upon this Occasion Which is further evident if we consider 2. That the degree to which God has exalted his Grace and Mercy in Christ the Second Adam is not inferior but rather above the pitch and degree whereto he exalted his Justice in condemning all in the first Adam Justice makes no more than All Sinners in the first Adam upon his transgression and Grace makes no less than All righteous in Christ Jesus or through his Righteousness imputed For Rom. 5.18 as by the Offence of one Judgment came upon all Men to condemnation even so by the Righteousness of one the free Gift came upon all Men to justification of Life If upon all that believe who have sinned after the similitude of Adam's Transgression then much more upon them who have not so sinned because the preheminence is given to the free Gift of Grace by Christ as Rom. 5.14 15. intimating that if Adam's Sin was efficacious enough to make all men Sinners the Righteousness of Christ which is God's own Righteousness is much more efficacious to make them righteous And truly with reverence we may demand How can God himself express the extent of his Kindness in terms more positive and intelligible than he doth here And I am very certain we neither have nor ever had any reason to suspect him as insincere or to call in question the truth of his Allegation No his Word is an exact draught of his Mind and what he says he means As we all believe Infants were condemned in Adam there 's as good reason to believe 'em justified in Christ and such to whom the Lord will not impute Sin Which will further appear if we consider 3. The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in becoming a Propitiation for the Sin of Infants not only for actual but original Sin not only for the Sins of the Adult and Believer but of the Infant also Had Christ been said to be a Propitiation for the Sins of Believers only it might have struck our hopes into a staggering posture with reference to the eternal State of our dying Babes unless Foederal Holiness so much talked or by some or the Faith of immediate Parents could have reliev'd them against the condemning Sin of our remote Parents But if that were so the greatest part of Infants are and must be unavoidably miserable as they are the Off-spring of Unbelievers which the greatest part of the World are Nay it may on good ground be conjectur'd that one half of those who profess themselves Church-Members are but little better since our blessed Saviour compares the Kingdom of Heaven to ten Virgins of whom five were wise and five were foolish Mat. 25.1 But blessed be God we have a better Bottom to build our hopes upon as to the eternal State of dying Babes than such sandy Foundations as those viz. Christ's expiating and doing away the Sins of the World by the Sacrifice of himself And this John Baptist had an eye to when he saw Christ coming and pointed at him saying Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the Sin of the World enough sure to resolve all Doubts and to stop every mouth for ever from contradicting what we have alledged That God imputes not Sin to the eternal condemnation of dying Infants since Christ died for them for them indefinitely and without exception May we not as warrantably question whether Christ died at all as to scruple much less to deny that he took away the condemning guilt of Original Sin by the Oblation of himself since he is said thereby to take away the Sin of the World Is there any one actual Sin in the World that so generally and universally extends it self as to deprave and corrupt all Flesh Old and Young Saint and Sinner Christian and Pagan I confess with grief and sorrow profane Swearing is very rife Lying and Dissimulation is very common Pride Covetousness Envy and Hatred Whoredom and Uncleanness Violence Murder and profaning the Sabbath of the Lord is very predominant yet none of these things are universal that which is common with one is abhor'd by another as the covetous Man cannot endure the approach of Pride Luxury and Prodigality But were any or all of these Sins of a universal Extent so as to corrupt all capable of committing them of what Sex and of what Nation soever yet our Infant Race is safe and out of all possibility of being stained by them or being brought under the power of any of them from their utter incapacity to commit any of those things by which the Wrath of God is brought upon the Children of Disobedience and them only For if no Sin can be intended by the Sin of the World but Original Corruption then the Immaculate Lamb of God hath atoned for that and taken it away so that it shall never be of efficacy and power to condemn a dying Infant any more than it shall be of force to condemn a true Believer the same reason being rendred for the one as for the other by the Apostle John who speaking of Christ saith 1 John 2.2 He is the Propitiation for our Sins and not