you know and ver 12. All are said to have sinned namely in his sinne Yea and according to those words in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are added there you may render that sentence and the Originall bears it and it is also varied in the Margent thus In whom all have sinned namely in Adam as in a publique person Their act was included in his because their persons were included in his And 2. 2. Adam a Common person in what beell him for what he did as in death and his condemnation threatned for what befell him for sin that befell them also by the same Law of his being a person representing them Hence ver 12. Death is said to passe upon all men namely for this that Adams sin was considered as theirs as it there follows It is said to passe even as a sentence of death passeth upon a condemned Malefactor And ver 18. Iudgment is said to come by that one mans offence upon all men to condemnation Now in Gen. 2. 17. the threatning was spoken only to Adam as but one man In the day that thou eatest therof thou shalt surely die And Gen. 3. 19. that sentence seems onely to passe upon him alone Vnto dust thou shalt return Yet in threatning Adam God threatned us all and in sentencing Adam to death he sentenced us also The curse reacheth us too Death passed upon all men then and therefore by a just Law Death raigns over all as ver 14. and 17. because Adam was in all this Rom. 5. a Common person representing us and so in our stead and so all this concerns us as truely and as neerly as it did him I say by a just Law for indeed the Scripture upon the equity of this Rule pronounceth a Statute out against all men that they should die Heb. 9. 27. Statutum st It is appointed by a Statute Law that all should die Now if you search for this Statute when and where enacted you will find that the Originall Record and Roll is that in Gen. 3. 9. spoken onely of Adam but holding true of us To dust thou shalt returne Just thus the matter stands in the point of our §. 2. justification and salvation Answerably Christ ordained a Common person both in what he did or was done to him betweene Christ and Elect Beleevers for Adam was herein his Type Christ was considered and appointed of God as a Common person both in what he did and in what was done to him So as by the same Law what he did for us is reckoned or imputed to us as if we our selves had done it and what was done to him tending to our justification and salvation is reckoned as done to us Thus when Christ dyed he dyed as a Common person and God reckoneth that we dyed also When Christ arose he rose as our Head and as a Common person and so then God accounts that we rose also with him And by vertue of that communion which we had with him in all those actions of his it is that now when we are born againe we do all rise both from the guilt of sin and from the power of it even as by vertue of the like communion we had with or being one in Adam we come to be made sinfull when we begin first to exist as men and to be first borne Thus in his death he was considered as a Common person Exemplified by one instance in his dying and God reckoned us dying then and would have us reckon so also So Rom. 6. 10. the Apostle speaking of Christ saith In that he dyed he dyed unto sinne once but in that he liveth he liveth unto God Then ver 11. speaking of us he sayes Likewise reckon you your selves to be dead unto sinne but alive unto God through Iesus Christ our Lord. The meaning whereof is plainly this that whereas regenerate men are for the present in the reality but imperfectly mortified and dead to sinne as considered in themselves and in respect of the work of it as wrought in them yet that being considered in Christ as their Head and a Common person representing them they may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they may truly by a way of faith reason or reckon themselves wholly dead in and through Jesus Christ our Lord in that he once dyed perfectly unto sin as a Common person representing them So as what yet is wanting in the work of Mortification in their sense and experience of it they may supply by faith from the consideration of Christ their Head even themselves to have dyed when he dyed The Apostle I say would have them by reason conclude or inferre for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies as Chap. 3. 28. therefore we conclude c. it is the same word from Christs death that they are dead which Conclusion cannot be made unlesse this be one of the Propositions in this Argument That we dyed in Christ when hee dyed and so though in our selves we are not yet wholly dead to sin nor perfectly alive to God yet through Iesus Christ your Lord and Head sayes he reckon your selves so in that as ver 10. he dyed and now lives and you were included in him And indeed this Consideration the Apostle suggests unto our faith both as the greatest encouragement against imperfect mortification begun that yet we may comfort our selves by faith as reckoning our selves wholly dead in Christs death and so may assure our selves we shall one day be perfectly dead in our selves by vertue of it and withall as the strongest argument also motive unto Mortification to endeavour to attain to the highest degree of it which therefore he carryes along in his Discourse throughout that whole Chapter He would have them by faith or spirituall reasoning take in and apprehend themselves long since dead to sin in Christ when he dyed and so should think it the greatest absurdity in the world to sin even the least sinne we being dead long since and that wholly when Christ our Head dyed And how shall we that are dead to sinne live any longer therein And ver 7. He that is dead is free from sinne and how then shall we doe the least service to it Now all this he puts upon Christs dying and our dying then with him ver 6. Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him even when he was crucified that it might be destroyed one day in us fully and perfectly Christs Body representing therein as a publique person the Elect and their body of sin conjunct with them So as thus by faith they are to reason themselves wholly dead to sin in Christ and to use it as a reason and motive to stir up themselves not to yeeld to the least sin I use this expression of being wholly dead because if he had spoken meerly of that imperfect mortification begun in us the argument would not have been a perfect motive against the least sinnes
