Speculum Theologiae in Christo OR A VIEW OF SOME Divine Truths Which are either Practically Exemplified IN JESUS CHRIST Set forth in the GOSPEL Or may be reasonably deduced from thence By EDWARD POLHILL of Burwash in Sussex Esq LONDON Printed by A. M. and R. R. for Tho. Cockerill at the Three Legs in the Poultrey over-against the Stocks-Market MDCLXXVIII TO THE CHRISTIAN READER IT was anciently observed by St. Austin touching the Prophets under the Old Testament Non tantum lingua illorum hominum verum etiam vita fuit Prophetica They did not only prophesie or reveal the mind of God by words but by things done by or upon them Isaiah must walk naked and barefoot to shew the shame of the Egyptian captivity Jeremy must go down to the Potters House and there see the Vessel marred to give the Jews a pregnant demonstration that God could unmake and destroy them Ezekiel was to remove and bring forth his stuff to give them a lively representation of their captivity Above all this was eminently seen in our great Prophet Jesus Christ He did not only reveal the Gospel but he himself is the substance and marrow of it He is the very mirror of Divine Truths and Perfections His stile is the Image of the invisible God the brightness of the Fathers Glory As an eternal Son he is such in himself As incarnate he is such to us The Messiah say the Rabbins is facies Dei the face of God The Glory of God faith the Apostle is in the face of Jesus Christ The Divine perfections appear in him as beauty doth in the face The invisible one may here be seen the inaccessible Majesty may be approach'd unto Infinity to accommodate it self to our Model appears nube carnis in a Cloud of flesh that his glory might not swallow us up In our Emanuel we have a body of Theology an excellent Summary of Divine Truths in a very lively manner set forth to us The Atheist who owns not a God in Heaven might here if he had eyes of Faith see God in the flesh The Wisdom of God doth here appear not in the orders and harmonies of nature but in a plot much greater and more admirable God and Man infinite and finite Eternal and Temporal are met in conjunction that the human finite temporal nature in Christ might be the Theater for the Divine Infinite Eternal nature to shew its perfections in The Truth of God manifests it self illustriously in that no difficulty could hinder the early promise of the Messiah made immediately after the fall of man neither could any time bury it in oblivion He would be true in that which was the hardest thing for him to do in parting with his only begotten out of his bosom for us After many ages the Promise must bud and blossom and bring forth the Messiah We see here That God is the holy one his hatred of sin is writ in Red Characters in the blood and wounds of our dear Lord. His love to holiness was such that he would send his own Son in the flesh to recover holiness into the heart of man again We have here Providence accurately watching over our Saviour all-along first over his Genealogy then over his birth life death resurrection And lastly over the issue of all a Church raised up to sing Hosannah's to him for ever Omnia plena Sacramentorum saith an Ancient Every thing in Christ reads us a Lecture of Divinity He being the second Adam who brought in righteousness and life unto men we are sure that there was a first who brought in sin and death to them From his conception being an extraordinary one we may plainly gather what the Two states of Nature and Grace are By the common generation we are flesh of flesh unclean creatures By the power of the regenerating spirit overshadowing our hearts we become spirit of spirit holy new-creatures In his life and preaching we have miracles triumphing over nature and all the order of it Mysteries exceeding Reason and all its Acumen and a Samplar of humility Meekness Mercy Righteousness Holiness Obedience such as the Sun never saw In his death we have what the proud Socinian thinks impossible Infinite Mercy and Infinite Justice kissing and embracing each other Mercy was seen that God should give his only his dearly beloved Son for us Justice was seen that God should exact of him standing in our stead as much as would counterpoize the sin and suffering of a World in his glorious satisfaction We see what that is which justifies sinners and makes them stand before the Holy God In his excellent example we see how justified ones which are mystical parts and pieces of him ought to walk and tread in his steps These things are the subject matter of the ensuing Discourse may all who are called Christians study Jesus Christ The little 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Reason of Man is much cried up in this Age may we much more adore the Infinite Word and Wisdom of God The temper of St. Bernard may be recommended to all Si scribas non sapit mihi nisi legero ibi Jesum si disputes aut conferas non sapit mihi nisi sonuerit ibi Jesus The devout Father could not relish any thing but Jesus Christ may our hearts ever burn and be inflamed with love to him in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledg may we desire none but Christ Non aliud praeter illum non aliud tanquam illum non aliud post illum Nothing besides him nothing like him nothing after him This is the scope of my Book if it profit or do good to any it is enough and as much as is desired by him who is A Lover of Truth Edw. Polhill Jan. 21. 1677. THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. A short View of Gods Allsufficiency and condescension in revealing himself p. 1 2. The various ways of manifestation In the making of the World and Man p. 3 4 5 6. After the fall in the Moral Law and in types and shadows p. 7. Lastly and above all in and by Jesus Christ p. 8. CHAP. II. Christ considered as a Prophet and a Speculum p. 9. The Divine Attributes shine in him particularly Wisdom p. 10. The obstacles of Redemption to be removed p. 11 12. The Son of God fit for the work p. 13. Many admirable conjunctions of God and Man of Justice and Mercy of Punishment and Obedience in Christs sufferings p. 14 15. Of Satisfaction and a kind of execution of the Law p. 16. Of Satisfaction and Merit p. 17. Of Merit and Example p. 18. All tending to our salvation ibid. The rare conquest of Sin Satan the World Death p. 19 20 21. Humility of mind necessary p. 21. The desperate issue of the pride of Human Reason p. 21 22. Need of Humility from the threefold state of Reason in Integrity after the Fall after Faith p. 23 24 25. CHAP. III. Holiness the glory of the Deity
to have it here the consequence must needs be sure and infallible Upon the whole matter it appears that no tolerable account can be given of Christs Sufferings unless Justice were satisfied and declared therein But to explicate this more distinctly I shall a little consider three things 1. God the great Rector who inflicted those Sufferings on Christ 2. Christ the Patient who bore them 3. The Sufferings in themselves and in their fruits 1. God the righteous Rector who inflicted them was one of infinite Mercy Mercy in men though but finite is sometimes a remora to punishment Joseph being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a just that is as the word there must be taken a merciful man would not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make Mary a publick spectacle of Justice Matth. 1.19 But though God were one of infinite Mercy and that not meerly resident in his Nature but as it were in motion triumphantly going forth in a most compassionate design towards mankind yet he would have Justice satisfied in the Sufferings of his Son To declare I say at this time his righteousness saith the Apostle Rom. 3.26 Observe it was at this time it was then a day of Salvation a Jubilee of Redemption to Mankind yet for all that Justice must have its due and be declared in the Sufferings of Christ But here the Socinians object That infinite Justice and infinite Mercy are opposites and cannot both be together in God or if they were God who cannot act contrary to any thing in his Nature could neither punish because of his Mercy nor yet pardon because of his Justice But I answer Mercy and Justice are not opposites in Man After the Idolatry of Israel in the Molten Calf Moses would in Justice have every one slay his Brother yet in an high excess of Mercy and Charity he would pray Forgive their sin if not blot me out of thy book Exod. 32.27 32. Neither are they opposites in God when he proclaims his Name in those stately Titles The Lord merciful gracious long-suffering abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin He yet adds in the close of all That he will by no means clear the guilty Exod. 34.6 7. Mercy and Justice in God have different objects the Penitents who partake of Mercy are not the objects of Justice the Impenitents who feel Justice are not the objects of Mercy Yet these Attributes are not contrary the one to the other being both Divine Perfections they can no more be contrary the one to the other than the Divine Essence which both of them are can be contrary to it self Cruelty not Justice is opposite to Mercy Injustice not Mercy is opposite to Justice Neither doth God in pardoning or punishing act contrary to any thing in his Nature In pardoning Penitents he acts not against his Justice for that was satisfied in their Sponsor Jesus Christ In punishing Impenitents he acts not against his Mercy for that as the Socinians themselves confess extends not to obstinate sinners neither are they at all capable of it These two Attributes do mutually illustrate one another the Mercy of God is the more Illustrious because when Justice was inexorable it sent his Son to suffer for us The Justice of God is the more glorious in Christs