophesie unto us who smoâ—e thee This Deceiver c. As King Hail King of the Jews I am the reproach of men Psal 22 6 and despised of the people was spoken not without cause of him in the type 3. Cursed death that God might be just c. I must not leave this out though I have an averseness to speak of things I do not well understand And I must confess that I do not so clearly understand as I do other things what is meant by Curse distinct from pain and shame But I will tell you my thoughts of it As Benedictio blessing as Amiraldus saith seemeth to be the solemn declaration of the good will of one superiour in Power and Dignity The Heb. 7. 7. less is blessed of the greater So Maledictio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seemeth to be nothing else but a solemn declaration of the anger and displeasure of the Rector and higher Powers So that every death that carrieth in it the tokens and marks of the displeasure of the higher Powers may be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a curse This is it that it be inflicted by the King for a fault and therefore a death of hanging on a Tree which is inflicted for a fault by the authority of the Higher Powers being a painful and especially a shameful death wherein the chief of punishment consists is accounted a Curse by the consent of Nations That Curse which the Apostle alludeth to seemeth to be only some Gal. 3. 10. ceremonial Curse which was pronounced Dâ—ut 21. 23. on every one that hanged on a tree I suppose whether rightfully or wrongfully hanged such a carkass was to be shunned in a special manner and not to be buried with ordinary burial it may be And this Ceremonial Curse was by the wise foreseeing Providence of God pronounced on every one hanging on a Tree that it might be typical of Christ being cursed with another kind of curse in being hanged on a tree with a moral Curse the Curse of the Moral Law which was due to sinners Cursed is he that continues not in all things written in the Law What a Curse did he bear in being made a curse for us What millions of Talents of vengeance were in his cup All the curses written in the Book of the Law in a sense fell on him he was made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 piaculum The Son of God's dearest love became the subject of his Rectoral displeasure for us children of wrath that we might becom objects of his favour 4. An undeserved death of his own as for any fault That God c. No guile was in his mouth The Lamb without spot in all things like us yet without sin holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners By his knowledg shall my righteous servant justifie many And the stress is laid here in righteous He who knew no sin was made sin for us He was not like the High Priest who was first to offer for himself and then for the people Therefore God ordained him to be born of a Virgin by the Holy Ghost that he Isa 53. 4 5. might be without sin These seem to be opposed We did esteem him smitten of God and afflicted that is smitten as an offender for his own faults as being so far from taking away the curse from us that
is worse Will he slay the righteous for the wicked by punishing the just for the unjust Now that he underwent it willingly answers all this God hath made a Law that the Son shall not be put to death for the Father much less one Stranger for another Therefore this maketh it ordinarily sinful among men to give such or for the Magistrate to accept such commutations because God hath deprived them of this power But shall we say His ways are unequal because not like or above our ways or that that is necessarily unlawful to God which he hath made so to us Say they this would declare Gods unrighteousness to set forth an Innocent Propitiation for the Nocent It would do so indeed to punish the Innocent for the Nocent except he chuse it All see it is not injustice to demand debts of a bonds-man a surety for God hath given men power over their estates and he willingly undertook it I grant it is ordinarily unlawful to offer to be or to except sureties and undertakers for others with lives or members but the reason is because God hath not given men this power otherwise it would be all one Therefore there is no injustice in his life going for ours He had right and authority so to dispose of his life as we have not and he willingly undertook it If God was wroth with his beloved Son it was from his own Choice and undertaking through his love to us Father lay not the punishment on these my enemies and thine I will bear it If thou wilt be paid it have Satisfaction pour out thy wrath on me that can satisfie not on them that cannot but by their eternal and utter sinking under it 6. A Death of infinite Value If Gods justice do require a Satisfaction it will not be put off with a meer shew or colour of one or with a partial lame defective one but it must be commensurate and proportionable to the infinitely hainous and numberless sins and provocations of Men and to the justice of God and so it must be of infinite dignity and value Now the death of Christ was of infinite value Infinite in satisfaction but not in duration for if in duration then the expiation would never have been made and perfected and so we should never have been redeemed He should then and so we have ever remained under the power of death and condemnation for the utmost farthing would never have been paid It would have been unworthy of Christ it would have been unprofitable for us and it was not necessary for satisfaction for Christ to have undergone pains infinite in duration But his sufferings being actually infinite in merit do more than equal a suffering only infinite in duration for that would never have been actually infinite Sins against God naturally deserve and therefore God threatens infinite punishment for Sins are increased according to the greatness of the person against whom the offence is committed They have not only rejected thee bâ—t rejected me saith God as a greater matter and it is brought in as a great aggravation to speak evil of Dignities and in our Law a Scandalum magnatum is a greater matter than the scandalizing of our Equals Therefore Sin is of infinite demerit being against an infinite God And hence it follows that the punishment of Sin must either be infinite in the extremity and greatness or in the duration Now to speak naturally Reason and Justice considering the ends of punishment in Moral Government would immediately urge Let it if it can be infinite in the greatness weight and gravity that the offender having satisfied in suffering might work again But human nature being finite is not capable of such infinite punishment and upon this account it was necessary that it should be infinite in the extensiveness and duration because a finite Creature is not capable of punishment infinite in intensiveness and greatness But now when Christ suffered for us he underwent punishment infinite in magnitude and greatness But still this infinity is to be estimated not from the intensiveness and greatness of the punishments themselves which human Nature and so Christ's human Nature was not capable of but from the dignity of the person that suffered them Just as sin that is finite in its own nature coming from a finite creature becomes infinite by being committed against an infinite Majesty So the punishments of Christ being in their own nature finite became infinite in their value and satisfaction by the infinite dignity of the person suffering And the stress as I have told you before is still laid on this in Scripture the dignity of the person that he was God that suffered And this very consideration of his death being infinite in value and recompence and not in duration doth prevent such a difficulty as could not be