is worse Will he slay the righteous for the wicked by punishing the just for the unjust Now that he underwent it willingly answers all this God hath made a Law that the Son shall not be put to death for the Father much less one Stranger for another Therefore this maketh it ordinarily sinful among men to give such or for the Magistrate to accept such commutations because God hath deprived them of this power But shall we say His ways are unequal because not like or above our ways or that that is necessarily unlawful to God which he hath made so to us Say they this would declare Gods unrighteousness to set forth an Innocent Propitiation for the Nocent It would do so indeed to punish the Innocent for the Nocent except he chuse it All see it is not injustice to demand debts of a bonds-man a surety for God hath given men power over their estates and he willingly undertook it I grant it is ordinarily unlawful to offer to be or to except sureties and undertakers for others with lives or members but the reason is because God hath not given men this power otherwise it would be all one Therefore there is no injustice in his life going for ours He had right and authority so to dispose of his life as we have not and he willingly undertook it If God was wroth with his beloved Son it was from his own Choice and undertaking through his love to us Father lay not the punishment on these my enemies and thine I will bear it If thou wilt be paid it have Satisfaction pour out thy wrath on me that can satisfie not on them that cannot but by their eternal and utter sinking under it 6. A Death of infinite Value If Gods justice do require a Satisfaction it will not be put off with a meer shew or colour of one or with a partial lame defective one but it must be commensurate and proportionable to the infinitely hainous and numberless sins and provocations of Men and to the justice of God and so it must be of infinite dignity and value Now the death of Christ was of infinite value Infinite in satisfaction but not in duration for if in duration then the expiation would never have been made and perfected and so we should never have been redeemed He should then and so we have ever remained under the power of death and condemnation for the utmost farthing would never have been paid It would have been unworthy of Christ it would have been unprofitable for us and it was not necessary for satisfaction for Christ to have undergone pains infinite in duration But his sufferings being actually infinite in merit do more than equal a suffering only infinite in duration for that would never have been actually infinite Sins against God naturally deserve and therefore God threatens infinite punishment for Sins are increased according to the greatness of the person against whom the offence is committed They have not only rejected thee bâ—t rejected me saith God as a greater matter and it is brought in as a great aggravation to speak evil of Dignities and in our Law a Scandalum magnatum is a greater matter than the scandalizing of our Equals Therefore Sin is of infinite demerit being against an infinite God And hence it follows that the punishment of Sin must either be infinite in the extremity and greatness or in the duration Now to speak naturally Reason and Justice considering the ends of punishment in Moral Government would immediately urge Let it if it can be infinite in the greatness weight and gravity that the offender having satisfied in suffering might work again But human nature being finite is not capable of such infinite punishment and upon this account it was necessary that it should be infinite in the extensiveness and duration because a finite Creature is not capable of punishment infinite in intensiveness and greatness But now when Christ suffered for us he underwent punishment infinite in magnitude and greatness But still this infinity is to be estimated not from the intensiveness and greatness of the punishments themselves which human Nature and so Christ's human Nature was not capable of but from the dignity of the person that suffered them Just as sin that is finite in its own nature coming from a finite creature becomes infinite by being committed against an infinite Majesty So the punishments of Christ being in their own nature finite became infinite in their value and satisfaction by the infinite dignity of the person suffering And the stress as I have told you before is still laid on this in Scripture the dignity of the person that he was God that suffered And this very consideration of his death being infinite in value and recompence and not in duration doth prevent such a difficulty as could not be answered For had our Redeemer been to continue for ever under this condemnation of those he suffered for this might have made the Christian Religion less rational and credible it would have been such an unaccountable excess of charity to destroy himself eternally to save others But God knew and Christ knew he could so wrestle with death and condemnation as to overcome and that it would not be an utter losing one worth ten thousand of the guilty in saving them which would have been a thing unaccountable to be either done or permitted to be done by the King and Governour of the World but his Sufferings were to be to him an entrance into Glory and the obtaining a Name above every Nature Thus of this Third Head to die and manner of this Death 4. A Propitiation Died a Propitiation for Sin and Sinners that is implied yea signified in the very word Propitiation that it was for Sin and Sinners Propitiation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this is the word the Septuagint use to express the Mercy-seat by The word we translate Mercy-seat is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which coming from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to hide and in Piel to expiate and propitiate this word coming from it doth so too It signifieth Opercuium tegumentum and placamentum piamentum a cover or hiding and an Expiation or Propitiation to make God propitious reconciled and favourable Now this Mercy-seat this Operculum Propitiatorium was a cover of pure Gold laid over the Ark of the Covenant just the dimensions of the Ark the length and breadth of it Two cubits and a half the length and one cubit and a half the Exod 35. 