Sufferings because they were inflicted by one whose Mercy was infinite in his nature and in his design towards Men. 2. Christ the Patient who bore those Sufferings may be considered under divers respects each of which shew Justice to be Illustrious in his Sufferings Take him as Man Justice appears in that the penal Sufferings were in the same nature which had sinned The nature of Angels was not assumed the facrifice of Beasts would not serve the turn neither had the same nature with man but that Justice might be exact that the Sufferings might be in the same nature which had sinned the Son of God was made flesh and suffered in it as an expiatory Sacrifice for us Notable is that of the Prophet All their wickedness is in Gilgal there I hated them Hos 9.15 Sin was found in the humane Nature and there it must be punished Take him as the Son of God Justice appears in that so great so dear a person suffered for us David spared Joab because he was a great a potent man in the Army And Absolom because he was a dearly beloved Son In the former he said The Sons of Zerviah are too hard for me and in the latter Deal gently with the young man But though Jesus Christ was very great God and Gods Fellow one who thought it no robbery to be equal with God though he was very dear a Son and an only begotten the Fathers essential Image and eternal joy Yet for all this standing in the room of sinners he must not be spared It was a great Wrath in Henry the Second of France Thuan. l. 20.564 which made him by a passionate throw to smite though but occasionally his own Son then sitting at his feet But oh how great how wonderful was the Justice of God in Christs Sufferings when no greatness no dearness though infinite did obviate or turn away the stroke When he bruised and wounded to death his own Son and that intentionally and on purpose to vindicate the Honour of his Justice and Law In other punishments he falls but upon meer Creatures but here with Reverence be it spoken He falls upon himself the Son of God very God and a dearer or greater person there could not be was the sufferer Further take him as an holy Innocent One Justice which usually hath only to do with sinners will yet appear He was Holiness it self in his Divine Nature He was holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners in his Humane yet if he will stand as a Surety for mankind he cannot be excused It is observable in Scripture that penal Sufferings stay not meerly at the offenders door but run over upon those in conjunction with him Achan sinned in the accursed thing and his Sons and Daughters were stoned and buried with fire David sinned in numbring the people and no less than seventy thousand subjects fell by a Pestilence But the Holy Jesus is an instance above all others their Sufferings fell indeed upon Relations yet still upon sinners here they fell upon the Holy One. Justice is illustrious when sinners suffer in conjunction with sinners but how highly doth it act when Innocency it self suffers in conjunction with them I mean as a Sponsor on their behalf But here the Socinians cry out Nibil divinae justitiae magis contrarium est quà m insontem sontis loco puniri Volk de Sat. Quid hoe aliud est quam saevum tyrannum facere Sclicting cont Mels Insignis immanitas atque saevitia potius quà m liberalitas appellanda est Soc. de Servat pars 3. c. 2. That if God should punish the innocent for the guilty Christ for us Sinners he
judicia tua The other is Maximilian who in the time of Pope Julius the second expressed his thoughts touching Providence thus Deus aeterne nisi vigilares quà m malè esset mundo quom regimus nos ego miser venator ebriosus ille ac sceleratus Julius There being a Divine Providence such as spreads it self over all things what acknowledgments and adorations should be paid to it it upholds and directs all things it stoops down to worms and hairs it governs the great things of the Church and the World it ascertains the most casual events it rules over the freest agents nay it reduces sin it self the most horrible of ataxies into order it brings light out of darkness order out of confusion good out of evil it leaves nihil inordinatum in universo nothing simply totally inordinate in all the World O how should we hang and depend upon it our purposes should all have that pious condition If the Lord will we will do this or that Jam. 4.15 Our motto should be nihil sine Deo nothing without Providence In all our ways we should look up and wait for the good hand of God to direct and prosper us without which vanity takes us and all comes to nothing In our converses with men we should look above them to him who sits at the stern and rules Do they do us good let us remember the fountain is above man is but the channel not the least good drops from them but what was distilled out of them by Providence Jacob saith That he saw Esaus face as the face of God Gen 33.10 Little of God was to be found in Esau yet in his kindness Jacob spied out a beam of the Divine Goodness and favour Do they deal ill with us let us consider no more of their malice or wrath can issue forth upon us than Providence will suffer the remainder shall be restrained and kept back in their verbal reproaches and obloquies let us say with David the Lord hath bid him curse In their real injuries and oppressions let us say with Job the Lord hath taken away still our eyes should be lifted up above instruments to that wise Providence which orders all In all the great affairs of the Church and the World let us still hold to this the Lord reigneth Psal 93.1 Providence governs the World and all in it heresies and bloody persecutions may break out as a flood yet Truth shall stand and the Church built upon it In a word seeing God is universal Governour we should fear him in every place eye him in every work submit to him in every event depend upon him in every estate and glorifie him in all his administrations This is indeed to confess his Kingdom which ruleth over all and practically to own his Providence which sweetly and strongly disposes all things to his own Praise and Glory CHAP. IX Chap. 9 The Doctrine of Original sin the great moment of it Adam's sin imputed to us The proof of it from Scripture Adam's capacity Adam's righteousness Objections answered Our inherent pravity The proof of it from Scripture The experience of our hearts The actual sins in the world The doctrine of Original sin manifested from Christs extraordinary Conception His Headship opposed to Adam's from the institution of Baptism The wickedness of the Jews in crucifying of Christ The purchase of Regeneration and Salvation made by Christ A short improvement of this Doctrine IN the next place I shall proceed to consider Original sin the Doctrine of which is very momentous The Psalmist in the fourteenth Psalm notably sets forth the corrupt estate of man by nature and again he sets it forth in the 53. Psal almost in the same words pointing out to us the great necessity and utility of this Doctrine Moll Com. in Psal 53. which admirably tends to undeceive and deliver us from that fascinating opinion of our own righteousness and worthiness which too much charms the hearts of all men and withal to prepare and make us ready to accept a cure from Christ and his regenerating Grace This is a most necessary fundamental Doctrine De peccat Or. lib. 2. cap. 24. St. Austin speaking of Adam and Christ saith In horum duorum hominum causa proprie fides Christiana consistit the Christian faith stands in the knowledg of those two men the one the spring of sin and death the other the spring of grace and life And speaking of the Pelagians as denying Original sin he charges them Epist 90 94. fundamenta Christianae fidei evertere to overturn the foundations of the Christian faith Without the knowledg of this sin that excellent rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 know thy self becomes altogether unpracticable a man though near to his own soul is a stranger to it though he hath a reflecting faculty yet he cannot make a true inspection into his heart he sees only his outside within there is a deadly wound yet he feels it not a sink a chaos of corruptions yet he perceives it not that holy image which was the beauty and pure rectitude of his nature is departed and gone yet he is not concerned at it He is as Nazianzen speaks totus lapsus all fallen all out of order yet it seems to him as if all were well and in a due posture he is miserable and poor and blind and naked and yet insensible in all these according to that false or rather no-judgment that he hath of himself he is happy in his misery rich in his poverty seeing in his blindness beautiful in his shame and spiritual nakedness in the midst of straits and necessities he finds no need of Christ or regenerating grace the necessity and excellency of these appears in such proportion as the depth and breadth of that sin is apprehended to be Hence it is observable on the one hand Those who own Adam to be a fountain of sin and death do withal own Christ to be a fountain of righteousness and life Those who see the horrible ataxy and pravity in our nature see also the necessity and excellency of Grace in the repairing of it On the other hand the Pelagians and Socinians who deny Original sin are enemies to Grace it is in the power and will of man vel nitere flore virtutum vel sentibus horrere vitiorum Aust de Grat. Christ c. 18. to make himself beautiful with the flowers of virtue or horrid with the brambles of vice So Pelagius In nostra potestate situm est ut Deo obtemperemus Cap. 10. it is in our power to obey God So the Racovian Catechist And what room is there for Grace Aust ad Bonis lib. 1. cap. 21. when the power and free-will of man may do the work The Pelagians affirmed that before the Law men were saved by Nature afterwards by the Law Socin de Serv. pars 3. cap. 2. afterwards by Christ The Socinians say that under the Old Testament good men were
