justified by Christ hee doth highly magnifie the benefit and religion of Christ thereby to manifest unto the Galatians their great rashnes and weakenesse in suffering themselves to be seduced from the Religion of Christ and reduced under the Law of Moses Comment Christian crucifying or mortification the Paterne of it the Ground of it the End or Effect of it Of self-love the Nature of it the Necessity of it the Facility and want of it the work of it the Order of that worke the nessity of it and Neglect of it Mortificatiō is true life and really is Sanctification by altering my life to the life of Christ Sense of the Text. Faith put for Religion To live in the flesh To live in the Faith Naturall actions may become religious and be subject to faith An attribute of Christ why given him heere The Religion of Moses servile But that of Christ is liberall and noble Another Attribute of Christ Delivering put for Dying The authors of Christs death Actions are morallized from their causes The end or purpose of it Christ dyed not in my stead But for my sake or for my good to certifie me of blessednes to justifie me to it to Sanctifie me for it to Exemplifie the way to it to glorifie me with it Christ dyed for me eminently More then any other person can Christs love caused his death not excluding Gods love which also caused it and not his Anger God then was not angry with Christ not with us but with the Jewes he was Christ dyed for Paul and for me by my name appellative of a Believer which kinde of Nomination is Certaine and Valid to the Inheritance of Heaven A Prayer unto Christ I Am Crucified The Crosse was an instrument for criminall executions whereon malefactors were put to death a punishment much practised and well knowne among the Romans Greekes and Jewes And to bee Crucified was to bee nayled hand and foot upon the Crosse to suffer thereby a shamefull paynfull and lingring death Hence by way of metaphor or resemblance the Faithfull when they renounce reject and crosse the motions desires and lusts of their carnall or fleshly appetite are sayd in Scripture to crucifie or mortifie the flesh and thereupon they themselves are sayd to bee crucified or mortified For when the Flesh or carnall appetite which is a kinde of Malefactor is so curbed and crossed that she cannot enjoy her former liberty and usuall motions unto sinne then she resembles a man crucified or nayled to the crosse who thereby loseth first his motion and at last his life The Apostle therefore would say My death unto the Law doth so far remove mee from living in sin that I am dead to sin also because I am as it were crucified For as a man that is crucified or nailed to the crosse doth dye a violent and paynfull death so my old man or that man that I was formerly is so bruised and crossed that it is dead not a naturall and easie but a violent and paynfull death For the denyall of my former selfe by crossing the motions desires and lusts of the flesh is unto my sensuall appetite not onely a simple death but a death with violence and torment because when my appetite is crossed she accounts her selfe vexed and tormented With Christ Not really and locally but putatively and quasively for I am mortified in a maner as hee was crucified and so I am for two reasons 1. Because his Crucifying is the Paterne resemblance or likenesse of mine For as Christ was crucified and dyed to his mortall life that he might rise to a new life and live unto God so I am mortified and dead unto sin that I might turne to a new life and live unto God as a new creature And as Christ was crucified but once dying no more but once for death had dominion over him no more but once so I am mortified and dead to sinne once for all and sinne shall never have dominion over mee more because I will never againe returne under the bondage of it For according to these resemblances the Apostle proposeth Christ unto every Christian as the true paterne of mortification Rom. 6.6 Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sinne might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sinne for he that is dead is freed from sinne And againe at the next verse following but one the other resemblance followeth Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dyeth no more death hath no more dominion over him For in that he dyed he dyed unto sinne once but in that hee liveth hee liveth unto God Likewise reckon yee also your selves to bee dead indeede unto sinne but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 2. Because his Crucifying is the cause ground or reason of mine For as through the death of the Law I am dead to the Law so through the Crucifying of Christ I am crucified with Christ i. e. his Crucifying and dying on the Crosse is the cause ground and bond why I must be mortified and dead unto sinne For seeing Christ by his death upon the Crosse did confirme and establish the last Will and Testament of God to the Legacyes and Promises whereof I by fayth am justified to have the same right in God with Christ or as Christ hath namely a right of alliance and inheritance to be the son and heyre of God as Christ is the son and heyre of God and consequently to be the brother of Christ and a co-heyre with him to eternall blessednes Are not these benefits by the death of Christ a cause ground and bond sufficient to engage and oblige mee to crucifie or mortifie my sin Shall I partake in the alliance and inheritance of Christ to bee a co-ally and a co-heire with him and shall I not partake in his obedience to be a sufferer with him especially in this holy suffering whereby my sin onely suffers death For seeing Christ for my sake layd downe his life shall not I for his sake lay downe my sinne Can I possibly doe lesse for his sake who suffered so much for mine then thus to conforme and plant my selfe into the likenesse of his death And can I possibly doe more for my owne sake when by thus conforming and planting my selfe into the likenes of his death Rom. 6.5 I shall be also in the likenesse of his resurrection If Christ dyed for mee then must I dye to sinne because his death bindes mee to it 2 Cor. 5.14 For if one dyed for all then were all dead i. e. then were all to dye or then all ought or must dye to sin for in this place as in divers others the action past is put for the duty to come If Christ have any right in me I must bee thus dead Rom. 8.10 And if Christ bee in you the body is dead because of sinne i. e. the flesh or sensuall appetite is mortified or dead that thereby ye may