we were dead with Christ even then when he dyed so in the 2. of Coloss 13. we are said to be risen with him in respect of our justification which is the thing in hand The words are And you being dead in your sins namely the guilt of your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh that is in respect of the power of corrupt nature hath he quickned together with him having forgiven you all your trespasses See here the forgivenesse of our sins or our justification is called a quickning or a raising up of us as the 12. ver hath it together with him in a conformity and relation to that justification from our sins which at his Resurrection he received in our names His meaning is he was justified then in our names and so we are now justifyed through the vertue of that our communion with him therein For if you mark the connexion of the words with what follows ver 14. you will finde this forgiving of their trespasses ver 13. through their being quickned together with him not onely to have been done when they beleeved and so when they had that justification personally first applyed to them of which it is true the words in the 12. ver are to be understood but also then to have been done when he having as it follows in the 14. ver blotted out the hand-writing of Ordinances which was against us nailing it to his Crosse and having spoiled Principalities and Powers and got the victory namely in his rising again had made a shew of them openly in his ascending to heaven triumphing over them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in himselfe as the Margent hath it of which words I shall farther speak in the next Head So as then when Christ did this in himselfe then were our sins forgiven then were we acquited with him and triumphed with him he doing all this in our stead representing us CHAP. VII How all this both the support of our faith and our Justification by Christs Resurrrection is sealed up to us in Baptisme The Conclusion How faith may make use of Christs Resurrection in its pleas to God ANd all this our communion with Christ in his Resurrection both in respect of Sanctification which the 6. of the Rom. holds forth and of Justification which this place in the Coloss holds forth is lively as both places declare set out and sealed up to us in the Sacrament of Baptisme Rom. 6. 3 4. we are said to be buried with him in Baptisme c. and Col. 2. 12. Buryed with him in Baptisme wherein also you are risen with him The ominent thing signified and represented in Baptisme is not simply the bloud of Christ as it washeth us from sin but there is a farther representation therein of Christs Death Buriall and Resurrection in the Baptized's being first buryed under water and then rising out of it and this not in a bare conformity unto Christ but in a representation of a communion with Christ in that his Death and Resurrection Therefore it is said We are buryed with him in Baptisme and Wherein you are risen with him It is not simply said like as he was buryed and rose but With him So as our communion and one-nesse with him in his Resurrection is represented to us therein and not onely our conformity or likenesse unto him therein And so Baptisme representeth this to us that Christ having once in himselfe sustained the persons of all the Elect in his Buriall and Resurrection that now upon the party himselfe who is baptized is personally particularly and apparently re-acted the same Part againe in his Baptisme thereby shewing what his communion with Christ before was in what was then done to Christ that he then was buried with Christ and rose with him and upon that ground is now in this outward sign of Baptisme as in a shew or representation both buryed and also riseth againe And moreover hence it is that the Answer of a good conscience which is made the inward effect of this Ordinance of Baptisme 1 Pet. 3. 21. is there also attributed unto Christs Resurrection as the thing signified and represented in Baptisme and as the cause of that answer of a good conscience Even Baptisme saith he doth now also save us as being the Ordinance that seales up salvation not the putting away of the filth of the flesh or the washing of the outward man but the answer of a good conscience towards God By the Resurrection of Iesus Christ To open these words Our consciences are that principle in us which are the seat of the guilt of all the sinnes of the whole man unto whose Court they all come to accuse us as unto Gods Deputy which Conscience is called Good or Evill as the state of the man is If his sinne remain unpardoned then as his estate is damnable so his conscience is evill If his sins bee forgiven and his person justified his conscience is said to bee good Conscience having its denomination from the mans state even as the Urine is called good or bad as the state of the mans body is healthful or unsound whose Urine it is Now in Baptisme forvivenesse of sins and justification being