begat a Son in his own likeness after his image Gen. 5.3 and must it not be so here in the Father's begetting of Christ If Man begets Man then God begets God this being taken in that sense which I laid down in my first entrance upon this Subject I know this will not hold as to all modes and circumstances with respect to which I grant there is a great disparity but as to the conveyance of the same Nature and Essence so far it will hold The Jews therefore Joh. 5.18 argued very well if God was Christ's Father and he God's Son then he was equal with God for such an equality must naturally and necessarily result from such a Relation Joh. 10.36 Say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world Thou blasphemest because I said I am the Son of God why doth he say because I said I am the Son of God he should have said because I said I am God for that was the blasphemy charged upon him Vers 33. because that thou being a man makest thy self God but the answer is obvious Christ knew that these were equipollent terms to be God and to be the Son of God are all one if Christ be the one he must be the other too You find Nathaneel breaking forth into this witness concerning him * Joh. 1.49 Thou art the Son of God c. his meaning was thou art God for that which drew this Confession from him was that which was proper to him as God namely his Omnisciency See Joh. 1.48 God and the Son of God are so much one that he who speaks Christ to be the Son of God speaks him to be God also As soon as the Apostle had set down Chri'sts Sunship Heb. 1.5 presently he falls upon those testimonies which relate to his Godhead Vers 6 8 10 11 12. When he bringeth in the first begotten into the world he saith And let all the Angels of God worship him Vnto the Son he saith Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever a Scepter of Righteousness is the Scepter of thy Kingdom Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the works of thy hands They shall perish but thou remainest and they all shall wax old as doth a garment And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up and they shall be changed but thou art the same and thy years shall not fail You see how Christ's Sonship is link'd with the Godhead therefore the Argument is good to prove the latter by the former And indeed as his being the Son of Man doth most evidently evince him to be truly Man so his being the Son of God doth as evidently evince him to be truly God The Second Inference that Christ is a great a glorious Person 2. Is Christ God's own Son I infer surely then he is a very great and glorious Person such a relation cannot but be the foundation of great glory Though Christ's dignity and preheminence is not the gróund of his Sonship yet his Sonship is the ground of his dignity and preheminence He is stiled a great high Priest Heb. 4.14 not only because of the greatness of his Sacerdotal Office but also because of the greatness of his Person who doth manage that Office he being God's own Son therefore it follows seeing we have a great high Priest c. Jesus the Son of God 'T is no small honour amongst us to be the son of some great man O what an honour is it to Christ to be the own and only Son of the great God! It puts a marvailous glory and greatness upon the Saints that they are the adopted Sons of God upon the Angels that they are the created Sons of God but what is this to Christ's being the natural only begotten Son of God herein and hereby he hath obtained * Heb. 1.4 a more excellent name than either Angels or Men for †Col. 1.18 in all things or amongst all persons he must have the preheminence The higher and nearer the relation is to God the higher and greater is the glory which accrews to a person standing in that relation now what relation to God can be higher and nearer than this of Christ as he is his own Son therefore his glory must needs be exceeding great O let not any entertain low thoughts of him who is thus the Son of God The Lord Jesus is the Father's best Son for Gifts Grace Holiness c. and he 's the Father's greatest Son for Dignity Glory and Majesty I say he 's the Father's best Son how short do all Sons come of this Son we read of * Micipsa in Salust Ne ego meliores Liberos sumpsisse videar quam genuille One who fear'd he might seem to adopt better Sons than those whom he begat there 's no such thing to be imagin'd with respect to God to be sure his only begotten Son shall infinitely exceed all his adopted Sons for God hath anointed him with the oyl of gladness above his fellows Psal 45.7 And he 's the greatest Son too for God hath set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come Eph. 1.20 21. True indeed this great Son for a time * Phil. 2.7 emptied himself of his glory and for our sake submitted to great abasement but yet even then in himself he was very high and glorious he who cloathed himself with our raggs put on our flesh condescended to lie in the manger to die upon the cross he even under all this was the proper Son of God and therefore full of glory And 't is very notable to consider how in Christ even when he was under his lowest abasement when this Sun was hid under the thickest cloud I say how even * Infantia parvuli ostenditur humilitate cunarum magnitudo altissimi declaratur vocibus Angelorum similis est rudimentis Hominum quem Herodes impius molitur occidere sed Dominus est omnium quem Magi gaudentes veniunt supplicitèr adorare Leo Magn. Ep. ad Flavian Ep. Const Najanzen Orat. 35. tom 1. p. 375. instances in several particulars about this and very clegantly enlarges upon them then there were some beamings out and breakings forth of his glory suitable to this his relation he 's laid in the manger but there the Wise men come and worship him he 's tempted by Satan but then the Angels minister unto him he 's crucified but then the vail of the Temple was rent the earth quaked the rocks were rent the graves open'd the Sun stepp'd in and hid it self as being asham'd to be seen in its glory when the far brighter Sun was under such an Eclipse upon all which the Centurion might well cry out truly this was the Son of God But what a person is
* 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 2. p. 97. PORPHYRY's Objections against Sacrifices in general viz. they would encourage men to be wicked All to labour after an interest in Christ's Sacrifice and in the benefits thereby procured 3. Thirdly I would excite you to labour after and to make sure of a personal interest in this great Sacrifice and in the benefits resulting from it For 't is a thing to be resented with the greatest sadness imaginable that where â—ere is such a Sacrifice so at first offered up to God and now so revealed to men that yet so many millions of Souls should perish and as to their spiritual and eternal state be little the better for it because they regard not as to themselves either the thing or the good that flows from it My Brethren I beseech you if you have any love for your Souls let it not be so with you but let it be your greatest care to secure an interest in this Sacrifice and to partake of the blessings procured by it be often considering and questioning with your selves here 's a Sacrifice for expiation and atonement but what 's this to us here 's a dying Christ but did he die for us shall we be ever the better for his death if this propitiatory oblation be not ours what will become of us Under the Law the Gentile-strangers were to offer Sacrifices as well as the born-Jews see Numb 15.14 15. Lev. 17.8 and amongst the Jews the poor as well as the rich with respect to which difference in mens outward condition God accordingly appointed different Sacrifices Lev. 14.21 but yet something or other both were to Sacrifice and in their offerings for the ransome of their Souls all were to give alike Exod. 30.15 The rich shall not give more the poor shall not give less than half a Shekel Now all this was to shadow out two things about Christ's Sacrifice 1. its equal extent to all men notwithstanding all national or civil differences be they Jews or Gentiles rich or poor 't is the same Christ to all if they believe for there is no difference Rom. 3.22 2. the equal obligation lying upon all men to look after make sure of and rest in this one and the same all-sufficient Sacrifice none in order to remission justification atonement eternal life need to carry more to God by Faith and Prayers and none must carry less Sirs let us all put in for a share in Christ's offering and in the benefits purchased thereby for if we should come short of that we are lost eternally Are not reconciliation with God the expiation of sin eternal redemption c. things most necessary and most desireable if so where can we hope to have them but in a sacrific'd Redeemer but in the imputation of the merit of his death and Sacrifice And I add do not only make sure of the thing objectively considered but labour also after the subjective assurance of it Oh when a Christian can say Christ dy'd for me * Gal. 2.20 gave himself for me his body was broken and his blood shed for me he took my guilt and bare my punishment how is he filled with †1 Pet. 1.8 joy unspeakable with | Phil. 4.7 peace that passes all understanding what a full-tyde of comfort is there in his Soul This is the receiving of the atonement as some open it and that is very sweet Rom. 5.11 And not only so but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the atonement This is to be ey'd and only rely'd upon 4. In the actings of Faith eye Christ as a Sacrifice for sin and there let all your hope and confidence be bottom'd I say in the actings of Faith eye Christ as a Sacrifice for indeed this grace hath to do with him mainly and principally as dying and sacrific'd the Apostle speaks of Faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 't is a bleeding crucified Saviour that is the great and most proper object of Faith true it takes in a whole Christ all of Christ his Nativity holy Life Resurrection Ascension Intercession c. but that which it primarily and chiefly fixes upon is his death and passion When a Soul is brought into Christ to close with him in the way of believing what of him is first in its eye in that act is it a Christ as ascending as sitting at the right hand of God as interceding no thus it beholds him for the after-encouragement and support of Faith but that which it first considers is a Christ as dying upon the Cross and so it layes hold upon him And no wonder that 't is so since all the great blessings of the Gospel do mainly flow from Christ's death they are assur'd and apply'd by his Resurrection Ascension and Intercession but they were procur'd and purchas'd by his death as the Scriptures abundantly shew Rom. 5.9 10. Eph. 1.7 et passim now tnat which hath the most causal and most immediate influence upon these that deserves to be first and most eyed by Faith Here 's the difference 'twixt Faith and Love this chiefly looks to the excellencies of Christ's Person but that to the merit and efficacy of his Sacrifice When the Apostle Gal. 2.20 had spoken so high of his Faith in the Son of God he tells you in what notion he did therein consider him by adding who loved me and gave himself for me The stung Israelite was to look upon the brazen Serpent as lifted up and so he was healed do you desire to find healing redemption salvation by Christ O look upon him as lifted up upon the Cross so all good shall come to you Further I say let all your hope and confidence be bottom'd here this is that firm rock which you must only build upon for pardon peace with God salvation for all Oh take heed of relying upon any thing besides this Sacrifice Gal. 6.14 God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ he that glory 's or trusts in any thing besides that his glorying is vain The forlorn undone Sinner should be alwayes clasping and clinging about this Cross resting upon the merit of Christ thereon and upon that only for all that hope will be but dying hope which is not solely bottom'd upon a dying Saviour The * Quum sis ipse nocens moritur cur victima pro te Stultitia est morte alterius sperare salutem Heathens could not believe that ever the death of Sacrifices should do the guilty person good they look'd upon it as folly to hope for life by anothers death but blessed be God we see that which they did not we firmly believe and steadily hope for expiation and Salvation by Christ's one offering of himself and lay the sole stress of our Faith and happiness upon that which they counted folly But let us be sure we do not mistake here I mean let us indeed
a rare piece of Self-denyal for you to submit as to your own personal interest to be a loser if others may be gainers thereby Assure your self many do earnestly beg of God the prolongation of your Days You pray for your Death but they for your Life I hope in this God will hear them and not you Your gracious Father hath given you a title to Heaven hath in a great measure fitted you for Heaven and will in due time take you up into Heaven it being thus as to the ordering of your passage thither and the timing of your entrance into it all that good Madam you should wholly refer to his good pleasure Madam The Dedication of Book I very well know signifies but little to your Ladyship Prayer is the thing which you desire and value wherein should I be wanting it being the only requital I can make you for all your Favours I should certainly be unworthy and ingrateful beyond all expressions As God shall enable me according to the many obligations which I lie under I shall never cease to pray for You and Yours If hath pleased the soveraign and all-disposing God to cut off many Branches which grew from your Stock yet One and the principal One too is hitherto spared God grant he may be so long and that all Heavenly Blessings as well as Earthly may be multiplied upon him And blessed be the Lord you live to see Others who are of You though not immediately yet but at one remove whom God begins to bless with an hopeful Issue the best of his Blessings be upon them also That Honourable Family to which you are so nearly related when so many Great and Ancient Families are melted away like Snow before the Sun yet keeps up in its pristine Greatness and Splendor and may it so continue from generation to generation till the World shall be no more And for your Self Madam the God of Heaven bless you and recompence into your bosome sevenfold all that kindness that ever you have shown to any of his He grant that you may bring forth fruit in your old age and be fat and flourishing that you may come to your grave in a full age like as a shock of corn cometh in its season that as your outward man decays your inward man may be renewed day by day that you may never want the light of his countenance that you may at the last arrive at that Peace Comfort Assurance which you have so long been praying for that you may yet be a shining light in that more publick Orb wherein you are fix'd a pattern of Humility and Condescension of all Graces and Vertues and good Works to all who behold you and finally that when you have fought the good fight and shall have finished your course and kept the faith you may receive that crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give you at that day These are have been and ever shall be the daily and ardent Prayers of Madam YOUR HONOURS Most humble and ever obliged Servant and Chaplain THO. JACOMB SEPT 18. 1672. THE PREFACE TO THE READER Christian Reader § 1. THat I may not be defective either in civility to thee or in common prudence and justice to my self 't is necessary that I pre-advertise thee of some things convenient to be known about the ensuing Work the doing of which therefore is the design and business of this Preface § 2. That which was the first rise and occasion of it was this I having in my Ministry gone over several of the most weighty Points in Divinity relating both to Faith and Practice and finding my self too often divided in my thoughts what Text or Subject next to insist upon upon this twofold Consideration I resolv'd to fix upon some continued Discourse in Holy Writ where I might have my work cut out for me by the Spirit of God from time to time by which being determined I might be freed from self-perplexing and time-wasting distractions No sooner was I come to this resolution but immediately it pleased God to bring to my thoughts the Eighth Chapter to the Romans which when I had a little survay'd in my mind and taken a short view of the fulness and preciousness of its matter without any further demur or hesitancy I resolved also that that should be the Chapter which I would lay out my pains upon Accordingly I entred upon it and for which I heartily bless the Lord he who directed me to that Undertaking was graciously pleased to assist me in it and to carry me through it § 3. The Excellency of this Chapter being my great inducement to pitch upon it it would have been requisite that I should here have endeavoured to have set forth that excellency had I not in my first entrance upon the work it self said enough upon that account To compare Scripture with Scripture that one place may give light to another is a thing very safe and good but to compare Scripture before Scripture is a thing that must be done with much tenderness and caution I adore every part and parcel of Sacred Writ * 2 Tim. 3.16 all being given by inspiration of God and admirably useful to that end for which it was appointed and would be very careful how I prefer one before another Therefore I do not say that Pauls Epistles are the most excellent of all the New Testament Writings or that this Epistle to the Romans is the most excellent of all the other Epistles or that this Chapter therein is the most excellent of all the other Chapters in which gradation some please themselves Yet this I may safely say that this Epistle and this Chapter for sublimity of Matter variety of Evangelical Truths admirable Support and Comfort to Believers are not inferiour to any part whatsoever of the Holy Scriptures Which if so I have then pitch'd upon a Subject very well worthy of my best Endeavours and none will blame me for attempting to open so rich a Cabinet § 4. In digging into this Mine I found it to be so full that it was a long time before I could get to the bottom of it for I was two years and something more in preaching over this Chapter In which time I preached very many Sermons upon it but the precise Number I will not mention because Some from thence might take occasion to fasten that censure upon me which I hope I do not deserve and Others seeing here but Eighteen of so many published might think I shall never come to the end of all Well! though the work was long yet it pleased God to spare me till I had finished it I have now entred upon a work of another nature whether he will also let me see the finishing of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 § 5. Wherein it fares with me much as it sometimes doth with Seamen who after a long and tedious Voyage are no sooner arriv'd at shore but presently they are seiz'd
upon and sent to Sea again upon a Voyage far more tedious and dangerous than the former This is my case when I had but just set my foot on land and was got off from one Service which was enough painful and troublesome by the over-ruling Providence of God I was commanded to Sea again and put upon another Service far more difficult and dangerous than the former But I must be at his dispose who may command me whither and about what he pleases and it becomes me with all alacrity to go whithersoever he bids me go and to do whatsoever he bids me do § 6. When I had finished my Sermons on the whole Chapter several Friends importun'd me to print them whose importunity though I could not well withstand yet surely had there been nothing more than that I had not been drawn thereby to undertake such a task as I now have And the truth is when I consider my great averseness to Printing the vastness and difficulty of the present Work my great unfitness for it as upon other accounts so in respect of my bodily infirmities which daily grow upon me my sluggish melancholly temper the many divertisements I meet with by other employments I say when I consider these things I cannot but stand and wonder how I came to be thus engag'd I must upon the whole matter resolve it mainly into the overpow'ring all-determining Will of God and conclude he had appointed and cut out this Work for me and would have me do it I write not this I can appeal to the Searcher of hearts to heighten my fitness for this service or the worth of any thing that I have done but only that I may declare the true Ground of my engaging in the present business duly acknowledge God in such an enterprise as this is and also that I may animate my Faith and Hope in Him for Assitance and Success as knowing that what he calls unto he will carry through and what is of him shall be blessed by him § 7. As soon as my Preaching-work was off of my hands after a very short respit I set upon this of Printing wherein what progress I have made this Volume which I publish as a prodromus to what is yet to come will manifest It contains what I preach'd upon the four first Verses Some I assure my self will be surpriz'd and think it strange that so few Verses should make a Volume of this bulk and bigness but I would desire these before they judge to cast their eye upon the various Heads discussed therein to weigh the great latitude and importance of those Heads and I hope they will then be satisfied that in the due handling of so many and so material things less could not well be spoken I did indeed design at first to have gone much farther but afterwards I saw the work growing so much upon me these Verses were as much as I could grasp in one Book And the Apostle ending with them the first part of his Discourse viz the confirmation of the Predicate in the Proposition there is no condemnation c. I thought without any unhandsome disjoining of the Words I might there break off What comes after in the following Verses wherein there is the illustration of the Subject who walk not after the flesh c. shall next be insisted upon if God permit § 8. When I say that what I preach'd is here published I would not be misunderstood as if I had not varied in the Latter from the Former for I acknowledge I have varied very much and that too not only in Words and Expressions but in several places even in the very Method and Matter Which alterations proceeded not only from my infelicity that I cannot twice do the same thing in the same way but also because I found upon the review of what I had done Second thoughts to be necessary Add to this too there must be a difference when we have to do with the Ear and when with the Eye for that Style and Method yea and Matter too which is proper for the one is not always so for the other I hope therefore none will be severe against me because of these Variations but if any will be so let them be sure that they themselves do wear but the same cloaths abroad which they do at home which I think few do § 9. The Matter in the First and Second Verses being comparatively more plain and practical in going over them I have to the best of my remembrance varied but little but in the Third and Fourth Verses where the Matter is more deep and Controversal there I have varied much more They point me to Christs Natural Sonship Incarnation Sacrifice for sin c. which excellent Heads I did not pass over in Preaching without some considerable enlargement upon them but had I then so fully handled them as here I do I should but have tir'd and perplex'd the generality of private Auditors and scarce have edified them Indeed these are Points especially if largely and throughly discuss'd much more proper for a Reader whose thoughts may dwell upon them he having them fixed before him than for an Hearer who through the constant succession of new matter the slowness of understanding the weakness of memory is not so able to take them in or to judge a-right of them Upon this Consideration I have here added and inserted many things which then I omitted hoping that as what I then spake was not too little for Hearers so that what I now write will not be too much for Readers § 10. Reader I hope in the perusal of this Book thou wilt find that things of a practical nature such as concern Faith holy Walking deliverance from Sins dominion and the like have far the greatest room in it yet I am not asham'd to own that there are in it several things of another nature I mean Controversial which I neither could nor in truth did desire to avoid As to Controversies more nice and curious than necessary and profitable none delights in them less than my self who would love to walk in the midst ' of briars and thorns that hath pleasant meadows or gardens to walk in much less d◠I delight to trouble weak Christians with knotty and polemick matters But the Controversies which I handle are of such weight and importance unto which too the Texts I open did so unavoidably lead me that I knew not without falshood to my Trust as a Minister of the Gospel how to shun them Shall the Natures Offices Sonship Incarnation Sacrisice c. of our dearest Lord and Saviour be assaulted by daring Enemies and shall not we especially when they lie in our way defend and vindicate them And are these the great things upon which the Salvation and Happiness of Believers do depend and shall not they understand how Adversaries attempt to undermine them yea so to be able to answer such Gainsayers as that they may stand
the clearing up of the Sense of the Words for whose labours I bless God and shall in this Work endeavour to make the best improvement of them but having done that there they leave off I hope I go further than so not satisfying my self barely to give the Sense and Meaning of the Text which is the proper work of an Expositor but also drawing out that Sense and making the best advantage of it for things Doctrinal and Practical which is the work of a Preacher I acknowledge also that some have particularly and fully wrote upon it in the way which I take as Mr. Elton Cowper Parr Streso Philips Binning to the 15 Verse but not so but that there is yet room for the industry of Others there are good gleanings in this large field yet left for them that shall come after I will not for my vindication fly to that common Maxime Good things we cannot hear or read too often 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but I desire so much right may be done me as to compare what I have now done with what others upon this Chapter have done before if I do no more than they I deserve the severest Censure but if I do the Reader then I hope will be so candid yea so just as to let me have his favourable Sentence I am conscious to my self of many weaknesses in the work but as to the charge of but doing that which was done before pardon me if in that I stand upon my vindication § 18. * Sumite matetiam vestris qui scribitis aequam Viribus versate din quid ferre recusent Quid valeant humeri He gave good advice to them that will be printing who counsell'd them to pitch upon such Subjects which might not be above their strength seriously to consider before they engaged whether they were able to go through with what they undertook I have duly weigh'd the mysteriousness and difficulties of the things which I am to write upon and the more I look into them the more I find them to be above me yet for all this I am not discouraged because I trust I shall have an higher strength than mine own to help me and to carry me through all of them Horat. so as that some benefit may accrue to Souls The way of the Lord is strength to the upright Prov. 10.29 he that hath Gods Call needs not to question Gods Help and if he will help the weakest Instrument shall be strong enough for the highest and hardest work * Retract l. 1. c. 25. Austine that great and blessed man tells us of himself he had begun a Comment upon this Epistle to the Romans but the difficuity of the matter he met with made him give over I have in what I have done encountred with some difficulties more are before me as to what is yet to be done but I bless the Lord I am not disheartened by them so as to think of giving over the work * 1 Sam. 30.6 But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God and in my present case I desire to do the same Difficulties in the way of service should but quicken our diligence and heighten our dependance upon God not take us off from doing our duty Yea further I am not without some discouragement as to my external condition the Sun as to bodily Health and some other Considerations is going off from me few plants are so situated as to have the Fore-noon and After-noon Sun too but that doth not quite discourage me neither May I but have the warm influences of the blessed Spirit and the Sun of righteousness with his sweet beams yet shining upon me I trust though outwardly I decline and decay I shall yet finish what I have begun § 19. The Chapter being commonly divided into three Parts I hop'd I should have finished one in each Volume and so have drawn the whole into three but these Four Verses taking up so much room I am forc'd to allot two Volumes to the First Part hoping to grasp the two other Parts in two more So that in my four days Journey as it were I have as yet gone but one of them but he that hath been with me in that will I trust be with me in the other also § 20. I must not be too bold with God in entitling him to what I do yet I would fain hope that 't is by his special Providence that I am engaged in this Undertaking wherein I should be exceedingly confirmed might I see these First Fruits now published owned and blessed by him to the profit of many and with what chearfulness should I go on if I might in my first setting out have such encouragement Till I be able about this to pass a better judgment than as yet I can it will be best for me for some little time to stay my hand which accordingly I resolve upon I am very loth to burthen the world with unprofitable Labours may I do good all that I shall do will be too little but without that that which I have already done is too much Well! Success and good Issues must be expected only of God and referred wholly to Him he hath enabled me to do something which if he please to bless it shall prosper but if he deny his blessing I have laboured in vain Now Reader for the helping on so great a mercy I beg thy Prayers yea thy best Prayers when thou art with God in secret remember me and the work in hand I earnestly entreat thee indeed I need all thy praying help wherein if thou beest wanting thou thy self maist be damnified thereby If thou wilt forget me I trust I shall not forget thee in my poor prayers that God will bless thee in the clearer revealing of Gospel mysteries to thee the fuller illumination of thy Understanding in Spiritual things the confirming and stablishing of thee in the great Truths of God the daily heightening and perfecting of thy Graces the sanctifying of all Helps and Means publick and private to the furtherance of thy salvation In a word that thou maist be the person in Christ Jesus living the spiritual Life and thereby that the No-condemnation and all the other branches of the precious Grace of God spoken of in these Verses yea in the whole Chapter may be all thine So for the present I leave thee remaining An unfeigned Wisher of thy Spiritual and Eternal Good THO JACOME The following Errata's partly the Printers and partly mine Own thou art desired Reader to correct as follows PAg. 2. l. 23. for No-condemnation r. Exemption from Condemnation P. 7. l. 32. r known P. 66. l. 34. r. God speaks P. 94. l. 21. r. restraining P. 123. Marg. r. Christiano P. 185. l. 25. dele some P. 190. l. 5. r. 2 Tim. 2.25 P. 208. l. 9. r. dominion and power P. 213. l. 3. r. this grief P. 233. l. 38. r. Jer. 32.17 P. 241. l. 18. r. Chrysostome P. 243. l. 4.
