God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ Hence also it appeares that the divine service of invocation or prayers is due unto Christ Because this salutation heere is an invocation though indirectly framed wherein Paul prayes for grace and peace unto the Galatians from God and from Christ For Christ as it is evident from these words and from the like in other places wherein the government and care of Gods Church is ascribed unto him doth know the wants and the desires of the faithfull and therefore also doth heare their votes and prayers Now the knowledge and the audience of such things is a ground sufficient for invocation or prayer to bee made unto Christ especially seeing his knowledge and audience are seconded with a power and a will whereby hee is able and ready to helpe and to save those Believers who call upon him Hence Christ commands his Disciples to pray in his name and promiseth to effect their prayer John 14.13 Whatsoever yee shall aske in my name that will I doe that the Father may bee glorified by the Sonne If yee shall aske any thing in my name I will doe it This Invocation was preached by Steven when hee was stoned Act. 7.59 And they stoned Stephen calling and saying Lord Jesus receive my Spirit And practised by Paul when there was given him a thorne in the flesh 2 Cor. 12.8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me They therefore are in an errour who to barre Christ from the honour of Invocation doe read this Text thus From God our Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ referring the Pronoune Our unto God the Father and thereupon construing the words as if the Apostle prayed for grace and peace from the Father onely and not from Christ But would onely intimate that God is the common Father of us and of Christ But this construction is not onely against the sense of the words but also against reason For it is not reason that when the Apostle would call God the Father of Christ and also our Father hee should then first call him our Father before hee called him the Father of Christ Especially in a passage where he intends to magnifie the honour of Christ as by the verse following where he expresly calls God our Father it appeares he intends it This place therefore and the like wherein the Pronoune Our in reference to the Father is omitted doth wholly oppose this construction VERSE 4. Text. Who gave himselfe for our sinnes that hee might deliver us from this present evill world according to the will of God and our Father Sense Who gave himselfe viz. Unto death and died For our sinnes i. e. For the remission or forgivenesse of our sinnes by confirming through his death Gods last Will and Testament wherin the Remission of sinnes was devised unto us That he might deliver us i. e. That he might separate or withdraw us From this present evill world i. e. From the evill of this present world or from the present sinfulnesse or wickednesse commonly practised by the men of this present world In a word That he might draw us to Repentance or holinesse of life or sanctifie us According to the will of God i. e. According to the last Will and Testament of God who therein had expressed his mind and purpose for the Death of Christ for the Remission of our sinnes and for our repentance Of God and our Father i. e. Of God who is our Father viz. By vertue of his last Will and Testament wherein he hath adopted or justified us to be his sonnes and heires Reason Having in the former verse stiled Christ our Lord hee gives heere a tacit reason why hee stiled him so shewing by what right or title he is so namely by right of Redemption Because Christ through his death wrought for us a double deliverance one from the punishment of our sinnes by the remission or forgivenesse of them the other from the servitude of sinne by our Repentance and forsaking of them And further he declares that these three things viz. the Death of Christ the Remission of our sinnes and our Repentance are consequent suitable and according to the last Will and Testament of God wherein these things were thus ordayned Heere therefore are described two finall causes ends or effects of Christs death first the Remission of our sinnes and secondly our Repentance from sin Yet so as the latter is an end or effect subordinate to the former and the condition of it for our sins are remitted or forgiven to this end and upon this condition that wee should Repent and forsake them And unto these finall causes is annexed the efficient cause of Christs death that it was not meerely according to the will of the Jewes who put him to death but it was according to the will of God who in his last Will and Testament had decreed his death for the ends and effects heere specified By all which he would intimate unto the Galatians that for their salvation they were not to adhere unto Moses and to the Ceremonies of the Law according to Gods old testament but must depend upon Christ and the benefits by his death according to Gods last Wil and Testament For Paul intends these words as an Evangelicall attribute or description of Christ our Lord as before ver 1. the words who raysed him from the dead were an Evangelicall attribute unto God the Father Comment Giving is put for Dying The word Remission is sometime silenced sometime expressed sometime implied by Taking away and Bearing away Christ was not punished for our sinnes but onely tooke and bare away the punishment from us as hee tooke away sicknesses and diseases Christs death causeth the forgivenesse of our sinnes and our Repentance which is a Deliverance from sinfulnesse which is wickednes not Locally but Morally Deliverance from evill in the Lords Prayer The nature of Repentance which is really all one with holynesse The Motive to it is our Forgivenes 2 Reasons of it 1 Repentance is the purpose of Forgivenes 2 Repentance is the condition of it and an adequate condition of it Examples of the former Christ is to be Judge of our Repentance Yet he will judge of it in mercy The Alliance between remission and Repentāce Gods will is his Affection Decree Purpose Covenant and Testament Yet so taken chiefely in the Gospell And so here for 3 Reasons And is the efficient cause of Christs death But the principall efficient is God by meanes of the New Testament 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 the Testator the Executor the Forme the Apparance the Legataries the Legacies and Conditions God is our Father Jurally and Morally and to be stiled our Father VVHO gave himselfe Wee must heere supply the word unto death which many times in Scripture is silenced but is supposed and must bee understood when the words of giving himselfe are ascribed unto Christ Of whom they signifie that his death was not wholly
compulsory on the Jewes and Pilates part but also voluntary on his own part by yeelding himselfe unto death From which if he would have shunned it he could easily have rescued himselfe not only by his owne single power but Matt. 26.53 by the ayd of more then twelve Legions of Angels which at his request his Father would have presently given him but hee willingly yeelded and gave himselfe up to death So the word unto death must be understood Ephes 5.2 Walke in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himselfe for us viz. unto death as the words immediatly following declare it And Ephes 5.25 Husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the Church and gave himselfe for it viz. unto death And 1. Tim. 2.6 Christ gave himselfe a ransome for all i. e. Gave himselfe unto death And Tit. 2.14 Christ gave himselfe for us that he might redeeme us from all iniquity i. e. Gave himselfe unto death For our sinnes Heere againe another word must be supplied which in many places of Scripture is silenced but yet supposed and understood because in other places it is mentioned And that word is Remission or forgivenesse that Christ gave himselfe unto death for the remission or forgivenesse of our sinnes So the word Remission must be understood Rom. 4.25 who was delivered for our offences i. e. Was delivered unto death for the remission or forgivenesse of our offences for this sense is declared by the words immediatly following and rose againe for our justification And 1. Cor. 15.3 I delivered unto you how that Christ died for our sinnes i. e. For the remission of our sinnes And Heb. 10.12 But this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sinnes for ever i. e. For the Remission of sinnes for ever For when in other places of Scripture our sinnes are referred to the death of Christ or unto his bloud being put for his death the word Remission is mentioned expresly As Matt. 26.28 This is my bloud of the new Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sinnes And Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to bee a propitiation through faith in his bloud to declare his righteousnesse for the remission of sinnes that are past And Ephes 1.7 In whom wee have redemption through his bloud the forgivenesse of sinnes according to the riches of his grace All which sayings and the like are explications or comments upon these words of Paul heer who gave himselfe for our sinnes Sometime the word Remission is not mentioned expresly but implicitly by substituting in stead thereof some other word therto equivalent as the word Taking away for the Remission or forgivenesse of sinnes is nothing else but A taking away of that punishment which by the Law is due unto sin Hence John 1.29 Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world Heere Christ is compared to a Lamb in respect of his death for sin which by his death is taken away i. e. is remitted or forgiven And 1. John 3.5 Ye know that he was manifested to take away our sinnes i. e. To remit or forgive our sinnes And the word Bearing which when it is applied unto Christ in respect of sin signifieth bearing away i.e. taking away