mercy hee saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost i. e. Our finall salvation which God hath decreed or devised unto us and our Sanctification in regenerating or renewing us by his holy Spirit which is the meanes to the former end proceedes not from any workes of ours which wee had done before according to any righteousnesse that was in us But our right thereunto proceedes from Gods worke as an act of his mercy And 1. Pet. 1.3 Blessed bee the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us againe unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible c. i. e. Blessed bee God who by the Resurrection of Christ hath begotten and wrought in us a lively hope of eternall life which is an inheritance incorruptible All which proceedes from the abundance of his mercy Now all Mercy is Grace though all Grace bee not Mercy But when grace is so affected with the misery of a miserable person that thereby she is moved to relieve him from his misery then grace becomes mercy Because all mercy is grace to a person in misery 5. Because it comes by Gods Will and Testament John 1.13 Who were borne not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God i. e. Believers are made the sonnes of God not by generation or birth from the will of flesh and blood Nor by any adoption from the will of man But by that adoption which is from the Will and Testament of God And Ephes 1.5 Haveing predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himselfe according to the good pleasure of his Will i. e. Our adoption to bee the sonnes of God and the co-heires with Christ by meanes of Christ is predestinated ordained or devised unto us according to that good pleasure of God which hee hath expressed in his Will and Testament And in the same Chapter vers 11. In whom also wee have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsell of his owne Will i. e. In or through Christ we are made co-heires with Christ unto blessednes wherto we are predestinated instituted and ordained by God who performeth all things according to that purpose counsell or meaning of his which he hath expressed in his Will and Testament Now things conveyed or devised by Will and Testament are not debts and duties whereto the Testator is bound by Law and justice but are gifts and Legacies proceeding from his grace favour and kindnes towards those Legataries unto whom they are devised for hence it is that Wills require a favourable construction or interpretation because they containe matters of favour And Gods grace wherby I am justified unto this Right is rich grace For that is a frequent attribute wherby the Scripture doth commend and magnifie the greatnes plenty and abundance of Gods grace by stiling it the riches of his grace As Rom. 11.12 Now if the fall of them be the richesse of the World and the diminishing of them the richesse of the Gentiles i. e. The fall of the Jewes is the occasion of Gods grace and of the riches or abundance thereof unto the Gentiles and unto all the world besides And Ephes 1.7 In whom wee have redemption through his bloud according to the riches of his grace wherein he hath abounded towards us And Ephes 2.7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindnesse towards us through Jesus Christ i. e. the exceeding plenty and abundance of his grace for although grace and kindnesse be really one and the same thing yet after the word grace the Apostle addeth the word kindnesse that by the abundance of his words he might signifie the abundance of Gods grace Certainely sin aboundeth in the world and hath done so in all ages yet grace doth over-abound it Rom. 3.20 The Law entred that the offence might abound but where sinne abounded grace did much more abound i. e. After the Law was given the event was that sin abounded and after sin had abounded the event was that grace did super-abound by over-reigning over-ruling and overcomming sin because God by his grace doth not only forgive eternall death which is the punishment of sin but over and above he doth give us a right unto eternall life by justifying us thereunto through Christ as it there followeth in the next verse That as sinne hath reigned unto death even so might grace reigne through righteousnesse through a Right unto eternall life And this richnesse or greatnesse of Gods grace appeares from three grounds 1. Because Gods grace is without a cause There was no cause moving God to justifie me for as we sayd before his grace is hereof the supreame or prime cause having no other cause above or beyond it to actuate or move it What moved God to bee so gracious unto mee as to predestinate or devise unto mee in his last Will and Testament this divine state of alliance and inheritance with him Certainely no Merit or desert of mine moved him for it was not for any worke or other act of mine which I had done or which God foresaw I would doe that could deserve this grace Because Gods grace and my workes are in respect of causality so inconsistent and contrary that they cannot both concurre as causes procreant of the same blessing But the claime by one doth necessarily exclude the other For if it bee by workes it is of debt and then it cannot bee of grace Rom. 4.4 Now to him that worketh is the reward reckoned not of grace but of debt But if it bee by grace it is of gift and then it cannot bee of workes Rom. 11.6 And if by grace then it is no more of workes otherwise grace is no more grace No Petition or Request of mine moved him for I never made any motion or suit for it neither was it my counsell or advice that God should devise this Legacy unto mee for Rom. 11.34 Who hath knowne the minde of the Lord or who hath beene his counsellour Neither had I any existence when Gods Will was framed Lastly no inquiry or seeking of mine moved him heereto for I never asked after it nor desired it and I had no desire to it because I had no knowledge of it hence saith God in respect of his grace Rom. 10.20 I was found of them that sought mee not I was made manifest unto them that asked not after mee And when by the preaching of the Gospel God sought mee asked after mee and called mee to accept his grace I was hardly perswaded to believe and receive it And unto this day many Nations cannot bee perswaded of it yea some Christians are not rightly and fully perswaded of it But God was heereto moved of his owne meere and proper motion wherein
