that the many weaknesses that hang upon you and the decays of Nature that dayly do attend you seem to point out an approaching dissolution I shall at this time give you this one word of Counsel viz. That every day you would look upon Death in a Scripture-glass in a Scripture-dress or under a Scripture-notion That is First Look upon death as that which is best for a believer Phil. 1. 23. For I am in a strait betwixt two having 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nâ—c Christus nec caelum patitur hyperbolen saith one here it is hâ—rd to hyperbolice a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better The Greek is very significant far far the better or far much better or much more better 't is a most transcendent expression Eccles 7. 1. Better is the day of death than the day of ones birth A Saint's dying day is the day-break of Eternal Righteousness In respect of pleasure peace safety company glory a Believer's dying day is his best day I have read of one Trophonius that when he had built and dedicated that stately Temple at Delphos he asked of Apollo for his recompence that thing which was best for man The Oracle wished him to go home and within three days he should have it and within that time he died It was an excellent saying of one of the Ancients That is not a death but life which joyns the dying man to Christ and that is not a life but death which separates a living man from Christ But Secondly Look upon Death as a remedy as a cure Death will perfectly cure you of all corporal and spiritual Vltimus morborum medicus mors diseases at once the crazy body and the defiled soul the aking head and the unbelieving heart Death will cure you of all your ails aches diseases and distempers At Stratford-bow in Queen Mary's days there was burnt Act. and Mon. Fol. 1733. a lame man and a blind man at one stake the lame man after he was chained casting away his crutch bad the blind man be of good comfort for death saith he will cure us both thee of thy blindness and me of my lameness And as Death will cure all your bodily diseases so it will cure all your soul distempers also Death is not Mors hominis but Mors peccati not the death of the man but the death of his sin Death will work such a cure as all your Duties Graces Experiences Ordinances Assurances could never do for it will at once free you fully perfectly and perpetually from all sin yea from all possibility of ever sinning more Sin was the Midwife that Peccâ—tum erat obstetrix mortis c. mors sepuâ—chrum pec aâ—i Ambrose de bono mortis c. 4 brought death into the World and death shall be the grave to bury sin and why then should a Christian be afraid to die or unwilling to die seeing Death gives him a Writ of ease from infirmities and weaknesses from all aches and pains griefs and gripings distempers and diseases both of body and soul When Sampson died the Philistines also died together with him so when a Saint dies his sins die with him Death came in by sin and sin goeth out by death as the worm kills the worm that bred it so death kills sin that bred it But Thirdly Look upon death as a rest a full rest a believer's dying day is his resting day It is a resting day Rev. 14. 13. Job 3. 13 to 17. 2 Thes 1. 7. Micah 2. 10. Jer. 50. 6. from sin sorrow afflictions temptations desertions dissentions vexations oppositions and persecutions This world was never made to be the Saints rest Arise for this is not your resting place they are like Noah's Dove they can rest no where but in the Ark and in the Grave In the grave saith Job the weary are at rest Upon this very ground some of the most refined Heathens have accounted Mortality to be a mercy for they brought their friends into the World with mournful Obsequies but carried them out of the world with all joyful sports and pastimes because then they conceived they were at rest and out of Gun-shot Death brings the Saints to a full-rest to a pleasant rest to a matchless rest to an eternal rest But Fourthly Look upon your dying day as a reaping day Now you shall reap the fruit of all the prayers 2 Cor. 9. 2. Gal. 6. 7 8 9. Isa 38. 3. Mat. 25. 31 to 41. that ever you have made and of all the tears that ever you have shed and of all the sighs and groans that ever you have fetched and of all the good words that ever you have spoke and of all the good works that ever you have done and of all the great things that ever you have suffered When Mortality shall put on Immortality Eccles 11. 1. 6. you shall then reap a plentiful Crop a glorious Crop as the fruit of that good seed that for a time hath seemed to be buried and lost As Christ hath a tender heart and a soft hand so he hath an Iron memory he punctually Mat. 10. 24 25. remembers all the sorrows and all the services and all the sufferings of his people to reward them and crown them Rev. 22. 12. But Fifthly Look upon your dying day as a gainful day there is no gain to that which comes in by death Phil 1. Eccles 7. 1. Phil. 1. 23. 21. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain A Christian gets more by death than he doth by life to be in Christ is very good but to be with Christ is best of all 'T was a mighty blessing for Christ to be with Paul on earth but 't was the top of Blessings for Paul to be with Christ in heaven Seriously consider of a few things First That by death you shall gain incomparable Crowns 1. A Crown of Life Rev. 2. 10. Jam. 1. 12. 2. A Crown of Righteousness 2 Tim. 4. 8. 3. An Incorruptible Crown 1 Cor. 9. 24 25. 4. A Crown of Glory 1 Pet. 5. 4. Now there are no Crowns to these Crowns as I have fully discovered in my discourse on The Divine Presence to which I refer you But Secondly You shall gain a Glorious Kingdom Luk. 12. 32. It is your father's pleasure to give you a Kingdom But death is the young Prophet that anointeth them to it and giveth them actual possession of it They must put off their rags of Mortality that they may put on their robes of Glory Israel must first die in Egypt before he can be carried into Canaan There is no entring into Paradise but under the flaming sword of this Angel Death that standeth at the Gate Death is the dirty Lane through which the Saint passeth to a Kingdom to a great Kingdom to a glorious Kingdom Heb. 12. 28. Dan. 2 44. cap. â— 3. Rev. 19 7. to a quiet Kingdom to an
Christ was manifested to be a true man he had a body like ours a body subject to manifold infirmities yea to death it self That body which Christ had is said to be prepared by God the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is translated prepared is a Metaphor from Mechanicks who do artificially fit one part of their work to another and so finish the whole God fitted his son's body to be joyned with the Deity and to be an expiatory sacrifice for sin The word prepared implies that God the father ordained formed and made fit and able Christ's humane nature to undergo suffer and fulfil that for which he was sent into the world God the father is here said to have prepared Christ a body because Christ having received of his father the humane nature out of the flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Mat. 1. 20. Luk 1. 31. 35. Holy Ghost here gives up the same unto the service of his father to do to suffer to die that he might be a sacrifice of expiation for our sins As for the words of the Psalmist Psal 40. 6. Mine ear hast thou opened Heb. digged open It is a proverbial manner of speech whereby there is implyed the qualifying or fitting a man unto obedience in service the ear or the opening of the ear Isa 50 5. Job 3. 16. being an emblem or symbol or a Metaphorical sign of obedience Now St. Paul following the translation of the Septuagint and being directed by the spirit of God expounds this of God's sanctifying and fitting a body unto Christ wherein hs was obedient even unto the shameful death of the Cross These words thou hast bored through mine ears do import that Christ now becoming man gives up himself to be a willing servant of his father to obey him unto the death of the cross And it is a similitude taken from the servants of the Hebrews who after that they had served their masters six years would not depart out of their master's service the seventh year but abide in it continually until death for a testimony whereof their ear was bored thorow on the posts of the door as may be seen Exod. 21. 6. It is therefore as much as if he should say thou hast given me a body that is willing and ready in thy service even unto death But to conclude this head the Apostle speaking of disanulling the sacrifice of the Law he uses this word body to set out a sacrifice which should come in stead of the legal sacrifices to effect that which the legal sacrifices could not effect But Fourthly Observe that Christ our Mediator freely and readily offers himself to be our pledg and surety Then said I lo I come to wit as surety to pay the ransome and to do thy will O God Every word carrieth a special emphasis as 1. The time Then even so soon as he perceived that his father had prepared his body for such an end then without delay this speed implyeth forwardness and readiness he would lose no opportunity 2. His profession in this word said I he did not closely secretly timorously as being ashamed thereof but he maketh profession before-hand 3. This note of observation Lo this is a kind of calling Angels and men to witness and a desire that all might know his inward intention and the disposition of his heart wherein was as great a willingness as any could have to any thing 4. An offering of himself without any enforcement or compulsion this he manifesteth in this word I come 5. That very instant set out in the present tense I come he puts it not off to a future and uncertain time but even in that moment he saith I come 6. The first person twice expressed thus I said I come he sendeth not another person nor substituteth any in his room but he even he himself in his own person cometh All which do abundantly evidence Christ's singular readiness and willingness as our surety to do his father's will though it were by suffering and by being made a sacrifice for our sins God's will was the rule of Christ's active and passive obedience Jesus Christ our only Mediatour and surety by free and ready obedience and death did make a proper real and full satisfaction to God's justice for the sins of all the Elect. Christ hath by his death and blood as an invaluable price of our redemption made sure the favour of God the pardon of our sins and the salvation of our souls Christ hath freed his chosen from all temporal spiritual and eternal punishments properly so called so that now the mercy of God may embrace the sinner without the least of wrong to his truth or justice But Fifthly Observe that Jesus Christ our surety does not only agree with his father about the price that he was to lay down for our redemption but also agrees with his father about the persons that were to be redeemed and their sanctification Heb. 10. 10. By the which will that is by the execution of which will by the obedience of Christ to his heavenly father we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all Jesus Christ agrees with the father that all those shall be sanctified for whom he has suffered and satisfied The vertue efficacy and benefit of that which ariseth from the aforesaid will of the father and of the son is expressed under this word sanctified To pass by the notation and divers acceptations of this word sanctified let it suffice to tell you It is not here to be taken as distinguished from justification or glorification as it is else where taken but 1 Cor. 1. 30. cap. 6. 11. so as comprising under it all the benefits of Christ's sacrifice In this general and large extent it is sometimes Heb. 10. 14. cap. 2. 11. A◠26. 18. taken only this word sanctified here gives us to understand that perfection consisteth especially in holiness for he expresseth the perfection of Christ's sacrifice under the word sanctified which implyeth a making holy this Eccles 7. 31. was that special part of perfection wherein man was made at first and whereunto the Apostle alludeth where Eph. 4. 2◠he exhorteth To put on that new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness for this end Christ gave himself even unto death for his Church that he might sanctifie it The principal thing under this Eph. 5. 25. word sanctified in this place is that Christ's sacrifice maketh perfect in this respect Christ's sacrifice is here opposed to the legal sacrifices which could not make perfect So that Christ's sacrifice was offered up to do that which they could not do for this end was Christ's sacrifice surrogated in the room of the legal sacrifices now this surrogation had been in vain if Christ's sacrifice had not made us perfect if the dignity of his person that was offered up and his