for ours only but for the Sins of the whole World Mark not only for ours in which term he includes with himself all true Believers of what Rank soever high or low rich or poor respected or despised in the World whose Sins are done away by Christ's atoning for them But the Apostle adds for the Sins of the whole World Not of the whole World as it consists of habitual and voluntary Sinners as Swearers Drunkards Idolaters Adulterers and the like for such lie under the heavy charge and imputation of Sin until by Faith in Christ repentance from dead Works and obedience to the Gospel they shall by the Grace of God obtain Impunity Therefore the whole World consider'd in an Infant state and no other can be intended by the Apostle whereby the eternal blessedness of dying Infants is secured since God according to the Law of Grace through the Righteousness and Death of his Son hath acquitted and discharged Infant Man from the imputation of Adam's Sin so as that he shall not perish eternally for it But in case Man survives his Infant state and contracts Guilt by voluntary transgression in his own Person as you and I have done and be not renewed by Repentance from dead Works and justified by Faith in our Lord Jesus according to the Tenour of the Gospel then we must perish unavoidably and eternally not for Adam's Sin but for superadded Sins Sins of our own against the Law of Grace and the Love of a Redeemer Thus God is clear from the death of his Creatures and Sinners the alone Authors of their own destruction according to the Scriptures But for such Infants as survive not their Infant-state we conclude they are blessed because God will not impute Sin unto them as appears not only from the Law of Grace but 4. From the Law of Equity and Righteousness
the Law there shall no Flesh be justified If not by the Deeds of the Law which were not only contrived by infinite Wisdom but bore the impress of God's terrible Majesty upon them and were dispensed and given from Mount Sinai in pure Goodness to Israel How much less shall Man be justified by Works devised by Men and founded upon no better warrant than humane Authority It is also certain that Man is become culpable and liable by Sin to the stroke of God's just Displeasure and therefore under an absolute necessity of being justified from Sin in order to his avoiding Misery and injoying Blessedness which Blessedness in the beginning progress and first steps of it stands in God's good Will towards sinners but more perfectly in his free and full discharging us from the imputation of Sin through the Righteousness which is in our Lord Jesus Christ And this was the received Opinion of the Men of God of old as well as of St. Paul in our words as is evident by his referring to the Prophet David's Testimony recorded in Psal 32.1 2. So that it 's no new Doctrin or novel thing but what hath been is and will be believed to the end of the World That the Man is Blessed unto whom the Lord imputes not Sin In the words we have these three things 1. A Blessedness pronounced Blessed is a Happiness consisting in a sure security from all Evil but more especially the evil of eternal Death and an assurance of all Good and eternal Life 2. You have the subject of this Blessedness the Man And that you may know who this Man is the Apostle describes him by his Privilege To whom the Lord will not impute Sin a privilege peculiar to those that are and shall be Happy Blessed is the Man unto whom the Lord will not impute Sin 3. The time when Man comes to be stated in this Blessedness and that is in the very instant that God ceases to impute Sin There is not any thing that Man injoys which can render him Blessed whilst God charges Sin upon him therefore Blessed is the Man mark he is Blessed not shall be but is in the present tense he is and therefore shall be Blessed We shall briefly enquire 1. What we are to understand by the Lord 's not imputing Sin 2. Who by the Man to whom the Lord will not impute Sin 1. By the Lord 's not imputing Sin we must understand a free Act of Grace in God which Man of himself neither hath nor ever could have deserved being utterly unable to satisfy that Justice he had by Sin offended or appease that Wrath which his Sin had kindled Never could Man by his own procurement have rescued himself from that Punishment and Misery he was involv'd by Sin therefore we say Not to impute is an act of Mercy in God exprest in his not charging Sin upon the sinners account so as to exact satisfaction of the Debt from the Trespasser nor to punish the sinner with eternal Misery in want of such satisfaction of his own procurement 2. By the Lord 's not imputing Sin we may understand a free Act of Love and Kindness in God in pardoning and forgiving Sin as to the eternal Punishment of it As when a Creditor is pleased of mere Mercy to forgive a poor Debtor his Debt justly due to him in such case he