a matter that appertaineth to him alone to be able to bring in everlasting righteousness and to make reconciliation Dan. 9. 24. for iniquity The costly Cloak of Alcisthenes 'T is a sign of great favor from the Great Turk when a rich garment is cast upon any that come into his presence Knolls Hist The application is easie which Dionysius sold to the Carthaginians for an hundred talents was indeed a mean and beggarly rag to that embroidered Mantle of Christ's Righteousness that he puts upon us Isai 61. 10. I will greatly rejoyce in the Lord my soul shall be joyful in my God for he hath cloathed me with the garments of salvation he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments and a bride adorneth her self with her jewels Christ's Righteousness is that garment of wrought gold that we all need to cover all our imperfections Psal 45. 13. Rom. 5. 19. Col. 2. 10. Eph. 5 27. Rev. 14. 5. Rom. 3. 21 22 25 26. and to render us perfectly beautiful and glorious in the sight of God in this Robe of Righteousness we are complete we are without spot or wrinkle we are without fault before the throne of God through the imputation of Christ's righteousness we are made righteous in the sight of God God looking upon us as invested with the righteousness of his Son accounts us righteous All believers have a righteousness in Christ as full and complete as if they had fulfilled the Law Christ being the end of the Law for righteousness to believers Rom. 8. 3 4. invests believers with a righteousness every way as complete as the personal obedience of the Law would have invested them withal When men had violated God's holy Law God in justice resolved that his Law should be satisfied before man should be saved now this was done by Christ who was the end of the Law he fulfilled it actively and passively and so the injury offered to the Law is recompenced God had rather that all men should be destroyed than that his Law should not be satisfied No man can perfectly be justified in the sight of God without a perfect righteousness every way commensurable to God's holy Law which is the Rule of righteousness Do this and live neither can any person have any choice spiritual lively communion with a righteous God till he be clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ All Christ's active and passive obedience was either for himself or in our stead and behalf but it was not for himself but for us that he suffered and obeyed whatsoever Christ did or suffered in the whole course of his life he did it and suffered it as our Surety and in our steads for as God would not dispense with the penalty of the Law without satisfaction so he would not dispense with the commands of the Law without perfect obedience Remember once for all that the Actions and sufferings of Christ make but up one entire and perfect obedience to the whole Law nor had Christ been a perfect and complete Saviour if he had not performed what the Law required as well as suffered the penalty which the Law inflicted The imputation of Christ's Righteousness to us is a gracious Act of God the Father according to his good will and pleasure whereby as a Judge he accounts believers sins unto the Surety as if he had committed the same and the righteousness of Christ unto the believer as if he had performed the same the same obedience that Christ did in his own person so that Christ's imputed Righteousness is as effectual to the full for the acceptance of the believing sinner as if he had yielded such obedience to the Lord himself hence his righteousness is called our righteousness Jer. 23. 6. now without this righteousness there is no standing before the Justice of God But Thirdly As this great design of Christ's redeeming sinners by his blood and sufferings and by his being made a curse for them doth sound aloud the glory of divine Justice and the glory of Gods Veracity so it sounds forth the glory of his Wisdom for hereby he Solon that wise Law maker could never find out a law to put all other good laws in execution but such as are living laws will make the laws to live and will not the wise and living God make his laws and threatnings to live surely he will maintains the authority of his righteous Law When a Law is solemnly enacted with a penalty in case of transgression all those whom it concerns may conclude for certain that the Law-giver will proceed accordingly and it is a Rule in Policy That Laws once established and published should be vigorously preserved If the Lord should have wholly wav'd the execution of the Law upon sinners or their surety it might have tended greatly to the weakning of its authority and the diminishing of the reverence of his sovereignty in the hearts of the sons of men How often does God use that Oath As I live for the fulfilling of his threatnings as well as of his Jer. 22. 24. Ezek. 5. 9 10 11. promises the Lord Jehovah is as true faithful and constant in his threatnings as in his promises what he hath threatned shall undoubtedly come to pass he will be made known by his Name Jehovah in the full execution of all his threatnings The old World found it so and Jerusalem found it so yea the whole Nation of the Jews have found it so to this very day Look as all the saints See Ezek. 5. 13 15. in heaven will readily put to their Seals that God is true and faithful in all his Promises so all the damned in hell will readily put to their Seals that God is faithful in all his threatnings Men frequently deride the Laws and threatnings of great men when they are not put into execution it is the execution of Laws that is the very life and soul of good Laws Should God pardon sin without exacting the penalty of the Law how Eccles 8. 11. Mal. 2. 17. Such an emphasis there is in the Hebrew as Corn. Ã Lapide observes would sinners be hardned and emboldned to say with those men or rather monsters in Malachi Where is the God of judgment i. e. no where either there is no God or at least not a God of that exact precise and impartial judgment as some men say and as others teach But now when God lets sinners see that he will not pardon sin without exacting the penalty of the Law either of the sinner or of his Surety then the sinner cries out O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom Rom. 11. 33. and knowledge of God! God stood so much upon the complete satisfaction and accomplishment of his Law that he was willing that Christ should be a sacrifice that the Law might be satisfied in its penalty and that Christ Rom. 8. 3 4 5. in his own
in a Ship may sink it and one Thief may rob a man of all he has in the world A man may escape many gross sins and yet by living in the allowance of some one sin be deprived of the glory of Heaven for ever Moses came within the sight of Canaan but for one sin not sanctifying Gods Name he was shut out and no less will it be to any man that for living in any one sin shall be for ever shut out of the Kingdom of Heaven not but that there may be some remainders of sin and yet the heart taken off from every sin but if there be any secret closing with any one way of sin all the profession of Godliness and leaving all other sins will be to no purpose nor ever bring a man to happiness Twenty-seaven As the Philosopher saith a Cup or some such thing that hath a hole in it is no Cup it will hold nothing and therefore cannot perform the use of a cup though it have but one hole in it So if the heart have but one hole in it if it retain the Devil but in one thing if it make choyce but of any one sin to lie and wallow in and tumble in it doth evacuate all the other good by the entertainment of that one sin the whole box of Oyntment will be spoyled by the dropping of that one Flye into it By the Laws of our Kingdom a man can never have a true Possession till he have voided all And in the state of grace no man can have a full interest in Christ till all sin that is all reigning domineering sin be rooted out Thus you see the concurrant judgments of our most famous Divines against mens allowing indulging or retaining any one known sin against their light and Consciences but that these Sayings of theirs may lay in more weight and power upon every poor soul that is intangled with any base Lusts be pleased seriously and frequently to consider of these following particulars First 'T is to no purpose for a man to turn from some sins if he do's not turn from all his sins Jam. 1. 26. If any man seem to be Religious and bridle not his tongue but deceiveth his own heart this mans Religion is in vain This at first sight may seem to be a hard saying that for one fault for one fault in the tongue all a mans Religion should be counted vain and yet this you see the Holy-Ghost does peremptorily conclude Let a man make never so glorious a profession of Religion yet if he gives himself liberty to live in the practise of any known sin yea though it be but in a sin of the tongue his Religion is in vain and that one sin will separate him from God for ever If a Wife be never so officious to her Husband in many things yet if she entertains any other Lover into his Bed besides himself it will for ever alienate his affections from her and make an everlasting separation between them The Application is easie to turn from one sin to another is but to be tossed from one hand of the Devil to another it is but with Benhadad to recover of one disease and die of another It is but to take pains to go to Hell If a Ship spring three leaks and only two be stopped the third will sink the Ship or if a man have two grievous wounds in his body and takes order only to cure one that which is neglected will certainly kill him 'T is so here Herod Judas and Saul with the Scribes and Pharisees have for many hundred years experienced this truth But Secondly Partial obedience is indeed no obedience it is only universal obedience that is true obedience Exod. 24. 7. All that the Lord hath said will we do and be obedient They only are indeed obedient who have a care to do all that is commanded For to obey is to do that which is commanded because it is commanded though the thing done be commanded yet if it be not therefore done because it is commanded it is no obedience Now if this be the nature of obedience then where obedience is indeed it is not partial but universal for he that doth any one thing that is commanded because it is commanded he will be carefull to doe every thing that is commanded there being the same reason for all They that are only for a partial obedience they do break a sunder the bond and reason of all obedience for all obedience is to be founded upon the Authority and will of God because â—od who hath Authority over all his Creatures doth will and command us to obey his voyce to walk in his Statutes for this very reason do we stand bound to obey him and if we do obey him upon this reason then must we walk in all his Statutes for so hath he commanded us and if we will not come up to this but will walk in what Statutes of his we please then do we renounce his Will as the obliging reason of our obedience and do set up our own liking and pleasure as the reason thereof God has so connexed the duties of his Law one to another that if there be not a conscientious care to walk according to all that the Law requires a man becomes a transgressor of the whole Law according to that of Saint James chap. 2. 10. whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point is guilty of all the bond of all is broken the Authority of all is slighted and that evil disposition that sinful frame of heart that works a man to venture upon the breach of one command would make him venture upon the breach of any command were it not for some infirmity of nature or because his purse will not hold out to maintain it or for shame or loss or because of the eyes of Friends or the sword of the Magistrate or for some other sinister respeâ—ts He that gives himself liberty to live in the breach of any one command of God is qualified with a disposition of heart to break them all Every single sin contains vertually all sin in it He that allows himself a liberty to live in the breach of any one particular Law of God he casts contempt and scorn upon the Authority that made the whole Law and upon this account breaks it all And the Apostle gives the reason of it in câ—â—r 11. For he that said Do not commit Adultery said also Do not kâ—ll Now if thou commit no Adultery yet if thou kill thou art become a transgressor of the Law not that he is guilty of all distributively but collectively for the Law is copulative there is a chain of duties and these are all so likned one to another that you cannot break one link of the chain but you break the whole chain No man can live in the breach of any of any known command of God but he wrongs every command of God he hath no real
persecution and tribulation did arise against him because of his doing the Will of his Father he was not offended but did always do the things which pleased his Father as he told the Jews Joh. 8. 29. Fourthly The delight that he took in doing the Will of his Father Psal 40. 8. I delight to do thy Will O my God yea thy Law is within my heart or in the mid'st of my bowels as the Hebrew runs by the Law of God we are to understand all the Commandements of God there is not one Command which Christ did not delight to do Christs obedience was without murmuring or grudging his Fathers Commandements were not grievous to him he tells his Disciples that it was his 〈◊〉 to do the Will of him that sent him and to finish his work John 4. 34. But Fifthly The vertue and efficacy of it for his obedience his righteousness never returns to him void but it always accomplishes that which he pleases and prospers in the thing whereto he ordains it and that is the making others Righteous according to that of the Apostle Rom. 5. 19. For as by one mans disobedience many were made sinnâ—rs so by the â—â—bedience of one shall many be made Righteous 2 Cor. 5. 21. God made him to be sin for us who knew no 〈◊〉 that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him and accordingly we are for of God he is made unto us Righteousness 1 Cor. 1. 30. The perfect compleat Obedience of Christ to the Law is certainly reckoned to us that is an everlasting truth If thou wilt enter into life keep the Commandements Math. 19. 17. The Commandements must be kept either by our selves or by our Surety or there is no entering into life Christ did obey the Law not for himself but for us and in our stead Rom. 5. 18 19. By the Righteousness of one the free-gift came upon all men unto justification of life By the Obedience of one many shall be made Righteons By his Obedience to the Law we are made Righteous Christs Obedience is reckoned to us for Righteousness Christ by his Obedience to the Royal Law is made Righteousness to us 1 Cor. 1. 30. We are saved by that perfect Obedience which Christ when he was in this world yeelded to the blessed Law of God Mark what ever Christ did as Mediator he did it for those whose Mediator he was or in whose stead and for whose good he executed the Office of a Mediator before God this the Holy Ghost witnesseth Rom. 8. 3 4. What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us The word Likeness is not simply to be referred to flesh but to sinful flesh as Basil well observes for Christ was like unto us in all things sin only excepted If with our justification from sin there be joyned that active Obedience of Christ which is imputed to us We are just before God according to that perfect form which the Law requireth Because we could not in this condition of weakness whereinto we are cast by sin come to God and be freed from Condemnation by the Law God sent Christ as a Mediator to do and suffer what ever the Law required at our hands for that end and purpose that we might not be condemned but accepted of God It was all to this end that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us that is which the Law required of us consisting in duties of obedience this Christ performed for us This expression of the Apostle God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh if you will add to it that of Gal. 4. 4. That he was so sent forth as that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made under the Law that is obnoxious to it to yield all the obedience that it doth require compares the whole of what Christ did or suffered and all this the Holy Ghost tells us was for us vers 4. He that made the Law as God was made under the Law as God-Man whereby both the obligations of the Law fell upon him 1. Paenal 2. Praeceptive First The paenal Obligation to undergoe the Curse and so to satisfie Divine Justice Secondly The praeceptive Obligation to fulfil all Righteousness Math. 3. 15. This Obligation he fulfilled by doing the other by Dying Mark this double Obligation could not have befallen the Lord Jesus Christ upon any natural account of his own but upon his Mediatory account only as he voluntarily became the Surety of this New and better Covenant Heb. 7. 22. so that the fruit and benefit of Christs voluntary subjection to the Law redoundeth not at all to himself but unto the persons which were given him of the Father Joh. 17. whose Sponsor he became for their sakes he underwent the paenal Obligation of the Law that it might do them no harm He being made a Curse for us Gal. 3. 13. and for their sakes he fulfilled the praeceptive Obligation of the Law do this that so the Law might do them good This the Evangelical Apostle clearly asserts Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth Romans 10. 4. Christ is the end of the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what end why sinis perfectiuus the perfection and accomplishment of the Law he is the end of the Law for Righteousness that is to the end that by Christ his active obedience God might have his perfect Law perfectly kept that so there might be a Righteousness extant in the humane nature every way adaequate to the perfection of the Law And who must wear this Garment of Righteousness when Christ hath finished it Surely the Believer who wanted a Righteousness of his own for so it follows for Righteousness to every one that believeth that is that every poor naked Sinner believing in Jesus Christ might have a Righteousness wherein being found he might appear at Gods Tribunal but his nakedness not appears But as Jacob in the Garment of his Elder Brother Esau so the Believer in the Garment of his Elder Brother Jesus might inherit the blessing even the great blessing of Justification The only matter of mans Righteousness since the fall of Adam wherein he can appear with comfort before the justice of God and consequently whereby alone he can be justified in his sight is the obdience and sufferings of Jesus Christ the Righteousness of the Mediator there is not any other way imaginable how the Justice of God may be satisfied and we may have our sins pardoned in a way of justice but by the Righteousness of the Son of God and therefore is his name Jehovah Tridkenna The Lord our Righteousness Jer. 23. 6. This is his name that is this is the prerogative of the Lord Jesus a matter
that appertains to him alone to be able to bring in an everlasting Righteousness and to make reconciliation for Iniquity Dan. 9. 24. It is by Christ alone That they who believe are justified from all things from which they cannot be Ecclâ—s 11 9. cap 12. 14 Matth. 1â— 14. cap. 18. 2â— Luk. 16. 3. Rom. 1â— 10. 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 10. Heb 9. 27. cap. 13. â—7 1 Pet. 4. 5. justified by the Law of Moses Act. 13. 39. Now from the active obedience of Christ a sincere Christian may form up this third plea as to the ten Scriptures in the Margent that refer either to the general judgment or to the particular judgment that will pass upon every Christian immediately after death O! blessed God thou knowest that Jesus Christ as my Surety did perform all that active obedience unto thy holy and righteous Law that I should have performed but by reason of the in-dwelling power of sin and of the vexing and molesting power of sin and of the captivating power of sin could not There was in Christ an habitual righteousness a conformity of his nature to the holiness of the Law for 1 Pet. 1. 19. he is a Lamb without spot and blemish the Law could never have required so much righteousness as is to be found in him and as for practical righteousness there was never any aberration in his thoughts words or deeds Hâ—b 7. 26. The Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me John 14. 30. The Apostle tells us That we are made the Righteousness of God in him he doth emphatically add that clause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 6. 21. in him that he may take away all conceit of inherence in us and establish the Doctrine of imputation As Christ is made sin in us by imputation so we are made righteousness in him by the same way Augustines place which Beza cites is a most full Commentary God the Father saith he made him to be sin who know no sin that we might be the Righteousness of God not our own and in him that is in Christ not in our selves and being thus justified we are so Righteous as if we were Righteousness it self O! holy God Christ my Surety hath universally kept thy Royal Law he hath not offended in any one point yea he hath exactly and perfectly kept the whole Law of God he stood compleat in the whole will of the Father his active obedience was so full so perfect and so adaequate to all the Laws demands that the Law could not but say I have enough I am fully satisfied I have found a Ransom I can ask no more Neither was the obedience of Christ fickle or transient but permanent and constant it was his delight his meat and drink yea his Heaven to be still a doing the will of his Father Assuredly whilst our Lord Joh. 4. 