is a foolish thing for any to think of keeping both Christ and their lusts too it is a vain thing for any to think of saving the life of his sins and the life of his soul too If sin escape your soul cannot escape if thou art not the death of thy sins they will be the death and ruin of thy soul Marriage is a knot or tye wherein persons are mutually limitted and bound each to other in a way of conjugal separation from all others and this in Scripture is Prov. 2. 17. called a Covenant So when any one marries Christ he doth therein discharge himself in affection and subjection from all that is contrary unto Christ and solemnly Covenants and binds himself to Christ alone he will have no Saviour and no Lord but Christ and to him will he cleave for ever Psal 63. 8. Acts 11. 23. But Secondly This marriage-union with Christ doth include John 1. 12. Acts 5. 31. Coloss 2. 6. Weigh well these Scriptures Psalm 1â—2 3. Psalm 5. 5. Hosea 2. 7. and take in a hearty willingness to take to receive the Lord Jesus Christ for your Saviour and Soveraign Are you willing to consent to the match 't is not enough that Christ is willing to enter into a marriage-union with us but we must be willing also to enter Many can chuse Christ as a Refuge to hide them from danger and as a Friend to help them in their need who yet refuse him as a Husband into a marriage-union with him God will never force a Christ nor force salvation upon us whether we will or no Many approve of Christ and cry up Christ who yet are not willing to give their consent that he and he alone shall be their Prince and Saviour though knowledge of persons be necessary and fit yet it is not sufficient to marriage without consent for marriage ought to be a voluntary transaction of persons in marriage we do in a sort give away our selves and elect and make choice for our selves and therefore consent is a necessary concurrence to marriage Now this consent is nothing else but a free and plain act of the will accepting of Jesus Christ before all others to be its Head and Lord and in the souls choice of him to be its Saviour and Soveraign Then a man is married to Christ when he doth freely and absolutely and presently receive the Lord Jesus not I would have Christ if it did not prejudice my worldly estate ease friends relations c. or hereafter I will accept of him when I come to dye and be in distress but now when salvation is offered now while Christ tenders himself I now yield up my heart and life unto him But Thirdly This marriage union with Christ includes and takes in an universal and perpetual consent for all time and in all states and conditions There is you know a great difference between a wife and a strumpet a wife takes her husband upon all terms to have and to hold for better and for worse for richer and for poorer in sickness and in health whereas a strumpet is only for hire and lust when the purse is emptied or the body wasted and strength consumed the harlots love is at an end so here That acceptance and consent which tyes the marriage knot between Christ and the soul must be an unlimited and indefinite acceptance and consentâ— when we take the Lord Jesus Christ wholly and entirely without any secret reservations or exceptions That soul that will have Christ must have all Christ or no Christ For Christ is not divided That soul must entertain 1 Cor. 1. 13. Rev. 14. 4. Psal 66. 12. him to all purposes and intents he must follow the Lamb wheresoever he goeth though it should be through fire and water over mountans and hills he must take him with his cup of affliction as well as his cup of consolation with his shameful cross as well as his glorious Heb. 2. 3. crown with his great sufferings as well as his great salvation with his grace as well as his mercy with his spirit to lead and govern them as well as his blood to redeem and justifie them to suffer for him as well as to 2 Tim. 2. 12. Acts 21. 13. Rom. 14. 7 8. reign with him to dye for him as well as to live to him Christianity like the wind Caecias doth ever draw clouds afflictions after it All that will live godly in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 3. 12. shall suffer persecution A man may have many faint wishes and cold desires after godliness yet escape persecution yea he may make some assays attempts as if he would be godly and yet escape persecution but when a man is The common cry of Persecutors hath been Christianes ad I câ—nâ—s within the first 300. years after Christ upon the matter all that made a profession of the Apostles Doctrine were cruelly murdered thorowly resolved to be Godly and sets himself in good earnest upon pursuing after holyness and living a life of Godlyness then he must expect to meet with afflictions and persecutions who ever escapes the Godly man shall not escape persecution in one kind or another in one degree or another He that is peremptorily resolved to live up to holy rules and to live out holy principles must prepare for sufferings All the Roses of holyness are surrounded with pricking Briars The History of the Ten Persecutions and that little Book of Martyrs the 11. of the Hebrews and Mr. Fox his Acts and Monuments with many other Treatises that are extant do abundantly evidence that from age to age and from one generation to another they that have been born after the flesh have persecuted them that hath been born after the Gal. 4. 29. spirit and that the seed of the Serpent have been still a multiplying of troubles upon the seed of the Woman But a Believers future glory and pleasure will abundantly recompense him for his present pain and ignominy But such as will have Christ for their Saviour and Soveraign but still with some proviso or other viz. That they may keep such a beloved lust or enjoy such carnal pleasures and delights or raise such an estate for them and theirs or comply with the times and such and such great mens humours or that they may follow the Lamb only in Sun-shine weather c. these are still Satans bondslaves and such as Christ can take no pleasure nor delight to espouse himself unto But The third word of Advice and Counsel is this viz. Put off the old man and put on the new Consult the Scriptures Col. 3. 9 10. Eph. 4. 22 23 24. Gal. 6. 15. 1 Pet. 2. 2. in the margin You must be new Creatures or else it had been better you had been any Creatures than what you are 2 Cor. 5. 17. If any man be in Christ he is a nâ—w Creature old things are past away behold all
to the last But Fourthly God the father promiseth to Jesus Christ that he shall not labour in vain and that the work of Redemption shall prosper in his hand and that he will give a blessed success to all his undertakings and crown all his endeavours He shall see his seed and he shall see the travail of his soul Another promise of the father 〈◊〉 â—â— 1. 53. 10. 〈◊〉 49. 6 7 â— 9 10 11 12. 〈◊〉 4. 3. to the son you have in that Isa 55. 5. Nations that know thee not shall run unto thee The Gentiles that never heard of Christ nor ever were acquainted with Christ nor ever had any notice of Christ when Christ calls they shall readily and speedily repair unto him and submit unto him Christ shall one day see and reap the sweet and happy fruit of his blood sufferings and undertakings the pleasure of the Lord shall certainly prosper in his hand Christ's sufferings were as a woman's travail sharp though short Now though a woman suffers many grievous pains and pangs yet when she sees a man child brought into the world she joys and is satisfied So when nations shall run to Christ he shall see his seed and be satisfied God the father promiseth that Jesus Christ shall have a numerous spiritual postâ—rity begetting and bringing many thousands to the obedience of his father Nations shall run unto thee And this shall fill the heart of Jesus Christ with abundance of joy and comfort contentment and satisfaction when he shall see the fruit of his bitter sufferings when he shall see abundance of poor filthy guilty condemned sinners pardoned justified and accepted with his Psal 63. 5. father His soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness The numerous body of believers past present and to come that God the father had promised to Jesus Christ was the life of his life That 's a sweet promise Psal 110. 2. Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies they that will not bend must break those that will not stoop to his government shall feel his power Thy people the people Joh. 17. 6. 1 Pet. 2. 9. Luk. 1. 57. 1 Cor. 3. ult of God are Christ's five ways 1. By donation 2. By purchase 3. By conquest 4. By covenant 5. By communication shall be willing in the day of thy power Heb. willingnesses in the abstract and in the plural number as if the Holy Ghost could not sufficiently set forth their exceeding great willingness to submit to all the Royal commands of the Lord. All Christ's Subjects are Volunteers free hearted like those Isles that wait for God's Law Isa 42. 4. cap. 56. 6. Zach. 8. 21. And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another saying let us go speedily to pray before the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts I will go also From the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth Here 's the success of Christ's office promised both in the victorious subduing of his enemies and in the chearful willingness of his subjects and in the wonderful numerousness of his people brought over to him even like the innumerable drops of the morning dew Another promise of that great and compleat success that God the father hath made for Jesus Christ in his Mediatory office you have in that Isa 49. from the 6. verse to the 14. verse Christ shall have a people gathered to him and a seed to serve him Because he hath made his soul an offering for their sins The multitude of sinners brought over to Jesus Christ is the product of the satisfaction which he hath made for them and the trophies of the victory that he hath got by dying the death of thâ— Cross Thus you see that God the father hath not only engaged himself by compact to preserve Jesus Christ in his work but he hath also made to him several precious promises of preservation protection and success so that the work of Redemption shall be sure to prosper in his hand And to make these glorious promises the more valid and binding God confirms them solemnly by an oath Heb. 7. 21. This Priest Christ was made with an oath by him that said unto him The Lord sware and will not repent Thou art a priest for ever God the father foresaw from everlasting that Jesus Christ would so infinitely satisfie him and please him by his incarnation obedience and death that thereupon he swears But Fifthly God the father promiseth to Jesus Christ Rule Dominion and Sovereignty This Sovereignty and Rule Psal 2. 8 9. is promised to Jesus Christ in Isa 40. 10. His arm shall rule for him He shall sit in judgment in the earth and the Isles shall wait for his law Isa 42. 4. not the Jews only but the Gentiles also the people of divers countries and nations shall willingly and readily receive and embrace his doctrine and submit to his Laws and give up themselves to his rule Mic. 4. 3. He shall judge among many nations that is rule order command and direct as a Judge and and Ruler among many nations The Conquests that Christ shall gain over the Nations shall not be by swords and arms but he shall bring them to a voluntary obedience and spiritual subjection by his Spirit and Gospel Joh. 3. 35. The father loveth the son and hath given all things into his hand that is God the father hath given the rule and power over all things in heaven and earth to Jesus Christ In carrying on the Redemption of sinners as the matter is accorded betwixt the father and the son so the redeemed are not left to themselves but are put under Christ's charge and custody who has purchased them with his blood God the father having given him dominion over all that may contribute to help or hinder his peoples happiness that he may order them so as may be for their good And this power he hath as God with the father and as man and Mediatour by donation Mat. â—8 18. câ—p 2. 3. and gift from the father and thus every believer's happiness is most firm and sure all things being wisely and faithfully transacted between the father and the son Colâ—s 1. 19. cap. 2. 1. As long as Jesus Christ has all power to defend his people and all wisdom and knowledg to guide and govern his people and all dominion to curb the enemies of his people and a commission and charge to be answerable for them we may roundly conclude of their eternal safety security and felicity But Sixthly God the father promiseth to accept of Jesus Isa 49. 5. Christ in his Mediatory office according to that of Isaiah Though Israel be not gathered yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord that is as if he had said notwithstanding the infidelity obstinacy and impenitency of the greatest part of the Jews yet my faithful labour and diligence in the execution of my Mediatory office is and shall