answered For had our Redeemer been to continue for ever under this condemnation of those he suffered for this might have made the Christian Religion less rational and credible it would have been such an unaccountable excess of charity to destroy himself eternally to save others But God knew and Christ knew he could so wrestle with death and condemnation as to overcome and that it would not be an utter losing one worth ten thousand of the guilty in saving them which would have been a thing unaccountable to be either done or permitted to be done by the King and Governour of the World but his Sufferings were to be to him an entrance into Glory and the obtaining a Name above every Nature Thus of this Third Head to die and manner of this Death 4. A Propitiation Died a Propitiation for Sin and Sinners that is implied yea signified in the very word Propitiation that it was for Sin and Sinners Propitiation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this is the word the Septuagint use to express the Mercy-seat by The word we translate Mercy-seat is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which coming from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to hide and in Piel to expiate and propitiate this word coming from it doth so too It signifieth Opercuium tegumentum and placamentum piamentum a cover or hiding and an Expiation or Propitiation to make God propitious reconciled and favourable Now this Mercy-seat this Operculum Propitiatorium was a cover of pure Gold laid over the Ark of the Covenant just the dimensions of the Ark the length and breadth of it Two cubits and a half the length and one cubit and a half the Exod 35. 10 17. breadth of either of them as you maâ— see We read nothing of the thickness of this Propitiatory Cover but some Râ—bbins say it was of one Palm And this Ark which this covered ver 16. had in it the Law and so this Mercy-seat or Propitiatory that covered the Ark wherein was the Law typified and signified Jesus Christ fully covering our sins being transgressions of the Law out of Gods sight the Righteousness and Satisfaction of Christ
not by the same natural person and if any Laws do lay any stress on the person of the Debtor so that it shall be judged as no payment except paid in person such are hard Laws and against natural equity so that though payment should justly according to such Munucipal Laws be refusable from another yet it is not fairly tefusable But it is quite otherwise in all Law and natural Equity in the case of obedience and punishment for here the Laws do justly and equitably determine the very person that shall obey or suffer and allow not any delegation as doing or suffering by another so that if another suffer it is not the same in Law if the penalty be suffered by another natural person it is suffered by another person in Law And here Dum alius solvit aliud solvitur therefore such suffering of another contrary to Law may be a satisfaction that the Rector may with honoâ—r not execute the Law but cannot possibly be an execution of the Law the idem the same threatned I will make all plain to you thus Suppose the Law-threat had run thus If any man sin he shall dye be damned or another for him he or another thus disjunctively either of these would have been the very thing threatned the same in Law as the Principal and Surety are and then all these after-mentioned inconveniences would have followed First In this case had God provided one to dye for us here would have been nothing of pardon Here indeed would have been grace and favour in thus procuring one but nothing of pardon remission of sin for it would not have been a refusable payment either of their deaths would have been the same in Law and so no act of Pardon or Grace to acquit upon it whereas God for Christ's sake forgiveth We have by Eph. 4. 32 his blood the remission of sins This would have been like proper solution and then the strictest Justice cannot deny an acquittance and justification to the party for whom it is paid and there need not be there cannot be in this case any such thing as pardon pardon and full satisfaction may stand together but not pardon and solution or payment e. g. If a Law be made that threatens That for such an offence the Delinquent shall sit in the Stocks or another for him thus disjunctively here would be grace and favour in the Prince to procure one to sit for the offender but nothing of pardon or remission for the utmost rigour of Justice could not refuse to acquit upon it here is no remitting any thing the Law requires no pardon at all for the Law never required the offender himself should suffer but he or another indifferently Secondly It would also in this case be injustice to inflict the least part of the penalty threatned upon the offender when the other hath suffered because it would be to inflict what was never threatned by the Law and so what is not due for the utmost Justice requires no more than the suffering of one of them Thirdly It would also in this case be non-sense or injustice to prescribe the Delinquent terms or conditions on which he should have justification the benefit of the other's death or of the other's sitting in the Stocks or else to have no benefit by them for the offender would have right without performing such conditions And therefore as a plain denying the offender the thing he hath right to would be injustice so to reduce back his absolute right to a conditional would be injustice in part To threaten damnation if men believe not repent not would be something of injustice being a partial denial Fourthly Also in this case the offender would be justified immediately by the other's death by the Law that threatned by the very Law of Works there would need no Covenant of Grace or Gospel-promise it would be injustice to prescribe terms of benefit by it as Faith Repentance as in the other case the Delinquent would have right to impunity for his offence by the other's sitting in the Stocks by the very Law that threatned it There needs no Law of Grace for requital for it is the idem in Law the very thing threatned and so not refusable by the strictest Justice to promise here would be to promise that which we have right to without promise and such promises would not be of Grace but meer Nullities But this death of Christ was a satisfaction much like a refusable payment for the threat was The soul that sinned should dye be damned not he or another The death of Christ was a satisfaction a refusable payment for God might have refused if Christ had interceded as Moses Blot me I pray thee out of the Book of Life for the people and save their souls their lives God might have answered Those that sin against me I have only threatned and those only I will punish but of thee will I require nothing and from thee will I accept nothing For the threat was not If a man sinned he should dye or some other for him for then either of them would have been the idem the same in Law and so not refusable but it was that the offender himself should dye so that whatsoever else than the offender's sufferings could be offered was refusable and so could be but a Satisfaction And then these things will suit and agree 1. Here is pardon and remission in accepting and acquitting for he might have refused to accept of Christ's death and to acquit us upon it It is plainly a not standing to his threat a dispensing with his Law notwithstanding Christ's death for him not to execute the Law upon us though an honourable dispensing with it 2. Being a Satisfaction a refusable payment God may take off what part of the penalty He and his Son agreed from the offender and leave on him what part they please and as long as they please and judg meet And indeed though they did agree and God hath promised for Christ's death-sake that they who perform the Gospel-condition shall not perish but shall have eternal life they shall not undergo eternal sorrows Hell-sorrows yet they never agreed and God never promised that Believers should not be afflicted for their sins in this life or that they should not dye temporally or that the ground as to them should be freed from that first curse or that believing Women should not undergo pain in Child-bearing for these things God doth inflict therefore the Son in paying the ransome and the Father in accepting never agreed they should be freed from them in this life though yet they did so to moderate and help in them and sanctifie by them that a Christian life in this World is worth living Phil. 1. 22. To live in the flesh is worth while 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 operae pretium And it is contrary to all Scripture to say Believers afflictions are not for sin and if they were not for sin they
