precious Souls of Men which they being damn'd themselves ceased not to draw into the same Condemnation The Angels which kept not their first Estate or principality Jude 6. but left their own habitation he hath reserved in chams under darkness unto the judgment of the great Day With these chains ratling at their heels shall they be drag'd to the bar of divine Judgment and there having received their dreadful Sentence they shall be hanged up in those * There be two Chains viz. God's Wâ—ath and their own Guth chains in the mid'st of unquenchable flames to all Eternity but first they shall have a just and a fair Tryal And as the Reprobate Angels so the Reprobate world of ungodly men and women shall be judged for all the wickedness done in the body For the sin of their Natures Eph. 2.3 for they were by Nature Children of Wrath And for their actual sins for as they were Children of Wrath so also they were Children of disobedience they shall be judged for their Atheism whether secret by which as Fools Psal 14.1 they have said in their hearts only There is no God or open whereby as proud Blasphemers they have set their mouth against the Heavens Psal 73 9. saying How doth God know and Is there knowledg in the most High who through the pride of their Countenance Psal 10 4 13. would not seek after God yea contemning God said concerning all this wickedness and that to God's Face Tush thou wilt not require it But that Judgment shall fully convince the Atheist and he that would not believe a God shall know him by the judgments which he executeth Then shall the Idolater whether Ethnick or Romish or of what other impression soever the Blasphemer of God's Name whether by prodigious Oaths or by lighter taking his Name in vain the Prophaner of the Sabbath which violateth that holy day of God by work or sport either by sinning or idling out that holy time either by writing against the Sabbath or by living down the Sabbath the disobedient to Fathers or Mothers Natural or Political the Murderer the Adulterer the Thief the false Accuser the Covetous whom God hateth all these I say in what degree of wickedness soever even to every idle word Rom. 2.16 Math. 12.36 and every vile yea vain thought which with David Psal 119.113 they have not hated shall be judged I say out of those books The Gospel-Sinner shall then be brought to the Bar to answer for his unbelief impenitency his rejecting of Christ's Yoke his despising the tenders and offers of free grace his ignorance of and disobedience to 2 Thes 1.8 the Gospel shall then be judged the Lord Jesus is now revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire to take Vengeance of them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ All the Persecutions whether by the mouth of the Sword Imprisonment Banishment Martyrdom c. or by the sword of the mouth revilings scandals false accusations cruel mockings of proud Sinners now they shall be all charged upon the world of ungodly men whether out of the Church Jude 15. or in the Church Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodlily committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly men have spoken against Him whether his Person or Members every sin with all the Circumstances and Aggravations yea Omissions shall then be reckoned to them that thought themselves safe because they were not gross and scandalous Sinners Math. 25.42 43. men shall be judged for their nots yea for defects and coming short in the manner of duties as well as the matter Mal. Rom. 2.12 1.14 Formality and Perfunctoriness and Hypocrisie shall then come into open view In a word all the world of ungodly men that have sinned and not repented of their Sin shall be judged at Christs Tribunal and every man according to the Light and Law under which he hath lived As many as have Sinned without Law shall Perish without Law Heathens shall be judged by the light of Nature and as many as have Sinned * Bez. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cum lege Verse 16. in the Law shall be judged by the Law And they that have Sinned under the Gospel shall be judged by Jesus Christ according to the Gospel Yea they that sin against the Gospel shall be judged by the light of Nature by the Law of Moses and by the Gospel too as having not only sinned against Moses's Ink but against Christ his Blood And all these Tryals will be severe but especially the Tryal in the Gospel Court So that whereas Sinners flatter themselves with thoughts That Tryal by the Gospel will be the easiest Tryal as if the Gospel were all Mercy the Tryal of the Gospel will be found to be the most severe and above all others intolerable It was indeed a Gospel of Mercy and a Gospel of Peace in the tenders and invitations and expostulations and woings and beseechings that were used the Tears of the Ministers and the blood of a Crucified Redeemer while once the long suffering of God waited in the day of Grace but all these are now past and gone having been rejected despised and laughed to scorn by wretched proud Sinners who with the bloody Jews preferred a Barabbas before a Jesus a base Lust before a precious Saviour now is the time of Recompence come the day of Vengance from the presence of the Lord is come and the Sinner shall know it The terrour of which day will further appear in these following Particulars First There will be no denying of any matter In the day of Judgment there will be 1. No denying of sin small or great that shall be charged upon those guilty Malefactors By the mouth of those two Witnesses the book of Gods Remembrance and the book of Conscience shall every branch of the Indictment be established the one of these books was kept before the Face of the Lord continually so that the great Accuser himself nor any of his malignant Agents could get in thither to alter or add to any thing upon Record in that sacred Register unless per-adventure he could find a time when God was a-sleep And the other book the book of Conscience was in the Sinners own keeping and who could break in there to interline it Indeed the Sinner writ down many sins there with the juice of a Lemon but the Fire of the day of Judgment will make it legible he writ them with the point of an Onion but God writ them with a pen of Iron and with the point of a Diamond deep and durable Characters that should never be raced out of the Conscience of a Sinner Now these two Books will agree so exactly like two Tallies one with another that it will be
