will be fit to consider them with respect to his Soul and his Body The Gospel delivers to us the relation of both 1. Upon his entrance into the Garden He complains My Soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto Death There were present only Peter James and John his happy Favourites who assured him of their fidelity there was no visible enemy to afflict Him yet his Soul was environ'd with Sorrows 'T is easie to conceive the injuries He suffered from the rage of Men for they were terminated upon his Body But how to understand his inward Sufferings the wounds of his Spirit the cross to which his Soul was nailed is very difficult Yet these were in expressibly greater as the visible effects dedeclare The anguish of his soul so affected his body that his Sweat was as it were great drops of Blood the miraculous evidence of his Agony The terror was so dreadful that the assistance of an Angel could not calm it And if we consider the causes of his grief the dispositions of Christ and the design of God in afflicting him it will further appear that no sorrow was ever like his The Causes were 1. The evil of Sin which infinitely exceeds all other for the just measure of an evil is taken from the good to which it is opposit and of which it deprives us Now Sin is formally opposit to the Holy nature and will of God and meritoriously deprives of his blessed presence for ever Therefore God being the supreme Good Sin is the supreme evil And grief being the resentment of an evil that which is proportioned to the evil of Sin must be infinite Now the Lord Christ alone had perfect light to discover Sin in its true horrour and perfect zeal to hate it according to its nature for who can understand the excellency of good and the malignity of evil but the Author of the one and the Judge of the other who can fully conceive the guilt of rebellion against God but the Son of God who is alone able to comprehend his own Majesty On this account the grief of our Redeemer exceeded all the sorrow of repenting Sinners from the beginning of the World For our knowledge is so imperfect and our zeal so remiss that our grief for sin is much beneath what 't is worthy of but sin was as hateful to Christ as it is in it self and his sorrow was equal to its evil 2. The Death he was to suffer attended with all the Curses of the Law and the terrible marks of Gods Indignation From hence 't is said he began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy 'T is wonderful that the Son of God who had perfect patience and the strength of the Deity to support him who knew that his Passion should soon pass away and that the issue should be his own glorious Resurrection and the recovery of lapsed Man that he should be shaken with fear and oppressed with sorrow at the first approches of it how many of the Martyrs have with an undisturbed courage embraced a more cruel death but to them 't was disarm'd whereas our Saviour encountered it with all its formidable Pomp with its Darts and Poison 3. The Wrath of God was inflamed against him For although he was perfectly Innocent and more distant from sin than Heaven is from the Earth yet by the ordination of God and his own consent being made our Sponsor the Iniquity of us all was laid upon him He suffered as deeply as if he had been guilty Vindictive justice was inexorable to his Prayers and Tears Although he renewed his request with the greatest ardency as 't is said by the Evangelist that being in an Agony he prayed more earnestly yet God would not spare him The Father of Mercies saw his Son humbled in his presence prostrate on the Earth yet deals with him in extream severity He was stricken smiten of God and afflicted And who is able to conceive the weight of God's Hand when he punishes sin according to its desert who can understand the degrees of those Sufferings when God exacts satisfaction from one that was obliged and able to make it how piercing were those sorrows whereby Divine Justice infinitely incens'd was to be appeas'd Who knows the consequence of those words My God My God why hast thou forsaken me 'T is impossible to comprehend or represent that great and terrible Mystery But thus much we may understand That Holiness and Glory being essential to the Deity they are communicated to the Reasonable Nature when united to it But with this difference that Holiness necessarily results from Union with God For Sin being infinitely repugnant to His Nature makes a Separation between Him and the creature But Glory and Joy are dispensed in a free and arbitrary manner This dereliction of our Saviour must be understood with respect to the second not the first Communication In the extremity of his Torments all his Affections were innocent and regular being only raised to that degree which the vehemency of the object required He exprest no murmur against God nor anger against his enemies His Faith Love Humility Patience were then in their Exaltation But that glorious and unspeakable Joy which in the course of his Life the Deity conveyed to Him was then withdrawn An impetuous torrent of pure unmixed Sorrows broke into his holy Soul He felt no refreshing emanations so that having lost the sense of present Joy there remained in his Soul only the hope of future Joy And in that sad moment his Mind was so intent upon his Sufferings that he seems to have been diverted from the actual consideration of the Glory that attended the issue of them Briefly All comforting Influences were suspended but without prejudice to the Personal Union or the Perfection of his Grace or to the Love of his Father toward Him His Soul was liable to sorrows as his Body to death For the Deity is the Principle of Life as well as of Joy and as the Body of Christ was three days in the state of Death and the Hypostatical Union remained entire so his Soul was left for a time under the fearful impressions of wrath yet was not separated from the God-head And although He endured what ever was necessary for the Expiation of Sin yet all vitious Evils as Blasphemy Hatred of God and any other which are not inflicted by the Judg but in strictness are accidental to the Punishment and proceed from the weakness or wickedness of the Patient he was not in the least guilty of Besides when his Father appear'd an enemy against him at that time He was infinitely pleased in his Obedience But with these exceptions our Blessed Lord suffered whatever was due to us The Sorrows of his forsaken state were inexpressibly great for according to the degree and sense we have of Happiness such in proportion is our grief for the loss of it Now Christ had the fullest enjoyment and the highest valuation of Gods favour
and are the measures of his duty to God to himself and to his fellow creatures This was publisht by the voice of Reason and is holy just and good Holy as it enjoins those things wherein there is a conformity to those Attributes and Actions of God which are the pattern of our imitation So the general Rule is Be holy as God is holy in all manner of conversation and this is most honourable to the humane nature 'T is just that is exactly agreable to the frame of mans faculties and most suitable to his condition in the world and good that is beneficial to the observer of it In keeping of it there is great reward And the obligation to it is eternal it being the unchangeable will of God grounded on the natural and unvariable relations between God and Man and between Man and the Creatures Besides the particular directions of the Law of Nature this general Principle was planted in the reasonable Soul to obey God in any instance wherein he did prescribe his pleasure Moreover God was pleased to enter into a Covenant with Adam and with all his Posterity naturally descending from him And this was the effect 1. Of admirable Goodness For by his Supremacy over Man he might have signified his Will meerly by the way of Empire and requir'd Obedience But he was pleased to condescend so far as to deal with Man in a sweeter manner as with a Creature capable of his Love and to work upon him by rewards and punishments congruously to the reasonable Nature 2. Of Wisdom to secure Man's obedience For the Covenant being a mutual engagement between God and Man as it gave him infallible assurance of the reward to strengthen his Faith so it was the surest bond to preserve his Fidelity 'T is true the Precept alone binds by vertue of the authority that imposes it but the consent of the Creature increases the Obligation It twists the cords of the Law and binds more strongly to Obedience Thus Adam was God's servant as by the condition of his nature so by his choice accepting the Covenant from which he could not recede without the guilt and infamy of the worst perfidiousness The terms of the Covenant were becoming the Parties concern'd God and Man It established an inseparable Connexion between Duty and Felicity This appears by the Sanction In the day thou eatest of the forbidden fruit thou shalt die In that particular species of Sin the whole genus is included according to the Apostles Exposition Cursed is every one that doth not continue in all the works of the Law to do them The threatning of Death was exprest it being more difficult to be conceiv'd The promise of Life upon his Obedience was implied and easily suggested it self to the rational Mind These were the most proper and powerful motives to excite his Reason and affect his Will For Death primarily signifies the dissolution of the vital union between the Soul and Body and consequently all the preparatory dispositions thereunto Diseases Pains and all the Affections of Mortality which terminate in Death as their center This is the extremest of temporal Evils which innocent Nature shrunk from it being a deprivation of that excellent state which Man enjoyed But principally it signified the separation of the Soul from God's reviving presence who is the only Fountain of Felicity Thus the Law is interpreted by the Lawgiver The Soul that sins shall die Briefly Death in the threatning is comprehensive of all kinds and degrees of evils from the least Pain to the compleatness of Damnation Now 't is an inviolable Principle deeply set in the Human Nature to preserve its being and blessedness so that nothing could be a more powerful restraint from Sin than the fear of Death which is destructive to both This constitution of the Covenant was founded not only in the Will of God but in the nature of the things themselves And this appears by considering 1. That Holiness is more excellent in it self and separately considered than the reward that attends it 'T is the peculiar glory of the Divine Nature God is glorious in Holiness And as He prefers the infinite purity of his Nature before the immortal felicity of his state so he values in the reasonable Creature the vertues by which they represent his Holiness more than their perfect Contentment by which they are like Him in Blessedness Now God is the most just esteemer of things his judgment is the infallible measure of their real worth 't is therefore according to natural order that the Happiness of Man should depend upon his Integrity and the reward be the fruit of his Obedience And although it is impossible that a meer Creature in what state soever should obtain any thing from God by any other title but his voluntary Promise the effect of his Goodness yet 't was such Goodness as God was invited to exercise by the consideration of Mans obedience And as the neglect of his Duty had discharged the Obligation on God's part so the performance gave him a claim by right of the Promise to everlasting Life 2. As the first part of the alliance was most reasonable so was the Second that Death should be the wages of Sin It is not conceivable that God should continue his favour to Man if he turn'd Rebel against Him For this were to disarm the Law and expose the Authority of the Lawgiver to contempt and would reflect upon the Wisdom of God Besides If the reasonable Creature violates the Law it necessarily contracts an obligation to punishment So that if the Sinner who deserves death should enjoy life without satisfaction for the offence or Repentance to qualifie him for pardon both which were without the compass of the first Covenant this would infringe the unchangable rights of Justice and disparage the Divine Purity In the first Covenant there was a special clause which respected Man as the inhabitant of Paradise That he should not eat of the Tree of Knowledg of good and evil upon pain of Death And this Prohibition was upon most wise and just reasons 1. To declare God's Sovereign Right in all things In the quality of Creator he is Supreme Lord. Man enjoyed nothing but by a derived title from his Bounty and Allowance and with an obligation to render to him the Homage of all As Princes when they give estates to their Subjects still retain the Royalty and receive a small rent which though inconsiderable in its value is an acknowledgment of dependance upon them So when God placed Adam in Paradise he reserved this mark of his Soveraignty that in the free use of all other things Man should abstain from the forbidden Tree 2. To make trial of Mans Obedience in a matter very congruous to discover it If the Prohibition had been grounded on any moral internal evil in the nature of the thing it self there had not been so clear a testimony of God's Dominion
David with respect to Solomon If he commit Iniquity I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the childaen of men that is Chastise him moderately For in the stile of the Scripture as things are magnified by the Epithet Divine or of God as the Cedars of God that is very tall And Nineve is called The City of God that is very great So to signifie things that are in a mediocrity the Scripture uses the Epithet humane or of Men And according to the Rule of Opposition the Rod of God is an extraordinary Affliction which destroys the Sinner 't is such a Punishment as a man can neither inflict nor endure But the Rod of Men is a moderate Correction that doth not exceed the strength of the Patient But every purely vindictive Punishment which the Law pronounces is in proportion to the nature of the Crime not the strength of the Criminal 3. They are distinguisht by the intention and end of God in inflicting them 1. In Chastisements God primarily designs the Profit of his People That they may be partakers of his Holiness When they are secure and carnal He awakens Conscience by the sharp voice of the Rod to reflect upon Sin to make them observant for the future to render their Affections more indifferent to the World and stronger towards Heaven The Apostle expresses the nature of Chastisements When we are judged we are instructed by the Lord They are more lively Lessons than those which are by the Word alone and make a deeper impression upon the heart David acknowledges Before he was afflicted he went astray but now have I kept thy words Corrupt Nature makes Gods Favours pernicious but his Grace makes our Punishments profitable Briefly They are not satisfactions for what is past but admonitions for the time to come But purely vindictive Judgments are not inflicted for the reformation of an Offender but to preserve the honour of the Sovereign and Publick Order and to make compensation for the breach of the Law If any advantage accrue to the Offender 't is accidental and besides the intention of the Judg. 2. The end of chastisements upon Believers is to prevent their final destruction When we are Judged we are Chastened of the Lord that we may not be condemned with the World And this sweetens and allays all their Sufferings As the Psalmist declares Let the Righteous smite me and it shall be a kindness let him reprove me it shall be an excellent oile which shall not break my head But the Vindictive Punishment of a Malefactor is not to prevent his condemnation for Death is sometimes the Sentence In this respect the temporal evils that befal the Wicked and the Godly though materially the same yet legally differ For to the Wicked they are as so many earnests of the compleat payment they shall make to Justice in another World the beginnings of Eternal Sorrows but to the Godly they are in order to their Salvation They are as the Red-Sea through which the Israelites past to the Land of Promise but the Egyptians were drowned in it Briefly their Sufferings differ as much in their issue as the Kingdoms of Heaven and of Hell 2. That Death remains to Believers doth not lessen the perfection of Christs Satisfaction 'T is true considered absolutely 't is the revenge of the Law for sin and the greatest temporal evil so that it may seem strange that those who are Redeemed by an Alsufficient ransom should pay this Tribute to the King of Terrors But the nature of it is changed 't is a Curse to the wicked inflicted for Satisfaction to Justice but a Priviledge to Believers As God appointing the Rainbow to be the Sign of his Covenant that he would drown the World no more ordain'd the same Waters to be the token of his Mercy which were the instrument of his Justice Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. And the Psalmist tells us that precious in the sight of the Lord is the Death of his Saints Christ hath taken away what is truly destructive in it 'T is continued for their advantage 1. Corruption hath so depraved the sensitive appetite that during our natural state we are not intirely freed from it but Death that destroyes the natural frame of the Body puts an end to sin And in this respect there is a great difference between the Death of Christ and of Believers the end of his was to remove the guilt of sin of theirs to extinguish the reliques of it 2. 