it have beene truly performed according to the precept of the New Testament wherein the forgivenesse of sinnes is promised Because Christ is the sole Executor of that Testament and unto the Executor it belongeth to examine judge and allow the conditions of Legacies conditionall that accordingly hee may discharge them for the discharge of Legacies lies alwayes upon the Executor And at the day of judgement when Christ shall sit Judge of the quicke and the dead hee will also discusse the condition of our repentance or holynesse judging thereof by the workes of love in giving meate to the hungry drinke to the thirsty clothing to the naked c. as it is largely described Mat. 25.35 And accordingly hee will frame the finall sentence either for the remission of sinnes unto the inheritance of everlasting life or for the retention of sinnes unto the punishment of eternall death Yet Christ will not examine the condition of our repentance or holynesse by the Rules of severity and rigour but of grace mercy and kindnesse accepting and allowing of a competent holynesse in a meane degree though it have not beene precisely performed Because the New Testament is a Testament ad pias causis or for charitable uses and such Testaments admit of this priviledge that their conditions are at the mercy of the Executor and hee hath power to allow them though they bee not precisely performed Thus Remission of sinnes and Repentance are of such neare relation that they goe hand in hand as the blessing and the condition of it being in severall passages of the New Testament joyned and coupled together as the two maine poynts or substantialls thereof and as the two maine subjects which make up the worke of preaching the Gospel For the New Testament being commonly distributed into the two maine branches of Promises and Precepts or which is all one of Legacies and conditions remission of sinnes is many times put for all the promises or legacies and repentance for all the precepts or conditions Hence these two made up the preaching of John the Baptist Luk. 3.3 And hee came into all the Countrey about Jordan preaching the Baptisme of Repentance for the remission of sinnes Hence these two made up the summe of that Gospel which the Apostles were to preach in the name of Christ Luk. 24.46 And Christ sayd unto them thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sinnes should bee preached in his Name among all Nations Hence for the execution and effecting of these two Christ was exalted to bee a Prince and a Saviour Act. 5.31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to bee a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgivenesse of sinnes According to the will of God The will of God will not admit of a definition for it is not definite to bee defined but rather definitive and doth define and therefore it must bee designed by such markes as may notifie it and they are chiefely three Namely his Affects Decrees and Purposes For 1. Every affect of God is his will as his Love Grace and Mercy his Hatred and Anger 2. Every Decree of God is his will as his Promises Precepts and Judgements 3. Every purpose of God is his will as his Precognition Prevision and Predestination which Acts being the forethoughts or counsells of his will whereby hee constituteth his Decrees doe note an antecesse of time that the Decree thereby constituted was a long time predestinated or purposed before it was destinated or ordained Hence it will follow that every Covenant of God is his Will because his Covenant is his present Decree for things to bee done for the future And every testament of God is his will because his testament is his present decree for things to bee done after death for that futurity which is limited unto death doth specifie Gods Testament from his Covenant For Gods Testament and his Covenant are not wills opposite or divers but subordinate or graduous because his Covenant is more ample and large for all Gods Covenants are not Testaments but all his Testaments are his Covenants And every Testament whatsoever when it takes effect becomes a Covenant because when the Executor undertakes it there is a full agreement betweene his will and the testators will for the performance of the whole Testament and an agreement of Wills makes up a full Covenant The will of God in expresse tearmes is no where mentioned either in the Law or the Prophets or in the Old Testament excepting onely once Ezra 7.18 But in the New Testament we frequently finde the word and there it is commonly taken for the New Testament it selfe or for that will of God which is his last will and testament So John 1.13 Which were borne not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God i. e. of Gods last will and testament And John 6.38 I came downe from Heaven not to doe mine owne will but the will of him that sent mee i e. to execute and fullfill the last will and testament of God And Rom. 12.2 That yee may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God i. e. What are the Precepts or Commands of his last will and testament And Ephes 1.5 According to the good pleasure of his will i. e. of his last will and testament in which sence it is also taken in the same Chapter vers 9.11 And 1 Thes 4.3 This is the will of God even your sanctification i. e. This is a Precept of Gods last will and testament And Heb. 10.9 Then sayd hee â—e I come to the thy will O God i. e. to execute and performe thy last will and testament as by the words following is plainely declared Hee taketh away the first that hee may establish the second i. e. Hee taketh away the Old Testament which was the first will of God that hee may establish the New which is his second and last will And in this sence is the will of God taken heere when Paul saith according to the will of God and that for three Reasons 1. Because Christ gave himselfe to death according to no other will of God then his last Will and Testament for Christ dyed for this end or effect that by the meanes of his death hee might testifie confirme and execute the New Testament that thereupon it might bee in force and take effect according to the purpose or meaning of God therein expressed 2. Because remission of sinnes for which Christ is heere sayd to dye is according to no other will of God then his last Will and Testament for the Old Testament or Covenant of workes allowed not the remission of all sinnes but onely Errours and Frailties and those also were not remitted unlesse they were expiated by the meanes of a sinne offering and in case of damage of a
