derived their guilt to them but they had no vertue by them in coming from it The Sinner conveyed death to the Sacrifice but did not receive life from it But Christ the Lamb of God was not swallowed up in his Offering to Divine Justice 'T is his peculiar Glory that He hath compleatly made Satisfaction We may feed upon the flesh of this precious Victim and drink his Blood As He enter'd into communion of Death with us so we are partakers of Life by Him 2. The Compleatness of his Satisfaction is grounded on the degrees of his Sufferings There was no defect in the payment He made We owed a debt of Blood to the Law and his Life was offer'd up as a Sacrifice otherwise the Law had remained in its full vigour and Justice had been unsatisfied That a Divine Person hath suffered our Punishment is properly the reason of our Redemption As 't is not the quality of the Surety that releases the Debtor from Prison but the payment which he makes in his name The Blood of Christ shed poured forth from his Veins and offered up to God in that precise consideration ratifies the New Testament The sum is Our Saviour by his Death suffer'd the malediction of the Law and his Divine Nature gave a full value to his Sufferings so that the satisfaction proceeding from them was not meerly ex pacto as Brass Money is currant by composition but ex merito as pure Gold hath an intrinsick worth and God who was infinitly provokt is infinitely pleased 2. The effects and evidences of his compleat Satisfaction are First His Resurrection from the Grave For if we consider the Lord Christ in the quality of our Surety He satisfied the Law in his Death and having made compleat payment of our debt He received the acquittance in his Resurrection His Death appeased God His Resurrection assures Men. As he rose himself so in one concurrent action God is said to raise him He was releast from the Grave as from Prison by publick sentence which is an indubitable argument of the validity and acceptance of the payment made by him in our name For being under such bonds as the Justice and Power of God he could never have loosed the pains of Death if his Sufferings had not fully been fully Satisfactory and received by him for our discharge And 't is observable that the raising of Chiist is ascribed to God as reconciled Now the God of peace who brought again from the dead the great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Blood of the everlasting Covenant The Divine Power was not put forth till God was pacified Justice incensed exposed him to Death and Justice appeased freed Him from the dead And his Resurrection is attributed to his Blood that being the full price of his and our liberty In short when inflexible Justice ceases to punish there is the strongest proof 't is satisfied Secondly His Ascent into Heaven and Intercession for us prove the compleatness and alsufficiency of his Sacrifice If He had been excluded from the Divine Presence there had been just cause to suspect that anger had been still remaining in God's Breast but His admission into Heaven is an infallible testimony that God is reconciled This our Saviour produces as the Argument by which the Holy Ghost will overcome the guilty fears of Men. He shall convince the World of Righteousnss because I go to my Father Christ in his Sufferings was numbred among transgressors He dyed as a guilty person not only in respect of the calumnies of Men but the curse of the Law and the Wrath of God which then appeared inexorable against sin But having overcome Death and broke through the weight of the Law and retired to his Father he made apparent the innocency of his righteous Person and that a compleat Righteousness is acquired by his Sufferings sufficient to justifie all that shall truly accept of it This will be more evident by considering his entry into Heaven as the true High Priest who carried the Blood of the New-Covenant into the Celestial Sanctuary For the opening this we are to consider there are two parts of the Priestly Office 1. To offer Sacrifice 2. To make intercession for the People by vertue of the Sacrifice This was performed by the High-Priest in the Feast of Atonement which was celebrated in the month Tisri The oblation of the Sacrifices was without at the Altar the Intercession was made in the Holy of Holies into which none might enter but the High-Priest once a year And first he must expiate his own sins and the sins of the people by Sacrifices before he could remove the Vail and enter into that sacred and venerable place where no sinner had right to appear Then he was to present the precious Incense and the Blood of the Sacrifices to render God favourable to them Now these were shadows of what Christ was to perform The Holy of Holies was the type of the third-Heaven in its Situation Quality and Furniture For it was the most secret part of the Tabernacle separated by a double Vail by that which was between it and the first Sanctuary and by another that distinguisht the first from the outward Court Thus the Heaven of Heavens is the most distant part of the Universe and separated from the lower World by the Starry Heaven and by the Airy Region which reaches down to the Earth Besides the most Holy part of the Tabernacle was inaccessible to sinners as Heaven is stiled by the Apostle the place of inaccessible light And it was the Throne of God where he reigned according to the Language of the Psalmist He dwelt between the Cherubims The figures of the Cherubims represented the Myriads of holy Angels that adore the incomprehensible Deity and are always ready to execute his commands The Tables of the Law were a Symbol of that infinite Wisdom and Holiness which ordained them and the High-Priests entering with the Blood of the Sacrifice and carrying with him all the Tribes of Israel upon his Breast signified that Jesus Christ the true High-Priest after he had really expiated sin by his Divine Sacrifice in the lower World should enter into the Eternal Sanctuary with his own Blood and introduce with him all his People Of this there was a marvellous sign given for in the same moment that Christ expired the Vail of the Temple that separated the Oracle from the first part was rent from the top to the bottom to signifie that the true High-Priest had Authority and Right to enter into Heaven itself And the special end of his ascending is exprest by the Apostle For Christ is not entered into the Holy places made with hands which are the Figures of the true but into Heaven its self now to appear in the presence of God for us As the High-Priest might not enter into that sacred and terrible place neither could he propitiate God without sprinkling the
in the flaming Bush to Moses but 't is never said with respect to those Apparitions that the Word was made Flame or Man But when He came into the World to save us He assum'd the compleat Nature of Man into an Hypostatical Union with himself That admirable Person possesses the Titles Qualities and Natures of God and Man In that ineffable Union each of the Natures preserves its proper form with all the necessary consequents proceeding from it The Humane Nature is joyn'd to the Eternal Word but not chang'd into its Divinity 't is not infinite and impassible The Deity is united to Flesh but not transformed into its Nature 't is not finite and passible But although there is a distinction yet no separation Although there are two Natures yet but one sole Jesus In the same Subsistence the Creator and the Creature are miraculously allied Now this is a work fully responsible to Omnipotence and expresses whatever is signified by that Title The Apostle mentions it with an Attribute of excellency Without controversie great is the Mystery of Godliness God manifest in the Flesh. 'T is as sublime as holy In this the Divine Power appears in its Magnificence and in some respect more gloriously than in the Creation For there is incomparably a greater disparity between the Majesty Greatness and Infiniteness of God and the Meanness of Man than between the whole World and Nothing The degrees of disparity between the World and Nothing are not actually infinite but between the most excellent creature and the Glorious Creator they are absolutely infinite From hence it is that that which in other things resolves our doubts here increases the wonder and in appearance makes it more incredible Ye do erre saith Christ to the Sadduces who denied the Resurrection not knowing the Power of God But the more raised thoughts we have of his immense Power the more unlikely his conjunction with a nature so far beneath him will seem to be 2. The Divine Power was magnified in our Redeemers Supernatural Conception 'T was requisite his Body should be miraculously form'd of the substance of a Woman by the operation of the Holy Ghost not only in respect of its singular Dignity and that he might be the pattern of our Regeneration that is performed by the Efficacy of the Spirit not of the Flesh but in respect of his Office For he was the Heavenly Adam and therefore allied to us and absolutely pure from the stain of Sin Heaven and Earth concurr'd to form that Divine Man the King of both the Earth furnishing matter and Heaven the principle of his conception Accordingly the Angel told Mary who questioned how she could be a Mother not having known a Man The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee therefore also that Holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God This was foretold many Ages as an admirable Effect of God's Power When Judah was opprest by two potent Kings despair'd of an escape to raise their drooping Spirits the Prophet tells them the Lord himself would give them a sign of their future Deliverance Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and shall call his Name Immanuel The Argument is from the greater to the less for 't is apparently more difficult that a Virgin without injury or blemish to her purity and integrity should conceive and bring forth Immanuel than the defeating humane forces how great soever If God will accomplish that Stupendious unheard of wonder much more would he rescue his People from the fury of their adversaries 3. The Divine Power was eminently declar'd in the Miracles our Saviour wrought during the time of his publick Ministry to verifie his Divine Mission that He was the great Prophet sent from God to instruct Men in the way of Life In discoursing of this I will briefly shew that Miracles were a convincing proof of his Celestial Calling and that the performance of them was necessary in order to the conviction of the World and consider particularly those He wrought 1. A Miracle is an extraordinary Operation of God in Nature either in stopping its course or in producing some effects that are above its Laws and Power So that when He is pleased to work any they are his Seal to authorise the Person and Doctrine to which they are annext By them Faith is made visible The Unbeliever is convinc'd by his Senses the only witnesses above reproach in his account From hence Nicodemus addresses himself to Christ Master we know that thou art a Teacher come from God for no man can do those Miracles that thou dost except God be with him That is No inferiour Agent can perform them without the special assistance of the Divine Power And 't is not to be supposed that God will lend his Omnipotency to the Devil to work a real Miracle to confirm a falsity and thereby necessarily induce Men into errour in a matter of infinite moment fâ—r such is the Doctrine of Salvation that Christ Preach'd 2. The working of Miracles was necessary to convince the World that Jesus Christ was sent from God whether we consider the Jews or the Gentiles To convince the Jews upon a double account 1. Because the performance of them was one of the characters of the promised Messiah For this reason when two of Johns Disciples came to inquire whether he were the expected Prophet he returns this answer to the question Go and shew John those things which ye do hear and see the Blind receive their Sight and the Lame walk the Lepers are cleansed and the Deaf hear the Dead are raised up and the poor have the Gospel preach'd to them Thus he described his Office and verified the Commission he had from God by representing his Miracles in the Words of the Prophecy 2. Our Saviour came to alter the Religion of the Jews that had been confirmed by many illustrious Miracles therefore to assure them that he was Authoris'd from Heaven he wrought such and so many that for their greatness clearness and number exceeded all that were done before his coming Our Saviour tells the Jews If I had not done among them the Works which none other man did they had not had sin that is in rejecting him For if he had exercised only a Power like unto that of Moses and the Prophets in his Miraculous Actions they had been obliged to have honoured him as one of their rank but not to have attributed an incomparable Dignity to him But he did those which neither Moses nor the Prophets had performed and in those that had been done Christ excell'd them in the manner of doing them This the Jews could not contradict and from hence their infidelity was made culpable Secondly Miracles were necessary to convince the Gentiles 1. For the Gospel forbids the various Religions among them and commands all to worship God alone in Jesus
Babylon But at the coming of Christ Judea was a Province of the Roman Empire Herod an Edomite sate on the Throne and as the Tribe of Judah in general so the Family of David in particular was in such a low state that Joseph and Mary that were descended from him were constrain'd to lodg in a stable at Bethlehem And since the blessed Peace-maker hath appear'd on the Earth the Jews have lost all Authority their Civil and Ecclesiastical State is utterly ruin'd and they bear the visible marks of infamous Servitude 2. The Second famous Prediction is by an Angel to Daniel when he was lamenting the ruine of Jerusalem who comforted him with an assurance that the City should be rebuilt And further told him That from the going forth of the Commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and threescore and two Weeks the streets shall be built again and the wall even in troublesome times And after threescore and two weeks shall the Messiah be cut off but not for himself and the People of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the City and Sanctuary and the end thereof shall be with a flood and to the end of the war desolations are determined The clear intent of the Angels Message is That within the space of seventy Prophetical Weeks that is four hundred and ninety years according to the Exposition of the Rabbins themselves after the issuing forth the order for the rebuilding Jerusalem the Messiah should come and be put to Death for he sins of Men which was exactly fulfil'd 3. The time of the manifestation of the Messiah is evidently set down in the Haggai 2.6 7 8 9. I will shake all Nations and the desire of all Nations shall come and I will fill this house with Glory saith the Lord of hosts The Silver is mine and the Gold is mine saith the Lord of Hosts The Glory of the latter shall be greater than that of the former saith the Lord of Hosts and in this place will I give peace The Prophet to encourage the Jews in building the Temple assur'd them that it should have a surpassing Glory by the presence of the Messiah who is call'd the Desire of all Nations and being the Prince of Peace his coming is described by that blessed effect and in this place will I give Peace saith the Lord of Hosts The second Temple was much inferiour to Solomons as in Magnificence and external Ornaments so especially because defective in those Excellencies that were peculiar to the first They were the Ark of the Covenant and the appearance of Glory between the Cherubims the fire from Heaven to consume the Sacrifices the Urim and Thummim and the Holy Ghost who inspir'd the Prophets But when the Lord came to his Temple and perform'd many of his Miracles there this brought a Glory to it infinitely exceeding that of the former For what comparison is there between the shadowy presence of God between the Cherubims and his real presence in the humane Nature of Christ in whom the fulness of the God-head dwelt bodily How much inferiour were the Priests and Prophets to him who came from Heaven and had the Spirit without measure to reveal the Counsel of God for the Salvation of the World 2. The particular Circumstances foretold concerning the Messiah are all verified in Jesus Christ. It was foretold that the Messiah should have a fore-runner to prepare his way by preaching the Doctrine of Repentance that he should be Born of a Virgin and of the Family of David and in the Town of Bethlehem that he shold go into Egypt be cal'd forth from thence by God that his chief residence should be in Galilee the region of Zebulon and Nephthali that he should be poor and humble and enter into Hierusalem on the Fole of an Ass that he should perform great miracles in restoring the Blind the Lame the Deaf and Dumb that he should suffer many afflictions Contempt Scorn Stripes be Spit on Scourg'd betray'd by his familiar Friend sold for a sordid Price that he should be put to Death that his hands and feet should be bored and his side pierc'd that he should dy between Thieves that in his Passion he should taste vinegar and gall that his garments should be divided and Lots be cast for his Coat that he should be buried and his Body not see corruption but rise again the third day that he should ascend to Heaven and sit at the right hand of God and all these Predictions are exactly fulfil'd in the Lord Christ. 