As well our Victory 1 Cor. 15.57 as our Deliverer from the Wrath to come 1 Thes 1.10 As well our Life Colos 3.4 as our Deliverance from Death as well our Purifier as our Redemption from Iniquity Tit. 2.14 as well our Peace Ephes 2.14 as our Price as well the Price of our purchased Inheritance as the Price of our Ransom 1 Cor. 6.20 As well our Translator into his own Kingdom as the Deliverer from the power of Darkness Colos 1.13 And this as the former we owe likewise in the original and foundation of it to the free Love and Acceptation of God 1 Cor. 1.30 Christ of God is made Righteousness and therefore called the Righteousness of God by Faith Phil. 3.19 Without this free Love of God as it is impossible to imagine a Mediator between God and Man so much more is it impossible to imagine how the Righteousness of that Mediator should be the Righteousness of a guilty sinful Man Our Redemption and Salvation by Christ hath its original and strength from the free Love and Acceptation of God. 2. How this Redemption and Salvation was immediately effected which was thus The Eternal Word took upon him the Nature of Man in the unity of one Person and in our Nature did fulfil that Righteousness which we were bound to fulfil and did undertake take our Guilt and underwent the Punishment due to that Guilt which was accepted of God as the Satisfaction for the sins of the Elect for the Remission of their sins and his Righteousness accepted as the Righteousness of those for whom he so satisfied whereby he did not only abolish Death the Curse due to our sins but brought Life and Immortality to light 2 Tim. 1.10 This Truth we shall set down in these several Positions 1 That Christ the Mediator was perfect God the Eternal begotten Son of God one Eternal Essence with the Father His Name Isa 9.6 The mighty God the Everlasting Father Matth. 1.23 Emmanuel Matth. 16.16 Thou art Christ the Son of the living God that great Confession of Peter asserted by Christ himself John 1.14 The Word was God and the Word was made Flesh John 10.30 I and the Father are one John 17.5 Glorifie me with thy own self with that glory which I had with thee before the world was John 14.9 â—e that hath seen me hath seen the Father 1 Tim. 3.16 God manifest in the flesh 1 Tim. 6.15 King of kings and Lord of lords Heb. 1.3 The brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of his person Colos 1. â—5 16. The image of the invisible God by whom all things were created and consist Colos 2.9 In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily Phil. 2.6 Being in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God Acts 20.28 Ye are redeemed with the Blood of God John 8.59 Before Abraham was I am And those speeches of our Saviour which seem to import an inequality between the Father and the Son are not to be understood in reference to this Nature of Christ but in reference to his Office of Mediator or to his Person in reference to the Humane Nature John 14.28 Ye would rejoyce because I say I go to my Father for my Father is greater than I For as the Divine Nature of Christ was never disjoyned from the Father so it went not to him consequently my Father is greater than I must be spoken in reference to him under that Nature which was To go to the Father 2. That Christ was perfect Man consisting of a reasonable Soul Matth. 26.38 My Soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death and of a humane Body even after his Resurrection Luke 24.39 A spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have and this Humane Nature subject to natural Passions he was sorrowful hungry sensible of pain and Heb. 4.15 tempted in all things as we are yet without sin he was subject to the Infirmities of our Nature not to the Distempers of our Nature This Humane Nature he took of the Virgin Mary and so was truly the Seed of Abraham But this by a miraculous Procreation by the immediate Power of God Matth. 1.20 and that without the contagion or guilt of any sin As he did no sin nor guile was found in his mouth 1 Pet. 2.22 so he knew no sin 2 Cor. 5.21 And if he had had any Guilt of his own then he could not have been a fit Sacrifice or Priest for us 1 Pet. 1.19 A Lamb without spot or blemish Heb. 7.26 For such a high-priest became us who is holy harmless undefiled c. 3. That both these Natures were united in the Person of Christ our Mediator yet without any confusion of Natures and the conjunction so strict that in both Natures he was but one Mediator And hence it is that many of those things that were properly to be attributed to one Nature and not to the other are affirmed of the Person of Christ under the Notion proper to the other Nature of Christ Acts 20.28 Ye are redeemed with the blood of God there the act of the Humane Nature is attributed to the Person of Christ in the Notion of the Divine Nature Again John 3.13 No man hath ascended into Heaven but he that came down from Heaven even the Son of man which is in Heaven yet that Nature of the Son of man was not then in Heaven But so strict is this personal Union that whatsoever is affirmed concerning one Nature may be affirmed of the whole Person of the Mediator but yet so distinct are the Natures that nothing that is affirmed concerning one Nature can be affirmed of the other Nature the eternal Son of God dyed for us but the Deity of the Son of God dyed not Herein we therefore conclude 1. That both Natures were united into one Person 2. That both Natures thus united made up but one Mediatour and so both Natures united into one Office as well as into one Person 3. That notwithstanding the uniting of both Natures into one Person and Office yet are there acts or things that properly belong to one Nature which do not belong to the other thus the Father is said to be greater than the Son John 14.28 in reference to his humane Nature Mark 13.32 But of that day and hour knoweth no man no not the Angels which are in Heaven neither the Son but the Father For although the Natures were united in one Person yet it is not imaginable that the fullness of the Divine Nature was communicated to the humane for that were to make the humane Nature of Christ infinite and not so much assumed unto as converted into the Divine Nature and then it had been impossible he could have suffered or have had any Eclipse of the light of his Fathers Countenance as he did in his bitter cry upon the Cross at which time without all question there was not nor could be any intermission of Communion between the
Divine Nature of Christ and his Father So in his suffering his humane Nature only suffered 4. Although the sufferings and actions of his humane Nature were not to be attributed to his Divine Nature yet they are to be attributed to the whole Person of Christ for the Union of both Natures in one Person added that invaluable value even to the sufferings and actions properly attributable to his humane Nature the man Christ was the offering but the God Christ was the Altar that sanctified that offering for had not the Divine Nature added that value to his Righteousness and Death it had been impossible that it could be meritorious the Death of a most innocent Person may bring a Guilt upon them that inflict it not a merit for another unless cloathed with a higher worth than Innocence 4. That there was a Necessity that Christ should have both Natures and both Natures thus united in one Person This includes three Necessities 1. The necessity of an Humane Nature It is true that God could of his absolute power have restored man without the intervention of any thing but his own Will but as in all his works he holds such a course as his Wisdom Goodness and Justice are conspicuous and legible so especially in this excellent work of our Redemption there is an admirable order and congruity in all the passages of it The Children of Adam had a threefold Union in him a Specifical Union as being of the same specifical Nature with him a Virtual Union being all included in him and a Representative Union in that great Covenant of Nature which Adam made with his Creator and so all partaked of the consequences of his Disobedience Death went over all 1 Cor. 15.4 22. As in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive There was therefore an Union of Natures between the Redeemer and Redeemed Heb. 2.16 17. For verily he took not on him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham wherefore it behâ—ved him to be in all things like unto his Brethren c. There is likewise a Virtual and Representative Union between the Redeemer and Redeemed and this could not have been without that Natural Union which was between them though not merely by it as shall appear hereafter hence Christ and his Church one Body Rom. 12.5 1 Cor. 12.12 27. Ephes 1.23 Colos 2.19 they grow up into him in all things Ephes 4.13 By Virtue of this Union it is that when Christ being made sin for us was crucified our Old man was crucified with him Rom. 6.6 the same Spirit that quickened Christ quickeneth us to the first Resurrection Rom. 8.11 and to the second Resurrection 1 Cor. 15.20 they are Sons and Heirs of God by Virtue of this Union Rom. 8.17 Gal. 4.7 their Afflictions fill up the measure of Christ's Afflictions Colos 1.24 and he reckons their sufferings his and Compassions to them esteemed as done to to him Matth. 25.44 their Union to the Father is through their Union to him which is one with the Father John 17.22 23. That they may be one as we are one I in them and they in me Now though it is certain that this Union groweth by another means than the bare conjunction of our Nature yet here is the congruity Christ is united unto us by our Nature we to him by his Spirit so that the Unity of Nature with us holds a congruity with that Union which was between the first Adam and us Again such was the Will of God that the Expiation of our Sins should not be without a Sacrifice Heb. 9.22 Without shedding of Blood no remission It was necessary therefore that he should have a Body prepared him which might be a Sacrifice for sin Again we see in all the works of God though he was at his Pleasure to interpose his own immediate Power yet he useth means con natural to the Subject upon which he works And hence it is that our Redeemer works upon all that is Rational in man In his Teaching he taught convincingly with sound Reason in his Perswasions with Tears with Miracles with Promises with Threatnings with a free laying down of his Life for us when we were Enemies These could not be communicated in a way proportionable to our Nature but from him that bore our Nature 2. The necessity of the Divine Nature Questionless the humane Nature of Christ had as exact a regularity and innocence as in the Creation was placed in Adam but that could not be capable alone of a Merit beyond it self there was a necessity of a personal Dignity in Christ more than could be found in the created Nature of man to make his Righteousness and Sufferings meritorious for others for it must be a Righteousness more than commensurate to all the unrighteousness of Men and a Satisfaction more than commensurate to all the Demerit of men This had been impossible if that Righteousness and that Satisfaction had received their value from any thing below the Divine Nature hence is that Expression Acts 20.28 Take heed c. to feed the Church if God which he hath purchased with his own Blood. And as it was necessary in respect of his Righteousness and Satisfaction so in respect of the continued Exigences of his people Ephes 2.18 through him we have access by one Spirit unto the Father He could not be a perfect Mediator unless he had a clear Acquaintance with all the Exigences of his people unless he could be present with them in all their Fears despondences Temptations and Necessities which requires the co-existence of the Divine Nature 5. We say that the Eternal word did in the appointed time take flesh of the Virgin into the Unity of one Person This was that infinite Motion of the Love of God viz. First to become Man for us and then to become Sin for us The manner of the Incarnation of Christ we cannot discover every work of God is past our discovery much more this admirable work And by this Birth of Christ he took upon him the Nature of man but not any Original or inherent Sin or Guilt because by a miraculous Generation the very substance was purified Luk. 1.35 that holy thing which shall be born of thee c. and this very Birth of Christ was part of his Satisfaction because part of his Humiliation Phil. 2.5 He made himself of no Reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of Men Heb. 2.9 was made lower than the Angels So that in his Conception and Birth we find 1. His Satisfaction 2. His Righteousness 6. We say The whole Life of Christ till his Passion had these three parts in it viz. Satisfaction by way of Suffering 2. Satisfaction by way of Righteousness and 3. Instruction and these three were the great Ends of his Life 1. â—or his Suffering part Christ being born without Sin and perfectly framed to the image of God could not in Justice be
