God Tit. 2. 13. not an under subordinate God but over all God blessed for ever Rom. 9. 5. not a God by office but a Jehovah Jer. 23. 6. a God by nature though not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as to his Subsistence yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as to his Essence Gods name is in him Exod. 23. 21. One great Letter of that Name is Eternity and his going forth was from everlasting Mic. 5. 2. another is Immutability and he is yesterday to day and for ever the same Heb. 13. 8. another is Omniscience and he knoweth all things Joh. 21. 17. another is Omnipotence and he hath all the power in heaven and earth Matth. 28. 18. another is Immortality and he hath life in himself Joh. 5. 26. another is Immensity and he whilest on earth was in heaven Joh. 3. 13. and though long since ascended to heaven is still on earth Matth. 28. 20. All these golden Letters are graven on the Godhead and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the fulness of the Godhead dwells in him Col. 2. 9. all these shed forth a divine Glory and Majesty he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the brightness of divine glory Heb. 1. 3. and what need we any more witnesses of his Deity His Name is wonderful Isai. 9. 6. far above all Creatures his Generation is unutterable being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the proper Son of the Father Rom. 8. 32. not as Creatures made ex nihilo but as a proper Son begotten out of his very Substance his standing is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the essential form of God the very divine nature Phil. 2. 6. and his special Ubi there is the Fathers bosom Joh. 1. 18. and from thence together with him he breathes forth the holy Ghost His Works are divine and all one with the Fathers Joh. 5. 19. He sat in counsel with him in framing his Eternal Decrees and since wrought with him in making first a World of Creatures and then a Church of Saints and still he works with him in the preservation and gubernation of both Lastly his two Testaments which face each other as the Cherubims upon the Ark by their sweet glances and respective aspects upon each other do disclose his Deity For in the Old Testament 't is said that Jehovah brought Israel out of Egypt Exod. 20. 2. in the New Testament 't is said that Christ did it Jude 4. and 5. Ver. in the Old Jehovah circumcises the heart Deut. 30. 6. in the New Christ doth it Col. 2. 11. in the Old Jehovah poured out the Spirit Joel 2. 28. in the New Christ Acts 2. 33. in the Old every knee bowes to Jehovah Isai. 45. 23. in the New to Christ Rom. 14. 11. in the Old miracles were done in Jehovah's Name 2 Kings 2. 21. in the New in Christ's Acts 9. 34. in the Old Jehovah is the first and the last Isai. 44. 6. in the New Christ is Alpha and Omega Revel 1. 11. in the Old there is Deus absconditus Isai. 45. 15. in the New Deus manifestatus in carne 1 Tim. 3. 16. All which do most pregnantly prove the Deity of Christ unto us Nevertheless proud Reason will be babling How can the Father beget the Son ex propriâ Substantiâ Can any part of the Divine Essence be discinded in such a Generation Or if not can the whole be given to the Son And if so how is it retained to the Father I answer The Father gave unto the Son the whole Essence non alienatione sed communicatione non generatione emanante sed immanente the Father so begets the Son as that he still possesses him Prov. 8. 22. the Son so goes forth from the Father as that he still abides in him his eternal egress Micah 5. 2. is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not by defluxion but immansion I am in the Father and the Father in me saith Christ Joh. 14. 10. Indeed if we speak accurately the Father begets the Son out of himself rather in Essentiâ divinâ than ex essentiâ divinâ Hence the entire Essence is in the Father and the entire Essence is in the Son too and what if it could not be thus in a finite Essence yet why may it not be so in an infinite What if Reason cannot fathom it must therefore Faith reject it I conclude then that Christ is very God and as God hath a right to redeem us his Creatures 2. Jus Idoneitatis as the Son of God he was most fit to be our Redeemer what can be more perfectly congruous than Reconciliation by God's beloved one Adoption by his Natural Son Reparation of his gracious Image by his substantial a shine of Favour by the brightness of his Glory beams of Light by his Wisdom Restitution of Life by the Prince of Life and Mediation between God and Man by the middle Person in the sacred Trinity There be three great goings forth of God into which all others may be resolved the first is that fundamental one of Creation and upon Sins Entry which is but an Apostasie from Creation in comes the second viz. Redemption and out of this as out of a Fountain flows the third and that is Sanctification these hang in order one upon another Unless there had been a Creature and that Apostate there had been no place for Redemption and unless there had been a Redemption there had been no room for Sanctification for God would never have reimplanted his Image of Holiness in a Creature left under the eternal stroke of his Justice nor have plucked away the spot of Sin there where the guilt of Sin is left behind Now albeit it is a most sure Rule that Opera Trinitatis ad extrà sunt indivisa yet among Divines Creation is in a sort peculiarized to the Father as the first Redemption to the Son as the second and Sanctification to the Spirit as the third Person in the Glorious Trinity Thus in these three goings forth of God each person in the Trinity hath his special Shine and that in the very Order of his Subsistence wherefore it was very congruous that the Son of all the Persons in the Trinity should be out Redeemer 3. Jus Conjunctionis he that redeems a Captive must be Persona conjunct a with him and so was Christ with us in a threefold respect 1. Conjunctione naturali he was our Goel Isai. 59. 20. that is our next kinsman by his Incarnation and our Redeemer by his Passion he assumed our Nature into himself that he might redeem us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great God a sucking Child regens Sydera yet sugens Ubera he that ruled the Stars sucked the Breasts The word was made flesh Joh. 1. 14. and a strange making it was all other Creations are as it were extra Deum but here was a Creation in the very person of God The glorious Trinity in the very instant of drawing the Humane Nature exnihilo interweaved
it with the Person of the Son so that it never was any where but there all other Creations stand under the Roof of Providence and Preservation but here the Humane Nature is an Inmate in the very same Person with the Divine all other Creatures have their proper sutable seats and Ubi's in the Sphere of Nature but here 's the Sackcloth of an Humane Body cast upon and the Rush-candle of a Reasonable soul lighted up in the Sun it self The glorious Son of God espoused Flesh and Blood and the Bride-chamber where the knot was tied was the Virgins Womb there was he made of a Woman consubstantial with us as to his Humanity who was consubstantial with the Father as to his Divinity O how great is this Mystery God manifest in the flesh O Domine quà m admirabile nomen tuum non modò mundi hujus staturam admiror non stabilitatem Terrae non Lunae defectum incrementum non Solem semper integrum laborem ejus perpetuum Miror Deum in utero Virginis miror Omnipotentem in cunabulis miror quomodo Verbo Dei caro adhaeserit quomodo incorporeus Deus corporis nostri tegumentum induerit in caeteris aliquae satisfaciant rationes hîc solus me complectitur stupor God never came so near to us as in this wonderful Conjunction In the Creatures we see God above us in the Law we see God against us but here we see Immanuel God with us he is one with us by a natural Conjunction but that 's not all for being in our Nature he became one with us 2. Conjunctione Legali he was our Sponsor or Surety and so in Law one person with us his Stile is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Surety of the covenant Heb. 7. 22. and the Covenant being mutual on both parts from God to Man and from Man to God he is in both respects a Surety of it a Surety on God's part that his Promises should be performed to us and a Surety on our parts that our Debts should be paid to God We were double Debtors to God as Rational Creatures we owed perfect Obedience and as Sinful Creatures we owed eternal Sufferings the first is a debt to God's Holiness and the second to his Justice Now Jesus Christ was our Surety for both a Surety to fulfil all Righteousness for us and the Fidejussorial Bond which he gave for this was his Circumcision for he had no sinful flesh to be cut off but would become a debtor to the whole Law for us and in Circumcision he signed security for it with his own Blood and also a Surety to take our Sins on him Hence the Righteous God who cannot but judge according to truth charged our iniquities upon him Isai. 53. 6. and he as our Surety accepted the charge and those words my sins are not hid from thee Psal. 69. 5. are as St. Jorom thinks spoken ex personâ Christi for he was though not commissor yet susceptor delictorum our Flesh and Blood was taken into his Divine Person and our Sins which could by no means enter in there were yet cast upon him and being cast upon him God exacted satisfaction of him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was exacted and he answered Isai. 53. 7. Satisfaction was exacted from him as our Surety and he answered for us and what was his Answer Why I 'le lay down my Life I 'le pour out my Soul saith he let all the Wrath due to those Sins be squeezed into one Cup and I 'le drink it up to the bottom let the Fire of God's Anger drop down from Heaven and I 'le be the Paschal Lamb roasted in it Thus Jesus Christ was a Surety nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the noblest of Sureties putting his Soul in our Souls stead to bear our Sins and God's Wrath and for this very purpose was he one with us in Nature that he might be one with us in Law too But neither is this all for both these Conjunctions are crowned with a third and so he is one with us 3. Conjunctione Mysticâ Christ is the Head and the Church is the Body and both together make up one mystical Christ 1 Cor. 12. 12. the Head in Heaven and the Body on Earth and the spiritual Continuity between both is one and the same holy Spirit which is on the Head without measure and on the Members according to measure If the Jew ask us where is Christ we can truly answer He is at the right hand of God in Heaven and on Earth loc here is Christ and there is Christ living and breathing in his Saints every Saint is a piece of him and all together are his fulness Eph. 1. 23. so that he doth not count himself complete without them This Conjunction is so near and full of spiritual Sense that a poor Member cannot suffer on Earth but instantly the Head in Heaven cries out of Persecution Acts 9. 4. and even the suffering Member reckons himself sitting in Heaven as long as his Head is there Eph. 2. 6. Thus our Redeemer comes very near unto us in a threefold Conjunction and in each Conjunction there is a rare Condescention In the first he came down into our Natures by a stupendious Incarnation in the second he came down into our Hell by a Fidejussorial Passion in the third he comes down into our Hearts by the Spirits Inhabitation the first opens a way to the second the second is the purchase of the third and the third as in design was a Motive to and as in existence is a Crown upon the Work of Redemption 4. Having considered the Redeemer I pass on to the Price and here I shall reduce all to three Questions 1. What this Price is 2. What manner of Price it is 3. For whom it was paid 1. What this Price is and this is the Humane Nature of Christ as subjected to the Law When the Son of God came forth to redeem us he was made of a woman made under the Law to redeem us that were under the Law Gal. 4. 4 5. Made of a Woman there 's his humane Nature made under the Law there 's his subjection to the Law and the End of all is our Redemption Christ through the eternal Spirit offered up himself to God Heb. 9. 14. and that in a way fully answering the demands of the Law The Law demanded of the Captives two things perfect Obedience from them as rational Creatures and penal Suffering from them as sinful Creatures and Christ gave up his Humane Nature a price both ways in doing and in suffering he gave himself that is his humane Nature for us an offering and a sacrifice Eph. 5. 2. an Offering in his Active Obedience and a Sacrifice in his Passive and both these together were the entire Price of our Redemption 1. Christ gave up himself in his Active Obedience That holy thing his humane Nature as soon as it came out into the World fell a breathing forth