together in this manner The first we have in those words By one man sin entred into the world The second in those Death passed upon all The third in those In him all have sinned Thus those phrases sin entred death passed have a plain explication Sin did not stay in Adam but it entred into the world But if Adams sin be not imputatively ours how did it enter It entred by Imitation say the Pelagians but how vain is this Sin entred upon all upon whom death passed and death passed upon all without exception But neither infants who sin not actually or after the similitude of Adams transgression nor those adult persons who sin actually but never so much as heard of Adams sin could have sin from Adam by Imitation We are all sinners and children of wrath not by Imitation but by nature Adams sin was not meerly his own but ours by Imitation Thus sin entred into the world and as a penal fruit of it death passed upon all it did not stay at Adam but passed upon all and if Adams sin became not ours how should that be The Apostle doth not barely set down sin and death but sets them down in their order and connexion First sin entred and then death passed and that not as a meer infelicity or misery but as a just punishment for sin Hence it is observable that the Text saith That death came by sin and so passed upon all The Particles by and fo shew that death passed upon all as a punishment If Adams sin were not all mens how could death pass upon infants who have no actual sin God is not cannot be unjust where there is no fault there is no room for punishment if infants in no sense transgressed the Command in Adam the death in the threatning cannot fall upon them De Incar c. 14. Quâ justitiâ parvulus subjicitur peccati stipendio si nulla est in eo peccati pollutio saith Fulgentius With what justice can an infant be subject to the wages of sin if the pollution of it be not in him May there be poena sine causa a punishment without a why or a wherefore It cannot be If therefore even Infants in Adam died as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 15.22 then in Adam all sinned as he tells us in the frequented Text. That this is the genuine meaning of it doth not only appear by the Text it self but by that which followeth By one mans disobedience many were constituted sinners v. 19. No. unimputed sin can do this If therefore Adams sin constitute us sinners it is imputed to us To say as the Socinians and some others do to constitute us sinners is only to make us obnoxious to death and so to be treated as sinners is a thing vain and repugnant to the Text. To be treated as a sinner is not to be constituted such To be treated as a sinner when a man is not such is very unjust and unequal To be a sinner is to be culpable or guilty of a fault and the proper signification must be retained The Apostle in this Chapter evidently distinguishes between sin and death transgression and condemnation and makes Adam the origine of both first of sin and then by sin of death Therefore Adam first makes us sinners and then obnoxious to death Thus the words being taken relatively In him all have sinned the conclusion is plain That Adams sin is imputed to us Nay if the words be taken causally for that all have sinned the conclusion is the very same If death passed upon all men because all have sinned then Infants because death passes upon them have sinned And how have they sinned Not in their own persons they are not capable of sinning actually but in Adam the root of mankind Not by an Imitation they are not capable of such a thing but by a participation of the first sin which by a just Imputation becomes theirs 2. The capacity which Adam was in is very considerable He was not considered as a meer individual person but as the Principle and Origine of Human nature The admirable endowments of righteousness and immortality were trusted and deposited in his hands not meerly for himself but for his posterity The command was not given to him as to a singular person but as the Root and Head of Mankind The Covenant made with him run thus If he did as he was able obey the command he should transfer innocency and life to his posterity If not he should transfer sin and death to it We were in him naturally as latent in his Joins and legally as comprized within the Covenant This is very clear because the death in the threatning annexed to the command given to him falls upon his posterity Had not the command extended to his children the threatning could not have reached them Had not they sinned in Adam their Head and Root death could not have faln upon them in such sort as it doth that is in a state of infancy void of any actual sin of its own This being the true state of things it is no wonder at all that Adams sin should be imputed to us as parts and pieces of him Adam was here considered as the Root and Origine of mankind his Person was the fountain of ours his Will the representative of ours Omnes nos unus ille Adam We were one with him and branches of him Hence we sinned in his sin and putrified in him as in the root These things if weighed give an easie solution to all the cavils and objections which the Pelagians and their followers make against the imputation of Adams sin to us First They say Deus qui propria peccata remittit non imputat aliena God who forgives us our own sins doth not impute to us another mans But here is a great mistake as if Adams sin were just nothing at all to us Adam was the Root and bore all mankind in himself we were seminally and legally in him His sin therefore was not alien altogether to us but in a sort our own We sinned in him as our Head We fell with him as the branches fall with the body of the Tree St. Austin saith Contr. Jul. l. 6 cap. 4. Though Adams sin were alien proprietate actionis yet it was ours contagione propaginis Gregory Nazianzen speaking of Adams sin cryes out pathetically O infirmitatem meam O my infirmity St. Serm. 1. Dom. 1. Post 8. Epiph Bernard notably expresses it Culpa aliena est quia in Adam omnes nescientes peccavimus nostra quia etsi in alio nos tamen peccavimus nobis justo Dei judicio imputabatur licet occulto Adams sin was alien to us because we ignorantly sinned in him yet it was ours because we sinned though in another and it was to us imputed by the just though secret counsel of God Again they say That which is properly sin in us is voluntary and an act of our will but Adams was
hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light Col. 1.12 The first rise of Grace is in the bosom of eternal love the appearance of it in men is in supernatural gifts the period and center of it is in the Glory of Heaven Two things in this point of Grace offer themselves to our consideration the freeness of Grace and the Divine efficacy of it First The freeness of Grace is to be considered and that in two or three particulars 1. It is of Free-Grace that all mankind doth not eternally perish in the ruines of the fall That there is a possibility of Salvation for any one Son of Adam When the Angels sinned but one sin God turned them down into chains of darkness for ever Might he not in justice have dealt so with fallen men He was not bound to repair the Angels those golden Vessels once inmates of Heaven and who can who dares conceive such a thought That he was bound to repair men who are but Images of clay dwelling in the lower World I know many differences are assigned Man sinned by seduction Devils by self-motion in the fall of Man all the human nature fell in the fall of Angels all the Angelical nature fell not The sin of Angels was more damnable than Mans because their nature was more sublime than his Men are capable of repentance but Devils not because whatever they once choose they do will immovably But alas all these are but extra-Scriptural conjectures Man though tempted was voluntary in the transgression all men were involved in the fall but that 's no apology for the sin The sin of Man if not so high as that of Angels was yet a damnable one It is a vain dream to suppose that Almighty Grace could not have wrought a gracious change in Devils That which differences us from them is as the Scripture tells us no other than the meer Grace and Philanthropy of God towards us he might justly have left us under that wrath which our apostacy deserved Two things will make this evident 1. Original sin which reaches to all is properly sin and being such merits no less than eternal death We all sinned in Adams sin by that one man sin entred into the world The disobedience of that one constituted all sinners which unless it had been imputatively theirs it could never have done The want of Original righteousness is properly sin because it is the want of that which ought to be in us it ought to be in us because the pure spiritual Law calls for an holy frame of heart it ought to be in us or else we are not fallen creatures but are as we ought to be If it ought to be in us then the want of it is properly sin The Apostle proving that all are sinners and short of the Glory of God tells us That there is none righteous no not one none that understandeth none that seeketh after God They are all gone out of the way They are together become unprofitable There is no fear of God before their eyes Rom. 3. Which words denote a want of that habitual righteousness which ought to be in all even in little Infants That want is sin else the Apostle could not from thence conclude That all Infants not excepted have sinned and come short of the glory of God To want habitual righteousness which ought to be in us is