MOVNT PISGAH OR A PROSPECT OF HEAVEN BEING An Exposition on the Fourth Chapter of The First Epistle of St. Paul to the Thessalonians from the 13 th verse to the end of the Chapter Divided into Three Parts By THO. CASE Somtimes Student in Christ-Church Oxon and Minister of the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Naz. Orat. LONDON Printed by Thomas Milbourn for Dorman Newman at the Chirurgions Arms in Little-Brittain near the Lame-Hospital 1670. TO THE Honourable and his much Honoured Son-in-Law Sr. ROBERT BOOTH Knight Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas in Ireland Grace Mercy and Peace Dear Sir THese Meditations presented to you were first intended for a diversion to your and my sorrrow Conceived by the death of that Excellent Child your First-born your Benjamin but his Precious Mother's Ben-oni for she brought him forth not with the hazard only but with the loss of her own Life his Birth was her Death from which very moment of time You were pleased to concredit his Education to his tender Grand-Mother your Pious Mother and my Self a Depositum than which there could nothing have been more Sacred to us in the world I am sure we were as tender of it as of our own Lives yea verily our Lives were bound up in the Child's Life â—er 31.20 He was indeed Natus deliciarum a Delectable Child in whom Nature and Grace seemed to be at a strife which should excel in her workmanship and as he grew in age so he grew in sweetness of disposition and in all Natural and Moral Endowments of which his Age was capable yea he out-grew his Age and was alwayes before-hand with his Education Imbibing instruction faster then we durst rationally infuse it for fear of hurting the tender Vessel So that he seemed to be a Man before his Childhood was expired As many Loved him as knew him and were in dispute with themselves whether such Maturity did Prophesie an Eximious Life or an Immature Death I must confess whether my infirmity or no I know not I was often offended at the mention of the latter as too boldly intrenching upon God's Prerogative But such it seems was the Divine Decree so it proved His work was done betimes and ours about him afore we thought of it and while we said of him in our hearts as once Lamech said of his Son Noah Gen. 5.29 This Child shall Comfort us he shall live with us God said Nay he shall leave you and shall live with me for before he was Eleaven years old God snatch't him out of our Tuition and removed him into an Higher Form where he should learn no more by the sight of the eye and hearing of the ear which are subject to mistake but by clear and perfect Vision where he knows more than we could teach him yea able to teach us what we are not capable to understand while we see but in a glass darkly he is seeing Face to Face Oh could I but write what he is able to dictate concerning the Facial Vision which I am now with fear and trembling but peeping into what a rare Exposition should I publish to the world upon the present Context before us such as Eye never Read nor Ear ever Heard nor can ever enter into the heart of man until we enter into that Light where he is where his intellectual Eye is married to the Sun of Righteousness and his naked will is swimming and bathing it self in Rivers of pleasures for ever This may be indeed what these papers wished to be and that is all a perfumed Handkerchief to wipe off tears from your eyes and fill your Soul with joy Your loss is his infinite gain It was a satisfaction good enough for an Ethnic who when one brought him the tidings of his Eldest Son's death was able to reply Scio me genuisse mortalem Your Comfort may express it self in a higher straine Scio me genuisse Immortalem for though Nature did not make him Immortal by his Generation Grace hath made him Immortal by his Regeneration So that all that you and I have to do is but to breathe after that Perfection of which through Grace I am humbly confident he is already possest Let us so run that we may obtain As for my self so many deaths have been rushing in upon me deep calling unto deep as have not only retarded the birth of these Conceptions but threatned their burial in the same Womb which Conceived them which is the just cause they have stuck so long in the Birth But since it hath pleased the Living God to let me live to see the travail of my Soul though miserably mangled in the Birth by unskilful hands Such as they are Dear Son I dedicate them to your Name to be as an Absolom's-Pillar until God may raise up a Living-Monument in the room of that which he hath removed And because this may be too weak and obscure let me provoke you Sir to erect to your self a Monument that may be worthy of you Let your own Life be a Name to you when you are dead a Name better than of Sons and Daughters by filling that Honourable Station wherein God hath fixed you and all your other Relations with such Fruitfulness Wisdome and Fidelity that all that know you may rise up and call you blessed yea that your Name may be as a sweet