is derived from him For if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal Bodies by the Spirit that dwelleth in you Rom. 8.11 i.e. The Spirit whereby Christ does now raise us to a New life will likewise quicken our mortal Bodies and give New lise to us after Death But this is not all that is meant by his Power to justifie us For 2. He has Power and Authority given him as the Supreme Judge of the World to acquit us Eternally from Death or when we are risen to give us Eternal life And this is a distinct thing from God's justifying us from the Sentence pass'd upon Adam His raising us to life again after we are dead is owing to our Justification from that Sentence For had not he by dying satisfied the Justice that takes away our Lives we should not rise again to Life But whether we shall live for ever after we are risen or die again does depend upon that Sentence that as our Judge he will pass upon us God has appointed a day in which he will judge the World in Righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained saith St. Paul Act. 17.31 i.e. God has given him Power to take an account how Mankind has used the Mercy that he has favour'd us with and to declare who according to the Gospel are worthy of Eternal life and who are not and accordingly to determine of our Eternal condition either by justifying us to Eternal life or condemning us to a second Death And this he intimates to us in the fore-mentioned Text I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly That they might have life i.e. That I might by raising them from the Dead restore them the Life that Death deprives them of And that they might have it more abundantly i.e. That I might justifie them to a Life that is Eternal when at the Resurrection they are Judged a second time His Resurrection 't is true does assure us that we are now in a Justified state i.e. That we are acquitted from the Sentence that has pass'd upon Adam and that in respect of this Justification we shall certainly rise to Life again But though we be absolved from that Sentence we must expect another to be pass'd upon us which will finally and eternally save us from Death if when we appear before that great Tribunal he that is to Judge us does find we have not neglected so great Salvation and sinn'd away the favour that has been granted us And this Power to absolve us for ever from Everlasting Death is given to him who came into the World to suffer for our Offences and rose again for our Justification And therefore the Apostle to the Hebrews tells us That as it is appointed unto Men once to die and after Death the Judgment So Christ was once offer'd to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation Heb. 9.27 28. i.e. Though we die by vertue of that Sentence that God gave upon us in Adam yet Christ having undergone the Punishment for us we shall not die Eternally by vertue of that Sentence For Christ who bore our Sins will come again to Judge us and then shall all his faithfull Servants be Eternally acquitted from that more dreadfull Curse that he will denounce against all that have lost their opportunity to save their Souls 2. This Power to justifie us i.e. to deliver us from Death by raising us to Lise again and acquitting us as our Judge at the last day he received when he rose from the Dead For then it was that he enter'd upon the publick Administration of the Affairs of his Kingdom and was made of God both Lord and Christ Then it was he received a Name that is above every Name and was dignified with the Honour of being Head over all things Thus he himself told his Disciples after his Resurrection That all Power was given unto him both in Heaven and Earth Matt. 28.18 By which he means the Power of that Kingdom that by vanquishing him that has the Power of Death he has obtained The Power of pardoning Sin and raising the Dead and giving Eternal life to all that faithfully and sincerely serve him The God of our Fathers saith St. Peter raised up Jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a Tree Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance unto Israel and remission of sins Act. 5.30 31. In which words the Apostle informs us that the Power God has given him is the Power of dispensing that Grace and Mercy that he has obtain'd for us The Power of delivering us from Death and of justifying us as our Judge to Eternal life And that this Power God advanced him to when he raised him from the Dead 'T is true while he was in this World he styles himself the Resurrection and the Life and tells us That God had given him Authority to execute Judgment because he is the Son of Man But yet in these Expressions he means no more than that he was the Person who was designed by his Father to this Eminent Dignity and Power of abolishing Death and Judging the World and giving Life and Immortality to mortal Men. And of this he gave a convincing proof by raising Lazarus from the Dead But yet the Life he restored Lazarus to was not that Immortal life which he will give his sincere Followers when he utterly destroys Death but the same Mortal life that he was possess'd of before But the Power of raising us to an Immortal life which he gave a proof that he was designed to be instated in by raising Lazarus from the Dead was not conferr'd upon him till he was risen from the Dead Then it was that he enter'd upon his Regal Office and was invested with that Power and Authority by which he has put all Enemies under his feet He is sat down on the right hand of God saith the Apostle expecting till his Enemies be made his foot-stool Heb. 10.12 13. Designing at the End of all things to subdue Death which is the last Enemy he is to destory and in a most solemn and glorious manner to deliver his faithfull Servants from their Captivity and all Power of Death for the suture and to put them into an actual possession of that immortal life that they live in an expectation of srom him And now if Christ be thus risen for our Justification or that he might receive Power to justifie us Let us consider 1. What Reason we have to depend upon him for Everlasting life This is that Faith that he expects from us and which in the Gospel we are so frequently exhorted to A believing that Death is vanquish'd by the Power of our Mediatour when he rose from the Dead and
