Graces are amiable and attractive in the view of Men as easiness to pardon a readiness to oblige compassion to the afflicted liberality to the necessitous sweetness of conversation without gall and bitterness these are of universal esteem with mankind and soften the most savage tempers If there be any Vertue and if there be any Praise think on these things And St. Peter excites Believers to joyn to their Faith by which the Gospel of Christ is embrac't Intellectual and Moral vertues without which 't is but a vain picture of Christianity Add to your Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly kindness and to Brotherly kindness Charity He enforces the command give all diligence that these things abound in you and ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the Knowledge of Christ. Now these Graces purifie and perfect refine and raâ—se the humane nature and without a Command their Goodness is a strong obligation I will take a more distinct view of the Precepts of Christ as they are set down in that excellent abridgement of them by the Apostle The Grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all Men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present world Here is a distribution of our duties with respect to their several Objects our selves others and God The first are regulated by Temperance the second by Justice the third by Godliness And from the accomplishment of these is formed that Holiness without which no man shall see God 1. In respect to our selves we must live soberly Temperance governs the sensual appetites and affections by sanctified reason The Gospel allows the sober and chast use of pleasures but absolutely and severely forbids all excess in those that are lawful and abstinence from all that are unlawful that stain vilify the Soul and alienate it from converse with God and mortifie its lust to spiritual delights By sensual complacency Man first lost his Innocence and Happiness and till the flesh is subdued to the spirit he can never recover them The carnal mind is enmity against God Fleshly lusts war against the Soul Therefore we are urged with the most affectionate earnestness to abstain from them by withdrawing their incentives and crucifying our corrupt inclinations In short the Law of Christ obliges us as to deal with the body as an enemy that is disposed to revolt against the Spirit by watching over all our senses lest they should betray us to temptations so to preserve it as a thing consecrated to God from all impurity that will render it unworthy the honour of being the Temple of the Holy Ghost 2. We are commanded to live Righteously in our relation to others Justice is the supreme Virtue of humane Life that renders to every one what is due The Gospel gives rules for Men in every state and place to do what Reason requires As no condition is excluded from its Blessedness so every one is obliged by its Precepts Subjects are commanded to obey all the lawful commands of Authority and not resist and that upon the strongest motive not onely for Wrath but for Conscience They must obey Man for Gods sake but never disobey God for Mans sake And Princes are obliged to be an encouragement to good Works and a terror to the evil that those who are under them may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all Godliness and Honesty It injoynes all the respective duties of Husbands and Wives Parents and Children Masters and Servants And that in all contracts and commerce none defrauds his Brother accordingly in the esteem of Christians he is more religious who is more righteous than others Briefly Christian righteousness is not to be measured by the rigor of Laws but by that rule of universal Equity delivered by our Saviour Whatsoever ye would have others do to you do it to them 3. We are instructed by the Law of Christ to live Godly This part of our duty respects our apprehensions affections and demeanour to God which must be sutable to his Glorious perfections The Gospel hath revealed them clearly to us viz. the Unity Simplicity Eternity and Purity of the Divine Nature that it subsists in three Persons the Father Son and Spirit and his Wisdom Power and Goodness in the Work of our Redemption It requires that we pay the special Honour that is due to God in the esteem and veneration of our Minds in the subjection of our Wills in the assent of our Affections to him as their proper object That we have an intire Faith in his Word a firm Hope in his Promises a Holy Jealousie for his Honour a Religious care in his Service And that we express our reverence love and dependance on him in our Prayers and Praises That our Worshp of Him be in such a manner as becomes God who receives it and Man that presents it God is a pure Spirit and Man is a reasonable Creature therefore â—e must worship him in Spirit and Truth And since Man in his fallen State cannot approach the Holy and Just God without a Mediator he is directed by the Gospel to address himself to the Throne of Grace in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ who alone can reconcile our Persons and render our Services acceptable with his Father Besides the immediate service of the Deity Godliness includes the propension and tendency of the Soul to him in the whole conversation and it contains three things 1. That our Obedience proceeds from love to God as its vital Principle This must warm and animate the external action this alone makes Obedience as delightful to us so pleasing to God He shews Mercy to those who love him and keep his Commandments Faith works by Love and enclines the Soul to obey with the same Affection that God enjoins the Precept 2. That all our Conversation be regulated by his Will as the Rule He is our Father and Sovereign and the respect to his Law gives to every action the formality of Obedience We must choose our Duty because he commands it Whatsoever ye do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus that is for his command and by his assistance 3. That the Glory of God be the supreme End of all our Actions This Qualification must adhere not only to necessary Duties but to our natural and civil Actions Our light must so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorifie our Father which is in Heaven Whether we eat or drink or whatsoever we do all must be done in a regular and due proportion to the Glory of God A general Designation of this is absolutely requisite and the renewing of our intentions actually in matters of moment For He being the sole Author of our Lives and
for ever and is not compleated Secondly Faln Man considered only in his corrupt and miserable state is incapable of real Repentance which is a necessary Condition to qualifie him for Pardon For whereas Repentance includes an ingenuous sorrow for Sin past and a sincere forsaking of it he is utterly indispos'd for both 1. He cannot be ingenuously sorrowful for his offence 'T is true when the circumstances are changed that which was pleasing will cause trouble of Spirit As when a Malefactor suffers for his Crimes he reflects upon his Actions with Sorrow But this hath no moral worth in it For 't is a forc'd act proceeding from a violent Principle and is consistent with as great a love to Sin as he had before and is intirely terminated on himself But that grief which is divine and is accompanied with a change in heart and life respects the stain more than the punishment of Sin and arises from Love to God who is disobeyed and dishonored by it Now 't is not conceivable that the guilty Creature can love God whilst he looks on him as an irreconcileable enemy Distrust of the favour of a person which is a degree of fear is attended with coldness of affection a strong fear which still intimates an uncertainty in the event inclines to hatred But when fear is turn'd into despair it causeth direct hatred An instance of this we have in the Devils who curse the Fountain of Blessedness If the Evil be past Remedy the sence of it is attended with rage and transports of blasphemy against God himself A despairing Sinner begins in this life the gnashing of teeth against his Judg and kindles the fire that shall torment him for ever 'T is for this reason the Scripture propounds the Goodness of God as the most powerful persuasive to lead men to Repentance There can be no kindly relentings without filial Affection and that is alwaies temper'd with the expectation of favour Without hope of Pardon all other motives are ineffectual to melt the heart Now the first Covenant obliged Man to Obedience or Punishment It required Innocence and did not accept of Repentance The final voice of the Law is Do or Die Guilty Man cannot look on God with comfort under the notion of a Holy Creator that delights to view his own resemblance in the innocent creature nor of a compassionate Father that spares an offending Son but he apprehends him to be an inexorable Judge who hath Right and Power to revenge the Disobedience He â—an find no expedient for his Deliverance nor conceive how Mercy can save him without the violation of Justice an Attribute as essential to the Divine Nature as Mercy And what can induce him to make an humble confession of his fault when he expected nothing but an irrevocable Doom An instance of this we have in Adam who being under the conviction of his Sin and an apprehension that God would be severe did not sollicite for Mercy but endeavour'd to transfer the guilt on God himself The woman thou gavest me she gave me of the tree and I did eat As if she had been design'd for a snare and not to be an aid in his innocent state 2. A sincere Resolution to forsake Sin is built on the hopes of Mercy Till the reasonable Creature know that Heaven is open to Repentance to his second and better thoughts he is irreclaimable He that never hopes to receive any good will continue in doing evil Despair of Mercy causeth a despising of the Law The Apostate Angels who are without the reserves of Pardon are confirm'd in their Rebellion their Guilt is mixt with Fury they persist in their war against God though they know the issue will be deadly to them And had there not been an early revelation of Mercy to Adam he had been incorrigibly wicked as the Devils For despair had inflam'd his hatred against God which is of all the Passions the most incureable Those vicious Affections that depend on the humours of the Body which are mutable alter with them But Hatred is seated in the superiour part of the Soul which is of a Spiritual nature and Diabolical in obstinacy In short When the reasonable Creature is guilty and vitious and knows that God is Just and Holy and that He will be severe in revenging all Disobedience he hath no Care nor Desire to reform himself He will not lay a restraint on his pleasing Appetites when he expects no recompence he esteems it lost labour to abstain And all his design is to allay and sweeten the fear of future Evils by present enjoyments When he is scorcht with the apprehensions of wrath to come he plunges himself into sensual excesses for some relief He resolves to make his best of Sin for a time according to the Principle of the Epicures Let us eat and drink while we may to morrow we shall die The Sum of all is this that an unrelenting and unreformed Sinner is incapable of Pardon For unless God should renounce his own Nature and deny his Deity He cannot receive him to favour And it is inconceivable how the rational Creature once lapsed should ever be encourag'd to Repentance without the expectation of Mercy And there being an inseparable alliance between the integrity and felicity of Man by the terms of the first Covenant the one failing he could not entertain the least degree of Hope concerning the other By all which it appears he is under an invincible necessity of sinning and suffering for ever his Misery is compleat and desperate CHAP. V. Of the Divine Wisdome in the contrivance of Man 's Redemption Understanding agents propound an End and choose Means for the obtaining it The End of God is of the highest consequence his own Glory and Man's Recovery The difficulty of accomplishing it The Means are proportionable The Divine Wisdome glorified in taking occasion from the Sin and Fall of Man to bring Glory to God and to raise Man to a more excellent State It appears in ordaining such a Mediator as was fit to reconcile God to Man and Man to God 'T is discovered in the designation of the Second Person to be our Saviour And making the Remedy to have a proportion to the cause of our Ruine 'T is visible in the manner whereby our Redemption is accomplisht And in the ordaining such contemptible means to produce such glorious effects And laying the design of the Gospel so as to provide for the comfort and promote the holiness of Man GOD by his infallible Prescience to which all things are eternally present viewing the Fall of Adam and that all Mankind lay bleeding in him out of deep compassion to his Creature and that the Devil might not be finally victorious over him in his Councel decreed the Recovery of Man from his languishing and miserable state The design and the means are most worthy of God and in both his Wisdom appears This will be made visible by considering that