say if you think or desire rationally Should God say O ye guilty Rebels I have found a Ransome I have found out a way that I can now pardon you with safety to my Honour and Justice Now as ingenuous men speak and tell me what I shall do for you Should I pardon you and give you Heaven and Happiness though you should continue to live in all Villany hating me and my holy ways slighting my Law and Government We would answer No. This would not become the holy and universal Magistrate and King of the World this would be unworthy of God For then we might say We are delivered to commit all these abominations this we have begun to do an nothing will be restrained from us which we can imagine to do and there will be none to put us to shame Speak then like honest men that have some sparks of ingenuity We should say Make not the terms perfect obedience for we brake that old Covenant that had these terms when we had our perfect strength and now we are weakned wonderfully shattered wonderfully by our fall Ans Make the condition the terms this That if we humbly acknowledging our desert of damnation repenting us of our iniquities and seeking to thee for forgiveness shall sincerely desire and endeavor to please thee and keep thy Commandments and shall bewail it with grief when we fall short and fail in this our duty that then we shall have the benefit of this Propitiation So that only our wilful chosen casting off thee and thy Government shall undo us And make it that though we should have long refused thee yet if at length we thus repent and return we shall find this mercy This is well said thus far And though this be not now enough for us yet this seemeth to comprehend all the condition required of men to justification and salvation before the appearance of Christ in the flesh There were Promises of Forgiveness Justification and right to Heaven made known to the World by Noah the Preacher of Righteousness and others upon the condition of repentance and returning to God If thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted was said to a great sinner This was Gospel not Law for that requires that a man never have been a sinner The Book of Job is generally with reason held to be written before the Law of Moses and his Friends knew and taught this Doctrine and name it as coming from the Ancients by Tradition If any Job 8. 5 6 7 8. Chap. 33. 27 28. Chap. 22. 21 22 23 man shall say I have sinned and perverted that which is right and it profits me not he will deliver his soul from going down into the pit And these Promises were made by virtue of this death of Christ Moses entereth the people into this Covenant To be the Lord's people and promiseth on that God will be their God and he sprinkleth blood and saith Behold the blood of the Covenant which the Lord hath made with you this day upon their engaging to be the Lord's people and to obey his voice to signifie it was made in the blood of Christ And he saith I have set before you life and death in that I command you to walk in his ways And that which he commanded was not the old conditions which were impossible viz. Never to have been sinners It is not in the Heavens or beyond the Sea but is nigh thee in thy heart and in thy mouth It was to love God in sincerity and walk in his ways And the Apostle cites this and saith it is Gospel even the word of faith which they preached Rom. 10. 6. Yea and the sons of strangers that joyn themselves to the Lord to love the name of the Lord and take hold of this Covenant to them â—e would give c. And so the Prophets If the wicked turn from his wickedness he shall live he shall not dye This was the Gospel this promise was made in the blood of Christ for the Law admits of no pardon upon repentance And any that were justified and saved upon the performance of these conditions were saved only by the death of Christ promised and undertaken and this obedience and turning to God is a great part of the Gospel-condition So that obedience is called Faith and disobedience Infidelity He that believeth Joh. 3. 16 on the Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath everlasting life but he that believeth not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that believeth not or obeyeth not the Son or is not perswaded by him So To day if ye will hear that is obey his voice Heb. 3 7 12 harden not your hearts as in the provocation Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God To whom sware he they should not enter into his rest But to them that believed not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or to them that were disobedient So we see they could not enter in because of unbelief We see how disobedience and unbelief are promiscuously used Heb. 4. 1. Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entering into rest any of you should seem to come short of it For unto us was the Gospel preached as well as unto them but the word did not profit them not being mixed with faith or obedience used promiscuously in them that heard it You may observe hence that they had the Gospel preached to them in the Wilderness and you may here see what the Gospel is A promise of rest and happiness to sinners to faln man and we see Heaven was promised under the type of Canaan and we see the Gospel is a conditional promise for if absolute the missing of Heaven and rest would have been ascribed to God's unfaithfulness and not to man's disobedience or unbelief and you see what the condition of the Gospel is by seeing faith and obedience counted as one Seeing therefore it remaineth Heb. 4 6. that some must enter in and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of disobedience and so the Margent of your Bibles have it also ver 11. And the Apostle tells us what Faith was necessary in those days Heb. 11. 5 6. Enoch had this testimony that he pleased God but without faith it is impossible to please God for he that cometh to God must believe that God is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him It is essential to Religion to believe there is forgiveness with God that he may be feared The Gospel-condition is rather the diligent seeking of Him if you will place it in one of these acts only than the believing he is and is a rewarder of them that come to him for this may be without that seeking but not that seeking without this I think it was not an essential condition to Justification and Salvation in those days to have an
