from what is Reveal'd to Us Heb. 2.16 in these Words He took not on Him the Nature of Angels but he took on Him the Seed of Abraham Which argues as if there had been some such Contest at least gives Us leave to think whether it might not be and from such a suppose you see not wholly Unwarrantable I have Endeavour'd to reconcile the common Notion of Lucifer's aspiring to be Equal with God and brought him in arguing for himself as you have heard Thus did he Exalt Himself in his Pride and thought his Arms Invincible Which yet were not proof against the Mighty Argument of Love wielded by St. Michael who stood Victorious in his Constancy on his Contemplation of the vastness of the Nature of Love which can Endure no Limits and when it Gives knows no Reserves whose Glory therefore is Extended by the Greatness of its Condescentions and therefore Infinite Love must find Infinite Condescentions to Exert it self And Man being the Lowest of Rational Beings which only are Capable of Union with God that must needs be the Creature which Infinite Love will choose to Exalt to the Extremity of Almighty Power to make it even one with God that so Love which is God may be All in All may be the First and the Last And in Man Spirit being joyn'd in one Person with a Body compos'd of the Four Inferior Elements God does by this advance into an Union with His own Nature the very lowest of his Creatures Gross Matter it self as far as possibly it can be made Capable That as all things Spring from His Love and from thence do perpetually flow so do they in this Misterious Incarnation for ever Return thither again He is Α. and Ω. the Highest and the Lowest for that he Ascended what is it but that He first Descended into the Lowest parts of the Earth For Descending and Ascending being Relatives they must hold the same Proportion Eph. iv 9.10 and therefore none can Ascend more than first he did Descend Now Jesus who Descended even into Hell is the same also that Ascended far above all Heavens that He might fill all things But such Glory of Love cou'd not arise from God's advancing the Highest Creature because that wou'd not be so great a Condescention and the Supream Angel might perhaps Attribute something of Merit to himself and Despise all below who might think themselves left behind or forgot by the Eternal Providence who yet had the same Original pretences being all brought from out the same Mother Nothing But in this wonderful Oeconomy of the Incarnation all Disparity of Creatures is taken away like that of Stars in the presence of the Sun Eternal Love having Gather'd together in one all things in Christ Eph. i. 10. both which are in the Heavens and which are on the Earth even in Him who by this has made Heaven and Earth into one Family iii. 15. and of whom they both are nam'd And Christ the Head of Both from whom Both being made thus into One the whole Body fitly Joyn'd together iv 16. and compacted by that which every joynt supplieth according to the Effectual working in the Measure of every part maketh Increase of the Body unto the Edifying of it self in Love So that the Glory of Almighty Love shines alone in the many Members of this Great Body that an Angel cannot say to a Man or to a Worm there is no need of you more then the Hand can Despise the Foot or the Eye reject the assistance of the Ear That therefore it is no Dishonor for the Greatest Creature to serve the Least since they are all Members of one Body and United in the Incarnation of God Therefore Michael and his Angels thought it not only Indispensible to Adore the Manhood in God but that it was the Pitch of their Glory the Sum of all possible Bliss to contemplate such Love as was Vnfathomable to the Eternal Increasing of flight of Abstracted and Enlightn'd Spirits And not only this but they Rejoyc'd to be made Ministring Spirits to the meanest of Christ's Members upon the Earth Heb. 1.6 7. And to take their Name of Angels or Messengers from that Office assign'd them even to little Children as you are Instructed from the Gospel for the Day Mat. xviii 2.10 Nay farther they were content to Learn of their Pupils and to be Taught by the Church the Manifold wisdom of God Eph. 3.10 But this Humility of Love Satan Despis'd and instead thereof accused Man before God as unworthy of His Union And both Parties appeal'd to God And what cou'd be the Event when Love was Judge The Accuser of our Brethren was cast down who Accused them before God day and night as you have heard in the Epistle And Michael was Justified who maintain'd the Cause of Love in that Almighty Condescention of it in the Incarnation and Death of Christ They overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb says the Epistle that is that High Instance of Love in Defence of which Michael fought did out shine all the pretended Glories of Pride and left the Devil Overthrown Astonish'd and Desperate and in this did appear the Strength and Salvation and Kingdom of our God and the Power of his Christ that is Love in its utmost Condescention which is its Victory and most Noble Glory the Riches and Superabundance of its Grace it 's Natural and Belov'd Conquest And now Rejoyce O ye Heavens ye Angels of His who do His pleasure who have overcome in this Noble Contest and for your Reward feed Eternally on that Unexhaustible Fountain of Love whose Cause you have so truly maintain'd But wo to the Inhabitants of the Earth for the Devil is come down unto you having great wrath and he Deceiveth the whole World and is come to make War with the Remnant which keep the Commandments of God and have the Testimony of Jesus Christ You see the same War is carry'd on by Him upon Earth which He fought in Heaven But before we enter into this Second part of the Battle there is a Proeliminary to be adjusted which will be necessary to the carrying on of this War and that is that we find a Reason why the Devil did not Acquiesce in the Judgment which God gave since we suppose that he Appealed to it as Korah and his Company appealed to God against Moses and Aaron and appear'd with Censers in their hands before the Lord which Cause I have made instance of as a Copy of the Rebellion of Lucifer Towards Satifaction in this difficulty let us first consider the Nature of that Obstinancy which is generally found in Error Non persuadebis etiam si presuaseris is a true and common saying and we read in the Gospel of those who seeing see not and who close their Eyes lest they should see We know that Spight and Malice will provoke that Rage which it knows too strong for it and which will torment it and will
same Principle into Men. And this I shew you for the first Sin of Lucifer and his Angels that it consisted in a wrong Notion of God which is the Great and Mother Heresie considering of him falsly in his attributes of Power and Sovereignity And therefore they cou'd not believe the Incarnation cou'd be meant litterally by God as being unworthy his Greatness and so vast a Diminution of His Majesty to Empty Himself into the Basest of the Order of Spirits and Mingle Infinit with Flesh and Blood and therefore Argued against it not knowing that true Power and Sovereignity are in the Conquests of Love which delights to Condescend it self and Advance others But the desire to over-power others by force and violence and Debase them under our Power is so far from Almightiness that it is an Impotent Vice which arises from Fear and want of Strength in our minds and the more we grow Powerful in that sense the more we fall from that which is true Power that is to Help or Advance others which we may perceive from this Experience Those who overcome by Love Advance those they overcome into their Love But who overcome by Force Subjugat those they overcome therefore the Conquest of Love is giving a greater Freedom and that must be by loosing us from some former Thraldom and that is truly Power and Greatness and therefore the Conquest of Force is taking from us some Freedom we had before but cannot be the giving of any Freedom for then it would not be Force and therefore cannot help or free from Thraldom and is therefore Impotence and shares nothing of Greatness But to Subdue one may give Freedom to another Is it not Noble to Rescue a Friend from his Enemy It is But in so far as it gives Help or Freedom it proceeds from Love And from this very pretence it may be argu'd that the Glories of Pride are but an Imitation of the Power of Love But it is more noble to overcome an Enemy by Love then by Force for by Force you only Rescue your Friend but by Love you Convert his Enemy and so Rescue him too Love has for its object only the giving Freedom to my Friend to commit Force upon his Enemy is no part of its Design for it wou'd rather Convert that Enemy and so make a Friend of him too and when it does Force an Enemy it does it unwillingly and thinks it no greater Bravery then to remove a Stone out of the way I am to go or to tread through a dirty Step. And this Mire is all that Pride delights in it delights in Mischief to do others Hurt and throw them down and thinks that in that consists its own Exaltation a Glory to which the Plague has a better Title then a Hero for the Plague Destroys more from which office the Devil the King of the Children of Pride takes his Title of Apollyon a Destroyer but God delights to be known by the name of Jesus a Saviour And if you