Gen. 25.23 I mean the corrupt nature must be an underling to that which is sanctified if Hagar will be content to live in the house in a state of inferiority well and good that for a time must be submitted to but if she will be presuming to vie with her Mistress for authority and rule and nothing will serve her below that she must then be made to know her self the application is obvious To make the thing unquestionable pray consider what that in special is which is done by God at the converting of a Soul 't is this very thing the dethroning of Sin and Satan and the inthroning of Christ and Grace where God converts he doth in effect say Sin thou must now come down and Christ and Grace shall now ascend the throne When ever the Sinner is regenerated in the first moment of that state Sin is divested of its usurped power and regency and the Kingdom of Christ in and by Grace is set up in him now Christ's kingdom and Sins kingdom are incompatible where he reigns it shall not for he is impatiens consortis but especially he will not have such a base thing as Sin to share with him in the government of the Soul Where Christ comes and takes possession he always abolishes the Law of Sin and instead of that sets up another Law for new Lords will have new Laws and different Lords different Laws Therefore in the work of Conversion God promises to write his Law in the heart Jer. 31.33 But this shall be the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts now upon the doing of that the Law of Sin is defac'd antiquated and canoell'd for since contrary Laws cannot be together in their full force the former must be abolish'd upon the introduction of the latter Once more in the Text you have the Law of the Spirit of Life brought in in opposition to and in order to the abolition of the Law of Sin which being considered it affords a very weighty argument for the proof of the Truth in hand The Law of the Spirit is the mighty power of the Spirit put forth in the regenerate Soul for the rescuing of it from the power of Sin and the bringing of it under the Rule and Scepter of the Lord Christ now shall this Spirit put forth such a mighty power for this very end and yet Sin continue as high in its Soveraignty as before what advantage then would the Believer have by the Law of the Spirit if the Law of Sin should yet be kept up in him Certainly when this great Spirit shall vouchsafe to exert his great power there must be some great effect produced by it and what can that be but the delivering of the poor Captive-Sinner from Sins bondage the destroying of Satans kingdom and the setting up of Christs sweet and gracious Government in the Soul but I spend time in the proving of that which indeed needs not much proof In the application of the Doctrine which I judge will be more useful and necessary I might here take occasion to confute those who misunderstanding this passage being made free from the Law of Sin do from thence infer and argue for the Saints perfection in this Life But having given you all that this freedom contains in it which comes exceeding short of perfection I think I need not I 'm sure I will not speak any thing further for the obviating and refuting of that proud Opinion He that here saith he was made free from the Law of Sin elsewhere saith also * Phil. 3.12 he had not already attained nor was already perfect c. and surely he went as far nay much further than any of our modern Perfectionists God make us sensible of imperfection in this State and ever to be pressing after and waiting for that perfection which only belongs to the future state I might also from hence infer the happiness of such who are truly regenerate and the preciousness excellency advantage of regenerating grace ô how happy are they who are delivered from Sins yoke and how precious is that grace which instates the Soul in such liberty VSE 1. How we may know whether we be made free from the Law of Sin But passing by these things I will in the first place desire you to make diligent search whether you be thus freed from the Law of Sin O Sirs how is it with you what can you say of your selves about this You heard in the former Point that all in the Natural State are under this Law Adam hath entail'd this bondage upon all his posterity had he not flan we had come into the world with the Law of God written in our hearts but now we are born with the Law of Sin written in them are we therefore brought out of the state of Nature In this Point you have heard that they who are Regenerate are made free from it so that if you be not such you are concluded to be yet under the Law of Sin these two do mutually prove each the other if it be the state of unregeneracy 't is the Law of Sin and if it be the Law of Sin 't is the state of unregeneracy Well! it highly concerns you to be most seriously inquisitive about this 'pray therefore bring it down to your selves one by one and ask how is it with me am I under the Law of Sin or am I made free from it some Law or other I must be under for every man in the world is so therefore what is the Law which hath the authority over me is it the Law of Christ the Law of Grace or is it the Law of Sin hath not the sinful Nature in me the dominion of a Law and the efficacy of a Principle is not all that which makes up the Law of Sin to be found in me To help you in this Enquiry I need not say much more than what I have already said do but look back to the explication of Sins being a Law as also to the Answer of that Question How this may be known and there 's enough to direct you in examination and passing judgment upon your selves Yet however a little further to help you herein and also to quicken you to the more serious searching into it let me tell you there are very great and dangerous mistakes in this matter ô how far may Sinners go and how well may they think of themselves and yet for all that be under the Law of Sin men catch at false evidences and lay that stress upon them which they will not bear Let me instance in a few particulars to show how far persons may go and yet not be made free from the Law of Sin or to set forth the weakness of some grounds which men build upon for this How far men may go and yet be under the Law of Sin 1. They
thy fetters love thy dungeon be fond of thy bondage and prefer it before liberty what is this but madness not to be parallel'd what ingratitude is this to thy Saviour what cruelty to thy self as to thee I may well alter Tiberius's ô gentem c. into ô animam ad servitutem natam Further I pray you think of this if Sin rule you will Christ save you you cannot but know the contrary you know that he rules wherever he saves that he will be the Governour Where he is the Saviour that Sins yoke must be taken off and * Matth. 11.29 his yoke taken up or no salvation and yet shall Sin be obey'd and be thy Lord and Sovereign rather than Christ The business comes to a narrow issue let Christ rule thee and hee 'l save the but let Sin command thee and 't will condemn thee the Law of Christ and of the Spirit is the Law of Life but the Law of Sin is the Law of Death but these things have been insisted upon O that this Spirit which frees from the Law of Sin would shew you what there is in the Law of Sin men do not endeavour to get out of it because they are not convinc'd of the evil that is in it did they but know what it is they would choose to dye rather than to live under it And as for you let me ask you how you carry it in other respects you hate the Tyrant without will you love the Tyrant within you groan under the Laws of men when they are a little heavy shall there be no groanings under the far heavier Laws of Sin you will not be called slaves to any will you be content to be indeed slaves to Sin is a barbarous Turk cry'd out of when a Devil and a cursed Nature are never regarded But one Consideration more as God made you at the first you had nothing to do with this Law of Sin no he made you for his own government to be subject to himself his Law was written within you to command and act you in your whole course how then came Sin by this power how did it get up thus into the throne why onely by the first Apostacy from God Adams Fall was Sins Rise its reign commenc'd from mans rebellion 't is a meer upstart and intruder God never design'd this power to it will you now by your liking of it and continuance under it give an after-ratification or approbation of its power It hath depriv'd you of your primitive liberty and will you not endeavour to regain it when Sardis was taken by the Grecians Xerxes commanded that every day when he was at dinner one should cry aloud Sardis is lost Sardis is lost that hereby he might be inminded of what he had lost and stirr'd up to endeavour the regaining of it ô Sirs your Original Liberty is lost Sin hath got it out of your hands this we proclaim in your ears from time to time that you may never be quiet till you have recovered it and yet will you do nothing in order thereunto will you e'ne sit still under this inexpressible loss ô that 's sad All this hath been spoken to set you against Sins dominion to excite you to the most earnest endeavours to be rid of its soveraignty to cause you to fly to the Spirit of Life that you may be made free from the Law of Sin to work holy purposes in you that Sin shall no longer reign over you that you may say with the Church Isa 26.13 O Lord our God other Lords besides thee have had dominion over us but by thee onely will we make mention of thy name O that I might prevail with some Soul to say with respect to Sin Ah Lord other Lords have had dominion over me lust pride passion covetuousness sensuality have ruled me just as they pleas'd but I desire it may be so no longer I am resolved now onely to be subject to thy self ô do thou dethrone Sin and inthrone thy self in me let me be brought under universal hearty ready subjection to thy Laws and let not the Law of Sin carry it in me any longer c. One Direction given for the Sinners being freed from Sins power In what ways and by what means a poor enslaved Sinner may be made free from the Law of Sin is a very weighty enquiry and I would hope that some Sinners being convinc'd by what hath been spoken have it in their thoughts For answer to it there 's one Direction only which I shall at present give 't is this Get into the regenerate state regenerate persons are the adequate Subjects of this freedom they and none but they are freed from Sin as a Law Paul so long as he was unconverted was as much under this Law as any person whatsoever but as soon as it pleased God to convert him he was made free from it This deliverance depends upon the state it must be the state of regeneracy till which Sin will keep up its regency and soveraignty in the Soul ô as you have heard when Grace once comes into the heart the kingdom of Sin goes down and the kingdom of Christ goes up therein but never before All your strivings endeavours convictions purposes promises will never make Sins throne to shake and fall till you be renewed and sanctified Therefore pray much for the regenerating Spirit and attend much upon the regenerating Word in order to this great work Joh. 3.5 Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God Jam. 1.18 Of his own will begat he us by the Word of truth c. 1 Cor. 4.15 In Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel 't is this Spirit and this Word which must renew and bring about the new birth in you and so deliver you from the power of darkness and translate you into the kingdom of Gods dear Son as the Apostle speaks Col. 1.13 But this will be more properly enlarg'd upon when I shall come to the third Observation therefore here I 'le say no more about it VSE 3. To such who are made free from the Law of Sin first by way of Counsel 3. I will direct my self to those who by the Spirit of Life are made free from the Law of Sin something to them 1. by way of Counsell 2. by way of Comfort By way of Counsel I 'le urge three duties upon them 1. The first is hearty and deep humiliation and this is incumbent upon such partly upon what is past and partly upon what is present Regenerate persons to be deeply humbled though they be made free from the Law of Sin First hath the Lord been so gracious to any of you as to bring you out of the Natural bondage to dethrone and bring down this Sin which did at such a rate domineer over you ô you must be deeply humbled upon your taking a view of what is past
as a free Denizon of it who doth so little know how to value such a priviledge Go thy way therefore and be a slave again since thou knowest not how to carry it as becomes one that is free Now I say if God should deal thus with any of you would it not be sad true he will never wholly reverse what he hath done in you and for you but thus far he may go he may let corruption at some times and in some acts prevail over you and he may wholly deprive you of the sense and comfort of your spiritual liberty and would not these be bad enough To walk suitably to it Let me under this Head press another thing upon you viz. to walk suitably to this your freedom wherein doth that consist why in this in being holy and very holy If you so be this will suit with the deliverance from the Law of Sin which you have upon regeneration and which you must therefore be because 't is one great end of God in doing that for you Luk. 1.74 75. That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life 'T is observable how God ushers in the Ten Commandements with his delivering the people of Israel out of the Egyptian bondage thereby to lay the greater obligation upon them to obey and keep those Commandements Exod. 20.2 I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage then the several Commandements follow And as to that particular Command of keeping the Sabbath you find God enforcing of it with this Argument only Deut. 5.15 Remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt c. O how holy how obedient should they be whom God hath brought out of the state of spiritual bondage the obligation rising higher from this deliverance than from the former Christians you should be very holy partly from a principle of gratitude partly because now the life of holiness is made more easie and facil if you be not so now the power of Sin is broken in you it must be from your sloth or something worse * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oec Some observe upon the latter-Clause of the preceding Verse who walk not after the flesh c. that now under the Gospel 't is much more easie to live the heavenly life than it was formerly under the Law so that say they if men do not live that Life it must be charg'd meerly upon their own negligence so here I say persons being delivered from the Reign of Sin to them now 't is much more possible nay easie to be holy in their walkings than sometimes it was and therefore if they do not so walk 't is meerly from their idleness and sinful neglects Sirs now the holy Life is made practicable to you what an engagement doth this lay upon you to live it The Apostle here according to that Connexion of the Words which some pitch upon brings in freedom from the Law of Sin as the ground of not walking c. therefore they who are in Christ do not follow the sinful and carnal but the holy and spiritual course because they are freed from Sins power I 'm sure as to the thing 't is the duty of such so to walk upon this account Let me add a third Consideration regenerate persons upon this must be very holy that there may be some proportion 'twixt Nature as renewed in the way of Holiness and Nature as depraved in the way of Sin 'pray observe it so long as depraved Nature was upon the throne you were very sinful therefore now when renewed Nature is upon the throne you should be very holy I do not from hence plead for an equality that I very well know is not possible and the reason is because corrupt nature before Conversion was entire not broken or weakened by any contrary habit or principle but 't is not so with the renewed Nature after Conversion for that hath Sin mingled with it striving against it making opposition to it therefore men cannot be so entirely good after grace as they were entirely evil before grace yet I may and I do plead from hence for some proportion whilst Sin ruled you you were very sinful therefore now Christ and Grace rule you you should be very holy So the Apostle argues Rom. 6.19 20. As you have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness For when ye were servants to sin ye were free from righteousness therefore which though it be not express'd yet 't is imply'd proportionably now when you are the servants of righteousness you should be free from sin Upon this threefold Consideration such as are made free from the Law of Sin should be holy Against Sins actual and partial dominion Now that I may be somewhat more particular about this Sin being that which is opposite to Holiness and much of the nature of holiness lying in refraining from sin and also the dominion of any particular sin very ill agreeing with deliverance from the Law thereof therefore in both of these respects I would caution all regenerate persons against it but 't is the latter only that I shall speak a few words unto Where I would be very earnest with you who have passed under the regenerating work of the Spirit to take heed even of the actual and partial dominion of Sin and there is great need of this admonition for though upon regeneration you are secur'd from its Habitual and Vniversal dominion yet as to some particular Sin and some particular evil acts it may have that which looks too much like dominion though strictly and properly it be not so Here therefore I desire you to be very careful that you do not suffer any one sin to reign in you for how would this consist with your being made free from the Law of Sin since as hath been said the power of any one sin and subjection thereunto if it be full and free plenary and voluntary doth as certainly prove its dominion as the power of many nay of all ô take heed that this and that sin do not rule or be too high in you 'T was Davids prayer Psal 19.13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins let them not have dominion over me then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgression he goes further and takes in all Psal 119.133 Order my steps in thy word and let not any iniquity have dominion over me Saints are not so freed from the Law of Sin by the Spirit but that there is need of daily prayer and that there be all endeavours and care on their part against it and their care must reach even to this that not any single iniquity may have dominion over them
