Law he did come up to perfect and universal consâ—rmity to it he did whatever the Law enjoyns and he suffered whatever the Law threatens Christ by his active and passive obedience hath fulfilled the Law most exactly and completely Gal. 3. 13. As he was perfectly holy he did what the Law commanded and as he was made a curse he underwent what the Law threatned and all this he did and suffered in our steads and as our Surety what ever Christ did as our Surety he made it good to the full so that neither the righteous God nor yet the righteous Law could ever tax him with the least defect And this must be our great Plea our choice our sweet our safe our comfortable our acceptable Plea both in the day of our particular accounts when we die and in the great day of our account when a crucified Saviour shall judge the World Although sin as an act be transient yet in the guilt of it it lies in the Lord 's high Court of Justice filed upon record against the sinner and calling aloud for deserved punishment saying Man hath sinned and man must suffer for sin but now Christ hath suffered that plea is taken off Lo here saith the Lord the same Nature that sinned suffereth mine own Son being made flesh hath suffered death for sin in the flesh the thing is done the Law is satisfied and so non-suits the action and casts it out of the Court as unjust Thus whereas sin would have condemned us Christ hath condemned sin he hath weakned yea nullified and taken away sin in the guilt and condemning power of it by that abundant satisfaction that he hath given to the Justice of God by his active and passive Obedience so that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus for Rom. 8. 1 3. the blood of the Mediator out-cries the clamour of sin and this must be a Christians joy and triumph and plea in the great day of our Lord Jesus As Christ was made 2 Cor. 5. 21. sin for us so the Lord doth impute the sufferings of Christ to us that is he accepts of them on our behalf and puts them upon our account As if the Lord should say unto every particular believer My Son was thy Surety and stood in thy stead and suffered and satisfied and took away thy sins by his blood and that for thee in his blood I find a ransom for thy soul I do acknowledge my self satisfied for thee and satisfied towards thee and thou art delivered and discharged I forgive thee thy sins and am reconciled unto thee and will save thee and glorifie thee for my Sons sake in his blood thou hast Redemption the forgiveness of thy sins As when Simile a Surety satisfies the Creditor for a debt this is accounted to the Debtor and reckoned as a discharge to him in particular I am paid and you are discharged saith the Creditour so it is in this case I am paid saith God and you are discharged and I have no more to say to you but this Enter into the joy of your Lord Matth. 25. 21. The Fifth Plea that you are to make in order to the 5. Eccles 11. 9. cap. 12. 14. Mat. 12. 14. cap. 18 23. Luk. 16. 3. Rom. 14. 10. 2 Cor. 5. 10. Heb. 9. 27 cap. 13. 17. 1 Pet. 4 5. Ten Scriptures in the Margin that respects the account that you are to give up in the great day of the Lord is drawn from the imputed Righteousness of Christ to us the Justification of a Sinner in the sight of God upon the account of Christ's Righteousness imputed to him whereby the guilt of sin is removed and the person of the Sinner is accepted as righteous with the God of Heaven is that which I shall open to you distinctly in these following Branches First That the Grace of Justification in the sight of God is made up of Two parts 1. There is Forgiveness of the offences committed against the Lord 2. Acceptation of the person offending pronouncing him a righteous person and receiving him into favour again as if he had never offended This is most clear and evident in the blessed Scriptures First there is an Act of absolution and acquittal from the guilt of sin and freedom from the condemnation deserved by sin the desert of sin is an inseparable accident Rom. 8. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't is a forensick word relating to what is in use amongst men in their Courts of Judicature to condemn 'T is the sentence of a Judge decreeing a mulct or penalty to be inflicted upon the guilty Person or concomitant of it that can never be removed it may be truly said of the sins of a justified person that they deserve everlasting destruction but Justification is the freeing of a sinner from the guilt of his iniquity whereby he was actually bound over to condemnation as soon as any man doth sin there is a guilt upon him by which he is bound over to the wrath and curse of God and this guilt or obligation is inseparable from sin the sin doth deserve no less than everlasting damnation Now forgiveness of sin hath a peculiar respect to the guilt of sin and removal of that when the Lord forgives a man he doth discharge him of that obligation by which he was bound over to wrath and condemnation Rom. 8. 1. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus vers 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect it is God that justifieth vers 34. who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died Beloved the Lord is a holy and just God and he reveils his wrath from heaven against Rom. 1. 18. Gel. 3. 10. Râ—m 1. 32. Rom. 6. 23. all unrighteousness and there is a curse threatned to every transgression of the Law and when any man sinneth he is obnoxious unto the curse and God may inflict the same upon him but when God forgives sins he therein doth interpose as it were between the sin and the curse and between the obligation and the condemnation When the sinner sins God might say unto him sinner by your sinning you are now fallen into my hands of Justice and for your sins I may according to my righteous Law condemn and curse you for ever but such is my free my rich my sovereign grace that for Christ's sake I will spare you and pardon you and that curse Jer. 31. 20. and condemnation which you have deserved shall never fall upon you Oh! my bowels my bowels are yearning towards you and therefore I will have mercy mercy Jâ—b 33. 13 24 28 30. upon you and will deliver your souls from going down into the pit when the poor sinner is indicted and arraigned at God's bar and process is made against him and he found guilty of the violation of God's holy Law and accordingly judged guilty by God and adjudged to Job
when Angels Devils Men shall stand before the Lord Jesus whom God the Father hath ordained to be the Judge of Quick and Dead Act. 17. 31. Now to this great Question I Answer that the sins of the Saints the infirmities and enormities of Believers shall never be brought into the Judgment of discussion and discovery they shall never be objected against them either in their particular day of Judgment or in the great day of their Account Now this truth I shall make good by an induction of particulars thus First Our Lord Jesus Christ in His judicial proceedings in the last day which is set down clearly and largely in Math. 25. 34. to ver 42. doth only enumerate the good works they have done but takes not the least notice of the spots and blemishes of the infirmities or enormities Deut. 32. 4 5 6. Dan. 9. 24. of the weaknesses or wickednesses of his people God has sealed up the sins of his people never to be remembred or lookt upon more In the great day the book of Gods Remembrance shall be opened and publickly read that all the good things that the Saints have done for God for Christ for Saints for their own Souls for Sinners and that all the great things that they have suffered for Christ's sake and the Gospels sake may be mentioned to their everlasting praise to their eternal honour And though the choicest and chiefest Saints on Rom 7. 23 24. Gal. 5. 