think that a wild Beast has not more right to this Honour than any Man of Arms the best proof will be to see them Grapple together and then you will easily judge of their Strength and Courage If Wrath were a more noble Quality than Love Christ would not have chose the Lamb and the Dove for his Emblem and left the Dragon and the Serpent for the Arms of the Devil To Destroy is the Courage of a Beast I will deliver thee into the hand of Brutish Men Skilful to Destroy Says Ezek xxi 31. Whereas the Exaltation and Force of Love is in Humbling its self to do others Good and the Higher it Raises others the Greater is its Delight and Glory nor do's it fear to Raise others too High too near its-self which is the suspition of Pride because its Delight does Encrease by doing Good to others and therefore the Higher others Rise its Delight is the Greater and when it brings others to be even one with its self then its Joy is in Perfection From what we have Consider'd of the Nature of Love and Pride this then is the Result To be Conquer'd by Love is to be Exalted but to be conquer'd by Pride is to be Debased for Love Humbles it self to Advance others Pride Humbles others to Advance it self And which of these two is the most Noble is the state of the Case the Subject of our present Contemplation in the two greatest Instances of either that ever was or can possibly be in Heaven or on Earth Of the one in the Incarnation of Christ Of the other in the Revolt of the Angels We have now gain'd the ground of Quarrel which engag'd the Angels of Heaven in a War Next let us bring their mighty Armies into the Field and Examine the Conduct of their Chiefs by discussing their Arguments on both sides each in defence of their Principles For differing Thoughts is the Contest of Spirits And may we not be allow'd thus to Enquire For we shall be their Judges Know ye not that we shall Judge Angels says the Apostle 1. Cor. vi 3. The Good Angels as we have heard did believe the Incarnation when it was Reveal'd to them as being agreeable to the Notion of God which they had which was all Love and wherein they understood the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory of God to consist And therefore they did willingly submit to adore the Humanity joyn'd in one Person with the God-Head Submit did I say they Glory'd in it with all their Powers it was their most Natural Service for it was a more Noble Demonstration of the Nature of Love than ever they had known before which being a clearer Revelation of the Divinity was proportionably an Encrease of Happiness to them as being more nearly Reconcild or admitted to a nearer Participation of the Divine Goodness the Sum the Completion the Farthest of Created Bliss having all their Joy their Hopes their Exultation and Wonders of Love their Eternal Security and Confirmation all their Glory and Delight every Thought of their Capacious and Enlarg'd Vnderstandings all fill'd up gather'd together in one in the Contemplation of that stupendous Infinit Excess of Love the Incarnation of God! The vertue of which wrought up from Earth to the Heavens to the Confirmation and Perpetual Increase of Felicity to the Blessed Angels as we are taught from Ephes. 1.10 Col. 1.20 On the other side the Rebel-Angels could not Believe the Incarnation when it was Reveal'd unto them at least in the plain and litteral Sense of it as being contrary to that Notion of God which they had which was all Haughtiness and Pride or what they could suppose it is in God which holds proportion to Pride in Creatures for which we want a proper Name and in this they understood the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory of God to Consist And therefore as they cou'd not Believe neither cou'd they Submit to Worship Humanity in any Condition
tho' joyn'd in one Person with the Godhead Submit No it provok'd their Contempt their Hatred Rage and Madness against Man and this carrying them still farther from the Sight and Participation of Love consequently Remov'd them far away from the sight of God who is Love 1 John iv 8. And that is the proper definition of Sin and Hell and Misery for Sin and Hell are in Effect the same there is Hell that is Misery involv'd in the Nature of every Sin because all Sin consists in our withdrawing our selves from God who is Happiness Essential and in his Absence only is any Misery or Vnhappiness And consequently the farther we Remove from Him the Greater is our Misery This frees Us from an Objection how God who is all Love can be a Consuming Fire and Inflict Hell For Hell is the Natural Product of Sin But that it proceeds from God is so Untrue that it can only be where He is not But God is every