and are the measures of his duty to God to himself and to his fellow creatures This was publisht by the voice of Reason and is holy just and good Holy as it enjoins those things wherein there is a conformity to those Attributes and Actions of God which are the pattern of our imitation So the general Rule is Be holy as God is holy in all manner of conversation and this is most honourable to the humane nature 'T is just that is exactly agreable to the frame of mans faculties and most suitable to his condition in the world and good that is beneficial to the observer of it In keeping of it there is great reward And the obligation to it is eternal it being the unchangeable will of God grounded on the natural and unvariable relations between God and Man and between Man and the Creatures Besides the particular directions of the Law of Nature this general Principle was planted in the reasonable Soul to obey God in any instance wherein he did prescribe his pleasure Moreover God was pleased to enter into a Covenant with Adam and with all his Posterity naturally descending from him And this was the effect 1. Of admirable Goodness For by his Supremacy over Man he might have signified his Will meerly by the way of Empire and requir'd Obedience But he was pleased to condescend so far as to deal with Man in a sweeter manner as with a Creature capable of his Love and to work upon him by rewards and punishments congruously to the reasonable Nature 2. Of Wisdom to secure Man's obedience For the Covenant being a mutual engagement between God and Man as it gave him infallible assurance of the reward to strengthen his Faith so it was the surest bond to preserve his Fidelity 'T is true the Precept alone binds by vertue of the authority that imposes it but the consent of the Creature increases the Obligation It twists the cords of the Law and binds more strongly to Obedience Thus Adam was God's servant as by the condition of his nature so by his choice accepting the Covenant from which he could not recede without the guilt and infamy of the worst perfidiousness The terms of the Covenant were becoming the Parties concern'd God and Man It established an inseparable Connexion between Duty and Felicity This appears by the Sanction In the day thou eatest of the forbidden fruit thou shalt die In that particular species of Sin the whole genus is included according to the Apostles Exposition Cursed is every one that doth not continue in all the works of the Law to do them The threatning of Death was exprest it being more difficult to be conceiv'd The promise of Life upon his Obedience was implied and easily suggested it self to the rational Mind These were the most proper and powerful motives to excite his Reason and affect his Will For Death primarily signifies the dissolution of the vital union between the Soul and Body and consequently all the preparatory dispositions thereunto Diseases Pains and all the Affections of Mortality which terminate in Death as their center This is the extremest of temporal Evils which innocent Nature shrunk from it being a deprivation of that excellent state which Man enjoyed But principally it signified the separation of the Soul from God's reviving presence who is the only Fountain of Felicity Thus the Law is interpreted by the Lawgiver The Soul that sins shall die Briefly Death in the threatning is comprehensive of all kinds and degrees of evils from the least Pain to the compleatness of Damnation Now 't is an inviolable Principle deeply set in the Human Nature to preserve its being and blessedness so that nothing could be a more powerful restraint from Sin than the fear of Death which is destructive to both This constitution of the Covenant was founded not only in the Will of God but in the nature of the things themselves And this appears by considering 1. That Holiness is more excellent in it self and separately considered than the reward that attends it 'T is the peculiar glory of the Divine Nature God is glorious in Holiness And as He prefers the infinite purity of his Nature before the immortal felicity of his state so he values in the reasonable Creature the vertues by which they represent his Holiness more than their perfect Contentment by which they are like Him in Blessedness Now God is the most just esteemer of things his judgment is the infallible measure of their real worth 't is therefore according to natural order that the Happiness of Man should depend upon his Integrity and the reward be the fruit of his Obedience And although it is impossible that a meer Creature in what state soever should obtain any thing from God by any other title but his voluntary Promise the effect of his Goodness yet 't was such Goodness as God was invited to exercise by the consideration of Mans obedience And as the neglect of his Duty had discharged the Obligation on God's part so the performance gave him a claim by right of the Promise to everlasting Life 2. As the first part of the alliance was most reasonable so was the Second that Death should be the wages of Sin It is not conceivable that God should continue his favour to Man if he turn'd Rebel against Him For this were to disarm the Law and expose the Authority of the Lawgiver to contempt and would reflect upon the Wisdom of God Besides If the reasonable Creature violates the Law it necessarily contracts an obligation to punishment So that if the Sinner who deserves death should enjoy life without satisfaction for the offence or Repentance to qualifie him for pardon both which were without the compass of the first Covenant this would infringe the unchangable rights of Justice and disparage the Divine Purity In the first Covenant there was a special clause which respected Man as the inhabitant of Paradise That he should not eat of the Tree of Knowledg of good and evil upon pain of Death And this Prohibition was upon most wise and just reasons 1. To declare God's Sovereign Right in all things In the quality of Creator he is Supreme Lord. Man enjoyed nothing but by a derived title from his Bounty and Allowance and with an obligation to render to him the Homage of all As Princes when they give estates to their Subjects still retain the Royalty and receive a small rent which though inconsiderable in its value is an acknowledgment of dependance upon them So when God placed Adam in Paradise he reserved this mark of his Soveraignty that in the free use of all other things Man should abstain from the forbidden Tree 2. To make trial of Mans Obedience in a matter very congruous to discover it If the Prohibition had been grounded on any moral internal evil in the nature of the thing it self there had not been so clear a testimony of God's Dominion