from us the punishment of sin which is all one with Remission or forgivenesse As Esay 53.11 By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many and shall beare their iniquities And againe in the next verse following Hee was numbred with the transgressors and bare the sin of many i. e. He shall and did beare away or take away from many the punishment of their iniquities and sinnes which in one word is the Remission or forgivenesse of their sins And 1. Pet. 2.24 Who his owne self bare our sinnes in his own body on the tree i. e. Tooke away from us the punishment of our sins Yet Christ did not take the punishment of our sinnes upon himselfe to beare and suffer in himselfe the punishment due to us for our sinnes for he was not punished in our stead for our sinnes but he only tooke away or bare away from us the punishment of them without inflicting it upon himselfe The certainty of this truth for this sense of these two words taking and bearing is taught us by Matthew for when the Prophet had sayd Esay 53.4 Surely he hath borne our griefes and carried our sorrowes Matthew cites this upon the miracles of Christ in healing all that were sick saying Matt. 8.17 Himselfe tooke our infirmities and bare our sickenesses Now in healing the sicke Christ did not so take their infirmities and beare their sicknesses as to be infirme or sicke himselfe but he only tooke away or bare away from the sick their infirmities and sicknesses For when a Physitian cureth a disease he doth not take it unto himself to be sick of it himself but he only takes it away from the Patient So Christ in dying for our sins took not unto himself the punishment of thē to beare or suffer the punishment himself but he only took away and bare away from us the punishment of our sins And when by the meanes of the Physitian the disease is taken from the Patient it is not necessary it should be layd on the Physitian or on any body else for it sufficeth if the disease be abolished So when by the means of Christ the punishment of sin is taken away from sinners it is not necessary it should bee layd upon Christ or on any else because it is finally abolished For the punishment of sin is eternall death which is already abolished in grant or promise and shall be abolished in esse at the Resurrection for death is the last enemy that shall be destroyed Our sinnes then are not the efficient cause of Christs death for Christ died not to be punished for them but his death is an efficient cause of the Remission or forgivenesse of our sinnes for by the meanes of his death the punishment of our sinnes is taken away or borne away And consequently the Remission of our sinnes is a finall cause end or effect of Christs death yet not immediat or proximous but a remote effect For as shall bee more largely declared cap. 2. ver 21. the immediat or proximous finall causes ends or effects of Christs death were to testifie to confirm and to execute the last Will and Testament of God whereof one article is the Remission of our sinnes which by way of Legacy is therein devised or promised unto us Christ then gave himselfe to death for our sinnes partly because by his death he testified and confirmed the new Testament wherein the right of Remission of sinnes is given us for that Testament being confirmed becomes of force and we by meanes of our faith have a present right to the future forgivenesse of our sinnes And partly because through his death he was made perfect with power to execute that Testament that he might actually
Certainly not to this that thereupon we should imagine Repentance or holinesse to be a thing impossible or should esteeme good works not necessary or should differ from the evill men of this present world in nothing but in our faith taking liberty to live licentiously without feare of punishment that grace may abound and God may have all the glory of it as the false teachers among the Galatians who besides the faith of the Gospel urged the works of the Law conceived of Pauls doctrine and in the next Chapter ver 17. will object it against him But the end or effect which the remission of our sinnes should have upon us is to move and draw us to Repentance or holinesse of life For Christ died or gave himselfe for the remission of our sinnes that hee might deliver us from that servitude of sin wherin the men of this present world are enthralled Now this deliverance is done only by Repentance because Repentance only doth separate and withdraw us from the service of sin and wickednes And the Reasons why the forgivenesse of our sinnes should cause our Repentance are two 1. Because the forgivenesse of our sinnes is granted us in relation to our repentance It hath been the businesse of Gods spirit in all ages to struggle with man and to draw him from wickednesse Under the Law God ordayned severall punishments by violent death for it but this was a base and servile way for Gods people to be kept in aw only through feare and it was a defective faulty or weak way because those penalties by death could not doe the deed to deliver or withdraw men from wickednesse Under the Gospel therefore God proceeds in a contrary course by reversing all penalties and granting a generall pardon for all sinnes to the end that what the Law could not doe by way of feare that the Gospel might effect by reasons of Gods love that wee in thankfulnesse for so great a blessing might answer his love with our love and therupon for his sake might forsake the wayes of wickednesse And God sealed this Pardon with the bloud of Christ that his love in not sparing his own Son and the love of Christ in laying downe his life for us might the more endeare and engage us to the works of Repentance and holinesse Unto which effect what further means are there conducent besides the feare of God in punishing sin and the love of God in forgiving it 2. Because our Repentance or holinesse is the condition wherupon the forgivenesse of our sinnes is to take effect Every Beleever by vertue of his beliefe or faith hath a present right to the future forgivenesse of his sinnes and his present right to that forgivenesse is absolute or simple without any condition For his beliefe or faith is not the condition thereof but the nomination whereby the Right of forgivenesse and the rest of the Legacies devised in Gods Will are assigned unto him for that and the rest are setled upon all the faithfull by their name of Beleevers But the future fruition of that forgivenesse is conditionall for it is limited or restrayned unto the condition of Repentance or holinesse for though all Beleevers have a present right to the forgivenesse of their sins yet only those Beleevers who are penitent or holy shall enjoy the future benefit of that Right By reason of which limitation the benefit or effect of actuall forgivenesse is suspended untill the condition of holinesse bee accomplished Which condition being never performed God stands no way engaged for the future to forgive actually those sinnes unto the forgivenesse whereof the Beleever had once a present Right Hence Christ makes our Forgiving of one another an adequate condition of Gods forgiving us that if we forgive one another which act in us is a good degree of our repentance or holinesse then will God forgive us but if we forgive not God will not forgive us what former promise soever he hath made or what present right soever we have thereto Matt. 6.14 If yee forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you but if yee forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses If Gods forgivenesse heere mentioned be not conditionall then must wee needs averre that either there is no such thing as a condition or that hitherto the thing is not rightly understood what it meaneth Likewise every time wee pray to God for forgivenesse as Christ taught us to pray for it we aske it upon this condition of forgiving others Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespasse against us Or if on our part this condition be not expressed yet on Gods part it is alwayes implied and understood But if in this life our sinnes bee absolutely and actually forgiven there can bee no cause why wee should dayly pray for their forgivenes because no man prayes for what he already hath and enjoyeth But because Gods promise to forgive us is conditionall therefore we dayly pray that God would finally performe his promise upon our performance of the condition Heerupon it is that Christ makes the forgivenes of sinnes a Motive unto Repentance in saying to the Cripple whom he had healed John 5.14 Thou art now made whole sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee Under the words Thou art made whole Christ comprehendeth the forgivenes of his sinnes because the ordinary forme of words wherewith Christ healed was by saying Thy sinnes are forgiven thee Peter also presseth the same doctrine that the forgivenesse of our sinnes should make us to repent or die to sin 1. Pet. 2.24 Who his own selfe bare or tooke away our sinnes in his owne body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousnesse The word heere in the originall for dead doth properly signifie departed but is elegantly Englished dead because it is opposed to live in the clause following but especially because all the dead are departed and therefore all that are dead to sin are departed from sin which makes the nature of repentance And the woman who had beene a sinner did carefully put this doctrine in practice and shewed us an example of it in her owne person for she upon the forgivenesse of her sinnes was thereby moved unto acts of holinesse in the works of love and because her sinnes were many her love was so much the more in washing and wiping in kissing and anointing the feet of Christ And Christ afterward declared that her motive to this great love was the forgivenesse of her many sinnes adding withall this verity Luke 7.47 To whom little is forgiven the same loveth little From whence it followeth that hee who loveth not to him nothing is forgiven or at least the forgivenesse will come to nothing because if it come to something it must needs come to some love And Christ must bee the Judge of the condition For his office it is to examine the reality of it whether