legis impotentiam aliò ut Legem absolvat à culpá quam dat carni viz. nostrae i. e. corruptae nostrae naturae Muscul Ne quis parum honorificè Legem impotentÃae argui putaret vel hoc restringeret ad Ceremonias expressit nominatim Paulus defectum illum non à Legis esse vitio sed Carnis nostrae corruptelâ Calvin through our Flesh 't is not so in and from it self but only through our depraved nature 't is meerly by accident et aliundè that it lies under this impotency The Law is not to be blamed but we had not we finn'd the Law would have been still as able and mighty in its operations as ever it was did it but meet with the same subject it would soon appear that it hath the same power which it had before Adam fell So that I say the Law is not at all in the fault but only we because of the Flesh Observe here the wisdom and care of our Apostle where-ever he seems to tax the Law there he will be sure to vindicate it As where he speaks of its irritating of corruption he there layes the blame upon his own wicked nature not at all upon the holy Law Rom. 7.8 9 10 11. Sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence for without the Law sin was dead For I was alive without the Law once but when the commandment came Sin revived and I died And the commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death For Sin taking occasion by the commandment deceived me and by it slew me Yet vers 12 13 14. The Law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good Was then that which is good made death unto me God forbid But Sin that it might appear Sin working death in me by that which is good that Sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful For we know that the Law is spiritual but I am carnal sold under sin And thus we should carry it with respect to the Laws weakness O in it self 't is mighty and powerful but there is sin in us by which only the Law is made weak there therefore the blame must lye Could we but get rid of this Sin we should soon find what a mighty thing the Law is so mighty that nothing would be too high or too hard for it 2 Secondly Take heed that you do not cast off the Law upon this pretence 'T is indeed weak as to such ends but yet 't is a Law and that which is obligatory to all even to Believers themselves under the Gospel State and Covenant Shall we because of this weakness especially it being occasioned by our selves cast off the Law and pretend that we are not under the obligation of it we must not so argue Observe it in the Apostle even when he was proving the weakness of the Law as to Justification and shewing that God had found out another way for that viz. the way of Faith yet foreseeing that some might run themselves upon this rock and infer from hence that they had nothing to do with the Law he therefore adds * Rom. 3.31 Do we then make void the Law through Faith God forbid yea we establish the Law in its proper place and Sphere The Creature as a creature is under a natural and therefore indispensable obligation to this Law so as that nothing can exempt him from that obligation It commands to love fear serve honour obey God wherein it obliges so strongly that God himself with reverence be it spoken cannot free the creature from its obligation to these duties True indeed Believers are not under the curse rigor or bondage of this Law or under it as it is the condition of life but they are and it cannot be otherwise under the obligation of its commands as to an holy life There may be and blessed be God there is a great change as to circumstances a great relaxation as to the Laws rigors severitys and penaltys but for the main duties of Obedience and Holiness it is eternally obligatory and never to be abrogated O therefore do not look upon your selves as made free from this Law though it be weak and unable to justifie and save you it can damne upon the breaking of it though it cannot save by the keeping of it 3 Thirdly Neither must you upon this look upon the Law as altogether weak or useless I say not as altogether weak for though as to some things it be under a total impotency yet as to other things it still retains its pristine power It cannot take away sin or make righteous or give life which it promis'd at first and for which it was appointed for the commandment was ordained to life Rom. 7.10 here 's the weak side of the Law as to these 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But as to the commanding of duty the directing and regulating of the life the threatning of punishment upon the violation of it here it can do whatever it did before The Laws preceptive and punitive part where 't is not taken off by Christ are yet in their full strength only as to the promissory part of it viz. its promising life upon the condition of perfect Obedience there 't is at a loss In a word its authority to oblige to duty or punishment is the same that ever it was but its ability to give righteousness or life in which respects only the Apostle here speaks of it is not the same If God open this Law to you and set it home upon your Consciences you will find it hath yet a very great strength and efficacy in it let it not therefore be altogether weak in your eye Nor altogether useless For Some will be ready to say if the Law be thus weak then what use is there of it to what end doth it serve what is to be looked for from that which can do so little for us But do not you thus reason For though the Law be not of use to you as to Justification I mean in a way of immediate influence upon the Act or State a remoter influence it may have yet in other respects 't is of great and admirable use viz. as a Monitor to excite to duty as a Rule to direct and guide you in your course as a Glass to discover sin as a Bridle to restrain sin as an Hatchet to break the hard heart as a * Gal. 3.24 Schoole-master to whip you to Christ The Lord Jesus indeed hath taken Sin-pardoning God-atoning Justice-satisfying Soul-saving work into his own hands he would not trust this in the hands of the Law any longer because he knew the weakness of it but for other work the awakening and convincing of a Sinner the terrifying of the secure the humbling of the proud the preparing of the Soul to close with Christ though this last act be only eventual and accidental as to the Law all this work I
say yet lies upon the Law Be you who you will Believers or unbelievers regenerate or unregenerate the Law is of marvellous use to you 'T is a rule to all whether they be good or bad and as so none are exempted from it as is by several Divines sufficiently proved against the Antinomists and it hath too very good and useful effects upon all whether called or uncalled Saints or Sinners Our Apostle who here doth so much depress the Law in respect of Justification doth elsewhere in other respects speak much of its usefulness Rom. 3.19 Now we know that what things soever the Law saith it saith to them who are under the Law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God Rom. 7.7 What shall we say then is the Law sin God forbid Nay I had not known sin but by the Law for I had not known lust except the Law had said Thou shalt not covet Gal. 3.19 24. Wherefore then serveth the Law it was added because of transgressions till the Seed should come to whom the Promise was made and it was ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator Wherefore the Law was our School-master to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith I must not launch out into this vast Ocean you have variety of * Taytor's Reg. Vitae Burg. Vind. Legis Boltons Bounds c. Baxter in several Treat with divers Others Facessat longè ex animis nostris profana ista Opinio Legem non este regulam Est enim inflexibilis vivendi regula Calvin Treatises upon this Argument namely to prove that the Law is still a Rule and still very useful in those great effects which have been mentioned I refer you to them for further satisfaction This I only touch upon as it lies in my way both that I may prevent dangerous mistakes and also shew you how you are to carry it towards the Law O let it be highly esteemed reverenced honoured by you yea bless God for it for though indeed 't is weak and unprofitable as the Covenant of Works yet as 't is a Rule and as it produces such effects upon the Conscience so 't is of great use and highly beneficial So much for the 2d Vse Thirdly Use 3. Was the Law thus unable to do for the Sinner what was necessary to be done then never look for Righteousness and Life from and by the Law For as to these it cannot do your work unless you could do its work it cannot justifie or save you unless you could perfectly obey and fulfil it O pray expect little from it nay nothing at all in this way you cannot answer its expectations and it cannot answer yours It highly concerns every man in the world to make sure of righteousness and life but where are these to be had only in Christ in the way of believing not in the Law in the way of doing We would fain make the Law stronger than indeed it is and 't is natural to us to look for a righteousness from it because there was our righteousness at first and that suits best with the pride of our hearts Man is not so averse to the Law in point of obedience but he is as apt to rest upon the Law for Heaven and Happiness if he can but do something which the Law requires O this he looks upon as a sufficient Righteousness and as a good Plea for Heaven Especially when Conscience is a little awakened then the poor Creature betakes himself to his doing to his obedience to the Law and this he thinks will do his work till God lets him see his great mistake As 't is * Hos 5.13 said When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judab saw his wound then went Ephraim to the Assyrian and sent to King Jareb yet could he not heal you nor cure you of your wound just so 't is with the convinced Sinner in reference to the Law both as to his practise and also as to his success I would not be mistaken in what I have said or shall further say as if I did design to take off any from Obedience to the Law God forbid all that I aim at is only to take men off from trusting in that obedience and from leaning upon that as their Righteousness We should be doers of the Law for * Rom. 2.13 not the hearers of the Law are just before God but the doers of the Law shall be justified yea we should go as far as ever we can in our endeavours after a Law-righteousness for though that be not sufficient to justifie us before God yet that must make us righteous in his eye * Vide Burg. of Justif 2d p. Serm. 22. p. 215. as to qualitative and inherent righteousness and so we are to understand that Text with many others of the same import * Deut. 6.25 It shall be our righteousness if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God as he hath commanded us But yet when we have gone the furthest the Righteousness which we are to rely upon is only the Gospel Righteousness or the imputed Righteousness of the Lord Jesus if we take up with any thing short of that we are * O nos miseros si vel tantillum nostra salus basi tam infirmá nitatur Beza in 1 Joh. 1.8 miserable and lost for ever As to the Law is it thus weak or rather are you thus weak and yet will you bottom your expectation and confidence there can you fulfil or satisfie it in its demands of perfect personal universal constant Obedience If you cannot then which nothing more certain it can never then do your business nay upon the least failure it will be your enemy to plead against you for the non-performance of its Conditions and so though it cannot as a Friend do you much good yet as an Enemy it can and will do you much hurt What a sad case is the legalist in the Law condemns him because he doth no more obey and the Gospel condemns him because he doth no more believe he 's lost on every hand O this is woful And yet how many precious Souls split themselves upon this rock millions of men look no higher than the Law that is the foundation upon which they build their confidence for Life and Salvation Could we but get into them and be privy to the Grounds of their Hope we should find that 't is not Christ and Faith in him but the Law and some imperfect Obedience thereunto upon which they bottom they deal honestly wrong no body live unblameably make some external Profession perform such duties are thus and thus charitable to the poor c. and hereupon they are confident of their Salvation Now I deny not but that these are very good things I wish there was more of them yet when any rest in them or upon them for Righteousness and Life they set them
Matth. 22.45 Lord of David and the Son of David the branch of David and the root of David both ‖ Revel 22.16 root and off-spring how could such different things be affirm'd of him but upon the distinction of his two Natures that therefore is not in the least impeach'd by the Hypostatical Vnion True upon this Union there is the communication of properties betwixt them so as that that which is proper to one Nature is applyed to the other as you see Joh. 3.13 1 Cor. 2.8 Act. 20.48 and so as that that which is predicated of the one may be also predicated of the other I mean in the concrete for in the abstract this will not hold as I cannot say the Deity is the Humanity or the Humanity is the Deity yet I may truly say God is Man and Man is God a communication of properties thus far or in this sense we deny not it follows upon the Vnion but that that which is essential to one Nature should really Physically be convey'd and made over to the other Nature as Omnipresence Vbiquity Omniscience c. from the Godhead to the Manhood which is the Popish and Lutheran Communication this as implying a Contradiction and carrying in it a perfect repugnancy to the nature of the thing we cannot assent unto The Humane Nature in the first moment of its formation was united to the Divine 4. No sooner was the Humane Nature framed or formed but in that very instant of time it was united to the Divine Nature this also I put down as another branch of the main Proposition 'T was * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Damasc Orth. Fid. l. 3. cap. 2. v. Luommbard L. 3. Dist 2. taken as soon as it was made its first existence and its union were contemporary We distinguish betwixt the formation sanctification and assumption of the Humane Nature and we conceive of these as done successively in such an order first that Nature was form'd then sanctify'd then assum'd But this is meerly founded upon our conception not that it was so indeed and really as to the things themselves for in truth there was no priority of time priority of Nature I deny not betwixt the one and the other but at the very same moment wherein by the Power of the Holy Ghost the Manhood of Christ was formed it was also sanctify'd and united to the Godhead A Question here is moved by Some whether Christ's Humane Nature was compleat and perfect at the first that is whether as soon as ever his Flesh was formed his Soul was infus'd and united to it or whether as it is with us there was not some space of time intervening betwixt the formation of the Flesh and the infusion of the Soul in the discussing of which there is a difference among them Some being for the * Sharp Cursus Theol. p. 362. Affirmative and Others for the †Lud. Capellus in Thes Salmur part 2. p. 12. thes 15. Dr. Jackson on the Creed 7th Book Sect. 3. ch 29. p. 324. Negative But which is to my purpose all agree in this that whether it was only Flesh for sometime or whether both Flesh and Soul were form'd together yet still the Vnion began at the first instant of the Incarnation There was a time before Christ's Manhood did exist but as soon as ever it did exist there was no time wherein it was under disunion and disjunction from his Godhead Thus I have endeavoured by these Four things to give you a little light concerning the Hypostatical Vnion of the two Natures in Christ's Person which this Sixth Proposition led me unto a point of such high importance and so proper to the subject in hand that I could not wholly pass it over and yet withal so sublime and mysterious that I can neither speak nor conceive of it according to what is in it 7. Prop. 