of Jesse and a Branch shall grow out of his Roots and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him This answereth the Text David was the Son of Jesse and Christ the Son of David Isa. 11. 1 2. 4. He is promised under the Title of a King Behold a King shall rule in righteousness and a Man shall be for a hiding-place from the Wind and a covert from the Tempest as Rivers of Waters in a dry place as the shadow of a great Rock in a weary Land Isa. 32. 1 2. 5. He was promised under the name of an Elect Servant Behold my Servant whom I uphold mine Elect in whom my Soul delighteth I have put my Spirit upon him he shall bring forth Judgment to the Gentiles he shall not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the Streets a bruised Reed shall he not break and smoking Flax shall he not quench Isa. 42. 1 2 3. Matt. 12. 18. 6. He was promised to Jeremiah under the name of the Lord our Righteousness Behold the days come saith the Lord that I will raise unto David a Righteous Branch and a King shall reign and prosper he shall execute Judgment in the Earth in his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely and this is the name wherewith he shall be called The Lord our Righteousness Jer. 23. 5 6. 7. He was promised by the Prophet Ezekiel under the name of David a Shepherd And I will set one Shepherd over them and he shall feed them even my Servant David he shall feed them and he shall be their Shepherd and I the Lord will be their God and my Servant David a Prince among them I the Lord have spoken it Ezek. 34. 24. Joh. 10. 1 2 3. 8. He was promised by the Prophet Daniel under the name of Messias or Christ the most Holy And after threescore and two weeks shall the Messiah be cut off but not for himself Dan. 9. 26. 9. He was promised by the Prophet Micha under the name of the Ruler of Israel But thou Bethlehem Ephratah though thou be little among the thousands of Judah yet out of thee shall be come that is to be Ruler in Israel Mic. 5. 2. Matt. 2. 6. 10. He was promised to Haggai as the desire of all Nations I will shake all Nations and the desire of all Nations shall come and I will fill this house with Glory saith the Lord of Hosts Hag. 2. 7. 11. He was promised by Zechariah under the name of Servant and Branch For behold I will bring forth my Servant the Branch and again Behold the Man whose name is the Branch he shall grow up out of his place and he shall build the Temple of the Lord and he shall bear the Glory Zech. 3. 8. 12. He was promised by Malachi under the name of the Lord and the Messenger of the Covenant Behold I send my Messenger and he shall prepare the way before thee and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple even the Messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in behold he shall come saith the Lord of Hosts Malachi 3. 12. Indeed the Scriptures of the Old-Testament are filled with Promises of the Messias to come Prophetical Promises Typical Promises For all the Types and shadows of the Saviour are virtually so many Promises Having therefore touched upon the Prophetical I will briefly touch the Typical Promises also for as God spake at sundry times to the Fathers so also in divers manners Prophetically Providentially Typically and all of the Messias Heb. 1. 1. The Types of the Saviour were various 1. Sometimes he was typed out by Men. 2. Sometimes by Beasts 3. Sometimes by Insensible Creatures First He was typed forth sometimes by Men. 1. Adam was his Type in many things especially as he was the Head and Father of the first World He was the Figure of him that was to come Rom. 5. 14. 2. Moses was his Type as Mediator and as Builder of the Tabernacle Heb. 3. 2 3. Aaron was his Type as he was High-Priest and so was Melchisedec before him Heb. 5. 4 5. Chap. 7. 1 21. 4. Sampson was his Type in the effects of his death for as Sampson gave his life for the deliverance of Israel from the Philistins Christ gave his Life to deliver us from Sin and Devils 5. Joshuah was his Type in giving the Land of Canaan to Israel as Jesus will give the Kingdom of Heaven to the Elect Heb. 4. 8. 6. David was his Type in many things especially in his subduing of Israels Enemies and feeding them hence he is sometimes called David their King and David their Shepherd Ezek. 34. 23 24. 7. Solomon was his Type in his building the Temple and in his Peaceable Kingdom Hence it is said he shall build the Temple of the Lord and again Of his Government and Peace there shall be no end Beasts were his Types To instance some First The Paschal-Lamb was his Type Exod. 12. 1. In its Spotlesness Christ was a Lamb without blemish and without spot 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. 2. In its being Roasted It was a Figure of the cursed Death of Christ for to be Roasted bespake one accursed Jer. 29. 22. Gal. 3. 13. 3. In that it was to be eaten He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood saith Christ hath Eternal Life John 6. 57. 4. In that its Blood was to be sprinkled upon the doors of their houses for the destroying Angel to look on The Blood of Christ is sprinkled upon the Elect for the Justice of God to look on Heb. 9. 1 Pet. 1. 1 2. 5. By eating the Paschal-Lamb the People went out of Egypt by feeding upon Christ by Faith we come from under the Egyptian Darkness Tyranny of Satan c. Secondly The Red Cow was his Type Numb 19. 2 c. 1. In that she was to be without blemish 2. In that she was to be slain without the Camp Jesus also that he might sanctifie the People with his own Blood suffered without the Gate Heb. 13. 12. 3. In that her Flesh was to be burnt a Type of the grievous Death of Christ. 4. Her Ashes was to be carried into a clean place without the Camp a Type of the clean Sepulcher where the Body of Jesus was laid John 19. 38 39 40 41. There was also divers other Sacrifices as Bulls Goats and Birds which were Types of him which I here omit Thirdly Insensible Creatures were his Types As first The Mannah in the Wilderness Ex. 16. and that 1. As it came down from Heaven for so did Christ I came down from Heaven saith he and again I am the Living Bread which came down from Heaven John 6. 51. 2. The Mannah was to be eaten so is Christ by Faith If any man eat of this Bread he shall live for ever and the Bread that I will give is my Flesh which I will give for the life of the World John 6.