it have beene truly performed according to the precept of the New Testament wherein the forgivenesse of sinnes is promised Because Christ is the sole Executor of that Testament and unto the Executor it belongeth to examine judge and allow the conditions of Legacies conditionall that accordingly hee may discharge them for the discharge of Legacies lies alwayes upon the Executor And at the day of judgement when Christ shall sit Judge of the quicke and the dead hee will also discusse the condition of our repentance or holynesse judging thereof by the workes of love in giving meate to the hungry drinke to the thirsty clothing to the naked c. as it is largely described Mat. 25.35 And accordingly hee will frame the finall sentence either for the remission of sinnes unto the inheritance of everlasting life or for the retention of sinnes unto the punishment of eternall death Yet Christ will not examine the condition of our repentance or holynesse by the Rules of severity and rigour but of grace mercy and kindnesse accepting and allowing of a competent holynesse in a meane degree though it have not beene precisely performed Because the New Testament is a Testament ad pias causis or for charitable uses and such Testaments admit of this priviledge that their conditions are at the mercy of the Executor and hee hath power to allow them though they bee not precisely performed Thus Remission of sinnes and Repentance are of such neare relation that they goe hand in hand as the blessing and the condition of it being in severall passages of the New Testament joyned and coupled together as the two maine poynts or substantialls thereof and as the two maine subjects which make up the worke of preaching the Gospel For the New Testament being commonly distributed into the two maine branches of Promises and Precepts or which is all one of Legacies and conditions remission of sinnes is many times put for all the promises or legacies and repentance for all the precepts or conditions Hence these two made up the preaching of John the Baptist Luk. 3.3 And hee came into all the Countrey about Jordan preaching the Baptisme of Repentance for the remission of sinnes Hence these two made up the summe of that Gospel which the Apostles were to preach in the name of Christ Luk. 24.46 And Christ sayd unto them thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sinnes should bee preached in his Name among all Nations Hence for the execution and effecting of these two Christ was exalted to bee a Prince and a Saviour Act. 5.31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to bee a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgivenesse of sinnes According to the will of God The will of God will not admit of a definition for it is not definite to bee defined but rather definitive and doth define and therefore it must bee designed by such markes as may notifie it and they are chiefely three Namely his Affects Decrees and Purposes For 1. Every affect of God is his will as his Love Grace and Mercy his Hatred and Anger 2. Every Decree of God is his will as his Promises Precepts and Judgements 3. Every purpose of God is his will as his Precognition Prevision and Predestination which Acts being the forethoughts or counsells of his will whereby hee constituteth his Decrees doe note an antecesse of time that the Decree thereby constituted was a long time predestinated or purposed before it was destinated or ordained Hence it will follow that every Covenant of God is his Will because his Covenant is his present Decree for things to bee done for the future And every testament of God is his will because his testament is his present decree for things to bee done after death for that futurity which is limited unto death doth specifie Gods Testament from his Covenant For Gods Testament and his Covenant are not wills opposite or divers but subordinate or graduous because his Covenant is more ample and large for all Gods Covenants are not Testaments but all his Testaments are his Covenants And every Testament whatsoever when it takes effect becomes a Covenant because when the Executor undertakes it there is a full agreement betweene his will and the testators will for the performance of the whole Testament and an agreement of Wills makes up a full Covenant The will of God in expresse tearmes is no where mentioned either in the Law or the Prophets or in the Old Testament excepting onely once Ezra 7.18 But in the New Testament we frequently finde the word and there it is commonly taken for the New Testament it selfe or for that will of God which is his last will and testament So John 1.13 Which were borne not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God i. e. of Gods last will and testament And John 6.38 I came downe from Heaven not to doe mine owne will but the will of him that sent mee i e. to execute and fullfill the last will and testament of God And Rom. 12.2 That yee may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God i. e. What are the Precepts or Commands of his last will and testament And Ephes 1.5 According to the good pleasure of his will i. e. of his last will and testament in which sence it is also taken in the same Chapter vers 9.11 And 1 Thes 4.3 This is the will of God even your sanctification i. e. This is a Precept of Gods last will and testament And Heb. 10.9 Then sayd hee â—e I come to the thy will O God i. e. to execute and performe thy last will and testament as by the words following is plainely declared Hee taketh away the first that hee may establish the second i. e. Hee taketh away the Old Testament which was the first will of God that hee may establish the New which is his second and last will And in this sence is the will of God taken heere when Paul saith according to the will of God and that for three Reasons 1. Because Christ gave himselfe to death according to no other will of God then his last Will and Testament for Christ dyed for this end or effect that by the meanes of his death hee might testifie confirme and execute the New Testament that thereupon it might bee in force and take effect according to the purpose or meaning of God therein expressed 2. Because remission of sinnes for which Christ is heere sayd to dye is according to no other will of God then his last Will and Testament for the Old Testament or Covenant of workes allowed not the remission of all sinnes but onely Errours and Frailties and those also were not remitted unlesse they were expiated by the meanes of a sinne offering and in case of damage of a
should bee so unmanerly unthankefull and unkinde as to deny a little provision to David and his followers who unto him had been so good as to be a defence to him and his goods Come we down somewhat lower to an example or two of this improbity from the New Testament Such an improbous Sinner was the wicked servant Mat. 18.28 who when his Lord had forgiven him a debt of ten thousand talents would neither forgive nor forbeare his fellow-servant who owed him onely an hundred pence but arrested and imprisoned him for it This act was a sinne for his Lord thereupon was so wrath that revoking his former pardon of the debt hee delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him Yet this was no legall sinne against any Law because the act in it selfe was very lawfull for the Law allowes every Creditor to demand and sue for his debt but it was a morall sinne against morality equity and Charity for him to whom his Lord had forgiven a debt of ten thousand talents to exact from his fellow-servant a matter of an hundred pence Such a Sinner was Dives Luke 16.19 who was cloathed in purple and fared sumptuously every day letting Lazarus lye at his gate full of sores and desiring to be fed with the crummes that fell from the table This prodigality upon himselfe and parcimony toward the poore was a sinne not legall but morall against the rules of equity Charity and mercy Such Sinners were the Priest and the Levite Luke 10.31 who seeing a man lye in the way stripped wounded and halfe dead passed by on the other side This passage of theirs was no legall sinne against any Law but a morall sinne against the rules of equity humanity courtesie charity and mercy Lastly such sinners will the damned be found at the last day when the finall Inditement shall runne against them in this form Mat. 25.42 I was an hungred and ye gave me no meate I was thirsty and ye gave me no drinke I was a stranger and ye tooke me not in naked and ye cloathed me not sick and in prison and ye visited mee not Certainely these negligences are sinnes for the parties are cursed and punished with this finall Judgement to eternall damnation Depart from mee ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Divel and his angels Yet they are not sinnes legally against the Law of Moses but morally against the rules of equity charity and mercy 3. The word Sinner signifies jurally quoad jura for one who is Calamitous who either hath no Right at all or not that right which he should have or not that which he might have had but is either deprived or debarred from some right priviledge or capacity which by Law or favour is alowed unto others and is predestinated prejudicated decreed and doomed to be and abide in the state and condition of an offendour and thereby to suffer that misery of losse paine and shame which is commonly inflicted as a punishment upon offenders Yet unto the Calamitous the misery which he suffers is not a punishment but onely an affliction because no man is to be punished for having no right or for