explicite knowledg and belief of Christ's death and satisfaction though God did pardon them upon their returning unto him upon the account only of that to come Satisfaction And that which is like a Mathematical demonstration to me that it was not an essential condition of pardon and salvation is this viz. If it was an essentially necessary condition of Justification then then no man could be in a state of justification and salvation without an explicite knowledg of Christ's death and satisfaction to come But the Disciples of Christ at least some of them were truly regenerate men truly children of God and in a justified estate before Christ's Resurrection and believed it not That they were truly the people of God and in a justified estate before his resurrection is clear for saith Christ before that You are clean through the word I have spoken to you And it is said of Nathaniel A true Israelite in whom is no guile And else we must say God had no people in the world at that day for you will confess they were the best And again it is apparent they did not believe any such thing as his death and paying a price of blood Nay they were so far from believing he should so dye that they rather believed that he should not so dye When ever he spake any thing of his death it is said They understood Mat. 16. 23. Mark 9. 31 32 Luke 9. 44 45 Luke 18. 34. none of these things and Far be it from thee and when dead they thought it unlikely that he should be a Redeemer We trusted this was he that should have redeemed Israel They looked on him as the promised Messiah but thought he was to be some great Temporal Deliverer and his Redemption should be with Power and not with Price How then could they be saved if they had then died I answer That they as others before them believed God would pardon sinners upon their repentance and returning from sin unto God but for whose sake or merit they knew not I do not here deny but some before them might and did know something of Christ's death and Propitiation and I do not deny it was their fault they knew no more and understood no more the Types and Prophesies of him but all that I contend for is this that it was not a necessary condition of salvation else the Disciples had not been in a justified estate And I may add this John Baptist was under a clearer dispensation than they before him and the least in the Kingdom of Heaven in a clearer than John and so the Disciples in a clearer than John Hence it is very probable If the Disciples knew not any thing of it very few before them did that lived under more obscure Dispensations and had not the helps they had Now such repentance sincere obedience and turning is still a part of the Gospel-condition for this is not taken away now under the Gospel it is as much a condition of the Covenant as ever That we take God for our God and turn from sin Will any man say That Ministers are not to preach from those Texts If the wicked turn from his wickedness he shall live And If you live after the flesh you shall dye but if you through the spirit do mortifie c. These things are as much a condition as ever But there is something added under the Gospel something required of us as necessary that was not so to them Now if you believe not I am He you shall dye in your sins It might be replied to continue the former Dialogue You have well said in propounding this to be a condition Nonnulla hic desiderari Habes confitentem reum sed quae mihi solutionem alienarum quaestionum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imponerent In quibus quidem aqua mihi non multum haeret At harum enodatio plusculum insumeret chartae paucis enim expedire non licet Et forsan invidiam mihi conciliaret quae tu hujus generis ad populum conatibus maximopere cavenda est Dumque necessitas rerum in confesso est unde oritur non adeo laborandum nec est tanti nobis clarâ— evangelii luce agentiâ—â—s nostra enim res non ageretur â—uare fereâ—at animus hâ—c ut vides aliquantulum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hâ—antia relinquere proculdubio praestat operasis de rebus explicatu difficilibus tacere quam pauca dicere but there is something more yet is fit to be required of those that live under the clear Dispensation of the Gospel viz. That we after Christ is thus come should explicitely know believe trust in and honour our Redeemer It is sit there should be faith in our Lord Jesus Christ as well as repentance toward God That he should save only those that come to God by him and ask in his Name That over and above being true Israelites in whom is no guile there should be a belief of Christ and his death and resurrection And so indeed there are new Articles essential to our Creed Except you believe I am he you shall dye in your sins To conclude This is the Gospel-condition God saith to us as Solomon to Adonijah when fled to the horns of the Altar He deserves to dye but if he will shew himself a worthy man not a hair of his head shall fall to the ground but if iniquity be found in him if he will be false and treacherous to me and my Government he shall dye It is seemingly too high an Allusion but the New Testament often useth the word worthy for carrying in our weak measure suitably I mean however no more but this Be but Christians in good earnest believe the truth of the Gospel stedfastly in such a degree as to venture all upon it and love God and Christ heartily and serve them according to your weak shattered ability faithfully so that it shall be the real grief of your soul when you fall short and this shall serve your turn So the terms are the whole of Christianity the whole duty of man so far as integrity and sincerity What doth Solomon mean when he saith Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole duty of man but the whole condition of happiness Doth he set us on any thing not required under the gospel These are the terms of the Covenant of Grace established in the Blood of Christ which you shall be judged justified or condemned by and they are just before God are justified in Law that do thus and shall be sententially pronounced just that do thus in sincerity though not perfectly and they that do not shall be condemned notwithstanding Christ's death Such only are of the Christian Faith I understand Faith thus largely and it is plain the Scripture doth when ever any promise of Justification is made to it Do but well consider these few things following to remove prejudice and to let you see into the nature
What do you think the wicked Jews meant when they said If we let this man alone all men will believe on him What did they mean some one act and that one act that many now hold to be only necessary to salvation though not agreed ordinarily what it is Surely they meant They will believe he is the Messiah and so love him obey him stick to him If one bid you believe in such a Physician trust in him and he will cure you cannot you easily understand he means also Take his Counsel follow his directions by believing in him So when he saith Believe and thou shalt be saved he meaneth Believe and carry as one that believeth love obey turn 4. Sometime called Repentance Repent that your iniquities may be blotted John preached repentance for the remission of sin Surely you will grant that is for Justification And Christ did not take away this Condition nay he preached it himself Except you repent you shall perish He meant believe obey also 5. Called Conversion Turn them from darkness to light that they Mar. 4. 12 may receive remission Lest they should see with their eyes and be converted and their sins should be forgiven them Implying the terms that God hath bound himself to by promise through Christ's death to the world so as he cannot in faithfulness break If converted he must forgive having made this new Law of Grace 6. Called Obedience Being made perfect through suffering having fully satisfied he became the Author of eternal salvation to those that obey him Surely this holdeth out the terms on which men shall have the justifying saving benefit of Christ's death But there is implied in this also the belief of the truth of the Gospel So Hear and your souls shall live That is obey for life for justification for right to salvation 7. Keeping the Commandments Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the tree of life Not the hearers of the Law are just before God but the doers of the Law shall be justified Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord but he that doth the will of my Father shall inherit the Kingdom If the Erek 18. 