'T is probable if Adam had not faln Christ had not been sent in Flesh 7. Let me add but one thing further 'T is probable had there been no sin that Christ had not been sent in Flesh or had not Adam fallen and thereby involv'd his whole Posterity in a state of sin and guilt 't is probable that Christ had not been incarnate I express it modestly going no higher than 't is probable because though the Scriptures make it certain to me yet 't is not so to others nay some are of a quite other opinion The question is not de possibili what God by his absolute Power and Will might and could have done but only de facto whither if man had not sin'd Christ should actually have assum'd our Nature about which the Schools with other Divines are divided some * Scotus in 3. part disput 7. Quest 3. Absque praejudicio concedi potest etiamsi humana natura non peccasset adhuc Christum carnem sumpturum fuisse Alex. Alons 3. p. Qu. 2. memb 13. Catharinus de praed Christ Pet. Galatinus de Arc. Cathol ver l. 7 c. 2. Osiander c. affirming it some * Aquinas p. 3. qui. 1. art 3. Vasquez in 3. part tom 1. disp 10. art 3. Becan Theol. Schol. p. 3. c. 1. qu. 7. Calvin Instit l. 2. c. 12. against Osiander Hoorneb Socin Confut. tom 2. l. ◠c. 2. p. 253. Stegm Photin disp 15. p. 176. Alting Theol. Probl. Loc. 12. Probl. 5. p. 564. denying it The former affirm though sin had not been yet Christ would have come in Flesh not to have dy'd or suffer'd but only to have let the world see the glory and excellency of his Humane Nature that so great a work as his Incarnation might not have been lost or not done that God thereby might give out a singular demonstration of his Love to man the latter cannot lay so great a stress upon these things and therefore assert if man had not sin'd Christ had not been incarnate And indeed their Opinion seems to be more agreeable to the Word for that usually mentions saving from sin and the taking away of sin as the end and ground of Christ's taking Flesh My Text describes the state of the sinner to be desperate upon the terms of the Law and then upon that God sent his Son in Flesh it adds further he was thus sent to condemn sin in his Flesh so that had there been no sin to have been condemn'd he had not been sent in Fesh So Matth. 1.21 She shall bring forth a Son and thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners c. Joh. 1.29 Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world Dan. 9.24 Seventy weeks are determined upon the people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity Tit. 2.14 Who gave
the Apostle opposes Christ's Sacrifice Vers 5 6 c. and of that he saith Vers 10. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all Vers 11 12. And every Priest standeth daily ministring and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sins But this man after he had offered one Sacrifice for sins for ever sat down on the right hand of God Vers 14. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified The HEATHENS had their Sacrifices which they call'd * Succidaneae dictae si permis hostiis litatum non erat aliae post easdem ductae hostiae caedebantur quae quasi prioribus jam caesis luendi piaculi gratia subdebantur succedebant Gyrald Synt. 17. p. 465. Saubert de Sacrif c. 19. p. 477. Hostiae succedaneae which they offered up to their GODS in case those which they had offered before did not succeed the Lord Jesus by his one Sacrifice did so effectually do what he designed and the Sinner needed as that there is no room for or need of any hostia succedanea 4. The Apostle makes it out from the sanctity of Christ's Person and the perfection of his Sacrifice The Law-Priests offered first for their own sins and then for the sins of the people Heb. 7.27 they ought as for the people so also for themselves to offer for sins Heb. 5.3 the High Priest went once every year into the second Tabernacle not without blood which he offered for * Levit. 16.11 himself and for the errors of the people Heb. 9.7 But now as to Christ he was holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners Heb. 7.26 he had no sin of his own to expiate by his Sacrifice he was made sin but yet he knew no sin 2 Cor. 5.21 Under the Law both Priest and Sacrifice were to be perfect i. e. without any open and external blemish as to the first reade Levit. 21.17 to the end as to the second God gave several precepts about it the Paschal Lamb was to be without blemish Exod. 12.5 the oblation for Vows and for Free-will-offerings the Sacrifice of Peace-offerings were to be without blemish perfect otherwise they should not be accepted Levit. 22.18 to 25. so the red Heifer was to be without spot and wherein there was no blemish Numb 19.2 so the Firstlings of the Cattle Deut. 15.21 and all Sacrifices whatsoever Deut 17.1 And this the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athen. Deipn l. 15. c. 5. c. quas cum immolabant nisi purae integraeque fuissent minus proficere putabant Gyrald p. 491. HEATHENS themselves made conscience of in their Sacrifices In correspondency to all this in a moral and spiritual sense our Lord's Sacrifice was perfect without the least blemish he offered himself without spot to God Heb. 9.14 he was a Lamb without blemish and without spot 1 Pet. 1.19 5. The excellency of Christ's Sacrifice appears from the great effects of it he put away sin by the sacrifice of himself Heb. 9.26 so that there is no more offering for sin Heb. 10.18 being made perfect he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 by this Sacrifice sin was condemned abolished expiated God appeased the Law satisfied †Heb. 9.12 eternal redemption obtained O what an excellent Sacrifice was Christ's Sacrifice and consequently what an excellent Priesthood was Christ's Priesthood Of the Evil of Sin 7. Seventhly was Christ a Sacrifice for sin in order to the condemning of it and could it be condemn'd by nothing short of that hence we are informed that Sin is a very evil thing and of a very heinous nature Had it not been a notorious and capital Offender would God have condemn'd and thus condemn'd it would he so severely have punished it in the flesh of his own Son must even this Son be offered up upon the Cross as a Sacrifice for the expiation of it O what a cursed heinous thing is sin that had made such a breach between God and his Creatures that Christ must die or else no reconciliation that had so highly struck at the Honour of the great God that nothing below the sharpest sufferings of his dearest Son could make Satisfaction for it its poison and venom was such that there was no cure for the Sinner into whom that poyson had got but only the precious blood of Christ himself God had such an hatred and abhorring of it as that for the * Grot. de Sat. Christi p. 67. testifying thereof even he whom he lov'd from all eternity must be made a †Gal. 3.13 Curse what a demonstration was this of the transcendency of the evil of Sin Would you take a full view thereof pray look upon it in and through this glass a sacrific'd Christ gives the clearest the fullest representation of sins hainousness True we may see much of that in Sins own Nature as 't is the transgression of God's most holy and most excellent Law as also in the threatnings which are denounc'd against it and further in the dreadful Effects of it both here and hereafter the loss of God's image and favour and eternal damnation is it not a very evil thing What a mischievous thing hath this sin been it cast the falling Angels out of Heaven into Hell and turn'd them into Devils it thrust Adam out of Paradise made God to be an enemy to him who but now was his favourite cut off the entail of happiness and instead thereof entail'd misery and a curse upon all his posterity it made God at once to drown a whole world it laid Sodom in ashes levell'd Jerusalem it-self to the ground caused God to forsake his own people the Jews c. 't would be endless to enumerate all the sad mischiefs of Sin Now I say in these things we may see much of the evil of it but not so much as what we see in the Death and Sufferings of the Lord Christ there there is the highest discovery and fullest representation of it He to be * Isa 53.3 a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief he to be bruised and broken yea and his Father to be †Isa 53.10 pleased in the bruising of him he in his own person to undergo the Laws penalty to tread the ‖ Isa 63.3 winepress of the wrath of God he to be * Phil. 2.8 obedient to death even the death of the Cross he to cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me he to be kill'd and slain and †Acts 5.30 hang'd upon a tree and all this for sin O what an excess of evil doth this hold forth to be in it Indeed that the poor Creatures should be so destroy'd in the Law-Sacrifices that so many millions of them they in themselves being harmless and innocent should die and be sacrific'd for mans sin this represents very much of
demanding of active Obedience must be taken in and that too as that which is primarily and principally intended by it therefore 't is (c) Significat eam rectitudinem quae praecipitur in lege P. Martyr Justitia quam Lex exigebat Vatabl. Totum quod Lex praecipit Alap 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ipsa legis praecepta c. Perer. Justitia Legis est justitia quam praecipit Lex Estius Implere justum legis est totum quod Lex precipit efficere Tolet. Ut justificatio legis i. e. justitia quam lex prescribit exigit impleretur c. Staplet Antidot p. 627. Ut ad impleret opus praeceptorum legis Ver. Aethiop Ut nos praestaremus omnia quae in lege Mosis per se honesta sunt Grot. Jus justitia justificatio legis in eo consistit ut per omnimodam cum lege conformitatem justi atque inculpati habeamur coram Deo De Dieu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is any thing that God hath thought meet to appoint or command his people Dr. Hammond generally opened by that The Scripture speaks of the Law of righteousness Rom. 9.31 of righteousness by the Law Gal. 3.21 of the righteousness of the Law Rom. 2.26 and in the Text Some difference there is betwixt these but that I shall not stand upon the latter is all that duty righteousness obedience which the Law requires with the penalty which it threatens and will have inflicted upon disobedience What is it to fulfil the Laws righteousness 3. We are to enquire what this fulfilling of the Laws righteousness is Answ The former Head being rightly apprehended there will be little or no difficulty in this To fulfil the righteousness of the Law 't is fully to answer all its demands to come up to perfect and universal conformity to it to do whatever it enjoyns or to suffer whatever it threatens or both For so it was fulfilled by Christ in his active obedience as to the one in his passive obedience as to the other as he was perfectly holy he did what the Law commanded and besides this as he was made * Gal. 3.13 a curse he underwent what the Law threatned 'T is questioned whether one of these be not enough for us either to obey or to suffer but all grant that both were necessary on Christ's part and that both were done by him and so he fulfilled the Laws righteousness This is the genuine and plain notion of the word yet I know other interpretations are given of it The righteousness of the Law was fulfilled inasmuch say * This interpretation noted and confuted by Burg. of Justific P. 361 362. some as that righteousness which it did foretel was actually accomplished in Christ Rom. 3.21 But now the righteousness of God without the Law is manifested being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets that righteousness which before was witnessed promised foretold in the Law receiv'd in Christ its full accomplishment and therein lies the fulfilling of its righteousness But this exposition of the word is I conceive not so proper to the thing here spoken of 't is another fulfilling which is here intended not so much that which is the bringing into act what was foretold or which is the verifying of a prophesie or prediction in which sense it hath usually joyned with it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Matth. 13.35 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Jam. 2.23 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Luk. 24.44 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Matth. 13.14 as the perfect obeying of what was enjoyned in the Command and the doing to the full what the Law as preceptive did require rather than what the Law as predictive did foretel Again * Bodius in Eph. c. 5. v. 28. p. 799. who yet afterwards sets down that notion which I close with Impleri quoque dicitur cum perfectè praestatur observatur quod â Christo pro nobis factum est etsi eâ praestatione vitam aeternam non dicatur nobis acquisivisse Some make this fulfilling of the Law to be no more than adeptio finis the bringing about of that which was the great end of it what was that why to drive Sinners to Christ By its discovering sin and guilt for the Law was added because of transgressions Gal. 3.21 and wrath the consequent thereof and the Sinners utter inability to help himself eventually it was a means to bring such to look out for help in Christ Therefore Gal. 3.24 't is said The Law was our School-master to bring us unto Christ and in this sense some take that passage Rom. 10.4 Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness i.e. that which God mainly design'd in the Law and which was the great end that he aimed at therein it was to drive Sinners to Christ to obtain righteousness in and through him This explication I do not close with neither for I suppose the Apostle is not here speaking so much of the fulfilling of the end of the Law as of the fulfilling of the matter of the Law for he speaks of that which is imputable to us as you will hear now 't is Christ's performing the matter of the Law and not the end of the Law in it-self which comes under imputation That the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled that is say * Deodate in loc others that it might not be commanded in vain nor without effect as it is in respect of Vnbelievers But this exposition will carry us to that fulfilling of the Law which is in our own persons which is not here intended and this will better suit with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 2.26 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 2.27 rather than with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the text These and such like explications of the word therefore being rejected I stick to that which was first laid down to fulfill the Laws righteousness it is fully exactly to do and to suffer whatever that righteous Law demanded How the righteousness of the Law may be said to be fulfilled in Believers 4. The resolution of the 4th Enquiry will take me up more time How are we to understand the fulfilling of the Laws righteousness in the Saints that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us he means in such who are in Christ Jesus and who do believe on him Every true believer is a fulfiller of the Law but how or in what sense he is so there 's the difficulty in one sense nothing more true in another nothing more false In the resolving of this a fourfold Answer is given and a fourfold Interpretation put upon the words The first Answer or Interpretation about it viz. that the righteousness of the Law is perfectly and personâ—lly fulfilled by the Saints themselves 1. First say some the righteousness of the Law is perfectly and personally fulfilled by the Saints themselves This the POPISH Writers in their