will not impute the Debt nor charge it to account or when a Governor forgives the fault of a Child or Servant he will not impute the Crime nor punish him for it 2. Who is this Man to whom the Lord will not impute Sin I conceive it is 1. Believing Man 2. Infant Man 1. God will not impute Sin to Believing Man Every Man and Woman that in truth believes in the Lord Jesus Christ may rest with the greatest Confidence in this Grace of God who is said to be the Justifier of every one that believeth in Jesus Rom. 3.26 4.3 4 5. To which you have the concurrent Testimony of all the Prophets in that summary Account given us by St. Peter which is that whoever believes in the name of Christ shall receive the Remission of Sin Acts 10.43 So that none as I know of in the least doubt the truth of this that believing Man is privileged by and interested in the Grace of God and that he is not the Man to whom the Lord will impute Sin But 2. By the Man to whom God will not impute Sin we may understand Infant Man The little Infant the new born Babe is stiled Man in Scripture Phrase and that truly because such a one partakes of the whole nature of Man tho unable to exert and put forth it self in such Actions by reason of its natural Weakness and Impotency as are proper to Men in a grown State who are capable of exercising their Understanding and Power in things they are imploy'd about But this incapacity of Infants being natural and common to all Men deprives them no more of the name than the nature of Man therefore Job speaking of the frailty of humane Life saith Chap. 14.1 2. Man that is born of a Woman is of few days and full of Misery he cometh up and is cut down like a Flower signifying that all the days of Man from his Birth to his Death in number are but very few and as the Flower sometimes is no sooner blown but it 's cut down so Man sometimes no sooner breaths in the Air but he falls into the Dust is no sooner taken from the Womb but he is laid in the Grave But notwithstanding his continuance here is so very short yet in his Infant state he is truly stiled Man And so our Lord in John 16.21 saith A Woman in travail hath sorrow because her Hour is come but as soon as she is delivered of the Child she remembreth no more her anguish for joy a Man is born into the World And that all Infants living or dying whilst such are the Subjects of the Blessedness in our Text will I trust no less appear if void of all prejudice we will consider 1. That Man in his Infant State is a Sinner only by imputation not by any choice consent or act of his own whereby he transgrest any Law of God For all Sin is the transgression of a Law 1 John 3.4 But in that sense dying Infants are not Sinners God never assigning them a Law whereto they should have regard by any Command of his that I know of And certain I am where there is no Law Sin is not imputed as our Apostle saith Rom. 5.13 That Sin is imputed to Infants so far as to bring them under the power of Death I confess and even so Sin is imputed unto Believers for they die as well as others But since there is no Law given to Infants we soberly affirm Sin is not imputed to them to condemn them eternally to the torments of Hell Fire and that is what we propose to clear
The Judg of the whole Earth must do right he cannot but do so he may as well cease to be as cease to be righteous in all or any of his Ministrations and Procedures Men may be rigorous and unrighteous cruel and preposterous but God cannot be so it is contrary to his Nature and repugnant to that Law by which he will act and govern himself in all his proceedings with Man Now I appeal to all Men of common sense and understanding tho but of a small measure of ingenuity and honesty whether it be consistent with the common Rules of Justice and Equity among Men to punish the Innocent with the Nocent the Faultless with the Guilty Were it your own case could you think so Nay that the Criminal's Offence should be charged upon you and the Offender himself go free The latter of these all Men would decry as high injustice and a preposterous proceeding But so it is in the case in hand reserving that only Instance of Christ's suffering for us and in our stead by the designation of his Father and as an evidence of his good Will to us We have not only God charging the Sin of Adam upon his whole Posterity wherein he is perfectly just Adam considered as our common Head and we all in his Loins standing or falling in and with him but letting Adam go free and inflicting eternal punishment on his Seed But with reverence we may demand What makes vain Man to imagine that God will discharge Adam the actual Offender giving him immediately upon his Fall the promise of a Saviour and yet bind the guilt of that Sin upon the greatest part of his innocent Posterity who could neither avoid nor prevent it to their inevitable ruin and eternal destruction A Conception