17. Earth have 1. Sin dwelling in them 2. Operating and working in them 3. Vexing and molesting of them being as so many Goads in their sides and Thorns in their eyes 4. Captivating and prevailing over them yet in that large Recital which shall then be read of the Saints lives Math. 25. There is not the least mention made either of sins of Omission or Commission nor the least mention made either of great sins or of small sins nor the least mention made either of sins before Conversion or after Conversion Here in this world the best of Saints have had their buts their spots their blots their specks as the fairest day hath its Clouds the finest Linnen its spots and the richest Jewels their specks but now in the judicial process of this last and universal Assizes there is not found in all the Books that shall then be opened so much as one unsavory but to blemish the Rev. 20. 12. Dan. 7. 10. Num. 23. 21. fair Characters of the Saints Surely he that sees no Iniquity in Jacob nor perverseness in Israel to impute it to them whilst they live he will never charge Iniquity or perverseness upon them in the great day Surely he who has fully satisfied his Fathers Justice for his peoples sins and who hath by his own Blood ballanced and made Isa 53. up all Reckonings and Accounts between God and their souls he will never charge upon them their faults and follies in the great day Surely he who hath spoken so much for his Saints whilst he was on Earth and who hath continually interceded for them since he went to John 17. Heb. 7. 25. Heaven he won't though he hath cause to blame them for many things speak any thing against them in the great day Surely Jesus Christ the Saints Pay-master Heb. 10. 10 12 14. Matth. 18. 24. Col. 2 14. who hath discharged their whole debt at once who hath paid down upon the nayl the ten thousand Talents which we owed and took in the Bond and nailed it to the Cross leaving no back-reckonings unpaid to bring his poor Children which are the travail of his soul afterward Isa 53. 11. into any danger from the hands of Divine Justice he will never mention the sins of his people he will never charge the sins of his people upon them in the great day Our dear Lord Jesus who is the Righteous Judg of Heaven and Earth in the great day of account He will bring in Omnia bene in his presentment all fair and well and accordingly will make Proclamation in that high-High-Court of Justice before God Angels Devils Saints and Sinners c. Christ will not charge his Children with the least unkindness he will not charge his Spouse with the least unfaithfulness in the great day yea he will represent them before God Angels and Men as compleat in him as all fair and spotless as without spot or wrinkle as without fault before the Throne of God as holy and Col. 2. 10. Cant. 4. 7. Ephe. 5. â—7 Rev. 14 5. unblameable and unreproveable in his sight as immaculate as the Angels themselves who kept their first Estate This honour shall have all the Saints and thus shall Christ be glorified in his Saints and admired in all 1 Thâ—s 2. 10 them that believe The greatest part of the Saints by far will have past their particular judgment long before Heb 9. 27. the general judgment and being therein acquitted and discharged from all their sins by God the Judge of the quick and dead and admitted into Heaven upon the credit 2 Tim. 4. 1. of Christs Blood Righteous satisfaction and their free and full justification It cannot be imagined that Jesus Christ in the great day will bring in any new charge against his Children when they have been cleared and absolved already Certainly when once the Saints are freely and fully Absolved from all their sins by a Divine Sentence then their sins shall never be remembred they shall never be objected against them any more For one Divine Sentence cannot cross and rescind another the Judge of all the world had long since cast all their sins behind his back and will he now set them before his face Isa 38. 17. and before the faces of all the world surely no he has long since cast all their sins into the depths of the Sea bottomless depths of everlasting Oblivion that they might Micah 7. 19. never be buoyed up any more He has not only forgiven their sins but he has also forgotten their sins And Jer. 31. 34. will he remember them and declare them in the great day surely no God has long since blotted out the transgressions Isa 43. 25. of his people This Metaphor is taken from Creditors who when they purpose never to exact a Debt will blot it out of their Books Now after that a Debt is strucken out of a Bill Bond or Book it cannot be exacted the Evidence cannot be pleaded Christ Col. 2. 14. having crost the debt-Book with the red lines of his Blood If now he should call the sins of his people to remembrance and charge them upon them he should cross the great design of his cross Upon this foundation stands the absolute impossibility that any sin that the least sin yea that the least circumstance of sin or the least aggravation of sin should be so much as mentioned by the Righteous Judge of Heaven and Earth in the process of that
thou didst forgive all my iniquities thou did'st blot out all my transgressions and as upon my first believing thou didst give me the Remission of all my sins so upon my first believing thou did'st free me from a state of Condemnation and interest me in the great Salvation Upon my first believing I was united to Jesus Christ and I was cloathed with the Rom 8. 1. Heb. 2 3. Righteousness of Christ which covered all my sins and discharged me from all my transgressions remember O Lord that at the very moment of my dissolution thou did'st really perfectly universally and finally forgive all my sins every debt that moment was discharged and every Score that moment was crossed and every Bill and Bond that moment was cancelled so that there was not left in the book of thy remembrance one sin no not the least sin standing upon Record against my soul And besides all this thou knowest O Lord that all my sins were laid upon Christ my Surety and that he became responsible Heb. 7. 21. 22. for them all he did dye he did lay down his life he did make his soul an offering for my sins he did become a curse he did endure thy infinite wrath he did give compleat satisfaction and a full compensation unto thy Justice for all my sins debts trespasses This is my plea O Lord and by this plea I shall stand Well saith the Lord I allow of this plea I accept of this plea as just honourable and righteous Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. But Seventhly Consider that what ever we are bound to do or to suffer by the Law of God all that did Christ do and suffer for us as being our Surety and Mediator Now the Law of God hath a double challenge or demand upon us one is of active obedience in fulfilling what it requires the other is of passive obedience in suffering that punishment which lies upon us for the transgression of it in doing what it forbids For as we are Created by God we did owe unto him all obedience which he required and as we sinned against God we did owe unto him a suffering of all that punishment which he threatned and we being fallen by transgression can neither pay the one debt nor yet the other we cannot do all that the Law requires Nay of our selves we can do nothing neither can we suffer as to satisfie God in his Justice wronged by us or to recover our selves into life and favour again and therefore Jesus Christ who was God made man did become our Surety and stood in our stead or room and he did perform what we should but could not perform and he did bear our sins and our sorrows he did suffer and bear for us what we our selves should have born and suffered whereby he did fully satisfie the justice of God and made our peace and purchased life and happiness for us Let me a little more clearly and fully open this great truth in these few particulars First Jesus Christ did perform that active obedience unto the Law of God which we should but by reason of sin could not perform in which respect he is said Gal. 4. 