10 17. breadth of either of them as you maâ— see We read nothing of the thickness of this Propitiatory Cover but some Râ—bbins say it was of one Palm And this Ark which this covered ver 16. had in it the Law and so this Mercy-seat or Propitiatory that covered the Ark wherein was the Law typified and signified Jesus Christ fully covering our sins being transgressions of the Law out of Gods sight the Righteousness and Satisfaction of Christ
being as broad and as long as the Law and our transgressions of it Above the Mercy-seat on either side were the Cherubims and the Majesty of God appeared between the Ceerubims Christ interposeth between God and his Law to make him propitious to his People From above the Mercy-seat Ver. 22. between the two Cherubims will I meet thee and commune with thee So you see this Mercy-seat this Cover of Gold typified Christ the true Propitiatory or Mercy-seat covering out of God's sight all our Transgressions of the Law and God through him meeting with us and made propitious and reconciled to us And here now Christ is called by the name of his own type as often elsewhere when he is called the Lamb and Lamb slain and so called the Propitiatory or Propitiation God having made him really that to us which that did but typifie Christ was made an Expiation and Ransom and Propitiation for Sins for these things the Hebrew word signifies Here now under this Head I will make it my business irrefragably to prove to you what I have taken hitherto almost for granted 1. He died not for Himself He was the Lamb without spot as indeed he that was to wash away others spots was to be without spot Himself Messiah cut off but not for himself 2. He could not die but for some Sin Death befalleth not Men as Men but as Sinners The Apostle proveth all to be Sinners because all die else it was impossible in justice God Act. 2. 24 raised him up having loosed the pains of death for it was not possible he should be holden of it Death being but the Servant of God's Justice and Christ having satisfied Justice it could not but let go its hold He could not but be taken from prison and from judgment We may use the same argument it was impossible Death could not have taken hold of Him at all had it not been for Sin 3. It remains therefore that he died for our sins according to the Scripture for none else come in competition None will pretend He died for the Sins of Angels good or bad or of Brutes which are not capable of sin Was delivered to death for our sins Bore the sins of many Gave himself for us that he might redeem us The professed Adversaries of this Doctrine the Socinians will grant He died in some sense for our Sins Therefore How died he for our Sins 1. He died for our Sins so as to turn us from them this is truth but this is as they suppose all and they will grant no more But we must go further 2. He died for our Sins as a meritorious deserving cause of his Death For the transgression of my people was he smitten Wounded for our transgressions Isa 53. Rom. 4. 25. Delivered to death for our sins So that if it be asked What meaneth the heat of this great anger wherefore was he thus wounded We must answer He was wounded for our transgressions We have pierced him this hath been by our means we have ate sowre grapes and his teeth were set on edg the Children ate sowre grapes and the everlasting Father's teeth were set on edg 3. He died for our sins in our place and stead that we might not perish for them In our place and stead for expiation for satisfaction for compensation though not in such an unâ—ound irrational sense as some pretend and I shall have occasion to speak of hereafter in a more convenient place I shall prove this first from express Scriptures second from the peculiarity of his Death third from the Sacrifices that typified Him 1. From express Scriptures in three Instances 1. We often read of his Sufferings for our fins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This man after he had â—ffered one sacrifice for sins Heb. 1. 12 Gal. 1. 4. Who gave â—imself for our sins Now this word translated for may signifie only the final cause as to turn us from them But words must be understood secundum subjectam materiam according to the subject matter and in such speeches the subject matter will not bear that sense We never read in Scripture or any where else of one dying and suffering for sins but it is for them as the meritorious cause of the sufferings as some compensation for the fault as when he saith I will punish you for your iniquities And Israel suffered for the sins of Jeroboam 2. We often read of his Suffering for persons I lay down my life for my sheep Redeemeth us from the curse Joh. 10. 17. Gal. 3. 