21. wicked turn from all his sins which he hath committed and keep all my statutes he shall live all the transgressions that he hath done shall not be mentioned This is not the Law of Works but the Gospel for the Law promiseth no mercy to the returning wicked Consider these three places In Jesus Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing but Gal. 5. 6. faith which worketh by love In Jesus Gal. 6. 15. Christ neither circumcision c. but a new creature Again In Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 7. 19. neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing but the keeping the Commandments of God Do not these three expressions mean the same thing the same Gospel-condition 8. Regeneration New Creature Except a man be born again c. Not by works of righteousness which we have Tit. 3. 15. done but according to his mercy hath he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost One would think you might gather hence what the Apostle Paul means by Works and what by Faith the Gospel-condition 9. Sanctification Except I wash thee thou canst have no part in me And without holiness none shall see the Lord. Godliness hath the promise of this life and that which is to come Is not Justification right to Heaven among the number of those things Wash you make you clean put away the evil of your doings learn to do well Come now though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow though red like crimson they shall be as wool I could name many other Names as Fearing God Hoping in him Trusting in him c. But I will name but one more 10. Sometime it is expressed by words that import a Continuance and this is indeed the condition of the continued Justification and right to Heaven To them he will give eternal Col. 1. 21 22 23. life who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for immortality Yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you blameless and unreproved in his sight if you continue in the faith grounded and setled and be not removed away from the hope of the Gospel which you have heard and was preached to every creature under Heaven That is upon condition that as you have received the Christian Faith so you continue in it to the end notwithstanding all sufferings by the encouragement of that hope which this Gospel supplies unto you If we 1 Joh. 1. 7 walk in the light as he is in the light the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin There is no condemnation to Rom. 1. 8. them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Whose house are we if we hold Heb. 3. 6. fast our confidence unto the end But yet believers are justified at present But you are sanctified but you are justified saith the Apostle you are so upon your first cordialconsent to the Gospel-terms It is here as in all other things of the like nature What makes a Servant but Consent When the Master is willing to have him and propounds the terms he consents to the terms I have set Life and Death before you and told you the condition of Life by Christ Would we go and consider this condition and the reasonableness of it and the glorious things that would come by it and would we go and in the strength of God and Christ call Heaven and Earth to record yea and Hell to witness That we consent give up our selves to be ruled and saved by Christ would we enter into Covenant to be the Lord's people and his Christ's to walk in all well-pleasing and not to allow our selves in any known sin or in the neglect of any known duty and to use the means God hath appointed to know his will and for the destruction of sin and this as honest men really intending performance even till death being so far from designing treacherously to turn aside in difficulties that it is our greatest fear and dread lest we should deal falsly in this Covenant From this time you are justified by this Law of Grace and have right to Heaven though you should have black and sad thoughts and think you are not and you may pray with encouragement Keep this in the thoughts of our heart for ever and confirm our hearts unto thee and God will keep those that thus commit themselves unto him But yet this is true if you should fall utterly away this Law of Grace would cease to justifie you because you withdraw this consent and so cease to have the condition of it and the reason why we do not lose Justification and right to Salvation is Because God keepeth his fear in our
Providences while they mean only Give us Free-will which I grant in some sense they have though I utterly dislike the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that some plead for and the Gospel and objective evidence which they have already and hold that God will do no more for any whereas God only disowns respecting of persons in Rectoral and Judicial Acts as punishing and rewarding as will appear upon view of those places but no where the doing that for the working the Condition in some which he doth not for others but owns the contrary I dread to affirm That a man in this sense makes himself to differ though man's sin and unwillingness and so destruction is plainly of himself yet not his willingness And though I may well excuse my self from intermedling in these Controversies yet I will in short give you an account of my thoughts concerning them Though I doubt some will say which I cannot much contradict that I had better have said nothing of this nature than speak so little All that I shall say of this Difficulty shall be in answer to this following Objection Object Is not the Condition it self of Justification and Salvation and the working the Condition it self the fruit and effect of Christ's Death Ans I shall endeavour to shew you how it is and how it is not in these Propositions 1. The death of Christ foreseen undertaken or undergone as a Propitiation Expiation Satisfaction was only for sin and so for pardon of sin that God might with safety to his Justice not execute the penalty but might shew kindness and favour to offenders notwithstanding the Threat and therefore as a Satisfaction with this kind of causality causeth no more and then it being agreed between the Father and Son that only Believers in the Scripture-sense should have the benefit of it for salvation We can only say setting aside the comfortable reprieval and the objective evidence and whatever other common helps and assistances of the Spirit there are which were necessary in order to trial He gave his Son and Christ himself that whosoever repented believed on him should not perish but have eternal life 2. This death and satisfaction and the benefit of them offered to sinners on these terms are as a moral cause in their own nature influential to work the Condition Faith and Repentance The death of Christ this promise being made with it is an object aptum natum a thing objectively naturally influential to work this effect and so being the cause of this cause of Faith it is the cause of the thing caused for there would have been no foundation of Religion and turning to God but for God's being made so far pacified as to accept sinners on these terms and make it known to men But this is nothing singular but common to all that enjoy the Gospel and it means no more but this It would have this effect if men did their duty and improved it a right 3. The working the Condition the making the Gospel actually efficacious for the working the Condition is to be ascribed