Brethren each Person in the Trinity hath a part in it the Father hath his Part the Son hath his Part and the Holy Ghost hath his Part also Remember that these three are one though three Persons or Subsistences yet but one and the same God one in Essence though distinguished as to their distinct Personalities the Person of the Father is not the Person of the Son the Father took not upon him Flesh and died for our Sins but the Son the Son sent not the Father but the Father sent the Son The Father and the Son do not proceed from the Holy Ghost but the Holy Ghost doth proceed from them But a little to open and insist upon the distinct Parts which each Person hath and how concerned in the accomplishing of this great Salvation 1. The Father is held forth in the Scripture as the Contriver or first Author of this Salvation All Things are of God who hath reconciled us unto himself by Jesus Christ All Things in and about our Salvation are of God the Father as he is the Fountain and Spring of it He hath devised means that his banished might not for ever be expelled from him I have found a Ransom Where did God find it saith Reverend Caryl Certainly in his own Bosom in his own Heart Jesus Christ came out of the Bosom of the Father there he was and God found him in and with himself he did not find the Ransom by chance but he found it in his own Wisdom Love and Goodness 2. The Father was injured his Glory seemed to be eclipsed by Sin therefore must be righted and his Honour repaired and he sought out the proper way to do it I know as if God should say how to do the poor Sinner good I know how to save him and do my own Honour my Justice Truth and Holiness no wrong my Honour is secured my Justice is satisfied and yet the Sinner whom my Heart is set upon shall be saved 3. The Father could only appoint the Terms and Way of our Salvation Who but God could tell or did know what would comport with his Truth and Justice and with the Sanction of his Righteous Law and Infinite Holiness And he saw it did not comport with his Truth Justice Holiness and Blessed Law to save Man meerly as an Act of Sovereign Mercy but it did agree in his Infinite Wisdom to transfer the Punishment of the Sinner to another namely to his own Son he taking our Nature on him who from the Union of the two Natures in one Person procured an Infinite Satisfaction or made a Plenary Compensation for our Sins 4. God the Father is therefore held forth as the Person who substituted his own Son as Mediator and Surety in our stead and room to work out our Redemption or this great and glorious Salvation and to this end prepared him a Body A Body hast thou prepared me And the Father is said also to send his Son How many times doth our Blessed Saviour ascribe this unto the Father in the Gospel recorded by John I am perswaded not less than forty times The Father that sent me is with me God sent not his Son into the World to condemn the World This is the Will of him that sent me 5. All the Blessings of our Salvation are ascribed to the free Bounty Mercy Love and Goodness of God the Father Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his People and hath raised up an Horn of Salvation c. And therefore he is stiled The Father of Mercies and God of all Comfort Now this being so what an abominable thing is it for the Socinians to say That the Doctrine of Satisfaction renders the Son more merciful and kind than the Father see Penn's Sandy Foundation shaken No this is very unjustly and unrighteously thrown upon this great Gospel-Truth Certainly it exalts the Goodness and Mercy of God the Father far more than their idle and absurd Notion of God's pardoning Sin in a way of meer Mercy without a Satisfaction to his offended Justice seeing God in a way of Mercy and Divine Goodness is so set upon this Work of our Salvation that though it cost him the Life of his own Son yet it shall be done he will not spare him He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all The Father did not spare him as an Act of his own Love and Goodness to us God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son Certainly that Person shews greater Love and Pity to another who to save him gives a Million than he that gives but a Pound Must God by these Men be deemed to have no Mercy at all because he seeks the Honour of his Justice equally with the Glory of his Mercy Is he not Merciful because he is Just as well as Gracious 6. Brethren it was the Father that loved us and chose us in Jesus Christ before the Foundation of the World which is the Spring of all Spiritual Blessings even of Redemption and Salvation it self 7. Moreover the Father is said to raise Jesus Christ from the Dead Though the Son being God could raise himself yet as Mediator the Power to quicken whomsoever he will is said to be given to him by the Father Besides it is the meer Grace and good Pleasure of God the Father to accept of Christ and his Obedience for us and to accept of us in Jesus Christ Also it is the Father that blesseth us with all Spiritual Blessings in Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus Nay no Man Christ says can come unto him unless it be given by the Father that is Power must be given to him to come And again he saith No Man can come unto me except my Father that sent me draw him We ought therefore to see we do not lessen the Glory of God the Father in our Salvation who is the