his Elect and under that Condition it was necessary that he should suffer for them It was the Love of the Father to accept of Christ to bear the sins of the People and it was his Justice that disclosed his Anger against Sin although his Son did but represent the sinner and yet the merit of this Suffering hath its strength from the free acceptation of his Father according to his Eternal Covenant with his Son. 3. From hence it follows that it is a Full and Perfect Satisfaction The reason is because the measure of the Satisfaction is the Acceptation of the offended God for it appears before that there can be no other Measure or Rule to him but his own Will though that be a most Just Will. Now that God was fully satisfied and pleased in Christ we have the Testimony of Angels Luke 2.14 On earth peace good will to men Of Christ John 17.4 when by way of Anticipation he saith I have finished the work that thou gavest me to do which he fully perfected when John 19.30 he said It is finished By the eternal Father by a voice from Heaven Matth. 3.17 This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased By the Spirit of Truth Heb. 10.14 By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that be sanctified And from the sufficiency of this satisfaction doth arise that assurance in which the Apostle glories Rom. 8.33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect c. it is Christ that died And hence called the Author and Finisher of our Faith Heb. 12.2 4. It was an Vniversal Suffering The sin of Man had an universal Contagion both upon his Body and Soul and an universal Guilt and consequently an universal Curse went over both his Soul and Body In the day that thou eatest thou shalt die the death This death extended to his Body and Soul and the whole Compositum his very Life was mingled with Death both in Sense and Expectation And answerable to the extent of this Contagion Guilt and Curse was the extent of Christ's Satisfaction who was figured by the first Adam Rom. 5.14 His Life was mingled with Pain Isa 53. A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief in his Body he suffered a cursed and a painful Death and though the nailing to the Cross was not sufficient naturally to have made a separation of the Body and Soul no more than of the two Thieves yet he had those other Concurrences to his dissolution that they had not viz. the bearing of his Cross John 19.17 His scourging and Crown of Thorns Matt. 27.26 29. But especially the suffering of his Soul the very anticipation of this suffering made him even to shrink at it John 12.27 Now is my soul troubled what shall I say Father save me from this hour And this like the Trumpet upon Sinai waxed louder and louder till his very dissolution witness his affirmation In the Garden of Gethsemane Matth. 26.28 My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death and that astonishing Cry of the Son of God upon the Cross Matth. 27.46 My God my God why hast thou forsaken me His sorrow and the suffering of his Soul in the Garden that was so strange as to cause a sweat of Blood had been enough without the interposition of any outward force to have caused his dissolution for it was a sorrow unto death had not God supported his Humane Nature with a supernatural aid Luk. 22.43 An angel from heaven strengthened him and when the Divine Dispensation withdrew that extraordinary supply he died Matth. 27.50 He cried with a loud voice and gave up the ghost If it be asked What was the cause of this extremity of suffering in the Soul of Christ we say as he willingly took upon him to stand in our room to bear our sins and to become Sin for us so he felt the wrath of God against that sin which he by way of imputation did bear as he bare our sins in his own Body on the Tree 1 Pet. 2.24 and God laid on him the iniquity of us all and as he was made sin for us 2 Cor. 5.21 so he trode the wine-press of his Fathers wrath for that time Isa 63.3 and was made a Curse for that Sin. The Guilt that he had was not inherent but imputed but the sense of that wrath of God against Sin was not imputed but real and inherent If it be inquired How could such a sense of the wrath of God be consistent with that union that was between his Natures in one Person such Knowledge is too wonderful for me Nevertheless thus far we may say that as in the highest extremity of the suffering of his Soul there was no interruption of that strict Union between the Humane and Divine Nature yet so it pleased God to order this great Work that the actual communication of the presence of the Divine Nature was to the sense of the Humane Nature eclipsed the Sun still remained in the Firmament yet the Light thereof Eclipsed at the time of the death of Christ Matth. 27.45 to shadow to us that interruption of Vision which was in our Redeemer that so his Soul might be made an Offering for Sin as well as his Body If it be inquired How it came to pass that a perpetual Punishment due to Man was expiated by a temporary suffering of Christ we answer Man's suffering must needs be perpetual because it could never be satisfactory Matth. 5.26 Thou shalt not come out till thou payest the uttermost farthing But Christ's suffering was satisfactory and the satisfaction being made the suffering could not continue 1. It was a Voluntary Suffering 2. An Innocent Suffering 3. A Suffering of the Son of God. 4. An Accepted Satisfaction by the offended God. 8. That Christ having suffered death did arise again from death the third day This was that which the Prophet David foretold of Christ Psal 16.10 Thou wilt not leave my soul in grave by Isa 53.10 When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin c. He shall prolong his days he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul unto death prefigured by Jonah and so expounded by Christ himself Matth. 12.40 and predicted by himself Matth. 20.13 And the third day shall rise again attested by an Angel Matth. 28.6 He is risen as he said And this Truth was that which was the great Means of Conversion and therefore received the greatest opposition of Devils and Men Acts 2.24 Acts 4.10.33 Acts 5.30 And as it was the greatest Caution of the High Priest if it had been possible to falsifie the Prediction of Christ concerning his Resurrection Matth. 27.63 64. So this was the Truth that they most persecuted Acts 25.19 And being a Truth of that great concernment was most evidenced by the Evangelists and Apostles whose Business it was to be Witnesses of the Resurrection Acts 1.22 1 Cor. 15. per totum for by this he was
Magazine of Grace to heal and purge that corruption John 1.16 Of his fulness we receive grace for grace In sum Man had lost his Creator with an infinite distance and so lost his Happiness Christ as the Fulness of God dwelt in him bodily so together with him restores Man to his Lord and so to his Blessedness Ephes 3.19 And to know the love of Christ that passeth knowledge that ye may he filled with all the fulness of God. The Means then of this Fruition is Vnion The reason by which every thing enjoys what it hath is Union and the more strict the Union is between the thing that enjoys and the thing enjoyed The strictest Union is between any thing and its Essence therefore when Goodness is part of the Essence the Enjoyment is the most perfect And it is by vertue of this Union with Christ that all this Fulness of Christ is conveyed to the Believer Now as the Fulness of Christ ariseth from his Union with God the Fountain of Goodness so our Fruition of that Fulness ariseth from our Union with Christ John 17.23 I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one And this was the great Purpose of God in sending Christ Ephes 1.10 That he might gather together in one all things in Christ And this Union with Christ is frequently expressed in the Scripture in the strictest terms of Union conversation of Friendship John 14.23 We will come unto him and make our abode with him Christ formed in them Galat. 4.19 Incorporation with him eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood John 6.53 Inhabiting in them Ephes 3.17 Christ living in them Galat. 2.20 Part of his very substance Ephes 5.30 For we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones Partakers of the very Fulness of God that is in him Ephes 3.19 That ye may be filled with the fulness of God. Changed into the very Image of Christ 2 Cor. 3.18 Partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 Now we are to consider How this Vnion is wrought viz. By a double act 1. Of God's part 2. Of our part God in the Creation united Man unto himself and Man by his sin broke that Union and departed from him and is he could not so he would never have returned to God again unless God had brought him to himself John 6.65 No man can come unto me except it were given him of my Father Now the degrees of those acts whereby God unites us to him are 1. His Eternal Love Man by his sin got away from God as far as he could and as he lost his Ability so he lost his Mind to return Gen. 3.10 I heard thy voice and I was afraid and I hid my self Love is the first motion to Union and this Love of God is the first foundation of our Union to him John 3.16 For God so loved the world c. 1 John 4.10 Herein is Love not that we loved him but that he loved us first and gave his Son to be the propitiation for our sins 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself before the World either wisht or thought of that Reconciliation so that it was a free Love and not drawn out upon any desert in his Creature 2. The second step of the motion towards Union was the sending his Son to assume our Nature and come unto us The distance between God and his best Creature is essentially infinite because finite with infinite bears no proportion but the distance between God and his sinful Creature must needs be greater because the Creature by his sin is gone away from God farther than he