33 34. Jesus Christ was in this world he did in his own person fully obey the Law he did in his own person perfectly conform to all the holy just and righteous commands of the Law Now this his most perfect and compleat obedience to the Law is made over to all his Members to all Believers to all sincere Christians it is reckoned to them it is imputed to them as if they themselves in their own persons had performed it All sound Believers being in Christ as their head and Surety the Laws righteousness is fulfilled in them legally and imputively though it be not fulfilled in them formally subjectively inherently or personally sutable to that of the Apostle That the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us mark not by us but in us for Christ in our Nature Râ—m 8 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Beza well tenders 〈◊〉 legis that the right of the Law might be fulfilled in us hath fulfilled the right of the Law and therefore in us because of our communion with him and our ingrafting into him God hath condemned sin the flesh of his Son that all that which the Law by a right could require of us might be performed by him for us so as if we our selves had in our own persons performed the same The Law must have its right before a Sinner can be saved we cannot of our selves fulfil the right of it But here 's the comfort Christ our Surety hath fulfilled it in us and we have fulfilled it in him Certainly whatsoever Christ did concerning the Law is ours by imputation so fully as if our selves had done it Do's the Law require obedience saith Christ I will give it Do's the Law threaten Curses saith Christ Math 3 15. cap. 5 17 18 they shall be borne The precept of the Law saith Christ shall be kept and the promises received and the punishments endured that poor Sinners may be saved Our Righteousness and Title to eternal life do indispensably depend upon the imputation of Christs active obedience to us there must be a perfect obeying of the Law as the condition of life either by the Sinner himself or by his Surety or else no life which doth sufficiently evince the absolute necessity of the imputation of Christs active obedience to us the Sinner himself being altogether unable to fulfil the Law that he may stand Righteous before the great and glorious God Christs fulfilling of it must necessarily be imputed to him in order to righteousness There are two great things which Jesus Christ did undertake for his redeemed ones the one was to make full satisfaction to Divine Justice for all their sins Now this he did by his Blood and Death the other was to yield most absolute conformity to the Law of God both in nature and life by the one he has freed all his Redeemed ones from Hell and by the other he has qualified all his Redeemed ones from Heaven This is my Plea O Lord and by this plea I shall stand Well saith the Lord I accept of this plea as honourable just and righteous Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Secondly As Jesus Christ did for us perform all that active obedience which the Law of God required so he did also suffer all those punishments which we had deserved by the transgression of the Law of God in which respect he is said 2 Cor. 2. 22. To be made sin for us 1 Pet. 2. 24. Himself to bear our sins in his own body on the Tree 1 Pet. 3. 18. For Christ also hath once suffered for sin the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God Phil. 2. 8. To humble himself and to become obedient unto death even the death of the Cross Gal. 3. 13. To be made a Curse an Exceration for us Ephe. 5. 2. To give himself for us an Offering and Sacrifice unto God Heb. 9. 15. And for this cause he is the Mediator of the New Testament that by means of Death for the Redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament they which
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
vers 12. Yea surely God will not do wickedly neither will the Almighty pervert judgment It would be high injustice in a magistrate to punish the same offence twice and it would be high blasphemy for any to assert that ever God should be guilty of such injustice Whilst Christians set up a righteousness of their own and build not upon the Rom. 10. 3. righteousness of Christ how unsetled are they how miserably are they tossed up and down sometimes fearing and sometimes hoping sometimes supposing themselves in a good condition and anon seeing themselves upon the very brink of hell but now all is quiet and serene with that soul that builds upon the righteousness of Christ for he being justified by faith hath peace with God observe Rom. 5. 1. that noble description of Christ in that Isa 32. 2. And a man that is the man Christ Jesus shall be as a hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest as rivers of water in a dry place as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land When a man is clothed with the righteousness of Christ who is God man it is neither wind nor tempest it is neither drought nor weariness that can disturb the peace of his soul for Christ and his righteousness will be a hiding place a cover and rivers of water and the shadow of a great rock unto him for being at perfect peace with God he may well say with the Psalmist Isa 26. 3. Psal 4. 6 7 8. I will lay me down in peace The peace and comfort of an awakened sinner can never stand firm and stable but upon the Basis of a positive righteousness When a sensible sinner casts his eye upon his own righteousness holiness fastings prayers tears humblings meltings he can find no place for the sole of his foot to rest firmly upon by reason of the spots and blots and blemishes that cleaves both to his graces and duties He knows that his prayers need pardon and that his tears need washing in the blood of the Lamb and that his very righteousness needs another's righteousness to secure him from condemnation If thou Lord shouldst mark iniquity O Lord who shall stand Psal 130. 3. Psal 1. 5. that is rectus in curia stand that is in judgment Extremity of justice he deprecateth he would not be dealt with in rigour and rage The best man's life is fuller of sins than the firmament is of stars or the furnace of sparks and therefore who can stand in judgment and not fall under the weight of thy just wrath which burneth as low as hell it self i. e. none can stand were the faults of the best man alive but written in his forehead he was never able to stand in judgment when a man comes to the Law for Justification it convinceth him of sin when he pleads his innocence that he is not so great a sinner as others are when he pleds his righteousness his duties his good meanings and his good desires the Law tells him that they are all weighed in the ballance of the sanctuary and found Dau. 5. 27. too light the Law tells him that the best of his duties will not save him and that the least of his sins will damn him the Law tells him that his own righteousnesses are as filthy rags do but defile him and that his best services do but witness against him The Law looks for perfect and personal obedience and because the sinner cannot come up to it it pronounceth him accursed and though the Gal. 3. 10. sinner sues hard for mercy yet the Law will shew him none no though he seeks it carefully with tears but Heb. 12. 17. now when the believing sinner casts his eye upon the righteousness of Christ he sees that righteousness to be a perfect and exact righteousness as perfect and exact as that of the Law yea it is the very righteousness of the Law though not performed by him yet by his surety the Lord his righteousness and upon this foundation he stands firm and rejoyces with joy unspeakable and full of glory The Saints of old have always placed their happiness peace and comfort in their perfect and compleat Justification rather than in their imperfect and incompleat sanctification as you may see by the Scriptures in the margent with Jer. 23. 6. 1 Pet. 1. 8. Luk. 7. 48 50. Rom. 4. 6 8. cap. 5. 1 3. Isa 38. 16 17. cap. 45. 24 25. Phil. 4. 7. many others that are scattered up and down in the blessed book of God That text is worthy to be written in letters of Gold Isa 61. 10. I will greatly rejoyce in the Lord saith the sound believer my soul shall be joyful in my God for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation He hath imputed and given unto me the perfect holiness and obedience of my blessed Saviour and made it mine he hath covered me all over from top to toe with the robe of righteousness as a bride groom decketh himself with ornaments and as a bride adorneth her self with her jewels Though a Christian's inherent righteousness be weak and imperfect â—maimed and stained blotted and blurred as it is yet it affords much comfort peace joy and rejoycing 1 Chron. 29. 9. Jâ—b 27. 4 5 6. Neh. 13. 14 22 31. Isa 38. 3. Prov. 21. 14. 2 Cor. 1. 12. 1 Pet. 3. 3. 4. cap. 5. 4. as you may see by comparing the Scriptures in the Margent together Job was much taken with his inherent righteousness Job 29. 14. I put on righteousness and it cloathed me my judgment was as a robe and a diadem unto me Look as sober modest comely apparel doth much set forth and adorn the body in the eyes of men so doth inherent grace inherent holiness inherent righteousness when it sparkles in the faces lips lives and good works of the Saints much more beautifie and adorn them in the eyes both of God and man Now if this garment of inherent righteousness that hath so many spots and rents in it will adorn us and joy us so much what a beauty and glory is that which the Lord our God hath put upon us in clothing us with the robe of his son's righteousness for by this means we shall recover more by Christ than we lost by Adam the robe of righteousness which we have gotten by Christ the second Adam is far more glorious than that which we were deprived of by the first Adam But Seventhly Then know for your comfort that you 7. Gal. 6. 14. have the highest reason in the world to rejoyce and triumph in Christ Jesus Phil. 3. 3. For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus we rejoyce in the person of Christ and we rejoyce in the righteousness of Christ 2 Cor. 2. 14. Now thanks be to God which always causeth us to triumph in Christ Deo gratias was ever in Paul â—s