4. To be made under the Law that he might redeem them that were under the Law So far was Christ under the Law as to redeem them that were under the Law But redeem them that were under the Law he could not unless by discharging the bonds of the Law in force upon us and all those bonds could not be and were not discharged unless a perfect righteousness had been presented on our behalf who were under the Law to fulfill the Law Now there is a two-fold Righteousness necessary to the actual fulfilling of the Law one is an internal Righteousness of the Nature of man the other is an external Righteousness of the Life or works of man both of these do the Law require The former Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart c. which is the sum of the first Table And thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self which is the sum of the second Table the latter Do this and live Levit. 18. 5. He that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them is Cursed Gal. 3. 10. Now both these Righteousnesses were sound in Christ First the internal Heh 7. 26. He was holy harmless undefiled separated from sinners chap. 9. 14. And offered himself without spot to God 2 Cor. 5. 21. He knew no sin Secondly External 1 Pet. 2. 22. He did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth Joh. 17. 4 I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do Math. 3. 15. He must fulfill all Righteousness Rom. 10. 4. Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth Now concerning Christs active obedience to the Law of God these things are considerable in it First The universality of it he did whatsoever his Father required and left nothing of his Fathers will undone he kept the whole Law and offended not in one point What ever was required of us by vertue of any Law that he did and fulfilled Hence he is said to be made under the Law Gal. 4. 4. Subject or obnoxious to it to all the precepts or commands of it Christ was so made under the Law as those were under the Law whom he was to Redeem Now we were under the Law not only as obnoxious to its penalties but as bound to all the duties of it that this is our being under the Law is evident by that of the Apostle Gal. 4. 2◠Tell me ye that desire to be under the Law surely it was not the penalty of the Law they desired to be under but to be under it in respect of obedience so Math. 3. 15. Here Christ tell you That it became him to fulfil all Righteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all manner of Righteousness whatsoever that is every thing that God required as is evident from the Application of that general Oxiome to the Baptisme of John But Secondly The exactness and perfection of it He kept the whole Law exactly as he was not wanting in matter so he did not fail in the manner of performing his Fathers Will there was no defects nothing lacking in his obedience he did all things well what we are pressing towards and reaching forth unto he attained he was perfect in every good work and stood compleat in the whole will of his Father And hence it is that it is Recorded of him that he was without sin knew no sin did no sin which could not be if he had failed in any thing But Thirdly The constancy of it Christ did not obey by sits but constantly though we cannot yet he continued in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them This Righteous One held on his way he did not fail nor was he discouraged yea when
condition from Christ and Christians are name-sakes caput corpus unus est Christus Aug. The head is called Christ and the members are called Christ â— Cor. 12. 12. Christ is called Solomon Cant. â—â— cap. 3. 1â— in Hebrew Shâ—lomâ—h of peace and the Church is called Shulamite by heâ— Bride-grooms name Cant. 6. 13. a single to a married estate with Christ the Lamb had a change of her name The head is called The Lord our righteousness Jer. 23. 6. and so is the Church Jer. 33. 16. In those days shall Judah he saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely and this is the name wherewith she shall be called The Lord our righteousness here is a sameness of name As Christ is called The Lord our righteousness so his spouse is called The Lord our righteousness Oh happy transnomination Christ's Bride being one with himself and having his Righteousness imputed to her is called The Lord our righteousness and therefore they may with the greatest chearfulness and boldness bear up in the great day of account who have the perfect Righteousness of Christ imputed to them especially if you consider 1. That this Righteousness is of infinite value and worth 2. That Dan. 9. 24. it is an everlasting righteousness a righteousness that can never be lost 3. That it is an unchangeable Righteousness Though times change and men change and friends change and providences change and the Moon Mal. 4. 2. change yet the Sun of Righteousness never changes Jâ—mes 1. 17. in him is no variableness neither shadâ—w of turning 4. That it is a compleat and unspotted Righteousness an unblameable Righteousness and unblemished Righteousness and therefore God can neither in Justice except or object against it In this Righteousness the believer lives in this Righteousness the believer dies and in this Righteousness believers shall arise and appear before the judgment-seat of Christ to the deep admiration of all the elect Angels and to the transcendent terrour and horrour of all Reprobates and to the matchless joy and triumph of all on Christ's right hand who shall then shout and sing Isa 61. 10. I will greatly rejoyce in the Lord my soul shall be joyful in my God for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness as a bride-groom decketh himself with ornaments and as a bride adorneth her self with jewels Oh how 2 Thes 1. 10. will Christ in this great day be admired and glorified in all his Saints when every Saint wrap'd up in this fine Linnen in this white Robe of Christ's Righteousness shall shine more gloriously than ten thousand Suns In the great day of the Lord when the Saints shall stand before the Tribunal of God clothed in the perfect Righteousness of Jesus Christ they shall then stand recti in curiâ they shall then be pronounced righteous even in the Court of Divine Justice which sentence will fill their souls with comfort and the souls of sinners with astonishment Suppose Rev. 20. 12. cap. 12. 10. we saw the believing sinner holding up his hand at God's Bar the books opened the accuser of the brethren present the witnesses ready and the Judg on the Bench thus bespeaking the sinner at the Bar Oh sinner Râ—m 7. 12 14 16. Gâ—l 3. 10. sinner thou standest here indicted before me for many millions of sins of commission and for many millions of sins of omission thou hast broken my holy just and righteous Laws beyond all humane conception or expression and hereof thou art proved guilty What hast thou now to say for thy self why thou shouldst not be eternally cast Upon this the sinner pleads guilty but withal he earnestly desires that he may have time and liberty to Mat. 25. 41. plead for himself and to offer his reasons why that dreadful sentence Go you cursed c. should not be passed upon him The liberty desired being granted by the Judg The sinner pleads that his surety Jesus Christ hath by his blood and sufferings given full and compleat satisfaction to Divine Justice and that he hath paid down upon Heb. 10. 10 14. the nail the whole debt at once and that it can never stand with the holiness and unspotted justice of God to demand satisfaction twice If the Judge shall farther object Gal. 3. 10. I but sinner sinner The Law requireth an exact and perfect Righteousness in the personal fulfilling of it now sinner where is thy exact and perfect righteousness Upon which the believing sinner very readily chearfully Isa 45. 24. humbly and boldly replies my righteousness is upon the Bench In the Lord have I Righteousness Christ my Surety hath fulfilled the Law on my behalf The Laws Righteousness consists in two things 1. In its requiring perfect conformity to its commands 2. In its demanding satisfaction or the undergoing of its penalty upon the violation of it Now Christ by his active and passive obedience hath fulfilled the Law for Righteousness and this active and passive obedience of Jesus Christ is imputed to me his obeying the Law to the full his perfect comforming to its commands his doing as well as his dying obedience is by grace made over and reckoned to me in order to my justification and salvation and this is my plea by which I will stand before the Judg of all the world Upon this the sinners plea is accepted as good in Law and accordingly he is pronounced righteous and goes away glorying and rejoycing triumphing and shouting it out sla 45. 