trespas-offering 3. Because Repentance which is heere called a Deliverance from the evill of this present World was according to no other will of God then his last Will and Testament for the Old Testament granted not the benefit of Repentance for any sinne but the transgressor of a penall Law must by the Law undergoe the penalty of it whether hee repented or not in which respect the Law was armed and strengthned with divers penalties whereof the most were capitall and from which no Repentance could excuse the Offendour These words then shew the efficient cause of Christs death as those immediately before declared the finall cause of it and these heere seeme added by way of answer to a tacit objection for some man might say or thinke that Christ indeed gave himselfe to death and it on purpose to confirme the New Testament but his death might proceede from the violence of the Jewes who put him to death and not from any Ordinance of God that his death should bee effectuall to that end To this the Apostle answers fully and plainely that it was the will counsell and purpose of God according to his last Will and Testament that Christ should dye for the confirmation of that Testament to this end that accordingly our sinnes might bee forgiven and our sinnes are forgiven to this further end that thenceforth wee should repent by forsaking the workes of sinne for all this was according to the last Will and Testament of God the Father For the forgivenesse of our sinnes is not the sole act or deede of Christ but principally of God the Father unto whom Christ is therein Ministeriall receiving power and command from his Father to performe all acts conducing to that effect Because the forgivenesse of our sinnes is a legacy devised or promised unto us in Gods last Will and Testament whereof Christ is the Executor or Mediator Now the Authour or principall cause of every Legacy is the Testatour according to whose will it is devised and the Executor is the hand or meane whereby the Legacy is conveyed for a Legacy according to the nature of it is a gift devised by the Testator to bee performed by the Executor And this forgivenesse of sinnes is the most necessary Legacy or promise above all the rest contained in Gods last Wil and Testament Because without it wee can never enjoy any of the rest for unlesse our sinnes bee forgiven wee can never attaine the Resurrection of the body and without our Resurrection wee cannot enjoy life everlasting So likewise our Repentance or Holynesse is the Precept or Command of Gods last Will and Testament for throughout the whole body of that Testament Holynesse is made the condition of the Legacies or Promises which are thereby so suspended that without it 〈…〉 of no effect Thus forgivenesse and repentance 〈◊〉 â—â—â—ording to the will of God for forgivenesse is acâ—…g to the promise of his will and repentance is according to the precept of his will as the condition whereupon the promise is to bee performed Hence it appears that The Gospel is the last Will and Testament of God Which saying is soone delivered but not so soone proved For indeede it can never bee proved Yet not therefore because it is false but therefore because it is so true and the truth of it so high that there is no cause or reason above it why it is true For this truth is a prime verity which wee call a principle and it is a prime principle which wee call a definition See therefore in it an exact and easie definition of the Gospel Nominally indeede the Gospel signifies glad tydings or good newes but really it is the name of Gods last Will and Testament Although then some Grammaticall or nominall cause may bee given for the single words why it is called the Gospel or why a Testament Yet for the verity why one is affirmed of the other there is no rationall or reall cause because the affirmation is a definition Which definition though it cannot bee proved may easily bee declared thus A Testament is a Decree of things to bee executed after death and God who himselfe cannot dye may make a Testament because hee may make a Decree of things to bee executed after the death not of himselfe but of another God hath made two severall Testaments whereof the first is called by the name of the Law and the last by the name of the Gospel Where by the way wee have also an exact definition of the Law thus the Law is the first Will and Testament of God Yet wee may note that throughout the Scripture the Law is not called the will of God not that it was not his will for being his Testament it must therefore needes bee also his will but because it was not his good will as is the Gospel wherein are devised unto us far better blessings The Testatour who is the Authour of this Will and who framed it is God the Father for heere and constantly elsewhere it is called the will of God The Executor or principall Heire upon whom this will is grounded is Jesus Christ for hee is the person who receives the maine benefit thereby and who is to performe it by discharging the Legacies which are therein charged upon him The death whereto this will was limited was the death of Christ for Christ was the substitute of God to dye instead of God that by the death of Christ the Testament of God might bee confirmed to bee and stand in force for ever till the finall execution of it For a Testament is of force after men are dead and not before The forme of this Will was Nuncupative or a Will-parol for at the constitution of it God first declared it unto Christ and Christ published it to his Apostles and they afterward consigned unto writing whereby it became that part of the holy Scripture which wee call the New Testament The apparence or certainety of this will that it is the whole true and last will of God was effected by the testimony of Christ who made sufficient and full proofe thereof by his Doctrine his Miracles his Death and Resurrection for all Wills have their apparance or certainety either by writing or witnesse as the Old Testament appeared by the writing of Moses and the New by the witnesse of Christ The Legataries who in this Will are made the co-heires with Christ are all men who are Beleevers or who through Christ beleeve in God for in Gods Will men are nominated by no other name then by the appellative or common name of Beleevers The Legacies or promises made unto Beleevers in this Will are the Graces and blessings of Adoption to bee the sonnes of God of sanctification by the Spirit of God of the Remission of their sinnes of the Resurrection of their bodies and of Everlasting life in heaven for unto all these blessings Beleevers are called and justified to have a present right to the future possession
