to the excellency of that discovery For the whole Mosaïck Oeconomy was made up of Types and Figures and a thick Night continually overspread their Tabernacle Their Promises and Curses literally concerned the things of this life and it required a piercing Faith spiritually to interpret them a vulgar eye would surely stay upon the Surface but for to be able to take in the depth this must proceed from a strong enlightning which we read only a few were blest with that like Moses were carried up to see the hidden things of the Mount when the generality stood below and saw nothing but Clouds There was then great need of a Saviour to appear whether we regard Jew or Gentile and that not only for the work of saving Mankind but for redeeming Truth which was so obscur'd by the one and lost by the other Now Christ has discharg'd his Office in this particular and for this Prophet alone was reserv'd all the glory of Divine Revelation who being the express Image of his Fathers Person was the Signifier also of his Will in the brightest Character We know in the Creation Light was Gods first work but in restoring of Religion his last He judg'd it not fit to bring bright day on his People at first but by degrees to prepare their weak sight that it might be the better confirm'd and when the full time came the Gospel was published which put an end to farther discoveries and seal'd up the Vision This being premis'd it remains I should speak one word to shew how Gods wrath by way of eminency is revealed in the Gospel which will appear by considering 1. The Cleerness of it in the Letter 2. The Publick Promulgation of it to the World 1. For the Clearness of the Letter nothing can be more lively shown than the Sinners Hell whose Worm is said not to dye neither is his Fire quenched Nor does the Second Death cease from hurting him Should we now conclude with the Socïnian Eternal Punishment to be nothing else but Perdition or a Negation of Existence we must flatly deny those phrases of Scripture before mentioned for the Worm it self dies if its prey does so the Fire is put out if the matter it feeds upon be not lasting and the Second Death is not in the least hurtful if it imply nothing of torment But besides were this granted them what 's become of the fierceness of Gods wrath when neither felt nor endured Where is his Judgment and severe reckoning with evil doers if they partake with Brutes in their end It is folly to fear where Justice is not known and consequently a wide gap is opened by such men to all impiety when they take off the Terrors of Death leaving men as unconcern'd to be nothing an hundred years hence as an hundred years past to be unborn O the vanity of that Reason they pretend to which breaks the Authority of Gods Laws O the cruelty of their Compassion to Mans nature whereby Religion it self is destroy'd But Christ has otherwise instructed the World and knowing it needful that Everlasting Punishment should be equally set before us with Life Eternal He has joyned them both in the Sentence that we might be every way convinc'd Eternity is our lot and therefore a full motive to Duty In the Old Testament Tophet or the Valley of the Children of Hinnom where their Sons and Daughters were sacrificed to Moloch was used by the Prophet Isaiah as his greatest Type and Representation of Hell But how short it fell of a Gospel-description will be made evident if we consult the place the number it was prepared for and the time of its burning the place though deep yet had bottom the number though great yet was limited to one People and the time of its burning though fierce yet had end On the contrary the Gospel reveals a bottomless Gulf a multitude of all Nations that enter and a perpetual duration of their torments So that here we have a clear light of the Letter wherein the Jews were defective Neither does the excellency of a Revelation stop here but we may consider in the second place 2. The Publick Promulgation of it to the World and the Seal it carries of an Universal Publishing answerable to the Majesty of him that came to set up an Universall Kingdom Behold the Sentence of Divine Wrath was before hid with the Jews but now the knowledg of it spreads into all parts and so it proves a new Light in regard of its extent through all quarters That Sun of righteousness that has risen shines round about not only with healing under his wings to preserve but with Flames too of vengeance to consume And this He manifested here on Earth when he proclaimed the Glad-tydings of Salvation and pronounc'd many a Blessing upon his People yet lest they should forget the Justice of a Saviour Woes and Threatnings were ushered in to allay and temper all his Ministry Therefore those that heard him had reason to fear and not think themselves freed from Legal terrors since the Thunder of Sinai continued still though the Darkness of it was gone And as He thus awed them with his own Teaching so He commissioned his Servants to do likewise when He sent them abroad to teach all Nations Mercy alone was not their Theme nor the riches of Divine Grace in mans Redemption which is such welcome news to the receiver but the Curse was also annext and the Charge of future Judgment that if the former did please the latter might bind Before this Ignorance might be some way pleaded by the Gentiles that they obeyed not Gods Law when Life and Immortality were not known but after these were cleared up in the Gospel then their Condemnation was perfected