Perfume to Posterity Live your own Life and your Son 's too As for me I cannot long Survive having so often received in my selfe the Sentence of Death 2 Cor. 1.9 Psal 90.10 I have lived already one full Age of man and am nowin the third year of my LABOVR AND SORROW and it is little I can do for God I must Decrease but may you Increase yet pray for me that I may live much in a little time and that my self and your Aged Mother may like those Trees of God Psal 92.14 15. bring forth more fruit in old age then in the beginning to shew that the Lord is upright c. Farewell Honoured Son and God All-Mighty make you amends for the loane which you have lent to God if not in the Stream yet in the Fountain He Bless you and make you a Blessing So prayeth Your Faithful and most Affectionate Father-in-Law THOMAS CASE To my Worthy Son-in-Law WILLIAM HAWES Dr. in Physick AND To M ris ELIZABETH HAWES his Vertuous Consort Grace Mercy and Peace Dear Son and Daughter IT is not certainly without some special design of Providence that these Meditations which were conceived upon the death of your hopeful Nephew the only Son of your Elder Brother Sir Robert Booth now in Ireland should not by reason of those distempers which have ever since pursued me uncessantly as you to your trouble know be able to come to the Birth until this time when our sorrows are doubled in the death of your precious Child Martin Hawes your First-born Possibly as we may rationally
curiâ perfect before the Tribunal of Gods Justice Obj. If it be objected There is not a third State or a third Person viz. one that is not Guilty and yet not Righteous a man must be one of these either Guilty or Righteous if he be not Guilty he is Righteous if Righteous he is not Guilty Answ The objection admits of a fair and easie solution namely this * The Law is satisfied by suffering the Penalty in mens precepts but not in God's wherein not only Penalties are threatned but Blessings are promised Down de Justif It holds true in matters of criminal Justice where a person is tried upon Indictment of a Crime suppose Theft or Murder or Sacrilege or the like there upon Examination to be found Not Guilty is to be Righteous Legally Righteous there being no other Righteousness looked after in that Tryal but Whether Guilâ—y of the Fact or not Guilty But in matters of remunerative justice where the Law propounds a reward to such and such qualifications there a not-Guilty will not suffice Ex. gr If a Scholar in the University be a Candidate for an office there or a Fellowship in a Colledg where the Statutes do require such and such qualifications there upon Examination to be found not-Guilty of Murther of Sacriledg or any other Crime this will not capacitate the Candidate for the preferment this is the case in hand The Saints are now Candidates for Heaven and Glory Absolution or Pardon is not sufficient to capacitate them for this glory yea though it be supposed the pardon be extensive to all not the transgressions only of the Law but the very omissions defects too yea to the least non-conformity unto the Law in its utmost perfection it sufficeth not because a pardon is not the qualification which the Law requireth but a positive perfection Fac hoc c. Do this and Live Whether God by absolute Prerogative cannot dispence with this qualification and pardon the want of it I will not dispute but Whether God can in Justice dispence with his own Law and with that Condition of Righteousness and Life established in the first Covenant is the main Enquiry of which anon It is true there is not a third State a State which is neither a state of Guilt nor a state of Righteousness neither is there a third person there is not a person to be found which is neither Guilty nor Righteous but though there be not a third State or a third Person yet there is tertius Conceptus a third Conception or notion in the understanding though there be not a person which is neither Guilty nor Righteous yet to be not-Guilty They differ as to the praedicate though they be not separate as to the subject and to be Righteous are two different capacities considerable in one and the same person it is one thing for a man to be considered meerly as not Guilty or purely as an absolved person another thing to be considered as a Righteous person invested with all those excellent qualifications which may capacitate him for the priviledg annexed to the condition Ex. gr As it is between Sin Holiness He that is not sinful is holy there is not a person to be found who is not sinful and yet not holy the notions are different though the subject be one and the same So it is between not-Guilty and Righteous there is not a person who is neither not-Guilty and yet not-Righteous for although the considerations be unseparable yet they are not identical Not-Guilty is not the same notion with Righteous that is purely privative this positive though they are ever Vnited yet they are not to be Confounded Again as in point of Eternal punishment He that is punished with the pain of Loss Paena damni Paena sensus is punished also with the pain of Sense yet is not the pain of Loss the same with the pain of Sense He that is deprived of Gods presence and the joys of Heaven doth suffer the torments of Hell with the Devil and his Angels for ever the punishments are distinct though they be inseparable So it is between the two capacities relating to these two places Hell and Heaven The Person under the notion of not-Guilty is an absolved person and acquitted from Hell and eternal damnation And as under the notion of Righteous he is capacitated for Heaven and life everlasting Not-Guilty relates to freedome from Hell Righteousness relateth to Heaven as the proper qualification thereof Do this and Live