5.12 By one man sinne entred into the World and Death by sinne and so Death passed upon all men for that or in whom all have sinned i. e. for that in him all dyed for of the word sinned in this place that in effect is the sence Or to speake a little nearer to the letter of the word it will bee thus for that in him all quasi-sinned not actively by transgressing in his transgression but passively by being prejudicated in his Judgement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for in his one doome all were condemned and all cast into the state of transgressors to suffer misery and death like unto that which was inflicted on him as a judgement for his transgression For for the tense none of the Verbes in that verse are of the Preterperfectense but all are aorists or indefinite and accordingly the two first are rendred indefinitely Sinne entred and Death passed not Sinne hath entred and Death hath and therefore the Translation had beene more sutable if the last Verbe also had not beene rendred preterperfectly all have sinned but indifinitely thus all sinned And for the sense these words In whom all sinned signifie in effect the same thing with these ver 15. Through the offence of one many bee dead or many dyed and with these words vers 16. The judgement was by one to condemnation and with these vers 17. By one mans offence death raigned by one and with these vers 18. By the offence of one judgement came upon all men to condemnation and with these vers 19. By one mans disobedience many were made sinners and with these 1. Cor. 15.22 In Adam all dye All which sayings amount to no more but this That by the sinne of Adam hee and all his children were made mortall as by the sinne of the Gibeonites they and all their Children were made bondslaves and by the sinne of Gehazi hee and all his Children were made lepers For the Judgement given upon Adam for his offence was Banishment from Paradise a Curse upon the ground for his sake a Miserable and painefull Life and at last an everlasting Death And this judgement was not personall onely to determine the effect of it upon Adam onely and passe no further then his person but it was also real and hereditary to him and his Heires for ever First falling upon him and then descending to them For as by his offence his Innocency was corrupted So by this Judgement upon him his Posterity was corrupted or as a common Lawyer would expresse it By his Attainder his blood was corrupted i. e. First none of his Children shall bee Heires to that immortality and blessednesse which hee once enjoyed in Paradise for that was forfeited and extinguished Secondly all his Children shall bee blemished distressed and tainted to inherit that Banishment Malediction Misery and Mortality which hee incurred Thirdly this Corruption shall not bee remedied or salved by any ordinary mercy of God but by the extraordinary Mystery of Jesus Christ Thus the Calamitous who are jurall or quasi-sinners are of foure sorts viz. the oppressed the blemished the distressed and the tainted If wee compare together the three first sort of sinners viz. the Transgressor the Improbous and the Calamitous we may observe 1. That the difference between them is not essentiall and necessary but accidentall and contingent for they are not so opposite and contrary as that when the word is taken in some one sense all the rest should be excluded But they are onely diverse i. e. so different that one sense may be without the other and yet so complyant and consistent that they may all concurre and meet in the same word For the word Sinner doth carry sometime onely one of those senses sometime two and sometime all three and when the senses are plurall sometime they are equall sometime one above the rest is more eminent so that one and the same person may be at the same time a transgressor improbous and calamitous 2. That the Gentiles generally were sinners all these three wayes for they were sinners legally and morally being transgressors and improbous Rom. 1.29 Being filled with all unrighteousnesse fornication wickednesse covetousnesse maliciousnesse full of envy murder debate deceit malignity whisperers backbiters haters of God despitefull proud boasters inventers of evill things disobedient to parents without understanding covenant-breakers without naturall affection implacable unmercifull And they were sinners jurally for they were calamitous blemished with the state of ignorance and of enmity to God Ephes 2.12 Being aliens from the common Wealth of Israel and strangers from the Covenant of promise having no hope and without God in the world 3. That in the sight of God the Jewes generally were as great sinners as the Gentiles both legally and morally in respect of transgressions and improbities For of the Jewes the Apostle testifieth Rom. 3.9 that they were in no wise better then the Gentiles for he had proved both Jewes and Gentiles that they were all under sinne Yet jurally the Jewes were not such sinners nor so calamitous as the Gentiles because they were not such aliens and strangers from God as were the Gentiles but had many jurall rights priviledges and prerogatives as the true Israel and peculiar people of God as was shewed before in the former clause of this verse Yet the Right which the Jew had in God was but a puerile and servile right to be the children of God in the condition of servants in a state of nonage and wardship under the Law From which state Christ came to emancipate and deliver them that hee might advance and invest them into a filiall right of being the sons of God in a perfect plenage and fulnesse of yeares as shall be more fully explicated in this Epistle cap. 4. ver 2.3 Thus men are sinners three severall wayes for most men generally are transgressors and improbous and all men universally are calamitous for in Adams attainder all were tainted Wherefore this last way Man as he is Man is a sinner and this Sinner is the Man who in the next verse shall bee justified by the fayth of Jesus Christ for so it there followeth VERSE 16. Text. Knowing that a man is not justified by the workes of the Law but by the fayth of Jesus Christ even we have beleeved in Jesus Christ that wee might be justified by the fayth of Christ and not by the works of the Law for by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified Sense A man is justified i. e. Made jurally righteous to have a present right and clayme to the Legacies and future blessings promised and devised in Gods last Will and Testament Not by the works of the Law His title to that right and claime is not by any workes done in observance of the Law nor by any effect or work of the Law in consideration of his works But by the fayth of Jesus Christ i. e. His title to that right and clayme is by his Acceptance