in one is guilty of all 2 Jam. 10. Now that ye may not mistake Aquinas nor the Scripture he cites you must remember that the whole Law is but one copulative Exod. 16. 18. Ezek. 18. 10 11 12 13. v Mark he that breaketh one Command habitually breaketh all not so actually Such as are truly Goâ—ly in respect of the habitual desires purposes bents byasses inclinations resolutions and endeavours of their Souls do keep those very commands that actually they daily break But a dispensatory Conscience keeps not any one Commandement of God he that willingly and wilfully and habitually gives himself liberty to break any one Commandement is guilty of all That is 1. Either he breaks the chain of duties and so breaks all the Law being copulative or 2. With the same disposition of heart that he willingly wilfully habitually breaks one with the same disposition of heart he is ready prest to break all The Apostles meaning in that Jam. 2. 10. is certainly this viz. That suppose a man should keep the whole Law for substance except in some one particular yet by allowing of himself in this particular thereby he manifests that he kept no precept of the Law in obedience and conscience unto God for if he did then he would be careful to keep every precept thus much the words following import and hereby he manifests that he is guilty of all Some others conceive that therefore such a one may be said to be guilty of all because by allowing of himself in any one sin thereby he lyes under that Curse which is threatned against the transgressors of the Law Dan. 27. 26. Eighthly Every Christian should carry in his heart saith another a constant and resolute purpose not to sin in any thing for Faith and the purpose of sinning can never stand together This must be understood of an habitual not actual of a constant not transient purpose But Ninethly One flaw in a Diamond saith another takes away the lustre and the price One puddle if we wallow in it will defile us One man in Law may keep Possession One piece of ward Land makes the Heir liable to the King So one sin lived in and allowed may make a man miserable for ever But Tenthly One turn may bring a man quite out of the way One act of Treason makes a Traytor Giddcon had seventy Sons but one Bastard and yet that one Bastard destroyed all the rest Judg. 8. 13. One sin as well as one Sinner lived in and allowed may destroy much good saith another Eleaventhly He that favoureth one sin though he forgoe many do's but as Ben adab recover of one disease and dye of another yea he doth but take pains to go to Hell saith another Twelfthly Satan by one Lye to our first Parents made fruitless what God himself had Preached to them immediatly before saith another Thirteenthly A man may by one short act of sin bring a long Curse upon himself and his Posterity as Ham did when he saw his Father Noah Drunk Gen. 9. 24 25. And Noah awoke from his Wine and knew what his younger Son had done unto him and he said Cursed is Canaan a Servant of Servants shall he be unto his Brethren Canaan was Hams Son Noah as Gods mouth Prophesied a Curse upon the Son for his Fathers sin Here Ham is cursed in his Son Canaan and the curse entailed not only to Canaan but to his Posterity Noah Prophesies a long series and chain of curses upon Canaan and his Children he makes the curâ—e Hereditary to the Name and Nation of the Canaanites A Servant of Servants shall he be unto his Brethren that is the vilest and basest Servant for the Hebrews express the superlative degree by such a duplication as Vanity of Vanities that is most vain a Song of Songs that is a most excellent Song So here a Servant of Servants that is the vilest the basest Servant Ah heavy and prodigious Curse upon the account of one sin But Fourteenthly Satan can be content that men should yield to God in many things provided that they will be but true to him in some one thing for he knows very well that as one dram of Poyson may poyson a man and one stab at the heart may kill a man so one sin unrepented of one sin allowed retained cherrished and practised will certainly damn a man But Fifteenthly Though all the parts of a mans body be sound save only one that one Diseased and Ulcerous part may be deadly to thee for all the sound members cannot preserve thy life but that one diseased and Ulcerous member will hasten thy death So one sin allowed indulged and lived in will prove killing and damning to thee Sixteenthly Observe saith another that an unmortified sin allowed and wilfully retained will eat out all appearance of Vertue and Piety Herods high esteem of John and his Ministry and his reverencing of him and observing of him and his forward performance of many good things are all given over and laid aside at the instance and command of his master-sin his reigningsin Johns head must go for it if he won't let Herod enjoy his Herodias quietly But Seventeenthly Some will leave all their sins but one Jacob would let all his Sons go but Benjamin Satan can hold a man fast enough by one sin that he allows and lives in as the Fowler can hold the Bird fast enough by one wing or by one claw Eighteenthly Holy Policarp in the time of the fourth Persecution when he was commanded but to swear one Oath he made this Answer Four-score and six years have I endeavoured to do God Service and all this while he never hurt me how then can I speak evil of so good a Lord and Master who hath thus long preserved me I am a Christian and cannot swear let Heathens and Infidels swear if they will I cannot do it were it to the saving of my life Nineteenthly A willing and a wilfull keeping up either in heart or life any known transgression against the Lord is a breach of the holy Law of God it is a fighting against the honour an glory of God and is a reproach to the Eye of God the Omnipresence of God Twentiethly The keeping up of any known transgression against the Lord may endanger the souls of others and may be found a fighting against all the crys prayers tears promises Vows and Covenants that thou hast made to God when thou hast been upon a sick bed or in eminent dangers or near death or else when thou hast been in solemn seeking of the Lord either alone or with others these things should be frequently and seriously thought of by such poor souls as are entangled by any Lust Twenty-one The keeping up of any known transgression against the Lord either in heart or life is a high tempting of Satan to tempt the soul it will also greatly unfit the soul for all sorts of duties and services that he either owes to God
Statutes of God there is a two-fold Obedience to all the Royal Commands of God First One is legal when all is done that God requireth and all is done as God requireth when there is not one path of duty but we do walk in it perfectly and continually thus no man on Earth doth or can walk in all God's Statutes or fully do what he Commandeth For in many things we offend all Jam. 3. 2. So Eccles 7. 20. There is not a just man upon the Earth that doth good and sinneth not 1 King 8. 46. For there is no man that sinneth not Prov. 20. 9. Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin Job 14. 4. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one 1 Joh. 1. 8. If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us Secondly Another is Evangelical which is such a walking in all the Statutes of God and such a keeping of all the Commands of God as is in Christ accepted of and accounted of as if we did keep them all this walking in all God's Statutes and keeping of all his Commandements and doing of them all is not only possible but it is also actual in every Believer in every sincere Christian and it consists in these particulars First In the Approbation of all the Statutes and Commandements of God Rom. 7. 12. The Commandement is holy and just and good ver 16. I consent unto the Law that it is good there is both assent and consent Psal 119. 128. I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right A sincere Christian approves of all Divine Commands though he can't perfectly keep all Divine Commands But Secondly It consists in a Conscientious submission unto the Authority of all the Statutes of God Every Command of God hath an Authority within his heart and over his heart Psal 119. 161. My heart standeth in awe of thy Word A sincere Christian stands in awe of every known Command of God and hath a spiritual regaâ—d unto them all Psal 119. 6. I have respect unto all thy Commandements But Thirdly It consists in a cordial willingness and a cordial desire to walk in all the Statutes of God and to obey all the Commands of God Rom. 7 18. For to Will is present with me Psal 119. 5. O! that my ways were directed to keep thy Statutes ver 8. I will keep thy Statutes But Fourthly It consists in a sweet complacency in all Gods Commands Psal 119. 47. I will delight my self in thy Commandement which I have loved Rom. 7. 22. I delight in the Law of God after the inward man But Fifthly He who obeys sincerely obeys universally though not in regard of practice which is impossible yet in regard of affection he loves all the Commands of God yea he dearly loves those very Commands of God that he cannot obey by reason of the infirmity of the flesh by reason of that body of sin and death that he bears about with him ponder upon that Psal 119. 97. O how I love thy Law Such a pang of love he felt as could not otherwise be vented but by this pathetical exclamation O how I love thy Law ver 113 163 127 159 167. ponder upon all these verses But Sixthly A sincere Christian obeys all the Commands of God he is universal in his obedience in respect of valuation or esteem he highly values all the Commands of God he highly prizes all the Commands of God as you may clearly see by comparing these Scriptures together Psal 119. 72 127 128. Psal 19. 8 9 10 11. Job 23. 12. But Seventhly A sincere Christian is universal in his Obedience in respect of his purpose and resolution he purposes and resolves by Divine assistance to obey all to keep all Psal 119. 106. I have sworn and will pâ—rform it that I will keep thy Righteous Judgments Psal 17. 3. I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress But Eighthly A sincere Christian is universal in his Obedience In respect of his inclination he has an habitual inclination in him to keep all the Commands of God 1 King 8. 57 58. 2 Chron. 30. 17 18 19 20. Psal 119. 112. I have inclined my heart to perform thy Statutes always oven to the end But Ninethly and lastly Their Evangelical keeping of all the commands of God consists in their sincere endeavour to keep them all they put out themselves in all the ways and parts of obedience they do not willingly and wittingly slight or neglect any Commandement but are striving to conform themselves thereunto as a Dutiful Son doth all his Fathers commands at least in point of endeavour So your sincere Christians make Conscience of keeping all the Commands of God in respect of endeavours Psal 119. 59. I turned my feet unto thy Testimonies God esteems of Evangelical Obedience as perfect obedience Zacharias had his failings he did hesitate through unbelief for which he was struck dumb yet the Text tells you That he walked in all the Commandements of the Lord blameless Luk. 1. 6. Because he did cordially desire and endeavour to obey God in all things Evangelical Obedience is true for the essence though not perfect for the degree A Child of God obeys all the Commands of God in respect of his sincere desires purposes resolutions and endeavours and this God accepts in Christ for perfect and compleat obedience This is the glory of the Covenant of Grace that God accepts and esteems of sincere obedience as perfect obedience Such who sincerely endeavour to keep the whole Law of God they do keep the whole Law of God in an Evangelical sense though not in a legal sense A sincere Christian is for the first Table as well as the second and the second as well as the first he doth not adhere to the first and neglect the second as Hypocrites do neither doth he adhere to the second and contemn the first as prophane men do O Christians for your support and comfort know that when your desires and endeavours are to do the Will of God entirely as well in one thing as another God will graciously pardon your failings and pass by your imperfections He will spare you as a man spareth his Son that serveth him Mal. 3. 17. Though a Father see his Son to fail and come short in many things which he enjoyns him to do yet knowing that his desires and endeavours are to serve him and please him to the full he will not be rigid and severe with him but will be indulgent to him and will spare him and pitty him and shew all love and kindness to him The Application is easie c. The second Question or case is this viz What is that Faith that gives a man an interest in Christ and in all those blessed benefits and favours that comes by Christ or whether that person that experiences the following particulars may not safely groundedly and