that we shall assuredly rise again to Life because our Redeemer who has over-come Death has the Power of raising us to Life again and of justifying us to Eternal life in his Hands It is not a believing that there is a God For though such a Faith does much contribute to the comfort of our Lives when we know that he is reconciled to us yet it serves only to fill us with terrour and astonishment if his Wrath does still lie upon us Nor is it a believing only that he employ'd a great Prophet to make our Duty more plain and to give us the best Rules and the most excellent Example of a Holy Life For such a Revelation can be of no advantage to us if our former Offences for which we are condemned are not pardon'd Neither is it a believing that though Sin be strong and prevalent in us yet we are not one jot the less Just because we commit Sin as some speak but by being united to Christ who has fulfill'd all Righteousness we have all Righteousness that is needfull to possess us of Everlasting life i.e. That God has put all into the Hands of his Son and that we have nothing more to do for the gaining Eternal life but to believe that Christ has done all for us For all that we can do will not make us one jot the more Just and Righteous in the sight of God i.e. Nothing more qualified for Eternal life than we are without it Now that this is not the Faith that the Gospel requires of us is evident from hence That the Gospel does all along suppose us to be in a state of Probation for Eternal life which this Faith does not For it supposes we are as safe as we can be by believing the things that Christ has done and suffer'd for us and that by means of this Faith his Righteousness is ours and that this Righteousness which is ours by believing is the only Righteousness we have to trust to for Eternal life Now if this be so we must deprive Christ of two of his Offices viz. his Prophetick and Regal Offices For having fulfill'd all Righteousness for us there was no need of his discharging the Office of a Prophet by interpreting the Mind of God and prescribing Rules of Life to us nor of executing the Office of a Prince in governing us by Rules of Righteousness who have all Righteousness in him And besides To what purpose are all the Motives and Exhortations to do Righteousness which we meet with in the Gospel Why is a Day of Judgment appointed to take an account of our Doings if believing that he has done all for us be all the Duty that our Eternal Happiness depends upon St. Paul tells us That we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his Body according to what he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5.10 And if we must be Judg'd for all that we our selves do in this Life it is certain that we have somewhat more to do than to believe that Christ has done all for us The true account then of this Matter is this That Christ by suffering Death having born the Punishment that in Adam we were doom'd to has procured us a full discharge from that Punishment i.e. God has justified us so that there is no need of our doing Righteousness that we may rise again from the Dead because that which Christ has done and suffer'd has procured us this Mercy and we may depend upon him for it Of this Mercy God has given us an Assurance by raising him from the Dead For his Resurrection is for our Justification or a certain Evidence that God has justified us as his Death was for our Offences or the Punishment that the Justice of God has doom'd us to But then though this Justification be only owing to the Merits of Christ yet we must do Righteousness that we may for ever enjoy the Benefits of it and if we do not this our Mediatour himself will condemn us again So that being discharged from the Obligation to die as Malefactours we are to take care of our Lives lest we die again by the Sentence of our Redeemer i.e. We must add to our Faith all Christian Vertues which are necessary to qualifie us for Everlasting life lest the Gospel condemn us again This is that Mercy that the Gospel declares to us And accordingly the Faith that it requires of us is the believing that God sent his Son into the World upon this Errand and that being justified by his Death we shall not only assuredly rise again but by obeying the Gospel we shall assure to our selves Everlasting life So that the Faith that the Gospel requires of us does suppose we are in a Justified state i.e. discharged from the Sentence of Death that passed upon us in Adam and is required of us not as the only Righteousness whereby we are to make our selves Immortal but as an Encouragement to perfect Holiness that we may be justified to Everlasting life when we are Judged by our Gracious Redeemer And it is by this Faith that God makes a Trial of the Sincerity of our Hearts whether we dare depend upon the Power he has given his Son to raise us again and to give us Eternal life For he expects that we should leave this World as Abraham did his native Country and his Father's House though we know not the World we go to when we leave this with a firm belief in his Promise of being raised to a better life And for the better confirming our Faith the performing it is committed to the care of him that is risen and has received Power to destroy Death For his Resurrection is an Instance that Death is not an Enemy too powerfull for him to vanquish And since he is invested with that Power by which his own Body was raised what greater assurance can we have that Death shall be abolished than this That he who has undertaken to abolish it has that Power which can destroy Death But especially our great Certainty in this case does arise from hence That the doing of this is committed to his care the business of whose Life and Death was to deliver us from Death And is there any Reason to fear lest he who has loved us and laid down his Life for us should at last fail us of the Blessings that he came to mediate for us and which he has dearly purchased If he will suffer his Blood to be vilely cast away and the Price of our Redemption to be lost we may question whether he will finish the Salvation that he came to procure us But if he has any value for his own Blood any sense of his own Sufferings any regard to his own Merits we cannot but believe that he who has gone through the Tragical part of his Undertaking will undoubtedly Triumph at the last in the total destruction of