also so to walk even as he walked Many will be saying they are in Christ pretending to Union with him I but do they walk as he walked do they live the Life of Jesus do they conform to his example He that doth not thus do he may say he abides in Christ but he doth but say so 't is not so in truth and reality 3. Take but one place more Joh. 15.2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit As this Text holds forth a twofold Vnion 'twixt Christ and men so it was spoke to but even now I am only now to consider it as it may be improv'd for tryal Some are in Christ but 't is not by real insition but only by external profession and Church-membership which will avail them but little for notwithstanding this they are cast forth as dead branches and gathered and cast into the fire and burnt as you see ver 6. and all this befalls them because they bear no fruit Others are in Christ in a saving and special way which is the thing to be enquired after For the finding out of which let me ask you what fruit doth grow upon you are you so in Christ as to be fruitful then you are in Christ indeed He will have no dead barren branches in him for that would reflect dishonour upon the Root All who are united to him shall bring forth fruit * Joh. 15.5.8 much fruit good fruit fruits meet for repentance Matth. 3.8 fruits of righteousness Phil. 1.11 fruitfulness in every good work Col. 1.10 And if so O how many empty barren professors are declared to be out of Christ by this Evidence Thus I have shown both from the double bond of the Vnion and also from some notable trying Scriptures how you may know whether you be really internally specially in Christ Jesus so as that you may with well-grounded confidence lay hold upon the Non-Condemnation here pronounced to such So much for the first Vse VSE 2. Exhortation to get this Vnion with Christ The Second shall be to exhort you all to endeavour to get into Christ O that you would with the greatest diligence make out after this blessed Union What can be so desirable as it what so worthy of your endeavours as to be one with Christ to have a Soul so nearly so inseperably knit to him what a great thing is this It was exceeding high in Paul's eye * Philip. 3.8 9. who counted all things but loss for Christ c. wherein why that he might be found in Christ i. e. be in him as his Head Root Surety City of Refuge c. for the expression admits of these several illustrations though I think the last is most proper Now did he thus highly esteem and value this being in Christ and shall we slight and make little of it Surely my Brethren 't is better not to be at all then to be and yet not to be in Christ better no Union 'twixt Soul and Body then to have that and yet no Union of the Soul with Christ Here 's No Condemnation but for whom only for them who are in Christ to such there 's no condemnation to others there 's nothing but condemnation as hath been often said doth it not highly concern all therefore to endeavour to be one of them who are in Christ To enforce the Exhortation I 'le give you but one Motive but that will be a very comprehensive and considerable one 'T is this Union with Christ is the foundation of all Good by and from Christ 'T is the fundamental blessing I mean with respect to application there can be no application of what Christ hath purchased without antecedent Vnion with his Person 't is the very basis upon which all is built the leading blessing the inlet to all the grace of the Gospel the ground of all communion and communication Ah Sinner thou canst hope for nothing from Christ unless thou beest in Christ without Christ and without hope go together Eph. 2.12 I say Vnion is the foundation of all Communion So 't is in Nature so 't is in Grace too * 1 Cor. 1.30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption mark it 't is first in Christ Jesus and then he is wisdom righteousness c. As it was with Christ in his Manhood first that did participate of the Gratia Vnionis in its being united to the Godhead and then after this all other grace was poured out upon it So 't is with the believing Soul 't is first taken into Union with Christ and then upon that all blessings priviledges benefits are conveyed to it You know the member receives nothing from the head unless it be united to it so 't is with the branches in reference to the root and so here without union with Christ there 's no justification no pardon no reconciliation no adoption no salvation by him for 't is a most certain truth omnis communio fundatur in unione If you be one with Christ and in him all is yours 1 Cor. 3.21 22 23. All things are yours whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come all are yours and ye are Christ's and Christ is God's Here 's a vast propriety and possession but 't is all founded upon Vnion we being Christ's so God is ours the promises are ours heaven is ours life death c. all is ours As the Wife upon the conjugal Vnion hath a right and title to all that her Husband hath so as that she may say Vbi tu Caius ibi ego Caia a proverbial speech used among the Romans at their Marriages so the Believer being joyned and married to Christ all that Christ is or hath becomes his but without this Union there 's nothing to be expected by him or from him It pleases God to deal altogether with men according to their union and according to the head which bears them now there are two publick Heads to one of which every man and woman in the world doth belong these are the two Adams of whom you read 1 Cor. 15.45 There 's the first Adam and all the unregenerate Seed are united to him as their head and upon their union with this head they derive nothing but guilt and wrath and condemnation Then there 's the second Adam Christ Jesus and all the regenerate Seed are united to him as their head and he by vertue of union also communicates pardon of sin peace with God justification eternal life c. Both of these Adams and publick Heads proceed by the Law and upon the terms of Vnion for * Sicut per peccatum Adami non potuissemus peccatores fieri nisi fuissemus in ejus lu â—bis ita per justitiam Christi non-possâ—mus
faculty And whereas he finds it under darkness blindness woful ignorance he is pleased to act as a Spirit of Illumination irradiating the mind with beams of divine light dispelling the opposite darkness filling the Soul with heavenly and saving knowledge This is the Spirits proper act and that which carries a marvellous power in it 't is no easie thing to open a blind eye this is just such a thing as that when the World lay in the abyss of darkness it required Omnipotency to say * Gen. 1.3 Let there be light no less a power is requisite to the saving enlight'ning of the Sinner who is not in darkness but darkness it self Eph. 5.8 But this being done Sin is exceedingly broken in its power by it for ignorance is one of the great supporters of its throne one of its royal Forts wherein its main strength lies where that is in the head Sin domineers in the heart and life You read Eph. 4.19 of some who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness here was the Law of Sin to purpose Sin at the very heighth and top of its dominion how did things come to this pass why ver 18. their Vnderstanding was darkened and they were alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that was in them because of the blindness of their heart what a friend to Sin is ignorance how by this is the Sinner at its beck even to do whatever it would have him No wonder then that the Spirit when he comes to take Sin down first removes this ignorance Acts 26.18 To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God c. here 's the order or method in which the Spirit acts he first opens mens eyes and turns them from darkness to light and so he frees them from the power of Sin and Satan Again whereas the Vnderstanding lies under sad mistakes misapprehensions misjudgings having false notions of things and accordingly passing false judgment upon them by which Sins power is highly strengthened and kept up therefore the Spirit doth rectifie it delivers it from these mistakes c. makes it to judge aright of things and things brings it to pass true dictates that Sin is evil Christ good holiness excellent c. gives that sound mind which the Apostle speaks of 2 Tim. 1.7 This too being done Sin as commanding exceedingly falls and sinks upon this there 's a great abatement and diminution of its power for that never continues absolute and entire in a rectified judgment the convincing Spirit working as such always destroys commanding Sin It s kingdom stands by lyes and falshoods let but the Soul be enabled to see into them and thorough them so as no longer to be deluded by them and down goes that kingdom to be made free from a * Isa 44.20 deceived and a deceiving judgment is the way to the being made free from the Law of Sin therefore the Spirit will be sure to have that done Once more the Vnderstanding is full of high and proud thoughts of strange imaginations and reasonings which lift up themselves against God and subjection to his Will ô saith the Spirit these I must take a course with these must be thrown out of the heart or else Christs kingdom will never go up in it till something be done to bring these down Sins regency will continue as high as ever wherefore I 'le do it effectually 2 Cor. 10.5 Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ I assure you this is an act of great power but the Spirit goes thorough with it when he comes as a Sin dethroning Spirit thus he exerts his power in the Understanding Vpon the Will 2. He then proceeds to the Will where you have heard Sin chiefly exercises its dominion and which of all the faculties is most enslaved to it and by it The liberty of the Will is very much cry'd up by many and in such a sense none can deny it but out of that sense there 's nothing in man more under bondage than his Will 't is not now liberum but servum arbitrium as * See him de Servo Arbitr Luther us'd to phrase it and * Vide Jansen August l. 1. p. 3. c. 3. 5. Austine long before him In natural and purely moral acts there 's no question but it yet retains its freedom but in things of a spiritual and supernatural nature that upon Adams fall it hath wholly lost since which 't is only libera quatenus liberata free no further than as 't is made free Well! the Spirit undertakes this faculty lays forth his power upon it that he may rescue it out of the hands of Sin and bring it over to God and surely 't is most necessary he should so do for till the Will be effectually wrought upon and subbued how can it be imagin'd that ever the Law of Sin should be abolish'd Of all the faculties Sin contends most for the Will which when it hath once gained it will not easily part with whatever it loses that it will not lose it puts forth its utmost strength to defend and make good its Conquests over that And so too of all the faculties the blessed Spirit contends most for the Will that being the determining faculty with respect to Sins Reign he puts forth the greatest efficacy of his Grace for the setting of that right and straight for God that it may chuse close with cleave to his good and holy Commands in opposition to what it was wont to do to the Laws and Commands of Sin But 't will be ask'd How far or wherein doth he exert his power upon the Sinners Will in order to the freeing of him from Sin as a Law I have already answer'd this in what I said but now when I affirm'd that the Spirit doth not work upon it only in a persuasive way barely presenting some alluring Considerations or Motives for the inclining of it to this or that but still leaving it under a perfect indifferency so as that the Sinner may after all yet chuse whether he will believe or not repent or not cast of Sins yoke or not but he doth efficaciously incline bow overponâ—er determine it so as that it shall most certainly yet most freely consent to what is good and close with it And if God by his Spirit did not thus determine the Will either the Sinner would never be converted or if he should be converted the compleating of his Conversion would be brought about by the determination of his Will as his own act God doing no more than only leaving it to its own indifferency and so he would (a) Domine gratias ago tibi quod supernaturale auxilium mihi contuleris misericcrditèr nempe posse velle
Verse there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus That which might endanger as to Condemnation was Sin and there are two things in Sin to endanger about it its Power and Guilt therefore the Apostle shews how such who are in Christ are freed from both of these As to the taking away its Power that is spoken to in the second Verse The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin c. As to the taking away its Guilt that he speaks to in these two Verses What the Law could not do c. As if the Apostle had said If any thing could condemn God's people it would be Sin but that cannot for t is condemn'd it self Christ or God by him hath condemned Sin and so the Sinner himself shall not be condemned by it or for it The guilt of Sin being expiated and the Sinner made righteous upon the imputation of Christs Obedience and Satisfaction which are the two things here asserted surely there is there can be no condemnation to those who have an interest in this Grace And this I judge to be the chief scope and proper reference of the Words which I will endeavour to clear up a little further The Coherence further cleered The Believers Non-condemnation as you have heard is brought about partly by Sanctification in which the strength and dominion of Sin is broken and partly by Justification in which the guilt of Sin is done away and not imputed The First of these is done by the Spirit in the heart within in the putting forth of his mighty power in the work of Regeneration the Law of the Spirit of Life c. The Second is done by the Son for the person without in that Propitiatory Sacrifice which he offered up to God upon which God is atoned reconciled satisfied and so doth acquit the Sinner Now the Apostle having spoken to that act which is proper to the Spirit Vers 2. he here expresly speaks to that which was proper to and to be effected by the Son God sending his Son in the c. And he speaks of condemning sin for sin that is for Christ's being a Sacrifice for Sin and therefore this must properly and strictly refer to Justification rather than to Sanctification Yet I would not be too nice for as in a large sense the Law of sin in the foregoing Verse may point to the guilt as well as to the power of sin so here in a large sense too the condemning of sin may point to the abolishing of the power as well as to the expiating of the guilt of sin Expositors take in both and I would not straighten the Words more than needs though yet I conceive in their main and primary intendment they refer to what is done in Justification The Apostles Argument then stands thus To them for whom God sent his Son all other ways being impossible for sin to condemn sin and in their stead to fulfil the righteousness of the Law to them there is no Condemnation But for Believers and such who are in Christ God upon these terms sent his Son therefore to them there is no Condemnation I shall follow those * Nunc sequitur expolitio vel illustratio probationis qùod scilicet Dominus gratuitâ suâ misericordiâ nos in Christo justificavit id quod Legi erat impossibile Calvin Duobus argumentis consolationem de indemnitate piis confirmavit quorum prius fuit quod Lex Spiritus c. Alterum quod Deus misso filio suo c. Pareus Jam accedit ad probationem sententiae prioris quae fuit de justificatione nempe credentes in Christum esse justificatos seu nullam esse eis condemnationem Piscat in Paraphr Observandum sententiam hanc non cohaerere cum proximè praecedente sed cum priore membro versiculi primi Id. in Schol Vide Cajet in locum Quorum causâ Deus Pater misit Filium suum coaeternum in carne conspicuum fieri iis nulla est condemnatio at qui nostrâ causâ c. Gryn See Dutch Annot. Interpreters who make the main Scope and drift of the words to lie in this I know there are * Firmamentum est in hoc versu superioris conclusionis c. Beza Pertinent ista declarationis vice ad id quod dixit se per legem Spiritus c. et transfert totius hujus negotii causam meritum in gratiam Dei Muscul He proves the foresaid making free because that God being reconciled by Christs death he hath taken away from sin that power which he had granted it over man for a punishment of his first transgression Deod Hic affertur ratio quâ ostenditur istum Dei Spiritum liberatorem nobis donatum esse c. Pet Mart. Ratio superioris sententiae quâ explicat Apostolus quomodo Lex Spiritus c. Justin Hic Versus continet aetiologiam itemque exegesin eorum quae versu secundo dicta fuerunt Vorst So Staplet Streso Râ—lloc c. Several who go another way they making the Words to be rather the further explication or continuation of that Matter which is laid down in the Second Verse The Saints are made free from the law of sin and death how is that brought about why thus God sent his Son into the World by whom he is reconciled to them being reconcil'd upon this he hath taken away from Sin that commanding power that it had before abolished its strength devested it of its former dominion and regency and this they make to be the condemning of sin in the Text. Well! I will not now object any thing against this Interpetation hereafter I shall speak more to it when I come to the more particular opening of the Clause And for sin condemned sin only at present give me leave to prefer the former The words consider'd in themselves Their general sense and meaning Let us now consider the Words in themselves As to their general Sense and Meaning 't is plainly this though somewhat more darkly express'd * Quod impossibile erat logi Deus in Christo fecit Anselm Mens Apostoli hoc loco est etsi verbis obscurioribus expressa id nobis praestitum per gratiam quod Lex praestare non potuit Estius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theophyl What the Law it standing in such circumstances could not do for the guilty undone Sinner that God through Christ hath fully done for him this is that plain Truth which they resolve themselves into The various Readings of them I find some considerable difference amongst Expositors in the Reading of them * Mihi locum hunc pro virili meâ perpendenti videtur aliquid verborum deesse ad explendam sententiam veluti si sic legamus Nam quod Lex Mosaica non potuit juxta partem carnalem secundum quam imbecillis erat inefficax hoc Deus praestitit misso Filio
