allay of tormenting fear and Delight its inseparable attendant was pure without the least mixture of Sorrow 3. There was in Mans dominion and power over the Creatures a shining part of God's Image He was appointed God's Lieutenant in the world and adorn'd with a Flower of his Crown God gave him the solemn Investiture of this dignity when he brought the Creatures to receive their names from him which was a mark of their homage and a Token of his supreme Empire to command them by their names As this Dominion was establisht by the order of God so 't was exercised by the mediation of the Body In his Face and Words there was something so powerful as commanded all the hosts of the lower world And as their subjection was most easie without constraint or resistance so 't was most equal without violence and oppression Thus holy and blessed was Adam in his Primitive state And that he might continue so he was obliged for ever to obey the Will of God who bestowed upon him Life and Happiness By the first neglect of his Duty he would most justly and inevitably incur the loss of both This will appear by considering the design of God in the Creation God did not make the World and Man for the meer exercise of his Power and so left them but as the production of all things was from his Goodness so their resolution and tendency is for his Glory He is as universally the final as the efficient cause of all creatures For that which receives its being from another can't be an end to it self for the prevision of the end in the mind of the Creator sets him a work and is antecedent to the being of the creature Therefore the Wiseman tells us that God made all things for himself And the Apostle that Of him and to him and through him are all things to whom be glory for ever The lower rank of Creatures objectively glorifie God as there is a visible demonstration of his excellent Attributes in them Man is only qualified to know and love the Creator And as the benefit of all redounds to him 't is his duty to pay the tribute for all By his mouth the world makes its acknowledgment to God He is the Interpreter of the silent and uninterrupted Praises which the full Quire of Heaven and Earth renders to him O Lord all thy works praise thee from the most noble to the least worthy thy Saints bless thee Thankfulness is the homage due from understanding Creatures And from hence it follows that Man was only in a state of moral dependance and capable of a Law For a Law being the declaration of the Superiours Will requiring Obedience and threatning Punishment on the failure thereof there must be a principle of Reason and choice in that nature that is govern'd by it 1. To discover the Authority that enjoins it 2. To discern the matter of the Law 3. To determine it self out of judgment and election to Obedience as most excellent in it self and advantageous to the performer Now all inferiour Creatures are moved by the secret force of natural inclinations they are insensible of moral engagements and are not wrought on in an illuminative way by the foresight of rewards and punishments But Man who is a reasonable creature owes a reasonable service And it is impossible that Man should be exempt from a Law For as the notion of a God that is of the first and supreme Being excludes all possibility of obligation to another Who hath first given to the Lord and it shall be recompensed to him again And of subjection to a Law for supremacy and subjection are incompatible so the quality of a Creature includes the relation of dependance and natural subjection to the Will of God This is most evident from that common Principle which governs the intelligent Creation 'T is a moral Maxime to which the reasonable nature necessarily assents That the dispensing of benefits acquires to the Giver a Right to command and lays on the Receiver an Obligation to obey and these rights and duties are measured by the nature of the benefits as their just Rule This is visible in that Dominion which is amongst men If we ascend to the first Springs of Humane Laws we shall find the original Right of Power to arise either from Generation in Nature or Preservation â—n War or some publick Good accruing to the Society by the prudent care of the Governor Now the being and blessedness of the creature are the greatest and most valuable benefits that can be received and in the bestowing of them is laid the most real foundation of Power and Authority Upon this account Man who derives his life and felicity from God is under a natural and strong obligation to comply with his will From this right of Creation God asserts his universal Dominion I have made the Earth and created Man upon it even my hands have stretcht out the Heavens and all their hosts have I commanded And the Psalmist tells us Know ye that the Lord he is God it is He that made us and not we our selves we are his people and the sheep of his pasture His Jurisdiction is grounded on his propriety in Man and that arises from his giving being to him Remember O Israel for thou art my servant I have formed thee From hence he hath a supreme Right to impose any Law for the performance of which Man had an original Power Universal Obedience is the just consequent of our obligations to the Divine Goodness Suppose that Man were not the work of God's hands yet the infinite excellency of his nature gives him a better title to command us than Man hath upon the account of his reason to govern those Creatures that are inferiour to him Or suppose that God had not created the matter of which the Body is compos'd but only inspir'd it with a living Soul yet his right over us had been unquestionable The Civil Law determines that when an Artificer works on rich materials and the engraving be not of extraordinary value that the whole belongs to him who is the owner of the materials But if the matter be mean and the workmanship excellent in which the price wholly lies as if a Painter should draw an admirable Picture on a piece of Canvas the Picture of right belongs to him that drew it So if according to the errour of some Philosophers the matter of which the World was made had been Eternal yet God having infused a reasonable Soul into a piece of clay which is the principle of its life and gives it a transcendent value above all other beings which were made of the same element it is most just he should have a property in him and dominion over him The Law of Nature to which Man was subject upon his Creation contains those moral Principles concerning good and evil which have an essential equity in them
the Soul yet to the bringing of it forth the concurrence of the external Faculties is requisite Thus a Voluptuary who is restrain'd from the gross acts of Sensuality by a Disease or Age may be as vicious in his Desires as another who follows the pernicious swing of his Appetite having a vigorous Complexion Briefly The variety of circumstances by which the inward corruption is excited and drawn forth makes a great difference as to the open and visible acts of it Thus an ambitious person who uses Clemency to accomplish his design would exercise Cruelty if 't were necessary to his end 'T is true some are really more temperate and exempted from the tyranny of the flesh than others Cicero was more vertuous than Catiline and Socrates than Aristophanes But these are priviledged persons in whom the efficacy of Divine Providence either by forming them in the Womb or in their Education or by conducting them in their maturer Age hath corrected the malignity of Nature All men have sinn'd and come short of the glory of God's image And that Sin breaks not forth so outragiously in some as in others the restraint is from an higher Principle than common and corrupt Nature 4. This Corruption although natural yet 't is Voluntary and Culpable 1. Voluntary All Habits receive their character from those acts by which they are produced and as the Disobedience of Adam was voluntary so is the Depravation that sprung from it 2. 'T is inherent in the Will If Adam had derived a Leprosie to all Men it were an involuntary evil Because the Diseases of the Body are forreign to the Soul But when the Corruption invades the internal Faculties 't is denominated from the subject wherein 't is seated 3. 'T is the voluntary cause of actual Sins and if the acts proceeding from this corruption are voluntary the principle must be of the same nature 2. 'T is Culpable The formality of Sin consists in its opposition to the Law according to the definition of the Apostle Sin is a transgression of the Law Now the Law requires an entire rectitude in all the Faculties It condemns corrupt inclinations the originals as well as the acts of Sin Besides Concupiscence was not inherent in the humane Nature in its Creation but was contracted by the Fall The Soul is stript of its native Righteousness and Holiness and is invested with contrary qualities There is as great a difference between the corruption of the Soul in its degenerate state and its primitive purity as between the loathsomness of a Carcass and the beauty of a living Body Sad change and to be lamented with tears of confusion That the Sin of Adam should be so fatal to all his Posterity is the most difficult part in the whole order of Divine Providence Nothing more offends carnal Reason which forms many specious Objections against it I will briefly consider them Since God saw that Adam would not resist the Temptation and that upon his Fall the whole race of Mankind which he supported as the foundation would sink into ruine Why did he not confirm him against it was it not within his Power and more suitable to his Wisdome Holiness and Goodness To this I answer 1. The Divine Power could have preserved Man in his Integrity either by laying a restraint on the apostate Angels that they should never have made an attempt upon him or by keeping the Understanding waking and vigilant to discover the danger of the Temptation and by fortifying the Will and rendring it impenetrable to the fiery darts of Satan without any prejudice to its freedom For that doth not consist in an absolute Indifference but in a judicious and deliberate choice so that when the Soul is not led by a blind instinct nor forc'd by a forreign power but embraces what it knows and approves it then enjoyes the most true Liberty Thus in the glorified Spirits above by the full and constant Light of the Mind the Will is indeclinably fixt upon its supreme Good and this is its Crown and Perfection 2. It was most suitable to the Divine Wisdom to leave Man to stand or fall by his own choice 1. To discover the necessary dependance of all Second Causes upon the first No Creature is absolutely impeccable but the most perfect is liable to imperfection He that is essentially is only unchangeably Good Infinite Goodness alone excludes all possibility of receiving Corruption The Fall of Angels and Man convince us that there is one sole Beeing immutably Pure and Holy on whom all depend and without whose Influence they cannot be or must be eternally miserable 2. 'T was very fit that Adam should be first in a state of trial before he was confirm'd in his Happiness The reason of it is clear he was left to his own judgment and election that Obedience might be his choice and in the performance of it he might acquire a title to the reward A determining vertue over him had crost the end of his Creation which was to glorifie God in a free manner Therefore in Paradise there were amiable objects to allure the lower Faculties before they were disordered by Sin The forbidden Fruit had beauty to invite the Eye and sweetness to delight the Palate And if upon the competition of the Sensual with the Intellectual Good he had reâ—ected the one and chose the other he had been rais'd to an unchangeable state his Innocence had been crown'd with Perseverance As the Angels who continued in their Duty when the rest revolted are finally establisht in their Integrity and Felicity And the Apostle gives us an account of this order when he tells us That was first which was natural then that which is spiritual and supernatural Man was created in a state of perfection but 't was natural therefore mutable the confirming of him immediatly had been Grace which belongs to a more excellent Dispensation Now to bring Man from not being to a supernatural state without trial of the middle state of Nature was not so congruous to the Divine Wisdome 3. The permission of the Fall doth not reflect on the Divine Purity For 1. Man was made Upright He had no inward Corruption to betray him There was Antidote enough in his Nature to expel the strongest Temptation 2. God was not bound to hinder the commission of Sin 'T is a true Maxime that in debitis causa dâ—ficiens efficit moraliter But God is not only free from subjection to a Law as having no Superiour but was under no voluntary Obligation by Promise to prevent the Fall 3. Neither doth that first Act of Sin reflect on Gods unspotted Providence which suffer'd it as if Sin were in any degree allowed by Him The Holy Law which God gave to direct Man the terrible Threatning annext to warn him declare his irreconcileable Hatred against Sin He permits innumerable Sins every day yeâ— He is as jealous of the Honour of his Holiness now as in the beginning
Man 1. He must be God that he might deliver his Counsels with more authority and efficacy than any meer Creature could He must be a Teacher sent from Heaven that reveals to us the Will of God concerning the way thither and the certainty and excellency of that state Now Christ is the original of all Wisdom 't is not said the Word of the Lord came to Him as to the Prophets He is the Fountain of all Sacred Knowledg The Son came from the Bosom of the Father the Seat of his Counsels and Compassions to reveal those Secrets which were concealed from the Angels in that Light which is inaccessible And 't is God alone can teach the Heart and convince the Conscience so as to produce a saving Belief of the Heavenly Doctrine and a delight in the discovery and a resolution to follow it wherever it directs 2. 'T was fit he should be Man that he might be familiarly conversant with us and conveigh the Counsels of God in such a way as Man could receive All saving Truth comes from God and it follows by just consequence that the nearer he is to us the better we are like to be instructed Now there are two things which render sinful man incapable of immediate converse with God 1. The Infirmity of his Nature 2. The Guilt that cleavâ—s to him First The Infirmity of Man's Nature cannot endure the Glory of God's appearance When the Law was delivered on Mount Sinai the Israelites were under great terrors at the Sights and Prodigies which accompanied the Divine Presence and they desired that God would speak to them no more in his Majesty and Greatness lest they should die There is such a disproportion between our meaness and his excellencies that Daniel though a Favourite of Heaven yet his Comliness was turn'd into corruption at the sight of a Vision And the beloved Disciple fell down as dead at the appearance of Christ in his Glory When the Eye gazes on the Sun 't is more tormented with the brightness than pleased with the beauty of it But when the beams are transmitted through a coloured medium they are more temperate and sweetned to the sight The Eternal Word is cloathed with a robe of Light which the more bright it is the less visible it renders him to mortal eyes but the incarnate Word is eclipsed and allayed by a vail of flesh and so made accessible to us God out of a tender respect to our frailty and fears promised to raise up a Prophet cloathed in our nature that we might comfortably and quietly receive his Instructions 2. Guilt makes us fearful of his Presence The approach of God awakens the Conscience which is his spy in our bosoms and causes a dreadful apparition of Sin in its view When one beam of Christs Divinity broke forth in the miraculous draught of fishes Peter cries out Depart from me for I am a sinful man O Lord. Holiness arm'd with terrors strikes a Sinner into consternation Now when the Mind is shaken with a storm of fear it cannot calmly attend to the counsels of Wisdom But the Son of God appearing in our Nature to expiate Sin and appease Divine Justice we are encouraged to draw near to him and sit at his feet to hear the words of eternal Life Thus God complied with our necessity that with a freer dispensation we might receive the counsels of our Saviour 3. He is qualified for his Kingly Office by the Union of the two Natures in him He must be God to conquer Satan and convert the World As eminent an act of Power was necessary to redeem as to create For although the Supreme Judge was to be satisfied by humble Sufferings yet Satan who usurpt the Right of God for Man had no power to alienate himself was to be subdued having no just title he was to be cast out by power And no less than the Divine Power could accomplish our victorious rescue from him In his love he pitied us and his holy Arm got him the victory He is the Author of eternal Salvation which no inferiour agent could ever accomplish 'T is God alone can overcome Death and him that had the power of Death and bring us safely to Felicity Besides our King must be Man that by the excellency of his Example He might lead us in the way of Life The most rational Method to reform the World is not only to enact Laws to be the Rule of vertuous Actions but for Lawgivers to make Vertue honourable and imitable by their own practice And to encourage us in the holy War against our enemies visible and invisible 't was congruous that the Prince of our Salvation should take the Humane Nature and submit to the inconveniences of our warfaring state As Kings when they design a glorious Conquest go forth in Person and willingly endure the hardships of a military condition to animate their Armies The Apostle tells us that it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons to Glory to make the Captain of their Salvation perfect through Sufferings God the great Designer of all things foreseeing the Sufferings to which the Godly would be exposed in the World ordained it as most convenient that the Author of their Deliverance should by Sufferings obtain the Reward that by his example he might strengthen and deliver those that suffer to the end Again the Son of God enter'd into our Family and is not ashamed to call us brethren to make his Scepter amiable to us He exerciseth his Dominion with a natural and sensible touch of pity he pardons our failings and puts a value on our sincere though mean Services as an honour done to him Briefly In him there is a combination of Power and Love The Power of the Deity with the tenderness and clemency of the Humane Nature He is the mighty God and Prince of peace He is a King just and powerful against our enemies but mild and gentle to his People He is willing to remove from us all the evils we cannot endure our Sins and Sorrows and able to convey to us all the Blessings we are capable to enjoy In all his Glory He remembers that he is our Saviour At the Day of Judgment when He shall come with a train of mighty Angels He will be as tender of Man as when He suffered on the Cross. And from hence we may discover the excellency of God's contrivance in uniting the Divine and Humane Nature in our Redeemer that He might have ability and affection to qualifie him for that great and blessed Work Thirdly The Divine Wisdome appears in the designation of the Person For God resolving to save Man in a way that is honourable to his Justice it was expedient a Person in the Blessed Trinity should be put into a state of subjection to endure the punishment due to Sin But it
Heritage to receive the Promise of the Messiah and left the rest in thick and disconsolate darkness there was no apparent cause of this inequality for they all sprang from the same corrupt root and equally deserv'd a final rejection There was no singular good in them nor transcendent evil in others The unaccountable Pleasure of God was the sole motive of the different Dispensation Our Saviour breaks forth in an extasie of Joy I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the wise prudent and revealed them unto babes even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight 'T is the Prerogative of God to reveal the secrets of the Kingdom to whom he pleases 'T is an act of pure Grace putting a difference between one Nation and another with the same liberty as in the Creation of the same indigested matter He form'd the Earth the dregs of the Universe and the Sun and Stars the ornaments of the Heavens and the glory of the visible World How can we reflect on our Spiritual Obligations to Divine Grace without a rapture of Soul The corruption of Nature was universal our Ignorance as perverse and our Manners as profane as of other Nations and we had been condemn'd to an eternal Night if the Light of Life had not graciously shin'd upon us This should warm our hearts in affectionate acknowledgments to God Who hath made known to us the riches of the glory of this mystery amongst the Gentiles and with that revelation the concomitant power of the Spirit to translate us from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of his dear Son If the Publication of the Law by the Ministry of Angels to the Israelites were such a Priviledg that 't is reckon'd their peculiar Treasure He hath shewed his Statutes unto Israel He hath not dealt so with any Nation What is the revelation of the Gospel by the Son of God Himself For although the Law is obscured and defaced since the Fall yet there are some ingrafted Notions of it in the humane Nature but there is not the least suspition of the Gospel The Law discovers our Misery but the Gospel alone shews the way to be delivered from it If an Advantage so great and so precious doth not touch our hearts and in possessing it with joy we are not sensible of the engagements the Father of Mercies hath laid upon us we shall be the ungratefullest wretches in the world 2. This incomprehensible Mystery is worthy of our most serious thoughts and study that we may arrive to a fuller knowledge of it And to incite us it will be fit to consider those excellencies which will render it most desirable Knowledge is a quality so eminent that it truly enobles one Spirit above another As Reason is the singular Ornament of the humane Nature whereby it excels the Bruits so in proportion Knowledge which is the perfection of the Understanding raises those who are possessors of it above others that want it The Testimony of Solomon confirms this Then I saw that Wisdom excells Folly as far as Light excelleth Darkness And according to the nature and quality of the Knowledge such is the advantage it brings to us Now the Doctrine of the Gospel excels the most noble Sciences as well contemplative as practick it excels the contemplative in the sublimity of the object and in the certainty of its Principle 1. In the sublimity and greatness of the Object and it is no less then the highest design of the eternal Wisdom the most glorious work of the great God In the Creation his foot-steps appear in our Redemption his Image In the Law his Justice and Holiness but in the Gospel all his Perfections shine forth in their brightest luster The bare theory of this inriches the mind and the contemplation of it affects the Soul that is conversant about it with the highest admiration and the most sincere and lasting delight 1. It affects the Soul with the highest admiration The strongest Spirits cannot comprehend its just greatness the understanding sinks under the weight of Glory The Apostle who had seen the light of Heaven and had such knowledg as never any man before yet upon considering one part of the Divine Wisdom breaks forth in astonishment Oh the depth of the riches of the Wisdom and Knowledg of God! how unsearchable are his Decrees and his waies past finding out 'T is fit when we have spent the strength of our minds in the consideration of this excelling object and are at the end of our subtilty to supply the defects of our Understandings with Admiration As the Psalmist expresses himself Lord how wonderful are thy thoughts to us-ward The Angels adore this glorious Mystery with an humble Reverence The admiration that is caused by it is a principal delight of the Mind 'T is true the wonder that proceeds from Ignorance when the cause of some visible effect is not known is the imperfection and torment of the spirit but that which ariseth from the knowledg of those things which are most above our conception and our hope is the highest advancement of our Minds and brings the greatest satisfaction to the Soul Now the contrivance of our Redemption was infinitely above the â—light of Reason and our expectation When the Lord turned the captivity of Sion they were as in a dream The way of accomplishing it was so incredible that it seem'd rather the picture of Fancy than a real Deliverance And there is far greater reason that the rescuing of us from the Powers of Hell and the restoring us to Liberty and Glory by Christ should raise our wonder The Gospel is called a marvellous Light upon the account of the objects it discovers But such a perverse judgment is in men that they neglect those things which deserve the highest admiration and spend their wonder on meaner things Art is more admir'd than Nature a counterfeit Eye of Christal which hath neither sight nor motion than the living Eye the Sun of the little world that directs the whole Man And the effects of Nature are more admir'd than the sublime and supernatural works of Grace Yet these infinitely exceed the other The World is the work of Gods hand but the Gospel is his plot and the chiefest of all his waies What a combination of Wonders is there in the great Mystery of Godliness That He who fills Heaven and Earth should be confin'd to the Virgins Womb that Life should die and being dead revive that Mercy should triumph without any disparagement to Justice these are Miracles that transcend all that is done in Nature And this appears by the judgment of God himself who best knows the excellency of his own works For whereas upon the finishing the first Creation he ordain'd the Seventh Day that reasonable Creatures might more solemnly ascribe to him the Glory of his Attributes which are visible in the things