25. Righteous Righteous Righteous Righteous In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory And thus you see that here are nine springs of strong consolation that flow into your souls through the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness unto you But The sixth Plea that a believer may form up as to the ten Eccl f 11. 9. cap. 12. 14. Mat 12. 14. cap. 18. 23. Luk. 16. 3. Rom. 14. 10. 2 Cor. 5. 10. Heb. 9. 27. câ—p 13. 17. 1 Pet. 4. 5. Scriptures in the Margent that referâ— to the great day of account or to a man's particular account may be drawn from the consideration of Christ as a common person a representative head one that represents another man's person and acts the part of another according to the appointment of the Law the acceptation of the Judg so that what is done by him the person is said to do whose person he doth represent And so was Adam a common person and that by an act of God's Sovereignty appointing him in making a covenant with him so to be Rom. 5. 15 16 17 18 19. We were all iâ— Adam as the whole Countrey is in a Parliament-man An although wâ— chose not yeâ— God chose for â—s and he did represent all Man-kind And hence it comes to pass that his sin is imputed unto us and made ours so in our Law an Attorney appears in the behalf
King of Spain coming very young to the Crown some advised that seven Counsellors might be joyned to govern with him who should be men fearing God lovers lovers of Justice free from filthy lusts and such as would not take bribes To which Alphonsus replyed if you can find seven such men nay bring me but one so qualified and I will not only admit him to govern with me but shall willingly resign the Kingdom it self to him Wicked policies are ever destructive to their Authors as you may see in Pharaoh Exâ—d 1. 10 22. 2 Sam. 16. cap. 23. 23. Est 7. 10. in Achitophel in Haman c. As long as the Roman Civil Magistrates Senators and Commanders of Armies were chosen into places of honour and trust for their noble descent their prudence and valour their State did flourish and did enlarge its Dominions See Livim Deâ—â—â—â— more in one Century of years than it did in three after these places of honour came to be venal and purchased by concession For then men of no parts were for money promoted to highest dignities whereupon civil contentions were fomented factions encreased and continual bloody intestine Wars maintained by which the ancient Liberties of that State were suppressed and the last Government of it changed into an Imperial Monarchy As long as the chief officers of the Crown of France and the places of Judicature of the Realm were given by Charles the fifth surnamed the wise to men of Learning of Wisdom and Valour in recompence of their Loyalty virtue and merits that Kingdom did flourish with peace honour and prosperity and the Courts of Parliaments See the History of France of France had the honour for their Justice and equity to be the Arbitrators and Umpires of all the differences that happened in those days between the greatest Princes of Christendom But when these places of honour and trust were made venal in the reigns of Francis the second Charles the ninth and Henry the third and sold for ready money to such as gave most for them then was Justice and Equity banished and that flourishing Kingdom reduced to the brim of ruine and desolation by variety of factions and a bloody Civil War The wicked Counsel given by the Cardinal De Lorraign and the Duke of Guise his brother to Charles the ninth King of See the Massaâ—â— of Parâ—â— â—n the Inâ—eâ—tory of France France to allure all the Protestants to Paris under colour of the Marriage of Henry de Bourbon with Margaret de Valois the King's sister to have them all as in a trap for to cut their throats in their beds as they did for the greatest part proved fatal to the King to the Cardinal and the Duke For the King by the just judgment of God died shortly after by an Issue of blood which came out of his mouth ears and nostrils and could never be stopped and the Cardinal and the Duke were both slain by the Commandment of Henry the third in the Castle of Blois The barbarous policy of Philip the second See the 〈…〉 King of Spain to banish two or three hundred thousand Mores with their wives and children under colour of Religion on purpose to confiscate all their Land and to appropriate the same to his demesns was fatal to him and to all the Spanish Nation for by the just judgment of God he was eaten up of lice and the Spanish Nation never thrived since c. Were it not for exceeding the bounds of an Epistle I might shew in all the Ages of the world how destructive the wicked policies of Rulers and Governours have been to themselves and the States and Nations under them c. But from such policies God has and I hope will for ever deliver your soul Sir the best policy in the world is to know God savingly to serve him sincerely to do the work of your Generation throughly and to secure your future happiness and blessedness effectually c. Sir I do not offer you that which cost me nothing or little God best knows the pains the prayers and the Mal 1. 13 14. sâ—â—dy that the midwifing of this Treatise into the world hath cost me in the midst of tryals troubles temptations afflictions and my frequent labours in the Ministry The truths that I offer for your serious consideration in this Treatise are not such as I have formerly preached in Commonly men preach those points first that afterwards they print but not knowing how long the door of liberty may be open I have sent this Treatise into the world Eph. 5. 15 16. â—ol sâ— 4. 5. Eccl â— 9. 10. one place or another at one time or another but such as at several times the Lord has brought to hand and I hope in order to the service and saving of many many souls And should you redeem time from your many and weighty occasions and live to read it as often over as there be leaves in it I am apt to think you would never repent of your pains when you come to die and make up your account with God Sir I must and shall say because I love and honour you and would have you happy to Eternity that it is your greatest wisdom and should be your greatest care to redeem time from your worldly business to acquaint your self more and more with the great and main points of Religion to serve your God to be useful in your day and to make sure and safe work for your soul to escape hell and to get heaven Sir Thomas More one of the great wits of that day would commonly say there is a Devil called negotium business that carries more souls to hell than all the devils in hell beside Many men have so many Irons in the fire and â—uk 10. 40 41 42. When one preâ—ented Antipater King of Macedo â—ia wich a book treating of happiness his answer was on Scholazo I am not at leasure The Duke of Alva had so much to do on earth that he had â—o time to look up to heaven are cumbred about so many things that upon the matter they wholly neglect the one thing necessary though I hope better things of you The stars which have the least circuit are nearest the pole and men that are least perplexed with a croud of worldly business are commonly nearest to God Sir as you love God as you love your soul as you love Eternity as you would be found at Christ's right hand at last and as you would meet me with joy in the great day of the Lord make much conscience of redeeming time daily from your secular affairs to be with God in your closet in your family to read the Scriptures to study the Scriptures and such men's writings that are sound in the faith and that treat of the great things of the Gospel 'T is dangerous crying cras cras to morrow to morrow Mannah must be gathered in the morning the orient Pearl is generated