with corruptible things as Silver and Gold but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot And by his knowledg shall my righteous Servant justifie many 4. 'T was requisite the Mediator should be God and Man He must assume the nature of Man that he might be put in his stead in order to make satisfaction for him He was to be our representative therefore such a conjunction between us must be that God might esteem all his People to suffer in him By the Law of Israel the right of Redemption belonged to him that was next in blood Now Christ took the Seed of Abraham the original element of our nature that having a right of Propriety in us as God He might have a right of Propinquity as Man He was allied to all Men as Men that His sufferings might be universally beneficial And He must be God 't is not his Innocency onely or Deputation but the Dignity of His Person that qualifies Him to be an all-sufficient Sacrifice for Sin so that God may dispense pardon in a way that is honourable to Justice For Justice requires a proportion between the Punishment and the Crime and that receives its quality from the dignity of the person offended Now since the Majesty of God is infinite against whom sin is committed the guilt of it can never be expiated but by an infinite Satisfaction There is no name under Heaven nor in Heaven that could save us but the Son of God who being equal to Him in greatness became Man If there had been such compassion in the Angels as to have inclined them to interpose between Justice and us they had not been qualified for that Work not only upon the account of their different nature so that by substitution they could not satisfie for us nor that being immaterial substances they are exempted from the dominion of death which was the punishment denounc'd against the sinner and to which his Surety must be subjected but principally that being finite Creatures they are incapable to atone an incensed God Who among all their glorious Orders durst appear before so consuming a fire who could have been an Altar whereon to sanctifie a Sacrifice to Divine Justice no meer Creature how worthy so ever could propitiate the supreme Majesty when justly provoked Our Redeemer was to be the Lord of Angels The Apostle tells us that it pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell This respects not his original Nature but his Office and the reason of it is to reconcile by the blood of the Cross things in Heaven and in the Earth From the greatness of the Work we may infer the quality of the means and from the quality of the means the Nature of the Person that is to perform it Peace with God who was provoked by our Rebellion could only be made by an infinite Sacrifice Now in Christ the Deity it self not its influences and the fulness of it not any particular perfection only dwelt really and substantially God was present in the Ark in a shadow and representation He is present in nature by his sustaining Power and in his Saints by special favour and the eminent effects the Graces and Comforts that proceed from it but he is present in Christ in a singular and transcendent manner The Humanity is related to the Word not only as a Creature to the Author of its being for in this regard it hath an equal respect to all the persons but by a peculiar conjunction for 't is actuated by the same subsistence as the Divine Essence is in the Son but with this difference the one is voluntary the other necessary the one is espoused by Love the other received by Nature Now from this intimate Union there is a communication of the special qualities of both natures to the Person of Christ Man is exalted to be the Son of God and the Word abased to be the Son of Man As by reason of the vital Union between the Soul and Body the essential parts of Man 't is truly said that he is rational in respect of his soul and mortal in respect of his body This Union derives an infinite merit to the obedience of Christ. For the humane nature having its complement from the Divine Person 't is not the nature simply considered but the person that is the fountain of actions To illustrate this by an instance the civil Law determines that a tree transplanted from one soile to another and taking root there it belongs to the owner of that ground in regard that receiving nourishment from a new earth it becomes as it were another tree though there be the same individual root the same body and the same soul of vegetation as before Thus the humane nature taken from the common mass of Mankind and transplanted by personal Union into the Divine is to be reckoned as intirely belonging to the Divine and the actions proceeding from it are not meerly humane but are raised above their natural worth and become meritorious One hour of Christs Life glorified God more than an everlasting duration spent by Angels and Men in the praises of him For the most perfect creatures are limited and finite and their services cannot fully correspond