one do the imagination of his evil heart or as 't is Jer. 6.16 Stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where is the good way the way of the Spirit and walk therein and ye shall find rest for your souls but they said we will not walk therein Do you walk after the Flesh and resolve to do so still then 't is sad indeed but I would fain hope better of you 'Pray be intreated to read the Motives again which have been set before you and in your most calm thoughts to pause and dwell upon the things which have been spoken Shall I need to add any thing further in telling you that all your walkings yea every step you take is known to God Job 21.4 Job 34.21 Psal 139.3 Psal 119.168 that God judges of every man here and hereafter will judge every man at the Great Day according to his walking Eccles 11.9 2 Cor. 5.10 Eccles 12.14 that Death will come with a dreadful aspect where the life hath been carual and sinful that in the way of the Flesh you are in danger of treading upon Serpents Vipers Adders Scorpions every â—â—â—p you take that by this Course you * Psa 16.11 forsake the path of life and for a little flesh-pleasing put your selves into the broad way to everlasting damnation how much might I yet say upon this account but enough and enough hath been already said if God will but set it home upon the Conscience The Lord hedge up your ways with thorns and make a wall that you may not find the paths of the Flesh and thereupon may resolve to get into the paths of the Spirit for surely it will be better then than now it is I allude to Hos 2.6 7 VSE 4. To those that do walk after the Spirit Three things urged upon them There is one Vse more and that shall be directed to them who do walk after the Spirit Three things to such 1. First I would with the greatest earnestness stir up such to be highly thankful to God Are any of you through grace made spiritual and do you live the spiritual life have you received the Spirit and do you also walk after the Spirit what cause have you to bless God! yea what thankfulness can be high enough to him who hath brought you to this Why do you not walk just as others do why is not the Flesh as powerful as predominant in you as 't is in others why does not the very worst of the Flesh prevail over you why are not you Atheists Scoffers at Religion Drunkards Adulterers open and notorious Sinners surely all must be resolved into the discriminating grace of God that and that onely hath made the difference Time was when your walking was bad enough when you were as carnal as any and very tamely lacquey'd it after every base lust is not God to be admir'd upon that blessed change which he hath wrought in you Eph. 2.1 2 3. You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world c. Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath even as others But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us when we were dead in Sins hath quickened us together with Christ Tit. 3.3 For we our selves also were sometimes foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures See also Col. 3.7 1 Pet. 4.3 O what a sad course do the best follow before conversion and as to your selves if God by his distinguishing and almighty grace had not seized upon you as you began with that course so you had continued in it to this very day O let the Lord be forever magnified who hath delivered you from fleshly walking and brought you over to that which is spiritual and heavenly And this must the rather be done because you now have so clear so convincing an evidence of your being in Christ is not that a great thing The blessedness of this Vnion with Christ hath been fully set before you 't is all yours you not walking after the Flesh but after the Spirit Surely though you cannot in your praises reach so great mercy yet you should go as far as ever you can 2. Secondly such are to be exhorted to walk yet less and less after the Flesh and yet more and more after the Spirit For this walking admits of degrees there are none in the present state so freed from the Flesh and the fleshly conversation but that yet they may be more freed from it and so too there are none who have so much of the Spirit and walk so much after the Spirit but that yet they may be more spiritual in their walking 'T is mercy that 't is so well as to the main but surely it may yet be better Saints are you so universally acted by the Spirit of God and the sanctified Nature as you might be O do you so constantly live under the guidance and conduct of the Spirit as you might and should is he your guide no sooner to show you the right way but presently and * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arrian Epict. lib. 2. cap. 7. p. 186. readily you engage therein are all your affections so pure and heavenly as God requires are there not many strong inclinations to evil yet remaining in you are your Ends in all things so sublime and spiritual as the Gospel commands Ah! something is yet wanting there is yet room for growth you have not yet arrived at perfection as the Apostle speaks of himself Not as though I had already attained c Phil. 3.11 O that every day you might rise higher and higher in heavenly walking that the Flesh might decrease and the Spirit increase the carnal part like the house of Saul might still be going down and the spiritual part like the house of David might still be getting up that Heart and Life might be refin'd and spiritualiz'd yet more and more I beseech you do not stay where you are but still be * Phil. 3.14 pressing forward Walking 'tis motus progressivus so it should be in your walking after the Spirit as there is a going from strength to strength Psal 84.7 from faith to faith Rom. 1.17 so there should be also from spiritualness to spiritualness And Walking 't is motus uniformis are you so steady so eaven and uniform in your walkings as you ought In a * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socrat. statue or piece of Art all the several parts are uniform and proportionable or else it loses in its exactness and curiosity and should it not be so too in the Spiritual Life but I 'le onely keep to the Metaphor of the cavenness of the Christians Walking O the many crooked wandring extravagant stops which you
all bondage but that which is the worst The * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato Alcib 1. Moralists by the Light of Nature had true notions about this for they could say that Vertue and Goodness onely did entitle to Liberty that Vice and Wickedness were always attended with Servitude The * Persius Sat. 5. An quisquam est alius liber nisi ducere vitam Cui licet ut voluit licet ut volo vivere non sum Liberior Bruto Liber ego unde datum hoc sumis tot subdite rebus An Dominum ignoras nifi quem vindicta relaxat Servitium acre Te nihil impellit nec quicquam extrinsecùs intrat Quod nervos agitet sed si intus in jecore aegro Nascantur Domini qui tu impunitior exis Satyrist falls severely upon some high pretenders to Liberty because they were their own Masters at their own dispose did what they pleased were not they free he answers them sharply shewing there might be external and Civil Liberty and yet they might be under bondage if Vice had the mastery and command of them nay if any one Vice or Lust did prevail over them whether Covetuousness or Intemperance c. that would be enough to prove them no better than Vassals and Slaves let their outward condition be never so high and good Now surely we may be more clear and positive in this than they who by Scripture-light know more of the Law of Sin than they could do by the bare light of Nature Every regenerate * Vide Philon. Jud. in Tract cui titulus Quod omnis probus liber p. 670. good man is free but every unregenerate wicked man is a very slave and under most dreadful thraldom Now it being thus that I may the better convince your of the evil and misery of this bondage and also excite you to the most vigorous endeavours to get out of it let me lay a few particulars before you As The Evil and Misery of spiritual Bondage resulting from the Law of Sin set forth 1. Consider that bondage to Sin is always accompanied with bondage to Satan Whoever is under the Law of Sin he is thereupon also under the Law of Satan for Sins and Satans power always go together the truth is these two are as it were Allies and Confederates nay they are copartners in dominion they ever share in the government of the Soul and rule jointly so that he who is under the power of the one is under the power of the other also There is an oneness of interest and dominion betwixt them as Satan gets up Sin gets up and as Sin gets up Satan gets up too The Devil's Reign depends upon the Reign of Sin where 't is not the Law of Sin his power is very low 't is said of him that * Eph. 2.2 he rules where or in whom why in the Children of disobedience where 't is disobedience to the Laws of God and obedience to the Laws of Sin there Satans Kingdome is very high there he rules and doth what he will as he is said to take some men captives at his will 2 Tim. 2.11 Now is not this a dreadful thing the most deplorable bondage that a Creature can lie under what to be the Devils Subject a Slave to him who is in chains himself ruled by him who is the grand Rebel and the Head of all the lower Rebels against God what more woful Sinner when wilt thou consider it shall a damned Creature be thy Lord and Soveraign shall he be thy Ruler here who will be thy tormentor hereafter wilt thou live in jubjection under him who is but a Jaylor and Executioner of Gods displeasure what bondage can be so great so much to be detested as this 2. Secondly let be considered what sin is both as it is in it self and also as it manages its power command and regency in and over the Sinner 1. Look upon Sin in it self 'T is the basest the vilest thing that is the whole world hath nothing in it of so vile a nature as it 'T is that onely thing which God never made other things may seem to be vile and comparatively they may really be so yet they being Gods Creatures there is something of excellency in them but as for Sin God hath nothing to do with it onely as he doth dispose and over-rule it to his own glory 'T is the onely thing that God cannot do there are many things which he will not do but Sin is the onely thing which he cannot do God can make a world uphold a world destroy a world he can do all onely he cannot sin Now whoever thou art let this be thought of shall a thing so vile and base so contrary to God's Nature shall that have the Rule and Command of thee how can the Spirit of a Man bear a thing so indecent so unworthy of him but if he will stoop to what is so much below him what slavery and bondage must needs result from it It 's sometimes matter of affliction to us to see vile and base men exalted to places of high power and dignity Psal 12.8 The wicked walk on every side when the vilest men are exalted yet this must be submitted to because the all-disposing God in the methods of his wise providence hath a hand in it as we read Dan. 4.17 that the most High ruleth in the Kingdom of men and giveth it whomsoever he will and setteth up over it the basest of men But that a man by his own Act and Choice should set so base a thing as Sin upon the throne and put himself under the dominion of it this is most strange and indeed would be incredible did we not see it done every day To be subject to a Prince of high extraction that hath Greatness and Majesty in him who refuses that but to be subject to a fellow taken off from the Dunghil that was born for the Kitchin not the Throne to hold the Plow rather than the Scepter who can bear that the application is obvious as to that which I am upon Sin is of so vile a nature that every heart should rise against its power All subjection doth not infer bondage but when 't is to a Person or Thing that is below ones self then 't is bondage now that 's the case as to Sin 'T is sad that that which is so much below us in worth and excellency should be above us in power and dominion 't was Noah's Curse upon Cham to be a Servant of Servants Gen. 9.25 what a servant or slave is he who is a servant to Sin and the several Lusts thereof 2. Look upon Sin in the management of its power and by that you will the better see into the evil and misery of that bondage which arises from subjection to it What are the Laws of Sin always evil Usurpers amongst men often make good Laws our own Histories as to matter of Fact
God hath no love there the Sinner must dye eternally You have in the Text the Law of sin and the Law of death coupled together ô what a dangerous thing is the Law of sin where Sin hath its full power over the creature to make him wicked Death upon this will have its full power also to make him miserable So Rom. 6.16 Know you not that to whom you yield your selves servants to obey his servants you are to whom you obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righreousness V. 21. For the end of these things is death V. 23. the wages of sin is death And is it so who then would be Sins servant who would serve that master who pays no better wages than death you that are Servants would you enter into the service of One that would pay you such wages such a master sin is and such wages it doth pay ô therefore quit its service be wise for your Souls be sensible of the danger of continuing under the Law of sin otherwise this Law of sin will soon be turned into the Law of death And indeed it is this which ends in death 't is not barely sin which condemns but 't is the Law of sin which condemns when it hath the Supream and Soveraign commanding power in the Soul and reigns there as Lord paramount then 't is killing and damning And now Sirs may not that which hath been spoken be sufficient to convince you of the evil of that bondage that miserable hereditary bondage which you all lie under so long as you are in the natural and unregenerate state and will you not be prevailed with to endeavour speedily to get out of it by the Law of the Spirit to be made free from the Law of Sin You may be freed from this bondage if you will Christ is come as for other ends so for this to give liberty to the captives and to open the prison to them who are bound Isa 61.1 to knock off Sinners bolts and chains and to make them free indeed Joh. 8.36 in his name I do this day tender freedom to you and deliverance from Sins vassalage will you not accept of it And here 's the Law of the Spirit too to make you free from the Law of Sin why then shall not this be done Will you still like Sins yoke I assure you Christ's is not so easie but Sins is as uneafie will you have its dominion yet kept up in you are you loath to part with your old Master then your ears must be boared for Sin and Sathan * Exod. 21.5 6. as the Servant under the Law was to be served who might have been set at liberty from his Master but he had no mind to it If it be thus I can say nothing more onely pray that the Lord will convince you what the reign and power of Sin is what a miserable bondage attends it that you may with the greatest earnestness press after Conversion and the Law of the Spirit of Life in order to freedom from it So much for the First Branch of this Vse of Information 2. Branch of Information concerning the Necessity c. of restraining and renewing Grace Secondly it informs us further of the Necessity Power and Efficacy of restraining and renewing Grace I 'le speak to them apart 1. For restraining Grace By which I mean that grace whereby God keeps in mens corruptions and sets bounds and limits to them in Sin so as not to suffer them to be as vile and wicked as otherwise they would be That such a thing is done by God all grant he that bounds the Sea that it doth not break forth and overflow all 't is most elegantly set out Job 38.8 10 11. Who shut up the Sea with doors when it brake forth as if it had issued out of the womb And brake up for it my decreed place and set bars and doors And said hitherto shalt-thou come but no further and here shall thy proud waves be stayed as also Jer. 5.22 which have placed the sand for the bound of the Sea by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass it and though the waves thereof toss themselves yet can they not prevail though they roar yet can they not pass over it I say he that thus bounds the Sea that unruly body doth also bound the wickedness of mans heart a far more unruly thing than the Sea it self this God keeps in or lets out as seems good unto him You see it in the case of Abimilech whose Lust did strongly work in him towards Sarah but saith God Gen. 20.6 I withheld thee from sinning against me therefore I suffered thee not to touch her the like you have in several other instances Now this Law of Sin proves both the necessity and also the mighty power and efficacy of this restraining Grace for the making out of which be pleased to take notice of the following Particulars 1. That the most of men are under the Law of Sin All are born under it and the most continue under it for the most are in the state of Nature and in that state the Law of Sin carries it Here and there you have a Soul brought in to God converted savingly wrought upon * Jer. 3.14 one of a city and two of a family but the generality of men are strangers to this work and therefore they are under the full power and dominion of a cursed nature It being so how necessary is restraining grace for the less there is of regenerating grace the more need there is of restraining grace 2. Men naturally being under this Law it doth vehemently and impetuously put them upon sin for herein lies its being a Law and a Principle as you have heard The depraved Nature doth not barely dispose men to sin or faintly persuade them to sin but it doth powerfully and efficaciously incline urge impell nay necessitate them to sin they cannot cease from sin 2 Pet. 2.14 3. It is not this or that sin which this Law urges men to but if it be left to it self it urges to every sin yea to the very worst of sins This indwelling sin contains all sin in it the corrupt Nature is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Seminary or Seed-plot of all wickedness in that one sinful habit all sinful acts do lie seminally and radically and Sin where it is a Law is for all Sin it will excite instigate provoke not onely to lesser evils such as the world puts a fairer interpretation upon but also to those which are most enormous hideous and horrid as Atheism Blasphemy Murther Theft Adultery c. 4. This Law of Sin hath great advantages in and over men for 't is a Law that is in them an innate ingenit inbred Law 't is written and engraven in their very nature Sin is now connatural to them yea 't is as natural in some respects for apostatized man to sin as 't is for the fire to burn
The particular prevailing Sin to be most watch'd against and resisted And here especially you must be careful and vigilant about that particular sin to which you are most strongly enclin'd or which hath the greatest strength in you about the Diotrephes-sin the Herodias or darling-Sin that which is as the right eye or the right-hand I say your eye must be chiefly upon this that it do not prevail and domineer over you Every man in the world hath some one Sin which is uppermost in him which carries it before all the rest to which all do vail and stoop 't is pride in one fleshly lust in another greediness after the world in a third and so on Nay a Child of God too usually hath some particular sin which is predominant in him which though it doth not absolutely reign in him for then he would be under the Law of Sin yet comparatively it doth i. e. it hath a greater power over him than any other sin hath David calls it his iniquity Psal 18.23 Look as the Saints though they have every Grace in them all being planted together in the new Nature yet there is some particular grace which shows it self more eminently in one than in another as faith in Abraham meekness in Moses patience in Job zeal in Hezekiah c. So e contrà though they and others have every sin in them radically and seminally in the corrupt Nature yet there is some particular sin which ordinarily vents it self with more strength than the rest which having the advantage of the Constitution Education Calling Condition c. is stronger than others how that may be known * See Burg. Resin Part 2. p. 232. With many Others Divines show in several things but I must not stay upon it Now you that are regenerate look to your selves here act your greatest vigilancy and make your strongest opposition with respect to your particular sin here 's your weakest part and therefore here you must set your strongest guard as Keepers of Garrisons use to do as he said * 1 Kings 22.31 Fight neither with small nor great save only with the King of Israel so I would say to you fight against neither small nor great but only against the King sin or Master sin in you This is to kill Goliah himself which being done all the Philistins fly to stab Sin at the very heart upon which wound it must needs dye and here 's the great evidence of sincerity I was also upright before him and I kept my self from my iniquity Psal 18.23 and herein deliverance from the Law of Sin mainly shows it self Regenerate persons to be very thankeful for their being made free from the Law of Sin 3. Thirdly you that are upon regeneration thus freed from Sins power I am to bespeak your thankfulness your highest and most hearty thankfulness for so great a mercy In the doing of this what hath God done for you ô whilst you pity Others who are under Sins bondage bless God for your selves who are delivered out of it The remainders of Sin call for your deepest humiliation but withall the not reigning of Sin calls for your highest thankefulness Are you made partakers of such liberty and will you not be thankful is there any deliverance from any servitude whatsoever like to this Sin is the worst of Evils the power of Sin the worst of Sin are you delivered from that ô admirable mercy Israels deliverance out of Egypt and Babylon the rescuing of Subjects from the dominion of Tyrants the fetching poor Captives out of chains and bonds are good things yet all but very nothings in comparison of the freeing a Soul from the power and vassalage of Sin and this is done for you shall not the Lord be greatly blessed for it Here 's a great part of that benefit which you have by Christ as a Redeemer for what doth Redemption point to but to the Sinners release from his spiritual captivity and bondage by Sin what did Christ come for but to * Isa 61.1 proclaim liberty to the captives c. Now as you were Captives in Gods hands by reason of guilt so Christ redeem'd you by paying down a price or ransom for you as you are Captives in Sins and Sathans hands so he redeems you by power for they are no other way to be dealt withall by rescuing you out of their dominion and slavery in spite of all the resistance they can make and Christ redeeming both these ways so he becomes a full and compleat Redeemer So that your being made free from the Law of Sin is a a part of Christs redeeming love and what the Spirit of Life doth therein it is but in conjunction with Christ in the carrying on of that love and if so have not you great reason to be very thankful 'Pray look into that precious promise the matter of which is that God will not onely pardon your iniquities but also subdue them he being every way as gracious in the latter as in the former Micah 7.18 19. Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage c. He will turn again he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities 't is as great a mercy to have Sin subdued in its power as pardoned in its guilt you magnifie God for the one ô do the same for the other also If God himself had not brought about this freedom you had been without it forever Alas you your selves in the time of the natural thraldom never thought of or desired it you were altogether unable to accomplish it nay you were set against it and oppos'd it to your utmost the Law of Sin was in the heart and had the heart you lik'd and lov'd its government above any other all your strength was engag'd for it insomuch that God was fain to conquer not only Satan and it but your own selves too and by a mighty power to make you willing to accept of deliverance out of its servitude what ground of thankfulness is here Once more why should you be made free when others are let alone what was there in you to move God to vouchsafe this distinguishing mercy you had indeed been eternally undone without it but was he under any necessity or motive but what was from his own grace to do it for you ô you that are renewed shall not the Lord be admired by you 'pray be much in blessing of him for all Mercies but amongst the rest be sure you never forget to bless him for Sin-subduing Sin-dethroning mercy See how Paul upon this account blesses God for others Rom. 6.17 But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin but ye have obeyed from the heart the form of doctrine which was delivered you He that was so thankful for others surely would be so much more for himself and so he was Rom. 7.24 25. O wretched man that I am