victorious over all Temptations for they are join'd to the heavenly Adam in a strict and inviolable union And those Graces are acted by them for the exercise of which there was no objects and occasions in innocence As Compassion to the miserable Forgiveness of injuries Forâ—itude and Patience all which as they are a most lively resemblance of the Divine Perfections so an excellent ornament to the Soul and infinitely endear it to God And the Happiness of our renewed state exceeds our primitive Felicity Whether we consider the nature of it 't is wholly spiritual or the place of it Heaven the Sanctuary of Life and Immortality or the constitution of the Body which shall be cloathed with celestial qualities But this will be particularly discussed in its proper place These are the effects of infinite Wisdome to the production of which Sin affords no casuality but hath meerly an accidental respect As the Apostle interprets the words of David Against thee only have I sinned that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings and overcome when thou judgest Which doth not respect the intention of David but the event only The greater his injustice was in the commission the more clear would God's Justice be in the condemnation of his Sin 2. The Wisdom of God appeared in ordaining such a Mediator who was qualified to reconcile God to Man and Man to God The first and most admirable Article in the mystery of Godliness and the foundation of all the rest is that God is manifest in the flesh The middle must equally touch the extremes A Mediator must be capable of the sentiments and affections of both the parties he will reconcile He must be a just esteemer of the Rights and Injuries of the one and the other and have a common interest in both The Son of God assuming the Humane Nature perfectly possesses these qualities he hath zeal for God and compassion for Man He hath taken pledges of Heaven and Earth the supreme Nature in Heaven and the most excellent on the Earth to make the hostility cease between them He is Immanuel by nature and office And if no less than an inspired Wisdom could devise how to frame the earthly Tabernacle wherein God dwelt in a shadowy and typical manner what Wisdom was requisite to frame the Humane Nature of Christ wherein the Deity was really to dwell Now to discover more clearly the Divine Wisdome in uniting the two Natures in Christ to qualifie him for his Office 't is requisite to consider that the office of Mediator hath three charges annext to it the Priestly which respects God the Prophetical and Kingly which regards Men. These have a respect to the â—â—ils which oppress faln Man And they are Guilt Ignorance Sin and Death Man was capitally guilty of the breach of Gods Law and under the tyranny of his Lusts and in the issue liable to Death The Redeemer is made to him Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption These Benefits are dispens'd by Him in his threefold Office As a Priest he exipates Sin as a Prophet he instructs the Church as a King he regulates the lives of his Subjects delivers them from their Enemies and makes them happy Now the Divine and Humane Nature are requisite for the performance of all these For nothing is effectual to an end but what is proportionable and commensurate thereunto and to proportion excesses as well as defects are opposite This will appear by taking a distinct view of the several Offices of our Mediator 1. The Priestly Office hath two parts 1. To make expiation for Sin 2. Intercession for Sinners Now for the making expiation of Sin there was a necessary concurrence of the two Natures in our Redeemer He must be Man for the Deity was not capable of those Submissions and Sufferings which were requisite to expiate Sin And he must be Man that the sinning nature might suffer and thereby acquire a title to the Satisfaction that is made The mâ—ritorious imputation of Christs Sufferings to Man is grounded on the union between them which is as well natural in his partaking of Flesh and Blood as moral in the consent of their Wills As the Apostle observes That he who sanctifies and they that are sanctified are all one So he that suffers and they for whom he suffers must have communion in the same nature For this reason God having resolved never to dispense Mercy to the fallen Angels the Redeemer did not assume the Angelical nature but the seed of Abraham And as the Humane Nature was necessary to qualifie him for Sufferings and to make them suitable so the Divine was to make them sufficient The lower nature consider'd in it self could make no satisfaction The Dignity of the Divine Person makes a temporal punishment to be of an infinite value in God's account The humane Nature was the Sacrifice the divine the Priest to render it acceptable He had sunk under the weight of wrath if the Deity had not been personally present to support him Briefly To perform the first part of his Office he must suffer yet be impassible Die yet be immortal and undergo the wrath of God to deliver Man from it 2. To make Intercessâ—on for us it was requisite that He should partake of both Natures that he might have credit with God and compassion to Man The Son hath a prevailing interest in the Father as he testifies I know thou heardst me alwaies A Priviledge which neither Abraham Moses nor any other who were the most favoured Saints enjoyed And as Man he was fit for Passion and Compassion The Humane nature is the proper subject of feâ—ling pity especially when it hath felt misery God is capable of Love not in strictness of Compassion For Sympathy proceeds from an experimental sence of what one hath suffer'd and the sight of the like affliction in others revives the affections which weâ—e felt in that state and enclines to pity The Apostle offers this to Believers as the ground of comfort that He who took our nature and felt our griefs intercedes for us For we have not an High-Priest that cannot be toucht with the feeling of our Infirmities but was in all things tempted as we are yet without Sin that with an humble confidence we may come to the Throne of Grace He hath drunk deepest of the cup of Sorrows that he may be an Allâ—sufficient Comforter to those that mourn He hath such tender Bowels we may trust him to sollicite our Salvation In short 'T is the great support of our Faith that we have access to the Father by the Son and present all our requests by a Mediator so worthy and so dear to Him and by One who left the Joys of Heaven that by enduring Affliction on Earth his heart might be made tuneable to the hearts of the afflicted Secondly For the discharge of the Prophâ—tical Office 't was necessary the Mediator should be God and
was not convenient the Father should For 1. He must then have been sent into the World which is incongruous to the Relations that are between those glorious Persons For as they subsist in a certain Order so their Operations are according to the manner of their subsistence The Father is from Himself and the first motions in all things are ascribed to Him the Son is from the Father and all his actions take their rise from him The Son can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father do The effecting our Redemption is refer'd to the Fathers Will as the supreme cause our Saviour upon his entrance into the world to undertake that work declares I come to do thy will O God Upon this account the Apostle addresses his thanks to the Father as the first Agent in our Salvation which is not to lessen the glory of the Son and Spirit but to signifie that in the accomplishment of it their working follows their being 2. It was not fit that the Father should be incarnate for He must then have sustained the part of a Criminal and appear'd in that quality before the Supreme Judg But this was not consonant to the order among the Persons For although they are of equal Majesty being one God yet the Father is the first Person and to him it belongs most congruously to be the Guardian of the Laws and Rights of Heaven to exact Satisfaction for offences and to receive Intercessions for the Pardon of the Penitent 3. Neither was it fit that the Third Person should undertake that work For besides the Sacrifice for Propitiation it was necessary the Divine Power should be exerted to enlighten the Minds and encline the Wills of men to receive the Redeemer that the Benefits of his Death might be applied to them Now the Redeemer is consider'd as the Object and the Holy Spirit as the Disposer of the faculty to receive it And in the natural order of things the object must exist before the operation of the faculty upon it There must be Light before the Eye can see it So in the disposition of the causes of our Salvation the Redeemer must be ordain'd and Salvation purchas'd before the Divine Power is put forth to enable the Soul to receive it and accordingly 't is the Office of the Spirit who is the Power of God and by whom the Father and the Son execute all things to render effectual the Redemtion procured by the Son Briefly The Mission of the Persons is according to their principle The Father sends the Son to acquire Salvation for us the Son sends the Spirit to apply it Thus there is no disturbing of their Sacred order more particularly in appointing the Son to assume the Humane Nature and to restore lapsed Man the Wisdom of God is evident For by that 1. The Properties of the Sacred Persons are preserved intire the same Title is appropriated to both Natures in our Redeemer His state on Earth corresponds with his state in Heaven He is the only Son from Eternity and the first-born in time and the Honour due to the eternal and divine and to the temporal but supernatural Sonship is attributed to Him 2. To unite the glorious Titles of Creator and Redeemer in the same Person The Father made the world by the Son By this title he had an original propriety in Man which could not be extinguisht Though we had forfeited our Right in Him He did not lose his Right in us Our contract with Satan could not nullifie it Now 't was consonant that the Son should be employed to recover his own that the Creator in the begining should be the Redeemer in the fulness of time 3. Who could more fitly restore us to Favour and the Right of Children than the only begotten and only beloved Son who is the singular and everlasting object of his Father's delight Our relation to God is an imitation and expression of Christs He is a Son by nature a Servant by condescention we are Servants by Nature and Sons by Grace and Favour Our Adoption into the line of Heaven is by the purchase of his Blood The Eternal Son took flesh and was made under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of sons Who was more fit to repair the Image of God in Man and to beautifie our Natures that were defiled with Sin than the Son who is the express Image of his Fathers person and brighness and beauty it self Who can better communicate the Divine Counsels to us than the Eternal Word 4. The Wisdom of God appears in making the Remedy to have a proportion to the cause of our Ruine that as we fell in Adam our Representative so we are raised by Christ who is made the Head of our Recovery The Apostle makes the comparison between the first and second Adam Therefore as by the offence of one Judgment came upon all to condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men to the justification of Life For as by one Mans Disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one many shall be made righteous They are consider'd as Causes having the same respect to the effects produced by them The effects are Sin and Righteousness Condemnation and Justification As the Disobedience of the first Adam is meritoriously imputed to all his natural Posterity and brings Death upon all so the Righteousness of the second is meritoriously imputed to all his spiritual Progeny to obtain life for them And as the carnal Adam by his Rebellion made forfeiture of our original Righteousness and derives a corrupt nature to all that descend from him So the spiritual hath by his Obedience purchased Divine Grace for us that being the price without which so rich a treasure as Holiness could not be obtain'd And from him there is a vital efficacy conveighed to renew his People The same Spirit of Holiness which annointed our Redeemer doth quicken all his race that as They have born the Image of the earthly they may bear the Image of the heavenly Adam 5. The Divine Wisdom is visible in the manner whereby our Redemption is accomplisht that is by the Humiliation of the Son of God By this He did counterwork the Sin of Angels and Man Pride is the poison of every Sin for in every one the Creature prefers his pleasure and sets up his Will above Gods but it was the special Sin of Adam The Devil would have levell'd Heaven by an unpardonable usurpation he said I will be like the Most High and Man was infected with his breath you shall be like God and became sick of the same Disease Now Christ that by the quality of the Remedy he might cure our Disease in its source and cause He applies to our pride an unspeakable humility Man was guilty of the highest Robbery in affecting to be equal with God and
made in the likeness of Man this is a lower degree of condescension than the assuming the naked humane nature A Servant is not simply a Man there being many Men of higher quality but a Man in a low State Now he that was in the form of God lessened himself into the form of a servant that is took the humane nature without honour attended with its infirmities So that by the visible condition of his life he was judged to be an ordinary person and not that under that meanness the Lord of Angels had been concealed This will more distinctly be understood if we consider the lowness of his extraction the poverty of his birth and the tenor of his life whilst he converst with Men. What Nation was more despicable in the esteem of the World than the Jews and Christ came of their stock and among the Jews none were more vilified than the Galileans and in Galilee-Nazareth was a contemptible village and in Nazareth the Family of Joseph was very obscure and to him our Saviour was nearly allied His reputed Father was a Carpenter and his Mother a poor Virgin that offered two Pigeons for her purification He first breathed in a Stable and was covered with poor swadling-cloaths who was Master of Heaven and Earth and adorns all creatures with their glory But Love made him who is Heir of all things renounce the priviledge of his supernatural Sonship Incredible condesension Therefore an Angel was dispatcht from Heaven who appeared with a surprizing miraculous light the visible character of his dignity to prevent the scandal which might arise from the meanness of his condition and to assure the Shepherds that the Babe which lay in the Manger was the Redeemer of the World The course of his Life was a preface and preparative for the Death of the Cross. He had a just right to all that Glory which a created Nature personally united to the Deity could receive An eminent instance of it there is in his Transfiguration when Glory descended from Heaven to encompass him that which was so short should have been continual but he presently returned to the lowness of his former condition The fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily yet in his humble state he was voluntarily deprived of those admirable effects which should proceed from that union Strange separation between the Deity and the Glory that results from it God is light and the Son is the brightness of his Fathers Glory yet in his Pilgrimage upon the Earth he was alwayes under a cloud Astonishing Miracle transcending all those in the course of Nature yet the power of Love effected it He was made not only lower than the Angels but less than all Men joyning Oh amazing abasement the Majesty of God with the meanness of a Worm The High and Lofty-One whom the Prophet saw Exalted on a High Throne and all the Powers of Heaven in a posture of Reverence about Him was despised and rejected of Men they turned their eyes from him not for the lustre of his Countenance but for shame If the Lord had assumed our Nature in its most honourable Condition and appeared in its Beauty the condescension were infinite For although Men are distinguish'd among themselves by Titles of Honour yet as two Gloworms that shine with an unequal brightness in the