'T is a delivery from Temporal evils and an entrance into Glory Death and Despair seize on the Wicked at once but the Righteous hath hope in his Death 3. The Grave shall give up its spoils at the last It retains the Body for a time not to destroy but purifie it Our Saviour tells us that whoever believes on him shall not see death for he will raise them up at the last day He that dies a Man shall revive an Angel cloathed with Light and Immortality I will conclude this argument with the words of St. Austin Ablato criminis nexu relicta est mors Nunc vero majore mirabiliore gratia Salvatoris in usus justitiae peccati poena est conversa tum enim dictum est Homini morieris si peccaveris nunc dictum est Martyri morere ne pecces Et sic per ineffabilem Dei misericordiam ipsa poena vitiorum transit in arma virtutis fit justi meritum etiam supplicium peccatoris Although the Guilt of Sin is removed yet death remains But by the admirable Grace of the Redeemer the punishment of sin is made an advantage to Holiness The Law threatned Man with Death if he sinned the Gospel commands a Martyr to die that he may not sin And thus by the unspeakable Mercy of God the punishment of Vice becomes the security of Virtue and that which was revenged upon the sinner gives to the Righteous a title to a glorious reward CHAP. XV. Inferences In the Death of Christ there is the clearest discovery of the evil of sin The strictness of divine Justice is most visible in it The consideration of the ends of Christs Death takes off the scandal of the Cross and changes the offence into admiration The Satisfaction of Justice by Christs Sufferings affords the strongest assurance that God is ready to pardon sinners The absolute necessity of complying with the terms of the Gospel for Justification There are but two wayes of appearing before the supreme Judge either in Innocence or by the Righteousness of Christ The Causes why men reject Christ are a legal temper that is natural to them and the predominant love of sin The unavoidable misery of all that will not submit to our Saviour 1. FRom hence we may discover most clearly the evil of Sin which no Sacrifice could expiate but the Blood of the Son of God 'T is true the
that is the Condition upon which God absolves Man from his guilt And this Grace of Faith as it respects entire Christ in all his Offices so it contains the Seed and first Life of Evangelical Obedience It crucifies our Lusts overcomes the World works by Love as well as justifies the person by relying on the Merits of Christ for Salvation 2 Adoption into Gods Family the purchase of Christ's Meritorious Sufferings who Redeemed us from the Servitude of Sin and Death is conferr'd upon us in Regeneration For this Prerogative consists not meerly in an Extrinsick Relation to God and a title to the Eternal Inheritance but in our participation of the Divine Nature whereby we are the living Images of Gods Holiness Civil Adoption gives the title but not the reality of a Son But the Divine is efficacious and changes us into the real likeness of our Heavenly Father We cannot enter into this state of Favour but upon our cleansing from all Impurity Be separate from the pollutions of the profane world and I will receive you and will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord Almighty These are the indispensable terms upon which we are received into that honourable Alliance None can enjoy the Priviledge but those that yield the Obedience of Children 3. Holiness is the Condition on which our future Blessedness depends Electing Mercy doth not produce our Glorification immediately but begins in our Vocation and Justification which are the intermediate Links in the Chain of Salvation As Natural Causes work on a distant object by passing through the medium God first gives Grace then Glory The everlasting Covenant that is sealed by the Blood of Christ establishes the connexion between them Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God The exclusion of all others is peremptory and universal Without Holiness no Man shall see the Lord. The Righteousness of the Kingdom is the only way of entring into it A few good actions scattered in our lives are not availeable but a course of Obedience brings to Happiness Those who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality shall inherit eternal life This is not a mere positive Appointment but grounded on the unchangeable respect of things There is a rational convenience between Holiness and Happiness according to the Wisdom and Goodness of God and 't is exprest in Scripture by the natural relation of the Seed to the Harvest both as to the quality and measure What a man sows that shall he reap We must be like God in purity before we can be in felicity Indeed 't would be a disparagement to Gods Holiness and pollute Heaven it self to receive unsanctified Persons as impure as those in Hell 'T is equally impossible for the Creature to be happy without the favour of the Holy God and for God to communicate His favour to the sinful Creature Briefly according to the Law of Faith no wicked Person hath any right to the Satisfaction Christ made nor to the Inheritance he purchased for Believers 3. Man in his corrupt state is deprived of Spiritual Life so that till he is revived by special Grace he can neither obey nor enjoy God Now the Redeemer is made a quickning Principle to inspire us with new life In order to our Sanctification he hath done four things First He hath given to us the most perfect Laws as the Rule of Holiness Secondly He exhibited the most compleat Patern of Holiness in his Life upon the Earth Thirdly He purchas'd and conveyes the Spirit of Holiness to renew and to enable us for the performance of our Duties Fourthly He hath presented the strongest inducements and motives to perswade us to be Holy First He hath given to Men the most perfect Laws as the rule of Holiness The principal parts of the Holy Life are ceasing from evil and the doing well Now the Commands of Christ refer to the purifying of us from sin and the adorning us with all Graces for the discharge of our universal Duty 1. They enjoyn a real and absolute separation from all filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit The outward and inward Man must be cleansed not only from Pollutions of a deeper dy but from all Carnality and Hypocrisie The Grace of God that brings Salvation hath appeared to all Men teaching them to deny ungodliness and worldly Lusts. All those irregular and impetuous desires which are raised by worldly Objects Honours Riches and Pleasures and reign in worldly Men Pride Covetousness and Voluptuousness The Gospel is most clear full and vehement for the true and inward Mortification of the whole body of corruption of every particular darling sin It commands us to pluck out the right eye and to cut off the right hand That is to part with every grateful and gainful lust It obliges us to crucifie the Flesh with the affections and lusts Humane Laws regard External actions as prejudicial to Societies but thoughts and resolutions that break not forth into act are not within the Jurisdiction of the Magistrate But the Law of Christ reforms the powers of the Soul and all the most secret and inward motions that depend upon them It forbids the first irregular desires of the carnal appetite We must hate sin in all its degrees strangle it in the birth destroy it in the conception We are enjoyned to fly the appearances and accesses of evil what ever is of a suspitious nature and not fully consistent with the purity of the Gospel and what ever invites to sin and exposes us to the power of it becomes vicious and must be avoided That glorious purity that shall adorn the Church when our Redeemer presents it without spot or wrinkle or any such thing every Christian must aspire to in this Life In short the Gospel commands us to be Holy as God is Holy who is infinitely distant from the least conceivable pollution 2. The Precepts of Christ contain all solid substantial goodness that is essentially necessary in order to our supreme Happiness and prepares us for the Life of Heaven In his Sermon on the Mount He commends to us Humility Meekness and Mercy Peaceableness and Patience and doing good for evil which are so many beams of Gods Image the reflections of his Goodness upon intelligent Creatures And that comprehensive precept of the Apostle describes the Duties of all Christians whatsoever things are true Truth is the principal character of our profession and is to be exprest in our Words and Actions whatsoever things are honest or venerable that is answer the dignity of our High-calling and agree with the gravity and comeliness of the Christian profession whatsoever things are just according to Divine and Humane Laws whatsoever things are pure we must preserve the Heart the Hand the Tongue the Eye from impurity whatsoever things are lovely and of good report some
Power admirably appeared in making the Death of Christ victorious over all our Spiritual Enemies Now to shew what an eminent degree of Power was exercised in the effecting this we must consider that after Satan was cast out of Heaven for his Rebellion he set up a throne on the Earth and usurpt an absolute Empire over Mankind His Power was great and his Malice was equal to his Power The Apostle represents him with his black Army under the titles of Principalities and Powers the rulers of the darkness of this world spiritual wickednesses in heavenly places as in respect of the Order among them so in respect of their Dominion they exercise in the World His Principality hath two parts To tempt Men powerfully to sin and to execute the wrath of God upon them He works effectually in the Children of Disobedience He fires their Lusts and by the thick ascending smoak darkens their Minds and hurries them to do the vilest Actions And he hath the power of death to torment Sinners God justly permitting him to exercise his Cruelty upon those who comply with his Temptations Now in the time of Christ seeing many ravish'd out of his hands and translated into the Kingdom of God he grew jealous of his state and by his instruments brought Him to a cruel and shameful Death He then in appearance obtain'd a compleat Conquest but in truth was absolutely overcome And from hence the glorious Power of Christ is most clearly manifested As he that will take the height of a Mountain must descend to the lowest part of the Valley where fixing his Instrument he may discover the distance from the foot to the top of it So we must descend to the lowest degree of our Saviours abasement to understand the height of his exaltation By Death he overcame him that had the power of Death that is the Devil For his cruel Empire was founded in Mans Sin his greatness was built on our Ruins All the penal Evils he brings on Mankind are upon the account of our Disobedience and his mighty power in Temptations is from our inward Corruption Otherwise he might surround but could not surprise us Now the Lord Christ by his Death hath taken away the Guilt and Power of Sin The Guilt in enduring the Curse of the Law and thereby satisfying Eternal Justice which all the Creatures in Heaven and Earth could not do and the Power of it By crucifying our old man with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin By the Cross of Christ the world is crucified to us and we are crucified to the world By it we are vindicated from the power of Satan into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God For this reason our Saviour a little before his Passion said Now shall the Prince of this world be cast out By the Cross he spoil'd Principalities and Powers and made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in it to their extreme confusion in the view of Heaven and Earth Although the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ are the proper acts of his Triumph yet his Death is the sole cause and original of it The Nails and Spear that pierced his Body were his omnipotent Arms and the Cross the instrument of his Sufferings was the Trophee of his Victory All our triumphant Palms are gathered from that tree 'T is there our Saviour bruised the head of the old Serpent and renewed his antient Victory over him And from hence it was that upon the first Preaching of Christ crucified Oracles were struck dumb and put to eternal silence invisible Powers were forc'd to do him visible honour As the Rising Sun causes the Night-birds to retire so his Name chas'd the rout of false Deities into darkness They continue to be our enemies but not our lords Now where did the Divine Power ever appear more glorious than in our crucified Saviour He hath done greater things suffering as Man than acting as God The Works of Creation and Providence are not equal to the effects of his Death In the Creation a corruptible World was produced from Nothing which as it had no disposition so no contrariety to receive the form the Creator gave it But the new World of Grace that is immortal was form'd out of rebellious matter The most eminent work of Providence was the drowning the Egyptians in the Red-Sea But the spiritual Pharaoh and all his Hosts were drowned in his Blood In short the Cross hath opened Heaven to us and wrought a miraculous change on the Earth But this I shall more particularly consider under another Head of Discourse Fifthly The Divine Power was eminently magnified in Christs Resurrection from the Grave This was foretold concerning the Messiah by the Prophet David speaking in the type My flesh shall rest in hope for thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption As it was ordain'd by Gods Counsel so 't was executed by his Power This is decisive that He is the Messiah His other Miracles were performed by the Prophets but this was singular and only done by the God of the Prophets The Reasons of it prove that 't was equally necessary for his Glory and our Salvation 1. The Quality of his Person required it For He was a Heavenly Man without Guilt therefore immortal by the original Constitution of his Nature Death that is the wages of Sin had no power over him He was subject to it not by the Law of his Conception but the Dispensation of his Love not to satisfie Nature but purchase our Salvation Therefore the Eternal Law that annexes Immortality to Innocence would not suffer that He should remain in the state of Death 2. The Nature of his Office made it necessary As the Oeconomy of our Redemption required that He should descend from Heaven the Seat of his Glory that by dying He might expiate our Sins so after his lying in the Grave so long as to attest the reality of his Death 't was necessary he should rise again in order to his dispensing the glorious Benefits He had purchas'd The Apostle tells the Corinthians If Christ be not risen then our preaching is in vain and your faith is also in vain For the Faith of Christians hath a threefold reference 1. To the Person of Christ that he is the Son of God 2. To his Death that 't is an all-sufficient Sacrifice for Sin 3. To his Promise that He will raise Believers at the last Day Now the Resurrection of Christ is the Foundation of Faith in respect of all these 1. He was declar'd to be the Son of God with Power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection from the dead He was the Son of God from Eternity as the Word and from the first moment of his Incarnation as God-Man But the honour of this relation was much eclips'd in his poor