most unworthy of God and his dealing with Men For whatever Grace and Favour Adam received in so early a Promise of a Saviour he received it as well for his Posterity as for himself and as we had been represented by him under the disadvantages of the Fall so he being still in the station of a publick Person matters were negotiated with him as our common Head for the intitling us to the promised Saviour as well as before he and we in him did so fall The untoward Jews entertain'd such a conceit as this of God insomuch that by the vent they gave it in their Discourses it was taken up as a Proverb in Israel That the Fathers had eaten sowr Grapes and the Childrens teeth were set on edg Ezek. 18.2 But doth God take this kindly at their hands to represent him so unequal in his proceedings as to punish the Innocent with the Guilty No he resents it with great indignation and displeasure abhorring the thoughts they had of him and the measure by which they represented him as manifestly reflecting on the Goodness of his Nature and the Justice of those Rules and Eternal Laws of Righteousness by which he proceeded Wherefore he solemnly declares and that upon Oath That thenceforth they should have no more any occasion to use it as a Proverb As I live saith the Lord God all Souls are mine as the Soul of the Father is mine so also the Soul of the Son is mine but the Soul that sinneth it shall die as you read in the 3d and 4th Verses How positive and plain is the Lord in these terms to satisfy all and to rectify Israel's mistake whose Notions and ill-form'd Apprehensions had been very unworthy of him and who had without any ground conceiv'd him rigid and cruel Therefore Israel change your Opinion of me think of me no more as inequitable in my judicial proceedings with Man I tell you again The Soul that sinneth shall die the Son shall not bear the Iniquity of the Father and so on in the 20th Verse And this Justice and Righteousness of God's dealings is abundantly illustrated in that Passage wherein Moses expresses great tenderness and strong affection to sinning and revolting Israel in his intercession with God for them His Love inclin'd him willingly to be made a Sacrifice for them that had sinned rather than God should cast off all regard for 'em and enter the Lists as an Enemy against them Lord says Moses if thou wilt not pardon thy People blot me I pray thee out of the Book which thou hast written Exod. 32.32 To which the Lord replies as it were No no Moses thou hast not sinned and tho thou hast sufficiently expressed thy love to an undeserving People yet should I do as thou desirest it would be to act contrary to the Rules of perfect Equity and Justice from which I will not I cannot swerve and therefore it is only they that have sinned against me that I will blot out of my Book as vers 33. My love to my People hath been very great exprest by manifold acts of kindness but in case they sin as they have now done my Justice and Faithfulness will not let them go unpunished much less punish thee an innocent Person for their sin and acquit them thereupon from the sin and punishment due to it From all which it 's evident that God will not impute Sin to dying Infants to their eternal condemnation and that in both these respects that Man is blessed Infant as well as believing Man unto whom the Lord will not impute Sin The Doctrine from the words is That he and he alone is blessed whose Sin is not imputed and that dying Infants are assuredly blessed on that account I confess there are many in the World who from the prosperity of their present state and condition think all is well with them they are not under wracking pain nor pinching poverty they have their Wants supply'd and it may be more than their hearts can desire Psal 73.4 5 7. The Language of whose Hearts is the same with that of Babylon's Rev. 18.7 I sit as a Queen and shall see no sorrow whereas their Sun may he declining and as Zephar says Job 20.5 6 7. their Prosperty is very short the remainder of their days may be fill'd with trouble perplexity and disappointment and nothing remain but a sad prospect of mourning and sorrow in utter darkness if not prevented by a timely and hearty Repentance All is not Gold that glisters 't is too common for Man to mistake his own state and to think with Laodicea Rev. 3.17 because of their full enjoyment of this World's Wealth accompanied with a profession of the Christian Religion that they are Rich and have need of nothing when as in truth they are wretched miserable poor blind and naked The rich Man in the Gospel was no less mistaken at last as to his own state and condition Most certain it is that Nature has not power to endow us with Features so amiable and Faculties so excellent as to insure us of Blessedness The greatest Beauty is oft spoiled by a fit of Sickness as the Small Pox c. and sometimes not only defaced but