Efficient the Original and moving Cause thereof My Father saith Christ hitherto worketh and I work Brethren we are not to attribute the Works of Creation and Providence to God the Father only for he hath a great and glorious Hand in the Work of Redemption I may say to accomplish this Work even the Salvation of his Elect he worketh hitherto and Christ also worketh which brings me to consider of the next Person in the Trinity concerned herein Secondly As the Father hath as you have heard his part in bringing in the great Salvation of the Gospel so Jesus Christ the Son of God hath his part in working of it out the Father fix'd on him as the great Agent actually to perfect it he is in such a peculiar manner concerned in it that his Name is Saviour his Name shall be called Jesus Jesus signifies a Saviour certainly this must needs be a great Salvation if we consider the Greatness Dignity and Glory of his Person whom God hath sent to save us
said they hear Christ's Voice i. e. the Doctrine he taught This is my beloved Son saith the Father in whom I am well pleased hear him 1. Not Moses Moses is not our Shepherd our Guide our Law-giver We are not his Disciples his Sheep No no but we are Christ's Sheep Christ's Disciples The Jews said they were Moses 's Disciples 2. They hear Christ's Voice not the Pope's not the Voice of Antichrist 3. They hear Christ's Voice not the Voice of the Light of Nature only or the teaching of Natural Conscience though 't is true they hear and follow that Light yet they know the Light that is in all Men which is in Pagans Turks and Heathens is not the Voice of Christ as he is Mediator and the great Shepherd of the Sheep 4. They hear Christ's Voice follow his Voice not the Voice of General Councils and National Synods they will no further hear any than they hear and adhere to the Voice and Doctrine of Jesus Christ 2 dly They will not receive or embrace any Capital Errors they will not hear the Voice of Strangers but keep to all the Essentials of Christ's Doctrine of the Principles of true Religion Particularly 1. They believe the Holy Scripture is of Divine Authority and that it is the only Rule of Faith and Practice 2. They stedfastly believe the Doctrine of the Blessed Trinity that there are three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit and that these three are one One in Essence yet three Persons or Subsistences 3. They stedfastly believe the Doctrine of Christ's Divinity or have a right Faith about the Person of Christ not doubting but that he is God by Nature the most High God coeternal and coequal with the Father and the Holy Ghost abominating the Doctrine of Arius who asserted he was not of the same Substance of the Father but rather a created Spirit the first and chief Spirit or Angel God created And the Doctrine of Socinians who affirmed He is a meer Man and had no Pre-existence before he was Conceived and Born of the Virgin They abominate that Voice or Doctrine of Eutychians who maintain that the Matter of Christ's Flesh was from Heaven or that it was a Conversion of the Deity of the second Person of the Trinity into Flesh and that he partook not of the Nature of the Virgin They abominate their Doctrine who declare that Christ doth consist of one Nature only and those who affirm that the Light that is in all Men which is but an inward Quality created of God with which the Soul of Mankind is naturally indued is the only Christ of God they know these are Strangers and the Voice of Strangers they will not hear 4. They hear and stedfastly believe and receive the Doctrine of Christ's Headship over the Church 5. The Doctrine of Satisfaction by Christ in his Expiation of Sin and of Justification by his Righteousness imputed as it is received by Faith alone without inherent Righteousness wrought in us or good Works done by us 6. The Doctrine of Regeneration the Resurrection of the Body and of the Eternal Judgment and World to come In all these Respects they hear Christ's Voice i. e. his Doctrine and in all other respects so far as they receive Light and Knowledg touching any one or all the blessed Truths and Ordinances of the Gospel Fourthly There is the Voice of Christ's Rod also which his Sheep hear The Lord's Voice crieth to the City and the Man of Wisdom shall see thy Name hear ye the Rod and who hath appointed it When Christ's Sheep will not hear as they ought the soft and sweet Voice of God's Word he speaks to them by the Voice of his Rod by Afflictions and sharp Rebukes which by his Providence he brings upon them And though others cannot hear so as to understand this Voice of Christ yet his Sheep do they see his Name and hear the Rod and know whose Voice it is and to what End 't is appointed but this I shall not insist further upon here I should now come to shew you how Christ's Sheep hear his Voice but that must be for the next time APPLICATION 1. Bless God you have Christ's Voice Christ's Word sounding in your Ears Blessed are they that know the joyful Sound for they shall walk in the Light of thy Countenance O Lord. It is not all they that hear the joyful Sound but only such that know it with an experimental Knowledg who have felt the Divine Power of it on their Souls 2. Rest not therefore upon a bare hearing of the Word of Christ take heed that the Gospel comes not to you in Word only but in Power also 3. Labour to hear the Voice of Christ's Spirit