sealed up to a believers faith conscience under that lively representation of his Communion with Christ in his Resurrection hence this is made the fruit of Baptisme that the good conscience of a believer sealed up in Baptisme hath where withall from thence to answer all accusations of sin that can or doe at any time come in upon him and all this as it is there added By vertue of the resurrection of Iesus Christ namely in this respect that his Communion with Christ in his Resurrection hath been represented in his Baptisme as a ground of his faith and of that Answer unto all accusations So that indeed the same thing that Paul sayes by way of triumph and defiance to all accusations Who shall condemne Christ is risen the very same thing Peter here mentions though not by way of Defiance yet of a Beleevers Answer and Apologie That if sinnes doe come to condemne or accuse a good conscience is ready to say Christ is risen and I was then justified in him There is my Answer which nothing in heaven nor hell is able to reply unto This is the answer of a good conscience by the Resurrection of Iesus Christ Now to crown this second Pillar of Faith with this Coronis or Conclusion Application by way of Application or Direction to a believers faith How saith is to make use of this in pleading our Justification How to make use of Christs Resurrection in point of non-condemnation You heard before out of Rom. 6. that in respect of Mortification as the Apostle there reasoneth we may be truly said to have been perfectly dead to all sinne in Christs dying unto sin once and through his representing us therein as dying unto sinne in and with him So as although we be for
the present but imperfectly mortified in our selves yet when corruptions arise the Apostle bids us help our selves against them by faith reasoning our selves to stand wholly dead to sin when Christ dyed and so to conclude from thence that we shall one day be fully dead to sin because we then did perfectly dye in Christ unto it which kinde of reasoning also God would have us use as a motive and of all motives that are in the Gospell it is the strongest against any corruption when as it ariseth Shall I that am dead to sin in Christ and so am freed from it shall I live any longer therein Ver. 2. Now as God would have our faith make this use of our Communion with Christ in his death in point of sanctification just so when guilt of sin ariseth in thy conscience to accuse or threaten condemnation reason thou thy selfe as the Apostles word is in that other case or reckon thy selfe as our translation hath it justified in Christ in his Justification which was done at his Resurrection Yea and seeing God would have thee use thy Communion with Christ in his Death as an argument to move thee to mortifie sin bidding thee to reckon thy self dead to sin in Christ doe thou desire him in like manner to reckon thee as justified at Christs Resurrection for the ground of both is the same and return that as an argument to him to move him to justifie thee And this is that answer of a good conscience which Peter speaks of this is the meaning of Pauls challenge Who shall condemne Christ is risen And should thy heart object and say But I know not whether I was one of those that God reckoned justified with Christ when he arose Then go thou to God and aske him boldly whether he did not doe this for thee and whether thou wert not one of them intended by him put God to it and God will by vertue of Christs Resurrection for thee even himselfe Answer thy faith this question ere thou art aware He will not deny it And to secure thee the more know that however Christ will bee sure to look to that for thee so as that thou having been then intended as if thy heart be drawne to give it self up to Christ thou wert shalt never be condmned SECT IV. FAITH supported by Christs ASCENSION AND Sitting at Gods right hand ROM 8. 34. Who is he that condemneth It is Christ who is even at the right hand of God CHAP. I. A Connexion of this third Head with the two former Shewing how it affords a farther degree of Triumph Two things involved in it 1. Christs Ascension 2. Christs power and authority in heaven I Come next to this third great Pillar and support of Faith Christs Being at Gods right hand and to shew how the view and consideration hereof may strengthen faith seeking justification and pardon of sinne Who is he that condemneth Christ is even at Gods right hand In the opening of which I shall keep to the begun method both by shewing how Iustification it selfe depends upon this and the evidence thereof to us both which the Apostle had here in his eye and from both which our faith may derive comfort and assurance And I meane to keep punctually to the matter of Iustification onely as in the former These two latter that remain here in the Text Christs sitting at Gods right hand and his interceding for us are brought in here by the Apostle as those which have a redundant force and prevalencie in them for the non-condemnation of the Elect that although the two former abundantly served to secure it yet these two added to the former do make the triumph of faith more compleat and full and us more then Conquerours as it after follows Nor doth this place alone make mention of Christs sitting at Gods right hand which I now am first to handle in this its relation and influence into our Iustification the assurance of faith about it but you have it to the same end use and purpose alleadged by that other great Apostle 1. Pet. 3. from the 18. to the 22. And if the scopes of these two Apostles in both places be compared they are the same Here the Resurrection of Christ and his sitting at Gods right hand are brought in as the