with the Majesty of God but when the Word was made Flesh and entered into a new state of subjection he glorified God in a Divine manner and most worthy of him He that comes from above is above all The all sufficiency of his Satisfaction arises from hence He that was in the form of God and thought it no robbery to be equal with God that is in the truth of the Divine Nature He was equal with the Father and without sacriledge or usurpation possest Divine Honour he became obedient to the Death of the Cross. The Lord of Glory was Crucified We are purchased by the Blood of God And the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sin The Divine Nature gives it an infinite and everlasting efficacy And 't is observable that the Socinians the declared enemies of his Eternity consentaneously to their first impious error deny his Satisfaction For if Jesus Christ were but a titular God his Sufferings how deep soever had been insufficient to expiate our offence in His Death He had been only a Martyr not a Mediator For no Satisfaction can be made to Divine Justice but by suffering that which is equivalent to the guilt of sin which as 't is infinite such must the Satisfaction be CHAP. XIII Divine Justice is declared and glorified in the Death of Christ. The threefold account the Scripture gives of it As a Punishment inflicted for Sin as a Price to redeem us from Hell as a Sacrifice to reconcile us to God Man was Capitally guilty Christ with the allowance of God interposes as his Surety His Death was inflicted on him by the Supreme Judg. The impulsive Cause of it was Sin
the Church from all these will be the last Glorious Act of Christs Regal Office And 't is observeable the Day of Judgment is call'd the Day of Redemption with respect to the final accomplishment of our Felicity that was purchas'd by the infinite Price of his Sufferings The day of Christs Death was the Day of Redemption as to our Right and Title for then our Ransom was fully paid and 't is by the Immortal efficacy of his Blood that we partake of the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of God but the Actual enjoyment of it shall be at the last day Therefore the perfection of all our Spiritual Priviledges is refer'd to that time when Death our Lâ—st Enemy shall be overcome The Apostle saith and not only they but our selves also which have the first Fruits of the Spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our Bodies During the present Life we are taken into Gods Family in the quality of his Children but the most Solemn Act of our Adoption shall be at the last Day In this there is a similitude between Christ and his Members for although he was the Son of God by his marvelous Conception and own'd by him while he perform'd his Ministry upon the Earth yet all the Testimonies of Gods Favour to him were not comparable to the Declaration of it in raising him from the Grave Then in the face of Heaven and Earth He said Thou art my Son this Day have I begotten thee So in this Life God acknowledges and treats us as his Children he cloaths us with the Righteousness of his Son feeds us with his Word defends us from our Spiritual Enemies but the most Publick Declaration of his favour shall be in the next Life when all the Children of the Resurrection shall be born in a Day Add further although the Souls of Believers immediately upon their Separation are receiv'd into Heaven and during the sleep of Death enjoy admirable Visions of Glory yet their Blessedness is imperfect in comparison of that excellent degree which shall be enjoyed at the Resurrection As the Roman Generals after a compleat Conquest first enter'd the City privately and after having obtain'd License of the Senate made their Triumphant entry with all the magnificence splendour becoming the Greatness of their Victories So after a Faithful Christian hath fought the good fight and is come off more than a Conquerour he enters privately into the Coelestial City but when the body is rais'd to Immortality he shall then in the company and with the acclamations of the Holy Angels have a Glorious entry into it I will briefly consider why the Bodies of the Saints shall be rais'd and how the Divine Power will be manifested in that last Act. 1. The General reason is from Gods Justice As the Oeconomy of Divine Providence requires there must be a Future State when God shall sit upon a judicial Throne to weigh the Actions of all Men and render to every one according to their quality so 't is as necessary that the Person be Judged and not one Part alone The Law Commands the entire Man compos'd of his Essential Parts the Soul and Body And 't is obeyed or violated by both of them Although the Guilt or Moral Goodness of Actions is chiefly Attributed to the Soul because 't is the Principle of them yet the Actions are imputed to the whole Man The Soul is the Guide the Body the Instrument 't is reasonable therefore that both should receive their recompence We see the Example of this in Humane Justice which is a copy of the Divine The whole Man is punisht or rewarded The Soul is punisht with Disgrace and Infamy the Body with Pains the Soul is rewarded with Esteem and Honour the Body with External marks of Dignity Thus the Divine Justice will render to every one according to things done in the Body whether Good or Evill 2. The special reason of the Saints Resurrection is their Union with Christ for he is not only our Redeemer and Prince but our second Adam the same in Grace as the first was in Nature Now as from the first the Soul was destroyed by Sin and the Body by Death so the second restores them both to their Primitive state the one by Grace the other by a Glorious Resurrection Accordingly the Apostle saith that by Man came Death and by Man came the Resurrection from the Dead Christ removed the Moral and Natural