For now they could be no longer termed unhappy for sitting in Darkness and in the Shadow of Death which is a kind of Sanctuary to the Pleader but Wicked for loving the Shadow which is the beginning of Hell Upon this account He no more winks or spares but judicially eying their steps denounces against them his heaviest Judgment I know many refer the Revelation of Gods Wrath to the Experiments of it in the world and make his outward Judgments upon sinners as so many Witnesses to confirm it But were no higher meant than those Instances we should be still in the dark convinc'd perhaps he was wroth but not wroth to a distinction wherein Justice is revealed None can spell out Characters of Providence nor read the special Hand-writing upon the Wall without the benefit of Vision What is all our sight of a just God here but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a Riddle a Riddle that has busied Philosophers to resolve and hardned their doubts by the enquiry If Wrath be manifested let the bad feel its burden but alas Gods Tempests here seem onely to fall upon his own Chosen They may call it Grace thus to suffer but it is Grace not seen nor acknowledged by others all
Spartans we read were great Worshippers of the Passions and therefore had Temples erected to them but Fear was the Goddess they chiefly worshipped in regard of its use and influence to preserve States Certainly though they erred in thus dedicating their Temples yet they did not erre in their notion of the advantage of Fear but had a godly one fully possessed them they would much more have concluded the safety of a Nation to depend on it as being the surest Bond of Law and the only preventer of Gods Plagues I need not endeavour to prove either of these for where such a Fear has due place it will in the closest secresie oblige men to obey and engage God openly to defend them But whether outward prosperity be always the fruit I shall not enquire I am sure the success is of the last day and the sentence of mercy waits onely upon those that religiously fear to offend To these no death can be sudden nor untimely which alone is the portion of impenitent sinners who fall often to the earth with their Youth and with their Sins too as full blown and being cast down by a Judgment are not allowed a space to recover them Why then will we abuse the promises that are offer'd us There is a Golden thread of them let down from Heaven but tyed to a Sword with the point over us and while we are rioting and indulging the Flesh the thread is ready to break and the Sword to fall on us Pardon the harshness of denouncing these things for soft words are not for Ministers to deliver It is your conscience we are bound to strike whereas your eyes are enough enlightned And the Corruption of mens natures requires this Method that Promises and Threatnings should be joyn'd to chastise and temper our hopes and settle upon our spirits a right frame Otherwise we should boldly presume and learn no Holiness in Gods Fear but that Good and Evil possessing our thoughts help to quicken us in our Obedience So then I beseech you contemplate Divine Love as withal fatal to the refuser joyn the Father with the Judge and the Adoption he offers with his Severity in condemning farther consider how the Dignity of Humane Nature lies in the pureness of its faculties as a Reward follows their Exercise First you are advanced by it to be like God next in that likeness to enjoy him Last of all search out every motive to press you to Holiness which if you enter upon and persevere in the same God who was Gracious in making and is Faithful in performing what He has promised will enstate you in the Inheritance of Sons and add Eternity for its Crown The Third Discourse St. John 6.68 Then Simon Peter answered him Lord to whom shall we goe Thou hast the words of Eternal Life IF you examin the scope of these words they are a full and passionate reply to that Question Christ made in the verse foregoing where He tries the Faith of his Apostles whether they would constantly adhere to his Laws or with the rest of the Multitude forsake him For we read in this Chapter how that great Crowd of people which followed him began now to shrink and fall off because his Doctrine was like his Person no wayes suited to a carnal Apprehension And the colour they had for this their Apostacy was some supposed absurdity of what he taught as when He styl'd himself the Living Bread which came down from Heaven vers 51. and whoever eat of that Bread should live for ever So that we find upon an enquiry that a bare Metaphor was the quarrel and a Figure of Speech the foundation of the Controversie But waving the subject matter of their Dispute which is at large described in the Chapter it will not be impertinent to observe the strange levity and ingratitude of the Vulgar who being the worst judges of a discourse will yet presume to sit upon it and if it once crosses their fancy they are ready to throw off the Authority of their Lord ay and such an Authority that was before highly commended to them in all the Wonders of Mercy Hence it is said v. 66. That many of his Disciples went back and walked no more with him Upon so general a revolt He appears at that accident unconcern'd whatever pitty He had for their persons yet He leavs them to be punished by that flight they had made but as for the Twelve whom He had particularly chosen for his Attendants these He deals with as a Friend sounds their Loyalty and by