ground of this bold challenge triumph of faith and there is Peter is mentioned the Answer or Plea of a good conscience in a beleever justified which it puts into the Court and opposeth against all condemning guilts so it is called ver 21. The Apostle alleadging the Resurrection of Iesus Christ as one ground of it the answer of a good conscience by the Resurrection of Iesus Christ And then further to back and strengthen this Plea or Answer of a good conscience the Apostle puts his Ascension and sitting at Gods right hand into the Bill as further grounds confirming it so it follows who is gone into Heaven and is at the right hand of God Angells and Authorities and Powers being made subject to him All which the Apostle here expresseth in one word as enough to carrie it that Christ is even at Gods right hand The soule hath a sufficient answer against condemnation in Christs death and Resurrection full enough though it should stop there yea therein can faith triumph though it went no further for it can shew a full satisfaction given in his death and that accepted by God for us and Christ acquited and we in him Therefore faith you see comes to a rather there But then let it go on to consider Jesus sitting at Gods right hand and making intercession for us and then faith will triumph and insult over all accusers be more then a Conqueror then it comes not to a rather onely as here but to a much more shall we be saved by his life thus Rom. 5. 10. And the meaning thereof is that if his death had power to pay all our debts and justifie us at first then much more hath his life this power So that his death is but the ground and foundation of our faith herein and the lowest step of this ladder but these other are the top full triumph of faith therein And our spirits should rise as the Apostle herein riseth Faith upon these wings may not onely fly above the Gun-shot of all accusations and condemners but even cleane out of their sight and so far above all such thoughts fears as it may reach to a security that sins are forgotten and shall be remembred no more What joy was there in the Disciples when they saw Christ risen Ioh. 20. Therefore in the Primitive times it was used as a voice of joy and to this day the Grecian Christians s entertain each other at that time of the year with these words The Lord is risen your Surety is out of Prison fear not But as Christ said in another case so say I what will you say if you see your Surety ascended
We who are dead how shall we live in sinne or yeeld unto the least sinne For it might be said Alas we are but imperfectly dead and from an imperfect death could but an imperfect argument have been drawn But the Scripture elsewhere tels us that Christ by his death hath perfected for ever all that are sanctified so Heb. 10. So as in his death they may reckon themselves perfectly dead by faith and perfectly sanctified though yet the work be not actually and fully perfected And all this communion with Christ as a Common person representing them in his death he there instructs them to be represented and sealed up to them by their Baptisme so ver 3 4. How I shall shew afterwards Now as this place holds forth Christ as a Common person in his Death representing us §. 2. so other places hold forth the like of his Resurrection More particularly how Christ was a Common person in his Resurrection and therein representing us In the 1 Cor. 15. 20. the Apostle argues that Elect Beleevers must and shall rise because Now Christ is risen from the dead and is become the first-fruits of them that sleep See the force of this Argument founded upon this notion and consideration that Christ was a Common person representing all the rest and this strongly presented in that expression of his being the first-fruits in allusion to the Rite in the Leviticall Law All the sheaves in a field being unholy of themselves there was some one sheafe in the name and room of all the rest which was called the first-fruit which was lift up and waved before the Lord and so all the sheaves abroad in the field by that act done to this one sheafe were consecrated unto God Levi. 23. 10. c. by vertue of that law The meaning of which Rite the Apostle expounding alledgeth Rom. 11. 16. If the first-fruits be holy all the lump is holy also Thus when we were all dead Christ as the First-fruits riseth and this in our name and stead and so we all rise with him and in him And although the Saints departed are not it their owne persons as yet risen as wee all who are now alive are not in our own persons yet dead yet in the meane time because thus they are risen in Christ as their First-fruits hence in the very words following hee faith they are but asleep He is become the first-fruits of them that sleep because they remaine alive in Christ their Head and shall rise one day because in him they virtually are already risen and this in Gods account in as true and just a sense as we though personally alive are yet all reckoned dead in Adam because in as a Common person had the sentence of death pronounced on him by vertue of which we must dye and this by the force of the same Law even of that which wee have inclucated of being a Common person representing us And indeed so it followes which argues this to be the Apostles meaning ver 21. For as in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive His argument lies thus Adam was the first-fruits of them that dyed Christ of them that rise Hence therefore we are elsewhere said though in respect to another life to be rise with Christ Ephes 2. 