17. of the Law being made a curse for us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the usual sense of this is instead of another As Paul could wish himself accursed for his brethren Yet I know this phrase for another may in some instances signifie only the final cause only for their good and not in their stead A man may be said to die for his Country only as the final cause for their good and to lay down his life for his brother only for his good to save his life But it is not capable of such a narrow sense when one dieth for another as a sinner as an offender Now we read of Christ's dying the just for the unjust there it must be meant in his stead And when sinners he died for us And Hs who knew no sin was made sin that is a Sin-offering for us * The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the words the Septuagint express a Sin-offering by called in Hebr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that place Rom. 8. 3. which as it is translated is scarce sence should have been translated God sending his own Son in the likeness of â—inful flesh and a Sin-offering 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 condemned â—â—a in the flesh as the same words are well translated Heb. 10. 6. In Burnt-offering and Sacrifice for sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou hast no pleasure And so again vers 8. It is good sense to say such a one died for his Country as in the Warrs only to denote the final cause for the good of his Country But because Men go not into the Warrs because of their faults neither are they killed in the Warrs ordinarily for any fault Men die not in the Warrs as Malefactors but as Soldiers It would not be sense to use such speeches He died for his Country though an innocent man it would be a frigid sapless dilute manner of speaking for here would be no Opposition in it But you see He who knew no sin was made sin for us We esteemed him smitten of Isa 53. God But he was wounded for our sins 2 Cor. 5. 15. c. Because we thus judg if one dyed for all then were all dead and he dyed for all c. This place would not be true if one interpret dying for all only for the good of all not in their stead For it
order of Nature before the King or any else know or account them pardoned God doth not account men's sins pardoned till first they be so by his own Law of Grace They that justifie the wicked or condemn the righteous are both an abomination to the Lord. As God did not account Adam guilty condemned till first he was so by his own Law through sin so he doth not will not account any justified pardoned till first they are so by his own Law of Grace made in the Blood of Christ which is upon their performing of the Condition of it Thirdly Justification is not God's knowing we shall be justified God indeed doth know men shall be justified when they believe but this is not Justification It doth not follow that a man is justified and his sin pardoned who is going on in all villany because he belongeth to the Election of Grace because God knoweth he will believe and so will be justified when brought home For 1. God knoweth till he believe he is unjustified his sin not pardoned he is under the curse of the Law and under the Rectoral displeasure of God for Without Faith it is impossible to please God God hateth all workers of iniquity with this Rectoral hatred He that believeth not is condemned already he is so far from being justified You cannot say of such a man he is justified his sins pardoned but he knoweth it not No till a man believe the wrath of God abideth on him Hell is yet his due by God's own Laws of Government though Heaven will be so when he believes 2. Else Justification and pardon of â—in would be from Eternity which we are sure is contrary to all Scripture that maketh them consequent of Faith Repentance and Conversion whatsoever some have said to the contrary turn them from darkness to light that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance c. We have believed Gal. 2. 16. that we may be justified by the faith of Christ To whom righteousness shall Rom. 4. 24. be imputed if we believe That they may return every man from his evil Jer. 36. 3. way that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin lest they should see with their eyes and be converted Mar. 4. 12 and their sin be forgiven them Fourthly Justification is not God's intending decreeing willing that men should be justified when they believe 1. Then it would be from Eternity which is repugnant to all Scripture God speaketh of it as a thing future God intended from Eternity That our King should be King of England but he was not King of England till his Father was dead and then h◠〈◊〉 the legal Title 3. God's intending from Eternity to condemn men for their sins is not Condemnation else men would be condemned from Eternity but then men are condemned when they sin and the Law condemns them So God's intending to justifie sinners upon believing is not Justification But when men believe then God justifieth them by his Law of Faith 3. To say This is meant by Justification is to make non-sense of all those places of Scripture that make it future When he saith God will justifie we must then say the meaning is He will willjustifie We must double the word will Fifthly Some tell us That Justification is properly and formally Christ's suffering or obedience or properly God's laying our sins on Christ But then we must say Christ never merited our pardon or justification we are not forgiven for Christ's sake for Christ never merited thâ—se things which they call Justification viz. his own sufferings or our sins laying on him Could you think of any other thing to call Justification beside what I have here taught you I could with much ease shew you the absurdity of it These are the likeliest of any I can think of to pretend to be it that are not it and are pretended by some to be it You now see or may see Justification is God's Juridical Act by his Gospel by his Law of Grace If an Act of Oblivion be made on these terms That whosoever of such Rebels shall go and promise before some Justice of Peace they will be