by conforming his owne unto it and whose service hee findes to bee no servitude but perfect freedome is acquitted and discharged from the burdens and penalties of the Law to rest and remaine under the friendship favour grace and love of God to bee inlightned guided moved strengthned and cheered by the holy spirit of God This is a state of grace an high noble divine and blessed condition a condition transcending farre above the proper nature and quality of man a condition honored and inriched with many other Rights Priviledges and Benefits thereto consequent incident and annexed whereof the first concurrent with it is a degree of spirituall freedome viz. a divine alliance to bee the Sonne and Heire of God The state whereto a man is Justified is this condition of spirituall freedome and alliance to bee the freed man and friend of God to bee the Sonne and Heire of God Hence Abraham being justified was called the friend of God Jam. 2.23 Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousnesse and hee was called the friend of God i. e. Abrahams faith did justifie him or was imputed unto him for a right of Freedome Amity or Alliance with God to bee made and called Gods friend And Christ tells his Disciples that they were and should bee called his friends John 15.14 Yee are my friends if yee doe whatsoever I command you henceforth I call you not servants for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doth But I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made knowne unto you And the Apostle tells all Believers that by being justified they are made the Heirs of God Tit. 3.7 That being justified by his grace wee should bee made Heires according to the hope of eternall life For Justifying is the altering or changing of mans spirituall state or condition whereby hee acquires a new state much different from that wherein hee stood before Yet this change is not made downeward to abate and lessen it into the state of spirituall bondage but upward to advance and raise it unto spirituall Freedome Amity and Alliance with God Hence Justification is quite opposite and contrary to that Condemnation which the Civilians call Capitis diminutio i. e. a lessening of the head by debasing and changing the state or condition of a man from the better to the worse to make him an Alien or a Bondman who before was a Citizen or Freeman for anciently the word head did signifie jurally for the state or condition of a man Because a mans state or condition is the beginning fountaine or head from whence all his other rights are either derived or obstructed And because of this contrariety to Capitis diminutio Justification may be fitly tearmed Capitis exaltatio i. e. a raising or lifting up the head for to that sense the phrase of lifting up the head is used in the Old Testament Gen. 40. vers 20. And it came to passe the third day which was Pharoahs birth-day that hee made a Feast unto all his servants and hee lifted up the head of the chiefe Butler and of the chiefe Baker among his servants i. e. Hee raised their condition by giving them their freedome and releasing them from their former imprisonment And 2. King 25.27 And it came to passe that Evilmerodach King of Babylon in the yeare that hee began to raigne did lift up the head of Jehoiachin King of Judah out of prison i. e. Did give him his freedome from his imprisonment The state from whence a man is justified is the base condition of spirituall bondage and the miseries thereto consequent for that state is the terminus a quo or tearme of recesse from whence Justifying commenceth and from whence a man is thereby delivered and the state of freedome is the terminus ad quem or the tearme of accesse whereto Justifying exalteth and wherin a man is thereby invested and seated And although mans deliverance from bondage doth in order of nature precede his investiture into freedome Yet I first mentioned the last because the last is first in the order of our method and first in order of dignity as being the more worthy and more noble condition Hence it appeares that Justifying doth worke an alteration or change in a man for it changeth his state or condition Yet it appeares also that this change is onely jurall whereby hee is exalted or raised from a low and base condition to rest in a noble and divine state for such a jurall change and no other there is in a person naturalized legitimated infranchised redeemed pardoned and adopted in all which being severall sorts of Justifying there is a change yet that change is onely jurall by a change of condition As for any morall alteration or change upon the affections or manners of man that is not the proper worke of Justification but of Sanctification Yet the grace and blessing of Justification in changeing the state and condition of man doth strongly oblige and binde him to the workes of sanctity or holinesse in making a morall change upon his affections and manners by destroying sinne and the lusts thereof as the Apostle will seriously presse it in this Chapter vers 18. The Priviledges incident and consequent unto this state of divine freedome and alliance are all the residue of the Legacies or precious Promises devised in Gods Testament wherof the most future and most finall are the Remission of sins the Resurrection of the body and Life everlasting with all the glory and joyes thereto annexed all which three are in a maner eyther one and the same blessing or blessings so consequent one to another that the former must necessarily be antecedent to the latter For there can bee no Life everlasting unlesse the Resurrection of the body antecede and the Resurrection cannot be unlesse the Remission of sins antecede But when by the Remission of sins eternall death which is the punishment thereof is extinguished then the Resurrection of the body must needs follow and upon the Resurrection from eternall death Life everlasting must needes follow For the heyres of God dying on earth how shall they enter their heavenly inheritance unlesse they be againe raysed to life and dying for sin how shall they be raysed unlesse the sin be remitted for which they die As therefore the state of Sovereignty draweth unto it the rights and dues of tribute custome feare and honour Rom. 13.7 Render therefore to all their dues tribute to whom tribute is due custome to whom custome feare to whom feare honour to whom honour so the state of supreame alliance doth draw unto it the priviledges and blessings of Forgivenesse of sins the Resurrection of the body and Life everlasting For Abraham Isaac and Jacob have a right interest or clayme unto the Resurrection and consequently unto Life everlasting and their right interest or clayme thereto is by vertue of their state or condition of freedome and alliance unto