3. The consequents of his Coming are foretold 1. That the Jews should reject him because of the meanness of his appearance They neither understood the Greatness and Majesty nor the Abasement of the Messiah described in their Prophesies not his Greatness that the Son of David was his Lord that he was before Abraham who rejoyced to his Day for they did not believe the Eternity of his Divine Nature They did not understand his humiliation to Death Therefore 't was objected by them that the Messiah remains for ever and this Person saith he shall dy They fancied a carnal Messiah shining with Worldly pomp accompanied with thundring legions to deliver them from Temporal Servitude so that when they saw him without form and comeliness and that no Beauty was in him to make him desireable they hid their Faces from him they despised and esteemed him not Thus by their obstinate refusal of the Messiah they really and visibly fulfil'd the Prophecies concerning him 2. That the Levitical Ceremonies and Sacrifices should cease upon the Death of the Messiah and the Jewish Nation be dissolved Although the legal Service was establisht with great solemnity yet there was alwayes a sufficient indication that it should not be perpetual Moses who delivered the Law told them that God would raise another Prophet whom they must hear And David compos'd a Psalm to be sung in the Temple containing the establishment of a Priest not according to the order of Levi but Melchisedec who should bring in a Worship Spiritual and Divine And we see this accomplisht all the Ceremonies were buried in his grave the Sacrifices for above sixteen hundred years are ceast Besides the destruction of the Holy City and Sanctuary the Jews are scatter'd in all parts and in their dreadful dispersion suffer the just punishment of their Infidelity 3. It was Prophesied that in the time of the Messiah Idols should be ruin'd and Idolaters converted to the knowledg of the true God That he should be a Light to the Gentiles and to him the gathering of the People should be And this is so visibly accomplisht in the conversion of the World to Christianity that not one jot or title of Gods Word hath fail'd so that besides the Glory due to his Power and Mercy we are obliged to honour him as the Fountain of Truth I will now
THE HARMONY OF THE Divine Attributes IN THE Contrivance and Accomplishment of Man's Redemption by the Lord JESUS CHRIST OR DISCOURSES Wherein is Shewed How the Wisdom Mercy Justice Holiness Power and Truth of God are glorified in that Great and Blessed Work By William Bates D. D. Which things the Angels desire to look into 1 Pet. 1.12 Nihil tam dignum Deo quam salus Hominis Tertul. LONDON Printed by J. Darby for Nathaniel Ranew and Jonathan Robinson at the Kings Arms and Golden Lyon in St. Pauls Church-Yard and Brabazon Aylmer the at three Pigeons in Cornhil 1674. THE PREFACE THe Subject of the ensuing Discourses is of that inestimable excellency and importance that it deserves our deepest reflections and care to consider and apply it 'T is the great Mystery of Godliness the design of Eternal Wisdom the chiefest of all Gods Works that contains the Glorious Wonders of his Mercy and Power wherein he renders himself most worthy of our Supreme Veneration and Affection Our most raised Thoughts are infinitely beneath its Dignity Although the Light of the Gospel hath clearly reveal'd so much of it as is requisit to be known in our earthly state yet the sublimer parts are still secret and reserv'd for a full discovery by the brightness of our Saviour's Appearance Now if the Excellency of things excites our Spirits to be attentive in searching into their nature this Divine Object should awaken all our Powers and arrest our Minds in the serious steady contemplation of it being alone capable to satisfy their immortal appetite The Importance of it is correspondent to its excellency for 't is no less than the recovery of us from extream and eternal misery and the Restoring of us to the enjoyment of the Blessed God a felicity without comparison or end If we have any regard to Salvation and who would be so unhappy as to neglect it for unconcerning frivolous Vanities it will be delightful to know the means by which we may obtain it and to employ the flying moments of our short time in those things that are profitable for our last End that we may not lose Temporal and Eternal Life together Many of the Ancient and Modern Divines have written of this noble Argument from whom I have received benefit in the following composure But none as I know hath considered all the parts together and presented them in one view There still remains a rich abundance for the perpetuall exercise of our Spirits The Eternal Word alone was able to perfect all things by once speaking Humane words are but an Eccho that answers the Voice of God and cannot fully express its Power nor pass so immediately through the sence to the Heart but they must be repeated May these Discourses be effectual to inflame us with the most ardent Love to our Saviour who ransom'd us with the unvaluable price of his own blood and to perswade us to live for Heaven the purchase of that Sacred Treasure I shall for ever acknowledge the Divine Grace and obtain my utmost aim W. B. CHAP. I. The Introduction A short view of Mans primitive State His Conformity to God natural moral and in Happiness and Dominion over the Creatures The moral resemblance as it refers to all the faculties The happiness of Man with respect to his sensitive and spiritual Nature Of all sublunary Creatures he is onely capable of a Law What the Law of Nature contains God entred into a Covenant with Man The Reasons of that Dispensation The Terms of the Covenant were becoming God and Man The special clause in The Covenant concerning the Tree of Knowledg of Good and Evil. The Reasons of the Prohibition THe felicity which the Lord Jesus procured for Believers includes a perfect freedom from Sin and all afflictive evils the just consequents of it and the fruition of Righteousness Peace and Joy wherein the Kingdom of God consists In this the second Covenant excels the first the Law supposes Man upright and the happiness it promises to exact Obedience is called Life it rewards Innocence with Immortality but the Blessedness of the Gospel is stil'd Salvation which signifies the rescuing of lapsed Man from a state of misery and the investing of him with unperishing Glory In order to the Discovery of the excellency of this Benefit and the endearing Obligations laid on us by our Redeemer 't is necessary to take a view of that dreadful and desperate Calamity which seiz'd upon Mankind the wretchedness of our Captivity illustrates the Glory of our Redemption And since the misery of Man was not the original condition of his nature but the effect of his guilty choice 't is requisite to make some reflection upon his first state as he came out of the pure hands of God that comparing our present misery with our lost happiness we may revive in our breasts the affections of Sorrow Shame and Indignation against our selves and considering that the Heavenly Adam hath purchased for us a title to a better Inheritance than was forfeited by the Earthly one we may with the more affectionate gratitude extol the Favour Power of our Redeemer God who is the living Fountain of all Perfections spent an intire Eternity in the Contemplation of his own Excellencies before any creature was made In the moment appointed by his Wisdom he gave the first Being to the 〈◊〉 Three distinct orders of Natures He form'd the 〈◊〉 purely Spiritual the other purely Materiall and between both one mixt which unites the 〈…〉 in it self This is Man the abridgment of the 〈◊〉 verse ally'd to the Angels in his Soul and to material things in his Body and capable of the Happiness of both By his internal Faculties enjoying the felicity of the Intellectual and by his external tasting the Pleasures of the Sensitive World Man's greatest excellency was a perfect Conformity to the Divine Patern God created Man in his own Likeness in the Image of God created he him This includes First The Natural Similitude of God in the substance of the Soul as it is an intelligent free spiritual and Immortal Being This is assigned to be the Reason of the Law That Whoso sheds Mans Blood by Man shall his Blood be shed for in the Image of God made he Man Secondly A moral Resemblance in its Qualities and Perfections Thirdly That Happiness and Dignity of Mans state which was the consequent and accession to his Holiness The Natural resemblance I shall not insist on for the distinct Illustration of the other we must consider God in a threefold respect 1. In respect of his absolute Holiness unspotted Purity infinite Goodness incorruptible Justice and whatever we conceive under the notion of moral Perfections 2. With respect to his compleat Blessedness the result of his infinite Excellencies as he is perfectly exempt from all evils which might allay and lessen his felicity and enjoys those pleasures which are worthy of his pure Nature and glorious State 3. In regard of
his supreme Dominion which extends it self to all things in Heaven and Earth Now in the Participation of these the Image of God did principally consist The Holiness of Man was the copy of the Divine purity his Happiness a representation of the Divine Felicity and his Dominion over the lower World the resemblance of Gods Soveraignty I will take a particular survey of them 1. Man was conformed to God in Holiness This appears by the expressions of the Apostle concerning the Sanctification of corrupt man which he sets forth by the renewing of him in knowledg righteousness and holiness after the image of the Creator The Renovation of things is the restoring of them to their Primitive state and is more or less perfect by its proportion to or distance from the Original Holiness Righteousnesse are the comprehensive Sum of the Moral Law which not only represents the Will but the Nature of God in his Supream Excellency and in conformity to it the Divine likeness eminently appear'd Adam was created with the perfection of Grace the progress of the most excellent Saints is incomparably short of his beginning By this we may in part conjecture at the Beauty of Holinesse in him of which one faint ray appearing in renewed persons is so amiable This primitive Beauty is exprest in Scripture by rectitude God made Man upright There was an universal entire rectitude in his Faculties disposing them for their proper Operations This will more fully appear by considering the distinct powers of the Soul in their regular Constitutions 1. The understanding was inrich'd with knowledg Nature was unveiled to Adam he enter'd into its Sanctuary and discover'd its mysterious Operations When the Creatures came to pay their Homage to him whatsoever he called them that was the name thereof And their Names exprest their Natures His knowledg reach'd through the whole compass of the Creation from the Sun the glorious vessel of Light to the Gloworm that shines in the hedg And this knowledg was not acquir'd by Study 't was not the fruit of anxious inquiry but as the illumination of the Air is in an instant by the light of the Morning so his Understanding was enlightned by a pure beam from the Father of Lights Besides He had such a knowledg of the Deity as was sufficient for his Duty and Felicity His mind did not stick in the material part of things but ascended by the several ranks of Beings to the Universal Cause He discover'd the Glory of the Divine Essence and Attributes by their wonderful effects 1. Almighty Power When he first open'd his eyes the stupendious Fabrick of Heaven and Earth presented itself to his view and in it the most express and clear characters of that Glorious Power which produced it For what could overcome the Infinite distance between not being and being but Infinite Power As there is no proportion between not being and being so the cause which unites those terms must be without limits Now the Divine Word alone which calls the things that are not as if they were caused the World to rise from the Abyss of empty nothing At Gods Command the Heavens and all their Host were created And this led him to consider the Immensity of the Divine Essence For Infinite Power is incompatible with a finite Essence and by the consideration of the Immensity he might ascend to the Eternity of God To be Eternal without beginning and Infinite without bounds infer one another and necessarily exist in the same subject For 't is impossible that any thing which is form'd by another and hath a beginning should not be limited in its Nature by the cause that produced it Therefore the Apostle declares that the Eternal Power of God is set forth in the Creation of the World joyning with the discovery of his Power that of his Eternity 2. Admirable Wisdom appear'd to Man in the Creation For by considering the Variety and Union the Order and Efficacy the Beauty and Stability of the World he clearly discerned that Wisdom which so regularly disposed all 'T is thus that Wisdom speaks in the Book of Proverbs When he prepared the Heavens I was there when he set a compass upon the face of the depth When he established the Clouds above When he strengthened thâ— Fountains of the Deep when he gave the Sea his Decree that the Waters should not pass his Commandments when he appointed the Foundations of the Earth I was with him contriving all in the best manner for Ornament and Use. The knowledg of this fill'd his Soul with wonder and delight The Psamist breaks forth with astonishment as one in the midst of innumerable Miracles O Lord how manifold are thy works in Wisdom hast made them all And if he discovered such wonderful and Divine Wisdom in the Works of God when the vigour of the humane Understanding was so much impair'd by the Fall how much more did Adam who perfectly understood Universal Nature the offices of its parts the harmony of the whole and all the just Laws of Union by which God hath joined together such a multitude of beings so distant and disagreeing and how the Publick Peace is preserved by their Private Enmity This discovery caused him to acknowledge that Great is the Lord and of great Power his Understanding is infinite 3. Infinite Goodness shin'd forth in the Creation This is the leading Attribute that call'd forth the rest to work As there was no matter so no motive to induce God to make the World but what arose from his Goodness For he is an All-sufficient Being perfectly blessed in himself His Majesty is not encreased by the Adoration of Angels nor his Greatnesse by the Obedience of Nature neither was he less happy or content in that Eternal Duration before the existence of any Creature than he is since His Original Felicity is equally incapable of accession as of diminution 'T is evident therefore that only free and unexcited Goodness moved him to create all things that he might impart being and happiness to the Creature not inrich his own And as by contemplating the other works of God so especially by reflecting upon himself Adam had a clear sight of the Divine Attributes which concurr'd in his Creation Whether he consider'd his lowest part the Body 't was form'd of the Earth the most artificial and beautiful piece of the visible World The contrivance of its parts was with that proportion and exactness as most conduc'd to Comliness and Service It s stature was erect and raised becoming the Lord of the Creatures and an observer of the Heavens A Divine Beauty and Majesty was shed upon it And this was no vanishing ray soon eclips'd by a Disease and extinguisht by Death but shin'd in the countenance without any declination The Tongue was Man's peculiar glory being the interpreter of the mind and capable to signifie all the Affections of the Soul In short the Body