came to seize upon him though by one word he could have commanded Legions of Angels for his rescue yet he yeilded up himself to their Cruelty 'T was not any defect of power but the strength of his Love that made him to suffer He was willing to be Crucified that we might be Glorified our Redemption was sweeter to him than Death was bitter by which it was to be obtained 'T was excellently said by Pherecides that God transformed himself into Love when he made the World but with greater reason 't is said by the Apostle God is Love when he redeemed it 'T was Love that by a miraculous condescension took our Nature accomplishing the desire of the mystical Spouse Let him kiss me with the kisses of his Mouth 'T was Love that stoop't to the form of a Servant and led a poor despised life here below 'T was Love that endur'd a Death neither easie nor honourable but most unworthy the glory of the Divine and the innocency of the Humane nature Love chose to die on the Cross that we might live in Heaven rather than to enjoy that blessedness and leave Mankind in misery CHAP. X. Divine Mercy is magnified in the excellency of the state to which Man is advanced He is inricht with higher Prerogatives under a better Covenant entitled to a more glorious Reward than Adam at first enjoyed The Humane Nature is personally united to the Son of God Believers are spiritually united to Christ. The Gospel is a better Covenant than that of the Law It admits of Repentance and Reconciliation after Sin It accepts of Sincerity instead of Perfection It affords supernatural Assistance to Believers whereby they shall be victorious over all opposition in their way to Heaven The difference between the Grace of the Creator and that of the Redeemer The stability of the New-Covenant is built on the Love of God which is unchangeable and the Operations of his Spirit that are effectual The mutability and weakness of the Humane Will and the strength of Temptations shall not frustrate the merciful Design of God in regard of his Elect. The glorious Reward of the Gospel exceeds the Primitive Felicity of Adam in the place of it the highest Heaven Adam's life was attended with innocent Infirmities from which the glorified Life is entirely exempt The Felicity of Heaven exceeds the first in the manner degrees and continuance of the fruition THe Third Consideration which makes the Love of God so admirable to lapsed Man is the excellency of that state to which he is advanc'd by the Redeemer To be only exempted from Death is a great favour The grace of a Prince is eminent in releasing a condemned Person from the punishment of the Law This is sufficient for the Mercy of Man but not for the Love of God He pardons and prefers the guilty He rescues us from Hell and raises us to Glory He bestows Eternity upon those who were unworthy of Life The excellency of our condition under the Gospel will be set off by comparing it with that of innocent Man in Paradise 'T is true he was then in a state of Holiness and Honour and in perfect possession of that Blessedness which was suitable to his Nature yet in many respects our last state transcends our first and redeeming Love exceeds creating If Man had been only restor'd to his forfeited Rights to the enjoyment of the same Happiness which was lost his first state were most desirable And it had been greater Goodness to have preserv'd him innocent than to recover him from ruine As he that preserves his Friend from falling into the hands of the Enemy by interposing between him and danger in the midst of the Combat delivers him in a more noble manner than by paying a Ransom for him after many daies spent in woful Captivity And that Physician is more excellent in his Art who prevents Diseases and keeps the Body in health and vigour than another that expels them by sharp Remedies But the Grace of the Gospel hath so much mended our condition that if it were offer'd to our choice either to enjoy the innocent state of Adam or the renewed by Christ it were folly like that of our first Parents to prefer the former before the latter The Jubilee of the Law restor'd to the same Inheritance but the Jubilee of the Gospel gives us the Investiture of that which is transcendently better than what we at first possest Since The Day-spring from on High hath visited us in tender mercy we are enricht with higher Prerogatives and are under a better Covenant and entitled to a more glorious Reward than was due to Man by the Law of his Creation First The Humane Nature is raised to an higher degree of Honour than if Man had continued in his Innocent state 1. By its intimate Union with the Son of God He assum'd it as the fit Instrument of our Redemption and preferr'd it before the Angelical which surpast Man 's in his Primitive State The Fulness of the God-thead dwells in our Redeemer bodily From hence it is that the Angels descended to pay Him homage at his Birth and attended his Majesty in his disguise The Son of Man hath those Titles which are above the Dignity of any meer Creature He is King of the Church and Judg of the World he exercises Divine Power and receives Divine Praise Briefly The humane Nature in our Redeemer is an associate with the Divine and being made a little lower then the Angles for a time is now advanced far above all Principalities and Powers 2. In all those who are partakers of Grace and Glory by the Lord Jesus Adam was the Son of God by Creation but to be joyned to Christ as our head by a union so intimate that he lives in us and counts himself incompleat without us and by that union to be adopted into the line of Heaven and thereby to have an interest in the exceeding great and precious promises of the Gospel to be constituted Heirs of God and coheirs with Christ are such discoveries of the dignity of our supernatural state that the lowest Believer is advanced above Adam in all his honour Nay the Angels though superior to Man in the excellency of their nature yet are accidently lower by the honour of our alliance Their King is our Brother And this relative dignity which seems to eclipse their Glory might excite their envy but such an ingenuous goodness dwells in those pure and blessed Spirits that they rejoyce in our restoration and advancement To this I shall add that as the Son of God hath a special relation to Man so the most tender affections for him To illustrate this by a sensible instance Angels and Men are as two different Nations in Language and Customs but under the same Empire and if a Prince that commands two Nations should employ one for the safety and prosperity of the other it were an Argument of special
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
how can we expect any cooling streams from Him If we consider him as Man he is resembled to a root out of a dry ground the Justice of the Divine and the infirmity of the Humane Nature did not promise any comfort to us But what cannot infinite Love united to infinite Power perform Divine Goodness hath chang'd the Laws of Nature in our favour and by an admirable act open'd the Rock to refresh us 3. The Rock was struck with the Rod of Moses a Type of the Law before it sent forth its streams thus our Spiritual Rock was wounded for our Transgressions bruised for our Iniquities then opened all his treasures to us Being consecrated by Sufferings he is the Author of Eternal Salvation In this respect the Gospel propounds him for the object of saving Faith I determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and him Crucified The Sacraments the Seals of the New Covenant have a special reference to his Death the Foundation of it 4. The Miraculous Waters followed the Israelites in their Journey without which they had perisht in the Wilderness This represents that Indeficiency of the Grace of Christ. A Soveraign stream flows from him to satisfy all Believers He tells us Whosoever drinketh of the Water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the Water that I shall give him shall be in him a Well of Water springing up unto Everlasting Life 3. The Brasen Serpent sensibly exprest the manner of his Death and the benefits derived from it Therefore Jesus being the Minister of the Circumcision chose this Figure for the Instruction of the Jews As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever beleeves in him should not perish but have Eternal Life The Sacred Story relates that the Israelites by their rebellious murmuring provoked God to send Serpents among them whose Poison was so fiery and mortal that it brought the most Painful Death In this affliction they addrest themselves to the Father of Mercies who World by their Repentance Commanded Moses to make a Serpent of Brass and erect it on a Pole in the view of the whole Camp that whosoever lookt on it should be healed By this account from Scripture we may clearly understand something of greatest consequence was represented by it For the only Wise God ordains nothing without just reason Why must a Serpent of Brass be elevated on a Pole could not the Divine Power recover them without it Why must they look towards it could not a healing vertue be conveyed to their wounds but through their eyes All this had a direct reference to the Mystery of Christ. For the biting of the Israelites by the fiery Serpents doth naturaly represent the effects of Sin that torments the Conscience and inflames the Soul with the apprehensions of Future Judgment And the erecting a Brasen Serpent upon a Pole that had the Figure not the Poison of those Serpents doth in a lively manner set forth the lifting up of Jesus Christ on the Cross who only had the similitude of sinful flesh The looking towards the Brasen Serpent is a fit resemblance of Believing in Christ Crucified for Salvation The Sight of the eye was the only means to derive vertue from it and the Faith of the heart is the means by which the Sovereign efficacy of our Redeemer is conveyed This is the will of him that sent me saith our Saviour that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have Eternal Life As in the camp of Israel whoever lookt towards the Brasen Serpent whatever his wounds were or the weakness of his sight had a present remedy so how numerous and grievous soever our Sins be how infirm our Faith yet if we sincerely regard the Son of God suffering he will preserve us from Death For this end he is presented in the Gospel as crucified before the eyes of all Persons 2. Things endued with Life and Sense prefigur'd the Messiah I Shall particularly consider the Paschal Lamb an illustrious Type of him Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us The whole scene as it is laid down in the 12th of Exodus shows an admirable agreement tween them 1. A Lamb in respect of its natural innocency and meekness that suffers without resistance waas fit emblem of our Saviour whose voice was not heard in the street who did not break the Bruised Reed nor quench the smoking Flax. He was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he open'd not his Mouth He is brought as a Lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before the shearers is dumb so he openeth not his Mouth 2. The Lamb was to be without Spot to signify his absolute perfection We are Redeemed with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without Spot 3. The Lamb was to be separated from the Flock four days the Lord Jesus was separated from Men and consecrated to be the Sacrifice for the World after three or four years spent in his Ministerial office preparing himself for that great Work 4. The Paschal Lamb was sacrificed and substituted in the place of the first-Born The Levitical Priesthood not being instituted at their going forth from Egypt every Master of a Family had a right to exercise it in his own House Our Redeemer suffer'd in our stead to propitiate Gods Justice towards us 5. The Blood was to be sprinkled upon the Posts of the door that Death might not enter into their Houses That sacred Ceremony was typical for the sign it self had no resemblance of sparing and certainly the Angel could distinguish between the Israelites and the Egyptians without the bloody mark of Gods Favour but it had a final respect to Christ. We are secur'd from destruction by the blood of sprinkling They were to eat the whole Flesh of the Lamb to signify our intire taking of Christ upon the terms of the Gospel to be our Prince and Saviour 6. The effects attributed to the Paschal Lamb viz. Redemption from Death and Bondage clearly represent the Glorious Benefits we enjoy by Jesus Christ. The destroying Angel past over their houses and caus'd the Egiptians to restore them to full liberty That which all the dreadful signs wrought by Moses could not do was effected by the Passover that overcame the stubbornness of Pharaoh and inspir'd the Israelites with courage to undertake their journey to the promised Land Thus we pass from Death to Life and from bondage to the Glorious liberty of the Sons of God by vertue of Christs Blood 3. Reasonable Persons represented our Saviour either in their Offices actions or the memorable accidents that befel them Joseph the beloved of his Father sent by him to visit his Brethren by them unworthily sold to strangers and thereby rais'd to be their Lord and Saviour was a lively type of him Jonach three dayes and nights in the Whales belly and miraculously restor'd
his supreme Dominion which extends it self to all things in Heaven and Earth Now in the Participation of these the Image of God did principally consist The Holiness of Man was the copy of the Divine purity his Happiness a representation of the Divine Felicity and his Dominion over the lower World the resemblance of Gods Soveraignty I will take a particular survey of them 1. Man was conformed to God in Holiness This appears by the expressions of the Apostle concerning the Sanctification of corrupt man which he sets forth by the renewing of him in knowledg righteousness and holiness after the image of the Creator The Renovation of things is the restoring of them to their Primitive state and is more or less perfect by its proportion to or distance from the Original Holiness Righteousnesse are the comprehensive Sum of the Moral Law which not only represents the Will but the Nature of God in his Supream Excellency and in conformity to it the Divine likeness eminently appear'd Adam was created with the perfection of Grace the progress of the most excellent Saints is incomparably short of his beginning By this we may in part conjecture at the Beauty of Holinesse in him of which one faint ray appearing in renewed persons is so amiable This primitive Beauty is exprest in Scripture by rectitude God made Man upright There was an universal entire rectitude in his Faculties disposing them for their proper Operations This will more fully appear by considering the distinct powers of the Soul in their regular Constitutions 1. The understanding was inrich'd with knowledg Nature was unveiled to Adam he enter'd into its Sanctuary and discover'd its mysterious Operations When the Creatures came to pay their Homage to him whatsoever he called them that was the name thereof And their Names exprest their Natures His knowledg reach'd through the whole compass of the Creation from the Sun the glorious vessel of Light to the Gloworm that shines in the hedg And this knowledg was not acquir'd by Study 't was not the fruit of anxious inquiry but as the illumination of the Air is in an instant by the light of the Morning so his Understanding was enlightned by a pure beam from the Father of Lights Besides He had such a knowledg of the Deity as was sufficient for his Duty and Felicity His mind did not stick in the material part of things but ascended by the several ranks of Beings to the Universal Cause He discover'd the Glory of the Divine Essence and Attributes by their wonderful effects 1. Almighty Power When he first open'd his eyes the stupendious Fabrick of Heaven and Earth presented itself to his view and in it the most express and clear characters of that Glorious Power which produced it For what could overcome the Infinite distance between not being and being but Infinite Power As there is no proportion between not being and being so the cause which unites those terms must be without limits Now the Divine Word alone which calls the things that are not as if they were caused the World to rise from the Abyss of empty nothing At Gods Command the Heavens and all their Host were created And this led him to consider the Immensity of the Divine Essence For Infinite Power is incompatible with a finite Essence and by the consideration of the Immensity he might ascend to the Eternity of God To be Eternal without beginning and Infinite without bounds infer one another and necessarily exist in the same subject For 't is impossible that any thing which is form'd by another and hath a beginning should not be limited in its Nature by the cause that produced it Therefore the Apostle declares that the Eternal Power of God is set forth in the Creation of the World joyning with the discovery of his Power that of his Eternity 2. Admirable Wisdom appear'd to Man in the Creation For by considering the Variety and Union the Order and Efficacy the Beauty and Stability of the World he clearly discerned that Wisdom which so regularly disposed all 'T is thus that Wisdom speaks in the Book of Proverbs When he prepared the Heavens I was there when he set a compass upon the face of the depth When he established the Clouds above When he strengthened thâ— Fountains of the Deep when he gave the Sea his Decree that the Waters should not pass his Commandments when he appointed the Foundations of the Earth I was with him contriving all in the best manner for Ornament and Use. The knowledg of this fill'd his Soul with wonder and delight The Psamist breaks forth with astonishment as one in the midst of innumerable Miracles O Lord how manifold are thy works in Wisdom hast made them all And if he discovered such wonderful and Divine Wisdom in the Works of God when the vigour of the humane Understanding was so much impair'd by the Fall how much more did Adam who perfectly understood Universal Nature the offices of its parts the harmony of the whole and all the just Laws of Union by which God hath joined together such a multitude of beings so distant and disagreeing and how the Publick Peace is preserved by their Private Enmity This discovery caused him to acknowledge that Great is the Lord and of great Power his Understanding is infinite 3. Infinite Goodness shin'd forth in the Creation This is the leading Attribute that call'd forth the rest to work As there was no matter so no motive to induce God to make the World but what arose from his Goodness For he is an All-sufficient Being perfectly blessed in himself His Majesty is not encreased by the Adoration of Angels nor his Greatnesse by the Obedience of Nature neither was he less happy or content in that Eternal Duration before the existence of any Creature than he is since His Original Felicity is equally incapable of accession as of diminution 'T is evident therefore that only free and unexcited Goodness moved him to create all things that he might impart being and happiness to the Creature not inrich his own And as by contemplating the other works of God so especially by reflecting upon himself Adam had a clear sight of the Divine Attributes which concurr'd in his Creation Whether he consider'd his lowest part the Body 't was form'd of the Earth the most artificial and beautiful piece of the visible World The contrivance of its parts was with that proportion and exactness as most conduc'd to Comliness and Service It s stature was erect and raised becoming the Lord of the Creatures and an observer of the Heavens A Divine Beauty and Majesty was shed upon it And this was no vanishing ray soon eclips'd by a Disease and extinguisht by Death but shin'd in the countenance without any declination The Tongue was Man's peculiar glory being the interpreter of the mind and capable to signifie all the Affections of the Soul In short the Body
and are the measures of his duty to God to himself and to his fellow creatures This was publisht by the voice of Reason and is holy just and good Holy as it enjoins those things wherein there is a conformity to those Attributes and Actions of God which are the pattern of our imitation So the general Rule is Be holy as God is holy in all manner of conversation and this is most honourable to the humane nature 'T is just that is exactly agreable to the frame of mans faculties and most suitable to his condition in the world and good that is beneficial to the observer of it In keeping of it there is great reward And the obligation to it is eternal it being the unchangeable will of God grounded on the natural and unvariable relations between God and Man and between Man and the Creatures Besides the particular directions of the Law of Nature this general Principle was planted in the reasonable Soul to obey God in any instance wherein he did prescribe his pleasure Moreover God was pleased to enter into a Covenant with Adam and with all his Posterity naturally descending from him And this was the effect 1. Of admirable Goodness For by his Supremacy over Man he might have signified his Will meerly by the way of Empire and requir'd Obedience But he was pleased to condescend so far as to deal with Man in a sweeter manner as with a Creature capable of his Love and to work upon him by rewards and punishments congruously to the reasonable Nature 2. Of Wisdom to secure Man's obedience For the Covenant being a mutual engagement between God and Man as it gave him infallible assurance of the reward to strengthen his Faith so it was the surest bond to preserve his Fidelity 'T is true the Precept alone binds by vertue of the authority that imposes it but the consent of the Creature increases the Obligation It twists the cords of the Law and binds more strongly to Obedience Thus Adam was God's servant as by the condition of his nature so by his choice accepting the Covenant from which he could not recede without the guilt and infamy of the worst perfidiousness The terms of the Covenant were becoming the Parties concern'd God and Man It established an inseparable Connexion between Duty and Felicity This appears by the Sanction In the day thou eatest of the forbidden fruit thou shalt die In that particular species of Sin the whole genus is included according to the Apostles Exposition Cursed is every one that doth not continue in all the works of the Law to do them The threatning of Death was exprest it being more difficult to be conceiv'd The promise of Life upon his Obedience was implied and easily suggested it self to the rational Mind These were the most proper and powerful motives to excite his Reason and affect his Will For Death primarily signifies the dissolution of the vital union between the Soul and Body and consequently all the preparatory dispositions thereunto Diseases Pains and all the Affections of Mortality which terminate in Death as their center This is the extremest of temporal Evils which innocent Nature shrunk from it being a deprivation of that excellent state which Man enjoyed But principally it signified the separation of the Soul from God's reviving presence who is the only Fountain of Felicity Thus the Law is interpreted by the Lawgiver The Soul that sins shall die Briefly Death in the threatning is comprehensive of all kinds and degrees of evils from the least Pain to the compleatness of Damnation Now 't is an inviolable Principle deeply set in the Human Nature to preserve its being and blessedness so that nothing could be a more powerful restraint from Sin than the fear of Death which is destructive to both This constitution of the Covenant was founded not only in the Will of God but in the nature of the things themselves And this appears by considering 1. That Holiness is more excellent in it self and separately considered than the reward that attends it 'T is the peculiar glory of the Divine Nature God is glorious in Holiness And as He prefers the infinite purity of his Nature before the immortal felicity of his state so he values in the reasonable Creature the vertues by which they represent his Holiness more than their perfect Contentment by which they are like Him in Blessedness Now God is the most just esteemer of things his judgment is the infallible measure of their real worth 't is therefore according to natural order that the Happiness of Man should depend upon his Integrity and the reward be the fruit of his Obedience And although it is impossible that a meer Creature in what state soever should obtain any thing from God by any other title but his voluntary Promise the effect of his Goodness yet 't was such Goodness as God was invited to exercise by the consideration of Mans obedience And as the neglect of his Duty had discharged the Obligation on God's part so the performance gave him a claim by right of the Promise to everlasting Life 2. As the first part of the alliance was most reasonable so was the Second that Death should be the wages of Sin It is not conceivable that God should continue his favour to Man if he turn'd Rebel against Him For this were to disarm the Law and expose the Authority of the Lawgiver to contempt and would reflect upon the Wisdom of God Besides If the reasonable Creature violates the Law it necessarily contracts an obligation to punishment So that if the Sinner who deserves death should enjoy life without satisfaction for the offence or Repentance to qualifie him for pardon both which were without the compass of the first Covenant this would infringe the unchangable rights of Justice and disparage the Divine Purity In the first Covenant there was a special clause which respected Man as the inhabitant of Paradise That he should not eat of the Tree of Knowledg of good and evil upon pain of Death And this Prohibition was upon most wise and just reasons 1. To declare God's Sovereign Right in all things In the quality of Creator he is Supreme Lord. Man enjoyed nothing but by a derived title from his Bounty and Allowance and with an obligation to render to him the Homage of all As Princes when they give estates to their Subjects still retain the Royalty and receive a small rent which though inconsiderable in its value is an acknowledgment of dependance upon them So when God placed Adam in Paradise he reserved this mark of his Soveraignty that in the free use of all other things Man should abstain from the forbidden Tree 2. To make trial of Mans Obedience in a matter very congruous to discover it If the Prohibition had been grounded on any moral internal evil in the nature of the thing it self there had not been so clear a testimony of God's Dominion
nor of Adam's Subjection to it But when that which in it self was indifferent became unlawful meerly by the Will of God and when the Command had no other excellency but to make his Authority more sacred this was a confining of Man's liberty and to abstain was pure Obedience Besides The restraint was from that which was very grateful and alluring to both the parts of Mans compounded Nature The Sensitive Appetite is strongly excited by the Lust of the Eye and this fruit being beautiful to the sight the forbearance was an excellent exercise of vertue in keeping the lower appetite in obedience Again The desire of Knowledg is extremely quick and earnest and in appearance most worthy of the rational Nature Nullus animo suavior cibus 'T is the most high and luscious food of the Soul Now the Tree of Knowledg was forbidden So that the observance of the Law was the more eminent in keeping the intellectual Appetite in Mediocrity In short God required Obedience as a Sacrifice For the Prohibition being in a matter of natural Pleasure and a curb to Curiosity which is the Lust and Concupiscence of the Mind after things conceal'd by a reverent regard to it Man presented his Soul and Body to God as a living Sacrifice which was his reasonable service CHAP. II. Mans Natural state was mutable The Devil moved by hatred and envy attempts to seduce him The Temptation was suitable to Mans compounded Nature The Woman being deceived perswades her Husband The quality of the first Sin Many were combin'd in it 'T was perfectly voluntary Man had Power to stand The Devil could only allure not compel him His Understanding and Will the causes of his Fall The punishment was of the same date with his Sin He forfeited his Righteousness and Felicity The loss of original Righteousness as it signifies the purity and liberty of the Soul The torment of Conscience that was consequent to Sin A whole Army of Evils enter with it into the World MAN was created perfectly holy but in a natural therefore mutable state He was invested with power to prevent his Falling yet under a possibility of it He was compleat in his own order but receptive of sinful impressions An invincible Perseverance in Holiness belongs to a supernatural state 't is the priviledg of Grace and exceeds the design of the first Creation The rebellious Spirits who by a furious ambition had raised a war in Heaven and were fallen from their obedience and glory designed to corrupt Man and to make him a companion with them in their revolt The most subtile amongst them sets about this work urged by two strong passions Hatred and Envy 1. By Hatred For being under a final and irrevocable Doom he lookt on God as an irreconcileable enemy And not being able to injure his Essence he struck at his Image As the fury of some beasts discharges it self upon the Picture of a Man He singled out Adam as the mark of his malice that by seducing him from his Duty he might defeat God's design which was to be honoured by Mans free obedience and so obscure his Glory as if He had made Man in vain 2. He was sollicited by Envy the first native of Hell For having lost the favour of God and being cast out of Heaven the Region of Joy and Blessedness the sight of Adam's Felicity exasperated his Grief That Man who by the condition of his nature was below him should be Prince of the world whilst he was a Prisoner under those chains which restrain'd him and tormented him the power and wrath of God this made his state more intollerable His torment was incapable of allay but by rendering man as miserable as himself And as hatred excited his envy so envy inflam'd his hatred and both joyn'd in mischief And thus pusht on his Subtilty being equal to his Malice he contrives a Temptation which might be most taking and dangerous to Man in his raised and happy state He attempts him with art by propounding the lure of Knowledg and Pleasure to inveigle the Spiritual and Sensitive Appetites at once And that he might the better succeed he addresses to the Woman the weakest and most liable to seduction He hides himself in the body of a Serpent which before Sin was not terrible unto her And by this instrument insinuates his Temptation He first allures with the hopes of impunity Ye shall not die then he promiseth an universal knowledg of good and evil By these pretences he ruin'd innocence it self For the Woman deceived by those specious Allectives swallowed the poison of the Serpent and having tasted Death she perswaded her Husband by the same motives to despise the Law of their Creator Thus Sin enter'd and brought confusion into the World For the moral Harmony of the World consisting in the just subordination of the several ranks of beings to one another and of all to God When Man who was placed next to God broke the Union his Fall brought a desperate disorder into God's Government And although the matter of the Offence seems small yet the Disobedience was infinitely great it being the transgression of that command which was given to be the instance and real proof of Mans subjection to God Totam legem violavit in illo legalis obedientiae praecepto The Honour and Majesty of the whole Law was violated in the breach of that symbolical Precept 'T was a direct and formal Rebellion a publick and universal renouncing of Obedience Many Sins were combin'd in that single act 1. Infidelity This was the first step to ruine It appears by the order of the Temptation 't was first said by the Devil Ye shall not die to weaken their Faith then ye shall be like gods to flatter their ambition The fear of Death would have contrould the efficacy of all his Arguments till that restraint was broke he could fasten nothing upon them This account the Apostle gives of the Fall The woman being deceiv'd was in the transgression As Obedience is the effect of Faith so Disobedience of Infidelity And as Faith comes by hearing the Word of God so Infidelity by listening to the words of the Devil From the deception of the Mind proceeded the depravation of the Will the intemperance of the Appetite and the defection of the whole Man Thus as the natural so the spiritual Death made its first entrance by the Eye And this Infidelity is extremely aggravated as it implies an accusation of God both of envy and falshood 1. Of Envy As if he had deni'd them the perfections becoming the humane Nature and they might ascend to a higher Orb than that wherein they were placed by eating the forbidden fruit And what greater disparagement could there be of the Divine Goodness than to suspect the Deity of such a low and base Passion which is the special character of the Angels of Darkness And 't was equally injurious to the honour of God's Truth