impossibility of our Glorious Resurrection the Moral by the infinite merit of his Death whereby Divine Justice is satisfied that otherwise would not permit the Guilty to be restor'd to Eternal Life and the Natural by his rising from the Grave to a Glorious Imortality For his Infinite Power can do the same in all Believers 'T is observable the Apostle infers the Resurrection of Believers from that of Christ not only as the Cause but the Original Example For the Members must be conform'd to the Head the Children to their Father the younger to the elder Brother Therefore he is call'd the first-fruits of them that sleep and the first begotten of the Dead In Christ's Resurrection ours is so fully assur'd that the event is infallible Now no less than Infinite Power is requisite to raise the Bodies of the Saints from the dust and to transform them into the similitude of Christs 1. To raise them Nothing is more astonishing to Nature than that the Bodies which after so many Ages in the perpetual circulation of the Elements have past into a thousand different Forms one part of them being resolved into Water another evaporated into Air another turn'd into Dust should be restor'd to their first State What Wisdom is requisite to separate the Parts so mixt and confounded what Power to recompose them what Vertue to reinspire them with new Life It may seem more difficult than to revive a Dead Body whose Organs and matter is not chang'd of which we have Examples in the Scripture When the Spirit of the Lord plac't Ezekiel in the midst of a Valley cover'd with bones and caused him to consider attentively their Number which was very great and their extream dryness he askt him whether these bones could live upon which as one divided and ballanc't between the seeming Impossibility of the thing in it self and the consideration of the Divine Power to which nothing is impossible he answered Lord thou knowest Upon this God commanded him to Prophesie upon those bones and speak to them as if they had been endued with Sense and Understanding O ye dry Bones hear the Word of the Lord Thus saith the Lord God unto these Bones Behold I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live And I will lay sinews upon you and will bring in flesh upon you and cover you with skin and put Breath in you and ye shall live and ye shall know that I am
If it did not support him when he stood how can it raise him when he is fallen If there were a power in lapsed Man to restore himself it would exceed the original Power he had to will and obey It being infinitely more difficult for a dead man to rise than for a living man to put forth vital Actions For the clearer opening of this Poinâ— concerning Mans absolute Disability to recover his Primitive State I will distinctly consider it with respect to the Image and Favour of God upon which his Blessedness depends 1. He cannot recover his Primitive Holiness This will appear by considering that whatsoever is corrupted in its noble parts can never restore it self the power of an external agent is requisite for the recovering of its Integrity This is verified by innumerable instances in things artificial and natural If a Clock be disorder'd by a fall the Workman must mend it before it can be useful If Wine that is rich and generous declines by the loss of spirits it can never be revived without a new supply In the humane Body where there is a more noblâ— form and more powerful to redress any evil that may happen to the parts if a Gangrene seize on any Member nothing can resist its course but the application of outward means it cannot be cured by the internal principles of its constitution And proportionably in moral Agents when the Faculties which are the principles of action are corrupted it is impossible without the virtue of a Divine cause they should ever be restor'd to their original Rectitude As the Image of God was at first imprinted on the Humane Nature by Creation so the renewed Image is wrought in him by the same creating Power This will be more evident by considering that inward and deep depravation of the Understanding and Will the two Superiour Faculties which command the rest 1. The Understanding hath lost the right apprehension of things As Sin began in the darkness of the Mind so one of its worst effects is the encreasing that Darkness which can only be dispell'd by a supernatural Light Now what the Eye is to the Body that is the Mind for the directing the Will and conducting the Life And if the light that is in us be darkness how great is that darkness How irregular and dangerous must our motions be Not only the lower part of the Soul is under a dreadful disorder but the Spirit of the mind the divinest part is depraved with Ignorance and Error The Light of Reason is not pure But as the Sun when with its beams it sends down pestilential Influences and corrupts the Air in the enlightning it so the carnal Mind corrupts the whole Man by representing good as evil and evil as good The Wisdome of the flesh is enmity against God And the Apostle describes the state of the Gentile World That their understandings were darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their hearts The corruption of their Manners proceeded from their Minds For all Vertues are directed by Reason in their Exercise so that if the Understanding be darken'd all vertuous Operations cease Besides corrupt Man being without Light and Life can neither discern nor feel his Misery The carnal Mind is insensible of its Infirmity ignorant of its Ignorance and suffers under the incurable extremes of being blind and imagining that 't is very clear-sighted More particularly the Reasons why the carnal Mind hath not a due sense of sinful Corruption are 1. Because 't is natural and cleaves to the principles of our being from the Birth and Conception and natural things do not affect us 2. 