of Holiness burning with zeal for God melting in compassions over Men bowing it self down in miraculous humility and in a rape of love doing all the Will of God even to the last gasp upon the Cross. His thoughts were all births of Holiness his words oracles of Truth his works a fulfilling all Righteousness and his meat and drink was to do his Father's Will He ascended up to the top or pinacle of the Moral Law in the sweetest strains of Love and fetched about the breadth or vast compass of it in the largeness of his Obedience and passed down to the very hemm or border of it in the lowness of his Humility Rather than fail he would be subject to his own Creature Luk. 2. 51. pay tribute to his own Subject Matth. 17. 27. and wash his Disciples feet with those very hands which had all the power in Heaven and Earth in them Joh. 13. 3 4 5. Nay he stooped down as low as the fringe of the Ceremonial Law his sinless flesh was circumcised Luke 2. 21. his holy Mother purified Luk. 2. 22. the true Passeover kept the typical one Matth. 26. 20 21. and so obedientially stood under his own shadow In every respect he was obedient unto death His Obedience was a fair Commentary on the whole Law written in glorious Characters of Holiness and Righteousness all his life long and at his death clasped and sealed up with his precious Blood Thus the Mandatory part of the Law was answered now for the Minatory 2. He gave up himself in his passive obedience he was in some sence crucifyed in the womb in that he was made of his creature and coming forth into the world all his life was a perpetual passion The Gospel shews us the immense God in swadling clouts the builder of all things working as a Carpenter the holy one hurried up and down by a tempting Devil the filler of all things hungry the fountain of living water thirsty the power of God weary the eternal joy of the Father weeping the owner of all things extreme poor and not knowing where to lay his head in his own world Thus as a man of sorrows he passes on towards his Cross one of his own Apostles betraying him another denying him the rest forsaking him the chief Priests bloodily conspiring against him false witnesses unjustly accusing him the tumultuous rabble crying out crucify crucify and Pilate first confessing his innocency and then condemning his person And now arriving at his Cross sorrows break in upon every part his head raked with thorns his face besmeared with spittle his eyes afflicted with the tears of friends his ears filled with the blasphemies of enemies his lips of grace wet with vinegar and gall his hands and feet nailed to the Cross and his sacred body hanging between thieves racked and tortured to death in a Golgotha of stench and rottenness But all this is but the outside of his passion at the same time hell was let loose and from thence the Devils as so many roaring Lyons came with open mouth to devour him and which is much more Heaven thundred over his head and the righteous God as angry as our sins could make him fell a smiting of him Isai. 53. 4. and smote him in his Soul too verse 10. and with smiting wounded and bruised him verse 5. the smart and anguish whereof was so great that he was afraid Hebr 5. 7. and his fear was so high that he began 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to faint away and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be sore amazed Mark 14. 33. and in this amazement the Eclipse was so dark that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 surrounded with sorrows even unto death verse 34. and in this spiritual Siege he falls a praying Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt Matth. 26. 39. and in prayer he sinks into an agnony His soul became like that poor ship that fell into a place where two seas met the fore-part sticking fast and remaining unmoveable and the hinder-part broken with the violence of the waves Acts 27. 41. Even so here were two seas met a sea of wrath storming against him as our Surety and a sea of love breathing in him after our Redemption His humane will as nature shrunk at the sense of Gods wrath but as reason it stedfastly pointed at the work of our Salvation Redemption stood fast and unmoveable in his heart yet the same heart though without the least spot of sinful contrariety was broken with the waves of amazing horrors and so dreadful was this agony that it cast this grand Heroe the strength of all the Martyrs into a bloody sweat there fell from him great drops of blood Luke 22. 44. The sins of the world ascending up as a vast cloud before Gods Tribunal now came dashing down upon him in an horrible tempest of incomprehensible wrath and this makes him cry nay as the Psalmist hath it Psal. 22. 1. roar out upon the Cross My God! my God! Why hast thou forsaken me Mat. 27. 46. One would have thought at the first blush that the humane nature had been dropt out of his divine person but though that were not yet the sense of Gods favour was for a time suspended from his humane nature Never was sorrow like to his sorrow In all the legal sacrifices there was destructio rei oblatae and all those destructions were summed up in his sufferings As the corn he was bruised as the wine and oil poured out as the Lamb slain and rosted in the fire of Gods wrath and as the scape-goat driven into the dismal wilderness of desertion He did as it were sport in Creation but in Redemption he sweats suffers bleeds and dyes Now his humane nature thus made under the Law both in his active and passive obedience is the complete and integral price of our Redemption I say both in his active and passive obedience for these were not sundred either in existence or merit 1. Not in existence for there was passion in his actions and action in his passions from first to last his obedience was with suffering and his suffering with obedience There was passion in his actions 't was a great suffering for the great Law-giver to be under the Law for the Lord of the Sabbath to observe it The noblest and purest piece of the Law is the knowing and loving of God and yet even in that there was a great suffering for he who eternally knew the Father in an infinity of light now knew him as it were by candle-light in a finite reason he who eternally embraced the Father in an infinity of love now loved him in the narrow compass of a finite will and therefore even in these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he emptied himself as the Apostle speaks Phil. 2. 7. And on the other side there was action in his passion his passions were with knowledge he shut not
in God's Eternity which is Nunc stans it is sure in God's Immutability which is ever the same and the seal upon all this is God's unerrable and infallible Knowledge including within it unvariable and unchangeable Love to his people God is the Father of lights with whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning James 1. 17. The visible corporeal Sun rides circuit round the World but whilest he salutes one Hemisphear in the turn he leaves a dark shadow on the other but God is an immutable and supercelestial Sun there can be no shadow in his eternal and unconvertible Light Neither are the various changes among the Creatures shadows cast by any turn in God or his Will but events ordered and disposed by him And because the Apostle speaks in this Verse of perfect gifts and in the next of Regeneration by God's Will therefore there is a further sence in it That if the Father of Lights purpose to make the Day-star arise in any poor Soul his gracious purpose never turns away from that Soul nor leaves it in the dark shadow of Death The Names of the Elect are all indelibly written in God's Book and if the Scripture cannot be dissolved Joh. 10. 35. surely the Book of life must be irrasible Saint Austin on those words Deleantur de libro viventium cum justis non scribantur Psal. 69. 28. raises an Objection si homo dixit Quod scripsi scripsi Deus quemquam scribit delet quomodo isti inde delentur ubi nunquam scripti sunt To which he answers Hoc dictum est secundùm spem ipsorum quia ibi se scriptos putabant Quid est deleantur de libro viventium ipsis constet non illos ibi esse Deleantur ergo secundùm spem ipsorum secundùm autem aequitatem tuam non scribantur In a word whatsoever God doth in his Decrees is immutably the same his Decrees are as Mountains of Brass Zach. 6. 1. unremoveable by any Creature because situate in the Eternal Will The strength or eternity of Israel will not lye or repent 2 Sam. 15. 29. If God's Time cannot lye but will infallibly shew forth the Verity of his Promises and Prophecies surely God's Eternity cannot lye wherein he decrees and knows all The World is full of Vicissitudes Matter is in a perpetual Flux the Glass of Time is running out and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Wheel of Nature is running round but all the while God's Will is immoveable it doth not rowl about with the Heavens rise or set with the Sun or ebb and flow with the Sea but sits King for ever and ever upon the Throne of its own Immobility Apud te Domine rerum omnium instabilium stant causae rerum omnium mutabilium immutabiles manent origines omnium irrationalium temporalium sempiternae vivunt rationes Now besides what hath been said out of Scripture to prove the Immutability of his Decrees these Reasons may be offered 1. The Decrees of God are Immanent and Eternal Acts in God therefore cannot but be Unchangeable God in framing his Decrees non egreditur extra seipsum goes not out from his own Eternity 2. As the Eternity of Futures proves an Eternity in God's Decrees so the Immutability of Futures proves an Immutability in his Decrees If the Decrees which are the Basis of Futurition may be changed then that which was future by the Decree may yet cease to be future sine positione ejus in esse actuali which is impossible If a new Decree be made in succession after a former then the thing decreed begins to be future which is also impossible 3. If the divine Decrees should change Oh! what amazing Changes what an horrible Tempest must needs ensue Must not God's own dwelling-house even his glorious Eternity sink and fall to the ground Non enim est vera Aeternitas ubi oritur nova voluntas nec est immortalis Voluntas quae alia alia est Must not God's eternal Prescience fall a doubting and faltring about every Future Seeing God cannot now know his own works no not a moment before their actual Existence because even then their being may be prevented by a Change in his Will May not eternal Grace and Truth lose their glorious light and Jesus Christ the Sun of Righteousness drop out of the Gospel-orb and all the Starry Promises in the Word and lightsom Comforts in the Saints go out in a moment leaving all in darkness and confusion May not the Evangelical Banquet let down to poor Worms be called back again into Heaven and the precious Blood of Christ return again into its Veins and his Humane Nature be cast away into nothing and every Saint instead of Grace and Peace in his heart may have a Lye in his right hand and lie down in sorrow Nay in such a case must there not fall a Change upon the very Being of God himself And seeing every Change is a kind of Death must not the Deity suffer and as it were die in this Mutation All which astonishing Catastrophes being to be for ever abhorred I conclude that God's Decrees must needs be Immutable as long as there is any Stability in his Eternity Infallibility in his Prescience Sureness in his Grace and Truth or Immortality in his Life or Essence 4. The Decrees of God are crowned with Infallibility as to the Event the Event is so certain that the Spirit of God in Scripture speaks of future things as if they were already done Behold saith Enoch in the morning of the World the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints as if he had been then in the Clouds coming to Judgment Jesus Christ cries out of God forsaking and men piercing him Psal. 22. 1. and 16. as if he had then been upon the Cross with all the wrath of God and fury of men upon him Whom he did predestinate saith St. Paul Rom. 8. 30. them he called whom he called them he justified whom he justified them he glorified he speaks as if all the Elect were already in Heaven Hence God is said to be Isai. 45. 11. as the Sept. there hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Maker of things to come the Event is as certain as if it were already done Now for the understanding of this point we must distinguish of Events either they are good things or else evil viz. sins Touching the first the Decree of God is Effective touching the last the Decree of God is Permissive The first come to pass Deo efficiente the last Deo permittente but both do fall out infallibly 1. Those Events which fall under his Effective Decree do fall out infallibly This is clear upon a double Account 1. The Will of God is Causa Causarum an Universal Supreme Cause having all things under it It reigns over all the armies in heaven and the inhabitants of the earth Dan. 4. 35. The poor Sparrow is no more forgotten by it than
God before he loved us contrary to that of the Apostle 1 Joh. 4. 19. To love as moved by the attractive goodness of the Object is to love like a man but to love Blackamores then give them beauty to love enemies and then overcome them with love is to love like God whose Grace is pure Grace whose Love is all from himself which is emphatically implied in that remarkable reduplication Mark 13. 20. The elect whom he hath chosen as if our Saviour should have said In Election there is nothing but pure Election like that speech of God I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious in which there is nothing but Will and Grace Will and Grace doubled as the only reason of it self But if all the rest might consist yet where is the Efficacy of it If Election be founded on foreseen Faith and Perseverance then it affords no help at all to any man in the way to Heaven How can that saith a Learned Bishop be the cause leading infallibly in the way to Eternal Life which cometh not so much as into consideration untill a man have run out his race in Faith and Godliness and be arrived at Heavens Gates Such a falsly named Predestination might more truly be called Postdestination but call it as they please it enacteth only per modum legis that men thus living and dying shall be received into Heaven but it doth not per modum decreti operantis infallibly work those Graces whereby men are brought unto Heaven If Election take its rise from the last gasp of persevering Faith and Holiness then how came the poor Church by the Chain of Graces on her neck the Bracelets on her hands the Crown of Gold on her head Whence had she her fine Linnen Wedding-garment Gold tried in the fire These are not Natures Riches but Pearls of Grace common Providence gives no such gifts wherefore they are the love-tokens of Election sent indeed in time unto the Church but prepared for her in Eternity O how much better were it that the Sun should be snatched out of the World than that the Influences of electing Love should be suspended from the Church All her light and life holiness and comfort comes down from God in these precious Beams But the Remonstrants instead of these heavenly influences have framed such an Election as hath no more influence on the Faith and Holiness of the Church than a Sun set up at Domesday would have upon the World that was before it it is so far from working that it presupposes all the Faith and Holiness of the Church even to the last minute of Perseverance 2. 'T is evident from the Predestination of Jesus Christ who was God's chosen servant Matth. 12. 18. The Lamb foreordained 1 Pet. 1. 