was in his pure Being To fill up this infinite distance God and Man is united into one Christ by the assumption of our Nature and by this means God is come nearer unto us as we may say and we in a condition to draw nearer unto him even in his Son. And thus God hath gathered together all things in one in Christ Ephes 1.10 3. The third step is by the course of his Providence conveying the knowledge and use of this Mediator unto us This is a farther degree of Union the former was specifical in our Natures but this objective and intellectual viz. by means proportionable to our Natures and Conditions providentially disposed he sends unto us the relation of our own Condition by Nature our Duty our Saviour his Will and all those Truths contained in the Book of God and this Truth he sets on with Rational Convictions Prophecies Miracles Perswasions Intreaties all which nave a rational operation upon our Understanding and Wills. This is that which is the Outward Calling And among those many Effectual Truths that are conveyed unto us by this Calling which were either lost or defaced in Man these are principally discovered and of principal use 1. That God is the chiefest Good and therefore the chiefest Object of our Love and Desire and therefore doth justly require the extremity of our pursuit The enjoyment of this Object is that wherein Mans Felicity consisted in his State of Innocence and must in his State of Restitution and this truth once entertained doth render all things else insipid in Comparison of it Deut. 6.4 Hear O Israel The Lord our God is one Lord therefore thou shalt love c. 2. That he is a Communicative Good for without this the Labour of the Soul would be fruitless For it were impossible for a finite Power to reach or overtake an infinite Object unless the Object did exhibit himself unto that Power And herein is the excellence of this call of God it discovers the Free Love of God unto the Soul So as the Absolute Goodness of God engageth us even in Judgment to seek to be united unto him so this Free Love of God engageth us even in good Nature as I may say to seek him And the very Entertainment of this truth soundly in the heart is the Foundation of our Faith and Obedience Rom. 5.8 But God commendeth his Love towards us in that while we were yet Sinners Christ dyed for us As if he should have said There could not be imagined a more Conquering love than this that he whom we had injured by our Sins should yet seek the Good of his Creature 1 John 4.9 Herein is Love not that we loved God but that he loved us first This was Love with a Witness That when the Creature that owed to his Lord the strength of his Love had broken his Duty and become a hater of his Lord yet that that God should love such a Creature And as this Love was thus Free so it condescended to all the means of Communicating himself that are imaginable contriving means to reconcile us God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself 2 Cor. 5.19 God was reconciling when Man thought of nothing but offending Importunities of reconciliation 2 Cor. 5.20 We pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to God. It
were presently under the Sentence of Everlasting Death though delivered from it by the Messiah that promised seed 2. They lost the estate of Immortality of their Bodies though they lost not the state of Immortality of their Souls which were essensentially Immortal 3. They lost their Innocence their Happy Estate in Paradise the clear and supernatural Light of their Understanding the Rectitude of their Wills the right Order of their Affections and their Souls lost much of its Perfection though not its essential Spirituality and Immortality 4. All that were after derived from them by ordinary Generation though they had immortal Souls yet their Faculties were imbased and corrupted and greatly disordered and without the extraordinary Grace of God preventing and assisting them prone to all kind of evil and sin and thereby obnoxious to the wrath of God and to everlasting Death And this is the Condition of all the Posterity of Adam by Nature except Jesus Christ 10. God Almighty in his eternal wisdom and foreknowledge of the fall of Man in his infinite Wisdom and Goodness purposed to send forth his Son to take the Humane Nature and to become a King a Priest and a Prophet and also a Sacrifice to expiate the Sins of Mankind and to make them again partakers of the great and essential part of that Happiness which the first Man lost by his Fall and so to recover unto himself a Creature that might actually glorifie and serve him 11. And to make this Purpose effectual to our first Parents and to those that succeeded them before the coming of Christ the purposed Redeemer Almighty God was pleased to use two Expedients 1. He gave out the Promise of the Messiah or the Seed of the Woman the seed in whom all Nations should be blessed and the Belief of this though darkly revealed became an Instrument or Means to render the promised Messiah effectual to them to partake of the Benefits of his Redemption when it was joyned with the Obedience to the revealed Will of God in Sincerity 2. He gave out Precepts directing Men to their Duty and to the sincere Endeavour of Obedience to those Precepts he annexed the Benefit of Remission of Sins and Acceptance of their Persons and Duties through the Messiah or Christ that was to come 12. In the fulness or appointment of time namely about four thousand years after the Creation of Mankind the Son of God by a miraculous Conception of the Virgin Mary without the conjunction of Man assumed the Humane Nature became Man lived about three and thirty years discovered the Mind and Will of God touching Mankind confirmed his Doctrine with unquestionable Miracles and Evidences from Heaven and lived a most Holy and Spotless Life and then was without cause crucified by the Jews was buried the third day he rose from the dead lived again according as he promised and conversed with his Disciples forty days then ascended into the glorious Heavens where he is in a state of Glory and Power 13. And after his Ascension he sent upon his Apostles as he promised the Power of the Holy Spirit whereby they did many Miracles in witness of the truth of the Doctrine and History of Christ 14 The Reasons and Ends why the Son of God thus took our Nature became Man and died for us were these 1. That the Eternal Counsel and Purpose of God for the Recovering and Redemption of Mankind out of their lost Condition and all those Predictions and Prophecies touching the same might be fulfilled and thereby the great God to have the Glory of his Wisdom Mercy Power and Truth 2. That there might be a common Remedy for the Recovery of Mankind to their duty and subjection to Almighty God that they might actively glorifie their Creator according to the End of their Creation 3. That there might be a common Remedy afforded to Mankind to obtain in substance that Happiness which they lost in their first Parents and by their own renewed Transgressions and a Means provided for the pardon of their Sins and saving of their immortal Souls and yet without derogation of the Divine Justice and the Honour of his Government 15. In order to these great Ends the Son of God was thus sent from Heaven and Commissionated as it were by the Father principally to do these Great Businesses in this World first to acquaint the World with the whole Will of God concerning Mankind 2. To lay down a full and sufficient Sacrifice for the Sins of the World by his own Death and Passion 3. To give the World all possible Assurance both of the Truth of his Doctrine and the Sufficiency of his Satisfaction by his wonderful Miracles by his Resurrection and Ascension and by the Diffusion of the Gifts of the Spirit upon his Apostles and Believers after his Ascension 16. Touching the first of these namely the manifestation of the Divine Will touching Mankind this contains the Doctrine of the Gospel the Message sent from Heaven by the Son of God touching all things to be believed and to be done by the Children of Men in order to their Redemption and attaining of everlasting Happiness And this was necessary because the World was full of Darkness and Ignorance And many things that were now necessary for Men to know were but darkly revealed unto the former Ages of the World. The Son of God therefore came to bring Life and Immortality to light by the Gospel 17. The Doctrines of the Gospel which Christ brought with him into the World were principally these 1. That all Men have Immortal Souls which must live to all Eternity notwithstanding the death of their Bodies 2. That there should come a Dissolution of this present World and at that time there shall be a Resurrection of all that had been dead and a change of all that should be then living into an Immortal Estate 3. That there should at that day be a Final Judgment where all Men should be doomed some to everlasting Life and Happiness some to everlasting Misery 4. That in the strict Rule of Divine Justice the Wages of every Sin is everlasting Death and Misery which is fully described in the Gospel 5. That all Mankind is obnoxious to everlasting Death and Misery because all Mankind have sinned and are born in Sin. So that without the help of Mercy from God all Mankind are in a lost and desperate Condition 6. That yet for all this Almighty God is willing that his Creature should be reconciled to him is desirous to pardon his Sins to be at peace with him and everlastingly to save him and to restore unto him that everlasting Happiness that he had lost by his own sin and the sin of our first Parents 7. But yet that all this should be done in such a way as might be consistent with the Honour of his Justice and of his Government as well as of his Mercy and of his Bounty and therefore that he will have a Sacrifice and a Price