Enemy saith one whom it was lawful Latimer to wish evil unto I would chiefly wish him great store of riches for then he should never enjoy quiet The Historian observes that the riches of Cyprus invited Tacitus the Romans to hazard many dangerous fights for the conquering of it Earthly riches saith one are an evil Master a treacherous Augustine Servant Fathers of flattery Sons of grief a cause of fear to those that have them and a cause of sorrow to those that want them I have read a famous story of Zelimus Emperour of The Turkish History The Poets feigned Pluto to be the God of Riches and Hell as if they were inseparable Homer Constantinople that after he had taken Egypt he found a great deal of treasure there and the Souldiers coming to him and asking of him what they should do with the Citizens of Egypt for that they had found great Treasure among them and had taken their riches O saith the Emperour hang them all up for they are too rich to be made slaves and this was all the thanks they had for the riches they were spoiled off What more contemptible than a rich Fool a golden Beast as Caligula called his Father in law Syllanius Not but that some are great and gracious rich and righteous As Abraham Lot Job David Hezekiah c. It is said of Shusa in Persia that it was so rich that the Saith Cassiederus stones were joyned together with gold and that in it Alexander found seventy thousand Talents of gold If you can take this City saith Aristagorus to his Souldiers you may vie with Jove himself for riches the riches of Shufa did but make the Souldiers the more desperate in their attempt to take it By these short hints you may see the folly and vanity of those men who take up in their riches But Sixthly Many there are that take up in their own Isa 64. 6. righteousness which at best is but as filthy rags this Rom. 10. 2 3. Matth. 5. 20. was the damning sin of the Jews and of the Scribes and Pharisees and is the undoing sin of many of the Professors of this Age. Seventhly Many there are that take up in their external Church priviledges crying out the Temple of Jer. 7. 4 8 9 10 11. the Lord the Temple of the Lord when they have no union nor communion with the Lord of the Temple These forget that there will come a day when the Children Matth. 8. 12. of the Kingdom shall be cast out It would be very good for such Persons to make these five Scriptures their daily companions Matth. 22. 10 12 13 14. Luke 13. 25 26 27 28. Rom. 2. 28 29. Gal. 6. 15. Jer. 9. 25 26. That they may never dare to take up in their outward Church priviledges which can neither secure them from hell nor secure them of heaven But Eightly Many there be that take up in common convictions Judas had mighty convictions of his sin but Matth. 27. 4 5. Numb 23. and Numb 24. they issued in desperation Balaam was mightily enlightned and convinced in so much that he desired to dye the death of the righteous but under all his convictions he dyed Christless and graceless Nebuchadnezzar had great convictions yet we do not read that Dan. 4. 3 1 32 ever he was converted before he was driven from the society of men to be a companion with the beasts of the field he had strong convictions 1. by Daniels interpreting Dan. 4. 31 32. of his dream Dan. 2. 47. 2. He told Daniel That his God was the God of Gods and a Lord of Kings and a reveiler of secrets and yet presently he fell into gross Idolatry Dan. 3. and strictly commanded to worship the golden Image that he had set up and as if he had lost all his former convictions he was so swelled up with pride and impudence as to say to the three Children when they Divinely scorned to worship the Image he had set up What God is there that can deliver you out of my hand Verse 15. Saul had great convictions I have 1 Sam. 26. 21 25. sinned return my son David I will no more do thee harm c. And Saul lift up his voice and wept and he said unto David Thou art more righteous than I for thou hast 1 Sam. 24. 16 17 18 19. rewarded me good whereas I have rewarded thee evil But these convictions issued in no saving change for after these he lived and died in the heigth of his sins Pharaoh had great convictions And Pharaoh sent and called Exod. 9. 27. Cap. 10. 16. for Moses and Aaron and said unto them I have sinned this time the Lord is righteous and I and my people are wicked And again Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste and he said I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you But these convictions issued in no reformation in no sound conversion and therefore drowning and damning followed Cain was under convictions but went and built a City and lost Genes 4. his convictions in a crowd of worldly business Herod and Felix were under convictions but they went of Mark 6. 20. Acts 24. 25. and never issued in any saving work upon their souls O how many men and women have fallen under such deep convictions that they have day and night cryed out of their sins and of their lost and undone Estates and that they should certainly go to hell and be damned for ever so that many good People have hoped that these were the pangs of the new birth and yet either merry company or carnal pleasures and delights or much worldly business or else length of time have wrought off all their convictions and they have grown more prophane and wicked then ever they were before As water heated if taken off the fire will soon return to Aristâ—tle its natural coldness yea becomes colder after heating than before this hath been the case of many under convictions I shall forbear giving of particular instances But Ninthly Many take up in an outward change and reformation they have left some old courses and sinful practices which formerly they walked in c. and therefore they conclude and hope that their condition is good and that all is well and shall be for ever well with them they were wont to swear whore be drunk prophane Sabbaths reproach Saints c. but now they have left all these practices and therefore the main work is done and they are made for ever I confess sin is that abominable Jer. 41. 4. Matth. 1â— 2â— thing which God hates and therefore it is a very great mercy to turn from it to leave one sin is a greater mercy than to win the whole world and it is certain that he that doth not outwardly reform shall never go to heaven he that doth not leave his sins he Job 22.
things are become new The new Creature includes a new light a new sight a new understanding Now the soul sees Psal 38. 4. Cant. 5. 10. sin to be the greatest evil and Christ and holyness to be the chiefest good When a man is a new Creature he has Col. 3. 11. a new judgment and opinion he looks upon God as his only happyness and Christ as his all in all and upon Prov. 3. 17. the wayes of God as wayes of pleasantness The new man has new cares new requests new desires O that my Acts 2. 37. Cap. 16. 30. soul may be saved O that my interest in Christ may be cleared O that my heart may be adorned with grace O that my whole man may be secured from wrath to 1 Thes 2. ult come The new man is a man of new principles if you make a serious inspection into his soul you shall find a principle of faith of repentance of holyness of love Phil. 1. 20. Acts 11. 18. 1 Thes 4 9. Phil. 4. â—1 1 Cor. 4. 12. of contentment of patience c. There is not any one spiritual and heavenly principle respecting salvation but may be found in the new Creature The new man experiences a new combate and conflict in his soul The Gal. 5. 17. Rom. 7. 2â— flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit luâ—teth against the flesh I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind The new man experiences a combate in every faculty Here is the judgment against the judgment and the will against the will and the affections against the affections And the reason is this because there is flesh and spirit sin and grace coexistent and cohabiting in every faculty of the soul renewing grace is in every faculty and remaining corruption is also in every faculty like Jacob and Esau stâ—ugling in the same womb or like heat and cold in the same water and in every part of it The new man also combates with all sorts of known sins whether they be great or small inward or outward whether they be the sins of the heart or the sins of the life and besides the conflict in the new man is a daily conflict a constant conflict The new Creature can never the new Creature will never be at peace with sin sin and the new Creature will fight it out to the death the new Creature will never be brought into a lâ—ague of friendship with sin The new man is a man of a new life and conversation alwayes a new life attends a new heart you see it in Paul Mary Magdalen Zacheus the Jaylor and all the others that See 1 John 3. 14. 2 Cor. 6. 14. Psalm 120. 5. Psalm 139. â—1 Psalm 42. 4. are upon Scripture record The new man has new society new company Psalm 119. 63. I am a Companion of all them that fear thee and of them that keep thy precepts Psalm 16. 3. My goodness extends not to thee but to the Saints that are in the Earth and to the Excellent in whom is all my delight Holy society is the only society for persons of holy hearts and in that society can no 〈…〉 had rather haâ—e no Companiâ—n than a had one man delight until God renew his heart by grace Many men be as the Planet Mercury good in conjuction with those that are good and bad with those that are bad these are they that do Virtutis stragulam pudefacere Put honesty to an open shame Cloaths and Company do oftentimes tell tales in a mute but significant language Tell me with whom thou goest and I will tell thee what thou art saith the Spanish proverb Algerius an Italian Martyr had rather be in prison with Cato than with Caesar in the Senate-house But to conclude this word of Counsel the new man walks by a new rule As soon as ever God has made a man a new creature he presently sets up a new rule of life to walk by and that is no other but that which God himself sets up for his People to walk by and that is his written Word Isa 8. 20. To the Law and to the testimony Psalm 119. 105. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path Verse 133. Order my steps in thy word Galat. 6. 16. And as many as walk according to this rule peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God This rule he sets up for all matters of Faith and for all matters of fact The word is like the stone Garamantides that hath drops of Gold within it self enriching of every soul that makes it his Rule to walk by Alexander kept Homers Iliads in a Cabinet embroidered with Gold and Pearls and shall not we keep the Word in the Cabinâ—t of our hearts that it may be alwayes ready at hand as a Rule for us to walk by Well Friends what ever you do forget be sure that for ever you remember this viz. that none can oâ— shall be glorious Creatures but such as by grace are made new Creatures But The fourth word of advice counsel is this Labour to be more inwardly sincere than outwardly glorious The Psalm â—5 13. Reâ— 3. 1. 15 16 17. Kings daughter is all glorious within O labour rather to be good than to be thought to be good to live than to have a name to live what ever you let go be sure you hold fast your integrity A man were better to let Friends go Relations go Estate go Liberty go â—ife go and all go than let his integrity go God forbid that I should Job 27. 5 6. justifie you till I die I will not remove my integrity from me my righteousness I will hold fast and I will not let it go my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live Job is highly and fully resolved to keep his integrity close against all assaults of Enemies or suspicions of Friends Jobs integrity was the best Jewel he had in all the world this Jewel he was resolv'd to keep to his dying day It was nâ—ither good men nor bad men nor devils that should baffle Job out of his integrity and though they all pulled and pulled hard at his integrity yet he would not lâ—t it go he would hold fast this pearl of price what ever it cost him The sincere Christian like John Baptist will hold his integrity Marâ— 6. though he lose his head for it The very Heathens loved a candid and sincere spirit as he that wished that there was a glass in his breast that all the world might see what was in his heart Integrity will be a sword to defend you a staff to support you a star to guide you and a cordial to chear you and therefore above all gettings get sincerity and above all keepings keep sincerity as your crown your comfort your life But The fifth word of comfort and counsel is this Be true to
unshaken Kingdom to a durable Kingdom to a lasting Kingdom yea to an everlasting Kingdom Death is a dark short way through which the Saints pass to the Marriage-supper of the Lamb. But Thirdly You shall gain a safe and honourable Convoy into that other world Luk. 16. 22. Oh in what pomp and triumph did Lazarus ride to heaven on the wings of Angels The Angels conduct the Saints at death through the Air the Devil's Region every gracious soul is carried into Christ's Presence by these heavenly Courtiers Oh what a sudden change does death make behold he that even now was scorned by men is all on a sudden carried by Angels into Abraham's bosom But Fourthly You shall gain a glorious welcome a joyful Rev. 4. 8 to 11. Luk. 15. 7 10. Heb. 12. 23. welcome a wonderful welcome into heaven By general consent of all Antiquity the holy Angels and blessed Trinity rejoyce at the sinner's Conversion but oh what inexpressible what transcendent joy is there when a Saint is landed upon the Shore of Eternity God and Christ Angels and Arch-angels all stand ready to welcome the Believer as soon as his feet are upon the threshold of Glory God the Father welcomes the Saints as his elect and chosen ones Jesus Christ welcomes them as his redeemed and purchased ones and the Holy Spirit welcomes them as his sanctified and renewed ones and the Blessed Angels welcome them as those they have Heb. 1. ult guarded and attended on When the Saints enter upon the Suburbs of Glory the glorious Angels welcome them with harps in their hands and ditties in their mouths But Fifthly You shall gain full freedom and liberty from all your enemies within and without viz. Sin Satan Luk. 1. 70 71 74 75. and the World 1. Death will free you from the indwelling power of sin In heaven there is no complaints Rom. 7. 23. as in hell there is nothing but wickedness so in heaven there is nothing but holiness 2. Death will free Gal. 5. 17. you from the power and prevalency of sin Here sin plays the Tyrant but in heaven there is no Tyranny but perfect felicity 3. Death will free you from all provocations temptations and suggestions to sin Now you shall be above all Satan's batteries Now God will make Rom. 16. 20. good the promise of treading Satan under your feet Some say Serpents will not live in Ireland The old Serpent Rev. 12. 