unless the Son of God will put his Shoulder to the Work but blessed be God he hath done it When the fulness of the time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to redeem them that are under the Law Christ took upon him our Sins BUt Thirdly Christ our Saviour takes upon him our Sins This is another step to the Work of our Redemption He hath made him to be sin for us Strange Doctrine a Fool would think it blasphemy but Truth hath said it Truth I say hath said not that he was made to be sin but that GOD made him to be sin He bath made him to be sin for us 1 Cor. 5. 21. This therefore sheweth us how effectually Christ Jesus undertook the Work of our Redemption He was made to be sin for us Sin is the great block and bar to our happiness sin is the Procurer of all miseries to men both here and for ever Take away sin and nothing can hurt us for death Temporal death Spiritual and death Eternal is the Wages of sin Rom. 6. 23. Sin then and man for Sin is the Object of the Wrath of God If the Object of the Wrath of God then is his Case most dreadful for who can bear who can grapple with the Wrath of God! Men cannot Angels cannot the whole World cannot All therefore must sink under sin but he who is made to be sin for us he only can bear sins he only can bear them away and therefore were they laid upon him The Lord laid upon him the Iniquities of us all Isa. 53. Mark therefore and you shall find that the Reason why God made him to be sin for us was That we might be made the Righteousness of God in him He took our Flesh he was made under the Law and was made to be sin for us that the Devil might be destroyed that the Captives might be redeemed and made the Righteousness of God in him And forasmuch as he saith that GOD hath made him to be sin it declareth that the Design of God and the Mistery of his Will and Grace was in it He hath made him to be sin God hath done it that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him there was no other way the Wisdom of Heaven could find no other way we could not by other means stand just before the Justice of God Now what remains but that we who are reconciled to God by Faith in his Blood are quit discharged and set free from the Law of Sin and Death Yea what encouragement to trust in him when we read That God made him to be sin for us Quest. But how was Jesus Christ made of God to be sin for us Ans. Even so as if himself had committed all our Sins that is they were as really charged upon him as if himself had been the Actor and Committer of them all He hath made him to be sin not only as a Sinner but as Sin it self He was as the Sin of the World that Day he stood before God in our steed Some indeed will not have Jesus Christ our Lord to be made sin for us their Wicked Reasons think this to be wrong Judgment in the Lord it seems supposing that because they cannot imagine how it should be therefore God if he does it must do it at his Peril and must be charged with doing wrong Judgment and so things that become not his Heavenly Majesty But against this Duncish Sophistry we set Paul and Isaiah the one telling us still The Lord laid on him the Iniquities of us all and the other That God made him to be sin for us But these Men as I suppose think it enough for Christ to die under that Notion only not knowing nor feeling the Burden of Sin and the Wrath of God due thereto These make him as senceless in his Dicing and as much without reason as a silly Sheep or Goat who also died for Sin but so as in name in shew and shadow only They felt not the proper Weight Guilt and Judgment of God for Sin But thou Sinner who art so in thine own Eyes and who feelest guilt in thine own Conscience Know then that Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God in flesh was made to be sin for thee or stood sensibly guilty of all thy Sins before God and bare them in his own Body upon the Cross. God charged our Sins upon Christ and that in their guilt and burden what remaineth but that the Charge was real or feigned if real then he hath either perished under them or carried them away from before God if they were charged but feignedly then did he but feignedly die for them then shall we have but feigned benefit by his Death and but a feigned Salvation at last not to say how this Cursed Doctrine chargeth God and Christ with Hypocrisy the one in saying He made Christ to be sin the other in saying He bare our sin when indeed and in truth our guilt and burden never was really upon him Quest. But might not Christ die for our Sins but he needs must bear their Guilt or Burden Ans. He that can sever sin and guilt sin and the Burden each from other laying sin and no guilt sin and no burden on the Person that dieth for Sin must do it only in his own imaginary Head No Scripture nor Reason nor Sense saith understandeth or feeleth sin when charged without its guilt and burden And here we must distinguish between sin charged and sin forgiven Sin forgiven may be seen without guilt or burden though I think not without shame in this World But sin charged and that by the Justice of God for so it was upon Christ This cannot be but guilt and the burthen as inseparable companions must unavoidably lye on that Person Poor Sinner be advised to take heed of such deluded Preachers who with their Tongues smoother than Oil would rob thee of that Excellent Doctrine God hath made him to be sin for us for such as I said do not only present thee with a feigned deliverance and forgiveness with a feigned Heaven and Happiness but charge God and the Lord Jesus as meer Impostors who while they tell us that Christ was made of God to be sin for us affirm that it was not so REALLY suggesting this Sophistical Reason no wrong Judgment comes from the Lord. I say again this Wicked Doctrine is the next way to turn the Gospel in thy thoughts to no more than a Cunningly-devised Fable 2 Pet. 1. and to make Jesus Christ in his dying for our Sins as brutish as the Paschal-Lamb in Moses's Law Wherefore distressed Sinner when thou findest it recorded in the Word of Truth that Christ died for our Sins and that God hath made him to be sin for us Then do thou consider of sin as it is a Transgression against the Law of God and that as such it procureth the Judgment of God torments and
afflicts the Mind with guilt and bindeth over the Soul to answer it sever not sin and guilt asunder left thou be an Hypocrite like these wicked Men and rob Christ of his true Sufferings Besides to see sin upon Christ but not its guilt to see sin upon Christ but not the Legal Punishment what is this but to conclude that either there is no guilt and punishment in sin or that Christ bare our sin but we the Punishment for the Punishment must be born because the Sentence is gone out from the Mouth of God against sin Do thou therefore as I have said consider of sin as a Transgression of the Law 1 John 3. and a Provoker of the Justice of God which done turn thine Eye to the Cross and behold those Sins in the Guilt and Punishment of them sticking in the Flesh of Christ. God condemned sin in the Flesh of Christ. He bare our Sins IN his own Body on the Tree Rom. 8. 3. 1 Pet. 2. 24. I would only give thee this Caution not sin in the Nature of sin Sin was not so in the Flesh of Christ but sin in the Natural Punishment of it to wit Guilt and the Chastising Hand of Justice He was wounded for our Transgressions he was bruised for our Iniquities The Chastisements of our Peace were upon him and by his Stripes we are healed Isa. 53. Look then upon Christ crucified to be as the sin of the World as if He only had broken the Law which done behold him perfectly innocent in himself and so conclude that for the transgressions of God's People he was stricken That when the Lord made him to be sin He made him to be sin FOR US He was made a Curse for us FOurthly As he was made Flesh under the Law and also Sin so he was made a Curse for us Christ hath redeemed us from the Cross of the Law being made a Curse for us as it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth on a Tree This Sentence is taken out of Moses being passed there upon them that for Sin are worthy of death And if a Man have committed a Sin worthy of death and thou hang him on a Tree his Body shall not remain all night upon the Tree but thou shalt in any-wise bury him that Day for he that is hanged is accursed of God By this Sentence Paul concludeth that Jesus Christ was Justly hanged because sin worthy of Death was upon him Sin not of his own but ours Since then he took our Sins he must be cursed of God for sin is sin where-ever it lies and justice is justice where-ever it finds it wherefore since Jesus Christ will bear our Sin he must be numbred with the Transgressors and counted worthy to die the Death He that committeth sin is worthy of death This though Christ did not personally do his Members his Body which is his Church did and since he would undertake for them with God and stand in their Sins before the Eyes of his Justice He must die the Death by the Law Sin and the Curse cannot be severed Sin must be followed with the Curse of God Sin therefore being removed from us to the Back of Christ thither goes also the Curse for if sin be found upon him he is the Person worthy to die worthy by our Sins Wherefore Paul here setteth forth Christ clothed with our Sins and so taking from us the Guilt and Punishment What punishment but the Wrath and Displeasure of God Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us In this word Curse are two things comprized 1. The Reality of Sin for there can be no Curse where there is no Sin either of the Persons own or made to be his by his own Consent or the Imputation of Divine Justice And since Sins are made to be Christ's by Imputation they are his though not naturally yet really and consequently the Wages due He hath made him to be sin he was made a Curse for us 2. This word Curse comprizeth therefore the Punishment of Sin that Punishment properly due to sin from the Hand of God's Justice which punishment standeth in three things 1. In charging sin upon the Body and Soul of the Person concerned and hence we read that both the Body and Soul of Christ were made an Offering for Sin Isa. 53. 10. Heb. 10. 10. 2. The Punishment standeth in Gods inflicting of the Just merits of sin upon him that standeth charged therewith and that is Death in its own nature and strength to wit Death with the Sting thereof The Sting of Death is sin This Death did Christ die because he died for our Sins 3. The Sorrows and Pains of this Death therefore must be under-gone by Jesus Christ. Now there are divers Sorrows in Death 1. Such Sorrows as Brutes are subject to 2. Such Sorrows as Persons are subjects to that stand in sin before God 3. Such Sorrows as those undergo who are swallowed up of the Curse and Wrath of God for ever Now so much of all kind of Sorrow as the Imputation of our Sin could justly bring from the Hand of Divine Justice so much of it he had 1. He had Death 2. He had the Sting of Death which is Sin 3. He was forsaken of God but could not by any means have those Sorrows which they have that are everlastingly swallowed up of them It was not possible that he should be holden of it Act. 2. 24. For where Sin is charged and born there must of necessity follow the Wrath and Curse of God Now where the Wrath and Curse of God is there must of necessity follow the Effects the Natural Effects I say the Natural Effects to wit the Sence the Sorrowful Sence of the Displeasure of an Infinite Majesty and his Chastisements for the Sin that hath provoked him There are Effects natural and Effects accidental those Accidental are such as flow from our weakness whilst we wrestle with the Judgment of God to wit hellish fear despair rage blasphemy and the like These were not incident to Jesus Christ he being in his own Person every way perfect Neither did he alwayes endure the Natural Effects his Merits relieved and delivered him God loosed the Pains of death because it was not possible he should be holden of it Acts 2. 24. Christ then was made a Curse for us for he did bear our sin the Punishment therefore from the Revenging Hand of God must needs fall upon him Wherefore by these four things we see how Christ became our Saviour he took hold of our Nature was born under the Law was made to be sin and the Accursed of God for us And observe it all this as I said before was the Handy-Work of God God made him Flesh made him under the Law God made him to be Sin and also a Curse for us The Lord bruised him the Lord put him to grief the Lord made his Soul an Offering for Sin Isa.