his own Son in the likeness c. O the infinite Love Mercy Compassion of God! The weaker was Gods Law the stronger and higher was Gods love O that he should not let us all perish under the Laws impotency that he should imploy One for our recovery who was every way able to do what the Law could not how should we adore his mercy in this But this leads me to the following words in the Text God sent c. where I shall have occasion more fully to press this duty upon you So much therefore for this First Branch of the Words What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh ROM 8.3 God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh c. CHAP. X. Of Christ's Mission and of God's sending him Man being utterly lost upon the terms of the Law it pleased God to find out and to pitch upon another Way which he knew would be effectual That was the sending of his own Son c. Four things observed in the Words All reduced to three Observations Of Christs Mission How be was sent and sent by God It notes his Praeexistence before his Mission and Incarnation his Personality his being distinct from the Father 'T is opened First Negatively 1. 'T was not Christ's ineffable and eternal Generation 2. 'T was not any local Secession from his Father Secondly Affirmatively 'T was 1. Gods preordaining of him to the Office and Work of a Mediator 2. His qualifying and fitting of him for that Office and Work 3. His authorizing and commissionating of him to engage therein 4. His authoritative willing of him to assume mans Nature and therein so to do and so to suffer 5. His trusting of him with his great designs How was this Sending of Christ consistent with his equality with the Father this answered Two wayes Why was Christ sent answered first more Generally then more Particularly in Four things Use 1. To stir up persons 1. To admire God 2. To admire in special the Love of the Father 3. To love Christ 4. To imitate Christ with respect to his Sending 5. Not to rest in the external Sending of Christ 6. To believe on him whom God hath sent Use 2. This is improved for the Comfort of Believers The Law being weak God pitch'd upon another Course He Sent his Son THe Laws impotency and weakness nay utter inability to recover justifie and save the lost Sinner hath been spoken to I go on to that which thereupon the Wise and Gracious God was pleas'd to do And what was that why to the praise of his glorious grace he sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh The Great God is never at a loss if one Means fails he hath another if all Means fail which fall within the view of the Creature yet God hath his secret reserves and that under the deck which shall no the work Upon Adams Sin all Mankind was lost plung'd into a woful abysse of misery obnoxious to eternal wrath and accordingly God might have dealt with them in the utmost severity of his Justice What is there now to prevent this to give any relief to man in this deplorable State Alas the Sinner cannot help himself the Law stands with a withered arm and can do nothing there 's no Creature in heaven or earth to interpose as to all of these the case was desperate Therefore God * Deus Solus in hâc intricatâ causâ poterat prospicere remedium Streso himself engages to let the world see what He could do * Isa 63.3 He looked and there was none to help therefore his own arm brought Salvation Here indeed was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a God helping at a dead lift in the greatest streights and in the most admirable manner If ever with reverence be it spoken infinite Wisdom was put to it now was the time yet even in this intricate and perplexed State of things That found out a Way which would do the business a Way which none could have thought of but God alone he sent his own Son c None could cry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to this but God himself this was his alone invention and contrivance The restoring of fal'n man was impossible to the Law yet it shall be done God will take * Noluit proptereà quod Lex imbecillis erat per praritatem humanae naturae opus salutis humanae abjicere quasi non posset per aliam quod ista Legis via non succedebat efficere Musc another strange and wonderful Course which shall do it effectually what his own Law cannot do his own Son can therefore him hee 'll send A very high and costly Way yet rather than all mankind shall perish God will make use of it here 's the very mirror of the Wisdom Love Grace Pity of the blessed God God sending his own Son c. Of the Reading of the words To make the Sense run more smoothly Some turn the Participle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reading the Words thus God sent his c if the following Conjunctive particle And be kept in this Reading is not much amiss Some render it in the * Dictio interpretata Mittens Participium est c. et propterea ad servandum Participium Tempus aliqui Interpretes verterunt rectè Activum in Passivum legendo sic Deus filio suo misso in Carne Cajet Passive form Deus misso Filio suo c. * Duplex est Hebraismus unus est óportet supplere Latine Ideò Alter quia Participium Mittens ponitur loco Verbi Misit Tolet. Some would put in the word Ideò therefore Since the Law was weak through the flesh therefore God sent his own Son and for sin c. but as to these things there 's no great difficulty In the whole Paragraph you have Their Division into Four Parts 1. The Act or the Thing done namely the Sending of Christ 2. The Person whose Act this was or the Person sending viz. God the Father God sent c. 'T is a known Rule when the Name or Title of God is set in contradistinction to the Son 't is then taken not Essentially but Personally for the First Person God the Father instances of which are very common 'T is here said God sent his own Son therefore it must be understood of God the Father Christ being his Son and upon that consideration he being stiled the Father And * Mr. Perkins on Galat. 4.4 p. 271. this Person is called God not because he partakes more of the Godhead than the Other Persons Son and holy Ghost do but because he is the first in the Order of the Three Divine Persons and because he is the beginning of the Son and of the Holy Ghost but hath no beginning of his own Person for he doth not receive the Godhead in the Personal consideration of it
and undefiledness by sin so they did agree He says his Father had prepared him a body Heb. 10. 5. now if the holy God in such a wonderful and immediate manner for such high and glorious ends will prepare him a body to be sure it shall be an holy body and such an one as shall be proper for the attaining of those ends which only an holy body was 'T was indeed upon our account and Christ's putting himself into our stead a passible and mortal body and so far like to sinful flesh but had it not been for that it had neither suffer'd nor dy'd In the Second respect so the whole Humane Nature in Christ was * Habuit Natura Humana quam Christus suscepit speciem peccati non tamen ea revera peccato contaminari potuit P. Martyr sinless He was true and very man but not in the least sinful man he was made man for the sin of man but yet was man without the sin of man That Nature which is so sadly depraved vitiated corrupted in us in him had its primitive original purity and holiness Sin was not so essential or so inseparably twisted into it but that God knew how to separate 'twixt the Nature it self and the deordination of it Christ took the one but not the other The Humane Nature is made up of soul and body both of these in Christ were unstained not having the least macula or spot of sin cleaving to them as 't was an unpolluted undefiled body so 't was also a pure holy spotless Soul The Humane Nature too is attended with such * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. vide Oecum in loc p. 301. affections and such †Particeps factus est infirmitatis non iniquitatis Aug. Trahens de homine mortalitatem non insquitatem Id. tom 3. 〈◊〉 1072. infirmities to all of which Christ submitted so far as they were sinless but no further as to the former he had Anger Sorrow Joy Compassion Love but without the least stain or tincture of sin as to the latter he underwent hunger thirst pain c. but yet under all he was without sin he could suffer but he did not nay he could not sin Hence he 's called God's holy one Psal 16.10 the holy Child Jesus Act. 4.27 the most holy Dan. 9.27 Jesus Christ the righteous 1 Joh. 2.1 God's righteous servant Isa 53.11 He was a Lamb without blemish and without spot 1 Pet. 1.19 holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners Heb. 7.26 't is said of him he did no sin 1 Pet. 2.22 he knew no sin 2 Cor. 5.21 he knew it in a way of imputation for he was made sin but as to any inhesion or commission so he knew it not The Apostle saith he was tempted in all things as we are yet without sin that must alwayes be excepted Heb. 4.15 he challeng'd all his enemies which of you convinceth me of sin Joh. 8.46 He says of himself he always did the things which pleas'd his Father Joh. 8.29 and now 't is said of him in him is no sin 1 Joh. 3.5 so that upon all this it appears that 't was but the likeness of sinful flesh A threefold Holiness in Christ Christ as Man had a threefold Holiness Original Habitual Actual 1. He was Originally Holy David bitterly lamented it that he was shapen in iniquity and in sin did his mother conceive him Psal 51.5 and so 't is with every man that comes into the world in the way of common generation the very foundation of our Being is laid in sin But 't was not so with out blessed Saviour in his Conception the first framing and forming of his Humane Nature there was nothing of sin for he was therefore * Haec est similitudo carnis quia cum eadem sit caro quae nostra non tamen ita facta in utero est nata ficut caro nostra Est enim sanctificata in utero nata sine peccato neque ipse in illâ peccavit Ideo enim Virginalis uterus electus est ad pattum dominicum ut in sanctitate differret caro Dommi à carne nostrâ Ambros conceived in the Virgins Womb in an extraordinary manner by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost that he might be preserv'd pure from the common pollution so the Angel told Mary Luk. 1.35 The holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God 2. He was Habitually Holy there was in his Nature nothing but an universal rectitude and conformity to the rule and pattern of holiness he had therein grace all grace nothing but grace without the least mixture of habitual corruption We bring with us into the world Natures most wofully depraved such as are a very seed-plot and seminary of all evil but our Lord Jesus had a quite other Nature one that was perfectly sanctified and not in the least tainted with sin This also was brought about by his miraculous and extraordinary formation for had he been begotten as we are his Nature had bee tainted as well as ours is that which is begotten so I would read it rather than that which is born of the flesh is flesh Joh. 3.6 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one Job 14.4 The liquor will taste of the cask into which 't is put as water when it comes from the fountain may be very pure yet if it runs through a dirty pipe it will contract filth so let the Soul as it comes out of God's hands be never so pure yet upon union with the body begotten and propagated in the usual way both it and the nature of the person too will be defil'd therefore to avoid this Chirst was begotten in another way By which means he was also freed from the imputation of Adam's sin for he not descending naturally and seminally from Adam his sin was not imputed nor imputable unto him The Apostle indeed saith Heb. 2.11 Both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one i.e. of one Adam as the common root but they are not both of this one Adam in the same manner for they who are sanctified are of him and from him in a way of seminal propagation but he who sanctifieth was not so whereupon though Adam's sin be imputable and imputed to the former 't is not to the latter As according to the * Alting Theol. Problem prob 8. p. 571. Dr. Pearson on the Creed p. 365. usual illustration Levi being in the loins of Abraham paid †Heb. 7.9 10. tythes in him yet Christ who was also in the loins of Abrabam did not so all men being in the loins of Adam and carnally descended from him sinned in him and became partakers of his guilt but Christ though in some sense he might be said to be in
Adam's loins too for his genealogie is carried up to Adam Luk. 3. yet he not descending from him in the ordinary fleshly way his Person was exempted from the guilt of his sin and his Nature from the general depravation 3. Christ was actually Holy there was nothing but holiness in whatever he did all his actings inward and outward did exactly correspond with the Nature and Will of his Father he never was guilty of the least sin in thought word or deed sin was neither contracted nor * Eandem assumsit Naturam Chriâ—tus sed in ea non peccaviâ— Ambros committed by him Grace and Holiness were advanced in him to the highest pitch according to the utmost capacity of the Humane Nature without the least mixture of what is contrary thereunto in a word he liv'd in his whole course a most holy innocent spotless sinless life as the Scriptures which have been alledged do abundantly testifie The Grounds of Christ's Holiness and Sanctity This sanctity and sinlessness of Christ's Humane Nature was necessary upon a double account 1. To fit it for the personal union with his Divine Nature Can it be imagin'd that ever the Lord Jesus would take a Nature tainted with sin and so nearly unite it to himself when the Divine Nature stood at so great a distance from sin can we without blasphemy think that it would assume the Humane Nature had it been sinful into so close an union as that both should make but one person O such a thing was not possible God can take a sinning if repenting Creature into his bosom but he cannot take a sinning Nature into his Person Christ might condescend to take flesh yet be God but he could not have taken sinful flesh and yet be God the humane nature simply considered was not inconsistent with his Godhead but that Nature if sinful was 2. This was necessary in respect of Christ's Office and undertaking for our good In order to which as he must be man so he must be man perfectly holy and righteous for he that is a sinner himself cannot be a Saviour to other sinners then 't would be Physician heal thy self or Saviour save thy self all that such a one could do would be little enough for himself Christ was both Priest and Sacrifice with respect to both he must be without sin as Priest for if sin had been chargeable upon him he must then have offer'd for himself and so have been in the same condition with the Priests under the Law which the Apostle shews he was not Heb. 7.26 27. As Sacrifice too for whatever was offer'd up to God it was to have no blemish in it In allusion to which the Apostle calls him a Lamb without blemish and without spot 1 Pet. 1.19 answerably to the Paschal Lamb Exod. 12.5 and to the two Lambs in the fire-offering Numb 28.3 and he 's said to offer himself without spot to God Heb. 9.14 How could Christ have taken off guilt from us had he had it lying upon himself or how could he have made us righteous had he not been righteous himself therefore 2 Cor. 5.21 He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him and Isa 53.11 By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many mark it Christ being a righteous Person himself so he comes to justifie and make others righteous so 1 Joh. 3.5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins and in him is no sin the connexion is observeable * Si esset in illo peccatum auferendum esset illi non ipse auferret August he that will take away sin from others must have no sin in himself Christ coming for that end therefore in him there was no sin Three things as †one observes from the words were requisite to him that should be the Mediator he must be God he must be Man * Piscat he he must be perfectly and unmixtly holy all these three qualifications you have in the Text Christ was God's own Son there 's his Godhead he was sent in flesh there 's his Manhood he was sent but in the likeness of sinful flesh there 's his purity and holiness Having done with the Explicatory part Use 1. Information I come now to what is Applicatory Where in the first place passing by other things these two we are mainly informed of 1. Of the excellency of the Gospel and Christian Religion 2. Of the excellency of Christ's Flesh or Manhood Of the excellency of the Gospel and Christian Religion 1. First that great Truth which I have been upon informs us of the excellency of the Gospel and Christian Religion The more raised and mysterious the things are which the one reveals and the other believes the more excellent must both of them needs be for this is a Principle grounded upon Reason and strengthned by the Consent of all who pretend to Religion whether it be true or false What more common amongst men when they would argue for the excellency either of that from which they fetch their Religion or of their Religion it self than to cry up the mysteries and to tell us what high sublime mysterious things are contained in them These make a great impression upon mens minds and strongly induce them to believe that whatever hath in it such mysteries must certainly be of God and have a divine Original therefore Heathens themselves as well as Christians have much pleas'd themselves with this and have been great pretenders to such and such mysteries thereby to gain credit and reputation to their way Now let us apply this Principle or common test to the Gospel-revelation and the Christian Religion and then I 'm sure their excellency above all other pretended Revelations and Religions will be evident For look into all those admired and rare Secrets those high and raised mysteries which they who know not the Gospel did so much cry up and magnifie and do but compare them with this one mystery God 's own Son sent in flesh alas what trifles what shallow contemptible ridiculous things are they in comparison of it A God incarnate shames all the little mysteries of the Pagan Religion if so good a title may be given to so bad a thing they all vanish before this and are not able to stand in competition with it Now where is this profound mystery revealed but in the Gospel and where is that revelation believed but in the Christian Religion therefore how excellent must both needs be upon this account The Heathens knew nothing at all of this they dreamt of Men being made Gods but that he who was truly God should be made truly Man this they were altogether ignorant of in all their Religion there was no such mystery The Apostle cryes out 1 Tim. 3.16 Without controversie great is the mystery of Godliness God manifested in the flesh c. his design in these