20. and as St. Austin stiles him Praeolarissimum lumen praedestinationis gratiae he was as man predestinated unto the superlative glory of the Hypostatical Union and this high Predestination was not out of any foreseen holiness in his Humane nature for all that did flow out of the Hypostatical Union but it was ex mera gratia Respondeatur quaeso saith the same Father ille homo ut à Verbo patri coaeterno in unitatem personae assumptus silius Dei unigenitus esset unde hoc meruerit quid egit ante quid credidit quid petivit ut ad hanc ineffabilem excellentiam perveniret Nonne faciente suscipiente verbo ipse homo ex quo esse coepit silius Dei unicus esse coepit Nonne filium Dei unicum foemina illa gratiâ plena concepit Nonne de Spiritu sancto virgine Mariâ Dei filius unicus natus non carnis cupidine sed singulari Dei munere Respondeat hic homo Deo si audeat dicat Cur non ego si audierit O homo tu quis es qui respondeas Deo nec sic cohibeat sed augeat impudentiam dicat Quomodo audio tu quis es O homo cùm sim quod audio id est homo quod est ille de quo ago cur non sim quod ille At enim gratiâ ille talis tantus est cur diversa est gratia ubi natura communisest Certè non est acceptio personarum apud Deum Quis non dico Christianus sed insanus haec dicat Apparuit it aque nobis in nostro capite ipse fons gratiae unde secundùm uninscujusque mensuram se per cuncta ejus membra diffundit sicut est praedestinatus ille unus ut caput nostrum esset it a multi praedestinati sumus ut membra ejus essemus Humana hîc merita conticescant quae perierunt per Adam regnet quae regnat Dei gratia per Jesum Christum Surely the Members must not be set above the Head The Members were not elected to the beatifical vision out of foreseen Faith and Perseverance when the Head was elected to the Hypostatical Union out of mere Grace The elect Stones in Zion were not laid for their orient lustre and beauty when the precious Corner-stone who bears up all the building was laid with a Behold in a wonder of Grace and Love 3. 'T is utterly impossible that Faith and Perseverance should be the causes or antecedents to Election when these are the fruits and effects thereof If we search the Scripture for the Well-head of these we shall find it to be in the Decree of Election Therefore when the Apostle blesses God for the work of Faith in the Thessalonians he elevates his praises as high as Election it self knowing brethren beloved your Election of God 1 Thess. 1. 4. And in the very same strain of praise blessing God for blessing the Ephesians with all spiritual blessings in Christ amongst which Faith cannot but be a prime blessing he sets forth the eternal Rule of dispensing them he hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according as he hath chosen us Eph. 1. 3 and 4. Where it is plain that those whom God blesseth with Faith and Perseverance he chuseth unto Faith and Perseverance because he blesses according as he chuses The Remonstrants strangely interpret these words he hath chosen us in Christ that is say they being in him in the divine Prescience But this Interpretation cannot stand the Apostle saith not he hath chosen us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but he hath chosen us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in him that is in Christ now where in all the Scripture do the words in Christ import our being in Christ in the divine Prescience The words in Christ in such Scriptures as relate to Justification or Adoption do import our being in Christ by actual Faith but in such Scriptures as relate to Election they do import that all the Grace and Glory prepared in Election is conferred in and through Christ this appears in that famous place 2 Tim. 1. 9. Who hath saved us
Sam. 2. 3. seeing the thoughts afar off even from the high Arch of Eternity He hath Treasures of Wisdom such as cannot be told over Sapientiae ejus non est numerus Psal. 147. 6. and who should rule but the only wise If we cast our eyes on the millions of Creatures Angels above and Men below Stars in Heaven and living Creatures in Earth and Sea and all these pouring forth millions of Acts and falling under millions of Events that from the morning to the evening of the World surely nothing less than an infinite Understanding can comprehend all these and reach à fine usque ad finem Wisd. 8. 1. If we ponder the beautiful Timings harmonious Orders and sweet Compaginations of things The heavens hear the earth the earth hears the corn and the wine and the oil and these hear man Hos. 2. 21. Surely it must be an all-wise Artist who made these golden Chains and stands at the uppermost link ordering all I will hear the heavens saith he or else all the Creatures would turn a deaf ear to one another He guides every Wheel in Nature and when there is a wheel within a wheel never so much intricacy and crossness of motion yet the wheels are full of eyes Ezek. 1. 18. directing them to their journeys end and those Eyes are always open to perpetuate that direction St. Austin derides the Gods in the Roman Capitol Dii dormiebant Anseres vigilabant but divine Providence is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Eye that never slumbers nor sleeps his waky Wisdom claims an universal Government over all But that which makes up his Imperial Crown is 5. His perfect Unity His sovereign Authority glorious Omnipresence almighty Power and infinite Wisdom are his Crown-jewels but that which completes and makes up all these into a Crown is his Unity he is Unus nay Unicus nay Unissimus his Singularity cannot bear a Compeer nor his Simplicity a Compound if there were either of these what would become of the Government of the World Suppose a Compeer then one Omnipresent might resist the other one Almighty counterwork the other and one All-wise counterplot the other Suppose a Compound then his Power might go one way his Wisdom another and his Presence might withdraw from both But now he being one God one in Singularity so that there is none else and one in Simplicity so that his Presence Power and Wisdom are but one Essence in him he and only he is worthy to govern all Omnis multitudo revocanda est ad unitatem and perfect Unity is no where to be found but in him alone Thus much for the first point but to go on 2. God rules all according to his Decree he works all things according to the counsel of his own will Eph. 1. 11. he doth whatsoever he pleaseth in Heaven and in earth Psal. 135. 6. That which escapes the pleasure of his Will must first fly out of the Sphere of Nature Now this I evince by these Reasons 1. All those rare Jewels of his Imperial Crown cemented in his perfect Unity do shew forth their lustre according to his Will because his Will put forth a World out of nothing therefore doth his sovereign Authority give Laws to it and his glorious Omnipresence fill and cherish it his infinite Wisdom ministers to the making of his gubernative Decree and his Almighty Power ministers to the executing of it There are infinite Orders and Congruities lying in Wisdom's breast but his Will chuses out of them all what it pleaseth and so makes up its decree there are infinite possibles within Powers Arms but his Power only exerts it self according to his Decree Wherefore it is plain that God governs all according to his Decree 2. The various ways of Government set forth the freedom of the Governour all things are not ruled in the same way Matter is ruled by Forms Bodies by Spirits inferiour Bodies by celestial the visible World by invisible Angels Angels and Spirits immediately by God himself Neither do the same things always keep the same track in Joshua's time the glorious Sun did make a stand in Daniel's time the Fire did not burn in Elisha's time the Iron swam as if it had forgot its Centre in Moses's time the floating Sea stood up as a Rock and the flinty Rock flowed as a Sea In Christ's time oh what excesses of Nature what actings by Prerogative what Epiphanies of Divine glory How many wonderful ways did the divine Will triumph over the Order of Nature evidently demonstrating that the supreme Order of all was in it self alone If the God of Nature did govern naturally all the Wheels would move one way and in one road wherefore the variety of Motions doth display the liberty of the first Mover or Governour 3. The Government of all things is no other than the efficacious Direction of them by congruous Means to their supreme End and that is done by the divine Will alone the End of all is the manifestation of his Glory and this his Will freely embraceth I say freely for the All-sufficient God was under no necessity to manifest himself the congruous Means are all of his own choice and that out of the infinite Mass of Wisdom in himself and the efficacious Direction of all by those Means to that End is according to his Decree God had designed preferment to Joseph but first he lay bleeding under the murderous intentions of his Brethren then he was sold as a slave to the Ishmaelites afterwards he was wretchedly accused by his Mistress rashly imprisoned by his Master and ungratefully forgotten by the chief Butler and yet after all these windings and turnings of Providence this is the worshipful Sheaf the Ruler over Egypt and the wise preserver of Jacob and all his posterity in the famine There are millions of Creatures which know not what an End means but a divine Intelligence conducts them thither millions of Events casual as to us but the divine Will hath fixed them millions of Acts free as to us but the divine Liberty is above them millions of Confusions dark as to us but the divine Decree orders them In all God is Alpha and Omega the first Mover and the last End the wise Contriver and sure Moderator of every thing for his own Glory according to the Counsel of his own Will O thou divine Will the tender Nurse and sweet Disposer of all thou bearest up the Pillars and turnest about the Wheels of the Universe the Guide of every Creature to its journeys end is thy wise Ordination and the safe conduct of it thither is thy gracious Preservation The swiftest Angel cannot fly out of thy Dominions and the poorest Worm hath a safe abode within them Thou hast an Eye in every Wheel an Order in every Ataxy and a Line in every Confusion without thee all Beings would moulder into Nothing congruous Means prove vain abortions and Natures Harmonies jangle into sad confusions Without thee the Breath
turned from God and God departed from Man and instantly the Captive appeared all in Chains of Sin and Wrath his Lamp went out in obscure darkness Satan ascended up into the Throne the fire of Lust rose up in the Sanctuary the Affections were all in a mutiny against the upper Powers and the whole Man became a Prisoner under Sin and Wrath and all this because he left 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his original State of rectitude and holiness 2. Man fallen in opposition to fallen Angels When Man though but an earthen Pitcher fell from God the whole Trinity seemed to be moved at it the bowels of the Father yearned over him and as not content with inward compassions Grace breaks out at the Lips of the Son Unto you O men do I call saith the eternal Word Prov. 8. 4. and because words such as made a World could not do it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 2. 16. He catches hold of the Humane Nature and rather than fail he would live and bleed and die in it for our Redemption And lest after all this Man should not catch hold of his own Salvation out comes the holy Spirit to make sure work of it in an application of it unto us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Chrysostome When Mankind fled and fled far from Christ he pursued and caught hold of it But when those Vessels of Gold the Angels dropt out of Heaven there was no such matter the Father's bowels though of immense largeness were shut up not a thought of mercy rose in his heart towards them the Son's Lips which drop sweet smelling Myrrh unto men let fall never a syllable of comfort unto them he saw them tumbling down from Heaven yet caught not hold of them the holy Spirit would not stir a foot to recover 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their original Rectitude for them again that so they might be capable of staying in the holy Heavens but down they must into Chains of darkness such as for ever shut out every glimpse of Mercy But why a Philanthropy rather than a Philangely Why a Redemption for Men and not for Devils Here men give their conjectures Man say some sinned by seduction but Devils by self-motion In the Fall of Men say others all the Humane Nature fell but in the Fall of Angels all the Angelical Nature fell not Others alledge that the Sin of Angels was more damnable than Man's because their Nature was more sublime than his Others yet affirm that Men are capable of Repentance but Devils not because whatever they once choose they do immobiliter velle the Devil sinneth from the beginning 1 Joh. 3. 8. 't is not said he sinned but he sinneth because from his first Apostasie he sinneth on uncessantly But alas Who can limit the holy One Might not his boundless Mercy have saved the selftempted Devils What if his devouring Justice had broke out against devil-seduced Men nay against all the Race of Men Who should accuse him for the Nations that perish which he hath made and Sin hath marred Wisd. 12. 12 Could not the Blood of God have washed out the blackest spots of fallen Angels Was not the Almighty Spirit of Grace able to melt a Devil into Repentance Had we poor Worms been to dispute with the Devil about the Body of Christ as Michael did with him about the Body of Moses O how easily would he have reasoned us out of our Redeemer What would he have said shall the tender bowels of God be let down to you on Earth and restrained to us in Heaven Will the All-wise God repair his Clay-images in the Dunghil of the lower World and neglect his fairer Pictures once hung up in his own Palace of Glory May not the Son of God be a Redeemer at an easier rate without stepping a foot out of his Fathers house and will he travel down so far as an Incarnation How much better were it for him to spot himself with an assumed Cherubin than to take Flesh into his glorious Person But the great God hath neither given Angels a day to plead for a Redeemer nor Man a licence to pry into his Ark. Wonder then O Man at this astonishing difference made by the divine Will alone Angels must be damned and men may be saved golden Vessels are irreparably broken and earthen Pots are set together again Inmates of Glory drop to Hell and Dust and Ashes fly up to Heaven When I consider thy Heavens and the Stars glistering there Lord what is man that thou mindest him Psal. 8. 