53. Not for that he hated him considering him in his own harmless innocent and blessed Person for he was daily hid Delight but by an act of grace to usward were our Iniquities laid upon him and he in our stead bruised and chastised for them God loved us and made him a Curse for us He was made a Curse for us That the Blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Faith in Jesus Christ Gal. 3. 13 14 15. Further Demonstration of this Truth BEfore I pass this Truth I will present thee Courteous Reader with two or three Demonstrations for its further confirmation First That Christ did bear our Sin and Curse is clear because he died and that without a Mediator 1. He died Death is the Wages of Sin Rom. 6. 23. Now if death be the Wages of sin and that be true that Christ did die and not sin either the Course of Justice is perverted or else he died for our Sins there was no cause of death in him yet he died Act. 13. 28. He did no Evil Guile was not found in his Mouth yet he received the Wages of Sin Sin therefore though not of his own was found upon him and laid to his Charge because he died Christ died for our Sins Christ gave himself for our Sins 1 Cor. 15. 1 2 3. Gal. 1. 4. 1 Pet. 2. 22. He then that will conclude that Christ did not bear our Sin chargeth God foolishly for delivering him up to death for laying on him the Wages when in no sence he deserved the same Yea he overthroweth the whole Gospel for that hangeth on THIS hinge Christ died for our Sins Object But all that die do not bear the Curse of God for Sin Ans. But all that die without a Mediator do Angels died the Cursed Death because Christ took not hold of them and they for whom Christ never prayeth they die the Cursed Death for they perish everlastingly in the unutterable Torments of Hell Christ too died that Death which is the Proper Wages of Sin for he had none to stand for him I looked saith he and there was none to help and I wondred that there was none to uphold therefore mine own Arm brought Salvation unto me And he saw that there was no man and he wondered that there was no Intercessor therefore his Arm brought Salvation unto him and his Righteousness sustained him Isa. 63. 5. Isa. 59. 16. Christ then died or endured the Wages of Sin and that without an Intercessor without one between God and he He grappled immediatly with the Eternal Justice of God who inflicted on him Death the Wages of Sin there was no man to hold off the Hand of God Justice had his full blow at him and made him a Curse for Sin He died for sin without a Mediator he died the Cursed Death Secondly A Second thing that Demonstrateth that Christ died the Cursed Death for Sin It is the Frame of Spirit that he was in at the time that he was to be taken Never was poor mortal so beset with the apprehensions of approaching death as was this Lord Jesus Christ Amazement beyond measuâ—e Sorrow that exceeded seized upon his Soul My Soul saith he is exceeding sorrowful even unto Death And he began saith Mark to be sore amazed and to be very heavy Mat. 26. 38. Mar. 14. 33. Add to this That Jesus Christ was better able to grapple with death even better able to do it alone than the whole World joyn'd altogether 1. He was anointed with the Spirit without Measure Joh. 3. 34. 2. He had all Grace perfect in him John 1. 16. 3. Never none so soaked in the Bosom of his Fathers Love as himself Prov. 8. 23 30. 4. Never none so harmless and without sin as he and consequently never man had so good a Conscience as he Heb. 7. 26. 5. Never none prepared such a stock of good Works to bear him company at the Hour of Death as he 6. Never none had greater assurance of being with the Father Eternally in the Heavens than he And yet behold when HE comes to die how weak is he how amazed at death how heavy how exceeding sorrowful and I say no cause assigned but the Approach of Death Alas How often is it seen that we Poor Sinners can laugh at destruction when it cometh yea and rejoice exceedingly when we find the Grave Job 3. 22. looking upon death as a part of our Portion yea as that which will be a means of our present relief and help 1 Cor. 3. 22. This Jesus Christ couldnot do considered as dying for our Sin but the nearer death the more heavy oppressed with the thoughts of the Revenging Hand of God Wherefore he falls into an Agony and Sweats not after the common rate as we do when death is severing Body and Soul His Sweat was as it were great drops Clodders of Blood falling down to the Ground Luk. 22. 44. What I say should be the Reason but that death assaulted him with his Sting If Jesus Christ had been to die for his Vertues only doubtless he would have born it lightly and so he did as he died bearing witness to the Truth He endured the Cross and despised the Shame Heb. 12. 1 2 How have the Martyrs despised death and as it were not been careful of that having peace with God by Jesus Christ scorning the most Cruel Torments that Hell and Men could devise and invent but Jesus Christ could not do so as he was a Sacrifice for sin he died for sin he was made a Curse for us O my Brethren Christ died many deaths at once he made his Grave with the Wicked and with the Rich in his Deaths Look how many thousands shall be saved so many deaths did Jesus die yet it was but once he died He died thy death and my death and so many deaths as all our Sins deserved who shall be saved from the Wrath to come Now to feign that these Sorrows and this Bloody Agony was not real but in shew only What greater Condemnation can be passed upon Jesus Christ who loved to do all things in the most feigned Simplicity It was therefore because of sin the Sin that was put into the Death he died and the Curse of God that was due to Sin That That made death so bitter to Jesus Christ 't is Christ that died The Apostle speaks as if never any died but Christ nor indeed did there so wonderful a Death as he Rom. 8. Death considered simply as it is a deprivation of natural life could not have these Effects in a Person personally more Righteous than an Angel Yea even Carnal Wicked Men not awakened in their Conscience how securely can they die It must therefore also be concluded that the Sorrows and Agony of Jesus Christ came from a higher cause even from the Guilt of sin and from the Curse of God that was now approaching for that Sin It cannot be attributed to the Fear of
Men their Terrour could not make him afraid that was contrary to his Doctrine and did not become the Dignity of his Person it was sin sin sin and the Curse due to sin Thirdly It is evident that Christ did bear and die the Cursed Death for sin from the Carriage and Dispensation of God towards him First from the Carriage of God God now becomes as an Enemy to him 1. He forsakes him My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Yea the Sence of the Loss of God's comfortable Presence abode with him even till he gave up the Ghost 2. He dealeth with him as with one that hath sinned he chastiseth him he bruiseth him he striketh and smiteth him Isa. 53. and was pleased that is his Justice was satisfied in so doing It pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief These things could not he had he only considered him in his own Personal standing where was the Righteous forsaken Without the Consideration of Sin he doth not willingly afflict nor grieve the Children of Men that is not out of pleasure or without sufficient cause Jesus Christ then since he is under this withdrawing chastising bruising and afflicting Displeasure of God he is all that time under sin under our sins and therefore thus accursed of God his God Secondly Not only the Carriage of God but his Dispensations his visible Dispensations plainly declare that he stood before God in our Sins Vengeance suffered him not to live Wherefore God delivered him up He spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all Rom. 8. 32. 1. He delivered him into the Hands of Men Mar 9. 31. 2. He was delivered into the Hands of Sinners Luk. 24. 7. 3. He was delivered unto Death Rom. 4. 25. 4. Yea so delivered up as that they both had him to put him to death and God left him for that purpose in their Hands yea was so far off from delivering him that he gave way to all things that had a tendency to take his Life from the Earth Now may men do what they will with him he was delivered to their Will 1. Judas may sell him 2. Peter may deny him 3. All his Disciples forsake him 4. The Enemy apprehends him binds him they have him away like a Thief to Caiaphas the High-Priest in whose House he is mocked spit upon his Beard is twitched from his Cheeks now they buffet him and scornfully bow the Knee before him Yea his Visage is so marred more than any mans and his Form more than the Sons of Men Isa. 52. 