Night are equally obscured by the light of the Sun So all men those that are advanc'd to the most eminent degree as well as the most abject and wretehed are in the same distance from God But He emptied himself of all his Glory he grew up as a tender Plant and as a Root out of a dry ground there was no Form or Comliness in him From his Birth to the time of his Preaching he lived so privately as only known under the quality of the Carpenters Son There was a continual repression of that inconceivable Glory that was due to him the first moment of his appearing among Men. In short His despised Condition was an abasement not only of his Divinity but his Humanity And how conspicuous was his Love in this darkning Condescension We know the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich he became poor for our sakes He did not assume that which was due to the excellency of his Nature but what was convenient for our Redepmtion which was to be accomplisht by Sufferings Where can be found an Example of such Love Some have favourable Inclinations to help the distressed and will express so much Compassion as is consistent with their state and quality But if in order to the relieving of the miserable one must submit to what is shameful who hath an affection so strong and vehement as to purchase his Brothers Redemption at the loss of his own Honour Yet the Son of God descended from his Throne and put on our vile Mortality He parted with his Glory that He might be qualified to part with his Life for our Salvation How doth this exalt his Compassion to us And further He took our Nature after it had lost its Primitive Innocency The natural distance between God and the creature is infinite the moral between God and the sinful creature if possible is more than infinite Yet the Mercy of our Redeemer overcame this distance What an extasie of Love transported the Son of God so far as to espouse our Nature after it was defiled and debased with Sin He was essential Innocence and Purity yet He came in the similitude of sinful flesh which to outward view was not different from what was really sinful He was the Holy Lawgiver yet He submitted to that Law which made Him appear under the character and disreputation of a Sinner He paid the bloody Tribute of the Children of wrath being circumcised as guilty of Adam's Sin and he was baptised as guilty of his own 2. The most evident and sensible proof of the greatness of Gods Love to Mankind is in the Sufferings of our Redeemer to obtain our Pardon He is called in Scripture A man of Sorrows the title signifies their number and quality His whole Life was a continual Passion He suffered the contradiction of Sinners who by their malicious Calumnies obscur'd the lustre of his Miracles and most innocent Actions He endured the Temptations of Satan in the Desert He was often in danger of his Life But all these were nothing in comparison of his last Sufferings 'T is therefore said that at the bare apprehension of them He began to be sorrowful as if He had never felt any Grief till then His former Afflictions were like scatter'd drops of Rain But as in the Deluge All the Fountains beneath and all the Windows of Heaven above were opened So in our Saviours last Sufferings the Anger of God the Cruelty of Men the Fury of Devils broke out together against him And that the degrees of his Love may be measured by those of his Sufferings it
His enjoyment was rais'd above what the most glorious Spirits are capable of All his Faculties were pure and vigorous never blunted with Sin and intimately united to the Deity How cutting then was it to his Soul to be suspended from the perfect vision of God To be divorc'd as it were from himself and to lose that Paradise He alwaies had within Him If all the Angels of Light were at once depriv'd of their glory the loss were not equal to this dreadful eclipse of the Sun of Righteousness As if all the Stars were extinguisht the darkness would not be so terrible as if the Sun the fountain of light were put out Whatever his Sufferings were in kind yet in degree they were answerable to the full and just desert of Sin and surpast the power of the Humane or Angelical Nature to endure In short His Sorrows were only equall'd by that Love which procured them And as the Sufferings infflicted by the hand of God so the Evils He endured from men declare the infiniteness of our Redeemers Love to us For the further discovery of it 't is necessary to reflect upon his Death which is set down by the Apostle as the lowest degree of his Humiliation in which the succession of all his Bodily Sufferings is included it being the complement of all And if we consider the quality of it the Goodness of our Redeemer will be more visible in his voluntary submission to it Two Circumstances make the kind of death which is to be suffered very terrible to us Ignominy and Torment and they eminently concur in the Death of the Cross. 1. The greatest Ignominy attended it and that in the account of God and Men. As honour is in honorante it depends upon the esteem of others so infamy consists in judgment of others Now in the acount of the World every Death inflicted for a Crime is attended with disgrace But that receives its degrees from the manner of it To be executed privately is a favour but to be made a spectacle to the multitude encreases the dishonour of one that suffers When Death is speedily inflicted the sence of shame is presently past but to be exposed to publick view for many Hours as a Malefactor whilst the Beholders detest the Crime and abhor the Punishment is an heavy aggravation of it Beheading which is suddenly dispatcht by a Sword a military Instrument and therefore more honourable was a Priviledg But to hang on the Cross was the most conspicuous mark of the publick Justice and Displeasure a special Infamy was concomitant with it Among the Jews hanging on a Tree was branded with the Curse Therefore God commanded that the bodies of those that were hanged on a tree should be taken down in the Evening that the Land might not be defiled with a Curse And the judgment of other Nations was answerable for it was only inflicted on the most infamous Offenders as Fugitives Slaves Thieves and Traitors such whom the lowness of their Quality or the height of their Crimes rendred unworthy of any respect Hence 't is that Cicero to aggravate the Cruelty of Verres in crucifying a Roman Citizen calls it an unnamed wickedness No Eloquence could equal the evil of it 2. The pain of that Death was extreme The Hands and Feet those parts wherein the complexion of the Nerves meet and are of exquisite Sence were nailed Crucified persons suffered a slow Death but quick Torments They felt themselves die Therefore in pity the Soldiers broke their Legs to put a period to their Misery And to compleat their Punishment they were judg'd unworthy of Burial the last consolation of the dead they were deprived of Repose in the bosom of the Earth our common Mother and exposed as a prey to Birds and Beasts Now the Son of God endured no gentler or nobler Death than that of the Cross. His pure and gracious Hands which were never stretcht out but to do good were pierced and those Feet which bore the Redeemer of the World and for which the Waters had a reverence were nail'd His Body the precious workmanship of the Holy Ghost the Temple of the Deity was destroyed He that is the Glory of Heaven was made the scorn of the Earth The King of Kings was crucified between two Thieves in Jerusalem at their Sacred Feast in the face of the World His naked Body was exposed on the Cross for three Hours only covered with a Veil of Darkness This was such a stupendious submission of the Son of God that his Death astonisht the Universe in another manner than his Birth and Life his Resurrection and Ascension Universal Nature relented at his last Sufferings The Sun was struck with horrour and withdrew its light it did not appear crown'd with beams when the Creator was with thorns The Earth trembled and the Rocks rent the most insensible creatures sympathis'd with Him and 't is in this we have the most visible instance of Divine Love to us The Scripture distinctly represents the Love of God in giving his Son and the Love of Christ in giving Himself to die for Man and both require our deepest consideration The Father exprest such an excess of Love that our Saviour himself speaks of it with admiration God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes on Him should not perish but have everlasting Life If Abraham's resolution to offer his son was in the judgment of God a convincing Evidence of his Affection how much more is the actual sacrificing of Christ the strongest proof of God's Love to us For God had a higher Title to Isaac than Abraham had The Father of Spirits hath a nearer claim than the Fathers of the Flesh. Abraham's readiness to offer up his son was Obedience to a Command not his own choice 't was rather an act of Justice than Love by which he render'd to God what was his own But God Spared not his own Son in whom he had an Eternal Right And He was not only free from Obligation but not sued to for our Salvation in that wonderful way For what Love of Men or of the most charitable Spirits in Heaven could have conceived such a thought that the Son of God should die for our Redemption It had been an impious Blasphemy to have desired it so that Christ is the most absolute gift of God to us Besides The love of Abraham is to be measured by the Reasons that might excite it For according to the amiableness of the object so much greater is the love that gives it Many endearing cirumstances made Isaac the joy of his father yet at the best he was an imprafect mortal creature so that but a moderate affection was regularly due to him Whereas our Redeemer was not a meer Man or an Angel but God's only begotten Son which Title signifies his unity with him in his state and perfections and according to the Excellency of his Nature such
favour Now the Angels are sent forth to minister for them who are Heirs of Salvation Besides in two other things the peculiar affection of the Prince would be most evident to that Nation 1. If he put on their habit and attire himself according to their fashion 2. If he fixt his residence among them Now the Son of God was cloathed with our flesh and found in fashion as a man and for ever appears in it in Heaven and will at the last day invest our bodies with glory like to his own He now dwells in us by his Spirit and when our warfare is accomplisht he shall in a special manner be present with us in the eternal Mansions As God incarnate he converst with Men on Earth and as such he will converse with them in heaven There he raigns as the first-born in the midst of many Brethren Now all these Prerogatives are the fruits of our Redemption And how great is that Mercy which hath raised Mankind more glorious out of its ruines The Apostle breaks out with a Heavenly astonishment Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God! that we who are Strangers and Enemies Children of Wrath by nature should be dignified with the honorable and amiable title of his Sons 'T was a rare and most merciful condescension in Pharaoh's Daughter to rescue an innocent and forsaken Infant from perishing by the waters and adopt him to be her Son but how much greater kindness was it for God to save guilty and wretched Man from Eternal Flames and to take him into his Family The Ambition of the Prodigal rose no higher than to be a Servant whaâ— an inestimable favour is it to make us Children When God would express the most dear and peculiar affection to Solomon he saith I will be his Father and he shall be my Son this was the highest honour he could promise and all believers are dignified with it 'T is the same relation that Christ hath when he was going to Heaven he comforted his Disciples with these words I ascend to my Father and your Father to my God and your God There is indeed a diversity in the foundation of it Christ is a Son by Nature we are by meer Favour he is by Generation we are by Adoption Briefly Jesus Christ hath made us Kings Priests unto God his Father These are the highest Offices upon Earth and were attended with the most conspicuous Honour and the Holy Spirit chose those bright Images to convey a clearer notice of the glory to which our Redeemer hath raised us Not only all the Crowns and Scepters in this perishing World are infinitely beneath this dignity but the honour of our innocent state was not equal to it Secondly The Gospel is a better Covenant than that which was establisht with Man in his Creation and the excellency of it will appear by considering 1. 'T is more beneficial in that it admits of Repentance and Reconciliation after sin and accepts of Sincerity instead of perfection The Apostle magnifies the Office of Christ By how much he is a Mediator of a better Covenant which was established upon better promises The comparison there is between the Ministry of the Gospel and the Mosaical oeconomy And the excellency of the Gospel is specified in respect of those infinitely better promisses that are in it The ceremonial Law appointed Sacrifices for sins of ignorance and error and to obtain only legal impunity but the Gospel upon the account of Christ's all-sufficient Sacrifice offers full Pardon for all Sins that are repented of and forsaken Now with greater reason the Covenant of Grace is to be preferr'd before the Covenant of Works For the Law considered Man as holy and endued with perfection of Grace equal to whatsoever was commanded 'T was the measure of his Ability as well as Duty and requir'd exact Obedience or threatned extreme Misery The least breach of it is fatal A single Offence as certainly exposes to the curse as if the whole were violated And in our lapsed state we are utterly disabled to comply with its Purity and Perfection But the Gospel contains the Promises of Mercy and is in the hands of a Mediator The tenor of it is That Repentance and Remission of Sins be preached in the Name of Christ. And if we judge our selves we shall not be judged 'T is not if we are innocent for then none could be exempt from Condemnation But if the convinced Sinner erect a Tribunal in Conscience and strips Sin of its disguise to view it in its native deformity if he pronounce the Sentence of the Law against himself and glorifie the Justice of God which he cannot satisfie and forsake the Sins which are the causes of his sorrow he is qualified for pardoning Mercy Besides The Gospel doth not only apply Pardon to us for all forsaken Sins but provides a Remedy for those Infirmities to which the best are incident Whilst we are in this mortal state we are exposed to Temptations from without and have Corruptions within that often betray us Now to support our drooping Spirits our Redeemer sits in Heaven to plead for us and perpetually renews the Pardon that was once purchased to every contrite spirit for those unavoidable frailties which cleave to us here The promise of Grace is not made void by the sudden surprizes of Passions If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous The rigour of the Law is mollified by his Mediation with the Father A title of Love and Tenderness God deals not with the Severity of a Judg but He spares us as a man spares his own son that serves him And as He pardons us upon our Repentance so He accepts our hearty though mean services Now the Legal that is unsinning and compleat Obedience cannot be performed the Evangelical that is the sincere though imperfect is graciously received God doth not require the duties of a Man by the measures of an Angel Unfeigned Endeavours to please Him unreserved Respects to all his Commands single and holy aims at his Glory are rewarded Briefly Although the Law is continued as a Rule of living yet not as the Covenant of Life And what an admirable exaltation of Mercy is there in this new Treaty of God with Sinners 'T is true the first Covenant was holy just and good but it made no abatements of favour and 't is now weak through the flesh that is The carnal corrupt Nature is so strong and impetuous that the restraints of the Law are ineffectual to stop its desires and therefore cannot bring Man to that Life that is promised by the performance of the Condition required But the Gospel provides an Indulgence for relenting and returning Sinners This is the language of God in that Covenant I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their Iniquities