what could there be in them to pacisie an angry God or to to purifie a guilty Sinner what was the blood of a Beast as considered in it self to expiate the sin of a Man The Apostle plainly tells us Heb. 10.4 It is not possible that the blood of Bulls and Goats should take away sin therefore he sayes there was no perfection by the Levitical Priesthood Heb. 7.11 and the Law made nothing perfect Heb. 7.19 in which were offered gifts and Sacrifices that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the Conscience Heb. 9.9 So that whatever virtue those Sacrifices had further than the taking away of civil guilt ritual uncleanness securing from Church and State-penalties it wholly depended upon the institution of God and the merit of Christ The brazen Serpent heal'd such as were stung yet not from any intrinsick power in it self but only as God was pleas'd to give that power and efficacy to it and so 't was here in the case of the old Sacrifices These four things I have laid down both to clear up the Sacrifices themselves and also because they are of great use to set us right in our conceptions about Christ the great Sacrifice which must be opened by them Answerably now to these two great Ends and Effects of the Mosaical Sacrifices the same were designed to be done and were actually done by the Lord Jesus when he offered up himself to God upon the Cross whereby he also 1. atoned God 2. expiated the sin of the Elect. As God was angry and offended with the Sinner so Christ by his death procur'd atonement pacification reconciliation as the Sinner lay under guilt so Christ brought about the purgation or expiation of his guilt both of these were done by him and that too not only really but in a much higher way than what was done by the old Sacrifices therefore he was a true proper expiatory Sacrifice yea the most eminent expiatory Sacrifice Of atonement and reconciliation by Christs Sacrifice 1. For atonement or reconciliation By Adams Fall a sad breach had been made 'twixt God and Man Sin had greatly incens'd the holy God against his sinful Creatures nay there was a mutual and reciprocal enmity contracted between them Things being in this dismal state the blessed Jesus interpos'd himself in order to the appeasing of an offended God and the reconciling of him and the Sinner the two parties that were at variance For the effecting of which he did not only as a bare Internuntius treat with both or only offer up prayers to the one in which respect Moses atoned God Exod. 34.10 11 12 13 14. and intreaties to the other 2 Cor. 5.20 and so proceed by some verbal interposures but when nothing else would do it he was willing even to lay down his own Life to die as a Sacrifice upon the Cross by this means to bring God and Man together again in amity and love By which death of Christ the offended God was perfectly atoned and reconciled to the Sinner so as that now upon the satisfaction made to him therein he could without any injury to his Justice and Holiness receive the Sinner into his favour and not inflict upon him that wrath and punishment which he had made himself obnoxious unto this is the true notion of atonement and reconciliation by Christ and all that we * Non statuimus Deum irato propriè factum esse propitium sed Christi Satisfactione causas irae divinae obliteratas esse ut salvâ justistiâ suâ possit gratiam exhibere Essenïus p. 253. mean by it But that this was thus done by him what one thing is there in all the matters of Faith wherein the Gospel is more clear and full 1 Joh. 2.2 And he is the propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 4.10 Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood c. Rom. 5.10 11. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life And not only so but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the atonement 2 Cor. 5.18 19. All things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself Col. 1.20 21. And having made peace through the blood of his Cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself c. And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now hath be reconciled in the body of his flesh through death So Eph. 2.13 14 c. Isa 53.6 the chastisement of our peace was upon him i. e. by his penal sufferings our peace was made with God 'T is true which our * Socin de Serv◠p. 1. c. 8. Adversanies would fain improve to their purpose that all along in these Scriptures the reconciliation is said to be on Mans part as if Sinners were reconcil'd to God not God to them but there 's a special reason for that viz. * Baxters Life of Faith p. 189. because they were the first in the breach they fell out with God before he fell out with them as also because the averseness to reconciliation is on their part wherefore if they be willing to be reconcil'd to God and are actually reconciled to him there 's no question of it but that he is willing to be reconciled to them and is so actually Some would have the reconciliation as on God's part to be spoken of Heb. 2.17 that he might be a merciful and faithful high Priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is according to the Hebrew Enallage as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as * De Satisf p. 93. Grotius well observes Howerver supposing that this Text doth not so expresly hold forth the thing yet there is enough in those convincing Reasons Arguments and Consequences which the Word elsewhere affords to prove the reconciliation to be mutual as is fully proved by divers Which reconciliation you see was accomplished by Jesus Christ yea by his death and blood so that he exactly answers to the first effect of the Jewish Sacrifices Of the Expiation of Sin by Christ's Sacrifice 2. The for the Second the expiation of sin that also was done with great advantage by Christ his death carried indeed a Sin-expiating virtue in it and was most truly of an expiatory nature Let us a little look into the Scripture see what it saith about this and that we shall find not only to assert the thing but so to assert it as withal to set down and determine the nature and true notion of it I mean this
himself our High-Priest is entred into Heaven the Sanctuary not made with hands and there he executes his Priestly Office after a sort for expiation and atonement also To which I reply Christ's entrance into Heaven cannot be deny'd nor that that doth much resemble what was done by the High-Priest under the Law all that being but typical of this Heb. 9.24 For Christ is not entred into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true but into Heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us And therein we have the second part of his Priesthood the oblation of himself here on earth being the first and his intercession in heaven the second which two must not be divided but conjoyn'd the former must not justle out the latter nor the latter the former Which second part of his Priesthood was necessary partly in respect of Christ himself for the compleating and consummating of his Priesthood the perfection and excellency of which depended upon it for saith the Apostle Heb. 8.4 If he were on earth he should not be a Priest i.e. not a Priest of the highest rank he would come short of the High-Priest and be but as one of the ordinary Priests if he should only offer without and after that not enter into the Sanctuary as the High-Priest did and he only And partly too in respect of Believers that he might not only make his oblation for them in order to impetration which he had done on earth but that he might further present and plead the merit of that oblation in order to application and the actual giving out the benefits purchas'd and merited thereby which was to be done in Heaven therefore this we readily grant and firmly believe But that our Lord 's whole Priesthood doth lie in this or that he only in this place and state doth expiate sin or that his resemblance herein to the High-Priest is sufficient that we utterly deny For 1. The Scripture as hath been proved in drawing the parrallel 'twixt Christ and the Law-Sacrifices doth not instance only in what was done by the High-Priest in the Holy of Holy's but also in what was done by the other Priests in the Temple and in those sacrificial acts which were proper to them as well as to him Nay 2. It mainly instances in these making the resemblance chiefly to lie in the mactation and oblation of those Sacrifices which was done without and therefore it must be Christ's death on the Cross and not his intercession in Heaven which must be meant by them 3. As that which is asserted by our Opposers would utterly destroy all analogie 'twixt Christ and those Priests and the far greatest part of Sin-expiating Sacrifices so it would in truth leave Christ no Sacrifice or oblation at all inasmuch as what he doth in Heaven cannot in any strictness or propriety of speaking come under the notion of an oblation or Sacrifice There indeed is the presenting commemorating pleading of the Sacrifice which he offer'd here on earth but that 's all he improves the Sacrifice there upon the Throne but he made it here upon the Cross he applys the expiation there but he wrought it here 4. 'T is true the High Priest entred into the Sanctuary and there expiated sin but 't was with the blood which had been shed and offered without some of that blood before offered upon the Priest's Altar he carried into the Holy of Holy's and there presented it before the Lord and so made atonement Had he gone in thither without this blood and only have shown himself before God it would have signified nothing what he there did was grounded upon the virtue of the preceding oblation which was only now in a more solemn manner represented before the Lord. Just so it is with our Lord Jesus he entred into Heaven and there intercedes as our High-Priest to his Father but the efficacy of this his intercession is founded upon his blood shed when he was here on earth take away his oblation here and take away his intercession there for 't is that which gives the efficacy and prevalency to this Therefore he 's said to enter into the holy place but how why by his own blood Heb. 9.11 he must first shed his blood here upon Earth and then carry the virtue and merit of it with him into Heaven and so he may expect to do something which upon his meer appearance in Heaven he could not have done So that there must be something in Christ's Priesthood and Sacrifice more than what is proper to him now he is above in correspondency to what was done by the High-Priest in his entring into the Holy of Holy's and there expiating sin I think if all be put together which hath been spoken upon this account the Truth which I contend for is written as with the beams of the Sun therefore I 'le say no more Of the Effect of Christ's Sacrifice viz. the condemning of sin the Second thing propounded to be spoken unto Thus I have finished the first thing propounded for the clearing of the Observation namely Christ's being a Sacrifice for sin Where I have shown that he was a Sacrifice what a kind of Sacrifice he was and when or where he was such a Sacrifice The Second thing propounded to be opened was the Effect or Efficacy of this Sacrifice viz. the condemning of sin and for sin condemned sin in the flesh In this I 'le be but very brief because it falls in with what hath been already insisted upon Here was a strange and wonderful Sacrifice the most costly one that ever was offered up to God therefore surely something that is extraordinary and great must be effected by it and so there was What was that why Sin was cut off taken out of the way as condemned persons use to be its guilt abolish'd or expiated wherein you have heard the condemning of it doth mainly consist How this is set forth by such terms as answer to the Law-Sacrifices I have already shown Heb. 1.3 When he had by himself purged our sins 1 Joh. 1.7 and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin Rev. 1.5 Vnto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood but there are some other terms by which 't is set forth which have not as yet been mentioned As namely the taking away of sin Joh. 1.29 Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world 1 Joh. 3.5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins which taking away of sin was a thing far above the power of the Levitical Sacrifices Heb. 10.4 For it is not possible that the blood of Bulls and of Goats should take away sins So also the finishing and making an end of sin Dan. 9.24 to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins where the finishing of transgression is not the filling up of its full measure
of which you reade Gen. 15.16 1. Thes 2.16 neither is it the compleating or perfecting of it as we commonly take the word in which respect Christ is said to be the author and finisher of our faith Heb. 12.2 and to finish what he had to do and suffer Joh. 17.4 19.30 but 't is as follows the making an end of sin such a finishing as is destructive not perfective by Christ's Sacrifice sin was destroy'd he thereby made an end of it or seal'd it up as the word signifies so as that it should never be seen or come forth again to the hurt of God's people Again 't is set forth by the putting away of sin Heb. 9.26 but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself the word is rendred by disannulling Heb. 7.18 by making void or abrogating Mark 7.9 set it as high as you will the virtue and efficacy of Christ's Sacrifice will reach it by the oblation of himself he hath quite disannull'd or abrogated and put away the guilt of sin Put all together here 's purging cleansing washing taking away putting away finishing making an end of sin all of which are the same with the condemning of sin in the Text do not all prove the real expiation of the Sin of Believers as the result and issue of the Sacrifice of Christ I having in what goes before said enough for the opening of the true notion of our Saviours expiating of sin under the present Head I have but two things further to speak unto the one referring to the nature of the act the other to the extent of the act Of the nature of the expiation of Sin by Christ 1. As to the nature of the act know that Christ hath so expiated sins guilt as that it shall never be imputed to the believing Sinner in order to the inflicting of eternal punishment upon him this must be rightly apprehended or else we shall run our selves upon great mistakes When you read of the expiating condemning taking away of sin and so on in the other expressions named but now you are not only to understand them as pointing to the removal of sins guilt in their proper and primary intention but also as holding forth no more about that removal of guilt than the non-imputation thereof to punishment Christ indeed by the Sacrifice of himself hath done all that which I am speaking of but how not but that believers have yet guilt upon them that that guilt as consider'd in it self makes them lyable to the penalty threatned that the formal intrinsick nature of guilt viz. obligation to punishment doth yet remain and is the same in them which it is in others all therefore which it amounts unto is only this that this guilt shall not be charged upon such or imputed to them for eternal condemnation Sin is Sin in the godly as well as in the ungodly thereupon there 's guilt on them as well as on the other upon this guilt they are equally obnoxious to the Laws sentence but now here comes in the expiation by the Obedience Death Satisfaction of Christ by which things are brought to this happy issue that though this be so yet these persons shall be exempted from wrath and Hell and the punishment deserved shall not be inflicted Thus far we may safely go but beyond this we cannot we may for the encouraging of Faith the heightning of Comfort set this Sin-expiatory act of Christ very high but we