'T is confirm'd by Custome which is a second Nature and hath a strange power to stupifie Conscience and render it insensible As the Historian observed concerning the Roman Soldiers that by constant use their Arms were no more a burthen to them than their natural Members 3. In the transition from the Infant state 〈◊〉 the age of discerning Man is incapable of observing his native Corruption since at first he acts evilly and is in constant conversation with Sinners who bring Vice into his acquaintance and by making it familiar lessen the horrour and aversation from it Besides those corrupt and numerous examples wherewith he is encompast call forth his sinful inclinations which as they are heightened by repeated acts and become more strong and obstinate so less sensible to him And by this we may understand how irrecoverable Man is by his own Reason The first step to our Cure is begun in the knowledge of our Disease and this discovery is made by the Understanding when 't is seeing and vigilant not when 't is blind A Disease in the Body is perceived by the Mind but when the Soul is the affected part and the rectitude of Reason is lost there is no remaining principle to give notice of it And as that Disease is most dangerous which strikes at the Life and is without Pain for Pain is not the chief evil but supposes it 't is the spur of Nature urging us to seek for Cure So the corruption of the Understanding is very fatal to Man for although he labours under many pernicious Lusts which in the issue will prove deadly yet he is insensible of them and from thence folâ—â—â—s a Carelesness and Contempt of the means for his Recovery 2. The Corruption of the Will is more incurable than that of the Mind For 't is full not only of Impotence but contrariety to what is spiritually good There are some weak strictures of Truth in lapsed Man but they dye in the Brain and are powerless and ineffectual as to the Will which rushes into the embraces of worldly Objects This the universal Experience of Mankind since the Fall doth evidently prove and the account of it is in the following Considerations 1. There is a strong inclination in Man to Happiness This desire is born and brought up with him and is common to all that partake of the reasonable Nature From the Prince to the poorest wretch from the most knowing to the meanest in understanding every one desires to be happy As the great flames and the little sparks of fire all naturally ascend to their sphere 2. The constituting of any thing to be our Happiness is the first and universal Maxime from whence all moral consequences are deriv'd 'T is the rule of our Desires and the end of our actions As in natural things the principles of their production operate according to their quality so in moral things the end is as powerful to form the Soul for its Operations in order to it Therefore as all desire to be happy so they apply themselves to those means which appear to be convenient for the obtaining of it 3. Every one frames a Happiness according to his temper The apprehensions of it are answerable to the dispositions of the
teeth of a Worm can destroy it The pleasures of Sin under which Secular Greatness and Wealth are comprehended are but for a season They are so short liv'd that they expire in the birth and die whilst they are tasted Again they bring only a slight pleasure being disproportionable to the desires of the Soul They are confin'd to the Senses wherein the Beasts are more accurate than Man but can't reach to the upper and more comprehensive Faculties Nay they cannot satisfie the greedy Senses much less quiet the spiritual and immortal Appetite What the Poet speaks with astonishment of Alexander's insatiable Ambition Aestuat infelix angusto limite mundi That the whole World seem'd to him as a narrow Prison wherein he was miserable and as it were suffocated is true of every one If the World was seated in the Heart of Man it can no more satisfie it than the Picture of a Feast can fill the Stomach Besides vexation is added to the vanity of worldly things And that either because the vehement delights of Sense corrupt the temperament of the Body in which the vital complexion consists and expose it to those sharp Diseases that it may be said without an Hyperbole That a thousand Pleasures are not equal to one Hours pain that attends them or because of the inward torture of the Mind arising from the sence of Guilt and Folly which is the anticipation of Hell it self the beginning of eternal Sorrows Now these things are not obscure Articles of Faith nor abstracted Doctrines to be consider'd only by refined Reason but are manifest and clear as the Light and verified by continual Experience 'T is therefore strange to amazement that Man should search after Happiness in these things where he knows 't is not to be found and court real Infelicity under a deceitful appearance when the Fallacy is transparent Who from a principle of Reason would choose for his Happiness a real Good which after a little time he should be depriv'd of for ever or a slight good for ever as the sight of a Picture or the hearing of Musick Yet thus unreasonable is Man in his lapsed state whose Soul is truely immortal and capable of infinite Blessedness yet he chooses those delights which are neither satisfying nor lasting And because the Humane Understanding from time to time is convinc'd of the vanity of all sublunary things therefore to lessen the vexation which arises from Disappointment and that the Appetite may not be taken off from them corrupted Man tries 1. By variety of objects to preserve uniformity in Delight The most pleasing if confin'd to them grow nauseous and insipid after the expiring of a few moments there remains nothing but satiety and sickly resentments and then changes are the remedies to take