his very seeming to doubt of it shows all the Tenderness of a Saviour Then said He to the Twelve Will ye also go away Then Simon Peter answered him Lord to whom shall we go Thou hast the words of Eternal Life In this Answer of St. Peters we may consider Two Particulars 1. The Sense of all the Apostles delivered by one of them which was plainly this That they ought not to seek another Master 2. The Reason of their Choice drawn from the singular excellency of his Teaching Thou hast the words of Eternal Life I begin with their General Sense Lord to whom shall we go which kind of speech does imply that should they offer to leave Christ yet a Master was needful to be their Guide in Religion For such is mans weakness and poverty by nature that he requires somewhat without him to rest on for Happiness but it here farther fignifies that they were already fixt upon a Teacher and could find out nothing comparable to him they heard This is the scope and meaning of the Question From the Matter thus declared and from the Occasion of doing it we may note Two things 1. The Nobleneness of a right Faith when once seated in the Soul 2. The Authority of Truth notwithstanding the Opposition of the World 1. The Nobleness of a right Faith c. And it is this That it sets upon Difficulties and conquers them Let the times of Profession be bad and reproachful too for those numbers that backslide yet he that is well grounded in his Belief has his thoughts higher planted He is above the Poor Circumstance of time and beyond the Contagion of an Example Now the rules that govern most men in their course are Private Interest and Publick Opinion so that like Puppits they move and the principle of their acting is without them but he that is led by neither of these but makes Religion his Interest and obedience to it his Fame he may be call'd a Believer indeed for he expresses the Man and the Christian together Others are but Reeds in their Station shaken with every wind and mark'd for their barrenness while they stand but he is a Tree set by the Rivers of water that has depth of root and fruitfulness to crown it Yet the constancy he has is not any stiffness of mind that proceeds from the prejudice of Education for that is no better than the stiffness of earth
am sure such as these are the Greatest Persecutors of our Lord. The putting of a Reed into his hand before he should suffer was but the mocking of his Power but to put a Sword into his hand that is come to save us is a flat denyal of his Goodness and so they impiously number him with the Transgressors I need not farther enlarge on this Subject nor demonstrate the wildness of their Tenet which both our Saviours Life and manner of Government the Commands and Practise of the Apostles the Examples of primitive Martyrs and in a word the Profession of the best Saints has condemn'd But this by the way It here lies upon me to prove how Christs words are the proper words of Eternal Life which may be easily made out from that Gospel he has deliver'd to his Church wherein we find him 1. A Minister in that He has fully reveal'd it to the World 2. A Purchaser in that he has acquired a right to bestow it 3. A Worker in that He has made the Doctrine of it effectual to Salvation I. A Minister in that he has fully reveal'd it to the World as He did also the Doctrine of Eternal Death which I before handled And He has revealed this Life in a way of Authority and Sweetness proper to himself at once forcing us to assent to the truth of that evidence and raising our affections to pursue it He therefore delivered it in such a Style that might powerfully engage us both ways as when He did not onely expresly mention the thing it self but likewise described it by such inviting Characters as Joy Glory the Kingdom of Heaven nay in a peculiar Emphasis the Kingdom where Life and Immortality are enthron'd Now who is there but must acknowledge the blindness that cover'd the Gentile World till this Great Prophet came to enlighten us For we sat in darkness and in the very shadow of Death which encompassed us round and beset us and took away from us any farther Prospect not to be open'd nor enlarg'd till this Light came which gave us Knowledg and Salvation What force soever there may be in Natural Religion which some boast of yet the great Masters of those Schools which taught it were miserably dimsighted as to any future state of Life and Happiness except wee 'l say a walk in Elysium for Wandring Souls or a wretched Pilgrimage through several Bodies be a proper Condition to be desired Yet thus did the best of those Writers dream who apprehended well enough a God and his Worship and though they might deliver fine notions of both yet fancy came in to corrupt all with gross devices and foolish mixtures in their Reward Hence the morality even of their Chiefest was suited to their Principles that is They had the Shadow of a Good Life as they had the Shadow of Immortality The greatest height of vertue they ever arriv'd to was but to disguise their Passions and by stopping some foul effects of them to consult a Fame of well-doing whereas the seed and root of a corruption was still cherished and lust secretly ruled in their hearts and lives for want of a discovery which we Christians enjoy about the eternal Wages of our deeds Upon this account Tertullian and the rest of the Ancients had sufficient ground to condemn their choicest Philosophy since the study of it was followed with no other fruit than