8 9. cap. 21. ult is cast out and shall be for ever kept out of the new Jerusalem above 4. Death will free you from all the effects and consequents of sin viz. losses crosses sicknesses diseases disgraces sufferings c. when the cause is taken away the effect ceases when the fountain of sin is dried up the streams of afflictions of sufferings must be dryed up the fuel being taken away the fire will go out of it self Sin and sorrow were born together do live together and shall die together To open this fourth Particular a little more fully to you consider these four things First That death will free you from all reproach and ignominy on your names Now Elijah is accounted the 1 King 18. 17. Nâ—hem 6. 6. Psal 69. 12. Jer. 15. 10. Troubler of Israel Nehemiah a Rebel against his King and David the song of the Drunkards and Jeremiah a man of contention and Paul a pestilent fellow Heaven Act. 24. 10. wipes away all blots as well as all tears as no sins so no blots are to be found in that upper world The names of all the Saints in a state of Glory are written as I may say in Characters of Gold But Secondly Death will free you from all bodily infirmities and diseases we carry about in our bodies the matter of a thousand deaths and may die a thousand several Above all things let us every day think 〈◊〉 our last day 〈◊〉 〈…〉 naus ways each several hour As many senses as many members nay as many pores as there are in the body so many windows there are for death to enter in at death needs not spend all its arrows upon us a worm a gnat a fly a hair the stone of a raisin the kirnel of a grape the fall of a horse the stumbling of a foot the prick of a pin the pairing of a nail the cutting of a corn all these have been to others and any one of them may be to us the means of our death within the space of a few days nay of a few hours Here Job had his Botches and Job 2. 6 7. Isâ— 37 21. 〈◊〉 â—8 5. 〈◊〉 20. Maâ— 9. 20. Hezekiah had his Boil and David his Wounds and Lazarus his Sores and the poor Widow her Issue of Blood Now the Feaver burns up some and the Dropsie drowns others and the Vapours stifle others one dies of an Appoplexy in the head another of a Struma in the neck a third of a Squinancy in the throat and a fourth of a Cough and Consumption of the lungs others of Obstructions Inflamations Plurisies Gouts c. We are commonly full of complaints one complains of this distemper and another of that one of this disease and another of that but death will cure us of all diseases and distempers at once But Thirdly Death will free you from all your sorrows whether inward or outward whether for your own sins Psal 38. 18. 2 Cor. 7. 11. Psal 119 136. Nehem. 1. 3 4. or the sins of others whether for your own sufferings or the sufferings of others Now it may be one shall seldom find you but with tears in your eyes or sorrow in your heart O but now death will be the funeral of all your sorrows death will wipe all tears from your eyes and sorrow and mourning shall flee away Isa 51. 11. But Fourthly Death will free you from all those troubles calamities miseries mischiefs and desolations that are Isa 57 1. Mâ—â—h 7. 1 to 7. a coming upon the earth or upon this place or that A year after Methuselah's death the Flood came and carried away the old world Augustine died a little before the sacking of Hippo Luther observes that all the Apostles died before the destruction of Jerusalem And Luther himself died a little before the Wars brake forth in Germany Dear Lady death shall do that for you which all your Physicians could never do for you which all your Relations could never do for you which all Ordinances could never do for you nor which all your faithful Ministers could never do for you it shall both instantly and perfectly cure you of all sorts of Maladies and weaknesses both inward and outward or that respects either your body or your soul or both Oh my dear friend is it not better to die and be rid of all sin to die and be rid of all temptations and desertions to die and be rid of all sorts of miseries than to live and still carry about with
wooes him by love by the second he frights him by the terrour of his justice and bids him touch and taste if he durst The Faederati were God and Adam God the Creator and man the creature made after Gods image and likeness and so not contrary to God nor at enmity with him but like unto God though far different and inferiour to God in nature and substance Here are also terms agreed on and matters covenanted reciprocally by these parties Adam on his part was to be obedient to God in forbearing to eat of the tree of knowledg only God's charge to our first parents was only negative not to eat of the tree of knowledg the other to eat of the trees was left unto their choice Eve confesseth that God spake unto them both and said ye shall not eat of it And God speaks unto both of them Gen. 3. 2. together in these words Behold I have given unto you every Gen. 1. 19. herb and every tree c. At which time also it is very like that he gave them the other prohibition of not eating of that one tree for if God had made that exception before he would not have given a general permission after or if this general grant had gone before the exception coming should seem to abrogate the former grant The Septuagint seem to be of this mind that this precept was given both to Adam and Eve reading thus So doth Gregory read as the Septuagint does Gr â— l. b. 35. moral â— 10 in the plural number In what day ye shall eat thereof ye shall die And though in the Original the precept be given in the name of Adam only that is only 1. Because Adam was the more principal and he had the charge of the woman And 2. Because that the greatest danger was in his transgression which was the cause of the ruine of his posterity 3. Because as Mercerus well observes Adam was the common name both of the man and woman Gen. 5. 2. and so is taken vers 15. And God on his part for the present permits Adam to eat of all other trees of the Garden And for the future in his explicite threatning of death in case of disobedience implicity promiseth life in case of obedience herein Secondly the promises of this Covenant on God's part were very glorious First that heaven and earth and all creatures should continue in their natural course and order wherein God had had created and placed them serving always for man's use and that man should have the benefit and Lordship of them all Secondly As for natural life in respect of the body Adam should have had perfection without defect beauty without deformity labour without weariness Thirdly as for spiritual life Adam should never have known what it was to be under 〈◊〉 18. 1. â— terrours and horrours of conscience nor what a wounded spirit means he should never have found the arrows of 〈◊〉 6. 4. the Almighty sticking faâ—l in him nor the poyson thereof drinking up his spirits nor the terrours of God to set themselves in array against him nor he should never have tasted of death Death is a fall that came in by a fall had Adam never sinned Adam had never died had Adam stood fast in innocency he should have been translated to glory without dissolution Death came in by sin and sin goeth out by death As the worm kills the worm that bred it so death 〈◊〉 sin that bred it Now where there are parties covenanting promising and agreeing upon terms and terms mutually agreed upon by those parties as here There 's the substance of an express Covenant though it be not formally and in express words called a Covenant This was the first Covenant which God made with man and this is called by the name Berith Jer. 33. 20. where God saith If you can break my Covenant of the day and night and that there shall not be day and night in their season vers 21. Then may also my Covenant with David be broken In these words he speaks plainly of the promise in the Creation That day and night should keep Gen. 1. 14 15 16. their course and the sun moon and stars and all creatures should serve for man's use Now though man did break the Covenant on his part yet God being immutable could not break Covenant on his part neither did he suffer his promise to fail but by vertue of Christ promised to man in the new Covenant he will keep touch with man so long as mankind hath a being on the earth In this first Covenant God promised unto man life and happiness Lordship over all the creatures liberty to use them and all other blessings which his heart could desire to keep him in that happy estate wherein he was created And man was bound to God to walk in perfect righteousness to observe and keep God's Commandments and to obey his will in all things which were within the reach of his nature and so far as was reveiled to him In the first Covenant God reveiled himself to man as one God Creator and Governour of all things infinite in power wisdom goodness nature and substance God was man's good Lord and man was God's good servant God dearly loved man and man greatly loved God with all his heart there was not the least shadow or occasion of hatred or enmity between them there was nothing but mutual love mutual delight mutual content and mutual satisfaction between God and man Man in his primitive glory needed no Mediator to come between God and him man was perfect pure upright and good created after God's own image and the nearer he came to God the greater was his joy and comfort God's presence now was man's great delight and it was man's heaven on earth to walk with God But Thirdly Consider the intention and use of the two eminent Trees in the Garden that are mentioned in a more peculiar manner viz. The tree of life and The tree of knowledg The intended use of these two Trees in Paradise was Sacramental Hence they are called Symbolical Trees and Sacramental Trees by learned writers both ancient and modern By these the Lord did signifie and seal to our first parents that they should always enjoy that happy state of life in which they were made upon condition of obedience to his Commandments i. e. in The Tree of life was the 〈◊〉 and â—eal which God gave to man for confirmation of this first Covenant and it was to man a Sacrament and pledge of eternal life on earth and of all blessings needful to keep man in life eating of the tree of life and not eating of the tree of knowledg The Tree of life is so called not because of any native property and peculiar vertue it had in it self to convey life but symbolically morally and sacramentally It was a sign and obsignation to them of life natural and spiritual to be continued to them as
long as they continued in obedience to God The seal of the first Covenant was the Tree of life which if Adam had received by taking and eating of it whilst he stood in the state of Innocency before his fall he had certainly been established in that estate for ever and the Covenant being sealed and confirmed between God and him on both parts he could not have been seduced and supplanted by Satan as some learned men do think and as God's own words seem to imply Gen. 3. 22. And now lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live for ever The tree of knowledg of good and evil was spoken from the sad event and experience they had of it as Sampson had of God's departing from him when he lost his Nazaritish hair by Dalilah The tree of life was a Sacrament of life The tree of knowledg a Sacrament of death The tree of life was for confirmation of man's obedience and The tree of knowledg was for caution against disobedience Now if these two Trees were two Sacraments the one assuring of lite in case of obedience the other assuring of death in case of disobedience then hence we may collect That God not only entred into a Covenant of works with the first Adam but also gave him this Covenant under Sacramental signs and scals But Fourthly Seriously consider that a Covenant of works lay clear in that Commandment Gen. 2. 16 17. which may thus be made evident 1. Because that was the condition of man's standing and life as it was expresly declared 2. Because in the breach of that Commandment given him he lost all and we in him God made the Covenant of works primarily with Adam and with us in him as our head inclusively so that when he did fall we did fall when he lost all we lost all There are five things we lost in our fall 1. Our holy Image and so became vile 2. Our sonship and so became slaves 3. Our friendship and so became enemies 4. Our communion with God and so became strangers 5. Our glory and so became miserable Sin and death came into the world by Adam's fall In Adam's sinning we all sinned 1 Câ—r 15. 22. Rom. 5. 12. to the end c. and in Adam's dying we all died as you may see by comparing the Scriptures in the margent together In Adam's first sin we all became sinners by imputation Adam being an universal person and all mankind one in him by God's Covenant of works with him Omnes ille unus homo fuerunt August All were that one man viz. by federal consociation God covenanted with Adam and in him with all his posterity and therefore Adam's breach of Covenant fell not only upon him but upon all his posterity But Fifthly and lastly we read of a Second Covenant Heb. 10. 9. Rom. 9. 4. Gal. 4. 24. Eph. 2. 12. And we read of a New Covenant Jer. 31. 31. Behold the days come saith Heb. 8. 6 7. the Lord that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah So Heb. 8. 8. I will make a new covenant c. vers 13. In that he saith a new covenant he hath made the first old c. Heb. 12. 24. And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant c. Now if there be a Second Covenant then we may safely conclude there was a First and if there be a New Covenant then we may boldly conclude that there was an Old Covenant A Covenant of Grace always supposeth a Covenant of Works I know there is a repetition of the Covenant of Works with Adam in the Law of Moses as in that of Heb. 8. 