to God's Decree and his execution thereof as most properly its effect and useth therefore to be ascribed to the Father rather than the Son Take this account of it A foundation being laid or foreseen as laid in the blood of Christ that God might with safety to his Honour and Justice return into favour with sinners and that he could as Rector and so would pardon repenting returning sinners and that this was all he could do as Rector with Honour and Justice he could descend no lower than to make this Law of Grace this act of Oblivion He that repenteth believeth returneth shall be saved and he must be true to his own Laws it would not stand with his Honour to pardon any but upon these terms Now these things and this Law being foreseen and also fore-seeing that all men would yet perish by refusing Christ rejecting Mercy through the wilful chosen wickedness of their own hearts notwithstanding the death of Christ for them and the objective evidence of the Gospel He doth this other act I am now speaking of as Dominus Lord Proprietary For as saving and justifying them that believe is actus justitiae the Law being considered The 17th Article of our 39 Articles of Religion can mean no less than what is here affirmed a Rectoral act so as Lord Proprietary he decreed resolved from eternity to and doth in time make and cause such particular men by setting home Truths in evidence and softning their hearts by his spirit in a way to us possibly much unknown and not fit to be insisted on here to believe repent return or accept Christ on his own terms whom otherwise he fore-saw would reject Christ even as others I look upon this Election which is ascribed to the Father as the foundation of the first difference of one differing from another For as being regenerate converted maketh a difference maketh men actually choice men executively elect men differing men the righteous is more excellent than his neighbour So this Decree to give such men grace to convert them is the foundation of this first difference as having the condition of the Promise maketh the first difference so the Decree to work it is the first foundation of it This is that the Apostle speaketh of as a depth to be admired that God should condemn men or decree to condemn men for their sin that reject Christ and Grace this he doth not wonder at he could and we can give sufficient reason for that neither doth he wonder that God should save or decree to save by Christ those that repent and believe and not others there is a congruity in the thing a Satisfaction being that he may do it with Honour But that when all would have rejected Christ and Mercy that he should harden some that is leave them to the hardness of their own hearts and soften others make some repent believe that would have refused grace this was his wonder and the thing unaccountable to the Apostle and so ir is to us Thâ—se are said to be drawn by the Father and given to Christ by the Father and this of drawing men to Christ making them to accept Christ is ascribed you see rather to the Father than the Son All that the Father giveth me shall come Joh. 6. 37. unto me and him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast off and I will raise him up at the last day He seemeth to refer to that giving mentioned Ask of me and I will give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance that is I will make that Christ shall be their Lord actually like that Isa 55. and they subject to his Laws actually I will bring them to the obedience of Faith which God doth in giving Faith and Repentance in giving the first Grace in working in them the condition of the Covenant which is the fruit of Election for this giving cannot be
righteously to punish offences and not to let things run at random And God is not to be considered as a private person that pardoneth as a party offended or as a Creditor that parteth with his own right but as the publick Judg and Governour of the World who is by taking this place upon him engaged to judg and rule righteously and to render to men according to their works There is a wide difference between Pecuniary debts which one forgives as a private man or injuries done to a man in particular which he forgives as a private man and Criminal offences against Law and Government A Magistrate being also in another respect a private man having a private interest of his own may as other men forgive things which belong to his profit as Debts and may forgive injuries and affronts done to him so far as they prejudice his private Interest But he may not justly however ordinarily forgive things which belong to his Office and Duty incumbent on him as Governour to punish in vindictive Justice for hereby he would be wanting in his duty and also guilty of violating the authority of his own Law and Rule and of undoing of the Commonwealth by lenity and indulgence I know a Rector or Governour may in some cases dispense with and not execute his Law For sometimes Laws are unjustly made sometime about low petty matters that do not much concern the Common-weal to have them executed sometime it would tend to the destruction of the Community to execute them though not unwisely made at first and sometime he wants power to execute them the offenders being too numerous or too potent and so it may be his duty to pardon and dispense with the penalty without any more ado e. g. Saul intentionally made a good Law threatned death to any that should eat before the evening that he might obtain the greater conquest over his flying Enemies Jonathan his Son transgresseth it Saul resolves to execute the Law the people hinder him and rescue Jonathan now Saul could not execute the Law for want of strength for the people are the strength of the King And there seemeth to be much reason in what Jonathan said It was an ill Law and proved a hinderance to the slaughter of his enemies and in what the people plead to wit That he might well dispence with this Law as to Jonathan because he had wrought with God that day a great salvation There was indeed such a deed done by him that day such a high meritorious act as would amount to a partial if not a total satisfaction So that it would not much weaken Government encourage Offendors take off from the repute of Saul's Rectoral Justice to pardon one in such a circumstance But a Rector cannot without injustice ordinarily and in weighty causes dispense with his Laws since it would be To be wanting to his duty and it would certainly tend to the debauching and ruin of the Community by breaking the reins of Government and encouraging Offenders It is ordinarily as much the duty of the supream Magistrate to execute good Laws or some way to keep them sacred and honourable as it is to make good Laws for both duties are built upon the same foundation Who will say That Parents may justly lawfully and honestly cast off all care of correcting their Children for their faults and leave all things to their wills This would be not so much a parting with their right as the Objection speaks as a ceasing from and being wanting in their duty and office and God's Rectorship and Government is to be conceived of by us analogically to an Office 2. Hence learn the Excellency and Satisfactoriness of the Christian Religion and our great felicity in living in these last days and shiningdays of the Son of Man wherein the Earth is and hath been filled with the glory of the Grace and Mercy and of the Justice and Holiness of God in comparison of former days The Christian Religion discovers plainly to us that which the Heathens were fearfully bewildred about They had Convictions of sin and terrors and consternations of mind for sin and fearful lookings for of judgment and fiery indignation They knew that they that did such things as they did were worthy of death they saw need of Rom. 1. 