13 14 15. Now he is sent to the Governor defaced with Blows and Blood who delivereth him into the Hand of his Souldiers they Whip him Crown him with Thorns and stick the Points of the Thorns fast in his Temples by a Blow with a Staff in their Hand Now is he made a Spectacle to the People and then sent away to Herod who with his Men of War set him at naught no God appearing for his Help In fine they at last condemn him to Death even to the Death of the Cross where they hang him up by Wounds made through his Hands and his Feet between the Earth and the Heavens where he hanged for the space of Six Hours to wit from Nine in the Morning till Three in the Afternoon No God yet appears for his help while he hangs there some rail at him others wagg their Heads others tauntingly say He saved others himself he cannot save some divide his Raiment casting lots for his Garments before his Face others mockingly bid him come down from the Cross and when he desireth succour they give him Vinegar to drink No God yet appears for his help Now the Earth quakes the Rocks are rent the Sun becomes black and Jesus still cries out that he was forsaken of God and presently boweth his Head and dies read Mat. 26. Chap. 27. Mar. 14. Chap. 15. and Luk. 22. Chap. 23. John 18. Chap. 19. And for all this there is no cause assigned from God but Sin He was wounded for our Transgressions he was bruised for our Iniquities and the chastisement of our Peace was upon him and by his Stripes we are healed Isa. 53. The Sum then is That Jesus Christ the Lord by taking part of our Flesh became a Publick Person not doing nor dying in a private Capacity but in the room and stead of Sinners whose Sin deserved Death and the Curse of God all which Jesus Christ bare in his own Body upon the Tree I conclude then that my Sin is already crucified and accursed in the Death and Curse Christ under-went I come now to some Objections Objection First CHrist never was a Sinner God never supposed him to be a Sinner neither did our Sins become really his God never reputed him so to have been therefore hate or punish him as a Sinner he could not for no false judgment can belong to the Lord. 1. Ans. That Christ was not a Sinner Personally by acts or doings of his own is granted and in this sense 't is true that God did never suppose him to be a Sinner nor punished him as such a Sinner nor did he really if by really you understand naturally become our Sin nor did God ever repute him so 2. But that Christ stood before God in our Sins and that God did not only suppose him so to stand but set him in them put them upon him and count them as his own is so true that he cannot at present be a Christian that denies it The Lord hath laid upon him the Iniquities of us all Isa. 53. 1 Pet. 2. 22. 3. So then though God did not punish him for sin of his own committing yet he punished him for sin of our committing The Just suffered for the unjust 1 Pet. 3. 18. 4. Therefore it is true That though Christ did never really become sin of his own he did really become our Sin did really become our Curse for sin If this be denyed it follows that he became our Sin but feignedly that he was made our Curse or a Curse for us but in appearance shew or in dissimulation but no such action or work can proceed of the Lord. He did then really lay our Sin and his Curse upon him for our Sin 2. Object But if Christ indeed hath suffered for our Sins and endured for them that Curse that of justice is due thereto then hath he also endured for us the proper torments of Hell for they are the Wages of our Sins Ans. Many things might be said in answer to this Objection But briefly 1. What God chargeth upon the Soul for sin is one thing and what followeth upon that Charge is another 2. A difference in the Person suffering may make a difference in the Consequences that follow upon the Charge Let us then consider of both these things 1. The Charge is Sin God charged him with our Sins 2. the Person then stands guilty before the Judgment of
God The Consequences are 1. The Person charged sustains or suffereth the Wrath of God 2. This Wrath of God is expressed and inflicted on Body and Soul The Consequences are 1. God forsaketh the Person charged and being left if he cannot stand he falleth under the Power of guilt and horror of the same If the Person utterly fall under this Charge as not being able to wrestle with and overcome this Wrath of God then despair horror of Hell rage blasphemy darkness and damnable anguish immediately swallow him up and he lieth for ever and ever in the Pains of Hell a Monument of Eternal Vengeance Now that Christ under-went the Wrath of God 't is evident because he bare our Curse That God forsook him he did with strong crying and tears acknowledg and therefore that he was under the Soul-afflicting sence of the loss of God's Favor and under the sence of his Displeasure must needs flow from the Premises But now because Christ Jesus the Lord was a Person infinitly differing from all others that fall under the Wrath of God therefore those things that flow from damned Sinners could not flow from him 1. Despair could not rise in his Heart for his Flesh did rest in hope and said even when he suffered Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell Acts 2. 27. 2. The Everlastingness of the Punishment therefore nor the Terrors that accompany such could not fasten upon him for he knew at last that God would Justifie him or approve of his Works that they were Meritorious And mark Everlasting Punishment is not the proper Wages of sin but under a supposition that the Person suffering be not able to pay the Debt Thou shalt not depart thence till thou hast paid the very last Mite The difference then of the Persons suffering may make a difference though not in the Nature of the Punishment yet in the Duration and Consequences of it 1. Christ under the Sentence was as to his own Personal Acts only altogether innocent the Damned only altogether Sinners 2. Christ had in him even then the utmost Perfection of all graces and vertues but the Damned the Perfection of Sin and Vileness 3. Christ's Humanity had still Union with his God-head the Damned Union only with Sin 4. Now an Innocent Person perfect in all graces as really God as Man can better wrestle with the Curse for sin than either sinful Men or Angels 1. While they despair Christ hopes 2. While they blaspheme Christ submits 3. While they rage Christ justifies God 4. While they sink under the burden of Sin and Wrath Christ recovereth by vertue of his Worthiness Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy one to see corruption He was Gods Holy one and his Holiness prevailed So that it follows not That because Christ did undergo the Curse due to our Sins he therefore must have those accidental Consequences which are found to accompany damned Souls 3. Object But the Scripture saith That the Wages of Sin is everlasting punishment Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Mat. 25. Ans. This Objection is partly answered already in the Answer to that fore-going But further 1. Consider The Wages of Sin is Death and punishment under the Wrath of God Till those that die the Death for Sin have paid the utmost Farthing Mat. 5. 25. Luk. 12. 58 59. 2. So then the everlastingness of the Punishment lieth here If the Person suffering be not able to make amends to justice for the Sins for which he suffereth else justice neither would nor could because 't is just keep such still under punishment 3. The Reason then why fallen Angels and damned Souls have an everlastingness of Punishment allotted them is because by what they suffer they cannot satisfy the Justice of God 4. The Conclusion then is though the Rebukes of God for Sin by death and punishment after be the Rebukes of Eternal Vengeance yet the Eternity of that Punishment is for want of merit could the Damned merit their own Deliverance Justice would let them go 5. It is one thing therefore to suffer for sin by the stroke of Eternal Justice and another thing to abide for ever a Sufferer there Christ did the First the Damned do the Second 6. His Rising therefore from the Dead the third Day doth nothing invalid his Sufferings but rather sheweth the Power of his Merit And here I would ask a Question Had Christ Jesus been more the Object of Faith if weakness and endless infirmity had kept him under the Curse than by rising again from the Dead want of merit causing the one sufficience thereof causing the other 7. If men will not believe that Christ hath removed the Curse because he is risen again they would much more strongly have doubted it had he been still in the Grave But O amazing darkness to make that an Argument that his Sufferings wanted merit which to God himself is sufficient proof that he hath purged our Sins for ever For this Man after he had offered up one sacrifice for Sins for ever sat down on the Right Hand of God Heb. 10. 