in and with the Word or you are undone for ever JOHN X. 27. My Sheep hear my Voice and they follow me DOCT. All true Believers are the Sheep and Lambs of Jesus Christ they hear his Voice and they follow him Beloved we have shewed you in what respects Believers are said to be Christ's Sheep and what is meant by his Voice which his Sheep or such who belong unto him do and will hear Thirdly I shall now proceed to the next general Head of Discourse propounded to you I am to shew you how Christ's Sheep hear his Voice his Word his Holy Doctrine They hear Christ's Voice his Word and Doctrine understandingly He that heareth the Word and understandeth it c. Some tho they hear it yet they are ignorant and know not the Nature Power and divine Excellency of it The sacred Scripture is as a sealed Book to some that are learned with Humane Arts and Sciences they see but the outside of the Book as it were and others they are ignorant Persons neither have Humane nor Divine Teachings then he opened their Vnderstandings that they might understand the Scriptures See how Christ does honour the holy Scriptures He did not open their Understanding without the Scriptures he sends them to that because they testify of him but he knew the Scripture would not sufficiently give them the knowledg of himself without the Influence and Illumination of his Spirit Sirs they hear Christ's Voice aright who are taught of God and by his Spirit to understand his Word Some Men are so far cheated by the Devil that they cry up the Light of natural Conscience and magnify that above the Holy Scripture He perswades them to cast away the Scriptures as a dead Letter in expectation of the Spirit 's Teachings whereas the Spirit teacheth by not without nor contrary to the Sacred Scripture The Word of Christ is full of Mystery its holy and sublime Doctrine is not easily understood nor can it be without the Spirit helps the Understanding In a right and saving manner it is given to Christ's Sheep to understand the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven and to others it is not given 2. Christ's Sheep
saving Knowledg the Doctrine of Free Grace of Justification Adoption Pardon of Sin and free access to the Father which shews it to be a sat and blessed Pasture and thus it feeds their Understanding 2. It feeds and raises their Affections also in Love to Christ and desire after him to hear what God is to them and Christ is to them what a Covenant is made with Christ for them what Promises are made to them what Love the Lord Jesus hath to them and what Grace is purchased laid and treasured up in Christ for them what Care he hath of them and what Glory he hath prepared for them 3. They receive the Word they assent to the Truth of it and fâ—el a so the Power thereof inclining bowing and subjecting their Wills to a holy ready and hearty Consent thereunto in a way of universal Obedience to what is required of them 4. It feeds their Faith also and every Grace of the Spirit in their Souls it increases their Faith in Christ and their Love to Christ whilst they meditate thereon and believe with an unfeigned Faith the Veracity of God's Word and apply the Promises and Blessings thereof which are purchased by Jesus Christ now is to eat and digest the Word Secondly The Ordinances of Christ may be said to be another Pasture where his Sheep do feed The Spouse no doubt enquired after this Pasture Tell me O thou whom my Soul loveth where thou feedest c. where thy Holy Ordinances are truly administred 1. The Ordinance of Preaching or Administration of the Gospel is a rich Pasture especially when it is preached powerfully by the Influence and Demonstration of the Spirit the opening and explaining the Word of the Gospel is like the opening the Pasture-Gate and so letting the Sheep into it Did not our Hearts burn within us while he talked with us and opened the Scriptures 'T is like the opening of the Box of precious Ointment causing a sweet Perfume in the Soul like as Mary's did in the House The Work of the Ministry is to open the Scripture Vnderstandest thou what thou readest saith Philip. The Eunuch answered How can I unless some Man should guide me He might have added some skilful Man Alas some are unlearned unexperienced and ignorant Preachers they know not the Lord themselves they never learned of the Father but want the Teachings of the Holy Spirit They understand not the Scripture the Holy Bible is a sealed Book to them notwithstanding all their Humane Literature and Knowledg of the Tongues with their Arts and Sciences The preaching the Gospel is the feeding of the Soul But O what care should be taken that nothing is delivered by the Preacher but sound Doctrine not to feed the People with airy and empty Notions corrupt and poisonous Doctrine for that is to destroy the Sheep especially such that are weak in Knowledg and cannot quickly discern Truth from Error They are not to feed the Flock with Humane Traditions nor with their own Dreams Simon Son of Jonas lovest thou me Feed my Sheep Not with good Doctrine only but good Discipline also and with an holy and good Example Good Government is precious Food to the Sheep and Lambs of Jesus Christ 2. The Holy Ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper is another part of this blessed Pasture And such are ill Sheep that will not feed where the Shepherd willeth them or like not a Pasture of his