4 but when I consider thy Heaven of Heavens and thy Angels dropping from thence into utter darkness Lord what is man that thou savest him Misericordiâ Domini plena est terra quare non dictum est plenum est coelum quia sunt spirituales nequitiae in coelestibus sed non illae ad commune jus indulgentiae Dei remissionémque peccatorum pertinent as holy Ambrose expresses it Even so gracious Father because so it seemeth good in thy sight Thus having found the right Captive I pass on 2. To the Captivity and this I shall set out in three things 1. The Chains 2. The Prison 3. The Jailor As for the first I shall first touch upon the Chains themselves and then upon the distinct links thereof 1. The Chains themselves are no other than Original and Actual Sin 1. Original Sin is a very heavy Chain and here I shall view 1. The upper end of this Chain I mean that first Sin of eating the forbidden fruit called in the Schools Peccatum originale originans here there was truly magnum in parvo a vast World of Sin in a small Act. There was an Idol of self-excellency a framing and to adorn it a concupiscential stealth of the forbidden fruit and in this stealth a bloody Homicide a slaying of all Humane Nature at one blow and which is more a kind of Deicide too a slaying as much as in Man lay even of God himself the Pride of this primordial Sin snatching at God's excellency the Unbelief stabbing at his Truth the Rebellion fighting against his Sovereignty the Ingratitude trampling his Goodness under foot and the Presumption as it were daring out his Justice into warlike Arms and all this contra praeceptum tam breve ad retinendum tam leve ad observandum This is the upper end of this Chain and it reaches down to us all for in him we all sinned Rom. 5. 12. The sweetest Bonaventure cannot say In Adamo non peccavi For Adam was not here considered as a private person but as the Root and Head of Mankind Adam's person was the fountain of ours and his Will the representative of ours we were all in him naturally as latent in his Loins and legally too as comprized within the Covenant made with him therefore we all sinned in his Sin Omnes nos unus ille Adam saith one Father Genus humanum in primo parente velut in radice computruit saith
another But that of Nazianzen is fullest of spiritual sence who cries out O infirmitatem meam meā enim duco primi parentis infirmitatem If any reply But how could we sin in Adam I answer that our humane Nature was in him and why might it not sin there You 'l say It could not for want of a Will I answer that our Wills were put into Adam's by that Covenant which was made with him for himself and all his posterity If one Man may put his Will into another Man's Will in a Comprimise why may not God who is more Lord of our Wills than our selves put all our Wills into Adam's by a Covenant and here God did it with abundant Equity because our Wills were put into Adam's as well for the obteining blessedness upon his Obedience as for the incurring punishment upon his Disobedience 2. The lower end of this Chain the universal depravation of Nature called Peccatum originale originatum this hangs upon the former all habitual Sin hath an essential relation to some actual Sin precedent 'T is impossible that one should be a Sinner habitually who in no kind sinned actually If Adam had not sinned actually he had never been habitually vitiated nay if we had not sinned in his Sin we had never been so This original Depravation is the sinning Sin the Body of Sin a Body in our Souls Flesh in our Spirits a Nail on our Eyes a Plague in our Hearts and a Root of bitterness in our whole Nature this turns our Minds into Dungeons of darkness our Wills into Gulfs of Sin our Memories into leaking Vessels our Fancies into Forges of Vanity our Affections into Chambers of Imagery our Members into Weapons of Unrighteousness and our whole Man into a Man of Sin insomuch that to be carnal is to walk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 3. 3. When we are formed in the Womb this Chain lies upon us even in primo ardore in the first warmth of natural Conception Psal. 51. 5. And when Christ is formed in our Hearts this Chain presses so hard upon the spiritual Embryo that as soon as ever it begins to live it falls a sighing and groaning with tears Oh! my hard heart Oh! my unbelieving heart Oh! my carnal sensual heart Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Rom. 7. 24. Nay the very Philosophers themselves who never kenned so far as the top of this Chain I mean Adam's Sin yet seem to feel the weight of it Wherefore sometimes they complain of a Sepulchrum Corporis as if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Grave to the Soul and sometimes they cry out of a Defluvium Pennarum as if the Soul had lost her Wings Whither also may be referred the Trismegists Indumentum Inscitiae Pravitatis Fundamentum Corruptionis Vinculum Velamen opacum with many such like expressions touching the weight and pressure of this Chain involving Men in a horrid slavery and captivity 2. Besides the Chain of Original Sin there is that of Actual the whole World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Joh. 5. 19. lies in wickedness as a Slave in his Chains Oh! the open Profaneness secret Hypocrisies spiritual Wickednesses carnal Pollutions daring Presumptions faultring Infirmities Impieties against God Unrighteousness against Men vast Armies and Hosts of Sin which cover the World As Original Sin turns Man into a Man of Sin so Actual Sin turn the World into a World of Sin This is a long Chain reaching from Adam's Fall to the Worlds Period and from first to last enwrapping Captives all along 2. The Links of the Chains are considerable and those are three great ones 1. The first Link is Macula peccati the Stain of Sin this is the filth of the Chain a brand of deformity on the naked Captive God is the beauty of Holiness and there is no turning from him without a Blot God is a Sun of infinite light and there is no holding up our hands against him without casting a dark shadow on our faces Every Sin is a filthiness If it be a brutish lust 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filthiness of flesh if a spiritual wickedness 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filthiness of spirit as the Apostle distinguisheth 2 Cor. 7. 1. Nay that which is filthiness of flesh in the external commission of the Act is yet filthiness of spirit in the internal commaculation of the Soul The wicked cast out mire and dirt and the more they cast out in the transient Acts of Sin the more there is within in the abiding spot of it When the Act of Sin is passed and gone the Spot and Stain thereof stays behind and denominates us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 children of disobedience 2. The second Link is Reatus peccati the Guilt of Sin a dreadful Link chaining the naked Captive to divine Wrath fastened within him by the desert of Sin and bound upon him by the Justice of God and hence he becomes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a child of wrath No sooner doth he turn from God as his Law-giver but he meets him as his Judge and that in the face The face of the Lord is against them that do evil Whilest he flies extra ordinem praecepti hee falls intra ordinem justitiae the wages of sin is death 3. The third Link is Regnum peccati the Reign of Sin Sin is an absolute Tyrant over us his Laws are all writ in Letters of blood his strong Holds are in our very Reasons 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. His Throne is in our Wills his winged Chariot in our Affections his Weapons in our earthly Members and our whole man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the slave of sin Joh. 8. 34. 2. The next thing in the Captivity is the Prison and that is the Wrath of God But here we must distinguish the Walls from the Dungeon the Walls are very strong and dreadful infinite Justice and Holiness are the flaming Cherubims that guard them and the Hand-writing upon them is A curse to the sinner and woe to the worker of iniquity The poor Captive as long as his Chains are unbroken lies within these Walls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the judgment of God Rom. 3. 19. Wrath abides upon him Joh. 3. 36. a sad State Nevertheless whilest but here he is a Prisoner of Hope a Captive capable of Redemption The Dungeon is Hell it self a place of Darkness a gulf of unquenchable Fire a bottomless Pit of Perdition into which impenitent Sinners are still a sinking deeper and deeper without any hope of ascending out of it when the Captive is once here the utmost farthing will be exacted of him 3. The last thing in the Captivity is the Jaylor even Satan and he doth three things 1. He takes the Captive into his custody the Natural Man's Heart becomes his Palace and every room in it is full of hellish furniture not the Turret of Reason nay not the reliques
his eyes when he drunk off the cup of wrath his passions were free-will offerings Loe I come saith he to do thy will O God Hebr. 10. 7. Gods will was that he should suffer and his will runs before and as it it were anticipates his sufferings Loe I come nay in his passage he breaks out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How am I straitned till it be accomplished Luke 12. 50. He was as it were in pangs of forward obedience to be baptized in his own blood and posted on towards an agony of wrath in an agony of love and when he arrived at his extremest sufferings his signal willingness turned his suffering into doing and his Cross into a triumphant Chariot he triumphed in it saith the Apostle Col. 2. 15. even there his obedience and love rode in triumph triumphant obedience spread out his hands upon the Cross and triumphant love opened his naked heart to the wrath of God His Soul was not snatched away but poured out Isai. 53. 12. his life was not meerly taken away but laid down Joh. 10. 18. He was willing to be forsaken of God himself for a time that thereby he might fulfil the will of God and before the fire of Gods wrath could fall on him he was all in a flame with his own love Thus the active and passive obedience of Christ were not severed in their existence but like his seamless coat were interwoven from the top throughout even to his last gasp upon the Cross. 2. Neither were these severed in merit Christ is not so to be divided as if his sufferings apart by themselves were the price of Remission and his righteousness apart by it self the price of Glory If the active obedience of Christ apart make us perfectly righteous where is the glory of the passive if the passive obedience of Christ apart purchase all for us where is the glory of the active But if both together make up the total sum the glory of both is preserved Our Redeemer was made under the Law that he might redeem us now as he was under the whole Law as to the command and as to the curse of it so his active and passive obedience adequately answering both is the entire price of our Redemption But here I am obviated by 2 Objections 1. Saith the Socinian there is no price at all 2. Say some of our Divines the passive obedience of Christ is all the price and the active no part at all of it As to the first I shall not need spend many words about it because the Scripture is so pregnant in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye are bought with a price saith S. Paul 1 Cor. 6. 20. and this price as S. Peter tells us is not corruptible things as Silver and Gold but the precious blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. a transcendent price able to purchase as much nay far more in the spiritual world than silver and gold can in the material and 't is not meerly a price of emption but of Redemption Christ gave his life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a price of Redemption Matth. 20. 28. and which is more emphatical he gave himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a counterprice of Redemption 1 Tim. 2. 6. doing and suffering in the room of poor captives and this price was paid into the right hand viz. into Gods Eph. 5. 2. and hence issues out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proper Redemption the prison doors are opened and the poor captives may go out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 free indeed John 8. 36. That then there is a price is as clear in Scripture as if it were written with a Sun-beam But yet the Socinian shuts his eyes and cryes out all is but a Metaphor God redeemed saith he Israel out of Egypt and Moses is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 7. 35. and yet there was no price at all paid But alas that ever such vain consequences should drop from the masters of Reason Redemption in some Scriptures is metaphorical therefore 't is so in all Moses was but a naked deliverer therefore Christ is not a proper Redeemer Moses's Redemption was a Redemption by power only therefore Chists Redemption is no Redemption by price Redemption out of the hands of an unjust Pharaoh was without price therefore Redemption out of the hands of a righteous God was so too But on the other side how cogent is the argument If Moses paying down no price was but a naked deliverer then Christ paying down one was a proper Redeemer If I believe that to be but a Metaphorical Redemption because the Scriptures speak of no Price paid for the same pari ratione I must believe this to be a proper Redemption because the Scriptures tell us of a Price If there must be Power to redeem a Captive from humane Oppression surely theremust be a Price to redeem him from divine Justice We were all as Captives locked up under the Curse of the Law and Wrath of God and Christ was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both a Redeemer and a Ransom for us Wherefore concluding that there was a Price I pass on 2. As to the second Objection I conceive that the Active and Passive Obedience of Christ do both together make up the perfect Price of our Redemption I say both together The Active is part of the Sum And this I shall demonstrate 1. In general by those Scriptures which set out the Managery of Redemption Long before our Saviour Christ came about it the Father calls him his servant Isai. 42. 1. and one part of his service was his Active Obedience and just at his entrance into the World he expresses himself Loe I come to do thy will O God Heb. 10. 7. He came in his Incarnation his errand was Redemption and the way to compass it was by doing God's Will and that he did partly in his Active Obedience being come his state was subjection he was made under the Law to redeem us Gal. 4. 4 5. His humane Nature was so far a Price as 't was made under the Law in part as to his Active Obedience this being his state his ear was bored Psal. 40. 6. which the Apostle renders a body was prepared Heb. 10. 5. His humane Nature was as I may so say all Ear to the Commands of God among which one was that he should fulfil Active Obedience this Obedience he fulfilled all along even unto Death nay and in Death and by this entire Obedience accomplished in doing and suffering we are made righteous Rom. 5. 19. and so righteous that the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us Rom. 8. 4. and so fulfilled that the Law hath its end Rom. 10. 4. and this so accurately that one jot or tittle doth not pass from the Law but all is fulfilled Matth. 5. 18. In all which series of Scriptures his Active Obedience concurrs as part of the Price 2. In particular I evince this Truth by