by communication from any other in which respect he is in Scripture more frequently stiled God than either the Son or the Holy Ghost 3. You have the Person sent our Lord Jesus Christ And he is set forth 1. by his neer Relation to God God sending his Son In order to the Sinners Redemption God did not imploy an ordinary Person a meer Servant a Creature that stood at a great distance from him but so great was his Love he imploy'd a Son 2. by the speciality and peculiarity of this Relation God sending his own Son In the Greek 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Son of himself In Vers 32. 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his proper Son or his own Son There is that in this expression which very much heightens Christ's Sonship he was not barely a Son but God's own Son a Son in a special extraordinary incommunicable manner 4. Here 's the further explication of this Sending with respect to the way and manner of it how did God send his Son why in the likeness of sinful flesh If you go further into the Words than that Branch of them which I have now read there are two Generals more to be observed in them but they will be taken notice of in their proper place Three Observations raised There are three great Doctrinal Truths here to be handled 1. That Christ was sent 1. Obs and sent by God the Father 2. That Christ thus sent was God's own Son 2. Obs 3. That Christ God's own Son was sent in the likeness of sinful flesh 3. Obs The First handled I begin with the first That Christ was sent and sent by God the Father Here are two things to be spoken to Christ's being sent and his being sent by the Father but they may very well be put together Before I fall upon the close handling of this Sending of Christ there are three things which it presents to our Consideration his Praâ—xistence his Personality his Personal Distinction from the Father let me therefore a little touch upon each of these of Christ's Praeecistence before his Innation 1. This Sending of Christ strongly imply's his Praeecistence before his Incarnation For if he had not had a Being before how could the Father send him that which is not cannot be sent 'T is not said here * Non de novo creans vel faciens sed quasi praeexistentem misit Aquin Misit non creavit aut condidit sed qui secum erat ceaeternus eundem ad nos 〈◊〉 â—egavit non ut eâ—â—et ubi non fuer at c. Sed up appareret ubi in visibili modo erat Soro The whole body of the Socinian Authors agree in this except Erasmus Johannis who fell in with the Arrianâ— See Socinus his Disp with him De Filii Dei existeâ—â—â— that God now created him or made him as if he did not exist before but he sent him which must as I said strongly imply that he did exist before this Sending This the †Socinians fiercely oppose and therefore in this matter they are worse than the Arrians For these though they deny'd that Christ was from all Eternity and made him to be only first created by God upon the misunderstanding and perverting of his being called the first born of every Creature Col. 1.13 the beginning of the creation of God Rev. 3.14 yet they asserted Christ's existence long before his Incarnation But the Socinians following Photinus deny that he had any Being or Existence before he was conâ—â—â—ed and brought forth by the Virgin Mary So that their Opinion about the Person of Christ is somewhat worse than that of the Old Arrians for which they are admonished and dealt with a little sharply by a late * Sandius in Nucleus Histor Eccles who p. 229. L. 1 concerning the Praeexistence of Christ thus expresses himself Licet dogma de Praeexistentiâ Christi antesaeculaâ—i in Symbolo dicto non contineatur c. nihilo minus praestat tutiorem viam sequi Christi praeexistentiam non denegando Nam si Christus praeextitit quanti res plena periculi Christo id nolle concedere quod ei jure comperit quà m mitem judicem habituri sunt qui ita sentiunt Hâ—si Christus non fuit ante Mariam periculo tamen vacat confessio praeexistentiae Nam Christus non succensebit illis qui ei nimium honoris attribuerint Nec est quod timeant se eo ipso detrabere Majestati Patris Nam ut taceam non esse contrarationem vel impossibile Fillum fuisse primogenitum ante òmnes creaturas certe Majestati Patris magis convenit quòd â—alem Filium anto saecula genuerit Deâ—â—de nec habent quod vereantur sâ— per praeexistentiam tollere veri Christ hamanitatem potest enim virtute Divinâ quilibet Angelus incarnari uniri cum came in unitatem Personae sic ut ille unitus simul dici possit Homo Angelus Plato non negavit animas praeexistentes post incarnationem fieri homines Arrian Writer himself The Orthodox fully prove the Eternity of Christ against the One and consequently the Praexistence of Christ before his Incarnation against the Other And One would think the Scriptures are so clear in this that there should not be the least Controversie about it For they tell us that Christ was in Jacobs time Gen. 48.16 The Angel which redeemed me from all evil c. it might easily be proved that this * Vide Franzii Disput Theolog Disp 14. The. 40. p. 436. Angel was Christ That he was in Job's time for he said Job 19.25 I know that my Redeemer liveth meaning Christ That he was in the Prophets time under the Old Testament for the Spirit of Christ was in them 1 Pet. 1.11 That he was in Abrahams time yea long before it Joh. 8.56 c. Your Father Abraham rejoyced to see my day and was glad Then said the Jews unto him thou art not yet fifty years old and hast thou seen Abraham Jesus said unto them Verily verily I say unto you before Abraham was I am That he was in the Israelites time for 1 Cor. 10.9 't is said Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted him is added in some Translations however the Sense will so carry it That he was in the Prophet Isaih's time for Joh. 12.41 you read These things said Isaias when he saw his glory and spake of him that is of Christ Now were not these Periods of time before long before Christ's being born of the Virgin therefore he had an existence before that How fully and plainly is this asserted in the Gospel Joh. 1.1 2 3 10. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God The same was in the beginning with God All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made He was in the world
improvement of it Was Christ sent and did God thus send him what doth this great act of God call for from us I 'le tell you in a few things 1. It calls upon us greatly to admire God Use 1. God to be admired for his sending of Christ O how should all our souls be drawn forth and elevated in the adoring of God for his sending of Christ What rich Mines of Grace have we in these few words God sent his own Son Here 's the greatest thing that ever God did or ever will do 't was much that he should make a World but what 's the making of a World to the sending of a Son The Apostle in the Text seems to ascend step by step and to crowd together variety of great and glorious things that he might the more heighten God's Love and draw up the hearts of Believers to the admiration of it For 1. here is Sending 2. God sending 3. God sending a Son 4. His own Son 5. The sending of this Son in our flesh Yea 6. in the likeness of sinful flesh Yea 7. in that Flesh to offer up himself as a Sacrifice for sin 8. Doing this for this End that sin might be condemned and that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us 9. Doing this too when the Sinners Case was desperate as to the Law is not here maguum in parvo and doth not the Apostle thrust things together heaping one thing upon another that he might the better set off and aggrandize the Love of God There 's enough in any One of them to make you stand and wonder but when you have them conjunct and all set before you in their proper emphasis and import how should you be affected and wrought upon to admire the Grace of God! The truth is take all together and you have here a representation of that Low Mercy Goodness which was too great and bigg for any but a God If you read no further than the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh there man is utterly lost but if you go on to God 's sending of his Son c. there the day of Salvation begins to dawn there 's an effectual remedy for a desperate malady now the case is altered O let the blessed God be therefore for ever magnify'd and adored 2. More particularly The Love of God the Father to be admired this calls upon you to admire the Love of God the Father and alwayes to entertain good thoughts of him they are distinct Heads however let me put them together I would not too curiously divide or distinguish betwixt the Sacred Persons in their several Acts much less would I set them in competition or prefer one before another as if we were more beholden to the One than to the Other As they center in the same common Essence 't is the same Love and the same gracious actings in all but yet they being personally distinct and they having those acts which are proper to them as so distinguished so they have their special and peculiar Love And 't is very good for us to understand what is immediately done by the Father what by the Son what by the Spirit which we must the rather endeavour after because the Scripture usually I do not say alwayes apply's this effect to the First that to the Second and another to the Third Person I am at present only to speak to the acts of the Father wherein he hath display'd that Love which is proper to him which if you please to look into as the Scripture sets them forth you will find your selves under a strong obligation to admire him as personally so considered For 'pray observe who did from all eternity predestinate elect choose you was it not God the Father Predestinating Love is the Father's Love Eph. 1.3 4 5. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world c. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of Children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will After this came Redeeming Love and had the Father no hand in that Love nay had not He the first and the chief hand therein For did not he find out the ransom Job 33.24 I have found a ransom did not he contrive and lay the whole model and platform of Redemption in his eternal purpose and ordination therefore 't is said Isa 53.10 The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand that great Work resolves it self into the Will and pleasure of the Father as the first and principal Cause of it Christ as Mediator is brought in but as subordinate to him as being but the ministerial and executive agent in redemption for 't is but in his hands that the pleasure of the Lord should prosper Who chose sent called Christ to that Work and fitted him for it but the Father as you have heard So also who assisted and strengthened him in it but the Father Isa 42.1 Behold my servant whom I uphold of which upholding and strengthening Grace by the Father Christ assured himself beforehand as you read Isa 50. 7 9. and it was accordingly made good to him as you read Matth. 4.11 Luke 22.43 Then again who rewarded Christ when he had finished his Work but the Father therefore to him Christ pray'd for this Joh. 17.4 5. I have glorified thee on the earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do And now O Father glorifie thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was And now Christ hath made the purchase who doth authoritatively collate upon persons the blessings purchased but the Father Rom. 8.33 It is God that justifieth 2 Cor. 5.18 All things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ c. Luke 12.32 Fear not little flock it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom Who is it that works in Sinners their meetness for heaven but the Father Col. 1.12 Giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Who is it that reveals the great mysteries of the Gospel but the Father Matth. 11.25 I thank thee O Father Lord of heaven and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes Who bestows and gives the Spirit but the Father Joh. 14.16 I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of Truth And to shut up this who secures and keeps in a state of grace but the Father Joh. 10.29 My Father which gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's band Now Christians may
you not be fully convinced by all this that the Father's Love to you is very great and if so will you not admire him for it You must * Joh. 5.23 honour the Son even as you honour the Father and you must adore bless love the Father even as you do the Son God forbid that I should go about to lessen your most thankful sense of what the Son and Spirit have done for you but yet know that these the Father as the first Cause doth work by 't is He who by them doth do so great things for you 'pray think high of their love but then think high of his love too Further I would persuade you to entertain good thoughts of the Father 'T is a temptation though not so usual which some gracious Persons lie under they can with more comfort think of the Son than of the Father they do not so much question the Love of the Son as of the Father they cannot deny but that the Son is indeed a very gracious Person for he came from heaven * Luke 19.10 to seek and to save what was lost to * 1 Tim. 1.15 save Sinners yea the chiefest of them c. hereupon they can in some comfortable manner encourage themselves to hope in him But as to the Father they are not so confident they are more jealous and suspicious and have a greater dread of him than they have either of the Son or of the Spirit Doth Satan assault any of you in this manner or do such thoughts as these prevail over you O be convinced of your mistake You have as great encouragement for faith and hope from the Father as you have from the Son for you hear 't was He who sent Christ and whatever Christ was or did all was but in pursuance of his good pleasure therefore have you any reason to think otherwise than well of him Surely * 1 Joh. 4.16 God is Love this very thing his sending of his Son represents him as full of Mercy Goodness and Grace the Sinner hath not the least cause to be jealous or afraid of him O when unbelief and hard thoughts of God the Father begin to rise beat them down by arguing thus was not He the first spring from which redeeming Grace did flow the great contriver and willer of man's recovery who set Christ on work but he who sent him into the world to be a Saviour but he who imploy'd his own Son for the good of Sinners but he O that you would labour to get your Faith encourag'd and strengthened as to the first Person and that it might rise up to the first Cause of all and there fix and terminate that your faith and hope may be in God as the Apostle expresses it 1 Pet. 1.21 Christ sayes Joh. 14.1 Let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God believe in me also and let me say he believe in Christ believe in God also as the fountain and original of all your happiness Christ to be loved for his ready submission to his Father in sending him 3. It calls upon us to love Christ greatly O how should the consideration of this endear Christ to every gracious heart God sent him but not against his will how willing was he to be sent upon the errand of your Salvation he freely consented to whatever the Father was pleased to put him upon for your good He very well knew before hand what would follow upon this sending what he was to undergo how he was to be abased if he do engage to redeem and save you yet notwithstanding this no sooner did the Father call him to it but he most readily and cheerfully obeyed O the infinite Love of Christ He came down from heaven that he might carry you up to heaven he that was a Son for your sake stooped to be a Servant that you of slaves might be made sons What had become of you if Christ had refused to come when the Father sent him O love the Lord Jesus let his Person be very dear and precious to you admit him into your hearts who was willing to take the whole business of your Salvation into his hands what Love can be enough for a Father sending and a Son coming 'T is true God sent him but his obedience to his Father was no diminution of his Love to you and 't is true in this Embassy he acted in a way of inferiority to his Father but 't was his pity to you which made him willing to put himself into such a state of subjection and inferiority for that did not proceed from his Nature before he had assumed yours but meerly from his dignation and gracious condescention and now after all this will you not love him how can you do otherwise than love him Suppose you had heard him as soon as ever God had signified his pleasure to him and said Son the fulness of time is come I must send thee down to earth to redeem man saying Father I am ready here I am send me whithersoever and about whatsoever thou pleasest to promote thy Glory and the good of Souls I am willing to go where-ever thou 'lt have me yea I le stick at nothing which thou shalt judge necessary for the preventing of the Sinners everlasting ruine Send me to be made Flesh I submit to lie in a Manger I submit to die upon a Cross I submit lay what Commands upon me thou pleasest to further the Salvation of Souls they shall all be obey'd Suppose I say you had heard Christ uttering such Words to his Father doubtless it would have wrought very much upon you your Hearts would have been all in flames of Love to him O wretched Creatures we know all this was spoken and done too by our Lord Jesus and yet how cold how weak is our Love to him Christ a Pattern herein for imitation 4. It calls upon you to imitate Christ in his carriage with respect o his being sent Thus never go till you be sent then go readily both of these were admirably done by our Lord Jesus He went not till he was sent before he would move one step he would have his Father 's Mission and Commission a great Mind he had to be at Redeeming Work his Heart was exceedingly set upon it yet he would stay till he was sent called authoriz'd thereunto by his Father But as soon as he was so called how readily and cheerfully did he engage * Heb. 10.7 Lo T come to do thy Will O God Now in this his deportment he hath set us an excellent copy to write after teaching us alwayes humbly to wait for a Call from God and when it comes let it be what it will faithfully to comply with it Whatever rank or station God hath set you in see that you therein * 1 Cor. 7.17.20 24. abide and that you meddle with no Work Employment Office Vndertaking further than as you are called thereunto
and he having no higher foundation for his Sonship than they 3. Christ is the true and proper Son of God but should he be his Son by Adoption he would then cease to be * In materiâ negotio Filiationis pròprius adoptivus opponuntùr ut proprius non sit adoptivus adoptivus non sit proprius sed adoptivus opponitur naturali proprio Naturalis non est adoptivus Adoptivis Liberis opponuntur naturales ac veri dicunt Jurisconsulti Hoorneb his true and proper Son for he that is adopted is only a Son in an improper and allusive notion and but in the esteem and repute of him who doth adopt Socinus himself so describes such an one †Adoptivus Filius est qui pro Filio quidem habetur sed tamen reverà non est Filius An adopted Son is one who is accounted a Son but in truth and reality he is not so then according to his own explication of it if Christ be an adopted Son he is no true and proper Son but only so as the Father doth so repute him And is not Christ now greatly beholden to these persons is he not highly advanced by them do they not shew great respect and give great honour to him according to what they pretend in making of him only a putative Son Adoption indeed is not so much too high for us but 't is as much too low for Christ 4. If begotten then not adopted for these two are incompatible or inconsistent the same Son cannot be begotten and adopted too therefore adoption comes in to supply the want of Generation Christ must be the one or the other and if he be the one he cannot be the other if begotten then not adopted and if adopted then not begotten 'T is true in the Sonship of Believers there is both they are Sons by regeneration and adoption too but the reason of that is because they are Sons but in an improper and Metaphorical respect I mean in contradistinction to Christ who is the very true and natural Son of God A Seventh False Ground of Christ's Sonship 7. Once more they say Christ is God's own Son because of his resemblance and likeness to him This comes exceeding short for 't is not likeness but oneness not resemblance but equality upon which Christ is called God's Son Christ not Gods Son in respect of his likeness to God he himself draws it up to that as you have already heard No likeness here will suffice but Essential likeness answerable to that Gen. 5.3 Adam lived an hundred and thirty years and beg at a Son in his own likeness after his image Amongst us you know likeness is not the foundation of Sonship the Son is a Son not because he is like his Father but because he is begotten by his Father and so 't is with respect to Christ There may be resemblance where yet there no filial relation in the glorified state we shall be * Luke 20.36 like the Angels yet I never read of any paternal and filial relation 'twixt them and us In time I fear according to the old Heresie of Some it will come to Christ's being the Son of Man too but in likeness He is the Son of Man as he hath the very Nature and Essence of man and why is he not the Son of God also as he hath the very Nature and Essence of God Thus I have both laid down the truth and also made it good against Opposers And now the false Grounds and Notions of Christ's Sonship being remov'd the true Ground and Notion of it is the more evident viz. that he is God's own Son as he partakes of his Essence and was from everlasting begotten by him He that would read full and large Discourses upon this great Subject let him peruse the Writings of those * Bisterf contra Crell Lib. ◠Sect. 2. cap. 31. Smiglet de Vero naturali Dei Filio contra Smalcium Jacob. ad Portum adv Ostorod Def. Fid. Orthod cap. 9. Arnold Catech. Racov. Maj. cap. 1. de Person Christi Idem against Biddle cap. 7. Calov Socin Proflig De Filio Dei Controv. 4. Hoorneb Socin confut tom 2. cap. 1. de Christo Dr. Owen against Biddle ch 7. Estwick against Biddle p. 110 c. 375. Cheynal Trin-unity p. 190 c. Alting Theol. Elenctica p. 149. ad 187. Worthy Instruments whom God hath raised up and enabled to assert and defend it If any think I have been too long or have unnecessarily troubled my self and the Reader about it I must for several Reasons crave leave to differ from them We cannot say too much or too often go over those things in which the Honour of God's own Son our Lord and Master and the good of Souls are so highly concerned Give the Socinians their due 't is but a sad commendation all along they make their thrusts at the very heart of Religion they fight against neither great or small but only against the great King of all the World the very Son of God whom they strike at in his Deity eternal Sonship Incarnation Satisfaction in what not Surely we cannot too much endeavour to antidote men against their desperate Soul-destroying venome and poyson especially in Times wherein men seem more than ordinarily to incline to close with their pestilent Opinions upon which Considerations I would encourage my self to hope that such who are Friends to Christ and Souls will put a candid interpretation upon what hath been done Yet as to the Learned if any such shall cast their eye upon these Papers I beg their pardon for the repeating of things so well known and common to them and which they have elsewhere with great advantage I have only this to say for my self my eye hath been upon private Christians to make things plain to them and to set that before them here which as written in other Languages they could not reach Whether Christ may not be the Son of God by eternal Generation and by the other ways too So much for these But though I have been too prolix already I have not yet done there are some Others of a different party and denomination who do in part concur and symbolize with the ' forenamed Dissenters For though they hold that Christ in a more special manner is the Son of God by eternal Generation yet they also hold that he is the Son of God too in respect of his Conception Office Resurrection and Exaltation * Vid. Disput publ Thes 5. Arminius himself pitches upon the first as the only ground of the Sonship of Christ but his Successors take in the latter also so the †Confess c. 3. sect 2. p. 14. Apolog. contra Censur c. 2. p. 48. Remonstrants so ‖ Instit Theol. l. 4. sect 2. c. 33. Episcopius a person of great eminence These tell us that God is the proper Father of Christ and he the