quitting his right much lesse for losing it if the losse be none of his fault but against his will Now according to the common rule and practice of denominations he that hath no right or not his due right but misseth and faileth of his right may be called unrighteous and must bee so called till wee can finde or make some other appellative that will fit him better and a person in this sense unrighteous is accordingly in Scripture called a Sinner And the fact which doth constitute or make a man thus a Jurall Sinner to bee calamitous woefull and wretched is no act of his owne but either the act of some Adversary who unjustly and without cause chargeth upon that sinne whereof hee is not guilty or the act of some Law or of some Curse which burdeneth him for that sinne whereof some other person is guilty whereby the calamitous who is innocent and guiltlesse is forced to suffer affliction or misery as if in himselfe hee were a Delinquent and guilty Yet the Calamitous as hee stands distinguished from the transgressor and the improbous should in strictnesse of speech be called rather a quasi-sinner then a Sinner because hee is not a Sinner properly but quasily i. e. hee hath manifest differences to cleare him from the proper nature of a Sinner and yet hath resemblances enough to draw upon him the name of a Sinner For properly and usually the word sinne doth signifie tha◠evill act which is an offence either against Law or Equity and so the Transgressor and the improbous are both offendors and both properly sinners But many times that word is taken improperly and figuratively by a Metonymy frequent in Scripture and in ordinary discourse and so it signifies not the evill act of sinne but that evill effect or consequent which followes the act of sinne and is commonly made the punishment of sinne as shame paine losse or any other Affliction Calamity Misery or Trouble especially Death which is mans finall suffering and his last enemy As Gen. 4.7 If thou dost well shalt thou not bee accepted and if thou dost not well i. e. If thou dost any act of sinne sinne lyeth at the doore i. e. the effect of sinne which is punishment and misery is ready to attach thee And Gen. 19.15 Arise take thy Wife and thy two Daughters which are heere lest thou bee consumed in the iniquity of the City i. e. in the destruction or punishment of the City And Gen. 31.39 That which was torne of Beasts I brought it not unto thee I bare the losse of it where the Hebrew word is Achtenah i. e. I sinned for it q. d. I suffered for it as if the sinne or fault had beene mine And Levit. 22.9 They shall therefore keepe mine Ordinances lest they beare sinne for it i. e. lest they suffer death for it as appeares by the words following which are but the sense of these and dye therefore And Levit. 24.15 Whosoever curseth his God shall beare his sinne i. e. Hee shall surely bee put to death For so the words are explicated in the next verse And Rom. 5.12 And so Death passed upon all men for that all have sinned i. e. For that in Adam all dyed as afterward among the examples of the Calamitous shall bee more amply declared And Rom. 5.19 By one mans disobedience many were made sinners i. e. Were made mortall and necessitated to dye for the Greeke is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Constituted ordained or appoynted sinners or mortall for in other places of our last Translation so many wayes that Verbe is Englished and heereto other vulgar Translations agree for the Italian hath it constituted sinners and the French rendred sinners But then by Sinners wee must understand mortall or made to dye because men
by conforming his owne unto it and whose service hee findes to bee no servitude but perfect freedome is acquitted and discharged from the burdens and penalties of the Law to rest and remaine under the friendship favour grace and love of God to bee inlightned guided moved strengthned and cheered by the holy spirit of God This is a state of grace an high noble divine and blessed condition a condition transcending farre above the proper nature and quality of man a condition honored and inriched with many other Rights Priviledges and Benefits thereto consequent incident and annexed whereof the first concurrent with it is a degree of spirituall freedome viz. a divine alliance to bee the Sonne and Heire of God The state whereto a man is Justified is this condition of spirituall freedome and alliance to bee the freed man and friend of God to bee the Sonne and Heire of God Hence Abraham being justified was called the friend of God Jam. 2.23 Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousnesse and hee was called the friend of God i. e. Abrahams faith did justifie him or was imputed unto him for a right of Freedome Amity or Alliance with God to bee made and called Gods friend And Christ tells his Disciples that they were and should bee called his friends John 15.14 Yee are my friends if yee doe whatsoever I command you henceforth I call you not servants for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doth But I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made knowne unto you And the Apostle tells all Believers that by being justified they are made the Heirs of God Tit. 3.7 That being justified by his grace wee should bee made Heires according to the hope of eternall life For Justifying is the altering or changing of mans spirituall state or condition whereby hee acquires a new state much different from that wherein hee stood before Yet this change is not made downeward to abate and lessen it into the state of spirituall bondage but upward to advance and raise it unto spirituall Freedome Amity and Alliance with God Hence Justification is quite opposite and contrary to that Condemnation which the Civilians call Capitis diminutio i. e. a lessening of the head by debasing and changing the state or condition of a man from the better to the worse to make him an Alien or a Bondman who before was a Citizen or Freeman for anciently the word head did signifie jurally for the state or condition of a man Because a mans state or condition is the beginning fountaine or head from whence all his other rights are either derived or obstructed And because of this contrariety to Capitis diminutio Justification may be fitly tearmed Capitis exaltatio i. e. a raising or lifting up the head for to that sense the phrase of lifting up the head is used in the Old Testament Gen. 40. vers 20. And it came to passe the third day which was Pharoahs birth-day that hee made a Feast unto all his servants and hee lifted up the head of the chiefe Butler and of the chiefe Baker among his servants i. e. Hee raised their condition by giving them their freedome and releasing them from their former imprisonment And 2. King 25.27 And it came to passe that Evilmerodach King of Babylon in the yeare that hee began to raigne did lift up the head of Jehoiachin King of Judah out of prison i. e. Did give him his freedome from his imprisonment The state from whence a man is justified is the base condition of spirituall bondage and the miseries thereto consequent for that state is the terminus a quo or tearme of recesse from whence Justifying commenceth and from whence a man is thereby delivered and the state of freedome is the terminus ad quem or the tearme of accesse whereto Justifying exalteth and wherin a man is thereby invested and seated And although mans deliverance from bondage doth in order of nature precede his investiture into freedome Yet I first mentioned the last because the last is first in the order of our method and first in order of dignity as being the more worthy and more noble condition Hence it appeares that Justifying doth worke an alteration or change in a man for it changeth his state or condition Yet it appeares also that this change is onely jurall whereby hee is exalted or raised from a low and base condition to rest in a noble and divine state for such a jurall change and no other there is in a person naturalized legitimated infranchised redeemed pardoned and adopted in all which being severall sorts of Justifying there is a change yet that change is onely jurall by a change of condition As for any morall alteration or change upon the affections or manners of man that is not the proper worke of Justification but of Sanctification Yet the grace and blessing of Justification in changeing the state and condition of man doth strongly oblige and binde him to the workes of sanctity or holinesse in making a morall change upon his affections and manners by destroying sinne and the lusts thereof as the Apostle will seriously presse it in this Chapter vers 18. The Priviledges incident and consequent unto this state of divine freedome and alliance are all the residue of the Legacies or precious Promises devised in Gods Testament wherof the most future and most finall are the Remission of sins the Resurrection of the body and Life everlasting with all the glory and joyes thereto annexed all which three are in a maner eyther one and the same blessing or blessings so consequent one to another that the former must necessarily be antecedent to the latter For there can bee no Life everlasting unlesse the Resurrection of the body antecede and the Resurrection cannot be unlesse the Remission of sins antecede But when by the Remission of sins eternall death which is the punishment thereof is extinguished then the Resurrection of the body must needs follow and upon the Resurrection from eternall death Life everlasting must needes follow For the heyres of God dying on earth how shall they enter their heavenly inheritance unlesse they be againe raysed to life and dying for sin how shall they be raysed unlesse the sin be remitted for which they die As therefore the state of Sovereignty draweth unto it the rights and dues of tribute custome feare and honour Rom. 13.7 Render therefore to all their dues tribute to whom tribute is due custome to whom custome feare to whom feare honour to whom honour so the state of supreame alliance doth draw unto it the priviledges and blessings of Forgivenesse of sins the Resurrection of the body and Life everlasting For Abraham Isaac and Jacob have a right interest or clayme unto the Resurrection and consequently unto Life everlasting and their right interest or clayme thereto is by vertue of their state or condition of freedome and alliance unto
