the Soul Dies And in this is the Great and Absolute Victory over all the Devils and Powers of Hell Here the Devil finds himself out-witted as well as Over-Power'd and that Love is Superiour to Pride as much in Wisdom as in Strength But his Malice never fails him He sets all his Engins on work to Prejudice Men from Receiving this Doctrin of Satisfaction and from believing in Christ as their surety or Propitiation Which only is the Saving Faith The Mahumetans believe Christ to be a Prophet The Alcoran calls Him the Messiah and the Word of God and our Intercessor with God Yet are they not Christians which Denomination Properly belongs to none who do not Believe the Divinity Incarnation and Satisfaction of Christ for our Sins Who deny any of these may Flatter themselves with the Name of Christians but they are Really tho' may be themselves Perceive it not Inlisted under the Devil's Banner and Fight his Battles And he has Gain'd Followers in nothing more than in this He has Perswaded Men to Dispute against their own Salvation He has put such Arguments as these in the Mouths of Socinians and Quakers what need has God of any Satisfaction May He not do what a Man can to forgive a Debt we call it Mercy in a Man and can it be Vnjustice in God But when a Man forgives a Debt do we call it Mercy or Justice in him you say it is Mercy In Man Mercy and Justice are Mixt in proportions but in God they are both in their Utmost God is not only a Just being that is who has a great deal of Justice in Him but He is Justice it self the Highest Notion possible of Justice and since Justice cannot acquit without full Satisfaction no more can He. How then do His Attributes fight against one another No that is Impossible but as the Vulgar renders Jam. 2.13 Misericordia Superexaltat Judicium Mercy does Exalt Justice Gods Mercy in sending Christ does Exalt His Justice which cou'd not be exact Justice if it did not require full Satisfaction God is all Justice He is all Love and Mercy too They are the same thing in God They are the same in Love for God is Love Every Sin is a Debt to Love or an offence against it which is against God Now a Debt of Love is not to be reckon'd as a Debt of Money A Man may forgive his Money as he pleases but Love cannot forgive an Ingratitude but upon Repentance Love cannot allow of Hypocrisie or Envy or Malice or any thing contrary to its self Love is so much the Essence so the All of Christ's Religion that all other Gifts and Graces are valu'd only in so far as they Administer to the Ends and Purposes of Love Without this the Greatest Excellencies and Performances Imaginable are Reputed as nothing in the sight of God that is of Love Faith even to Remove Mountains and Zeal to give all my Goods among the Poor 1 Cor. xiii 3. and my very Body to be Burnt and all Prophesie and all Knowledge all will signify nothing if they be not done out of a Principle of Love if Charity be wanting all these and all other things Possible all are nothing Love regards them not Nothing can Charme Love but Love All the whole Earth in one Sacrifice and all the Pains of Hell cannot Bribe Love into a Friendship or Reconciliation with Pride or Ill Nature It must Hate these by the same Necessity that it is its self Behold the Iustice and Severity of Love Behold the reason why our Love can never be accepted with God Because it is mixt with what God hates by the necessity of His Nature with Insincerity and Affections to Vice we love not God for His own sake for the native Beauty of Love but to serve our own Ends pittiful selfish designs vain foolish wicked The Heavens are not Clean in His sight and He chargeth His Angels with folly and our Righteousness is as filthy Rags and that which is highly Esteem'd among men is Abomination before God Now what hopes of Atoneing for our Faults when our Best Performances are fresh Provocations And this Inexorable Justice of Love is the Greatest Mercy too if we consider it For there being no Happiness but in Love and no Atonement to Love but by Returning to Love again consequently this seeming Severity is really but an Invitation to our Happiness But all our Love is Polluted and therefore Hateful to Purity which is God So that we can never perform this Condition tho' the most Merciful as well as Just And here Satan wou'd Stop all our Hopes by perswading Us That our Debt cannot be paid by Another That the Most Perfect Love will not be accepted for that which is Defficient And this is so far True that where the Imperfect Love does not go as far as it can it can receive no help from that which is more Perfect For being willing to remain Insensible of any Offence I have committed against Love is the Greatest Contempt of Love and Love can hear nothing in its Defence But where I am as Sensible as I can and wish to be more and do all that is in my Power and Repent with my whole Heart tho' all this be very Vnproportionable to my Offence and full of Imperfections there Love will rejoyce to accept the Interceeding of a Perfect Love and it 's full Satisfaction and Atonement for the weak but willing Love And this manner of Paying the Debts of Love is perfectly agreeable to the Nature of Love It is agreeable to the Common