it was necessary to our recovery one should undertake for us that could answer the rigour of the Decree by his Sufferings and supply the defects both of Men and Angels by the Innocence and Worth of a Sacrifice Innocence to prepare and Worth to crown the Oblation Now that Christ was thus qualified to appear in our stead may be easily evinc'd if we will but consider either the purity of his Humane nature which was without spot 1 Pet. 1.19 Rom. 9.5 or the Majesty of his Person who is God blessed for ever The first of these would serve to make his Offering holy the latter would give it infinite value by both which he was fitted to pay our debt and bear all the wrath of his Father due to our sins And that He actually did what He was so qualified to perform we have the like evidence from Scripture The whole Oeconomy of the Jews and the strain of the Gospel confirms it The Sacrifices of the Old Law were Types and dark Images of this Great one that was once to be offered for the sins of the people The Gospel-phrase points altogether to this Truth and therefore when it speaks of Christ Mat. 20.28 it calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a price of ransome nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a price by way of exchange 1 Tim. 2.6 in supplying our place again we are said to be justified by his Blood reconciled through his Death and to have redemption by his Sufferings all which expressions signifie the proper effect of his Death was the remission of our sins This He himself testifies how that his Blood was shed for the remission of sins Matt. 26.28 whence we may take comfort in his Death and rejoyce in the vertue of his Attonement whereby our pardon is obtain'd Should we now with the Socinian make plain words that express all this to be meer Metaphors and Figures we may as well joyn with the old Hereticks the Valentinians that made a Figure of his Living Dying and Rising in that they denied the reality of his Flesh nor can their Opinion be more contrary to the Faith than this For as to hold He was but the Image of a Man destroys a Christ so to hold He was but the Image of a Priest destroys a Saviour Thus to wrest the Scripture is to wrest it to our destruction for what follows upon it If he be not in a true sense offer'd for us we are still in our sins the Curse of the Law yet abides and his Death becomes altogether unprofitable when it brings us deliverance but in shadow I might add how his suffering upon any other account than in our stead to redeem us has nothing of justice in it and therefore cannot demonstrate the justice of another whereas his Blood and the declaring of Gods righteousness are joyned together Rom. 3.25 but if He who was all innocence in himself did not bear our guilt when He suffer'd the Death He underwent being properly a punishment because sins wages would be so far from declaring Gods righteousness that it could onely manifest the Tyranny of the Inflicter Yet these kind of men are the great pretenders to Reason who reject the Doctrine of Satisfaction but cannot maintain what they deliver without laying their ground-work in impiety which is to assert He was no God that suffer'd where how grosly they renounce their reason will appear in this that denying him to be God they deny themselves to be True Worshippers and proclaim to the world their Idolatry in adoring Man But their absurdity farther appears when denying the Meritoriousness of his Satisfaction they can yet make his Sufferings to be meritorious of Divine Power as if there were any proportion betwixt meer humane actions and so high a reward Now what Merit is this that could raise him to be the Head of Angels and Governour of all created Beings nay to be adored and worshipped equally with the Father which Honours the collected services of the whole Creation cannot reach to May not the Heathens scoff at their Idolatry who pretending to Christianity set up a made God to pray to and expect Salvation from One who is exalted for the vertue of his sufferings in maintaining his Religion as they consecrated theirs for the Gallantry of publick actions Behold this is onely to refine but not to change the nature of Gentilism as likewise it utterly overthrows the Mystery of Godliness and destroys the Greatness of Divine Love which consisted chiefly in abasing the Deity for Mans sake whereas this makes it ridiculous and dishonourable in thus exalting the Humanity But I leave them to their Judg above and their Books to Judges below I shall now onely briefly inquire into Two things for the better opening this Point and so proceed to my Second Observable 1. How Christs Death is the Cause of the remission of our sins 2. From what Time we should date the Benefit of that remission as it is made ours 1. How Christs Death is the Cause c. I answer thus God the Father was mov'd for that price his Son layd down which was his precious Blood to free us from that punishment we deserved