by charging them all upon Christs score That is a great expression of Nathan to David The Lord hath put away thy sin But the Original runs thus The Lord hath made thy sins to pass over that is to 2 Sam 12. 13. pass over from thee to his Son he hath laid them to his charge Now Christ hath discharged all his Peoples Debts and Bonds There is a two-fold debt which lay upon us one was the debt of Obedience unto the Law and this Christ did pay by fulfilling all Righteousness Math. 3. 15. The other was the debt of punishment for our transgressions and this debt Christ discharged by his Death on the Cross Isa 53. 4 10 12. and by being made a Curse for us to redeem us from the Curse Gal. 3. 13. Hence it is that we are said to be bought with a price 1 Cor. 6. 20. chap. 7. 23. and that Christ is called our Raâ—som Lutron Math. 20. 28. and Antilutron 1 Tim. 2. 6. The words do signifie a valuable price laid down for anothers Ransom The Blood of Christ the Son of God was a valuable price a sufficient price it was as much as would take off all Enmities and take away all Sin and to satisfie Divine Justice and indeed so it did and therefore you read That in his blood we have Redemption even the forgiveness of our sins Ephes 1. 7. Col. 1. 14 20. and his death was such a full compensation to divine Justice that the Apostle makes a challenge to all Rom. 8. 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect and vers 34. Who is he that Condemneth it is Christ that dyed As if he had said Christ hath satisfied and discharged all The Greek word Antilutron is of special Emphasis The vulgar Latine renders it Redemptionem Redemption Beza Redemptioms precium a price of Redemption but neither of them fully expressing the force of the word which properly signifieth a counter-price when one doth undergoe in the room of another that which he should have undergone in his own person As when one yields himself a Captive for the Redeeming of another out of Captivity or giveth his own life for the saving of anothers There were such Sureties among the Greeks as gave life for life body for body and in this sence the Apostle is to be understood when he saith that Christ gave himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Ransom a counter-price paying a price for his people Christ hath laid down a price for all Believers they are his dear bought Ones they are his choyce redeemed Ones Isa 51. 11. Christ gave himself Antilutron a counter-price a Ransom submitting himself to the like punishment that his redeemed Ones should have undergone Christ to deliver his Elect from the Curse of the Law did subject himself to that same Curse of the Law under which all man-kind lay Jesus Christ was a true Surety one that gave his life for the life of others as the Apostle saith of Castor and Pollux that the one redeemed the others life with his own death So did the Lord Jesus he became such a Surety for his Elect giving himself an Antilutron a Ransom for them Joh. 6. 51. Tit. 2. 14. 1 Pet. 1. 18. Rev. 1. 5. chap. 5. 9. O what comfort is this unto us to have such a Jesus who himself bare our sins even all our sins left not one unsatisfied for laid down a full ransom a full price such an expiatory Sacrifice as that now we are out of the hands of Justice and Wrath and Death and Curse and Hell and are reconciled and made near by the Blood of the everlasting Covenant the Blood of Christ as the Scripture speaks is the Blood of God Act. 20. 28. So that there is not only satisfaction but merit in his Blood there is more in Christs Blood than meer payment or satisfaction there was merit also in it to acquire and procure and purchase all spiritual good and all eternal good for the people of God not only immunities from sin Death Wrath Curse Hell c. but priviledges and dignities of Sons and Heirs yea all Grace and all Love and all Peace and all Glory even that glorious Inheritance purchased by his Blood Ephes 1. 14. Remember this once for all that in justification our debts are charged upon Christ they go upon his accounts you know that in sin there is the vicious and staining quality of it and there is the resulting guilt of it which is the obligation of a Sinner over to the Judgment Seat of God to answer for it Now this guilt in which lies our debt this is charged upon Christ Therefore saith the Apostle God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself not imputing their Trespasses unto them 2 Cor. 5. 19. And hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin ver 21. You know in Law the Wifes Debts are charged upon the Husband and if the Debtor be disabled than the Creditor sues the Surety Fide jussor or Surety and Debitor in Law are reputed as one person Now Christ is our Fide jussor He is made sin for us saith the Apostle for us that is in our stead A Surety for us one who puts our scores on his accounts our burden on his shoulders so saith that Princely Prophet Isaiah Isa 53. 4 5. He hath born our griefs and carried our soroows how so He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities that is he stood in our stead he took upon him the answering of our sins the satisfying of our debts the clearing of our guilt and therefore was it that he was so bruised c. You remember the scape-Goat upon his Head all the Iniquities of the Children of Israel and all their transgressions in all their sins were confessed and put And the Goat did bâ—ar upon him all their Iniquities Lev. 16. 21 22. What is the meaning of this Surely Jesus Christ upon whom our sins were laid and who alone died for the ungodly Rom. 5. 6. and bear our burdens away Therefore the Believer in the sence of guilt should run unto Christ and offer up his Blood unto the Father and say Lord it is true I owe Thee so much yet Father forgive me 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 beseech thee accept of his Attonement for he is my Surety my Redemption Thou must be satisfied but Christ hath satisfied thee not for himself what sins had he of his own but for me they were my debts which he satisfied for and look over thy book and thou shalt find it so for thou hast said He was made sin for us and that he was wounded for our transgressions Now what a singular support what an admirable comfort is this that we our selves are not to make up our accounts and reckonings but that Christ hath cleared all accounts and
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
cannot be satisfied for the transgression of the Law but by the death of the Sinner but it doth not require that this should be done in the place of the damned The wicked go to Prison because they do not they cannot make satisfaction otherwise Christ having fully discharged the debt needed not go to Prison Object But the pains and torments that are due to mans Obj. 5 sins are to be everlasting and how then can Christs short sufferings countervail them Answ That Christs sufferings in his soul and body Answ were equivalent to it although to speak properly Eternity is not of the essence of death which is the reward of sin and threatned by God but its accidental because man thus dying is never able to satisfie God therefore seeing he cannot pay the last farthing he is for Math. 18 28. 35. ever kept in Prison Look as eternal death hath in it eternity despair necessarily in all those that so die so Christ could not suffer but what was wanting in duration was supplyed 1. By the immensity of his sorrows conflicting with the sense of Gods wrath because of our sins imputed to him so that he suffered more grief then if the sorrows of all men were put together Christs Hell sorrows on the Cross were meritorious and fully satisfactory Isa 53. for our everlasting punishment and therefore in greatness were to exceed all other mens sorrows as being answerable to Gods justice 2. By the dignity and worth of him that did suffer Therefore the Scripture calls it the blood of God The damned must bear the wrath of God to all Eternity because they can never satisfie the justice of God for sin therefore they must lye by it world without end but Christ hath made an infinit satisfaction in a finit time by undergoing that fierce battel with the wrath of God and getting the Victory in a few hours which is equivalent to the Creatures bearing it and grapling with it everlastingly This length or shortness of durance is but a circumstance not of any necessary consideration in this case Suppose a man indebted a 100 l. and likely to lye in Prison till he shall pay it yet utterly unable if another man comes and lays down the money on two hours warning is not this as well or better done that which may be done to as good or better purpose in a short time what need is there to draw it out at length The justice of the Law did not require that either the Sinner or his Surety should suffer the Eternity of Hells torments but only their extremity it doth abundantly counterpoise the eternity of the punishment that the person which suffered was the eternal God Besides it was impossible that he should be detained under the sorrows of death Act. 2. 24. And if he had been so detained Then he had not spoiled principalities and powers nor triumphed over them Col. 2. 15. but had been overcome and so had not attained his end But Secondly The pains of Hell which Christ suffered though they were not infinit in time yet were they of an infinite price and value for the dignity of the person that suffered them Christs temporal enduring of Hellish sorrows was as effectual and meritorious as if they had been perpetual the dignity of Christs person did bear him out in that which was not meet for him to suffer nor fit in respect of our Redemption for if he should have suffered Eternally our Redemption could never have been accomplished but for him to suffer in soul as he did in body was neither derogatory to his person nor prejudicial to his work Infinitly in time Christ was not to suffer as one well observes Christ dyed secundum tempus Ambrose in 5. ad Rom. 6. in time or according to time Tempora in mundo sunt c. Times are in the world where the Sun riseth and setteth unto this time he dyed but where there is no time there he was found not only living but conquering Christ God-Man suffered punishment in measure infinit and therefore there is no ground why he should endure it eternally and indeed it was impossible that Christ should be Act. 2. 24. holden of Death because he was both the Lord of life and the Lords holy One 1 Cor. 2. 8. Act. 2. 