on before there is a consequent guilt and torment attends it Adam whilst obedient enjoyed peace with God a sweet serenity of mind a divine calm in the Conscience and full satisfaction in himself But after his Sin he trembled at God's Voice and was tormented at his Presence I heard thy voice and was afraid saith guilty Adam He lookt on God as angry and arm'd against him ready to execute the severe Sentence Conscience began an early Hell within him Paradise with all its Pleasures could not secure him from that sting in his Breast and that sharpen'd by the hand of God What confusion of Thoughts what a combat of Passions was he in when the Temptation which deceived him vanisht and his spirit recovered out of the surprise and took a clear view of his guilt in its true horrour what indignation did it kindle in his Breast How did Shame Sorrow Revenge Despair those secret executioners torment his spirit The intelligent Nature his peculiar excellency above the brutes arm'd misery against him and put a keener edge to it 1. By reflecting upon the foolish exchange he made of God himself for the fruit of a tree That so slender a Temptation should cheat him of his Blessedness His present misery is aggravated by the sad comparison of it with his primitive Felicity Nothing remains of his first Innocence but the vexatious regret of having lost it 2. By the foresight of the Death he deserved The conscience of his Crimes rackt his Soul with the certain and fearful expectation of judgment Besides the inward torment of his Mind he was expos'd to all miseries from without Sin having made a breach into the World the whole Army of Evils enter'd with it the Curse extends it self to the whole Creation For the World being made for Man the place of his residence in his punishment it hath felt the effects of God's displeasure The whole course of Nature is set on fire Whereas a general Peace and amicable Correspondence was establisht between Heaven and Earth whilst all were united in subjection to the Creator Sin that broke the first Union between God and Man hath ruin'd the second As in a State when one part of the Subjects fall from their Obedience the rest which are constant in their Duty break with the Rebels and make war upon them till they return to their Allegiance So universal Nature was arm'd against rebellious Man and had destroyed him without the merciful interposition of God The Angels with flaming Swords expell'd him from Paradise The Beasts who were all innocent whilst Man remained innocent they espouse Gods interest and are ready to revenge the quarrel of their Creator The insensible Creation which at first was altogether beneficial to Man is become hurtful The Heavens somtimes are hardened as Brass in a long obstinate serenity Sometimes are dissolved in a Deluge of rain The earth is barren and unfaithful to the Sower it brings forth Thorns and Thistles instead of Bread In short Man is an enemy to Man When there were but two Brothers to divide the World the one stain'd his hand in the Blood of the other And since the Progeny of Adam is increast into vast Societies all the disasters of the world as Famine Pestilence Deluges the fury of Beasts have not been so destructive of Mankind as the sole malignity of Man against those that partake of the humane Nature To conclude Who can make a list of the evils to which the Body is liable by the disagreeing Elements that compose it The fatal Seeds of Corruption are bred in it self 'T is a prey to all Diseases from the torturing Stone to the dying Consumption It feels the strokes of Death a thousand times before it can die once At last Life is swallowed up of Death And if Death were a deliverance from miseries it would lessen its terror but 't is the consummation of all The first Death transmits to the second As the Body dies by the Souls forsaking it so the Soul by separation from God its true Life dies to its Well-being and Happiness for ever CHAP. III. All Mankind is involv'd in Adam's guilt and under the penal consequences that follow upon it Adam the natural and moral Principle of Mankind An hereditary Corruption is transmitted to all that are propagated from him The account the Scripture gives of the Conveiance of it 'T is an innate Habit. T is universal Corrupt Nature contains the seeds of all Sins though they do not shoot forth together 'T is voluntary and culpable The permission of the Fall is suitable to the Wisdom Holiness and Goodness of God The imputation of Adam's Sin to his Posterity is consistent with God's Justice THe Rebellion of the First Man against the great Creator was a Sin of universal efficacy that derives a guilt and stain to Mankind in all Ages of the World The account the Scripture gives of it is grounded on the relation which all men have to Adam as their natural and moral Principle 1. Their Natural God created one Man in the beginning from whom all others derive their beings And that the unity might be the more entire he form'd of him that aid which was necessary for the communicating his kind to the world He made of one Blood all Nations of Men to dwell on the face of the earth And as the whole race of Mankind was virtually in Adam's Loins so it was presumed to give virtual consent to what he did The Angels were created immediatly and distinctly without dependance upon one another as to their Original therefore when a great number revolted from God the rest were not complicated in their Sin and Ruine But when the first Man who was the Father of Mankind sinn'd there was a Conspiracy of all the Sons of Adam in that Rebellion and not one Subject left in his Obedience 2. He was the moral Principle of Mankind In the first Treaty between God and Man Adam was consider'd not as a single person but as caput gentis and contracted for all his desccndants by ordinary generation His Person was the Fountain of theirs and his Will the representative of theirs From hence his vast Progeny became a party in the Covenant and had a title to the benefits contain'd in it upon his Obedience and was liable to the Curse upon his violation of it Upon this ground the Apostle institutes a parallel between Adam and Christ. That as by one Mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of One many were made righteous As Christ in his Death on the Cross did not suffer as a private person but as a surety and sponsor representing the whole Church according to the testimony of Scripture If one died for all then all were dead so the first Adam who was the figure of him that was to come in his Disobedience was esteem'd a publick Person representing the whole race of Mankind and by a just
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
'T is the worst impiety for the Sinner to think God like himself as if he took complacency in sin because he is silent for a time and suffers the commission of it In the next state he will fully vindicate his Glory and convince the whole World of his eternal aversation from sin by inflicting on sinners the most dreadful and durable torments 4. The goodness of God is not disparag'd by permitting the fall This appears by considering 1. That God bestowed on Man an excellent being and a happiness that might satisfie his nature consider'd as humane or holy But he perverted the favours of God to his dishonour and this doth not lessen the goodness that gave them 'T is unreasonable to judg of the value of a Benefit by the ingrateful abuse of the receiver and not from its own nature 'T is a chosen Misery that is come upon Man and not to be imputed to any defect of the Divine Goodness 2. God is infinitely Good notwithstanding the entrance of Sin and Misery into the World We must distinguish between natural and voluntary agents Natural agents have no power to suspend their acts but are entirely determin'd and their Operations are ad extremum virium to the utmost of their efficacy If there were infinite degrees of Heat there would be no Cold it being overcome by the force of its contrary But God is a wise and free Agent and as he is Infinite in Goodness so the exercise of it is voluntary and only so far as he pleases 3. God is an omnipotent Good and 't is his peculiar glory to bring Good out of Evil that by the opposition and lustre of Contraries his Goodness might be the more conspicuous To speak strictly Sin is the only evil in the world for all the rest which appear so to our fancies and appetites are either absolutely good or upon the supposal of Sin viz. either for the reformation of Sinners or for the ruine of the Obstinate Now the Evil of Sin God permitted as a fit oâ—casion for the more glorious discovery of his Attributes in sending his Son into the world to repair his Image which was defac'd and to raise Man from an Earthly to Celestial Happiness I shall conclude with the excellent Answer of St. Austin to the adversary of the Law and the Prophets Quibus autem videter sic hominem fieri debuisse ut peccare nollet non eis displiceat sic esse factum ut non peccare posset si nollet Nunquid enim si melior esset qui noâ— posset peccare ideo non benefactus est qui posset non peccare An vero usque adeo dâ—sâ—ipiendum est ut homo videat melius aliquid fieri debuisse hoc Deum vidisse non putet Aut putet vidisse credat facere noluisse Aut voluisse quidem minime potuisse Avertat hoc Deus a Cordibus piorum The substance of which is that 't is an impious folly to imagine that God was either defective in wisdom not to know what was the best state for man in his Creation or defective in goodness that knowing it he would not confer it upon him or defective in power that willing he was unable to make him better There is another Objection vehemently urg'd that the imputation of Adam's sin to all his posterity who were not existent at that time and did not give their personal consent to the treaty between God and him is inconsistent with Justice To this I answer 1. The terms of the first Covenant are such that the common Reason of Mankind cannot justly refuse For suppose all the Progeny of Adam had appear'd with him before their Creator and this had been propounded that God would make an agreement with their common father on their behalf That if he continued in his Obedience they should enjoy a happy Immortality if he declin'd from it they should be depriv'd of Blessedness What shadow of exception can be form'd against this proposal For God who is the Master of his own favours and gives them upon what terms he pleases might upon their refusal have justly annihilated them The Command was equal and his Obedience for all was as easie as that of every particular person for himself Besides Adam was as much concern'd to observe the Conditions of the Covenant for securing his own interest as theirs and after a short time of trial they should be confirm'd in their Blessedness By all which 't is apparent how reasonable the conditions of the original Agreement between God and Man are 2. God hath a power over our Wills superiour to that we our selves have If God offers a Covenant to the Creature the terms being equal it becomes a Law and consent is due as an act of Obedience And if a Community may appoint one of their number to be their Representative to transact affairs of the greatest moment and according to his management the benefit or damage shall accrue to them may not God who hath a supreme dominion over us constitute Adam the Representative of Mankind and unite the consent of all in his general Will so that as he fulfilled or neglected his Duty they should be happy or miserable This Consideration alone that the First Covenant was order'd by God may perfectly satisfie all enquiries As Salvian having confest his Ignorance of the reasons of some dispositions of Providence silences all Objections with this Nihil in hac re opus est aliqiud audire satis sit pro universis rationibus Author Deus Neither is this a meer extrinsick Argument as Authority usually is because there is an intrinsick reason of this Authority the absolute Rectitude and Justice of Gods nature Who is righteous in all his waies and holy in all his works CHAP. IV. The impossibility of Mans Recovery by his Natural Power He cannot regain his Primitive Holiness The Understanding and Will the superiour Faculties are deprav'd The Mind is ignorant and insensible of our Corruption The Will is more deprav'd than the Mind It embraces only Sensual Good Carnal Objects are wounding to the Conscience and unsatisfying to the Affections yet the Will eagerly pursues them The moral Impotence that ariseth from a perverse Disposition of the Will is culpable Neither the Beauty nor the Reward of Holiness can prevail upon the unrenewed Will Guilty Man cannot recover the Favour of God He is unable to make Satisfaction to Justice He is incapable of real Repentance which might qualifie him for Pardon WHen Adam was expell'd from Paradise the entrance was guarded by a flaming Sword to signifie That all hopes of Return by the way of Nature are cut off for ever He lost his Right and could not recover it by Power The chiefest ornaments of Paradise are the Image and Favour of God of which he is justly depriv'd and there is no possibility for him to regain them What can he expect from his own Reason that betrayed him to ruin
If it did not support him when he stood how can it raise him when he is fallen If there were a power in lapsed Man to restore himself it would exceed the original Power he had to will and obey It being infinitely more difficult for a dead man to rise than for a living man to put forth vital Actions For the clearer opening of this Poinâ— concerning Mans absolute Disability to recover his Primitive State I will distinctly consider it with respect to the Image and Favour of God upon which his Blessedness depends 1. He cannot recover his Primitive Holiness This will appear by considering that whatsoever is corrupted in its noble parts can never restore it self the power of an external agent is requisite for the recovering of its Integrity This is verified by innumerable instances in things artificial and natural If a Clock be disorder'd by a fall the Workman must mend it before it can be useful If Wine that is rich and generous declines by the loss of spirits it can never be revived without a new supply In the humane Body where there is a more noblâ— form and more powerful to redress any evil that may happen to the parts if a Gangrene seize on any Member nothing can resist its course but the application of outward means it cannot be cured by the internal principles of its constitution And proportionably in moral Agents when the Faculties which are the principles of action are corrupted it is impossible without the virtue of a Divine cause they should ever be restor'd to their original Rectitude As the Image of God was at first imprinted on the Humane Nature by Creation so the renewed Image is wrought in him by the same creating Power This will be more evident by considering that inward and deep depravation of the Understanding and Will the two Superiour Faculties which command the rest 1. The Understanding hath lost the right apprehension of things As Sin began in the darkness of the Mind so one of its worst effects is the encreasing that Darkness which can only be dispell'd by a supernatural Light Now what the Eye is to the Body that is the Mind for the directing the Will and conducting the Life And if the light that is in us be darkness how great is that darkness How irregular and dangerous must our motions be Not only the lower part of the Soul is under a dreadful disorder but the Spirit of the mind the divinest part is depraved with Ignorance and Error The Light of Reason is not pure But as the Sun when with its beams it sends down pestilential Influences and corrupts the Air in the enlightning it so the carnal Mind corrupts the whole Man by representing good as evil and evil as good The Wisdome of the flesh is enmity against God And the Apostle describes the state of the Gentile World That their understandings were darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their hearts The corruption of their Manners proceeded from their Minds For all Vertues are directed by Reason in their Exercise so that if the Understanding be darken'd all vertuous Operations cease Besides corrupt Man being without Light and Life can neither discern nor feel his Misery The carnal Mind is insensible of its Infirmity ignorant of its Ignorance and suffers under the incurable extremes of being blind and imagining that 't is very clear-sighted More particularly the Reasons why the carnal Mind hath not a due sense of sinful Corruption are 1. Because 't is natural and cleaves to the principles of our being from the Birth and Conception and natural things do not affect us 2. 'T is confirm'd by Custome which is a second Nature and hath a strange power to stupifie Conscience and render it insensible As the Historian observed concerning the Roman Soldiers that by constant use their Arms were no more a burthen to them than their natural Members 3. In the transition from the Infant state 〈◊〉 the age of discerning Man is incapable of observing his native Corruption since at first he acts evilly and is in constant conversation with Sinners who bring Vice into his acquaintance and by making it familiar lessen the horrour and aversation from it Besides those corrupt and numerous examples wherewith he is encompast call forth his sinful inclinations which as they are heightened by repeated acts and become more strong and obstinate so less sensible to him And by this we may understand how irrecoverable Man is by his own Reason The first step to our Cure is begun in the knowledge of our Disease and this discovery is made by the Understanding when 't is seeing and vigilant not when 't is blind A Disease in the Body is perceived by the Mind but when the Soul is the affected part and the rectitude of Reason is lost there is no remaining principle to give notice of it And as that Disease is most dangerous which strikes at the Life and is without Pain for Pain is not the chief evil but supposes it 't is the spur of Nature urging us to seek for Cure So the corruption of the Understanding is very fatal to Man for although he labours under many pernicious Lusts which in the issue will prove deadly yet he is insensible of them and from thence folâ—â—â—s a Carelesness and Contempt of the means for his Recovery 2. The Corruption of the Will is more incurable than that of the Mind For 't is full not only of Impotence but contrariety to what is spiritually good There are some weak strictures of Truth in lapsed Man but they dye in the Brain and are powerless and ineffectual as to the Will which rushes into the embraces of worldly Objects This the universal Experience of Mankind since the Fall doth evidently prove and the account of it is in the following Considerations 1. There is a strong inclination in Man to Happiness This desire is born and brought up with him and is common to all that partake of the reasonable Nature From the Prince to the poorest wretch from the most knowing to the meanest in understanding every one desires to be happy As the great flames and the little sparks of fire all naturally ascend to their sphere 2. The constituting of any thing to be our Happiness is the first and universal Maxime from whence all moral consequences are deriv'd 'T is the rule of our Desires and the end of our actions As in natural things the principles of their production operate according to their quality so in moral things the end is as powerful to form the Soul for its Operations in order to it Therefore as all desire to be happy so they apply themselves to those means which appear to be convenient for the obtaining of it 3. Every one frames a Happiness according to his temper The apprehensions of it are answerable to the dispositions of the
teeth of a Worm can destroy it The pleasures of Sin under which Secular Greatness and Wealth are comprehended are but for a season They are so short liv'd that they expire in the birth and die whilst they are tasted Again they bring only a slight pleasure being disproportionable to the desires of the Soul They are confin'd to the Senses wherein the Beasts are more accurate than Man but can't reach to the upper and more comprehensive Faculties Nay they cannot satisfie the greedy Senses much less quiet the spiritual and immortal Appetite What the Poet speaks with astonishment of Alexander's insatiable Ambition Aestuat infelix angusto limite mundi That the whole World seem'd to him as a narrow Prison wherein he was miserable and as it were suffocated is true of every one If the World was seated in the Heart of Man it can no more satisfie it than the Picture of a Feast can fill the Stomach Besides vexation is added to the vanity of worldly things And that either because the vehement delights of Sense corrupt the temperament of the Body in which the vital complexion consists and expose it to those sharp Diseases that it may be said without an Hyperbole That a thousand Pleasures are not equal to one Hours pain that attends them or because of the inward torture of the Mind arising from the sence of Guilt and Folly which is the anticipation of Hell it self the beginning of eternal Sorrows Now these things are not obscure Articles of Faith nor abstracted Doctrines to be consider'd only by refined Reason but are manifest and clear as the Light and verified by continual Experience 'T is therefore strange to amazement that Man should search after Happiness in these things where he knows 't is not to be found and court real Infelicity under a deceitful appearance when the Fallacy is transparent Who from a principle of Reason would choose for his Happiness a real Good which after a little time he should be depriv'd of for ever or a slight good for ever as the sight of a Picture or the hearing of Musick Yet thus unreasonable is Man in his lapsed state whose Soul is truely immortal and capable of infinite Blessedness yet he chooses those delights which are neither satisfying nor lasting And because the Humane Understanding from time to time is convinc'd of the vanity of all sublunary things therefore to lessen the vexation which arises from Disappointment and that the Appetite may not be taken off from them corrupted Man tries 1. By variety of objects to preserve uniformity in Delight The most pleasing if confin'd to them grow nauseous and insipid after the expiring of a few moments there remains nothing but satiety and sickly resentments and then changes are the remedies to take off the weariness of one pleasure by another The Humane Soul is under a perpetual instability of restless desires it despises what it enjoyes and values what is new as if Novelty and Goodness were the same in all temporal things And as the Birds remain in the Air by constant motion without which they would quickly fall to the Earth as other heavy bodies there being nothing solid to support them so the Spirit of Man by many unquiet agitations and continual changes subsists for a time till at last it falls into Discontent and Despair the center of corrupt Nature 2. When present things are unsatisfactory he entertains himself with Hope for that being terminated on a future Object which is of a doubtful nature the Mind attends to those Arguments which produce a pleasant belief to find that in several objects which it cannot in any single one and to make up in number what is wanting in measure whereas the present is manifest and takes away all liberty of thinking Upon this ground Sensual Pleasure is more in expectation than fruition For Hope by a marvellous enchantment not only makes that which is future present but representing in one view that which cannot be enjoyed but in the intervals of time it unites all the successive parts in one point so that what is divided and lessen'd in the fruition which is alwaies gradual is offer'd at once and entire Thus Man carnal deceived by the imperfect light of Fancy and the false glass of Hope chooses a fictitious felicity Man walks in a vain shew His original Errour hath produced this in its own image And although the complacency he takes in sensual objects is like the joy of a distracted Person the issue of folly and illusion and Experience discovers the deceit that is in them as smelling to an artificial Rose undeceives the Eye yet he will embrace his Error Man is in a voluntary Dream which represents to him the World as his Happiness and when he is awakened he dreams again choosing to be deceiv'd with delight rather than to discover the truth without it This is set forth by the Prophet Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way yet saidst thou not there is no hope that is Thou art tired in the chase of satisfaction from one thing to another yet thou wouldst not give over but still pursuest those shadows which can never be brought nearer to thee And the true reason of it is that in the humane Nature there is an intense and continual desire of Pleasure without which Life itself hath no satisfaction For Life consisting in the operations of the Soul either the external of the Senses or the internal of the Mind 't is sweetned by those delights which are suitable to them So that if all pleasant operations cease without possibility of returning Death is more desireable than Life And in the corrupt state there is so strict an alliance between the Flesh and Spirit that there is but one appetite between them and that is of the flesh All the Designs and Endeavors of the carnal Man are by fit means to obtain satisfaction to his Senses as if the Contentment of the Flesh and the Happiness of the Soul were the same thing or as if the Soul were to die with the Body and with both all Hopes and Fears all Joys and Sorrows were at an end The Flesh is now grown absolute and hath acquir'd a perfect Empire and taken a full possession of all the Faculties For this reason the Apostle tells us They that are in the Flesh cannot please God And the carnal will is enmity against God 't is not subject neither can it be 'T is insnar'd in the cords of Concupiscence and cannot recover it self from its foolish bondage But that doth not lessen the guilt which will appear by considering there is a twofold Impotence 1. There is a natural Impotence which protects from the severity of Justice No Man is bound to stop the Sun in its course or to remove Mountains For the humane Nature was never endued with Faculties to do those things They are inculpably without our power Now the Law enjoins nothing but what Man