5 6. which is yet more to sit together with him in heaven because he as a Common person representing us sits there in our name and stead as you shall heare when I come to in the Text in the next Section CHAP. V. The second branch How Christs representing us as a Common Person in his Resurrection hath an Influence into our Justification made forth by two things 1. How Christ at his Resurrection was justified from our sin 2. That we were all then justified in him as a Common person NOw then to come to the other branch of the Demonstration namely how this relation to us as a Common Person representing us in his Resurrection hath a reall influence into our Justification And this is the point I drive at and for the clearing of which that large and general discourse by way of digression in the former Chapter was but to make way for I shall absolve and dispatch this Branch by shewing two things 1. That Christ himselfe was justified and that at his Resurrection 2. That he was justified then as a Common person representing us therein as well as that he rose as a Common person and so that we were then justified in him and with him and by this meanes it is that by that Act then done to him our Justification is made irrepealable for ever For the explicating of the first §. 1. As Christ was in his death made sinne for us 1. That Christ himselfe was justified at his Resurrection and so sustained our persons in his satisfying for sin by his death which is the matter of our righteousnesse so in and upon his Resurrection he was justified and acquited from our sins by God Made forth by three things laid together as having now fully in his Death satisfied for them which I make forthby these three things put together First in reason 1. There must have been some Act passe from God when Christ was acquited and justified from our sins by God if that Christ were made sinne for us and satisfied for it there must then some Act passe whereby Christ should be pronounced acquit of our sinnes and fully cleare of them and so be himselfe formally justified in respect of those sins for which he undertook to satisfie For according to the course of all Proceedings if a charge of guilt be formally laid there must be as formall an Act of acquiting and of giving a Quietus est There is no man but for his owne discharge and security would desire it Nor is there any wise man that payes a debt for which he is legally sued that wil not have upon the payment of it as legall an Acquitance Paul when he was cast into prison by a publique Act of Authority he stood upon it to have a publique Act of Release from the same Magistrates and would not goe forth of prison privily though themselves sent to him so to goe out Acts 36. 37. Now God himselfe did lay the iniquities of us all upon Christ Esay 53. 6. and had him to prison and to Iudgement for them ver 8. There must therefore some Act passe from God legally to take them off from him and declaring him discharged to deliver him from Prison and Judgement And De facto it is evident That there was such an Act passed that there was some such Act passed from God for as we read that Christ vvhile he lived and also in his Death was made sin and did beare the sin of many as the phrase is Heb. 9. 28. So we read in the very next words that he shall appeare the second time without sinne which must needs be spoken in a
direct opposition to his having born our sins and appearing then with all our sins laid to his charge He appeared charged with them then but now he shall appeare as apparently and as manifestly to be without those sins for of our sins it must needs be meant and so to be discharged of them as fully as ever he appeared charged with them For it is said He shall appeare without sin and therefore to the judgements of all it shall be made manifest that that God that once charged him with them hath now fully discharged him of them The Apostle speaks of it as of a great alteration made in this respect betweene Christ as he was whilst on earth and Christ as he is to appeare the second time and is now in heaven And this alteration or discharge must necessarily be made by God for he is the Creditour vvho followed the Suit and therefore he alone can give the Acquitance Now secondly 2. There must be some season of time when this discharge from our sins was first made unto Christ from hence it will follow that there must be some time when this alteration was first made and discharge given when Christ from being sin as he was made should become without sinne through Gods acquiting of him and this say I was at his Resurrection It is not deferred as then to be first done when he is to appeare the second time though then it appeares indeed but it is really done before for hee comes then to judge others for sinne Now in reason when should this Acquitance or Justification from our sins be first given to Christ and legally pronounced on him but when he had paid the last farthing of the debt and made his satisfaction compleat which was then done when he began to rise for his lying in the grave was a part of his Humiliation and so of his Satisfaction as generally Orthodoxe Divines hold Now therefore when he began to rise then ended his Humiliation and that was the first moment of his Exaltation His Acquitance therefore bears Date from thence even from that very houre Hence thirdly 3. That this must needs be and was first made to him at his Resurrection we read as that Christ was condemned so that he was justified Thus 1 Tim. 3. 16. God is said to be manifest in the flesh and then that this God-man was justified in the spirit That is whereas God was manifest or appeared in flesh to condemne sinne in the flesh as Rom. 8. that same God-man was also justified in the spirit from all those sins and so received up to glory as it follows there And not to goe far the very words of this my Text It is God that justifies are taken out of Esay 50. 