though where the one is there is the other yet the one is not formally the other And according to these two capacities and places there are two great Works which the Redeemer did undertake for the Redeemed The one to make satisfaction for sin to divine justice by his Blood i. e. by his Death The other to yield most absolute Conformity to the Law of God both in Nature and Life By the one we may conceive the Redeemed freed from Hell and everlasting burnings by the other we may conceive them qualified for Heaven and everlasting Glory Yet not so precisely neither the one or the other but that both may be produced by both Active and Passive obedience may have a joynt influence upon both his Active to save from Hell and his Passive to bring to Heaven As a man that payeth a debt and purchaseth an Inheritance either of them to the value of five hundred pounds at the same time with a Jewel worth a thousand one half whereof relates to the debt the other to the Purchase yet so as it is hard to distinguish which is done by which there is a distinct consideration in it yet so as that both concurr to both so in the case in hand As the Active and Passive obedience in Christ suppose not two Redeemers but one and the same Person under both these distinct engagements so Absolution and positive real Righteousness infer not a distinction of persons but diversity only of considerations in one and the same person But further That a positive Righteousness is requisite to the justification of a Sinner as well as Absolution from guilt and punishment may appear upon a four-fold account viz. Of 1. The Justice of God 2. The Perfection of the Law 3. The Necessity of the Sinner 4. The Excellency of the Redeemer First the Justice of God 1. Accompt The justice of God this is for the glory of Gods Justice to justifie man in such a way as wherein he may also justifie himself This the holy Apostle counts highly worthy our best observation That he might be just Rom. 3.26 and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus God would shew himself a Righteous God in justifying of Vnrighteous men and this he declareth in both the parts of Justification Sc. Pardon Accounting Righteous First In Pardon God shews himself just He declareth his Righteousness for the Remission of Sins that are past Remission looks backward Righteousness
forward Pardon relateth to a state past already Righteousness to a state future the State of a Sinner for the time to come Now in both these God's design is to declare himself a just God in Remission he declareth himself a just God by pardoning upon the accompt of satisfaction by the justice of God we are to understand the infinite severity of God in punishing sin in a way agreeable to the nature of his justice and this God eminently declareth Pardoning Sin in God is not an Act of mercy only but of Justice as in the Eternal Damnation of the Reprobates in their own persons so even in pardoning the sins of the Elect while he doth not pardon them Justitia nemine intelligatur summa illa Dei in vindicandis peccaris sâ— veritas justissimae ipsius na urae coâ—veniens Bez. in loc but upon the accompt of a valuable consideration namely as in the beginning of the verse of that propitiation or propitiatory Sacrifice which Christ hath made to divine justice by his Blood apprehended by Faith Whether God could not have pardoned sin by absolute Prerogative is an enquiry of an extrinsick consideration to this place since the Text informs us God was resolved to Consult his own Honour as well as the Creatures Happiness in this great Act of jurisdiction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Placamâ—ntum Beza namely Pardoning of Sin and purposed in Himself as highest reason requireth to pitty Sinners so far as He might not be Cruel to Himself and to shew Mercy to them in such a way as he might not wrong his own glorious Attributes and cast no blemish upon his Law and Government Should God indeed without any further Consideration have meerly Pardoned it might have had the shadow of a Reflection sc 1. Upon his Wisdom as if he had made a Law either so Strict as could not have been kept or so inconsiderable that being broken it was not worth the Vindication Or 2. Upon his All-sufficiency as if he wanted Power to have Chastised the breach of his Holy and Just and Good Law with Condign punishment Or 3. Above all His Veracity and Justice who having presentenced the breach of his Law with Death Death surely answerable to the nature of his Righteous and Eternal Law The Law being now notoriously Violated He should account it a a matter of indifferency whether He executed the threatned Sentence yea or no c. Oh how had this been to have prostituted the honour of His Government to be trampled under foot by bold and presumptuous Sinners Nay but God Pardoning Sin upon no inferiour accompt than the Propitiatory Sacrifice which his own Blessed Son made to Divine Justice by his Death hath born Witness to his High and Glorious Attributes Wisdom Power and Justice c. And hath left such a dreadful Monument of severity in the world as may for ever affright lapsed Sinners from daring God and destroying themselves Thus God is just in not putting up the wrong done to his most glorious Attributes by Sin without either the death of the Sinner according to the Letter or the death of the Surety according to the Equity of the Threatning 2dly As God declareth himself a just God by pardoning upon the accompt of satisfaction so he declares his Justice also in accompting the Sinner Righteous upon the consideration of a positive Righteousness For the better clearing of which point I shall briefly speak of the second accompt viz. Secondly The perfection of the Law And for better understanding