was so fram'd as to make a visible discovery of the Prerogatives of his Creation And when he reflected upon his Soul that animated his dust its excellent endowments wherein 't is comparable to the Angels its capacity of enjoying God himself for ever he had an internal and most clear testimony of the glorious perfections of his Creator For Man who alone admires the works of God is the most admirable of all 2. The Image of God was resplendent in mans Conscience the seat of practical Knowledg and Treasury of moral Principles The directive faculty was sincere and incorrupt not infected with any disguising tincture 't was clear from all prejudices which might render it an incompetent Judg of good and evil It instructed Man in all the parts of his relative Obligations to God and the Creatures 'T was not fetter'd and confin'd fearfully restraining from what is Lawful nor licentious and indulgent in what is forbidden Briefly Conscience in Adam upright was a subordinate God that gave Laws and exacted obedience to that glorious Being who is its Superior 3. There was a Divine Impression on the Will Spiritual Reason kept the Throne and the inferiour Faculties observed an easy and regular subordination to its dictates The Affections were exercis'd with proportion to the quality of their Objects Reason was their inviolable Rule Love the most noble and Master-affection which gives being and goodness to all the rest even to hatred it self for so much we hate an object as it hinders our enjoyment of the good we love this precious Incense was offer'd up to the excellent and supreme Being which was the Author of his Life Adam fully obeyed the first and great Command of loving the Lord with all his heart soul and strength His love to other things was regulated by his love to God There was a perfect accord between flesh and spirit in him They both joyn'd in the service of God and were naturally mov'd to their happiness In short the image of God in Adam was a living powerful Principle and had the same relation to the Soul which the Soul hath to the Body to animate and order all its Faculties in their Offices and Operations according to the Will of his Creator 2. The Image of God consisted though in an inferiour degree in the happy state of man Herein he resembled that infinitly Blessed Being This happiness had relation to the two Natures which enter into Mans Composition 1. To the Animal and Sensitive and this consisted in two things 1. In the excellent disposition of his Organs 2. In the enjoyment of convenient Objects 1. In the excellent disposition of the Organs His body was form'd immediately by God and so not liable to those defects which proceed from the weakness of second causes No blemish or disease which are the effects and footsteps of sin were to be found in him His health was not a frail inconstant disposition easily ruin'd by the jarring elements but firm and stable The humours were in a just temperament to prevent any destemper which might tend to the dissolution of that excellent frame Briefly all rhe senses were quick and lively able to perform with facility vigour and delight their operations 2. There were convenient Objects to entertain his sensitive faculties He enjoyed Nature in its original Purity crown'd with the benediction of God before 't was blasted with the curse The World was all Harmony and Beauty becoming the goodness of the Creator and not as 't is since the Fall disorder'd and deform'd in many parts the effect of his Justice The Earth was liberal to Adam of all its Treasures the Heavens of their Light and sweetest Influences He was seated in Eden a place of so great beauty and delight that it represented the Celestial Paradise which is refresht with Rivers of Pleasure And as the ultimate End of the Creatures was to raise his mind and inflame his heart with the love of his great Benefactor So their first and natural use was the satisfaction of the Senses from whence the felicity of the Animal Life did proceed 2. His supreme Happiness consisted in the exercise of his most noble Faculties on their proper Objects This will appear by considering that as the spiritual Faculties have objects which infinitely excel those of the sensitive So their capacity is more inlarged their union with objects is more intimate and their perception is with more quickness and vivacity and thereby are the greatest instruments of pleasure to the rational being Now the highest Faculties in Man are the Understanding and Will and their happiness consists in union with God by Knowledg and Love 1. In the Knowledg of God As the desire of Knowledg is the most natural to the humane Soul so the obtaining of it produces the most noble and sweetest pleasure And proportionably to the degrees of excellency that are in objects so much of rational Perfection and Satisfaction accrues to the mind by the knowledg of them The discovery of the Works of God greatly affected Man yet the excellencies scatter'd among them are but an imperfect and mutable shadow of God's infinite and unchangable Perfections How much more delightful was it to his pure understanding tracing the footsteps and impressions of God in Natural things to ascend to him who is the glorious Original of all Perfections And although his finite understanding could not comprehend the Divine excellencies yet his knowledg was answerable to the degrees of Revelation wherein God was manifested He saw the admirable Beauty of the Creator through the transparent vail of the creatures And from hence there arose in the Soul a pleasure pure solid and satisfying a pleasure divine for God takes infinit contentment in the contemplation of Himself 2. The Happiness of Man consisted in the Love of God 'T was not the naked speculation of the Deity that made him happy but such a knowledg as ravisht his Affections For happiness results from the fruitions of all the Faculties 'T is true that by the mediation of the understanding the other Faculties have access to an object the Will and Affections can't be enclin'd to any thing but by vertue of an act of the mind which propounds it as worthy of them It follows therefore that when by the discovery of the transcendent excellencies in God the Soul is excited to love and to delight in Him as its Supreme Good 't is then really and perfectly happy Now as Adam had a perfect knowledg of God so the height of his love was answerable to his knowledg and the compleatness of his enjoyment was according to his Love All the Divine Excellencies were amiable to him The Majesty Purity Justice and Power of God which are the terrour of guilty creatures secur'd his happiness whilst he continued in his Obedience His Conscience was clear and calm no unquiet fears discompos'd its Tranquillity 't was the seat of Innocence and Peace Briefly His love to God was perfect without any
nor of Adam's Subjection to it But when that which in it self was indifferent became unlawful meerly by the Will of God and when the Command had no other excellency but to make his Authority more sacred this was a confining of Man's liberty and to abstain was pure Obedience Besides The restraint was from that which was very grateful and alluring to both the parts of Mans compounded Nature The Sensitive Appetite is strongly excited by the Lust of the Eye and this fruit being beautiful to the sight the forbearance was an excellent exercise of vertue in keeping the lower appetite in obedience Again The desire of Knowledg is extremely quick and earnest and in appearance most worthy of the rational Nature Nullus animo suavior cibus 'T is the most high and luscious food of the Soul Now the Tree of Knowledg was forbidden So that the observance of the Law was the more eminent in keeping the intellectual Appetite in Mediocrity In short God required Obedience as a Sacrifice For the Prohibition being in a matter of natural Pleasure and a curb to Curiosity which is the Lust and Concupiscence of the Mind after things conceal'd by a reverent regard to it Man presented his Soul and Body to God as a living Sacrifice which was his reasonable service CHAP. II. Mans Natural state was mutable The Devil moved by hatred and envy attempts to seduce him The Temptation was suitable to Mans compounded Nature The Woman being deceived perswades her Husband The quality of the first Sin Many were combin'd in it 'T was perfectly voluntary Man had Power to stand The Devil could only allure not compel him His Understanding and Will the causes of his Fall The punishment was of the same date with his Sin He forfeited his Righteousness and Felicity The loss of original Righteousness as it signifies the purity and liberty of the Soul The torment of Conscience that was consequent to Sin A whole Army of Evils enter with it into the World MAN was created perfectly holy but in a natural therefore mutable state He was invested with power to prevent his Falling yet under a possibility of it He was compleat in his own order but receptive of sinful impressions An invincible Perseverance in Holiness belongs to a supernatural state 't is the priviledg of Grace and exceeds the design of the first Creation The rebellious Spirits who by a furious ambition had raised a war in Heaven and were fallen from their obedience and glory designed to corrupt Man and to make him a companion with them in their revolt The most subtile amongst them sets about this work urged by two strong passions Hatred and Envy 1. By Hatred For being under a final and irrevocable Doom he lookt on God as an irreconcileable enemy And not being able to injure his Essence he struck at his Image As the fury of some beasts discharges it self upon the Picture of a Man He singled out Adam as the mark of his malice that by seducing him from his Duty he might defeat God's design which was to be honoured by Mans free obedience and so obscure his Glory as if He had made Man in vain 2. He was sollicited by Envy the first native of Hell For having lost the favour of God and being cast out of Heaven the Region of Joy and Blessedness the sight of Adam's Felicity exasperated his Grief That Man who by the condition of his nature was below him should be Prince of the world whilst he was a Prisoner under those chains which restrain'd him and tormented him the power and wrath of God this made his state more intollerable His torment was incapable of allay but by rendering man as miserable as himself And as hatred excited his envy so envy inflam'd his hatred and both joyn'd in mischief And thus pusht on his Subtilty being equal to his Malice he contrives a Temptation which might be most taking and dangerous to Man in his raised and happy state He attempts him with art by propounding the lure of Knowledg and Pleasure to inveigle the Spiritual and Sensitive Appetites at once And that he might the better succeed he addresses to the Woman the weakest and most liable to seduction He hides himself in the body of a Serpent which before Sin was not terrible unto her And by this instrument insinuates his Temptation He first allures with the hopes of impunity Ye shall not die then he promiseth an universal knowledg of good and evil By these pretences he ruin'd innocence it self For the Woman deceived by those specious Allectives swallowed the poison of the Serpent and having tasted Death she perswaded her Husband by the same motives to despise the Law of their Creator Thus Sin enter'd and brought confusion into the World For the moral Harmony of the World consisting in the just subordination of the several ranks of beings to one another and of all to God When Man who was placed next to God broke the Union his Fall brought a desperate disorder into God's Government And although the matter of the Offence seems small yet the Disobedience was infinitely great it being the transgression of that command which was given to be the instance and real proof of Mans subjection to God Totam legem violavit in illo legalis obedientiae praecepto The Honour and Majesty of the whole Law was violated in the breach of that symbolical Precept 'T was a direct and formal Rebellion a publick and universal renouncing of Obedience Many Sins were combin'd in that single act 1. Infidelity This was the first step to ruine It appears by the order of the Temptation 't was first said by the Devil Ye shall not die to weaken their Faith then ye shall be like gods to flatter their ambition The fear of Death would have contrould the efficacy of all his Arguments till that restraint was broke he could fasten nothing upon them This account the Apostle gives of the Fall The woman being deceiv'd was in the transgression As Obedience is the effect of Faith so Disobedience of Infidelity And as Faith comes by hearing the Word of God so Infidelity by listening to the words of the Devil From the deception of the Mind proceeded the depravation of the Will the intemperance of the Appetite and the defection of the whole Man Thus as the natural so the spiritual Death made its first entrance by the Eye And this Infidelity is extremely aggravated as it implies an accusation of God both of envy and falshood 1. Of Envy As if he had deni'd them the perfections becoming the humane Nature and they might ascend to a higher Orb than that wherein they were placed by eating the forbidden fruit And what greater disparagement could there be of the Divine Goodness than to suspect the Deity of such a low and base Passion which is the special character of the Angels of Darkness And 't was equally injurious to the honour of God's Truth
Law it was not restrain'd to himself but is the Sin of the common nature Adam broke the first link in the chain whereby Mankind was united to God and all the other parts which depended upon it are necessarily separated from him From hence the Scripture saith that by Nature we are Children of wrath that is liable to punishment and that hath relation to guilt And of this we have convincing Experience in the common Evils which afflict Mankind before the commission of any actual Sin The Cries of Infants who are only eloquent to grief but dumb to all things els discover that Miseries attend them The Tears which are born with their Eyes signifie they are come into a state of Sorrow How many Troops of Deadly Diseases are ready to seize on them immediatly after their Entrance into the World So that 't is apparent God deals with Man as an enemy and therefore guilty of some great crime from his Birth The Ignorance of this made the Heathens accuse Nature and blaspheme God under that mask as less kind and indulgent to Man than to the Creatures below him They are not under so hard a Law of coming into the world They are presently instructed to Swim to Fly to Run for their preservation They are cloathed by Nature and their Habits grow in proportion with their Bodies some with Feathers some with Wool others with Scales which are both Habit and Armour But Man who is alone sensible of shame is born naked and though of a more delicate temper is more exposed to injuries by distemper'd Seasons and utterly unable to repel or avoid the evils that encompass him Now the account the Scripture gives of Original Sin silences all these complaints Man is a Ttransgressor from the Womb and how can he expect a favourable Reception into the Empire of an offended God Briefly Sometimes Death enters into the retirements of Nature and changes the Womb into a Grave which proves that assoon as we partake of the human Nature we are guilty of the Sin that is common to it For the wages of Sin is Death Adam in his innocent state had the Priviledges of Immortality but by him Sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men as a just Sentence upon the guilty for that all men have sinned 2. An Hereditary Corruption is transmitted to all that naturally descend from him If Adam had continued in his Obedience the spiritual as well as the natural Life had been conveighed to his Children but for his Rebellion he lost his primitive rectitude and contracted an universal Corruption which he derives to all his Posterity And as in a Disease there is the defect of Health and a distemper of the humours that affects the Body so in the depravation of Nature there is not the meer want of holiness but a strong proclivity to sin This privation of original Righteousness considerd as a Sin is naturally from Adam the principle of lapsed and corrupt Nature But as a punishment 't is meritoriously from him and falls under the ordination of Divine Justice Man â—ast it away and God righteously refuses to restore it 'T is a sollicitous impertinency to enquire nâ—cely about the manner of conveying this universal Corruption For the bare knowledg oâ— it is ineffectual to the cure And what greater folly than to make our own evils the object of simple Speculation I shall consider only that general account of it which is set down in the Scripture 'T is the universal and unchangable Law of Nature that every thing produce its like not only in regard of the same nature that is propagated from one individual to another without a change of the species but in respect of the qualities with which that nature is eminently affected This is visible in the several kinds of Creatures in the world they all preserve the nature of the principle from whence they are derived and retain the vein of their original the quality of their extraction Thus our Saviour tells us that the fruit partakes of the rottenness of the tree and whatever is born of the flesh is flesh The title of Flesh doth not signifie the material part of our humanity but the Corruption of Sin with which the whole nature is infected This is evident by the description the Apostle gives of it That the flesh is not subject to the Law of God and that which aggravates the evil is that it can't be Sinful Corruption is exprest by this title partly in regard it is transmitted by the way of carnal propagation Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in Sin did my mother conceive me And partly in regard 't is exercised by the carnal members This Corruption is a poison so subtile that it pierces into all the powers of the Soul so contagious that it infects all the Actions so obstinate that only Omnipotent Grace can heal it More particularly 1. 