three Reasons 1. Because he fulfilled his Active Obedience not merely for himself but mainly for us he was our Surety and so received the Obligation of Obedience on himself Hence he would be baptized because it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it became him to fulfil all righteousness Mat. 3. 15. it became him not as for himself for he was the spotless Lamb and needed no Baptism at all he could baptize with the holy Ghost and needed no Water-baptism but it became him as our Surety to be subject to Gods command even in this And so in all other his Active Obedience For the impletion of the Law was by God translated upon him What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us Rom. 8. 3 4. Here all the Obligations of the Law are cast upon Christ as our Surety we could not satisfie for our sins Christ did it we could not fulfil Righteousness Christ did it But you 'l say this place only concerns his Passive Obedience for it speaks of condemning Sin and that was done in his Passive only I answer that this place extends to all Christs Obedience Active as well as Passive and this seems clear by the first and last part of the words compared together the first are What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh and what was that Could it not curse the Sinner Yes undoubtedly And here the flesh that is Sin was the strength of the Law but for want of perfect Obedience it could not give life Gal. 3. 21. and here the flesh that is Sin was the weakness of the Law Now Christ the Power of God came to supply this weakness but how doth he do it The latter words tell us Sin was condemned in his flesh that is his humane Nature and it was condemned there not only by his Passive Obedience but by his Active too Every Act thereof did as it were sit in judgment on Sin even as every knock of Noah on the Ark condemned the old World Sin was so condemned that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us the Law hath its rightful demands one whereof is perfect Obedience the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us that is for us in our stead and room Wherefore Christ's Active Obedience being fidejussorial and on our behalf must needs be part of the Price But you 'l say Christ's Active Obedience was not fidejussorial for it was the debt of his humane Nature as a rational Creature and therefore being due as for himself it could not be paid down as for us I answer that Christ's humane Nature was but a Creature and so its Will could not possibly be supreme but indispensably subject to the Will of God yet nevertheless his Active Obedience was paid down for us and was part of the Price and this will appear if we view it in these four particulars 1. As to the Spring of it 't was freedom his humane Nature was necessarily subject to the Will of God but it was freely assumed into the Person of God Christ as Man was bound to the Law but as God was not bound to become Man As he freely took a Body with its circumscriptive dimensions so he freely took a Soul with those legal Obligations which are as it were the moral Circumscriptions of it he freely assumed the Humanity and with it all incident Duty 2. As to the Circumstances of it 't was unobliged Christ was bound by the Law as Man but he was not bound to perform it in such a debased manner for such a space of Time in such a place as Earth unless as our Surety for he might have carried up the humane Nature into Heaven in the first instant of its Assumption 3. As to the end of it 't was for us it points at the same end with the humane Nature to which it was incident As he was made Man for us to us a Son is born Isai. 1. 9. 6. so his Active Obedience was for us Hence the Apostle joins both these together he was made of a woman made under the Law and then superadds as the end common to both that he might redeem us Gal. 4. 4 5. 4. As to the Value of it 't was infinite a finite Righteousness may serve for its single performer but Christ's Righteousness stamped with his Deity amounts to an infinite Sum enough for himself and a World besides Hence the very same Righteousness is Christ's Rom. 5. 18. and ours too 1 Cor. 1. 30. St. Bernard sweetly expresses it Domine memorabor Justitiae tuae solius ipsa est enim mea nempe factus es mihi tu justitia à Deo nunquid mihi verendum nè non una ambobus sufficiat Non est pallium breve quod non possit operire duos Justitia tua in aeternum me te pariter operiet quia largiter larga aeterna Justitia To sum up all in one word though Christ as Man were under the Law yet his active Obedience performed in an humane Nature freely assumed and in a way as to that Nature unobliged perioding in our Redemption and elevated into a kind of Infinity by his Deity was paid down for us and was part of the Price 2. Because Christ's whole Obedience Active as well as Passive being fulfilled for us makes us righteous before God famous is that place Rom. 5. 19. As by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous But you 'l say the Passive Obedience is only meant there but if so why doth the Apostle oppose it to Adam's Actual Disobedience and why doth he say Obedience in general and when he says so who may pare off ought and say it was not all but some Why doth he call it Christ's righteousness Ver. 18 and where are his Sufferings alone so stiled in Scripture or what is so properly such as his Active Obedience Nay further he speaks of such a Righteousness as brings justification of life Ver. 18. The Promise of life was Do this and live and Christ's Active Obedience fully answered the terms of it wherefore Christ's Active Obedience is within this Text and jointly with the Passive makes us righteous and consequently is part of the Price But here it will be objected That if Christ obeyed the Law for us so as to make us righteous then we need not obey it in our own Persons To which I answer two things 1. This Argument presses as much upon those that are for his Passive Obedience only as upon those that are for his Active also for they assert that the Passive alone purges away all sin as well of Omission as Commission and consequently makes us as Righteous before God as if we
had done all and omitted nothing and then by their Principles what need we obey in our own persons But 2. That Christ obeyed for us and therefore we need not obey is as vain a Consequence as to say Christ died for us and therefore we should not die But the different Ends reconcile all Christ died that there might be Satisfaction for Sin as to the Guilt of it and we die that there may be a Destruction of Sin as to the Being of it Also Christ obeyed that our Justification might be effected and we obey that our Sanctification may be promoted Christ obeyed that we might reign in life and we obey that we may be more and more meet for it Nay Christ obeyed that we might obey for one fruit of Redemption was that we might be a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2. 14. and we obey that his Obedience may not be in vain as to us for he is the author of eternal redemption to them that obey him Heb. 5. 9. Hence it appears that Christ's Obedience and ours may as well consist together as Justification and Sanctification Life and the way to it Redemption and the fruit thereof 3. Because the Price of our Redemption is a thing of superexcellent fulness and superimaginable glory redeeming Captives in a way completive and perfective of the Law broken by them Do we make void the Law by Faith or by its Object our Redeemer and Redemption Nay we establish the Law Rom. 3. 31. When Man was in Innocency the Royal Law sate in Glory commanding upon its Throne holding forth in its right hand a Crown of Life in the Promise and in its left a Sword of Vengeance in the Threatning But when Monstrous Sin entred into the World the very Throne of the Law seemed to shake and the Crown in its right hand to wither only the Sword was glittering and fiery in the left the Minatory part of the Law stood fast captivating and cursing the Sinner but the Mandatory and Promissory parts thereof fell a trembling and staggering as if their natural and primary End viz. perfect Obedience and all the ensuing Bliss were utterly lost Now Jesus Christ our wonderful Redeemer redeemed us in such a way as that he established the Law in every respect by his Active Obedience he fastened and newpinned the very Throne of the Law and made the old Promise to bud again with Life and in his Passive Obedience the fiery Sword of God's wrath did awake against him Zach. 13. 7. and smote and wounded him for our iniquities he paid down his humane Nature in doing and suffering and what could the Law desire of him more Thus Jesus Christ became the end the fulness the perfection of the Law Rom. 10. 4. But if the Passive Obedience of Christ be only the Price then indeed the Curse or Wrath which is in the left hand of the Law and which comes accidentally by sin is satisfied But where is the primary and natural end of the Law Where is that perfect Obedience which is in the right hand and right eye of the Law You 'l say 't is in the Person of Christ our Redeemer But how is it there the Apostle says that Christ is the end of the Law to the believer now if it be there only personally as for himself then as to that he is the end of the Law only for himself but if it be there also fide jussorially as for us then 't is part of the Price and so he is the end of the Law to us also But you 'l reply that though Christ's Active Obedience be no part of the Price yet his Passive suffices for that takes away Sin and Death from us and Sin being removed Righteousness follows and Death being removed Life follows and so the Law hath its end I answer I might deny these consequences for Adam in Innocency was free from Sin and Death yet in that state had neither all the Righteousness performable nor all the Life attainable by him But if I admit that upon the remotion of Sin and Death Righteousness and Life do follow yet these may follow from Christ's whole Obedience as their total Principle and not only from the Passive If they follow from the Passive only the Glory of Redemption is much darkned for who sees not that the Law is not nor cannot be so completely accomplished by the mere Sufferings of Christ as if over and besides those he also performed perfect Obedience for us Who sees not more Glory shining out when perfect Righteousness is a part of the Price than if it be only an effect thereof issuing by consequential resultance from the remotion of Sin Wherefore the Messiah is set out to us in the Prophet not only as making an end of sin but as bringing in everlasting righteousness Dan. 9. 24. and in the Evangelist not only as giving his life but as fulfilling all righteousness Matth. 3. 15. and in the Apostle not only as made sin but as made righteousness too 1 Cor. 1. 30. and thus the Law hath its perfect accomplishment by our Redeemer Wherefore concluding that the humane Nature of Christ paid down in his Active and Passive Obedience is the entire and integral price of our Redemption I pass on to the second Quaere 2. What manner of Price this is and this I shall open in three things 1. 'T is a Price Redemptive from Evil. 2. 'T is a Price Procurative of Good 3. 'T is a Price Sufficient for both 1. 'T is a Price Redemptive from Evil even from all the evils of our Captivity viz. the Chains of Sin the bloody Jaylor Satan and the Prison of Wrath our great Redeemer by laying down this price hath hroke off our Chains vanquished the Jaylor and opened the Prison-doors for us only here is an observable difference for 1. As to the Guilt of Sin and the Wrath of God this Price is redemptive in a more immediate way by it self 2. As to the stain of Sin the power of Sin and the tyranny of Satan this Price is redemptive in a consequential way by procuring the holy Spirit for us 1. This Price is Redemptive from the Guilt of Sin and Wrath of God and this in a more immediate way by it self Now albeit the entire Price concurr herein yet because as to this there is a special relucency in some parts thereof I shall only insist on five things viz. 1. Our Sins were laid upon Christ. 2. He suffered the same punishment for the main that was due for these Sins 3. He suffered it in our stead 4. Suffering in our stead he satisfied God's Vindictive Justice and Minatory Law 5. These satisfied God is reconciled 1. Our sins were laid upon Christ. Whilest the Chains are upon the Captive Captivity is unavoidable whilest Sin is on the Sinner Redemption is impossible God therefore gave Sin a remove from its proper Ubi I will remove iniquity in one day saith he Zech. 3.