entered into the heart of man to conceive Now the carnal Man is only affected with gross and corporeal things The certainty immensity and immortality of the Heavenly Reward doth not prevail with him to seek after it He hath no palate for Spiritual Pleasures 't is vitiated by luscious Vanities and can't rellish rational and refined Joys 'Till the temper of the Soul be altered the bread of Angels is distastful to it For the Appetite is according to the disposition of the Stomack and when that is corrupted it longs for things hurtful and rejects wholsome food If a carnal Man were translated to Heaven where the Love of God reigns and where the brightest and sweetest discoveries of his Glory appear he would not find Paradise in Heaven it self For Delight arises not meerly from the excellency of the object but from the proportionableness to the Faculty Though God is an infinite Good in himself yet if he is not conceiv'd as the Supreme Good to Man he cannot make him happy Suppose some slight Convictions to be in the Mind that Happiness consists in the enjoyment of God yet this being offerâ—d upon the terms of quitting all sensual Lusts the carnal Man esteems the condition impossible and therefore is discourag'd from using any endeavours to obtain it For to excite Hope 't is not sufficient to propose a Reward that is real and excellent but that is attainable For although Hope hath its tendency to a difficult Good as its proper object and the difficulty is so far from discouraging that it quickens the Soul and draws forth all the active Powers by rendering it greater in our esteem yet when the difficulty is excessive and confines upon impossibility it dejects the Soul and enclines it to despair Thus when the condition of obtaining some good is necessary but insufferable it takes off from all endeavours in order to it To consider it in a temporal Case will make it more clear As one that labours under a Dropsie and is vext with an intollerable and insatiable thirst if a Physician should assure him of Cure upon condition he would abstain from drinking he could not conceive any real hope of being healed judging it impossible to resist the importunity of his drought he therefore neglects the means he drinks and dies Thus the corrupt Heart of Man that is under a perpetual thirst of carnal Pleasures and is more inflamed by the satisfaction it receives judges it an insuperable condition to part with them for the acquiring of spiritual Happiness And this sensual and sottish Despair causes a total neglect of the means 'T is thus expâ—est by the Israelites when God commanded them to return from the evil of their waies in order to their Happiness and they said There is no hope but we will walk after our own devices and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart They were Slaves to their domineering Appetites and resolved to make no trial about that they judg'd impossible Briefly In faln Man there is somthing predominant which he values above the favour and fruition of God and that is the World As in the Parable where Happiness is set forâ—h under the familiar representation of a Feast those who were invited to it excuse themselves by such reasons as clearly discover that some amiable Lust charm'd them so strongly that in the competition 't was prefer'd before Heaven One saith I have bought a piece of ground and I must needs go see it and another I have bought a yoke of oxen and must go to prove them and a third I have married a wife and cannot come The objects of their Passions are different but they all produce the same effect they reject Happiness The sum of all is That as Man fell from his Obedience and lost the Image of God by seeking Perfection and Satisfaction that is Happiness in the creature so he can never return to his Obedience and acknowledg God as his Supreme Lord till he chooses him for his Happiness And this he can never entirely do till he is born again and hath a new principle of Life that may change the complexion of the Soul and qualifie it for those delights which are sublime and spiritual Secondly Faln Man can never recover the Favour of God And this is evident upon a double account 1. He is not able to make satisfaction to Gods Justice for the dishonour brought to him 2. He is incapable of real Repentance which might qualifie him for Pardon First He is unable to satisfie Justice for his offence either by exact obedience for the future or by enduring the punishment that is due to Sin 1. Supposing that Man could perform exact Obedience after his Fall yet that could not be satisfaction 'T is essential to Satisfaction that the action by which 't is made be in the power of the person that satisfies A Servant as a Servant cannot make satisfaction for an injury done to his Lord for whatsoever service he performs was due before the offence and is not properly a restitution because 't is not of his own Now the compleat Obedience of the Creature is due to God He is the Lord of all our Actions and whatever Man doth is but the payment of the original Debt The Law requires a perpetual reverence of the Law-giver and express Obedience to his Will in all things So that 't is impossible that the highest respect to it afterwards should compensate for the least violation of it Besides To make Satisfaction for a Fault 't is necessary the Offender do some voluntary act that may be as honourable to the person and as much above what he was before obliged to as the contempt was dishonourable and below that which was due Unless God receive that which is as estimable in the nature of Obedience as the injury he received is in the nature of Contempt there can be no Satisfaction Now there is a greater dishonour brought to God by the commission of one Sin than there is honour by the perfect Obedience of all the Angels For in their Obedience God is preferr'd by the Creature before things infinitely beneath him which is but a small honour but by one Sin he is disvalued in the comparison which is infinite Contempt 2. Man cannot make satisfaction by Suffering For the Punishment must be equal to the Offence which derives its guilt from the dignity of the Person offended and the indignity of the offender Now God is the Universal King his Justice is Infinite which Man hath injur'd and his Glory which Man hath obscur'd and Man is finite And what proportion is there between finite and infinite How can a worthless Rebel that is hateful to God expiate the offence of so excellent a Majesty If he sacrifice himself he can never appease the Divine Displeasure for what doth he offer but a lump of Rebellion and Ingratitude He can make no other Satisfaction but that of the Devils which continues
Heritage to receive the Promise of the Messiah and left the rest in thick and disconsolate darkness there was no apparent cause of this inequality for they all sprang from the same corrupt root and equally deserv'd a final rejection There was no singular good in them nor transcendent evil in others The unaccountable Pleasure of God was the sole motive of the different Dispensation Our Saviour breaks forth in an extasie of Joy I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the wise prudent and revealed them unto babes even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight 'T is the Prerogative of God to reveal the secrets of the Kingdom to whom he pleases 'T is an act of pure Grace putting a difference between one Nation and another with the same liberty as in the Creation of the same indigested matter He form'd the Earth the dregs of the Universe and the Sun and Stars the ornaments of the Heavens and the glory of the visible World How can we reflect on our Spiritual Obligations to Divine Grace without a rapture of Soul The corruption of Nature was universal our Ignorance as perverse and our Manners as profane as of other Nations and we had been condemn'd to an eternal Night if the Light of Life had not graciously shin'd upon us This should warm our hearts in affectionate acknowledgments to God Who hath made known to us the riches of the glory of this mystery amongst the Gentiles and with that revelation the concomitant power of the Spirit to translate us from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of his dear Son If the Publication of the Law by the Ministry of Angels to the Israelites were such a Priviledg that 't is reckon'd their peculiar Treasure He hath shewed his Statutes unto Israel He hath not dealt so with any Nation What is the revelation of the Gospel by the Son of God Himself For although the Law is obscured and defaced since the Fall yet there are some ingrafted Notions of it in the humane Nature but there is not the least suspition of the Gospel The Law discovers our Misery but the Gospel alone shews the way to be delivered from it If an Advantage so great and so precious doth not touch our hearts and in possessing it with joy we are not sensible of the engagements the Father of Mercies hath laid upon us we shall be the ungratefullest wretches in the world 2. This incomprehensible Mystery is worthy of our most serious thoughts and study that we may arrive to a fuller knowledge of it And to incite us it will be fit to consider those excellencies which will render it most desirable Knowledge is a quality so eminent that it truly enobles one Spirit above another As Reason is the singular Ornament of the humane Nature whereby it excels the Bruits so in proportion Knowledge which is the perfection of the Understanding raises those who are possessors of it above others that want it The Testimony of Solomon confirms this Then I saw that Wisdom excells Folly as far as Light excelleth Darkness And according to the nature and quality of the Knowledge such is the advantage it brings to us Now the Doctrine of the Gospel excels the most noble Sciences as well contemplative as practick it excels the contemplative in the sublimity of the object and in the certainty of its Principle 1. In the sublimity and greatness of the Object and it is no less then the highest design of the eternal Wisdom the most glorious work of the great God In the Creation his foot-steps appear in our Redemption his Image In the Law his Justice and Holiness but in the Gospel all his Perfections shine forth in their brightest luster The bare theory of this inriches the mind and the contemplation of it affects the Soul that is conversant about it with the highest admiration and the most sincere and lasting delight 1. It affects the Soul with the highest admiration The strongest Spirits cannot comprehend its just greatness the understanding sinks under the weight of Glory The Apostle who had seen the light of Heaven and had such knowledg as never any man before yet upon considering one part of the Divine Wisdom breaks forth in astonishment Oh the depth of the riches of the Wisdom and Knowledg of God! how unsearchable are his Decrees and his waies past finding out 'T is fit when we have spent the strength of our minds in the consideration of this excelling object and are at the end of our subtilty to supply the defects of our Understandings with Admiration As the Psalmist expresses himself Lord how wonderful are thy thoughts to us-ward The Angels adore this glorious Mystery with an humble Reverence The admiration that is caused by it is a principal delight of the Mind 'T is true the wonder that proceeds from Ignorance when the cause of some visible effect is not known is the imperfection and torment of the spirit but that which ariseth from the knowledg of those things which are most above our conception and our hope is the highest advancement of our Minds and brings the greatest satisfaction to the Soul Now the contrivance of our Redemption was infinitely above the â—light of Reason and our expectation When the Lord turned the captivity of Sion they were as in a dream The way of accomplishing it was so incredible that it seem'd rather the picture of Fancy than a real Deliverance And there is far greater reason that the rescuing of us from the Powers of Hell and the restoring us to Liberty and Glory by Christ should raise our wonder The Gospel is called a marvellous Light upon the account of the objects it discovers But such a perverse judgment is in men that they neglect those things which deserve the highest admiration and spend their wonder on meaner things Art is more admir'd than Nature a counterfeit Eye of Christal which hath neither sight nor motion than the living Eye the Sun of the little world that directs the whole Man And the effects of Nature are more admir'd than the sublime and supernatural works of Grace Yet these infinitely exceed the other The World is the work of Gods hand but the Gospel is his plot and the chiefest of all his waies What a combination of Wonders is there in the great Mystery of Godliness That He who fills Heaven and Earth should be confin'd to the Virgins Womb that Life should die and being dead revive that Mercy should triumph without any disparagement to Justice these are Miracles that transcend all that is done in Nature And this appears by the judgment of God himself who best knows the excellency of his own works For whereas upon the finishing the first Creation he ordain'd the Seventh Day that reasonable Creatures might more solemnly ascribe to him the Glory of his Attributes which are visible in the things