7 8 9. the Apostle to the Galatians The Law is not of faith but the man that doth these things shall live in them The Law requires works and promiseth no life to those that will be justified by faith In the first Covenant three Gal. 3. 10 11 12. things are observable 1. The precept That continueth not in all things the precept requires perfect personal and perpetual obedience 2. The promise Live the man that doth them shall live live happily blessedly chearfully everlastingly 3. The curse in case of transgression Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them One sin and that but in thought broke the Angel's Covenant Jude 6. and hath brought them into everlasting chains So the same Apostle to the Romans further tells us that Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law that the man that doth those things shall live by them Thus it was Rom. 10. 5. with Adam principally and properly therefore he was under a Covenant of works when God gave him that command Gen. 2. 16 17. This first Covenant is called a Covenant of works because this Covenant required working on our part as the condition of it for justification and happiness The man that doth these things shall live Under this Covenant God left man to stand upon his own bottom and to live upon his own stock and by his own industry God made him perfect and upright and gave him power and ability to stand and laid no necessity at all upon him to fall In this first Covenant of works man had no need of a Mediator God did then stipulate with Adam immediately for seeing he had not made God his enemy by sin he needed no days-man to Job 9. 33. Make friendly intercession for him Adam was invested and endowed with righteousness and holiness in his first glorious estate with righteousness that he might carry it fairly justly evenly and righteously towards man and with holiness that he Eph. 4. 22 23 24. In this Scripture the Apostle speaks plainly of the Renovation of that Knowledg Holiness and Righteousness that Adam sometimes had but lost it by his fall might carry it wisely lovingly reverentially and holily towards God and that he might take up in God as his chiefest good as in his great ALL. I shall not now stand upon the discovery of Adam's Beauty Authority Dominion Dignity Honour and Glory with which he was adorned invested and crowned in innocency Let this satisfie that Adam's first estate was a state of perfect Psal 8. 4 5 6. Gen. 2. 20. knowledg wisdom and understanding it was a perfect state of holiness righteousness and happiness there was nothing within him but what was desirable and delectable there was nothing without him but what was amiable and commendable nor nothing about him but what was serviceable and comfortable Adam in his innocent estate was the wonder of all understanding the mirrour of wisdom and knowledg the image of God the delight of heaven the glory of the Creation the world 's great Lord and the Lord 's great darling Upon all these accounts he had no need of a Mediator And let thus much
eternal act of oblivion upon them and utterly bury them in the grave of oblivion as if they had never been The sins that are forgiven by God are forgotten by God the sins that God remits he removes from his remembrance Hâ—b 10. 13 to 19. cap. 10. 1 to 15. Christ hath so fully satisfied the justice of God for the sins of all his seed by the price of his own blood and death that there needs no more expiatory sacrifices to be offered for their sins for ever Christ hath by the sacrifice of himself blotted out the remembrance of his peoples sins with God for ever The New Covenant runs thus And their sinful errour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lo escar guhod I will Jer. 31. 34. not remember any more but the Greek runs thus And their sinful errours and their unrighteousnesses I will not remember Heb. 8. 12. again or any more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Here are two negatives which do more vehemently deny according to the propriety of the Greek Language that is I will never remember them again I will in no case remember them any more I will so forgive as to forget Not that in propriety of phrase God either remembers or forgets for all things are present to him he knows all things he beholds he sees he observes all things by one eternal and simple act of his knowledg which is no way capable of change as now knowing and anon forgetting but it s an allusion to the manner of men who when they forgive injuries fully and heartily do also forget them blot them out of mind or rather as some think its an allusion to the manner of the old Covenants administration in the Sacrifices where there was a remembrance again Heb. 10. 1 2 3 c. of sins every year there was a fresh indictment and arraignment of the people for sin continually But under this New Covenant our Lord Jesus Christ hath by one offering perfected for ever them that are sanctified Christ See from vers 5. to vers 20. hath for ever taken away the sins of the Elect there needs no more expiatory sacrifice for them they that are sprinkled with the blood of this sacrifice shall never have their sins remembred any more against them God 's not remembring or forgetting a thing is not simply to be taken of his essential knowledge but respectively of his judicial knowledg to bring the same into Judgment not to remember a thing that was once known and was in mind and memory is to forget it but this properly is not incident to God it is an infirmity To him all things past and future are as present what he once knoweth he always knoweth his memory is his very essence neither can any thing that hath once been in it slip out of it For God to remit sin is not to remember it and not to remember it is to remit it These are two reciprocal propositions therefore they are thus joyned together I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no Jer. 31. 34. Isa 43. 25. more I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins To remember implyeth a four-fold act 1. To lay up in the mind what is conceived thereby 2. To hold it fast 3. To call it to mind again 4. Oft to think of it Now in that God saith I will remember their iniquities no more he implyeth that he will neither lay them up in his mind nor there hold them nor call them again to mind nor think on them but that they shall be to him as if they had never been committed God's discharge of their sins shall be a full discharge such sinners shall never be called to account for them both the guilt and the punishment of them shall be fully and everlastingly removed Let the sins of a believer be what they will for nature Mat. 12. 31. â—sa 55. 7. Jer. 31. 12. Ezk. 18. 22. â—sal 32. 2. Rom. 4 8. Now if God will not remember nor mention his peoples sins then we may safely and roundly infer that either there is no Purgatory or else that God severely punishes those sins in Purgatory which he remembers not and never so many for number they shall all be blotted out they shall never be mentioned more 1. God will never remember he will never mention their sins so as to impute them or charge them upon his people 2. God will never remember he will never mention their sins any more so as to upbraid his people with their follies or miscarriages He will never hit them in the teeth with their sins he will never cast their weaknesses into their dish when persons are justified their sins shall be as if they had not been God will bid them welcome into his presence and embrace them in his arms and will never object to them their former unkindness unfruitfulness unthankfulness vileness stubbornness wickedness as you may plainly see in the return of the Prodigal and his father's deportment towards him Luk. 15. 20 21 22 23. When he was a great way off The Prodigal was but conceiving a purpose to return and God met him The very intention and secret motions and close purposes of our hearts are known to God The old Father sees a great way off dim eyes can see a great way when the Son is the object his father saw him and had compassion His bowels rowl within him the Father not only sees but commiscrates and compassionates the returning Prodigal as he did Ephraim of old My bowels Jer. 31. 20. are troubled for him I will surely have mercy on him or as the Hebrew runs I will having mercy have mercy have mercy on him or I will abundantly have mercy on him Look saith God here is a poor prodigal returning to me the poor child is come back he hath smarted enough he hath suffered enough I will bid him welcome I will forgive him all his high offences and will never hit him in the teeth with his former vanities And ran The feet of mercy are swift to meet a returning sinner It had been sufficient for him to have stood being old and a Father but the Father runs to the Son And fell on his neck He cannot stay and embrace him or take him by the hand but he falls upon him and incorporates himself into him How open are the arms of mercy to embrace the returning sinner and lie him in the bosom of love and kissed him Free rich and soveraign mercy hath not only feet to meet us and arms to clasp us but also lips to kiss us one would have thought that he should rather have kicked him or killed him than have kissed him But God is pater miserationum he is all bowels All this while the father speaks not one word his joy was too great to be uttered he ran he fell on his neck and kissed him and
Let us consider the promise which the father engageth to perform on his part the son must ask and the father will give He will give him the heathen for his Psal 2. 8. inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession An allusion to great Princes when they would shew great affection to their Favourites they bid them ask what they will as Ahasuerus did and as Herod did that Esâ—â— 5. 3. Maâ— 6. 23. Isa 49 6. Mâ—t. 28. 18. â—al 2. 10 11. Psal 40. 6. 7 8. is he shall both be the Lord's salvation to the ends of the earth and have all power given him in heaven and earth so that all knees shall bow to him and every tongue shall confess him to be Lord. In the other Text before mentioned Psal 40. Christ declares his compliance to the agreement and his subscribing the Covenant on his part when he came into the world as the Apostle explains it Heb. 10. 5. c. Mine ears saith he hast thou digged or pierced Lo I come to do thy will as if he had said oh father thou dost engage me to be thy servant in this great work of saving sinners Loe I come to do the work I here covenant and agree to yield up my self to thy disposing and to serve thee for ever it seems to be an allusion to the master's boring through the servants ear Exod. 21. 6. Among the Jews only one ear was bored but in this Psal 40. 6. Here are ears in the plural number a token of that perfect and desirable subjection which Christ as Mediator was in to his father But for a more clear distinct and full opening of the Covenant of Redemption or that blessed compact between God the father and Jesus Christ which is a matter of grand importance to all our souls and considering that it is a point that I have never yet treated of in pulpit or press I shall therefore take the liberty at this time to open my self as clearly and as fully as I can And therefore thus If you ask me what this Covenant of Redemption Qu. is I answer in the general That a Covenant is a mutual Ans agreement between parties upon articles or propositions on both sides so that each party is tied and bound to perform his own conditions This description holds the general nature of a Covenant and is common to all Covenants publick and private divine or humane But Secondly and more particularly I answer The Covenant of Redemption is that federal transaction or mutual The Covenant of Redemption defined stipulation that was betwixt God and Christ from everlasting for the accomplishment of the work of our Redemption by the mediation of Jesus Christ to the eternal honour and unspeakable praise of the glorious grace of God Or if you please take it in another form of words thus It is a compact bargain and agreement between God the father and God the son designed Mediator concerning the conversion sanctification and salvation of the Elect through the death satisfaction and obedience of Jesus Christ which in due time was to be given to the father But for the making good the definition I have laid down I must take lieve to tell you That there are many choice Scriptures which give clear intimation of such a federal transaction between God the father and Jesus Christ in order to the recovery and everlasting happiness and salvation of his Elect. I shall instance in the most considerable of them The first is this Gen. 3. 15. And I will put enmity between The first Proof thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise its heel Here begins the book of the Lord's Wars God's battels The Scriptures are called the book of the Battels of the Lord. Numb 21. 〈◊〉 This is spoken of that holy enmity that is between Christ and the Devil and of Christ's destroying the Kingdom and power of Satan For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the devil Heb. 2 14. God by way of threatning told Satan that the seed of the deceived woman should overmatch him at last and should break in pieces his power and crafty plots he gives Satan lieve to do his worst and proclaims an open and an utter enmity between Christ and him From this Scripture some conclude that Christ covenanted from Eternity to take upon him the seed of the woman and the sinless infirmities of our true humane nature and under those infirmities to enter the lists with Satan and to continue obedient through all his afflictions temptations and trials to the death even to the death of the cross And Phil. 2. 