31 attoning God need of an Expiation and some of them saw the blood of Bulls and Goats could not take away sin Some offered not knowing what they did the fruit of their body for the sin of their soul when they might be flying and hovering about in their meditations and enquiries after these things like Noah's Dove and find no rest We have this safe Ark of the Righteousness and Satisfaction of Christ discovered and opened to us where there is Rest for the sole of the foot of our souls When their soul drew near to the grave and their life to the Destroyer they had none to tell them of such a Righteousness such a Ransome The Heathens had indeed some obscure wavering knowledg of this fundamental Article of Religion the Remission of sins partly by Tradition which in ancient times was more convincing in after and corrupter days more obscure and doubtful partly by the Law of Nature in the Book of Providence seeing the goodness and benignity of God to them notwithstanding their great provocations they might and did thence waveringly gather That God was merciful and would be found in mercy of them that did turn and seek him diligently He left not himself without witness in that he did them good and gave them rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons filling their hearts with food and gladness and this was that Acts 14. 17. 17. 27. they should seek the Lord if haply they might feel after him and find him But this knowledg was so weakned by the contrary arguments that militate against it That that very deep apprehension of God's Holiness and Justice and those very consternations of mind for sins which were likely to conduce in working this repentance and reformation would be very apt much to weaken if not almost to blot out this notion That there was hope for them and forgiveness with him that he might be served and feared That it is no wonder if it was ineffectual to work this change and these diligent enquiries after God and that Salvation which they were not fully sure was attainable though yet it was their hainous sin and high irrationality and madness not thus to seek him though to the undoing of themselves in this life upon these probabilities and half-promises if haply and it may be if we turn we shall live and this will be their greatest condemnation It is no wonder if never any did sincerely and thoroughly turn from sin to God amongst them since Tradition was quite worn out or rendred suspicious and unconvincing without some supernatural Revelation as by the Prophets and their Writings I say since Tradition lost or corrupted for in
Abraham's time Abraham thought it probable there might be fifty righteous persons in Sodom though it proved indeed otherwise and he was better acquainted with the state of those times than we are at this distance And to come to the Jews before Christ's time that had the Oracles of God and to whom the Lord sent Messengers rising up betime and sending them because he had compassion on them saying Turn and live And If the wicked turn from his wickedness and keep all my Commandments be shall live Yet it is next to an impossibility but that those amongst them that knew little or nothing of this great price or Satisfaction that scarce understood any thing of their Prophesies Types and Sacrfices but that those should have muddied and fluctuating thoughts about this pardon of sin when deeply convinced of God's Holiness and hatred of sin and of the hainousness of their sins how it could stand with his Justice and Honour to give eternal life to such unworthy wretches upon their repentance and poor broken obedience Good hearts sensible of God's Holiness and the hainousness of sin would be apt to say Though he will pardon sin yet it may be not such great sins as ours What unanswerable Arguments taken from God's Justice and Holiness might they seem to have against it No wonder if they that knew so little of this great Transaction though sincere ones were all their lives subject to bondage through fear of death No wonder if they were as Servants and our condition the state of Sons in comparison of theirs though the almost visibly convincing knowledg they had of God and his placableness and mercy did prevail with them to perform the Gospel-condition to be true Israelites sincere servants of God Blessed be God that hath revealed those things to us that were hid comparatively from many wise prudent yea and holy men What helps have we which they wanted to turn to God! What helps to the love of God and to all cheerful obedience He so wonderfully loving us first even while ungodly as we may clearly and with open face comparatively to them now see Rom. 5. 8. God commendeth his love to us in that while we were sinners and enemies and ungodly Christ died for us And if so much more now when we are converted and so justified by his blood we may easily believe We shall be saved from wrath through him for then we have a Right by Promise ver 10. For if when we were enemies living in opposition to Heaven and so he as Rector an Enemy to us if then he found a ransome and we were then reconciled to God in the death of his Son quoad meritum so far as concerns the price and the conditional pardon made out thereupon much more being actually reconciled as we are upon the performing the Gospel-condition we shall be saved by his living to intercede for us and to see we have the fruit of his Death and our Faith the salvation of our souls v. 11. And not only so but when thus converted we joy in God as having now received the atonement There was an atonement in his death before but now we have interest in it having performed the Gospel-condition we are actually and not only quoad meritum justified by it What madness is in our hearts if we refuse to hear Him that hath thus convincingly spoken to us from Heaven O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ was evidently held out crucified amongst you He means by the Ministry of the Gospel for Christ was crucified at Jerusalem and not at Galatia And the same may by the same reason be urged on us O foolish yea more than foolish even bewitched Creatures we to do such an unreasonable thing as to refuse to obey the Gospel even we before whose eyes Christ is evidently held forth crucified If we perish we may every one of us say with him in Terence Et prudens sciens vivus vidensque pereo I perish knowingly and with my eyes open We may say with the Apostle God in times past suffered yet not altogether but comparatively as the following words shew all Nations to walk in their own ways Acts 14. 16. yea and the Jewish Nation in comparison of us And God Acts 17. 30. neglected those times of ignorance as the words should be translated but now commands even with almost compelling-evidence and power all men every where where Christianity comes to repent 3. This informs us That fallen man could never have fulfilled the Law or satisfied Justice for the breach of it else Christ needed not to have died for this end That God might be just for God might then have been just and the justifier of faln man after their good deeds and sufferings or satisfactions without Christ's death whereas the Apostle tells All are concluded under sin and that therefore all that were or are justified were are and shall be justified were are and shall be justified only this way by the pardon of sin through this Propitiation upon their Faith Repentance and new Obedience To account our Reformations Humiliations Faith Obedience in the place of a Satisfaction Expiation for our evil deeds is to pervert the design of the whole Gospel Christ is become of Gal. 5. 