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
the Eternal Son who was in the form of God who was equal to Him in Majesty and Authority without Sacriledg or Usurpation he emptied himself by assuming the Humane Nature in its servile state The Word was made Flesh the meanest part is specified to signifie the greatness of his abasement There is such an infinite distance between God and flesh that the condescension is as admirable as the contrivance So great was the malignity of our Pride for the cure of which such a profound Humility was requisite By this he destroyed the first work of the Devil 6. The Wisdom of God appears in ordaining such contemptible and in appearance opposite means to accomplish such glorious effects The Way is as wonderful as the Work That Christ by dying on the Cross a reputed Malefactor should be made our eternal Righteousness that descending to the grave He should bring up the lost World to Life and Immortality is so incredible to our narrow Understandings that He saves us and astonishes us at once And in nothing 'tis more visible That the Thoughts of God are as far above our thoughts and his ways above our ways as Heaven is above the Earth 'T is a secret in Physick to compound the most noble Remedies of things destructive to Nature and thereby make one Death victorious over another But that Eternal Life should spring from Death Glory from Ignominy Blessedness from a Curse is so repugnant to Humane Sense that to render the belief of it easie 't was foretold by many Prophesies that when it came to pass it might be lookt on as the effect of God's eternal Counsel The Apostle tels us that Christ crucified was to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Gentiles foolishness The grand Sophies of the world esteemed it absurd and unreasonable to believe that He who was exposed to Sufferings could save others but those who are Called discover that the Doctrine of Salvation by the Cross of Christ which the world counted folly is the great Wisdome of God and most convenient for his end A double reason is given of this method 1. Because the Heathen world did not find and own God in the way of Nature For after That in the Wisdome of God the World by Wisdome knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe The frame of the World is called the Wisdom of God the name of the Cause is given to the Effect in regard the Divine Wisdom is so clearly discovered there as if it had taken a visible form and had presented it self to the view of Men. But those who professed themselves wise did not acknowledg the Creator For some conceited the World to be eternal others that it was the product of chance and became guilty of the most absolute contradiction to Reason For who can believe that one who is blind from his birth and by consequence perfectly ignorant of all Colours and of the Art of Painting should take a bundle of Pencils into his Hand and dipping them in Colours mixt and corrupted paint a great Battel with that perfection in the design propriety in the colours distinction in the habits and countenances as if it were not represented but present to the Spectators Who ever saw a Temple or Pallace or any regular Building spring from the stony bowels of a Mountain Yet some famous Philosophers became thus vain in their imaginations fancying that the World proceeded from the casual concourse of Atomes And the rest of them neglected to know God so far as they might and to honour him so far as they knew They debased the Deity by unworthy conceptions of his Nature and by performing such acts of Worship as were not fit for a rational Spirit to offer nor for the pure Majesty of Heaven to receive Besides they ascribed his Name Attributes and Honour to Creatures not only the Lights of Heaven and the secret Powers which they supposed did govern them not only Kings and Great Men who were by their Authority raised above others but the most despicable things in nature Beasts and Birds were the objects of their Adoration They changed the Glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to a corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things A Sin so foul that it betrayed them to brutish Blindness and to the most infamous Lusts natural and unnatural Now since the most clear and open discovery of Gods Wisdom was ineffectual to reclaim the World He was pleased to change his method They neglected Him appearing in his Majesty and he now comes cloathed with Infirmities And since by natural light they would not see God the Creator He is imperceptible to the light of Nature as Redeemer The discovery of Him depends on revelation The Wisdom of God in making the World is evident to every Eye but in the Gospel 't is Wisdome in a Mystery The Deity was conspicuous in the Creation but conceal'd under a vail of Flesh when he wrought our Redemption He was more easily discoverd when invisible than when visible He created the World by Power but restor'd it by Sufferings 2. That the Honour of all might solely redound to him God hath chosen the foolish things of the World to confound the wise and the weak things of the World to confound the things that are mighty and base things of the World and things which are despised God hath chosen yea and things that are not to bring to nought things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence Thus Moses the Redeemer of Israel was an Infant exposed to the mercy of the Waters drawn forth from an Ark of Bul-rushes and not employed whilst he lived in the splendour of the Court but when Banisht as a Criminal and depriv'd of all power And our Redeemer took not on him the Nature of Angels equal to Satan in power but took part of flesh and blood the more signally to triumph over that proud Spirit in the Humane Nature which was inferiour to his and had been vanquisht by him in Paradise Therefore he did not immediately exercise Omnipotent power to destroy him but manag'd our weakness and infirmity to foil the roaring Lyon He did not enter into the Combat in the glory of his Deity but disguis'd under the Humane Nature which was subject to Mortality And thus the Devil is overcome in the same manner as he first got the Victory for as the whole race of Man was Captivated by him in Adam their Representative so Believers are victorious over him as the Tempter and Tormentor by the Conquest that Christ their Representative obtain'd in the Wilderness and on the Cross. And as our ruine was effected by the subtilty of Satan so our recovery is wrought by the wisdom of God who takes the wise in their own craftiness The Devil excited Judas by avarice the Jews by malice and
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
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
any allay in the highest degree of its Perfection The Life of Adam was alwaies in a circle of low and mean functions of the Animal Nature which being common to him and Beasts the acts of it are not strictly Humane But the Spiritual Life in Heaven is entirely freed from those servile necessities and is spent in the eternal performance of the most noble actions of which the intelligent Nature is capable The Saints do alwaies contemplate admire love enjoy and praise their everlasting Benefactor God is to them all in all In short That which prefers the Glory of Heaven infinitely before the first state of Man is the continuance of it for ever 'T is an unwithering and never-fading Glory Adam was liable to Temptations and capable of Change he fell in the Garden of Eden and was sentenc'd to die But Heaven is the Sanctuary of Life and Immortality 't is inaccessible to any evil The Serpent that corrupted Paradise with its Poison can't enter there As there is no seed of Corruption within so no cause of it without Our Redeemer offer'd Himself by the Eternal Spirit and purchased an eternal Inheritance for his People Their Felicity is full and perpetual without encrease for in the first moment 't is perfect and shall continue without declination The Day of Judgment is called the Last Day For Daies and Weeks and Months and Years the Revolutions which now measure Time shall then be swallowed up in an unchangeable Eternity The Saints shall be for ever with the Lord. And in all these respects the Glory of the Redeemed as far exceeds the Felicity of Man in the Creation as Heaven the bright Seat of it is above the fading beauty of the terrestrial Paradise CHAP. XI Redeeming Love deserves our highest Admiration and humble Acknowledgments The illustration of it by several Considerations God is infinitely amiable in Himself yet his Love is transient to the Creature 'T is admirable in Creating and Preserving Man more in Redeeming him and by the Death of his Son The discovery of God's Love in our Redemption is the strongest persuasiue to Repentance The Law is ineffectual to produce real Repentance The common benefits of Providence are insuffâ—cient to cause Faith and Repentance in the guilty Creature The clear discovery of pardoning Mercy in the Gospel can only remove our Fears and induce us to return to God The transcendent Love of God should kindle in us a reciprocal Love to Him His Excellency and His ordinary Bounty to Mankind cannot prevail upon us to love Him His Love to us in Christ only conquers our Hatred Our Love to Him must be sincere and superlative The despising of Saving Mercy is the highest Provocation It makes the Condemnation of Men most just certain and heavy 1. ' THis Redeeming Love deserves our highest Admiration and most humble acknowledgments If we consider God aright it may raise our wonder that He is pleased to bestow kindness upon any created being For in Him is all that is excellent and amiable and 't is essential to the Deity to have the perfect knowledg of Himself and perfect Love to Himself His Love being proportioned to his Excellencies the act is infinite as the object And the perfections of the Divine Nature being equal to his Love 't is a just cause of admiration that 't is not confined to himself but is transient and goes forth to the Creature When David looked up to the Heavens and saw the Majesty of God written in Characters of light he admires that Love which first made Man a litle lower then the Angels and Crowned him with Glory and Honour and that providential care which is mindful of him and visits him every moment Such an inconceivable distance there is between God and Man that 't is wonderful God will spend a thought upon us Lord what is Man that thou takest knowledge of him or the Son of Man that thou makest account of him Man is like to vanity his dayes are as a shadow that passeth away His being in this world hath nothing firm or solid 't is like a shadow that depends upon a cause that is in perpetual motion the light of the Sun and is alwayes changing till it vanishes in the darkness of the night But if we consider Man in the quality of a sinner and what God hath wrought for his recovery we are overcome with amazement All temporal favours are but foils to this miraculous Mercy and unspeakably below the least instance of it without it all the priviledges we enjoy above inferior Creatures in this life will prove aggravations of our future misery God saw us in our degenerate state destroyed by our selves and yet O Goodness truly Divine he loved us so far as to make the way for our recovery High Mountains were to be levelled and great depths to be filled up before we could arrive at blessedness all this God hath done He hath brought the Curse of the guilty upon the innocent and exposed his beloved Son to the Sword of his Justice to turn the blow from us What astonishing goodness is it that God who is the Author and end of all things should become the means of our Salvation And by the lowest abasement What is so worthy of admiration as that the Eternal should become mortal that being in the form of God he should take on him the form of a Servant that the Judge of the World should be condemned by the guilty that he should leave his Throne in Heaven to be nailed to the Cross that the Prince of Life should taste of Death These are the great Wonders which the Lord of Love hath performed and all for sinful miserable and unworthy Man who deserved not the least drop of that Sweat and Blood he spent for him and without any advantage to himself for what content can be added to his felicity by a cursed Creature Infinite Love that is as admirable as saving Love that passeth Knowledge and is as much above our comprehension as desert In natural things admiration is the effect of ignorance but here 't is increased by Knowledg For the more we understand the excellent Greatness of God and the vileness of Man the more we shall admire saving Mercy And the most humble acknowledgments are due for it When David told Mephibosheth that he should eat bread with him at his Tâ—ble continually he bowed himself and said What is thy Servant that thou shouldest look on such a dead Dog as I am A speech ful of gratitude and humility yet he was of a Royal extraction though at that time in a low condition With a far greater sense of our unworthiness we should reflect upon that condescending Love that provides the Bread of God for the food of our Souls without which we had perisht for want David in that divine thanksgiving recorded in the Scripture reflects upon his own meanness and from that magnifies the favour of God towards him Who am I
happy therefore he wishes there were no God to whom he must be accountable He is no more wrought on by the Divine perfections and beauties to love the Deity than a guilty person who resolvedly goes on to break the Laws can be perswaded to love the Judge for his excellent knowledg and his inflexible integrity who will certainly condemn him Besides the great and abundant blessings which God as Creator and Preserver bestows upon all cannot prevail upon guilty Creatures to love him Indeed the goodness that raised us from a state of nothing is unspeakably great and layes an Eternal Obligation upon us The whole stock of our affections is due to Him for conferring upon us the humane Nature that is common to Kings and the meanest Beggar All the Riches and Dignity of the greatest Prince whereby he exceeds the poorest Wretch compared to this benefit which they both share in have no more proportion than a Farthing to an immense Treasure The Innumerable Expressions of God's Love to us every Day should infinitely endear Him to us For who is so inhumane as not to love his Parents or his Friend who defended him from his deadly Enemies or relieved him in his poverty especially if the vein of his bounty be not dryed up but alwayes diffuses it self in new favours If we love the memory of that Emperour who reflecting upon one day that past without his bestowing some benefit with grief said Diem perdidi I have lost a day how much more should we love God who every moment bestows innumerable blessings upon his Creatures But sinful Man hath contracted such an unnatural hardness that he receives no impressions from the renewed Mercies of God He violates the Principles of Nature and Reason For how unnatural is it not to love our Benefactour when the dull Ox and the stupid Ass serve those that feed them and how unreasonable when the Publicans return love for love Now there is nothing that can perfectly overcome our hatred but the consideration of that Love which hath freed us from Eternal Misery for the guilty Creature will be alwayes suspicious that notwithstanding the ordinary benefits of Providence God is an enemy to it and till Man is convinced that in loving God he most truly loves himself he will never sincerely affect him This was one great design of God in the Way as well as in the Work of our Redemption to gain our hearts intirely to himself He saves us in the most endearing and obliging manner As Davids affection declared its self I will not serve the Lord with that which cost me nothing So God would not save Man with that which cost him nothing but with the dearest price hath purchased a Title to our Love God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself as well as through Christ reconciling himself to the World He hath propounded such Arguments for our Love so powerful and sublime that Adam in Innocence was unacquainted with He sent down his own Bowels to testifie His Affection to us And that should be the greatest indearment of our Love which was the greatest evidence of his And if we consider the Person of our Redeemer what more worthy object of our affection than Christ And Christ dying with all the circumstances of dishonour and pain and dying thus for Love and this Love terminated on Man If He had no attractive excellencies in himself yet his dying for us should make him infinitely precious and dear to our Souls He is more amiable on the Cross than in the Throne For there we see the clearest Testimony and the most Glorious Triumph of his Love There he endured the Anger of Heaven and the scorn of the Earth There we might see Joy sadned Faith fearing Salvation suffering and Life dying Blessed Redeemer what couldst thou have done or Suffered more to quicken our dead Powers and inflame our cold Hearts toward thee How can we remember thy bleeding dying Love without an Extasy of affection If we are not more insensible than the Rocks 't is impossible but we must be toucht and softened by it Suppose an Angel by special delegation had been enabled to have trod Satan under our feet our obligations to him had been inexpressible and our love might have been intercepted from ascending to our Creator For Salvation is a greater benefit than the meer giving to us our natural being As the privation of felicity with the actual misery that is joyned with it is infinitely worse than the negation of being Our Lord pronounced concerning Judas It had been good for that Man that he had never been born Redeeming Goodness exceeds creating Now the Son of God that he might have our highest Love alone wrought Salvation for us And what admirable Goodness is it that he puts a value upon our affection and accepts such a small return our most intense and ardent love bears no more proportion to his than a spark to the Element of Fire Besides His Love to us was pure and without any benefit to himself but ours to him is profitable to our Souls for their eternal advantage Yet with this He is fully satisfied when we love Him in the quality of a Saviour we give Him the Glory of that he designs most to be Glorified in that is of his Mercy to the miserable For this reason he instituted the Sacrament of the Supper the contrivance of his Love to refresh the memory of his Death and quicken our fainting love to him Now the Love that our Saviour requires must be 1. Sincere and Unfeigned This declares it self by a care to please Him in all things If a Man love me saith our Saviour he will keep my Commandments Obedience is the most natural and necessary product of Love For Love is the spring of Action and employs all the faculties in the service of the person loved The Apostle expresses the force of it by an emphatical Word The Love of Christ constrains us it signifies to have one bound and so much under power that he cannot move without leave As the inspired Prophets were carried by the Spirit and intirely acted by his motions Such an absolute Empire had the Love of Christ over him ruling all the inclinations of his Heart and actions of his Life 'T is this alone makes Obedience chearful and constant For Love is seated in the Will and the Obedience that proceeds from it is out of choice and purely voluntary No Commandment is grievous that is performed from Love And it makes Obedience constant that which is forced from the impression of fear is unsteadfast but what is mixt with delight is lasting 2. Our Love to Christ must be supreme exceeding that which is given to all inferiour Objects The most elevated and entire Affection is due to Him who saves us from Torments that are extreme and eternal and bestows upon us an Inheritance immortal and undefiled Life it self and all the endearments of it Relations Estates
Saviour tells us It behoved Christ to suffer he doth not say that the Son of God should suffer but that Christ. This Title signifies the same Person in substance but not in the same respect and consideration Christ is the Second Person cloathed with our Nature There was no necessity that obliged God to appoint his Son or the Son to accept the Office of Mediator But when the Eternal Son had undertook that charge and was made Christ that is assumed our Nature in order to redeem us 't was necessary that He should suffer Besides His Consent was necessary upon another account For the Satisfaction doth not arise meerly from the Dignity of his Person but from the Law of substitution whereby He put himself in our stead and voluntarily obliged Himself to suffer the Punishment due to us The efficacy of his Death is by vertue of the Contract between the Father and Him of which there could be no cause but pure Mercy and His voluntary Condescension Now the Scripture declares the willingness of Christ particularly at his entrance into the World and at his Death Upon His comming into the World He begins his Life by the internal Oblation of Himself to his Father Sacrifice and Offering thou didst not desire mine ears hast thou opened that is He entirely resigned himself to be Gods Servant Burnt-Offering and Sin-Offering hast thou not required Then said I Lo I come in the volume of thy book 't is written of me I delight to do thy will O my God yea thy Law is within my heart He saw the Divine Decree and embrac'd it the Law was in his Heart and fully possest all his Thoughts and Affections and had a commanding influence upon his Life And his Willingness was fully exprest by Him when He approacht to His last Sufferings For although He declin'd Death as Man having natural and innocent desires of Self-Preservation yet as Mediator he readily submitted to it Not my Will but thine be done was his voice in the Garden And this argued the compleatness and fixedness of his Will that notwithstanding his aversation from Death absolutely considered yet with an unabated election He still chose it as the means of our Salvation No involuntary Constraint was laid upon him to force him to that submission But the sole causes of it were his free Compliance with his Fathers Will and his tender Compassion towards Men. He saith I have power to lay down my life and power to take it up this command I received of my Father In his Death Obedience and Sacrifice were united The Typical Sacrifices were led to the Altar but the Lamb of God presented Himself 't is said He gave himself for us to signifie his willingness in dying Now the Freeness of our Redeemer in dying for us qualified his Sufferings to be meritorious The Apostle tells us that By the obedience of one many are made righteous that is By his voluntary Sufferings we are justified for without his Consent his Death could not have the respect of a punishment for our Sins No Man can be compelled to pay anothers Debt unless he make himself Surety for it Briefly The Appointment of God and the Undertaking of Christ to redeem us from the Curse of the Law by his suffering it are the Foundation of the New-Testament 3. He that interpos'd as Mediator must be perfectly Holy otherwise he had been liable to Justice for his own Sin And guilty Blood is impure and corrupt apter to stain by its effusion and sprinkling than to purge away Sin The Apostle joins these two as inseparable He appeared to take away Sin and in Him is no sin The Priesthood under the Law was imperfect as for other reasons so for the sins of the Priests Aaron the first and chief of the Levitical Order was guilty of gross Idolatry so that Reconciliation could not be obtained by their Ministry For how can one Captive ransom another or Sin expiate Sin But our Mediator was absolutely innocent without the least tincture of Sin original or actual He was conceived in a miraculous manner infinitely distant from all the impurities of the earth That which is produced in an ordinary way receives its propriety from second Causes and contracts the defilement that cleaves to the whole species Whatever is born of blood and the will of the flesh that is form'd of the substance of the Flesh and by the sensual Appetite is defiled but though He was form'd of the substance of the Virgin yet by vertue of an Heavenly Principle according to the words of the Angel to her The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee therefore also that Holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God He came in the appearance only of sinful flesh As the Brazen Serpent had the figure and not the poison of the fiery Serpent He was without actual Sin He foil'd the Tempter in all his arts and methods wherewith he tried Him He resisted the Lust of the Flesh by refusing to make the stones Bread to asswage his Hunger and the Lust of the Eyes in despising the Kingdoms of the World with all their Treasures and the Pride of Life when he would not throw himself down that by the interposing of Angels for His rescue there might be a visible proof that He was the Son of God The Accuser himself confest Him to be the Holy One of God he found no corruption within Him and could draw nothing out of him Judas that betrayed him and Pilate that condemned him acknowledged his Innocence He perfectly fulfill'd the Law and did alwaies what pleased his Father In the midst of his Sufferings no irregular motion disturbed his Soul but He alwaies exprest the highest Reverence to God and incredible Charity to Men. He was compared to a Lamb for his Passion and his Patience that quietly dies at the foot of the Altar Besides We may consider in our Mediator not only a perfect freedom from Sin but an impossibility that he should be toucht by it The Angelical Nature was liable to folly but the Humane Nature by its intimate and unchangeable Union with the Divine is establisht above all possibility of Falling The Deity is Holiness 〈◊〉 self and by its personal presence is a greater preservative from sin than either the vision of God in Heaven or the most permanent habit of Grace Our Saviour tells us the Son can do nothing of himself but according to the pattern the Father sets him Now the perfect Holiness of our Redeemer hath a special efficacy in making his Death to be the expiation of Sin as the Scripture frequently declares For such an high Priest became us who is holy harmless undefiled and separate from sinners And he that knew no sin was made sin for us that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him We are Redeemed not
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