loyal Subjects for the future as soon as ever they have thus promised this Law justifieth pardoneth them They did not pardon themselves that is a foolish pretence of some weak men contrary to the knowledg of all Lawyers and Divines yea of any rational men but the Law-giver did pardon them by this Rectoral Act of Pardon upon their promise If there be a Law in force that every Felon should dye but there is also another remedying Law That if the Felon read he shall not dye When he readeth the Law pardoneth him the Law-giver by this Law justifieth him from the charge and condemnation of the other Law It is by this Gospel this perfect Law of Liberty that we are justified this is that new Law that Ministers are sent to preach Go preach the Gospel to every creature He that believeth shall be saved He that believeth not shall be damned This is our great business To tell men the condition on which they shall be pardoned justified and so saved And should any Ministers be ignorant of their great Message yea so ignorant as to say These are no conditions no terms nothing required of us in order to attaining the benefit of Christ's death How sad should this be to us Men are justified or condemned here in this life by this Gospel in a Law-sense and in this sense Scripture for the most part useth the word Justifie and men shall hereafter be justified or condemn'd sententially according to this Gospel Thus I have told you what Justification is which was the first Question propounded to be answered and I have tacitly slidden into the second Question What the Covenant is and answered that The third propounded was To tell you what the Condition is Thirdly What is meant by this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Him that believeth in Jesus or Him that is of the faith of Jesus This is the Question now to be answered What is the Condition of the Covenant of Grace of the Law of Grace on the performance of which this Propitiation this price of Redemption shall be ours for our justification and salvation Ours I say with this limitation For our justification and salvation or to speak more strictly The condition of our justification and salvation by it For God never giveth us interest in his Son's Merits and Satisfaction in its essential nature but only in the fruits and effects of it He giveth us his Merit only in such a sense as a man be said figuratively to give a Captive a sum of money which it may be the Captive never handled never had it given to him at all properly but only it was paid to the King of that Countrey for his ransome I answer What would you wish or desire it should be Think of that a little for that is it I dare
What do you think the wicked Jews meant when they said If we let this man alone all men will believe on him What did they mean some one act and that one act that many now hold to be only necessary to salvation though not agreed ordinarily what it is Surely they meant They will believe he is the Messiah and so love him obey him stick to him If one bid you believe in such a Physician trust in him and he will cure you cannot you easily understand he means also Take his Counsel follow his directions by believing in him So when he saith Believe and thou shalt be saved he meaneth Believe and carry as one that believeth love obey turn 4. Sometime called Repentance Repent that your iniquities may be blotted John preached repentance for the remission of sin Surely you will grant that is for Justification And Christ did not take away this Condition nay he preached it himself Except you repent you shall perish He meant believe obey also 5. Called Conversion Turn them from darkness to light that they Mar. 4. 12 may receive remission Lest they should see with their eyes and be converted and their sins should be forgiven them Implying the terms that God hath bound himself to by promise through Christ's death to the world so as he cannot in faithfulness break If converted he must forgive having made this new Law of Grace 6. Called Obedience Being made perfect through suffering having fully satisfied he became the Author of eternal salvation to those that obey him Surely this holdeth out the terms on which men shall have the justifying saving benefit of Christ's death But there is implied in this also the belief of the truth of the Gospel So Hear and your souls shall live That is obey for life for justification for right to salvation 7. Keeping the Commandments Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the tree of life Not the hearers of the Law are just before God but the doers of the Law shall be justified Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord but he that doth the will of my Father shall inherit the Kingdom If the Erek 18. 21. wicked turn from all his sins which he hath committed and keep all my statutes he shall live all the transgressions that he hath done shall not be mentioned This is not the Law of Works but the Gospel for the Law promiseth no mercy to the returning wicked Consider these three places In Jesus Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing but Gal. 5. 6. faith which worketh by love In Jesus Gal. 6. 15. Christ neither circumcision c. but a new creature Again In Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 7. 19. neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing but the keeping the Commandments of God Do not these three expressions mean the same thing the same Gospel-condition 8. Regeneration New Creature Except a man be born again c. Not by works of righteousness which we have Tit. 3. 