especially Death from which or whereto the person is sayd to be delivered as Mat. 27.43 He trusted in God let him deliver him now i. e. Let him deliver him now from death And 2. Pet. 2.7 and delivered just Lot i. e. from death at the destruction of Sodome But in divers other places the deliverance is not from evill but unto evill and the evill whereunto Christ was delivered was death So Rom. 4.25 who was delivered for our offences i. e. delivered unto death And Rom. 8.32 He that spared not his owne sonne but delivered him up for us all i. e. delivered him up to death So heer and delivered himselfe for me i. e. delivered or gave himselfe unto death for me The Person who delivered Christ unto death was Christ himselfe for he delivered himselfe and gave himselfe to die Eph. 5.2 And walke in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himselfe for us where in the Originall it is hath delivered himselfe for us And againe in the same Chapter ver 25. Husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the Church and gave himselfe for it where againe the Originall hath it and delivered himselfe for it Yet besides Christ there were other persons who were concurrent in this delivery of Christ to death For God the Father by his Decree and by the consent of Christ did deliver him to death Act. 2.23 Him being delivered by the determinate counsell and foreknowledge of God yee have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slaine And Judas who betrayed him delivered him for all treachery is a delivery of the person who is betrayed and Judas to extenuate the foulnesse of his treachery calles it by the moderat and generall name of delivery Mat. 26.15 Then one of the twelve called Judas Iscariot went unto the chiefe Priests and sayd unto them what will yee give mee and I will deliver him unto you and they covenanted with him for 30 peeces of silver and from that time he sought opportunity to betray him where in the Greeke the same word stands for delivering and betraying for all unlawfull and sinfull delivering is betraying Likewise the Rulers of the Jewes as the chiefe Priests the Scribes and Elders delivered him Luk. 20.20 And they watched him and sent foorth spies which should faine themselves just men that they might take hold of his words that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the Governour And lastly Pilate the Governour delivered him Mat. 27.26 And when he had scourged Jesus he delivered him to bee crucified Yet this one and the same action wherein so many persons concurred was in God and Christ an holy Act but in the rest a wicked crime Because actions are moralised to bee good or evill from their causes and circumstances which being altered doe alter the good or evill of the action God who was the father of Christ had power to deliver his son unto death and did actually deliver him for this end viz. to glorifie him that raysing him after death to an immortall life hee might become the perpetuall Priest and King of his Church and consequently the authour of eternall salvation to all that obey him And this act of God was good because hee had power to doe it and did it to a good and blessed end And Christ who was the sonne of God had power to deliver himselfe to death and in obedience to his father actually did it to the same end namely to be glorified Heb. 12.2 Looking unto Jesus the authour and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Crosse despising the shame and is set downe at the right hand of the throne of God And this act of Christ was good because hee had power to doe it for though no man had authority to take his life from him yet hee had authority from his father to lay it downe John 10.18 No man taketh it from mee but I lay it downe of my selfe I have power to lay it downe and I have power to take it againe this commandement have I received of my father And because Christ did this act for a good end that thereby he might compasse his owne glory and mans salvation But in Judas and the Jewes this very act of delivering Christ unto death was a foule wickednesse because they had no lawfull authority to doe it and because they did it to an evill end namely to destroy him and because they did it not as Gods will but as Satans will and their owne for John 13.2 The Divel put it into the heart of Judas Thus one and the same action done by divers agents upon divers motives and for divers ends may be diversly moralised to become in one respect good and holy but in another foule and wicked For me Christ delivered himselfe unto death and died yet not for himselfe only and only for his owne sake but also for me and for my sake Which is not to be so understood as if Christ had died in my stead or in my roome by suffering that death which I for my sin am to suffer For although Christ suffered a death in a manner somewhat like to that death which I deserve to suffer and suffered it for that end to free me from that death which I deserve to suffer and from which I should not have beene freed unlesse he had suffered death Yet first He suffered not that very death which I deserve to suffer for the death which I deserve to suffer is eternall death which kinde of death Christ suffered not for his death lasted but three dayes neyther could he suffer it because God had decreed and promised the contrary And if he had suffered it then could I have never beene freed from it and yet my freedome from it was the maine end for which hee suffered For if Christ had continued in death and had not beene raysed from it my faith to be raysed from it is vaine and whensoever I die I shall utterly perish 1. Cor. 15.17 And if Christ be not raysed your faith is vaine ye are yet in your sinnes then they also which are fallen asleepe in Christ are perished And secondly The death which Christ suffered was not in stead or liew of mine For the temporall death which Christ suffered doth not free mee from temporall death because I shall suffer that kinde of death and shall lie under it till the Resurrection not as a punishment of my sin for unto the Remission of my sinnes I am already justified and my death is not a punishment for them but as a Calamity of my birth as being the son of Adam in whose attainder I was tainted and for whose sinne I must die But by the temporall death of Christ my temporall death shall determine which otherwise would become eternall for his Rising from his death will rayse me from mine 1. Cor. 15.22 For as in Adam all die even so in Christ shall
quickned us together with Christ by grace yee are saved i. e. The cause of your present right to future salvation is the grace of God And Tit. 3.7 That being justified by his grace wee should bee made heires according to the hope of eternall life i. e. The cause of our Justifying is Gods grace and the effect of it is that thereby wee are made heires of eternall life and because wee are heires wee have good reason to hope for it for who can have better hope of any thing then an heire hath of his inheritance These are the chiefe authorities from the Scriptures to testifie this truth that our inheritance is by grace Causes to prove it there are none for wee sayd that Gods grace was the highest cause which had none above it and therefore this verity must needes bee a principle and consequently cannot bee proved for hee abuseth a principle who attempteth to prove it Yet there are reasons that may argue and perswade it and they being grounded on Scripture are chiefely these five following 1. Because this Right comes from Gods gift John 4.10 If thou knewest the gift of God i. e. everlasting life which comes from Gods gift for so the Well of water is interpreted at the last words of the 14. verse following And Acts 11.18 Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life i. e. then hath God given them the benefit or fruit of repentance which is eternall life for the originall is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. given yet it is Englished well enough because every grant is a gift And Rom. 5.15 But not as the offence so also is the free gift for if through the offence of one many bee dead much more the grace of God and the gift by grace which is by one man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many here unto eternall death the cause whereof was the offence or sin is opposed eternall life the cause whereof is grace for it is a gift by grace And Rom. 6.23 But the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternall life through Jesus Christ our Lord. i. e. The cause of our present guiltinesse unto eternall death is sin whereof death is the wages but the cause of our present right unto eternall life is not our holinesse but Gods grace whereof life is the gift and that gift is conveyed unto us by the meanes of Jesus Christ And Heb. 6.4 It is impossible for those who were once inlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift i. e. who have had the knowledge and have felt the joy of their inheritance to blessednes which is no earthly purchase but a heavenly gift proceeding from God Now the fountaine or cause from which gifts and grants proceed is not Law and justice but grace and favour for what else is a gift or grant but an act of grace 2. Because it commeth from Gods good pleasure Luk. 2.14 Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace good will towards men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. good