in our own persons and to enter into a New Covenant with us offering us Pardon of sin and Eternal Life upon new easie terms of faith and sincere obedience whereas before rigorous Justice bore the sway and shut us all up under a a sentence of condemnation without hope of mercy Therefore He is called the Mediator of a better Covenant and whereas in the old League we were used as Gibeonites and made slaves in this New one procured by Christ we are treated as a free People and made capable of the Privileges of his Kingdome This He ratified in his own Blood whence his Blood is called the Blood of the New Testament wherein all his promises of Grace are confirm'd and the Legal Curse done away See here the Love of a Saviour that would thus die to restore us buy our peace at the price of himself and bring us terms of salvation so dearly purchased which before we could not hope for This shows the wretchedness of our state and the need we stood in of such an Expiation when He who could create us at first with the ease of a word is not allowed to create us anew but with the pain of suffering The Cross upon which He did this work is a sad spectacle to Sense but a glad object of Faith the one presents him naked in our Flesh but the other covered with our Sins the one shows him in his Blood but the other in our Guilt the burden of which He carried up thither encountred his Fathers wrath and at the very point of death proclaimed his Victory It is finished which is all one with this The Attonement is wrought because the Victim is slain 2. From what time we should date the Benefit of that Remission when it is made ours
to the excellency of that discovery For the whole Mosaïck Oeconomy was made up of Types and Figures and a thick Night continually overspread their Tabernacle Their Promises and Curses literally concerned the things of this life and it required a piercing Faith spiritually to interpret them a vulgar eye would surely stay upon the Surface but for to be able to take in the depth this must proceed from a strong enlightning which we read only a few were blest with that like Moses were carried up to see the hidden things of the Mount when the generality stood below and saw nothing but Clouds There was then great need of a Saviour to appear whether we regard Jew or Gentile and that not only for the work of saving Mankind but for redeeming Truth which was so obscur'd by the one and lost by the other Now Christ has discharg'd his Office in this particular and for this Prophet alone was reserv'd all the glory of Divine Revelation who being the express Image of his Fathers Person was the Signifier also of his Will in the brightest Character We know in the Creation Light was Gods first work but in restoring of Religion his last He judg'd it not fit to bring bright day on his People at first but by degrees to prepare their weak sight that it might be the better confirm'd and when the full time came the Gospel was published which put an end to farther discoveries and seal'd up the Vision This being premis'd it remains I should speak one word to shew how Gods wrath by way of eminency is revealed in the Gospel which will appear by considering 1. The Cleerness of it in the Letter 2. The Publick Promulgation of it to the World 1. For the Clearness of the Letter nothing can be more lively shown than the Sinners Hell whose Worm is said not to dye neither is his Fire quenched Nor does the Second Death cease from hurting him Should we now conclude with the Socïnian Eternal Punishment to be nothing else but Perdition or a Negation of Existence we must flatly deny those phrases of Scripture before mentioned for the Worm it self dies if its prey does so the Fire is put out if the matter it feeds upon be not lasting and the Second Death is not in the least hurtful if it imply nothing of torment But besides were this granted them what 's become of the fierceness of Gods wrath when neither felt nor endured Where is his Judgment and severe reckoning with evil doers if they partake with Brutes in their end It is folly to fear where Justice is not known and consequently a wide gap is opened by such men to all impiety when they take off the Terrors of Death leaving men as unconcern'd to be nothing an hundred years hence as an hundred years past to be unborn O the vanity of that Reason they pretend to which breaks the Authority of Gods Laws O the cruelty of their Compassion to Mans nature whereby Religion it self is destroy'd But Christ has otherwise instructed the World and knowing it needful that Everlasting Punishment should be equally set before us with Life Eternal He has joyned them both in the Sentence that we might be every way convinc'd Eternity is our lot and therefore a full motive to Duty In the Old Testament Tophet or the Valley of the Children of Hinnom where their Sons and Daughters were sacrificed to Moloch was used by the Prophet Isaiah as his greatest Type and Representation