Conversation of the World Was it ever made an Objection that the Surety shou'd pay the Debt or that it was unjust to be a Surety Yet this Enemy of Mankind wou'd make Us think it against Reason that Christ shou'd be our Surety or that He shou'd pay our Debt And this being the main Hinge or indeed the whole of Christianity as to Us many Batteries are rais'd against this to Destroy Us all at once for if we loose this what good can Christianity do Us we are yet in our Sins There are several Parties and from several Arts which attacque Us in this most Essential Point Some say that Christ came into the World only as an Example But then they are put to it to find a Reason for his Death It will not bear an Argument That His Death was only intended as a Confirmation of His Doctrine for that shews it neither to be True nor False but only that He was fully Perswaded of the Truth of it Yet this is all that Cause can afford Others say that He came to Teach a new Condition for the Remission of Sin which was Repentance To this it is Answer'd That that was no new Condition What time soever a Sinner Repents he shall save his Soul This was in the Old Testament Rent your Heart and not your Garments and many other places to the same purpose Secondly Repentance was
shou'd be sensible Proportionably to his Offence For to be but a Little sensible of a Great Offence is a Fresh Provocation And it being Impossible that the Capacity of All Creatures shou'd Ever Reach to the Full sense of an Offence against Infinit Love and Goodness Consequently their Sufferings can Never attain unto it which makes their Hell to be Eternal Besides that in Hell they Repent not to give Glory to God but Blaspheme the Name of God Rev. xvi 9. who hath Power over their Plagues But on the other hand Christ being God had a Full and Adequat Sense of the Offence against Infinit Love which is All the Satisfaction that Love do's Require and by the Necessity of its own Nature cannot be Satisfy'd with any thing Less Therefore Christ's Sufferings were not Eternal because He made Full Satisfaction And if they were to have been Eternal then He cou'd Never have made Satisfaction For therefore only are Men's Sufferings Eternal because they can Never make Satisfaction 2. There is yet another Objection which by the Artifice of the Enemy of Mankind some Men do struggle with against the Satisfaction of Christ which is That tho' in Duration the Sufferings of Christ do not last so Long as those of the Damned yet that as to the Greatness and Intesness of them they shou'd be at least Equal if not Superior to those of the Damn'd Because if those of the Damn'd are not Great enough to make Satisfaction Consequently His who do's make the Satisfaction ought to be Greater And Despair being the Saddest Ingredient in Hell if Christ had it not He did not Suffer so Great Pain as they do And if He had Despair then He Distrusted the Power or Mercy of God and Consequently had Sin and so cou'd not be our Redeemer In Answer to this let us Consider First what has been said above that Sin is an Offence against Love and Goodness That the Satisfaction which Love Requires is a Sense of the Offence such a Sense as is fully Proportionable to the Offence Then Secondly let us Reflect that all Sense of an Offence against Love and Goodness must carry with it a Sorrow and Agony Proportionable to the Offence without which it cannot be said that any Man is truly Sensible of his Offence This Agony was Borne by Christ to the Full when He bore the Sins of the whole World Charg'd Himself with them and stood Answerable for them before His Father And this was far Greater than any Bodily Pains which He endur'd And Infinitly Exceeded what it was Possible for All Created Minds to have Sustain'd or so much as to Comprehend to all Eternity Yet was there no Mixture of Despair in all this For Despair do's not Proceed from the Sense of our having Offended God which Sense is Strongest in the most Sincere Penitents but from a Defect in our Apprehensions of God and Mistaking of His Nature which is All Love and Goodness which those who Dispair cannot Believe Hence we find that many Lesser Sinners do Despair when Greater do Repent Why Not because they have a Stronger Sense of their Sin for the other May and often have much Greater than they but because they have a Weaker and Fainter Sense of the Goodness of God which is thinking amiss of the Nature of God as the Apostat Angels did Measuring it by Greatness and Power not by Love and is the Reason that they Despair and cannot Repent or Hope for Mercy from that Power which they have Offended and think In-exorable We may Read our Punishment as well as our Sin in their Offence And they who Sin as they do will be Punish'd as they are and have their share in that Lake prepared for the Devil and his Angels But tho' Christ did not Despair because He had the True Full and Adequat Knowledge of God and of His Nature yet for an Example and Comfort to our Infirmity which He took upon Him He suffer'd Himself to fall under the Greatest Despondency that cou'd be Distinguish'd from Sin in His last Agony and Dereliction upon the Cross when He Cry'd out My God My God why hast thou forsaken me thereby