with corruptible things as Silver and Gold but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot And by his knowledg shall my righteous Servant justifie many 4. 'T was requisite the Mediator should be God and Man He must assume the nature of Man that he might be put in his stead in order to make satisfaction for him He was to be our representative therefore such a conjunction between us must be that God might esteem all his People to suffer in him By the Law of Israel the right of Redemption belonged to him that was next in blood Now Christ took the Seed of Abraham the original element of our nature that having a right of Propriety in us as God He might have a right of Propinquity as Man He was allied to all Men as Men that His sufferings might be universally beneficial And He must be God 't is not his Innocency onely or Deputation but the Dignity of His Person that qualifies Him to be an all-sufficient Sacrifice for Sin so that God may dispense pardon in a way that is honourable to Justice For Justice requires a proportion between the Punishment and the Crime and that receives its quality from the dignity of the person offended Now since the Majesty of God is infinite against whom sin is committed the guilt of it can never be expiated but by an infinite Satisfaction There is no name under Heaven nor in Heaven that could save us but the Son of God who being equal to Him in greatness became Man If there had been such compassion in the Angels as to have inclined them to interpose between Justice and us they had not been qualified for that Work not only upon the account of their different nature so that by substitution they could not satisfie for us nor that being immaterial substances they are exempted from the dominion of death which was the punishment denounc'd against the sinner and to which his Surety must be subjected but principally that being finite Creatures they are incapable to atone an incensed God Who among all their glorious Orders durst appear before so consuming a fire who could have been an Altar whereon to sanctifie a Sacrifice to Divine Justice no meer Creature how worthy so ever could propitiate the supreme Majesty when justly provoked Our Redeemer was to be the Lord of Angels The Apostle tells us that it pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell This respects not his original Nature but his Office and the reason of it is to reconcile by the blood of the Cross things in Heaven and in the Earth From the greatness of the Work we may infer the quality of the means and from the quality of the means the Nature of the Person that is to perform it Peace with God who was provoked by our Rebellion could only be made by an infinite Sacrifice Now in Christ the Deity it self not its influences and the fulness of it not any particular perfection only dwelt really and substantially God was present in the Ark in a shadow and representation He is present in nature by his sustaining Power and in his Saints by special favour and the eminent effects the Graces and Comforts that proceed from it but he is present in Christ in a singular and transcendent manner The Humanity is related to the Word not only as a Creature to the Author of its being for in this regard it hath an equal respect to all the persons but by a peculiar conjunction for 't is actuated by the same subsistence as the Divine Essence is in the Son but with this difference the one is voluntary the other necessary the one is espoused by Love the other received by Nature Now from this intimate Union there is a communication of the special qualities of both natures to the Person of Christ Man is exalted to be the Son of God and the Word abased to be the Son of Man As by reason of the vital Union between the Soul and Body the essential parts of Man 't is truly said that he is rational in respect of his soul and mortal in respect of his body This Union derives an infinite merit to the obedience of Christ. For the humane nature having its complement from the Divine Person 't is not the nature simply considered but the person that is the fountain of actions To illustrate this by an instance the civil Law determines that a tree transplanted from one soile to another and taking root there it belongs to the owner of that ground in regard that receiving nourishment from a new earth it becomes as it were another tree though there be the same individual root the same body and the same soul of vegetation as before Thus the humane nature taken from the common mass of Mankind and transplanted by personal Union into the Divine is to be reckoned as intirely belonging to the Divine and the actions proceeding from it are not meerly humane but are raised above their natural worth and become meritorious One hour of Christs Life glorified God more than an everlasting duration spent by Angels and Men in the praises of him For the most perfect creatures are limited and finite and their services cannot fully correspond with the Majesty of God but when the Word was made Flesh and entered into a new state of subjection he glorified God in a Divine manner and most worthy of him He that comes from above is above all The all sufficiency of his Satisfaction arises from hence He that was in the form of God and thought it no robbery to be equal with God that is in the truth of the Divine Nature He was equal with the Father and without sacriledge or usurpation possest Divine Honour he became obedient to the Death of the Cross. The Lord of Glory was Crucified We are purchased by the Blood of God And the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sin The Divine Nature gives it an infinite and everlasting efficacy And 't is observable that the Socinians the declared enemies of his Eternity consentaneously to their first impious error deny his Satisfaction For if Jesus Christ were but a titular God his Sufferings how deep soever had been insufficient to expiate our offence in His Death He had been only a Martyr not a Mediator For no Satisfaction can be made to Divine Justice but by suffering that which is equivalent to the guilt of sin which as 't is infinite such must the Satisfaction be CHAP. XIII Divine Justice is declared and glorified in the Death of Christ. The threefold account the Scripture gives of it As a Punishment inflicted for Sin as a Price to redeem us from Hell as a Sacrifice to reconcile us to God Man was Capitally guilty Christ with the allowance of God interposes as his Surety His Death was inflicted on him by the Supreme Judg. The impulsive Cause of it was Sin
Compleatness of Christ's Satisfaction proved from the Causes and Effects of it The Causes are the Quality of his Person and Degrees of his Sufferings The Effects are His Resurrection Ascension Intercession at Gods right hand and his exercising the Supreme Power in Heaven and Earth The excellent Benefits which God reconciled bestows on Men are the Effects and Evidences of his compleat Satisfaction They are Pardon of Sin Grace and Glory That Repentance and Faith are required in order to the partaking of the Benefits purchased by Christ's Death doth not lessen the Merit of his Sufferings That Afflictions and Dâ—ath are inflicted on Believers doth not derogate from their All-sufficiency THe Third thing to be considered is the Compleatness of the Satisfaction that Christ hath made by which it will appear that Gods Justice as well as Mercy is fully glorified in his Sufferings For the proof of this I will first consider the Causes from whence the compleatness of his Satisfaction arises Secondly The Effects that proceed from it which are convincing Evidences that God is fully appeas'd The Causes of his compleat Satisfaction are two 1. The Quality of his Person derives an infinite value to his obedient Sufferings Our Surety was equally God and as truely Infinite in His Perfections as the Father who was provoked by our Sins therefore he was able to make Satisfaction for them He is the Son of God not meerly in respect of the honour of his Office or the special Favour of God for on these accounts that Title is communicated to others but his only Son by Nature The sole preheminence in Gifts and Dignity would give Him the title of the first-born but not deprive them of the quality of Brethren Now the wisdom and justice of all Nations agree that Punishments receive their estimate from the quality of the Persons that suffer The Poet observes that the Death of a vertuous Person is more precious than of Legions Of what inestimable value then is the death of Christ and how worthy a Ransom for lost mankind For although the Deity is impassible yet he that was a Divine Person he suffered A King suffers more than a private person although the strokes he endures in his body cannot immediatly reach his honour And 't is specially to be observed that the Efficacy of Christs Blood is ascribed to his Divine Nature This the Apostle declares In whom we have Redemption through his Blood even the forgiveness of Sins who is the image of the invisible God Not an artificial Image which imperfectly represents the Original As a Picture that sets forth the Colour and Figure of a Man but not his Life and Nature But the essential and exact Image of his Father that expresses all his glorious Perfections in their immensity and eternity This is testified expresly in Hebr. 1.3 The Son of God the brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person having purged by himself our sins is set down on the right hand of Majesty on High From hence arises the infinite difference between the Sacrifices of the Law and Christs in their value and vertue This with admirable Emphasis is set down in Hebr. 9.13 14. For if the blood of Bulls and of Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purification of the flesh How much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offer'd himself without spot to God purge your Consciences from dead works to serve the living God Wherein the Apostle makes a double Hypothesis 1. That the Legal Sacrifices were ineffectual to purifie from real guilt 2. That by their Typical Cleansing they signified the washing away of moral guilt by the Blood of Christ. 1. Their insufficiency to expiate Sin appears if we consider the subject Sin is to be expiated in the same nature wherein 't was committed now the Beasts are of an inferiour rank and have no communion with Man in his nature Or if we consider the object God was provoked by Sin and He is a Spirit and not to be appeased by gross material things His Wisdom requires that a rational Sacrifice should expiate the guilt of a rational Creature And Justice is not satisfied without a proportion between the Guilt and the Punishment This weakness and insufficiency of the Legal Sacrifices to expiate Sin is evident from their variety and repetition For if full Remission had been obtained The worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sin 'T is the sense of Guilt and the fear of Condemnation that required the renewing of the Sacrifice Now under the Law the Ministry of the Priests never came to a period or perfection The Millions of Sacrifices in all Ages from the erecting the Tabernacle to the coming of Christ had not vertue to expiate one Sin They were only shadows which could give no refreshment to the inflamed Conscience but as they depended on Christ the body and substance of them But the Son of God who offered himself up by the Eternal Spirit to the Father is a Sacrifice not only Intelligent and Reasonable but incomparably more precious than the most noble Creatures in Earth or in Heaven it self He was Priest and Sacrifice in respect of both His Natures His entire Person was the Offerer and Offering Therefore the Apostle from the excellency of his Sacrifice infers the unity of its Oblation and from thence concludes its Efficacy Christ did not by the Blood of Bulls and Goats but by his own Blood He entred in once to the Holy Place having obtained eternal Redemption for us and by one Offering He hath for ever perfected them who are sanctified Upon this account God promised in the New-Covenant That their Sins and Iniquities He would remember no more having received compleat satisfaction by the Sufferings of his Son 'T is now said that once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself And as it is appointed for all men once to die and after Death comes Judgment So Christ was once offered to bear the Sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin As there is no other natural death to suffer between Death and Judgment so there is no other propitiatory Sacrifice between his all-sufficient Death on the Cross and the last coming of our Redeemer There is one Consideration I shall adde to shew the great difference between Legal Sacrifices and the Death of Christ as to its saving vertue The Law absolutely forbids the eating of Blood and the peoples tasting of the Sin-offerings to signifie the imperfection of those Sacrifices For since they were consumed in their Consecration to Gods Justice and nothing was left for the nourishment of the Offerers 't was a sign they could not appease God The Offerers had communion with them when they brought them to the Altar and in a manner