of this I shall lay down these following propositions 1. Prop. The first is this The Law which at first God wrote in mans heart and afterward in two Tables of Stone was a Law of a most holy and absolute perfection It must needs be so for if God in his own nature and ends be most Holy his Law also must be so too it being the very Image of Gods Nature and Will So that the Law was a perfect mirrour wherein the perfections of the Divine Nature were made visible and conspicuous 2. Prop. This most perfect Law was given by God for two great Ends sc 1. To be a rule and pattern of Eternal Life and happiness 2. To be a condition of Eternal Life and happiness Do this and Live It was not only a Command but a Covenant with a promise of Eternal happiness upon perfect and perpetual obedience 3. Prop. These two ends being of perpetual necessity the Law it self must needs be so too such an excellent piece of beauty and perfection God never made for an Almanack to continue but for a year yea a day rather or moment of mans Integrity It is hard to conceive that God should intend to null this Law this had been for God to have let go his hold of man and to set up another in the room of it considering the end he aimed at as soon as he had made it A Law of an higher perfection Hoe solum omnipotenter non potuit God could not make and A Law of an inferiour perfection would not serve the turn either Gods's or man's 4. Prop. Although God permitted man to lose the perfection of his nature he never did intend to lose or dispence with the perfection of his own Law Heaven Earth may pass away but one jot or tittle of the Law must not pass away The Righteousness of God's Law like that of his Nature is immutable and everlasting Man being fallen and so by the abuse of his own free will having rendred himself altogether unable to fulfil this holy and perfect Law God sent his only begotten Son into the world not to introduce another Law or another Righteousness but another medium to fulfil and establish the former Rom. 3.31 There was no need of a new Law but of a new Nature to keep and fulfil that which was already in being That Law was abundantly able to justifie but the laps't Nature of man was not able to keep it what defect there was lay in the humane Nature not in the divine Law The Law was weak Rom. 8.3 but how through the flesh If fallen man could have fulfilled the Law the Law as considered in its self and its first institution could have justified him Christ therefore when he comes into the world destroys not that which was perfect but repairs Mat. 9.27 and perfects that which was weak and that he did by taking the humane nature into the same Personality with the divine Nature by a supernatural Conteption in the Womb of the Virgin Gal. 4 4. 6. Prop. Jesus Christ as Mediatour thus born of a Woman was under the Law He that made the Law as God was made under the Law as God-Man whereby both the Obligations of the Law fell upon him Paenal Praeceptive The Paenal Obligation For in the laps'd Estate there we begin to undergoe the Curse and so to satisfie Divine Justice The Praeceptive Obligation to fulfill all Righteousness Math.
3.13 This Obligation he fulfill'd by Doing That he sustained by Dying 7. Prop. This double Obligation could not have befallen the Lord Jesus Christ upon any natural account of his own but upon his Mediatory account only as he voluntarily became the Surety of this new and better Covenant Heb. 7 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that the fruit and benefit of Christ's voluntary subjection to the Law redoundeth not at all to Himself but unto the persons which were given him of the Father Joh. 17. whose Sponsor he became for their sakes he underwent the Paenal Obligation of the Law that it might do them no harm he being made a Curse for us Gal. 3.13 and for their sakes he fulfilled the Praeceptive Obligation of the Law Do this that so the Law might do them good This the Evangelical Apostle clearly asserts Rom. 10.4 Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth Weigh the Text. Christ is the end of the Law the end 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not finis destructivus to destroy the Law such he had been indeed had he come to have brought in any other Law in the room of this holy and perfect Law Mat. 5.17 but saith he I came not to destroy What end then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christus Finis legis i. e. eompletiâ— legis Remâ—g why Finis perfectivus the perfection and accomplishment of the Law not to destroy but to fulfill sc the end of the Law for Righteousness i. e. to the end that by Christ his active Obedience God might have his perfect Law perfectly kept that so there might be a Righteousness extant in the Humane Nature every way adaequate to the perfection of the Law And who must wear this Garment of Righteousness when Christ hath finished it surely the Believer who wanted a Righteousness of his own for so it follows for Righteousness to every one that believeth that is that every poor naked Sinner believing in Jesus Christ might have a Righteousness wherein being found he might appear at Gods Tribunal but his nakedness not appear but as Jacob in the Garment of his Elder Brother Esau so the Believer in the Garment of his Elder Brother Jesus might inherit the Blessing even the great Blessing of Justification This leads me to an 8th Proposition and that is 8. Prop. Faith which is commonly called the condition of the new Covenant is not in its self a new Righteousness but as it were an instrument or hand to apprehend and apply the Righteousness of the first Covenant as fulfilled by the great Sponsor Rom. 8 3. Perfectionem habet Legis qui in Christum credit and Surety on the believer's