15. done but according to his mercy hath he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost One would think you might gather hence what the Apostle Paul means by Works and what by Faith the Gospel-condition 9. Sanctification Except I wash thee thou canst have no part in me And without holiness none shall see the Lord. Godliness hath the promise of this life and that which is to come Is not Justification right to Heaven among the number of those things Wash you make you clean put away the evil of your doings learn to do well Come now though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow though red like crimson they shall be as wool I could name many other Names as Fearing God Hoping in him Trusting in him c. But I will name but one more 10. Sometime it is expressed by words that import a Continuance and this is indeed the condition of the continued Justification and right to Heaven To them he will give eternal Col. 1. 21 22 23. life who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for immortality Yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you blameless and unreproved in his sight if you continue in the faith grounded and setled and be not removed away from the hope of the Gospel which you have heard and was preached to every creature under Heaven That is upon condition that as you have received the Christian Faith so you continue in it to the end notwithstanding all sufferings by the encouragement of that hope which this Gospel supplies unto you If we 1 Joh. 1. 7 walk in the light as he is in the light the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin There is no condemnation to Rom. 1. 8. them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Whose house are we if we hold Heb. 3. 6. fast our confidence unto the end But yet believers are justified at present But you are sanctified but you are justified saith the Apostle you are so upon your first cordialconsent to the Gospel-terms It is here as in all other things of the like nature What makes a Servant but Consent When the Master is willing to have him and propounds the terms he consents to the terms I have set Life and Death before you and told you the condition of Life by Christ Would we go and consider this condition and the reasonableness of it and the glorious things that would come by it and would we go and in the strength of God and Christ call Heaven and Earth to record yea and Hell to witness That we consent give up our selves to be ruled and saved by Christ would we enter into Covenant to be the Lord's people and his Christ's to walk in all well-pleasing and not to allow our selves in any known sin or in the neglect of any known duty and to use the means God hath appointed to know his will and for the destruction of sin and this as honest men really intending performance even till death being so far from designing treacherously to turn aside in difficulties that it is our greatest fear and dread lest we should deal falsly in this Covenant From this time you are justified by this Law of Grace and have right to Heaven though you should have black and sad thoughts and think you are not and you may pray with encouragement Keep this in the thoughts of our heart for ever and confirm our hearts unto thee and God will keep those that thus commit themselves unto him But yet this is true if you should fall utterly away this Law of Grace would cease to justifie you because you withdraw this consent and so cease to have the condition of it and the reason why we do not lose Justification and right to Salvation is Because God keepeth his fear in our
he was cursed for his own sin But saith he he was wounded for our transgressions The Antithesis shews these to be inconsistent The cause was just contrary to what David pleaded Let it be on me and on my Fathers house but these sheep what have they done But here it may be said The shepherd what hath he done that laid down his life for his sheep when the sheep only were in fault All we like sheep have gone astray aâ—d the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all And to speak here by way of anticipation The Innocent suffering for the Guilty should be so far from prejudicing us against the Doctrine of Christ's Satisfaction to Justice that on the contrary this alone maketh it satisfactory to right Reason for had he himself been guilty he had been in no capacity to pay a ransom for others If he was bound to pay all he had suffer all he could suffer for himself How should he pay any thing for us suffer any thing for us 5. A willing voluntary death That God might be just c. God set him forth but yet by his own consent He gave himself for our sins according to â—al 4. 1. the will of God and our Father That which casts a stain and blemish upon the most Satisfactions we read of in humane Authors and maketh them ingrateful unto us is this That either they did not undergo their sufferings for another willingly as when they chastned the Infant-Prince's darling-Pages for his fault or if they did undergo them willingly they had not lawful authority and power to do so For men have not that full power and authority over their lives and members to give them a compensation for others which they have over their money and estates God hath not given them this power and also Governours are under the Law of God and so have not regularly authority to take away mens lives or members upon such commutations instead of others therefore those Authors that thought men had full authority over their lives and members do hugely commend the act of Zaleuchus in putting out one of his own eyes and were it not for this obstruction we should commend it as one of the bravest acts of Justice mixed with prudence in those circumstances that ever was Now both these difficulties are removed here 1. Christ had power and authority over his own life I have power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have authority to lay down John 10. 