pleasure towards men q. d. Let the God of Heaven be glorified for that blessednesse on earth descended from his favour or good pleasure towards men which he hath abundantly testified by sending his son to be their Saviour And Luke 12.32 Feare not little flock for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdome i. e. feare not the want of food and raiment for God is your Father and therefore will give it you and more then so for he will also give you the Kingdome of Heaven for the blessing thereof comes from his gift and that gift proceeds from his good pleasure And Ephes 1.9 having made knowne unto us the mystery of his Will according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himselfe i. e. That Will and Testament of God wherein we are made heirs to the inheritance of Heaven was a long time a mystery and concealed in secret but is now published and made knowne unto us and this is according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himselfe first for the making of that Will and after for the publishing of it Now that which proceeds from the good pleasure of any person is not an act of Law and justice but of Grace and favour for matters of Law and justice leave not a man to his good pleasure but oblige him to that which Law and justice require to be done 3. Because it comes from Gods goodnes or kindnes Rom. 11.22 Behold therefore the goodnesse and severity of God on them which fell severity but towards thee goodnes if thou continue in his goodnes otherwise thou also shalt be cut off i. e. The Jews were once in the state of alliance with God to be his children and people but because they fell from their obedience God cut them off and their excision proceeded from Gods severity but Gods election of thee in their room proceeds from his goodnes or kindnes towards thee if thou cōtinue in that state wherinto his goodnes hath grafted thee otherwise thou also shalt be cut off with the like severity And Eph. 2.7 And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come hee might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindnesse towards us through Christ Jesus i. e. God hath raised Christ from the dead and hath seated him in Heaven and in him he hath given us a precedent of our future possession there to be raised as he was and to be seated as he is for he was raised and seated there to him and his co-heirs i. e. to all believers in him that in the world to come after the Resurrection God might shew and impart unto us the exceeding riches or abundance of that blessednes which proceeds from the abundance of his grace and kindnes towards us through the means of Jesus Christ And Tit. 3.4 But after that the kindenesse and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared i. e. Those benefits whereby God is the Saviour of man proceeds from Gods kindnesse and love toward man Now Gods goodnesse or kindnesse is really the very same thing with his grace for his grace is that inward affection from whence his outward kindnesse floweth as the effect thereof 4. Because it comes from Gods Mercy or Pity Rom. 11.30 For as yee in times past have not believed God yet have now obtained mercy through their unbeliefe Even so have these also now not believed that through your mercy they also may obtaine mercy i. e. As heeretofore yee Gentiles were Infidells or Unbelievers yet now have believed upon the Jewes unbeliefe So now the Jewes are become unbelievers that upon your beliefe they may bee provoked to believe Hee calls beliefe mercy because the thing believed and the act of believing proceed from Gods mercy And Tit. 3.5 Not by workes of righteousnesse which wee have done but according to his
mercy hee saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost i. e. Our finall salvation which God hath decreed or devised unto us and our Sanctification in regenerating or renewing us by his holy Spirit which is the meanes to the former end proceedes not from any workes of ours which wee had done before according to any righteousnesse that was in us But our right thereunto proceedes from Gods worke as an act of his mercy And 1. Pet. 1.3 Blessed bee the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us againe unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible c. i. e. Blessed bee God who by the Resurrection of Christ hath begotten and wrought in us a lively hope of eternall life which is an inheritance incorruptible All which proceedes from the abundance of his mercy Now all Mercy is Grace though all Grace bee not Mercy But when grace is so affected with the misery of a miserable person that thereby she is moved to relieve him from his misery then grace becomes mercy Because all mercy is grace to a person in misery 5. Because it comes by Gods Will and Testament John 1.13 Who were borne not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God i. e. Believers are made the sonnes of God not by generation or birth from the will of flesh and blood Nor by any adoption from the will of man But by that adoption which is from the Will and Testament of God And Ephes 1.5 Haveing predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himselfe according to the good pleasure of his Will i. e. Our adoption to bee the sonnes of God and the co-heires with Christ by meanes of Christ is predestinated ordained or devised unto us according to that good pleasure of God which hee hath expressed in his Will and Testament And in the same Chapter vers 11. In whom also wee have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsell of his owne Will i. e. In or through Christ we are made co-heires with Christ unto blessednes wherto we are predestinated instituted and ordained by God who performeth all things according to that purpose counsell or meaning of his which he hath expressed in his Will and Testament Now things conveyed or devised by Will and Testament are not debts and duties whereto the Testator is bound by Law and justice but are gifts and Legacies proceeding from his grace favour and kindnes towards those Legataries unto whom they are devised for hence it is that Wills require a favourable construction or interpretation because they containe matters of favour And Gods grace wherby I am justified unto this Right is rich grace For that is a frequent attribute wherby the Scripture doth commend and magnifie the greatnes plenty and abundance of Gods grace by stiling it the riches of his grace As Rom. 11.12 Now if the fall of them be the richesse of the World and the diminishing of them the richesse of the Gentiles i. e. The fall of the Jewes is the occasion of Gods grace and of the riches or abundance thereof unto the Gentiles and unto all the world besides And Ephes 1.7 In whom wee have redemption through his bloud according to the riches of his grace wherein he hath abounded towards us And Ephes 2.7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindnesse towards us through Jesus Christ i. e. the exceeding plenty and abundance of his grace for although grace and kindnesse be really one and the same thing yet after the word grace the Apostle addeth the word kindnesse that by the abundance of his words he might signifie the abundance of Gods grace Certainely sin aboundeth in the world and hath done so in all ages yet grace doth over-abound it Rom. 3.20 The Law entred that the offence might abound but where sinne abounded grace did much more abound i. e. After the Law was given the event was that sin abounded and after sin had abounded the event was that grace did super-abound by over-reigning over-ruling and overcomming sin because God by his grace doth not only forgive eternall death which is the punishment of sin but over and above he doth give us a right unto eternall life by justifying us thereunto through Christ as it there followeth in the next verse That as sinne hath reigned unto death even so might grace reigne through righteousnesse through a Right unto eternall life And this richnesse or greatnesse of Gods grace appeares from three grounds 1. Because Gods grace is without a cause There was no cause moving God to justifie me for as we sayd before his grace is hereof the supreame or prime cause having no other cause above or beyond it to actuate or move it What moved God to bee so gracious unto mee as to predestinate or devise unto mee in his last Will and Testament this divine state of alliance and inheritance with him Certainely no Merit or desert of mine moved him for it was not for any worke or other act of mine which I had done or which God foresaw I would doe that could deserve this grace Because Gods grace and my workes are in respect of causality so inconsistent and contrary that they cannot both concurre as causes procreant of the same blessing But the claime by one doth necessarily exclude the other For if it bee by workes it is of debt and then it cannot bee of grace Rom. 4.4 Now to him that worketh is the reward reckoned not of grace but of debt But if it bee by grace it is of gift and then it cannot bee of workes Rom. 11.6 And if by grace then it is no more of workes otherwise grace is no more grace No Petition or Request of mine moved him for I never made any motion or suit for it neither was it my counsell or advice that God should devise this Legacy unto mee for Rom. 11.34 Who hath knowne the minde of the Lord or who hath beene his counsellour Neither had I any existence when Gods Will was framed Lastly no inquiry or seeking of mine moved him heereto for I never asked after it nor desired it and I had no desire to it because I had no knowledge of it hence saith God in respect of his grace Rom. 10.20 I was found of them that sought mee not I was made manifest unto them that asked not after mee And when by the preaching of the Gospel God sought mee asked after mee and called mee to accept his grace I was hardly perswaded to believe and receive it And unto this day many Nations cannot bee perswaded of it yea some Christians are not rightly and fully perswaded of it But God was heereto moved of his owne meere and proper motion wherein