same condition with us to command their Passions to overcome the most glorious and glittering Temptations we are incouraged in our Spiritual Warfare 3. Examples by a secret and lively incentive urge us to imitation The Romans kept in their houses the Pictures of their Progenitours to heighten their Spirits and provoke them to follow the Presidents set before them We are toucht in another manner by the visible practice of Saints which reproaches our defects and obliges us to the same Care and Zeal than by Laws though holy and good Now the Example of Christ is most proper to form us to Holiness it being absolutely perfect and accommodate to our present state 1. 'T is absolutely perfect There is no example of a meer man that is to be followed without limitation Be ye followers of me as I am of Christ saith the great Apostle Nay if we would unite the Excellencies of all good Men into one yet we might not securely follow him in all things for his remaining defects might be so disguised by the Vertues to which they are joyned that we should err in our imitation But the Life of Christ was as the purest Gold without any allay of baser metal His conversation was a living Law He did no sin neither was any guile found in his mouth He was holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners He united the efficacy of example with the direction of Precepts his actions always answered his words Christianity the purest Institution in the World is only a conformity to his pattern The universal command of the Gospel that comprises all our duties is to walk as Christ walked 2. His Example is most accommodate to our present State There must be some proportion between the model and copy that is to be drawn by it Now the Divine Nature is the Supreme Rule of Moral Perfections We are commanded to be Holy as God is Holy But such is the obscurity of our Minds and the weakness of our Natures that the Pattern was too high and Glorious to be exprest by us We had not strength to Ascend to Him but He had goodness to Descend to us and in this present state to set before us a Pattern more fitted to our capacity Although Light is the proper object of Sight yet that immense Light which the Sun hath in the Meridian is invisible to our sight we more easily discover the reflexion of it in some opacous Body So the Divine Attributes are sweeten'd in the Son of God Incarnate and being united with the Graces proper for the Humane Nature are more perceptible to our minds and more imitable by us This was one great design of his coming into the World to set before us in doing and suffering not a meer Spectacle for our wonder but a Copy to be transcribed in our Hearts and Lives He therefore chose such a tenor of life as every one might imitate His Supreme Vertue exprest it self in such a temperate course of actions that as Abimelech said to his followers Look on me and do likewise So our true Abimelech our Father and Soveraign calls upon us to imitate him The first effect of Predestination is to conform us to the Image of the Son who was for this end made the first-born among many Brethren He assumed the Humane Nature that we might partake of the Divine not only by His Merit but by His Example This will appear more fully by considering There are some Vertues necessary to our condition as Creatures or with respect to our state of trial here below which the Deity is not capable of and those most eminently appear in the Life of Christ. I will instance in three which are the Elements of Christian Perfection His Humility in despising all the Honour of the World His Obedience in Sacrificing His Will intirely to God's and His Charity in procuring the Salvation of Men by his Sufferings and in all these He denied to his Humane Nature the priviledge due to it by its union with the Eternal Word 1. Humility in strictness hath no place in God He requires the Tribute of Glory from all his Creatures And the Son of God had a right to Divine Honour upon his first Appearance here below Yet He was born in a Stable and made subject to our common imperfections Although He was ordain'd to convert the World by his Doctrine and Miracles yet for the tenth part of his time he lived concealed and silent being subject to his Mother and reputed Father in the servile work of a Carpenter And after his solemn investiture into his Office by a Voice from Heaven yet he was despised and contemned He refused to be a King and stoopt so low as to wash his Disciples feet All this he did to instruct us to be meek and lowly to correct our Pride the most intimate and radicated corruption of Nature For as those Diseases are most incurable which draw nourishment from that food which is taken for the support of Life so Pride that turns vertuous actions which are the matter of praise into its nourishment is most difficultly overcome But the Example of the Son of God in whom there is an union of all Divine and Humane Perfections debaseing himself to the form of a Servant is sufficient if duly considered to make us walk humbly 2. Obedience is a Vertue that becomes an inferior either a Servant or Subject who are justly under the power of others and must be complying with their Will So that 't is very distant from God who hath none superior to him in Dominion or Wisdome but his Will is the Rule of Goodness to his own and others Actions Now the Son of God became Man and was Universally Obedient to the Law of his Father And his Obedience had all the ingredients that might commend it to our imitation The value of Obedience arises upon three accounts 1. The Dignity of the Person that obeys it is more Meritorious in an Honourable than in a mean Person 2. From the difficulty of the Command it being no great Victory over the appetite in Obedience ubi diligitur quod debetur where the instance is agreeable to our affections 3. From the intireness of the will in obeying For to perform a commanded Action against our consent is only to be subject in the meaner part of Man the Body and to resist in the superior which is the Mind Now in all these respects the Obedience of Christ was Perfect In the Dignity of the Person Obeying it exceeded the Obedience of all the Angels as much as the Divine Person exceeded all created The difficulty of the Command is greater than ever was put upon Servant or Subject He was Obedient to the Death of the Cross that is Death with dishonour and torment the evils that are most contrary to the Humane Nature and Appetite And the compleatness of his Will in obeying is most evident For if Christ had desired deliverance from his
Law it was not restrain'd to himself but is the Sin of the common nature Adam broke the first link in the chain whereby Mankind was united to God and all the other parts which depended upon it are necessarily separated from him From hence the Scripture saith that by Nature we are Children of wrath that is liable to punishment and that hath relation to guilt And of this we have convincing Experience in the common Evils which afflict Mankind before the commission of any actual Sin The Cries of Infants who are only eloquent to grief but dumb to all things els discover that Miseries attend them The Tears which are born with their Eyes signifie they are come into a state of Sorrow How many Troops of Deadly Diseases are ready to seize on them immediatly after their Entrance into the World So that 't is apparent God deals with Man as an enemy and therefore guilty of some great crime from his Birth The Ignorance of this made the Heathens accuse Nature and blaspheme God under that mask as less kind and indulgent to Man than to the Creatures below him They are not under so hard a Law of coming into the world They are presently instructed to Swim to Fly to Run for their preservation They are cloathed by Nature and their Habits grow in proportion with their Bodies some with Feathers some with Wool others with Scales which are both Habit and Armour But Man who is alone sensible of shame is born naked and though of a more delicate temper is more exposed to injuries by distemper'd Seasons and utterly unable to repel or avoid the evils that encompass him Now the account the Scripture gives of Original Sin silences all these complaints Man is a Ttransgressor from the Womb and how can he expect a favourable Reception into the Empire of an offended God Briefly Sometimes Death enters into the retirements of Nature and changes the Womb into a Grave which proves that assoon as we partake of the human Nature we are guilty of the Sin that is common to it For the wages of Sin is Death Adam in his innocent state had the Priviledges of Immortality but by him Sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men as a just Sentence upon the guilty for that all men have sinned 2. An Hereditary Corruption is transmitted to all that naturally descend from him If Adam had continued in his Obedience the spiritual as well as the natural Life had been conveighed to his Children but for his Rebellion he lost his primitive rectitude and contracted an universal Corruption which he derives to all his Posterity And as in a Disease there is the defect of Health and a distemper of the humours that affects the Body so in the depravation of Nature there is not the meer want of holiness but a strong proclivity to sin This privation of original Righteousness considerd as a Sin is naturally from Adam the principle of lapsed and corrupt Nature But as a punishment 't is meritoriously from him and falls under the ordination of Divine Justice Man â—ast it away and God righteously refuses to restore it 'T is a sollicitous impertinency to enquire nâ—cely about the manner of conveying this universal Corruption For the bare knowledg oâ— it is ineffectual to the cure And what greater folly than to make our own evils the object of simple Speculation I shall consider only that general account of it which is set down in the Scripture 'T is the universal and unchangable Law of Nature that every thing produce its like not only in regard of the same nature that is propagated from one individual to another without a change of the species but in respect of the qualities with which that nature is eminently affected This is visible in the several kinds of Creatures in the world they all preserve the nature of the principle from whence they are derived and retain the vein of their original the quality of their extraction Thus our Saviour tells us that the fruit partakes of the rottenness of the tree and whatever is born of the flesh is flesh The title of Flesh doth not signifie the material part of our humanity but the Corruption of Sin with which the whole nature is infected This is evident by the description the Apostle gives of it That the flesh is not subject to the Law of God and that which aggravates the evil is that it can't be Sinful Corruption is exprest by this title partly in regard it is transmitted by the way of carnal propagation Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in Sin did my mother conceive me And partly in regard 't is exercised by the carnal members This Corruption is a poison so subtile that it pierces into all the powers of the Soul so contagious that it infects all the Actions so obstinate that only Omnipotent Grace can heal it More particularly 1. 'T is an innate Habit not meerly acquir'd by Imitation The root of bitterness is planted in the Humane Nature and produces its fruits in the various seasons of Life No age is free from its working Every imagination of the thoughts of Mans heart are only evil and continually evil We see this verified in Children when the most early acts of their Reason and the first instances of their apprehension are in Sin If we ascend higher and consider Man in his Infant-state the vicious inclinations which appear in the Cradle the violent motions of anger which disturbs Sucklings their endeavour to exercise a weak revenge on those that displease them convince us that the Corruption is natural and proceeds from an infected Original 2. As 't is Natural so Universal Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean That is How can a Righteous person be born of a Sinner The Answer is peremptory Not one The Fountain was poison'd in Adam and all the Streams partake of the infection All that are derived from him in a natural way and have a relation to him as their common father are sharers in this depravation What difference soever there is in their Climates Colours and external conditions of life yet the blood from whence they spring taints them all 3. Corrupt Nature is pregnant with the seeds of all Sin although they do not shoot forth together And for this several accounts may be given 1. Although all Sins agree in their cause and end yet some are contrary in their exercise 2. The humane spirit is not capable of many Passions in their height at the same time and 't is the art of our spiritual Enemies to suit their Temptations to the capacity of Man 3. As the same Poison produces different effects in different Bodies according to those various Humours which are predominant in them so the same Corruption of Nature works variously according to the different tempers of Men. For although the conception of Sin depends immediatly upon