Burial Resurrection and Ascension and besides they make rehearsal of very small circumstances therefore we may safely conclude that they would never have omitted Christs local descent into the place of the damned if there had been any such things besides the great end why they penned this History was That we might believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that thus believing Jâ—h 20. 31. we might have life everlasting Now there could not have been a greater matter for the confirmation of our Faith than this that Jesus the Son of Mary who went down to the place of the damned returned thence to live in all happiness and blessedness for ever But Secondly If Christ did go into the place of the damned then he went either in soul or in body or in his Godhead not in his God-head for that could not descend because it is every where and his body was in the grave and as for his soul it went not to Hell but immediatly after his death it went to Paradise that is the third Heaven a place of joy and happiness This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise which words of Christ must be understood Luk. 23. 43. of his Man-hood or Soul and not of his Godhead for they are an answer to a demand and therefore unto it they must be sutable The Thief makes his request Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom vers 42. to which Christ Answers Verily I say unto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise I shall saith Christ this day enter into Paradise and there shalt thou be with me Now there is no entrance but in regard of his Soul or Man-hood for the God-head which is at all times in all Psal 139 7 13. Jer 23. 23 24. places cannot be properly said to entertain into a place But Thirdly When Christ saith To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise He doth intimate as some observe a resemblance which is between the first and second Adam The first Adam quickly sinned against God and was as Gen. 3. quickly cast out of Paradise by God Christ the second Adam having made a perfect and compleat satisfaction Heb 9. 26 28 cap. 10. 14. to the justice of God and the Law of God for mans sin must immediately enter into Paradise Now to say that Christ in Soul descended locally into Hell is to abolish this Analogy between the first and second Adam But Secondly 'T is not impossible that the pains of the second death should be suffered in this life time and place are but circumstances the main substance of the second death is the bearing of Gods fierce wrath and indignation Divine favour shining upon a man in Hell would turn Hell into a Heaven all sober seeing serious Christians will grant that the true though not the full joys of Heaven may be felt and experienced in this life 1 Pet. 1. 8. Whom having not seen ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory or glorious either because this their rejoycing was a tast of their future glory or because it made them glorious in the eyes of men the original word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is glorified already a piece of Gods Kingdom and Heavens happiness afore-hand Ah how many precious Saints both living and dying have cryed out O the joy the joy the inexpressible joy that I find in my Soul Ephe. 2 6. He hath made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus What is this else but even while we live by Faith to possess the very joys of Heaven on this side Heaven Now look as the true joys of Heaven may be felt on this side Heaven so the true though not the full pains of Hell may be felt on this side Hell and doubtless Cain Judas Julian Spira and others have found it so That Father hit the mark who Gen. 4. 13. said Judicis in mente tua sedet ibi Deus ad est accusator conscientia tortor timor The Judges Tribunal seat is in Augustin in Psal 57. thy soul God sitteth there as Judge thy Conscience is the Accuser and fear is the tormentor Now if there be in the soul a Judg an Accuser and a Tormentor then certainly there is a true tast of the torments of Hell on this side Hell Thirdly The place Hell is no part of the payment the laying down of the price makes the satisfaction this is all that is spoken and threatned to Adam Thou shalt dye Gen. 2. 1â— Peter saith the Devils are cast down to Hell and kept in chains of darkness 2 Pet. 2. 4 And Paul calls the Devil the Prince that ruleth in the Ayr. Ephe. 2. 2. The Ayr then is the Devils Hell well then seeing this ayr is the Devils present Hell we may safely conclude that Hell may be in this present world and therefore it is neither impossible nor improbable that the Cross was Christs Hell the death and this may be suffered here The wicked go to Hell as their Prison because they can never pay their debts otherwise the debt may as well be paid in the Market as the Goal Now Christ did discharge all his peoples debts in the days of his flesh when he offered up strong crys and tears Heb. 5 7. and not after death Look as a King entring into Prison to loose the Prisoners Chains and to pay their debts is said to have been in Prison so our Lord Jesus Christ by his souls sufferings which is the Hell he entred into hath released us of our pains and chains and paid our debts and in this sense he may be said to have entred into Hell though he never actually entred into the local place of the damned which is properly called Hell for in that place there is neither vertue nor goodness holiness nor happiness and therefore the holiness of Christs person would never suffer him to descend into such a place in the local place of Heaven and Hell It is not possible for any neither to be at once nor yet at sundry times successively for there is no passing from Heaven to Hell or from Hell to Heaven Luk. 16. 26. The place of suffering is but a circumstance in the business Hell the place of the damned is no part of the debt therefore neither is suffering there locally any part of the payment of it no more than a Prison is any part of an earthly debt or of the payment of it The Surety may satisfie the Creditor in the place appointed for payment or in the open Court which being done the Debtor and Surety both are acquitted that they need not go to Prison if either of them go to Prison it is because they do not or cannot pay the debt for all that Justice requires is to satisfie the debt to the which the Prison is meerly extrinsical Even so the Justice of God
Christ be not God yea God-man then we shall never be able to answer all the challenges that either divine Justice or Satan can make upon us whatsoever the justice of God can exact that the blood of God can discharge now the blood of Christ is the blood of God as I have evidenced in the second Reason by reason of the hypostatical union the humane nature being united to the divine the humane nature did suffer the Divine did satisfie Christ's Godhead did give both Majesty and Essicacy to his sufferings Christ was sacrifice Priest and Altar He was Sacrifice as he was man Priest as he was God and man and Altar as he was God it is the property of the Altar to sanctifie the thing offered Mat. 23. 19. on it so the Altar of Christ's divine nature sanctified the sacrifice of his death and made it meritorious Man sinned and therefore man must satisfie Therefore the humane nature must be assumed by a surety for man cannot do it If an Angel should have assumed humane nature it would have polluted him Humane nature was so defiled by sin that it could not be assumed by any but God Now Christ being God the Divine nature purified the Humane nature which he took and so it was a sufficient sacrifice The person offered in sacrifice being God as well as man This is a most noble ground upon which a believer may challenge Satan to say his worst and to do his worst let him present God as terrible yea as a consuming Heb. 12. 29. fire let him present me as odious and abominable Zecha 3. 