that are made he hath upon the compleating our Redemtion by the rising of Christ from the Dead made the First-Day Sacred for his Service and Praise there being the clearest illustration of his Perfections in that Blessed Work God is more pleased in the contemplation of the new World than of the old The latter by its extraordinary Magnificence hath lessen'd the dignity of the former as the greater Light obscures the less Therefore the Sabbath is changed into the Lords-Day And what a just reproach is it to Man that he should be inobservant and unaffected with this glorious Mercy wherein he may alwaies find new cause of Admiration O Lord how great are thy Works and thy Thoughts how deep a brutish man knoweth not neither doth a fool understand this The admiring of any other thing in comparison of this Mystery is the effect of Inconsideration or Infidelity 2. It produces the most sincere and lasting pleasure As the taste is to meat to allure us to feed for the support of our bodies that is delight to Knowledge to excite the mind to seek after it But it s vast capacity can never be satisfied with the knowledge of inferior things The pleasure is more in the acquisition than in the possession of it For the mind is diverted in the search but having attained to that knowledge which cannot fill the rational appetite 't is disgusted with the fruits of its travel and seeks some other object to relieve its langour From hence it is that variety is the spring of delight and pleasure is the product of novelty We find the pleasure of the first taste in learning something new is alwayes most sensible The most elegant compositions and excellent discourses which ravisht at the first reading yet repeated often are nauseous and irksome The exercise of the mind on an object fully known is unprofitable and therefore tedious whereas by turning the thoughts on something else it may acquire new knowledge But the Apostle tells us that the Mystery of our Redemption contains all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge to intimate their excellence and abundance the unsearchable riches of Grace are laid up in it There is infinite variety and perpetual matter for the inquiry of the most excellent understanding no created reason is able to reach its height or sound its depths by the continual study and increase in the knowledge of it the mind enjoys a persevering pleasure that far exceeds the short vehemence of sensual delights 2. It excels other Sciences in the certainty of its Principle which is divine Revelation Humane Sciences are built upon uncertain maximes which being admitted with precipitation and not confirm'd by sufficient Experiments the Mind can never fully acquiesce in them Those Doctrines which were esteemed in one Age the vanity of them is discovered in another Modern Philosophy discards the Antient. But the Doctrine of Salvation is the Word of Truth its original is from Heaven it bears the characters and marks of its Divine descent 'T is confirmed by the Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power 'T is alwaies the same unchangeable as God the Author and Christ the Object of it who is the same yesterday to day and for ever And the knowledg which the sincere and enlightned Mind hath of it is not uncertain opinion but a clear solid and firm apprehension 'T is a Contemplation of the Glory of God with open face This appears by the effects it produces in those that have received the true tincture of it in their Souls they despise all things which carnal Men admire in comparison of this inestimable Treasure 2. The Doctrine of the Gospel exceeds all practic Sciences in the excellency of its end and the efficacy of the means to obtain it The end of it is The Supreme Happiness of Man the restoring of him to the Innocence and Excellency of his first state And the means are appointed by infinite Wisdom so that the most insuperable obstacles are removed and these are the Justice of God that condemns the guilty and that strong and obstinate aversion which is in corrupted man from true Felicity Here is a Mediator reveal'd who is able to save to the uttermost who hath quencht the Wrath of God by the Blood of his Divine Sacrifice who hath expiated Sin by the value of his Death and purifies the Soul by the vertue of his Life that it may consent to its own Salvation No less than a Divine Power could perform this work From hence the superlative excellency of Evangelical Knowledg doth arise all other Knowledg is unprofitable without it and that alone can make us perfectly blessed This is Life eternal to know thee and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent I will briefly consider how ineffectual all other Knowledge is whether Natural Political or Moral to recover us from our Misery The most exact insight into Natural things leaves the Mind blind and poor ignorant of Happiness and the way to it Solomon who had an extraordinary measure of Natural Knowledg and was able to set a just price upon it tels us that the increase of knowledg was attended with proportionable degrees of sorrow For the more a man knows the more he discerns the insufficiency of that knowledg to supply his defects and satisfie his desires He was therefore weary of his Wisdom as well as of his Folly The Devils know more than the profoundest Philosophers yet their Knowledge doth not alleviate their Torments 'T is so far from directing how to escape misery that it will more expose to it by enlarging the Faculties and making them more capable of Torment 'T is the observation of St. Ambrose that when God discovered the Creation of the World to Moses He did not inform him of the greatness of the Heavens the number of the Stars their Aspects and Influences whether they derive their light from the Sun or have it inherent in their own bodies from whence Eclipses are caused how the Rainbow is painted how the Winds fly in the Air or the causes of the ebbing and flowing of the Sea but so much as might be a foundation of Faith and Obedience and left the rest Quasi marcescentis sapientiae vanitates as the vanities of perishing wisdom The most knowing Philosopher though encompast with these sparks yet if ignorant of the Redeemer shall lie down in sorrow for ever And as natural so political Knowledge in order to the governing of Kingdoms and States hath no power to confer happiness upon man It concerns not his main interest 't is terminated within the compass of this short life and provides not for Death and Eternity The Wisdom of the World is folly in a disguise a specious Ignorance which although it may secure the temporal state yet it leaves us naked and exposed to Spiritual enemies which war against the Soul And all the moral knowledg which is treasur'd up in the Books of the Heathens
of God dying to deliver Men from Sin and the effects of it The fallen Angels may understand and believe it without any Affections being unconcernâ—d in it To them 't is a naked History but to Men 't is a Promise and cannot be rightly received without the most ardent Affections This is a faithful Saying and worthy of all acceptation That Jesus Christ came into the world to save Sinners 'T is essentiaâ—â—â— good as true its Sweetness and Profit are equal to its Certainty So that it commends it self to all our Faculties There are severe and sad Truths which are attended with fearful expectation and the Mind is averse from receiving them As the Law which like Lightning terrifies the Soul with its amazing Brightness and there are pleasant illusions which have no solid Foundation And as Truth doth not delight the Mind unless united to Goodness such as is suitable to its Palate so Goodness doth not affect the Will unless it be real Now the Doctrine of the Gospel is as certain as the Law and infinitly more comfortable than all the Inventions of Men. 'T is in the knowledg of it alone that the sensible and considering Soul enjoys perfect Satisfaction and the most composed Rest. 'T is evident that the Understanding doth not behold these Truths in their proper light when the Will doth not embrace them For the rational Appetite follows the last judgment of the Mind When the Apostle had a powerful Conviction of The Excellency of the Knowledg of Christ this made him so earnest to gain an interest in Him For this reason those who are only Christians in Title Having a form of Godliness and denying the power of it are in Scripture-language stiled Infidels It being impossible that those who truly and heartily believe this great Mystery of Godliness should remain ungodly 'T is a strong and effectual Assent that descends from the Brain to the Heart and Life that denominates us true Believers So that when the Death of Christ is propounded as the cause of our Reconciliation with God the wonder of the Mystery doth not make it incredible when as the reason of the Mortiâ—â—â—ation of our Lusts the Pleasures of Sin do not disguise its horrour When Salvation is offer'd upon our accepting of Christ for our Prince and Saviour the Soul is ravisht with its Beauty and chooses it for an everlasting portion To conclude The Doctrine of the Gospel clearly discovers its Divine Original 'T is so reasonable in itself and profitable to us so sublime and elevated above Man yet hath such an admirable agreement with Natural Truths 't is so perfectly corresponding in all its parts that without affected Obstinacy no man can reject it And if after the open revelation of it we are so stupid and wicked as not to see its Superlative Excellency and not to receive it with the Faith Love and Obedience which is due to it what contempt is this of that infinite Wisdom which contriv'd the astonishing way of our Salvation What a reproach to the Divine Understanding as if it had been employed from Eternity about a matter of no moment and that deserves not our serious Consideration and Acceptance The neglect of it will justly bring a more severe punishment than the Hell of the uninstructed Heathens who are strangers to Supernatural Mysteries CHAP. VIII The Mercy of God is represented with peculiar advantages above the other Attributes 'T is eminently glorified in our Redemption in respect of its freeness and greatness The freeness of it amplified from the consideration of the original and object of it God is perfectly happy in Himself and needs not the Creature to preserve or heighten his felicity The glorious reward conferred upon our Saviour doth not prejudice the freeness of his love to Man There was no tie upon God to save Man The Object of Mercy is Man in his lapsed state 'T is illustrated by the consideration of what he is in himself No motives of love are in him He is a rebel impotent and obstinate The freeness of mercy set forth by comparing him with the fallen Angels who are left in perfect irremediable misery Their first state fall and punishment The Reasons why the Wisdom of God made no provision for their recovery ALthough all the Divine Attributes are equal as they are in God for one Infinite cannot exceed another yet in their exercise and effects they shine with a different glory And Mercy is represented in Scripture with peculiar advantages above the rest 'T is God's natural off-spring he is stiled the Father of Mercies 'T is his dear Attribute that which he places next to himself He is proclaim'd the Lord God Gracious and Merciful 'T is his delight Mercy pleases him 'T is his Treasure he is rich in Mercy 'T is his triumphant Attribute and the special matter of his Glory Mercy rejoyces over Judgment Now in the performance of our Redemption Mercy is the predominant Attribute that sets all the rest a working The acts of his Wisdom Justice and Power were in order to the illustration of his Mercy And if we duly consider that Glorious Work we shall find in it all the ingredients of the most sovereign Mercy In discoursing of it I shall principally consider two things wherein this Attribute is eminently glorified the Freeness and the Greatness of it The Freeness of this Mercy will appear by considering the original and object of it 1. The Original is God and the notion of a Deity includes infinite perfections so that it neeessarily follows that he hath no need of the creatures service to preserve or heighten his feliâ—ity If thou be righteous what givest thou him or what receiveth he of thine hand From Eternity he was without external honour yet in that infinite duration he was perfectly joyful and happy He is the fountain of his own blessedness the Theatre of his own Glory the Glass of his own Beauty One drop encreases the Ocean but to God a million of Worlds â—an add nothing Every thing hath so much of Goodness as it derives from him As there was no gain to him by the Creation so there can be no loss by the annihilation of all things The World proceeded from his Wisdom as the Idea and Exemplar and from his Power as the efficient cause and it so proceeds from him as to remain more perfectly in him And as the possession of all things and the obedience of Angels and Men is of no advantage to God so the opposition of impenitent Rebels cannot lessen his Blessedness If thou sinnest what doâ—t thou against him or if thy transgressions be multiplied what dost thou unto him The Sun suffers no loss of its light by the darkness of the night or an Eclipse but the World loâ—es its day if intelligent Beings do not esteem him for his Greatness and love him for his Goodness 't is no injury to him but their own infelicity Were it for his
will be fit to consider them with respect to his Soul and his Body The Gospel delivers to us the relation of both 1. Upon his entrance into the Garden He complains My Soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto Death There were present only Peter James and John his happy Favourites who assured him of their fidelity there was no visible enemy to afflict Him yet his Soul was environ'd with Sorrows 'T is easie to conceive the injuries He suffered from the rage of Men for they were terminated upon his Body But how to understand his inward Sufferings the wounds of his Spirit the cross to which his Soul was nailed is very difficult Yet these were in expressibly greater as the visible effects dedeclare The anguish of his soul so affected his body that his Sweat was as it were great drops of Blood the miraculous evidence of his Agony The terror was so dreadful that the assistance of an Angel could not calm it And if we consider the causes of his grief the dispositions of Christ and the design of God in afflicting him it will further appear that no sorrow was ever like his The Causes were 1. The evil of Sin which infinitely exceeds all other for the just measure of an evil is taken from the good to which it is opposit and of which it deprives us Now Sin is formally opposit to the Holy nature and will of God and meritoriously deprives of his blessed presence for ever Therefore God being the supreme Good Sin is the supreme evil And grief being the resentment of an evil that which is proportioned to the evil of Sin must be infinite Now the Lord Christ alone had perfect light to discover Sin in its true horrour and perfect zeal to hate it according to its nature for who can understand the excellency of good and the malignity of evil but the Author of the one and the Judge of the other who can fully conceive the guilt of rebellion against God but the Son of God who is alone able to comprehend his own Majesty On this account the grief of our Redeemer exceeded all the sorrow of repenting Sinners from the beginning of the World For our knowledge is so imperfect and our zeal so remiss that our grief for sin is much beneath what 't is worthy of but sin was as hateful to Christ as it is in it self and his sorrow was equal to its evil 2. The Death he was to suffer attended with all the Curses of the Law and the terrible marks of Gods Indignation From hence 't is said he began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy 'T is wonderful that the Son of God who had perfect patience and the strength of the Deity to support him who knew that his Passion should soon pass away and that the issue should be his own glorious Resurrection and the recovery of lapsed Man that he should be shaken with fear and oppressed with