all understanding Agents first propound an end and then choose the means for the obtaining of it And the more perfect the Understanding is the more excellent is the end it designs and the more fit and convenient are the means it makes use of for the acquiring it Now when God whose Understanding is infinite and in comparison of whom the most prudent and advised are but as dark shadows when he determines to work especially in a most glorious manner the end and the means are equally admirable First The end is of the highest Consequence Were it some low inconsiderable thing it were unworthy one thought of God for the effecting it To be curious in the contriving how to accomplish that which is of no importance exposes to a just imputation of Folly But when the most excellent Good is the end and the difficulties which hinder the obtaining of it are insuperable to a finite understanding it then becomes the only wise God to discover the Divinity of his Wisdom in making a way where he finds none And such was the end of God in the work of our Redemption This was declar'd by the Angels who were sent Ambassadors extraordinary to bring tidings of peace to the world They praised God saying Glory to God in the highest and on Earth Peace good Will towards men The supreme End is his own Glory and in order to it the Salvation of Man hath the nature and respect of a medium The subordinate is the Recovery of the world from its lapsed and wretched state 1. The supreme End is the Glory of God This signifies principally his internal and essential Glory and that consists in the Perfections of his Nature which can never be fully conceived by the Angels but overwhelm by their excellent greatness all created Understandings But the Glory that results from Gods works is properly intended in the present Argument and implies 2. The manifestation whereby he is pleased to represent Himself in the exercise of his Attributes As the Divine Nature is the primary and compleat Object of his Love so he takes delight in those Actions wherein the image and brightness of his own vertues appear Now in all the works of God there is an evidence of his Excellencies But as some Stars shine with a different glory so there are some noble effects wherein the Divine Attributes are so conspicuous that in compare with them the rest of Godâ—s works are but obscure expressions of his Greatness The principal are Creation and Redemption The Heavens declare the glory of God and the Firmament his handy-work And when God surveyed the whole Creation and saw that all which he had made was good He ordain'd a Sabbath to signifie the content and satisfaction he had in the discovery of his eternal Perfections therein But especially his Glory is most resplendent in the Work of Redemption wherein more of the Divine Attributes are exercisâ—d than in the Creation and in a more glorious manner 'T is here that Wisdom Goodness Justice Holiness and Power are united in their highest degree and exaltation Upon this account the Apostle useth that expression The glorious Gospel of the Blessed God It being the clearest revelation of his excellent Attributes the unspotted mirrour wherein the great and wonderful effects of the Deity are set forth 3. The Praise and Thanksgiving that ariseth from the discovery of his Perfections by reasonable Creatures who consider and acknowledg them When there is a solemn veneration of his excellencies and the most ardent affections to Him for the communication of his goodness Thus in Gods account Whoso offers praise glorifies him An eminent example of this is set down in Job 38.7 when at the birth of the World The Morning Stars sang together and all the Sons of God shouted for joy And at its new Birth they descend and make his praise glorious in a triumphant Song It will be the eternal exercise of the Saints in Heaven where they more fully understand the Mystery of our Redemption and consider every circumstance that may adde a lustre to it to ascribe Blessing Honour Glory and Power to him that sits on the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever Secondly The subordinate End is the restoring of Man And this is inviolably joyn'd with the other 'T is exprest by Peace on earth and good will towards men Sin had broke that sacred Alliance which was between God and Man and exposed him to his just displeasure A misery inconceivable And what is more becoming God who is the Father of Mercies than to glorifie his dear Attribute and that which in a peculiar manner characterises his Nature by the Salvation of the miserable What is more honourable to Him than by his Almighty Mercy to raise so many Monuments from the dust wherein his Goodness may live and reign for ever Now for the accomplishing of these excellent Ends the Divine Wisdom pitcht upon those means which were most fit and congruous which I shall distinctly consider The Misery of faln Man consisted in the Corruption of his nature by Sin and the Punishment that ensues And his Happiness is in the restoring him to his primitive Holiness and in Reconciliation to God and the full fruition of him The way to effect this was beyond the compass of any created Understanding That God who is rich in Goodness should be favourable to the Angels who serve him in perfect Purity we may easily conceive for although they do not merit his favour yet they never provokt his Anger And 't is impossible but that he should love the Image of his Holiness wherever it shines Or suppose an innocent creature in Misery the Divine Mercy would speedily excite his power to rescue it For God is Love to all his Creatures as such till some extrinsecal cause intervenes which God hates more than he loves the Creature and that is Sin which alone stops the effusion of his Goodness and opens a wide passage for wrath to fall upon the guilty But how to save the Creature that is undone by its own choice and is as sinful as miserable will pose the wisdom of the world Heaven it self seem'd to be divided Mercy enclin'd to save but Justice interpos'd for satisfaction Mercy regarded Man with respect to his misery and the pleas of it are Shall the Almighty build to ruine Shall the most excellent creature in the lower world perish the fault not being solely his Shall the enemy triumph for ever and raise his Trophies from the Works of the most High Shall the reasonable Creature lose the fruition of God and God the subjection and service of the Creature and all Mankind be made in vain Justice consider'd Man as guilty of a transcendent Crime and 't is its nature to render to every one what is due now the wages of Sin is Death and shall not the Judg of all the world do right All the the other
Poison which required such a dreadful Cure And the benefit we receive in so costly a way is justly magnified by us Now what is more apt to inflame our love to God than the admirable expression of his Love to us in that with the most precious Blood he ransom'd us from Hell How doth it endear Obedience that God hath sacrificed his Son to keep us from acts of hostility So that the Grace of the Gospel is so far from indulging Sin that it gives the most deadly wound to it Especially when the tenour of the new Covenant is That the Condemned Creature in order to receiving Pardon and the Benefits that are purchased must receive the Benefactor with the most intire consent for his Prince and Saviour The Law of Faith requires us to submit to his Scepter as well as to depend upon his Sacrifice The Gospel is a conditional Act of Oblivion that none may venture to sin upon confidence of Pardon And since the occasion of the Fall was from a conceit that Man could better his estate by complying with the Tempter and obtain a more desirable Happiness in the Creature than in the Favour of God his Recovery is by revealing to him wherein true Blessedness consists and giving him an assurance that he may obtain it For Man will never subject himself to God as his Highest Lord till he looks on him as his last End and Soveraign Good Now the Gospel offers to us the most effectual means to convince Man of the folly of his choice in making the Creature his Happiness For the Son of God who was Heir of all things when He came into the world was in the perpetual exercise of Self-denial He lived a despised Life and died an ignominious Death to discover to us That as the miseries of this Life can't make us miserable so the good things of it can't make us happy Besides how is it possible that the wretched enjoyment of this World should be the Blessedness for which He spent his Sweat his Tears his Blood The rich price he laid down doth most powerfully convince us That our Felicity is infinitely more valuable than all earthly things and can be no less than the fruition of God himself Thus the Divine Wisdom hath so ordered the way of our Salvation that as Mercy and Justice in God so Holiness and Comfort may be perfectly united in the reasonable Creature CHAP. VI. Practical Inferences A superlative degree of Praise and Thankfulness due to God for the revelation of the Gospel 'T is not discovered by the Creation 'T is above the reach of Natural Reason The Heathen World is intirely ignorant of it 'T is pure Grace that distinguishes one Nation from another in sending the Gospel Evangelical Knowledg deserves our most serious study The Gospel exceeds all contemplative and practick Sciences Contemplative in the greatness of its object and the certainty of its principle Practick in the excellency of its End and the efficacy of the Means 1. WHat a Superlative degree of Praise and Thankfulness is due to God for revealing his eternal and compassionate Counsel in order to our Salvation The Fall of Man was so wounding and deadly that only an Infinite Understanding could find out the means for his Recovery And if that Mercy which mov'd the Lord to ordain the Remedy had not discover'd it a thick cloud of Despair had cover'd Mankind being for ever unable to conceive the way of our Redemption 'T is a Mystery which eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor â—ath entred into the heart of man to conceive All Humane Knowledg is acquir'd by two sorts of Faculties the external and internal Of the first Sight and Hearing are the most spiritual and convey the knowledge of the most worthy objects They are the Senses of Discipline the other three or immerst in matter and are incapable to make such clear discoveries Besides those impressions that are made on the senses we may form some Ideas in the imagination upon which the mind reflecting may argue and discourse Thus far the light and vigour of the understanding can only go So that the Apostle declares that the whole plot of the Gospel was without the compass of our most searching faculties this will be evident by considering 1. There was no discovery of it in the Creation the Voice of the Heavens instruct us concerning the being of God but not in the secrets of his Will The oeconomy of Mans Redemption is the merciful design of God which hath no connection with the existence of the creatures but depends only upon his good pleasure 'T is as impossible to read the Divine Decrees in the Volume of the World as for the eye to discover a sound which hath neither Figure Colour nor visible motion Besides the Glorious Nature of God in three Persons which is the foundation of this Mysterious Mercy is not made known by the visible frame of the Universe 'T is true in all External Works the three Persons are equally concerned being of one Essence they are of one Efficacy and the Essential perfections of the Deity as they concur so they are evident in the production of all things The first motive is Goodness that which orders and directs is Wisdom that which executes is Power And the several ranks of Creatures according to their state reflect an honour on their Author Things endued with life declare him to be the fountain of Life and intellectual creatures represent him to be the Father of Lights But the personal being as Personal operating nothing out of the Divine Nature there is no resemblance in the World that expresses the Distinction Propriety and Singularity of the Persons so as to discover them to the humane understanding Those deeper Mysteries of the Deity are only made known by the Word of God 2. 'T is above the strain and reach of natural Reason to attain to the knowledge of it There are seminal sparks of the Law in the heart of Man some common principles of Piety Justice and Charity without which the World would soon disband and fall into confusion but there is not the least presumption or conjecture of the contrivance of the Gospel Though misery sharpens the mind and makes it more ingenious to find out wayes of Deliverance yet here Reason was utterly at a loss How could it ever enter into the thoughts of the Israelites that by erecting a Brazen Serpent on a Pole and looking towards it the wounds made by the Fiery Serpents should be healed And how could guilty Man find out a way to satisfie Infinite Justice by the Sufferings of a Mediator and to heal the wounded spirit by believing on him The most inquiring Reason could never have thought of the Wonders of the Incarnation that a Virgin should conceive and a God be born nor of the Death of the Prince of Life and the Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord of Glory We may see how impossible it is for
interest he could by one act of Power conquer the obstinacy of his fiercest Enemies If he require subjection from his creatures 't is not that he may be happy but liberal that his Goodness may take its rise to reward them Now this is the special commendation of Divine Love it doth not arise out of indigency as Created Love but out of fulness and redundancy Our Saviour tells us there is none good but God not only in respect of the perfection of that Attribute as it is in God in a transcendent manner but as to the effects of his goodness which are meerly for the benefit of the receiver He is only rich in Mercy to whom nothing is wanting or profitable The most liberal Monarch doth not always give for he stands in need of his Subjects And where there is an expectation of Service for the support of the giver â—tis trafique and no gift Humane affection is begotten and nourisht by something without but the Love of God is from within the misery of the Creature is the occasion but the reason of it is from himself And how free was that Love that caus'd the infinitely blessed God to do so much for our recovery as if his felicity were imperfect without ours It doth not prejudice the freeness of redeeming Mercy that Christ's personal Glory was the reward of his Sufferings 1. 