and gave gifts unto men and partly by the words immediately following vers 11. And hee gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the worke of the Ministery for the edifying of the body of Christ Now to doe these things was to execute and fulfill the last Will of God Hence the Apostle teacheth the conveniency of Christs death through the meanes whereof hee was fitted and perfected for the executing and doing of those things which according to the last Will of God conduce to our finall salvation For hence is our Expiation whereby wee are absolved and acquitted from our sinnes for Christ through his death was made a mercifull and faithfull high Priest to performe this gracious Office unto us Heb. 2.17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to bee made like unto his brethren that hee might bee a mercifull and faithfull high Priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sinnes of the people for in that hee himselfe hath suffered being tempted hee is able to succour them that are tempted And whereas at the Legall Expiation the Priest entred the Tabernacle after hee had shed the blood of Goates and Calves But Christ first shed his owne blood and thereupon entred the Sanctuary of Heaven once for all to make an eternall Expiation Heb. 9.12 Neither by the blood of Goates and Calves but by his owne blood hee entred in once into the holy place having obtained eternall redemption Hence is our Consolation whereby wee are succoured in all our sufferings and distresses for seeing Christ suffered and was tryed in all poynts as wee are therefore hee hath a sense of our infirmities and thereupon wee may confidently come to him for helpe in time of neede Heb. 4.15 For wee have not an high Priest which cannot bee touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted as wee are yet without sinne let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace that wee may obtaine mercy and finde grace to helpe in time of neede Hence is our Resurrection whereby wee are raised from death for Christ through his death destroyes the Divell who had the power of death and delivers us from our death whereof though wee feele the pressure yet wee need not feare the bondage that it will bee eternall Heb. 2.14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood hee also himselfe likewise tooke part of the same that through death hee might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Divell and deliver them who through feare of death were all their life time subject to bondage And hence is our Glorification whereby the possession of our eternall inheritance is delivered unto us for Christ was the Executor of the New Testament for this very cause that through the meanes of his death wee might receive the possession of that eternall inheritance to the present right whereof wee are called and justified Heb. 9.15 And for this cause hee is the Mediatour of the New Testament that by meanes of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the promise the promised possession of eternall inheritance Hence also Christ himselfe before his death taught his Disciples the Expediency of his death that it was expedient for them hee should dye for otherwise the Comforter which was the holy Ghost would not come unto them John 16.7 Neverthelesse I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I goe away for if I goe not away the Comforter will not come unto you But if I depart I will send him unto you By his going away and departing hee meanes his dying for wee commonly expresse dying by the words of going away and departing And after his death hee taught them the Necessity of his death that it behoved him to die and rise again from the dead that thereupon the Gospel might be preached in his name Luk. 24.46 And hee sayd unto them thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sinnes should bee preached in his name among all Nations beginning at Jerusalem Thus the immediate proper finall causes or reasons why Christ dyed are chiefely three namely to Testifie the truth of the New Testament to Confirme the force of it and to Execute the decrees of it for unto a Testament once constituted what acts more do necessarily belong then the Testification the Confirmation and the Execution of it But the remote causes of his death might bee many and various For all the actions done by Christ as Mediatour of the New Testament were causes of his death whether wee respect his Prophetick Office in publishing Gods Will preaching his Doctrine and working Miracles or his Priestly Office in sanctifying Believers and expiating their sinnes or his Kingly Office in governing his people and subduing their enemies And all benefits redounding to Believers as the Legacies and Promises of the New Testament were causes of his death as their Justification the Remission of their sinnes their Resurrection and Glorification And all Duties to bee done by Believers as the conditions without which they are not to enjoy their Legacies are the causes of his death as their sanctity or holynesse their dying to sinne and newnesse of life in all the good workes of love But all these and the like are not opposite or repugnant to the three causes by us assigned but are comprehended and included in them are subordinate and consequent to them are collected and inferred from them For because Christ dyed to testifie confirm and execute the New Testament and my sanctity or holinesse is a Precept thereof and a duty by me to be done therefore Christ dyed for my Sanctification that I might dye unto sin and live unto holinesse and consequently he dyed for my patience temperance mercifulnesse c. because these and the like are branches of holinesse And because Christ dyed to testifie confirme and execute the New Testament wherein Remission of sins the Resurrection from the dead and Glorification were devised and promised as Legacies unto Believers therfore Christ also dyed for the Remission of my sins for my Resurrection and Glorification Yet among the remote Causes of Christs death the Scripture doth most frequently mention the Remission of sins Because my sins have the greatest force upon me to bereave or at least to hinder me from the hope of their forgivenes For according to the evidence of reason if I looke upon my sins to consider the custome and foulenesse of them how can I chuse but feare that I have deserved a fearfull punishment and that God in his Justice will inflict it on me Or if I looke upon my death to consider my dissolution and rottennesse in the Grave how can I hope that God whom I
justified i. e. Are declared upright and innocent in the sight and knowledge of God For if in the sight of God a man bee found an offender or peccant against any one Law of God then in that case the effect or worke of the Law upon him is to Condemne him by imputing unto him a present guilt of a future punishment which is an effect quite contrary to that of jurall Justifying which imputes a present right to a future blessing For saith the Apostle Rom. 4.15 The Law worketh wrath i. e. It is an effect or worke of the Law to bring the punishment of death upon every transgressour of it though hee offend but in some one poynt of it as it is expressed Jam. 2.10 Whosoever shall keepe the whole Law and yet offend in one poynt hee is guilty of all i. e. Hee that offends against one single Law whereof the penalty is death is in as bad a case as if hee had offended against all for by the breach of that one Law hee is guilty of death and of more punishment hee could not bee guilty if hee had beene guilty of breaking all the rest Because death is a finall punishment beyond which there is no other But to come now to the Assumption though before men at their seats of Judgement in their sight and knowledge of the cause some man may be and hath beene legally justified i. e. declared upright and innocent for in this sence Paul testifies of himselfe Phil. 3.6 that touching the righteousnesse which is in the Law he was blamelesse not that hee was blamelesse in the sight and knowledge of God but in the knowledge of men and of his owne conscience in that neyther himselfe nor any other man could iustly lay any legall blame unto him and in this sense God himselfe testifies of Job Job 1.8 that hee was a perfect and an upright man yet Gods testimony of Job must not be so understood as if Job were perfect and upright in the sight and knowledge of God for that sense Job himselfe doth afterward disclaime but God saw and knew Job to be perfect and upright in the sight and knowledge of men in that no man could charge him with the breach of any Law and the like sense is to be conceived of Zacharias and Elizabeth of whom it is reported Luk. 1.6 that they were both righteous before God walking in all the commandements and ordinances of the Lord blamelesse Yet before God at his seat of Judgement or upon his sight and knowledge of the cause no man living except Jesus Christ ever was or ever shall be Legally justified i. e. declared and pronounced perfect and upright to be a man sinlesse and blamelesse no way peccant against any Law of God For by the sentence of God delivered in the Scriptures all men living of what Nation or Religion soever are declared sinners against his law and guilty of death For such are the Gentiles declared who had not the law but in doing by nature the things contayned in the law were a law unto themselves and such are the Jewes declared who rested in the law and made their boast of God See Rom. cap. 1. and cap. 2. per totum Yea the Jewes are declared in no wise better then the Gentiles but of both it is proved that they were all under sin Rom. 3.9 And the end of that declaration is to stop all mouths and to find all