behalf That the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us sc in our Nature to our justification Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth 9. * As imitation of Adam only made us not Sinners so imitation of Christ only makes us not Righteous but imputation Down of Justifit Prop. This Mediatory Righteousness of Christ for his Personal and essential Righteousness falls not at all under this consideration can no way become the Believer's but as the first Adam's obedience became his Posteritie's who never had the least actual share in his transgression sc By an act of Imputation from God as a Judg. The Lord Jesus having fulfilled the Law as a second Adam God the Father imputeth it to the believing Sinner as if he had done it in his own person I say not God the Father doth account the Sinner to have done it but he doth impute it to the believing Sinner as if he had done it unto all saving intents and purposes Thus Abraham the Father of the faithful was justified his Faith was imputed to him for Righteousness his Faith i. e. objective the Righteousness which his Faith apprehended sc Christ his fulfilling of the Law as the Surety of the New Covenant And so are all the Children of Abrahams Faith justified also unto whom it shall be imputed also if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus from the dead Who was delivered for our sins and was raised again for our justification 10. h. and last Prop. The believing sinner appearing at the Tribunal of the great God and pleading his Righteousness thereupon standeth rectus in curiâ and is pronounc'd Righteous in the Court of divine Justice Thus the Sinner is brought in as it were in a way of judicial Process Isa 45.24 holding up his hand at the Judgment Seat the Judg on the Bench bespeaking him thus Sinner thou standest Indited for breaking the holy and just and good Law of thy Maker Rom. 3 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is verbum forense Sign Legally proved and hereof art proved Guilty Sinner what hast thou to say for thy self c To this the Sinner upon his bended knee Confesseth Guilty but with-all humbly craves leave to plead for himself full satisfaction made by his Surety It is Christ that died Rom. 8.34 And whereas it is further objected by the Judg I but Sinner the Law requireth an exact and perfect Righteousness in thy personal fulfilling of the Law Sinner Where is thy Righteousness The believing Sinner humbly replyeth My Righteousness is upon the Bench in the Lord have I Righteousness Christ my Surety hath fulfilled the Law on my behalf to that I appeal and by that I will be tried This done the Plea is accepted as good in Law The Sinner is pronounced Righteous and goeth away glorying and rejoycing Righteous Righteous In the Lord shall all the Seed of Israel be justified and shall glory If this be not the Righteousness whereby a poor Sinner is justified sc the Righteousness of the Law fulfilled by a Mediatour on behalf of Gods Elect I would gladly enquire What is become of the Do this in that first Covenant Is it indeed abolished Then hath Christ destroyed the Law destroyed it I say not fulfill'd it at least in one great and main design of it Secondly If so I would fain be satisfied what succeeds in the room of the Fac hoc to supply the office of a justifying Righteousness what can First Not surely Inherent Righteousness that being quidimperfectum and an imperfect Cause can never produce a perfect Effect which some observing have had no other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 left them Bell. de justif li. 2. ca. 7. S 3. but in down right language to affirm Habitual Righteousness to be perfect whom we shall leave to the confutation of fire in the last day Secondly Eph. 2.12 Nor can it be Adoption The terminus à quo in Adoption is a state of alienation from God The verminus à quo in Justification is a guilty Malefactor as to Absolution and of want of Righteousness as to the Condition of the Covenant Thirdly Much less can faith in its own nature considered supply this office For if faith
then either as it is an Habit or as it is an Act not verily as an Habit for so it falls within the List of Graces and is a branch of Sanctification Nor as it is an Act For so it is a Work and would confound the two Covenants We assert indeed with the current of Scripture Justification by faith but in the sense of the reformed Churches sc Not by vertue of any intrinsic merit in faith but by vertue of the extrinsic object which faith layeth hold on namely Christ the great Sponsor of the New Covenant fulfilling the Righteousness of the Law for Believers Fourthly lastly And least of all can Remission of sin supply the office of the Fac hoc Take it in the utmost extent and latitude that may be sc as including Commissions Omissions Defects or imperfections even to the least want of Conformity to the Law either in 1. Life or 2. Nature Pardon can no more make a man Righteous Anth. Burgess do justificat The Law is not fulfilled by the passive Righteousness of Christ only and therefore pardon alone cannot justifie then it can make a man Learned Remission not being the qualification which the Eternal Law of God calls for Object To which if it be Objected No more is imputed Righteousness The Righteousness which the Law requireth upon pain of Damnation is a perfect obedience and Conformity to the whole Law of God performed by every Son and Daughter of Adam in his own person To this Objection I offer these particulars following by way of Answer 1. Imputed Righteousness is the same materially with that which the Law requireth It is Obedience to the Law of God exactly and punctually perform'd to the very outmost iota and tittle thereof without the least abatement