this That it serv'd for Paint to hide Vice but prov'd no Antidote to expell it But if Natural Reason did thus fail must we also complain of any defect in those Inspirations which Gods own Prophets were assisted with No for the words they delivered were words of life onely the Jews that heard them were in their nonage bred up at first with milk and honey and that Infant-food of a Carnal Promise and therefore it was judg'd fit by Divine Wisdom to wean them by degrees from these outward things and not allow them a Spiritual Diet of perfect happiness till they arrived at the strength of a Masculine Understanding But the Prophets themselves had that state revealed to them in all its clearness only that Discipline which their Hearers were under causi'd it to be dispenc'd to them by a Figurative application But Christ came in the very fulness of time when Life and Immortality were to be shown and He answer'd that fulness by his own Teaching so that all those Prophets who went before him serv'd but like the light of a Morning-star to usher in the brightness of that discovery Let us consider him in the next place II. As a Purchaser in that He acquir'd a right to bestow it And this Title He has to such a donation by that Price he laid down for his own People when He bought them out of their old Thraldom and cancell'd that forfeiture they had made of Life Eternal by the merits of his Death and the infinite Satisfaction of his Sufferings His Gospel is the Evidence of this his Purchase wherein Eternal Life and our Lords Propriety is declard whereby He is qualified not only to possess it in himself but to conferre that Inheritance upon others And therefore to him we must have recourse in all our Devotions and upon his Merits alone ground our addresses Heb. 7.25 who is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him But the Romanists seem to have found out other Purchasers at least many Sharers with him in that Prerogative when dividing the Vertue of his Mediation they fly to Saints and Angels by a solemn invocation of them to intercede What is this else but an Idolatrous act when the Creature is set up by them for a peculiar Object they must adore and for a Meritorious Helper they should trust to or wherein do they differ from the old Heathens who worshipped their Demons or Inferiour Gods as intermediate Agents with the Supreme If they upon that score were condemned as Idolaters by the ancient maintainers of our Religion certainly a like charge does most deservedly fall upon such Worshippers that parcel out and communicate Divine Glory nay the Charge is much heavier in this respect because the Heathens were ignorant of Gods will but for Christians this way to beg life it is to libel Gods Word that speaks otherwise it is to exclude his Son from his own Office and Royalty in whose Name we are bid to pray and by whom alone we have access to our Heavenly Father nay it is repugnant to the condition of those Spirits above who can neither hear every mans prayers throughout the world nor look into the hearts of those that call on them Yet O ye blessed Saints and Angels if ye can behold such Worshippers as these men see with what wicked Plots and bloody hands they offer Incense Can ye possibly accept their Prayers No none can accept them but their own Martyrs But all Worship how innocent soever is rejected in Heaven where the God of it alone is
I answer not immediately from his Satisfaction but from the time of our rightly believing in him We are justified by his Blood in one sense and we are justified by faith in his Blood in another His bloody Death procur'd for us the Pardon which is nothing else but putting us into capacity of being pardoned but True Faith applies the Pardon to the Soul whereby we actually enjoy it How Faith here will be understood may be found out by comparing two places of Scripture namely Acts 10.43 with Acts 3.19 In the one it is said Whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins in the other Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out so that True Faith is the Principle of a new life the beginning of Sanctification when the Heart is resign'd up to God and with sincere resolutions turns to him No Faith can justifie us but as Faith that thus worketh for as God will take no unsanctified person to his Glory so neither will He seal to him in that condition pardon of sin here which is the earnest of that Glory Trust not then to his Wounds if thou bearest not the marks of them in thy Soul rely not on his Death if sin in thee be not crucified They were Reprobate Jews that turn'd his Passion into a Sight and came off not wounded but true Christians are pierced with beholding him and find it operative upon their lives Should we be justified without doing any thing on our part obedience to Gods Commands would rather be a Gift than a Debt whereas the Gospel enjoyns it us as necessary to please Him let us then so come to his Grave as not idly to bury our selves there for we are but dead men in doing so neither will our Master be found since the Angel can tell us He is not there but is risen whence we ought not to rest in that place but go forth to seek him All the vertue that is in the Sepulcher comes out to those that rise and resemble him who is risen That like as he was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father so they likewise might walk in newness of life Thus much for the First Observable I proceed to handle the Second Proposition II. That