the world guilty Rom. 3.19 that every mouth might be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God and the reason of that guiltinesse is because all have sinned Rom. 3.23 For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God But the finall or last end of that Declaration is that mans right to the inheritance of Heaven should come by promise and gift and his title to that right should bee by faith of Jesus Christ Gal. 3.22 But the Scripture hath concluded all under sinne that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might bee given to them that believe Therefore to adde the Conclusion no man living shall bee jurally justified i. e. Shall have a present right to the future estate of blessednesse by the title of his workes The summe of the Apostles argument is briefely thus If a man have a right to everlasting life by the title of his workes then hee must by his workes in the sight of God bee declared upright But no man living can by his workes in the sight of God be declared upright Therefore no man living can have a right to everlasting life by the title of his workes This is the debility of mans workes if wee consider them as a title whereby hee acquires and hath that right But if wee consider them as a tenure wherby hee preserves and holds his right then they may and must be of some efficacy as will appear afterward in this Chapter at the 18. verse VERSE 17. Text. But if while wee seeke to bee justified by Christ wee our selves also are found sinners is therefore Christ the Minister of sinne God forbid Sense Found sinners i. e. Found continuers in sin Is therefore Christ i. e. Himselfe and his Doctrine The Minister of sinne i. e. One that gives occasion and licence unto sin even unto impiety and wickednesse Reason These words are and well enough may bee translated interrogatively But as I conceive they are rather to bee understood illatively thus But if while wee seeke to bee justified by Christ wee our selves are found sinners then it will necessarily follow that therefore Christ is the Minister of sinne An objecti ∣ on Yet whether of these two wayes soever wee take them they containe an objection which would seeme to weaken and crosse the former Doctrine about Justification by the faith of Christ and not by the workes of the Law for against that Doctrine some men did or might argue thus Yee that are Jewes by nature seeke to bee justified i. e. ye seeke a state of divine liberty or freedome whereby yee have a present right to the future possession of heavenly blessednesse whereof one particular is the Pardon of all your sinnes past present and to come And yee seeke this right by the title of your faith in Christ i. e. By your high esteeme of him for the sonne of God and by your acceptance of those promises wherein hee gives this divine state And yee make this faith your sole and onely title excluding all workes of the Law from any concurrence therewith But while yee have this present right to blessednesse and seeke the future possession of it by faith onely whereby yee are certaine and assured of it then hence it will follow that in the meane time yee may continue in sinfullnesse living in all kind of licentiousnesse as the sinners of the Gentiles lived before their accesse unto Christ And it seemes yee make account to live thus because yee speake so much against the Law which would bridle yee
justified by Christ hee doth highly magnifie the benefit and religion of Christ thereby to manifest unto the Galatians their great rashnes and weakenesse in suffering themselves to be seduced from the Religion of Christ and reduced under the Law of Moses Comment Christian crucifying or mortification the Paterne of it the Ground of it the End or Effect of it Of self-love the Nature of it the Necessity of it the Facility and want of it the work of it the Order of that worke the nessity of it and Neglect of it Mortificatiō is true life and really is Sanctification by altering my life to the life of Christ Sense of the Text. Faith put for Religion To live in the flesh To live in the Faith Naturall actions may become religious and be subject to faith An attribute of Christ why given him heere The Religion of Moses servile But that of Christ is liberall and noble Another Attribute of Christ Delivering put for Dying The authors of Christs death Actions are morallized from their causes The end or purpose of it Christ dyed not in my stead But for my sake or for my good to certifie me of blessednes to justifie me to it to Sanctifie me for it to Exemplifie the way to it to glorifie me with it Christ dyed for me eminently More then any other person can Christs love caused his death not excluding Gods love which also caused it and not his Anger God then was not angry with Christ not with us but with the Jewes he was Christ dyed for Paul and for me by my name appellative of a Believer which kinde of Nomination is Certaine and Valid to the Inheritance of Heaven A Prayer unto Christ I Am Crucified The Crosse was an instrument for criminall executions whereon malefactors were put to death a punishment much practised and well knowne among the Romans Greekes and Jewes And to bee Crucified was to bee nayled hand and foot upon the Crosse to suffer thereby a shamefull paynfull and lingring death Hence by way of metaphor or resemblance the Faithfull when they renounce reject and crosse the motions desires and lusts of their carnall or fleshly appetite are sayd in Scripture to crucifie or mortifie the flesh and thereupon they themselves are sayd to bee crucified or mortified For when the Flesh or carnall appetite which is a kinde of Malefactor is so curbed and crossed that she cannot enjoy her former liberty and usuall motions unto sinne then she resembles a man crucified or nayled to the crosse who thereby loseth first his motion and at last his life The Apostle therefore would say My death unto the Law doth so far remove mee from living in sin that I am dead to sin also because I am as it were crucified For as a man that is crucified or nailed to the crosse doth dye a violent and paynfull death so my old man or that man that I was formerly is so bruised and crossed that it is dead not a naturall and easie but a violent and paynfull death For the denyall of my former selfe by crossing the motions desires and lusts of the flesh is unto my sensuall appetite not onely a simple death but a death with violence and torment because when my appetite is crossed she accounts her selfe vexed and tormented With Christ Not really and locally but putatively and quasively for I am mortified in a maner as hee was crucified and so I am for two reasons 1. Because his Crucifying is the Paterne resemblance or likenesse of mine For as Christ was crucified and dyed to his mortall life that he might rise to a new life and live unto God so I am mortified and dead unto sin that I might turne to a new life and live unto God as a new creature And as Christ was crucified but once dying no more but once for death had dominion over him no more but once so I am mortified and dead to sinne once for all and sinne shall never have dominion over mee more because I will never againe returne under the bondage of it For according to these resemblances the Apostle proposeth Christ unto every Christian as the true paterne of mortification Rom. 6.6 Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sinne might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sinne for he that is dead is freed from sinne And againe at the next verse following but one the other resemblance followeth Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dyeth no more death hath no more dominion over him For in that he dyed he dyed unto sinne once but in that hee liveth hee liveth unto God Likewise reckon yee also your selves to bee dead indeede unto sinne but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 2. Because his Crucifying is the cause ground or reason of mine For as through the death of the Law I am dead to the Law so through the Crucifying of Christ I am crucified with Christ i. e. his Crucifying and dying on the Crosse is the cause ground and bond why I must be mortified and dead unto sinne For seeing Christ by his death upon the Crosse did confirme and establish the last Will and Testament of God to the Legacyes and Promises whereof I by fayth am justified to have the same right in God with Christ or as Christ hath namely a right of alliance and inheritance to be the son and heyre of God as Christ is the son and heyre of God and consequently to be the brother of Christ and a co-heyre with him to eternall blessednes Are not these benefits by the death of Christ a cause ground and bond sufficient to engage and oblige mee to crucifie or mortifie my sin Shall I partake in the alliance and inheritance of Christ to bee a co-ally and a co-heire with him and shall I not partake in his obedience to be a sufferer with him especially in this holy suffering whereby my sin onely suffers death For seeing Christ for my sake layd downe his life shall not I for his sake lay downe my sinne Can I possibly doe lesse for his sake who suffered so much for mine then thus to conforme and plant my selfe into the likenesse of his death And can I possibly doe more for my owne sake when by thus conforming and planting my selfe into the likenes of his death Rom. 6.5 I shall be also in the likenesse of his resurrection If Christ dyed for mee then must I dye to sinne because his death bindes mee to it 2 Cor. 5.14 For if one dyed for all then were all dead i. e. then were all to dye or then all ought or must dye to sin for in this place as in divers others the action past is put for the duty to come If Christ have any right in me I must bee thus dead Rom. 8.10 And if Christ bee in you the body is dead because of sinne i. e. the flesh or sensuall appetite is mortified or dead that thereby ye may