chusing With what gladness did those Saints at Jerusalem when they received the Word yield themselves up to Holy Baptism The Eunuch also found that Ordinance he meeting with Christ in it very sweet and therefore when baptized he went away rejoicing The Mystery of the Gospel is preached or held forth in a lively Figure in Baptism to the very sight of the natural Eye which being understood conveys much Light and Knowledg to the Understanding It shews that Christ was dead buried and rose again for our Justification 1 st Baptism saith the Learned Tilenus is the first Sacrament of the New Testament instituted by Christ in which there is an exact Analogy between the Sign and the Thing signified The outward Rite in Baptism is threefold 1. Immersion into the Water 2. Abiding under the Water 3. A Resurrection out of the Water The Form of Baptism saith he to wit External and Essential is no other than the Analogical Proportion which the Sign keeps with the Thing signified thereby The plunging into the Water saith he holds forth to us that horrible Gulph of Divine Justice in which Christ for our sakes for a while was in a manner swallowed up abiding under the Water how little time soever denotes his descent into Hell even the deepest of Lifelessness and lying in the sealed or guarded Sepulchre he was accounted as one dead Rising out of the Water holds forth to us in a lively Similitude that Conquest which this dead Man got over Death And saith the same worthy Author so dipping into the Water in a most lively Similitude sets forth the Mortification of the old Man and rising out of the Water the Vivification of the new Man it being meet that we being baptized into his Death and buried with him should rise also with him and go on in a new Life The Apostle clearly confirms the same great Truths Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his Death Therefore we are buried with him by Baptism into Death that like as Christ was raised up from the Dead by the Glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of Life We have Fellowship with Christ in his Death in Baptism or the Efficacy of his Death evidenced to us as the outward Symbol of it is held forth in the external Administration of it For as Christ died for Sin so we are hereby obliged to die to Sin and as he rose again from the Dead so we ought as we covenant in this Ordinance to walk in newness of Life Dr. Cave saith In Immerging there are in a manner three-fold Acts The putting the Person into the Water his abiding under the Water and his rising up again thereby representing Christ's Death Burial and Resurrection and our Conformity thereunto in our dying to Sin and the destruction of its Power and our resurrection to a new course of Life O learn what your Baptism holds forth and what you are taught thereby and promised therein and live accordingly Brethren you will find blessed Food in this Ordinance for your Souls and if you experience the Things signified thereby happy are you if not in vain were you baptized 2 dly What sweet Food or how good a Pasture is the Ordinance of the Lord's Supper to a hungry Soul who longs after the Bread of Life and Communion with Christ A Crucified Christ is the Bread of Life and by Faith in this Ordinance we feed on
the Greatness of their Sin who do neglect this Salvation and the impossibility of such ever to escape God's Wrath. 1. From the Power and Authority of Christ who not only wrought this Salvation out but only first declared it or made it known which first began to be spoken by the Lord. Which some think may refer to his first declaring of it from the beginning to Adam upon his Transgression and to the Fathers under the Old Testament But I conceive he means chiefly our Lord 's preaching this Salvation in the Days of his Flesh when he entred first on his Ministry as verse 1. of the first Chapter God hath in these last Days spoken unto us by his Son 2. From the confirmation of it by Signs and Wonders I shall be very brief in speaking unto the Terms of our Text. How shall we escape avoid get clear of or deliver our selves from God's Wrath and Vengeance If we neglect if we mind other things more than this Salvation or seem to be indifferent in and about this great Business like those that made light of the Invitation to the Marriage-Supper Mat. 22. Luke 14. 16 17 18 19 20. So great Salvation namely the Salvation of the Gospel Great as it refers to God denotes the glorious Perfections of his Nature the Great God it signifies the infinite Power Wisdom Holiness Mercy and Glory of his Majesty Great as it refers to things may be considered as to the Nature and Quality of them as Great Riches Great Light as the Sun is called a great Light that is a Glorious Light excelling all other Natural or Created Lights or Artificial Lights Great Peace have they that love thy Law that is Glorious Peace So great Salvation denotes Glorious Salvation exceeding all Temporal Salvation So Great this so raises the Greatness and Glory of this Salvation God so loved the World So how Even so that it cannot be conceived much less expressed So this great Salvation is so wonderful so amazing so glorious and so affecting it calls for all to admire it consider it imbrace it and by no means to slight or neglect it From hence I shall note three Points of Doctrine Doct. 1. That the Salvation of the Gospel is a Great and Glorious Salvation Doct. 