to be sinners and short of our original That original concupiscence which is in all is properly sin it is over and over called sin in Scripture it is the root and black fountain of all impiety it is opposite to the Law and Spirit of God it impels to all sin it fights against all graces and particularly against that of love to God where the creature is inordinately loved there God is not loved with all the heart and Soul These things make it appear That Original sin is properly sin and if so it merits no less than death eternal The Scripture abundantly testifieth this The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6.23 In which we have a double Antithesis Wages is opposed to Gift and eternal Death to eternal Life By one man sin entred into the world and death by sin Rom. 5.12 Not meer infelicity but sin entred not meer temporal death but eternal followed upon it Hence the Apostle tells us That there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 judgment unto condemnation and that upon all men vers 16 and 18. We are by nature children of wrath even as others Eph. 2.3 He doth not say by practise or custom but by nature we are Children of wrath that is worthy of it Nature as corrupted is here opposed to Grace which as the Text after speaks saves us wrath appertains to nature salvation to grace This one Text is as a stroke of Lightning * Hoc uno verbo quasi fulmine totus homo quantus quantus est prosternitur Bez. in Loc. to lay all men flat and prostrate before God even little Infants being unclean in themselves cannot if unregenerate stand at Gods right hand and enter into the holy Heavens they must therefore stand at his left and go into darkness Hence St. Austin †Finge Pelagiane locum ex officina perversi doginaâ—is tui ubi alieni a Christi gratia vitam requiei gloriae possidere parvuli possint Aust Hyp. l. 5. tells the Pelagians who denied Original sin That they must forge out of their Shop of Heresy a middle place for such Infants as are Aliens from the Grace of Christ If Infants are unregenerate they cannot enter Heaven the place of bliss If as the Pelagians say they are free from sin they cannot go to Hell the place of misery Tertium ignoramus A third place I know not nor can find any such in Scripture They are therefore subject to eternal death for their Original sin The sum of this Argument we have in Anselm Si originale peccatum sit aliquod peccatum De conc Virg. cap. 27. necesse est omnem in eo natum in illo non dimisso damnari If Original sin be sin it is necessary that every one born in it should be condemned for it unless it be pardoned it being impossible that any one should be saved so much as with one unremitted sin If Original sin be indeed sin and do merit death eternal then God may justly inflict that death for it seeing he cannot be unjust in doing an act of justice in inflicting that punishment which is due to sin 2. As on Mans part there is a merit of eternal death so on Gods the mission of Christ to save us was an act of meer Grace This is set forth in Scripture God commended his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Rom. 5.8 In this was manifested the love of God towards us because he sent
he ought the greatest Saint though a man full of divine principles stands in need of assistance And doth a natural man one void of good fraught with evil need no more Is regenerating quickning renewing new-creating grace nothing but an assistance only May any one believe that the holy Spirit in Scripture should give such high stately titles to an assistance only May a man be a co-operator or co-partner with God in the raising up faith and a new creature in himself It 's true a natural man may by a common grace enter upon preparatories he may attend upon the means but what can he contribute to the work it self he is meerly natural the new creature is totally supernatural and what can he do towards it could he contribute ought what would the new creature be must it not be part natural as from man part supernatural as from God part old as from nature part new as from grace Thus it must be if this great work be divided between God and man Notable is that of Lactantius De fal Rel. Lib. 1. Cap. 11. Jovem Junonemque a juvando esse dictos Cicero interpretatur Jupiter quasi Juvans Pater dictus quod nomen in Deum minimè congruit quia juvare hominis est opis aliquid conferentis in eum qui sit egens alicujus beneficii nemo sic Deum precatur ut se adjuvet sed ut servet ut vitam salutemque tribuat nullns pater dicitur filios juvare cum eos generat aut educat illud enim levius est quam ut eo verbo magnitudo paterni beneficii exprimatur quanto id magis est inconveniens Deo qui verus est Pater per quem sumits cujus toti sumus a quo fingimier animamur illuminamur And at last he concludes Non intelligit beneficia divina qui se juvari modo a Deo putat He understands not divine benefits who thinks himself only helped by God Jehovah must not be transformed into a Jupiter or a meer helper man must not share with him in this great work it is God who makes us new creatures and not we our selves We are his workmanship not our own Ephes 2.10 Born not of the will of man but of God Joh. 1.13 As soon as a man is regenerate it may be truly said of him Hic homo jam naâ—ns est ex Deo this man is now born of God but to say that he is in part born of mans will is to blaspheme the Author of our spiritual being and to crown Nature instead of Grace 3. The holy principles of Grace are produced by an act of Divine power God lays the foundations of faith and the new creature as it were in mighty waters in the very same heart in which there is a fountain and torrent of corruption and no power less than the Divine can put back the stream of nature and set up the Heavenly structure of Grace in such an heart The production of gracious principles is in Scripture set forth in glorious titles such as do import power 't is called a Transtation Col. 1.13 it transplants and carries us away out of a state of sin into a state of grace 'T is a Generation Jam. 1.18 it begets us to a participation of the Divine Nature 'T is a Resurrection Ephes 2.5 It quickens us and inspires into us a Supernatural life of which the fall had left no spark or relick at all 'T is a Creation Eph. 2.10 it raises up a new creature out of nothing and gives us a spiritual being which before we had not and if these things do not speak power nothing can Hence the Apostle speaks of the Gospel coming in power 1 Thes 1.5 Nay that in the success of it there is an excellency of power 2 Cor. 4.7 and an exceeding greatness of power towards Believers Eph. 1.19 The work of faith is said to be fulfilled with power 2 Thes 1.11 How much more must it be an act of power to lay the Primordials and first principles of faith in a fallen unbelieving creature When there was nothing appearing in our lapsed nature but a vacuum a chaos of sin a spiritual death and nullity only the Divine power was able to repair the ruins of the fall and rear up the Heavenly life and nature in us This great truth was notably set forth in the conception of our Saviour Christ it was not in the course of nature his Mother knew not a man but the Holy Ghost came upon her the power of the highest overshadowed her that the holy thing might be born of her Luk. 1.35 In like manner when Christ is formed in the heart when the new-creature is set up in us it is not in the way of nature we know not the humane power in this work here is no less than dextra excelsi the right hand of the most High to effect it here are vestigia spiritus sancti the footsteps of the holy Spirit to bring it to pass the same power and spirit which formed Christ in the womb formes him in the heart as in his participation of the humane nature there was a Supernatural operation so is there in our participation of the Divine This is the first efficacy of Grace it new creates the heart and imprints the Divine image there it inspires holy Principles and so lays a foundation for obedience 2. There is an efficacy of Grace as to actual believing and willing St. Bernard asks the question Quid agit liberum arbitrium What doth Free-will do and then answers De Lib. Arbit Grat. Salvatur it is saved And Agatho in his Epistle lays down this as a rule Quod a Christo non susceptum est 6. Gen. Conc. Act. 4. nec salvatum est si ab eo humana voluntas suscepta est salvata est That which was not assumed by Christ is not saved by him If an humane will was assumed then it is saved and it is saved first in that principles of holy rectitude are instilled into it and then in that those principles are drawn forth in actual willing both these are necessary the first implants the vital principles of Grace in the heart the second makes them blossom and bring forth precious fruit without those vital principles the will however assisted ab extra is internally in it self but a faculty meerly natural and void of spiritual life it hath no proportion to the vital supernatural acts of Faith and Love Neither is it possible that any such should issue out from thence no not by any extrinsecal assistance whatsoever an act if vital and supernatural must be from an internal principle that is such Again unless those vital principles bring forth actual believing and willing they must needs lie dead and come to nothing And yet if we estimate things according to their worth and excellency we cannot but think it much more easie and eligible for the wise and good God to suffer an