Christ hath paid the uttermost farthing He is the fulfilling of the Law for Righteousness ut suprà 2. Christ's fulfilling or accomplishing of the Law was performed in and by the humane Nature For verily to this purpose Heb. 2.16 Rom. 9.8.14 It is not always necessary the debt be paid by the Principal if it be done by the Surety it is all one as if the Principal had paid it himself Rom. 8.3 Especially if the Creditor gave his consent the Lord Jesus took not upon him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham Because the Children of Promise undertaken for were partakers of flesh and blood He also took part of the same to the intent the Law might be fulfilled in the same Nature to which it was at first given 3. It was expresly done in their names and on their behalf that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us as if our Lord had said This I suffer and this I do to the use and in the stead of my Covenant Seed that they may have a Righteousness which they may truly call their own 4. All was done not without full consent of all parties for 1. As to the Law-giver it was his own free gratuitous motion I will send my Son God seeing how the case stood with poor lapsed man took up a resolution to save some whatsoever it should cost him Well said he I will send my Son 2. God the Father no sooner made the motion Heb. 10.7.9 but the Son echoeth unto it Lo I come Yea observe how quick he is then said I The word was no sooner out of God's mouth but it laid a Law of sweet Compulsion upon Christ's heart his bowels yern'd within him and then said he Lo I come to do thy Will by the which Will we are Sanctified i. e. either the Will of the Father appointing the Son to his Mediatory Office or the Will of the Son accepting it so readily or by both we are Sanctified freed from the evil of sin and accounted Righteous and holy before God And though as we may so say the Lord Jesus ensnared himself by the words of his mouth yet he never repented to this day nor ever sought to be released from this Suretiship but rejoyceth in it as if he were the gainer Psal 16.7 I will bless the Lord who hath given me Counsel He giveth thanks to his Father for imploying him in this Work Hereunto if it be objected that the Lord Jesus Object when the hour of His Sufferings drew nigh did Repent of his Suretyship and in a deep passion prayed to his Father to be released from his Passion Father Math. 26. if it be possible let this Cup pass from me and that three times over ver 39.42.44 We Answer Answ that in those words of our Lord there is a twofold Voyce sc 1. There is Vox Naturae the Voyce of Nature Let this Cup pass from me 2. There is Vox Officii the voyce of his Mediatory Office Nevertheless Not as I will but as thou wilt The first Voyce let this Cup pass intimates the Velleity of the Inferionr part of his Soul the Sensitive part proceeding from a natural abhorrency of death as he was a Creature The later Voyce Nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt expresseth the full and free Consent of his Will complying with the Will of his Father in that grand everlasting Designe of bringing many Sons unto Glory by Making the Captain of their Salvation perfect Heb. 2.10 through sufferings It was an Argument of the truth of Christ His humane Nature that he naturally dreaded a Dissolution Omne appetit Conservationem sui He owed it to Himself as a Creature to desire the Conservation of his Being and He could not become unnatural to himself Phil. 2.8 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh c. But being a Son he learned submission and became obedient to the death even the death of the Cross that Shameful Cruel Cursed death of the Cross The suffering whereof he owed to that solemn Astipulation which from everlasting passed between his Father and Himself 1 Joh. 5.8 As to Christs humane Nature the Cup was Calix ameritudinis the third Person in the Blessed Trinity the Holy Ghost being Witness And therefore though the Cup was the bitterest Cup that ever was given man to drink as wherein there was not Death only but Wrath and Curse yet seeing there was no other way lest of satisfying the Justice of his Father Nor did Bridegroom go with more chearsulness to be Married to his Bride then our Lord Jesus went to his Cross Luk. 12.50 Ratione officij it was Calix Salxtis and of saving Sinners most willingly He took the Cup and having given Thanks as it were in those words The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it He drank it It was Bitter indeed but he found it sweetned with three Ingredients 1. It was but a Cup not a Sea 2. It was his Father that mingled it not the Devil 3. It was a Gift not a Curse as to himself The Cup which my Father giveth me He drank it I say and drank
the wicked 2.73 Of great comfort to the godly 2.75 Judgment-day whether the Saints that are then alive must die literally or analogically only 2.65 Why concealed 2.68 Whether Christ will sit upon a visible throne 2.70 Christ will appear in the same humane nature which he assumed of the Virgin and why 2.71 Christ will appear personally for three reasons 1 The judgment must be personal 2.70 2 A recompence to his abasement 2.71 3 To perfect his mediatory office 2.72 Justification the Saints shall be fully and finally justified at the last day which consists 1 In their publick absolution 2.133 2 In the Judge his pronouncing them perfectly righteous 2.138 God justifieth a sinner in that way wherein he may justifie himself 2.141 It is not by any intrinsick merit in faith but extrinsick object that faith layeth hold on 2.148 It is variously denominated according to its causes 2.153 Legal and evangelical what it is 2.154 Law and Gospel reconciled in the mystery of justification 