27. But Thirdly If the measure of a mans punishment were infinit the duration needs not be infinit sinful mans measure of punishment is finit and therefore the duration of his punishment must be infinit because the punishment must be answerable to the infinit evil of sin committed against an infinit God O Sirs continual imprisonment in Hell arises from mans not being able to pay the price for could he pay the debt in one year he needs not lye two years in Prison Now the debt is the first and second death and because sinful man cannot pay it in any time he must endure it eternally but now Christ has laid down ready pay upon the nail to the full for all his chosen Ones and therefore it is not reâ—uired of him that he should suffer for ever neither can it stand with the holiness or justice of God to hold him under the second death he having paid the debt to the utmost Farthing Now that he hath fully paid the debt himself witnesseth Joh. 19. 30. saying when he had received the Vinegar It is finished so vers 28. After this Jesus knowing that all things were accomplished Though there are many interpretations given of this place by Augustine Chrysostom Jansenuâ— and others yet doubtless this alone will hold water viz. That the heavy wrath of the Lord which did pursue Christ and the second death which filled him with grievous terrors is now over and past and mans Redemption finished he speaketh here of that which presently should be and in the yielding up his Ghost was accomplished And thus you see that Jesus Christ did feel and suffer the very torments of Hell though not after a Hellish manner and you see also that Christ did not locally descend into Hell Shall we make a few inferences from hence First then O! how should these sad sufferings of Christ for us endear Christ to us O! what precious thoughts should we have of him O! how should we Psal 136. 17 18. prize him how should we honour him how should we love him and how should we be swallowed up in the admiration of him as his love to us has been matchless so his sufferings for us has been matchless I have read of Nero that he had a Shirt made of a Salamanders skin so that if he did walk through the fire in it it would keep him from burning So Christ is the true Salamanders skin that will keep the soul from everlasting burnings Isa 33. 14. and therefore well may Christians cry out with that Martyr None but Christ none but Christ Tigranes in Zenophon Lambert coming to Redeem his Father and Friends with his
yeâ— the unprofitable servant into outer darkness Into a darkness beyond a darkness into a Dungeon beyond and beneath the prison The darkness of Hell is compared 2. Pet. 2. 4. Juâ—le verâ—â— 6. Acts 12. 10. This priâ—on was without the gate near mount â—alâ—â—ry and it was the loathsoâ—est and vilest prison of all for iâ— it the Thieves who were carried to Calvary to be executed were kep't and Christ alludeth to this prison in that Matth. 8. 12. and that Matth. 22. 13. and that Matth. 25. 30. Cast him into utter darkness Which allusion could not be understood unless there had been a dark prison without the City where was utter darkness to the darkness of those prisons which were often times out of the City By outer darkness the Holy-Ghost Would signifie to us that the wicked should be in a state most remote from all heavenly happiness and blessedness and that they should be expulsed out of the blessed presence of God who is mentium Lumâ—n It is usual among the Greeks by a comparative to set forth the superlative degree by outer darkness we are to understand the greatest darkness that is as in a place most remote from all light They shall be cast into outer darkness that is they shall be cast into the corporal and palpable darkness of the infernal prison Immediately after death Sinners Souls shall be cast into the infernal prison and in the day of judgment both their souls and their bodies shall be cast into outer darkness Darkness is no other thing than a privation of light Now Light is twofold viz. 1. Spiritual as Wisdom Grace Truth now the privation of this light is internal darkness and ignorance in the spirit and inward man 2. There is a sensible and corporal light whose privation is outer darkness and this is the darkness spoken of in the three Scriptures last cited For although there be fire in hell yet it is a dark and smoaky fire and not clear except only so as the damned may see one another for the greater encrease of their misery as some write Now I shall leave the ingenious Reader to conclude as he pleases concerning the place where Hell is desiring and hoping that he will make it the greatest business of his life to escape Hell and to get to Heaven c. Thirdly and Lastly If Jesus Christ did feel and suffer the very torments of Hell though not after a hellish manner then let me infer that certainly the Papists are greatly out they are greatly mistaken and do greatly err who boldly and confidently assert that Christs Soul in substance went really and locally into Hell Bellar. de Christ Animâ— lib. 4. cap. 10. 11 12 13 14 15 16. Teâ— 1. Vide Calvin in Instituâ— lib. 2. cap. 16. Sect. 9. Bellarmine takes a great deal of pains to make good this assertion but this great Champion of the Romish Church may easily be confuted First because that limbus patrum and Christs fetching the fathers from the skirts of Hell about which he makes so great a noise is a meer fable and not bottomed upon any solid grounds of Scripture Secondly because upon Christs dying and satisfying for our sins his soul went that very day into Paradise as Adam sinning was that very day cast out of Luke 23. 43. Gen. 3. 23 24. John 18. 30. Heb. 9. 12. 1 Thâ—s 1. 10. Eph. 4. 8. Heb. 2. 14. 15. Coloss 2. 14. 15. 'T is a plain allusion to the Roman Triumphs where the Victor ascended to the Capitol in a Chariot of State the prisoners following on foot with their hands bound behind them c. Paradise and his soul could not be in two places at once Thirdly because this descent of Christs Soul into Hell was altogether needless and to no end what need was there of it or to what end did he descend not to suffer in Hell for that was finished on the Cross not to redeem or rescue the Fathers out of Hell for the elect were never there and Redemption from Hell was wrought by Christs death as the Scriptures do clearly evidence not to triumph there over the Devils c. For Christ triumphed over them when he was on the Cross Christ in the day of his solemn inauguration into his Heavenly Kingdom triumphed over Sin Death Devils and Hell when Christ was on the Cross he made the Devils a publick spectacle of scorn and derision as Tamerlane did Bajazet the great Turk whom he shut up in an Iron Cage made like a Grate in such sort as thaâ— Turk Hist 220. â—e might on every side be seen and so carried him up and down all Asia to be scorned and derided by his own people By these few hints you may see the vanity and folly of the Papists who tell you that Christs soul in substance went really and locally into Hell I might make other inferences but let these suffice at this time Fourthly As Jesus Christ did feel and suffer the very torments of Hell though not after a hellish manner so Jesus Christ was really certainly made a curse for us Jesus Christ did in his soul and body bear that curse of the Law which by reason of transgression was due to us Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law Gala. 3. 13. being made a curse for us for it is written cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree He saith not Christ was cursed but a curse which is more it shews that the curse of all did lie upon him The death on the tree was accursed above all kinds of deaths as the Serpent was Gen. 3. 14. accursed above all the beasts of the field This Scripture Not that all that are hanged should be damned for the contrary appears in that Luke 23. 43. Neither is hanging in it self or by the law of nature or by civil law more execrable than any other death refers to Deut. 21. 33. His body shall not remain all night upon the tree but thou shalt in any wise hury him that day for he that is hanged is accursed of God The holy and wise God appointed this kind of punishment as being the most cruel and reproachful for a type of the punishment which his Son must suffer to deliver us from the curse Hanging on a tree was accounted the most shameful the most dishonourable the most odious and infamous and accursed of all kinds of death both by the Israelites and other nations because the very manner of the death did intimate that such men as were thus executed were such execrable base vile and accursed wretches that they did defile the earth with treading on it and would pollute the earth if they should die upon it and therefore were hang'd up in the air as persons not fit to converse amongst men or touch the surface of the ground any more But what should be the reason why the ceremonial Law affixed the curse to this death rather than any
other death I answer first because this was reckoned the most shameful and dishonourable of all deaths and was usually therefore the punishment of those that had by some notorious wickedness provoked God to pour out his wrath upon the whole land and so were hanged up to appease his wrath as you may see in the hanging of those Princes that were guilty of committing whoredome with the Daughters of Moab And in the hanging of Saul's seven Num. 25. 4. sons in the days of David when there was a Famine 2 Sam. 21. 6. 7. 8 2. in the land because of Saul's perfidious oppressing of the Gibeonites And in Joshuah's hanging of the five Kings of the Amorites But secondly and mainly it was Josh 16. 26. with respect to the Death Christ was to die God would have his Son the Lord Jesus to suffer this kind of death that hence it might be the more evident that in his death he bare the curse due to our sins according to that of the Apostle Gala. 3. 13. Christ was certainly made that curse which he redeemed us from otherwise the Apostle does not reason either soundly or fairly when he tells us we are redeemed from the curse because Christ was made a curse for us he remitteth that curse to us which he received in himself That Father hit the Bela in 3. ad Galat mark who saith Christus supplicium nostrum sine reatu suscepit ut solveret reatum finiret supplicium Christ hath taken our punishment without guilt to loose the guilt and end the punishment We were subject to the curse because we had transgressed the Law Christ was not subject because he had fulfilled it Eam ergo execrationem Oecumenius in 3. ad Galat. suscepit cui obnoxius non erat quum suspensus suit in ligno ut execrationem solveret quae adversùs nos erat He therefore took that curse to the which he was not subject when he hanged upon the tree to loose the curse which was against us Such a curse or execration was Christ made for us as was that from which he redeemed us and that curse from which he redeemed us was no other than the curse of the Law and that curse of the Law included all the punishment which sinners were to bear or suffer for transgression of the Law of which his hanging on the Cross was a sign and symbol and this curse was Christ made for us that is he did bear and suffer it to redeem us from it Christ was verily made a curse for us and did bear both in his body and soul that curse which by reason of the transgression of the Law was due to us And therefore I may well conclude this head with that saying of Hierome Injuria Domini nostra Hierom. in 3. ad Galat. Gloria The Lords injury is our Glory The more we ascribe to Christs suffering the less remaineth of ours the more painfully that he suffered the more fully are we redeemed the greater his sorrow was the greater our solace his dissolution is our consolation his Cross our Comfort his annoy our endless joy his distress in soul our release his calamity our comfort his misery our mercy his adversity our felicity his Hell our Heaven Christ is not only accursed but a curse and this expression is used both for more significancy and usefulness to note out the truth and realness of the thing and also to shew the order and way he took for bringing us back unto that blessedness which we had lost The Law was our righteousness in our innocent condition and so it was our blessedness but James 1. 