there are proper and peculiar Advantages in Christs rising above that death yea rather is risen again All the time Christ slept in the Grave was a time of gloominess and thick darkness but here God speaks as he did in the old Creation Let there be light His rising bring us day and the joyes of it wherein Death has lost all its spoyls and Life his victory Sin has spent all its force and Mercy triumphs the Synagogue it self ends and our Church begins A Day very pleasant in the speculation but may no doubt come in that it is artificially fram'd and devised by Christians Truly doubts cannot be hindred where corruption and infidelity so much reigns but the reason of our doubting is taken away by the clear evidence that is given us of his Resurrection If you ask what that is behold it is grounded upon Prophets that fortell Eye-witnesses that confirm and God himself attesting the truth of both by the power of his Spirit that worked in the Preachers to make this Point undeniable To the Prophets St. Acts 2. Peter appeals for convincing the Jews and St. Paul makes it a standing proof how He rose again according to the Scriptures 1 Cor. 15.4 Eye-witnesses are produc'd to convince the Gentiles not onely a few Women and Apostles whom he had chosen but Five hundred Brethren at once and those He appear'd to were not so much considerable for their number as for their nicety in believing men that had scruples of sense which kept them from being deceived as well as scruples of concience which kept them from deceiving others The first of these is manifest from hence That they would not thoroughly believe He was risen though they saw him till they were convinc'd by the very touch the latter is cleer from that Doctrine they embraced which forbad the least sin and how can we imagine they durst propagate a Cheat under all discouragements when they knew they not onely ran the hazard of losing their Lives as they did by professing him but their Hopes too of a better life the onely Anchor of their Profession from which a Lye would certainly exclude them Add to this the Spirit they received the Wonders they wrought and the Success they had in their Ministry when their Doctrine spread through the world from poor naked beginnings meerly by the force of this Article it shows the Body of their Master was not stoln away as the Keepers absurdly reported but that God himself was risen to defend them These things well consider'd if they amount not to Demonstration yet afford so rational a proof as will engage our assent to the Truth and convince us of folly in denying it Now the Advantages of Christs Rising above his Death have a double aspect for they either relate to Christ or to Us. First to Christ and so the Dignity of his Resurrection is seen in these Particulars 1. It justified the Innocence of his Humanity When Christ was laid hold of and carried away to be condemn'd by the Jews then his very Cause seem'd to be given up It was counted criminal with them that He would submit to an Arrest and a sufficient evidence to make him a Malefactor that He did so tamely yield to the Trial. But when He endured the Sentence to be pronounced went patiently to his Cross and suffer'd his Body to be fastned with the nails as if He had the guilt of a Slave with the punishment here was the Hour to overcome Truth and the Power of darkness to cover him who is the light of the world But his Rising from death removed that Eclipse cleard that Innocence by the distinction it made of his Fate when the Vileness of his Execution gave Authority to the Charge This caused such boldness in Peter to plead for his Master and return the fault upon his Persecutors which He was so guilty of himself Ye have denyed the holy one and the just Acts 3.14 and he proceeds farther to aggravate their Crime and maintain the righteousness of his Cause by that convincing Argument of Gods raifing Vers 15. him from the dead Now it is easie for any one to conclude that had our Lord been an Impostor or an evil doer he could not rise such kind of men would surely rot in the Grave and know no other Resurrection than that of the last Day to a worse Judgment because for God to punish them with Death here and allow them presently to rise that so they might confirm their own followers in those Errors they taught and those Evils they practised here a work of Divinity would be employed to destroy the true worship of it which is a flat contradiction to his Goodness
Christ therefore by his rising had a Testimony from Heaven of his uprightness and the Evidence seal'd by Omnipoteoce it self That He was the True Prophet which came into the world 2. It declared the Divinity of his Power For He raised up himself Now to raise the Dead is beyond the strength of a Finite Agent and to restore things as well as create them does equally require an Almighty hand both which works not being to be found in Nature the Heatheris thence taking their measures judg'd them Impossible to be done which is an unreasonable limiting of the God of Nature when Men will not consider what reserves of Power He ought to have that is the Fountain of all the actions of his Creatures That Christ would thus raise up himself He in his life-time foretold and He particularly appeals to the Divinity of that act He would one day show as a sign of his Authority to purge that Temple which they profan'd 2 Joh. 19. And the Apostle S. Paul expresly tells us how by his resurrection from the dead He was declared to be