cast an aspiring glance after them Upon the whole matter we see this first Obstacle is such as no creature in Heaven and Earth was able to remove out of the way 2. Ex parte creaturae the impossibility is apparent may we look up to Heaven There seems to be a division above a kind of variance among the divine Attributes On the one hand Mercy that tender indulgent Attribute seems to melt and cry out over fallen man What! shall man made after the divine Image a poor seduced creature shall he nay his whole race Eternally perish shall I have never a Monument among the sons of men nay nor in the whole Creation shall nothing of the humane nature serve God or enjoy him On the other Justice pleaded That every one must have his due the wages of sin is death the Majesty of Heaven must not be offended nor his sacred Law violated without a just recompence Holiness which cannot but abhor sin could do no less than stand on the same side Truth remembred that that threatning moriendo morieris Thou shalt surely die was too sacred a thing to be made nothing of some way or other it ought to be satisfied Thus the Attributes themselves seem to be at a distance 3. Could a Ransom be found out to the content of Justice how should man depraved polluted man be made capable of receiving such a benefit who should unscale his eyes that he might look upon such a mystery who should break his iron-sinewed will that he might yield to such terms as Salvation was to be given upon It is certain that blind impenitent creatures cannot enter into Heaven before they can arrive thither their eyes must be opened upon the great Offer their hearts must be dissolved into the divine Will and how this shall come to pass is another difficulty Now after the difficulties let us see the admirable solution of them when all finite understandings were posed and nonplust at the case of fal'n man when neither men nor Angels could so much as start a thought touching a remedy infinite Wisdom found out a way of Salvation for us The incomparable contrivance was thus A creature a finite person could not satisfie Justice but an infinite one shall do it There are three persons in the sacred Trinity but the Son of God shall do it He shall assume an humane nature in it He shall obey and die upon a Cross and thereby he shall satisfie divine Justice and purchase Grace and Eternal life for us That the Son should do it rather than any other person was very congruous many ways Gods beloved One was fit to reconcile us his essential Image was fit to repair the gracious one none could be more meet to usher in Adoption than Gods natural Son nor to enlighten the World than the brightness of his glory the Eternal Word Incarnate must needs be an excellent Prophet the middle person in the sacred Trinity a most congruous Mediator The blessed Father shewed forth himself in a former work in Creation the holy Spirit appears in a subsequent work in Sanctification it was therefore very meet that the Son the second person in the Trinity should manifest himself in the middle work in Redemption But that we may look a little further into this admirable Design it will not be amiss to fix our eyes upon those rare Conjunctions which the divine Wisdom hath framed in order to our Salvation 1. There is a Conjunction of Natures God and Man in one person Jesus Christ who was consubstantial with the Father as to his Divinity was made consubstantial with us as to his Humanity Heaven and Earth were united together in an ineffable manner the distance between God and man was as it were filled up in this wonderful Incarnation supremum insimi did attingere infimum supremi the creature came as near God as possibly could be Admirable are the tendencies of this Union He was Man that he might be capable of suffering and that by suffering he might satisfie in the same Nature which had sinned He was God that he might stamp such an infinite value upon his sufferings that those though but the sufferings of one might answer for a World and though but temporal sufferings might counterpoise Eternal He was Man that in condescension to our weakness he might speak to us through a vail of flesh He was God that he might speak to our hearts in divine illuminations in words of life and power He was Man that he might be touch'd with a feeling of our infirmities and melt into tender compassions towards us He was God that he might break all the powers of darkness and erect an holy Throne in our hearts This was the first fundamental Conjunction a thing worthy to attract from us a much higher admiration than what is due to the Wonders in Nature 2. There is a Conjunction of Justice and Mercy These in men do usually like the Sun and Moon reign by turns but in this wonderful Dispensation these are in exercise and glory both at once Justice appears in that Jesus Christ our Sponsor was smitten and wounded to death and that an accursed one for our sins Mercy shines forth in that Sinners repenting and believing are spared nay and advanced to glory Justice did not spare the Surety but exacted all Mercy doth not exact ought from the believer but forgive all The sufferings of Christ respect both Attributes they satisfied the Law and founded the Gospel Justice had a full compensation and Mercy sprung up in promises of Grace and Life 3. Holiness in God which hates sin is the fundamental root of that Justice which punisheth it Punishment issues out of Justice Justice springs out of Holiness Now that Holiness may be contented and so Justice satisfied not only in it self but in its very foundation there was in Christs Sufferings a Conjunction of punishment and obedience It 's true the Socinians think these two altogether inconsistent Si Christi passiones rationem obedientia habent rationem poenae habere non possunt obedientia enim virtus est poena autem propter inobedientiam infligitur Schlict contr Meisn 128. because obedience is a Virtue but punishment is inflicted for disobedience But in Scripture the thing is clear there was a virtuous action in his Passion a signal obedience in his Sufferings he poured out his soul he was obedient unto death Pure entire obedience run through his whole life to the last gasp upon the Cross it was not at all broken or interrupted by the bloody Agony nor lost or forsaken in that night of desertion when he cryed out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me His Sufferings were very penal in themselves and inflicted by Justice yet freely undertaken and obedientially undergone Here therefore was an admirable work of Wisdom his Sufferings as penal satisfied Justice and as obediential gratified Holiness 4. The Truth of God was concerned in that first Threatning Thou shalt surely
a bloudy Passion These things at the first blush look as if they could not be congruously done But I answer The corrupt Reason of Man which would shape all things according to its own model and Idea hath under colour of avoiding indecencies and inconveniencies made very strange work about this Mysterie In the Pagan Sophi it looked upon a crucified God as meer folly and indecency In the unbelieving Jews it reproached Christ as a Talui a poor hanged man altogether incapable to be a Messiah or Saviour In the Hereticks of the Church it tore and mangled his sacred Person all to pieces and that under pretence of avoiding one inconvenience or other Arius that he might not fall into that Gentile-vanity a plurality of Gods took away Christs Deity Apollinaris spared his Deity but took away his humane Soul the room of that being better supplied by the Deity Saturninus and Basilides took away his body leaving only a Phantasm a meer Vmbra in the room of it or if there must be a real Body Apelles thought fit that it should be a Sydereal one which in his passage from Heaven he assumed and after his Resurrection restored again Nestorius Noli gloriari Judaee non crucifixistl Deum So Nestorias lest the impassible Deity should suffer would have two Christs one the Son of man who suffered another the Son of God who dwelt in the other as in his Temple Eutyches supposing that there could not be two Natures in Christ without two Persons thought it convenient that after the Union there should be but one Nature in Christ the humane Nature being swallowed up in the Divine And the reason of all this is because as an Ancient hath it touching the Eutychians In hanc insipientiam cadunt qui cum ad cognoscendam veritatem aliquo impediuntur obscuro non ad propheticas voces non ad Apostolicas literas non ad Evangelicas authoritates sed ad semetipsos recurrunt ideo magistri erroris existunt quia veritatis discipuli non suere Leo primus Epist 10. they look not so much to the Sacred Scriptures as to themselves being willing that their own Reason should be Umpire in sacred Mysteries they become Masters of Errour who would not be Disciples of Truth By this heap of Experiments we may plainly see that the decorum of this Mysterie is too great a thing to be judged by humane Reason if we will know any thing of it we must address our selves to the divine Oracle Jesus Christ the infinite increated Wisdom of God who never had so much as an indecorous thought delighted in the sons of men Prov. 8.31 in the prospect of a future Incarnation It was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thing becoming him to fulsil all righteousness Matth. 