8 9. that God the father had covenanted with Christ that in case Christ did continue obedient through all his sufferings temptations and trials that then his obedience to the death should be accounted as full satisfaction to divine justice for all those wrongs and injuries that were done to God by the sins of man Christ must die or else he could not have been the Mediator of the new Covenant through death Heb. 9. 15 16. But The Second Sripture is that Isa 42. 6. The Lord hath The second Prooâ— called thee in righteousness and with hold thine hand and will keep thee and give thee for a Covenant of the people fâ—r a light of the gentiles Thus God speaks of Christ In this Chapter we have a glorious Prophecy of Christ our Redeemer here are four things prophâ—cied of him 1. The Divine call whereby he was appointed to the work of our Redemption vers 1. Behold my servant whom I uphold mine elect in whom my soul delighteth I have put my spirit upon him he shall bring forth judgment to the gentiles Jesus Christ would not yea he could not he durst not thrust himself upon this great work or engage in this great work 'till he had a clear call from heaven 2. Here you have the gracious carriage and deportment of Christ in the work to which he was called this is fully set down vers 2 3 4. He shall not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the street He shall come clothed with majesty and glory and yet full of meekness A bruised reed shall he not break and the smoaking flax shall he not quench he shall bring forth judgement unto truth In the words there is a Meiosis he will not break that is he will bind up the bruised reed he will comfort the bruised reed he will strengthen the bruised reed Christ will acknowledg and encourage the least degrees of grace he will turn a spark of grace into a flame a drop into a sea c. He shall not fail nor be discouraged These words shew his Kingly courage and magnanimity
utter any thing to the prejudice of them that put him to death but prayed for them that crucified Luk. 23. 34. Mat. 26. â—3 cap. 27. 12 14. him He was led as a lamb to the slaughter properly as an ewe-lamb or she lamb the ewe is mentioned as the quieter of that kind because the rams are sometimes more unruly and as a sheep that is dumb before the face of her shearers A lamb doth not bite nor push him that is going about to kill it but goeth as quietly to the shambles or the slaughter-house as if it were going to the fold wherein it is usually lodged or the field where it is wont to feed But Sixthly Observe with me That the original cause of this compact or Covenant between the father and the son by vertue of which God the father demands a price and Jesus Christ pays the price according to God's demands is only from the free grace and favour of God vers 10. It pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief God the father looks upon Jesus Christ as sustaining our person and cause he looks upon all our sins as laid upon him and to be punished in him Sin could not be abolished the justice of God could not be satisfied the wrath of God could not be appeased the terrible curse could not be removed but by the death of Christ and therefore God the father took a pleasure to bruise him and to put him to grief according to the agreement between him and his son It must be readily granted that God did not incite or instigate the wicked Jews to those vile and cruel courses and carriages of their to Jesus Christ but yet that his sufferings were by God predetermined for the salvation of mankind is most evident by the Scriptures in the margin and accordingly it pleased Act. 2. 23. cap. 4. 28. the Lord to bruise him and to put him to grief The singular pleasure that God the father takes in the work of our Redemption is a wonderful demonstration of his love and affection to us Seventhly Observe with me That it is agreed between the father and the son that our sins shall be imputed unto him and that his righteousness should be imputed unto us and that all the redeemed shall believe in him and so be justified vrrs 11. He shall see of the travel of his soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledg or faith in him shall my righteous servant justifie many for he shall hear their iniquities Or as some render it He shall see the fruit of the travel of his soul and shall be satisfied That is Jesus Christ shall receive and enjoy that as the effect and issue of all the great pains that he hath taken and of all the grievous things that he hath suffered as shall give him full content and satisfaction when Christ hath accomplished the work of Redemption he shall receive a full reward for all his sufferings Christ takes a singular pleasure in the work of our Redemption and doth herein as it were refresh himself as with the fruits of his own labours God the father engages to Jesus Christ that he should not travel in vain but that he should survive to see with great joy a numerous issue of faithful souls begotten unto God you know when women after sore sharp hard labour are delivered they are so greatly refreshed delighted gladded and satisfied that they forget their former pains and sorrow for joy that a manchild is born into the world God the father undertakes Joh. 16. 21. that Jesus Christ should have such a holy seed such a blessed issue as the main fruit and effect of his passion as should joy him please him and as he should rest satisfied in Certainly there could be no such joy and satisfaction to Christ as for him to see poor souls reconciled justified and saved by his sufferings and satisfaction as 't is the highest joy of a faithful minister to see souls 1 Thes 2. 19 20. Gal. 4. 19. won over to Christ to see souls built up in Christ Christ did bear the guilt of his peoples sins and thereby he made full satisfaction and therefore he is said here to justifie many not all promiscuously but those only whose sins he undertook to discharge and for whom he laid down his life Christ's justifying of many is his discharging of many from the guilt of sin by making satisfaction to God for the same But Eighthly Observe with me That it is agreed between the Father and the Son that for those persons for whom Besides the Eleâ—t be iâ—terceeds for none Joh. 17. 9 10. Jesus Christ should lay down his life he should stand intercessour for them also that so they may be brought to the possession of all those noble favours and blessings that he has purchased with his dearest blood vers 12. He bare the sins of many and made intercession for the transgressors saying father forgive them for they know not what they Luk. 23. 24. do For those very transgressors by whom he suffered he does intercede for the article here is emphatical and seems to point unto that special act and those particular persons Not but that these words have relation also to Christ's intercession for all those sinners that belong to him and that have an interest in him which intercession continues still and shall do to the end of the world Heb. 7. 25. But The Sixth Scripture is that Isa 59. 20 21. And the The Sixth Proof redeemer shall come to Zion and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob saith the Lord. As for me this is my covenant with them saith the Lord my spirit that is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth noâ— out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed saith the Lord from hence forth and for ever Out of this blessed Scripture you may observe these following things First the parties covenanting and agreeing and they are God the father and Jesus Christ God the father in those words saith the Lord and Jesus Christ in those words The redeemer shall come to Zion Secondly You have God the father first covenanting with Jesus Christ and then with his seed as is evident in the 21. vers Thirdly You have the persons described that shall be sharers in Redemption mercies and they are the Sionites the people of God the citizens of Zion but lest any should think that all Zion should be saved it is added by way of explication that only such of Zion 〈…〉 urn from transgression in Jacob shall have benefit by the Redeemer The true Citizens of Rom. 11. 26. Zion the right Jacobs the sincere Israelites in whom there is no guile are they and only they that turn from their sins None have interest in Christ none have redemption by Christ but converts but such as
the work of our Redemption Christ's being called the surety of the better Covenant shews that there was Heb. 7. 22. a Covenant between God the father and him as there is between a creditour and a sutety Christ gave bonds as it were to God the father and payed down the debt upon the nail that breaches might be made up between God and us and we restored to divine favour for ever But for the further clearing up of the Covenant of Redemption I shall in the second place lay down these propositions And The first is this That the Covenant of Redemption The First Proposition differs from the Covenant of Grace 'T is true the Covenant of Redemption is a Covenant of Grace but 't is not properly that Covenant of Grace which the Scripture holds out in opposition to the Covenant of works which I shall thus evidence 1. The Covenant of Redemption differs from the Covenant of Grace in regard of the Federates in the Covenant of Redemption 't is God the father and Jesus Christ that mutually covenant but in the Covenant of Grace the confederates are God and believers 2. In the Covenant of Redemption God the father requires of Jesus Christ that he should suffer shâ—d his blood die and make himself an offering for our sins In the Covenant of Grace God requires of us that we should believe and embrace the Lord Jesus 3. In the Covenant of Redemption God the father has made many great precious and glorious promises to Jesus Christ As sit on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool Heâ— 1. 13. Isa 53. 10. And he shall see his seed he shall prolong his days the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands And Ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance Psal 2. 8. and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession Heb. 1. 5. Psal 84. 11. Ezek. 36. 26 27. And I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son But in the Covenant of Grace God promises to us Grace and glory holiness and happiness both the upper and the lower springs 4. The Covenant of Redemption betwixt God and Christ secures the Covenant of Grace betwixt God and believers for what God promises to us he did Tit. 1. 2. before the foundation of the world promise to Jesus Christ and therefore if God the father should not make good his promises to his Saints he would not make good his promises to his dearest son which for any to imagine would be high Blasphemy God will be sure to keep touch with Jesus Christ and therefore we may rest fully assured that he will not fail to keep touch with us 5. The Covenant of Redemption is the very basis or bottom of the Covenant of Grace God made a Covenant with Christ the spiritual David that he might make a Covenant Psal 89. 3 4. Râ—â— 11. 26 27. with all his Elect in him he made this agreement with Christ as the head and on this is reared up the whole frame of precious promises comprised in the Covenant of Grace as a goodly building upon a sure foundation But The second Proposition is this God the father in order The Second Proposition to man's Redemption and Salvation stands stiffly and peremptorily upon compleat satisfaction without full satisfaction no remission no salvation Satisfaction God will have to the utmost though it cost Christ his life and blood Man is fallen from his primitive purity glory Rom. 8. 32. and excellency and by his fall he hath provoked divine justice transgressed God's righteous Law and cast a deep dishonour upon his name the case standing thus God is resolved to have ample satisfaction in the reparation of this honour in the manifestation of his truth and in the vindication of his holiness and justice All the attributes of God are alike dear to him and he stands as much upon the advance of his justice as he does upon the glory of his Grace and therefore he will not remit one sin yea not the least sin without entire satisfaction In this God the father is fixt that he will have an offering for Isa 53. 10. 1 â—â—m 2. 6. sin in an expiatory and propitiatory way a price and a ransom he will have paid down upon the nail or else the captive sinner shall-never be released pardoned saved Now lost man being wholly uncapable of giving such a satisfaction to Divine Justice Christ must give it or fallen man must perish for ever Sin and sorrow iniquity and misery always go hand in hand The wages of sin is Rom. 6. 23. Rom. 1. 32. death Every sinner is worthy of death They which commit such things are worthy of death If God be a just and righteous God then sin cannot absolutely escape unpunished for it is but a just and righteous thing with God to punish the sinner who is worthy of punishment It is a righteous thing with God saith the Apostle to recompence 2 Thes 1. 6. tribulation to them that trouble you And as God cannot but be just so he cannot but be true and if he cannot but be true then he cannot but make good his threatnings against sin and sinners The word is gone out of his mouth In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely Gen. 2. 17. die And the soul which sins shall die Look as there Eâ—â—k 18. 4. is not a promise of God but shall take place in time so there is not a threatning of God but shall take place in time The faithfulness of God and the honour of God is as much concerned in making good of terrible threatnings 2 Pet. 1. 4. as they are concerned in making good of precious promises God has given it under his own hand That he will by no means clear the guilty And that the soul that Exod. 34. 7. Ezek. 18. 20. Rom. 2. 6. sinneth shall surely die And that the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him And that he will render to every man according to his deeds And will God abrogate his own laws or will he dare men to sport and play with his threatnings Will not every wise and prudent Prince look to the execution of their own Laws and shall not Isa 40. 28. Isal 147. 5. that God who is wonderful in wisdom and whose understanding is infinite see all his Laws put in execution against offenders surely yes Thus you see that God stands upon full satisfaction and will admit of no treaty of peace with fallen man without it Now sorry man is never able either by doing or suffering to compensate and make God amends for the wrong and injury that he has done to God by his sin and therefore one that is able by doing and suffering to give compleat satisfaction must undertake it or else we are lost cast and undone in both worlds Concerning that full and