12. 4. Object But the Scripture saith Christ is our Example and that in his very death 1 Pet. 2. 21. Ans. Christ in his Sufferings and Death is both Sacrifice and Example 1. A Sacrifice Christ our Passeover is Sacrificed for us And again He gave himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling Savor And thus he made Reconciliation for Iniquity and brought in Everlasting Righteousness 1 Cor. 5. 8. Ephes. 5. 1 2. Dan. 9. 2. 2dly He was also in his Sufferings Exemplary and that in several particulars 1. In his meek Deportment while he was apprehended Isa. 53. 7. 2. In doing them good that sought his Life Luk. 22. 50 51. 3. In his Praying for his Enemies when they were in their Out-rage Luk. 23. 34. 4. When he was reviled he reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth Righteously 1. Pet. 2. 23. In these respects I say he was Exemplary and brought honour to his Profession by his good Behaviour And O how beautiful would Christianity be in the Eyes of Men if the Disciples of our Lord would more imitate him therein But what Because Christ is our Pattern is he not our Passeover or because we should in these things follow his Steps died he not for our Sins Thus to conclude would not only argue thee very erroneous but such a Conclusion would overthrow the Gospel it being none other but a great flight of Satan to shut out the whole by a Part and to make us Blasphemers while we plead for Holiness Look then upon the Death of Christ under a double Consideration 1. As he suffered from the Hand of God 2. As he suffered from the Hand of Men. Now as he suffered by God's Hand so he suffered for sin but
brought into the World and set before the Face of God such a Righteousness that out-weigheth and goeth far beyond that Sin and so did hide sin from the Sight of God Hence he that is justified is said to have his Sins HID and covered Blessed is the Man whose Transgressions are forgiven and whose Sin is covered Rom. 4. 7. covered with the Righteousness of Christ. I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy Nakedness thy Sins Ezek. 16. 8. Christ Jesus therefore having by the Infiniteness of his Merit taken away put away or hidden our Sins from the Face of God therefore he raised him up from the Dead You find in that 16th of Leviticus mention made of two Goats one was to be slain for a Sin-Offering the other to be left alive The Goat that was slain was a Type of Christ in his Death the Goat that was not slain was a Type of Christ in his Merit Now this living Goat HE carried away the Sins of the People into the Land of forgetfulness And Aaron shall lay both his Hands upon the head of the Live-Goat and confess over him all the Iniquities of the Children of Israel and all their Transgressions in all their Sins putting them upon the Head of the Goat and shall send him away by the Hands of a fit Man into the Wilderness and the Goat shall bear upon him all their Iniquities unto a Land not inhabited Levit. 16. Thus did Jesus Christ bear away by the Merit of his Death the Sins and Iniquities of them that Believe wherefore when God came to him in the Grave he found him Holy and Undefiled and raised him up from the Dead And observe it As his Death was for our Sin so his Rising again was for our Discharge for both in his Death and Resurrection he immediately respected our Benefits he died for us he rose from the Dead for us He was delivered for our Offences and was raised again for our Justification Rom 4. 25. By his Death he carried away our Sins by his Rising he brought to us Justifying Righteousness There are five Circumstances also attending his Resurrection that shew us how well-pleased God was with his Death 1. It must be solemnized with the Company Attendance and Testimony of Angels Mat. 28. 1 2 3 4 5 6. Luk. 24. 3 4 5 6. John 20. 11 12. 2dly At or just upon his Resurrection the Graves where many of the Saints for whom he died lay asleep did open and they followed their Lord in full Triumph over Death The Graves were opened and many Bodies of Saints which slept arose and came out of their Graves after his Resurrection and went into the Holy City and appeared unto many Mat. 27. 52. These Saints coming out of their Graves after him what a Testimony is it that he for them had taken away Sin and destroyed him that had the Power of Death yea what a Testimony was it that he had made amends to God the Father who granted him at his Resurrection to have presently out of the Grave Of the Price of his Blood even the Body of many of the Saints which slept He was declared to be the Son of God with Power by the Spirit of Holiness and the Resurrection from the Dead Rom. 1. 4. It saith not by his Resurrection though that be true But by the Resurrection meaning the Resurrection of the Bodies of the Saints which slept because they rose by vertue of his Blood and by that he was with power declared to be the Son of God They I say were part of his Purchase some of them for whom Christ died Now for God to raise them and that upon and by vertue of his Resurrection what is it but an open Declaration from Heaven that Christ by his Death hath made amends for us and obtained Eternal Redemption for us 3thly When he was risen from the Dead God to confirm his Disciples in the Faith of the Redemption that Christ had obtained by his Blood brings him to the Church presents him to them alive shews him openly sometimes to two or three sometimes to eleven or twelve and once to above five hundred Brethren at once Acts 1. 3. Chap. 10. 40. Luk. 24. 13 14 15 16. 31. John 20. 19. Chap. 21. 1 2 3 c. 1 Cor. 15. 3 4 5 6 7 8. 4thly At his Resurrection God gives him the Keys of Hell and of Death Revel 1. 16 17. Hell and Death are the Effects and Fruits of Sin The Wicked shall be turned into Hell and the Wages of Sin is Death But what then are Sinners the better for the Death and Blood of Christ O! They that dare venture upon him are much the better for they shall not perish unless the Saviour will damn them for he hath the Keys of Hell and of Death Fear not saith he I am the First and the Last I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore and have the Keys of Hell and Death These were given him at his Resurrection as if God had said My Son thou hast spilt thy Blood for Sinners I am pleased with it I am delighted in thy Merits in the Redemption which thou hast wrought in token hereof I give thee the Keys of Hell and of Death I give thee all Power in Heaven and Earth save who thou wilt deliver who thou wilt bring to Heaven who thou wilt 5thly At Christ's Resurrection God bids him ask the Heathen of him with a Promise to give him the uttermost parts of the Earth for his Possession This Sentence is in the second Psalm and is expounded by Paul's Interpretation of the Words before to be spoken to Christ at his Resurrection Thou art my Son this Day have I begotten thee I have begotten thee that is saith Paul from the Dead He hath raised up Jesus again as it is also written in the Second Psalm Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Act. 13. 30 31 32 33 34. Now mark at his Raising him from the Dead he bids him ask ASK of me and that the Heathen As if God had said My Son thy Blood hath pacified and appeased my Justice I can 〈◊〉 in justice for thy sake forgive poor Mortals their Sin ASK them of me ASK them though they be Heathens and I will give them to thee to the utmost Ends of the Earth This is then the First Demonstration to prove that Jesus Christ by what he hath done hath paid full price to God for the Souls of Sinners and obtained Eternal Redemption for them namely his being Raised again from the Dead The Second Demonstration SEcondly A Second thing that demonstrateth this Truth is That he Ascended and was received up into Heaven So after the Lord had spoken to them he was received up into Heaven Mar. 16. 19. This Demonstration consisteth of two parts 1. Of his Ascending 2. Of his being Received First For his Ascending He is ascended on High Ephes. 4. 8.