18. my life and authority to take it up again He had authority over his own life as other men have not being God And further we are sure the Father gave him leave 2. He willingly undertook this task of dying a Propitiation for sinners Burnt-offering thou wouldst not then said I Lo I come I delight to do thy will O God I lay down my life for my sheep no man taketh it from me against John 10. 16 my consent I lay it down of my self It was a voluntary Sacrifice a Free-will-Offering He was the Priest himself offered himself by the eternal Spirit though the Jews were the Butchers Thinkest thou not saith he to Peter smiting off of Malchus's ear that I cannot now pray my Father and he shall send me more than twelve legions of Angels He gave Pilate no answer as if afraid of hindering his own Sufferings Had he spoken as he could have done as one having authority he could with few words have daunted Pilate's heart and caused his own release But he went as a Lamb to the slaughter as a sheep before the shearer he was dumb and opened not his mouth So that Pilate is impatient at his patience angry at his silence Answerest thou not When he was reviled he reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not Had 1 Pet. 2 23. he but threatned he might have forced his own dismission Two things can only be objected here against his willingness 1. His great natural averseness Father if it be possible c. He feared this Cup. Ans In speaking of his Humane Nature there is no difficulty about his Divine we must distinguish with the School-men thus There is volunt as ut natura and voluntas ut ratio There is the natural will or inclination and the rational will according to this natural will he desired to escape this death Nature abhorring things destructive to its self But by his rational will for God's honour and our redemption he willingly submitted to it Aquinas instanceth thus A Man according to his natural will desires to avoid a bitter potion and the lancing or cutting off of any Member and yet by his rational will he consenteth to these for the good of the whole And this is most properly to be called the will Quod quisque mavult id maxime proprie vult This natural willingness and averseness in him doth commend and advance the meritoriousness of Christ's willingness as Mediator and merciful High Priest and not at all proves his unwillingness in the properest sense of the word 2. Here may also be objected He was for the most part careful to secure himself from the Jews treacheries and injuries and sometimes fled Ans This doth not prove his unwillingness to suffer at all but only his chusing the fittest time and hour and his reserving himself for the time and place appointed by the Father And he used to say before that his hour was not yet come But consider how he carried himself when his hour was come and he knew it was come Now before the feast of the Passeover Joh. 13. 1. when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this World to the Father Then he prepareth his Disciples These words spake Jesus and Joh. 17. 1 4. lift up his eyes to heaven and said Father the hour is come Glorifie thy Son I have finished my work now glorifie Ver. 4. me with thy own self Jesus knowing all things that should come upon him Joh. 18 4. went forth to Judas and his band of Soldiers and said unto them Whom seek you they answered him Jesus of Nazareth Jesus saith unto them I am He. They went backward and fell to the ground He that threw them to the ground could have thrown them into hell but he suffers them to rise again offers himself and saith Whom seek you They said Jesus of Nâ—zareth Jesus answered I have told you that I am he If therefore you seek me let these Disciples go away He had care of them to keep them out of cruel hands while he willingly yielded up himself He was straitned till it was accomplished Now the main of the Socinian Objections fly before this as dry leaves before the wind One may thus rhetorize in objecting with them What shall not the just Judg of all the Earth do right Will he sâ—â—y the righteous with the wicked However will he slay the righteous and let the wicked escape Or which
will do more for thee let them take thee Say then I love my Master Sin and Satan and will not go out free But study how thou wilt answer it to God and look thy Redeemer in the face Do you mock God and your Redeemer and say You might have spared your self as Peter bade you Who bade you thus love me You might have let the loving me alone God will not be mocked Be you not mockers lest your bonds be made strong And Christ will yet have some reward in well-doing and honour in thy ruin thy refusal and punishment for it But these are secondary Ends and Ends only upon supposition of rejection of his Grace The primary End of his Death and Law of Grace is your Salvation for he came not into the world primarily to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved God sweareth he desires not the death of the wicked but rather that he would turn and live The primary End of the Gospel and Law of Grace is your Obedience and Salvation and secondarily upon supposition of your refusal Condemnation It cannot be said of a Governour making a Law It was weakly done of him when he foresaw many would break it except he want Power or Justice to vindicate it Dare you say It was not wisely done of God to make the first Covenant with Promise to Adam because he foresaw he would lose the benefit of it and incur the curse And dare you say It was no kindness Suppose God had not known Would that have made any change in the thing by making the sin greater and God's kindness more This is to say God's