where He is in Hell That is He comprehends Hell and Understands the Nature of it for that is the Seeing of a Spirit or the Manner of its being Present But Hell does not see Him that is Understand His Nature aright which is the Original of Pride and is the being Absent from God and therein Consists their Misery Can Love be said properly to Inflict those Torments which proceed only from the want of Love Or does the Straightness of a Rule Cause the Crookedness of that Line which will not keep to the Rule He that hides his Adultery or his Murder in a Cave may as justly Curse the Sun for the Darkness and the Damps which he Endures as the wicked Blaspheme the God of Love for the Envy and Malice and Vexation which attend upon their Pride Let Us be Judge by our Selves whence do the Terrors of Conscience proceed They proceed from the Sense of Good we have Omitted It is not then the Good which causes those Terrors but on the Contrary the Omitting of that Good The Nature of Love like that of Fire converts every thing into its Self But a Proud Spirit even from thence will draw Arguments of Envy and afflict its Self but this proceeds not from the Nature of Love but from the Nature of Pride therefore Pride in its own Nature is Miserable and Love is always Victorius If any say how is it that Love overcomes Pride after what Manner Let him observe how Light overpowers the Darkness without Noise but Irresistably And the Grosser the Darkness is the Greater does appear the Power of the Light and its Extent the Greater As Death gives place to Life and Truth prevails against Error with such Arms does Love fight against Pride Love is Light and Life and Truth And by whatever Degrees Love does Advance by the same is its Conquest Secur'd and Joy lifts up his head and Sorrow and Shame and Pride fly before his Face Now the Incarnation being the greatest Extent of Love is consequently the greatest Shock and Humiliation of Pride that is possible to be Imagin'd and so most contrary to the Devil the Father of Pride the Greatest Destruction and Ruin of his Principles as it Unites gives Peace and Intire Satisfaction to the Angels of Love so it Distracts and Runs contrary to all the thoughts of Proud Spirits Thus Love which is Happiness in the Abstract becomes a Torment to those who Understand it not by being seen thro' a false Prospect And in their Madness they Blaspheme that Love which is their only Remedy And Curse it because they have Parted from it and the more it Invites them to Return the more do they Fret themselves and in Spight run farther from it which still does more Incapacitate them to Return and this is that makes Hell Immortal And thus it is that the Virtue of Christ's Incarnation and Death wrought down from Earth to Hell to the Confirmation and Perpetual Increase of Misery to the Damn'd Spirits who have stood out proof against the last Remedy the strongest Charm of Love that 's possible the Incarnation of Christ and have seperated themselves from His Love and Pine away a sad Eternity in the Ruins of their Pride Irreparable which grow more Obdurate from its being overcome and from that Triumph of Love in the Incarnation so far beyond all that it looked for or cou'd beleive and which therefore being fulfilled it Hates and Reproaches with an Impotent Despair which is the Anguish of Hell This was the Issue of the War but let us now take a View of the Battle As Korah and his Company were bold to appear before the Lord and Appeal to Him whether Moses or they were in the Right so both Armies of Angels being perswaded of the Justice of their Cause went forth to Battle and were bold both confident of the Victory to Appear and Plead before the Lord for whose Honor each Party did pretend to Fight as it is still with Us which proceeded from the Different Notions they had of God Satan Argu'd the Majesty Soveraignty and Omnipotence of God The Poor Dejected worthless Condition of Man And hence how Absurd and Blasphemous it wou'd be that God shou'd be a Man Subject to Infirmities and Death Against whom Michael Fought from the same Consideration of Gods Omnipotence that therefore God might Incarnate Himself and the more Difficult it did appear to Created Minds the Greater Glory did it bring to God That the ways were Unsearchable by which God did Communicate Himself to His Creatures whose whole Being was a Participation of God and that it was Unexcusable Presumption for a Finit Power to Determine how Intensly an Almighty Love might bestow of its self even to denominate what it Loves to be one and the same Person with its Self Satan tho' Dazzl'd with the Refulgence of Almighty Power yet still pursues his Pride and Contests that if God