were those that used curious arts that were next to if not Witches indeed I say how were they prevailed upon and overcome by the Word of God which is the Gospel of good Tidings through Faith in the Blood of Christ Act. 19. 17 18. 6. How were the Ephesians who sometimes were far from God how I say were they made nigh by the Blood of Christ Ephes. 2. 13. 7. The Colossians though sometimes dead in their Sins yet how were they quickned by God through the Forgiveness of all their Trespasses and they had that through his Blood Col. 2. 13. Chap. 1. 14. What shall I say no man could as yet stand before and not fall under the Revelation of the Forgiveness of Sins through a Crucified Christ as hanged as dying as accursed for Sinners he draws all men unto him men of all sorts of all degrees Shall I add how have men broken through the Pricks to Jesus when he hath been discovered to them neither Lyons nor Fires nor Sword nor Famine nor Nakedness nor Peril neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor Height nor Depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Rom. 8. 35 36 37 38 39. The Fifth Demonstration THat Jesus Christ by what he hath done hath paid full price to God for Sinners and obtained Eternal Redemption for them is evident by the Peace and Holiness that by that Doctrine possesseth mens Souls The Souls of Men awakned and that continue so By awakened men I mean such as through the Revelation of their Sin and Misery groan under the want of Jesus to save them and that continue sensible that they needs must perish if his benefits be not bestowed upon them For otherwise the Gospel ministreth neither Peace nor Holiness to any of the Souls of the Sons of Men that is to say not Saving Peace and Holiness ☞ The Gospel of Grace and Salvation is above all Doctrines the most dangerous if in word only it be received by graceless men if it be not attended with a Revelation of Men's need of a Saviour if it be not accompanied in the Soul by the Power of the Holy Ghost For such Men as have only the notions of it are of all Men liable to the greatest Sins because there wanteth in their notions the Power of Love which alone can constrain them to love Jesus Christ. And this is the Reason of these Scriptures They turn the Grace of God into wantonness They turn the Grace of our God into lasciviousness Jude 4. For some when they hear of the Riches of Grace through Christ that hearing not being attended with the Faith Love which is in Christ Jesus those Men receive the notions of this good Doctrine only to cloak their wickedness and to harden themselves in their Villanies Others when they hear being leavened before with the Leaven of some other Doctrine some Doctrine of the Righteousness of the World or Doctrine of Devils forthwith make head against and speak evil of the blessed Doctrine and because some that profess it are not cleansed from their filthiness of flesh and spirit and do not perfect Holiness in the Fear of God therefore others conclude that all that profess it are such and that the Doctrine it self tendeth to encourage or at least to tolerate licentiousness as they imagined and affirmed of Paul that he should say Let us do evil that good may come Rom. 3. 8 9. The ground of that wicked Conclusion of theirs was because he by the Allowance of God affirmed That as sin had reigned unto death so grace reigned unto life in a way of Righteousness by Jesus Christ our Lord. Nay then says the Adversary we may be as unholy as we will and that by the Doctrine you preach for if where sin abounds grace abounds more the consequence of a wicked life is but the hightening advancing and magnifying of Grace But what saith the Apostle my conclusions are true That grace doth reign above sin but to say let us therefore sin that Man's Damnation is just because such an one abuseth and maketh the most devilish use of the Blessedest Doctrine that ever was heard of in the World amongst Men. Besides 't is evident that such know not the Power thereof nor have felt or savored its blessedness for where this Gospel cometh in truth it naturally produceth Peace and Holiness 1. Peace He is our Peace he is the Prince of Peace he giveth peace in his High Places This word Peace hath in it a double respect 1. It respecteth God He hath made peace by the Blood of his Cross that is he hath made peace for us with God having appeased the rigor of his Law and satisfied justice for us Hence it is said The Peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your Hearts and Minds through Christ Jesus Col. 1. 20. Phil. 4. 7. The Peace of God that is the Doctrine of Reconciliation by Christ's being made to be sin for us THAT shall keep the Heart that is from despair or fainting under apprehensions of weakness and justice But yet this Peace of God cannot be apprehended nor be of any comfort to the Heart but as the Man looks for it through Christ Jesus Therefore that clause is added through Christ Jesus for he is Peace-maker 't is he that reconcileth us to God in the Body of his Flesh through death for by his doing and suffering he presented God with Everlasting Righteousness with Everlasting Righteousness for Sinners Upon this we have Peace with God Hence Christ is called King of Righteousness FIRST first being by interpretation King of Righteousness and after that also King of Salem which is King of Peace Heb. 7. 1 2. For he could not make peace with God 'twixt us and him but by being first the Lord of Righteousness the Lord our Righteousness but having first compleated Righteousness he then came and preached Peace and commanded his Ambassadors to make Proclamation of it to the World 2 Cor. 5. 19 21. For 't was want of Righteousness that caused want of Peace now then righteousness being brought in it followeth that he hath made peace For he is our Peace who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle-Wall of Partition between us Having abolished in his Flesh the Enmity even the Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances for to make in himself of twain one new Man so making Peace and that he might reconcile both unto God in one Body by the Cross having slain the Enmity thereby and came and preached Peace to you that were afar off and to them that were nigh for through him we both have access by one spirit unto the Father Ephes. 2. 14 15 16 17 18. 2dly This word Peace respecteth our inward quietness of heart which we obtain by beholding this Reconciliation made by Christ with God for
always his delight Herein is Love that be sent him to save Sinners to save them by bearing their Sins by bearing their Curse by dying their Death and by carrying their Sorrows Here is Love in that while we were yet Enemies Christ died for us yea here is Love in that while we were yet without strength Christ died for the Ungodly Rom. 5. The second Use. But Secondly as this Doctrine giveth us the best discovery of God so also it giveth us the best discovery of our selves and our own things First It giveth us the best discovery of our selves Wouldest thou know Sinner what thou art look up to the Cross and behold a Weeping Bleeding Dying Jesus nothing could do but that nothing could save thee but his Blood Angels could not Saints could not God could not because he could not ly because he could not deny himself What a thing is Sin that it should sink all that bear its burden yea it sunk the Son of God himself into death and the Grave and had also sunk him into Hell-fire for ever had he not been the Son of God had he not been able to take it on his Back and bear it away O! This Lamb of God Sinners were going to Hell Christ was the Delight of his Father and had a whole Heaven to himself but that did not content him Heaven could not hold him He must come into the World to save Sinners 1 Tim. 1. 