Omniscience hinders him from being Rector of the World from being able to make gracious Promises to the obedient and just Threatnings to the disobedient Take heed of such Doctrines as would in their own nature cause you to have hard thoughts of God and discourage your return to him and conclude they are false that are so expresly contrary to the whole tenour of the Gospel Though you know not how to answer the Objections I dare confidently tell you others can and have answered in the main such difficulties satisfactorily and that in a way well agreeing with special grace And I could do it satisfactorily to you I think and should now if I thought it not inconvenient to turn to an alien subject But suppose I could not no nor the ablest men must we therefore deny plain Scripture-truths because men know but in part and can answer many difficulties but imperfectly But to return Shall Christ fall short of the primary End of the travel of his soul This is the reward and fruit Christ waits for To see the travel of his soul to see his seed a generation of sinners turning and accepting his offered salvation and then he will say My blood was well shed indeed I am well paid well satisfied so Israel be but thus gathered and this he waits for and strives with thee about Again Is this thy kindness to thy own soul Not to hearken to the cry of its necessity for a Saviour It is in your power to reject the counsel of God against your selves to your hurt it is in your power to frustrate all and to make your selves of those that shall have neither lot nor portion in this matter But if you perish it is not long of Christ but of your selves you chuse it Would you be wise you should be wise for your selves but if you be scorners you alone shall bear it Once all was lost hopeless and helpless you were but through this Propitiarion it is once more brought to your choice whether you will perish or no. Why will you dye If you will dye who can help it I cannot I can only witness I called and you refused to come And I hereby call you Noverint universi c. Be it known therefore unto you Men and Brethren That through this Man and this Name is preached to you the forgiveness of sins and by him all that shall believe all that shall receive him shall be justified And there is no other Name under Heaven given whereby you can be justified and saved and if you refuse him it is in vain to look for another Are you willing to comply with this design of God for your eternal welfare Or must I say you refuse to come Will you or will you not accept Christ for your Lord Redeemer to sanctifie and save you If you will indeed you shall certainly be saved If you will not why will you not What displeasure have you taken against Christ What blemish do you see in him What is there that offends you in this wise stupendious dispensation of Christ crucified What prejudice have you entertained against this Counsel of God What do you think his terms too hard so that all things considered it would not be for your good Then you think Christ If any doubt of the truth of the Scripture Doctrine let them if they judg their souls worth so much pains read those learned Books lately written in English on this Subject and doubt if they can counselleth you for your hurt if so you have interpretatively worse thoughts of Christ than you ought to have of the Devil for you ought to think the Devil no worse than he is and if you think Christ calleth you for your hurt and loss and tells you what you shall never find true you think Christ envies your good and would deceive and cheat you by perswading you out of it and what is this but to think him worse than the Devil for the Devil though he would deceive you yet he never dyed and shed his blood to deceive you but if it be for your hurt to turn from sin and deny your selves and take up his yoke Christ hath dyed to undo you which would be strange maliciousness O the hainousness of this sin of refusing Christ It is virtually to esteem him the horrid'st Impostor that ever the Sun saw What a dreadful thing it is to stay a day or a night under the guilt of this refusal of Christ He that thus believeth not is condemned already and is yet under the curse and if he do but walk up and down the few more days and sleep out the few more nights of his life he will be remediless for there is no more sacrifice for sin But yet there is Balm in Gilead there is a Physician there why is not our health recovered There are Treasures in Christ Treasures of Righteousness he would fain part with Oh say These and these neglect Christ despise his Riches It may be thy Master if thou be a servant sleights this great and honourable One's Treasures and will not receive at his hands the things which he hath bought and brought but say thou as Gehazi As the Lord liveth I will run after him and take something of him and I can assure thee in his Name whose Messenger I am That