24. the first Adam falling away from God by his first transgression plunged himself into all unrighteousness and so inwrapped himself in the curse Now Christ the second Adam that he may restore the lost man into an estate of blessedness he becomes that for them which the Law is unto them namely a curse beginning where the Law ends and so going backward to satisfie the demands Rom. 10. 4. of the Law to the uttermost he becomes first a curse for them and then their righteousness and so their blessedness Now Christs becoming a curse for us stands in this that whereas we are all accursed by the sentence of the Law because of sin he now comes in our room and stands under the stroke of that curse which of right belongs to us So that it lies not now any longer on the backs of poor sinners but on him for Heb. 7. 22. them and in their stead therefore he is called a Surety The Surety stands in the room of a Debtor Malefactor or him that is any way obnoxious to the Law such is Adam and all his posterity We are by the doom of the Law evil doâ—rs 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 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 indeed enters bond with the principal for the payment of the debt but yet he 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 No Christ Jesus doth not expect that we should pay the debt our selves but he takes it wholly to himself As a Surety for a Murtherer or Traitor 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 Christ stands Surety for us runnagate Malefactors making himself liable to all that curse which 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 which is 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 Eph. 1. 22. 23. Christ did actually undergo and suffer the wrath of God and the fearful effects thereof in the punishments threatned in the Law As he became a debtor and was so accounted even so he became payment thereof he was made a sacrifice for sin and bare to the â—ull all that ever Divine Justice did or could require even the uttermost extent of the curse of the Law of God he must thus undergo the curse because he had taken upon him our sin The Justice of the most High God reveiled in the Law looks upon the Lord Jesus as a sinner because he hath undertaken for us and seiseth upon him
Look as he must be more than man that he may be able to suffer that his sufferings may be meritorious so he must be man that he may be in a capacity to suffer die and obey for these are no work for one who is only God A God only cannot suffer a man only cannot merit God cannot obey man is bound to obey wherefore Christ that he might obey and suffer he was man and that he might merit by his obedience and suffering he was God-man just such a person did the work of Redemption call for That Christ's merits might be sufficient he must be God for sufficient merit for Mankind could not be in the person of any mere man no not in Christ himself considered only as man for so all the grace he had he did receive it and all the good he did he was bound to do it for he was made of a woman and made under the Law not only Gal. 4. 4. under the Ceremonial Law as he was a Jew but under the Moral as a man for it is under that Law under which we were and from which we are redeemed therefore Gal. 3. 13. in fulfilling it he did no more than that which was his duty to do he could not merit by it no not for himself much less for others considered only as man therefore he must also be God that the dignity of his person might add dignity and vertue and value to his works in a word Deus potuit sed non debuit homo debuit sed non potuit God could but he should not man should but he could not make satisfaction therefore he that would do it must be both God and man Torris erutus ab igne as the Prophet speaketh Is not this a fire-brand taken out of the fire you know that in a fire-brand taken out of the fire there is fire and wood inseparably mixed and in Christ there is God and man wonderfully united He was God else neither his sufferings nor his merits could have been sufficient and if his could not much less any man 's else for all other men are both conceived and born in Original sin and also much and often defiled with actual sin and therefore we ought for ever to abhor all such popish Doctrines Prayers and Masses for the dead which exalt mans merits man's satisfaction For no man can by Psal 49. 7. 8. v. any means redeem his brother nor give to God a ransom for him for the redemption of their soul is precious and it ceaseth for ever And therefore all the money that hath been given for Masses Dirges Trentals c. hath been cast away for Jesus Christ who is God-man is the only Redeemer and in the other world money beareth no mastery Let me make a few inferences from what has been said and therefore First is it so that Christ is God-man that he is God 1. 1 Pet. 1. 21. and man then let this raise our faith and strengthen our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ faith is built on God Now Jesus Christ is very God and therefore the fittest foundation in the world for us to build our faith upon God manifest in the flesh is a firm basis for faith and comfort Heb. 7. 25. ad plenum saith Erasmus ad perfectum say others He is able to save to the uttermost Christ is a thorow Saviour he saves perfectly and he saves perpetually he never carries on Redemption-work by halves Christ being God as well as man is able by the power of his Godhead to vanquish Death Devils Hell and all the enemies of our Salvation and by the power of his Godhead is able to merit pardon of sin the favour of God the heavenly inheritance and all the glory of the other world for this dignity of his person addeth vertue and Acts 20. 28. efficacy to his death and sufferings in that he that suffered and died was very God therefore God is said to have purchased the Church with his own blood Christ having suffered in our nature which he took upon him that is in his humane soul and body the wrath of God the curse and all the punishments which were due to our sins hath paid the price of our Redemption pacified divine wrath and satisfied divine Justice in the very same nature in which we have sinned and provoked the holy one of Israel so that now all believers may triumphingly say There is no condemnation to us that are in Râ—m 8. 1. v. Christ Jesus Christ having in our nature suffered the whole curse and punishment due to our sins God cannot in justice but accept of his sufferings as a full and compleat satisfaction 1 John 1. 7 9. for all our sins so that now there remaineth no more curse or punishment properly so called for us to suffer either in our souls or bodies either in this life or in the life to come but we are certainly and fully delivered from all not only from the eternal curse and all the punishments and torments of Hell but also from the curse and sting of bodily death and from all afflictions as they are 1 Cor. 15. 55 56. curses and punishments of sin that Jesus who is God-man hath changed the nature of them to us so that of bitter curses and heavy punishments they are become fatherly chastisements the fruits of divine love and the Heb. 12. 5 6 7. Rev. 3. 19. promoters of the internal and eternal good of our souls Oh! how should these things strengthen our faith in dear Jesus and work us to lean and stay our weary souls wholly and only upon him who is God-man and who of God 1 Cor. 1. 30. is made unto us wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption Among the Evangelists we find that Christ had a threefold entertainment among the sons of men some received him into house not into heart as Simon Luk. 7. 44. the Pharisee who gave him no kiss nor water to his feet some neither into heart nor house as the graceless Mat. 8. 34. swinish Gergesites who had neither civility nor honesty some both into house and heart as Lazarus Mary Martha John 11. 16. c. certainly that Jesus who is God-man deserves the best room in all our souls and the uppermost seat in all our hearts But Secondly If Jesus Christ be God-man very God and very man then what high cause have we to observe admire wonder and even stand amazed at the transcendent love of Christ in becoming man Oh! the firstness the freeness the unchangeableness the greatness the matchlesness of Christ's love to fallen man in becoming man men many times shew their love to one another by hanging up one another's pictures in their families but ah what love did Christ shew when he took our nature upon him Heb. 2. 16. For verily he took not on him the nature of Angels but he took on him the seed of Abraham 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