Death For what better and safer hands can this Power to deliver and save us be lodged in than the hands of our Saviour For he to be sure will suffer nothing to be lost that he came to save and which he has Power to save This I have insisted on because some who believe that Christ rose again cannot see any Reason from thence to believe that we shall rise again too Now there are but Two things that I can think of that can be an occasion of distrust in the case 1. That this Power was not given him to this purpose 2. If it was we are not certain that he will make use of it Now we are sufficiently secured against any fears of this nature For 1. If he has any Power at all given him it must be to this purpose For none can be said to have a Power to do a thing given him which he is not to do by the use of that Power A Power which is not to be made use of is no Power at all and it could not be said that Christ has Power given him to raise us if this Power that is given him be sufficient to do this and yet he is not permitted to use this Power to this purpose Now that he has such a Power his own Resurrection is a sufficient proof For upon the same Reason that we believe he rose from the Dead we must believe that he has Power to raise the Dead because the Scriptures that teach us the one do teach us the other also So that if he has the Power of raising us committed to him it must be to this purpose that he may raise us And 2. We have great Reason to believe that he will make use of this Power to this purpose For will not he accomplish his own undertaking Will he not finish the thing that he has been sollicitous for Has a Malefactour any reason to doubt whether his Life shall be saved when his friend that has with Cost and Charge been long suing for his Pardon has it at last in his own hands No we are secured by the Love of our Redeemer that the Power he has received will be made use of for our deliverance For where can such a Power be better lodged than with him whose great concern it is to have us saved Thus the Apostle does argue upon this matter If when we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his Life Rom. 5.10 i.e. If he loved us so much when we were Enemies as by dying to reconcile us to God can we believe that he loves us the less now for having loved us so much before Or that after he has procured such a Power of delivering us from Death he will not do what he was so desirous should be done He who died that we might live will undoubtedly give us Life now that he has the Power of giving Life conserr'd upon him This is the Faith that the Gospel requires of us and it is so well grounded that nothing can be more reasonable But 2. Since Christ has received Power to justifie us by raising us from the Dead and giving us Eternal life This may insorm us wherein the Mercy of the Gospel does consist This is a Matter worthy our Consideration because there are so many that mistake it There are few or none so little acquainted with the Circumstances of our Nature but are sensible that we stand in need of a great deal of Mercy to save us And this Universal acknowledgment that it must be Mercy that saves us is an acknowledgment likewise that no other Religion but such a one as is sounded upon Mercy is suited to the Natural condition of Mankind A Religion that only teaches us our Duty and what improvement is necessary to qualifie us for Immortality is not now so adapted to our Nature as when Man was Innocent For because there are strong Aversions in us to that which is good Sensual inclinations that render man Sins very gratefull to Flesh and Blood and by that means give Sin such a power over us that the Conquest of one Sin is many times the labour of a Man's life we are not in a Condition to improve our selves for Immortality as Innocent Man might But though this is the Acknowledgment of all Men and the Gospel upon that account does contain the best Religion we can be under the Government of yet the Mercy of the Gospel which is the Mercy we want is not so well consider'd but that many who believe it is Mercy must save them do rest upon such Mercy as will not save them For that which many found their Hopes upon is the simple Consideration of the mercifull Nature of God without any regard to any particular Instance wherein he has Exemplified to us the Mercy he would have us depend upon For because Mercy is an Attribute that belongs to the Divine Nature they persuade themselves that nothing severe can be dreaded from a God of Mercy Thus bad Men bear up their Spirits under the pressure of their guilt and put by those Terrours wherewith the Consideration of God's Justice would affright them into an amendment of Life and at last make a shift to go out of the World without any great sense of their Danger For if they must appear before a Just and Holy God yet the God that will Judge them has the Bowels and Compassions of a Father And this Thought lays all frightfull Apprehensions of his Justice They consider not that Death is the Wages or the just desert of Sin and that by carrying their Sins along with them into the other World they carry that along with them that the Justice of God has already condemn'd and does punish them for when they die They think not that while they do wickedly they despise the Mercy that God has shown us and even throw away their own Lives which the Divine Mercy by justifying them from a Sentence of Condemnation has put into their own power to save It is evident indeed that their own Consciences being witnesses they do that which deserves Death I mean the Eternal loss of their Souls when they have a recourse to Mercy for their hopes of recovering them again when they are lost i.e. When they are separated from their Bodies and sent into the other World to live among Cursed Spirits For why else should they expect to receive their Souls again from the Hands of Mercy rather than of Justice if they were not conscious to themselves that they justly lose them And since they are conscious of this in their own Minds what reason have they to think that God will not do that which their own Consciences tell them they have deserved And there is this further to prove the Folly of such a Hope that they see the Mercy they trust to does not save them from the Punishment of Sin But Death