Glorious Trinity were equally provok'd by our Sin and to obtain our Pardon the Son with the consent of the Father deposits his Interest into his Hands and as a Mediator intervenes between us and him who in this Transaction is the Depositary of the Rights of Heaven and having performed what Justice required he reconciled the World to God that is to the Father Himself and the Eternal Spirit In this Cause his Person is the same but his Quality is different he made Satisfaction as Mediator and receiv'd it as God 'T is in this sense that the Apostle saith We have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous Not to exclude the other Persons but in regard the Father as the First Person is the Protector of Justice our Mediator in appeasing Him appeases the others also 3. The Death of Christ is represented under the notion of a Sacrifice offer'd up to God For the more full understanding of this we must consider that Sacrifices were of two kinds 1. Some were Eucharistical They are called Peace-offerings by which the Sacrificer acknowledged the Bounty of God and his own unworthiness and rendered Praise for a favour received and desired the Divine Blessing 2. Expiatory The Sin-offerings for the averting of Gods wrath The Institution of them was upon a double Reason 1. That Man is a sinner and therefore obnoxious to the just indignation and extreme displeasure of the Holy and Righteous God 2. That God was to be propitiated that he might pardon them These Truths are engraven in the natural Consciences of Men as appeares by theâ—â— pretended Expiations of sin among the Heathens But are more clearly reveal'd in the Scripture Under the Law without the effusion of Blood there was no Remission To signifie that God would not forgive Sin without the atonement of Justice which required the Death of the Offender but it being tempered with Mercy accepted a Sacrifice in his stead And that there was a Substitution of the Beast in the place of the guilty Offender appeares by the Law concerning Sacrifices 1. None were instituted for Capital Offences as Murder Idolatry Adultery c. Because the Sinner himself was to be cut off But for other Sins which although in strictness they deserved Death yet God who was the King of Israel was pleased to remit the Forfeiture and to accept the life of the Sacrifice for the Life of the Sinner 2. The guilty Person was to offer a clean Beast of his own to signifie the Surrogation of it in his stead For in the relation of a Possessour he had a dominion over it to apply it to that use 3. The Priest or the person that offer'd was to lay his hands on the head of the Sacrifice thereby Consecrating it to God and Devoting it in his stead to bear the Punishment For this reason 't was called a Sin and a Curse 4. The Confession of Sin by the People or the Priest as in the day of Atonement signified that the guilt of all met on the Sacrifice for Expiation 5. The Blood was to be shed wherein the vital spirits are an express representation what the Sinner deserved and that it was accepted for his Life 6. Lastly The deprecating of God's Anger was joyned with the Sacrifice As when a Man was slain and the Murderer was not found the Elders of the City next to the dead Body were to kill an Heifer in a Valley and to pray that innocent Blood might not be laid to their charge otherwise the Land could not be clensed from the guilt of Blood but by the Blood of the Murderer 2. The Effects of these Sacrifices declare their nature And they are answerable to their threefold respect to God to Sin to Man To God that his Anger might be appeased to Sin that the fault might be expiated to Man that the guilty person might obtain Pardon and Freedom from Punishment Thus when a Sacrifice was duly offered 't is said to be of a sweet savour unto the Lord and to atone him Lev. 1.17 and the Remission of Sins with the Release of the Sinner followed The Priest shall expiate it that is declaratively and it shall be forgiven him Now there was a double Guilt contracted by those that were under the Mosaical Dispensation 1. Typical From the breach of a Ceremonial Constitution which had no relation to Morality Such were natural Pollutions accidental Diseases the touching of a dead Body c. which were esteemed vicious according to the Law and the Defiled were excluded from Sacred and Civil Society Now these Impurities considered in themselves deserved no punishment For involuntary and inevitable Infirmities and corporeal things which do not infect the inward man are the marks of our abject and weak state but are not in themselves sinfull Therefore Ceremonial Guilt was expiated by a Ceremonial Offering For 't is according to the nature of things that Obligations should be dissolved by the same means by which they are contracted As therefore those Pollutions were penal merely by the positive Will of God So the exercise of his Supreme Right being tempered with Wisdome and Equity he ordained that the guilt should be abolisht by a Sacrifice and that they should be fully restored to their former Priviledges Thus the Apostle tells us that the Blood of those Sacrifices Sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh that is communicated a legal Purity to the Offerers and consequently a right to approach the holy Place Now the reason of these Institutions was that the legal Impurity might represent the true defilements of Sin and the Expiatory Sacrifices prefigure that great and admirable Oblation which should purge away all Sin 2. A real Guilt which respects the Conscience and was contracted from the breach of the Moral Law and subjected the Offender to Death temporal and eternal This could not be purged away by those Sacrifices For how is it possible the Blood of a Beast should cleanse the Soul of a Man or content the Justice of an offended God Nay on the contrary they reviv'd the guilt of Sin and reinforced the rigour of the Law and were a publick profession of the Misery of Men For this reason the Law is called the Ministry of Death As the Moral contained a declaration of our guilt and Gods right to punish so all the parts of the Ceremonial were either arguments and convictions of Sin or images of the punishment due for them But as they had a relation to Christ who was their Complement so they signified the expiation of moral guilt by his Sacrifice and freed the Sinner from that temporal Death to which he was liable as a Representative of our freedom from Eternal Death by the Blood of the Cross. This will appear more clearly by considering 1. That all kinds of placatory Sacrifices are referred to Christ in the New Testament 2. That all their Effects are attributed to him in a sublimer and most perfect
perplexities how we may be justified is to deny the value of his Righteousness and the truth of his Ascension And say not who shall descend into the deep to bear the Torments of Hell and expiate Sin this is to deny the vertue of his Death whereby he appeased God and redeemed us from the wrath to come In the Law the condemning Righteousness of God is made visible in the Gospel his justifying Righteousness is revealed from Faith to Faith And this is an infallible proof of its divine descent For whereas all other Religions either stupifie Conscience and harden it in carnal Security or terrifie it by continual Alarms of Vengeance the Gospel alone hath discovered how God may shew Mercy to repenting Sinners without injury to his Justice The Heathens robb'd one Attribute to enrich another either they conceived God to be indulgent to their Sins and easie to pardon to the prejudice of his Justice or cruel and revengful to the dishonour of his Goodness But Christians are instructed how these are wonderfully reconciled and magnified in our Redemption From hence there is a divine calm in the Conscience and that Peace which passeth Understanding The Soul is not only freed from the Fear of Gods anger but hath a lively Hope of his Favour and Love This is exprest by the Apostle when he reckons among the Priviledges of Believers That they are come to God the Judg of all and to Jesus the Mediator of the New-Covenant and to the Blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than the blood of Abel The apprehension of God as the Judg of the world strikes the guilty with fear and terrour but as He is sweetned by the Mediator we may approach to Him with confidence For what Sins are there which so entire a Satisfaction doth not expiate What Torments can they deserve which his wounds and stripes have not removed God is Just as well as Merciful in justifying those who believe in Jesus 'T is not the quality of Sins but of Sinners that excepts them from Pardon Christ is the golden Altar in Heaven for penitent Believers to flie to from whence God will never pluck any one to destroy him 5. From hence we may learn how absolute a necessity there is for our coming to Christ for Justification There are but two waies of appearing before the Righteous and Supreme Judg. 1. In Innocence and sinless Obedience or by the Righteousness of Christ The one is by the Law the other by Grace And these two can never be compounded for he that pleads Innocence in that disclaims Favour and he that sues for Favour acknowledges Guilt Now the first cannot be performed by us For entire Obedience to the Law supposes the integrity of our natures there being a Moral impossibility that the Faculties once corrupted should act regularly But Man is stain'd with Original Sin from his Conception And the form of the Law runs universally Cursed is every one that obeys not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them In these Scales one evil work preponderates a thousand good If a Man were guilty but of one single Error his entire Obedience afterwards could not save him for that being alwaies due to the Law the payment of it cannot discount for the former Debt So that we cannot in any degree be justified by the Law for there is no middle between transgressing and not transgressing it He that breaks one Article in a Covenant cuts off his claim to any benefit by it Briefly the Law Justifies only the Perfect and condemns without distinction all that are Guilty So that to pretend Justification by the works of it is as unreasonable as for a man to produce in Court the Bond which obliges him to his Creditor in testimony that he ows him nothing Whoever presumes to appear before God's Judgment-Seat in his own righteousness shall be covered with confusion 2. By the Righteousness of Christ. This alone absolves from the Guilt of sin saves from Hell and can endure the trial of God's Tribunal This the Apostle prized as his unvaluable treasure in comparison of which all other things are but dross and dung that I may be found in him not having mine own Righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith That which he ordained and rewarded in the Person of our Redeemer he cannot but accept Now this Righteousness is meritoriously imputed only to Believers For depending solely upon the Will of God as to its being and effects it cannot possibly be reckoned to any for their benefit and advantage but in that way which he hath appointed The Lord Christ who made Satisfaction tells us that the benefit of it is communicated only through our Believing God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes on him should not perish As all sins are mortal in respect of their guilt but death is not actually inflicted for them upon the account of the Grace of the New Covenant so all sins are venial in respect of the Satisfaction made by Christ but they are not actually pardoned till the performing of the condition to which pardon is annext Faith transfers the guilt from the Sinner to the Sacrifice And this is not an act restrained to the understanding but principally respects the will by which we accept or refuse Salvation The nature of it is best exprest by the Scripture-phrase the receiving Christ which respects the terms upon which God offers him in the Gospel to be our Prince and Saviour The state of favour begins upon our consent to the New Covenant And how reasonable is the condition it requires how impossible is it to be otherwise God is reconcileable by the Death of Christ so that he may exercise Mercy without injury to his Justice and Holiness He is willing and desirous to be upon terms of amity with Men but cannot be actually reconciled till they accept of them for reconcilement is between two Though God upon the account of Christ is made placable to the humane nature which he is not to the Angelical in its lapsed state and hath condescended so far as to offer conditions of peace to Men yet they are reconciled at once That Christ becomes an effectual Mediator there must be the consent of both parties As God hath declared his by laying the punishment of our sins on Christ so Man gives his by submitting to the Law of Faith And the great end of Preaching the Gospel is to overcome the obstinacy of Men and reconcile them to God and their happiness We are Ambassadours for Christ and pray you in Christs stead to be reconciled to God With this difference Christ furnisht the means they only bring the message of reconciliation Now Men are with difficulty wrought on to comply with the conditions of Pardon by Christ. 1. Upon
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
Happiness we cannot without extream ingratitude and disobedience neglect to glorifie Him in our Bodies and Spirits which are his This Religious tendency of the Soul to God as the Supreme Lord and our utmost End sanctifies our Actions and gives an excellency to them above what is inherent in their own nature Thus moral Duties towards Men when they are directed to God become Divine Acts of Charity are so many Sacred Oblations to the Deity Men are but the Altars upon which we lay our Presents God receives them as if immediatly offer'd to his Majesty and consumed to his Honour Such was the charity of the Philippians towards the relief of the Apostle which he calls An odour of a sweet smell a Saerifice acceptable well pleasing to God The same Bounty was an act of Compassion to Man and Devotion to God This changes the nature of the meanest and most troublesome things What was more vile and harsh than the employment of a Slave yet a respect to God makes it a Religious Service that is the most noble voluntary of all humane Actions For the Believer addressing his service to Christ and the Infidel only to his Master he doth chearfully what the other doth by constraint and adorns the Gospel of God our Saviour as truly as if he were in a higher condition All Vertues are of the same descent and family though in respect of the matter about which they are conversant and their exercise they are different Some are heroical some are humble and the lowest being conducted by Love to God in the meanest offices shall have an eternal Reward In short Piety is the principle and chief ingredient of Righteousness and Charity to Men. For since God is the Author of our common Nature and the relations whereby we are united one to another 't is necessary that a regard to him should be the first and have an influence upon all other Duties I shall further consider some particular Precepts which the Gospel doth especially enforce upon us and the Reasons of them 1. That concerning Humility the peculiar Grace of Christians so becoming our state as Creatures and Sinners the parent and nurse of other Graces that preserves in us the light of Faith and the heat of Love that procures Modesty in Prosperity and Patience in Adversity that is the root of Gratitude and Obedience and is so lovely in God's eyes that He gives Grace to the Humble This our Saviour makes a necessary qualification in all those who shall enter into his Kingdom Except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven As by Humility he purchas'd our Salvation so by that Grace we possess it And since Pride arises out of Ignorance the Gospel to cause in us a just and lowly sense of our unworthiness discovers the nakedness and misery of the humane Nature devested of its primitive Righteousness It reveals the transmission of Original Sin from the first Man to all his Posterity wherewith they are infected and debased a Mystery so far from our knowledg that the participation of it seems impossible and unjust to carnal Reason We are dead in Sins and Trespasses without any Spiritual strength to perform our Duty The Gospel ascribes all that is good in Man to the free and powerful Grace of God He works in us to will and to do of his good pleasure He gives Grace to some because He he is Good denies it to others because He is Just but doth injury to none because all being guilty He owes it to none Grace in its being and activity entirely depends upon Him As the drowsie Sap is drawn forth into flourishing and fruitfulness by the approaches of the Sun so habitual Grace is drawn forth into act by the presence and influences of the Sun of Righteousness Without me our Saviour tells his Disciples ye can do nothing I have laboured more abundantly than they all saith the Apostle yet not I but the Grace of God in me The operations of Grace are ours but the Power that enables us is from God Our preservation from Evil and perseverance in Good is a most free unmerited Favour the effect of his renewed Grace in the course of our Lives Without his special assistance we should every hour forsake Him and provoke Him to forsake us As the Iron cannot ascend or hang in the Air longer than the virtue of the Loadstone draws it So our Affections cannot ascend to those glorious things that are above without the continually attracting Power of Grace 'T is by humble Prayer wherein we acknowledg our wants and unworthiness and declare our dependance upon the Divine Mercy and Power that we obtain Grace Now from these Reasons the Gospel commands Humility in our demeanor towards God and Men. And if we seriously consider them how can any crevise be opened in the heart for the least breath of Pride to enter How can a poor diseased wretch that hath neither Money nor can by any industry procure nourishment or Physick for his deadly Diseases and receives from a merciful person not only Food but Soveraign Medicines brought from another World for such is the Divine Grace sent to us from Heaven without his desert or possibility of retribution be proud towards his Benefactor How can he that only lives upon Alms boast that he is rich How can a Creature be proud of the Gifts of God which it cannot possess without Humility and without acknowledging that they are derived from Mercy If we had continued in our Integrity the praise of all had been entirely due to God For our Faculties and the excellent dispositions that fitted them for action were bestowed upon us freely by Him and depended upon his Grace in their exercise But there is now greater reason to attribute the Glory of all our goodness solely to him for He revives our dead Souls by the infusion of Grace without which we are to every good work reprobate Since all our Spiritual Abilities are Graces the more we have received the more we are obliged and therefore should be more humble and thankful to the Author of them And in comparing our selves with others the Gospel forbids all proud reflections upon our selves as dignified above them For who maketh thee to differ from another And what hast thou that thou didst not receive And if thou didst receive it why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it If God discern one from another by special gifts the Man hath nothing of his own that makes him excellent Although inherent Graces command a respect from others to the Person in whom they shine yet he that possesses them ought rather to consider himself in those qualities that are natural and make him like the worst than in those that are divine proceeding from the sole Favour of God and that exalt him above them Add further that God hath ordained in the Gospel
their Vertue and Happiness Philosophy doth not propound the Glory of God for the Supream End of all Humane Actions Philosophy is defective as to the Duties respecting our selves and others It allowes the first sinful motions of the lower Appetites The Stoicks renounce the Passions Philosophy insufficient to form the Soul to Patience and Content under Afflictions and to support in the hour of Death A Reflection upon some Immoral Maxims of the several Sects of Philosophers THe Perfection of the Laws of Christ will further appear by comparing them with the Precepts of Moses and with the Rules which the highest Masters of Morality in the School of Nature have prescribed for the directing our lives The Gospel exceeds the Mosaical Institution 1. In ordaining a Service that is Pure Spiritual and Divine consisting in the Contemplation Love and Praises of God such as the holy Angels perform above The Temple-Service was managed with Pomp and external Magnificence suitable to the disposition of that People and the dispensation of the Law The Church was then in its Infant-state as St. Paul expresses it and that Age is more wrought on by Sense than Reason For such is the subordination of our Faculties that the vegetative first acts then the sensitive then the rational as the organs appointed for its use acquire perfection The knowledg of the Jews was obscure and imperfect and the external part of their Religion was ordered in such a manner that the senses were much affected Their Lights Perfumes Musick and Sacrifices were the proper entertainment of their external Faculties Besides being encompast with Nations whose Service to their Idols was full of Ceremonies to render the temptation ineffectual and take off from the efficacy of those allurements which might seduce them to the imitation of Idolatry God ordain'd his Service to be performed with great splendour Add further The Dispensation of the Law was typical and mysterious representing by visible material objects and their power to ravish the Senses Spiritual things and their efficacy to work upon the Soul But our Redeemer hath rent the Vail and brought forth Heavenly things into a full Day and the clearest Evidence Whereas Moses was very exact in describing the numerous Ceremonies of the Jewish Religion the quality of their Sacrifices the Place the Persons by whom they must be prepared and presented to the Lord We are now commanded to draw near to God with cleansed hands and purified hearts and that Men Pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting Every place is a Temple and every Christian a Priest to offer up Spiritual Incense to God The most of the Levitical Ceremonies and Ornaments are excluded from the Christian Service not only as unnecessary but inconsistent with its Spiritualness As Paint they corrupt the native beauty of Religion The Apostle tells us that humane Eloquence was not used in the first preaching of the Gospel lest it should render the truth of it uncertain and rob the Cross of Christ of its Glory in converting the World for 〈◊〉 would be apt to imagine that 't was not the supernatural vertue of the Doctrine and the efficacy of its Reasons but the artifice of Orators that overcame the spirits of Men So if the Service of the Gospel were made so pompous the Worshippers would be enclin'd to believe that the external part was the most principal and to content themselves in that without the aims and affections of the Soul which are the life of all our Services Besides upon another account outward Pomp in Religion is apter to quench than enâ—â—ame Devotion For we are so compounded of Flesh and Spirit that when the corporeal Faculties are vehemently affected with their objects 't is very hard for the Spiritual to act with equal vigour there being such commerce between the fancy and the outward Senses that they are never exercised in the reception of their objects but the Imagination is drawn that way and cannot present to the mind distinctly and with the calmness that is requisit those things on which our thoughts should be fixt But when those diverting objects are removed the Soul directly ascends to God and looks on him as the Searcher and Judge of the Heart and worships him proportionally to his perfections That this was the design of Christ appears particularly in the Institution of the Sacraments which he ordained in a merciful condescension to our present state for there is a natural desirâ— in us to have pledges of things promis'd therefore he was pleased to add to the Declaration of his Will in the Gospel the Sacraments as confirming seals of his Love by which the application of his Benefits is more special and the representation more lively than that which is meerlâ— by the Word But they are few in number on Baptism and the Lords Supper simple in their nature and easy in their signification most fit to relieve our infirmity and to raise our Souls to Heavenly things Briefly the Service of the Gospel is answerable to the excellent light of knowledge shed abroad in the hearts of Christians 2. Our Redeemer hath abolisht all obligation to the other Rituals of Moses to introduce that real Righteousness which was signified by them The carnal Commandments given to the Jews are called Statutes that were not good either in respect of their matter not being perfective of the humane nature or their effect for they brought Death to the disobedient not Life to the Obedient the most strict observation of them did not make the performers either better or more happy But Christians are dead to these Elements that is perfectly freed from subjection to them The Kingdom of God consists not in Meat and Drink but Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost for he that in these things serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved of Men. We are commanded to purge out the old leaven of Malice and Wickedness that sowers and swells the mind and to keep the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth We are obliged to be free from the moral imperfections the vices and passions which were represented by the natural qualities of those Creatures which were forbidden to the Jews and to purify the Heart instead of the frequent washings under the Law But the Gospel frees us from the intolerable yoke of the legal abstinencies observations and disciplines the amusements of low and servile Spirits wherewith they would compensate their defects in real Holiness and exchange the substance of Religion for the shadow and colours of it For this reason the Apostle is severe against those who would joyn the fringes of Moses to the robe of Christ. 3. The indulgence of Polygamy and Divorce that was granted to the Jews is taken away by Christ and Marriage restored to the purity of its first Institution The permission of these was by a political Law and the effect was temporal Impunity For God is to be considered