2.153 K Kindness all kindnesses done to Christ or his members will be owned at the day of judgment 2.129 Knowledge whether the Saints shall know one another with a distinguishing knowledge in heaven affirm 3.8 Knowledge of one another in heaven a great motive to converse one with another on earth 3.11 Whether the knowledge of our elect relations in heaven do not infer a distinct knowledge of our relations in hell and whether that may not be terrible Neg. 3.13 How many wayes we shall have knowledge of God set forth by several steps 3.31 L Law pardon is not the qualification that the Law requireth but perfection 2.139 That which God at first wrote in mans heart and afterwards in two tables of stone was a law of a most holy and absolute perfection 2.143 The law the image of Gods nature and will 2.143 It was given to be 1 A rule and pattern of an holy life 2.144 2 A condition of eternal life ibid. It is of perpetual necessity 2.144 It is not to be dispenced withall 2.144 Christ did not bring in another law but another medium to fulfil the former 2.144 Christ as Mediator was born under the law 2.145 Christ his fulfilling the law was performed in and by the humane nature 2.149 Law and Gospel reconciled in the great mystery of justification 2.153 Likeness we shall be like God in 1 Our understanding 3.78 2 Our will 3.80 3 Our affections 3.80 4 Our memories 5 the whole image 1 The soul 3.81 2 the body 3.82 Loss fear of loosing of heaven would make it worse than hell 3.96 Love of God a great assurance of the eternity of heaven 3.94 A superlative love to Christ an evidence of heaven 3.120 M Marriage of the Lamb consummated at the last day and the solemnity of it 2.162 Marriage its happiness consists in suitableness 3.67 Maityrdom like Elijah 's Charriot 3.139 Means God not tyed to them 3.48 Memory the Saints shall be like God in their memories 3.80 Of the Saints shall be like the ark of the covenant 3.80 Mercy the mercy of God an assurance of heavens eternity 3.92 Ministers must preach nothing but what is warranted by the word 2.67 They may preach with success and yet be cast out 2.171 They must see that the comforts they administer be Gods comforts 3.154 Miscarriage of the image of God in Adam not of improvidence but ordination 3.80 Mistake no mistake of one anothers condition in heaven 3.7 Mixture of Saints and sinners will be here 2.116 Mortification exercise the duties of it 3 130 Motives to assurance 3.111 Mourners are to open their ears and hearts to words of comfort 3.156 Mystery divers mysteries mentioned namely 1 Of the Trinity 2 Of the Incarnation 3 Of Election and Reprobation 4 Of the Creation of the World 5 Of the Resurrection 6 Of all the Arcana Naturae 3.51 We must not pry too much into them 3.55 N Nature the fulfilling of the Law was performed in and by the humane nature 2.149 Negatives cannot fill a dying man with comfort 3.160 O Omnipotence all things are alike to it 2.100 It supports the Saints under their happiness as well as the wicked under their misery 3.90 92 It is omnipotence in God that he cannot sin 3 90 Ordinances a dangerous notion of being above them 3.48 In what sense it is good to live above them ibid. Not to rest in or contented with them 3.49 P Pardon pardon of sin is the privative part of justification 2.133 How sins past present and to come are pardoned in conversion and how not 2.134 Sin fully pardoned at death ibid. It makes sin as if it had never been 2.135 It is not sufficient to capacitate the Saints for glory 2.139 It looks backward Righteousness forward 2.142 It is not the qualification which the Law requireth but perfection 2 139 If God should only pardon and not justifie it would seem to reflect upon 1 Gods Wisdom 2 142 2 Gods â—ll-sufficiency ibid. 3 Gods Veracity and Justice ibid. It maketh not a man righteous 2.148 No pardon at the Judgment-seat 2.169 Perseverance stands not in the nature of grace 1.39 It stands not in the liberty or rectitude of the will though regenerate 1.39 It stands upon 1 Divine compact 140 2 Vnion with Christ ibid. Pleasure sensitive pleasures have only their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3 108 Praâ—se Saints shall be praised for their graces at the last day though wrought in them c. 2.132 Prayer get the faithful to pray for thee and pray for thy self 3.131 Words of prayer are to be joyned with words of comfort 3.165 Presence the Saints shall ever be in the presence of Christ 3.2 Precepts in one place are promises in another 3.112 Pride there is much of pride in refusing comfort 3.157 Promises ought to be studied 3.163 Learn to which of Christs Offices each promise relateth 3.164 Promises in one place are precepts in another 3.112 Refer them to their distinct heads 3.163 They then bring comfort when they are applied by the Spirit 3.164 Propriety to enjoy heaven and to know I do enjoy it is the happiness of happiness 3.71 Punishment shall not be mitigated at the judgment 2.170 Purchase and election are both perfected by the sanctification of the Spirit 2.123 R Recompence Christ his speaking honourably of the Saints in the last day will abundantly recompence the reproaches they have here 2.133 Reconciliation God is first in reconciliation though sinners first in the transgression 2.169 Redeemer he undertook two great works for the redeemed 1. One to make satisfaction for sin 2. The other to yield absolute conformity to the Law of God 2.140 Regeneration Conformity of the Saints to Christ in the Resurrection hath its beginning in it 2.101 111 Relations ours not alone in their death 1.9 When dead they are not lost but sowen 1.19 Though they cease in heaven yet the remembrance of them ceaseth not 3.12 Remembrance the book of Gods remembrance and book of conscience