shou'd Choose a Creature to make one with Himself it sure must be the Worthiest That the Nature so ioyn'd to the Divinity must be Adorable And that it were against the Justice of God to make Noble Spirits serve a Baser than themselves That therefore if any 〈◊〉 must be the Nature of Angels and not the Impure â—eed of Man that God will assume And if an Angel who â—as pretentions beyond Lucifer the Brightest Son of the Morning the Glory of God's First Creation And in this sense he might be said to aspire to be Equal with God even Literally i. e. to be One and the same Person with God Which cannot Rationally be made up of any other Scheme that we hear yet Advanc'd concerning his Rebellion for no otherwise is it possible for Us to imagine how a thought so seemingly Absurd even to Us shou'd arise in the mind of an Angel of being Equal with God But as we have here Deduc't it why might he not think that God might be an Angel as well or rather then a Man And this we may reasonably conjecture
People of God in Scorn call'd Quakers p. 126. for say they we can never call the Bodily Garment Christ They deny that Christ had Properly any thing Human either Soul or Body That the outward Person which suffer'd upon the Cross was Properly the Son of God we utterly Deny says their Serious Apology wrote by Will. Penn p. 146. They Dream that Christ had a Spiritual Body before the Creation and that He has the same now in Heaven but not that Body of Jesus of Nazareth which He took of the B. Virgin and which suffer'd upon the Cross The Eutychians held that the Humanity of Christ was Absorpt or swallow'd up in His Divinity so that there Remain'd not now any Human Nature in Christ Agreeable to this the Quakers allow not Christ to have now any thing that is Human about Him But to have Divested Himself of all that when he Ascended into Heaven where they say He now is only as he was before the Creation In short they make what they call their Light within to be not only a Ray Influence or Inspiration sent from Christ but to be the very Essential and Personal Christ as well Body as Spirit and that He has no other Body or Spirit but what is within them For a further account of these men I Refer the Reader to a Book call'd The Snake in the Grass and to another wrote by the same Author Intitul'd Satan Dis-Rob'd And so Proceed to another less Famous Sect amongst us call'd the Muggletonians These with the Quakers deny any Distinction of Persons in the God-Head and Consequently they run into the the old Heresie of the Patri-passians thence so call'd because they held that it was God the Father who was Incarnate and did Suffer upon the Cross To this the Quakers agree and George Fox the Father and Founder of them in his Great Mystery p. 246. Disputes against those who said that it was not God the Father who was Incarnate Lodowick Muggleton who Arose the same Year with G. Fox An. 1650. And his Followers say that the God-head Dy'd upon the Cross and that there was then no God But that God before He was Incarnate Deputed Elijah to Govern in His Absence that Elijah Rais'd Him again from the Dead and Restor'd Him to His Throne That Christ who was God the Father did not know Himself to be God or any more than Elijah pleas'd to let Him know That Elijah was the Father to whom He pray'd upon the Cross They strick in likewise with the Anthropomorphits as John Bidle the late Celebrated Socinian and say that God from all Eternity had a Body and of the same Shape as Man's Body and that being made after the Image of God referr'd to the Shape of His Body They pretend to Discribe His Shape a Middle-siz'd Handsom Man and such like most Vile and Ridiculous stuff These Batteries the Devil has Rais'd of several Shapes and Sizes against the Truth of the Incarnation of Christ This he is not able to Digest or Understand aright and Seduces his Weak but Envy'd Rival Man by such Multiplicity of Subterfuges as he has Invented This is the Great and Fundamental Head of that War which the Devil now carrys on upon Earth And there is another which is Like unto it and Depends upon it Namely The Doctrin of Satisfaction which the Devil opposes upon the same foot with the Incarnation for they are Both so closely Link'd together as that the Doctrin of Satisfaction supposes the Incarnation and Death of Christ without which no Adequat Satisfaction that is No Satisfaction cou'd have been made to Justice for the Sin of Man And on the other hand no Rational Account can be given for the Incarnation and Sufferings of our Saviour but to Satisfie the Justice of God for our Sin For all other Considerations of Christ as a Prophet a Teacher a Mediator or Intercessor might have been Executed