15. Ay and had he not come thy Sins had sunk thee thy Sins had provoked the Wrath of God against thee to thy perdition and destruction for ever There is no Man but is a Sinner there is no Sin but would damn an Angel should God lay it to his charge Sinner the Doctrine of Christ crucified crieth therefore aloud unto thee that sin hath made thy Condition dreadful See your selves your Sin and consequently the Condition that your Souls are in by the Death and Blood of Christ Christs Death giveth us the most clear discovery of the dreadful Nature of our Sins I say again if sin be so dreadful a thing as to break the Heart of the Son of God for so he saith it did how shall a Poor Wretched Impenitent damned Sinner wrestle with the Wrath of God Awake Sinners you are lost you are undone you perish you are damned Hell-fire is your Portion for ever if you abide in your Sins and be found without a Saviour in the dreadful Day of Judgment Secondly For your good Deeds cannot help you the Blood of Christ tells you so For by this Doctrine Christ died for our Sins God damneth to death and hell the Righteousness of the World Christ must die or Man be damned where is now any room for the Righteousness of Men room I say for Man's Righteousness as to his Acceptance and Justification Bring then thy Righteousness to the Cross of Jesus Christ and in his Blood behold the Demands of Justice behold them I say in the Cries and Tears in the Blood and Death of Jesus Christ. Look again and behold the Person dying such an one as never sinned nor offended at any time yet he dies Could an Holy Life an Innocent Harmless Conversation have saved one from death Jesus had not died But he must die Sin was charged therfore Christ must die Men therefore need to go no further to prove the Worth of their own Righteousness than to the Death of Christ They need not be to seek in that Matter till they stand before the Judgment-Seat Quest. But how should I prove the Goodness of mine own Righteousness by the Death and Blood of Christ Ans. Thus If Christ must die for Sin then all thy Righteousness cannot save thee If Righteousness comes by the Law then Christ is dead in vain Gal. 2. 21. By this Text 't is manifest that either Christ died in vain or thy Righteousness is vain If thy Righteousness can save thee then Christ died in vain If nothing below or besides the Death of Christ could save thee then thy Righteousness is in vain one of the two must be cast away either Christ's or thine Christ Crucified to save the World discovereth two great evils in Man's own Righteousness I mean when brought for Justification and Life 1. It opposeth the Righteousness of Christ. 2. It condemneth God of Foolishness 1. It opposeth the Righteousness of Christ in that it seeketh it self to stand where should the Righteousness of Christ to wit in God's affection for the Justification of thy Person and this is one of the highest affronts to Christ that poor man is capable to give him Right worthily therefore doth the Doctrine of the Gospel damn the Righteousness of Men and promiseth the Kingdom of God to Publicans and Harlots rather 2. It condemneth God of Foolishness For if Works of Righteousness which we can do can justifie from the Curse of the Law in the Sight of God then is not all the Treasures of Wisdom found in the Heart of God and Christ For this Dolt-headed Sinner hath now found out a Way of his own unawares to God to secure his Soul from Wrath and Vengeance I say unawares to God for he never imagined that such a thing could be for had he he would never have purposed before the World began to send his Son to die for Sinners Christ is the Wisdom of God as you have heard and that as he is our Justifying Righteousness God was manifest in the Flesh to save us is the great Mystery of Godliness But wherein lyeth the depth of this Wisdom of God in our Salvation if Man's Right-hand can save him Job 40. 10 11 12 13 14. Yea wherefore hath God also given it out that there is none other Name given to Men under Heaven whereby we must be saved I say again why is it affirmed without shedding of Blood is no Remission if Mans good Deeds can save him This Doctrine therefore of the Righteousness of Christ being rightly preached and truly believed arraigneth and condemneth Man's Righteousness to Hell It casteth it out as Abraham cast out Ismael BLOOD BLOOD the sound of Blood abaseth all the Glory of it When Men have said all and shewed us what they can they have no Blood to present God's Justice with yet 't is Blood that maketh an Atonement for the Soul and nothing but Blood can wash us from our Sins Levit. 17. 11. Revel 1. 5. Heb. 9. Justice calls for Blood Sins call for Blood the Righteous Law calls for Blood yea the Devil himself must be overcome by Blood Sinner where is now thy Righteousness Bring it before a Consuming Fire for our God is a Consuming Fire Bring it before the Justice of the Law yea try if ought but the Blood of Christ can save thee from thy Sins and Devils try it I say by this Doctrine go not one step further before thou hast tried it Thirdly By this Doctrine we are made to see the worth of Souls it cannot be but that the Soul
is of Wonderful Price when the Son of God will not stick to spill his Blood for it O Sinners you that will venture your Souls for a little pleasure surely you know not the worth of your Souls Now if you would know what your Souls are worth and the Price which God sets them at read that Price by the Blood of Christ. The Blood of Christ was spilt to save Souls For ye are bought with a Price and that Price none other than the Blood of Christ wherefore glorify God in your Bodies and in your Spirits which are Gods 1 Cor. 6. 20. Sinners you have Souls can you behold a Crucified Christ and not Bleed and not Mourn and not fall in Love with him The third Use. By this Doctrine Sinners as Sinners are encouraged to come to God for mercy for the Curse due to Sin is taken out of the way I speak now to Sinners that are awake and see themselves Sinners There are two things in special when Men begin to be awakened that kill their thoughts of being saved 1. A Sense of sin 2. The Wages due thereto These kill the Heart for who can bear up under the guilt of Sin If our Sins be upon us and we pine away in them how can we THEN live Ezek. 33. 10. How indeed it is impossible So neither can Man grapple with the Justice of God Can thine Heart endure or can thine Hands be strong they cannot A wounded Spirit who can bear Men cannot Angels cannot wherefore if now Christ be hid and the blessing of Faith in his Blood denied wo be to them such go after Saul and Judas one to the Sword and the other to the Halter Ezek. 22. 14. Prov. 18. 14. and so miserably end their days for come to God they dare not the thoughts of that Eternal Majesty strikes them through But now present such Poor dejected Sinners with a Crucified Christ and perswade them that the Sins under which they shake and tremble was long ago laid upon the Back of Christ and the Noise and Sense and Fear of damning begins to cease depart and fly away Dolours and Terrours fade and vanish and that Soul conceiveth hopes of Life For thus the Soul argueth is this indeed the Truth of God that Christ was made to be Sin for me was made the Curse of God for me Hath he indeed born all my Sins and spilt his Blood for my Redemption O blessed Tidings O welcome Grace Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his Holy Name Now is peace come now the Face of Heaven is altered Behold all things are become new Now the Sinner can abide Gods Presence yea sees unutterable Glory and Beauty in him For here he sees Justice smite While Jacob was afraid of Esau how heavily did he drive even towards the Promised Land but when killing thoughts were turned into kissing and the fears of the Swords Point turned into Brotherly Embraces what says he I have seen thy Face as though it had been the Face of God and thou wast pleased with me Gen. 33. 10. So and far better is it with a poor distressed Sinner at the Revelation of the Grace of God through Jesus Christ. God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself not imputing their Trespasses to them O! what work will such a word make upon a wounded Conscience especially when the next words follow For he hath made him to be Sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him Now the Soul sees qualifications able to set him quit in the Sight of God Qualifications prepared already Prepared I say already and that by God through Christ even such as can perfectly answer the Law What doth the Law require If Obedience here it is if Bloody Sacrifice here it is if infinite Righteousness here it is Now then the Law condemns him that Believes before God no more for all its Demands are answered all its Curses are swallowed up in the Death and Curse Christ underwent Object But reason saith since Personal Sin brought the Death surely Personal Obedience must bring us Life and Glory Ans. True Reason saith so and so doth the Law it self Rom. 10. 5. but God we know is above them both and he in the Covenant of Grace saith otherwise to wit That if thou shalt confess with thy Mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine Heart that God hath raised him from the Dead thou shalt be saved Rom. 10. 6 7 8 9. Let Reason then hold his tongue yea let the Law with all his Wisdom subject it self to him that made it let it look for sin where God hath laid it let it approve the Righteousness which God approveth yea though it be not that of the Law but that by Faith of Jesus Christ. God hath made him our Righteousness God hath made him our Sin God hath made him our Curse God hath made him our Blessing Methinks this word God hath made it so should silence all the World The fourth use Fourthly By this Doctrine sufficiency of argument is ministred to the tempted to withstand thereby the assaults of the Devil When the Souls begin to seek after the Lord Jesus then Satan begins to afflict and distress as the Canaanites did the Gibeonites for making Peace with Jehoshuah Jos. 10. 