'T is an innate Habit not meerly acquir'd by Imitation The root of bitterness is planted in the Humane Nature and produces its fruits in the various seasons of Life No age is free from its working Every imagination of the thoughts of Mans heart are only evil and continually evil We see this verified in Children when the most early acts of their Reason and the first instances of their apprehension are in Sin If we ascend higher and consider Man in his Infant-state the vicious inclinations which appear in the Cradle the violent motions of anger which disturbs Sucklings their endeavour to exercise a weak revenge on those that displease them convince us that the Corruption is natural and proceeds from an infected Original 2. As 't is Natural so Universal Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean That is How can a Righteous person be born of a Sinner The Answer is peremptory Not one The Fountain was poison'd in Adam and all the Streams partake of the infection All that are derived from him in a natural way and have a relation to him as their common father are sharers in this depravation What difference soever there is in their Climates Colours and external conditions of life yet the blood from whence they spring taints them all 3. Corrupt Nature is pregnant with the seeds of all Sin although they do not shoot forth together And for this several accounts may be given 1. Although all Sins agree in their cause and end yet some are contrary in their exercise 2. The humane spirit is not capable of many Passions in their height at the same time and 't is the art of our spiritual Enemies to suit their Temptations to the capacity of Man 3. As the same Poison produces different effects in different Bodies according to those various Humours which are predominant in them so the same Corruption of Nature works variously according to the different tempers of Men. For although the conception of Sin depends immediatly upon
the Soul yet to the bringing of it forth the concurrence of the external Faculties is requisite Thus a Voluptuary who is restrain'd from the gross acts of Sensuality by a Disease or Age may be as vicious in his Desires as another who follows the pernicious swing of his Appetite having a vigorous Complexion Briefly The variety of circumstances by which the inward corruption is excited and drawn forth makes a great difference as to the open and visible acts of it Thus an ambitious person who uses Clemency to accomplish his design would exercise Cruelty if 't were necessary to his end 'T is true some are really more temperate and exempted from the tyranny of the flesh than others Cicero was more vertuous than Catiline and Socrates than Aristophanes But these are priviledged persons in whom the efficacy of Divine Providence either by forming them in the Womb or in their Education or by conducting them in their maturer Age hath corrected the malignity of Nature All men have sinn'd and come short of the glory of God's image And that Sin breaks not forth so outragiously in some as in others the restraint is from an higher Principle than common and corrupt Nature 4. This Corruption although natural yet 't is Voluntary and Culpable 1. Voluntary All Habits receive their character from those acts by which they are produced and as the Disobedience of Adam was voluntary so is the Depravation that sprung from it 2. 'T is inherent in the Will If Adam had derived a Leprosie to all Men it were an involuntary evil Because the Diseases of the Body are forreign to the Soul But when the Corruption invades the internal Faculties 't is denominated from the subject wherein 't is seated 3. 'T is the voluntary cause of actual Sins and if the acts proceeding from this corruption are voluntary the principle must be of the same nature 2. 'T is Culpable The formality of Sin consists in its opposition to the Law according to the definition of the Apostle Sin is a transgression of the Law Now the Law requires an entire rectitude in all the Faculties It condemns corrupt inclinations the originals as well as the acts of Sin Besides Concupiscence was not inherent in the humane Nature in its Creation but was contracted by the Fall The Soul is stript of its native Righteousness and Holiness and is invested with contrary qualities There is as great a difference between the corruption of the Soul in its degenerate state and its primitive purity as between the loathsomness of a Carcass and the beauty of a living Body Sad change and to be lamented with tears of confusion That the Sin of Adam should be so fatal to all his Posterity is the most difficult part in the whole order of Divine Providence Nothing more offends carnal Reason which forms many specious Objections against it I will briefly consider them Since God saw that Adam would not resist the Temptation and that upon his Fall the whole race of Mankind which he supported as the foundation would sink into ruine Why did he not confirm him against it was it not within his Power and more suitable to his Wisdome Holiness and Goodness To this I answer 1. The Divine Power could have preserved Man in his Integrity either by laying a restraint on the apostate Angels that they should never have made an attempt upon him or by keeping the Understanding waking and vigilant to discover the danger of the Temptation and by fortifying the Will and rendring it impenetrable to the fiery darts of Satan without any prejudice to its freedom For that doth not consist in an absolute Indifference but in a judicious and deliberate choice so that when the Soul is not led by a blind instinct nor forc'd by a forreign power but embraces what it knows and approves it then enjoyes the most true Liberty Thus in the glorified Spirits above by the full and constant Light of the Mind the Will is indeclinably fixt upon its supreme Good and this is its Crown and Perfection 2. It was most suitable to the Divine Wisdom to leave Man to stand or fall by his own choice 1. To discover the necessary dependance of all Second Causes upon the first No Creature is absolutely impeccable but the most perfect is liable to imperfection He that is essentially is only unchangeably Good Infinite Goodness alone excludes all possibility of receiving Corruption The Fall of Angels and Man convince us that there is one sole Beeing immutably Pure and Holy on whom all depend and without whose Influence they cannot be or must be eternally miserable 2. 'T was very fit that Adam should be first in a state of trial before he was confirm'd in his Happiness The reason of it is clear he was left to his own judgment and election that Obedience might be his choice and in the performance of it he might acquire a title to the reward A determining vertue over him had crost the end of his Creation which was to glorifie God in a free manner Therefore in Paradise there were amiable objects to allure the lower Faculties before they were disordered by Sin The forbidden Fruit had beauty to invite the Eye and sweetness to delight the Palate And if upon the competition of the Sensual with the Intellectual Good he had reâ—ected the one and chose the other he had been rais'd to an unchangeable state his Innocence had been crown'd with Perseverance As the Angels who continued in their Duty when the rest revolted are finally establisht in their Integrity and Felicity And the Apostle gives us an account of this order when he tells us That was first which was natural then that which is spiritual and supernatural Man was created in a state of perfection but 't was natural therefore mutable the confirming of him immediatly had been Grace which belongs to a more excellent Dispensation Now to bring Man from not being to a supernatural state without trial of the middle state of Nature was not so congruous to the Divine Wisdome 3. The permission of the Fall doth not reflect on the Divine Purity For 1. Man was made Upright He had no inward Corruption to betray him There was Antidote enough in his Nature to expel the strongest Temptation 2. God was not bound to hinder the commission of Sin 'T is a true Maxime that in debitis causa dâ—ficiens efficit moraliter But God is not only free from subjection to a Law as having no Superiour but was under no voluntary Obligation by Promise to prevent the Fall 3. Neither doth that first Act of Sin reflect on Gods unspotted Providence which suffer'd it as if Sin were in any degree allowed by Him The Holy Law which God gave to direct Man the terrible Threatning annext to warn him declare his irreconcileable Hatred against Sin He permits innumerable Sins every day yeâ— He is as jealous of the Honour of his Holiness now as in the beginning
had in his Creation an original Power to perform 2. There is a moral Impotence which arises from a perverse disposition of the Will and is join'd with a delight to Sin and a strong aversion from the holy Commands of God and the more deep and inveterate this is the more worthy 't is of punishment Aristotle asserts That those who contract invincible Habits by Custome are inexcusable though they cannot abstain from evil For since Liberty consists in doing what one wils this impossibility doth not destroy Liberty the depravation of the Faculties doth not hinder their voluntary operations The Understanding conceives the Will chooses the Appetite desires freely A distracted Person that kils is not guilty of Murder and therefore secure from the Sentence of the Law For his Understanding being distemper'd by the disorder of the images in his Fancy it doth not judg aright so that the action is involuntary and therefore not culpable But there is a vast difference between the causes of Distraction and those which induce a carnal Man to sin The first are seated in the distemper of the Brain over which the Will hath no Power whereas there should be a regular subjection of the lower appetite to the Will enlightned and directed by the Mind The Will it self is corrupted and brought into captivity by things pleasing to the lower Faculties It cannot disintangle it self but its impotence lies in its obstinacy This is the meaning of St. Peter speaking concerning unclean Persons That their eyes are full of adultery and they cannot cease from Sin 'T is from their fault alone that they are without power Therefore the Scripture represents Man to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 weak but wicked His disability to supernatural Good arises from an inordinate Affection to that which is sensual So that 't is so far from excusing that it renders inexcusable being voluntary and vitious And in this the Diseases of the Body are different from those of the Soul In the first the desire of healing is ineffectual through want of knowledg or power to apply Sovereign Remedies Whereas in the second the sincere desire of their Cure is sufficient for the Diseases are corrupt desires The Natural Man is wholly led by Sence by Fancy and the Passions and he esteems it his infelicity to be otherwise as the degenerous Slave who was displeased with a Jubile and refused Liberty Servitude is his Sensuality He is not only in love with the unworthy object but with the vitious affection and abhors the cure of it As one in the Poet that was so delighted in his pleasant Madness that he was offended at his Recovery Cui sic extorta voluptas Et demptus per vim mentis gratissimus error This is acknowledged by St. Austin in his Confessions where he describes the conflict between Conviction and Corruption in his Soul He tells us in the strife between Reason and Lust that he had recourse to God and his Prayer was Da mihi continentiam sed noli modo he desired Chastity but not too soon This is the general sence though not the general discourse of men As the Sick Person that desired his Physician to remove his Fever but not his thirst which made his drink very pleasing to him So Man in his sensual state would fain be freed from the aestuations of Conscience but he cherishes those carnal desires which give a high tast to objects suitable to them From hence it appears that although in the corrupt Nature there is no liberty of indifferency to good and evil yet there is a liberty of delight in evil and though the Will in its natural capacity may choose good yet 't is morally determin'd by its love to evil· In short There is so much power not to sin as is sufficient to sin that is that the forbidden action be free and so become a Sin Which strange combination of Liberty and Necessity is excellently exprest by St. Bernard That the Soul which fell by its own choice can't recover it self is from the corruption of the Will which overcome by the vitious love of the Body rejects the love of Righteousness so that in a manner as strange as evil the Will being corrupted with Sin makes a necessity to it self yet so that the necessity being voluntary doth not excuse the Will nor the Will being pleasantly and powerfully allur'd exclude Necessity The Law therefore remains in its full force and God is righteous in the commanding and condemning Sinners From all that hath been discours'd 't is evident how impossible it is for corrupt Man to recover his lost Holiness For there are only two Motives to induce the reasonable Creature to seek after it 1. It s Beauâ—y and Loveliness 2. The Reward that attends it And both these Arguments are ineffectual to work upon him 1. The Beauty of Holiness which excels all other created Perfections it being a conformity to the most glorious Attribute of the Deity doth not allure him For Unusquisque ut affectus est ita judicat Man understands according to his Affections The renewed Mind can only see the essential and intimate Beauty of Holiness Now in faln Man the clearness of the discerning power is lost As the natural Eye till 't is purged from vicious qualities can't look on things that are bright and sublime and if it hath been long in darkness it suffers by the most pleasing Object the light so the internal eye of the Mind that it may see the lively lustre of Holiness it must be cleansed from the filthiness of carnal Affections and having been so long under thick darkness it must be strengthned before it can sustain the brightness of things spiritual Till it be prepar'd it can see nothing amiable and desireable in the Image of God 2. The Reward of Holiness hath no attractive power on the carnal Will because 't is Future and Spiritual 1. 'T is Future and therefore the conceptions of it are very dark and imperfect The Soul is sunk down into the Senses and they are short-sighted and can't look beyond what is present to the next life And as the images of things are weaken'd and confus'd proportionably to their distance and make a fainter impression upon the Faculty so the representation of Heaven and Blessedness as a Happiness to come hereafter and therefore remote doth but coldly affect the Will A present vanity in the judgment of the carnal Soul outweighs the most glorious futurity 'Till there be taken from before its eyes the in Tertullian's language thick curtain of the visible World it cannot discern the difference between them nor value the reward for its excellency and duration 2. 'T is Spiritual and there must be a divine Disposition of the Soul before it is capable of it The pure in heart can only see the pure God The Felicity above is that which Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it