'T is true that our Redeemer for the Joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God but he was not first drawn to the undertaking of that hard service by the interest of the reward For if we consider him in his Divine Nature he was the second Person in the Trinity equal to the first he possest all the Supreme Excellencies of the Deity and by assuming our Nature the only gain he purchas'd to himself was to be capable of loss for the accomplishing our Salvation Such was the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that being rich yet for our sakes he became poor that we through his poverty might be made rich And although his humane Soul was encouraged by the Glorious recompence the Father promised to make him King and Judge of the World yet his Love to Man was not kindled from that consideration neither is it lessened by his obtaining of it For immediately upon the union of the humane Nature to the Eternal Son the Highest Honour was due to him When the first-begotten was brought into the World 't was said Let all the Angels of God worship him The Sovereign Power in Heaven and Earth was his inheritance annext to the dignity of his Primogeniture the Name above every name was a preferment due to his Person He voluntarily renounc'd his right for a time and appear'd in the form of a Servant upon our account that by humbling himself he might accomplish our Salvation He entred into Glory after a course of Sufferings because the Oeconomy of our Redemption so requir'd but his original title to it was by the personal union To illustrate this by a lower instance the Mother of Moses was call'd to be his Nurse by Pharaohs Daughter with the promise of a reward as if she had no relation to him Now the pure love of a Mother not the gain of a Nurse was the motive that inclin'd her to nourish him with her Milk Thus the Love of Christ was the primary active cause that made him liberal to us of his Blood neither did the just expectation of the reward take off from it The Sum is the essence of Love consists in desiring the good of another without respect to our selves and Love is so much the more free as the benefit we give to another is less profitable or more damageable to us Now among Men 't is impossible that to a vertuous benefactour there should not redound a double Benefit 1. From the Eternal Reward which God hath promised And 2. From the Internal Beauty of an honest action which the Philosopher affirms doth exceed any loss that can befal us For if one dyes for his Friend yet he loves himself most for he would not chuse to be less vertuous than his Friend and by dying for him he excels him in Vertue which is more valuable than Life it self But to the Son of God no such advantage could accrue for being infinitely holy and happy in his Essence there can be no addition to his Felicity or Vertues by any external emanation from him His Love was for our profit not his own 2. The freeness of Gods Mercy is evident by considering there was no â—ye upon him to dispence it Grace strictly taken differs from Love for that may be a Debt and without injustice not denied There are inviolable obligations on Children to Love their Parents and duty lessens desert the performance of it doth not so much deserve praise as the neglect merits censure and reproof But the Love of God to Man is a pure free and liberal Affection no way due The Grace of God and the gift by Grace hath abounded unto many The Creation was an effusion of goodness much more Redemption Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created 'T is Grace that gave being to the Angels with all the prerogatives that adorn their Natures 't is Grace confirm'd them in their original integrity For God ows them nothing and they are nothing to him 'T was Grace that plac't Adam in Paradise and made him as a visible God in the lower World And if Grace alone dispensed benefits to innocent Creatures much more to those who are obnoxious to justice the first was free but this is merciful And this leads to the second consideration which exalts redeeming Love The object of it is Man in his lapsed state In this respect it excels the goodness that prevented him at the beginning In the Creation as there was no object to invite so nothing repugnant to mans being and happiness the dust of the Earth did not merit such an excellent condition as it received from the pure bounty of God but there was no moral unworthiness But the Grace of the Gospel hath a different object the wretched and unworthy and it produces different operations 't is healing and medicinal ransoming and delivering and hath a peculiar character among the Divine Attributes 'T is goodness that crowns the Angels but 't is Mercy the Sanctuary of the guilty and refuge of the miserable that saves Man The Scripture hath consecrated the name of Grace in a special manner to signifie the most excellent and admirable favour of God in recovering us from our justly deserv'd misery We are justified freely by his Grace By Grace we are saved Grace and Truth is come by Jesus Christ 't is the Grace of God that brings Salvation And this is gloriously
his Health but the Sinner is sick of a deadly Disease an incurable wound He that is sick and wounded may send for the Physician in order to his Recovery But the Sinner is in a deep sleep He that is asleep may awake But the Sinner is in a state of Death which implies not only a Cessation from all vital Actions but an absolute disability to perform them The Understanding is disabled for any Spiritual Perception the Will for any Holy Inclinations the whole Man is disabled for the sense of his wretched state This is the spiritual Death which justly exposes the Sinner to Death temporal and eternal 4. Every Man as descending from Adam is born a Sacrifice to Death His condition in this world is so wretched and unworthy the original excellency of his Nature that it deserves not the name of Life 'T is a continual exercise of sinful Actions dishonourable to God and damning to himself and after the succession of a few Years in the defilements of Sin and the accidents of this frail state in doing and suffering evil Man comes to his fatal Period and falls into the bottomless Pit the place of Pollutions and Horrors of Sin and Torments 'T is there That the wrath of God abides on him and who knows the power of his wrath According to his fear so is his wrath Fear is an unbounded Passion and can extend it self to the apprehension of such Torments which no finite Power can inflict But the Wrath of God exceeds the most jealous fears of the guilty Conscience It proceeds from infinite Justice and is executed by Almighty Power and contains eminently all kinds of evils A Lake of flaming Brimstone and whatever is most dreadful to Sense is but an imperfect Allusion to represent it And how great is that Love which pitied rescued us from Sin and Hell This Saving Mercy is set out for its tenderness and vehemence by the commotion of the bowels at the sight of one in misery especially the working of the Mother's when any evil befals her Children Such an inward deep resentment of our distress was in the Father of Mercies When we were in our blood He said to us Live And that which further discovers the eminent degree of his Love is that He might have been unconcerned with our Distress and left us under despair of Deliverance There is a Compassion which ariseth from Self-love when the sight of anothers Misery surprises us and affects us in such a manner as to disturb our Repose and imbitter our Joy by considering our liableness to the same troubles and from hence we are enclin'd to help them And there is a Compassion that proceeds from pure love to the miserable when the Person that expresses it is above all the assaults of evil and incapable of all Affections that might lessen his Felicity and yet applies himself to relieve the afflicted and such was Gods towards Man If it had been a tollerable Evil under which we were faln the Mercy that recovered us had been less For Benefits are valued by the necessity of the receiver But Man was disinherited of Paradise an Heir of Hell his Misery was inconceivably great Now the measure of God's Love is proportionable to the Misery from whence we are redeemed If there had been any possible Remedy for us in Nature our engagements had not been so great But only He that created us by his Power could restore us by his Love Briefly it magnifies the Divine Compassion that our Deliverance is full and intire It had been admirable Favour to have mitigated our Misery but we have perfect Redemption sweetned by the remembrance of those dreadful evils that opprest us As the three Hebrew Martyrs came unhurt out of the fiery Furnace The hair of their heads were not singed nor their coats changed nor the smell of the fire had passed on them So the Saints above have no marks of Sin or Misery remaining upon them not the least spot or wrinkle to blast their Beauty nor the least trouble to diminish their Blessedness but for ever possess the Fulness of Joy and Glory a pure and triumphant Felicity 2. The Greatness of the Divine Love towards faln Man appears in the means by which our Redemption is accomplisht And those are the Incarnation and Sufferings of the Son of God The Incarnation manifests this Love upon a double account 1. In regard of the essential condition of the nature he assum'd 2. It s Servile state and meanness 1. The essential condition of the humane nature assum'd by our Redeemer discovers his transcendent Love to us For what proportion is there between God and Man Infinite and Finite are not terms that admit comparison as Greater and Less but are distant as All and Nothing The whole World before him is but as the drop of the Bucket that hath scarce weight to fall and the small dust of the Ballance that is not of such moment as to turn the scales 't is as nothing and counted less then nothing and vanity The Deity in its own nature includes Independence and Sovereignty To be a Creature implys dependence and subjection The Angelical Nature is infinitely inferior to the Divine and Man is lower then the Angels yet the Word was made Flesh. Add to this he was not made as Adam in the perfection of his nature and beginning the first step of his life in the full exercise of Reason and Dominion over the Creatures but he came into the World by the way of a natural birth and dependance upon a mortal Creature The Eternal Wisdom of the Father stoopt to a state of infancy which is most distant from that of Wisdom wherein though the Life yet the Light of the reasonable Soul is not visible the mighty God to a condition of indigence and infirmity The Lord of Nature submitted to the Laws of it Admirable Love wherein God seemed to forget his own Greatness and the meanness of the Creature This is more indeared to us by considering 2. The Servile state of the Nature be assumed An account of this we have in the Words of the Apostle Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ who being in the form of God that is injoying the Divine Nature with all its Glory eternally and invariably As to be in the form of a King signifies not only to be a King but to have all the conspicuous marks of Royalty the Crown Scepter Throne the Guards and State of a King Thus our Saviour possest that Glory that is truly Divine before he took our nature The Angels adored him in Heaven and by him Princes reigned on the Earth 'T is added he thought it no robbery to be equal with God that is being the essential Image of the Father he had a rightful possession of all his perfections Yet he made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was
is his Fathers Love to him In this was manifested the Love of God to us because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him The Love of God in all temporal blessings is but faint in the comparison with the Love that is exprest in our Redeemer As much as the Creator exceeds the creature the gift of Christ is above the gift of the whole world Herein is Love saith the Apostle that is the clearest and highest expression of it that can be God sent his Son to be a Propitiation for our Sins The Wisdom and Power of God never acted to the utmost of their efficacy he could frame a more Glorious World but the Love of God cannot in a higher degree be exprest As the Apostle to set forth how sacred and inviolable Gods promise is saith that because he could swear by no greater he sware by himself so when he would give the most excellent testimony of his favour to mankind he gave his Eternal Son the Heir of his Love and Blessedness The giving of Heaven it self with all its Joys and Glory is not so perfect and full a demonstration of the Love of God as the giving of his Son to die for us According to the rule of common esteem a greater Love was exprest to wretched Man than to Christ himself for we expend things less valuable for those that are more precious so that God in giving him to die for us declar'd that our Salvation was more dear to him then the life of his only Son When no meaner Ransom than the Blood Royal of Heaven could purchase our Redemption God delighted in the expence of that sacred Treasure for us It pleased the Lord to bruise him Though the Death of Christ absolutely consider'd was the highest provocation of God's displeasure and brought the greatest guilt upon the Jews for which Wrath came upon them to the uttermost yet in respect of the end namely the Salvation of Men 't was the most greatful Offering to him a Sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour This is an endearing circumstance of Gods Love to us God repented that he made Man but never that he redeem'd him And as the Love of the Father so the Love of Christ appears in a superlative manner in dying for us Greater Love hath no Man than this that a Man lay down his life for his Friend There is no kind of Love that exceeds the affection which is exprest in dying for another but there are diverse degrees of it and the highest is to die for our enemies The Apostle saith perhaps for a good man some would dare to die 'T is possible gratitude may prevail upon one who is under strong obligations to die for his benefactor Or some may from a generous principle be willing with the loss of their lives to preserve one who is a general and publick good But this is a rare and almost incredible thing 'T is recorded as a miraculous instance of the power of Love that the two Sicilian Philosophers Damon and Pithias each had courage to die for his Friend For one of them being condemn'd to die by the Tyrant and desiring to give the last farewel to his Family his Friend entered into Prison as his Surety to die for him if he did not return at the appointed time And he came to the amazement of all that expected the issue of such a hazardous caution Yet in this example there seems to be in the Second such a confidence of the fidelity of the first that he was assured he should not die in being a pledge for him and in the first 't was not meer friendship or sense of the obligation but the regard of his own honour that made him rescue his Friend from Death And if Love were the sole motive yet the highest expression of it was to part with a short life which in a little time must have been resigned by the order of nature But the Love of our Saviour was so pure and great there can be no resemblance much less any parallel of it For he was perfectly Holy and so the priviledge of immortality was due to him and his life was infinitely more precious than the lives of Angels and Men yet he laid it down and submitted to a cursed Death and to that which was infinitely more bitter the Wrath of God And all this for sinful men who were under the just and heavy displeasure of the Almighty He loved us and gave himself for us If he had only interposed as an Advocate to speak for us or only had acted for our recovery his Love had been admirable but he suffered for us He is not only our Mediator but Redeemer not only Redeemer but Ransom 'T was excellent goodness in David when he saw the destruction of his People to offer Himself and Family as a Sacrifice to avert the Wrath of God from them But his pride was the cause of the Judgment whereas our Redeemer was perfectly innocent David interceeded for his Subjects Christ for his Enemies He receiv'd the Arrows of the Almighty into his Breast to shelter us He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquites the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed Among the Romans the Despotick power was so terrible that if a slave had attemped upon the Life of his Master all the rest had been crucified with the guilty person But our gracious Master dyed for his slaves who had conspir'd against him He shed his Blood for those who spilt it And the readiness of our Lord to save us though by the sharpest sufferings magnifies his Love When the richest Sacrifices under the Law were insufficient to take away sin and no lower price then the blood of God could obtain our pardon upon his entering into the World to excute that wonderful Commission which cost him his Life with what ardour of affection did he undertake it Lo I come to do thy will O God When Peter from carnal affection deprecated his sufferings Master spare thy self he who was incarnate goodness and never quench'd the smoking flax expresses the same indignation against him Get thee behind me Satan as he did formerly against the Devil tempting to worship him He esteemed him the worst adversary that would divert him from his Sufferings He long'd for the Baptism of his Blood And when Death was in his view with all the circumstances of terrour and the supreme Judge stood before him ready to inflict the just punishment of sin though the apprehension of it was so dreadful that he could scarce live under it yet he resolved to accomplish his Work Our Salvation was amiable to him in his Agony This is specially observed by the Evangelist that Jesus having loved his own he loved them to the end When the Souldiers