2 3. in the sight of God as once he did Joshuah let him present me before the Lord as vile and mercenary as once he did Job let him aggravate the heighth of God's displeasure Job 1. 9 10 11. and the heighth and depth and length and breadth of my sins I shall readily grant all and against all this I will set the infinite satisfaction of dear Jesus this I know that though the justice of God cannot be avoided nor bribed yet it may be satisfied Here is a proportionable satisfaction here is God answering God 'T is a very noble plea of the Apostle who is he that condemneth Rom. 8. 34. it is Christ that died let Satan urge the justice of God as much as he can I am sure that the justice of God 1 John 1. 7 8 9. makes me sure of Salvation and the reason is evident because his justice obligeth him to accept of an adequate satisfaction of his own appointing The justice of God maketh me sure of mine own happiness because if God be just that satisfaction should be had when that satisfaction is made Justice requireth that the person for whom it is made shall be received into favour I confess that unless God had obliged himself by promise there were no pressing his justice thus far because Noxa sequitur caput There was mercy in the promise of sending Christ Gen. 3. 15. Had not Christ stept in between man's sin Gods wrath the world had fallen about Adam's ears out of mercy to undertake for us otherwise we cannot say that God was bound in justice to accept of satisfaction unless he had first in mercy been pleased to appoint the way of a surety Justice indeed required satisfaction but it required it of the person that sinneth Gen. 2. 17. But of the tree of the knowledg of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die or dying thou shalt die or as others read the words thou shalt surely and shortly or suddenly die and without controversie every man should die the same day he is born The wages of sin is death and this wages Rom. 6. 23. should be presently paid did not Christ as a boon beg poor sinners lives for a season for which cause he is called the Saviour of all men not of eternal preservation 1 Tim. 4. 10. but of temporal reservation it was free and noble mercy to all mankind that dear Jesus was promised and provided sealed and sent into the world that some might be eternally saved and the rest preserved from wrath for Jâ—hn 6. 27. a time Here cometh in mercy that a surety shall be accepted and what he doth is as if the person that offended should have done it himself Here is mercy and salvation surely bottomed upon both ah what sweet and transcendent comfort flows from this very consideration That Christ is God But Fourthly the great and glorious majesty of God required it that Christ should be God God the father being a God of infinite holiness purity justice and righteousness none but he who was very God who was essentially one with the father could or durst interpose John 10. 30. cap. 14. 9 10 11. c. between God and fallen man The Angels though they are glorious creatures yet they are but creatures and could these satisfie divine justice and bear infinite wrath and purchase divine favour and reconcile us to God and procure our pardon and change our hearts and renew our natures and adorn our souls with Grace and yet all these things must be done or we undone and that for ever Now if this were a work too high for Angels then we may safely conclude that it was a work too hard for fallen man Man was once the mirrour of all understanding the Hicroglyphick of Wisdom but now quantum mutatus ab illo there is a great alteration for poor sorry man is now sent to school to learn wisdom and instruction of the beasts birds and creeping things he is sent to the Pismire to learn providence Prov. 6. 6 To the Stork and to the Swallow to learn to make a right use of time Jer. 8. 7. To the Oxe and the Ass to learn knowledg Isa 1. 3. And to the fowls of the Air to learn confidence Mat. 6. Man that was once a master of knowledg a wonder of understanding perfect in the science of all things is now grown blockish sottish and senseless and therefore altogether unfit and unable to make his peace with God to reconcile himself to God c. But Fifthly and lastly that Christ's sufferings and merits might be sufficient it was absolutely necessary that he should be God The sin of man was infinite I mean in finitely punishable if not infinite in number yet infinite in nature every offence being infinite it being committed against an infinite God No creature could therefore satisfie for it but the sufferer must be God that so his infiniteness might be answerable to the infiniteness of men's offences There was an absolute necessity of Christ's sufferings partly because he was pleased to substitute himself in the sinner's stead and partly because his sufferings only could be satisfactory Now unless he had been man how could he suffer and unless he had been God how could he satisfie offended Justice
fundamental guilt no no but he was made sin by imputation and law-account he was our Surety and so our sins were laid on him in order to punishment And to prefigure this all the iniquities of Gods people were imputed to their sacrifice though they were not inherently his own as we read Levit. 16. 21 22 Aaron shall put all the iniquities of all the children of Israel and all their transgressions and all their sins upon the head of the Goat and the Goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities and why then should it seem strange that the perfect righteousness of our sacrifice and surety though it be not our own inherently should be imputed to us by the Lord and made ours Frequently and seriously consider that the word answering this imputing is in the Hebrew Chashab and in To impute in the General is to acknowledg that to be another's which is not indeed his and it is used either in a good or bad sense so that it is no more than to account or reckon It is the Righteousness of Christ imputed to us and accepted for us by which we are judged righteous the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which the summ as the learned say comes to this That though the words in the general signifie to think to reason to imagine c. yet very frequently they are used to signifie to account or reckon by way of computation as Arithmeticians use to do so that it is as it were a judgment passed upon a thing when all reasons and arguments are cast together And from this it is applied to signifie any kind of accounting or reckoning and in this sence imputation is taken here for God's esteeming and accounting of us righteous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to reckon or account 't is taken by a borrowed speech from Merchants reckonings and accounts who have their debt-books wherein they set down how their reckonings stand in the particulars they deal in Now in such debt-books Merchants use to set down whatever payments are only made either by the debtors themselves or by others in the behalf of them an example whereof we have in the Epistle to Philemon vers 18. where Paul undertakes to Philemon for Onesimus if he hath wronged thee or oweth thee any thing put that on my account that is account Onesimus his debt to Paul and Paul's satisfaction or payment to Onesimus which answers the double imputation in point of justification Psal 32. 1 2. that is of our sins to Christ and of Christ's satisfaction to us both which are implyed 2 Cor. 5. 21. He made him to be sin for us that is our sins were imputed to him that we might be the righteousness of God in him that is that his rightcousness might be imputed to us The language of Jesus Christ to his father seems to be this Oh holy Father I have freely and willingly taken all the debts and all the sins of all the believers in the world upon me I have undertaken to be their pay-master to satisfie thy justice to pacifie thy wrath to fulfil thy Law c. and therefore Loe here I am ready Psal 40. 6 7 8. Heb. 10. 