Surety and the promised Life made good to us Sinners But you 'l object further If the Law be thus interpreted in an equitable way viz. to be done by a Surety then it is not so much as a Rule of life to us for that issues out of the first interpretation viz. the doing of it in our own persons I answer that still the Law is a Rule of life to us and the reason is because God doth not wave the rigorous and take the equitable interpretation totally and absolutely but in order to Redemption and so far only as Redemption requires it Now what doth that require It requires that the Obedience of a Surety should be admitted for the impletion of the Law and therefore thus far the rigorous interpretation is waved and the equitable takes place But it requires not that the redeemed ones should be exempted from the Law as a Rule and therefore the equitable interpretation doth not go thus far and so far as that goes not the rigorous one takes place because pro tanto it is consistent with Redemption Hence it comes to pass that Christ as our Surety fulfilled the Law for us and yet still the Law is a Rule of life to us Christ is the end of the Law to the believer and yet the Believer is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the Law to Christ 1 Cor. 9. 21. Thus this Price is redemptive from Evil and procurative of Good but the Crown of all is yet behind 3. It is a Price sufficient for both the former There is a double Sufficiency Sufficientia nuda and Sufficientia ordinata the first consists in the intrinsecal value of the thing the thing in value transcending or at least equalizing the thing to be redeemed the second consists in the Will of the Payer and Receiver the one intentionally paying and the other intentionally accepting that thing as a Price of Redemption the first is that radical Sufficiency whereby the thing may possibly become a Price the second is that formal Sufficiency whereby the thing doth actually become a Price Let the thing be in it self of never so vast a value the former without the latter doth not constitute it a Price Now the glorious price of our Redemption hath both these Sufficiencies in it 1. It hath Sufficientiam nudam the Active and Passive Obedience of Christ have intrinsecal value enough to equalize nay infinitely superexcede all our Debts and over and besides to purchase three Worlds for us and the reason is because his Deity poured out a kind of Infinity into his Doings and Sufferings The Righteousness which he fulfilled was the righteousness of God Rom. 1. 17. the Blood which he shed was the blood of God Rom. 20. 28. the Life which he laid down was the life of God 1 Joh. 3. 16. And what nakedness cannot the Righteousness of God cover What debts cannot the Blood of God pay for And what Worlds cannot the Life of God purchase Remember O poor trembling Soul remember he that was pierced for thee was Jehovah he that was smitten for thee was the man God's fellow and he that obeyed for thee was in the form of God O what manner of Actions and Passions were those wherein the Law-giver stood under his own Law and the Creator suffered in his own World How was his Obedience elevated into Infinity and transfigured into glory by his Godhead What a Mass of sweet-smelling Merits must that be into which the Deity it self transfused Riches and Odours This may be one reason why Christ is stiled the heir of all things Heb. 1. 2. though he be the Purchaser of all yet he is Heir of all because he received his divine Nature from his Father and that divine Nature stamped an infinite value upon the Purchase-money which bought all May I shadow it out by an imperfect Similitude A Son receives vast sums from his Father and with them purchases an estate in Lands to himself that Son is the Purchaser of those Lands in respect of his own payment of the Money and yet in a sence he is Heir to them in respect of his receipt of the Money from his Father So the Eternal Son of God is the Purchaser of all for he paid down his own Blood and Righteousness as the Price and yet he is Heir of all for that Price had its value from the divine Nature and that divine Nature was received from his Father in the Eternal Generation There is no doubt then as long as Christ is God but that his Obedience hath value enough in it self 2. It hath Sufficientiam ordinatam and this appears 1. By the Will of Christ who paid down the Price 2. By the Will of God who received it both their Wills concentre in the work of Redemption and the counsel of peace is between them both Zach. 6. 13. 1. It appears by the Will of Christ when he paid down his Obedience what was his meaning Surely not a tittle of his Obedience was irrationally done nor a drop of his Blood irrationally shed what then was his meaning in it Was it not to dissolve the Chains of Sin open the Prison of Wrath and spoil and triumph over the bloody Jaylor Satan Was it not to procure the standing of the Body of Nature the shedding down of the Spirit of Grace and the opening a door to Heaven and eternal Life These were the things on which the divine and humane Will of Christ were both set his divine Will was set upon them for before the foundations of the World even in his joyous Eternity with his Father his delights were with the sons of men Prov. 8. 31. and when the World was up he appeared to Abraham in a humane shape and to Moses to usher in a temporal Redemption the first as a praeludium to his Incarnation and the latter as a praeludium to our Redemption and both as a demonstration that the work of Salvation was in his Heart And afterwards in the days of his flesh his humane Will never parted from his divine but in a rape of Love always run upon Redemption this he sought for in a long circuit of Obedience and sought with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 till it was finished this he sought for in his bloody Agony and when his humane Will as Nature shrunk back from the Cup of Wrath yet the same Will as Reason kissed and drunk it off to the bottom in order to Redemption this he ardently pursued after through Cross-tortures and Soul-travels and rather than fail of it he would for a time be forsaken even of God himself and when he cried out I thirst his greatest thirst of all was after this and could never be quenched till he came to a consummatum est Thus stood the mind of Christ in the business 2. It appears by the Will of God and that in two things 1. God decreed this Price to be paid for the ends aforesaid 2. God accepted it being paid for the
ends aforesaid 1. God decreed this Price to be paid Christ did not glorifie himself in making himself an high-priest or surety but he that said unto him Thou art my son this day have I begotten thee Heb. 5. 5. Christ's Person was begotten out of the Substance of God and his Office as it were begotten out of the Will of God God eternally ordained him to that Office 1 Pet. 1. 20. and in the fulness of time called him to it Heb. 5. 10. and for more assurance superadded his Seal to his Call Joh. 6. 27. and his Oath to both Heb. 7. 21. and all to shew forth his immutable purpose touching the same Christ was booked down for a Redeemer in the eternal Volumes and slain above in the Decree long before he was slain below in time Infinite Love impregnated the divine Will with the Decree of Redemption and that Decree sent forth our Redeemer and put a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon his righteousness Matth. 3. 15. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the cup of wrath Joh. 12. 27. and a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon his death and sufferings Matth. 16. 21. and all this that the mystery of Redemption hid from ages in the will of God Col. 1. 26. might come abroad into the World When the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law Gal. 4. 4 5. O what a fair window is here opened into God's heart Redemption was decreed and therefore God sent forth his Son the time was decreed and therefore he sent him forth in the fulness of time and the Price was decreed and therefore he sent him forth made of a woman made under the Law that is to take a humane Nature and pay it down in all Obedience as the Price of our Redemption 2. As God decreed this Price to be paid so he accepted it being paid and this includes in it two things 1. That this Price was paid to him 2. That this Price was accepted by him 1. This Price was paid to him Christ offered himself to God Heb. 9. 14. Whether we consider this Price as redemptive from evil or as procurative of good both ways it was paid to God as redemptive from evil it was paid to him as a righteous Law-giver and Judge and as procurative of good it was paid to him as a great Remunerator and faithful Promiser God is the Law-giver against whose Laws we rebelled and God is the Judge who for our rebellions against his Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shut us all up in prison Rom. 11. 32. there we lay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the judgment of God Rom. 3. 19. and his wrath abode upon us Joh. 3. 36. therefore this Price as redemptive from evil was paid to God as the Law-giver and Judge That Socinian cavil That if this were a proper Redemption the Price should be paid to Sin and Satan because we are redeemed from them is but a mere trifle for God is the supreme Law-giver and Judge he only hath the Keys of Death and Hell strictly and properly Sinners are Prisoners only to him Satan is but as the Jaylor or Under-officer acting under the authority of this Judge the Guilt of Sin is but as the Chains or Fetters binding under the Justice of this Law-giver and who ever read or heard of a Price of Redemption paid to the Jaylor or Fetters and yet upon the payment thereof the Captive is delivered from them both Hence it is that our Saviour Christ was both Mercator and Bellator Mercator as to God to whom he paid the Price and Bellator as against Satan whom he conquered and both these the Apostle expresses together He blotted out the hand-writing nailing it to his cross and spoiled Principalities and powers triumphing over them in it Col. 2. 14 15. He paid God the Price and not Satan he spoiled and triumphed over Satan and not over God Again as this Price as redemptive from evil was paid to God as a Law-giver and Judge so this Price as procurative of good was paid to God as the great Remunerator and faithful Promiser God is a great Remunerator for he rewards according to the condecency of his goodness and a faithful Promiser for he will not suffer one jot or tittle of his Promises to fall to the ground he engaged himself to Christ that his blood should be returned in all good things he gave him the Promise of a seed and to raise it up the Promise of his Spirit and to crown it the Promise of eternal life he bound himself by express compact to make him a light to the Gentiles a covenant to the people and salvation to the ends of the earth Isai. 49. 6 8. Wherefore this Price as procurative of good was paid to God as a Remunerator and Promiser 2. As this Price was paid to God so it was accepted by him for the ends aforesaid Indeed simply and abstractively from his own Decree he was not bound to accept of this price though of an immense and infinite value as for us I say as for us for he might have stood upon the rigour of the Law Do this and live transgress this and die in thine own person the Tables of the Law might never have been put into the Ark nor covered with a Mercy-seat but this is the joy of our Faith that he hath accepted it When Christ was baptized there was a Voice from Heaven This is my beloved Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in whom I am well-pleased Mat. 3. 17. Duo grata vocabula silius dilectus saith an Ancient and that sweet word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 makes up the third When Christ was sacrificed there was a sweet smell to God Eph. 5. 2. God cries out I have found a ransom Joh 33. 24. and Christ It is finished Joh. 19. 30. Afterwards when he came into the Grave off flew the bands of Death Acts 24. 24. as a pregnant evidence that Justice was satisfied he was taken from prison and from judgment Isai. 53. 8. because all was paid God's Power raised him up and God's Justice could say nothing against it And when he was risen from the dead he raises up the Faith of his Disciples Why do thoughts arise in your hearts saith he Luk. 24. 38. Do you doubt whether I am he who paid down the Price of Redemption Behold my hands and my feet fossus est saccus manavit pretium orbis the Sack of my Humanity was broke and out run the Price of Redemption Do you scruple whether that Price were accepted of God or not Lo here are the returns of it I 'le breath the holy Ghost upon you I 'le betrust the Gospel with you go preach it to every creature make the World know that Redemption Remission Grace Peace Sanctity Salvation are the returns of my Blood And afterwards just at his parting he blessed them and