off the weariness of one pleasure by another The Humane Soul is under a perpetual instability of restless desires it despises what it enjoyes and values what is new as if Novelty and Goodness were the same in all temporal things And as the Birds remain in the Air by constant motion without which they would quickly fall to the Earth as other heavy bodies there being nothing solid to support them so the Spirit of Man by many unquiet agitations and continual changes subsists for a time till at last it falls into Discontent and Despair the center of corrupt Nature 2. When present things are unsatisfactory he entertains himself with Hope for that being terminated on a future Object which is of a doubtful nature the Mind attends to those Arguments which produce a pleasant belief to find that in several objects which it cannot in any single one and to make up in number what is wanting in measure whereas the present is manifest and takes away all liberty of thinking Upon this ground Sensual Pleasure is more in expectation than fruition For Hope by a marvellous enchantment not only makes that which is future present but representing in one view that which cannot be enjoyed but in the intervals of time it unites all the successive parts in one point so that what is divided and lessen'd in the fruition which is alwaies gradual is offer'd at once and entire Thus Man carnal deceived by the imperfect light of Fancy and the false glass of Hope chooses a fictitious felicity Man walks in a vain shew His original Errour hath produced this in its own image And although the complacency he takes in sensual objects is like the joy of a distracted Person the issue of folly and illusion and Experience discovers the deceit that is in them as smelling to an artificial Rose undeceives the Eye yet he will embrace his Error Man is in a voluntary Dream which represents to him the World as his Happiness and when he is awakened he dreams again choosing to be deceiv'd with delight rather than to discover the truth without it This is set forth by the Prophet Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way yet saidst thou not there is no hope that is Thou art tired in the chase of satisfaction from one thing to another yet thou wouldst not give over but still pursuest those shadows which can never be brought nearer to thee And the true reason of it is that in the humane Nature there is an intense and continual desire of Pleasure without which Life itself hath no satisfaction For Life consisting in the operations of the Soul either the external of the Senses or the internal of the Mind 't is sweetned by those delights which are suitable to them So that if all pleasant operations cease without possibility of returning Death is more desireable than Life And in the corrupt state there is so strict an alliance between the Flesh and Spirit that there is but one appetite between them and that is of the flesh All the Designs and Endeavors of the carnal Man are by fit means to obtain satisfaction to his Senses as if the Contentment of the Flesh and the Happiness of the Soul were the same thing or as if the Soul were to die with the Body and with both all Hopes and Fears all Joys and Sorrows were at an end The Flesh is now grown absolute and hath acquir'd a perfect Empire and taken a full possession of all the Faculties For this reason the Apostle tells us They that are in the Flesh cannot please God And the carnal will is enmity against God 't is not subject neither can it be 'T is insnar'd in the cords of Concupiscence and cannot recover it self from its foolish bondage But that doth not lessen the guilt which will appear by considering there is a twofold Impotence 1. There is a natural Impotence which protects from the severity of Justice No Man is bound to stop the Sun in its course or to remove Mountains For the humane Nature was never endued with Faculties to do those things They are inculpably without our power Now the Law enjoins nothing but what Man
the Soul yet to the bringing of it forth the concurrence of the external Faculties is requisite Thus a Voluptuary who is restrain'd from the gross acts of Sensuality by a Disease or Age may be as vicious in his Desires as another who follows the pernicious swing of his Appetite having a vigorous Complexion Briefly The variety of circumstances by which the inward corruption is excited and drawn forth makes a great difference as to the open and visible acts of it Thus an ambitious person who uses Clemency to accomplish his design would exercise Cruelty if 't were necessary to his end 'T is true some are really more temperate and exempted from the tyranny of the flesh than others Cicero was more vertuous than Catiline and Socrates than Aristophanes But these are priviledged persons in whom the efficacy of Divine Providence either by forming them in the Womb or in their Education or by conducting them in their maturer Age hath corrected the malignity of Nature All men have sinn'd and come short of the glory of God's image And that Sin breaks not forth so outragiously in some as in others the restraint is from an higher Principle than common and corrupt Nature 4. This Corruption although natural yet 't is Voluntary and Culpable 1. Voluntary All Habits receive their character from those acts by which they are produced and as the Disobedience of Adam was voluntary so is the Depravation that sprung from it 2. 'T is inherent in the Will If Adam had derived a Leprosie to all Men it were an involuntary evil Because the Diseases of the Body are forreign to the Soul But when the Corruption invades the internal Faculties 't is denominated from the subject wherein 't is seated 3. 'T is the voluntary cause of actual Sins and if the acts proceeding from this corruption are voluntary the principle must be of the same nature 2. 