from sinne and because yee disclaime the works thereof from being any part of the title whereby yee acquire this right restraining your title to faith onely And in case you doe live thus by continuing your life in sinfullnesse it will thence further follow that Christ who gave you this liberty did thereby give you a licence to sinne and consequently did open a doore and minister an occasion to all wickednesse For the word Sinne in this place must bee understood not generally for any small degree of sinne by way of errour or frailty for in such sinnes the faithfull doe and cannot but continue in this life but specially and eminently for a high degree and constant course of wickednesse and lewdnesse as Perjuries Murthers Adulteries Thefts c. from which sort of sinnes all that are truely faithful may and must abstaine in this life This Objection against Justification by faith onely without workes was much pressed and frequently urged as may appeare by the mention of it in this place and by these words Rom. 6.2 Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound and by these Rom. 6.15 Shall we sinne because we are not under the Law but under grace and by severall passages in the first Epistle of John cap. 3. where consider verse 4 5 6 7 8 9. The parties who urged this objection were not unbelievers who refused and rejected the faith of Christ but over-believers who received the faith of Christ and moreover retained the Law of Moses I meane those Judaizing Christians who in their zeale unto Gods Law laboured for a compliance between Moses and Christ excluding neither but retaining both For they supposing that the Gospel of Christ was but an addition or superstruction unto the Law of Moses did confidently teach that the workes of the Law were the entrance and the way unto faith in Christ and consequently they urged the workes thereof principally Circumcision to bee retained by the believing Jewes and to bee imposed upon the believing Gentiles as things necessary to Justification and salvation as it appeares Acts 15.1 And these Judaizers did by vertue of this objection spread their false Doctrine against Justification by faith onely in the Churches of Judea of Syria of Galatia and of Italy for in the Epistle to the Romans wee finde the Apostle copiously refelling this objection and wee finde the like in the generall Epistle of St. John The Matter of this objection containes two inconvenient or absurd Consequences which the urgers thereof conceived would necessarily follow upon the Doctrine of Justification by faith onely without works 1. That then Believers would take occasion to continue in all kinde of sinne and licenciousnes 2. That thereupon Christ would become the occasioner and minister unto all sinne and licenciousnesse By which two Consequences they would conclude that the Doctrine of Justification by faith onely without workes was ungodly because that Doctrine whatsoever it be must needs be ungodly from whence there will necessarily follow ungodly consequences A generall Answer God forbid A generall answer unto the former objection plainly denying the necessity of the Consequences therein pretended that in the way of true reason they cannot be necessarily deduced from the Doctrine of Justification by faith onely without workes And this deniall is not a bare and naked negation which onely rejecteth the former objection but it is a negation vested with a word of abomination for it is expressed by a phrase which consignifies a high degree both of disdaining and abhorring the objection as a profane and wicked discourse because the ungodly Consequences therein mentioned cannot bee rationally collected from the former Doctrine of Justification The Greeke is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. never be it so which word is a forme of Supplication or prayer unto God against some future and fearefull evill that God would divert and crosse the accesse of it For it is equivalent to the Hebrew Chalilah and to the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are the expressions of a minde highly disdaining and abominating And it is opposed to the Hebrew Amen i. e. so be it and to the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. God grant it which contrarily are formes of Application benediction that God would approve and confirme with his fiat some present or future good the blessing whereof wee earnestly wish and desire VERSE 18. Text. For if I build againe the things which I destroyed I make my selfe a transgressor Sense Build againe Viz. By my acts of sin and lewdnesse of life The things i. e. The state of sin and misery wherein I stood before I was justified Which I destroyed i. e. Which state of sinne I exstinguished upon my Justification by faith whereby a new state was created unto me I make my selfe a transgressor i. e. I become a very sinfull sinner who after pardon relapseth and it is not Christ who makes me so but I make my selfe so Reason An Answer particularly the Phrase of it by way of Proverb the Frame of it by way of Personation the Scope of it The particle For doth teach us that these words contayne a Reason why he so disdainfully denyed the consequences pretended in the former objection carrying withall particular Answers to those two particular Consequences To the first consequence that Men justified by faith of Christ onely would continue in all kind of sinfulnesse hee Answers Men must not build againe by acts of sin that state of sin which by their Justification they destroyed for in so doing they become transgressors To the second consequence that Thereupon Christ would become the minister unto sin he Answers In case men justified become transgressors it is not Christ who maketh them so by ministring of grace but they make themselves so by abusing the grace which he hath ministred The Phrase of this Answer By building againe things destroyed seemes to be a Proverbe which argueth in a man not onely a pure levity of doing undoing and re-doing of the same thing but a levity seasoned with much folly when a man is at great charges and takes much paines to compasse a matter which makes his condition a great deale the worse For building is an action very painefull and chargeable and when the edifice is sin and transgression the matter is so much the worse The Frame of this Answer is disposed by way of Prosopopy or Personation wherein by a suddaine change of the person from the third to the first the Apostle translates the subject of the point in debate and attributes it unto himselfe Because the matter being somewhat odious and offensive he would qualifie and temper it by the modesty of his discourse by speaking that in his owne person and of himselfe which was true of every Christian especially of a Jew by nature or of a native Jew wh◠〈◊〉 lived under the Law of Moses and had deserted it to embrace the Gospel of Christ For the Apostle himselfe was such a