supporting the Weakness and Faintings of our Faith that we shou'd not Despair when we find our selves Vn-equal to our Pressures and seem Deserted by God and Man For even in that Case in the worst that can befall us we have His Great Example to set before Us who Complain'd as we do yet Committed His Soul to God in the Height of His Displeasure Heb. 5.7 with Strong Crying and Tears and was Hear'd in that He fear'd Therefore let no Man's Fears cause him to Despond For we have have not an High-Priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our Infirmities but was in all Points Tempted like as we are yet without Sin Let us Therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace that we may obtain Mercy and find Grace to Help in time of Need. Heb. IV. 15 16. Let this suffice as to the Difficulty whether Christ had Despair or not which has Perplex'd some Learned Men for tho' Despair was wholly Incompatible to Him who had a True Knowledge of the Nature of God yet for that same Reason He had a Sense of Sin and of its Demerit Infinitly Exceeding what All those in Despair can have which Answers all those Objections that can be Rais'd upon this Head against the Doctrin of the Satisfaction of Christ 3. But then the Devil starts another Objection That if Christ took upon Him our Sins then He became the Sinner and we were Discharg'd and need heed no more what we do for that all is Paid all Satisfy'd for c. We may Sin on and no Harm can come to us That if Christ took upon Him our Sin He must take the Filth and Pollution of it as well as the Curse else that He did not take it All. And if so He was a Sinner indeed Exceeding All the Sinners in the World because He took upon Him the Sins of All the World and made Satisfaction for them All. With this Bate the Devil has Caught the Anti-Nomians now amongst Us who say That they are not Sinners for that Christ was the Sinner That Christ took upon Him the Guilt the Pollution the Loathsomness and Filth of our Sin as well as the Curse of it and was therefore Hated of God and Seperated from Him till after His Resurrection that He had Purg'd it off And particularly when He cry'd upon the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me That He was then Odious to God as a Toad and other such Blasphemies which are Horrid to Repeat The Foundation of this Monster of a Heresy to make our Blessed Lord the Greatest of Sinners is easily Discoverable to any Judicious Eye For to Pay a Debt for another of out Mere Love and Charity to Prevent his Ruin was never yet thought to Inferr that the Surety who Paid the Debt did
be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the Breadth and Length and Depth and Height And to know the Love of Christ which passeth knowledge that thus ye may be filled with all the fulness of God Observe how the Inspir'd Apostle Rejoyces even to Extasie upon this Subject The fulness of God that is all we or any Creature can hold of Him consist's in what we Understand of the Nature of Love And then to our Eternal Comfort the Love of Christ passes all Knowledge that is no Knowledge can comprehend it all and therefore it can afford still new Matter of Joy and Rapture to all Created Understandings for Ever and Ever And may not this Contemplation raise us to the Courage of an Apostle it will certainly if we let this Good Seed stay in our hearts till it take Root if we do not choke it with the foolish Principles of Pride or make it give place to Cares and Riches and Pleasures of this Life it will bring our hearts to the firmness of an Angel and make Us see nothing that can Terrifie Us We will be ready to joyn with St. Paul in his holy Exultation and say Who shall seperate Vs from the Love of Christ shall Tribulation or Distress or Persecution or Famine or Nakedness or Peril or Sword as it is Written for thy sake are we kill'd all the day Long we are counted as Sheep for the Slaughter nevertheless in all these things we are more then Conquerors through Him who Loved us for I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor Height nor Depth Rom. viii 35. nor any other Creature shall be able to Seperate Vs from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And now as a Conclusion to all that has been said we may learn this that the best Guard we can have against falling into Heresie is to Watch carefully against all the Inroads and Temptations of Pride which I have shewn to lie at the bottom of all Heresies as the Source from whence they Spring It Corrupts the Will and by that Viciates the Vnderstanding and Inclines them by a strong Byass to the side of Error and in Prejudice of the Truth which is always Founded upon and Accompany'd with the opposit of Pride that is Love and Goodness which is Naturally Productive of a Sweetness and Humility of Temper that Renders us Docible and Vn-prejudic'd without which Truth cannot be Duly Discern'd but is Clouded from Perverse and Obstinate Minds And as the Humility of Love is the best Preservative against Error and Heresie so is it the surest Defence against most sort of Sins in our Private Conversation especially it Enables us most Effectually to Perseverance in the Faith against that Fiery Tryal of Persecution which