of Hell But how short it fell of a Gospel-description will be made evident if we consult the place the number it was prepared for and the time of its burning the place though deep yet had bottom the number though great yet was limited to one People and the time of its burning though fierce yet had end On the contrary the Gospel reveals a bottomless Gulf a multitude of all Nations that enter and a perpetual duration of their torments So that here we have a clear light of the Letter wherein the Jews were defective Neither does the excellency of a Revelation stop here but we may consider in the second place 2. The Publick Promulgation of it to the World and the Seal it carries of an Universal Publishing answerable to the Majesty of him that came to set up an Universall Kingdom Behold the Sentence of Divine Wrath was before hid with the Jews but now the knowledg of it spreads into all parts and so it proves a new Light in regard of its extent through all quarters That Sun of righteousness that has risen shines round about not only with healing under his wings to preserve but with Flames too of vengeance to consume And this He manifested here on Earth when he proclaimed the Glad-tydings of Salvation and pronounc'd many a Blessing upon his People yet lest they should forget the Justice of a Saviour Woes and Threatnings were ushered in to allay and temper all his Ministry Therefore those that heard him had reason to fear and not think themselves freed from Legal terrors since the Thunder of Sinai continued still though the Darkness of it was gone And as He thus awed them with his own Teaching so He commissioned his Servants to do likewise when He sent them abroad to teach all Nations Mercy alone was not their Theme nor the riches of Divine Grace in mans Redemption which is such welcome news to the receiver but the Curse was also annext and the Charge of future Judgment that if the former did please the latter might bind Before this Ignorance might be some way pleaded by the Gentiles that they obeyed not Gods Law when Life and Immortality were not known but after these were cleared up in the Gospel then their Condemnation was perfected For now they could be no longer termed unhappy for sitting in Darkness and in the Shadow of Death which is a kind of Sanctuary to the Pleader but Wicked for loving the Shadow which is the beginning of Hell Upon this account He no more winks or spares but judicially eying their steps denounces against them his heaviest Judgment I know many refer the Revelation of Gods Wrath to the Experiments of it in the world and make his outward Judgments upon sinners as so many Witnesses to confirm it But were no higher meant than those Instances we should be still in the dark convinc'd perhaps he was wroth but not wroth to a distinction wherein Justice is revealed None can spell out Characters of Providence nor read the special Hand-writing upon the Wall without the benefit of Vision What is all our sight of a just God here but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a Riddle a Riddle that has busied Philosophers to resolve and hardned their doubts by the enquiry If Wrath be manifested let the bad feel its burden but alas Gods Tempests here seem onely to fall upon his own Chosen They may call it Grace thus to suffer but it is Grace not seen nor acknowledged by others all
I answer not immediately from his Satisfaction but from the time of our rightly believing in him We are justified by his Blood in one sense and we are justified by faith in his Blood in another His bloody Death procur'd for us the Pardon which is nothing else but putting us into capacity of being pardoned but True Faith applies the Pardon to the Soul whereby we actually enjoy it How Faith here will be understood may be found out by comparing two places of Scripture namely Acts 10.43 with Acts 3.19 In the one it is said Whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins in the other Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out so that True Faith is the Principle of a new life the beginning of Sanctification when the Heart is resign'd up to God and with sincere resolutions turns to him No Faith can justifie us but as Faith that thus worketh for as God will take no unsanctified person to his Glory so neither will He seal to him in that condition pardon of sin here which is the earnest of that Glory Trust not then to his Wounds if thou bearest not the marks of them in thy Soul rely not on his Death if sin in thee be not crucified They were Reprobate Jews that turn'd his Passion into a Sight and came off not wounded but true Christians are pierced with beholding him and find it operative upon their lives Should we be justified without doing any thing on our part obedience to Gods Commands would rather be a Gift than a Debt whereas the Gospel enjoyns it us as necessary to please Him let us then so come to his Grave as not idly to bury our selves there for we