inconsistent with his Simplicity so that his Essence is his Goodness and his Goodness the same with his Essence which is also to be observed in all his Attributes though our Understanding cannot apprehend this Indivisible Being all at once but step by step And from hence it follows that whatsoever may be affirmed concerning his Essence may be likewise affirmed concerning his goodness viz. 1. That it is Infinite for so is his essence The Essential goodness of an Infinite Being must needs be Infinite and hence it is not capable of any increase or diminution and therefore the production of the Effects and the Communication of his goodness to them did neither add unto nor take from his goodness 2. That it is Perfect for that which is Infinite must needs be Perfect because it excludes any mixture of any thing that is not good 3. That it is Eternal that is evident for it is the same with his Eternal being Now from this consideration of the goodness of the first Being arise these Conclusions 1. That he is Perfectly and self-sufficiently Happy because in the enjoyment of himself he enjoys an Infinite goodness which is the same with his being and impossible to be severed from it Good is of its own nature the object of desire the desire and the object being severed breedeth pain and unhappiness the conjunction of good to the desire is fruition and if the good be proportionable to the desire of it then in the Union of that good to the desire there is a full rest and complacency Now the first cause is moved with an Infinite love as I may with fear say to that Infinite good which is most Essentially and Indivisibly the same with himself and consequently he hath an Infinite rest and complacency in himself and that without the contribution of any thing without him for he had the same boundless happiness in himself before the existence of any effect as he had after because he had the same measure of goodness and the same perfect fruition of it before any such production as after the productions of new effects are the emanations only of his Essence and produced no alteration in him neither did it dilate his Essential goodness or add a new degree of fruition of good to what he before had for he loved the productions of his Will in himself and for himself 2. That the First Being as it is the First Cause of all things so it is the Supream End of all things because he is the Supream Good and the only adequate object of himself So that in the production of any effect the effect that was produced or any thing without the First Being could not be the ultimate End for which it should be produced for his Will was and is filled with an Infinite Good viz. himself So that it was impossible he should take any thing into that Will which was not in order to himself He made all things for his own self And upon this ground it follows that nothing without him is an End to it self because he that is the First Cause of all things must needs be he that must be the Master and appointer of the End of all things so caused 3. From hence it follows that all the Goodness that is in the Creature is nothing else but the print or impression of that Goodness which is in the First Being though according to the different degrees of things the impressions are more or less genuine for it is impossible that any thing can be denominated Good but by a conformity in some measure to that which is the First Goodness That conformity is nothing else but that impression of Divine Goodness upon the Creature This impression of the Goodness of the First Cause upon the Creature is not by any transmission of any part of the Essential Goodness of the First Being into the Effect for that is incommunicable nor by any physical action of that Goodness upon another thing but the mere will of the First Mover Now we find a fourfold Goodness in the Creature 1. An Essential Goodness which is communicated with the very being of it thus every thing that is is Good in it self though relatively it may be evil because in that it is it is conformable to the First Cause who wills it to be This Goodness in any being is that by reason whereof every thing desires it self and is moved to its own preservation and is intrinsecal to the being of the thing 2. An Intrinsecal but not an Essential Goodness when a thing hath all those qualities or requisites in it self which are suitable and conducible to those acts and operations that belong to the degree of its being and the variety of the degrees in these qualities denominate it more or less Good thus were all Creatures in their Original perfectly Good though every kind had a several degree of Perfection yet every thing had a perfection in its kind This Goodness is likewise communicated from the First Being And the suitableness of those qualities in the creatures to the exigencies of their own conditions do most evidently manifest the impression of that Goodness that is in the First Being 3. Relative or Communicative Goodness viz whereby one thing is conducible or useful for the preservation or perfection of another thing and is therefore desirable or good for it for though the Essential Goodness of any thing being as indivisible is the Essence it self and therefore in that abstract notion is not capable of degrees yet there are degrees of perfection which a finite being is capable of and different degrees of perfection in several beings in their concrete notion as a Man is a more perfect being than a Beast a Spirit than a Man though one be as equal a being as the other This then imports four things 1. A Vacuity or absence of some Good whereof that being is receptible and consequently a receptibility of that which may supply it 2. A Motion or Desire of that being that hath this vacuity and receptibility unto that which may supply it and a desire of Union to it this it hath from the cause of its being for the cause of its being must needs be the cause of this appetite or motion to its farther perfection and this is sometimes so strong and active that it carries the creature by way of consequence to the destruction of that being which at present it hath to attain a higher being 3. A proportion between the Vacuity or necessity of the subject desiring to the thing desired as a Man to supply his Hunger desires not Cloaths but Meat and when cold desires not Meat but Cloaths because these hold proportion to that exigence that the creature desires to fill And hence it is that Temporal Good satisfies not a Spiritual substance nor a Spiritual Good satisfies a Carnal substance because they are not proportionable 4. An Activity in the Good desired to apply it self to the supply of that
Observations and Customs as agreeing to the common Reason of both and the Wise God having so ordered the Business of this World that those Laws which he gave to Man best and most rationally conduce to his Good here as well as hereafter as is most evident in the Precepts of the First and second Tables Thus much for the first Proposition of Conscience 2 The second or Minor Proposition of Conscience is the stating of what I have done whether in Conformity or Violation of that Law which is nothing but a Reflex act of the Soul looking into the Intellectual Memory and impartially stating what I have done And by this a Man may see that the Divine Law doth not look at all upon the outward act as the violation or performance of it but so far sorth only as it is an effect of the Soul and Will. And hence it is that the judgment of the Conscience looks upon the work within It is true when the act of the Will is full and compleat it is testified by the outward action but it is not the outward action that makes the violation or performance This then is the second Proposition or Assumption This or that I have done or omitted 3. The third Proposition is the Conclusion either of acquittal or condemnation of obligation to that Guilt which ariseth upon the breach of that Law Loss of my End Deformity and liableness to the Curse Thus far concerning the Understanding and the Acts of it the second great Faculty is the Will whereby the Soul is moved to the Desire and Prosecution of that which is Good. It is true that all Powers carry with them a Natural Appetite or Motion to that which is the Object of that Power and consequently comes under the Name and Notion of Good the Understanding naturally moves to know its Object as to a Good suitable to that Power the Senses move to their Objects the Eye is not satisfied with Seeing nor the Ear with Hearing the Natural Appetite moves to the enjoyment of such a Good as may fill and answer the want or exigence of the thing that hath that Appetite But the difference between the Motions of the Will and other Faculties is considerable in two things 1. In the object Generally the Object of the Will is Good and this distinguisheth it from the Understanding whose Object is Truth so that though the same thing is the Object of both yet those Faculties fasten upon it under several Notions as the same body may be the object of my Eye as coloured and of my Touch as hard and though Good and Goodness is an Object of my Understanding as a Scibile whereby my Understanding examines the Truth the Nature the Circumstances the Degrees the Suitableness of it yet it is an Object of my Will as appetible or desirable which is nothing else but the motion of the Soul to Union with that it concludes to be Good and such a Good hath these Qualities 1. It must be â— Possible Good and this hath a double Reason 1. Because this is an Inclination put into the Soul by the Wise Maker of the Soul who never did any thing in vain and therefore never put any motion in any thing to such a thing which is unattainable ex natura rei It is true de facto it may fall out that Good to which the Soul is moved may not be attained by reason of some extrinsecal intervenience and yet ex natura rei the Good may be attainable 2. Because the Will is a Rational Faculty and though of it self it moves indeterminately to all Good yet when it moves to any determinate Object it moves upon the predecision of the rational Understanding Now it were a mere irrational act to move and impossible thing that it should move to that which the Understanding doth not in some sort conclude possible to attain for the end of Desire is union to the thing desired and were there not a Possibility of Union concluded in the Understanding there would be an impossibility to will it or move after it 2. It must be a Suitable Good to the Exigence Nature and Condition of the Subject that desires it 1. To the Exigence of the Subject And this is evident in all motions of all things they move to that which is apt to fill up and supply that vacuity which is in the thing desiring it even in natural as well as rational Appetites the Hungry Man his Appetite is not for Clothes but Food 2. According to the Condition of the Subject A Sensitive Appetite moves to a Sensitive Good and a Rational to a Rational Good and an Immortal to an Immortal Goâ—â— And although Man consists of several Pieces and therefore hath several Exigences and Conditions and consequently moves to several Ends answerable thereunto and the Will is carried to those Ends yet when the Will is rationally and regularly moved it moves to the Inferiour Ends or Good with subordination to that whch is the Greatest Good and therefore rests not in them nor is satisfied with them Nay though by reason of Ignorance or other Accident it mistake or know not or forget its Supream End it takes no full Satisfaction in those Inferiour Goods Though it know not what to desire yet in all the Enjoyments of these inferiour Desires it finds that it hath not what it should and that breeds discontent weariness and changeable pursuits of empty and unsatisfying pleasures and profits and contentments Now the Will is carried to its Object by a double Principle of Motion 1. Original That Great and Wise God that hath put in all things Inclinations to their several Ends hath put this will in Man to move to his End wherein he hath at once fulfilled his own Will He did it because it pleased him and led Man to his Happiness for this we may most clearly see in the Frame of all things His Wisdom and his Goodness is such that the Duty and the Happiness of his Creature are never severed When the Creature moves to the fulfilling of his Maker's Will he moves in the same act to his own Perfection and Happiness 2. Immediate The Understanding is the Seat where God hath set his Light the Light of Reason the Decision or Determination of Reason is or should be the Guide of our Will Now the Determination of Reason and Vnderstanding is twofold 1. General That whatsoever tends to the Good of the Subject is to be desired and prosecuted and that according to the several degrees of that Good accordingly ought the desire and prosecution to be if there be two Goods propounded the one more perfect universal c. than the other then though both may be pursued yet this with subordination to that 2. Special Specificating and determining this or that to be Good and giving the degrees thereof which is or should be the measure of the motion of the Will. This is the last act of the Practical Understanding For