3.15 when yet it could not have become him in an unbocoming Nature There was a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a must upon his Death and Sufferings Mutth 16.21 when yet it was utterly impossible that my necessity should press him into an indecency There was therefore an excellent congruity in this Mysterie God indeed was made flesh but how Non mutando quod erat sed assumendo quod non erat not by changing his Deity but by assuming his Humanity Majesty was humbled not in it self but in the assumed flesh which was as a Veil over all the Glory The change and death was not in the Divine but Humane nature which was taken into his Sacred Person in the Incarnition and suffered death in his Passion upon the Gross There was a just decorum in all Nay in this very Mysterie at which humane Reason cries out of indecency God hath hid such an Abyss of Wisdom as no created Understanding is able to fathom a glimpse of which appears in the next particular 2. That part of Holiness by which God doth all things for himself for his own Glory eminently appears in Jesus Christ In general it appears that God is the great Center the ultimate end of all and all creatures none excepted are as so many Lines and Mediums tending thereunto The Humane nature of Christ a Creature above all creatures lifted up above the highest pitch of Angels elevated into an Union with an insinite Person was not yet a Center to it self It had no subsistence of its own neither did it operate for it self I seek not mine own glory saith Christ Joh. 8.50 Nay He adds If I honour my self my honour is nothing as much as to say a creature referred to it self is an unprofitable Nullity In all his Doings and Sufferings he did but minister to the Will and Glory of God in the end he will deliver up the Kingdom to the Father that God may be all in all 1 Cor. 15.24 28. Hence it is demonstratively evident that no Creature no not the highest is or can be an End or Center to it self all of them are but as Medium's to the glory of God all must circulate into their first Fontal-principle that it in all things may be glorified In particutar the Glory of God breaks forth in this Dispensation Jesus Christ who in respect of the eternal genetation is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the splendor or glorious effulgence of his Fathers glory is in the Incarnation the Glass or bright Evidence of the Divine Excellencies Never was there such a Constellation of Attributes as here Wisdom in the deep of its unsearchable Counsels laid the great plot of our Salvation Justice was paid to the full in Sufferings infinitely valuable such as did more than ballance the sufferings of a World Holiness was abundantly gratified in the pure and spotless obedience of our Saviour which was as a Gloss and living Commentary upon the whole Law Mercy and Love opened a bosom of infinite sweetness to receive penitent souls into favour and a blessed Immortality Power raised up an humane Nature in an extraordinary way and then shewed forth it self therein in the glory of innumerable Miracles Truth triumphed in that He who is the complement of the Law the substance of the Shadows and the Center of the Promises was come into the World Never did the brightness of Glory so excellently manifest it self as upon the Theatre of Christs humane Nature Hence Heaven and Earth ring with the high Praises of it At his Nativity an Host of Angels cry out Glory to God in the Highest Luke 2.14 In the Church there is glory to him by Jesus Christ throughout all Ages world without end Ephes 3.21 Saints and Angels must now fall upon their faces and say Blessing Glory and Wisdom and Thanksgiving and Honour and Power and Might be unto our God for ever and ever Amen Revel 7.12 Eternity it self will be little enough to spend in the praises of this incomparable Mysterie 3. Holiness as it imports an hatred of sin signally demonstrates it self in this Dispensation God hath many ways manifested his hatred of sin It appears in the Threatning in which he speaks as
Scarcely for a righteous man will one dye yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to dye But God commended his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Rom. 5.7 8. Sometimes possibly though but rarely one may dye for a righteous good Man who is a blessing to the place where he lives But this was Christs Prerogative to dye for Sinners this was the supereminency of Divine Love to give him so to do Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends Joh. 15.13 Thus our Saviour A greater proof or effect of Love than death there cannot be but Love is then in an higher and more excellent degree when that death is as in our Saviours case it was for Enemies than it is when the death is for Friends Damon and Pythias two intimate friends were willing to dye one for another but Christ died for Enemies In Creation God overcame Nullity but in Redemption he overcomes Enmity it self and that in a wonderful way He assumes an humane Nature and in it pours out his precious blood to melt and break that horrible Enmity which was in us against him If we would see more of this Love let us turn our eyes upon the evils removed and the good procured by our Saviour Christ All evils are either Moral such as sin or which waits upon the other Physical such as punishment all of them are removed by our Saviour who saves from Sin and Wrath. Man was under the guilt of Sin and so under the Wrath of God Wrath in the threatning hung as an horrible Tempest over his head and within there was the dreadful Eccho of it in Conscience But the Sufferings of Christ were so satisfactory and meritorious for us that as soon as we return and believe on him all our guilt is done away It 's true the guilt in it self in the intrinsecal desert of punishment is perpetual because sin cannot cease to be sin but it doth no longer redound upon our persons to oblige us to punishment The heavy burden is now lifted off from Conscience the black Cloud of Wrath is dissolved the cursing Law hath nothing to say against us There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Rom. 8.1 It 's true afflictions may fall upon a Believer but there is no Condemnation there is not a jot of Wrath in them they are rather Castigatory than Penal managed in the hand of Mercy rather than Justice In the issue it appears that there was Love and Faithfulness in them that even in those afflicting paths Mercy and Truth are found all things shall work together for good unto the Believer Afflictions and all These serve for excellent purposes to fan off his Vanity melt away his Corruption alarm his spiritual Watch refine his golden Graces cast him into the Image of a meek suffering Christ unearth unself him and elevate his affections towards the everlasting rest which is above Affliction after it hath budded and blossomed with such precious fruits is no longer evil but an excellent good It 's true also that death Temporal will seize upon him but the curse is gone the sting out death which at first was a punishment now hath a blessing in it It was Originally introduced by sin but through the admirable Grace of our Saviour it carries away those reliques of sin which no Tears Prayers Watchings Pious endeavours could utterly extirpate whilest we are in the body it throws down the earthen walls into their mother-dust But who would not dye and with Hilarion bid his Soul Go out that he might be rid of sin There is indeed a passage out of a Temporal life but it is into an Eternal one The soul when it leaves its old friend the body flies into the blessed Region there to enjoy God in an immediate manner to read truth in its Original and taste goodness in the Fountain the body which at present dissolves into dust shall wake again and be made like to the glorious body of Christ Mortal shall put on immortality corruptible incorruption death shall be swallowed up in victory it is no longer an evil to the Believer Again Man was under the Power of Sin and so under the Tyranny of Satan Sin was a Lord a Ruler over him not only over his outward man whose members were the weapons of it but over the inward too It had strong-holds in his Reason and a throne in his Will he was a drudg a slave to his lusts hurried up and down by one Corruption or other wandring in error or swelling in pride or pining in envy or boiling in malice or burning in lust or drowning in sensual pleasures some way or other serving his Iniquity Satan the Ruler of darkness hath a Palace in his heart and keeps possession there upon all occasions he blows up Original Corruption into sinful motions motions into consents consents into acts acts into habits Thus he carries on the sinner in a circle of sinning till inevitable ruin overtake him but in and through Christ there is deliverance from this horrible servitude The Holy Spirit comes and rescues the sinner it opens his eyes to see himself standing as he doth at the brink of Hell and Death it melts him into tears and godly sorrows for sin it breaks down the strong-holds and throne of sin in the heart it casts out Satan and the hellish furniture it translates the poor sinner from the power of darkness into the Kingdom of Christ into a Region of Grace and Power where Sin and Satan cannot have the Victory Those precious Promises that sin shall not have Dominion that Satan shall be bruised under our feet are now sealed and experimented in the heart The poor Captive is now brought out of Bondage into the true liberty of Holiness and Obedience Here we see the matchless incomparable Love of God which delivered us from so many great Evils Hezekiah being rescued from Death made his acknowledgments O Lord thou hast in love to my soul delivered me from the pit of corruption or as the Original hath it Thou hast loved my soul from the pit of corruption Every Believer who hath tasted of the great Salvation may say Lord thou hast loved me from Sin Satan Death Hell by delivering me from all these evils Moreover as all evils were removed so all good things were procured by Christ Temporals were so the world owes its standing to him Justice but for his expiatory Sacrifice would have dashed it down about the sinners â—ears Sin but for the Cement of his blood would have unframed all things in nature that right to the Creature which we forfeited by our iniquity was restored again by his Merits The Believer shall now have so much of the world as infinite Wisdom and Mercy more competent Judges than humane Reason and Will shall think a fit portion for him and what he hath he shall have with the Love