victorious over all Temptations for they are join'd to the heavenly Adam in a strict and inviolable union And those Graces are acted by them for the exercise of which there was no objects and occasions in innocence As Compassion to the miserable Forgiveness of injuries Forâ—itude and Patience all which as they are a most lively resemblance of the Divine Perfections so an excellent ornament to the Soul and infinitely endear it to God And the Happiness of our renewed state exceeds our primitive Felicity Whether we consider the nature of it 't is wholly spiritual or the place of it Heaven the Sanctuary of Life and Immortality or the constitution of the Body which shall be cloathed with celestial qualities But this will be particularly discussed in its proper place These are the effects of infinite Wisdome to the production of which Sin affords no casuality but hath meerly an accidental respect As the Apostle interprets the words of David Against thee only have I sinned that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings and overcome when thou judgest Which doth not respect the intention of David but the event only The greater his injustice was in the commission the more clear would God's Justice be in the condemnation of his Sin 2. The Wisdom of God appeared in ordaining such a Mediator who was qualified to reconcile God to Man and Man to God The first and most admirable Article in the mystery of Godliness and the foundation of all the rest is that God is manifest in the flesh The middle must equally touch the extremes A Mediator must be capable of the sentiments and affections of both the parties he will reconcile He must be a just esteemer of the Rights and Injuries of the one and the other and have a common interest in both The Son of God assuming the Humane Nature perfectly possesses these qualities he hath zeal for God and compassion for Man He hath taken pledges of Heaven and Earth the supreme Nature in Heaven and the most excellent on the Earth to make the hostility cease between them He is Immanuel by nature and office And if no less than an inspired Wisdom could devise how to frame the earthly Tabernacle wherein God dwelt in a shadowy and typical manner what Wisdom was requisite to frame the Humane Nature of Christ wherein the Deity was really to dwell Now to discover more clearly the Divine Wisdome in uniting the two Natures in Christ to qualifie him for his Office 't is requisite to consider that the office of Mediator hath three charges annext to it the Priestly which respects God the Prophetical and Kingly which regards Men. These have a respect to the â—â—ils which oppress faln Man And they are Guilt Ignorance Sin and Death Man was capitally guilty of the breach of Gods Law and under the tyranny of his Lusts and in the issue liable to Death The Redeemer is made to him Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption These Benefits are dispens'd by Him in his threefold Office As a Priest he exipates Sin as a Prophet he instructs the Church as a King he regulates the lives of his Subjects delivers them from their Enemies and makes them happy Now the Divine and Humane Nature are requisite for the performance of all these For nothing is effectual to an end but what is proportionable and commensurate thereunto and to proportion excesses as well as defects are opposite This will appear by taking a distinct view of the several Offices of our Mediator 1. The Priestly Office hath two parts 1. To make expiation for Sin 2. Intercession for Sinners Now for the making expiation of Sin there was a necessary concurrence of the two Natures in our Redeemer He must be Man for the Deity was not capable of those Submissions and Sufferings which were requisite to expiate Sin And he must be Man that the sinning nature might suffer and thereby acquire a title to the Satisfaction that is made The mâ—ritorious imputation of Christs Sufferings to Man is grounded on the union between them which is as well natural in his partaking of Flesh and Blood as moral in the consent of their Wills As the Apostle observes That he who sanctifies and they that are sanctified are all one So he that suffers and they for whom he suffers must have communion in the same nature For this reason God having resolved never to dispense Mercy to the fallen Angels the Redeemer did not assume the Angelical nature but the seed of Abraham And as the Humane Nature was necessary to qualifie him for Sufferings and to make them suitable so the Divine was to make them sufficient The lower nature consider'd in it self could make no satisfaction The Dignity of the Divine Person makes a temporal punishment to be of an infinite value in God's account The humane Nature was the Sacrifice the divine the Priest to render it acceptable He had sunk under the weight of wrath if the Deity had not been personally present to support him Briefly To perform the first part of his Office he must suffer yet be impassible Die yet be immortal and undergo the wrath of God to deliver Man from it 2. To make Intercessâ—on for us it was requisite that He should partake of both Natures that he might have credit with God and compassion to Man The Son hath a prevailing interest in the Father as he testifies I know thou heardst me alwaies A Priviledge which neither Abraham Moses nor any other who were the most favoured Saints enjoyed And as Man he was fit for Passion and Compassion The Humane nature is the proper subject of feâ—ling pity especially when it hath felt misery God is capable of Love not in strictness of Compassion For Sympathy proceeds from an experimental sence of what one hath suffer'd and the sight of the like affliction in others revives the affections which weâ—e felt in that state and enclines to pity The Apostle offers this to Believers as the ground of comfort that He who took our nature and felt our griefs intercedes for us For we have not an High-Priest that cannot be toucht with the feeling of our Infirmities but was in all things tempted as we are yet without Sin that with an humble confidence we may come to the Throne of Grace He hath drunk deepest of the cup of Sorrows that he may be an Allâ—sufficient Comforter to those that mourn He hath such tender Bowels we may trust him to sollicite our Salvation In short 'T is the great support of our Faith that we have access to the Father by the Son and present all our requests by a Mediator so worthy and so dear to Him and by One who left the Joys of Heaven that by enduring Affliction on Earth his heart might be made tuneable to the hearts of the afflicted Secondly For the discharge of the Prophâ—tical Office 't was necessary the Mediator should be God and
ye his Servants and there was aâ— it were the voice of mighty thundrings saying Hallelujah for the Lord God Omnipotent reigns They are now the most eminent examples of revenging wrath Their present misery is insupportable and they expect worse When our Saviour cast some of them out of the possest persons they cried out Art thou come to torment us before our time Miserimum est timere cum sâ—eres nihil 't is the height of misery to have nothing to Hope and something to Fear Their guilt is attended with despair they are in everlasting Chains He that carries the Keys of Hell and Death will never open their Prisoâ— If the sentence did admit a Revocation after a million of years their torment would be nothing in comparison of what it is for the longest measure of time bears no proportion to Eternity and hope would allay the sense of the present sufferings with the prospect of future ease But their Judgment is irreversible they are under the blackness of darkness for ever There is not the least glimps of hope to allay their sorrows no Star-light to sweeten the horrours of their Eternal night They are serâ—i poenae that can never be redeemed It were a kind of pardon to them to be capable of Death but God will never be so far reconciled as to annihilate them His Anger shall be accomplished and his Fury rest upon them Immortality the priviledge of their nature infinitly increases their torment for when the Understanding by a strong and active apprehension hath a terrible and unbounded prospect of the continuance of their Sufferings that what is intolerable must be Eternal this inexpressibly exasperates their Misery There wants a word beyond Death to set it forth This is the condition of the sinning Angels and God might have dealt in as strict Justice with rebellious Man 'T is true there are many Reasons may be assigned why the Wisdom of God made no provision for their Recovery 1. It was most decent that the first Breach of the Divine Law should be punisht to secure Obedience for the future Prudent Lawgivers are severe against the first Transgressors the Leaders in Disobedience He that first presumed to break the Sabbath was by Godâ—s command put to Death And Solomon the King of Peace punisht the first attempt upon his Royalty with Death though in the person of his Brother 2. The Malignity of their Sin was in the highest degree For such was the clearness of the Angelical Understanding that there was nothing of Ignorance and Deceit to lessen the voluntariness of their Sin 't was no mistake but Malice They fell in the light of Heaven and rendered themselves incapable of Mercy As under the Law those who sinned with a high hand that is not out of Ignorance or Imbecillity to please their Passions but knowingly and proudly despised the Command their Presupmtion was inexpiable no Sacrifice was appointed for it And the Gospel though the Declaration of Mercy yet excepts those who sin the great Transgression against the Holy Ghost Now of such a nature was the Sin of the Rebellious Angels it being a contemptuous violation of Gods Majesty and therefore unpardonable Besides they are wholly spiritual Beings without any allay of flesh and so fell to the utmost in evil there being nothing to suspend the intireness of their Will whereas the Humane Spirit is more slow by its union with the Body And that which extremely aggravates their sin is that it was committed in the state of perfect Happiness They despised the full fruition of God 't was therefore congruous to the Divine Wisdom that their final Sentence should depend upon their first Election whereas Mans Rebellion though inconceivably great was against a lower Light and less Grace dispensed to him 3. They finn'd without a Tempter and were not in the same capacity with Man to be restor'd by a Saviour The Devil is an original Proprietor in Sin 't is of his own Man was beguiled by the Serpents subtilty as he fell by anothers Malice so he is recovered by anothers Merit 4. The Angelical Nature was not entirely lost Myriads of blessed Spirits still continue in the place of their Innocency and Glory and for ever ascribe to the Great Creator that incommunicable Honour which is due to Him and perfectly do his Commandments But all Mankind was lost in Adam and no Religion was left in the lower world Now although in these and other respects it was most consistent with the Wisdom and Justice of God to conclude them under an irrevocable Doom yet the principal cause that enclin'd him to save Man was meer and perfect Grace The Law madâ— no distinction but awarded the same Punishment Mercy alone made the difference and the reason of that is in Himself Millions of them fell Sacrifices to Justice and guilty Man was spared 'T is not for the excellency of our Natures for Man in his Creation was lower than the Angels nor upon the account of Service for they having more eminent Endowments of Wisdom and Power might have brought greater honour to God nor for our Innocence for though not equally yet we had highly offended Him But it must be resolved into that Love which passeth Knowledg 'T was the unaccountable Pleasure of God that preferr'd babes before the wise and prudent and herein Grace is most glorious He in no wise took the nature of Angels though immortal Spirits He did not put forth his hand to help them and break the force of their Fall He did nothing for their relief they are under unallayed wrath but He took the Seâ—d of Abraham and plants a new Colony of those who sprung from the Earth in the Heavenly Country to fill up the vacant places of those Apostate Spirits This is just matter of our highest admiration why the milder Attribute is exercised towards Man and the severer on them Why the vessels of clay are chosen and the vessels of Gold neglected How can we reflect upon it without the warmest Affections to our Redeemer We shall never fully understand the Riches of distinguishing Grace till our Saviour shall be their Judg and receive us into the Kingdom of Joy and Glory and condemn them to an Eternal Separation from his Presence CHAP. IX The Greatness of Redeeming Love discovered by considering the Evils from which we are freed The Servitude of Sin the Tyranny of Satan the Bondage of the Law the Empire of Death The measure of Love is proportionable to the degrees of our Misery No possible Remedy for us in Nature Our Deliverance is compleat The Divine Love is magnified in the Means by which our Redeemer is accomplishâ—d They are the Incarnation and Sufferings of the Son of God Love is manifested in the Incarnation upon the account of the essential Condition of the Nature assumed and its Servile state Christ took our Nature after it had lost its Innocency The most evident Proof
of God's Love is in the Sufferings of Christ. The description of them with respect to his Soul and Body The Sufferings of his Soul set forth from the Causes of his Grief The Disposition of Christ and the Design of God in afflicting Him The sorrows of his forsaken state All comforting Influences were suspended but without prejudice to the Personal Union or the perfection of his Grace or the Love of his Father towards Him The Death of the Cross considered with respect to the Ignominy and Torment that concurr'd in it The Love of the Father and of Christ amplified upon the account of his enduring it THe next Circumstance to be considered in the Divine Mercy is the degree of it And this is described by the Apostle in all the dimensions which can signifie its greatness He prays for the Ephesians that they may be able to comprehend with all Saints the breadth and length and depth and height of the love of God in Christ which passes knowledge No language is sufficient to express it if our hearts were as large as the Sand on the Sea-shore yet they were too straight to comprehend it But although we cannot arrive to the perfect knowledg of this excellent Love yet 't is our duty to study it with the greatest application of mind for our happiness depends upon it and so far we may understand as to inflame our hearts with a superlative Affection to God And the full discovery which here we desire and search after in the future state shall be obtained by the presence and light of our Redeemer Now the greatness of the Divine Love in our Redemption appears 1. By reflecting on the mighty Evils from which we are freed 2. The means by which our Redemption is accomplisht 3. That excellent State to which we are advanced by our Redeemer 1. If we reflect upon the horrour of our natural state it will exceedingly heighten the mercy that delivered us This I have in part opened before therefore I will be the shorter in describing it Man by his rebellion had forfeited Gods favour and the honour and happiness he injoyed in Paradise And as there is no middle state between Sovereignty and misery he that falls from the Throne stops not till he comes to the bottom so when Man fell from God and the dignity of his innocent state he became extreamly miserable He is under the servitude of sin the tyranny of Satan the bondage of the Law and the empire of Death 1. Man is a captive to sin He is fallen from the hand of his counsel under the power of his passions Love Hatred Ambition Envy Fear Sorrow and all the other stinging Affections of which is true what the Historian speaks of the several kinds of Serpents in Africa Quantus nomiuum tantus mortium numerus exercise a tyranny over him And if no man can serve two Masters as the Oracle of Truth tells us how wretched is the slavery of Man whose passions are so opposit that in obeying one he cannot escape the lash of many imperious