2. That the Means of this Salvation may be neglected Doct. 3. That all such who do neglect this Salvation shall not cannot escape I purpose to speak to all these three Propositions and shall begin with the first namely That the Salvation of the Gospel is a Great and Glorious Salvation First I shall prove and fully God assisting demonstrate the Truth of this Doctrine Secondly I shall improve it by way of Application First It is a Great and Glorious Salvation comparatively or when it is compared with all other Salvations 1. That was a Great and Glorious Salvation which God wrought for Israel at the Red Sea But what a Salvation was that Who were they saved from It was from Pharaoh a bloody and cruel Persecutor but this is from Satan and all cruel Enemies of our Souls 2. That was from the Wrath of Men this is from the fearful Wrath of God which none are able to conceive of according to thy Fear so is thy Wrath. 3. That was a Salvation of the natural Lives of the Children of Israel this a Salvation of our Immortal Souls and Bodies too for ever 4. That was a Type of this Salvation a Shadow of it and as far as the Substance exceeds the Shadow of a Thing so far doth this Salvation exceed that and all other Salvations 5. That was a Temporal Salvation this is an Eternal Salvation Now that Salvation at the Red Sea being one of the greatest Temporal Salvations that ever was wrought I need not mention any other Israel had many great Salvations wrought for them afterwards and so have many of the Saints had great Salvations and Deliverances wrought for them in the Times of the Gospel Nay we in these Nations have seen and heard of great and wonderful Things which God hath wrought for us and for our Forefathers It was a great Salvation that was wrought in 1588 at the Spanish Invasion and from the Powder-Plot and also that in 1688 when We and the Protestant Interest were brought very low and we could not see which way Relief and Deliverance could come But alas what are all these Salvations to this in my Text Pray remember that Gospel-Salvation is Great and Glorious comparatively But Secondly The Salvation of the Gospel is not only great comparatively but also positively not only in respect of all other Salvations but also in regard of it self And to demonstrate this consider that it is great and glorious in respect of the Time or rather that Eternity in which it was contrived and graciously promised This Salvation Brethren was contrived and found out by the Wisdom of God before the World began Hence Christ is said to be a Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World that is in the Decree Counsel and Purpose of God Christ was set up from Everlasting as the great and glorious Mediator and Saviour of all that should believe in him or that were given unto him by the Father The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his Way before his Works of old I was set up from Everlasting or ever the Earth was When there were no Depths I was brought forth As these Scriptures prove the Deity and Eternal Generation of the Son of God so also there was a Designation of him by the Father as Mediator to be our Saviour before all Worlds Hence God saith of miserable Man Deliver him from going down into the Pit I have found a Ransom And as it was found out before the beginning of the World or from Eternity so it was also as early promised to us as the Elect in Christ in hope of Eternal Life which God that cannot lie promised before the World began Compared with that in Timothy Who hath saved and called us with an holy Calling not according to our Works but according to his Purpose and Grace which was given us in Jesus Christ before the World began God thought of us poor Sinners and found out this way of Salvation before we had a Being yea even from Eternity foreseeing us fallen in the First Adam brought into a deplorable Condition of Wrath and Misery Thirdly The Salvation of the Gospel is great and glorious in regard of that Counsel that was held before all Worlds about bringing of it in Christ the great Saviour was delivered up according to the determinate Counsel of God Acts 2. 23. Should all the Wise Men and Great Potentates of the Earth be called together and sit in Council about the doing of some great and wonderful thing which unless it was effected all the Kingdoms and States of the Earth would sink and be dissolved would not all say that would be an amazing Thing
satisfy the Law and Justice for you Friend you are acquitted Brethren thus it is here Christ offered himself and the Father accepted him in our stead to die for us and to bear that Wrath that was due to us for our Sins and this he did then even when we first sinned in Adam So that we may say in due time Christ died for the Ungodly just as the Stroke of Wrath and Divine Justice was falling on us for it was all one as if he had then actually suffered And also his Blood was as efficacious to save and absolve Adam and all that did believe and apply the Virtue thereof before it was shed as it is to us who believe in these latter Times of the World after it has been shed more than sixteen hundred Years Would not such a guilty Malefactor I mentioned say O this is a great Salvation indeed nay stand and admire at it he expecting nothing but Death and had none to help him or afford any hope or relief to him in the least APPLICATION 1. We may from hence