'T is Culpable The formality of Sin consists in its opposition to the Law according to the definition of the Apostle Sin is a transgression of the Law Now the Law requires an entire rectitude in all the Faculties It condemns corrupt inclinations the originals as well as the acts of Sin Besides Concupiscence was not inherent in the humane Nature in its Creation but was contracted by the Fall The Soul is stript of its native Righteousness and Holiness and is invested with contrary qualities There is as great a difference between the corruption of the Soul in its degenerate state and its primitive purity as between the loathsomness of a Carcass and the beauty of a living Body Sad change and to be lamented with tears of confusion That the Sin of Adam should be so fatal to all his Posterity is the most difficult part in the whole order of Divine Providence Nothing more offends carnal Reason which forms many specious Objections against it I will briefly consider them Since God saw that Adam would not resist the Temptation and that upon his Fall the whole race of Mankind which he supported as the foundation would sink into ruine Why did he not confirm him against it was it not within his Power and more suitable to his Wisdome Holiness and Goodness To this I answer 1. The Divine Power could have preserved Man in his Integrity either by laying a restraint on the apostate Angels that they should never have made an attempt upon him or by keeping the Understanding waking and vigilant to discover the danger of the Temptation and by fortifying the Will and rendring it impenetrable to the fiery darts of Satan without any prejudice to its freedom For that doth not consist in an absolute Indifference but in a judicious and deliberate choice so that when the Soul is not led by a blind instinct nor forc'd by a forreign power but embraces what it knows and approves it then enjoyes the most true Liberty Thus in the glorified Spirits above by the full and constant Light of the Mind the Will is indeclinably fixt upon its supreme Good and this is its Crown and Perfection 2. It was most suitable to the Divine Wisdom to leave Man to stand or fall by his own choice 1. To discover the necessary dependance of all Second Causes upon the first No Creature is absolutely impeccable but the most perfect is liable to imperfection He that is essentially is only unchangeably Good Infinite Goodness alone excludes all possibility of receiving Corruption The Fall of Angels and Man convince us that there is one sole Beeing immutably Pure and Holy on whom all depend and without whose Influence they cannot be or must be eternally miserable 2. 'T was very fit that Adam should be first in a state of trial before he was confirm'd in his Happiness The reason of it is clear he was left to his own judgment and election that Obedience might be his choice and in the performance of it he might acquire a title to the reward A determining vertue over him had crost the end of his Creation which was to glorifie God in a free manner Therefore in Paradise there were amiable objects to allure the lower Faculties before they were disordered by Sin The forbidden Fruit had beauty to invite the Eye and sweetness to delight the Palate And if upon the competition of the Sensual with the Intellectual Good he had reâ—ected the one and chose the other he had been rais'd to an unchangeable state his Innocence had been crown'd with Perseverance As the Angels who continued in their Duty when the rest revolted are finally establisht in their Integrity and Felicity And the Apostle gives us an account of this order when he tells us That was first which was natural then that which is spiritual and supernatural Man was created in a state of perfection but 't was natural therefore mutable the confirming of him immediatly had been Grace which belongs to a more excellent Dispensation Now to bring Man from not being to a supernatural state without trial of the middle state of Nature was not so congruous to the Divine Wisdome 3. The permission of the Fall doth not reflect on the Divine Purity For 1. Man was made Upright He had no inward Corruption to betray him There was Antidote enough in his Nature to expel the strongest Temptation 2. God was not bound to hinder the commission of Sin 'T is a true Maxime that in debitis causa dâ—ficiens efficit moraliter But God is not only free from subjection to a Law as having no Superiour but was under no voluntary Obligation by Promise to prevent the Fall 3. Neither doth that first Act of Sin reflect on Gods unspotted Providence which suffer'd it as if Sin were in any degree allowed by Him The Holy Law which God gave to direct Man the terrible Threatning annext to warn him declare his irreconcileable Hatred against Sin He permits innumerable Sins every day yeâ— He is as jealous of the Honour of his Holiness now as in the beginning
a rational account why we believe them Is it not the highest Reason to believe the discovery that God hath made of Himself and his Decrees For he perfectly knows his own Nature and Will and 't is impossible He should deceive us This Natural Principle is the Foundation of Faith When God speaks it becomes Man to hear with Silence and Submission His naked Word is as certain as a Demonstration And is it not most reasonable to believe that the Deity cannot be fully understood by us The Sun may more easily be included in a spark of Fire than the infinite Perfections of God be comprehended by a finite Mind The Angels who dwell so near the Fountain of Light cover their faces in a holy Confusion not being able to comprehend Him How much less can Man in this earthly state distant from God and opprest with a burthen of Flesh. Now from hence it follows 1. That Ignorance of the manner how Divine Mysteries exist is no sufficient Plea for Infidelity when the