sorrow at the first approches of it how many of the Martyrs have with an undisturbed courage embraced a more cruel death but to them 't was disarm'd whereas our Saviour encountered it with all its formidable Pomp with its Darts and Poison 3. The Wrath of God was inflamed against him For although he was perfectly Innocent and more distant from sin than Heaven is from the Earth yet by the ordination of God and his own consent being made our Sponsor the Iniquity of us all was laid upon him He suffered as deeply as if he had been guilty Vindictive justice was inexorable to his Prayers and Tears Although he renewed his request with the greatest ardency as 't is said by the Evangelist that being in an Agony he prayed more earnestly yet God would not spare him The Father of Mercies saw his Son humbled in his presence prostrate on the Earth yet deals with him in extream severity He was stricken smiten of God and afflicted And who is able to conceive the weight of God's Hand when he punishes sin according to its desert who can understand the degrees of those Sufferings when God exacts satisfaction from one that was obliged and able to make it how piercing were those sorrows whereby Divine Justice infinitely incens'd was to be appeas'd Who knows the consequence of those words My God My God why hast thou forsaken me 'T is impossible to comprehend or represent that great and terrible Mystery But thus much we may understand That Holiness and Glory being essential to the Deity they are communicated to the Reasonable Nature when united to it But with this difference that Holiness necessarily results from Union with God For Sin being infinitely repugnant to His Nature makes a Separation between Him and the creature But Glory and Joy are dispensed in a free and arbitrary manner This dereliction of our Saviour must be understood with respect to the second not the first Communication In the extremity of his Torments all his Affections were innocent and regular being only raised to that degree which the vehemency of the object required He exprest no murmur against God nor anger against his enemies His Faith Love Humility Patience were then in their Exaltation But that glorious and unspeakable Joy which in the course of his Life the Deity conveyed to Him was then withdrawn An impetuous torrent of pure unmixed Sorrows broke into his holy Soul He felt no refreshing emanations so that having lost the sense of present Joy there remained in his Soul only the hope of future Joy And in that sad moment his Mind was so intent upon his Sufferings that he seems to have been diverted from the actual consideration of the Glory that attended the issue of them Briefly All comforting Influences were suspended but without prejudice to the Personal Union or the Perfection of his Grace or to the Love of his Father toward Him His Soul was liable to sorrows as his Body to death For the Deity is the Principle of Life as well as of Joy and as the Body of Christ was three days in the state of Death and the Hypostatical Union remained entire so his Soul was left for a time under the fearful impressions of wrath yet was not separated from the God-head And although He endured what ever was necessary for the Expiation of Sin yet all vitious Evils as Blasphemy Hatred of God and any other which are not inflicted by the Judg but in strictness are accidental to the Punishment and proceed from the weakness or wickedness of the Patient he was not in the least guilty of Besides when his Father appear'd an enemy against him at that time He was infinitely pleased in his Obedience But with these exceptions our Blessed Lord suffered whatever was due to us The Sorrows of his forsaken state were inexpressibly great for according to the degree and sense we have of Happiness such in proportion is our grief for the loss of it Now Christ had the fullest enjoyment and the highest valuation of Gods favour
is his Fathers Love to him In this was manifested the Love of God to us because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him The Love of God in all temporal blessings is but faint in the comparison with the Love that is exprest in our Redeemer As much as the Creator exceeds the creature the gift of Christ is above the gift of the whole world Herein is Love saith the Apostle that is the clearest and highest expression of it that can be God sent his Son to be a Propitiation for our Sins The Wisdom and Power of God never acted to the utmost of their efficacy he could frame a more Glorious World but the Love of God cannot in a higher degree be exprest As the Apostle to set forth how sacred and inviolable Gods promise is saith that because he could swear by no greater he sware by himself so when he would give the most excellent testimony of his favour to mankind he gave his Eternal Son the Heir of his Love and Blessedness The giving of Heaven it self with all its Joys and Glory is not so perfect and full a demonstration of the Love of God as the giving of his Son to die for us According to the rule of common esteem a greater Love was exprest to wretched Man than to Christ himself for we expend things less valuable for those that are more precious so that God in giving him to die for us declar'd that our Salvation was more dear to him then the life of his only Son When no meaner Ransom than the Blood Royal of Heaven could purchase our Redemption God delighted in the expence of that sacred Treasure for us It pleased the Lord to bruise him Though the Death of Christ absolutely consider'd was the highest provocation of God's displeasure and brought the greatest guilt upon the Jews for which Wrath came upon them to the uttermost yet in respect of the end namely the Salvation of Men 't was the most greatful Offering to him a Sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour This is an endearing circumstance of Gods Love to us God repented that he made Man but never that he redeem'd him And as the Love of the Father so the Love of Christ appears in a superlative manner in dying for us Greater Love hath no Man than this that a Man lay down his life for his Friend There is no kind of Love that exceeds the affection which is exprest in dying for another but there are diverse degrees of it and the highest is to die for our enemies The Apostle saith perhaps for a good man some would dare to die 'T is possible gratitude may prevail upon one who is under strong obligations to die for his benefactor Or some may from a generous principle be willing with the loss of their lives to preserve one who is a general and publick good But this is a rare and almost incredible thing 'T is recorded as a miraculous instance of the power of Love that the two Sicilian Philosophers Damon and Pithias each had courage to die for his Friend For one of them being condemn'd to die by the Tyrant and desiring to give the last farewel to his Family his Friend entered into Prison as his Surety to die for him if he did not return at the appointed time And he came to the amazement of all that expected the issue of such a hazardous caution Yet in this example there seems to be in the Second such a confidence of the fidelity of the first that he was assured he should not die in being a pledge for him and in the first 't was not meer friendship or sense of the obligation but the regard of his own honour that made him rescue his Friend from Death And if Love were the sole motive yet the highest expression of it was to part with a short life which in a little time must have been resigned by the order of nature But the Love of our Saviour was so pure and great there can be no resemblance much less any parallel of it For he was perfectly Holy and so the priviledge of immortality was due to him and his life was infinitely more precious than the lives of Angels and Men yet he laid it down and submitted to a cursed Death and to that which was infinitely more bitter the Wrath of God And all this for sinful men who were under the just and heavy displeasure of the Almighty He loved us and gave himself for us If he had only interposed as an Advocate to speak for us or only had acted for our recovery his Love had been admirable but he suffered for us He is not only our Mediator but Redeemer not only Redeemer but Ransom 'T was excellent goodness in David when he saw the destruction of his People to offer Himself and Family as a Sacrifice to avert the Wrath of God from them But his pride was the cause of the Judgment whereas our Redeemer was perfectly innocent David interceeded for his Subjects Christ for his Enemies He receiv'd the Arrows of the Almighty into his Breast to shelter us He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquites the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed Among the Romans the Despotick power was so terrible that if a slave had attemped upon the Life of his Master all the rest had been crucified with the guilty person But our gracious Master dyed for his slaves who had conspir'd against him He shed his Blood for those who spilt it And the readiness of our Lord to save us though by the sharpest sufferings magnifies his Love When the richest Sacrifices under the Law were insufficient to take away sin and no lower price then the blood of God could obtain our pardon upon his entering into the World to excute that wonderful Commission which cost him his Life with what ardour of affection did he undertake it Lo I come to do thy will O God When Peter from carnal affection deprecated his sufferings Master spare thy self he who was incarnate goodness and never quench'd the smoking flax expresses the same indignation against him Get thee behind me Satan as he did formerly against the Devil tempting to worship him He esteemed him the worst adversary that would divert him from his Sufferings He long'd for the Baptism of his Blood And when Death was in his view with all the circumstances of terrour and the supreme Judge stood before him ready to inflict the just punishment of sin though the apprehension of it was so dreadful that he could scarce live under it yet he resolved to accomplish his Work Our Salvation was amiable to him in his Agony This is specially observed by the Evangelist that Jesus having loved his own he loved them to the end When the Souldiers
O Lord God and what is my house that thou hast brought me hitherto and this was yet a small thing in thy sight O Lord God but thou hast spoken of thy Servants house for a great while to come and is this the manner of Man O Lord God if such humble and thankful acknowledgments were due for the Scepter of Israel what is for the Crown of Heaven and and that procured for us by the sufferings of the Son of God Briefly Goodness is the foundation of Glory therefore the most solemn and affectionate Praise is to be rendered for transcendent Goodness The consent of Heaven and Earth is in ascribing blessing and honour and glory to him that sits on the Throne and the Lamb for ever 2. The Love of God discovered in our Redemption is the most powerful persuasive to Repentance For the discovery of this we must consider that real Repentance is the consequent of Faith and always in proportion to it Therefore the Law which represents to us the Divine Purity and Justice without any allay of Mercy can never work true Repentance in a Sinner When Conscience is under the strong conviction of guilt and of Gods Justice as implacable it causes a dreadful flight from him and a retchless neglect of means Despair hardens Neither is the discovery of God in Nature prevailing over the impenitent Hearts of men 'T is true the visible frame of the World and the continual benefits of Providence instruct Men in those prime Truths the Being and Bounty of God to those that serve Him and invite them to their Duty God never left himself without a witness in any age His Goodness is design'd To lead men to Repentance And the Apostle aggravates the obstinacy of Men that render'd that method entirely fruitless But the Declaration of Gods Goodness in the Gospel is infinitely more clear and powerful than the silent revelation by the works of Creation and Providence For although the Patience and general Goodness of God offered some intimations that he is placable yet not a sufficient support for a guilty and jealous Creature to rely on The natural notion of Gods Justice is so deeply rooted in the Humane Soul that till He is pleased to proclaim an Act of Grace and Pardon on the conditions of Faith and Repentance 't is hardly possible that convinced Sinners should apprehend Him otherwise than an Enemy and that all the common Benefits they enjoy are but Provisions allowed in the interval between the Sentence pronounc'd by the Law and the Execution of it at Death Therefore God to overcome our fears and to melt us into a compliance hath given in the Scripture the highest assurance of his willingness to receive all relenting and returning Sinners He interposes the most solemn Oath to remove our suspicions As I live saith the Lord I delight not in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live And have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die saith the Lord God And not that he should return from his ways and live The majesty and ardency of the Expressions testifie the truth and vehemency of his desire so far as the Excellency of his Nature is capable to feel our Affections And the Reason of it is clear for the Conversion of a Sinner implies a thorough change in the Will and Affections from Sin to Grace and that is infinitely pleasing to Gods Holiness and the giving of Life to the converted is most suitable to his Mercy The Angels who are infinitly inferiour to Him in Goodness rejoyce in the Repentance and Salvation of Men Much more God doth There is an eminent difference between his inclinations to exercise Mercy and Justice He uses expressions of regret when He is constrained to punish O that my People had hearkned to me and Israel had walked in my wayes And how shall I give thee up Ephraim how shall I deliver thee Israel mine heart is turned within me As a merciful Judg that pities the Man when he condemns the Malefactor But He dispenses Acts of Grace with pleasure He pardons Iniquity and passes by transgressions because He delights in Mercy 'T is true when Sinners are finally obdurate God is pleased in their Ruine for the honour of his Justice yet t is not in such a manner as in their Conversion and Life He doth not invite Sinners to transgress that He may condemn them He is not pleased when they give occasion for the exercise of his Anger And above all we have the clearest and surest discovery of pardoning Mercy in the Death of Christ. For what stronger evidence can there be of God's readiness to pardon than sending his Son into the World to be a Sacrifice for Sin that Mercy without prejudice to his other Perfections might upon our Repentance forgive us And what more rational argument is there and more congruous to the Breast of a Man to work in him a serious grief and hearty detestation of Sin not only as a cursed thing but as 't is contrary to the Divine Will than the belief that God in whose Power alone it is to pardon Sinners is most desirous to pardon them if they will return to Obedience The Prodigal in his extream distress resolved to go to his Father with penitential acknowledgments and submission and to use the words of a devout Writer His guilty Conscience as desperate asks him Qua spe with what hope He replies to himself Illa qua Pater est Ego perdidi quod erat filii ille quod patris est nâ—n amisit Though I have neglected the duty and lost the confidence of a Son he hath not lost the compassion of a Father That Parable represents Man in his degenerate forlorn state and that the Divine Goodness is the Motive that prevails upon him to return to his duty 3. The transcendent Love that God hath exprest in our Redemption by Christ should kindle in us a reciprocal affection to him For what is more natural than that one flame should produce another We love him because he loved us first The original of our Love to God is from the evidence of his to us this alone can strongly and sweetly draw the heart to him 'T is true the divine excellencies as they deserve a superlative esteem so the highest affection but the bare contemplation of them is ineffectual to fire the Heart with a zealous Love to God For Man in his Corrupt state hath a Diabolical Seed in him he is inclined not only to Sensuality which is an implicit hatred of God for an eager Appetite to those things which God forbids and a fixed Aversation from what He commands are the Natural effects of Hatred But to malignity and direct hatred against God He is an enemy in his mind through wicked Works and this enmity ariseth from the consideration of Gods Justice and the effects of it Man cannot Sin and be