you apt to tremble when you eye the curse threatned in the Law Oh then look up to a crucified Christ and remember that he hath redeemed you from the curse of the Law being made a curse for Gal. 3. 13. you doth the wrath of God amaze you Oh then look up to a crucified Christ and remember that Christ hath trod the winepress of his father's wrath alone that he Isa 63. 3. 1 Thes 1. ult might deliver you from wrath to come Is the face of God clouded doth he that should comfort you stand afar off oh then look up to a crucified Christ and remember that he was forsaken for a time that you might not be forsaken for ever are you sometimes afraid of condemnation oh then look upon a crucified Christ Lamen 1. 16. who was condemned that you might be justified who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect it is Rom. 8. 33 34. God that justifieth who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died ah Christians that you would at last under all your temptations afflictions fears doubts conflicts and disputes be perswaded to keep a fixed eye upon crucified Jesus and remember that all he did for you and that all he suffered he suffered for you and this will be a strong cordial to keep you from fainting under all Turbahor sed non perturbabor quia vulnâ—rum Christi recordabor Aug. your inward and outward distresses according to that saying of one of the Ancients I may be troubled but I shall not be overwhelmed because I remember the print of the nails and of the spear in the hands and side of Jesus Christ Oh that Christians would labour under all their soul-troubles to keep a fixed eye upon a bleeding Christ for there is nothing that will ease them quiet them settle them and satisfie them like this Many may I not say most Christians are more apt to eye their sins their sorrows their prayers their tears their resolves their complaints than they are to eye a suffering Christ and from hence springs their greatest woes wounds miseries and dejection of spirit oh that a crucified Christ might be for ever in your eye and always upon your hearts But Seventhly and Lastly Hath Jesus Christ suffered such great and grievous things then this truth looks sadly and sowrely upon the Papists in this red Glass of Christs blood you may see how vain and wicked how ridiculous and superstitious the devices of the Papists are who for pacifying of Gods wrath and for the allaying of his anger and for satisfying his justice and for the obtaining Surely that Religion that loâ—es to lap blood and that is propagated and maintained by blood and that prefers their own inventions and abominations before the blood and sufferings of Christ that Religion is not of God but such is the Romish Religion Ergo their Religion is not of God of pardon c. have appointed Penances and Pilgrimages and Self-scourgings and Soul-masses and Purgatory and several other such like abominations which the Scripture no where commands but every where forbids which inventions and abominations of theirs tend only to derogate from the dignity and sufficiency of Christ's sufferings and to reflect dishonour and disgrace upon that full and perfect price that Christ hath paid for our Ransom and to set up other Saviours in the room of our blessed Redeemer certainly all Popish pardons penances pilgrimages masses whippings scourgings c. they unavoidably fall before the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ as Dagon fell before the Ark Goliah before David Haman before Mordecai and as the darkness falls before the morning-light and as for their Purgatory they do not know certainly where it is nor how long it will last nor what sort of fire is there neither can they shew us how corporeal fire should work upon the Souls in Purgatory they being spiritual and incorporeal they cannot tell us whether the pains of Purgatory be at all times alike neither can they tell us whether the good or evil Angels are the tormenters of the Souls in Purgatory and as for the whipping scalding freezing of Souls in Purgatory they are but old wives fables and the brain-sick fansies of some deceitful persons to cheat poor ignorant people of their money under a blind pretence of praying their souls out of Purgatory Christ offered himself once for all but the Romish Priests offer Heb. 10. 10. him up daily in the Mass an unbloody sacrifice and so they do what lies in tehm to tread underfoot the blood Act. 20. 28. Hâ—b 10. 29. of God the blood of the Covenant to be short Popery in effect is nothing else but an under-hand close witness-bearing against Christ in all his offices and against all that he hath done and suffered for the Redemption and Salvation of sinners as might be made abundantly evident but that I may not now lanch out into that Ocean I only give this brief touch by the way that I mighâ— raise up in all your hearts a greater detestation of Popery in this day wherein many are so warm for it as if it were there only Diana And let thus much suffice concerning the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ and the improvement that we should make of them Thus you may clearly see by what I have said concerning A Christians plea from the passive obedience of Christ God did insist on it that our surety should pay down the whole debt at once and accordingly he did Heb. 10. 10 12. the Active and Passive Obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ that whatsoever we are bound to do or 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 is due to us for the transgression of it in doing what it forbids for as we were 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 of our selves we can do nothing that the Law requires neither can we so 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-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 pardon and life for us Christ did fully answer to all the demands of the
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
as a God of compassion God is infinite in all his attributes in his justice as well as in his mercy these two cannot interfere as justice cannot intrench upon mercy so neither may mercy encroach upon justice the glory of both must be maintained Now by the breach of the Law the justice of God is wronged so that although mercy be apt to pardon yet justice requires satisfaction and calls for vengeance on sinners Every transgression Heb. 2. 2. must receive just recompence and God will not in any case absolve the guilty till this be done the hands of Exod. 34. 7. mercy are tied that she cannot act And seeing satisfaction could not be made to an infinite majesty but by an equal person and price therefore the son of God must become a curse for us by taking our nature and pouring out his soul to the death and by this means justice and mercy are reconciled and kiss each other and mercy now being set at liberty hath her free course to save poor sinners God will have his justice satisfied to the full and therefore Christ must bear all the punishment due to our sins or else God cannot set us free for he cannot go against his own just will observe the force of that phrase Christ ought to suffer And thus it behoved Christ to suffer Luk. 24. 26. and Mat. 26. 54. Thus it must be why must but because it was 1. So decreed by God 2. Foretold by the Prophets every particular of Christ's sufferings were foretold by the prophets even to their very spitting in his face 3. Prefigured in the daily morning and evening sacrifice this Lamb of God was sacrificed from the beginning of the world A necessity then there was of our Saviour's sufferings not a necessity of coaction for he died freely John 10. 11 14 17 18. and voluntarily but of immutability and infallibility for the former reasons mentioned An earthly Prince that is just holds himself bound to inflict punishment impartially upon the malefactor or his surety it stands upon his honour he saith it must be so I cannot do otherwise this is true much more of God who is Justice it self God who is great in counsel and excellent in working had store of means at hand whereby to set free and recover lost man-kind yet he was pleased in his infinite wisdom to pitch upon this way of satisfaction as being most agreeable to his holy nature and most suitable to his high and sovereign ends viz. Man's salvation and his own glory and that God doth stand upon full satisfaction and will not forgive one sin without it may be thus made evident First from the nature of sin which is that abominable 1. â—eâ— 44. 4. God could not â—salvâ— jure pass over the sin of man so as absolutely to let it go unpunished thing which God hates The sinner deserves to die for his sins Rom. 6. 23. Tho wages of sin is death every sinner is worthy of death They which commit such things are worthy of death Rom. 1. 32. Now God is just and righteous It is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you 2 Thes 1. 6. yea and God did therefore set forth Christ to be a propitiation through faith in bis blood Rom. 3. 25. To declare his righteousness that he might be just vers 26. Now if God be a just and righteous God then sin cannot absolutely escape unpunished for it is just with God to punish the sinner who is worthy of punishment and certainly God must deny himself if he will not be just 2 Tim. 2. 13. but this he can never do sin is of an infinite guilt and hath an infinite evil in the nature of it and therefore no person in heaven or earth but that person our Lord Jesus who is God-man and who had an infinite dignity that could either procure the pardon of it or make satisfaction for it no prayers no cries no tears no humblings no repentings no resolutions no reformations c. can stop the course of Justice or procure the guilty sinners pardon 't is Christ alone that can dissolve all obligations to punishment and break all bonds and chains of guilt and hand a pardon to us through his own blood Eph. 1. 7. we are set free by the blood of Christ By the blood of thy Zach. 9. 11. covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit 't is by his blood that we are justified and saved from wrath Rom. 5. 9. Much more being justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath by him Pray tell me what is it to be justified but to be pardoned and what is it to be saved from wrath but to be delivered from all punishment Eph. 2. 13. Colos 1. 20. and both these depend upon the blood of Christ But The veracity of God requires it Look as God cannot but be just so he cannot but be true and if he cannot but be true then he will make good the threatnings that are gone out of his mouth Gen. 2. 17. In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Heb. in dying thou Under the name of death are comprehended all other calamities miseries and sorrows shalt die death is a fall that came in by a fall and without all pâ—radventure every man should die the same day he was born for the wages of sin is death and this wages should be presently paid did not Christ reprieve poor sinner's lives for a season upon which account he is said to be the Saviour of all men not of eternal preservation but of a temporal reservation He will by no means clear 1 Tim. 4. 10. the guilty The soul that sinneth it shall die Ezek. 18. Exod. 34. 7. 20. The wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him Rom. 2. 6. He will render to every man according to his deeds Oh sirs God can never so far yield as to abrogate his own Law and quietly to sit down with injury and loss to his own Justice himself having established a Law c. The Law pronounces him cursed that continues not in all things Gal. 3. 10. that are written therein to do them Now though the threatnings of men are frequently vain and frivolous yet the threatnings of the great God shall certainly take place and have their accomplishment though many ten thousand millions of sinners perish not one tittle of the Mat. 5. 18. dreadful threatnings of God shall fail till all be fulfilled Josephus saith that from that very time that old Eli heard those terrible threatnings that made their ears tingle 1 Sam. 3. 11 12 13 14. and hearts tremble that heard them Eli never ceased weeping ah who can look upon the dreadful threatnings that are pointed against sinners all over the book of God and not tremble and weep God cannot but in justice punish sinners neither is it in his choice
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