as may be suitable to his Nature and Relation as he is the infinite God and the eternal only begotten Son of God and what Honour can be high enough for such a Person But more particularly there 's a twofold Honour which you must all give to Christ 1. The Honour of Worship Heb. 1.6 When he bringeth in the first-born into the world he saith And let all the Angels of God worship him God will have his only begotten Son to be worshipped though he be very tender to whom that honour is given Divines do from hence strongly argue yet I know * Remonstr Apolog Cap. 2. 16. Episcop Inst Theolog. lib. 4. sect 2. cap. 34. 35. Some make but little of this Argument to prove the Godhead of Christ thus if religious Worship be God's peculiar if a God be the sole and adaequate object of Divine Worship if no Creature be to share with him therein it being that Glory which he will not give to another Isa 42.8 Matth. 4.10 Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve and yet the Father will have Christ to be the proper Object of divine Worship hence it follows that then he is and must be more than meer Man that he is true and very God And surely it would be no better than flat Idolatry in us Christians to give proper and formal religious worship to Christ was he not truly God as well as truly Man Therefore as to this Franciscus David and Christianus Franken both Socinians were in the right against Socinus if Christ was but meer Man the common Principle in which they all agreed then he could not be worshipped with religious Worship without Idolatry whereupon they would not give any such worship to him And as this Worship proves Christ's Godhead so his Godhead is the * Of this see Zanch. de tribus Elohim l. 3 c. 12. Junius Def. Trinit contra Samosat Profess Leid Cens cap. 16. Voetius de Adorat Christi Cheynel Trin-unity very largely p. 334. c. Dr. Stillingfleet of the Idolatry of the c. chap. 2. p. 112 113 114. ground of it for the adaequate immediate proper ground of Divine Worship as attributed to Christ is his divine Nature Essence and Sonship true he as Man is to be worshipped but not because he is Man the Humane Nature of Christ is the Object of Worship but 't is only as 't is taken into Personal Vnion with the Divine As he is Mediator and set in such an Office he is to be worshipped but this is not the proper and fundamental reason thereof for though he never had been Mediator yet Worship would have been due to him as the Father and Spirit are to be worshipped though the Office of Mediator belongs not to them Further the Lord Jesus as he in our Nature hath done such great and excellent things for us is to be worshipped yet this is only a forcible motive and inducement thereunto not the proper ground of it it remains then that the alone reason of Worship given or done to Christ is his being God and the co-equal co-essential Son of God And he being so what an obligation doth this lay upon you to worship him there 's inward worship consisting in the trust fear reverence adoration of the heart there 's outward worship consisting in attendance upon and due observance of Gospel-institutions as Prayer Hearing the Word c in both of these respects let Christ be worshipped by you both are due to him as he is God's own Son Well may you tender your homage to him in this way when Angels themselves bow before him and worship at his throne 2. Secondly there 's the Honour of Obedience which you must also give to Christ This is annexed to the declaration of his Sonship at the same time in which the Father attested that Christ was his Son he enjoyned obedience and subjection to him * Matth 17.5 This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased what follows hear ye him this hearing of Christ is the Creatures obeying of him in all his holy Laws Commands and Institutions and so 't is as if God had said here 's a Person whom I own for my Son in a special and peculiar way whom therefore I have set as * Psal 2.6 my King upon my holy Hill of Sion into whose hands I have put †Matth. 28.18 all power upon whose shoulders I have laid the ‖ Isa 9.7 Government therefore I charge you to hear him and to yield all Obedience and Subjection to him O Sirs 't is God himself and not such a poor worm as I who requires this of you it must be Reverence and it must be Obedience too this high relation of Christ calls for both and believe it without this Obedience he that is God's Son will never be your Saviour for Heb. 5.9 Being made perfect he became the author of eternal Salvation unto all them and to none but them that obey him I have spoken much to press believing on this Son upon you but let me add there must be obeying of him as well as believing on him Obedience is not so of the very essence of Faith but that Faith may very well be defin'd without it yet 't is an inseparable Adjunct or Consequent or fruit of Faith and these two do alwayes concur in the Subject though they be different in themselves and have a different influence upon justification and salvation But that which I aim at is this since Christ is the Son of God and this is clearly revealed to you since this Son hath made known to you in the holy Gospel what his Will and pleasure is how he would have you to live what to do what to shun I beseech you now hearken to him comply with him in all his excellent Commands give up your selves in an universal subjection to his blessed Laws let there be an obediential frame of heart to his whole Will this is indeed to honour him and to honour him in such a way as best answers his Sonship to God and his Lordship over you 4. Branch of the Exhortation To adore the Love of God 4. Fourthly is Christ no lower a Person than God's own Son what cause have we then to admire and wonder at the greatness of God's Love in his sending of him Here 's a glass indeed to transmit and represent unto us the Love of God O how shall we get our hearts affected with it what thankfulness in us can bear any proportion to the mercy before us For God to send to send a Son such a Son in such a manner as follows in the words here 's the Wonder of Wonders God never did the like before and hee 'l never do the like again and blessed be his name there is no need he should 'T would have been admirable mercy if God would have sent some other person upon this errand to redeem
hard as that the power of the Son of God cannot effect it and what can be so high as that the Obedience of the Son of God cannot merit it Had Christ been only the Son of Man then indeed Faith could not have bore up with such confidence but he being the Son of God also and having the Nature Essence Attributes of God how may Faith triumph as to the efficacy and meritoriousness of his obedience 'T was the blood of God which he shed Acts 20.28 O what a greatness and * Superest ut poena illa Fidejussoris nostri pretio dignitate atque merito foret infinita id quod allter fieri non potuit quam si Persona patiens foret ipsa infinita Nam ut Pèccati c. Vid. Thes Salmur de Christo Mediat parte 1. th 13. p. 246. infiniteness of Merit must needs result from the greatness and infiniteness of such a Person Heb. 9.13 14. If the blood of Bulls and of Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the Flesh How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your Conscience from dead works to serve the Living God 4. You may go boldly to the throne of Grace upon all occasions For you have God's own Son to lead you thither and to make way for you and not only so but this own Son improves all his interest in and with the Father for your good why are you afraid to go to God Heb. 4.14 16. Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens Jesus the Son of God c. let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need 5. You need not in the least question the prevalency of Christ's intercession Doth Christ intercede and shall he not prevail will not the Father hear such a Son Suppose he may deny you which he will not yet surely he will not deny his own and onely Son Christ upon this relation may ask any thing and he shall have it mark the connexion Psal 2.7 I will declare the decree the Lord hath said unto me thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee what follows now upon this why Vers 8. Ask of me and I shall give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession God thinks nothing too much for this Son when he asks it of him and 't is the same when he asks for you as when he asks for himself therefore fear not but that your Prayers shall be graciously answered Christ himself interceding for you when the Kings own Son carrys the Petition doubtless it shall be granted 6. This is the Person to whom you are mystically united and therefore his Glory and Greatness reflects a Glory and Greatness upon you You are in Christ not only as he is the Son of Man but as he is the Son of God also for the Vnion is terminated not in this or that Nature but in the whole Person the Apostle therefore takes special notice of this 1 Joh. 5.20 We know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true and we are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ O to be in this Son there 's the glory and safety of a believer I have done with this high and most Evangelical Truth The Lord Jesus is God's own Son upon which I have been somewhat large partly because of the excellency of the Argument it self and partly because of the great opposition made against it 2 Joh. 3. Grace be with you mercy and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of the Father in truth and love ROM 8.3 c. In the likeness of sinful Flesh CHAP. XII Of Christ's Incarnation and abasement in Flesh A Fourth General in the Words handled Why the Apostle is so express in the further adding of these Words to the former Five things laid down for the explication of them Flesh not taken here in the same sense with Flesh in what went before A double Synecdoche in the word Flesh Christ did not bring Flesh from Heaven with him but assum'd it here on Earth His sending in Flesh was not his taking a meer humane shape c. Likeness to be joyn'd not with Flesh but with sinful Flesh Two Propositions rais'd from the Words Of the First that Christ was sent in Flesh What his sending in Flesh imports this opened more strictly and more largely Of Marcion and Others who denied the verity of Christ's Incarnation and Body That proved as to both as also the verity of his whole Manhood Of his having a true Soul Of his submitting to the common adjuncts and infirmities of Flesh How the Humane Nature in Christ and in us differ His Incarnation not impossible not incredible The Reasons of it 1. That the Old-Testament Prophecies Promises Types might thereby receive their accomplishment 2. That Christ might be qualified for his Office as Mediator and the work of Redemption 3. Because it was the fittest and the best way in order to the redeeming of man Seven Propositions laid down for the due stating and opening of Christ's Incarnation As 1. That Christ who before was the eternal Son of God and had a praevious existence was made Flesh this made good against the SOCINIANS 2. That the Second Person only was incarnate 3. That this was not done till the fulness of time 4. That 't was not the divine Essence absolutely considered which assumed Flesh but that Essence considered as subsisting in the Second Person 5. That the Nature assuming was the Divine Nature 6. That the Humane Nature was so assum'd as to subsist in the Divine and that both of these Natures make but one Person where the Hypostatical Union is opened and prov'd 7. 'T is probable that if Adam had not fallen Christ had not been sent in the Flesh Of the Second Proposition That Christ was sent in the likeness yet but in the likeness of sinful Flesh Of the Sanctity of Christ's Humane Nature The Grounds thereof Use 1. To inform 1. Of the excellency of the Gospel and of the Christian Religion As also 2. Of the excellency of Christ's Flesh or Manhood Use 2. Wherein several Duty 's are urged upon Christians as namely 1. To give a full and firm assent to the Truth of Christ's Incarnation and also firmly to adhere to Christ as having assumed our Flesh where something is spoken against those who make little of a Christ in Flesh but are all for a Christ within 2. To be much in the study and contemplation of Christ incarnate 3. To adore the Mystery it self and also the Father and the Son in the Mystery 4. To endeavour after the powerful influence of it
greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made with hands that is to say not of this building c. by this Tabernacle of the Lord 's pitching and not made with hands he means the body or flesh of Christ which was the true Tabernacle and of which the common Tabernacle was but a type and indeed there was so great a resemblance betwixt these two as that the one might very well prefigure and typify the other For 1. the Outside of that Tabernacle was but mean it was made without of very ordinary and common things within 't was rich and glorious it being beautified with Gold Silver Precious Stones c. but without all was plain it being covered only with Ram-skins and Goat-skins and such materials Exod. 25.1 c. and 26.14 c. So here Christ's outside was especially to some but very mean Isa 53.2 He hath no form nor comliness and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him but yet he was exceeding glorious within as 't is said of the Church Psal 45.13 such as had a discerning eye they could see the inward glory of his Godhead shining through the cloud of his Manhood And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth Joh. 1.14 2. God's special presence was in the Tabernacle there was the Shechinah or habitation of God wherein at first by an extraordinary Cloud he signified his glorious presence to be as afterwards he did in the Temple too By which therefore Christ sets forth his Body Joh. 2.19 21. Jesus answered and said unto them Destroy this Temple and in three dayes I will raise it up but he spake of the Temple of his Body Both Tabernacle and Temple were * Dr. Cudworth true Notion of the Lord's Supper p. 62. types and apt resemblances of his Flesh or Manhood in respect of the special presence and inhabitation of the Divine Nature in it Hence †Dr. Jackson on the Creed 7th Book sect 3. ch 20. Some make all those great Promises made to the people of Israel concerning God's presence with them in special in the Tabernacle and Temple to point to Christ's Incarnation and in that to receive their accomplishment you may read them Exod. 25.8 Exod. 29.44 45 46. Levit. 26.11 12 13. Ezek. 37.26 27 28. 3. The Tabernacle was a * Josephus calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 templum portatile Antiq. Jud. lib. 3. cap. 5. And Austine Templum deambulatorium moveable thing whilst Israel was in the Wilderness in an itinerary posture as they moved the Tabernacle moved with them it was not fixed all that time as afterwards it was So it was with Christ he was here on earth with his Body for some time but neither he nor it were here long to abide he ascended up to heaven and thither he carried his Body with him and there t is fixed this the Evangelist alludes unto Joh. 1.14 The Word was made Flesh and dwelt amongst us c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he tented or tabernacled it for a time amongst us in respect of his short abode here in reference to which our Bodies too are set forth by Tabernacles 2 Cor. 5.1 4. 2 Pet. 1.13 14. I might also instance in Melchisedech as a personal Type of Christ he was without Father and Mother c. Heb. 7.3 which is very applicable to Christ for he as the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Najanz P. 375. tom 1. Son of God was without Mother and as the Son of man without Father Well then that all these Prophesies Promises Types might be fulfill'd it was necessary that Christ should assume Flesh there 's the first Ground of it The 2d Reason why Christ was incarnate and sent in Flesh that he might be the better qualify'd for his Office and Work 2. This was necessary in regard of Christ's Office and Work 1. As to his Office He was to be the Mediatour betwixt God and Man and that was to be his great and standing Office now in order to his administration thereof it was requisite that he should be Man and take our Nature for he who will be a Mediator 'twixt God and Man must himself be both God and Man He must be God that he may be fit to transact treat negotiate with God and he must be Man that he may be fit to do the same with Man God alone was too high to deal with Man and Man alone was too low to deal with God and therefore Christ was a middle Person 'twixt both that he might deal with both He could not have been fit to be the Mediator in respect of Office if he had not first been a middle Person in respect of his Natures for saith the Apostle Gal. 3.20 A Mediator is not of one but God is one Not of one that is 1. not of one Person for mediation supposes more persons than one was there none besides God himself Christ's mediatory work would be at end that necessarily implying different parties betwixt whom he doth mediate 2. Not of one Nature the Mediator must necessarily have more Natures than one Observe it God saith the Text is one viz. as he is essentially considered and therefore as so he cannot be the Mediator but Christ as personally considered he is not of one that is not of one Nature for he is God and Man too whereupon hee 's the Person who is qualify'd to be the Mediator And therefore when he is spoken of as Mediator his Manhood is brought in that Nature being so necessary to that Office 1 Tim. 2.5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus 2. Christ's Incarnation and Manhood was necessary in respect of that Work which he was willing to undertake I mean the Work of Redemption If he will engage to redeem and save lost Sinners he must be so qualify'd as that he may first make * Vide Anselm cur Deus Homo Lib. 1. Cap. 11 12 19 20. satisfaction to an injur'd and offended God for that God stood upon and would not recede from he had decreed as appears by the event to save man that way and what he decrees must accordingly be accomplished he had threatned death to the Sinner which threatning therefore must be inflicted either upon the Offender himself or his Surety and God as Rector mundi will vindicate the honour of his Government and therefore will punish the transgression of his Laws upon such Considerations as these there must be Satisfaction Now in order to that there must be suffering yea Christ himself must suffer partly because he was pleas'd to substitute himself in the Sinners stead and partly because his sufferings only could be satisfactory but unless he be Man how can he suffer So that the chain or link lies thus without satisfaction no redemption without suffering