things A sin of so provoking a nature that God gave them up to the vilest lusts whereby they defiled and debased themselves Carnal impurity being a just punishment of Spiritual 4. They arrogated to themselves the sole praise of their Virtues and Happiness This impiety is most visible in the writings of the Stoicks the Pharises in Philosophy They were so far from depending on God for Light and Grace in the conduct of their Lives from praying to him to make them vertuous that they opposed nothing with more pride and contempt They thought that Wisdom would loose its value and lustre that nothing were in it worthy of admiration if it came from above and depended upon the Grace of another They acknowledged that the natural Life that Riches Honours and other inferiour things common to the worst were the gifts of God but asserted that Wisdom and Vertue the special perfection of the Humane Nature were the effects of their own industry Impious folly to believe that we owe the greatest benefits to our selves and the lesser only to God Thus they robb'd him of the Honour of his most precious Gifts So strongly did the poison of the old Serpent breathed forth in those words Ye shall be as God that infected the first Man still work in his Posterity Were they Angels in perfection yet the proud reflecting on their excellencies would instantly turn them into Devils And as they boasted of vertue so of happiness as intirely depending upon themselves They ascribe to their Wise-man an absolute Empire over all things they raise him above the Clouds what ever may disquiet or disorder they exempt him from all Passions and make him ever equal to himself that he is never surprised with accidents that 't is not in the power of pains or troubles to draw a sigh or tear from him that he despises all that the World can give or take and is contented with pure and naked Vertue in short they put the Crown upon his Head by attributing all to the power of his own Spirit Thus they contradicted the Rites of Heaven Their impiety was so bold that they put no difference between God and their wise person but this that God was an immortal Wise-Person and a wise Man was a mortal God Nay that he had this advantage since 't is great art to comprize many things in a little space to enjoy as much happiness in an age as Jupiter in his eternity And which is the highest excess of Pride and Blasphemy they prefer'd the wretched imperfect vertue and happiness of their Wise-Man before the Infinite and unchangeable Purity and Felicity of God himself For God they said is wise happy by the priviledg of his Nature where as a Philosopher is so by the discourse of Reason and the choice of his will notwithstanding the resistance of his Passions and the difficulties he encounters in the World Thus to raise themselves above the Throne of God since the rebellious Angels none have ever attempted besides the Stoicks 'T is no wonder that they were the most early opposers of the Gospel for how could they acknowledg God in his state of abasement and humility who exalted their Verutous Man above him in his Majesty and Glory Yet this is the Sect that was most renowned among the Heathens 5. Philosophy is very defective in not propounding the Glory of God as the end to which all our actions should finally refer This should have the first and chief place in that Practical Science For every Action receiving its specification and value from its End that which is the Supreme and common to all Actions must be fixt before we come to the particular and subordinate and that is the Glory of God Now the design of Philosophers in their Precepts was either First To use Vertue as the means to obtain Reputation and Honour in the World This was evident in their Books and Actions They were sick of self-love and did many things to satisfie the Eye They led their lives as in a Scene where one person is within and another is represented without by an Artificial imitation of what is true They were swell'd with presumption having little merit and a great deal of vanity Now this respect to the Opinion of others corrupts the intention and vitiates the action 'T is not sincere Vertue but a superficial appearance that is regarded For 't is sufficient to that purpose to seem to be vertuous without being so As a proud person would rather wear counterfeit Pearls that are esteemed right then right which are esteemed counterfeit So one that is vain-glorious prefers the reputation of being vertuous before real Vertue From hence we may discover that many of their most specious Actions were disguised Sins their Vertues were false as their Deities Upon this account St. Austin condemns the Heroical Actions of the Romans as vicious Virtute civili non vera sed veri simili humanae gloriae servierunt Pride had a principal part in them Or secondly The end of Philosophy was to prevent the mischiefs which licentiousness and disorders might bring upon men from without or to preserve inward peace by suppressing the turbulent passions arising from Lust or Rage that discompose the mind This was the pretended design of Epicurus to whom Vertue was amiable only as the Instrument of pleasure Or thirdly The heighth of Philosophy was to propound the beauty of Vertue and its charming Aspect as the most worthy Motive to draw the Affections Now supposing that some of the Heathens although very few by discovering the internal beauty of Vertue had a love to it and perform'd some things without any private respect but for the rectitude of the action and the inward satisfaction that springs from it yet they were still defective For Vertue is but a ray of the Deity and our duty is not compleat unless it be referred to his Glory who is the principle and patern of it In short the great Creator made Man for himself and 't is most just that as his Favour is our sovereign happiness so his Glory should be our supreme end without which nothing is regular and truly beautiful By these several instances it appears how insufficient Philosophy is to direct us in our principal duty that respects God 2. Philosophy was defective in its directions about moral duties that respect our selves or others 1. Philosophers were not sensible of the first inclinations to sin They allow the disorder of the sensitive appetite as innocent till it passes to the supreme part of the Soul and induces it to deliberate or resolve upon moral actions For they were ignorant of that Original and intimate pollution that cleaves to the humane nature and because our faculties are natural they thought the first motions to forbidden objects that are universal in the best as well as worst to be the necessity of Nature rather then the effect of Corruption
Accordingly all their Precepts reach no farther than the Counsels of the Heart But the desires and motions of the lower faculties though very culpable are left by them indifferent So that 't is evident that many defilements and stains are in their purgative vertues 2. The Stoicks not being able to reconcile the passions with reason wholly renounced them Their Philosophy is like the River in Thrace Quod potum saxea reddit Viscera quod tactis inducit marmora rebus For by a fiction of fancy they turn their vertuous Person into a Statue that feels neither the inclinations of Love nor aversions of hatred that is not toucht with Joy or Sorrow that is exempt from Fears and Hopes The tender and melting affections of nature towards the misery of others they intirely extinguish as unbecoming perfect Vertue They attribute Wisdom to none but whom they rob of Humanity Now as 't is the ordinary effect of folly to run into one extreme by avoiding another so 't is most visibly here For the Affections are not like poisonous plants to be eradicated but as wild to be cultivated They were at first set in the fresh soil of Mans nature by the hand of God And the Scripture describes the Divine perfections and the actions proceeding from them by terms borrowed from humane affections which proves them to be innocent in their own nature Plutarch observes when Lycurgus commanded to cut up all the Vines in Sparta to prevent Drunkenness he should rather have made Fountains by them to allay the heat of the Wines and make them beneficial So true Wisdom prescribes how to moderate and temper the affections not to destroy them 'T is true they are now sinfully inclin'd yet being removed from Carnal to Spiritual objects they are excellently serviceable As Reason is to guide the Affections so they are to excite Reason whose operations would be languid without them The natures that are purely spiritual as the Angels have an understanding so clear as suddenly to discover in objects their qualiteis and to feel their efficacy but Man is compounded of two natures and the matter of his body obscures the light of his mind that he cannot make such a full discovery of good or evil at the first view as may be requisite to quicken his pursuit of the one and flight from the other Now the Affections awaken the vigour of the Mind to make an earnest application to its object They are as the Winds which although sometimes tempestuous yet are necessary to convey the Ship to the Port. So that 't is contumelious to the Creator and injurious to the humane nature to take them away as absolutely vicious The Lord Jesus who was pure and perfect exprest all humane affections according to the quality of the objects presented to him And his Law requires us not to mortifie but to purify consecrate and employ them for spiritual and honourable uses 4. Philosophy is ineffectual by all its Rules to form the Soul to true Patience and Contentment under sufferings Now considering the variety and greatness of the changes and calamitys to which the present life is obnoxious there is no Vertue more necessary And if we look into the World before Christianity had reform'd the thoughts and language of Men we shall discover their miserable errours upon the account of the seeming confusion in humane affairs the unequal distribution of temporal good and evils here below If the Heathens saw Injustice triumph over Innocence and crimes worthy of the severest punishment crown'd with Prosperity if a young man dyed who in their esteem deserved to live for ever and a vicious person lived an age who was unworthy to be born they complained that the World was not governed according to Righteousness but rash fortune or blind fate ruled all As the Pharisee in the Gospel seeing the Woman that had been a notorious sinner so kindly received by Christ said within himself If this Man were a Prophet he would know who it is that touches him So they concluded if there were a Providence that did see and take care of sublunary things that did not only permit but dispose of all affairs it would make a visible distinction between the Vertuous and the Wicked 'T is true God did not to leave the Gentiles without a witness of himself for sometimes the reasons of his Providence in the great changes of the World were so conspicuous that they might discover an eye in the Scepter that his Government was managed with infinite Wisdom Other Providences were vail'd and mysterious and the sight of those that were clear should have induc'd them to believe the Justice and Wisdom of those they could not comprehend As Socrates having read a Book of Heraclitus a great Philosopher but studiously obscure and his Judgment being demanded concerning it reply'd that what he understood was very rational and he thought what he did not understand was so But they did not wisely consider things The present sense of troubles tempted them either to deny Providence or accuse it Every day some unhappy wretch or other reproacht their Gods for the disasters he suffered Now the end of Philosophy was to redress these evils to make an afflicted to be a contented state The Philosophers speak much of the Power of their Precepts to establish the Soul in the instability of worldly things to put it into an impregnable fortress by its situation above the most terrible accidents They boasted in a Poetical bravery of their Victories over Fortune that they despised its flattery in a calm and its fury in a storm and in every place erect Trophies to Vertue triumphing over it These are great words and sound high but are empty of substance and reality Upon tryal we shall find that all their Armour though polish't and shining yet is not of proof against sharp Afflictions The Arguments they used for comfort are taken 1. From necessity that we are born to Sufferings the Laws of humanity which are unchangeble subject us to them But this consideration is not only ineffectual to cause true contentment but produces the contrary effect As the strength of Egypt is decribed to be like a reed that will pierce the hand instead of suporting it For our desires after freedom from miseries are inviolable so that every evil the more fatal and inevitable 't is the more it afflicts us If there be no way of escape the Spirit is overcome by impatience or dispair 2. From reflexion upon the miseries that befal others But this kind of consolation is vicious in its cause proceeding from secret envy and uncharitableness There is little difference between him that regards anothers misery to lessen his own and those who take pleasure in other afflictions And it administers no real comfort If a thousand drink of the waters of Marah they are not less bitter 3. Others sought for ease under sufferings by remembering the pleasures that were formerly enjoyed But
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
some temptations wherein the Flesh assaults the Spirit with that violence that Love it self is obliged to call in Fear to its assistance as being more proper to repress its inordinate motions 'T is only in Heaven that perfect Love will consume all concupiscence and cast out fear of Judgment but whilst we are encompast with temptations we must not think under the pretext of a more raised Spirituality that the fear of Hell is either unbecoming or unnecessary 'T is not unworthy a Child of God to employ all the Motives of the Gospel We are commanded to work out our own Salvation with fear and trembling But the opening of Hell to our view is not sufficient alone to make us Holy For the strongest terrors although they restrain from the outward forbidden act yet they do not change the Heart According to that of St. Austin Inaniter se victorem putat esse peccati qui poenae timore non peccat quia etsi non impletur foris negotium malae cupiditatis ipsa tamen cupiditas intus est hostis That is the fear of Punishment can never make us truly victorious over sin because although we do not actually accomplish the desires of the corrupt Will yet the corrupt Will is still an enemy that lives within and is only destroyed by the love of Holiness which allures us by the excellent Reward that is promised to it Besides Fear is a violent Passion to which Nature is repugnant so that although its power is great yet not constant how strong soever the force is by which a stone is thrown upwards yet 't is weakned by degrees and overcome by the natural weight of the Stone whereby it falls to the Centre So the Humane Nature resists Fear and lessens its impetuousness so far that frequently it returns to sensual Lusts. Therefore that the Law of the Spirit may be perfect and stable it must be confirmed by the hopes of Heaven As the Natural so the Spiritual Life must be nourisht by grateful food 't is not preserv'd with Aloes or Worm-wood For this reason our Saviour 2. To encourage and raise our Hopes offers to us a Reward infinitely valuable for as God is Infinite such is the Happiness he bestows on his favourites 'T is described to us in Scripture under the most enamouring representations as a state of Peace and Love of Joy and Glory The Prince of Peace reigns in the Holy Jerusalem that is above and preserves an everlasting serenity and calmness The mutinous Spirits that rebell'd were presently chased from thence into this lower Region where they brought trouble and disorder He maketh Peace in his high Places The Peace of Heaven is like the Chrystal Sea before the Throne of the Lamb which no unquiet agitation ever troubles or disturbs An inviolable Love unites all his Subjects no division or jealousie discomposes their Concord They enjoy without envy for infinite Blessedness is not diminished by the number of the possessours The Inheritance in light is communicated to all Although the Angels are distinguish'd by their several Orders and Ministrations as Seraphims and Cherubims Thrones and Powers yet a Chain of Holy Love binds all their affections together And the Saints although they shine with different degrees of Glory yet as in a Chorus of Musick although the voices are different they make but one intire harmony So Love that ever continues unites their wills in a delightful harmonious Agreement Although there are millions of the Celestial Inhabitants yet they all make but one Society Love mixing in one mass of Light and Glory all their understandings and wills And since all true Joy and Sweetness springs from Love 't is impossible but they must feel unspeakable complacency in the reciprocal exercise of so Holy and Pure an Affection But principally their Joy arises from the possession of God himself by the clearest Knowledg and purest Love of his Excellencies They see him as he is Sight is the most Spiritual and noble Sense that gives the most distinct and evident discovery of its objects The Soul in its exalted state sees the King in his Beauty all the perfections of that infinitely Glorious and Blessed Nature in their brightness and purity And this Sight causes the most ardent Love by which there is an intimate and vital union between the soul and its happiness and from hence springs perfect delight In thy presence is fulness of Joy It expels all evil that would imbitter and lessen our felicity And this is an admirable priviledge for the Humane Nature that is so sensible of trouble All complaints and cries all sighings and sorrows are for ever banisht from Heaven If the Light of the Sun be so pleasant that every morning revives the World and renders it new to us which was buried in the darkness of the night how infinitely pleasant will the Light of Glory be that discovers the absolute and universal Excellency of the Deity the beauty of his Holiness the perfection of his Wisdom the greatness of his Power and the riches of his Mercy How inexpressibly great is the Happiness that proceeds from the illumination of a purified Soul when such is the amiableness of God that his infinite and eternal Felicity arises from the fruition of himself The Joy of Heaven is so full and satisfying that a thousand years there are but as one day Inferiour earthly goods presently lose the flower of novelty and languish in our enjoyment of them Variety is necessary to put an edge upon our appetites and quicken our delights because they are imperfect and fall short of our expectation But the object of our Blessedness is infinitely great and produces the same pure and perfect Joy for ever After the longest fruition it never cloys or satiates but is as fresh and new as the first moment And that which is the peculiar Pleasure of the Redeemed is that they shall be with Christ and see his Glory What a marvellous joy will fill our hearts to see our Blessed Saviour who suffer'd so much for us on Earth to reign in Heaven Here He was in his enemies hands there he hath them under his feet Here He was in the form of a Servant there He appears in the form of God adorn'd with all the marks of Majesty Here He was under the cloud of his Fathers displeasure there He appears as the Brightness of his Glory Here He was ignominiously Crucified there He is crown'd with Immortal Honour Now considering the ardent Affections which the Saints have to their Redeemer the contemplation of him in this glorious state must infinitely ravish their hearts Especially if we consider that the exaltation of Christ is theirs The Members triumph when the Head is crown'd His excellent Glory reflects a lustre upon them and by the sight of it they are chang'd into his Likeness If the imperfect and dim sight of his Divine Vertues in the Gospel hath a power to change Believers into his
the Word And accordingly all the Promises of Pardon and Salvation are conditional The holy Mercy of the Gospel offers Forgiveness only to Penitent Believers that return from Sin to Obedience We are commanded to repent and be converted that our sins may be blotted out in the time of refreshment from the presence of the Lord. And Heaven is the reward of persevering Obedience To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life There cannot be the least ground of a rational just Hope in any person without Holiness Whoever hath this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure By which it appears that the genuine and proper use we are to make of the exceeding great and precious Promises is That by them we may be partakers of the Divine Nature and escape the pollution that is in the world through lust Yet the corrupt hearts of men are so strongly enclined to their lusts that they turn the Grace of God into wantonness and make an advantage of Mercy to assist their Security presuming to sin with less fear and more licence upon the account of the glorious Revelation of it by our Redeemer The most live as if they might be saved without being Saints and enjoy the Paradise of the Flesh here and not be excluded from that of the Spirit hereafter But Grace doth not in the least degree authorize and favour their Lusts nor relax the Sinews of Obedience 't is perfectly innocent of their unnatural abuse of it The Poison is not in the Flower but the Spider Therefore the Apostle propounds it with indignation Shall we sin that Grace may abound God forbid He uses this form of Speech to express an extreme abhorrency of a thing that is either impious and dishonourable to God or pernicious and destructive to Men. As when he puts the question Is God unjust who taketh vengeance God forbid And is there iniquity in God God forbid He rejects the mention of it with infinite aversation Indeed what greater disparagement can there be of the Divine Purity than to indulge our selves in Sin upon confidence of an easie Forgiveness As if the Son of God had been consecrated by such terrible Sufferings to purchase and prepare a Pardon for those who sin securely What an unexpressible indignity is it to make a monstrous alliance between Christ and Belial And this abuse of Grace is pernicious to men if the Antidote be turn'd into Poison and the Remedy cherish the Disease the cause is desperate The Apostle tells us Those that do evil that good may come thereby their damnation is just Suppose a presuming Sinner were assured that after he had gratified his carnal vile desires he should repent and be pardon'd yet 't were an unreasonable defect of Self-love to do so What Israelite was so fool-hardy as to provoke a fiery Serpent to bite him though he knew he should be healed by the brazen Serpent But 't is a degree beyond madness for Men to live in a course of Sin upon the hopes of Salvation making the Mercy of God to be his bondage as if he could not be happy without them An unrenewed Sinner may be the object of Gods Compassion but while he remains so he is uncapable of Communion with him here much less hereafter Under the Law the Lepers were excluded the Camp of Israel where the presence of God was in a special manner much more shall those who are cover'd with moral Pollutions be kept out from the habitation of his Holiness 'T is a mortal Delusion for any to pretend that electing Mercy will bring them to Glory or that the all-sufficient Sacrifice of Christ will atone God's displeasure towards them although they indulge themselves in a course of Sin The Book of Life is secret only the Lamb with whose Blood the names of the Elect are written there can open the seals of it But the Gospel that is a lower Book of Life tells us the qualifications of those who are vessels of Mercy they are by Grace prepar'd for Glory and that there can be no benefit by the Death of Christ without conformity to his Life Those who abuse Mercy now shall have Justice for ever 3. From hence we may discover the peculiar excellency of the Christian Religion above all other Institutions and that in respect of its Design and effect The whole Design of the Gospel is exprest in the words of Christ from Heaven to Paul when he sent him to the Gentiles To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them that are sanctified by Faith in Christ. One great End of it is to take away all the filthiness and malignity wherewith Sin hath infected the world and to cause in men a real conformity to Gods Holiness according to their capacity As the Reward it promises is not an earthly Happiness such as we enjoy here but Celestial so the Holiness it requires is not an ordinary natural Perfection which Men honour with the title of Vertue but an Angelical Divine quality that sanctifies us throughout in Spirit Soul and Body that cleanses the Thoughts and Affections and expresses itself in a course of universal Obedience to Gods Will. Indeed there are other things that commend the Gospel to any that with judgment compares it with other Religions The heigth of its Mysteries which are so sacred and venerable that upon the discovery they affect with reverence and admiration Whereas the Religion of the Gentiles was built on Follies and Fables Their most solemn Mysteries to which they were admitted after so long a circuit of Ceremonies and great preparations contain'd nothing but a prodigious mixture of Vanity and Impiety worthy to be conceal'd in everlasting darkness Besides the confirmation of the Gospel by Miracles doth authorize it above all humane Institutions And the glorious eternal Reward of it infinitely exceeds whatever is propounded by them But that which gives it the most visible preheminence is That it is a Doctrine according to godliness The End is the character of its nature The whole contexture and harmony of its Doctrines Precepts Promises Threatnings is for the exaltation of Godliness The objects of Faith revealed are not meerly speculative to be conceived and believed only as true or to be gaz'd on in an Extasie of Wonder but are Mysteries of Godliness that have a powerful influence upon practice The Design of God in the publication of them is not only to enlighten the Mind but to warm the Heart and purifie the Affections God discovers his Nature that we may imitate Him and his Works that we may glorifie Him All the Precepts of the Gospel are to embrace Christ by a lively Faith to seek for Righteousness and Holiness in Him to live Godly Righteously and Soberly in this present
world When our Saviour was on the Earth the End of his Sermons as appears in the Gospel was to regulate the lives of Men to correct their vicious Passions rather than to explicate the greatest Mysteries Other Religions oblige their Disciples either to some external actions that have no moral worth in them so that 't is impossible for any one that is guided by Reason to be taken with such vanities Or they require things incommodious and burthensome The Priests of Baal cut themselves And among the Chineses though in great reputation for wisdome their Penitents expose themselves half naked to the injuries of the sharpest Weather with a double cruelty pleasure of the Devil who makes them freez here and expects they should burn for ever 'T is not the most strict observance of serious Trifles nor submitting to rigorous Austerities that ennobles the humane nature and commends us to God The most zealous performers of things indifferent and that chastise themselves with a bloody Discipline labour for nothing and may pass to Hell through Purgatory But the Religion of Christ reforms the Understanding and Will and all the actions depending on them It chases away Errour and Vice and Hatred and sheds abroad Light and Love Purity and Peace and forms on Earth a lively representation of that pure Society that is in Heaven The End of it is to render men like the Angels in Holiness that they may be so in Blessedness This will render it amiable to all that consider it without Passion And 't is worthy of observation that although many Heathens and Hereticks have contradicted other parts of the Christian Religion yet none have dar'd openly to condemn the Moral part of it The Effect of the Gospel hath been answerable to the Design One main difference between the old and new Law is that the old gave the knowledg of Rules without power to observe them the new that is attended with the Grace of Christ enables us by a holy Love to perform that which the other made men only to understand Of this we have the most sensible Evidence in the Primitive Church that was produc'd by the first beams of the Sun of Righteousness had received the first fruits of the Spirit What is more wonderful and worthy of God than that perfect Love which made all the first Believers to have one Heart and one Soul What greater contempt of the World can be imagined than the voluntary parting with all their Goods in consecrating them to God for the relief of the Poor And the Churches of the Gentiles while the Blood of Christ was warm and His Actions fresh in the memories of men were exemplary in Holiness They were as Stars shining in a perverse generation There was such a brightness in their Conversations that it pierc'd through the darkness of Paganisme and made a visible difference between them and all others Their words and actions were so full of zeal for the Glory of God of Chastity Temperance Justice Charity that the Heathens from the Holiness of their lives concluded the Holiness of their Law and that the Doctrine that produc'd such fruits could not be evil The first light that discovered the Truth of the Christian Faith to many was from the Graces and Vertues that appear'd in the Faithful The Purity of their Lives their Courage in Death were as powerful to convert the World as their Sermons Disputations and Miracles And those who were under such strong prejudices that they would not examine the Doctrine of the Gospel yet they could not but admire the Integrity and Innocency that was visible in the conversation of Christians They esteemâ—d their persons from the good qualities that were visible in them when they hated the Christian name for the conceal'd evil they unreasonably suspected to be under it This Tertullian excellently represents in his Apology The most part are so prejudic'd against the Name and are possest with such a blind hatred to it that they make it a matter of reproach even to those whom they otherwise esteem'd Caius they say is a good man he hath no fault but that he is a Christian. Thus the excellent Holiness of the Professors of the Gospel forc'd a veneration from their Enemies But we are fallen from Heaven and mixt with the dust Our conversation hath nothing singular in Holiness to distinguish us from the World The same corrupt Passions reign in Professors of Christianity as in those who are strangers from the Sacred Covenant If we compare our selves with the Primitive Church we must confess our unworthiness to be call'd their successors Sixteen hundred years are run out since the Son of God came down to sanctifie and save the World which are so many degrees whereby we are descended from the first Perfection We are more distant from them in Holiness than in Time So universal and great is the Corruption that 't is almost as difficult to revive the dying Faith of Christians and to reform their Lives according to the purity of their Profession as the Conversion of the World was from Heathenism to Christianity 'T is true In every Age there are some Examples of the Vertue of the Gospel that reflect an honour upon it And this last Age which we may call the Winter of the World in which the Holy Spirit hath foretold That the love of many shall grow cold by a marvellous Antiperistasis hath inflam'd the hearts of some excellent Saints towards God and Religion But the great number of the wicked and the progress of Sin in their Lives there is no measure of Tears sufficient to lament Fourthly I shall press Christians to walk as becomes the Gospel of Christ answerably to the Holiness and Purity of that Divine Institution and to those great and strict Obligations it laies upon us The Gospel requires an entire Holiness in all our Faculties an equal respect to all our Duties We are commanded to cleanse our selves from all pollutions of flesh and spirit to be holy in all manner of conversation We are enjoin'd To be perfecting Holiness in the fear of God To be holy as He that hath called us is Holy A certain measure of Faith and Love and Obedience a mediocrity in Vertue we must not content our selves with 'T is not a counsel of Perfection given only to some Christians of a peculiar order and elevation But the command of a Law that without exception binds all Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect The Gospel gives no Dispensation to any Person nor in any Duty The Doctrine that asserts there are some excellent works to which the lower sort of Christians is not obliged is equally pernicious both to those who do them by Presumption as if they were not due and were therefore meritorious and to those who neglect them by a blind Security as if they might be saved without striving to reach the highest degrees of Obedience 'T is a weak pretence that because the