either by an Angel or Holy Man thereunto Commissionated by God And that without any Necessity of the Death of such a Messenger But to make Adequat Satisfaction to the utmost Demand of Infinit Justice for all the Sins of the World to Pay this Infinit Debt Exceeded all Created Sufficiency and cou'd be Perform'd by none but God alone And the Doom of Sin being Death without shedding of Blood there cou'd be no Remission Which Infers the Necessity not only of Christ's Incarnation but His Death And it was not Possible the Cup should pass from Him if He wou'd Redeem lost Mankind If it had been Possible sure His Father wou'd not have Refus'd what He so Passionatly and in so Bitter an Agony Three times Requested His Father wou'd not Causlesly Luk. xxiv 46 26. Mat. xxvi 54. have so Exposed His Beloved Son in whom He was well Pleased No. But as Christ Himself has told us It thus Behooved Him to suffer That He Ought to have suffer'd these things And That Thus it Must be When God in His All-wise Providence had so far Permitted the Spirit of Pride and Malice as to seduce Mankind into Disobedience the Devil then thought he had in some sort even Conquer'd at least over-reach'd the Almighty For thus He Argu'd with himself If God's Justice be Exact by which I Suffer then must Man be Eternally Miserable with me for He is less able than I am to make any Satisfaction for his Sin And thus have I Ruin'd my Hatred and Dispis'd Rival and even by the Necessity of God's Nature which is Justice I have forc'd Him to Damn that Base Human Nature which He wou'd joyn into His own Person Post-poning the more Noble Angelick Nature which is thus Reveng'd And the Devil thought himself Secure and Impregnable in this his Pride and Malice For if the Nature of Justice which is God cannot Acquit without Full Satisfaction and that the Satisfaction for Sin must be Proportionable to the Person against whom the Sin is Committed which is Infinit And that the Penalty must be Death And that God only is Infinit and that God cannot Dye And again That the same Nature which Offended must make the Satisfaction And that Human Nature was far from Infinit and so cou'd make no Satisfaction I say upon all these Accounts the Devil thought Man's Cause to be Irremediable and Desperate and that in this he had Prevail'd against God for Ever But God thus far Permitted His Enemy thereby to shew forth more Gloriously the Riches of His Grace and the In-Exhaustibility of His Wisdom For by the Ever-Adorable Mistery of God Manifest in the Flesh and suffering Death for us upon the Cross all the above seemingly Insuperable Difficulties are Dissolved like Ice before the Fire For Here is Satisfaction made by the same Nature which Offended and the Satisfaction is Full and Adequat because the same Person is God And tho' the God-Head cannot Dye yet the Person which is God may Dye As the Soul of Man does not Die but the Man who has
the meaning of the Sacrifices under the Law The Sacrifices of God are a broken Spirit So that Repentance was no new Condition Nor indeed was any Doctrine of Christ new for He came to fulfil the Law And if we look into this it will convince Us beyond all we cou'd gather from our own Reason As much as a Picture is beyond a Description Behold therefore in the Law the Types of Christ how they were Expiatory and not meerly for Example Christ our Passover is Sacrificed for Vs 1 Cor. 5.7 Sacrifices were for Expiation and not for Example The Sin of the Party was Laid upon the Sacrifice and it was said to Die for His Sin Which was confest over the Scape Goat Lev. XVI 21.22 and put upon his head and he was to bear it away to a Land not Inhabited This was to shew that Death was the wages of Sin and that Christ was to bear it for us and Escape with it and carry it from Us. Chap. xvii 11. The life of the Flesh is in the Blood and I have given it to you upon the Altar says the Old Testament to make an Atonement for your Souls for it is the Blood that maketh an Atonement for the Soul And this is the Reason that almost all things are by the Law purged with Blood Heb. ix 22.23 and without shedding of Blood is no Remission It was therefore Necessary says the Apostle and so goes on to infer the Necessity of Christ's shedding his Blood according to his Types which He did to the least Jota Chap. xiii 12. even to His Suffering without the Gate This sets before Us as in a Picture the whole Oeconomy of Christ's Sufferings and from the first Sentence of Death pronounced against Sin In the Day thou Eatest thou shalt surely Dye we see this fulfilled in the Legal Sacrifices slain for the Sin of Man which Typified the Sheding of that Blood which cou'd indeed take away Sin