the Son of God with power Rom. 1.4 that is with power He had in himself to give life not with power his Father alone put forth in quickning him for then his Rising would be common to him with others But did not the Miracles He wrought when living declare him likewise to be the Son of God Not so convincingly as this for the Wonders He then did meer men such were the Prophets had the Priviledg of doing before him but none except the Son of God could thus rise much less did his dying reveal him in that Majesty which could only declare him to be the Son of Man with weakness For what more argues it then to dye what greater scandal of that weakness than to die on the Cross wherein the Godhead stooped to the lowest infirmities of Flesh and the worst malice of his Persecutors Then his Enemies could grow bold and scoffingly demand some proof of his Power and the contemptibleness of that state He was in which hid all his Greatness made them ask such a sign of it as that was of saving himself which if granted had kept the world from being saved But his Rising from death had all marks of glory in it the breaking up of the Sepulcher the Ministry of Angels the shaking of Earth and the trembling of Keepers which were but several wayes of Homage due to the Power of his Resurrection Here He discovered himself to be truly God and confirm'd the Faith of his Disciples with the Reason they had to worship him 3. It invested him in his Rights and put him into actual possession of his Kingdom This was the Covenant betwixt Him and his Father that He should first make Attonment for sin by his Death and receive afterwards the reward of that work in Dominion Hence we read how for becoming obedient to Death Phil. 2.9 even the Death of the Cross He was therefore highly exalted Psa 110.7 for drinking of the brook of the way he should therefore lift up his head King He was indeed from his very birth but He receiv'd not then the oyl of gladness above his fellows the Honour of his Anointing was as imperfect as the Form He assum'd which was the Form of a Servant where He was put under subjection to the Law and the Curse but after He rose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was made perfect that is actually crown'd This is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matt. 19.28 the Regeneration or New state mention'd namely the Kingdom of the Messiah which takes its date from the time of his Resurrection for then He showed his Conquest of the chief Rebel Satan by overturning the Foundation of his Empire which was laid in the Grave so that whereas all other Princes Glory ends in that place this Princes Triumph there began then He commissioned his Disciples to Preach every where and Baptize to gather him a Church made up of Jews and Gentiles where He would alwayes rule and preside when as before they continued Members of the Synagogue And his Authority to do this He grounds upon that Universal power that was given him both Mat. 28. in Heaven and in Earth whereto He had right in his Flesh as the Heir but the exercise of it as a Possessor was suspended till his rising Should we compare his condition under death with this his condition after it we shall find a vast difference for at his death He was so far from having the Ensigns of Soveraignty that He bore onely the looks and wore the chains of a Captive The great mark of his Kingship appear'd in the Title of his Charge King of the Jews which being set over his head and He crucified under it it showed He was the object more of mens Mockery than Fear But when He rose He put on Greatness took the Scepter in his hand and made his way as a Prince by victory Here He manifested the Vertue of his Kingly Office and convinc'd the World of his right to command and what obedience is due to his Laws Hitherto I have insisted upon the Dignity of the Resurrection as it relates to Christ I shall next consider the Advantages of it as it relates to us Yea rather is risen again And they are these 1. It manifested a full discharge of our Debt and Gods ready accepting of that price which was paid When a Surety that undertakes anothers Debt is cast into prison by the Creditor if he comes out of it it argues the Creditor is fully satisfied so Christs coming out of the Grave whether He was delivered by the Judg for our offences declares the obligation is taken off and no more left for Him to suffer To this purpose the Apostle speaks Rom. 4.25 That He rose again for our Justification or in other terms to give us assurance by the Satisfaction of his Death that our Acquittance is obtain'd The work of Redemption was perform'd in the dark when He dyed all the time He was held in the Grave we could have no sense of a deliverance but when He who was slain for a Sin-offering presented himself afterwards alive before the Lord this brought us light to behold the Perfection of that Attonement Look then on his Death as the cause of thy freedom but on his Rising as the ground of thy comfort in the one He was the Priest to offer in the other the Messenger to assure us a preceding requisite to give us the joy of a Saviour and compleat our notion of his performance when we should see his love in the strength of it find out the Price He laid down for us by Death in the Power of that Evidence He gave us by Life The Scape-goat under the Law was but a poor uncomfortable Type that had all the iniquities sins and transgressions of Israel put upon his head and was after this sent away into the