Masters He is possest with a Legion of impure lusts And as the Demoniac in the Gospel was sometimes cast into the fire and sometimes into the water so is he hurried by the fury of contrary passions This servitude to sin is in all respects compleat For those who serve are either born servants or bought with a price or made captives by force and sin hath all these kinds of title to man He is conceived and born in sin he is sold under sin and sells himself to do evil As that which is sold passes into the possession of the buyer so the sinner exchanging himself for the pleasures of sin is under its power Original sin took possession of our nature and actual of our lives He is the servant of corruption by yeilding to it for of whom a man is overcome of the same he is brought in bondage The condition of the most wretched bond-â—lave is more sweet and less servile than that of a sinner For the severest tyranny is exercised only upon the body the soul remains free in the midst of chains but the power of sin oppresses the Soul the most noble part and defaces the bright character of the Deity that was stampt upon its visage The worst slavery is terminated with this present life In the grave the Prisoners rest together they hear not the voice of the Oppressor The small and the great are there and the Servant is free from his Master But there is no exemption from this servitude by death it extends its self to Eternity 2. Man since his fall is under the tyranny of Satan who is call'd the God of this World and is more absolute then all temporal Princes his dominion being over the will He overcame man in Paradise and by the right of War he rules over him The soul is kept in his bondage by subtile Chains of which the spiritual nature is capable The understanding is captivated by ignorance and errors the will by inordinate dangerous lusts the memory by the images of sinful pleasures those mortal visions which inchant the soul and make it not desirous of liberty Never did cruel Pirat so incompassionately urge his Slaves to ply their Oares in charging or flying from an enemy as Satan incites those who are his captives to do his will And can there be a more afflicting calamity then to be the slave of ones enemy especially if base and cruel This is the condition of man he is a captive to the Devil who was a Liar and a Murderer from the beginning He is under the rage of that bloody Tyrant whose ambition was to render Man as miserable as himself who in triumph upbraids him for his folly and adds derision to his Cruelty 3. Fallen Man is under the Curse and Terrors of the Law For being guilty he is justly exposed to the punishment threatned against transgressours without the allowance of repentance to obtain pardon And Conscience which is the Ecchâ— of the Law in his bosom repeats the dreadful sentence This is an Acouser which none can silence a Judge that none can decline and from hence it is that Men all their life are subject to bondage being obnoxious to the wrath of God which the awakened Conscience fearfully sets before them This complicated Servitude of a Sinner the Scripture represents under great variety of Similitudes that the defects of one may be supplied by another Every Sinner is a Servant now a Servant by flight may recover his Liberty But he is not only a Servant but a Captive in chains A Captive may be freed by laying down a Ransom but the Sinner is not only a Captive but deeply in debt Every Debtor is not miserable by his own fault it may be his Infelicity not his Crime that he is poor but the Sinner is guilty of the highest offence A guilty Person may enjoy
His Sufferings were equivalent to the Sentence of the Law The Effect of them is our Freedom An Answer to the Objection That 't is a violation of Justice to transfer the Punishment from the guilty to the innocent The Death of Christ is the Price that redeems from Hell This singular effect of his Death distinguishes it from the death of the Martyrs An Answer to the Objections How could God receive this Price since he gave his Son to that Death which redeems us And how our Redeemer supposing him God can make Satisfaction to Himself The Death of Christ represented as a Sacrifice The Expiatory Sacrifices under the Law were substituted in the place of guilty Men. The Effects of them answerable to their threefold respect to God Sin and Men The Atonement of Anger the Expiation of Sin and Freedom from Punishment All sorts of Placatory Sacrifices are referr'd to Christ and the effects of them in a sublime and perfect manner No prejudice to the Freeness and Greatness of God's Love that Christ by his Death reconciled Him to men HAving premised these things I shall now prove that the Divine Justice is really declar'd and glorified in the obedient Sufferings of Christ. For the opening this point 't is necessary to consider the account the Scripture gives of his Death which is threefold 1. 'T is represented under the relation of a Punishment inflicted on him for Sin and the effect of it is Satisfaction to the Law 2. As a Price to redeem us from Hell 3. Under the notion of a Sacrifice to reconcile God to Sinners First As a Punishment inflicted on him for Sin This will appear by considering 1. That Man by his Rebellion against God was capitally guilty He stood sentenced by the Law to Death 2. Christ with the allowance of the Supreme Judg interposed as our Surety and in that relation was made liable to Punishment Sins are by resemblance called Debts As a Debt obliges the Debtor to payment so Sin doth the Sinner to Punishment And as the Creditor hath a right to exact the Payment from the Debtor so God hath a right to inflict Punishment on the guilty But with this difference the Creditor by the meer signification of his will may discharge the Debtor for he hath an absolute power over his estate whereas publick Justice is concern'd in the Punishment of the guilty This is evident by many instances For 't is not sufficient that a Criminal satisfie his Adversary unless the Prince who is the Guardian of the Laws give him Pardon The interest of a private Person who hath received an injury is so distinct from that of the State that sometimes the injured party solicites the Pardon of the offender without success Which shews that principally 't is not to satisfie the particular person that the Crime is punish'd but to satisfie the Law and prevent future Disorders Now our Debt was not pecuniary but penal And as in civil Cases where one becomes Surety for another he is obliged to pay the Debt for in the estimate of the Law they are but one person So the Lord Jesus Christ entring into this relation He sustained the person of Sinners and became judicially one with them and according to the order of Justice was liable to their punishment The displeasure of God was primarily and directly against the Sinner but the effects of it fell upon Christ who undertook for him The Apostle tells us That when the Fulness of time came God sent his Son made under the Law that he might redeem them that were under the Law He took our Nature Condition He was made under the Law Moral and Ceremonial The directive part of the Moral Law He fulfilled by the Innocency of his Life the penalty he satisfied as our Surety being under an Obligation to save us And he appeared as a Sinner in his subjection to the Law of Moses That Hand-writing was against us He therefore enter'd into the Bond that we had forfeited In his Circumcision He signed it with those drops of Blood which were an earnest of his shedding the rest on the Cross. For whosoever was Circumcised became a Debtor to the whole Law And we may observe 't is said That as Moses lifted up the brazen Serpent so the Law of which Moses was a type and Minister lifted up the Messiah on the Cross. 3. The Scripture is very clear and express in setting down the part that God had in the Sufferings of Christ as Supreme Judg the impulsive cause that moved Him their proportion to the punishment of the Law and the effect of them for our Deliverance He was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledg of God All the various and vicious actions of men were over-ruled by his Providence The falsness of Judas the fearfulness of Pilate and the malice of the Jews were subservient to Gods eternal design And as He wills not the Death of a Sinner much less of his Son but for most weighty Reasons these are declared by the Prophet All we like sheep have gone astray and turned every one to his own waies Our Errours were different but the issue was the same that is Eternal Death And the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all that is the Punishment of our Iniquities His Sufferings had such a respect to Sin as included the imputation of it 'T was an act of Sovereignty in God to appoint Christ as Man to be our Surety but an act of Justice to inflict the punishment when Christ had undertaken for us 'T is said He hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows The expressions are comprehensive of all the Miseries of his Life especially his last Sufferings The Hebrew words Nasa and Sabal signifie such a taking away as is by laying upon one who bears it from us And thus it is interpreted by St. Peter He himself bare our sins in his own Body on the tree This necessarily implies the derivation of our guilt to him and the consequent of it the transferring of our punishment Those words are full and pregnant to the same purpose He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our Iniquities the chastisement of our peace was on him and with his stripes we are healed Where the meritorious cause of his Sufferings is set down as appears by the connexion of the words with the former The Jews thought him stricken smitten of God and afflicted that is justly punisht for Blasphemy and usurping Divine Honour In opposition to this conceit 't is added But he was wounded for our transgressions This the Apostle expresly telleth us when he declares that Christ died for our Sins This will appear more fully by considering what the desert of Sin is By our Rebellion we made the forfeiture of Soul Body to Divine Justice Death both the first and the second was the Sentence of the Law Now the Sufferings of Christ were answerable
to this Punishment The Death which the Law threatned for Sin was to be accompanied with Dishonour and Pain And he suffered the Death of the Cross to which a special Curse was annext And this was not onely in respect of the Judgment of Men before whom a Crucified person was made a Spectacle of publick Vengeance for his Crimes but in respect of Gods declaration concerning it The Jews were commanded that none should hang on a Tree longer then the Evening lest the Holy Land should be profaned by that which was an express mark of Gods Curse Now the legal Curse was a Typical signification of the real that should be suffered by our Redeemer Besides his Death was attended with exquisite pains he suffer'd variety of torments by the scourges the thorns the nails that pierc'd his Hands and Feet the least vital but most sensible parts He refused the Wine mix'd with Myrrh that was given to stupifie the senses for the design of his Passion requir'd that he should have the quickest sense of his Sufferings which were the Punishment of Sin And his inward Sorrows were equivalent to the pains of loss and sense that are due to Sinners 'T is true there are circumstances in the Sufferings of the damn'd as Blaspemy Rage Impotent fierceness of mind which are not appointed by the Law but are accidental arising from the perversness of their Spirits For the punishment of the Law is a Physical evil but these are Moral and that punishment is inflicted by the Judge but these are onely from the guilty Sufferers Now to these he was not possibly liable Besides the Death that the Sinner ought to Suffer is Eternal attended with despair and the intolerable anguish of Conscience Now our Redeemer having no real Guilt was not liable to the worm of Conscience and his Temporary Sufferings were equivalent to the Eternal upon the account of his Divine Person so that he was not capable of Despair But he endur'd the unknown terrours of the second Death so far as was consistent with the Perfection of his Nature The anguish of his Soul was not meerly from sympathy with his Body but immediately from Divine Displeasure It pleased the Lord to bruise him this principally respects the Impressions of Wrath made upon his inward Man Had the Cup he fear'd been onely Death with the bitter ingredients of dishonour and pain many have drank it with more appearing resolution The Martyrs endured more cruel torments without complaint nay in their sharpest conflicts have exprest a triumphant joy Whereas our Redeemer was under all the innocent degrees of fear and sorrow at the approach of his Sufferings From whence was the difference Had Christ less Courage He was the Fountain of their Fortitude the difference was not in the disposition of the Patients but in the Nature of the Sufferings He endured that which is infinitely more terrible than all outward torments The Light of Joy that always shined in his Soul a sweet Image of Heaven was then totally eclips'd God the Fountain of Compassion restrain'd himself his Father appear'd a severe inexorable Judge and dealt with him not as his Son but our Surety Under all the Cruelties exercis'd by men the Lamb of God open'd not his mouth but when the Father of Mercies and the God of all Consolations forsook him then he broke forth into a mournful complaint Now by this account of Christs Sufferings from Scripture 't is evident they were truly penal for they were inflicted for Sin by the Supreme Judg and were equivalent to the Sentence of the Law And the benefit we receive upon their account proves that they are satisfaction to Divine Justice for we are exempted from Punishment by his Submission to it He freed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us The Chastisements of our Peace was upon him by whose stripes we are healed So that his Death being the Meritorious Cause of freeing the Guilty is properly Satisfaction Before I proceed to the second Consideration of Christs Death I will briefly answer the Objection of the Socinians viz. That 't is a Violation of Justice to transfer the Punishment from one to another so that the Righteous God could not Punish his innocent Son for our Sins Now to show the invalidity of this Pretence we must consider 1. That Justice is not an irregular appetite of Vengeance arising from Hatred that cannot be satisfied but with the Destruction of the Guilty It preserves Right with pure Affections and is content when the Injury is repair'd from whomsoever satisfaction comes 2. Though an innocent person can't suffer as innocent without Injustice yet he may voluntarily contract an Obligation which will expose him to deserved sufferings The Wisdom and Justice of all Nations agree in punishing one for anothers fault where consent is preceding as in the case of Hostages And although it is Essential to the Nature of Punishment to be inflicted for Sin yet not on the Person of the Sinner for in Conspectu fori the Sinner and Surety are one 3. That exchange is not allowed in Criminal Causes where the Guilty ought to suffer in Person 't is not from any Injustice in the Nature of the thing for then it would not be allowed in Civil but there are special Reasons why an Innocent Person is not ordinarily admitted to suffer for an offender 1. No man hath absolute Power over his own life 'T is a depositum consigned to him for a time and must be preserv'd till God or the Publick good calls for it 2. The Publick would suffer prejudice by the loss of a good Subject Therefore the Rule of the Law is just Non auditur perire volens The desire of one that devotes himself to ruine is not to be heard And the guilty person who is spared might grow worse by impunity and cause great disorders by his evil example But these considerations are of no force in the case of our Saviour For 1. He had full Power to dispose of his life I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again this Commandment have I received of my Father He declares his Power as God that his life intirely depended on his will to preserve it or part with it and his subjection as Mediator to the order of his Father 2. Our Saviour could not finally Perish 'T was not possible he should be held under the power of Death Otherwise it had been against the Laws of reason that the precious should for ever suffer for the vile Better ten thousand Worlds had been lost than that the Holy One of God should perish He saved us through his Sufferings though as by fire and had a glorious reward in the issue 3. There is an infinite good redounds from his Sufferings for Sinners are exempted from Death and the preservation of the guilty is for the glory of Gods government for those who are redeemed by his Death