the Compositum yet it is clear that the Tumultuousness or Quietness of the Mind doth much conduce to the Happiness or unhappiness of the Compositum That Man that lives contentedly with 20. l. a year is happier than he that lives as well with the same or a greater Portion but with an anxious troubled craving unsatisfied Mind Now when the Soul truly knows and is truly set upon his Supream End it knows its duty and therefore is not idle it knows the Power of his Maker therefore is not anxious and knows the use and value of the Creature and therefore values it no farther than it is useful to its proper End it knows the Love and Wisdom of his Maker and therefore refers all to him as he that wants neither Power to provide for it nor Wisdom to proportion nor Love to communicate according to the exigence of my condition and admit he doth his Will must be done and not mine I am provided well enough for if here I am contented and hereafter saved this sweetens any Losses 4. Though the Great God be absolute Lord of his Creature and is not bound farther to him than it pleaseth him though his Creature were most conformable to his Will yet I do not think but if our Hearts were and did continue right set upon our great and Supream End and could hold to it that we should want a convenient Portion of these outward Blessings which would make our Lives comfortable and happy but here is the Misery of Man that any confluence of Externals presently take off his Soul from a perfect pursuit of our great End and fasten upon those Externals therefore the Wise God oftentimes cuts out to the best of Men a small and an unpleasant viaticum that they may not linger in the way to their great End. And as it is thus with the whole Compositum in this Life so in the Resurrection when the Soul shall be reunited to the Body both shall have a perfect Fruition of Happiness in the enjoyment of the Presence Favour and Communion of God. How far forth the Soul separated is capable of its own nature of any new knowledge which it had not before in an angelical way or how far it is able to retain or improve those Conceptions and Species that it had here and whether it hath a compleat operation or what degree of Fruition it hath of the sight of God it is above our reach to determine only this we may conjecture that the Soul is not placed in that perfect degree of being and subsistence as are the Angels in as much as it is made in order to a Body by which in it it exerciseth its motions faculties and operations and therefore without all question when it shall hereafter be reunited to a most perfect spiritualized Body indissolubly it shall not thereby receive any diminution or abatement of its Perfection and Felicity but will thereby become more capable of a more perfect and full Fruition of that Supream Good which will then be communicated perfectly to the whole Compositum But this by the way latius infra CHAP. V. Of the Means of attaining the Supream End of Man. HItherto we have proceeded in the examination of these 2. Parts 1. What the Nature of the Subject is of this Happiness and 2. What the Object of it Now the third thing rests to be sought viz. 3. What is the Means of attaining this Supream End of Man his Union to God and herein we shall examine these three things 1. What naturally might be conjectured to be the Means of acquisition of this Happiness 2. Whether as things stand with Man the same Means be to be found or no 3. If not then whether there be any Means left for Man to attain this Supream End of his or no and what it is and how to be known Touching the first Though God by his power might carry every thing to his proper mediate or ultimate End without the intervention of any Means yet as it is his own peculiar Prerogative by his Will to appoint every thing to its proper End wherein is seen the Glory of his Goodness so the same Will of his hath ordered hath appointed every thing to move to this End by a certain Rule and certain Means and herein is seen the Glory of his Wisdom such are the Instincts and Inclinations of the Creatures by which they move to their special Ends and Perfections And as these Inclinations are planted by God in the inferiour Creature the like was done though in a different manner in Men at first in all probability of Reason the difference being only thus in the Creature all that is conducing to their End is made a piece or quality of their Nature in Man not altogether as shall be seen We have found Man indued with two great Faculties Understanding and Will and in these principally consists the receptiveness of his Happiness and the motion to it 1. Touching the Vnderstanding it is a Faculty receptive of an Object that may be known but that Object is not of the nature or essence of the Understanding but distinct from it So that Man might be created an intellectual Creature yet till such time as naturally through the Senses or supernaturally by the immediate infusion or demonstration of God he was but rasa tabula The first thing therefore that was put into the Understanding in order to his supream End was a stock of Knowledge of God and of that Will of God which concerned Man. And this Will of God concerning Man was that Means which if known and pursued would guide a Man to true Happiness for as is before observed every thing is so far forth Beautiful and Happy as it holds Conformity with the Will of God and such is his Wisdom and Goodness that when the Creature moves according to the Law and Will of its Maker it doth without fail attain that Happiness whereof it is capable because it moves to that End for which it was appointed by the First Cause Now because God hath made Man a Rational and Intellectual Creature he appointed a rational and intellectual way to move him to this End viz. the Knowledge of himself and of that Rule or Law which should lead him to that End. 2. The Understanding being thus enlightned with the Knowledge of God and his Will the Will was endued with a Rectitude to move on according to that Rule in order to the right End and that which was in the Understanding sub ratione Scibilis was to the Will sub ratione Legis a thing not only shewn to the Understanding as the Means to bring him to Happiness but also injoyned to the Man as his Duty under pain of Guilt and Vengeance for herein consists the difference between the Instincts in the inferiour Creatures and this Law given to Man in those it is not properly a Law because they are not intellectual nor voluntary Agents therefore their receding from that
of his Knowledge of the things purposed though notionally they differ 6. It is an Vniversal Counsel and therefore Universal not because confused and indistinct but it doth particularly and distinctly extend unto all the things actions and motions in the World for to suppose any thing could happen or be without the particular determination of this Counsel would be an admission that that thing were independent upon his Power and would necessarily make an utter incertainty in the whole dispensation of the World and so disappoint his Providence It is most evident that the greatest Events in the World have depended upon a Compages and Concaâ—â—nation of several Interventions that in themselves have been most inconsiderable which if they had not been it had been impossible the Event though never so eminent could have happened David raised to be king of Israel a thing eminently in the Purpose of God yet had he not been sent to the Army with the Provisions for his Brothers the means of his Advancement and consequently the Advancement it self had been disappointed If therefore the same Counsel which had determined his being King had not determined his Message to the Army that great Effect had been utterly without the determination of the Divine Providence for that which de facto was the necessary Concurrent to his Advancement being casual and not within the care of Providence so must all the dependances that had been upon it And the same we must conclude in all the actions of Voluntary Agents Two Difficulties occur 1. How the Predetermination of the Acts of Voluntary Agents can consist with the Liberty of the Will 2. How the Predetermination of the Sinful Acts of Voluntary Agents can consist with the Justice or Purity of God Touching the former we conclude 1. That although Almighty God hath been pleased to give Voluntary Agents a Liberty of Will yet he may most justly of his absolute Power interrupt that freedom when and in what he pleaseth The reason is He is absolute and unlimitted Lord of his Creature and in as much as the Creature can have no Being but by his Will he cannot claim any Right but what consists with his Maker's Will if he wills an interruption of that course which he hath regularly settled that interruption is as just as that course which he interrupteth for both equally depend upon the same Will. 2. That though he may most justly if he please alter that course which he hath settled in Natural or Voluntary Agents yet such is his Will that he doth it not but hath been pleased to hold that course in Natural but especially Voluntary Agents that they move according to that Liberty with which he hath endowed them 3. That nevertheless all the voluntary actions of Men fall under the Predetermination of his Counsel otherwise it were impossible but that the World should be governed at random the contrary whereof is most clearly evidenced by daily observation and several passages of the Holy Scripture and by what hath been before observed 4. It is evident that this Predetermination of the Divine Counsel is without any Violation of the Liberty of a free subordinate Agent because the Action predetermined is elicited by such means as at once consisteth with the infallibility of Divine Providence and the nature of the Agent The great motive and object of all the actions and aversions of Men is Good and Evil the great means whereby Men are carried unto these actions or aversions are Convictions of the Understanding arising from the union of these Objects to the Understanding the act of the rational Appetite or Will following that Conviction if not perturbed the Passions or Affections partly managed by the command of the Will partly by the temper and constitution of the Body And certainly if one Man had an exact knowledge of the frame temper and constitution of another Man and had power to apply his Object so exactly to his Understanding and Affections as to meet with them exactly and could discover the motions of the Soul upon that Object proposed and could apply to every opposition a suitable answer or qualification this Man might easily predetermine what the other should do and yet in drawing out that action no way injure his Liberty How much more can the Infinite and Omnipotent God who put that Liberty Understanding and Affections in Man positively predetermine such an act to be done and yet draw out that act by such means by him decrâ—â—d as may notwithstanding suit with the Liâ—â—â—ty of his Will the freedom of the action being no less predetermined than the action it self Especially if we consider the Power of this God in adding or withdrawing of the extrinsecal Helps and Concurrences of his own immediate Assistance which have a more intimate and powerful operation upon the Soul than barely objective which yet hurts not nor hinders the intrinsecal Freedom of the act of the Will. 2. To the second question concerning