work of Creation Again the works of Providence are great very great in the eye of God of Angels of men but what are the workâ— of Providence to the works of Redemption for in order to the accomplishment of that great work Christ must put off his Royal Robâ—s take a journey from heaven to earth assume our nature do and die c. Again the work of Redemption by Christ will be sound a great work if you will but compare it with those Redemptions that were but Types of this Israel's Redemption from their Egyptian Bondage and from their Babilonish Bondage were very great Redemptions that were brought about by a strong hand a mighty hand and an out-stretched arm as the Scripture speaks But alas what were those Redemptions to our being redeemed from the love of sin the guilt of sin the dominion of sin the damnatory power of sin and to our being redeemed from the power of Satan the curse 1 Tâ—â—s 1. 〈…〉 of the Law Hell and wrath to come Lastly the great things that are wrapped up in the womb in the belly of Redemption speak out our Redemption by Christ to be a very great Redemption in the womb of this Redemption you shall find reconciliation justification adoption eternal salvation c. and are not these great very great things surely yes But A Second excellent Property of that Redemption that we have by Christ is this that its a free and gracious Redemption All the rounds in this Ladder of Redemption are made up of free rich and soveraign grace though our Redemption cost Christ dear as has been before hinted yet as to us it is most free Eph. 1. 7. In whom we have redemption through his blâ—od the forgiveness of sins according 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this word properly signiâ—ies a deliverance which is brought to pass by â—â—â—ing of a ranâ—â—â— and price 〈◊〉 Mat. 20. 28. 1 â—â—r 6. 20. 1 〈◊〉 1. 18. to the riches of his grace that is according to his exceeding great and abundant grace Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus our Redemption is from the free love and favour of God It was free grace that put God the father upon finding out a way for the redemption of lost sinners It was free Grace that put God upon providing of such a surety as should undertake the work of Redemption as should carry on the work of Redemption and as should accomplish and compleat the work of Redemption And it was free grace that moved God the father to accept of what Christ did and suffered in order to the bringing about of our Redemption and it is free Grace that moves God to make an application of this Redemption to the souls of his people Ah poor souls the Lord looks not neither Isa 52. 3. for money nor moneys worth from you towards the purchase of your Redemption and therefore always look upon your Redemption as the mere fruit of rich Grace But The Third excellent Property of that Redemption that we have by Jesus Christ is this it is a full and plenteous Redemption Psal 130. 7. Let Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption Christ redeems us from all sin and from all Tit. 2. 14. Hos 13. 14. the consequences of sin he redeems from death and from the power of the grave he redeems us from the Rom. 7. 6. Gal. 4. 5. Gal. 3. 13. Law and from the malediction of the Law Christ took that off he was made a curse for all that believe on him he did not only stand in the room of eminent believers but he stood in the room of all believers and endured the wrath of God to the uttermost for every one that believeth on him Every believer is freed from a cursed estate by the least faith every degree of true faith makes the condition to be a state of life and passeth us from death and condemnation There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus And Christ redeems us from this present Rom. 8. 1. Gal. 1. 4. Rev. 14. 3 4. 1 Thes 1. 10. Luk. 1. 71 74. evil world and from the earth and from among men and from wrath to come and from the hands of all our enemies Jesus Christ hath gone thorough-stitch with the work of our Redemption Christ does not his work by halves all his works are perfect there is no defect or flaw in them at all Christ does not redeem us from some of our sins and leave us to grapple with the rest he doth not work out some part of our Redemption and leave us to work out the rest he doth not bear the heat and burden of divine wrath in part and leave us to wrestle with other parts of divine wrath O! no Christ makes most complete work of it he redeems us from all our iniquities he delivers us out of the hands of all our enemies he pays Heb. 7. 25. all debts he cuts all scores he delivers from all wrath he takes off the whole curse he saves to the uttermost and will settle us in a state of full and perfect freedom when grace shall be turned into glory in heaven our Redemption shall be entire and and perfect The Fourth excellent Property of that Redemption that we have by Jesus Christ is this It is an eternal a permanent a lasting yea an everlasting Redemption Heb. 9. 12. Neither by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place having obtained eâ—ernal redemption for us Redemption is in general Exod. 6. 6. a freeing one out of thraldom Now this is done three ways 1. By interceding and pacifying wrath Thus the Prophet Oded procured Redemption for the Captives 2 Chron. 28. 9 c. of Judah by his intercession 2. By force and might Thus Abraham redeemed his brother Lot and the people that Gen. 14. 16. were captives with him by overcoming their enemies 3. By ransom or paying a price Thus an Hebrew that Levit. 25. 48 49. was sold a slave to a stranger might be redeemed by one of his brethren the last of these is most agreeable to the notation of the several words which in the three learned languages do signify to redeem though the last be especially intended In that mention is made of a price namely Christ's blood yet the other two are not altogether exempted for Christ hath all those three ways redeemed his people This will more clearly appear if we duly weigh the distinct kinds of bondage in which we Maâ— 6. 12. Eph. 2 3. Heb. 2. 143 5. were by reason of sin 1. We were debtors to Divine Justice 2. We were children of wrath 3. We were slaves to Satan 1. As debtors Christ hath paid a ransom for us 2. As children of wrath Christ makes intercession for us 3. But though Divine
father and the son and all your days to admire at the love of the father and the son who have from eternity by compact and agreement secured your souls and your everlasting concernments But The Sixth Proposition is this That God the father had the first and chief hand in this great work of saving sinners by vertue of this Covenant of Redemption wherein Heb. 2. 10. he and his son had agreed to bring many sons to glory Weak Christians many times have their thoughts and apprehensions more busied and taken up with the love of the son than with the love of the father but they must remember that in the great and glorious work of Redemption God the father had a great hand an eminent hand yea the first and chief hand God the father first laid the foundation stone of all our happiness and blessedness his head and heart was first taken up about that heaven-born project the salvation of sinners Isa 28. 16. Therefore thus saith the Lord God behold I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone a tried stone a precious corner stone a sure foundation Heb. I am he that foundeth a stone in Zion It is God the father that hath long since laid Christ as a sure foundation for all his people to build their hopes of happiness upon it is he that first laid Christ the true corner-stone Rom. 9. 33. 1 Pet. 2. 6. Isa 53. 10. whereby Zion is for ever secured against death hell and wrath Hence 't is said the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand that is God's Eternal Decree about the work of our Redemption and salvation shall be powerfully faithfully and compleatly executed by Jesus Christ who by his word and spirit shall communicate unto all his Elect the fruit of his death to life and salvation Jeb 23. 24. This is a full place against all Sociniâ—ans who boldly allert that God removes the curse of the Law by a free and absolute pardon without satisfaction Grotius's Exposition on the place is but flat and dull When God saith I have 〈◊〉 a ransom we are to understand it of a real Ransom of full pay or satisfaction and not of a Ransom by favour and acceptation Again Deliver me from going down into the pit for I have found a ransom The Hebrew word signifies a price paid to redeem a man's life or liberty I have found a ransom or an atonement a cover for man's sin Angels and men could never have found a ransom but by my deep infinite and unsearchable wisdom saith God the father I have found a Ransom I have found out a way a means for the redeeming of mankind from going down to the infernal pit viz. the death and passion of my dearest son But where O blessed God didst thou find a Ransom not in Angels not in men not in Legal Sacrifices not in Gold or Silver not in tears humblings and meltings of my people but in my own bosom That Jesus that son of my love who has layen in my bosom from all Eternity Joh. 1. 18. he is that Ransom that by my own matchless wisdom and singular goodness I have found I have not called a Council to enquire where to find a Ransom that fallen man might be preserved from falling into the fatal pit of destruction but I have found a ransom in my own heart my own breasts my own bosom without advising or consulting with others I have found out a way how to save sinners with a salvo to my honour justice holiness and truth Had all the Angels in heaven from the first day of their creation to this very day sat in serious Council to invent contrive or find out a way a means whereby lost man might be secured against the curse of the Law hell condemnation and wrath to come and whereby he might have been made happy and blessed for ever and all this without the least wrong or prejudice to the justice and righteousness of God they could never have found out any way or means to have effected those great things Our Redemption by a Ransom is God's own invention and God's only invention The blessed Ransom which the Lord has found out for poor sinners is the blood of his own dearest son a ransom which never entred into the thoughts or hearts of Angels and men till God had reveiled it which is called the blood of the Covenant because thereby the Covenant is confirmed and all Covenant-mercies assured to us Joh. 3. 16. Again God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son Here is a sic without a sicut that sic so signifies the firstness of the father's love the freeness of the father's love 1 Joh. 3. 19. Hos 14. 4. and the vehemency of the father's love and the admirableness of the father's love and the matchlesness of the father's love O! what manner of love is this for God to give his son not his servant his begotten son not his adopted son his only son and not one son of many his only son by eternal generation and communication of the same Essence to be a Ransom and Mediator for sinners God the father loving lost man sent his son to suffer and to do the office of a Mediator that through his mediation he might communicate the effects of his love in a way agreeable to his justice for God loved the world and that antecedently to his giving Christ and as a cause of it The design the project of saving sinners was first contrived and laid by God the father therefore Christ says The son can do nothing of himself but what he sees the father do God the father sent his son and God the father sealed his son a commission to give life to lost sinners Him hath God the father sealed that is made his Commission authentical as men do their Deeds by their seals It is a Metaphor taken from them who ratifie their authority whom they send that is approve of them as it were by setting to their seal Christ is to be acknowledged to be he whom the father hath authorized and furnished to be the Saviour and Redeemer of lost sinners and the store-house from whence they are to expect all spiritual supplies Look as Kings give sealed Warrants and Commissions to their ministers of State who are sent 1 King 21 8. Estâ— 3. 12. cap. 8. 8. out or employed in great affairs So Christ is the father's great Ambassadour authorized and sent out by him to bring about the Redemption and Salvation of lost man And look as a seal represents in wax that which is engraven on it so the father hath communicated to him his divine essence and properties and stamped upon him all divine perfection for carrying on the work of Redemption And look as a seal annexed to a Commission is a publick evidence of the person's authority so Christ's endowments are visible marks whereby to know him and clear evidences that