Scripture reveals that they are For Reason that is limited and restrain'd cannot frame a Conception that is commensurate to the Essence and Power of God This will appear more clearly by considering the Mysterious Excellencies of the Divine Nature the certainty of which we believe but the manner we cannot understand As that his Essence and Attributes are the same without the least shadow of composition yet his Wisdom and Power are to our apprehensions distinct and his Mercy and Justice in some manner opposite That his Essence is intire in all places yet not terminated in any That He is above the Heavens and beneath the Earth yet hath no relation of high or low distant or near That He penetrates all substances but is mixed with none That he understands yet receives no Idea's within Himself that He wills yet hath no motion that carries Him out of Himself That in Him Time hath no Succession that which is past is not gone and that which is future is not to come That He loves without Passion is angry without Disturbance repents without Change These Perfections are above the capacity of Reason fully to understand yet essential to the Deity Here we must exalt Faith and abase Reason Thus in the Mystery of the Incarnation that two such distant Natures should compose one Person without the confusion of Properties Reason cannot reach unto but 't is clearly reveal'd in the Word Here therefore we must obey not enquire The Obedience of Faith is to embrace an obscure Truth with a firm assent upon the account of a Divine testimony If Reason will not assent to Revelation till it understands the manner of how Divine things are it doth not obey it at all The Understanding then sincerely submits when 't is enclin'd by those motives which demonstrate that such a Belief is due to the Authority of the Revealer and to the quality of the Object To believe only in proportion to our narrow conceptions is to disparage the Divine Truth and debase the Divine Power We can't know what God can do He is Omnipotent though we are not omniscient 'T is just we should humble our Ignorance to his Wisdome And that every lofty imagination and high thing that exalts itself against the knowledg of God should be cast down and every thought captivated into the obedience of Christ. 'T is our wisdom to receive the great Mysteries of the Gospel in their simplicity for in attempting to give an exact and curious explication of them the Understanding as in an Hedg of Thorns the more it strives the more 't is wounded and intangled Gods Ways are as far above ours and his Thoughts above ours as Heaven is above the Earth To reject what we can't comprehend is not only to sin against Faith but against Reason which acknowledges it self finite and unable to search out the Almighty to perfection 2. We are obliged to believe those Mysteries that are plainly delivered in Scripture notwithstanding those seeming Contradictions wherewith they may be charged In the objects of Sense the contrariety of appearances doth not lessen the certainty of things The Stars to our sight seem but glittering Sparks yet they are immense Bodies And 't is one thing to be assured of a Truth another to answer all the difficulties that encounter it A mean Understanding is capable of the first the second is so difficult that in clear things the profoundest Philosophers may not be able to untie all the intricate and knotty Objections which may be urged against them 'T is sufficient the Belief of Supernatural Mysteries is built on the Veracity and Power of God this makes them prudently credible This resolves all doubts and produces such a stability of spirit as nothing can shake A sincere Believer is assured That all opposition against Revealed Truths is fallacious though he cannot discover the Fallacy Now the transcendent Mysteries of the Christian Religion the Trinity of Persons in the Divine Nature the Incarnation of the Son of God are clearly and expresly set down in the Word and although subtile and obstinate Opponents have used many guilty Arts to dispirit and enervate those Texts of Scripture in putting an inferiour sense upon them and have rackt them with violence to make them speak according to their prejudices yet all is in vain the Evidence of Truth is victorious A Heathen who considers not the Gospel as a Divine Revelation but meerly as a Doctrine delivered in Writing and judges of its sense by natural Light will acknowledg that those things are delivered in it And notwithstanding those who usurp a Sovereign Authority to themselves to judg of Divine Mysteries according to their own apprehensions deny them as meer Contradictions yet they can never conclude them impossible For no certain Argument can be alledged against the being of a thing without a clear knowledg of its nature Now although we may understand the nature of Man we do not the Nature of God the Oeconomy of the Persons and his Power to unite himself to a Nature below Him 'T is true no Article of Faith is really repugnant to Reason for God is the Author of Natural as well as of Supernatural Light and He cannot contradict Himself they are emanations from Him and though different yet not destructive of each other But we must distinguish between those things that are above Reason and incomprehensible and those things that are against Reason and utterly inconceivable Some things are above Reason in regard of their transcendent excellency or distance from us the Divine Essence the Eternal Decrees the Hypostatical Union are such high and glorious objects that it is an impossible enterprise to comprehend them the intellectual Eye is dazled with their overpowring Light We can have but an imperfect knowledg of them And there is no just cause of wonder that Supernatural Revelation should speak incomprehensible things of God For He is a singular and admirable Being