perplexities how we may be justified is to deny the value of his Righteousness and the truth of his Ascension And say not who shall descend into the deep to bear the Torments of Hell and expiate Sin this is to deny the vertue of his Death whereby he appeased God and redeemed us from the wrath to come In the Law the condemning Righteousness of God is made visible in the Gospel his justifying Righteousness is revealed from Faith to Faith And this is an infallible proof of its divine descent For whereas all other Religions either stupifie Conscience and harden it in carnal Security or terrifie it by continual Alarms of Vengeance the Gospel alone hath discovered how God may shew Mercy to repenting Sinners without injury to his Justice The Heathens robb'd one Attribute to enrich another either they conceived God to be indulgent to their Sins and easie to pardon to the prejudice of his Justice or cruel and revengful to the dishonour of his Goodness But Christians are instructed how these are wonderfully reconciled and magnified in our Redemption From hence there is a divine calm in the Conscience and that Peace which passeth Understanding The Soul is not only freed from the Fear of Gods anger but hath a lively Hope of his Favour and Love This is exprest by the Apostle when he reckons among the Priviledges of Believers That they are come to God the Judg of all and to Jesus the Mediator of the New-Covenant and to the Blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than the blood of Abel The apprehension of God as the Judg of the world strikes the guilty with fear and terrour but as He is sweetned by the Mediator we may approach to Him with confidence For what Sins are there which so entire a Satisfaction doth not expiate What Torments can they deserve which his wounds and stripes have not removed God is Just as well as Merciful in justifying those who believe in Jesus 'T is not the quality of Sins but of Sinners that excepts them from Pardon Christ is the golden Altar in Heaven for penitent Believers to flie to from whence God will never pluck any one to destroy him 5. From hence we may learn how absolute a necessity there is for our coming to Christ for Justification There are but two waies of appearing before the Righteous and Supreme Judg. 1. In Innocence and sinless Obedience or by the Righteousness of Christ The one is by the Law the other by Grace And these two can never be compounded for he that pleads Innocence in that disclaims Favour and he that sues for Favour acknowledges Guilt Now the first cannot be performed by us For entire Obedience to the Law supposes the integrity of our natures there being a Moral impossibility that the Faculties once corrupted should act regularly But Man is stain'd with Original Sin from his Conception And the form of the Law runs universally Cursed is every one that obeys not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them In these Scales one evil work preponderates a thousand good If a Man were guilty but of one single Error his entire Obedience afterwards could not save him for that being alwaies due to the Law the payment of it cannot discount for the former Debt So that we cannot in any degree be justified by the Law for there is no middle between transgressing and not transgressing it He that breaks one Article in a Covenant cuts off his claim to any benefit by it Briefly the Law Justifies only the Perfect and condemns without distinction all that are Guilty So that to pretend Justification by the works of it is as unreasonable as for a man to produce in Court the Bond which obliges him to his Creditor in testimony that he ows him nothing Whoever presumes to appear before God's Judgment-Seat in his own righteousness shall be covered with confusion 2. By the Righteousness of Christ. This alone absolves from the Guilt of sin saves from Hell and can endure the trial of God's Tribunal This the Apostle prized as his unvaluable treasure in comparison of which all other things are but dross and dung that I may be found in him not having mine own Righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith That which he ordained and rewarded in the Person of our Redeemer he cannot but accept Now this Righteousness is meritoriously imputed only to Believers For depending solely upon the Will of God as to its being and effects it cannot possibly be reckoned to any for their benefit and advantage but in that way which he hath appointed The Lord Christ who made Satisfaction tells us that the benefit of it is communicated only through our Believing God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes on him should not perish As all sins are mortal in respect of their guilt but death is not actually inflicted for them upon the account of the Grace of the New Covenant so all sins are venial in respect of the Satisfaction made by Christ but they are not actually pardoned till the performing of the condition to which pardon is annext Faith transfers the guilt from the Sinner to the Sacrifice And this is not an act restrained to the understanding but principally respects the will by which we accept or refuse Salvation The nature of it is best exprest by the Scripture-phrase the receiving Christ which respects the terms upon which God offers him in the Gospel to be our Prince and Saviour The state of favour begins upon our consent to the New Covenant And how reasonable is the condition it requires how impossible is it to be otherwise God is reconcileable by the Death of Christ so that he may exercise Mercy without injury to his Justice and Holiness He is willing and desirous to be upon terms of amity with Men but cannot be actually reconciled till they accept of them for reconcilement is between two Though God upon the account of Christ is made placable to the humane nature which he is not to the Angelical in its lapsed state and hath condescended so far as to offer conditions of peace to Men yet they are reconciled at once That Christ becomes an effectual Mediator there must be the consent of both parties As God hath declared his by laying the punishment of our sins on Christ so Man gives his by submitting to the Law of Faith And the great end of Preaching the Gospel is to overcome the obstinacy of Men and reconcile them to God and their happiness We are Ambassadours for Christ and pray you in Christs stead to be reconciled to God With this difference Christ furnisht the means they only bring the message of reconciliation Now Men are with difficulty wrought on to comply with the conditions of Pardon by Christ. 1. Upon
Power admirably appeared in making the Death of Christ victorious over all our Spiritual Enemies Now to shew what an eminent degree of Power was exercised in the effecting this we must consider that after Satan was cast out of Heaven for his Rebellion he set up a throne on the Earth and usurpt an absolute Empire over Mankind His Power was great and his Malice was equal to his Power The Apostle represents him with his black Army under the titles of Principalities and Powers the rulers of the darkness of this world spiritual wickednesses in heavenly places as in respect of the Order among them so in respect of their Dominion they exercise in the World His Principality hath two parts To tempt Men powerfully to sin and to execute the wrath of God upon them He works effectually in the Children of Disobedience He fires their Lusts and by the thick ascending smoak darkens their Minds and hurries them to do the vilest Actions And he hath the power of death to torment Sinners God justly permitting him to exercise his Cruelty upon those who comply with his Temptations Now in the time of Christ seeing many ravish'd out of his hands and translated into the Kingdom of God he grew jealous of his state and by his instruments brought Him to a cruel and shameful Death He then in appearance obtain'd a compleat Conquest but in truth was absolutely overcome And from hence the glorious Power of Christ is most clearly manifested As he that will take the height of a Mountain must descend to the lowest part of the Valley where fixing his Instrument he may discover the distance from the foot to the top of it So we must descend to the lowest degree of our Saviours abasement to understand the height of his exaltation By Death he overcame him that had the power of Death that is the Devil For his cruel Empire was founded in Mans Sin his greatness was built on our Ruins All the penal Evils he brings on Mankind are upon the account of our Disobedience and his mighty power in Temptations is from our inward Corruption Otherwise he might surround but could not surprise us Now the Lord Christ by his Death hath taken away the Guilt and Power of Sin The Guilt in enduring the Curse of the Law and thereby satisfying Eternal Justice which all the Creatures in Heaven and Earth could not do and the Power of it By crucifying our old man with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin By the Cross of Christ the world is crucified to us and we are crucified to the world By it we are vindicated from the power of Satan into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God For this reason our Saviour a little before his Passion said Now shall the Prince of this world be cast out By the Cross he spoil'd Principalities and Powers and made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in it to their extreme confusion in the view of Heaven and Earth Although the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ are the proper acts of his Triumph yet his Death is the sole cause and original of it The Nails and Spear that pierced his Body were his omnipotent Arms and the Cross the instrument of his Sufferings was the Trophee of his Victory All our triumphant Palms are gathered from that tree 'T is there our Saviour bruised the head of the old Serpent and renewed his antient Victory over him And from hence it was that upon the first Preaching of Christ crucified Oracles were struck dumb and put to eternal silence invisible Powers were forc'd to do him visible honour As the Rising Sun causes the Night-birds to retire so his Name chas'd the rout of false Deities into darkness They continue to be our enemies but not our lords Now where did the Divine Power ever appear more glorious than in our crucified Saviour He hath done greater things suffering as Man than acting as God The Works of Creation and Providence are not equal to the effects of his Death In the Creation a corruptible World was produced from Nothing which as it had no disposition so no contrariety to receive the form the Creator gave it But the new World of Grace that is immortal was form'd out of rebellious matter The most eminent work of Providence was the drowning the Egyptians in the Red-Sea But the spiritual Pharaoh and all his Hosts were drowned in his Blood In short the Cross hath opened Heaven to us and wrought a miraculous change on the Earth But this I shall more particularly consider under another Head of Discourse Fifthly The Divine Power was eminently magnified in Christs Resurrection from the Grave This was foretold concerning the Messiah by the Prophet David speaking in the type My flesh shall rest in hope for thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption As it was ordain'd by Gods Counsel so 't was executed by his Power This is decisive that He is the Messiah His other Miracles were performed by the Prophets but this was singular and only done by the God of the Prophets The Reasons of it prove that 't was equally necessary for his Glory and our Salvation 1. The Quality of his Person required it For He was a Heavenly Man without Guilt therefore immortal by the original Constitution of his Nature Death that is the wages of Sin had no power over him He was subject to it not by the Law of his Conception but the Dispensation of his Love not to satisfie Nature but purchase our Salvation Therefore the Eternal Law that annexes Immortality to Innocence would not suffer that He should remain in the state of Death 2. The Nature of his Office made it necessary As the Oeconomy of our Redemption required that He should descend from Heaven the Seat of his Glory that by dying He might expiate our Sins so after his lying in the Grave so long as to attest the reality of his Death 't was necessary he should rise again in order to his dispensing the glorious Benefits He had purchas'd The Apostle tells the Corinthians If Christ be not risen then our preaching is in vain and your faith is also in vain For the Faith of Christians hath a threefold reference 1. To the Person of Christ that he is the Son of God 2. To his Death that 't is an all-sufficient Sacrifice for Sin 3. To his Promise that He will raise Believers at the last Day Now the Resurrection of Christ is the Foundation of Faith in respect of all these 1. He was declar'd to be the Son of God with Power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection from the dead He was the Son of God from Eternity as the Word and from the first moment of his Incarnation as God-Man But the honour of this relation was much eclips'd in his poor