the Counsel of God touâ—â—ing Sinful Actions We are to consider therefore that Sin is the Violation of a Law given unto a Voluntary Agent by him that hath power to give that Law to the Will. In this description we have those several terms all necessarily to be admitted before there can be any Sin 1. A Law given for where there is no Law there can be no Transgression 2. A Vâ—luntâ—â—y Agent to whom this Law is given for it is impossible that any thing can be capable of a Law properly but a voluntary Agent because the proper Effect of a Law is to put an extrinsecal Restraint Under a Penalty upon that which hath choice to obey it or not Natural Agents though they move according to a Rule the interruption whereof causeth a Deformity yet they move not by a Law and therefore not capable of Sin. 3. An Authority in him that gives the Law to give it to the Will. A Man that hath an extrinsecal Power over me without my consent may give a Law to me and exact the Obedience of it but the Violation of this Law is no sin because he hath no power upon my Will but God hath a power to command my Will and exact Obedience of it Hence it is that there can be no Sin but against God because all Obligation is reductive only to him 4. A Violation of that Law by the act of the Will and herein we have two things 1. The Subject denominated that is the Action which precisely considered cannot be sinful but it is therefore sinful because it is the product of my Will contrary to this Law. Hence it is that no action that is enforced can be said to be sinful and every evil action hath so much of sin in it as it hath of Will and doth receive degrees of Evil according to the measure of Consent and Concurrence of the Will. And hence it is that the Act of the Will against that Law is equally sin as if it had proceeded into act which was
Deut. 8.3 is due to this Word of Command and Benediction that the Lord at first spoke to the Creature Now concerning the particular Creation of Man not to enter into the consideration of the manner of his Creation his Essentials the Body the Soul or the nature of either but we shall enquire What is meant by the Likeness or Image of God There was a twofold Image of God 1. Essential viz. A participation in his very Essence of a Conformity to the Divine Nature which consisted in three particulars 1. That he had an Immortal Soul this is that which Wisdom 2.23 is called the Image of his Eternity 2. That he was an Intellectual Being 3. That he was a Free Agent These being essential to Man were not lost by him and for this reason God required the same severity against Murder as if Man had never fallen Gen. 9.6 For in the Image of God made he Man. 2. An Accidental Image which consisted in an adventitious Perfection which God added to Man. 1. Dominion Gen. 1.26 And let them have Dominion c. So God created Man in his own Image The Dominion which he gave to him made him resemble God and hence it is that those that have power of Command are called Gods Exod. 4.17 And thou shalt be to him instead of God. Psal 82.6 I have said ye are gods Vid. Gen. 9.2 This Dominion consisted not only in his Power to inforce his Commands by the advantages of Wit and Strength above other Creatures but likewise in a Subjection in the Creatures to his Dominion 2. An incorruptible Union between the Body and the Soul Gen. 2.17 The day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Hence Rom. 5. the Apostle concludes Death the fruit of Sin. This might have been either by reason of the excellence of his natural Constitution or by supplying it with special Assistance by which means the Lives of the Fathers before the Flood had so long a duration or by assuming of him into Heaven without any dissolution of Soul and Body as was Enoch Gen. 5.24 3. A filling of the Intellectual Faculty with the Light and Knowledge of all things especially of his Maker And herein consisted his high degree of Happiness But as the Object or the Union of the Object to the Faculty is not of the Essence of that Intellectual Nature wherein that Faculty resides but may be removed without any essential change so was this and that herein consisted the Image of God appears by Colos 3.10 The Renovation by Christ which is renewed in knowledge after the Image of him that created him 4. Holiness or Conformity of the Will to the Will of God. This appears likewise by the state of Renovation Epes 4.24 Put on the New Man which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness which as it presupposeth a true Knowledge of the Will of God so it was a free choice of Obedience to it This was not essential to the Will because the Will was essentially Free but had been necessary to the Will in case the Understanding had not been abused CHAP. IV. Of the Providence of God in special concerning Man in order to his supream End. THUS much shortly touching the Creation and Man's Constitution in it the second part of the Dispensation of this Counsel is God's Providence and herein we shall pass over that part which is the General Providence of God and consider of that Special Providence or Dispensation of Divine Counsel which concerneth Man and that not meerly as a Creature but in order to his everlasting End. We shall consider therefore the course of this Providence of God in order to the Eternal End of Man under those three Conditions or Times wherein we find Man Before the Fall After the Fall In Christ Concerning the estate of Man before the Fall or sin of Adam we have already examined certain Generals that are conducible to this point viz. 1. That God did appoint Man to some End or Good answerable to the constitution and value of his Nature and this is his Happiness 2. That this Good must therefore be an Infinite Immortal Intelligible Good otherwise it could not be answerable to the Nature of Man. 3. That there is not nor can be any such Good but only God. 4. That the Actual Enjoyment of this Good is by the Union of the Soul to God and the Communion of God to the Soul. 5. That the only Means of attaining this Union and Communion must needs be such and such only as the Will of God pleaseth to appoint We shall now descend to these two particular Inquiries viz. 1. What was that great End or Happiness which Man did or might enjoy in his created condition 2. What was the Means whereby to attain and keep that Happiness 1. Concerning the former viz. What was Man's Happiness in his Creation we shall consider him in those three degrees of Living which he had 1. As a Vegetable Creature an exact Constitution and temper of Body which though naturally corruptible yet by the interposition of the Divine Power not subject to corruption those things that were for his use and sustentation the Air the Water the Fruits of the Earth most exactly conducible to the perpetuating of his Life without Pain or Sickness 2. As a Sensible Creature Exquisiteness of Sense and receptive of whatsoever the Creature could afford conducing to his Use or Delight and the Creature likewise fitted for the supply of those Senses every Herb given him for Food all the Creatures came to him to receive their Names he had Dominion over them a most pleasant Garden planted by God himself for his Habitation with a Tree of Immortality in it 3. As a Rational Creature 1. A most just and sweet Subordination of the inferiour Faculties to the superiour the sensitive Appetite the Passions and Motions of the Spirits 2. A most exact fitness and perfection of those Organs of the Body which are necessary for the operations of the Faculties of the Soul and a perfect and just Union of the Body and Soul whereby the Soul might clearly and perfectly exercise all her Faculties 3. Which is the height of all the rest fitting of those Faculties with the most perfect and suitable Object even God himself for all Faculties or Powers receive their perfection by their Objects to have an Understanding as comprehensive as Heaven to have a Will of as vast Desires as infinitude it self and not to have an Object suitable to either were a greater Unhappiness than to want the Faculties In the Creation therefore God filled the Understanding with the sight and knowledge of Himself of his Majesty Glory Bounty Goodness with the knowledge of his Will and Mind concerning Man with the knowledge of his Works and of his Workings This could not chuse but work in the Mind of Man answerable returns to the nature of this Object He is fully conceived to be the highest and most supream Good and
that the very consideration of this Counsel of God is a means to effect its Execution in putting the Heart into such a frame as is fit to receive the impressions of God's Grace 2. In respect of those that are omitted The freedom of the Choice doth not in the least degree reflect upon the Justice of God He had no engagement to chuse any but might most justly have let all lie under that sin and misery into which we had cast our selves If God be pleased to chuse any it is the meer act of his Grace if he leaves any he leaves them but in that condition not in which he made them but in which they made themselves The act of his Bounty to the Elect is without any Injury to those he leaves for neither could challenge any thing but Misery as their Right 2. The Object of this Choice 1. Some are chosen from all Eternity The Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father 1 Pet. 1.2 The foundation of God standeth sure having this Seal The Lord knoweth who are his 2 Tim. 2.19 These are those for whom a Kingdom was prepared from the Foundation of the World Matth 25.34 These are they which by an eternal Contract between God the Father and his Son were given unto Christ I pray for them which thou hast given me for they are thine John 17.9 24. 2. But some and not all Many there are that are not so much as called and of those that are called yet few are chosen Matth. 