We read Mark 11.9 They that went before and they that followed cryed saying Hosanna blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord Believers who liv'd before Christ's incarnation and they who follow since both are equally obliged to magnifie God for him both receiving the same benefit by him 2. It may be enquired Why Christ was incarnate just when he was why at this very Epocha or period of time rather than at any other was Christ incarnate why not either before or after but just then Answ why because it was that very time which God had set therefore called the fulness of time Gal. 4.4 He that is pleas'd to set the time for other things as for the Churches deliverances Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion for the time to favour her yea the set time is come Psal 102.13 and so in several Other cases surely he was pleas'd to set the time for so great a thing as the coming of his own Son in Flesh he in his eternal decree had determin'd the precise time for this which therefore when it was come then Christ came now I say all must be resolv'd into this True there were some more immediate Reasons why he came just when he did he was to come before the Scepter was wholly departed from Judah Gen. 49.10 whilst the Second Temple was standing Hag. 2.6 7 8 9. during the Fourth Monarchy Dan. 2.44 Daniel's 70 weeks were almost expired Dan. 9.24 there was a general expectation raised in the world of the coming of the Messias as might easily be made out Now with respect to these things the Lord Jesus came at that very period of time whereat he did but they all falling out but in compliance with and subordination to the Decree of God therefore the determination of the time of Christ's Coming and Incarnation must ultimately be resolv'd into that O he came just when he did neither sooner nor later because the Father had appointed that very time Prop. 'T was not the Divine Essence absolutely considered which assumed Flesh but that Essence considered as subsisting in the Second Person 4. 'T was not the Divine Nature or Essence simply and absolutely considered which assumed Flesh but it was that * Tota igitur Natura Divina fuit incarnata sed non quatenus absolutè in se consideratur ut omnibus Personis communis sed quatenus personalibus proprietatibus seu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Personâ Filii determinata coâ—sideratur Davenant in Col. 2.9 p. 240. Solus Filius suscepit humanitatem in singularitatem Personae non in unitatem Naturae Divinae Concil Tolet. Neque enim Divina Natura si propriè accuratè loqui velimus sed Persona Divina assumsit Naturam Humanam Divina quidem Natura unitur Humanae sed eam nòn assumsit assumere enim non est Naturae sed Suppositi Bisterf contra Crell p. 565. Vide Alting Theol. Problem p. 562. 577. Nature considered as subsisting in the Second Person If this restriction and stating of the Point be not admitted we cannot avoid our holding the Incarnation was common to all the Persons contrary to what the Church hath ever held and to what was asserted but even now therefore when 't is said †1 Tim. 3.16 God manifested in the Flesh you are to understand God in the Personal not in the Essential notion Prop. The Nature assuming was the Divine Nature 5. The Nature assuming was the Divine Nature that being considered as was laid down in the forgoing Proposition The Manhood did not assume the Godhead but the Godhead it * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Damasc de Orthod Fide lib. 3. cap. 2. p. 167. Man did not become God but God became Man 't is not said that †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athan. de Inc. Christi t. 1. p. 612. the Flesh was made the Word but the Word was made Flesh this is a thing so unquestionable that the very naming of it is enough Prop. That the Humane Nature was so assum'd as to subsist in the Divine that both Natures make butâ— one Person 6. The Lord Jesus the eternal Son of God God blessed for ever did so assume the Humane Nature as in a most mysterious and unconceivable manner to unite it upon the first framing or forming of it to his Divine Nature and to give that a subsistence in this so as that both do make but one Person the Essence Properties Operations of both Natures yet remaining the same without either conversion or confusion Here the Hypostatical Vnion is both asserted and and also described for wherein doth the nature of that Vnion consist but in that which is here laid down Of the Hypostatical Vnion Of it you read Col. 2.9 In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily i. e. Personally and Hypostatically Rom. 9.5 Whose are the Fathers and of whom as concerning the Flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for ever here 's both the Natures of Christ and both in him making but one Person upon the personal conjunction of which he 's call'd Emmanuel God with us Matth. 1.23 But not to insist upon the Proof of this Vnion which all but INFIDELS and SOCINIANS do believe The mysteriousness thereof I will endeavour as well as I can rather to explain and open it an undertaking which I enter upon the Lord knows with great fear and dread because of the loftiness and mysteriousness of the thing to be opened O 't is a thing so sublime and mysterious as that it transcends the capacity of Angels and Men how then shall I be able to speak of it or to it Take whom you will single out a Person of the sharpest wit the profoundest judgment the most elevated reason let all the most raised abilities concur in him and then set the Hypostatical Vnion before this person alas poor man how will he be puzzl'd nonplus'd unable to fathom so great a depth as this is And well he may since 't is the mystery of mysteries one of the first magnitude than which by a narrow intellect none more hard to be conceiv'd of or understood 'T is indeed sure and certain to Faith which believes it because God reveals it which readily answers all Objections and * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Martyr solves all difficulties about it by resting on divine revelation but if Reason beyond its proper bounds will be prying into and judging of a thing so abstruse its blindness as well as its boldness will soon appear its bucket will not go to the bottom of a Well so deep its line is too short to measure such heights breadths lengths depths as are here to be found I do not in the least wonder that they who make Reason to be the supream Judge of matters of Faith do throw off the belief of this mystery for though it be not at all contrary to reason
Adam's loins too for his genealogie is carried up to Adam Luk. 3. yet he not descending from him in the ordinary fleshly way his Person was exempted from the guilt of his sin and his Nature from the general depravation 3. Christ was actually Holy there was nothing but holiness in whatever he did all his actings inward and outward did exactly correspond with the Nature and Will of his Father he never was guilty of the least sin in thought word or deed sin was neither contracted nor * Eandem assumsit Naturam Chriâ—tus sed in ea non peccaviâ— Ambros committed by him Grace and Holiness were advanced in him to the highest pitch according to the utmost capacity of the Humane Nature without the least mixture of what is contrary thereunto in a word he liv'd in his whole course a most holy innocent spotless sinless life as the Scriptures which have been alledged do abundantly testifie The Grounds of Christ's Holiness and Sanctity This sanctity and sinlessness of Christ's Humane Nature was necessary upon a double account 1. To fit it for the personal union with his Divine Nature Can it be imagin'd that ever the Lord Jesus would take a Nature tainted with sin and so nearly unite it to himself when the Divine Nature stood at so great a distance from sin can we without blasphemy think that it would assume the Humane Nature had it been sinful into so close an union as that both should make but one person O such a thing was not possible God can take a sinning if repenting Creature into his bosom but he cannot take a sinning Nature into his Person Christ might condescend to take flesh yet be God but he could not have taken sinful flesh and yet be God the humane nature simply considered was not inconsistent with his Godhead but that Nature if sinful was 2. This was necessary in respect of Christ's Office and undertaking for our good In order to which as he must be man so he must be man perfectly holy and righteous for he that is a sinner himself cannot be a Saviour to other sinners then 't would be Physician heal thy self or Saviour save thy self all that such a one could do would be little enough for himself Christ was both Priest and Sacrifice with respect to both he must be without sin as Priest for if sin had been chargeable upon him he must then have offer'd for himself and so have been in the same condition with the Priests under the Law which the Apostle shews he was not Heb. 7.26 27. As Sacrifice too for whatever was offer'd up to God it was to have no blemish in it In allusion to which the Apostle calls him a Lamb without blemish and without spot 1 Pet. 1.19 answerably to the Paschal Lamb Exod. 12.5 and to the two Lambs in the fire-offering Numb 28.3 and he 's said to offer himself without spot to God Heb. 9.14 How could Christ have taken off guilt from us had he had it lying upon himself or how could he have made us righteous had he not been righteous himself therefore 2 Cor. 5.21 He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him and Isa 53.11 By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many mark it Christ being a righteous Person himself so he comes to justifie and make others righteous so 1 Joh. 3.5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins and in him is no sin the connexion is observeable * Si esset in illo peccatum auferendum esset illi non ipse auferret August he that will take away sin from others must have no sin in himself Christ coming for that end therefore in him there was no sin Three things as †one observes from the words were requisite to him that should be the Mediator he must be God he must be Man * Piscat he he must be perfectly and unmixtly holy all these three qualifications you have in the Text Christ was God's own Son there 's his Godhead he was sent in flesh there 's his Manhood he was sent but in the likeness of sinful flesh there 's his purity and holiness Having done with the Explicatory part Use 1. Information I come now to what is Applicatory Where in the first place passing by other things these two we are mainly informed of 1. Of the excellency of the Gospel and Christian Religion 2. Of the excellency of Christ's Flesh or Manhood Of the excellency of the Gospel and Christian Religion 1. First that great Truth which I have been upon informs us of the excellency of the Gospel and Christian Religion The more raised and mysterious the things are which the one reveals and the other believes the more excellent must both of them needs be for this is a Principle grounded upon Reason and strengthned by the Consent of all who pretend to Religion whether it be true or false What more common amongst men when they would argue for the excellency either of that from which they fetch their Religion or of their Religion it self than to cry up the mysteries and to tell us what high sublime mysterious things are contained in them These make a great impression upon mens minds and strongly induce them to believe that whatever hath in it such mysteries must certainly be of God and have a divine Original therefore Heathens themselves as well as Christians have much pleas'd themselves with this and have been great pretenders to such and such mysteries thereby to gain credit and reputation to their way Now let us apply this Principle or common test to the Gospel-revelation and the Christian Religion and then I 'm sure their excellency above all other pretended Revelations and Religions will be evident For look into all those admired and rare Secrets those high and raised mysteries which they who know not the Gospel did so much cry up and magnifie and do but compare them with this one mystery God 's own Son sent in flesh alas what trifles what shallow contemptible ridiculous things are they in comparison of it A God incarnate shames all the little mysteries of the Pagan Religion if so good a title may be given to so bad a thing they all vanish before this and are not able to stand in competition with it Now where is this profound mystery revealed but in the Gospel and where is that revelation believed but in the Christian Religion therefore how excellent must both needs be upon this account The Heathens knew nothing at all of this they dreamt of Men being made Gods but that he who was truly God should be made truly Man this they were altogether ignorant of in all their Religion there was no such mystery The Apostle cryes out 1 Tim. 3.16 Without controversie great is the mystery of Godliness God manifested in the flesh c. his design in these
liv'd to see this and yet shall we doubt of the thing surely that would be sad The Ratriarchs and they who lived under the Law had but some dimmer discoveries of it here and there an obscure promise and that was all to them for a long time this was reveal'd but in types and shadows And it was too a great way off from them yet they saw the promises afar off and were persuaded of them as the Apostle tells us Heb. 11.13 and now when Christ is come when the thing is done shall we be doubting and questioning in our selves about it when our light is so clear shall our faith yet be weak Our Lord 's coming in Flesh to redeem Man was that great thing held forth in the Scriptures of the Old-Testament and they are full of it observe that passage Heb. 10.5 5 6 7. Wherefore when he cometh into the world be saith Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not but a body hast thou prepared me in burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure Then said I Lo I come in the Volume of the Book it is written of me to do thy will O God what doth Christ mean by the volume of the book I answer the whole body of the Old-Testament-Scriptures this was not written only in this or that particular Text but you have it all along interwoven into the body of those Scriptures now when the whole stream and current of the Scripture runs to this very thing shall we yet give but a languid assent about it Especially when we have the New-Testament-revelation superadded to the former the New Testament I say which gives us so full an account as to matter of fact in reference to the Conception Nativity Life Death of Christ which shews us how this and that Prophesie pointing to his Incarnation was fulfill'd which asserts it over and over again telling us expresly that the Word was made Flesh God was manifested in the Flesh c. shall we notwithstanding all this yet stagger in our faith about the truth of Christ's being sent in flesh O believe it and believe it steadily so as to look upon it as a thing without controversie Satan hath all along more or less made his assaults upon Christians in this as well as in other matters and no question he 'l do the same to you if it be possible to undermine and hinder your firm assent to it but let him not prevail Firmly to adhere to Christ as sent in flesh 2. But under this branch of Exhortation I am to urge not only firmness of assent but also firmness of adherence I mean this you must believe that Christ was sent in flesh so as to cleave and stick to him as sent in Flesh There are some amongst us whom therefore I cannot but look upon as most sadly deluded and most dangerously erring in the very Fundamentals of the Christian Religion who make little of a Christ in this notion they are all for a Christ within them but as to a Christ without them or a Christ in flesh as born of the Virgin Mary crucify'd at Jerusalem c. I say a Christ thus stated they decry and disregard O that from what I have heard and read I had not too just occasion for this charge T is highly necessary therefore that I should say something to antidote you against this venome that under the pretence of a Christ within you do not lose or overlook a Christ without In a sober sense we are for a Christ within as much as any viz. as he is formed in the Soul at the new birth Gal. 4.19 as he is united to and dwells in believers Col. 1.27 Rom. 8.10 but yet 't is a Christ without as incarnate whom we rely upon for life and salvation as he is so considered we eye him in the great acts of faith and ground all our hope and confidence upon him I have * p. 310. before told you that a Christ as formed in the heart is necessary to justification and salvation for he saves none but those who have this inward work but yet 't is a Christ as formed in the Virgins womb and as dying upon the Cross who is the proper efficient meritorious procuring Cause of Justification and Salvation These two must by no means be parted yet their efficiency or causal influence upon Sinners good is very different for by the one mercy is procur'd by the other 't is only apply'd the impetration is by the Christ without the application only is by the Christ within And therefore though you are to put an high value upon the latter and to endeavour to make sure of it as the way and condition of receiving benefit by Christ yet you are to know that 't is the former by which all is merited and therefore there the great stress of your Faith must lie 't is a Christ as taking flesh and dying in flesh that you must stick unto Matth. 1.21 She shall bring forth a Son and thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins Christ the Son of Mary was to save 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners c. the Apostle layes the meriting of Salvation upon a Christ without as coming into the world and not as coming into the heart he who died upon the Cross was slain suffer'd at Jerusalem hee 's the person whom God hath exalted to be Prince and Saviour Acts 5.30 31. The God of our Fathers raised up Jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a tree him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins surely where persons have not forfeited the very principles of Christianity this is a thing which needs no proof Indeed Christ in the Spirit will very little profit those who disregard him in the flesh But no more of this Paul hath a passage which I would a little open 2 Cor. 5.16 Henceforth saith he know we no man after the flesh yea though we have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more how know Christ no more after the flesh what doth he mean by this did he cast off all respects to him all relyance upon him as considered in his Flesh O no! all that he aims at is this he knew Christ no more after the flesh that is so as to have any further converse with him in a fleshly way he did not expect again to eat and drink with him as sometimes the Apostles had done all that external converse was now at an end Or he means that he did not look for any fleshly advantages by him as worldly honor preferment riches c. Or again that he did not know him as in the state of his former abasement and humiliation so the word flesh is sometimes taken more restrainedly
see Heb. 5.7 Thus you are to understand the Apostle in these words and not as if he laid aside all knowledge of or respects unto the Lord Jesus as considered in his Humane Nature In believing we must eye a whole Christ Christ God and Christ Man too his whole Person with both his Natures is the proper object of Faith And certainly there 's something in 't that believing is so much set forth by its reference to his Flesh as Joh. 6.53 54 56. Verily verily I say unto you except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood ye have no life in you Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him Take away this Flesh and Christ's fitness to be a Mediator to God and a Saviour to us ceases and consequently his fitness too to be the object of saving Faith 't is Christ God-Man whom in believing you have to do with and you are neither so to eye his Manhood as to overlook his Godhead nor so to eye his Godhead as to overlook his Manhood both together do your work Upon the whole therefore you are in the actings of Faith to look upon Christ as having assum'd your Nature and so to rest upon him 2d Branch of the Exhortation To be much in the study and contemplation of a Christ incarnate 2. Secondly be much in the study and contemplation of Christ as sent in flesh What an object is a Christ incarnate for these I have press'd you to study him as the Son of God I would also press you to study him as the Son of Man to know him as God's own Son and as having taken our own Flesh there 's the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the * Phil. 3.8 excellency of the knowledge of him What dry insipid jejune knowledge is all other in comparison of the knowledge of Christ as God-Man One dram of this especially if saving practical and fiducial is better than great heaps of meer natural and philosophical knowledge It cannot be enough lamented that Christ in his Person Natures Offices is so little known as to that which I am treating of his assuming Mans nature how little do the most understand of it all hope to be saved by a Christ incarnate but alas they know not what a Christ incarnate is in the general possibly they can tell you he was a Man but if you examine them about particulars what woful ignorance will you find in them is not this to be greatly bewail'd Nay go even to Saints themselves how scant and dimme is their light and knowledge about this none can know it fully some know nothing of it they who know something 't is God knows but very little in comparison of what they might they wade but ankle deep into this great depth is there not need therefore of this advice to stir you up to the studying of Christ as sent in the flesh O that you would study other things less and this more that you would every day with all due sobriety be prying searching diving into this mystery of a God manifested in the flesh so the Angels do this is one of those things which they desire to look into 1 Pet. 1.12 and we being more concern'd in it than they shall not we be looking into it David says Psal 111.2 The works of the Lord are great sought out of all them that have pleasure therein here 's a great work indeed the greatest that ever was done by God many great and glorious things he hath done but the sending of his own Son in our flesh exceeds them all now shall not this be sought out by us Things are to be studyed according to their excellency in themselves and their influence upon the good of others there are in a very eminent manner both of these inducements in the Incarnation of Christ to draw out our most serious endeavours after the knowledge of it for what so excellent in it self so beneficial to Man as that It stands very high in the place and reference which it bears in and to the Gospel 't is the Soul and Spirit the marrow and kernel of the whole Gospel one of the highest discoveries which the Gospel makes all the Articles of Faith saith * Dr. Sibbs o◠1 Tim. 3.16 p. 65. one stoop and vail to it and if so what a necessity doth this lay upon you to search as narrowly into it as ever you can Pray do not object the mysteriousness of the thing as if it was so much above you that you were not to meddle with it for 1. Though it be a great mystery yet 't is a mystery in a great measure revealed 2. The more mysterious it is the more need there is of the most diligent inquisition into it 3. 'T is a mystery to curb curiosity and Pride but not to stifle sober and modest enquiries Further be much in meditating upon and contemplating of Christ as sent in the flesh You are to study him that you may know more of him to meditate upon him that you may draw out and improve what you do know O Sirs he that is in your Nature in Heaven should he not be very much in your hearts here on earth A Christ incarnate how should our Souls be swallowed up in thinking of him as such What doth the whole world afford so deserving of our most fixed thoughts is there any flower in Natures garden out of which such sweetness may be suck'd what divine comfort what heavenly delights must needs flow from hence to the Soul that is much in the contemplation of it Is the foundation of our eternal happiness laid in it and shall we not mind it is it a thing so rare so unparallel'd and yet shall it be seldom in our thoughts What fools are we to suffer our selves to be so much taken up with trifles and shadows when we might live in the daily view of Christ God-Man why should an empty perishing world engross our thoughts when we have such an object as a Jesus incarnate to contemplate why do we dwell so much upon fleshly things of a deceiving and defiling nature when the flesh-assuming Christ the spotless and undefiled flesh of the holy Jesus is either not at all regarded or very hastily pass'd over 'T is said of Isaac Gen. 24.63 He went out to meditate in the field O Christians what a spacious and delicious field is Christ's Humane Nature for you to meditate in and upon O that you would go out frequently and so do You say sometimes you would imploy your thoughts in divine Meditation and Contemplation but you cannot call to mind a proper object for it or you are presently on ground and want matter for your thoughts to work upon 'pray when 't is so fix upon the Word as made Flesh there 's a fit and