4 5 6 7 8 9. to do what ever thou commandest and ready to suffer whatsoever thou pleasest I am willing to be reckoned a sinner that they may be reckoned righteous I am willing to be accounted cursed that they may be for ever blessed I am willing to pay all their debts that they may be set at liberty I am willing to lay down my life that John 10. 11 15 17 18. Rev. 20. 6. they may escape the second death I am willing that my soul should be exercised with the most hideous Agonies that their souls may be possessed of heaven's happinesses Oh what wonderful wisdom grace and love is here manifested that when we were neither able to satisfie the penalty of the Law or to bring a conformity to it that then Christ should interpose and become both redemption and righteousness for us Now from the imputed righteousness of Christ a believer may form up this fifth plea as to all the ten Scriptures Eâ—cles 11. 9. cap. 12. 14. Mat. 12. 14. cap. 18. 23. Luk. 16. 3. Rom. 14. 10. 2 Cor. 5. 10. Heb. 9. 27. cap. 13. 17. 1 Pet. 4. 5. in the margent that refer to the great day of account Oh blessed God thou hast given me to understand that the mediatory righteousness of Christ includes first the habitual holiness of his person in the absense of all sin and in the rich and plentiful presence of all holy and requisite qualities Secondly the actual holiness of his life and death by obedience By his active obedience he perfectly fulfilled the commands of the Law and by his passive obedience his voluntary sufferings he satisfied the penalty and commination of the Law for transgressions That perfect satisfaction to divine justice in whatsoever it requires either in way of punishing for sin or obedience to the law made by the Lord Jesus Christ God and man the Mediator of the new Covenant as a common head representing all those whom the father hath given to him and made over unto them that believe in him This is that righteousness that is imputed to all believers in their Justification and this imputed righteousness of thy dear son and my dear saviour is now my plea before thy bar of Justice Imputed righteousness is the same materially with that which the Law requireth The Righteousness which the Law requireth upon pain of damnation is a perfect obedience conformity to the whole Law of God performed by every son and daughter of Adam in his own person Now imputed righteousness is the same materially with that which the Law requireth it is obedience to the Law of God exactly and punctually performed to the very utmost Iota and tittle thereof without the least abatement Christ hath paid the uttermost farthing He is the fulfilling of the Law for righteousness and he hath fulfilled the Law in the humane nature to the intent that it might be fulfilled in the same nature to which it was at first given and all this he hath expresly done in all their names and on all their behalfs that believe in him That the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in them Rom. 8. 3 4. It is as if our dear Lord Jesus had said oh blessed father this I suffer and this I do to the use and in the stead and room of all those that have ventured their souls upon me that they may have a righteousness which they may truly call their own and on which they may safely rest and in which they may for ever glory Isa 45. 24 25. Now it will never stand with the unspotted holiness justice and righteousness of God to reject this righteousness of his son or that plea that is bottomed upon it Oh the matchless happiness of believers who have so
fair so full and so noble a plea to make in the great day of our Lord Jesus But some may say what blessed fruit grows upon this Que. glorious Tree of Paradise viz. the righteousness of Jesus Christ that is imputed to all believers what strong consolations flows from this fountain the Imputed Righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ I answer there are these nine choice consolations that flow in upon all believers through the righteousness of Christ imputed to them First let all believers know for their comfort that in this Imputed Righteousness of Christ there is enough to satisfie the justice of God to the uttermost farthing and to take off all his judicial anger and fury The mediatory righteousness of Christ is so perfect so full so exact so compleat and so fully satisfactory to the Justice of God as that Divine Justice cries out I have enough and I require no more I have found a ransom and I am fully pacified towards you 'T is certain that Christ was truly Ezek. 16. 61 62 63. Heb. 10. 10 11 12 14. Isa 53. 4 5 6. and properly a sacrifice for sin and 't is as certain that our sins were the meritorious cause of his sufferings he did put himself into poor sinners stead he took their guilt upon him and did undergo that punishment which they should have undergone he did die and shed his blood Rom. 5. 6 12. that he might thereby atone God and expiate sin and therefore we may safely and boldly conclude that Jesus Christ hath satisfied the justice of God to the uttermost Heb. 7. 25. so that now the believing sinner may rejoyce and triumph in the justice as well as in the mercy of God for doubtless the Mediatory righteousness of Christ was infinitely more satisfactory and pleasing to God than all the sins of believers could be displeasing to him God took more pleasure and delight in the bruising of his son in Isa 53. 10. the humiliation of his son and he smelt a sweeter savour in his sacrifice than all our sins could possibly offend him or provoke him when a believer casts his eyes upon his many thousand sinful commissions and omissions no wonder if he fears and trembles but then when he looks upon Christ's satisfaction he may see himself acquitted and rejoyce for if there be no charge no accusation a-against Rom. 8. 33 34 35 36 37. the Lord Jesus there can be none against the believer Christ's expiatory sacrifice hath fully satisfied divine justice and upon that very ground every believer hath cause to triumph in Christ Jesus and in that righteousness 2 Cor. 2. 14. Rev. 14. 4 5. of his by which he stands justified before the Throne of God Christ is a person of infinite transcendent worth and excellency and it makes highly for his honour to justifie believers in the most ample and glorious way imaginable c. and what way is that but by working out for and then investing them with a righteousness adequate to the Law of God a righteousness that should be every way commensurate to the miserable estate of fallen man and to the holy design of the glorious God 'T is the high honour of the second Adam that he hath restored to fallen man a more glorious righteousness than that he lost in the first Adam and it would be high blasphemy in the eyes of Angels and men for any mortal to assert that the second Adam our Lord Jesus Christ was less powerful to save than the first Adam was to destroy The second Adam is able to save to the uttermost all such as come to God through him The second Adam is able to save to all ends and purposes perfectly Heb. 7. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To the uttermost of time at all times and for ever c. saith Beza perpetually or for ever saith Tremel in aeternum saith Syrus in perpetuum saith the vulg ad plenum saith Erasmus ad perfectum saith Stapulensis he is able to save to the uttermost obligation of the Law preceptive as well as penal and to bring in perfect righteousness as well as perfect innocency he is able to save to the uttermost demand of divine justice by that perfect satisfaction that he has given to divine justice Christ is Isa 63. 1. mighty to save and as he is mighty to save so he loves to save poor sinners in such a way wherein he may most magnifie his own might and therefore he will purchase their pardon with his blood and make reparation to divine 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. justice for all the wrongs and injuries which fallen man had done to his Creator and his Royal Law and bestow upon him a better righteousness than that which Adam lost and bring him into a more safe high honourable and durable estate than that which Adam fell from when he was in his created perfection All the attributes of God do acquiess in the Imputed Righteousness of Christ so that a believer may look upon the holiness Psal 4. 