22.14 And this preterition of God putteth them not in any worse Condition than it finds them And indeed this Counsel of God is not so much as the Potter's making some Vessels to honour some to dishonour he made all Vessels of honour and Men made themselves all Vessels of dishonour God in his mercy to restore some to become again Vessels of honour and this is without any injury to those that are omitted because they are continued to be but what they made themselves and what they most freely desire still to be Thy destruction is from thy self O Jerusalem 3. To what this Election or Choice is or what is the End of this Counsel of God There is a twofold End in the Counsel of God. 1. The End of Intention subordinate the good of his Creature adequate the good pleasure of his own Will or his own Glory as to shew his wrath and make his power known towards the Vessels of wrath fitted for destruction so to make known the riches of his Glory in the Vessels of Mercy which he had before prepared unto Glory Rom. 9.23 2. The End in Execution or rather the subject matter of this Counsel of God it is the whole Series and all the Conjunctures of all things conducing thereunto wherein the Counsel of God doth not per saltum step from the Fall to Glory but doth take in all those intermediate passages which he hath by the same Counsel appointed to be the Means of effecting it 1. The great Mystery of the Incarnation which is the Cardo negotii 1 Pet. 1.20 Who was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world but was manifested in these last times 2. Effectual calling by the Word and Spirit of God Rom. 8.28 Who are called according to his purpose 3. The effectual Assistance of the Spirit of God without which it were impossible these dry Bones should live Jer. 31.33 I will put my Law into their mind and write them in their hearts 3. Holiness and Sanctification John. 15.16 I have chosen you and ordained you that ye should bring forth fruit Ephes 14. Chosen to be holy Epes 2.10 Created in Christ unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them Rom. 8.29 30. Conformity unto Christ and all linked together Glory to Justification Justification to Calling Calling to Election 4. In whom or by whom he hath elected us Christ In this Consists the greatest Mystery that ever was and of most concernment to Mankind And because it is impossible to attain to the knowledge of it but by Revelation from God himself we must in this keep precisely to the Word of God where alone this Mystery is by God ordinarily discovered which is briefly thus much Almighty God in the Creation of Man did primarily intend the Glory of his own Goodness and the Happiness of his Creature and to that End furnished him with such Faculties and Rules as might conduct him to that Happiness Man being seduced abused his Liberty and by his Disobedience violated that Rule and consequently in himself lost the acquisition of that Happiness to which he was created Yet this could not disappoint the Purpose of God who with an eternal and indivisible act did foresee all Mankind in this miserable and lost Condition and appoint a way for his Recovery The way of Man's Recovery was by the Eternal Purpose Consultation or Contract as I may call it between the Father Son and Eternal Spirit resolved to be that the Son of God should assume the Nature of Man into one Person by an ineffable Generation and that he should Satisfie for the Guilt of Man's Sin by his Death And because that the bare Satisfaction for Sin could only exempt Man from the deserved Punishment of his Sin but could not restore him to that Happiness which he lost by the same Eternal Covenant the Righteousness and Obedience of Christ was to be accepted by God as the Righteousness of Man that as in his Sufferings he did bear the Sin of Man to make Satisfaction for the Curse deserved so by his Obedience imputed unto Man Man might acquire that Happiness that he lost To the end that this Satisfaction and Righteousness might be effectually applied for the Purposes above-mentioned Christ must after this Righteousness fulfilled and this Satisfaction made by his Death rise from Death ascend into Heaven and so continue as well the Mediator of Intercession as he was before of Satisfaction Though this Righteousness and Satisfaction were sufficient for the Sins of all Mankind and accordingly freely propounded yet it was effectual only for such as should according to those immediate Means that God had fore-appointed to be useful for that Purpose sue forth the benefit of it This is the sum of that great work of Man's Redemption which the Angels desire to look into 1 Pet. 1.12 and is discovered to Principalities and Powers by the Church Ephes 3.10 and therefore called The manifold Wisdom of God The Mystery of Christ Ephes 3.4 Ephes 6.19 The Mystery hid in God from the beginning of the world Ephes 3.9 The Mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ Colos 2.2 Colos 1.27 The Mystery hid from ages and generations but now made manifest to his Saints Colos 1.26 The Wisdom of God in a Mystery The Mystery of his Will 1 Cor. 2.7 The Revelation of the Mystery kept secret since the world began Rom. 16.25 The great Mystery of Godliness God manifested in
way to his Happiness as one Man teacheth another though we must not exclude that powerful Co-operation of his mighty Spirit that strikes upon our Spirits even when his Word strikes upon our 〈◊〉 And herein the Pharisees spoke truth even against their own Wills Matth. 22.26 Thou teachest the way of God in Truth For God in these last times hath spoken to us by his Son Heb. 1.2 and revealed unto us the whole Counsel and Will of his Father concerning us For he spoke not of himself but the Father which sent him gave him Commandment what he should say John 12.49 And that this Doctrin of his might receive a Testimonial from Heaven it was 〈◊〉 with Miracles and with suffrages from Heaven John 12.30 This Voice came not because of me but 〈◊〉 your sakes Now among divers Particulars of the 〈◊〉 of Christ we may observe these great Master-pieces 1. Instâ—ucting us that there is a higher end for the Sons of Men to arrive unto than temporal Felicity in this Life viz. Blessedness express'd in those several Expressions of his Matth. 5.3 4. c. The Kingdom of Heaven Comfort Fulness sight of God c. And in order to this great Doctrin are those several Doctrines of the Resurrection the last Judgment the Immortality of the Soul truths that the whole World either never knew or had forgotten or doubted 2. Instructing in the true Way to attain this Blessedness teaching us that Righteousness accepted of God consists not in meer outward observations but in the integrity and sincerity of the Heart and hereby rubs off all those false glosses that the formallest of Men had put upon the Law of God teaches that the Love of God is the fulfilling of God's Commandments and the reason is because this Love of God if it be sincere will ingage the whole Man to the exact Observance of what he requires those abstruse practical Truths of Depending upon God's Providence Self-denyal Loving our Enemies Rejoycing in Affliction all flowing from the high Point of the Love of God this is the Law of Christ Gal. 6.2 3. In revealing that which is the only Means to attain the two former even that great Mystery of the Gospel that was hid with God in Christ A Man might rove at the two former though the World had almost lost them both but this latter was a mystery that the Angels themselves knew not 1 Cor. 2.16 Who hath known the Mind of the Lord that he way instruct him But we have the mind of Christ which contains the whole Counsel of God touching Man this is that which Paul calls all the Counsel of God. Acts 20.27 and Truth it self hath given us the Breviary of it John 6.40 This is the will of him that sent me that every one that seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day These great Truths of so great Concernment to the Children of Men yet so far remov'd from their Understanding were the third Business of the Life of Christ 7. That Christ bearing the sins of his People did suffer the wrath of God for the Remission of their sins The sufferings of Christ did only befal his Humane Nature for his Divine Nature was impassible yet in respect of that strict union of both Natures in one Person they received a value from that divine and impassible Nature for the union of both Natures in one Person though it did not communicate the Conditions of either Nature to the other did communicate the conditions of either Nature to the same Person as is before shewn This Suffering of Christ had these several Attributions 1 It was a Voluntary Suffering and yet not without a Necessity The Suffering was Voluntary even in respect of his Humane Nature yet Obediential to the Counsel and Purpose of God Matth. 17.21 he must go and suffer Luke 24 26. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things Acts 2.23 Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God Yet was this most Voluntary in Christ Voluntary in the original undertaking of this Work in that Eternal Susception by the Eternal Word Voluntary in the discharge of that Undertaking in the Humane Nature the Humane Nature of Christ pursuing and following the will of Eternity Luke 12.50 I have a baptism to be baptized withal and how am I straitned till it be accomplished And even when the Humane Nature did according to the Law of Nature shrink from its own dissolution yet he presently corrects that natural Passion John 12.27 Father save me from this hour But for this cause came I to this hour Father glorifie thy Name Matth. 26.39 O my Father if it be pâ—ssible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt whiles his Humanity trembles and startles at the Business he goes about yet his Love to his Church his Obedience to his Father his Faithfulness to his Undertaking breaks through that natural reluctance Now the Voluntariness yet obedience of Christ's suffering both consistent appears Joh. 10.15 1 Joh. 3.16 I lay down my life for my sheep No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self yet Isa 53.6 10. All we like sheep have gone astray and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all it pleased the Lord to bruise him when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin Psal 2.7 8. As he made himself of no reputation and humbled himself so he became obedient to death Titus 2.14 He gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity yet John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son c. Again 1 John 4.9 Herein perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us Yet Rom. 8.32 He spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all 1 John 4.9 God sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins Psal 40.7 Then said I lo I come yet he came not without a Mission I delight to do thy will O my God. The sum of all then is the Love of God to Mankind was the absolute and original foundation of our Redemption the same act of this Love proposed and undertook the Redemption of Mankind voluntarily and freely in this way contrived by the Eternal Wisdom and Counsel of God The Humane Nature of Christ in exact and voluntary submission unto this Counsel performed it If it had been Voluntary and not in Conformity to the Will of God whose Will could be the only measure of his Satisfaction it could never have been satisfactory And if it had been meerly Passive it could not have been an Obedience which requires a free Submission and Conformity to the Will of him that injoyns without which it could never be meritorious 2. It was a Meritorious and Expiatory Suffering for by that Eternal Covenant between the Father and the Son he was to bear the sins of