must not set it so high as to assert Contradictions But these things will be more fully stated when I shall come to the handling of the main Doctrine of Justification Of the extent of this act with respect to the Subject and Object 2. For the extent of the act that must be consider'd two wayes either as it respects the Subject for which this expiation was wrought or as it respects the Object the thing expiated 1. As to its extent in reference to the Subject And so Christ's expiatory Sacrifice reaches 1. both to Jew and Gentile not to the one or to the other exclusively but to both 1 Joh. 2.2 And he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world 2. To those who liv'd under the Law as well as to those who now live under the Gospel the former had the benefit of Christ's expiation of sin as well as the latter Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God where by Sins past you are to understand those that were committed under the first Testament before Christ's coming in flesh so the Apostle opens it Heb. 9.15 And for this cause he is the Mediator of the New Testament that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance Nay 3. there is a a sufficiency of virtue and merit in Christ's Sacrifice to expiate the sins of all men in the world Yet 4. in point of efficacy it extends no farther than to true believers others may receive some benefits by a dying Christ but this of the full and actual expiation of Sin belongs only to those who have saving faith wrought in them As this which I here assert is matter of Controversie I have no mind to engage in it as it is practically to be improv'd and enlarg'd upon so I shall speak to it in the Vse therefore at present I 'le say no more to it All Sins whatsoever expiated by Christ's Sacrifice 2. As to its extent in reference to the Object or the thing expiated it reaches to all and every sin Christ is such a Sin-offering as doth take off from those who believe in him all guilt whatsoever by his Sacrifice for sin he condemned sin that is all sins whatsoever 't is indefinitely express'd to be understood universally Take sin collectively in the whole heap or mass of it or take it distributively for this or that particular sin all is expiated and done away by Christ's blood the expiation is so full and compleat that there is not the guilt of any one sin little or great left unremov'd 1 Joh. 1.7 the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin Acts 13.39 And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses Whether the Jewish Sacrifices did expiate all Sins Whether the Levitical Sacrifices did thus universally expiate sin is a controverted point wherein the Socinians hold the Negative the Orthodox the Affirmative The * Socin de Servat p. 2. c. 11 12 18. former say those Sacrifices did free from the guilt of lesser sins such as were sins
of ignorance committed through incogitancy inadvertency humane infirmity but for great and grievous sins such as were committed against knowledge or willingly and willfully they did not free from their guilt the * Vid. Calov Socin proflig p. 625. Lubbert contra Socin Hoorneb Socin confut p. 602. Turretin de Sat. Christi p. 226. Stegm Photin p. 282. O. against B. p. 474. p 469. latter assert and defend the contrary And not without very good and weighty reasons for if we look into the annual expiatory Sacrifice we find that all sins were expiated by it Levit. 16.21 Aaron shall lay his hands upon the head of the live Goat and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions in all their sins putting them upon the head of the Goat c. And the Goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited 30. On that day shall the Priest make and atonement for you to cleanse you that ye may be clean from all your sin before the Lord. 34. And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year And as it was thus in the publick Sacrifices for all the people so also in the private Sacrifices for particular persons therefore as you reade of the * Of the difference of these two Chataath and Asham much is written Fagius makes the one to refer to sins of Omission the other to sins of Commission In Levit. 4 2 Others make the Asham to point to sins particularly enumerated Chataath to sins in the general See Dr. O. Exerc. 24. on the Heb. p. 317. Dr. Stillingst against Crellius p. 474. But the most distinguish them as one was for Sins of Ignorance the other for Sins knowingly and willingly committed Vid. Petit. Var. Lect. l. 2. c. 8. Saubert de Sacrif c. 3. p. 65. Chataath the Sin-offering which was appointed for Sins of Ignorance Levit. 4.2 13. 22. 27. so of the Asham the Trespass-offering which was appointed for sins committed knowingly and willingly such as were of a more high and hainous nature as falshood in the detaining of what was deposited lying violence perjury c. Levit. 6.2 3 c. were not these great and horrid sins and yet God appointed Sacrifices for the expiation of them Numb 5.6 When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit to do a trespass against the Lord and that person be guilty Then they shall confess their sin c. The Priest is said Heb. 5.1 to be ordained in things pertaining to God that he may offer both gifts and Sacrifices for sins 't is set down without any exception or limitation so Heb. 7.27 'T is true which the Adversaries make great use of the Apostle sets it forth by the errors of the people Heb. 9.7 Into the Second went the High Priest alone once every year not without blood which be offered for himself and for the errors of the people But then you must know that by these errors he means not only smaller sins but all whatsoever even such as were of a very crimson die And the Greek word * Acts 3.17 13.27 1 Tim. 1 13. 2 Pet. 2.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here rendred by errors with the Hebrew word †1 Sam. 26.21 Job 6.24 Psal 119.21 See Franz Schol. Sacrif Disp 6. th 60. Scagag do often point to great and grievous sins therefore why should we limit it to sins of a lower size and stature especially if we consider that in that Sacrifice to which the Apostle here plainly refers the expiation was general of all sins as you heard but now out of Levit. 16. And 't is very true too that for Sins which were committed with an high hand contumaciously in open defiance of God c. there he would not admit of a Sacrifice for the expiating of sins so circumstantiated Numb 15.27 c. If any Soul sin through ignorance then he shall bring a She-goat And the Priest shall make an atonement for the Soul that sinneth ignorantly when he sinneth by ignorance before the Lord to make an atonement for him c. But the Soul that doth ought presumptuously the same reproacheth the Lord and that soul shall be cut off from among his people because he hath despised the Word of the Lord that Soul shall utterly be cut off his iniquity shall be upon him Heb. 10.26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more Sacrifice for sins But a certain fearful looking for of Judgment c. But this doth not weaken the truth of what I have said viz. that even great offences were expiated by Sacrifices because they might be such and yet not come up to this sinning with an high hand and wilfully against the Lord and thereupon might be expiable Were there no sins of a middle nature 'twixt such as were of meer infirmity and such as were committed perversly and obstinately out of open contempt and defiance of God surely there were you have had instances of such and was there no expiation for such the contrary hath been prov'd To clear up this whole matter I would lay down three things 1. When we say that the Law-Sacrifices did take off the guilt of all sins yea of great sins we alwayes except such as God himself did except where he was pleas'd to make a limitation there we must do the same but not otherwise 2. 'T is evident that as to some sins God did make an exception For the case stood thus * See Grotius de Sat. Christi p. 122. it pleased the Lord to give excellent Laws to the people of Israel those Laws he back'd with a severe penalty that penalty was death which was due upon every violation of the Law it being so yet out of his great compassion he who being the Law-giver might therefore relax and alter his Laws and the penalties annexed to them as seem'd good to him would not proceed in the utmost rigour but he would graciously moderate and mitigate his threatnings And therefore though death was incur'd by every sin yet it shall not accordingly be inflicted but a substitution shall be admitted of the Beast shall die but the Sinner himself shall live Upon this God appointed Sacrifices wherein the punishment due to the Offender should be laid upon the thing sacrific'd and thereby his Sin expiated Well! but though he will be so gracious as thus to admit of the expiation of sin yet partly out of respect to his own honour and partly out of respect to the Jewish politie Civil and Ecclesiastical he will do this with some kind of restriction that is he will admit of Sacrifices for the expiating of some sins but not of all The Murderer was to die and no Sacrifice to be accepted of on his behalf Numb 35.30 31 32. with reference to
place our whole confidence in Christ's meritorious death for if we rely partly upon that and partly upon something else we spoyl all Gospel-Conditions to be per formed on the Sinners part notwithstanding Christ's Sacrifice 5. Fifthly you must so confide and relie upon Christ's one most perfect and all-sufficient Sacrifice as yet withal to be careful that you on your part do perform those Gospel-conditions which God enjoyns and requires of you in order to remission justification glorification this word of advice is so necessary that 't is by no means to be passed over Christians 't is a thing of very high importance for you rightly to understand your selves in this matter therefore take it thus All your trust and relyance is solely to be bottomed upon the Death and Sacrifice of the Lord Jesus but yet you canâ—ot regularly and warrantably act this trust and relyance upon this â—nly ground or foundation unless in your own persons you perform those conditions which God prescribes in his Word The whole business of merit and satisfaction lies upon Christ that is wholly out of your hands and only in his but as to believing and repenting the two grand Gospel-conditions they lie upon your selves I speak with respect to the act not to the power and must be done by your selves yea and the doing of these is as necessary on your part under the notion of Conditions as suffering and dying was on Christ's part under the notion of merit And 't is most certain that the latter without the former will not profit you because Christ never design'd to impute or make over his merit to any further than as they should make good these Conditions of Faith and Repentance We have here two dangerous rocks before us and it must be our care and skill to shun both of them the one is the setting of inherent grace or duty too high as when we make it to share with Christ in merit and trust the other is the setting of inherent grace or duty too low as when upon the pretence of Christ's alone merit and full satisfaction we quite throw it off and are altogether careless about it as supposing it now to be a thing wholly unnecessary Now we are exceedingly prone to dash upon the one or the other of these rocks either we run our selves upon POPERY in the former or upon ANTINOMISM and LIBERTINISM in the latter O what need have all to beg the guidance of the unerring Spirit that thereby they may eavenly steere betwixt both and avoid each extreams which they shall most happily do if Christ and his Sacrifice be only eyed by them in the way of relyance and yet Holiness Obedience Faith Repentance have also that respect which is due to them as means and conditions Much hath been said concerning the perfection and sufficiency of Christ's Sacrifice that he hath thereby put away all sin fully expiated its guilt perfected for ever them that are sanctified c. shall any now from hence infer that all is done by Christ that the Creature hath nothing to do but only to receive the benefits prepared and purchased God forbid True Christ's Sacrifice was perfect in suo genere but not in omni genere 't was perfect as to what was meritorious and satisfactory so as to exclude all other Sacrifices and supplements whatsoever upon that account but not so as to exclude all Conditions which God will have the Creature to perform which though they can add nothing to the perfecting of the believers great Sacrifice yet they do prepare and fit Sinners for the participation of the benefits merited thereby To instance in all these Conditions or to enlarge upon any one of them would be a long work briefly therefore as ever you desire to be the better for a dying Saviour to share in the great and blessed effects of his Sacrifice look to it that you repent and believe O if you be found at last in the number of the impenitent and unbelieving all that Christ hath done or suffered will be a very nothing to you notwithstanding all that you will eternally perish Here is indeed an expiatory Sacrifice I but yet as to you no repentance no expiation here is Sin condemned by Christ's oblation of himself I but yet if the Sinner doth not penitentially condemn â—n in himself and himself for sin for all this hee 'l be judicially condemned at the great day The Scripture every where makes repentance the way to and condition of remission of sin Acts 2.38 Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins Acts 5.31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins with very many other places to this purpose The Apostle having said 1 Joh. 1.7 The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin presently subjoyns Vers 9. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness great is the efficacy of Christ's blood but 't is upon condition of the Sinners Repentance if we confess our sins c. At the JEWISH anniversary Expiation all the sins of the people were by the Sacrifices done away yet God would have them then to afflict their Souls Levit. 16.29 and the High Priest was in their stead to confess their iniquities and all their transgressions in all their sins Vers 21. we under the Gospel have our great expiation by the death of Christ but this also must be attended with penitential abasement and humilation So likewise as to Faith this too is a grace or condition indispensably necessary to the partaking of the benefits of Christ's propitiatory Sacrifice Therefore the Apostle speaking of propitiation brings in our Faith as well as Christ's blood it having an instrumental as well as that a meritorious influence thereupon Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood c. To the blessings of the new Covenant as the blood of Christ was necessary that thereby there might be * Grotius de Sat. p. 141. impetration so Faith also is necessary that thereby there may be application Our Lord's Sacrifice is every way sufficient for atonement yet he that believeth not the wrath of God abideth on him Joh. 3.36 so also 't is sufficient for expiation yet 't is only whosoever believeth on him shall receive remission of sins Acts 10.43 Under the Law the blood of the Sacrifice was to be so and so * Exod. 12.22 Heb. 9.19 sprinkled with a bunch of hyssope to which custom David alludes Psal 51.7 Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean now answerably to this Paul speaks of the blood of sprinkling Heb. 12.24 't was not enough for Christ only to shed his blood but that must be sprinkled upon the Sinner how why by Faith which under