8. justice and righteousness of God and rejoyce and lay himself down in peace I have read in story that Pilat being called to Rome to give an account unto the Emperour for some mis-government and male-administration he put on the seamless coat of Christ and all the time that he had that coat upon his back Caesar's fury was abated Christ has put his coat his Robe of righteousness Isa 61. 10. upon every believer upon which account all the Judicial anger wrath and fury of God towards believers ceaseth Isa 54. 9. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth so I have sworn that I would not be wroth with thee nor rebuke thee vers 10. For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath merey on thee But Secondly Know for your comfort that this imputed this mediatory Righteousness of Christ takes away all your unrighteousness it cancels every bond it takes Isa 53. 5 6 7. Colos 2. 12 13 14 15. away all iniquity and answers for all your sins Lord here are my sins of omission and here are my sins of commission but the Righteousness of Christ hath answered for them all here are my sins against the Law and here are my sins against the Gospel and here are my sins against the offers of grace the tenders of grace the strivings of grace the bowels of grace but the Rightcousness of Christ hath answered for them all I have read that when a Cordial was offered to a godly man that was sick Oh said he the cordial of cordials which I daily take is that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all our sins Oh sirs it would be high blasphemy for any to 1
transgressors and upon that score we stand indebted to the justice of God and lie under the stroke of his wrath Now the Lord Jesus Christ seeing us in this condition he steps in and stands between us and the blow yea he takes this wrath and curse off from us unto himself he stands not only or meerly after the manner of a Surety among men in the case of debt for here the Surety enters bond with the Principal for the payment of the debt but yet expects that the debtor should not put him to it but that he should discharge the debt himself he only stands as a good security for the debtor no Christ Jesus doth not expect that we should pay the debt our selves but he takes it wholly upon himself As a surety for a murtherer or traytor or some other notorious malefactor that hath broken prison and is run away he lies by it body for body state for state and undergoes whatsoever the malefactor is chargeable withal for satisfying the Law Even so the Lord Jesus stands Surety for us runagate malefactors making himself liable to all that curse that belongs to us that he might both answer the Law fully and bring us back again to God As the first Adam stood in the room of all mankind fallen so Christ the second Adam stands in the room of all mankind that are to be restored he sustains the person of all those which do spiritually descend from him and unto whom he bears the relation of a Head When God appointed his dearest Son to be a Surety for us and charged all our debts upon him and required an exact satisfaction to his Law and Justice insomuch that he would not abate the Son of his love one farthing token of the debt he did demonstrate a greater love to Justice than if he had damned as many worlds as there are men in the world O let us never cast an eye upon Christ's Suretyship but let us stand and wonder yea let us be swallowed up in a deep admiration of Christs love and of his Fathers impartial justice Ah what transcendent wisdom also does here appear in reconciling the riches of Mercy and infinite Justice both in one by the means of a Surety If all the Angels in heaven and all the men on earth had been put to answer these Questions How shall sin be pardoned how shall the sinner be reconciled and saved how shall the wrath of God be pacified how shall the Justice of God be satisfied how shall the Redemption of Man be brought about in such a way whereby God may be most eminently glorified they could never have answered the questions But God in his infinite Wisdom hath found out a way to save sinners not only in a way of Mercy and Grace but in a way of Justice and Righteousness and all this by the means of Christ's Suretyship as hath been already declared Now from the consideration of Christ's Suretyship a believer may form up this Seventh safe comfortable and blessed Plea as to the ten Scriptures formerly cited that refer to the great day of account or to a man's particular account O blessed Father remember that thine own Son was my Ransom his blood was the price he was my Surety and undertook to answer for my sins I know O blessed God that thou must be satisfied but remember When a man matries a woman with her person he takes her debts and satisfaction too so does Christ when he takes us to be his he takes our sins also to be hiâ— my Surety has satisfied thee not for himself for he was holy and harmless a Lamb without a spot but for me They were my debts he satisfied for and look over thy Books and thou shalt sind that he hath cleared all accounts and reckonings between thee and me the guilt of all my sins have been imputed to my Surety who did present himself in my stead to make full payment and satisfaction to thy Justice as Paul said to Philemon Philem. ver 18. concerning his servant Onesimus If he hath wronged thee or oweth thee any thing put it upon my account So saith Christ to the penitent and believing soul If thou hast any guilt any debt to be answered for unto God put them all upon my account if thou hast wronged my Father I will make satisfaction to the uttermost for I was made sin for thee 2 Cor. 5. 21. Isa 53. 12. I poured out my soul for thy transgressions it cost me my hearts blood to reconcile thee to my Father and to Acts 20. 28. Gen. 27. 13. slay all enmity And as Robeckah said to Jacob in another case Vpon me my son be the curse so faith Christ to the believing soul why thy sins did expose thee unto the curse of the Law but I was made a curse for thee I did Gal. 3. 13. bear that burthen my self upon the Cross and upon my shoulders were all thy griefs and sorrows born I was Isa 53. 4 5 6 7 8. 10. Eph. 1. 7. wounded for thy transgressions and I was bruised for thy iniquities and therefore we are said to have redemption and remission of sins in his blood O blessed God! thou knowest that a surety-doth not pay the debt only for the debtors good but as standing in the debtors stead and so his payment is reckoned to the dâ—btor And thus the case stands between Christ and my soul for as my Surety he hath paid all my debts and that very payment that he hath made in honour and justice thou art obliged to accept of as made in my stead Oh dearest Father that Jesus who is God-man as my Surety he hath done all that the Law requireth of me and thereby he hath freed me from wrath to come and from the curse that 1 Thes 1. ult was due to me for my sins This is my plea O holy God and by this plea I shall stand Hereupon God declares this plea I accept as just and good and therefore enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Christian Reader I have gone as far in the opening and clearing up of those Grand Points of the Gospel that have fallen under our consideration as I judge meet at this time By the Title-page thou mayest safely conclude that I have promised much more than in this Treatise I have performed but be but a little patient and by divine assistance I shall make sure and full payment The Covenant of Grace and the Covenant of Redemption with some other Points of high importance I shall present to thee in the Second Part which will be the Last Part. In this First Part I don't offer thee that which cost me nothing I desire that all the interest thou hast in heaven may be so fully and duly improved that this First Part may be so blest from on high as that Saints and Sinners may have cause to bless God to all Aeternity for what is brought to hand and beg hard