consummate measure of Sanctification can only be attained in the next life therefore we should not endeavour after it here For by sincere and constant endeavours we make nearer approaches to it and according to the degrees of our progress such are those of our joy As Nature hath prescribed to all heavy Bodies their going to the Centre and although none comes to it and many are at a great distance from it yet the ordination of Nature is not in vain Because by virtue of it every heavy Body is alwaies tending thither in motion or inclination So although we cannot reach to compleat Holiness in this imperfect state yet 't is not in vain that the Gospel prescribes it and infuses into Christians those dispositions whereby they are gradually carried to the full accomplishment of it Not to arrive to Perfection is the weakness of the Flesh not to aspire after it is the fault of the Spirit To excite us it will be of moment to consider the great Obligations that the Gospel laies upon Christians to be holy By that Covenant the Holy God is pleased to take them into the Relation of his Children and as the nature of Sanctification so the motives of it are contained in that Title For so near an Alliance obliges them to a faithful observation of his Commands and to imitate him with the greatest care that the Vein of his Spirit and the Marks of his Blood may appear in all their actions Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin The allowed practice of it is inconsistent with the quality of a Son of God 't is contrary to the Grace of his Divine Birth Nay the omission of Good as well as the commission of Evil is inconsistent with that Relation 'T is for this reason that Holiness is so much the character of a true Christian that to be a Christian and a Saint are the same thing in the Writings of the Apostles That venerable Title obliges him to a higher practice of Vertue than ever the Pagans imagined He is far behind them if he do not surpass them and if he is surpassed by them he will be cloathed with shame Besides our Redeemer who hath a right to us by so many titles by his Divine and Humane Nature by his Life and Death by his Glory and Sufferings as He strictly commands us to be holy so he hath joyned Example to his Authority That we may walk as he walk'd and be as he was in the world St. Paul makes use of this consideration to restrain the Disciples of Christ from all Sin and to perswade them to universal Holiness After he had mentioned the disorders of the Gentiles to deter the Ephesians from the like he tells them But ye have not so learned Christ that is his rule and practice instructed them otherwise And when he commands the Romans To walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envying he opposes to all these vices the pattern that Christ set before us But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. The expression intimates the Duty that as the Garment is commensurate to the Body so we are to imitate all the parts of his Holy Conversation 'T is no wonder that the Heathens gratified the inclinations of Lust or Rage when their Gods were represented acting in such a manner as to authorise their Vices Semina pene omnium scelerum à Diis suis peccantium turba collegit as Julius Firmicius justly reproaches them There was no Villany how notorious soever but had some Deity for its Protector They found in Heaven a Justification of all their crimes and became vicious by imitation For 't is very congruous for men to follow those whom they esteem to be perfect and to whom they think themselves accountable If they attribute to their Supreme God the Judg of the World Vices as Vertues What Vertues will there be to reward or Vices to punish in Men But for those that name the Name of Christ to continue in iniquity is the most unbecoming thing in the world For they live in the perfect contradiction of their Profession An unholy Christian is a real Apostate from Christ that retracts by his wickedness the Dedication that was made of him in his Baptism Although he doth not abjure our Saviour in words he denies him in his works A proud person renounces his Humility the revengful his Mercy the luke-warm his Zeal the unclean his Purity the covetous his Bounty and Compassion the hypocrite his Sincerity And can there be any thing more indecent and absurd than to pretend the relation and respect of Disciples to such an holy Master and yet by Disobedience to deny him When the bloody Spectacles of the Gladiators were first brought to Athens a Wise man cried out to the Masters of the Prizes That they should remove the Statue and Altar of Mercy out of the City there being such an incongruity between the Goddess they pretended to worship and that cruel Sacrifice of Men for the sport of the People It were more suitable for those who are not afraid to violate the most Holy Laws and to contradict the Pattern of Christ to leave their Profession and to take some other more complying with their Lusts. 'T is not the Title of a Christian that sanctifies those who pollute and defame it 'T is not wearing the Livery of Christ that can honour those who stain it by their filthiness but 't is an aggravation of their guilt 'T is an unconceivable indignity to our Saviour and revives the old calumnies of the Heathens as if the Gospel were a Sanctuary for Criminals when those that call him Lord do not what he commands them I know saith Christ the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews and are not but are the Synagogue of Satan Those that own the Profession of Christianity and live in unchristian Practices are baptised Pagans and in effect revile our Blessed Redeemer as if He had proclaim'd a licentious impunity for Sinners Such Wretches may deceive themselves with a pretence they believe in Christ and that visibly they declare their dependence on him but this pretence will be as unprofitable as 't is vain 'T is not the calling him Lord that will give them admission into the kingdom of heaven The naked name of a Christian cannot protect them from the wrath of God Tertullian smartly upbraids some in his time who were careless of the Dignity Purity of the Christian Profession in their Lives imagining that they might reverence God in their hearts without regarding him in their actions that they might Salvo metu fide peccare Sin without losing their fear of God and their Faith To refute this gross contradiction he propounds it in a sensible example Hoc est salva castitate matrimonium violare salva pietate parenti venenum temperare Thâ—s is the same thing
as to violate the Fidelity of Marriage without the wounding of Chastity or to poison a Parent without failing in the duty that is owing to them And to express his indignation he tells them Sic ergo ipsi salva venia in Gehennam detruduntur dum salvo metu peccant Let them expect that God will cast them into Hell without prejudice to their Pardon as they pretend to Sin without prejudice to the respect they bear him To sum up all Jesus Christ as by his Doctrine and Life he clearly discover'd our Duty so he offers to us the Aid of his Spirit for our assistance by which the Commands of the Gospel are not only possible but easy And to enforce our obligations he hath threatned such Vengeance to the rebellious and promised such a Reward to those that obey the Gospel that it is impossible we should not be deeply affected with them if we seriously believe them and He hath given such evidence of their truth that 't is impossible we should not believe them unless the God of this world hath blinded our minds 'T is matter therefore of just astonishment that Christians should not express the efficacy of the Gospel in their actions How can a reasonable Creature believe that eternal Damnation shall be the Punishment of Sin and yet live in the wilful practice of it The Historian speaking of Mushroms that somtimes prov'd deadly to whole Families asks with wonder What pleasure could allure them to eat such doubtful Meat Yet they may be so corrected as to become innocent But when 't is certain that the Pleasures of Sin are mortal Can any one be tempted by those attractives to venture on that which will undoubtedly bring Death to the Soul Let Sense itself be Judg and make the comparison between whatsoever the present Life can afford for delight in Sin and what the future Death will bring to torment it Let the Flesh see into what torments all its delights shall be changed and with what other fire than of impure Lust it shall burn for ever Besides We are encouraged to our Duty with the assurance of a Happiness so excellent that not only the enjoyment of it in the next World but the just expectation of it here makes us truly blessed If the Reward were small or the Promise uncertain there might be some pretence for our not performing the Conditions to obtain it but when the one is infinitely great and the other as true as the God of truth what more powerful motive can be conceiv'd to make us holy 'T is the Apostles chosen Argument that We should walk worthy of him who hath call'd us to his Kingdom and Glory The Heathens were in a great measure strangers to the Secrets of another World they had but a shadow of probability we have the Light of Truth brought down from Heaven by the Son of God that reveals to us a Blessedness that deserves our most ardent active Affections But if Men are not wrought on by natural Reason nor divine Faith if neither the Terrours of the Lord nor the blessed Hope can perswade them from Sin to Holiness their condition is irrecoverable In this the Rules of Natural and Spiritual Healing agree Where neither Corrosives nor Lenitives are successful we must use the Knife if cutting off be unprofitable we must fear the part if the Fire is ineffectual the Ulcer is incurable If the threatning of Hell-fire through Unbelief and Carelesness is not fear'd and hath no efficacy to correct and change Sinners what remains but to make a presage of eternal Death that will unavoidably and speedily seize on them And if so clear a discovery of the Heavenly Glory doth not produce in men a living Faith that works by Love and a lively Hope that purifies the Heart and Conversation what can be concluded but that they are wholly sensual and senseless and shall be for ever deprived of that Blessedness they now despise and neglect CHAP. XX. The Divine Power is admirably glorified in the Creation of the World in respect of the greatness of the effect and the manner of its production T is as evident in our Redemption The Principal Effects of it are considered The Incarnation of the Son of God is a work fully responsible to Omnipotence Our Redeemers Supernatural Conception by the Holy Ghost The Divine Power was eminently declared in the Miracles Jesus Christ wrought in the course of his Ministry His Miracles were the evidence of His Celestial Calling they were necessary for the conviction of the World their Nature considered The Divine Power was Glorified in making the Death of Christ Victorious over all our Spiritual Enemies The Resurrection of Christ the effect of Glorious Power The Reasons of it from the quality of his Person and the nature of his Office that he might dispense the Blessings he had purchased for Believers His Resurrection is the foundation of Faith It hath a threefold reference to his Person as the Son of God to his Death as an Alsufficient Sacrifice to his Promise of raising Believers at the last day THE Divine Power is admirably glorified in the Creation of the World not only in regard of the greatness of the Effect that comprehends the Heavens and Earth and all things in them but in regard of the marvelous way of its Production for He made the great Universe without the concurrence of any material cause from nothing For this reason the raising this glorious Fabrick is producâ—d as the distinctive character of the Deity from the troop of false gods The Psalmist declares The Lord is to be fearâ—d above all gods for all the gods of the Nations are Idols but the Lord made the Heavens And as He began the Creation by proceeding from nothing to real existence so in forming the other parts He drew them from infirm and indisposed matter as from a second nothing that all his Creatures might bear the real testimonies of Infinite Power Thus He commanded Light to arise out of Darkness and sensible Creatures from an insensible Element He created Man the accomplishment of all his Works from the lowest and grossest Element the Earth Now although at the first view we might conceive that the visible World is the greatest Miracle that ever God performed yet upon serious reflection we shall discover that the works of Grace are as wonderful as the works of Nature and that the Power of God is as evidently exprest in our Redemption as in the Creation For the fuller understanding of this I will consider some of the principal Effects of the Divine Power in order to our blessed Recovery 1. The Incarnation of the Son of God in accomplishing whereof such Power was exercis'd as no limited Understanding is able to comprehend The Word was made Flesh. This signifies the real Union between the Humane Nature and the Divine in our Redeemer Before his Incarnation he appeared in an humane form to the Patriarchs and
in the flaming Bush to Moses but 't is never said with respect to those Apparitions that the Word was made Flame or Man But when He came into the World to save us He assum'd the compleat Nature of Man into an Hypostatical Union with himself That admirable Person possesses the Titles Qualities and Natures of God and Man In that ineffable Union each of the Natures preserves its proper form with all the necessary consequents proceeding from it The Humane Nature is joyn'd to the Eternal Word but not chang'd into its Divinity 't is not infinite and impassible The Deity is united to Flesh but not transformed into its Nature 't is not finite and passible But although there is a distinction yet no separation Although there are two Natures yet but one sole Jesus In the same Subsistence the Creator and the Creature are miraculously allied Now this is a work fully responsible to Omnipotence and expresses whatever is signified by that Title The Apostle mentions it with an Attribute of excellency Without controversie great is the Mystery of Godliness God manifest in the Flesh. 'T is as sublime as holy In this the Divine Power appears in its Magnificence and in some respect more gloriously than in the Creation For there is incomparably a greater disparity between the Majesty Greatness and Infiniteness of God and the Meanness of Man than between the whole World and Nothing The degrees of disparity between the World and Nothing are not actually infinite but between the most excellent creature and the Glorious Creator they are absolutely infinite From hence it is that that which in other things resolves our doubts here increases the wonder and in appearance makes it more incredible Ye do erre saith Christ to the Sadduces who denied the Resurrection not knowing the Power of God But the more raised thoughts we have of his immense Power the more unlikely his conjunction with a nature so far beneath him will seem to be 2. The Divine Power was magnified in our Redeemers Supernatural Conception 'T was requisite his Body should be miraculously form'd of the substance of a Woman by the operation of the Holy Ghost not only in respect of its singular Dignity and that he might be the pattern of our Regeneration that is performed by the Efficacy of the Spirit not of the Flesh but in respect of his Office For he was the Heavenly Adam and therefore allied to us and absolutely pure from the stain of Sin Heaven and Earth concurr'd to form that Divine Man the King of both the Earth furnishing matter and Heaven the principle of his conception Accordingly the Angel told Mary who questioned how she could be a Mother not having known a Man The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee therefore also that Holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God This was foretold many Ages as an admirable Effect of God's Power When Judah was opprest by two potent Kings despair'd of an escape to raise their drooping Spirits the Prophet tells them the Lord himself would give them a sign of their future Deliverance Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and shall call his Name Immanuel The Argument is from the greater to the less for 't is apparently more difficult that a Virgin without injury or blemish to her purity and integrity should conceive and bring forth Immanuel than the defeating humane forces how great soever If God will accomplish that Stupendious unheard of wonder much more would he rescue his People from the fury of their adversaries 3. The Divine Power was eminently declar'd in the Miracles our Saviour wrought during the time of his publick Ministry to verifie his Divine Mission that He was the great Prophet sent from God to instruct Men in the way of Life In discoursing of this I will briefly shew that Miracles were a convincing proof of his Celestial Calling and that the performance of them was necessary in order to the conviction of the World and consider particularly those He wrought 1. A Miracle is an extraordinary Operation of God in Nature either in stopping its course or in producing some effects that are above its Laws and Power So that when He is pleased to work any they are his Seal to authorise the Person and Doctrine to which they are annext By them Faith is made visible The Unbeliever is convinc'd by his Senses the only witnesses above reproach in his account From hence Nicodemus addresses himself to Christ Master we know that thou art a Teacher come from God for no man can do those Miracles that thou dost except God be with him That is No inferiour Agent can perform them without the special assistance of the Divine Power And 't is not to be supposed that God will lend his Omnipotency to the Devil to work a real Miracle to confirm a falsity and thereby necessarily induce Men into errour in a matter of infinite moment fâ—r such is the Doctrine of Salvation that Christ Preach'd 2. The working of Miracles was necessary to convince the World that Jesus Christ was sent from God whether we consider the Jews or the Gentiles To convince the Jews upon a double account 1. Because the performance of them was one of the characters of the promised Messiah For this reason when two of Johns Disciples came to inquire whether he were the expected Prophet he returns this answer to the question Go and shew John those things which ye do hear and see the Blind receive their Sight and the Lame walk the Lepers are cleansed and the Deaf hear the Dead are raised up and the poor have the Gospel preach'd to them Thus he described his Office and verified the Commission he had from God by representing his Miracles in the Words of the Prophecy 2. Our Saviour came to alter the Religion of the Jews that had been confirmed by many illustrious Miracles therefore to assure them that he was Authoris'd from Heaven he wrought such and so many that for their greatness clearness and number exceeded all that were done before his coming Our Saviour tells the Jews If I had not done among them the Works which none other man did they had not had sin that is in rejecting him For if he had exercised only a Power like unto that of Moses and the Prophets in his Miraculous Actions they had been obliged to have honoured him as one of their rank but not to have attributed an incomparable Dignity to him But he did those which neither Moses nor the Prophets had performed and in those that had been done Christ excell'd them in the manner of doing them This the Jews could not contradict and from hence their infidelity was made culpable Secondly Miracles were necessary to convince the Gentiles 1. For the Gospel forbids the various Religions among them and commands all to worship God alone in Jesus
most worthy of a rational Contemplation to be exercised upon Now that the Philosophers who were so diligent to improve their minds who receiv'd with complacency truths of a lower descent and of infinitely less importance should reject Evangelical Truths sublime in their Nature saving in their Efficacy and reveal'd from Heaven what account can be given of it Tertullian reproaches them with reason That the Christian Faith was the only thing which Curiosity did not tempt them to search into Hic solum curiositas humana torpescit Besides whereas the Gospel is a plain and perfect Institution for the government of Life wholly conversant about the Souls of men and assures a Blessedness infinitely more excellent than was ever thought of by them it might have been expected that those who in regard of Morality seem'd most to approach to it and whose profest design was to search after Happiness should have readily entertain'd and used their best endeavours to have drawn others to embrace it But if we consider things aright our wonder will vanish for their Knowledg and Morality which in themselves were Preparatives yet accidentally hindered their submission to the Gospel and caused the most potent prejudices against it and that upon a double account First Of Pride Secondly Of Satisfaction in their own way 1. Pride was their Universal Disease they had a liberal esteem of themselves as raised above the common rank of Men. And because Philosophy had instructed them in some truths they believed the false as well as the true and concluded all things impossible that did not concur with their old tenets they admitted no higher Principle than natural Reason and utterly rejected Divine Revelation which was as unreasonable as if one that never saw but the light of a Candle should contend there was no other light in the World Now a Person that doth not believe Divine Revelation is wholy unqualified to judge of supernatural Mysteries For till the Authority of the Revealer is submitted to he cannot truly consider their Cause and their End Besides they lookt on it as a reproach that any secret should be revealed to others and not to them It seem'd to darken their Glory that any School should be more knowing than theirs Therefore they chose to be instructors of Error rather than Disciples to the Truth Add further they thought their honour concern'd to defend the Principles they had once espoused From hence a rose the great contestations between themselves accompanied with Invectives and Satyrs being very jealous for their Opinions and passionate for the interest of their Sects Now the Gospel was in some things contrary to all of them so that being toucht in their tenderest part no wonder they were so violent against it Our Saviour asks the Jews how can ye believe which receive honour one from another and seek not the Honour which comes from God only He propounds it as an impossible thing The Gospel would strip them of all their pretended excellencies and commanded as its first Article they should humbly resign their understandings to Divine Revelation this they lookt on as a submission unworthy their refined strong Spirits 2. They had satisfaction in their own imperfect Vertues Because they did some things to recover the Humane Nature from its degenerate state they were more confirmed in their Infidelity than the grossest Idolaters and the most vicious Persons For the more probable Arguments they had to obtain happiness in their own way the more obstinately they refused any other They thought there was no need of a Saviour to intercede for them or of the Spirit of Grace to assist them but they had self-Sufficiency for the acquiring of Felicity Like foolish Chymists that have melted away a great part of their Estates in vain yet in expectation of the great Elixir create in their fancies treasures of Gold and inrich themselves So the Philosophers who wasted their time and Spirits in searching after Happiness to little purpose although the best of their Principles and the height of their Vertue were insufficient to support them under any pressing Affliction yet they had vain hopes of obtaining perfect Tranquillity and Content by them Now the Gospel commanding an intire renounceing of our selves to embrace the sole Goodness and Will of God it was hard for those who were so full of pride and vanity to relish a Doctrine so contrary to them In truth whatever the Philosophers pretended concerning the incredibility that the Son of God should suffer death yet it was not so much the Cross to which Christ was nailed by his Enemies that made them reject the Gospel as the other Cross to which Jesus would fasten them i. e. the strict and holy Discipline to which he commands them to submit A Discipline that condemns the vanity and glory of their Wisdom Vertue that mortifies sensual pleasures which many of the Philosophers indulged themselves in notwithstanding all their discourses of the purgative and illuminative life And that this was the real cause of their rejecting Christ crucified is evident for they knew it was not unusual for Persons of extraordinary Wisdom and Vertue to suffer in the World Their presents and example upbraids the Vitious and Wounds their Spirits as a great light sore and distempered eyes And some of them acknowledged the Wisdome of Providence in permitting this for an excellent end that Vertue tried by the fire might be the more resplendent Socrates himself so admir'd by them was so disguised by the malice of his enemies that he was condemned to die by Poison Yet this was so far from obscuring his Reputation that his suffering Death was esteem'd the most noble effect of his courage and the most excellent Proof of his Vertue Why then should they make a contrary judgment of our Redeemers Sufferings whos 's Innocenee was perfect and whose Patience was so Holy and Divine that in the midst of His torments he Prayed for his Murderers No reason can be justly alledged but some darling lust spiritual or fleshly which they were resolved to cherish The light that comes from above illuminates the humble and dazles the proud The presumption of their own knowledg was the cause of their Prodigious stupidity Simple ignorance is not so dangerous as errour which hath a false light that deceives and leads to precipies We find therefore that none were fiercer enemies to the Gospel then the Philosophers The sacred story tells us that when the Apostle Preacht at Athens that was as much the seat of Superstition as of Sciences the Epcureans and Stoicks though most opposite in their Principles yet conspir'd to encounter him they entertained him with scorn what will this Babler say and his success was but small there He that fisht with a net in other places and brought great numbers to Baptism there did only with an angle and caught but one or two Souls And in the progress of the Gospel they persisted in their opposition The most