pleasing to God Phil. 4.18 But to do good and to communicate forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleas'd Heb. 13.16 And to summe up all holiness of heart and life that 's an excellent Sacrifice excelling all the old Law Sacrifices whatsoever 1 Sam. 15.22 Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord Behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams Micah 6.6 7 8. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God shall I come before him with burnt-offerings with calves of a year old Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousands of rivers of oyl shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God The * Vis Deos propitiare bonus esto Satis illos coluit quisquis imitatus est Senec. Ep. 9.5 Non immolationibus sanguine multo colendus est Deus sed mente purâ bono honestóque proposito Idem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Porphyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 2. p. 62. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Rhet. l. 3. with many more in Stuck de Sacrif p. 153. col 2. Saubert de Sac. c. 1. p. 4. HEATHENS themselves upon the light of Nature look'd upon moral goodness as the best and most acceptable Sacrifice I 'me sure Evangelical Holiness is so The wickedness of the Jews made God even to abhorre and slight the Sacrifices which were instituted by himself as we find Isa 1.11 c. Isa 66.3 Jer. 6.20 7.21 c. Amos 5.21 22. if we live in sin we may offer this and that to God but 't is all nothing nay that makes all our Sacrifices an abomination to him Prov. 15.8 Oh live the holy life keep the heart pure mortifie whatever is evil do good shun all excesses be heavenly in your affections in all things act in complyance with God's Nature and Will c. this will please him more than the most costly oblations which you can bring to him These are the Sacrifices which now under the Gospel we are to offer and surely we should offer them with all readiness and faithfulness our Lord having submitted to the bloody Sacrifice of himself on the Cross and left us none but these easie and delightful Sacrifices how reareadily should we close with them But so much for this Vse A third shall put an end to this Subject and that is of Comfort Was Christ a Sacrifice for sin Vse 3. For Comfort to Believers did he thereby condemn sin what doth this Truth drop but honey and sweetness to them who are in Christ I say to them who are in Christ for they are the persons only who can lay hold upon the grace contain'd in it as the non-condemnation of the person in the first verse so the condemnation of sin in this belongs only to such You that are in the number of these to you I bring glad tydings matter of great joy out of the bitter comes sweet for Christ to do die as a Sacrifice this was bitter to him but 't is sweet to you his death passion and whole humilation speak nothing to you but consolation Oh did Believers especially such as are under a troubled spirit but better understand and better improve this sin-condemning Sacrifice they would certainly have more of inward peace and comfort than now they have I must not in fist upon the particular and full drawing out of that consolatory matter which it affords therefore shall conclude with a brief review only of what the Text offers And so 1. here 's a Sacrifice for sin All men in ADAM having sinned wilfully after that they had receiv'd the knowledge of the truth there might have been no Sacrifice for their sin to allude to that Heb. 10.26 but the gracious God notwithstanding all this was pleas'd to admit of a Sacrifice yea himself to find out and ordain that Sacrifice here 's matter of comfort 2. Christ himself was this Sacrifice And if so how pleasing must it needs be to God! Eph. 5.2 and hath given himself for us an offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour I tell you there was infinitely more in this one Sacrifice to please God than there is in all your sins put them all together to displease God If Christ be the Sacrifice there must be an infinite efficacy and merit in it from the dignity of his person an infiniteness of merit must needs result if he will die and shed his blood what can be too high for you surely too there 's more in his Offering to save you than there is in Sin to damn you If he be the Sacrifice no question but the Father did accept of it and indeed of this he hath given sufficient evidence to the world not only by his carriage towards the Saints but also and chiefly by his carriage towards Christ himself for whereas of old he was wont to testifie his acceptation of the Sacrifices by consuming them by fire from heaven Gen. 15.17 Levit. 9.24 Judg. 6.21 2 Chron. 7.1 here with respect to Christ's Sacrifice he testify'd his acceptance in an higher way viz. by raising him from the dead taking him up to heaven re-admiting him into his presence and setting him at his Son had he not been well-pleased with his person and oblation Oh there 's a convincing evidence of this in his going to the Father Joh. 16.8 10. By this Sacrifice thus accepted you are made perfect as you have often heard out of Heb. 10.14 18. there 's nothing now to be done by Christ or by you but only to apply and improve what he hath already done is not this ground of strong consolation And know further for your comfort that the vertue of Christ's Offering is as great now as it was at the first his blood is as effectual with God for your good now as it was when it was just running warm from his veins and * Adeò magnum est hoc Sacrificium ut quamvis unum sit semel oblatum sufficiat ad aeternitatem Anselm so it shall be to the end of the world And that he may make the best of it he is entred into the holy place where 't is his business to present and plead the merit thereof he back 's his oblation on earth with his intercession in heaven and what can be spoken higher for your support comfort he that was the Sacrifice here is the Advocate there 3. By this Sacrifice Sin was condemn'd Sin condemn'd what a word is that that which would have condemned you and which only can condemn you that is by Christ condemn'd it-self condemning sin is condemn'd by a condemned Saviour And
Christ's fulfilling the Law is to be taken I go on to the Second The imputation of Christ's fulfilling the Law or of his active obedience being granted 't is further to be enquired In what sense this imputation is to be taken and how far it is to be carried This Question hath its difficulties as well as the former the Learned differ not only about the matter of imputation or what is imputed but also about the nature and the right stating of the act Even they who agree in the imputation of Christ's active Obedience do yet differ in the stating of that imputation For 't is the Opinion of some that Christ's active Obedience is so imputed to believers as that God reckons it to them as done in their stead that in his obeying and fulfilling the Law they legally and in God's estimation obeyed and fulfilled the Law also that his obedience is accepted for them and made over to them even as if they had so obeyed in their own persons Others cannot close with this high and rigid imputation as they are pleas'd to call it they say the imputation is to be carried no higher than thus that Christ's Obedience is imputed to Believers that is 't is reckoned to them for their good but not as done in their stead that 't is theirs in the effects benefits of it but not as to the thing it self so as that they in their persons should be look'd upon as having in Christ fulfilled the Law they are for Christ's obeying propter nos but not pro nobis This latter stating of imputation is that which some follow whom upon many accounts I am bound to respect and reverence and I acknowledge as before the former stating of it to lie open to very weighty and considerable Objections Yet in complyance with my present light I must crave leave to differ from them though I do it with all modesty and submission and the Objections made against the high and strict imputation will as I judge admit of fair and satisfactory Answers Therefore I believe and affirm that our Saviours active Obedience is imputed reckoned made over to us as being done in our stead and not only finally for our good that 't is ours not only as to such and such effects but that the thing it-self is ours in a Law sense that God reckons it to us as if we had done it in our own persons and that therein in part consists our righteousness before God The Arguments upon which I build this position are these Arguments to prove the strict imputation of Christ's Obedience 1. If the imputation of Christ's righteousness or Obedience be not taken for the imputing thereof to us as done in our stead but only as done for our good then whatever he did or doth may as properly be said to be imputed to us as his righteousness and obedience The reason of the Consequence is plain because that all which Christ did or doth is for our good his Incarnation Nativity Ascension Intercession c. all are for the good of those who love God If therefore there be nothing more in the imputation of his Obedience than the reckoning of it to us for our good then the forementioned things may equally and as properly be said to be imputed to us as it which I suppose will not be affirmed if it be it will admit of a very easie confutation 2. That must be the right stating of the imputation of Christ's Obedience which best suits with his Suretyship but that which I I plead for doth so ergo A Surety doth not pay the debt only for the debtors good but as standing in the debtors stead and so his payment is reckoned to the debtor The same we must hold with respect to Christ and Sinners or else we quit the main notion of his being a Surety Take away Christ's obeying in our stead and make it to be only for our good and so imputed and you may then suppose him to be a loving and compassionate Saviour but not strictly a Surety for to that 't is requisite that he pay our very debt and that that payment be accepted of as made in our stead 3. Christ's Obedience is imputed as Adams disobedience was imputed this is grounded upon the Apostles parallel between them in Rom. 5. of which before Now how is Adams disobedience imputed to us Answ not only for our hurt or in the mischievous effects of it but the guilt it-self of his disobedience is imputed insomuch that in his sinning we all sin'd Answerably ex opposito Christ's Obedience is and must be imputed to us viz. not only for our good and in the happy effects of it but the thing it-self is ours insomuch that in his obeying reputatively and legally we obeyed also I cannot understand the analogy 'twixt the two Adams wherein the Apostle is so clear unless this imputation as here stated be granted and I humbly conceive he who grants we disobey'd in Adam must grant we also obey'd in Christ 4. Christ's righteousness is imputed to us in that way wherin our sin was imputed to him this is grounded upon 2 Cor. 5.21 Now our sin was imputed to Christ not only in the bitter effects of it but he took the * See Mr. Bradshaw de Justif c. 16. p. 77. guilt of it upon himself as hath been already †See pag. 489 of this Book proved so then his righteousness or active obedience it-self must be proportionably imputed to us and not only in the effects thereof 5. The proper terminus of imputation is righteousness 't is according to its notion in Scripture the reckoning or making over of a thing to a person for righteousness Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness Rom. 4.3 If therefore Christ's Obedience be imputed to us it must be so imputed as to be our righteousness before God no imputation lower than this will serve our turn nor suit with the Scripture-notion of the Word 6. They who dissent bring in the imputation of Christ's active Obedience as a part of his Satisfaction whence I argue he satisfied in our stead as he obeyed he satisfied therefore he obeyed in our stead Christ's active Obedience being satisfactory as well as his passive why should not that eo nomine come under the same imputation which the passive doth 7. If this be all in the imputation of Christ's Obedience that 't is reckoned to the Sinner for his good then we are all agreed all Controversies are at an end for who even amongst the rankest denyers of imputation do not assent to this that all was done and suffered by Christ for our good and is so far reckoned to us Wherefore either our Protestant Divines have been grosly mistaken in disputing for that which was not denyed or else they had other apprehensions about imputation Objections answered which are brought against the imputation and such an imputation of Christ's active Obedience
him in the least yea †Isa 53.10 it pleased the Lord to bruise him though he pray'd that ‖ Matth. 26.39 the Cup might pass from him yet his Father would have him drink of it was not here the likeness of sinful flesh in God's dealing thus with him By Men to them 't was more than likeness they charg'd him to be really and actually guilty of sin that he was a * Matth. 11.19 glutton a wine-bibber a friend of Publicans and Sinners an impostor a †Matth. 27.63 deceiver a ‖ Joh. 10.36 blasphemer a breaker of the Law and what not Towards the close of his life they accus'd him of crimes of a very high and heinous nature arraign'd him as a malefactor condemn'd him to die executed him crucify'd him 'twixt two thieves * Isa 53.12 Mar. 15.28 numbred him amongst transgressors he that had sin upon him by imputation was also a sinner by reputation was not here the likeness of sinful flesh Look upon him in his sorrows afflictions sufferings he was †Isa 35.3 a man of sorrows acquainted with grâ—â— his whole life was but one continued passion never was any sorrow like to his sorrow afflicted without afflicted within he suffer'd from God he suffer'd from Man drunk such a Cup as never any drank before him was not here the likeness of sinful flesh Did not the blind and sadly mistaken world judge Christ's own personal sin to be the proper Cause of all his suffering Isa 53.4 Surely he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted Are not suffering and sin so conjoyn'd and link'd together that where there is the one there is some appearance of the other also I do not say that really and in truth where there is suffering there is also sin yet I say apparently and in the opinion and judgment of men who take their measures in their judging of persons by their outward condition where-ever there is suffering there is sin so that in our most holy and innocent Saviour it was the likeness of sinful flesh because it was the reality of suffering flesh Will you go on to his * In morte ejus potissimam causam sitam arbitramur cur ei similitudo carnis peccati attributa sit ab Apostolo De Dieu Caro peccati habet mortem peccatum similitudo autem carnis peccati habuit mortem sine peccato Si haberet peccatum caro esset peccati si mortem non haberet non esset similitudo carnis peccati Anselm Death the worst and most exquisite part of his Sufferings did he die did he so die undergo a death so ignominious so painful yea and so penal too the †Tametsi nullis maculis inquinata fuit Christi caro peccatrix tamen in specie visa est quatenus debitam sceleribus nostris paenam sustinuit Calvin punishment due for the sin of all believers being therein inflicted upon him O surely here was a very great likeness of sinful flesh There seem'd to be much of meer man in Christ's low condition whilst he continued in the world but there seem'd to be much of sinful man in the manner of his going out of the World What so to suffer and so to die and yet no sin no no sin for all that but so to suffer and so to die and yet no shew or appearance of sin yes that there was especially to them who could not look into things who were altogether ignorant of Christ's Person and of the great designs which he was carrying on There was such a likeness of sin in these things as that it never yet ‖ Christus indeubat personam peccatum habentis c. cum caro passionibus mortique subjecta signum est communissimum hominis peccatum habentis nec in aliquo fefellit nisi in Christo Cajeran fail'd and was but a likeness but only in this one great and unparalled'd Instance of our blessed Saviour As he submitted to the ordinary infirmities of the Humane Nature hunger thirst c. in them there were some features and lineaments of sinful flesh but as he submitted to death to such a death there was a more lively draught a fuller resemblance of sinful flesh As it was with the Creatures which were offer'd in Sacrifice they in themselves were harmless and innocent yet having the sins of the people laid upon them and they dying for them so they had the likeness of sinful flesh and just so it was with Christ upon his being offered up upon the Cross as the Sacrifice for our sins 'T was in Christ but the likeness of sinful Flesh Of his Sanctity Holiness 2. Here was much likeness you see of sinful flesh yet 't was but likeness and nothing more some external appearance of sin there was but that was all yet no sin in truth and reality 't was the verity and sameness of natural flesh 't was but the likeness of sinful flesh As 't was with the brazen Serpent that was made in an exact resemblance of the fiery Serpents having that very shape and form which they had yet 't was but the likeness of them for it had not that poison and venome in it which was in them so here as to Christ of whom the brazen Serpent even in this was an excellent type he seem'd to have that very flesh which we have and so he had in such a sense but yet there was this difference ours is envenom'd his not 't is truly sinful flesh in us 't was but like sinful flesh in him This as before may be understood either of Christ's fleshly part or of his whole Humane Nature In the first respect so his flesh was sinless he had a true body but there was no sin in that body 't was pure holy untainted * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyrill Lib. 15. contra Julian Peccatricem carnem non assumpsit qualis est nostra naturalem vero illam nostram assumpsit Si Caro Adae erat vera Caro antequam peccavit in Paradiso utique Christi caro vera est humana caro etiamsi peccati qualitatem non assumpserit Muscul Nostram induens suam fecit suam faciens non peccatricem eam fecit Tertull. de Car. Christi Hierom's gloss upon the Words if those Commentaries upon this Epistle be his is lyable to exception susceptâ postea carne quae ad peccandum esset proclivior ipse tamen absque peccato cam suscepit See Perer. upon this Disp 3. p. 850. flesh 't was made as to purity and sanctity †Athan. de Incarnat Christi p. 620. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the primitive and archetype-formation of Adam's body in the state of innocency that was created holy and spotless and just such a body Christ did assume 't is true his body and Adam's differ'd in the manner of their production but as to their purity