credit and reputation destitute of all humane strength and had only a Crucified Person for their leader Christianity was exposed naked in the day of its birth without any shelter from secular Powers 2. They had not the advantage of Art and Eloquence to commend their Religion There is a kind of charm in Rhetorick that makes things appear otherwise than they are the best cause it ruins the worst it confirms Truth though in its self invincible yet by it seems to be overcome and Errour obtains a false triumph We have a visible proof of this in the Writings of Celsus Symmachus Caecilius and others for Paganism against Christianity What a vast difference is there between the lyes and filthiness of the one and the Truth and Sanctity of the other Yet with what admirable address did they manage that Infamous Subject Although it seem'd incapable of any defence yet they gave such colours to it by the beauty of their expressions and their apparent reasons that it seem'd plausible and Christianity notwithstanding its brightness and purity was made odious to the people But the Apostles were most of them wholly unlearned St. Paul himself acknowledges that he was weak in presence and his Speech was not with the enticing words of Mans Wisdome A crucified Christ was all their Rhetorick Now these impotent despicable Persons were imployed to subdue the World to the Cross of Christ and in that season when the Roman Empire was at its height when the most rigorous Severities were used against all Innovations when Philosophy and Eloquence were in their flower and Vigour so that Truth unless adorn'd with the dress and artifice of falshood was despis'd and a Message from God himself unless eloquently convey'd had no force to perswade Therefore the Apostles debased themselves in the sense of their own weakness We have this treasure in earthen vessels That the excellency of the power may be of God not of us 'T was from distrust of themselves their true confidence in God proceeded They were onely so far powerful as he enabled them like inâ—â—ruments in which there is not Vertue sufficient for the carving of a Statute if they do not receive it imprest from the Artificer that uses them Briefly as God the Author of Wonders uses that which is weak in Nature to conquer the most rebellious parts of it He makes the weak sand a more powerful bridle to the impetuous Element of Waters than the strongest banks rais'd by the industry of Men and compos'd of the most solid materials so he was pleased by a few artless impotent persons to confound the wisdom and overcome the power of the World 3. The great sudden and lasting Change that was made in the World by the Preaching of the Gospel is a certain Argument of the Divine Power that animated those mean appearances and that no instrument is weak in Gods hands 1. The greatness of the Change is such that it was only possible to Divine Power 'T is a great Miracle to render sight to the Blind but 't is more miraculous to inlighten the Dark mind to see the truth and beauty of Supernatural Mysteries when they are disguis'd under reproach sad representations and effectually to believe them especially when the inferiour appetite is so contrary to Faith 'T is a prodigy to raise the Dead but 't is more admirable to sanctify an habituated sinner For in comparing the quality of those Miracles that is the greatest in the performing whereof God is discover'd to be the absolute Lord of the greater Nature Now the intellectual Nature is superiour to the corporeal Besides there is no contradiction from a Dead body against the Divine Power in raising it on the contrary if any sense were remaining it would ardently desire to be restor'd to the full enjoyment of Life but corrupt Nature is most opposite to renewing Grace Now these marvelous effects were produced by the Revelation of Jesus Christ to the Heathens The glorious light of Truth scattered the thick and terrible darkness of Ignorance and errour that was so universal The Gospel in its power and the quality of its effects was like those words Let there be Light which the Eternal Word pronounced upon the confused Chaos and infused a Soul and Life into the World The clear knowledge of God in his Nature and Glorious Works of Creation and Redemption of the duty of Man of the future state was communicated to the meanest understandings And in proportion to the Light of Faith such was the measure of Piety and Holiness Idolatry that had Number Antiquity Authority of its side was intirely abolisht The false Deities were cast out of the Temple and the Cross of Christ was planted in the Hearts of Men. Accordingly the Apostle tells the Thessalonians For they themselves shew of us what manner of entring in we had unto you and how ye turned to God from Idols to serve the Living and true God and to wait for his Son from Heaven whom he raised from the Dead even Jesus which delivered us from the wrath to come Innumerable from secret Atheism publick Gentilism were converted to acknowledg and accept of the Redeemer for their Lord. What could produce such a marvelous change in the World but an Almighty power How seemingly impossible was it to bring so many who were proud in their natures perverse in their customs and indubitably assenting to their false Religions from such a distance as the Worship of innumerable Deities to adore a Crucified God 'T was admirable that Alexander broke the Persian Empire with an Army of Thirty Thousand but what is there comparable in that Conquest to the Acts of the Apostles How much less difficult is it for some Nations to change their Kings than for all to change their Gods How far more easie is it to overcome the bodies of Men than subdue their Souls Upon the most exact inquiry there will never be found in humane nature any cause capable to produce such an effect nor in the Records of all Ages any example like it Add to this the excellent Reformation in the hearts and lives of Men. As their understandings so their wills and affections the sources of action were miraculously alter'd What the Sages of the World could not effect in a few select Persons The Gospel hath done in great numbers nay rais'd them above all their feigned Ideas above the higest pitch of their Proud Philosophy Those strong and furious passions which Natural Reason was as unable to restrain as a threed of silk is to govern a fierce beast the Gospel hath tamed and brought into order It hath executed what Philosophy durst never enterprise despairing of Success The Gospel hath made the Wise Men of the World resign their Reason to Faith it hath perswaded Carnal Men to mortify the Flesh the Ambitious to despise secular Honours the Voluptuous to renounce their Pleasures the Covetous to distribute their Goods to the Poor the
the Church from all these will be the last Glorious Act of Christs Regal Office And 't is observeable the Day of Judgment is call'd the Day of Redemption with respect to the final accomplishment of our Felicity that was purchas'd by the infinite Price of his Sufferings The day of Christs Death was the Day of Redemption as to our Right and Title for then our Ransom was fully paid and 't is by the Immortal efficacy of his Blood that we partake of the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of God but the Actual enjoyment of it shall be at the last day Therefore the perfection of all our Spiritual Priviledges is refer'd to that time when Death our Lâ—st Enemy shall be overcome The Apostle saith and not only they but our selves also which have the first Fruits of the Spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our Bodies During the present Life we are taken into Gods Family in the quality of his Children but the most Solemn Act of our Adoption shall be at the last Day In this there is a similitude between Christ and his Members for although he was the Son of God by his marvelous Conception and own'd by him while he perform'd his Ministry upon the Earth yet all the Testimonies of Gods Favour to him were not comparable to the Declaration of it in raising him from the Grave Then in the face of Heaven and Earth He said Thou art my Son this Day have I begotten thee So in this Life God acknowledges and treats us as his Children he cloaths us with the Righteousness of his Son feeds us with his Word defends us from our Spiritual Enemies but the most Publick Declaration of his favour shall be in the next Life when all the Children of the Resurrection shall be born in a Day Add further although the Souls of Believers immediately upon their Separation are receiv'd into Heaven and during the sleep of Death enjoy admirable Visions of Glory yet their Blessedness is imperfect in comparison of that excellent degree which shall be enjoyed at the Resurrection As the Roman Generals after a compleat Conquest first enter'd the City privately and after having obtain'd License of the Senate made their Triumphant entry with all the magnificence splendour becoming the Greatness of their Victories So after a Faithful Christian hath fought the good fight and is come off more than a Conquerour he enters privately into the Coelestial City but when the body is rais'd to Immortality he shall then in the company and with the acclamations of the Holy Angels have a Glorious entry into it I will briefly consider why the Bodies of the Saints shall be rais'd and how the Divine Power will be manifested in that last Act. 1. The General reason is from Gods Justice As the Oeconomy of Divine Providence requires there must be a Future State when God shall sit upon a judicial Throne to weigh the Actions of all Men and render to every one according to their quality so 't is as necessary that the Person be Judged and not one Part alone The Law Commands the entire Man compos'd of his Essential Parts the Soul and Body And 't is obeyed or violated by both of them Although the Guilt or Moral Goodness of Actions is chiefly Attributed to the Soul because 't is the Principle of them yet the Actions are imputed to the whole Man The Soul is the Guide the Body the Instrument 't is reasonable therefore that both should receive their recompence We see the Example of this in Humane Justice which is a copy of the Divine The whole Man is punisht or rewarded The Soul is punisht with Disgrace and Infamy the Body with Pains the Soul is rewarded with Esteem and Honour the Body with External marks of Dignity Thus the Divine Justice will render to every one according to things done in the Body whether Good or Evill 2. The special reason of the Saints Resurrection is their Union with Christ for he is not only our Redeemer and Prince but our second Adam the same in Grace as the first was in Nature Now as from the first the Soul was destroyed by Sin and the Body by Death so the second restores them both to their Primitive state the one by Grace the other by a Glorious Resurrection Accordingly the Apostle saith that by Man came Death and by Man came the Resurrection from the Dead Christ removed the Moral and Natural impossibility of our Glorious Resurrection the Moral by the infinite merit of his Death whereby Divine Justice is satisfied that otherwise would not permit the Guilty to be restor'd to Eternal Life and the Natural by his rising from the Grave to a Glorious Imortality For his Infinite Power can do the same in all Believers 'T is observable the Apostle infers the Resurrection of Believers from that of Christ not only as the Cause but the Original Example For the Members must be conform'd to the Head the Children to their Father the younger to the elder Brother Therefore he is call'd the first-fruits of them that sleep and the first begotten of the Dead In Christ's Resurrection ours is so fully assur'd that the event is infallible Now no less than Infinite Power is requisite to raise the Bodies of the Saints from the dust and to transform them into the similitude of Christs 1. To raise them Nothing is more astonishing to Nature than that the Bodies which after so many Ages in the perpetual circulation of the Elements have past into a thousand different Forms one part of them being resolved into Water another evaporated into Air another turn'd into Dust should be restor'd to their first State What Wisdom is requisite to separate the Parts so mixt and confounded what Power to recompose them what Vertue to reinspire them with new Life It may seem more difficult than to revive a Dead Body whose Organs and matter is not chang'd of which we have Examples in the Scripture When the Spirit of the Lord plac't Ezekiel in the midst of a Valley cover'd with bones and caused him to consider attentively their Number which was very great and their extream dryness he askt him whether these bones could live upon which as one divided and ballanc't between the seeming Impossibility of the thing in it self and the consideration of the Divine Power to which nothing is impossible he answered Lord thou knowest Upon this God commanded him to Prophesie upon those bones and speak to them as if they had been endued with Sense and Understanding O ye dry Bones hear the Word of the Lord Thus saith the Lord God unto these Bones Behold I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live And I will lay sinews upon you and will bring in flesh upon you and cover you with skin and put Breath in you and ye shall live and ye shall know that I am
the Lord. And immediately there was a general commotion among them they joyn'd together the sinews and flesh came upon them and the skin cover'd them And upon a second Prophesy they were all inspir'd with the Breath of Life and stood up an exceeding great Army Now whether this was really represented to his outward senses or only by the efficacy of the Spirit to his imagination no doubt so strange a Spectacle vehemently affected him as with Joy in hope of the miraculous Restoration of Israel which that Vision foretold so with admiration of the Divine Power But when the Trumpet of the Arch-Angel shall sound the Universal Jubilee and call forth the Dead from all their Receptacles when the Elements as Faithful Depositaries shall effectively restore what was committed to them How Admirable will the Power of God appear 2. No less than Infinite Power is able to change the raised Bodies into the likenesse of Christs The Apostle speaks with an exaggeration of it For our Conversation is in Heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our Vile Bodies that it may be fashioned like unto his Glorious Body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself This resemblance will be only in the Person of Believers All Men shall rise to be judged but not all to be transform'd There is a Resurrection to Death as well as to Life Unhappy Resurrection Which only serves to make the Body the Food of Eternal Death But the Saints who endeavoured to be like to Christ in purity shall then have a perfect conformity to him in Glory and Immortality How Glorious the Body of Christ is we may conjecture in part by what the Apostle relates to Agrippa At mid-day O King I saw in the way a light from Heaven above the brightness of the Sun shining round about me Which was no other but the Light of the Face of Christ that struck him with Blindnesse One Ray of this reflecting upon the first Martyr Saint Stephen in his Sufferings gave an Angelical Glory to his countenance And Saint John tells us when he appears we shall be like him He alludes to the rising of the Sun but with this difference when the Sun appears in the Morning the Stars are made invisible but the Bodies of the Saints shall be cloathed with a Sun-like lustre and shine in the midst of Christs Glory Omnipotency alone that Subdues all things can raise and refine them from their Dross unto such an admirable Brightness The Angels will be surpris'd with wonder to see Millions of Stars spring out of the Dust. The Lord Jesus Christ will be admir'd in all them that Believe 2. Their Bodies shall be raised to a Glorious Immortality In this the General Resurrection is Different from that which was Particular as of Lazarus by the one Death was overcome and put to flight only for some time for his second life was no more exempt from Death than his first But by the other Death shall be swallowed in Victory and lose its force for ever Then shall our true Joshua be magnified in the sight of the whole World and the Glorious number of Saints shall cast their Crowns at his Feet and sing the Triumphant Song Thou hast Redeem'd us to God by thy Blood and rescued us by thy Power from all our Enemies and art worthy of Honour and Glory and Blessing for ever CHAP. XXII The extraordinary working of the Divine Power is a convincing proof of the Verity of the Christian Religion The internal Excellencies of it are clear marks of its Divinity to the purified Mind The external Operations of God's power were requisite to convince men in their corrupt state that the Doctrine the Gospel came from God The miraculous owning of Christ by the whole Divinity from Heaven The Resurrection of Christ the most important Article of of the Gospel and the demonstration of all the rest How valuable the Testimony of the Apostles is concerning it That 't was impossible they should deceive or be deceived The quality of the Witnesses considered There cannot be the least reasonable suspicion of them 'T is utterly incredible that any humane temporal