which it was not possible for the Blood of Bulls and Goats to do Heb. x. 4 5. and therefore says Christ a Body hast thou prepar'd me and Lo I come Col. 1.20 He was the true Sacrifice and Expiation for our Sin having made Peace thro' the Blood of his Cross Eph. 1.7 In whom we have Redemption thro' His Blood To call all this only His being an Example to Us is so wide both from Reason and the Matter of Fact that it shews the very Impotence of our Enemy It was by the Blood of the Lamb they overcome him says the Epistle for this Day This Expiation of Christ takes away our Sin pays all our Debt and leaves nothing to the Spirit of Pride but to Feed on his own Envy and Malice and Mad Despair God has Guarded this last stake and great Rock of our Salvation as to render it Impregnable but by our supine Negligence He who can turn all that the Scripture speaks of the Expiation and Atonement and Ransom of Sin to a mere Example he must go against his own Conviction if ever we can determine it in any Case Nay I dare appeal to any such whether if he were Dying he would take greater Comfort in Considering Christ as his Surety who had paid his Debt as his Sacrifice and Expiation who cou'd plead to the Justice of God full Satisfaction for all his Sins whether his heart wou'd not Lean more to Christ thus as a Saviour then to look upon Him meerly as an Example which he has not follow'd Some wou'd go farther and let Christ be an Intercessor only and as such a Redeemer i. e. Who Redeems Us by His Interceeding with God for Us. That God appointed Him for this work but that it is against Reason to talk of his Answering to Gods Justice for that God needed no body to Pay a Debt to him He might forgive without all that if He pleas'd This has been Answer'd already But I wou'd fain ask one Question Whether God needs an Intercessor more then a Redeemer to Save Mankind How can People pretend Reason for the one and yet cry down the other as against all Reason And again to give Divine worship to this Intercessor and at the the same time to deny his Divinity as the Arians did and the Polonian Socinians do at this Day which is Reckon'd no less than Rank Idolatry by the new fashion'd Socinians which are got up amongst us who deny Divine Honor to be due to Christ and yet when these Socinians are pleading for Antiquity they Derive themselves from the Arians Tho' the Arians allow Christ to have a Being with God the Father before the Creation of the World And the Socinians say that he never was at all before he was Born of the Virgin Which is so wide a Difference besides that of Divine worship above told that nothing cou'd make them of the same Party but fighting under the same General And then their Cause will gain great Antiquity it came from the Prae-Adamites the Mighty Host's of Heaven who fell in this Quarrel and Manage it with greater success now on Earth 1. Others by their Instigation Argue in this Form against this Doctrin of the Satisfaction That if Christ Pay the Debt and undergo the Curse which was Due to Man for Sin He ought to Suffer the same Curse that was laid upon Man which was Eternal Death else He do's not Pay the Whole Debt or Suffer that which Man was to have Suffer'd Ans Man Suffers Eternally can Never come out of Prison because he can Never Pay the Vttermost Farthing which Justice do's Require Therefore Christ's Sufferings were not Eternal because they were Sufficient for the Dignity of the Person to make Full Satisfaction And not only because of the Dignity of the Person who was God but from the Nature of the thing For Sin being an Offence against Love or Goodness the Nature of Love do's Require that the Person Offending shou'd have a Sense of his Fault For while the Offender Remains Obstinate Insensible and Persists in his Ingratitude even Love cannot Forgive I say Cannot because tho' Love were willing Love is always willing yet the Insensible Offender is not Capable because the Forgiveness of Love is Restauration to Restore those to the Happiness and Enjoyment of Love who have fallen from it And all Happiness being Center'd in Love as before has been said for God is Love consequently till we Return to Love we cannot Return to our Happiness And an Vngrateful Man and Insensible of his Ingratitude to His Greatest Benefactor who still Courts and Invites him to Return is utterly Vn-capable while he Persists in his Vngratitude to Know or Enjoy the Blessings of Love and Consequently of the Forgiveness of Love which by its own Nature must Necessarily Hate all Baseness Envy Malice and whatever is Contrary to its own Nature Now as the Nature of Love do's Require that an Offender shou'd be Sensible of his Fault so likewise that he