of conformity and likeness to it so we may God may become very man but man cannot become very God he may be like to God by grace and holiness but that 's all thus we are to understand some passages of the * Factus est Deus Homo ut Homo fieret Deus Aug. de Nativ Divinitas Verbi aequalis Patri facta est particeps mortalitatis nostrae non de suo sed de nostro ut nos efficeremur participes Deitatis ejus non de nostro sed de ipsuis Aug. tom 3. p. 1051. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athan. de Incarn Verb. p. 108. l. 1. Antients which seem to be very high Now this is that which I would have you to labour after that as Christ hath taken of yours so you may receive of his as he was made like to you in what is proper to Man so you according to your capacity may be made like to him in what is proper to God Be thankful both for the thing it self and also for the revelation of it 7. Be thankful not in a common ordinary formal manner but in the most lively enlarged raised manner that is possible Where the mercy is high and great the thankfulness must bear some proportion to it Did Christ condescend to take your flesh for such gracious ends O where is your praising and magnifying of God should not the whole Soul be summon'd in to give its most united acknowledgement of so signal a mercy The Angels never reaped that advantage by his Incarnation which we do and yet as soon as ever that took place they were at praising-work Luk. 2.13 14. Suddenly there was with the Angels a multitude of the heavenly Host praising God and saying Glory to God in the highest c. Good old Zachary began his Prophesie with thanksgiving Luk. 1.68 69. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people c. and Simeon upon the sight of Christ in the Flesh was transported with joy Luk. 2.29 c. Then took he him up in his arms and blessed God and said Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace according to thy word For mine eyes have seen thy Salvation Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel To move you to this thankfulness I can say no more than what I have already said let but that be consider'd and you will daily heartily with the most raised affections bless God for a Christ incarnate And as you should do this for the thing it self so also for the revelation of it in the Gospel where the mystery which was kept secret since the world began is now made manifest as the Apostle speaks Rom. 16.25 26. This we had never known if God had not there revealed it and the deeper is the mystery the higher is his mercy in the disclosing of it * Matth. 13.11 To you 't is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven to others 't is not so how little doth the greatest part of the world know of a God in Flesh Nature may discover a God but 't is Scripture only which discovers God-man now why is that revealed to you which is hid to so many Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight Matth. 11.26 Nay further you have the clear revelation of this what was hid in darker Prophesies and Types to the Fathers under the Old-Testament is how under the New made as evident to you as the light of the noon-day you do with * 2 Cor. 3 18◠open face behold the truth and glory of Christ's Manhood you live under the dayes of the Son of Man that which others expected and waited for and saw but †Heb. 11.13 afar off is now accomplished and made good to you Under the Law believers looked for the Son of God in flesh you under the Gospel look on the Son of God in flesh their language was I shall see him but not now I shall behold him but not nigh as Balaam prophesied Numb 24.17 but under the Gospel the language is That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life For the life was manifested and we have seen it c. 1 Joh. 1.1 2. I may say to you what Christ once did to his Disciples Luk. 10.23 24. Blessed are the eyes which see the things which ye see For I tell you that many Prophets and Kings have desir'd to see those things which ye see and have not seen them and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them O put the thing and the revelation thereof together how should God for both be magnified by us had we as many tongues as members was the whole body turn'd into this one member yet we should not be able for this high and glorious mercy sufficiently to speak out and celebrate the praises of the most high God as * Si certè omnia membra nostra verterentur in linguas ad rependendum tibi debitas laudes nequaquam sufficeret exiguitas nostra Aug. medit cap. 15. Austine pathetically expresses it So much for this Second Vse by way of Exhortation The third and last is for Comfort 3. Use The point in hand is every way as fruitful for Consolation as for Exhortation For Comfort◠to Believers Christ sent in flesh made flesh what abundance of matter is wrap'd up in this for the heightning of the true believers joy I have brought you to the very spring-head of divine Consolation O that you might feel it flowing forth and running into your Souls Abraham rejoyced to see Christ's day the day of his Incarnation he saw it and was glad Joh. 8.56 let me tell you you see that about it which he never saw will not you rejoyce and be glad Fear not said the Angel to the Shepherds for behold I bring you good tydings of great joy which shall be to all people what were these good tydings why Vnto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. Luk. 2.10 11. Christ born the Son of God incarnate good tydings indeed blessed be God that they were ever brought to our ears surely such tydings call for great joy If God would please to open your eyes to let you see what there is in a Christ sent in flesh to fix your thoughts upon it to help you to make the best improvement of it I cannot but assure my self that your hearts would be brimful of Comfort that your fears would vanish like the dark cloud before the bright-shining Sun that instead of your sad despondencies of Spirit you would triumph in Christ and lift up your heads with joy O how injurious are they to the Saints in their heavenly
directè solum tollebant reatum ratione poenae temporalis in figurâ tantum promitterent piis effectum Spiritualem aeternum puta ablationem reatus aeterni five poenae infernalis Vossius de Idolol l. 1. p. 297. virtue and efficacy which was in them was all derived from and did all depend upon this great Sacrifice the Lord Jesus Alas what could they do by any inherent virtue in themselves for the expiating of Sin and pacifying of God! Heb. 10.4 It is not possible that the blood of Bulls and Goats should take away Sins how often doth the Apostle go over this viz. the weakness of the Levitical Sacrifices with respect to expiation and atonement doubtless whatever virtue or efficacy was in them in order to the production of these effects it wholly depended upon Christ the Sacrifice that was to come Yet here I would not be misunderstood in such a sense I do not make the Law-Sacrifices to be meer types or altogether weak for as to that which the Apostle calls the purifying of the flesh Heb. 9.13 they were more than types and had more than * See Dr. Stillingfleete in his Discourse concerning the True Reason of Christ's Sufferings p. 423. c. a typical expiation and with respect to that by virtue of God's institution they were able to effect it But besides this there was the making of persons perfect as pertaining to the Conscience the purging of the Conscience c. Heb. 9.9 14. now as to this their strength was wholly derived and their use wholly typical By the purifying of the Flâ—â—â— is meant exemption from those Civil and Ecclesiastical penalties which upon such transgressions of the Law the Jews were lyable to God gave them with respect to their polity such and such Laws which if any did break they were so and so to be punished yet he was so gracious to them as to allow in several Cases the offering of Sacrifices in order to the expiating of their guilt and the preventing of the punishment threatned to them as they stood in such a politick capacity therefore as to this Sacrifices had a real efficiency and also a full efficacy By the making perfect as pertaining to the Conscience is meant the doing away of Sins guilt in the sight of God the setting of things right betwixt God and the Sinner the pacifying of his wrath securing from eternal punishments now as to this the Mosaical Sacrifices could do nothing here they were meer types and altogether weak this was to be done by the alone Sacrifice of Christ So that whereas Some do argue against the Sacrifices under the Law as not prefiguring Christ because they had no power or virtue in them to take away Sin I answer 1. As to the taking away of external guilt and obligation to external punishment so far they had a power 2. Suppose they had had * This made good by Jacob ad Portum contra Ostorod p. 468. Turretin de Sat. Christi p. 237. none at all yet for all that they might have had this use as I hope the brazen Serpent was a real type and prefiguration of Christ in reference to his Spiritual healing of the poor Sin-stung Soul and yet that of it self had no virtue at all to bring about that effect which should bear any analogie unto the thing typified 4. That those old Sacrifices had a special reference to Christ the great Sacrifice is evident from this because with him they * Cum pro misso Messiâ ince perunt Sacrificia cum Messiâ defuncto defuncta sunt c. Franzius Disp 10. thes 98. See him also Disp 21. p. 757. began and with him they ended For as soon as ever Christ had been exhibited in that primitive Promise Gen. 3.15 that the seed of the woman should bruise the Serpents head c. immediately upon this as Divines do not only conjecture but prove Sacrifices did commence and as soon as he himself came and had offered himself upon the Cross as the true Sacrifice within a very little while the Jewish Sacrifices ceas'd Within a few years after their Temple was destroy'd and with that all their Sacrifices expir'd yea in process of time though †The full story in Socrates l. 3. c. 20. Sozom. l. 5. c. 22. Julian gave them encouragement to reedifie the Temple for this very end that Sacrifices might again be used and the Jews thereupon endeavoured to their utmost so to do yet God from Heaven blasted them in all their attempts in a miraculous and extraordinary manner ‖ Vide Cyprian adversus Judaeos l. 1. c. 16. Tertull. contra Marcion l. 2. O the true Sacrifice was come therefore there shall be no more use of what was but typical thereof as the dark shades of the night vanish when the Sun itself arises The Heathen Oracles entrench'd too much upon Christ's Prophetical Office and therefore at his coming they must * Reade Plutarch de Oraculorum defectu p. 409. cease and Sacrifices did as much entrench upon his Priestly Office and the oblation of himself and therefore after his Death they shall and did cease too 'T was prophesied of the Messiah that he should cause the Sacrifice and the Oblation to cease Dan. 9.27 and Heb. 10.8 9. Above when he said Sacrifice and Offering and burnt Offerings and offering for Sin thou wouldest not neither hadst pleasure therein which are offered by the Law Then said he Lo I come to do thy will O God He taketh away the first that he may establish the second that 's the observation which the Apostle makes upon it And this very thing the ceasing of Sacrifices was reveal'd to some amongst the Jews themselves for in the Age before Christ's coming they had got this Prophesie amongst them †Vorstius ex Jalcutt ad finem Ezrae c. Sic consentiunt in abolitionem Sacrificiorum Alting Shiloh p. 423. Omnes oblationes cessabunt in futuro saeculo in the Age that is next to come all Sacrifices shall cease And if there be not something extraordinary in the case why do the modern Jews they knowing how express and positive God's institution and command is about Sacrifices live in the omission of them for as to that which ‖ Buxtorf Synag Judaica c. 20. p. 357. some speak of as to their annual Sacrificing even now at the time of the great Expiation I cannot give any great credit to it Let not any think that all this Discourse concerning the reference of the antient Sacrifices to Christ the true Sacrifice is unnecessary for I have gained two things by it 1. That the Lord Jesus is the great Sacrifice all former Sacrifices pointing to him as the end matter substance * Omnia haec suo modo in typo facta perfectissimè in Christo praestita sunt in veritate reipsa c. utpote qui mortis suae Sacrificio peccata nostra delevit ab irâ Dei
of ignorance committed through incogitancy inadvertency humane infirmity but for great and grievous sins such as were committed against knowledge or willingly and willfully they did not free from their guilt the * Vid. Calov Socin proflig p. 625. Lubbert contra Socin Hoorneb Socin confut p. 602. Turretin de Sat. Christi p. 226. Stegm Photin p. 282. O. against B. p. 474. p 469. latter assert and defend the contrary And not without very good and weighty reasons for if we look into the annual expiatory Sacrifice we find that all sins were expiated by it Levit. 16.21 Aaron shall lay his hands upon the head of the live Goat and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions in all their sins putting them upon the head of the Goat c. And the Goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited 30. On that day shall the Priest make and atonement for you to cleanse you that ye may be clean from all your sin before the Lord. 34. And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year And as it was thus in the publick Sacrifices for all the people so also in the private Sacrifices for particular persons therefore as you reade of the * Of the difference of these two Chataath and Asham much is written Fagius makes the one to refer to sins of Omission the other to sins of Commission In Levit. 4 2 Others make the Asham to point to sins particularly enumerated Chataath to sins in the general See Dr. O. Exerc. 24. on the Heb. p. 317. Dr. Stillingst against Crellius p. 474. But the most distinguish them as one was for Sins of Ignorance the other for Sins knowingly and willingly committed Vid. Petit. Var. Lect. l. 2. c. 8. Saubert de Sacrif c. 3. p. 65. Chataath the Sin-offering which was appointed for Sins of Ignorance Levit. 4.2 13. 22. 27. so of the Asham the Trespass-offering which was appointed for sins committed knowingly and willingly such as were of a more high and hainous nature as falshood in the detaining of what was deposited lying violence perjury c. Levit. 6.2 3 c. were not these great and horrid sins and yet God appointed Sacrifices for the expiation of them Numb 5.6 When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit to do a trespass against the Lord and that person be guilty Then they shall confess their sin c. The Priest is said Heb. 5.1 to be ordained in things pertaining to God that he may offer both gifts and Sacrifices for sins 't is set down without any exception or limitation so Heb. 7.27 'T is true which the Adversaries make great use of the Apostle sets it forth by the errors of the people Heb. 9.7 Into the Second went the High Priest alone once every year not without blood which be offered for himself and for the errors of the people But then you must know that by these errors he means not only smaller sins but all whatsoever even such as were of a very crimson die And the Greek word * Acts 3.17 13.27 1 Tim. 1 13. 2 Pet. 2.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here rendred by errors with the Hebrew word †1 Sam. 26.21 Job 6.24 Psal 119.21 See Franz Schol. Sacrif Disp 6. th 60. Scagag do often point to great and grievous sins therefore why should we limit it to sins of a lower size and stature especially if we consider that in that Sacrifice to which the Apostle here plainly refers the expiation was general of all sins as you heard but now out of Levit. 16. And 't is very true too that for Sins which were committed with an high hand contumaciously in open defiance of God c. there he would not admit of a Sacrifice for the expiating of sins so circumstantiated Numb 15.27 c. If any Soul sin through ignorance then he shall bring a She-goat And the Priest shall make an atonement for the Soul that sinneth ignorantly when he sinneth by ignorance before the Lord to make an atonement for him c. But the Soul that doth ought presumptuously the same reproacheth the Lord and that soul shall be cut off from among his people because he hath despised the Word of the Lord that Soul shall utterly be cut off his iniquity shall be upon him Heb. 10.26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more Sacrifice for sins But a certain fearful looking for of Judgment c. But this doth not weaken the truth of what I have said viz. that even great offences were expiated by Sacrifices because they might be such and yet not come up to this sinning with an high hand and wilfully against the Lord and thereupon might be expiable Were there no sins of a middle nature 'twixt such as were of meer infirmity and such as were committed perversly and obstinately out of open contempt and defiance of God surely there were you have had instances of such and was there no expiation for such the contrary hath been prov'd To clear up this whole matter I would lay down three things 1. When we say that the Law-Sacrifices did take off the guilt of all sins yea of great sins we alwayes except such as God himself did except where he was pleas'd to make a limitation there we must do the same but not otherwise 2. 'T is evident that as to some sins God did make an exception For the case stood thus * See Grotius de Sat. Christi p. 122. it pleased the Lord to give excellent Laws to the people of Israel those Laws he back'd with a severe penalty that penalty was death which was due upon every violation of the Law it being so yet out of his great compassion he who being the Law-giver might therefore relax and alter his Laws and the penalties annexed to them as seem'd good to him would not proceed in the utmost rigour but he would graciously moderate and mitigate his threatnings And therefore though death was incur'd by every sin yet it shall not accordingly be inflicted but a substitution shall be admitted of the Beast shall die but the Sinner himself shall live Upon this God appointed Sacrifices wherein the punishment due to the Offender should be laid upon the thing sacrific'd and thereby his Sin expiated Well! but though he will be so gracious as thus to admit of the expiation of sin yet partly out of respect to his own honour and partly out of respect to the Jewish politie Civil and Ecclesiastical he will do this with some kind of restriction that is he will admit of Sacrifices for the expiating of some sins but not of all The Murderer was to die and no Sacrifice to be accepted of on his behalf Numb 35.30 31 32. with reference to
this is not deny'd neither then I ask what need is there of any additional or supplemental Satisfaction if he hath paid the utmost farthing what hath the Creature then left to pay but only duty love thankfulness c. The PAPISTS speak very high concerning this Satisfaction of our Saviour for they say 't is not only sufficient and full but redundant and overflowing they talk of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a superfluity or pleonasm and overplus there 's enough in it to spare and this overplus they make to be the matter of that treasure which is deposited in the Churches-hands out of which the POPE fetches his Indulgencies That speech of CLEMENT the Sixth is famous One drop of Christ's blood was sufficient for the redemption of all mankind as if all the rest might have been spar'd which in effect speaks the Father to be too profuse and prodigal of his Sons blood But notwithstanding all these high words they are not contented with Christ's Satisfaction alone but there must be some assumenta some of their own Satisfactions to peece with it We do not greatly fancy such high expressions yet as to the thing we go higher than they for we fully acquiesce in our Lord 's most perfect satisfaction without adding any thing under the notion of satisfaction thereunto All that they say is this Christ hath fully satisfied with respect to guilt and to eternal condemnation but not with respect to teniporal punishments Answ The vanity and unsoundness of this distinction hath been already refuted all punishment resulting from guilt if there be a full expiation of that the punishment ceases let the kind of it be what it will But where do we find in the Word any such restriction or limitation that Christ satisfied for eternal not for temporal punishments did he not bear the one as well as the other Isa 53.4 Surely he hath born our grief and carried our sorrows c. and did he not take off from the Sinner whatever he bare in his own person so far as satisfaction is concern'd As to that Question of * De Purgat l. 1. c. 10. Si Christus satisfecit pro omni culpâ poenâ cur adhuc tam multa mala patimur Bellarmine If Christ hath satisfied for our whole guilt and punishment why after the remission of the guilt do we suffer so many evils it hath been already answered they are but chastisements not punishments corrections to us not satisfactions to God 4. Take one thing further To satisfie an offended God is Christ's peculiar an act wherein no Creature must share with him Humane Satisfactions do not only derogate from the perfection of his satisfaction in which the strength of the former Head did lie but they also entrench upon the confinement of it to himself 't is for Man to Sin but 't is only for the Son of God to satisfie this carries glory in it wherein there must be no partner or corrival with Christ Heb. 1.3 When he had by himself purged our sins mark that by himself he he alone could do such a thing as this What can Creatures do in God-satisfying work can they do any thing for themselves that shall amount to a compensation for faults committed 't is not satisfaction unless it be the payment of the whole debt but alas they cannot pay so much as a farthing they who when they have done and suffered all they can must say they are * Luk. 17.10 unprofitable are very unfit persons to compensate injurys done to God And if they cannot satisfie for themselves much-less can they do it for †Os 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil in Psa 48. others as he that cannot pay his own debts is very unfit to pay the debts of others the wise Virgins had but just oyl enough for their own lamps they could spare none for the supply of the foolish Virgins Matth. 25.8 9. There 's a great difference betwixt suffering for the good of others and satisfying for the fault of others a Paul may do the former 2. Tim. 2.10 Col. 1.24 a Christ only can do the latter Obj. ‖ Bellarm. de Poen l. 4. c. 15. But Christ satisfied that the Saints might satisfie Answ we desire a Scripture-proof of that otherwise our negation is as authentick as their affirmation Obj. But Christ's Satisfaction is apply'd by the Saints satisfactions Answ We find no means of applying his Satisfaction but only the Word and Sacraments without and the Spirit working faith and repentance within Obj. But we say they make the Saints only subordinate not co-ordinate Agents with Christ in the matter of Satisfaction Answ 1. Even that is too much 2. They go higher for their great * Amonst others see Vasquez in 3 part Thom. Qu. 94. Art 2. 3. Writers maintain that the Saints apart by and of themselves without being beholden to Chrst's merit or satisfaction may as to temporal punishments make full satisfaction These are but very weak pretensions to build an Opinion upon which doth so much entrench upon the glory of Christ's person and the perfection of his Sacrifice There is but one Argument for humane Satisfactions which is considerable and that is that vast profit those large incomes and revenues which this brings in to the dispensers of them and this I confess I cannot answer were but these taken away I assure my self this Controversie would soon be at an end 't is the satisfying of corrupt men in their pride avarice filthy lucre rather than the satisfying of a punishing God that is at the bottom of these Disputes I look upon this point with its appurtenances to have as much of the core and venome of POPERY in it as any one point whatsoever therefore I could not omit to speak a little about it but for those who desire to look further into it to see the things which I have but touch'd upon fully made out and vindicated the Arguments to the contrary answered they may peruse the * Dallzus de Poenis Sat. Sudeel adversus humanas Satisfactiones River Sum. Còntrov Tract 3. Qu. 12. 13. Thes Salmur p. 2. p. 61. c. Thes Sedan Vol. 1. p. 594. c. Chamier t. 3. l. 23. Chemnit Exam. l. 2. sess 4. c. 8. Calvin Inst l. 3. c. 4. Turretin de Satisf Disp 11. p. 305. c. Authors cited in the margent Of the true Nature and Ends of the Lord's Supper 4. Fourthly hence ariseth matter of information concerning the true Nature and Ends of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper when I have spoken something to this I hope I shall be off of all bryars The difference betwixt PAPISTS and PROTESTANTS was not so great about the foregoing Head but 't is every way as great about this * Concil Trident Sess 22. c. 1. c. they hold that in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper or Mass as they are pleas'd to call it under the Elements