an hand that is our Saviour tells us None can pluck them out of my Fathers hand John 10.29 I know some take these words with a limitation None can pluck them away without their own voluntary consent but this limitation makes the words altogether insignificant it is not possible that they should be plucked away without their consent The words therefore with that limitation run thus None can pluck them but in such a way as the same is possible to be done and thus they signifie nothing That which our Saviour makes impossible in the Text becomes in the Gloss as possible as any other thing Here we see the incomparable Love of God to his People there is in Christ an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure they are preserved in Christ and that unto salvation This infinite immense Love of God in Christ can do no less than call for a return What was it not enough for him to give us a World of Creatures Hath he given his Son his only begotten dearly beloved Son for us Hath he given him so far as to be made flesh and made under the Law the command and curse of it Hath he thereby removed all Evils and procured all good things for us Hath he done this for Sinners for Enemies and that out of an eternal design of Grace out of such Love as was an impulse to it self without any attractive on our part to move him thereunto And after all this shall not our hearts take fire and burn within us with Love to him again When his Love was up in Eternity shall not ours appear in time When he loved us worthless meritless Creatures shall not we love him upon the highest and greatest attractives When he gave his Son when the Giver and the Gift were both infinite shall our finite affections be shut up from him or denied unto him Our Love to his is but a little drop a poor inconsiderable nothing and with what face or reason can we withhold it when infinite Love calls for it Hath God himself come down as it were from his altitude and in admirable Grace followed us First into our flesh and then into a Law-subjection and at last into a Curse and Penal Sufferings and all this upon an errand of Peace and Reconciliation to reduce us again to himself and to happiness in him and shall we yet fly away from him and by an horrible indignity turn our backs upon such admirable pursuits of Love and Grace After such a deliverance from Sin and Hell as this May we think our selves our own or turn away our hearts so much as in the glance of a thought from so great a Saviour After such a purchase of Grace and Heaven should we not lye down at his feet in extatical admirations and send up our dearest affections to the great Donor If Creatures if Laws if Ordinances move us not shall we yet be unaffected at the spectacle of a God incarnate obeying bleeding dying for us Sinners and Enemies It 's horrible ingratitude having such a prospect of infinite Love before our eyes Let us do as becomes us give God our heart not a piece or corner of it but all not in some weak languid velleities but in the highest strains and raisures of spirit not in some drops or rivulets but in a full stream and current of affections such as is due to him who is the Original of souls Our desires before vagrant on Earth should now take Wing and fly up to Heaven our Love once in corrupt conjunction with Creatures should now aspire after a pure Union with him who is Love it self Our delights should no longer toy or sport with vanity but spread and sweetly dilate themselves in the Beams of infinite Goodness All the Powers of our Souls should now be gathered in from the World and upon on a full deliberate choice should be placed upon the Center of Perfections The proof of all this must be in a life of Obedience without this it is meer vanity to say that we love him Holy Love goes not alone or without a train of good works following after it the warmth and ardor of it in the heart purifies the life the inward suavity of it facilitates the outward Command and naturalizes us to Obedience as it sets a high rate and estimation upon God himself so upon every jot and tittle of his Law The complacency which we find in him makes us take pleasure in all the pure ways which he hath set before us if we esteem him above Worlds and Creatures we will allow his Will to be above all Wills and subject ours to it Moreover the Love of God moves us to love our Neighbour What hath God gone before us in such admirable steps of Love and shall we not be followers of him as dear children and walk in love as the Apostle speaks Eph. 5.1 2 Can there be an higher or nobler pattern than Love it self Shall he do good in the sphere of Nature and more and higher good in the sphere of Grace and we do none in our little sphere Shall infinite Bowels and Mercies be open and finite ones shut When God hath given so great a Gift as his own Son May we withhold our little Pittances of Charity Would we receive all and give nothing Exact pence from our Brother when Talents are forgiven to our selves Is God come into our flesh and shall we hide our selves from it I mean in the neglect or contempt of the poor Did he take humanity that we should put it off No in so doing we should reproach not our Maker only but our Redeemer too Inhumanity is now double treble to what it was before our Saviour took an humane Nature to read us a Lecture of Love and Goodness in the old Commandment of Love is now a new one urged upon us by a new Motive The incomparable Love of God in his giving his Son for us If we now shut up our Bowels and Mercies from others how dwelleth the Love of God in us What sense can we have of it upon our hearts Charity was the badg of the Primitive Christians The impress of Gods Love upon Mr. Fox was so great that he never denied any that asked for Jesus sake Our Love towards men should be a little picture or resemblance of Gods Love towards us Our Mercies and Compassions should tell the world that we have tasted of that infinite Grace and Mercy which is above Our Charity towards all should bear witness that we have been great receivers from God Our Love towards Enemies should be a thankful acknowledgment that we being such were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son CHAP. VI. Chap. 6 The Power of God manifest in Christ In his Incarnation and Conception In his Miracles These were true in the History True in the Nature of Miracles They were numerous and great They were suited to the Evangelical design Divine Power manifest in converting the
Christ was aliorum salvator aliorum susceptor the Saviour of some the Susceptor of others the first were drawn in by Grace the second prevented Grace This made Prosper say Huic sententiae is potest praebere consensum qui se a Christo non vult esse salvatum He may consent to this opinion who would not be saved by Christ Cassianus denied Original sin he thought that in the first sin Adam only sinned that the Will in us is as free to good as it was in Adam before the fall and hence he held That the Church was particoloured part of it was justified by Grace part by Freewill These latter whom nature advanced were more glorious than those whom grace freed These latter were uncapable of being saved because they had nothing to be saved from Hence it follows That Christ is not the Saviour of all his body but of part of it that he saves not all his people from their sins but some We see clearly by these things that if Original sin be denied much of Christs purchase will be made fruitless and of no effect As therefore we would have a part in Christ and his purchase we must confess our selves to be pieces of old Adam and to have a share in his sin It being certain That there is corruption in us we should reflect and take notice of it This is that which depraves the whole man and turns him into a man of sin every faculty groans under the burden of it every part hath its wounds and putrifying sores The Understanding a spark of immortality is dropt out of its orb fallen from the first truth and fountain of light darkness covers it a black vail holds back its eyes from the glories and beauties of the spiritual world The Thoughts which are the first-born of the mind are vain empty things like the Fools eyes in the ends of the earth garish and running up and down from one thing to another having no more dependance than is in the broken words or speeches of distracted men like Quicksilver never fixed unless it be upon trifles or sinful objects The Will the principle of liberty turns away from the supreme good as a slave it lies in the chains of lust impotent and in it self unable to lift up a choice or option towards happiness its averseness to that good which would ennoble and beautifie it reproaches it with the fall its propensity to that evil which soils and deturpates it upbraids it as an apostate from its original The Affections have lost their wings and sink down to the lower world as their center there they lye in the mire and turpitude of inordinate lusts and without the elevations of Grace they cannot raise up so much as a desire towards the things above they are Apostates from Heaven and Rebels against that Reason which came down from thence to reign over them The Members of the Body are all instruments of iniquity ready to execute all the commands of sin the whole man is overspread with an universal contagion This is the root of bitterness the seed of all manner of impieties Every one doth not actually say with Pharaoh Who is the Lord Nor with the bloody Jew Crucifie the Son of God nor like the proud Antichrist exalt himself above God but all these are seminally in us there is aliquid intus somewhat in