in one sort or other 2 Tim. 3.12 comes to most Mens share that will live Godly in Christ Jesus But there is an higher Pitch of Perfection even than this And that which I wou'd raise Men to and desire to Imitate my self is that whereof the Dayly Exercise and Improvement is by Gods great Mercy and Goodness afforded to every one of us which is not only to bear the Persecution or the Pride of others which some may do even out of Pride Obstinacy or other Vicious Principle But chiefly to banish Pride out of your selves to look upon the meanest Man in the World as a Member of Christ and so equal to your self And therefore to Condescend to the Lowest Offices that may do him Good to bear his Infirmities and Injuries with Patience which is the true Magnanimity as Christ also did bear ours And that you think this so far from being Dishonorable as that you may esteem it the Greatest Glory and Praise of Love wherein the Happiness of Heaven does consist And if Angels were thrown out of Heaven for Despising Man and Christ Died to Redeem Man and is Himself a Man and Loves and Values the meanest Man what is that Man that Despises another And if even in Heaven there was War and Folly and Blasphemy among the Angels there and misunderstanding the Nature of God how shou'd this make us Patient to one anothers Infirmities How Solicitous and careful to Secure our selves How Reasonable will it hence appear to keep a watchful Eye upon the least progress of Pride or Self-conceit which was Potent to Disturb the Seat of the Blessed and overthrow Spirits which were Heavenly-Born That therefore you shou'd justly abhor the Pride of this World to see a Man Despise not only his Inferiors which was the Sin of Angels but his Equals and Superiors To think himself beyond every Man he meets and that it is below his Greatness Forsooth to receive an Injury from any this is the Character of a Hero so much courted in Romances and Plays the Gospel of this Worlds Honor a Fool swell'd with Pride even to Blasphemy Is it not Nauseous to see Him brave Thunder whose Scull is not proof against the sliding of a Tyle from a House top a weak piece of Flesh whose Foundation is in the Dust the food of Worms that is crushed before the Moth A man that is not able to Encounter a Disease to hear him Railly against God! and to think this either Wit or Courage that Men of Spirit as they call themselves shou'd be fond of a Vice which proceeds Meerly from want of Sense And not rather to follow the Advice and Example of a God which is that you wou'd think it your Greatest Honour to become Innocent and Harmless Loving and free from Pride as little Children are which is taught in the Gospel for this Day and that with such Courage that you wou'd rather Choose to Pluck out your Eyes and Cut off your Hands than to Offend the Least the most Inconsiderable of Mankind who are Created by God after His own Image and are the Price of the Blood of Christ That you wou'd believe the Argument of Honour to be Decided which has been Bandy'd by the Angels of Heaven and Determin'd there by God Himself that it Consist's in Love and not in Pride but more sensibly by the Incarnation and Sufferings of Christ which makes it as it were Visible to our Eyes That you wou'd therefore suffer your selves to be perswaded by your own Reason which will shew you the restless Miseries which attend upon Pride and the Beauties and Great Glory of Love in the which if â—â—u can 〈…〉 selves you have already tasted of Heâ—â—â—â— and are Heirs of Immortal Honour Amen And let this Comfort us in our Faint Longings Languid Attempts and many Failings in our Spiritual Warfare And let this silence all our weak Murmurings at the Providence of God which has for Infinitly wise Ends not Fathomable by us Permitted the Fall of Man and Wars and Divisions upon Earth since for this End no Doubt among many others He has made known to us that There was war in Heaven And that as the Conquest can be only by His Strength and Grace in us so it will End in Infinit and Eternal Victory and Triumph to those who Trust wholly in Him by Faith in Christ Humbled and Crucifi'd for us and who follow him Manfully to the end of that Race which He our Great Prophet and Guide has not only Pointed out to us but as our Captain has Led us and Run before us and Fought the same Fight which He wou'd have us to Fight and wherein he will Assist us and Protect us that the Gates of Hell shall never Prevail against us And has already in Our Cause and in in our Name and Nature Triumphed over every Power of the Enemy and taken Possession of Heaven for us as our Head the Soul and Life of that Body whereof we are Members And as the Soul do's Actuate all the Members of the Body consequently it must Raise all the Members with the Body So that all who Partake of the Spirit of Christ are sure that that Spirit must Raise up their Bodies as Certainly as it did Raise up the Body of Christ Rom. viii 9.11 Now if any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His But if the Spirit of Him who Raised up Jesus from the Dead dwell in you He that Raised up Christ from the Dead shall also Quicken your Mortal Bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you Amen FINIS