This is my body which is given for you c. and this is my blood which is shed c. did he mean that giving of his body or that shedding of his blood which was done just at the Sacrament that we utterly deny What then did he mean why that which would shortly be when he should die on the Cross then his boody should be broken and his blood poured out in a real and substantial manner but not till then And this Interpretation is not at all weakened by Christ's expressing himself in the Present Tense which is given which is shed it being usual in the Scripture to put that Tense for the Paulo-post-futurum and I hope this Answer will not be either opposed or slighted by our Adversaries since the Vulgar translation it self renders the words in the Future tense which shall be given shall be shed yea in their Canon Missae too they are so rendred 2. But Secondly having shewn what the Lord's Supper is not I am now to shew what it is As to that in brief 't is a lively representation solemn commemoration of that Sacrifice which the Lord Jesus offered up to God when he dy'd upon the Cross 't is not a Sacrifice but a memorial of a Sacrifice herein lies the nature of this Ordinance and this was the great end of Christ in the instituting of it Do this saith he in remembrance of me Luk. 22.19 As oft as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do shew the Lord's death till he come 1 Cor. 11.26 This too was the great end of the Passeover unto which the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper succeeds Exod. 12.14 And this shall be unto you for a memorial Great mercies have alwayes had their * See Vines on the Sacrament p. 143 144. memorials that they might not be forgotten what a mercy was Christ's dying and sacrificing himself what glorious and unspeakable benefits do believers receive thereby therefore least this should wither and decay in their memories this Ordinance was appointed to be a standing memorial thereof And this is that notion which the †This prov'd by Morn de Euch. l. 3. c. 4 5. with divers others FATHERS had of the Sacrament though some would fain draw them to be of another Opinion then which nothing more false 't is not to be deny'd but that they very often did call it a Sacrifice yea sometimes they speak of ‖ Euseb Demonstr Evang. l. 1. c. ult unbloody Sacrifices but did they thereby mean any real propitiatory unbloody Sacrifice in the POPISH sense no they explain themselves by the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Hom. 17. in Ep. ad Heb. Quid ergo nos nonne per singulos dies offerimus offerimus quidem sed recordationem facientes mortis ejus Ambros in Ep. ad Heb. c. 10. Illud quod ab hominibus appellatur Sacrificium signum est veri Sacrificii in quo caro Christi post ascensionem per Sacramentum memoriae celebratur August de Civit. Dei l. 10. c. 15. Vide etiam contra Faustum Manichaeum l. 20. c. 21 Theodoret. in c. 8. Ep. ad Heb. Sacrificium quod quotidiè in Ecclesiâ offertur non est aliud à Sacrificio quod ipse Christus obtulit sed ejus commemoratio Aquin. in 3. p. Qu. 22. Art 3. resp ad 2. Illud quod offertur consecratur vocatur Sacrificium oblatio quia memoria est repraesentatio veri Sacrificii sanctae immolationis factae in arâ crucis c. Lombard L. 4. Dist 12. commemorating of Christ's Sacrifice by the offering up of praises thanksgivings penitential tears to God the like in which respects only they did so speak of it To this also we may add the Lord's Supper is not only a memorial of but a * See Dr. Cudworths true Notion of the Lord's Supper chap. 5. Feast upon Christ's Sacrifice the believing Soul doth therein by Faith feed and feast it self upon a crucify'd Saviour Antiently Sacrifices were attended with †Stuckius de Sacrif p. 145. Rosin Antiq. Rom. l. 3. c. 33. Ubi quod Diis tributum erat conslagrasient ad epulas ipsi convivia vertebantur c. Feasts nullum Sacrificium sine epulo as soon as the Sacrifice was over men used to have a Feast to eat and drink together and this custom prevail'd both amongst ‖ Dr. C. chap. 2. Jews and Gentiles Gen. 13.54 Then Jacob offered Sacrifice upon the Mount and called his brethren to eat bread c. Exod. 18.12 And Jethro Moses father-in-law took burnt offerings and Sacrifices for God and Aaron came and all the Elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses father-in-law before God See also Exod. 34.15 Numb 25.2 1 Cor. 10.18 c. Now parallel to this after Christ's Sacrifice there 's the Sacramental Feast wherein the Communicant doth spiritually feed upon the body and blood of the Lord Jesus eats and drinks of the bread and water of Life here is not oblatio but participatio Sacrificii The Apostle having spoken to the Sacrifice Christ our Passeover is sacrificed for us he presently subjoyns the Feast which was to go along with that Sacrifice Therefore let us keep the Feast not with old leaven c. 1 Cor. 5.7 8. At the Sacrament there is not only a commemoraion of Christ's death but there is the Christians fetching out of the sweet and comfort thereof for inward strength and nourishment Yet further the Lord's Supper is a Seal of all those blessings which Christ by his Death and Sacrifice did purchase for his but this I must pass over I have been very long upon this Fourth Inferenee but no longer than what the Nature of the thing and our present state did make to be necessary 't is highly requisite that we should all have right apprehensions concerning the blessed Sacrament therefore to help you therein and to obviate all POPISH delusions I have been thus large upon this Head The happiness of Believers under the Gospel above that of them who liv'd under the Law 5. Fifthly I infer the happiness of such who live under the Gospel above those who liv'd under the Law 'T is none of the least of our mercies that we are cast under the Evangelical rather than under the Legal administration Old-Testament believers were the elder brethren but the younger those who live under the New-Testament are the best provided for For the making out of this I shall not insist upon the comparing of Sacraments and Sacraments Priesthood and Priesthood Priviledges and Priviledges but only touch upon the matter of Sacrifices In reference to which we have the advantage in sundry respects for they in a manner had but the shell 't is that we have the kernel they had but the shadow 't is we that have the substance they had but the type 't is we that have the antitype All their Sacrifices were but darker adumbrations of that
the Apostle opposes Christ's Sacrifice Vers 5 6 c. and of that he saith Vers 10. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all Vers 11 12. And every Priest standeth daily ministring and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sins But this man after he had offered one Sacrifice for sins for ever sat down on the right hand of God Vers 14. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified The HEATHENS had their Sacrifices which they call'd * Succidaneae dictae si permis hostiis litatum non erat aliae post easdem ductae hostiae caedebantur quae quasi prioribus jam caesis luendi piaculi gratia subdebantur succedebant Gyrald Synt. 17. p. 465. Saubert de Sacrif c. 19. p. 477. Hostiae succedaneae which they offered up to their GODS in case those which they had offered before did not succeed the Lord Jesus by his one Sacrifice did so effectually do what he designed and the Sinner needed as that there is no room for or need of any hostia succedanea 4. The Apostle makes it out from the sanctity of Christ's Person and the perfection of his Sacrifice The Law-Priests offered first for their own sins and then for the sins of the people Heb. 7.27 they ought as for the people so also for themselves to offer for sins Heb. 5.3 the High Priest went once every year into the second Tabernacle not without blood which he offered for * Levit. 16.11 himself and for the errors of the people Heb. 9.7 But now as to Christ he was holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners Heb. 7.26 he had no sin of his own to expiate by his Sacrifice he was made sin but yet he knew no sin 2 Cor. 5.21 Under the Law both Priest and Sacrifice were to be perfect i. e. without any open and external blemish as to the first reade Levit. 21.17 to the end as to the second God gave several precepts about it the Paschal Lamb was to be without blemish Exod. 12.5 the oblation for Vows and for Free-will-offerings the Sacrifice of Peace-offerings were to be without blemish perfect otherwise they should not be accepted Levit. 22.18 to 25. so the red Heifer was to be without spot and wherein there was no blemish Numb 19.2 so the Firstlings of the Cattle Deut. 15.21 and all Sacrifices whatsoever Deut 17.1 And this the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athen. Deipn l. 15. c. 5. c. quas cum immolabant nisi purae integraeque fuissent minus proficere putabant Gyrald p. 491. HEATHENS themselves made conscience of in their Sacrifices In correspondency to all this in a moral and spiritual sense our Lord's Sacrifice was perfect without the least blemish he offered himself without spot to God Heb. 9.14 he was a Lamb without blemish and without spot 1 Pet. 1.19 5. The excellency of Christ's Sacrifice appears from the great effects of it he put away sin by the sacrifice of himself Heb. 9.26 so that there is no more offering for sin Heb. 10.18 being made perfect he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 by this Sacrifice sin was condemned abolished expiated God appeased the Law satisfied †Heb. 9.12 eternal redemption obtained O what an excellent Sacrifice was Christ's Sacrifice and consequently what an excellent Priesthood was Christ's Priesthood Of the Evil of Sin 7. Seventhly was Christ a Sacrifice for sin in order to the condemning of it and could it be condemn'd by nothing short of that hence we are informed that Sin is a very evil thing and of a very heinous nature Had it not been a notorious and capital Offender would God have condemn'd and thus condemn'd it would he so severely have punished it in the flesh of his own Son must even this Son be offered up upon the Cross as a Sacrifice for the expiation of it O what a cursed heinous thing is sin that had made such a breach between God and his Creatures that Christ must die or else no reconciliation that had so highly struck at the Honour of the great God that nothing below the sharpest sufferings of his dearest Son could make Satisfaction for it its poison and venom was such that there was no cure for the Sinner into whom that poyson had got but only the precious blood of Christ himself God had such an hatred and abhorring of it as that for the * Grot. de Sat. Christi p. 67. testifying thereof even he whom he lov'd from all eternity must be made a †Gal. 3.13 Curse what a demonstration was this of the transcendency of the evil of Sin Would you take a full view thereof pray look upon it in and through this glass a sacrific'd Christ gives the clearest the fullest representation of sins hainousness True we may see much of that in Sins own Nature as 't is the transgression of God's most holy and most excellent Law as also in the threatnings which are denounc'd against it and further in the dreadful Effects of it both here and hereafter the loss of God's image and favour and eternal damnation is it not a very evil thing What a mischievous thing hath this sin been it cast the falling Angels out of Heaven into Hell and turn'd them into Devils it thrust Adam out of Paradise made God to be an enemy to him who but now was his favourite cut off the entail of happiness and instead thereof entail'd misery and a curse upon all his posterity it made God at once to drown a whole world it laid Sodom in ashes levell'd Jerusalem it-self to the ground caused God to forsake his own people the Jews c. 't would be endless to enumerate all the sad mischiefs of Sin Now I say in these things we may see much of the evil of it but not so much as what we see in the Death and Sufferings of the Lord Christ there there is the highest discovery and fullest representation of it He to be * Isa 53.3 a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief he to be bruised and broken yea and his Father to be †Isa 53.10 pleased in the bruising of him he in his own person to undergo the Laws penalty to tread the ‖ Isa 63.3 winepress of the wrath of God he to be * Phil. 2.8 obedient to death even the death of the Cross he to cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me he to be kill'd and slain and †Acts 5.30 hang'd upon a tree and all this for sin O what an excess of evil doth this hold forth to be in it Indeed that the poor Creatures should be so destroy'd in the Law-Sacrifices that so many millions of them they in themselves being harmless and innocent should die and be sacrific'd for mans sin this represents very much of
the Gospel answers to the hyssop under the Law Well! after our Saviours being an offering for sin as we have nothing further to do but only through Grace enabling of us * Vid. Cameron Misc p. 529. to perform these Evangelical conditions so nothing less than that will serve our turn for a share and interest in the great effects and fruits thereof Frequent application to be made to this Sacrifice 6. Sixthly you are not to rest in some one single application of your selves or in the first application of your selves at your first believing to this great Sacrifice for expiation and remission but you are to repeat and renew it daily For though 't is true all the guilt of believers is removed thereby yet that is done in this method 't is removed as 't is contracted and as the benefit of it is accordingly drawn forth by the fresh applications of it O do not rest in what you did at your first Conversion but be you every day applying your selves to a sacrific'd Christ new guilt must have new pardons and daily sins call for daily expiations 'T is observable that Christ is set forth not only by the yearly expiatory Sacrifices or by those that were but seldom offered but also by the daily Sacrifices Joh. 1.29 Behold the Lamb of God c. We should not lie down in our beds at night before we have applyed our selves to a dying Christ for the cleansing of our persons from the guilt of the sins of the day past Yea we should never go to God in duty but we should revive upon our thoughts and make use of this Sacrifice Under the Law the blood was to be sprinkled even upon the Mercy-seat Levit. 16.14 God sits upon a Throne of Mercy but even that requires the blood of Christ no mercy from him no acceptance with him can be expected but upon the intervention of this Sacrifice God and Christ to be admired and adored upon this 7. Seventhly Upon this Sacrifice and what followed thereupon God and Christ are highly to be admired and adored by you This holy admiration hath been already again again press'd upon you under the foregoing gracious acts mention'd in the Text but surely that which is now before us doth as much deserve and call for it as they or any other whatsoever Is God to be admired because he sent his own Son because he sent this Son in flesh yea in the likeness of sinful flesh and is he not to be admired also for his making of him to be a Sacrifice for sin and for the condemning of sin in his flesh doubtless he is What Christ a Sacrifice a Sacrifice for such as we such great things brought about thereby O what matter is here to draw out admiration what so great so wonderful as this how much are the highest thoughts the most raised affections below the greatness of this mystery It hath my Brethren been largely set before you now I would ask How are your hearts affected with it 't is very sad if we can hear of such stupendious mercy and yet be but little wrought upon under the hearing of it Pray fancy to your selves what the Angels thought of this what frame they were in when they saw the Son of God hanging and dying upon the Cross as an expiatory Sacrifice Oh you may well suppose that it fill'd them with astonishment they were even amaz'd at this strange and wonderful spectacle never such wondring in Heaven as when the Lord Jesus was thus suffering on earth now shall that be little to you which was so great to them shall they thus admire and will you who were most concern'd in the thing and the greatest gainers by it be stupid and unaffected In Christ's being a Sacrifice God on his part hath display'd and advanc'd all his Attributes yea they by this have received their utmost advancement infinite Wisdom Justice Holiness Mercy could go no higher than a Christ crucifi'd and on your part by this your work is done your happiness being every way secur'd and your misery fully prevented by this you are reconcil'd to God and God to you condemning-sin is condemn'd it-self all its guilt expiated the righteousness of the Law fulfill'd c. by a strange and unthought-of method God hath fetch'd the greatest good out of the greatest evil by Christ's dying you live all which being considered is there not sufficient ground why you and all should admire and adore God And amongst other things pray in special admire his love his transcendent superlative matchless love what manner of love was this that God should give his Son to be a sacrifice for you 1 Joh. 4.10 Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins Rom. 5.8 But God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Had not Christ been a person infinitely dear to God the thing had not been so much but that he should devote him to be sacrific'd whom he so dearly lov'd there 's the incomprehensibleness of his love 'T is reported of the PHOENICIANS that in their Sacrifices they did not use to Sacrifice an enemy or a stranger but * Porphyr do Abstin l. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some one that they had a special love for this I 'm sure was done by God in his giving of the Son of his love to be a Sacrifice for us therefore what admiration can be high enough for him When * Gen. 22.10 c. Abrahaham had the knife in his hand and was just going to offer his Son Isaac God stop'd his hand and provided a cheaper Sacrifice for him this was more than what he did for his own Son him he would have to be offered up and would admit of no other Sacrifice and when the hand of Justice was lifted up ready to destroy us then God to secure us interpos'd and found out a Sacrifice of propitiation not a Ram but his only begotten Son O the heights bredths lengths depths of his love And must not Christ be admired also surely yes was not his love too admirable as well as the Fathers Oh well might the Apostle say Gal. 2.20 Who loved me and gave himself for me Eph. 5.2 And walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour Vers 25. as Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it Rev. 1.5 Vnto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood this was loving indeed When the * Joh. 11.36 JEWS saw Jesus weeping over LAZARVS they said Behold how he loved him but alas what was Christs weeping over him to his dying for us what was the shedding of a few tears to the shedding of his blood how may we come with a more emphatical Behold behold how he