8 9. and as there they are first spoken by Christ of himselfe then when he gave his back to the smiters in his death as in the verses before and vvas put to death as a condemned man he comforts himselfe vvith this He is neere that justifies me who shall condemne And when was that done or to be done but at his Resurrection So the phrase in Timothy imports if you compare it with another in Peter 1 Pet. 3. 18. Being put to death in the flesh and quickned in or by the spirit Paul he sayes Iustified in the spirit Peter he sayes Quickned in the spirit both meane one and the same thing By Spirit is meant the power of his God-head and Divine nature whereby he was at once both raised from the grave and from under the guilt of sin together He was at once both quickned or raised and justified also And that by Spirit they mean his Divine nature the opposition in both places evidently implyes for it is opposed to his Flesh or humane nature Now because he was quickned or raised by the power of the God-head and at that raising him he was justifyed also by God and declared justifyed by that Resurrection as he had been declared condemned by his death Hence to be justified is put for his Resurrection for that was his justification or declaration to all the world that he was justified from all the sins laid to his charge And that other place I cited out of Isaiah hath the same meaning also for Christ there comforts himselfe against the Jews condemning him and putting him to death with the hopes of Gods justifying of him when he should have gone through that work And Christs meaning there is this God will raise me up and acquit me though you condemne and kill me In the other Prophets you shall find Christ still comforting himself against his condemnation at his death with the thoughts of his Resurrection which he fore-saw as shortly to follow after it as here in Esay he comforts himselfe with these hopes of his being justified after their condemnation of him For instance Psa 16. 9. My flesh shall rest in hope thou wilt not leave my soule in hell nor suffer thy holy One to see corruption Which words you know Peter in the Acts doth twice interpret of Christs Resurrection In like manner here in Esay against his death and condemnation he comforts himself with the hopes of Gods justification of him at his Resurrection He is neere who justifies me and he shall help me who shall condemne And further His Resurrection therefore called his first begetting to confirm strengthen this notion because his Resurrection was the first moment of this his justification from our sins therefore it is that God cals it his first begetting of Christ This day have I begotten thee speaking manifestly of his Resurrection Acts 13. 35. And the reason of his so calling it is because all the while before he was covered with sin and the likenesse of sinfull flesh But now having flung it off he appears like Gods Son indeed as if newly begotten And thus also there commeth to be the fuller conformity betweene Christ justification ours For as our justification is at our first being born again And therein a conformity between our Regeneration and his Resurrection so was Christ also at this his first glorious begetting He was under an Attainder before here was the Act of Restitution first passed And as at our Conversion which is to us a Resurrection wee passe from death to life that is from an estate of death and condemnation unto justification of life so did Christ also at his Resurrection which to him was are begetting passe from an estate of death and guilt laid on him to an estate of Life Glory and justification from guilt and so shall appear as the word is Heb. 9. ult as he doth now in heaven without sin for he became to be without sin frō that very moment Thus I have shewn how Christ was justified at his Resurrection Now then in the 2. §. 2. place 2. That Beleevers were all justified in Christ his justification as a Common person representing them I am to
up to Heaven and that as far above Angels and Principalities as the Apostle speaks Eph. 1. as the Heavens are above the Earth will you not in your faiths hopes proportionably ascend and climb up also have thoughts of pardon as far exceeding your ordinary thoughts as the heavens are above the earth Therefore first view him as ascending into Heaven ere ever hee comes to be at Gods right hand and see what matter of triumph that will afford you for that you must first suppose ere you can see him at Gods right hand and so is necessarily included thought not expressed here But that place fore-quoted out of Peter 1 Pet. 3. gives us both these two particulars included in it 1. His Ascension Who is gone into Heaven And 2. his power and authority there Is at Gods right hand and hath all power and authority subject to him and prompts both these as fit matter to be put into a good conscience its Answer and Apologie why it should not be condemned therfore both may here as well come in into faiths triumph and that as being intended also by the Apostle and included in this one expression He speaks with the least to shew what cause faith had to triumph for the least expression of it his purpose being but to give a hint to faith of that which cōprehensively contains many things in it which he would have us distinctly to consider for our comfort CHAP. II. Shewing first what evidence for our justification Christs Ascension into Heaven affords unto our Faith upon that first forementioned consideration of his being a Surety for us FIrst then to see what triumph his ascending into Heaven will add unto our faith in matter of non-condemnation And