manner He is called a Lamb in the notion of a Sacrifice The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world A Lamb was used in the Expiation of moral and legal Impurities He is called our Passover that was sacrificed for us The Paschal Lamb in its first Institution had an expiatory efficacy for God by looking on that Blood averted the destruction from the Israelites which seized on the Egyptians This was the reason of the Prohibition that none should go out of the house till the Morning lest they should be struck by the destroying Angel Not but that the Angel could distinguish the Israelites from the Egyptians abroa◠but 't was typical to shew their security was in being under the guard of the Lambs Blood which was shed to spare theirs Thus the Apostle Peter tells us We are redeemed by the Blood of the pure and perfect Lamb. And he was represented by the red Heifer whose ashes were the chief ingredient in the water of Purification For if the Blood of Bulls and Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the Flesh How much more shall the Blood of Christ purge the Conscience Especially the Anniversary Sacrifice which was the Abridgment and Recapitulation of all the rest had an eminent respect to Christ The whole Epistle to the Hebrews is tinctured with this divine Doctrine Secondly The Effects of Christs Death are infinitely more excellent than those that proceeded from Levitical Sacrifices The Law had a shadow of good things to come But the real Virtue and Efficacy is only found in Christ. 1. The Aversion of Gods Wrath is ascribed to his Death according to the Words of the Apostle Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his Righteousness for the Remission of Sins that are past through the forbearance of God to declare I say at this time his Righteousness that he might be Just and the justifier of him that believed in Jesus A Propitiation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Title of the Mercy-Seat partly in regard it cover'd the Tables of the Law which were broke by us to signifie that by Him Pardon is procur'd for us and principally because God was rendred Propitious by the sprinkling the Blood of the Sacrifice on it and exhibited himself there as on a Throne of Grace favourable t◠his people For this Reason he gives the name of the Figure to Christ for he alone answers the Charge of the Law and interposes between Justice and our Guilt and by his own Blood hath reconciled God to us Now the design of God in this appointment was to declare his Righteousness that is that Glorious Attribute that inclines him to punish Sinners For in the Legal Propitiations although the guilt of Men was publickly declared in the Death of the Sacrifices yet the Justice of God did not fully appear since he accepted the Life of a Beast in Compensation for the Life of a Man but in the Death of Christ he hath given the most clear Demonstration of his Justice a sufficient Example of his Hatred to Sin Condemning it and Revenging himself upon it in the Person of his beloved Son that the whole World may acknowledge 't was not from any Inadvertency but meerly by the Dispensation of his Wisdom and Goodness that he forbore so long And by the Death of Christ he hath declared that Glorious Mystery which no created Understanding could ever have conceived that he is inflexibly just and will not suffer sin to pass unpunish'd and that he justifies those who are guilty in themselves if by a purifying Faith they receive Christ for Pardon The same Apostle tells us that Christ hath given himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour Eph. 5.2 He is qualified as a Priest whose Office it was to present to God an offering for Appeasing his Anger He gave himself the Oblation that is added to his Death gives the compleat Formality of a Sacrifice to it for 't is the Priest gives being to the Sacrifice and the effect of it is to be a sweet smelling savour to God that is to conciliate his Favour to us The same phrase is applyed to the Sin-Offering under the Law We may observe that upon this account our Reconciliation to God is attributed to the Death of Christ in distinction from his Glorified Life For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his Life And the same Apostle tells us that God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself not imputing their trespasses unto them we pray you therefore in Christs stead be reconciled to God A double Reconciliation is mentioned that of God to Men and of Men to God the first is the ground of the Apostle's exhortation the latter the effect of it The first was obtained by the Death of Christ who by imputation had our guilt transferred upon Him and consequently our punishment and in consideration of it God who is Just and Holy is willing to pardon penitent Believers The latter is by the powerful working of the Spirit who assures Men that are guilty and therefore suspicious and fearful of God's anger that he is most willing to pardon them upon their repentance since he hath in such an admirable manner found out the means to satisfie his Justice 2. The true expiation of sin is the effect of Christs Death He is called the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the World Now sin may be taken away in two manners First by removing its guilt and exempting the Person that committed it from Death and when this is effected by enduring the punishment that was due to sin 't is properly expiation Secondly By healing the corrupt inclinations of the Heart from whence actual sins proceed 'T is true our Redeemer takes away sin in both these respects he delivers from the Damnation and Dominion of it for he is made of God our Righteousness and Sanctfication But the first sense is only convenient here for 't is evident that the Lamb took away sin that is the guilt of it by dying instead of the sinner and had no effect for the destroying the malignant habits of sin in those who offered them It appears further that this Divine Lamb hath taken away the guilt of our sins in that He bore them in his own Body on the Tree For the native force of the word signifies not only to take away but to carry and bear which applyed to sin is nothing else but to suffer the penalty of it And 't is to be observed when Cleansing Purifying and Washing are attributed to the Blood of Christ they have an immediat respect to the guilt of sin and declare its efficacy to take off the obligation to punishment Thus 't
is said that His Blood cleanseth from all sin and that it purgeth the Conscience foom dead Works and that we are washt from our sins in His Blood The frequent Sprinklings and Purifications with Water under the Law prefigured our cleansing from the defilements of sin by the Grace of the Spirit but the shedding of the Blood of Sacrifices was to purge away sins so far as they made liable to a Curse Thirdly Our exemption from punishment and our restoration to Communion with God in Grace and Glory is the fruit of his expiating sin For this reason the Blood of the Mediator speaks better things then that of Abel For that cryed for revenge against the Murderer but his procures remission to Believers And as the just desert of sin is separation from the presence of God who is the fountain of felicity so when the guilt is taken away the person is received into God's favour and fellowship A representation of this is set down in the 24 of Exod. where we have described the manner of dedicating the Covenant between God and Israel by bloody Sacrifices after Moses had finisht the Offering and sprinkled the Blood on the Altar and the People the Elders of Israel who were forbid before to approach neer to the Lord were then invited to come into his presence and in token of reconciliation feasted before him Thus the Eternal Covenant is establisht by the Blood of the Mediator and all the benefits it contains as remission of sins freedom to draw near to the Throne of Grace and the enjoyment of God in Glory are the fruits of his reconciling Sacrifice The sum of all is this That as under the Law God was not appeased without shedding of Blood nor sin expiated without suffering the punishment nor the sinner pardoned without the substitution of a sacrifice so all these are eminently accomplisht in the Death of Christ. He reconciled God to us by his most precious Blood and expiated sin by enduring the Curse and hath procured our pardon by being made sin for us So that 't is most evident that the proper and direct end of the Death of Christ was that God might exercise his Mercy to the guilty sinner in a way that is honourable to his Justice 'T is objected that if God from infinite Mercy gave his Son to us then antecedently to the coming of Christ he had the highest love for mankind and consequently there was no need that Christ by his Death should satisfie Justice to reconcile him to us But a clear answer may be given to this by considering 1. That Anger and Love are consistent at the same time and may in several respects be terminated on the same subject A Father resents a double affection towards a rebellious Son he loves him as his Son is angry with with him as disobedient Thus in our laps'd state God had compassion on us as his creatures and was angry with us as sinners As the injured party he laid aside his anger but as the preserver of Justice he required satisfaction 2. We must dinstinguish between a love of good-will and compassion and a love of complacency The first is that which moved God to ordain the means that without prejudice to his other perfections he might confer pardon and all spiritual benefits upon us the other is that whereby he delights in us being reconciled to him and renewed according to his Image The first supposes him placable the latter that he is appeased There is a visible instance of this in the case of Job's Friends The Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite My anger is kindled against thee and thy two Friends because ye have not spoken of me the things that are right as my Servant Job Here is a declaration of God's anger yet with the mixture of Love for it follows therefore take unto you now seven Bullocks and seven Rams and go to my Servant Job and offer up for your selves a burnt-offering and my Servant Job shall pray for you for him will I accept He loved them when he directed the way that they might be restored to his Favour yet he was not reconciled for then there had been no need of Sacrifices to atone his anger 2. T is further objected that supposing the Satisfaction of Christ to Justice both the freeness and greatness of God's Love in pardoning sinners will be much lessen'd But it will appear that the Divine Mercy is not prejudiced in either of those respects First The freenss of Gods Love is not diminished for that is the original mover in our Salvation and hath no cause above it to excite or draw it forth but meerly arises from his own will This Love is so absolute that it hath no respect to the sufferings of Christ as Mediator for God so loved the World that he gave his Son to die for us and that which is the effect and testimony of his Love cannot be the impulsive cause of it This first Love of God to Man is commended to us in Christ who is the medium to bring it honorably about Secondly Grace in Scripture is never opposed to Christs Merits but to ours If we had made Satisfaction Justice it self had absolved us For the Law having two parts the command of our Duty which consists in a moral good and the sanction of the punishment that is a physical evil to do or to suffer is necessary not both or if we had provided a Surety such as the Judge could not reject we had been infinitely obliged to him but not to the favour of the Judg. But 't is otherwise here God sent the Reconciler when we were enemies and the Pardon that is dispenc'd to us upon the account of his Sufferings is the effect of meer Mercy We are justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ. 'T is pure Love that appointed and accepted that imputes and applies his Righteousness to us And as the Freeness so the Riches of his Mercy is not lessened by the Satisfaction Christ made for us 'T is true we have a pattern of God's Justice never to be parallel'd in the Death of Christ but to the severity of Justice towards his only beloved Son his clemency towards us guilty Rebels is fully comensurate For He pardons us without the expence of one drop of our Blood though the Soul of Christ was poured forth as an Offering for Sin Thus in an admirable manner He satisfies Justice and glorifies Mercy and this could have been no other way effected for if He had given His Spirit alone to restore us to His Image His Love had eminently appeared but the honour of his Justice had not been secured But in our Redemption they are infinitely magnified His Love could give no more than the Life of His Son and Justice required no less for Death being the Wages of Sin there could be no satisfaction without the Death of our Redeemer CHAP. XIV The
Compleatness of Christ's Satisfaction proved from the Causes and Effects of it The Causes are the Quality of his Person and Degrees of his Sufferings The Effects are His Resurrection Ascension Intercession at Gods right hand and his exercising the Supreme Power in Heaven and Earth The excellent Benefits which God reconciled bestows on Men are the Effects and Evidences of his compleat Satisfaction They are Pardon of Sin Grace and Glory That Repentance and Faith are required in order to the partaking of the Benefits purchased by Christ's Death doth not lessen the Merit of his Sufferings That Afflictions and Dâ—ath are inflicted on Believers doth not derogate from their All-sufficiency THe Third thing to be considered is the Compleatness of the Satisfaction that Christ hath made by which it will appear that Gods Justice as well as Mercy is fully glorified in his Sufferings For the proof of this I will first consider the Causes from whence the compleatness of his Satisfaction arises Secondly The Effects that proceed from it which are convincing Evidences that God is fully appeas'd The Causes of his compleat Satisfaction are two 1. The Quality of his Person derives an infinite value to his obedient Sufferings Our Surety was equally God and as truely Infinite in His Perfections as the Father who was provoked by our Sins therefore he was able to make Satisfaction for them He is the Son of God not meerly in respect of the honour of his Office or the special Favour of God for on these accounts that Title is communicated to others but his only Son by Nature The sole preheminence in Gifts and Dignity would give Him the title of the first-born but not deprive them of the quality of Brethren Now the wisdom and justice of all Nations agree that Punishments receive their estimate from the quality of the Persons that suffer The Poet observes that the Death of a vertuous Person is more precious than of Legions Of what inestimable value then is the death of Christ and how worthy a Ransom for lost mankind For although the Deity is impassible yet he that was a Divine Person he suffered A King suffers more than a private person although the strokes he endures in his body cannot immediatly reach his honour And 't is specially to be observed that the Efficacy of Christs Blood is ascribed to his Divine Nature This the Apostle declares In whom we have Redemption through his Blood even the forgiveness of Sins who is the image of the invisible God Not an artificial Image which imperfectly represents the Original As a Picture that sets forth the Colour and Figure of a Man but not his Life and Nature But the essential and exact Image of his Father that expresses all his glorious Perfections in their immensity and eternity This is testified expresly in Hebr. 1.3 The Son of God the brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person having purged by himself our sins is set down on the right hand of Majesty on High From hence arises the infinite difference between the Sacrifices of the Law and Christs in their value and vertue This with admirable Emphasis is set down in Hebr. 9.13 14. For if the blood of Bulls and of Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purification of the flesh How much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offer'd himself without spot to God purge your Consciences from dead works to serve the living God Wherein the Apostle makes a double Hypothesis 1. That the Legal Sacrifices were ineffectual to purifie from real guilt 2. That by their Typical Cleansing they signified the washing away of moral guilt by the Blood of Christ. 