credit and reputation destitute of all humane strength and had only a Crucified Person for their leader Christianity was exposed naked in the day of its birth without any shelter from secular Powers 2. They had not the advantage of Art and Eloquence to commend their Religion There is a kind of charm in Rhetorick that makes things appear otherwise than they are the best cause it ruins the worst it confirms Truth though in its self invincible yet by it seems to be overcome and Errour obtains a false triumph We have a visible proof of this in the Writings of Celsus Symmachus Caecilius and others for Paganism against Christianity What a vast difference is there between the lyes and filthiness of the one and the Truth and Sanctity of the other Yet with what admirable address did they manage that Infamous Subject Although it seem'd incapable of any defence yet they gave such colours to it by the beauty of their expressions and their apparent reasons that it seem'd plausible and Christianity notwithstanding its brightness and purity was made odious to the people But the Apostles were most of them wholly unlearned St. Paul himself acknowledges that he was weak in presence and his Speech was not with the enticing words of Mans Wisdome A crucified Christ was all their Rhetorick Now these impotent despicable Persons were imployed to subdue the World to the Cross of Christ and in that season when the Roman Empire was at its height when the most rigorous Severities were used against all Innovations when Philosophy and Eloquence were in their flower and Vigour so that Truth unless adorn'd with the dress and artifice of falshood was despis'd and a Message from God himself unless eloquently convey'd had no force to perswade Therefore the Apostles debased themselves in the sense of their own weakness We have this treasure in earthen vessels That the excellency of the power may be of God not of us 'T was from distrust of themselves their true confidence in God proceeded They were onely so far powerful as he enabled them like inâ—â—ruments in which there is not Vertue sufficient for the carving of a Statute if they do not receive it imprest from the Artificer that uses them Briefly as God the Author of Wonders uses that which is weak in Nature to conquer the most rebellious parts of it He makes the weak sand a more powerful bridle to the impetuous Element of Waters than the strongest banks rais'd by the industry of Men and compos'd of the most solid materials so he was pleased by a few artless impotent persons to confound the wisdom and overcome the power of the World 3. The great sudden and lasting Change that was made in the World by the Preaching of the Gospel is a certain Argument of the Divine Power that animated those mean appearances and that no instrument is weak in Gods hands 1. The greatness of the Change is such that it was only possible to Divine Power 'T is a great Miracle to render sight to the Blind but 't is more miraculous to inlighten the Dark mind to see the truth and beauty of Supernatural Mysteries when they are disguis'd under reproach sad representations and effectually to believe them especially when the inferiour appetite is so contrary to Faith 'T is a prodigy to raise the Dead but 't is more admirable to sanctify an habituated sinner For in comparing the quality of those Miracles that is the greatest in the performing whereof God is discover'd to be the absolute Lord of the greater Nature Now the intellectual Nature is superiour to the corporeal Besides there is no contradiction from a Dead body against the Divine Power in raising it on the contrary if any sense were remaining it would ardently desire to be restor'd to the full enjoyment of Life but corrupt Nature is most opposite to renewing Grace Now these marvelous effects were produced by the Revelation of Jesus Christ to the Heathens The glorious light of Truth scattered the thick and terrible darkness of Ignorance and errour that was so universal The Gospel in its power and the quality of its effects was like those words Let there be Light which the Eternal Word pronounced upon the confused Chaos and infused a Soul and Life into the World The clear knowledge of God in his Nature and Glorious Works of Creation and Redemption of the duty of Man of the future state was communicated to the meanest understandings And in proportion to the Light of Faith such was the measure of Piety and Holiness Idolatry that had Number Antiquity Authority of its side was intirely abolisht The false Deities were cast out of the Temple and the Cross of Christ was planted in the Hearts of Men. Accordingly the Apostle tells the Thessalonians For they themselves shew of us what manner of entring in we had unto you and how ye turned to God from Idols to serve the Living and true God and to wait for his Son from Heaven whom he raised from the Dead even Jesus which delivered us from the wrath to come Innumerable from secret Atheism publick Gentilism were converted to acknowledg and accept of the Redeemer for their Lord. What could produce such a marvelous change in the World but an Almighty power How seemingly impossible was it to bring so many who were proud in their natures perverse in their customs and indubitably assenting to their false Religions from such a distance as the Worship of innumerable Deities to adore a Crucified God 'T was admirable that Alexander broke the Persian Empire with an Army of Thirty Thousand but what is there comparable in that Conquest to the Acts of the Apostles How much less difficult is it for some Nations to change their Kings than for all to change their Gods How far more easie is it to overcome the bodies of Men than subdue their Souls Upon the most exact inquiry there will never be found in humane nature any cause capable to produce such an effect nor in the Records of all Ages any example like it Add to this the excellent Reformation in the hearts and lives of Men. As their understandings so their wills and affections the sources of action were miraculously alter'd What the Sages of the World could not effect in a few select Persons The Gospel hath done in great numbers nay rais'd them above all their feigned Ideas above the higest pitch of their Proud Philosophy Those strong and furious passions which Natural Reason was as unable to restrain as a threed of silk is to govern a fierce beast the Gospel hath tamed and brought into order It hath executed what Philosophy durst never enterprise despairing of Success The Gospel hath made the Wise Men of the World resign their Reason to Faith it hath perswaded Carnal Men to mortify the Flesh the Ambitious to despise secular Honours the Voluptuous to renounce their Pleasures the Covetous to distribute their Goods to the Poor the
the Lord. And immediately there was a general commotion among them they joyn'd together the sinews and flesh came upon them and the skin cover'd them And upon a second Prophesy they were all inspir'd with the Breath of Life and stood up an exceeding great Army Now whether this was really represented to his outward senses or only by the efficacy of the Spirit to his imagination no doubt so strange a Spectacle vehemently affected him as with Joy in hope of the miraculous Restoration of Israel which that Vision foretold so with admiration of the Divine Power But when the Trumpet of the Arch-Angel shall sound the Universal Jubilee and call forth the Dead from all their Receptacles when the Elements as Faithful Depositaries shall effectively restore what was committed to them How Admirable will the Power of God appear 2. No less than Infinite Power is able to change the raised Bodies into the likenesse of Christs The Apostle speaks with an exaggeration of it For our Conversation is in Heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our Vile Bodies that it may be fashioned like unto his Glorious Body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself This resemblance will be only in the Person of Believers All Men shall rise to be judged but not all to be transform'd There is a Resurrection to Death as well as to Life Unhappy Resurrection Which only serves to make the Body the Food of Eternal Death But the Saints who endeavoured to be like to Christ in purity shall then have a perfect conformity to him in Glory and Immortality How Glorious the Body of Christ is we may conjecture in part by what the Apostle relates to Agrippa At mid-day O King I saw in the way a light from Heaven above the brightness of the Sun shining round about me Which was no other but the Light of the Face of Christ that struck him with Blindnesse One Ray of this reflecting upon the first Martyr Saint Stephen in his Sufferings gave an Angelical Glory to his countenance And Saint John tells us when he appears we shall be like him He alludes to the rising of the Sun but with this difference when the Sun appears in the Morning the Stars are made invisible but the Bodies of the Saints shall be cloathed with a Sun-like lustre and shine in the midst of Christs Glory Omnipotency alone that Subdues all things can raise and refine them from their Dross unto such an admirable Brightness The Angels will be surpris'd with wonder to see Millions of Stars spring out of the Dust. The Lord Jesus Christ will be admir'd in all them that Believe 2. Their Bodies shall be raised to a Glorious Immortality In this the General Resurrection is Different from that which was Particular as of Lazarus by the one Death was overcome and put to flight only for some time for his second life was no more exempt from Death than his first But by the other Death shall be swallowed in Victory and lose its force for ever Then shall our true Joshua be magnified in the sight of the whole World and the Glorious number of Saints shall cast their Crowns at his Feet and sing the Triumphant Song Thou hast Redeem'd us to God by thy Blood and rescued us by thy Power from all our Enemies and art worthy of Honour and Glory and Blessing for ever CHAP. XXII The extraordinary working of the Divine Power is a convincing proof of the Verity of the Christian Religion The internal Excellencies of it are clear marks of its Divinity to the purified Mind The external Operations of God's power were requisite to convince men in their corrupt state that the Doctrine the Gospel came from God The miraculous owning of Christ by the whole Divinity from Heaven The Resurrection of Christ the most important Article of of the Gospel and the demonstration of all the rest How valuable the Testimony of the Apostles is concerning it That 't was impossible they should deceive or be deceived The quality of the Witnesses considered There cannot be the least reasonable suspicion of them 'T is utterly incredible that any humane temporal respects mov'd them to feign the Resurrection of Christ. The nature of the Testimony considered It was of a matter of fact and verified to all their Senses The Uniformity of it secures us there was no corruption in the Witnesses and that it was no illusion They seal'd the truth of it with their Blood The Miracles the Apostles did in the Name of Christ a strong demonstration that he was rais'd to a glorious life That Power was continued in the Church for a time The Conclusion how reasonable it is to give an entire Assent to the truth of Christianity 'T is desperate Infidelity not to believe it and the highest Madness to pretend to believe it and to live in disobedience to it 1 FRom what hath been discours'd concerning the extraordinary working of the Divine Power we have a most convincing proof of the Verity of the Christian Religion For since God hath by so many miraculous Effects the infallible indications of His Favour to the Person of Jesus Christ justified his Doctrine no reasonable doubt can remain concerning it Indeed the internal excellencies of it which are visible to the purged Eye of the Soul are clear marks of its Divinity The Mystery of our Redemption is made up of various parts in the Union of which such an evident Wisdom appears that the rational Mind unless enslaved by prejudice must be ravisht into a compliance Even that which most offends Sense the Meanness of our Saviours condition in the world and the miseries to which He was expos'd do so perfectly correspond with his great design to make Men holy and heavenly that it appears to be the effect of most wise Counsel And such a Beauty of Holiness shines in the Moral part as clearly proves God to be its Authour It denounces war against all Vices and commands every Vertue All that is excellent in humane Institutions it delivers with infinite more authority and efficacy And what natural reason did not reach to it fully describes in order to the Glory of God and the Happiness of Man Now as God the Authour of Nature hath by Tasts and Smells and other sensible qualities distinguish'd things wholsom from noxious even to the lowest living Creatures So He hath much more distinguish'd objects that are saving from deadly that is the true Religion from the false by undoubted evidences to any who will exercise their Spiritual Senses and sincerely desire to know and obey it And that all the wise and holy embraced it in the face of the greatest discouragements is an unanswerable Argument that 't is pleasing to God For how is it possible that the Good God should suffer those to fall into mortal Errour who from an ardent Affection to Him
despis'd whatever is amiable or terrible in the world How is it possible He should deny the Knowledg of Himself to those to whom He gave such a pure Love to Himself But the humane Nature in its corrupted state is contrary both to the Doctrine of the Gospel that propounds Supernatural Verities hard to believe and to the commands of it that enjoin things hard to do For this reason 't was necessary that God by some external Operations the undeniable effects of His Power should discover to the World his approbation of it Now that Christ is the Son of God and Redeemer of the World was miraculously declared from Heaven by the whole Divinity There are Three that bear Record in Heaven the Father and the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are One. The Father testified by a Voice as loud as Thunder at his Baptism and Transfiguration Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased The Son by his glorious appariton to Paul when He struck him to the earth with these words Why persecutest thou me The Light was so radiant the Voice so strong the impression it made so deep and sensible that he knew it came from God And He manifested Himself to St. John with that brightness That he fell at his feet as dead till in compassion He reviv'd him and said I am He that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore And the Holy Spirit by his miraculous descent in the shape of a Dove upon Him and in fiery Tongues upon the Apostles gave a visible testimony that Jesus Christ was sent from God to save the World I will particularly consider one Effect of the Divine Power the Resurrection of Christ this being the most important Article of the Gospel and the demonstration of all the rest For 't is not conceivable that God would by his Almighty Power have rais'd Him from the Grave to a glorious Life and it is impossible He should be otherwise if He had taken the Name of the Son of God in vain and arrogated to himself Divine Honour and only pretended that he was sent from Him By the Resurrection He was declar'd to be the Son of God with Power For that being the proof of his Mission justifies the truth of his Doctrine and particularly of the quality of God's Son which He alwaies attributed to Himself Now if Infidelity object that we who live in the present Age have no sensible testimony that Christ is risen and what assurance is there that the Apostles who reported it were not Deceivers or deceived In Answer to this I will briefly 〈◊〉 how valuable the Testimony of the Apostles is and worthy of all acceptation and that 't was equally impossible they should be deceived or intend to deceive His Death is attested by his Enemies 〈◊〉 a Pagan relates that He Suffered under Pontius Pilate And the Jews to this day 〈◊〉 so unhappy as to boast of their being the causes of his Crucifixion and call him by a name that is the mark of his Punishment But his Resurrection they peremptorily deny Now the Apostles being sent to convert the World were to â—ay this down as the foundation of their Preaching that Jesus Christ was rais'd from the dead that all might yield Faith and Obedience to Him This was then special charge as St. Peter declares Wherefore of thâ—se men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us beginning from the Baptism of John unto the same day that He was taken up from us must be one ordained to be a witness of his Resurrection They were to testifie concerning His Doctrine and Life His Miracles and Sufferings but principally His Resurrection For this reason St. Paul who was extraordinarily admitted into their Order had a miraculous Sight of Christ from Heaven Last of all He was seen of me to testifie it to the World Now for our full conviction 't is necessary to consider the quality of the Witnesses and the nature of their Testimony 1. The Witnesses were such of whom there cannot be the least reasonable Suspicion In Civil Causes of the greatest moment the Testimony of the Honourable and the Rich are accounted valuable because they are not easily corrupted one of a low degree may from baseness of Spirit through Cowardize and Fear be tempted to deny the Truth one in a poor condition may be so dazled with the lustre of Gold when he considers the price of Perjury as to be induced to assert a falshood But who is more incorruptible the Noble that from a sense of Honour abhor a Lie or those who by their Divine Birth and Qualities did so detest it that they would not tell a Lie for the Glory of God Who is more worthy of Credit the Rich whose Riches sometimes excites their desires after more or those who by a generous disdain despised all things Besides Persons of known Integrity whom the different images of hopes and fears cannot probably encline to evil are admitted to decide the weightiest Causes Now the Apostles were so innocent sober honest and unblameable in the whole tenour of their Conversations that their most malignant Adversaries could never fasten an accusation upon them Indeed if their carnal Interests had been concern'd there might have been some colourable Objections against their Testimony But if we duely consider things it will appear utterly incredible that any deceit could be in it For as all the actions of reasonable Men proceed from Reason solid or apparent so particularly Imposture and Fiction are never without some Motive and Design For being contrary to Nature there must â—ntervene a forreign Consideration for their contrivance Now the universal Motives to invent Fables are Honour Riches or Pleasure But none of these could possibly move the Apostles to feign the Resurrection of Christ. Not to insist on the Meanness of their Extraction and Education who had only seen Boats and Nets and convers'd with Lakes and Fishes whereas Ambition usually springs up in Persons of high birth and breeding 't is evident that no respect to humane Praise excited them since they attributed the Doctrine of the Gospel that should give them reputation in the World to the Holy Spirit and ascribed the Glory of their miraculous Actions entirely to the Divine Power When the People of Lystra would have given Divine Honour to St. Paul he disclaim'd it with abhorrency And presently after those who would have ador'd him as a God stoned him as a Malefactor he chose rather to be their Sacrifice than their Idol Besides how could they expect to be great or rich by declaring that One who came to such a Tragical End in the face of the world was rais'd to Life when the hands of the Jews were still bloody with the Wounds of their Master and their hearts so enraged against all that honoured his Name as to excommunicate
Babylon But at the coming of Christ Judea was a Province of the Roman Empire Herod an Edomite sate on the Throne and as the Tribe of Judah in general so the Family of David in particular was in such a low state that Joseph and Mary that were descended from him were constrain'd to lodg in a stable at Bethlehem And since the blessed Peace-maker hath appear'd on the Earth the Jews have lost all Authority their Civil and Ecclesiastical State is utterly ruin'd and they bear the visible marks of infamous Servitude 2. The Second famous Prediction is by an Angel to Daniel when he was lamenting the ruine of Jerusalem who comforted him with an assurance that the City should be rebuilt And further told him That from the going forth of the Commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and threescore and two Weeks the streets shall be built again and the wall even in troublesome times And after threescore and two weeks shall the Messiah be cut off but not for himself and the People of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the City and Sanctuary and the end thereof shall be with a flood and to the end of the war desolations are determined The clear intent of the Angels Message is That within the space of seventy Prophetical Weeks that is four hundred and ninety years according to the Exposition of the Rabbins themselves after the issuing forth the order for the rebuilding Jerusalem the Messiah should come and be put to Death for he sins of Men which was exactly fulfil'd 3. The time of the manifestation of the Messiah is evidently set down in the Haggai 2.6 7 8 9. I will shake all Nations and the desire of all Nations shall come and I will fill this house with Glory saith the Lord of hosts The Silver is mine and the Gold is mine saith the Lord of Hosts The Glory of the latter shall be greater than that of the former saith the Lord of Hosts and in this place will I give peace The Prophet to encourage the Jews in building the Temple assur'd them that it should have a surpassing Glory by the presence of the Messiah who is call'd the Desire of all Nations and being the Prince of Peace his coming is described by that blessed effect and in this place will I give Peace saith the Lord of Hosts The second Temple was much inferiour to Solomons as in Magnificence and external Ornaments so especially because defective in those Excellencies that were peculiar to the first They were the Ark of the Covenant and the appearance of Glory between the Cherubims the fire from Heaven to consume the Sacrifices the Urim and Thummim and the Holy Ghost who inspir'd the Prophets But when the Lord came to his Temple and perform'd many of his Miracles there this brought a Glory to it infinitely exceeding that of the former For what comparison is there between the shadowy presence of God between the Cherubims and his real presence in the humane Nature of Christ in whom the fulness of the God-head dwelt bodily How much inferiour were the Priests and Prophets to him who came from Heaven and had the Spirit without measure to reveal the Counsel of God for the Salvation of the World 2. The particular Circumstances foretold concerning the Messiah are all verified in Jesus Christ. It was foretold that the Messiah should have a fore-runner to prepare his way by preaching the Doctrine of Repentance that he should be Born of a Virgin and of the Family of David and in the Town of Bethlehem that he shold go into Egypt be cal'd forth from thence by God that his chief residence should be in Galilee the region of Zebulon and Nephthali that he should be poor and humble and enter into Hierusalem on the Fole of an Ass that he should perform great miracles in restoring the Blind the Lame the Deaf and Dumb that he should suffer many afflictions Contempt Scorn Stripes be Spit on Scourg'd betray'd by his familiar Friend sold for a sordid Price that he should be put to Death that his hands and feet should be bored and his side pierc'd that he should dy between Thieves that in his Passion he should taste vinegar and gall that his garments should be divided and Lots be cast for his Coat that he should be buried and his Body not see corruption but rise again the third day that he should ascend to Heaven and sit at the right hand of God and all these Predictions are exactly fulfil'd in the Lord Christ. 3. The consequents of his Coming are foretold 1. That the Jews should reject him because of the meanness of his appearance They neither understood the Greatness and Majesty nor the Abasement of the Messiah described in their Prophesies not his Greatness that the Son of David was his Lord that he was before Abraham who rejoyced to his Day for they did not believe the Eternity of his Divine Nature They did not understand his humiliation to Death Therefore 't was objected by them that the Messiah remains for ever and this Person saith he shall dy They fancied a carnal Messiah shining with Worldly pomp accompanied with thundring legions to deliver them from Temporal Servitude so that when they saw him without form and comeliness and that no Beauty was in him to make him desireable they hid their Faces from him they despised and esteemed him not Thus by their obstinate refusal of the Messiah they really and visibly fulfil'd the Prophecies concerning him 2. That the Levitical Ceremonies and Sacrifices should cease upon the Death of the Messiah and the Jewish Nation be dissolved Although the legal Service was establisht with great solemnity yet there was alwayes a sufficient indication that it should not be perpetual Moses who delivered the Law told them that God would raise another Prophet whom they must hear And David compos'd a Psalm to be sung in the Temple containing the establishment of a Priest not according to the order of Levi but Melchisedec who should bring in a Worship Spiritual and Divine And we see this accomplisht all the Ceremonies were buried in his grave the Sacrifices for above sixteen hundred years are ceast Besides the destruction of the Holy City and Sanctuary the Jews are scatter'd in all parts and in their dreadful dispersion suffer the just punishment of their Infidelity 3. It was Prophesied that in the time of the Messiah Idols should be ruin'd and Idolaters converted to the knowledg of the true God That he should be a Light to the Gentiles and to him the gathering of the People should be And this is so visibly accomplisht in the conversion of the World to Christianity that not one jot or title of Gods Word hath fail'd so that besides the Glory due to his Power and Mercy we are obliged to honour him as the Fountain of Truth I will now