are but dead men in doing so neither will our Master be found since the Angel can tell us He is not there but is risen whence we ought not to rest in that place but go forth to seek him All the vertue that is in the Sepulcher comes out to those that rise and resemble him who is risen That like as he was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father so they likewise might walk in newness of life Thus much for the First Observable I proceed to handle the Second Proposition II. That there are proper and peculiar Advantages in Christs rising above that death yea rather is risen again All the time Christ slept in the Grave was a time of gloominess and thick darkness but here God speaks as he did in the old Creation Let there be light His rising bring us day and the joyes of it wherein Death has lost all its spoyls and Life his victory Sin has spent all its force and Mercy triumphs the Synagogue it self ends and our Church begins A Day very pleasant in the speculation but may no doubt come in that it is artificially fram'd and devised by Christians Truly doubts cannot be hindred where corruption and infidelity so much reigns but the reason of our doubting is taken away by the clear evidence that is given us of his Resurrection If you ask what that is behold it is grounded upon Prophets that fortell Eye-witnesses that confirm and God himself attesting the truth of both by the power of his Spirit that worked in the Preachers to make this Point undeniable To the Prophets St. Acts 2. Peter appeals for convincing the Jews and St. Paul makes it a standing proof how He rose again according to the Scriptures 1 Cor. 15.4 Eye-witnesses are produc'd to convince the Gentiles not onely a few Women and Apostles whom he had chosen but Five hundred Brethren at once and those He appear'd to were not so much considerable for their number as for their nicety in believing men that had scruples of sense which kept them from being deceived as well as scruples of concience which kept them from deceiving others The first of these is manifest from hence That they would not thoroughly believe He was risen though they saw him till they were convinc'd by the very touch the latter is cleer from that Doctrine they embraced which forbad the least sin and how can we imagine they durst propagate a Cheat under all discouragements when they knew they not onely ran the hazard of losing their Lives as they did by professing him but their Hopes too of a better life the onely Anchor of their Profession from which a Lye would certainly exclude them Add to this the Spirit they received the Wonders they wrought and the Success they had in their Ministry when their Doctrine spread through the world from poor naked beginnings meerly by the force of this Article it shows the Body of their Master was not stoln away as the Keepers absurdly reported but that God himself was risen to defend them These things well consider'd if they amount not to Demonstration yet afford so rational a proof as will engage our assent to the Truth and convince us of folly in denying it Now the Advantages of Christs Rising above his Death have a double aspect for they either relate to Christ or to Us. First to Christ and so the Dignity of his Resurrection is seen in these Particulars 1. It justified the Innocence of his Humanity When Christ was laid hold of and carried away to be condemn'd by the Jews then his very Cause seem'd to be given up It was counted criminal with them that He would submit to an Arrest and a sufficient evidence to make him a Malefactor that He did so tamely yield to the Trial. But when He endured the Sentence to be pronounced went patiently to his Cross and suffer'd his Body to be fastned with the nails as if He had the guilt of a Slave with the punishment here was the Hour to overcome Truth and the Power of darkness to cover him who is the light of the world But his Rising from death removed that Eclipse cleard that Innocence by the distinction it made of his Fate when the Vileness of his Execution gave Authority to the Charge This caused such boldness in Peter to plead for his Master and return the fault upon his Persecutors which He was so guilty of himself Ye have denyed the holy one and the just Acts 3.14 and he proceeds farther to aggravate their Crime and maintain the righteousness of his Cause by that convincing Argument of Gods raifing Vers 15. him from the dead Now it is easie for any one to conclude that had our Lord been an Impostor or an evil doer he could not rise such kind of men would surely rot in the Grave and know no other Resurrection than that of the last Day to a worse Judgment because for God to punish them with Death here and allow them presently to rise that so they might confirm their own followers in those Errors they taught and those Evils they practised here a work of Divinity would be employed to destroy the true worship of it which is a flat contradiction to his Goodness