respects mov'd them to feign the Resurrection of Christ. The nature of the Testimony considered It was of a matter of fact and verified to all their Senses The Uniformity of it secures us there was no corruption in the Witnesses and that it was no illusion They seal'd the truth of it with their Blood The Miracles the Apostles did in the Name of Christ a strong demonstration that he was rais'd to a glorious life That Power was continued in the Church for a time The Conclusion how reasonable it is to give an entire Assent to the truth of Christianity 'T is desperate Infidelity not to believe it and the highest Madness to pretend to believe it and to live in disobedience to it 1 FRom what hath been discours'd concerning the extraordinary working of the Divine Power we have a most convincing proof of the Verity of the Christian Religion For since God hath by so many miraculous Effects the infallible indications of His Favour to the Person of Jesus Christ justified his Doctrine no reasonable doubt can remain concerning it Indeed the internal excellencies of it which are visible to the purged Eye of the Soul are clear marks of its Divinity The Mystery of our Redemption is made up of various parts in the Union of which such an evident Wisdom appears that the rational Mind unless enslaved by prejudice must be ravisht into a compliance Even that which most offends Sense the Meanness of our Saviours condition in the world and the miseries to which He was expos'd do so perfectly correspond with his great design to make Men holy and heavenly that it appears to be the effect of most wise Counsel And such a Beauty of Holiness shines in the Moral part as clearly proves God to be its Authour It denounces war against all Vices and commands every Vertue All that is excellent in humane Institutions it delivers with infinite more authority and efficacy And what natural reason did not reach to it fully describes in order to the Glory of God and the Happiness of Man Now as God the Authour of Nature hath by Tasts and Smells and other sensible qualities distinguish'd things wholsom from noxious even to the lowest living Creatures So He hath much more distinguish'd objects that are saving from deadly that is the true Religion from the false by undoubted evidences to any who will exercise their Spiritual Senses and sincerely desire to know and obey it And that all the wise and holy embraced it in the face of the greatest discouragements is an unanswerable Argument that 't is pleasing to God For how is it possible that the Good God should suffer those to fall into mortal Errour who from an ardent Affection to Him
how can we expect any cooling streams from Him If we consider him as Man he is resembled to a root out of a dry ground the Justice of the Divine and the infirmity of the Humane Nature did not promise any comfort to us But what cannot infinite Love united to infinite Power perform Divine Goodness hath chang'd the Laws of Nature in our favour and by an admirable act open'd the Rock to refresh us 3. The Rock was struck with the Rod of Moses a Type of the Law before it sent forth its streams thus our Spiritual Rock was wounded for our Transgressions bruised for our Iniquities then opened all his treasures to us Being consecrated by Sufferings he is the Author of Eternal Salvation In this respect the Gospel propounds him for the object of saving Faith I determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and him Crucified The Sacraments the Seals of the New Covenant have a special reference to his Death the Foundation of it 4. The Miraculous Waters followed the Israelites in their Journey without which they had perisht in the Wilderness This represents that Indeficiency of the Grace of Christ. A Soveraign stream flows from him to satisfy all Believers He tells us Whosoever drinketh of the Water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the Water that I shall give him shall be in him a Well of Water springing up unto Everlasting Life 3. The Brasen Serpent sensibly exprest the manner of his Death and the benefits derived from it Therefore Jesus being the Minister of the Circumcision chose this Figure for the Instruction of the Jews As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever beleeves in him should not perish but have Eternal Life The Sacred Story relates that the Israelites by their rebellious murmuring provoked God to send Serpents among them whose Poison was so fiery and mortal that it brought the most Painful Death In this affliction they addrest themselves to the Father of Mercies who World by their Repentance Commanded Moses to make a Serpent of Brass and erect it on a Pole in the view of the whole Camp that whosoever lookt on it should be healed By this account from Scripture we may clearly understand something of greatest consequence was represented by it For the only Wise God ordains nothing without just reason Why must a Serpent of Brass be elevated on a Pole could not the Divine Power recover them without it Why must they look towards it could not a healing vertue be conveyed to their wounds but through their eyes All this had a direct reference to the Mystery of Christ. For the biting of the Israelites by the fiery Serpents doth naturaly represent the effects of Sin that torments the Conscience and inflames the Soul with the apprehensions of Future Judgment And the erecting a Brasen Serpent upon a Pole that had the Figure not the Poison of those Serpents doth in a lively manner set forth the lifting up of Jesus Christ on the Cross who only had the similitude of sinful flesh The looking towards the Brasen Serpent is a fit resemblance of Believing in Christ Crucified for Salvation The Sight of the eye was the only means to derive vertue from it and the Faith of the heart is the means by which the Sovereign efficacy of our Redeemer is conveyed This is the will of him that sent me saith our Saviour that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have Eternal Life As in the camp of Israel whoever lookt towards the Brasen Serpent whatever his wounds were or the weakness of his sight had a present remedy so how numerous and grievous soever our Sins be how infirm our Faith yet if we sincerely regard the Son of God suffering he will preserve us from Death For this end he is presented in the Gospel as crucified before the eyes of all Persons 2. Things endued with Life and Sense prefigur'd the Messiah I Shall particularly consider the Paschal Lamb an illustrious Type of him Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us The whole scene as it is laid down in the 12th of Exodus shows an admirable agreement tween them 1. A Lamb in respect of its natural innocency and meekness that suffers without resistance waas fit emblem of our Saviour whose voice was not heard in the street who did not break the Bruised Reed nor quench the smoking Flax. He was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he open'd not his Mouth He is brought as a Lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before the shearers is dumb so he openeth not his Mouth 2. The Lamb was to be without Spot to signify his absolute perfection We are Redeemed with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without Spot 3. The Lamb was to be separated from the Flock four days the Lord Jesus was separated from Men and consecrated to be the Sacrifice for the World after three or four years spent in his Ministerial office preparing himself for that great Work 4. The Paschal Lamb was sacrificed and substituted in the place of the first-Born The Levitical Priesthood not being instituted at their going forth from Egypt every Master of a Family had a right to exercise it in his own House Our Redeemer suffer'd in our stead to propitiate Gods Justice towards us 5. The Blood was to be sprinkled upon the Posts of the door that Death might not enter into their Houses That sacred Ceremony was typical for the sign it self had no resemblance of sparing and certainly the Angel could distinguish between the Israelites and the Egyptians without the bloody mark of Gods Favour but it had a final respect to Christ. We are secur'd from destruction by the blood of sprinkling They were to eat the whole Flesh of the Lamb to signify our intire taking of Christ upon the terms of the Gospel to be our Prince and Saviour 6. The effects attributed to the Paschal Lamb viz. Redemption from Death and Bondage clearly represent the Glorious Benefits we enjoy by Jesus Christ. The destroying Angel past over their houses and caus'd the Egiptians to restore them to full liberty That which all the dreadful signs wrought by Moses could not do was effected by the Passover that overcame the stubbornness of Pharaoh and inspir'd the Israelites with courage to undertake their journey to the promised Land Thus we pass from Death to Life and from bondage to the Glorious liberty of the Sons of God by vertue of Christs Blood 3. Reasonable Persons represented our Saviour either in their Offices actions or the memorable accidents that befel them Joseph the beloved of his Father sent by him to visit his Brethren by them unworthily sold to strangers and thereby rais'd to be their Lord and Saviour was a lively type of him Jonach three dayes and nights in the Whales belly and miraculously restor'd
Ascension of Christ are in the Types and Prophecies of the Old Testament as Corporeal beings are in the darkness of the Night they have a real existence but no Eye is so clear as to enlighten the obscurity The most sharp-sighted Seer might say I shall see him but not now The Ministry of the Law is compar'd to the Light of a Candle that is shadowy and confin'd to a small place That of the Gospel is like the Sun in its strength that enlightens the World The Prophets who were nearer the coming of Christ had clearer Revelations but did not bring perfect Day As some new Stars appearing in the Firmament increase but do not change the nature of the Light Isaiah who is so exact in describing all the Circumstances of our Saviours Death and his Innocence Humility and Patience that he seems to be an Evangelist rather than a Prophet â—et the Ethiopian Proselyte who certainly was a proficient in the Jewish Religion understood not of whom the Prophet spake We see what they were ignorant of not that our sight is stronger but our light is more clear The full discovery of these Mysteries was reserved as an honour to our Saviours Coming He is the Sun of Righteousness and the Light that He hath shed abroad excels that of all the Prophets in brightness as well as his Person transcends theirs in dignity And how should the Evangelical Light warm our hearts with thankfulness to God for this admirable Priviledg The dim foresight of the Messiah two thousand years before his Coming put Abraham in an extasie of Joy how should the full Revelation of Him affect us Many holy Prophets and Kings desired to see the things that we see They embraced the Promises we have the blessed effects They had the Shadows we have the Light They only saw the veiled face of Moses We all with open face as in a glass see the Glory of the Lord Now what is our Duty becoming this Priviledg But to be transform'd into the same Image from Glory to Glory as by the Spirit of the Lord The Life of every Christian should be a shining Representation of the Graces and Vertues of Christ that are so visible in the Gospel Their Holiness and Heavenliness their Hopes and Joy should as much exceed the Graces and Comforts of Believers under the Legal Dispensation as their Knowledg is incomparably more clear and perfect To conclude From the accomplishment of the ancient Prophecies in the first Coming of the Messiah we may confirm our Faith in those glorious Promises that are to be fulfill'd at his second For 't is the same Divine Goodness the same Fidelity the same Power still upon which we are to build our Hopes And the Consideration that the Perfection of our Happiness is reserved till that time should enflame our desires after it 'T was the character of Believers of the Old Testament They waited for the consolation of Israel 'T is the description of the Saints in the New they love the Appearance of Christ. If they long'd for his Coming in the Flesh though it was attended with all the circumstances of Meanness and Dishonour the effects of our Sins with what ardent and impatient Desires should we hasten His Coming in Glory when He shall appear the Second time to them that look for him without Sin unto Salvation Then He will put an end to all the disorders of the World and begin the glorious State wherein Holiness and Righteousness shall be crown'd and reign for ever The Christian Church joyns in that ardent Address to our Saviour Oh that thou wouldst rent the Heavens and wouldst come down that the mountains might flow down at thy Presence As when the melting fire burneth the Fire causeth the waters to boile to make thy Name known to thine adversaries that the Nations may tremble at thy Presence Although the Beauty and Frame of this visible World shall be destroyed yet that dreadful Day shall be joyful to the Saints For then all the Preparations of Infinite Wisdom and Goodness The things that Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither have entered into the heart of man shall be the everlasting portion of those who love God Come Lord Jesus FINIS ERRATA PAge 48. l. 23. r. desipiendum P. 85. l. 26. r. Causality P. 111. l. 1. f. and. r. arâ— P. 251. l. 23. f. their r. the. P. 249. l. 7. r. revenge P. 264. after person dele hâ— P. 317. l. 31. f. lust r. taste P. 374. l. 2. after proceeds dele and. P. 356. after necessity dele of it P. 453. l. 31. f. from r. of Other smaller faults are left to the Candor of the Reader to mend Joh. 8.36 Rom. 14.17 Gen. 9.6 Col. 3.10 Eph. 4.24 Luke 1.73 Gen. â— 19 Rom. 4.17 Psal. 33.6 Rom. 1.20 Prov. 8.27 28 29. Psa. 104.24 Difficile est expedire utrum species an utilitas major sit Lact. de opifâ— Hom. Miratur aliâ— homo cum sit ipse mirator maximum miraculum Aug. 1 Joh. 4.18 Psal. 8.5 6. Prov. 16.4 Rom. 11.36 Psal. 145.10 Rom. 12.1 Rom. 11.35 Isa. 45.12 Psal. 100.3 Isa. 44.21 Plato Rom. 7.12 1 Pet. 1.15 Psal. 19.11 Gen. 2.17 Gal. 3.10 Ezek. 18.4 Gen. 2.17 In minimis obedientiae periculum faciunt Legislatores quia Legislatoris ad Obedientiam obligantis potius habenda est ratio quam rei de qua lex lata est Gen. 3.6 Lactan. Obsequii gloria est in eo major quod quis minus velit Plin. Rom. 12.1 Tertul. 1 Tim. 2.14 Primi in homine moriuntur ocâ—li Plin. 1 Joh. 5.16 The promise of the Tempter that they should not die encouraged him to believe that he should enjoy an Immortality not depending on Gods Will but absolute which is proper to God alone Rom. 5.19 Psal. 49.12 Deseruit desertus est Aug. In meritò examinanda veniunt Causa quae impulit causa quae retrahere debuit personae idonietas ad utrumque Grot. Quantò potestas vitandi fuit facilior tantò contumaciae crimine oneratur Difficilium facilis venia Tertul l. 2. ad uxor Jam. 1.14 Gen. 3.6 Job 36.21 Rom. 8.20 Gen. 3.10 Gen. 3.17 18. Ferarâ—m 〈…〉 inter se placidae sunt morsuque similium abstinent hi mutuâ laceratione satiantur Seneca de Ira. Acts 17.26 Rom. 5.19 2 Cor. 5.15 Rom. 5.14 Eph. 2.3 Ut non fit aestimare Parens melior homini an tristior noverca fuerit Plin. Prâ—l l. 7. Rom. 6.23 Rom. 5.12 14 17. Mat. 7.18 John 3.6 Rom. 8.7 Psal. 51.5 Gen. 6.5 Job 14.4 Rom. 3.23 Quando Anima tanta satiabitur visione tanta inflammabitur Charitate superioris boni ut ad seipsam sibi placendo deficere ab illius dilectione non possit Aug. Lib. 4. cont Jul. 1 Cor. 15.46 Psal. 50.21 Contra adver â—eg Proph. Lib. 1. c. 14. Vid. Ward de Peccat origin Salv. lib. 3. De Prov. Psal. 145.17 Ephes. 4.24 Mat. 6.23 Ephes. 4.23 Rom. 11 7. Ephes. 4.11