in this oeconomy of our Mediator his Humiliation was the cause of his Exaltation upon a double account 1. As the Death of Christ was an expression of such humility such admirable Obedience to God such Divine Love to Men that it was perfectly pleasing to his Father and his Power being equal to his Love he infinitely rewarded it 2. The Death of Christ was for Satisfaction to Justice and when he had done that Work he was to enter into rest It behoved Christ to Suffer and enter into Glory 'T is true Divine Honour was due to him upon another title as the Son of God but the receiving of it was deferr'd by dispensation for a time First He must redeem us and then Reign The Scripture is very clear in referring his actual possession of Glory as the just consequent to his compleat expiation of sin When by himself He had purged our sins He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high And after he had made one Sacrifice for sins for ever sate down on the right hand of God And not only the Will of the Father but the nature of the thing it self required this way of proceeding For Jesus Christ by voluntary susception undertaking to satisfie the Law for us as he was obliged to suffer what was necessary in order to our Redemption so 't was reasonable after Justice was satisfied that the humane nature should be freed from its infirmities and the Glory of his Divine be so conspicuous that every tongue should confess that Jesus who was despised on Earth is supreme Lord The Apostle sums up all together in that triumphant challeng Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect 'T is God that justifies who is he that condemneth 'T is Christ that died yea rather is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us 3. The excellent benefits which God reconciled bestows upon us are the effects and evidences of the compleatness of Christs Satisfaction And these are pardon of Sin Grace and Glory The Apostle tells us that the Law made nothing perfect all its Sacrifices and Ceremonies could not expiate the guilt nor cleanse the stain of sin nor open Heaven for us which three are requisit to our perfection But Christ by one Offering hath perfected for ever them that are Sanctified By him we obtain full Justification Renovation and Communion with God therefore his Sacrifice the Meritorious cause of procuring them must be perfect 1. Our Justification is the effect of his Death for the obligation of the Law is made void by it God forgives us our Trespasses blotting out the hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us and took it out of the way nailing it to his Cross. The terms are used that are proper to the cancelling a civil Bond. The killing letter of the Law is abolisht by the Blood of the Cross the Nails and the Spear have rent it in pieces to signifie that its condemning power is taken away Now the infinite vertue of his Death in taking away the guilt of sin will more fully appear if we consider 1. That it hath procured Pardon for sins committed in all ages of the World Without the intervention of a Sacrifice God would not Pardon and the most costly that were offered up by sinners were of no value to make compensation to Justice but the Blood of Christ was the only propitiation for sins committed before his comming The Apostle tells us He was not obliged to offer himself often as the High-Priest entered into the Holy place every year with the Blood of others but now once in the end of the World hath he appeared to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself The direct sense of the Words is that the virtue of his Sacrifice extended it self to all times for otherwise in regard Men have always needed propitiation He must have Suffered often since the Creation of the World And if it be askt how His Death had a saving influence before He actually Suffered the answer is clear We must consider the Death of Christ not as a Natural but Moral cause 't is not as a Medicine that heals but as a Ransom that frees a Captive Natural Causes operate nothing before their real existence but 't is not necessary that moral Causes should have an actual being 't is sufficient that they shall be and that the person with whom they are effectual accept the Promise As a Captive is releast upon assurance given that he will send his ransom though 't is not actually deposited Thus the death of Christ was available to purchase pardon for Believers before his coming for he interposed as their Surety and God to whom all things are present knew the accomplishment of it in the appointed time He is therefore call'd the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world not only in respect of God's Decree but his Efficacy The salvation we derive from him was ever in him He appeared under the Empire of Augustus and dyed under Tyberius but he was a Redeemer in all ages otherwise the comparison were not just that as by Adam all die so by Christ all are made alive 'T is true under the old Testament they had not a clear knowledg of him yet they enjoyed the benefit of his unvaluable Sufferings For the medium by which the benefits our Redeemer purchased are conveyed to Men is not the exact knowledg of what he did and suffered but sincere Faith in the Promise of God Now the Divine Revelation being the rule and measure of Faith such a degree was sufficient to Salvation as answered the general discovery of Grace Believers depended upon God's goodness to pardon them in such a way as was honourable to his Justice They had some general Knowledge that the Messiah should come and bring Salvation Abraham rejoiced to see the day of Christ Moses valued the Afflictions of Christ more than the Treasures of Aegypt And Believers in general are described to be waiters for the Consolation of Israel In short the Jewish and Christian Church are essentially one they differ no more than the morning and Evening Star which is the same but is diversly called from its appearance before the Sun-rising or after its setting So our Faith respects a Saviour that is past theirs respected Him as to come Besides The saving vertue of his Death as it reaches to all former so to all succeeding Ages He is the same yesterday to day and for ever not only in respect of his Person but his Office The vertue of the Legal Sacrifices expired with the Offering upon a new sin they were repeated Their imperfection is argued from their repetition But the precious Oblation of Christ hath an everlasting efficacy to obtain full Pardon for Believers His Blood is as powerful to propitiate God as if it were this day shed upon the Cross. He is able to save
Repentance and Faith which are humbling Graces to be the conditions of our obtaining Pardon By Repentance we acknowledge that if we are condemned 't is just severity and if we are Saved 't is rich Mercy And Faith absolutely excludes boasting For it supposes the Creature guilty and receives Pardon from the Sovereign Grace of God upon the account of our Crucified Redeemer The benefit and the manner of our receiving it was typified in the miraculous cure of the Israelites by looking up to the Brasen Serpent For the act of seeing is performed by receiving the Images which are derived from the objects 't is rather a Passion then an Action that it might appear that the healing Virtue was meerly from the Power of God and the Honor of it intirely his In short God had respect to the lowliness of this Grace in appointing it to be the qualification of a Justified person for the most firm reliance on Gods Mercy is alwayes joyned with the strongest renouncing of our own Merits Briefly to excite humility in us the Gospel tells us that the Glorious reward is from rich bounty and liberality The gift of God is Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. As the Election of us to Glory so the actual possession of it proceeds from pure Favour There is no more proportion between all our Services and that High and Eternal felicity than between the running a few steps and the obtaining an Imperial Crown Indeed not only Heaven but all the Graces that are necessary to purify and prepare us for it we receive from undeserved Mercy So that God crowns in us not our proper Works but his own proper Gifts 2. The Gospel strictly commands Self-denial when the Honor of God and Religion is concern'd Jesus tells his Disciples If any Man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me Life and all the endearments of it Estates Honours Relations Pleasures must be put under our feet to take the first step with our Redeemer This is absolutely necessary to the being of a Christian In the preparation of his mind and the resolution of his will he must live a Martyr and whensoever his duty requires he must break all the Retinacula Vitae the voluntary bands that fasten us to the World and die a Martyr rather than suffer a divorce to be made between his Heart and Christ. Whatsoever is most esteem'd and lov'd in the world must be parted with as a snare if it tempts us from our Obedience or offered up as a Sacrifice when the Glory of God calls for it And this command that appears so hard to sense is most just and reasonable For God hath by so many titles a right to us that we ought to make an intire Dedication of our selves and our most valuable interests to him Our Redeemer infinitely denied himself to save us and 't is most just we should in gratitude deny our selves to serve him Besides an infinite advantage redounds to us for our Saviour assures us that whosoever will save his life when 't is inconsistent with the performance of his duty shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for his sake shall find it Now what is more prudent than of two evils that are propounded to choose the least that is Temporal Death rather than Eternal and of two goods that are offered to our choice to prefer the greater a Life in Heaven before that on the Earth Especially if we consider that we must shortly yeeld the present life to the infirmities of Nature and 't is the richest traffick to exchange that which is frail and mortal for that which remains in its perfection for ever 3. The Gospel enjoyns Universal Love among Men. This is that fire which Christ came to kindle upon the Earth 't is the abridgment of all Christian perperfection the fulfilling of the Divine Law for all the particular Precepts are in substance Love He that loves his Neighbor will have a tender regard to his Life Honour and Estate which is the sum of the second Table The extent of our Love must be to all that partake of the same common nature The universal consanguinity between Men should make us regard them as our allies Every Man that wants our help is our Neighbour Do good to all is the command of the Apostle For the quality of our Love it must be unfeigned without dissimulation The Image of it in Words without real Effects provokes the Divine displeasure for as all falshood is odious to the God of Truth so especially the counterfeiting of Charity that is the impression of his Spirit and the seal of his Kingdom A sincere pure affection that rejoyces at the good and resents the evils of others as our own and expresses it self in all real Offices not for our private respects but their benefit is required of us And as to the degree of our Love we are commanded above all things to have fervent Charity among our selves This principally respects Christians who are united by so many sacred and amiable bands as being formed of the same Eternal Seed Children of the same Heavenly Father and joynt-Heirs of the same Glorious Inheritance Christian Charity hath a more noble Principle than the affections of nature for it proceeds from the Love of God shed abroad in Believers to make them one Heart and one Soul and a more Divine pattern which is the Example of Christ Who hath by his Sufferings restored us to the Favour of God that we should Love one another as He hath Loved us This Duty is most stricty injoyn'd for without Love Angelical Eloquence is but an empty noise and all other Virtues have but a false lustre Prophesie Faith Knowledge Miracles the highest outward Acts of Charity or Self-denial the giving our Estates to the Poor or Bodies to Martyrdom are neither pleasing to God nor profitable to him that does them Besides That special branch of Love the forgiving of Injuries is the peculiar Precept of our Saviour For the whole World consents to the returning evil for evil The vicious Love of our selves makes us very sensible and according to our preverse judgments to revenge an injury seems as just as to requite a benefit From hence revenge is the most Rebellious and Obstinate Passion An Offence remains as a thorn in the mind that inflames and torments it till 't is appeased by a vindication 'T is more difficult to overcome the Spirit then to gain a Battel We are apt to revolve in our thoughts injuries that have been done to us and after a long distance of time the memory represents them as fresh as at the first Now the Gospel commands a hearty and intire forgiveness of injuries though repeated never so often to seventy seven times We must not only quench the Fire of Anger but kindle the Fire of Love towards our greatest Enemies I say unto you Love your Enemies