infer God's Love to Mankind is inconceivable nay his Love to sinful Man to lost Man rebellious Man What is Man that thou art mindful him such a vile Creature a Worm a filthy and loathsom Worm a cursed Rebel and Traitor against God that God should let out his Thoughts from Eternity upon him when the Sentence was past against him and he ready to go down to the Pit of Everlasting Wrath and Misery that he should say Deliver him from going down into the Pit I have found a Ransom 'T is not he that is Man himself hath found a Ransom No no I have saith God found a Ransom the Just for the Vnjust or in the room and place of the guilty Sinner It is not I have found Man's good Works Man's reformed Life his Repentance his Faith his Tears his sincere Obedience no but it is the Obedience of Christ the Blood of Christ the Sacrifice of Christ the Merits and Righteousness of Christ this God hath found to be our Ransom God hath found a full Ransom a perfect Ransom God accepted of Christ's Sacrifice for a Compleat Satisfaction it is more satisfactory than if we had lain in Hell for ever for we must always have been paying but never could have made Satisfaction O who could have thought of such a Ransom of such a way of Salvation in this lies the Depth of Divine Wisdom and the Great Mystery of the Gospel How should we adore and admire the Grace of God in Jesus Christ 2. To you poor Sinners let me speak one word by way of Exhortation Did God so early contrive our Salvation O then do you set your Hearts on work to seek this Salvation I mean an Interest in it be early at it do not defer it You young Men think upon it in the morning of your Days this Salvation calls for your utmost diligence to understand and find out the Gospel is a Mystery 't is not easily understood The Preaching of a Crucified Christ is to some Men Foolishness but to them that are saved it is the Power of God Many stumble at the Stumbling-stone God hath laid in Sion Christ is to some a Stumbling-stone and a Rock of Offence but take heed he is not so to you 3. Was there a Council held in Eternity about our Salvation O then consult with all Wisdom the grand Design of God herein It is to exalt his own Glory his own Name his own Free Grace and this being so let it be all your care to advance the Riches of his Grace and let God be wholly exalted and do you lie low at his Feet O close in with God's Counsel accept of this way of Life do not think there is any other way 4. And lastly Consider that the Greatness of God's Mercy and Divine Goodness to us was also one grand End and Design in finding out this Salvation It doth display his unspeakable Love and Bowels towards his poor Creature Man True he had the like regard to his Justice but his Justice had been magnified in our Destruction if his Mercy had never appeared But that his Mercy might be manifested what hath he done his own Son hath born our Sins he hath laid the Hand of his Justice and let out that Wrath that must have lain upon us for ever upon his own Son that Mercy might flow forth to us This should teach us to study Acts of Mercy and contrive that way to be like unto the Holy and Merciful God This is that which he requires of us even to do justly love Mercy and to walk humbly with our God HEB. II. 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation I AM upon the Proof and Demonstration of the first Point of Doctrine raised from our Text viz. That Gospel-Salvation is a Great and Glorious Salvation I have spoken to this already under five Considerations Sixthly The Salvation of the Gospel is Great and Glorious if we consider the Glory and Greatness of those Persons who sat in Counsel about bringing of it in and working of it out for sinful Man We commonly judg of the Greatness of the Undertaking and the Glory of the Work by considering the Dignity Glory Wisdom Power and Greatness of the Persons concerned in it Now if this Work I mean the Salvation of sinful Man had been put into the Hands of the mighty Angels and they had called a Council about it and shewed their uttermost Skill Wisdom and Power in order to the actual accomplishment thereof would not all say this must needs be some great and wonderful Work or a great Salvation But alas they could neither have sound out a way of Salvation for us much less have wrought it out Could they any way have thought how the Glory of every Attribute of God might have been raised and have shone forth in equal Lustre could they have secured the Glory of God's Justice and Holiness and have made up the Wrong we had done to God by our Sin and so have opened a Way for Mercy and Goodness to run down like a mighty Stream and secured the Sanction of the Law and yet have delivered Man from the Curse thereof God must not will not lose the Glory of any one of his Attributes let what will become of the Rebellious Sinner Alas they could never have found out a way whereby the Attributes of Mercy and Justice might meet together and Righteousness and Truth kiss each other the Persons then who found and wrought out this Salvation were not the Holy Angels of God No no none but God himself could do it The Salvation of Israel is of the Lord He is our Saviour How often is this expressed in the Psalms and in other places of the Holy Scripture Salvation is ascribed to the Lord to him only yea to his own Arm to the greatness of his Power Therefore my own Arm brought Salvation