everlasting life for it is explained that not to lose them vers 39. is that they may have everlasting life for the further assurance of believers of their eternal happiness it is also covenanted that they shall have this life in present possession in the earnest and first fruits thereof for they have everlasting life even here and before their raising up They have everlasting life 1. in prâ—misso 2. in pretio 3. in primltiis he stands already on the battlements of heaven he hath one foot in the porch of Paradise Again Christ having given an earnest-penny of salvation will not suffer it to be lost by any difficulty or impediment in the way but will carry believers through all difficulties till he destroy death and the grave and raise up their very dust that in body and soul they may partake of that bliss and that he may make it manifest that death and rotting in the grave doth not make void his interest nor cause his affection to cease Therefore it is added And I will raise him up at the last day Thus you see that God the father did lay his commands upon his son to engage in this great work of redeeming and saving poor sinners souls c. In the third place I shall shew you that the manner or quality of the transaction between God the father and Jesus Christ was by mutual engagements and stipulations each person undertaking to perform his part in order to our recovery and eternal felicity we find each person undertaking for himself by solemn promise The father promiseth that he will hold Christ's hand and keep him Isa 42. 6. God the father engages himself to direct and assist Christ and to keep him from miscarrying and that he will give him all necessary strength and ability for the execution of his mediatory office and work wonders by him and with him according to that word My father hitherto worketh and I work and the son engages Joh. 5. 17. himself that he will obey the fathers call and not be rebellious Isa 50. 5. I was not rebellious neither turned away Exod. 3. 11 13. cap. 4. 1 10 13. back that is I did not hang back as Moses once and again did nor refuse to go when God sent me as once Jon. 1. 3. Jon. â—s did but I offered my self freely and readily to my father's call there was no affliction no opposition no persecution no evil usage that I met with in carrying on the work of Redemption that did ever startle me or discourage me or make me flinch or shrink back from that great and blessed work that I had undertaken I was dutiful and obedient to the calls commands of my father in all things that he required of me or set me about Now the father the son being thus mutually engaged by promise one to another in honour and faithfulness it highly concerned them to keep one another close to the terms of the Covenant that was made between them and accordingly they did for God the father peremptorily stands upon that compleat and full satisfaction that Christ had promised to give to his justice and therefore when the day of payment came he would not abate Jesus Christ one penny one farthing of the many ten thousand Talents that he Mat. 18. 24. was to pay down upon the nail for us Rom. 8. 32. God spared not his own son that is he abated nothing of that full price that by agreement with his father he was to lay down for us other fathers give their all to spare and redeem their children but the heart of God the father is so fully and strongly set upon satisfaction that he will not spare his son his own son his only son but give him up to death yea to an accursed death that we might be Mauritius who died most miserably spared and saved for ever I have read of a Roman Emperour who chose rather to spare his money than to redeem his souldiers being taken prisoners But to redeem us God would not spare no not his own son because no money nor treasure would serve the turn but only the blood yea the heart-blood of his dear son 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. And as God the father keeps Christ close to the terms of the Covenant so Jesus Christ keeps his father close to the terms of the Covenant also Joh. 17. 4 5. I have glorified thee on the earth saith Christ to his father I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do And now O father glorifie thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was O my father I have finished the work of Redemption but where 's the wages where 's the glory where 's the reward that thou hast promised me There was nothing committed to Christ by the father to be done on earth for the purchasing of our Redemption but he did finish it so that the debt is paid justice satisfied and sin Satan and death spoiled so that nothing remains but that Christ be glorified according to the promise of the father to him The summ of Christ's petition is this that since he had finished the work of Redemption that therefore the father according to his engagement would advance him to the possession of that glory that he enjoyed from all eternity Now for the clearing of this we must consider that as Christ was from Eternity the glorious God so we are not to conceive of any real change in this glory of his Godhead as if by his estate of humiliation he had suffered any diminution or by his state of exaltation any real accession were made to his glory as God But the true meaning is this That Christ having according to the paction past betwixt the father and him obscured the glory of his Godhead for a time under the veil of the Phil. 2. 5 6 7 8. form of a servant and our sinless infirmities doth now expect according to the tenour of the same paction after he had done his work to be exalted and glorified and openly declared to be the son of God the veil of his estate Rom. 1. 4. of humiliation though not of our nature being taken away It is further to be considered that however this eternal glory be proper to him as God yet he prays to be glorified in his whole person Glorifie me because not only his humane nature was to be exalted to what glory finite nature was capable of but the glory of his Godhead was to shine in the person of Christ God-man and in the man Christ though without confusion of his natures and properties Christ did so faithfully discharge his trust and perfect the work of Redemption as that the father was engaged by paction to glorifie him and accordingly Christ God incarnate is exalted with the father in glory and majesty so that believers may be as sure that all things necessary for their Redemption are done as
come into the world assume our nature be made under the Law tread the Wine-press of the Father's wrath bear the Curse and give satisfaction to his Justice Now upon the credit of this promise upon this undertaking of Christ God the Father takes up the Patriarchs and all the Old Testament-believers to Glory God the Father resting upon the promise and engagement of his Son admits many thousands into those 〈…〉 on s above before Joh. 14. 2 3. Christ took Flesh upon him Now as tâ—â— Father of old hath rested and relyed on the promise and engagement of Christ so Jesus Christ doth to this very day â—â—st and stay himself upon the promise of his Father that he shall in Isa â—3 10. due time see all his seed and reap the full benefit of that full Ransom that he has paid down upon the nail for all that have believed on him that do believe on him and that shall believe on him Christ knew God's infinite Love his tender Compassions and his matchless Bowels to all those for whom he died And he knew very well the Covenant the Compact the Agreement that past between the Father and himself and so trusted the Father fully in the great business of their everlasting happiness and blessedness relying upon the love and faithfulness of God his love to the Elect and his faithfulness to keep Covenant with him As the Elect are committed to Christ's charge to give an account of them so also is the Father engaged for their conversion and for their preservation being converted As being not only his own Joh. 6. 37. Isa 53. 11. given to Christ out of his love to them but as being engaged to Christ that he shall not be frustrate of the reward of his Sufferings but have a Seed to glorifie him for ever Therefore doth Christ not only constantly preserve them by his Spirit but doth leave also that burden on the Father Father keep those whom thou hast given me Joh. 17. 11. But Fourthly Jesus Christ promises and engages himself to his Father that he would bear all and suffer all that should be laid upon him and that he would ransom poor sinners and fully satisfie Divine Justice by his blood and death as you may see by comparing the Scriptures in the Isa 5â— 5 6. Joh. 10. 17. 18. cap. 15. 10. Luk. 24. 46. Heb. 10. 5 6 7 10. I have opened these Scriptures already Margin together The work of Redemption could never have been effected by silver or gold or by prayers or tears or by the blood of Bulls or Goats but by the second Adam's obedience even to the death of the Cross Remission of sin the favour of God the heavenly Inheritance could never have been obtained but by the procious blood of the Son of God The innocent Lamb of God was slain in typical prefigurations from the beginning of the world and slain in real performance in the fulness of time or else fallen man had layen under guilt and wrath for ever The heart of Jesus Christ was strongly set upon all those that his Father had given him and he was fully resolved to secure them from Hell and the Curse whatever it cost him and seeing no price would satisfie his Father's Justice below his Blood he lays down his life at his Father's feet according to the Covenant and Agreement of old that had past between his Father and himself But Fifthly The Lord Jesus Christ was very free ready willing and careful to make good all the Articles of the Covenant on his side and to discharge all the works agreed Joh. 12. 49 50. cap. 17. 6. on for the Redemption and Salvation of the Elect Joh. 17. 4. I have finished the work that thou gavest me to do There was nothing committed to Christ by the Father to be done on earth for the purchasing of our Redemption but he did finish it so that the Debt is paid Colos 2. 14 15. Heb. 2. 14. Justice satisfied and sin Satan and death spoiled of all their hurting and destroying power By the Covenant of Redemption Christ was under an obligation to die to Dan. 9. 24. satisfie to Divine Justice to pay our debts to bring in an everlasting Righteousness to purchase our Pardon and Heb. 9. 12. to obtain eternal Redemption for us all which he compleated and finished before he ascended up to glory And Act. 1. 9 10 11. without a peradventure had not Jesus Christ kept touch with his Father had not he made good the Covenant the Compact the Agreement on his part his Father would never have given him such a welcome to heaven as he did nor he would never have admitted him to have sat down Heb. 1. 3. Rom. 8 34. Colâ—s â— 1. Hâ—b 8. 1. cap. 10. 12. 1 â—et 3. 22. on the right hand of the Majesty on high as he did The right hand is a place of the greatest honour dignity and safety that any can be advanced to But had not Jesus Christ first purged away our sins he had never sat down on the right hand of his Father Christ's advancement is properly Mat. 26. 64. Act. 7. 56. of his Humane Nature That Nature wherein Christ was crucified was exalted for God being the Most High needs not be exalted yet the Humane Nature in this exaltation is not singly and simply considered in it self but as united to the Deity so that it is the Person consisting of two Natures even God-man which is thus dignified For as the Humane Nature of Christ is inferiour to God and is capable of advancement so also is the person consisting of a Divine and Humane Nature Christ as the Son of God the second Person of the sacred Trinity is in regard of his Deity no whit inferiour to his Father but every way equal yet he assumed our nature and became a Mediator betwixt God man he humbled himself and made himself inferiour to his Father his Father therefore hath highly exalted him Phil. 2. 8 9. and set him down on his right hand If Christ had not Eph. 1. 20. expiated our sins and compleated the work of our Redemption he could never have sat down on the right hand of God Heb. 10. 12. But this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever sat down on the right hand of God This verse is added in opposition to the former as is evident by the first Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But in the former verse it was proved that the Sacrifices which were offered under the Law could not take away sins This verse proveth that there is a Sacrifice which hath done that that they could not do The Argument is taken from that Priest's ceasing to offer any more Sacrifices after he had offered one whereby is implyed that there needed no other because that one had done it to the full sin was taken away by Christ's Sacrifice for thereby a Ransom was paid