this legal fear issues a flood of legal sorrows for sin as procurative of wrath Gods arrows stick fast in the Soul and hence men are pricked in heart Acts 2. 37. and which is more wounded in spirit Prov. 18. 14. and these wounds stink and are corrupt till the balm of Christs blood be poured into them Such is the weight of these fears and sorrows that it presses the Soul into a self-weariness and by degrees breaks it all to pieces that there is scarce left a shard thereof to take a little fire from the hearth or water out of the Pit of any Creature-comfort 4. In the midst of these fears and sorrows some glimmerings and appearances of mercy in Christ offer themselves to the Soul and the Soul begins to have some vellcities and imperfect wouldings after Mercy anguish and bitterness make it cry out Oh! What shall I do to be saved The scorching flames of Gods wrath leave a thirst in the heart after the coolings and refrigerations of pardoning Mercy and in proportion to these wouldings and velleities there are some light touches and tasts of Free Grace some flashes of joy in the Word and Christ the marrow thereof and yet all this while there is no root of Spiritual life in the heart These are the preparatories of Conversion only we must not conceive them to be such formal immediate dispositions as infallibly inferr Conversion after them for such prepared ones though not far from the Kingdom of Heaven may yet possibly never enter into it neither must we look on these preparations though Gods usual method as necessary on Gods part for if he please to use his Prerogative he can make even dry bones to rattle and come together again without any previous dispositions He can say unto men even when they are in their blood Live and that word as with child of Omnipotency shall instantly bring forth the New Creature 2. What is the work of Conversion it self I answer 'T is that inward Principle of Grace whereby a man is made able and willing to turn from all Creatures unto God in Christ. Conversion is a motion of the Soul and therefore there must be an inward Principle called in Scripture a Root The root of the matter is in me saith Job Job 19. 28. Friends you look upon me as if I were nothing but leaves of hypocrisie but the inward Root of Holiness is in me Conversion is a supernatural motion and therefore there must be an inward Principle of Grace called by the Apostle the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. the Humane Nature cannot elevate it self so high as Conversion but the Divine Nature can do it By this inward Principle of Grace man becomes able he hath an active posse convertere and which is more a velle too he becomes able and willing to turn Conversion is called in Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a returning unto God Mans Natural state wants a Turn and Gods Supernatural Grace effects it Motion is between two terms the terminus à quo in conversion is all Creatures Creatures as Creatures are the footsteps of Gods Power and Goodness and so we must not turn from a worm but see God in it but Creatures as they are deifyed and idolized in the heart become lying vanities and empty nothings and so in Conversion we turn from them all The world without us is a Glass of the Divine Wisdom and Goodness and so Conversion gives a sanctified use of it but the world within us the world in the heart is nothing but a lust 1 John 2. 16. sitting in the place and Throne of God I mean the chief and uppermost seat of the Soul and so Conversion casts it out of the heart The Soul in Conversion moves towards God as its true centre and therefore must leave all the world behind its back The terminus ad quem in Conversion is God A man before Conversion walks in an Image Psal. 39. 6. he thinks that he moves towards happiness in this or that Creature but all the while he is but in an image or picture of happiness but in Conversion he moves really to God the Centre and Sabbath of Souls Lastly in Conversion there is a turning unto God in Christ. To turn to God is a most rational Act for he is the only true end of the Soul and to turn to God in Christ is a most Regular Act for he is the only true way to that end The way into the Holy of holies is only through the vail of Christs flesh If we go to God out of Christ we go to a consuming fire but if we go to God in him we go to a reconciled Father who is ready to fall upon our necks and kiss and welcome us with his Love revealed in the face of Christ. Now in Conversion there are two instants or moments to be distinctly considered 1. The first instant is habitual Conversion or the habits or vital Principles of Grace which incline and dispose the Soul to actual Conversion 2. The second instant is actual Conversion or the actuation and crowning issue of those Principles in an actual turn to God 1. As to the habits or vital Principles of Grace I shall do two things 1. I shall demonstrate that there are habits or Principles of Grace 2. I shall particularly unfold what they are 1. I shall demonstrate that there are such things The Remonstrants mince the business There is say they potentia supernaturalis concessa voluntati ad hoc ut credere bene agere possit but as as for any habitual Grace they tell us Scholasticorum figmentum est corum qui simul somel optant infundi omnes illos habitus quos actibus crebris comparare nimis laboriosum esse arbitrantur Now there is a vast difference between a mere posse convertere and those Habits or Principles of Grace which dispose and encline the Soul to actual Conversion A mere posse convertere doth not include in it any inward disposition or inclination in the Soul to turn to God no more than the posse peccare in innocent Adam did include in it an inward disposition or inclination in the Soul to depart from God but the Habits or Principles of Grace do incline and dispose the Soul to actual Conversion Again a mere posse convertere doth not denominate a man gracious no more than the posse peccare in innocent Adam did denominate him sinful but the Habits or Principles of Grace do denominate a man gracious And the Reason is a mere posse may be abstract from the Nature or Essence of the thing into which it is reducible but the Habit or vital Principle hath something of the Nature or Essence of the thing in it nay it is virtually and seminally the thing it self A mere posse peccare in Adam before his Fall did not denominate him sinful because it had nothing of the nature of Sin in it but the Habits and Seeds of
Corruption after the Fall did denominate him very sinful because they were virtually seminally all Sin A mere posse convertere doth not denominate a man gracious because it is abstract from the Nature and Essence of the thing but the Habits or Principles of Grace do denominate him such because they were virtually and seminally all Grace Now that there are such Habits or Principles of Grace and not only a naked Power I shall thus demonstrate 1. Out of the Scriptures which do elegantly and emphatically decypher out those Habits or Principles to us Wonderful is the variety of Expressions to this purpose These Habits or Principles are called the new heart and new spirit Ezek. 36. 26. the new man Eph. 4. 24. the new creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. the hidden man of the heart 1 Pet. 3. 4. the good treasure of the heart Matth. 12. 35. the glory within Psal. 45. 13. eternal life abiding in us 1 Joh. 3. 15. a well of water springing up into everlasting life Joh. 4. 14. the teaching and abiding anointing 1 Joh. 2. 27. the renewing of the holy Ghost Tit. 3. 5. the seed of God remaining in us 1 Joh. 3. 9. the life of God Eph. 4. 18. and which is the sublimest word of all the divine nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. And is all this glory of words poured out upon a mere posse which doth not so much as encline to Conversion Are not here the noblest and highest Inclinations set forth unto us Hath not the new heart which hath eternal life in it a propensity to Acts of spiritual life Will not the new creature renewed by the holy Ghost and sweetned by the holy Unction have some Odours and Fragrancies breaking forth from it Can the hidden man be ever hid the good treasure ever sealed and the glory within ever shut up Must not the Well of life break forth the seed and life of God spring up and the divine nature shew forth it self and do not these denominate him gracious in whom they are What doth a new heart speak him How doth the good treasure enrich him the glory within illustrate him the holy unction perfume him the life and seed of God quicken him the renewing of the holy Ghost alter him and the divine nature glorifie him Here are pregnant denominations indeed but there is not a tittle of this in a mere posse convertere wherefore these expressions are of a nobler emphasis than so You 'l say 't is true these expressions shew forth habits or principles of Grace but not such as go before the actual consent of the will to Gods Call but such as follow after it nay after frequent acts thereof Unto which I shall answer two things 1. The habits and principles of Grace decyphered in the Scriptures aforesaid are there set out as the royal acts of pure Free Grace and not as pendents upon mans Will and for this I shall give two eminent instances omitting others The first is in that famous place Ezek. 36. where God promises a new heart ver 26. and his own spirit ver 27. but withal he enters a double protestation one before the Promise Thus saith the Lord I do not this for your sakes O house of Israel but for mine own holy names sake ver 22. and another after it Not for your sakes do I this saith the Lord God be it known unto you be ashamed and confounded for your own wayes O house of Israel ver 32. What could be more said to exalt God and his Free Grace and to annihilate man and his Works How could the True God enter such protestations if the great promise of a new-heart hang in suspence upon mans actual consent When a man without the new-heart gives that actual consent there in something which instead of shame and confusion is worthy to be noted as a matter of Praise and Glory But you 'l say these protestations respect not the way or order of working these gracious habits but exclude mans worth or dignity in the business Now albeit God do not give the new-heart for mans consent yet he may do it upon or after mans consent I answer these protestations shew that before the new heart there is nothing in man but what is matter of shame and confusion and by consequence the actual consent of the Will which is a matter of Praise and Glory cannot so much as in order exist before the new-heart The second instance is that Tit. 3. 5. where the Apostle opens the fountain of Regeneration Not by works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost We are saved by washing and renewing but in what way or method is this wrought The Apostle tells us not by works of Righteousness but of mere mercy Surely if there be any Righteousness in man it must be in his Will and if any work of Righteousness be in the Will an actual consent to Gods Call must be such a work Yet the Apostle asserts that our Regeneration was not by works of Righteousness but of Gods Mercy Again 't is observable that the Apostle doth not say Not for works of Righteousness as only excluding the meritorious dignity thereof but he saith Not by works of Righteousness as denying the very existence thereof in order to Regeneration 2. If the actual consent of the Will to the Calls of God do indeed precede the habits or principles of Grace then what is that which gives an actual consent to Gods Call What else but the stony heart the old Creature the wisdom of man and the humane nature For the mere posse convertere doth not include in it a heart of flesh a new Creature an holy Unction or divine Nature therefore the consent precedent to these Gracious Principles must be given by the stony heart old Creature humane Wisdome and Nature which is very incongruous Let us hear Anselms determination in this case Voluntas non rectè vult nisi quia recta est sicut non est acutus visus quia videt acute sed ideò videt acutè quia acutus est it a voluntas non est recta quia vult rectè sed rectè vult quoniam est recta To the same purpose is that of our Saviour A corrupt tree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cannot bring forth good fruit Mat. 7. 18. that is whilst it is corrupt it cannot A corrupt tree may become a good tree but whilst it is corrupt it cannot bring forth good fruit as when the Apostle saith The carnal mind cannot be subject to Gods Law Rom. 8. 7. the meaning is that whilst it is carnal it cannot and how then can the Will whilst it is a corrupt tree bring forth so precious a fruit as an assent to Gods Call How can such a grape of Heaven grow upon the thorns of an unregenerate heart You 'l say I must not call the Will a corrupt tree