it is added and they talked of his decease His whole life was a life of sorrows Faith in his blood doth not exclude his obedience and other parts of his sufferings but all are comprehended under this most eminent part which was most grievous and painful to body and soul 1. His Body What torments did that endure What scourgings piercings and the exquisiteness of his bodily temperature and constitution would augment his torture He had not dulled and blunted his spirits and sense by intemperance 2. His Soul What punishment of sense was there on his Soul in his Agony in the Garden when he sweat as it were clods of blood and complained My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death and an Angel was fain to comfort him when he cryed Father if it be possible let this cup pass sure there were some dregs some gall and wormwood in his cup. What punishment of loss when he cryed out Why hast thou for saken me We hid as it were our faces from him saith the Prophet but this was a small matter in comparison of God's hiding his face His Disciples forsook him but he complains not of their forsaking but why hast thou forsaken me If it be asked What need of soul-suffering soul-trouble was not bodily enough It is answered already God would have sufferings as near the same threatned as could be would dispense as little with the Law as might be How are the Socinians here upon the rack when to give an account of his crying out and discomposure beyond the ordinary rate of Martyrs for they shouted and triumphed since they maintain he suffered no otherwise and on no other account than they did only to attest the truth and leave us an example of patience They make his groaning heavier than his strokes if he had no more of bitterness in his Cup than they 2. A shameful death God set him forth to a publick notorious shameful death that he might be just c. It was at a solemn time the Passover when the Jews were come from all parts of the Land and Proselytes and others from remote parts of the World and at the most publike place Jerusalem Then and there the God of Heaven was spit on stripped and whipt naked in the sight of the multitude crucified before all Israel and in the sight of the Sun All Nations have as it were by consent agreed that hanging on a tree crucifying should be the most contemptible death of the vilâ—st of Creatures and vilest of men Whom you sâ—â—w and Acts 5. 20 hanged on a tree the emphasis of the shame is hanged on a tree So endured the Cross and despising the shame It is a shame for a King â—o suffer an ignominious death how much more for God He suffered as a Malefactor as a Traytor against Caesar his Prince as a Blasphemer of his God as a Deceiver and Impostor Yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted We that is the generality of the people esteemed him as one smitten for his own sins justly condemned for his own sins and so far from taking away condemnation from others He was numbred with transgressors accounted a wicked person suffered with thieves as being accounted the fittest companion for them To live with iâ—famy is accounted worse than death What is it then to dye with infamy Many men could with less regret bear the pain of hanging than the shame of it He is insulted over in his miseries nothing is so intolerable as shame to noble ingenuous spirits He is scoffed at in all his Offices as Priest He saved others himself he cannot save As Prophet Prophesie unto us who smoâ—e thee This Deceiver c. As King Hail King of the Jews I am the reproach of men Psal 22 6 and despised of the people was spoken not without cause of him in the type 3. Cursed death that God might be just c. I must not leave this out though I have an averseness to speak of things I do not well understand And I must confess that I do not so clearly understand as I do other things what is meant by Curse distinct from pain and shame But I will tell you my thoughts of it As Benedictio blessing as Amiraldus saith seemeth to be the solemn declaration of the good will of one superiour in Power and Dignity The Heb. 7. 7. less is blessed of the greater So Maledictio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seemeth to be nothing else but a solemn declaration of the anger and displeasure of the Rector and higher Powers So that every death that carrieth in it the tokens and marks of the displeasure of the higher Powers may be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a curse This is it that it be inflicted by the King for a fault and therefore a death of hanging on a Tree which is inflicted for a fault by the authority of the Higher Powers being a painful and especially a shameful death wherein the chief of punishment consists is accounted a Curse by the consent of Nations That Curse which the Apostle alludeth to seemeth to be only some Gal. 3. 10. ceremonial Curse which was pronounced Dâ—ut 21. 23. on every one that hanged on a tree I suppose whether rightfully or wrongfully hanged such a carkass was to be shunned in a special manner and not to be buried with ordinary burial it may be And this Ceremonial Curse was by the wise foreseeing Providence of God pronounced on every one hanging on a Tree that it might be typical of Christ being cursed with another kind of curse in being hanged on a tree with a moral Curse the Curse of the Moral Law which was due to sinners Cursed is he that continues not in all things written in the Law What a Curse did he bear in being made a curse for us What millions of Talents of vengeance were in his cup All the curses written in the Book of the Law in a sense fell on him he was made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 piaculum The Son of God's dearest love became the subject of his Rectoral displeasure for us children of wrath that we might becom objects of his favour 4. An undeserved death of his own as for any fault That God c. No guile was in his mouth The Lamb without spot in all things like us yet without sin holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners By his knowledg shall my righteous servant justifie many And the stress is laid here in righteous He who knew no sin was made sin for us He was not like the High Priest who was first to offer for himself and then for the people Therefore God ordained him to be born of a Virgin by the Holy Ghost that he Isa 53. 4 5. might be without sin These seem to be opposed We did esteem him smitten of God and afflicted that is smitten as an offender for his own faults as being so far from taking away the curse from us that