pleasing to God Phil. 4.18 But to do good and to communicate forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleas'd Heb. 13.16 And to summe up all holiness of heart and life that 's an excellent Sacrifice excelling all the old Law Sacrifices whatsoever 1 Sam. 15.22 Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord Behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams Micah 6.6 7 8. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God shall I come before him with burnt-offerings with calves of a year old Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousands of rivers of oyl shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God The * Vis Deos propitiare bonus esto Satis illos coluit quisquis imitatus est Senec. Ep. 9.5 Non immolationibus sanguine multo colendus est Deus sed mente purâ bono honestóque proposito Idem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Porphyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 2. p. 62. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Rhet. l. 3. with many more in Stuck de Sacrif p. 153. col 2. Saubert de Sac. c. 1. p. 4. HEATHENS themselves upon the light of Nature look'd upon moral goodness as the best and most acceptable Sacrifice I 'me sure Evangelical Holiness is so The wickedness of the Jews made God even to abhorre and slight the Sacrifices which were instituted by himself as we find Isa 1.11 c. Isa 66.3 Jer. 6.20 7.21 c. Amos 5.21 22. if we live in sin we may offer this and that to God but 't is all nothing nay that makes all our Sacrifices an abomination to him Prov. 15.8 Oh live the holy life keep the heart pure mortifie whatever is evil do good shun all excesses be heavenly in your affections in all things act in complyance with God's Nature and Will c. this will please him more than the most costly oblations which you can bring to him These are the Sacrifices which now under the Gospel we are to offer and surely we should offer them with all readiness and faithfulness our Lord having submitted to the bloody Sacrifice of himself on the Cross and left us none but these easie and delightful Sacrifices how reareadily should we close with them But so much for this Vse A third shall put an end to this Subject and that is of Comfort Was Christ a Sacrifice for sin Vse 3. For Comfort to Believers did he thereby condemn sin what doth this Truth drop but honey and sweetness to them who are in Christ I say to them who are in Christ for they are the persons only who can lay hold upon the grace contain'd in it as the non-condemnation of the person in the first verse so the condemnation of sin in this belongs only to such You that are in the number of these to you I bring glad tydings matter of great joy out of the bitter comes sweet for Christ to do die as a Sacrifice this was bitter to him but 't is sweet to you his death passion and whole humilation speak nothing to you but consolation Oh did Believers especially such as are under a troubled spirit but better understand and better improve this sin-condemning Sacrifice they would certainly have more of inward peace and comfort than now they have I must not in fist upon the particular and full drawing out of that consolatory matter which it affords therefore shall conclude with a brief review only of what the Text offers And so 1. here 's a Sacrifice for sin All men in ADAM having sinned wilfully after that they had receiv'd the knowledge of the truth there might have been no Sacrifice for their sin to allude to that Heb. 10.26 but the gracious God notwithstanding all this was pleas'd to admit of a Sacrifice yea himself to find out and ordain that Sacrifice here 's matter of comfort 2. Christ himself was this Sacrifice And if so how pleasing must it needs be to God! Eph. 5.2 and hath given himself for us an offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour I tell you there was infinitely more in this one Sacrifice to please God than there is in all your sins put them all together to displease God If Christ be the Sacrifice there must be an infinite efficacy and merit in it from the dignity of his person an infiniteness of merit must needs result if he will die and shed his blood what can be too high for you surely too there 's more in his Offering to save you than there is in Sin to damn you If he be the Sacrifice no question but the Father did accept of it and indeed of this he hath given sufficient evidence to the world not only by his carriage towards the Saints but also and chiefly by his carriage towards Christ himself for whereas of old he was wont to testifie his acceptation of the Sacrifices by consuming them by fire from heaven Gen. 15.17 Levit. 9.24 Judg. 6.21 2 Chron. 7.1 here with respect to Christ's Sacrifice he testify'd his acceptance in an higher way viz. by raising him from the dead taking him up to heaven re-admiting him into his presence and setting him at his Son had he not been well-pleased with his person and oblation Oh there 's a convincing evidence of this in his going to the Father Joh. 16.8 10. By this Sacrifice thus accepted you are made perfect as you have often heard out of Heb. 10.14 18. there 's nothing now to be done by Christ or by you but only to apply and improve what he hath already done is not this ground of strong consolation And know further for your comfort that the vertue of Christ's Offering is as great now as it was at the first his blood is as effectual with God for your good now as it was when it was just running warm from his veins and * Adeò magnum est hoc Sacrificium ut quamvis unum sit semel oblatum sufficiat ad aeternitatem Anselm so it shall be to the end of the world And that he may make the best of it he is entred into the holy place where 't is his business to present and plead the merit thereof he back 's his oblation on earth with his intercession in heaven and what can be spoken higher for your support comfort he that was the Sacrifice here is the Advocate there 3. By this Sacrifice Sin was condemn'd Sin condemn'd what a word is that that which would have condemned you and which only can condemn you that is by Christ condemn'd it-self condemning sin is condemn'd by a condemned Saviour And
as ever you can you should endeavour after perfect obedience though you cannot arrive at it Our Saviours perfect obedience may encourage us in our lamented defects but we must not thereupon stint or limit our selves in our obedience A gracious mans will is alwayes above his power he can do but little but he would do all 'T was an high commendation given to Caleb saith God of him * Numb 14.24 he followed me fully or as 't is in the Hebrew vajemalle achari he fulfilled after me and thus it is with every Caleb one that is after God's own heart as the word signifies hee 's for fulfilling after God The Apostle speaks of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fulness or fulfilling of obedience 2 Cor. 10.6 Epaphras pray'd for the Colossians Chap. 4.12 that they might be compleat in all the will of God and 't is said of Zechary and Elizabeth Luk. 1.6 they were righteous in all the commandments and ordinances of God O that it might be thus with you If streight bodies be put together there is an universal contiguity betwixt them they 'l meet and touch each the other throughout and so where the heart is sincere it will close with every part of God's Law Christians pray rejoyce in Christ's fulfilling the Laws righteousness and rest upon that only but yet in the way of duty and obedience aspire in your selves at the highest fulfilling of the Law which here you are capable of 3. Thirdly the Law-righteousness Christ hath fulfilled for you but the Gospel-righteousness you must perform your selves The Moral Law as 't was strictly and properly the Covenant of works Christ hath satisfied in his doing of what it required but the Evangelical Law requiring Faith and Repentance you your selves must satisfie Christ's obedienee to the former is made yours by imputation but as to the latter there must be your own personal and inherent obedience We reade of Christ's being made under the Law and of his fulfilling the Law but we never reade of his being made under the Gospel or fulfilling the conditions thereof no you must repent your selves believe your selves or else all that Christ hath done upon the account of the Law will not profit you I would not be mistaken in this therefore 1. I do not mean that you are to perform the Gospel conditions in your own strength was it so you might as well do what the Law as what the Gospel requires it being as easie in your own strength to obey the one as the other You your selves are to repent and believe but 't is not of your selves these are the gift of God Nor 2. do I mean that the performing of the Gospel-conditions is left to the lubricity of your Wills so as that it should be uncertain and undetermin'd whether you should perform them or not for upon the Election of God and the purchase of Christ all that do belong to him shall certainly believe and repent Nor 3. do I mean that upon the fulfilling of the Gospâ—â—-Law you should have another formal righteousness before God distinct from that which results from Chaist's obeying the Moral Law which is imputed to you but only that upon your performing of the Gospel-conditions way may be made for the application of Christ's legal obedience to you as the only thing wherein stands your righteousness these are things which might be very much enlarg'd upon but I am now in hast All therefore that I drive at is this Christ fulfilled the Moral Law for you but he never fulfilled the Gospel-Law for you you must repent and believe your selves or else you cannot rely upon the imputation of Christ's Obedience to the Law if you be impenitent and unbelieving both Law and Gospel are unfulfilled and in full force against you 'T will be an insignificant plea at the great day when the Laws righteousness shall plead against you for you to say Lord Christ fulfilled that righteousness true will God say he did so but the Gospel-righteousness was not fulfilled by you therefore what my Son did as to the other is nothing to you 4. One thing more you that are Believers take a further view of the great love of God and Christ and let the sense of it work up your hearts to the highest thankfulness Was God pleas'd to send his own Son in flesh for this very end that he might fulfil the Law and when his Son had so done doth he reckon that obedience to you as if you had done it your selves O incomprehensible infinite amazing love Was Christ willing to submit to this on these terms to take flesh O the transcendent superlative love of Christ He who made the Law to be made under the Law he who was the Lord and Soveraign to be willing to become a Subject he to undertake to do that which you could never have done and without the doing of which you must have eternally perished he to condescend to do what the Law demanded to suffer what the Law threatned what shall we say to this love surely we can never enough adore it or sufficiently bless God for it Saints did you but consider what humiliation this was in the Son of God what a dreadful enemy this Law would have been had not its righteousness been fulfilled into what a blessed state things are now brought it would certainly highly affect you with the love of Christ and engage you to love serve praise him eternally The third Vse is Comfort to the people of God Vse 3 and indeed to such here is not a little matter of rejoycing The righteousness of the Law fulfilled in us great and blessed words Did God imploy such a person in such a way for such an end that end must needs then be attained and if so what shall hurt them for whom it was attained You who believe do often fear that the Laws righteousness is ready to rise up against you you tremble at the thoughts of it when you consider how short you come of it but fear it not for in Christ 't is exactly perfectly fulfilled and that for you too in your stead that 't is as well as if you had obey'd it fully in your own persons is not here ground of Comfort You eye the imperfection of your own obedience and you do well but pray eye too the perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus which is yours by imputation There is now no condemnation to them who are in Christ why now no condemnation because now Christ hath fulfilled the Laws righteousness for such and thereupon who or what shall condemn them You are troubled because of the Law of Sin but that the Spirit hath freed you from you are troubled because of the Law of God inasmuch as you come so much short of its righteousness but that by Christ is fulfilled for you You desire a righteousness such an one as will bear you out before God here 't is for you Christ's own righteousness is yours O you may say
What this sending of Christ was not Page 289 What it was opened in Five things Page 290 How this was consistent with his equality with his Father explained Page 294 The Grounds of Christ's being sent Page 296 The Love of Father and Son to be adored upon this Page 302 c. All are to go when they are sent not before Page 307 None to rest in the external sending of Christ Page 309 Christ as sent to be believed on Page 310 Comforts from Christ's being sent Page 313 None free from Sin here Page 8 Sin a vile and base thing Page 190 The Tyranny of it Page 192 Its advantages against us Page 232 It hath not barely a Being but too great a power even in the Regenerate Page 203 The special and most prevailing Sin must be most resisted Page 222 Christ's Death the highest Demonstration of the Evil of Sin Page 541 What the Condemning of Sin is Page 460 Of the breaking of the Heart for and from Sin upon Christ's being a Sacrifice Page 546 SOCINIANS dealt with and these great Truths made good against them 1. That Christ did praeexist before he was born of the Virgin Page 284 2. That Christ was the Son of God not in respect of the things which they alledge Seven of which are instanc'd in and largely refuted but in respect of his eternal Generation Page 323 c. 3. That he who was antecedently the Son of God was in time made the Son of Man or was incarnate Page 393 c. 4. That Christ was a true and proper Expiatory Sacrifice and the true notion of his Expiation is made good gainst them Page 481 c. 5. That he made Satisfaction to the Justice of God Page 515 6. The principal Ends of Christ's Death are asserted and their Ends thereof proved not to be the principal Page 517 c. 7. That Christ is truly and Essentially God Page 349 Sons of God by Creation by Grace by Nature Page 321 Christ God's Son Page 319 Scripture attestations of it Page 319 c. Christ God's own Son Page 321 That opened Comparatively and Absolutely ibid. His bâ—ing the Natural Son of God Co-equal Co-essential Co-eternal with the Father begotten of him by eternal Generation is explained proved and largely vindicated against Opposers Page 323 c. He is not God's own Son partly in respect of eternal Generation and partly in respect of his miraculous Conception c. Page 345 c. Of the different communications of the Divine Essence from the Father to the Son and to the Spirit Page 348 Christ's Godhead inferr'd from his Sonship Page 349 How Christ's Sonship is to be studyed Page 354 c. All are to believe Christ to be the Son of God and to believe on him as such Page 358 How he is to be Honoured as the Son of God Page 363 What Comfort doth arise from Christ's Sonship Page 368 How the Spirit is the Spirit of Life Page 162 How 't is said to be in Christ Jesus Page 161 He is the Spirit of Life Formally Page 162 Effectively Page 163 c. What is meant by the Law of the Spirit Page 158 His making free from the Law of Sin opened Page 228 Of the Necessity Sufficiency Efficacy of the Spirits Power and Operation in that Page 230 c. The Spirit the sole Efficient therein Page 243 How he secures against the Law of Sin after Conversion Page 240 Deliverance from Sins power is to be expected from this Spirit and to be ascribed to him Page 244 c. Of the Spirits greatness and glory Page 241 He is greatly to be honoured Page 247 How the Spirit may be obtain'd Page 70 The Spirit taken Personally and Habitually Page 104 What it is to Walk after the Spirit Vide Walking Of Christ's Substituting himself in the Sinners stead Page 483 The true Nature and Ends of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Page 528 c. Christ sympathizes with his Members Page 80 T. The Tabernacle a Type of Christ's Body Page 389 Of the Distinction of the Persons in the Sacred Trinity Page â—87 Great relief under Troubles of Coâ—â—ence from Christ's Incarnation Page 513 U. How Sin reigns in the Understanding Page 181 How the Spirit works on the Understanding in order to freeing from the Law of Sin Page 236 Of the Union Of Three Persons in one Nature Of two Natures in one Person Of Persons where yet both Natures and Persons are distinct Page 44 Of the Hypostatical Union Page 399 Of the Sublimeness and Mysteriousness of it Page 400 Opened in Four things Page 401 c. The Mystical Union opened Page 42 c. That also is a great Mystery Page 43 Of the threefold Union 'twixt Christ and Believers Mystical Page 48 Legal Page 48 Moral Page 48 The Bonds of the former the Spirit and Faith Page 49 Several Scripture-Resemblances by which 't is set forth Page 52 c. Six Properties of it Page 54 c. How Persons may know whether they be under it Page 60 Of Natural and Spiritual Union with Christ ibid. Of External or Common and Internal or Special Union Page 61 Sinners exhorted to labour after this Union Page 68 How it may be attained Page 70 Without Union no Communion Page 69 Several Duties urged upon such who are united to Christ Page 72 c. Several Comforts directed to such Page 78 c. The Mystical Union made credible by Christ's Incarnation Page 444 W. Of Walking not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Page 88 Why the Apostle pitches upon this Evidence Page 90 Spiritual Walking not the Cause of the Priviledge but the Property of the Person to whom it belongs Page 93 The contrariety of the Two Walkings Page 95 Men must be in Christ before they can live the Spiritual Life Page 96 There alwayes was and alwayes will be different Walkers ibid. What it is to Walk after the Flesh opened Page 97 103 c. Walking in the Flesh taken in a good sense Page 98 Of the more gross and the more close Walking after the Flesh Page 120 Men dehorted from Fleshly Walking Page 121 c. The Dehortation enforced with diverse Motives Page 122 c. Directions in order to it page 129 c. What it is to Walk after the Spirit Page 104 106 Opened by the Spiritualness of the Principle Page 106 c. Guide Page 106 c. Affections Page 106 c. Propensions Page 106 c. Ends Page 106 c. All in Christ thus Walk Proved Page 112 This Walking Excellent Page 132 c. Pleasant Page 132 c. Saving Page 132 c. Spiritual Walkers are To be very thankful Page 136 To be yet more Spiritual Page 137 To take the Comfort of it Some Discouragements about it removed Page 139 The Will is the principal Seat of Sins Power Page 181 How the Spirit works upon the Will efficaciously yet without the infringing of its Liberty Page 238 Reader In the drawing up of this Index many things occasionally spoken unto have slipped me but thou wilt find them under those main Heads which I chiefly insist upon to each of which thou art here directed FINIS
Quodcunque Deo indignum est mihi expedit Quid magis etubescendum nasci an mori Carnem gestare an Crucem circuncidi an suffigi educari an sepeliri in praesepe deponi an in monumento recondi Vide Athanas de Incarn Verbi Dei tom 1. p. 88. more fully p. 95. c. Isidor Pelus Ep. L. 1. Ep. 141. Cyril Hieros Catech. 12. p. 111. Cyprian de Bapt. Christi p. 492. Lactant. de Verâ Sapient cap. 22. Fulgent ad Regem Trasim de Christo Mediat Anselm cur Deus Homo l. 1. cap. 3. p. 92. Hoc mysterium à rectâ ratione abhorrere ac tanquam impossibile rejici nunquam probabit Ratio quidem corrupta ac primae Philosophiae ignara futilia quaedam argumenta contra illud fingit verùm ratio quae infinitam divinae Essentiae perfectionem agnoscit ac Scripturam eâ quâ par est modestiâ ac diligentiâ consulit ac confert mysterium hoc divinae naturae omnibusque ejus Attributis quam convenientissimum esse fatetur Incarnatio illa non solum fuit possibilis sed ejufmodi Patris consilio posito quale in hominum salute exequi decrevit simplicitèr necessaria tantumque abest ut à divinâ Majestate abhorreat ut nihil ejus Omnipotentiam Omniscientiam summam Misericordiam ac Justitiam uno verbo infinitam ejus perfectionem magis patefaciat ac illustret Bisterfeld contra Crellium Lib. 1. Sect. 2. cap. 32. p. 341 342. Authors Antient and Modern have written very much with great strength and evidence to prove that 't was neither impossible nor incongruous neither absurd as to the thing nor unbecoming as to the Person for Christ to be made Flesh but I will not engage in so vast an Argument having to do with those who are sufficiently satisfied with what the Word reveals The Grounds and Reasons of Christ's Incarnation Having thus explain'd and confirm'd by Scripture-authority the Point in hand I now proceed to a Second thing to give some short account of the Grounds and Reasons why Christ was thus sent in Flesh Paul puts an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before it Heb. 2.17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his Brethren which behoving he brings down to one particular that he might be a merciful and faithful high Priest in things pertaining to God c. but I must take in more That the Old-Testament Prophesies Promises Types might be accomplished 1. Our Lord Jesus was incarnate that the Old-Testament Promises Prophesies Types might all be fulfilled and accomplished The incarnation of Christ was no new thing or that which was never spoken of before it was done 't was that very thing which the Spirit of God had testify'd beforehand as the Apostle speaks of his sufferings 1 Pet. 1.11 it pleased God betimes very early to give out some though darker discoveries of it you have it hinted in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first-Gospel or first-Gospel-Promise that ever God made Gen. 3.15 I will put enmity between thee and the Woman and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel here 's a Christ incarnate Then 't was more clearly intimated in the promise to Abraham Gen. 22.18 In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed in process of time 't was again held forth in the Promise made to David 2 Sam. 7.12 which the Apostle makes to point to Christ Acts 2.30 Therefore being a Prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins according to the Flesh he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne Afterwards this was most expresly promis'd and foretold God would have it vail'd and clouded no longer but it shall shine forth more clearly Isa 7.14 Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and shall call his name Immanuel Isa 9.6 Vnto us a Child is born unto us a Son is given Yea Moses long before this had given a plain prediction of it Deut. 18.15 The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee of thy Brethren like unto me unto him shall ye hearken 18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their Brethren like unto thee c. now this Prophesie Peter apply's to Christ Acts 3.22 and pray mark those words in it from the midst of thee of thy brethren like unto me which clearly refer to his Manhood and Incarnation and that Prophesie of Balaam Numb 24.17 had some reference to this also You perceive I only meddle with those Scriptural predictions of it which are unquestionable and which God would have fulfilled as to the Sybilline predictions thereof how far they are to be credited or valued I concern not my self at all in that enquiry but if any great stress could be laid upon them one of those * Sybilla Gumaea in Virgil. Eclog. 4. Ultima Cumaei venit jam carminis aetas Magnus ab integro seclorum nascitur ordo Jam redit Virgo redeunt Saturnia regna Jam nova Progenies coelo dimittitur alto c. Of this see Athanas tom 2. p. 386. Dr. Jackson on the Creed 7th Book Sect. 2. Chap. 8. p. 40. c. Sybills went very far so far that some learned Persons do therefore doubt whether its prediction was genuine upon this very reason because 't was so express and clear but I have not to do with them but with the sure Oracles of God Then as to Types which were nothing but real Prophesies or Promises wrap'd up in visible representations these also pointed to a Christ in our Flesh The Old-Testament-dispensation lay much in Types all of which pointed to Christ as the sum and substance of them he was the kernel in those shells all were but as so many fasciae or swadling-hands in which the Babe Jesus was wrap'd as Luther us'd to say Christ saith a * Reverend Author was Abel's Sacrifice Noah's Dove Bp. Brownrigge Serm. p. 115. Abraham's first Fruits Isaac's Bam Jacob's Ladder Moses's Passover Aaron's Rod the Israelites Rock the Patriarchs Manna David's Tabernacle Solomon's Temple and all of these saith he prefigur'd his Incarnation But to wade into the several Typical adumbrations of this would be a long work In short under the Law when Persons or Lands were to be redeem'd he that was next a-kinn was to make the redemption see Levit. 25.25 Ruth 3.13 c. Christ being to redeem sinners he must take their Flesh that he may be a-kinn to them their Goel as he is sometimes stil'd and so be a fit person to be their Redeemer The Tabernacle seems to have a special reference to Christ's manhood so the Apostle brings it in Heb. 8.2 A Minister of the Sanctuary and of the true Tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man so again Heb. 9.11 But Christ being come an high Priest of good things to come by a