every ones heart answering thereunto There is that in us which would trample down every appearance of God in Reason sacred Laws holy Motions offers of Grace nay and that which if it were possible would annihilate God himself This is an abyss of all evil this is a black chaos which hath all manner of iniquities in it and upon the warmth of temptation will be ready to bring them forth into act Oh! What matter of lamentation is here How should we mourn over this innate corruption Is it nothing to us to have immortal spirits void of God and all spiritual perfections Nothing to have a Reason without light a Will without liberty Nothing to have a troubled sea of inordinate passions and innumerable lusts creaking there Nothing to carry an Hell in our own bosom to have an enmity against that good which if received would perfect and make us happy and a proneness to that evil which being imbraced will corrupt and make us miserable for ever May we here spare our tears Or can we do less than fill our selves with shame and self-abhorrency Paulinus would not let his Picture be drawn because of the in-dwelling sin Erubesco pingere quod sum said he I blush to paint what I am St. Paul cryes out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Rom. 7.24 How sadly should we look upon that forlorn spectacle I mean our corrupt selves How should we lothe our selves and lye low at Gods feet if peradventure he may give us a better nature Of what vast concern is it to wait upon God in Ordinances and by ardent devotions to press into Heaven that there may be a new-creation in us And when that great work is wrought in us How should we lift up free-grace and sing Hosanna's to it for ever How often should we have that in our mouths What hath God wrought We marred the first Creation and he hath set up a second We lay in the ruines of the fall and he came down thither to rear up his own image in us again Graces are now growing there where sin had its seat the Holy Spirit now inhabits there where Satan dwelt and reigned And what an excellent change is this Let us distinguish our selves according to the two Adams Whatever is vitious or defective in us relates to the first Adam whatever is gracious or perfective of our nature relates to the second Never can we be too humble under the sense of Original corruption which adheres to our nature Never can we be too thankful for that supernatural grace which gave us a new nature Because we have a Divine nature in us we should live sutably to it Had we had but one single creation we had been eternally bound to serve and glorifie God but when he sets to his hand the second time to create us again in Christ Jesus unto good works how should our lives answer thereunto When in the horrible Earthquake at Antioch the Emperor Trajanus was drawn out of the ruines it was a very great obligation upon him to serve and honour God who so signally delivered him how much greater obligation lyes upon us who are drawn by an act of grace out of the ruines of the fall How should we live in a just decorum to that Divine nature which we are made partakers of We should still be bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit and shewing forth the praises of him who hath called us out of darkness into his marvelous light Again because the reliques of corruption are still remaining even in the regenerate we should ever
folly to expect Grapes from Thorns or Figs from Thistles and to look for an holy Life from an unregenerate Heart is no less It is the Apostle's Conclusion They that are in the Flesh cannot please God Rom. 8.8 By those in the Flesh is not meant the Regenerate who if any on Earth do surely please him but the Unregenerate accordingly the Apostle opposes those in the Flesh vers 8. to those in the Spirit in whom the Holy Spirit dwells vers 9. That is the Unregenerate to the Regenerate Hence we may conclude thus The Unregenerate are in the Flesh in their corrupt Nature and because such they cannot please God they cannot live that holy Life which is grateful to him Therefore the Apostle in this Chapter doth not only distinguish between the Regenerate and Unregenerate the one being in the Spirit and the other in the Flesh but between the acting of the one and of the other The Regenerate or those in the Spirit are after the Spirit and mind the things of the Spirit the Unregenerate or those in the Flesh are after the Flesh and mind the things of the Flesh vers 5. We have here two distinct Principles and Actings the Regenerate Nature acts in a way of Holiness and Obedience but the Old corrupt Nature acts in a way of sin and wickedness and unless a Man be new made by Grace it will continue to do so neither need we wonder at it the Proverb is no less rational than ancient Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked 1 Sam. 24.13 A Sinner studies sin and hath it in the very frame of his Heart he thirsts after it and drinks it as water he rejoyces in it and makes a sport at it he is never so much in his Element as when he is committing it But in an holy Life there is nothing congruous or connatural to him his carnal Mind is enmity against God it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be Rom. 8.7 His Will is contrary to God's the way of Holiness is a burden to him too grievous to be born and how can we expect that in this unregenerate state he should in the least enter upon an holy Life In all reason first there must be a Power or Divine Principle and then an Act it is unnatural and cross to the Method of Wisdom that the beam should preceed the Sun or the Fruit the Root that acts of Sence or Reason should go before their Faculties or that an holy Life should be imagined to take place before that Divine Nature which is the vital Root of it De Concord cap. 13. The Eye saith Anselm must be acute before it can see acutely The Wheel saith St. Austin * Ad Simpl. L. 1. must be round before it can move regularly The Will must be first illuminated and rectified in Regeneration before it can rightly will and move Repairing Grace saith Hugo first aspires that there may be a good Will and then inspires that it may move rightly Charity saith the Apostle is out of a pure Heart a good Conscience and Faith unfained 1 Tim. 1.5 But alas in the Unregenerate what Principles are there can ought be found there which may tend to an holy Life His Heart is impure through the many vile lusts which dwell there his Conscience is defiled through the many guilts which he hath contracted his Faith is a vain Fancy or Presumption and not a Faith and how can he live holily or what Principles hath he for it There must be a proportion between the Power and the Act And so there is in the Regenerate between the Seed of God and the crop of Holiness between the holy Unction and the Odours of Good Works But what proportion can be imagined between an unregenerate Heart and an holy Life An unregenerate Man as he is described in Scripture is weak and without strength and what can he do towards it He is unclean and polluted and how can such a thing as an holy Life proceed from him He is dark nay darkness it self and how can he walk in the Light He is dead in sins and trespasses and how can he live a Divine Life He is a Stranger nay and an Enemy to God and his Law and how can he walk with God or comply with his Law In an holy Life we walk in the Spirit and shew forth the Vertues of God and how can he walk in that or shew forth that which he hath not An holy Life points directly to Heaven as its center but the Principles in a Carnal man tend to Hell and Death Instead of bearing a Proportion to Holiness and Life eternal they carry in them a black contrariety and opposition to both I will only add one thing more to say That there may be an holy Life in one unregenerate is a contradiction The very light of Nature tells us That God must be consecrated in the Heart and worshipped purâ mente In the Heathen Sacrifices the Priest first looked on the Heart to see that it was right The Persians thought that God regarded nothing but the Soul in the Sacrifice God loves Spiritualitèr immolantes those that offer up the Spirit to him in every Duty an holy Life if it be such in substance and not in shadow only must be from a pure Heart and who can find such an one in an unregenerate Man Or if if it could be found there what need could there be of Regenerating Grace If an holy Life must be from a pure Heart and such an Heart cannot be in a Man unregenerate then it is not at all possible that an holy Life should be in him till Regenerating Grace hath made his heart Right It is said of Amaziah That He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord but not with a perfect Heart 2 Chr. 25.2 In the first part of the Verse his Obedience looks very fair and amiable but in the latter part of it there is a black mark set upon it to shew that it was not right the like mark must be set upon all that seeming Sanctity which is in unregenerate Men. The next thing proposed is this An holy Life issues out of a Principle of Regeneration The Socinians who deny original sin and therefore cannot speak cordially of Regeneration do sometimes speak so blindly and perversly of the Holy Spirit as if they meant to confound an holy Life and its Principle together Thus Socinus Christi Spiritus obedientia est The Spirit of Christ is Obedience De Servat par 4. c. 6. as if the cause and effect were all one Thus Volkelius will understand by the Spirit De Ver Rel. l. 4. c. 23. either the mind of Man informed with Christ's Doctrine or else the Doctrine it self as being loth to own the Regenerating Spirit But it is evident in Scripture that an holy Life is distinct from Regeneration and issues from it as a Blessed Fruit thereof First God creates us