herein 1. By considering what was the last action he did when he was to Ascend Blessing his Disciples first there is not nothing in it to consider what he then did and what was his last Act when he was to take his rise to fly up to Heaven He blessed his Disciples and thereby left a blessing upon earth with them for all his elect to the end of the World The true reason and minde of which blessing them was that he being now to go to execute the eternall office of his Priest-hood in Heaven of which God had sworn Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec As Melehisedec in the Type blessed Abraham and in him all the faithfull as in his loins therefore the Apostle said that Levi paid tithes unto Melchisedec in Abrahams loines therefore he was blessed in his loines so did Christ begin this new and second part of his Priest-hood with blessing the Apostles and in them all the elect to the end of the World This was the last thing that Christ did on earth yea this he did whilst ascending he was taken up whilst he did it So Luke 24. 50. 51. And thus solemnly he now did this to shew that the curse was gone and that sin was gone and that action speakes thus much as if Christ himselfe had said To shew the curse was removed and their sins pardoned O my brethren for so he styled his Disciples after his Resurrection I have been dead and in dying made a curse for you now that curse I have fully removed and my Father hath aquited me and you for it and now I can be bold to blesse you and pronounce all your sins forgiven and your persons justified For that is the intendment and foundation of blessing Blessed is the man whose sins are forgiven him and therefore that was the true meaning of his blessing them which he reserved thus as his last Act to shew how by his death he had redeemed them from the curse of the Law now going to Heaven was able to blesse them with all the spirituall blessings that are there and which Heaven can afford for Heavenly they are called in that respect And in blessing his Apostles thus he blessed all that should believe in him Ephes 1. 4. And as in Abraham blessed by Melchisedec all the faithfull were blessed so in these Apostles all the elect to come are blessed As when God individually blessed Adam and Eve at the first Creation yet he in them blessed all that were for ever to come of them so Christ in blessing them blessed us and all that shall beleeve through their word to the end of the World And that they were thus then to be considered as common persons receiving this blessing for us all appeareth by Christs words then uttered I am with you to the end of the World i. e. with you and all your successors both Ministers other believers Mat. 28. ult And Christ herein did as God did before him When God had done his worke of creation He looked upon all he had done and saw that it was good and he blessed it Thus did Jesus Christ now that he had by that one offering perfected for ever all the elect he comfortably vieweth and pronounceth it perfect and them blessed and so goes to Heaven to keepe and enjoy the Sabbath of all there Now Secondly let us see him Ascending A second support from the very Act of Ascending and see what comfort that will also afford our faith towards the perswasion of Iustification The Apostles stood gazing on him and so doe you lift up your hearts to gaze on him by faith and view him in that act as he is passing along into Heaven as leading sin hell death and devill in triumph at his Chariot wheeles And therewith let your faith triumph in a further evidence of justification Thus Ephesians 4. 8. out of the 68. Psalme ver 18. the Apostle saith How it was an act of Triumph over death hel sin c. When he ascended up on high he led captivity captive to which Hebraisme the Latine phrase vincere victoriam to win a victory doth answer then He led captive all our spirituall enemies that would have captived us they being now captived Now leading of captives is alwaies after a perfect victory And therefore whereas at his Death he had conquered them at his Rising scattered them now at his Ascension he leades them captive And so that Psal in the Type begins ver 1. Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered let them flee before him so at his Resurrection they did And then he ascends in triumph ashere in token of victory he is ascended up on high ver 18. he ascends as David after his victory up to Mount Sion for the celebrating of which that Psal seemes to have beene made by David whereof this was the intended Type Two Acts of Triumph in it And two Actus triumphales triumphing Acts there were here mentioned 1. Leading the captives bound to his Chariot wheeles as the manner of the Roman triumphs was when the Conqueror went up to the Capitol and other Heathens in Davids time As Achilles led Hector captive who
tied his feete to his Chariot wheels and dragged him dead round about the walls of Troy Now thus did Christ then deale with our sinnes and all other enemies The Second act is casting abroad of gifts He gave gifts to men It was the custome at their triumphs to cast new Coines missilia abroad among the multitude so doth Christ throw the greatest gifts for the good of men that ever were given Therefore who shall condemne sins and devills are not only dead but triumphed over Compare with this that other place Colos 2. 