image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 We put on the new Man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him Colos 3.10 And we were predestinate to be conformable to his image Rom. 8.29 5. This Love of God breeds in us an undervaluing of all things in comparison of him And this is a natural effect of Love for according to the measure of our Love is the measure of the Estimate of the things loved If God be the choicest and chiefest Object of our Love it will like Moses his Rod devour and confound the rest especially when they come in competition with it If we have disorderly Passions and Affections and Lusts This Love of God will mortifie them for Christ is our Life Mortifie therefore your earthly members c. Colos 3.4 5. It will crucifie the flesh with the Affections and Lusts Galat. 5.24 I will pull out a right Eye and cut off a right Hand if it offend Matth. 5.24 I will teach a Man to hate his Mother Wife Children Brothers Sisters yea his own Life when it comes in competition with his Saviour Luk. 14.26 To esteem his outward Privileges Learning Reputation c. and all things but loss and dung for the Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Philip. 3.8 nay the best of our Obedience Prayers Righteousness It makes this humble Confession O Lord I owe unto thee the strength of my Soul and when I have paid it I am but an unprofitable Servant Thy Goodness to me is none of thy debt to thy Creature but my most exquisite and perfect Obedience is due to thee And behold I have brought before thee these Services what there is in them worth the accepting is thy own the work of thine own Spirit the purchace of thine own Blood the rest alas is mine and is an Object rather for thy Mercy to pardon than thy Justice to accept 6. It works true Sorrow for any sin committed for as it cannot chuse but be sensible as of any injury committed to the God he loves so most especially of such an injury as is done by himself 7. The Love of God is the only true Principle of all Obedience Faith works by Love Ephes 5.6 And Christ died not only to redeem us from our Iniquities but to purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2.14 And we are created in Christ unto good Works Ephes 2.10 And this is the will of God your Father eve◠your sanctification 1 Thes 4.3 And it is as impossible that where the true Love of God is these can be wanting as it is for the Sun to be without his Light. The Love of Christ is a constraining Love 2 Cor. 5.14 And he died for all that they that live should not from henceforth live to themselves but to him that died for them and rose again Our Obedience to Christ is the true Experiment of our Love to him John 14.15 If ye love me keep my Commandments 1 John 2.3 So our Love is the only true Principle of our Obedience Deuteronom 6.4 and 10.12 And now O Israel what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God and to walk in his ways and to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy Soul. The Love of God cannot be without his Fear and Obedience Now the Qualifications arising from this Love will be 1. A Sincere Obedience because it proceeds from a Principle within for the Obedience is formed in the Heart before it is formed in the Action Love cannot be dissembled because its residence is in the Soul the action that proceeds from Love must needs be therefore sincere 2. A Perpetual Obedience because the Principle within is perpetual and increasing for the more a Man loves God the more God is pleased to discover his Goodness to him and consequently his Love increaseth and consequently his Obedience 3. Vniversal Obedience for it is the same Principle within that looks universally upon all The Obedience is upon this ground It is the Will and the Command of him whom I love that ingageth my Obedience and wheresoever I find that impression there is my ground If the thing commanded be more unsuitable to my Constitution Occasions Exigencies yet it hath the Impression of my Lord upon it I will by his strength and Grace obey it If I love him his Will and not my own must be the measure of my Obedience And this is the reason why the breach of one Command of God knowingly is the breach of all because if my Obedience to the rest had been rightly principled upon the Love of God the same Love would have ingaged me to the obedience of this my Obedience therefore to the rest is not Obedience but a Pretence or Shew Some Commandments of God do include in them a greater suitableness to the Rational Nature of Man than others such are the Laws of Nature the Decalogue some are such Commands as seem only to be Experiments of our Obedience such were the Ceremonial Commands the Command to Abraham to sacrifice his Son to the Young Man to sell all he had But where this true Principle of the Love of God is there will follow Obedience to both though the more hard the Command the greater measure of Love to God is required to a full performance of it It teaches Obedience where the thing commanded is of it self full of Beauty as all Moral Commands are because but the Abstract of his Image and it teacheth to obey where the Command seems to carry nothing in it but asperity and unusefulness for it hath made the Will of God the measure of its own Will. Now concerning the Subject of our Obedience how far it extends and what the Rule of it is vide infra CHAP. XI Why or by what reason the act of Faith worketh our Vnion with Christ and so our Justification in the sight of God. HITHERTO we have seen those motions of God to his Creature and the motion of the Creature unto God again and both these must needs end in Union and this Union can be no otherwise than in the Son in whom the Divine and Humane Nature were united in one Person in whom the distance and difference between God and Man were filled up and reconciled And by virtue of our Union with him as our sins are made as it were his in point of Imputation and Satisfaction so we have all that communicable 〈◊〉 that was in Christ his Righteousness Phil. 3.9 the Righteousness which is of God by Faith his Life Galat. 2 2◠his Death Galat. 2.20 I am crucified with Christ his Spirit Rom. 8.9 his Resurrection 〈◊〉 2.6 hath raised us up together and made us sit 〈…〉 him in heavenly places Colos 2.12 Buried 〈…〉 Baptism wherein also ye are risen with him through the Faith of the operation of God of his Sonship
may be taken these ways 1. The immediate Communication of the Holy Spirit wherewith Christ himself was indued for as in respect of the Union of the Divine Nature there was an Essential Union between the Son and the Spirit so by that Union of both Natures in one Person there was a Communion of the same Spirit unto Christ The Spirit descended upon him like a Dove Matth. 3.16 God gave him not the Spirit by measure John 3.34 Now as Aaron's Ointment that was poured first upon his Head descended upon the Hem of his Garment so by virtue of our Union with him that Spirit that was without measure poured upon our Head was in some measure diffused upon all that are united to him and as the same Soul that actuates the Heart and the Head in a more plentiful and eminent manner doth inactuate the most inconsiderable part of the same Body so the same Spirit that is in Christ is in every one that is united unto him though in a different degree of operation Rom. 8.9 If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his 2 Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned unto the Lord is one Spirit And by this Spirit of Christ which he giveth and communicateth unto those that are united unto him they are said to be sealed by the Spirit of Promise Ephes 1.13 2 Cor. 1.22 viz. It is by this Spirit of Christ that we have access unto God Ephes 2.18 We have access by one Spirit unto the Father and it is this Spirit that forms our Desires in us and by this means our Desires are not only discovered unto God that knows the mind of his own Spirit but they are also conformable unto the Will of God Rom. 8.27 He that searcheth the heart knoweth what is in the mind of the Spirit because be maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God. And as the Father did hear the Son always because his Desires were conformable to the Will of his Father John 11.42 I know that thou hearest me always so John 16.23 Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he shall give it you for it is a Petition framed by that Spirit which is the Spirit of Christ and of God and what his own Spirit desires it is his own Will to grant And for this cause it is called the Spirit of Adoption Rom. 8.15 God is pleased to accept the Prayers and Services of the Members of Christ in him even as the obedience of his own Sons because they are moved and actuated by the very same Spirit which is the Spirit of his Son. And as the intrinsecal form of things is that which instrumentally conforms the qualities and proportions of the thing which it informs unto that intrinsecal form and suits it with Qualities and Conditions suitable to its Operations so this Spirit of Christ doth by degrees conform the Soul the Affections the whole Man unto the Image of Christ changing it into the same Image 2 Cor. 3.18 And this Spirit of Christ doth lead them into all Truth John 16.13 And from hence it is that he that is the true Member of Christ cannot continue in a constant course of sin 1 John 3.9 For his seed remaineth in him viz. That Spirit of Christ by which he is actuated and by which he is born of God John 3.6 That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit That abideth in him and will be degrees like a living Spring work out that mudd that our own flesh and corruption cast into us 2. Which is a fruit of the former The mind of Christ For this Spirit of God works a Conformity in the Heart and Life to Christ whose Spirit it is This Spirit of Christ makes an impression of the Image of Christ upon the Soul and Life The like Effect with this we find in all things In matters Natural the vicinity of two things together works a Conformity of the weaker to the stronger either Element or Form In matters Moral Conversation between two breed a Conformity in Manners even different from their otherwise natural Constitution much more where the Spirit of Christ lays hold on the Soul and unites a Man unto Christ there is not only new Company but a new Form and consequently of necessity a new frame and temper of Heart and Life conformable to such Company and to such a Form. And in order to this Conformity unto Christ the Old Conversation the Old Man which is corrupt according to the deceitful Lusts Ephes 4.22 must be put off the Affections and Lusts must be crucified Galat. 5.25 the Body will be dead because of sin Rom. 8.10 Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts will be denied Tit. 2.12 For these make a deformity from Christ such a Spirit as the Spirit of Christ cannot long endure to inform or inhabit such a Soul but if it come into him it will change him And in stead thereof the Man shall be born again by the Spirit John 3.5 the Spirit will be Life Rom. 8.10 Christ will be new formed in them Galat. 4.19 the walking will be in the Spirit Galat. 5.25 the New Man will be put on even the Image of Christ Righteousness and true Holiness Ephes 4.24 Christ will be put on Galat. 3.27 Rom. 13.14 the Life will be the Life of Christ Galat. 2.20 the Heart will be the Habitation of Christ Ephes 3.17 of God Ephes 2.22 of the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6.19 the mind the mind of Christ 1 Cor. 2.16 the temper of the Soul the same with his humble as he was humble Phil. 2.5 holy as he is holy 1 Pet. 1.16 long-suffering and indulgent as he was John 13.15 Behold have I not given you an example Patient under the Will of God c. And by Conformity unto Christ Man is put into a right state and in that order towards God himself and others as he was in his creation and thereby in some measure restored to that Happiness which he had by reason of that order The Happiness and Peace of every thing consisting in the due observance of that station and Rule which God hath given it And this Conformity unto Christ is our Sanctification which is nothing else but a restoring of Man in some measure to that Conformity unto the Will of God in which he was created Man by sin lost that impression of God's Image God was pleased to give us his Son who is the express Image of his Father and by this Spirit of his to re-imprint that Image again upon as many as behold him and come unto him by Faith 1. Thes 4.3 This is the will of God even your Sanctification so that the Sanctification or Obedience which is wrought in us and required of us is the Conformity of the Will of Man to the Will of God. The Obedience performed unto God by the Faithful ariseth from a double Principle 1. This whereof we now speak an intrinsecal Change of the Nature Conforming the Heart