and gave gifts unto men and partly by the words immediately following vers 11. And hee gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the worke of the Ministery for the edifying of the body of Christ Now to doe these things was to execute and fulfill the last Will of God Hence the Apostle teacheth the conveniency of Christs death through the meanes whereof hee was fitted and perfected for the executing and doing of those things which according to the last Will of God conduce to our finall salvation For hence is our Expiation whereby wee are absolved and acquitted from our sinnes for Christ through his death was made a mercifull and faithfull high Priest to performe this gracious Office unto us Heb. 2.17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to bee made like unto his brethren that hee might bee a mercifull and faithfull high Priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sinnes of the people for in that hee himselfe hath suffered being tempted hee is able to succour them that are tempted And whereas at the Legall Expiation the Priest entred the Tabernacle after hee had shed the blood of Goates and Calves But Christ first shed his owne blood and thereupon entred the Sanctuary of Heaven once for all to make an eternall Expiation Heb. 9.12 Neither by the blood of Goates and Calves but by his owne blood hee entred in once into the holy place having obtained eternall redemption Hence is our Consolation whereby wee are succoured in all our sufferings and distresses for seeing Christ suffered and was tryed in all poynts as wee are therefore hee hath a sense of our infirmities and thereupon wee may confidently come to him for helpe in time of neede Heb. 4.15 For wee have not an high Priest which cannot bee touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted as wee are yet without sinne let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace that wee may obtaine mercy and finde grace to helpe in time of neede Hence is our Resurrection whereby wee are raised from death for Christ through his death destroyes the Divell who had the power of death and delivers us from our death whereof though wee feele the pressure yet wee need not feare the bondage that it will bee eternall Heb. 2.14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood hee also himselfe likewise tooke part of the same that through death hee might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Divell and deliver them who through feare of death were all their life time subject to bondage And hence is our Glorification whereby the possession of our eternall inheritance is delivered unto us for Christ was the Executor of the New Testament for this very cause that through the meanes of his death wee might receive the possession of that eternall inheritance to the present right whereof wee are called and justified Heb. 9.15 And for this cause hee is the Mediatour of the New Testament that by meanes of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the promise the promised possession of eternall inheritance Hence also Christ himselfe before his death taught his Disciples the Expediency of his death that it was expedient for them hee should dye for otherwise the Comforter which was the holy Ghost would not come unto them John 16.7 Neverthelesse I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I goe away for if I goe not away the Comforter will not come unto you But if I depart I will send him unto you By his going away and departing hee meanes his dying for wee commonly expresse dying by the words of going away and departing And after his death hee taught them the Necessity of his death that it behoved him to die and rise again from the dead that thereupon the Gospel might be preached in his name Luk. 24.46 And hee sayd unto them thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sinnes should bee preached in his name among all Nations beginning at Jerusalem Thus the immediate proper finall causes or reasons why Christ dyed are chiefely three namely to Testifie the truth of the New Testament to Confirme the force of it and to Execute the decrees of it for unto a Testament once constituted what acts more do necessarily belong then the Testification the Confirmation and the Execution of it But the remote causes of his death might bee many and various For all the actions done by Christ as Mediatour of the New Testament were causes of his death whether wee respect his Prophetick Office in publishing Gods Will preaching his Doctrine and working Miracles or his Priestly Office in sanctifying Believers and expiating their sinnes or his Kingly Office in governing his people and subduing their enemies And all benefits redounding to Believers as the Legacies and Promises of the New Testament were causes of his death as their Justification the Remission of their sinnes their Resurrection and Glorification And all Duties to bee done by Believers as the conditions without which they are not to enjoy their Legacies are the causes of his death as their sanctity or holynesse their dying to sinne and newnesse of life in all the good workes of love But all these and the like are not opposite or repugnant to the three causes by us assigned but are comprehended and included in them are subordinate and consequent to them are collected and inferred from them For because Christ dyed to testifie confirm and execute the New Testament and my sanctity or holinesse is a Precept thereof and a duty by me to be done therefore Christ dyed for my Sanctification that I might dye unto sin and live unto holinesse and consequently he dyed for my patience temperance mercifulnesse c. because these and the like are branches of holinesse And because Christ dyed to testifie confirme and execute the New Testament wherein Remission of sins the Resurrection from the dead and Glorification were devised and promised as Legacies unto Believers therfore Christ also dyed for the Remission of my sins for my Resurrection and Glorification Yet among the remote Causes of Christs death the Scripture doth most frequently mention the Remission of sins Because my sins have the greatest force upon me to bereave or at least to hinder me from the hope of their forgivenes For according to the evidence of reason if I looke upon my sins to consider the custome and foulenesse of them how can I chuse but feare that I have deserved a fearfull punishment and that God in his Justice will inflict it on me Or if I looke upon my death to consider my dissolution and rottennesse in the Grave how can I hope that God whom I