4. none effect to you whosoever of you seek to be justified by the Law How contradictory to this whole Doctrine is the avowed Popish Tenent of Merits Though some of their deluded ones amongst us are kept so ignorant of their own Religion as to tell us Their Church holdeth no such thing as the meriting eternal life by their works I know they are all to pieces about this as well as about other things they hold it Heresie to deny But did these never hear or read them discoursing of their works of Super-erogation that they can not only merit but so over-merit as to supererogate and have much to spare for those that need Merits Many of them as Bellarmine confesseth speak at a higher rate for Merit than he himself and yet this moderate man is too high of all conscience Jam verò opera bona justorum Bellar. de Justif lib. 5. cap. 17. meritoria esse vitae aeternae ex condigno non solum ratione pacti acceptationis sed etiam ratione operis probatur his Argumentis c. He maintains here The good works of pious men are meritorious of eternal life ex condigno and that not only upon the account of God's Covenant and Acceptation which is a contradiction in the very words but upon the account of the very works themselves And he tells us Cap. 12 One drop of Christ's blood was of merit enough to have saved the whole World for the infinite Dignity of the Person and cites the Decretal Epistle of Clement the sixth to prove it and then adds At non dissimilis debet esse ratio meriti in Capite membris Igitur
will do more for thee let them take thee Say then I love my Master Sin and Satan and will not go out free But study how thou wilt answer it to God and look thy Redeemer in the face Do you mock God and your Redeemer and say You might have spared your self as Peter bade you Who bade you thus love me You might have let the loving me alone God will not be mocked Be you not mockers lest your bonds be made strong And Christ will yet have some reward in well-doing and honour in thy ruin thy refusal and punishment for it But these are secondary Ends and Ends only upon supposition of rejection of his Grace The primary End of his Death and Law of Grace is your Salvation for he came not into the world primarily to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved God sweareth he desires not the death of the wicked but rather that he would turn and live The primary End of the Gospel and Law of Grace is your Obedience and Salvation and secondarily upon supposition of your refusal Condemnation It cannot be said of a Governour making a Law It was weakly done of him when he foresaw many would break it except he want Power or Justice to vindicate it Dare you say It was not wisely done of God to make the first Covenant with Promise to Adam because he foresaw he would lose the benefit of it and incur the curse And dare you say It was no kindness Suppose God had not known Would that have made any change in the thing by making the sin greater and God's kindness more This is to say God's Omniscience hinders him from being Rector of the World from being able to make gracious Promises to the obedient and just Threatnings to the disobedient Take heed of such Doctrines as would in their own nature cause you to have hard thoughts of God and discourage your return to him and conclude they are false that are so expresly contrary to the whole tenour of the Gospel Though you know not how to answer the Objections I dare confidently tell you others can and have answered in the main such difficulties satisfactorily and that in a way well agreeing with special grace And I could do it satisfactorily to you I think and should now if I thought it not inconvenient to turn to an alien subject But suppose I could not no nor the ablest men must we therefore deny plain Scripture-truths because men know but in part and can answer many difficulties but imperfectly But to return Shall Christ fall short of the primary End of the travel of his soul This is the reward and fruit Christ waits for To see the travel of his soul to see his seed a generation of sinners turning and accepting his offered salvation and then he will say My blood was well shed indeed I am well paid well satisfied so Israel be but thus gathered and this he waits for and strives with thee about Again Is this thy kindness to thy own soul Not to hearken to the cry of its necessity for a Saviour It is in your power to reject the counsel of God against your selves to your hurt it is in your power to frustrate all and to make your selves of those that shall have neither lot nor portion in this matter But if you perish it is not long of Christ but of your selves you chuse it Would you be wise you should be wise for your selves but if you be scorners you alone shall bear it Once all was lost hopeless and helpless you were but through this Propitiarion it is once more brought to your choice whether you will perish or no. Why will you dye If you will dye who can help it I cannot I can only witness I called and you refused to come And I hereby call you Noverint universi c. Be it known therefore unto you Men and Brethren That through this Man and this Name is preached to you the forgiveness of sins and by him all that shall believe all that shall receive him shall be justified And there is no other Name under Heaven given whereby you can be justified and saved and if you refuse him it is in vain to look for another Are you willing to comply with this design of God for your eternal welfare Or must I say you refuse to come Will you or will you not accept Christ for your Lord Redeemer to sanctifie and save you If you will indeed you shall certainly be saved If you will not why will you not What displeasure have you taken against Christ What blemish do you see in him What is there that offends you in this wise stupendious dispensation of Christ crucified What prejudice have you entertained against this Counsel of God What do you think his terms too hard so that all things considered it would not be for your good Then you think Christ If any doubt of the truth of the Scripture Doctrine let them if they judg their souls worth so much pains read those learned Books lately written in English on this Subject and doubt if they can counselleth you for your hurt if so you have interpretatively worse thoughts of Christ than you ought to have of the Devil for you ought to think the Devil no worse than he is and if you think Christ calleth you for your hurt and loss and tells you what you shall never find true you think Christ envies your good and would deceive and cheat you by perswading you out of it and what is this but to think him worse than the Devil for the Devil though he would deceive you yet he never dyed and shed his blood to deceive you but if it be for your hurt to turn from sin and deny your selves and take up his yoke Christ hath dyed to undo you which would be strange maliciousness O the hainousness of this sin of refusing Christ It is virtually to esteem him the horrid'st Impostor that ever the Sun saw What a dreadful thing it is to stay a day or a night under the guilt of this refusal of Christ He that thus believeth not is condemned already and is yet under the curse and if he do but walk up and down the few more days and sleep out the few more nights of his life he will be remediless for there is no more sacrifice for sin But yet there is Balm in Gilead there is a Physician there why is not our health recovered There are Treasures in Christ Treasures of Righteousness he would fain part with Oh say These and these neglect Christ despise his Riches It may be thy Master if thou be a servant sleights this great and honourable One's Treasures and will not receive at his hands the things which he hath bought and brought but say thou as Gehazi As the Lord liveth I will run after him and take something of him and I can assure thee in his Name whose Messenger I am That