1. Their insufficiency to expiate Sin appears if we consider the subject Sin is to be expiated in the same nature wherein 't was committed now the Beasts are of an inferiour rank and have no communion with Man in his nature Or if we consider the object God was provoked by Sin and He is a Spirit and not to be appeased by gross material things His Wisdom requires that a rational Sacrifice should expiate the guilt of a rational Creature And Justice is not satisfied without a proportion between the Guilt and the Punishment This weakness and insufficiency of the Legal Sacrifices to expiate Sin is evident from their variety and repetition For if full Remission had been obtained The worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sin 'T is the sense of Guilt and the fear of Condemnation that required the renewing of the Sacrifice Now under the Law the Ministry of the Priests never came to a period or perfection The Millions of Sacrifices in all Ages from the erecting the Tabernacle to the coming of Christ had not vertue to expiate one Sin They were only shadows which could give no refreshment to the inflamed Conscience but as they depended on Christ the body and substance of them But the Son of God who offered himself up by the Eternal Spirit to the Father is a Sacrifice not only Intelligent and Reasonable but incomparably more precious than the most noble Creatures in Earth or in Heaven it self He was Priest and Sacrifice in respect of both His Natures His entire Person was the Offerer and Offering Therefore the Apostle from the excellency of his Sacrifice infers the unity of its Oblation and from thence concludes its Efficacy Christ did not by the Blood of Bulls and Goats but by his own Blood He entred in once to the Holy Place having obtained eternal Redemption for us and by one Offering He hath for ever perfected them who are sanctified Upon this account God promised in the New-Covenant That their Sins and Iniquities He would remember no more having received compleat satisfaction by the Sufferings of his Son 'T is now said that once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself And as it is appointed for all men once to die and after Death comes Judgment So Christ was once offered to bear the Sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin As there is no other natural death to suffer between Death and Judgment so there is no other propitiatory Sacrifice between his all-sufficient Death on the Cross and the last coming of our Redeemer There is one Consideration I shall adde to shew the great difference between Legal Sacrifices and the Death of Christ as to its saving vertue The Law absolutely forbids the eating of Blood and the peoples tasting of the Sin-offerings to signifie the imperfection of those Sacrifices For since they were consumed in their Consecration to Gods Justice and nothing was left for the nourishment of the Offerers 't was a sign they could not appease God The Offerers had communion with them when they brought them to the Altar and in a manner
the primitive and main reason of the necessity of things but only a sign of the certainty of the event In strictness things do not arrive because of their prediction but are foretold because they shall arrive It is apparent there was a Divine Decree before the Prophesies and that in the Light of God's Infinite Knowledg things are before they were foretold So 't is not said a Man must be of a ruddy complexion because his Picture is so but on the contrary because he is ruddy his Picture must be so That Christ by dying on the Cross should Redeem Man was the reason that the Serpent of brass was erected on a pole to heal the Israelites and not on the contrary Briefly the Apostle supposes this necessity of Satisfaction as an evident principle when he proves wilful Apostates to be incapable of Salvation Because there remains no more Sacrifice for sin For the consequence were of no force if sin might be pardoned without Sacrifice that is without Satisfaction 3. This account of Christs Death takes off the scandal of the Cross and changes the offence into admiration 'T was foretold of Christ that he should be a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offence not a just cause but an occasion of offence to the corrupt hearts of Men and principally for his Sufferings The Jews were pleased with the titles of honour given to the Messiah that he should be a King Powerful and Glorious But that poverty disgrace and the suffering Death should be his character they could not endure therefore they endeavoured to prevert the sense of the Prophets His Disciples who attended him in his mean state expected those sad apappearances would terminate in visible Glory and Greatness but when they saw him arrested by his Enemies Condemned and Crucified this was so opposite to their expectation that they fainted under the disappointment And when Christ Crucified was Preacht to the Gentile World they rejected him with scorn His Death seemed so contrary to the Dignity of his Person and the design of his Office that they could not relish the Doctrine of the Gospel They judged it absurd to expect Life from one that was subjected to Death and Blessedness from him who was made a Curse To those who look on the Death of Christ with the eyes of carnal wisdom and according to the Laws of corrupt reason it appears folly and weakness and most unworthy of God but if we consider it in its principles and ends all the prejudices vanish and we clearly discover it to be the most noble and eminent effect of the Wisdom Power Goodness and Justice of God To the eye of sense 't was a spectacle of horrour that a perfect Innocent should be cruelly tormented but to the eye of Faith under that sad and ignominious appearance there was a Divine Mystery able to raise our wonder and ravish our affections For he that was naked and nailed to the Cross was really the Son of God and the Saviour of Men And his Death with all the penal circumstances of dishonour and pain is the only Expiation of sin and Satisfaction to Justice He by offering up his Blood appea'sd the wrath of God quencht the flaming Sword that made Paradise inaccessible to us he took away sin the true dishonour of our natures and purchased for us the Graces of the Spirit the richest ornaments of the reasonable Creature The Doctrine of the Cross is the only foundation of the Gospel that unites all its parts and supports the whole building 'T is the cause of our Righteousness and Peace of our Redemption and Reconciliation How blessed an exchange have the Merits of his Sufferings made with those of our Sins Life instead of Death Glory for Shame and Happiness for Misery For this reason the Apostle with vehemence declares that to be the sole ground of his boasting and triumph which others esteemed a cause of blushing God forbid that I should Glory save in the Cross of Christ. He rejects with extreme detestation the mention of any other thing as the cause of his Happiness and matter of his Glory The Cross was a tree of Death to Christ and of Life to us The supreme Wisdom is justified of its Children 4. The Satisfaction of Divine Justice by the Sufferings of Christ affords the strongest assurance to Man who is a guilty and suspicious creature that God is most ready to pardon sin There is in the natural Conscience when opened by a piercing conviction of sin such a quick sense of Guilt and Gods Justice that it can never have an intire confidence in his Mercy till Justice be atoned From hence the convinced Sinner is restlesly inquisitive how to find out the way of reconciliation with a Righteous God Thus he is represented inquiring by the Prophet Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the most High God shall I come before him with Burnt-Offerings with Calves of a year old will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousand rivers of oil shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my Body for the sin of my Soul The Scripture tells us that some consum'd their Children to render their Idols favourable to them But all these means were ineffectual their most costly Sacrifices were only food for the fire Nay instead of expiating their old they committed new sins and were so far from appeasing that they inflamed the Wrath of God by their cruel oblations But in the Gospel there is the most rational and easy way propounded for the Satisfaction of God and the Justification of Man The Righteousness of Faith speaketh on this wise Say not in thy heart Who shall ascend into Heaven that is to bring down Christ from above Or who shall descend into the deep that is to bring up Christ again from the dead But if thou wilt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved The Apostle sets forth the anxiety of an awakened Sinner he is at a loss to find out a way to escape Judgment for things that are on the surface of the Earth or floating on the Waters are within our view and may be obtain'd but those that are above our Understanding to discover or Power to obtain are proverbially said to to be in the Heavens above or in the Deeps And 't is applied here to the different wayes of Justification by the Law and the Gospel The Law propounds Life upon an impossible condition but the Gospel clearly reveals to us that Christ hath performed what is necessary for our Justification and that by a lively and practical Faith we shall have an Interest in it The Lord Jesus being ascended hath given us a convincing proof that the Propitiation for our Sins is perfect For otherwise He had not been received into Gods Sanctuary Therefore to be under
Image from glory to glory how much more the Vision of his unveiled Face Our Graces here are but as the rude draught and first colours of the Divine Image that shall then be in its perfection We know that when he appears we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is The similitude between the Saints above and Christ is so exact that if one should enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and were not directed by the Light of that place he would be apt to think every glorified Saint he meets to be more than a creature St. John the beloved of Christ and as clear-sighted as any of the Apostles mistook an Angel for God and would have adored him although he did not appear in his full glory The Kingdoms of the world with all their splendour are no more in compare to it than a dead spark to the Sun in its brightness The very Bodies of the Saints shall be raised from the Grave and beautified with eternal Ornaments They shall be Companions with the Angels and conformed to the glorious Body of Christ. Briefly In the present state we are not capable to receive the full knowledg of Heaven What we understand is infinitely desirable but the most glorious part is still undiscovered The Apostle tells us Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it enter'd into the heart of man to conceive what God hath prepared for those that love him All that is beautiful or sweet here is but a shadow of that Glory a drop of that vast Ocean of delights For all that is desirable in the Creatures and is disperst among them is united in God as the Original in an infinite and indeficient manner with all the Prerogatives that the Creatures have not Celestial Blessedness as much exceeds our most raised thoughts as God is more glorious in himself than in any representations made of him by the shadows of our earthly Imaginations There is a greater disproportion between the condition of a Saint on Earth and in Heaven than between the Life of an Infant in the Womb and of the same person when advanc'd to the Throne and attended with the Nobility of a Nation St. John declares Now we are the Sons of God but it doth not appear what we shall be Who knows the full signification of being heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ of partaking in that glorious Reward which is given to him for his great Services to the Crown of Heaven Who can tell the weight the number and measure of that Blessedness To him that overcomes saith our Redeemer will I grant to sit with me in my Throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his Throne We have reason to break forth in the Language of the Psalmist How great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for those that fear thee and supply the defects of our understanding with a Holy admiration that is the only measure of those things that are above our measure Besides the Reward as in excellency 't is Divine so in duration 't is perpetual Heaven is an inheritance as safe as great Here we are subject to time that carries us and all our goods down its swift stream but there Eternity that is fixt and unchangeable embraces us in its bosome We shall be secure and at Rest for no Person shall take away our Crown we shall reign for ever and ever At Godâ—s right hand are pleasures for evermore that can never abate or end As his Liberal Hand bestows so his Powerful preserves our Happiness The Blessed shall sing Everlasting Hymns of Glory and Songs of thanksgiving to the Great Creatour Redeemer and Sanctifier who hath prepared and purchased that felicity for them and hath brought them to the secure possession of it Now can there be a more powerful motive to Obedience than Infinite and Eternal Blessedness what can pretend to our Affections in competition with it Carnal pleasures only gratifie our viler part the Body in its vilest state but the Joys of Heaven are Spiritual and Sublime and proportioned to our noblest and most capacious Faculties Earthly delights cannot satisfie our senses but the Peace of God passes understanding One hours enjoyment of it is better than an Eternity spent in the pleasures of sin What inexcusable madness is it to prefer painted trifles before that inestimable Treasure Who can truely believe there is such an excellent Glory but he must love it and vigorously endeavour to obtain it Who would not go to the Celestial Canaan though the way lies through a Wilderness where no Flower or Fruit grows All temporal evils are not only to be endured but chearfully embraced in order to the possessing of it The Apostle tells us I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not comparable with the Glory that shall be revealed in us And he was the most fit person to make the comparison having made tryal of both States For he was a Man of Sorrows that had past through affliâ—ctions of all kinds and he was ravisht up to Paradise where he heard those things that exceed all expressions of Humane Words Now after a serious estimate he declares that the Eternal weight of Glory infinitely outballances the Light and momentany troubles of this Life Thus from what hath been said concerning the greatness of the recompences hereafter we may understand how powerful they are to deter Men from Sin and to allure them to Holiness 2. That these objects may be effectual our Saviour hath clearly revealed them and given us convincing evidence and assurance of their reality The Heathens had only some glimmerings and suspicions of a future state They were under doubts concerning the Nature of the Soul whether mortal or incorruptible wavering between the assent and denial and inclining to this or that part as Sense perswaded them to believe themselves only as Bruits or Reason to acknowledge themselves Men. Socrates before his Judges speaks as one that desired Immortality and in his last Discourses to his Friends he endeavours to perswade them but could not conquer his own doubts nor assure himself All his discourses end in Conjectures and uncertain guesses Besides the Hell which they fancyed was made up of such ridiculous and senseless terrours that could only affect Children who were not arrived to the perfect use of Reason And their apprehensions of Happiness in the next Life were so extravagant that what the Philosopher said in general of Hope that 't is the Dream of waking Men is more justly applicable to the Hope of the Heathens in respect of the future reward For as the illusions of a Dream have many times a real Subject but environ'd with so many fantastick Imaginations as spoils all the proportions of it so their Opinion had a foundation in Truth but was mixt with many Errours inconsistent with perfect felicity And as the pleasure of