gracious Principles 3. The Perfection of the new Creature cannot stand without them The new Creature is a new men all over new new in its Desires as well as in its Intellectuals 't is a perfect man in Christ perfect in all its parts it hath a Heart as well as a Head Should the Will want gracious Principles the new Creature must want a Heart the old Heart will not serve the turn the new Man is but half a Man without a new heart There was put into the Breast-plate of Judgment the Urim and the Thummim that is Lights and Perfections both were in it or else it had not been perfect The full substance of this Type was only in Christ who was full of all Grace and Truth but there is a measure of it in every true Christian who puts on the breast-plate of faith and love 1 Thess. 5. 8. Faith is a kind of Urim in his Understanding and Love a kind of Thummim in his Will and both together make up his complete Breast-plate But if there were no gracious Principles in his Will he should have an Urim without a Thummim Light in the Mind without Integrity in the Heart and by consequence he could be but one half of a Christian. Object 2. This Thesis overturns the Liberty of the Will for if the Will be determined by the Understanding how is it free and if free how determined I answer There are three things which well weighed give a perfect Solution to this Objection 1. This Objection carries in it a great Absurdity 2. This Objection stands upon a false Notion of Liberty 3. This Objection vanishes by the true stating of Liberty 1. This Objection carries in it a great Absurdity If the Will being determined by the Understanding lose its Freedom then it loseth its Freedom by an adhesion to the Root of its Freedom and it cannot be free unless it can turn Brute which is a great Absurdity You 'l say Is this so absurd Doth not the Will turn Brute in closing with sensual Lusts and doth not the Scripture call men Beasts upon that account I answer that the Will in closing with its sensual Lusts is brutish as to the Matter of its choice but not as to the Manner of it because it hath an humane Unstanding though corrupt going before it but if it can turn away from the Understanding it can turn Brute even as to the Manner of its Acting for then its Act hath no Understanding at all at the bottom of it no more than the Act of a Beast which is very absurd in a rational Appetite 2. This Objection stands upon a false Notion of Liberty viz. That the Liberty of the Will doth essentially consist in an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in an aequilibrium or indeterminate Indifferency whereby it may will or not will a thing for why according to this Objection is the Will not free Why but because it is determined And why is it not free if determined Because its Freedom doth consist essentially in such an aequilibrium as cannot stand with any determination but what is merely from it self Now that this is a false Notion of Liberty doth appear many ways For 3. If Liberty do essentially consist in such an Indifferency then what shall we say to Jesus Christ on Earth Had not he as Man all the Essentials of Liberty Was not all his Obedience perfectly free and yet did not his humane Will indeclinably follow his divine Was there a posse peccare in that spotless Lamb Could that humane Nature conceived by the holy Ghost and inseparably united to the God-head could that also transgress Surely it could not I do nothing of my self faith Christ Joh. 8. 28. nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I can do nothing of my self Joh. 5. 30. nothing in such perfect dependance was his humane Will upon his divine not the shadow of an aequilibrium there and yet the substance of perfect Liberty 2. If Liberty do essentially consist in such an Indifferency what say we to the blessed Saints in Heaven Have not they all the essentials of Liberty Are those Spirits made perfect in every thing else but that Is that the thing that is wanting in Heaven No surely glorious Liberty cannot but be there and yet what of an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There God is All in all and the Saints cannot take off their Eyes from him for ever his Will is perfectly triumphant over theirs and their Will is perfectly determined by his so determined as not to glance aside from it to all Eternity And yet in this Determination Liberty is not destroyed but perfected the Will is not in straits or bonds but in a Sabbath of Rest and Joy Here 's nothing of an aequilibrium that kind of Liberty is so magnified on Earth that it shall never be glorified in Heaven and if it be not glorified there sure 't is no Essential here 3. If Liberty do essentially consist in such an indifferency then how shall the divine Prescience be salved God knoweth all the free Acts of men even the Thoughts afar off from the high Tower of his Eternity But if the Will be in aequilibrio its Acts before they come into Being must be mere Contingencies and without any determinate Verity at all in them and how then are they knowable as Certainties to know Contingencies as Certainties is to erre and not to know 4. If Liberty do essentially consist in such an Indifferency then what becomes of divine Providence Providence hath a Kingdom over men's Hearts We find in Scripture God touching the heart 1 Sam. 10. 26. stirring up the heart 2 Chron. 36. 22. opening the heart Acts 16. 14. enclining the heart 1 Kings 8. 58. and turning the heart whithersoever he will Prov. 21. 1. And after all this is the Will in aequilibrio If not where is the supposed Liberty If so where is the divine Providence All its touching stirring opening enclining and turning the Heart signifies litle or nothing Infinite Wisdom and Power seem to have posed themselves in making such a Creature as they cannot govern or at least not govern without destroying its faculties the infinite Spirit hath then nothing to rule over but the brutal World and the rational is lost out of his Dominions Men must subsist like Creatures and yet may act as Gods their Being is within the Realm of Providence and their Acting without it In a word when we read of God over all we must ever except the rational Creature Wherefore that is no true Notion of Liberty which is so opposite to the Sccptre of divine Providence 5. I shall add but one thing more Every Man is born under a Futurition of all the Acts which he will produce or else those Acts should be present in Time which never were future which is impossible and every Futurition implies in it a necessity of Immutability or else that which is future might cease to be such
without coming into actual Being which is impossible Hence it appears that humane Liberty doth well consist with a necessity of Immutability nay it cannot stand without Take away all Necessity and you take away all Futurition take away all Futurition and you take away all the free Acts of the Creature for those free Acts could not be Acts much less free Acts in time unless they were future before and future they could not be without such a Necessity Therefore liberum and necessarium may nay must stand together and if so the Will may be determined by the Understanding and yet be free without an aequilibrium and by consequence an aequilibrium is not essential to its Liberty This false Notion of Liberty maintained upholds the Objection but dissolved breaks the same in pieces 3. This Objection vanishes quite away by the true stating of Liberty Liberty is double Ethical as to that which may be done de jure and Physical as to that which may be done de facto God is perfectly free both ways Ethically because under no Law but the Perfection of his own Nature and Physically because Almighty Man is not Ethically free because under a Law nor yet altogether Physically free for some things he cannot do if he never so much will the doing thereof because they are not within his power Libertas as the learned Camero hath it est facultas faciendi quod libet or more largely facultas quâ quis tantum possit quantum velit tantumque velit quantum esse volendum judicavit It is that Faculty in Man whereby within his own Sphere he can do as much as he wills and will as much as in his Understanding he judges fit to be willed Now that this is a right Definition of humane Liberty doth appear three ways 1. 'T is bottomed upon Scripture 2. 'T is commensurate to the Nature of the thing 3. 'T is proportionable to both the Acts of the Will 1. 'T is bottomed upon Scripture In Scripture there are various Expressions touching Liberty congruous to the several parts of this Definition In the Definition Liberty is a faculty of doing in Scripture 't is a having a thing in our power Acts 5. 4. or in the power of our hand Gen. 31. 29. In the Definition 't is a faculty of doing as much as we will and in Scripture 't is a doing according to our will Dan. 11. 36. or all that is in our heart 2 Sam. 7. 3. In the Definition 't is a power of willing as much as in our Understanding we judge fit to be willed and in Scripture 't is doing what is right in our own eyes Judg. 17. 6. or what seemeth good and meet unto us Jer. 26. 14. Thus all the Definition is founded on Scripture 2. This Definition is commensurate to the Nature of Liberty What is Liberty in Man in the full compass of it but that whereby he becomes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord of his own act and such he truly is when within his own line he can do as much as he will and will as much as in his Understanding is fit to be willed When the Scripture paints out that glorious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or supreme Liberty in God what doth it say but that he worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will Eph. 1. 11. and doth what he pleaseth in heaven and earth Psal. 135. 6. Wherefore if a man can work according to the counsel of his Will and do what he pleaseth within his own Sphere he must needs be truly free and so much is allowed by this Definition 3. This Definition is proportionable to both the Acts of the Will There is Actus imperatus an Act commanded by the Will such as Speaking or Walking or the like there is Actus elicitus an Act produced in the Will such is the Act of willing Now quoad Actum imperatum the Definition says that a Man can do as much as he wills and quoad Actum elicitum it says that he can will as much as he judges fit to be willed These two Acts must be carefully distinguished for the Will is not alike free in both As to the imperate Act the Will is the Mistress and Commandress of that that procedes from it per modum imperii and it is truly said to be done quia volumus but as to the elicite Act the Will is not properly the Mistress or Commandress of that that procedes not from it per modum imperii for then it should be Actus imperatus rather than elicitus neither can we be said truly to will quia volumus for so the same Act of willing should be the Cause of it self Wherefore the Liberty of the Will as to the Act of willing doth not consist in a Self-motion for the Will doth not move it self To which purpose I shall quote two testimonies one out of Camero Nulla mera potentia semetipsam propellit in actum quicquid enim ejusmodi est id in actu esse necesse est Voluntas autem id est volendi facultas mera potentia est ergò non potest semetipsam excitare ad agendum Si enim hoc facit facit per aliquem actum at quod est in mera potentia illud non agit And again Non potest dici quae sit Voluntatis seipsam determinantis actio non est volitio ipsa est enim volitio ipse terminus ergo non ipsa determinatio Another out of the French Divines in their Theses Salmurienses Nulla potentia sesemet educit in actum Sensus moventur à rebus sensibilibus Phantasia à phantasmatibus Intellect us ab object is intellectualibus locomotiva à Voluntate voluntas quîpote à seipsa And indeed if the Will do move it self to the Act of Willing then because it cannot move it self as quiescent it must move it self by some Act and what is that Act but an Act of willing Therefore by an Act of willing it moves it self to an Act of Willing which is very absurd Wherefore the Will is free in the Act of willing not in respect of its Self-motion but in respect of its lubency and spontaneity what it wills it doth incoactively will according to the dictate of the Understanding Now this being the true Nature of Liberty the determination of the Will by the Understanding doth not overthrow it for notwithstanding this determination Man is free still because he can within his own Sphere do as much as he wills and will as much as he judges fit to be willed His Will is free because in its imperate Acts it commands what it pleases and in its elicite Acts it wills what it wills spontaneously according to the dictate of the Understanding therefore the determination of the Will by the Understanding doth not at all destroy the Nature of Liberty Thus passing over the second Quaere I procede to the third Quaere 3. Whether the Work of Conversion be wrought in an