15. Having spoiled Principalities and powers he made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in himself So I reade it and the Greeke beares it and so it is in the margent varied it is a manifest allusion unto the manner of Triumphs after victories among the Romans even unto two of the most notable parts thereof the first of spoiling the enemie upon the place ere they stirred out of the field and this was done by Christ on the Crosse Having spoiled them first as ver 14. hath it He speakes it of the devills our enemies and accusers they had all Gods threatnings in his Law and the Ceermoniall Law the Bond for our debt unto the Morall Law to shew for it in these lay the power of the Devill over us that he could boldly come to God and accuse us and sue our bond And therefore Heb. 2. 14. he is said to have the power of Death Now Christ first tooke away all his power and spoiled him of all his ensignes weapons and colours which he did on the place where the battail was fought namely on the Crosse and nailed our bond thereto and having paid the debt left the bond canceld ere he stirred off the Crosse But then having thus spoiled these enemies on the Crosse hee further makes a publique triumphall shew of them in his own person which is a second Act as the manner of the Roman Emperors was in their great triumphs to ride through the City in the greatest state and have all the spoiles carried before them and the Kings and Nobles whom they had taken they tyed to their Chariots and led them as Captives And this did Christ at his ascension for of his triumphing at his Ascension I take this Triumph in this Epistle to the Colos to be understood and so to be interpreted by that forecited 4. of the Ephesians He plainly manifesting by this publique open shew of them at his Ascension that he had spoiled and fully subdued them on the Crosse That which hath diverted Interpreters from thinking this of 2. Col. to have been the triumph of his Ascension hath been this That the triumph is said to have been made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which they interpret in it as if it referred to the Crosse mentioned ver 14. as the place of it when as it may as well be translated in himselfe i. e. in his own power and strength noting how he alone did this which other Conquerours doe not they conquer not in themselves and by themselves which Christ did And yet it was the Law that if the Roman Emperours or Generals themselves took any thing in War they had a peculiar honour to dedicate it in triumph more peculiarly Now Christ conquered in himselfe and therefore triumphed in himselfe and himselfe alone And thus it became our Redeemer like another Sampson not onely to break Sins bars and fling off Hell-gates and come out of that Prison he was in but as in signe of a Trophie to take them on his back and carry them up the hill as Sampson the Type of him did the gates of the City to an high hill himselfe triumphantly carrying them on his own shoulders Now did Christ then who was your Surety thus triumph then let your faith triumph likewise for this was not onely done by your Surety but in your stead seeing this for us here is to be put to each thing mentioned The Apostle cals for this at our hands here We are more then Conquerors sayes he ver 37. Then A third support to faith from Gods first entertainment of Christ when he came first to Heaven thirdly see him entring into Heaven when he comes first to Court after this great undertaking how doth God looke on him is God satisfied with what he hath done As you know when a Generall comes home there useth to be great observing how the King takes his service as performed according to commission Christ as a Surety undertook for sinners fully to conquer all our enemies and God bade him look that he did it perfectly or never see his face more Heb. 5. He was to be perfect through sufferings and those sufferings to be such as to perfect us also Heb. That this is a further evidence that God is satisfied for sin 10. Now behold your Surety is like a Conqueror entred Heaven let that convince you that he hath satisfied the debt and performed his commission to a tittle God would never have suffered him to come thither else but as soon as ever his head had peept into Heaven have sent him downe again to performe the rest But God lets him enter in and he comes boldly and confidently and God lets him stay there therefore be convinced that he hath given God full satisfaction Christ himself useth this argument as the strongest that could be brought to convince the World that his righteousnesse which he had in his Doctrine taught them was the righteousnesse which men were only to be saved by the true Righteousnesse of God indeede Iohn 16. 9 10. He shall convince the world of righteousnesse that is worke faith in the hearts of men to believe and lay hold on my righteousnesse as the true righteousnesse that God hath ordained and this because sayes he I go to my Father and you shall see me no more That is by this argument and evidence it is and shall be evinced that I who undertooke to satisfie for sin and to procure a perfect righteousnesse have perfectly performed it and that it is a righteousnesse which Gods justice doth accept of to save sinners by In that I after my death and finishing this worke will ascend up to my Father into Heaven and keepe my standing there and you shall see me no more Whereas if I had not fulfilled all righteousnesse and perfectly satisfied God you may be sure there would be no going into Heaven for mee nor remaining there God would send me down again to doe the rest and you should certainly see mee with shame sent back again but I goe to Heaven and you shall see me no more CHAP. III. Shewing what evidence also Christs sitting at Gods right hand having beene our Surety affords to our faith for justification NOw then in the next place for his being or sitting at Gods right hand which is the second particular to be spoken of As soone as Christ was carried into Heaven look as all the Angels fell downe and