1 6. There are three things that do usually afflict the Soul that is earnestly looking after Jesus Christ. 1. Dreadful accusations from Satan 2. Grievous defiling and infectious thoughts 3. A strange readiness in our Nature to fall in with both By the first of these the Heart is made continually to tremble Hence his Temptations are compared to the roaring of a Lyon 1 Pet. 5. 8. For as the Lyon by roaring killeth the Heart of his Prey so doth Satan kill the Spirit of these that hearken to him For when he tempteth especially by way of accusation he doth to us as Rabshakeh did to the Jews He speaks to us in our own Language He speaks our Sin at every word our guilty Conscience knows it he speaks our Death at every word our doubting Conscience feels it Secondly Besides this there doth now arise even in the Heart such defiling and soul infectious thoughts that putteth the Tempted to their wits end for now it seems to the Soul that the very flood-Gates of the Flesh are opened and that to sin there is no stop at all now the Air seems to be covered with darkness and the Man is as if he was changed into the nature of a Devil Now if ignorance and unbelief prevail he concludeth that he is reprobate made to be taken and destroyed Thirdly Now also he feeleth in him a readiness to fall in with every temptation a readiness I say continually present Rom. 7. 21. This throws all down now despair begins to swallow it up now it can neither pray nor read nor hear nor meditate on God but Fire and Smoke continually bursteth
Righteousness should arise among them with healing under his Wings 3. I may add another cause of their stumble They did not understand the Prophecies that went before of him 1. He was to come to them out of Egypt Out of Egypt have I called my Son Mat. 2. 15. 2. He turned aside into Cana of Galilee and dwelt in the City of Nazareth That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophets he shall be called a Nazaren Mat. 2. 23. 3. That saying also was to be fulfilled The Land of Zebulon and the Land of Nepthaly by the way of the Sea beyond Jordan Galilee of the Gentiles the People that sat in Darkness saw a great Light and to them that sat in the region and shadow of Death Light is sprung up Mat. 4. 12 13 14 15 16 17. At these things then they stumbled and 't was a great Judgment of God upon them Besides There seemed to be a Contradiction in the Prophecies of the Scriptures concerning his Coming He was to be born in Bethlehem and yet to come out of Egypt How should he be the Christ and yet come out of Galilee out of which ariseth no Prophet Thus they stumbled Hence note That though the Prophecies and Promises be full and plain as these were that he should be born in Bethlehem yet men's Sins may cause them to be fulfilled in such obscurity that instead of having benefit thereby they may stumble and split their Souls thereat Take heed then hunt not Christ from plain Promises with Herod hunt him not from Bethlehem lest he appear to your amazement and destruction from Egypt or in the Land of Zebulon But thus much to the Second Question to wit What it was for Jesus to come into the World I come now to the Third Question Quest. 3. What it was for him to come to be a Saviour For the further handling of this Question I must shew 1. What it is to be a Saviour 2. What it is to come to be a Saviour 3. What it is for Jesus to come to be a Saviour To these three briefly First What it is to be a Saviour 1. A Saviour supposeth some in misery and himself one that is to deliver them 2. A Saviour is either such an one Ministerially or Meritoriously Ministerially is when one person engageth or is engaged by virtue of respect or command from Superiours to go and obtain by conquest or the Kings Redemption the Captives or Persons grieved by the Tyranny of an Enemy And thus was Moses and Joshuah and the Judges and Kings of Israel Saviours Thou deliveredst them into the Land of their Enemies who vexed them and in the time of their trouble when they cried unto thee thou heardest them from Heaven and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them Saviours who saved them out of the Hand of their Enemies Nehem. 9. 27. Thus was Jesus Christ a Saviour he was engaged by virtue of respect and command from God to obtain by conquest and redemption the Captives or Persons grieved God sent his Son to be the Saviour of the World John 4. 14. Meritoriously is when the Person engaging shall at his own proper cost and charge give a sufficient value or price for those he redeemeth Thus those under the Law were redeemed by the Mony called the Redemption-Mony And Moses gave the Mony of them that were redeemed unto Aaron and to his Sons Numb 3. 46 47 48 49 51 52. And thus was Jesus Christ a Saviour he paid full price to Divine Justice for Sinners even his own precious Blood Forasmuch as you know that you were not redeemed from your vain Conversation received by tradition from your Fathers with corruptible things as Silver and Gold but with the precious Blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1 18 19. And forasmuch as in mans redemption the Undertaker must have respect not only to the paying of a price but also to the getting of a Victory for there is not only Jesus to satisfy but Death Devil Hell and the Grave to conquer therefore hath he also by himself gotten the Victory over these 1. He hath abolished Death 2 Tim. 1. 10. 2. He hath destroyed the Devil Heb. 2. 14 15. 3. He hath been the destruction of the Grave Hos. 13. 14. 4. He hath gotten the Keys of Hell Revel 1. 17 18 19. And this I say he did by himself at his own proper cost and charge when he triumphed over them upon his Cross Col. 2. 14 15. Quest. 2. Secondly What it is to come to be a Saviour 1. To come to be one supposeth one ordained and fore-prepared for that work Then said he lo I come a Body hast thou prepared me Heb. 10. 2. To come to be a Saviour supposeth one commissionated or authorized to that Work Thâ— Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me authorized me to preach the Gospel to the Poor He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted to preach deliverance to the Captives and recovering of sight to the Blind and to set at liberty them that are bruised Luk. 4. 18. And upon this account it is that he is so often called CHRIST or the Anointed one the Anointed Jesus or Jesus the Anointed Saviour Thou art the Christ the Son of God that should come into the World This Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ He testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ and he confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus proving by the Scriptures that this is the very Christ Joh. 11. 27. Acts 17. 3. Chap. 18. 5. Chap. 9. 22. The very Anointed of God or he whom God authorized and qualified to be the Saviour of the World 3. To come to be a Saviour supposeth a resolution to do that work before he goeth back I will ransom them from the power of the Grave I will redeem them from death O Death I will be thy Plague O Grave I will be thy Destruction Repentance shall be hid from mine Eyes Hos. 13. 14. And as he resolved so he hath done 1. He hath purged our Sins Heb. 1. 2 3. 2. He hath perfected for ever by one Offering them that are sanctified Heb. 10. 14. 3. He hath obtained Eternal Redemption for them Heb. 9. 12. See further 2 Tim. 1. 10. Heb. 9. 26. Col. 2. 15. Heb. 6. 18 19 20. Quest. 3. I come now to the Third Question What it is for Jesus to come to be a Saviour 1. Ans. It is the greatest discovery of mans misery and inability to save himself therefrom that ever was made in the World Must the Son of God himself come down from Heaven or can there be no Salvation can not one Sinner save another cannot man by any means redeem his Brother nor give to God a Ransom for him cannot an Angel do it cannot all the Angels do it no Christ must come and die to do it 2dly It is the greatest discovery of the Love of God that ever the World had For
god SO to love the World as to send his Son For God SO to commend his love to the World as to send it to them in the Blood of his Son Amazing Love John 3. 16. Rom. 5. 8. 3dly It is the greatest discovery of the Condescention of Christ that ever the World had 1. That he should not come to be ministred unto but to minister and to give his Life a Ransom for many Mat. 20. 28. 2. That he should be manifest for this purpose that he might destroy the works of the Devil 1 John 3. 8. 3. That he should come that we might have life and that we might have it more abundantly John 10. 10. 4. That the Son of God should come to seek and to save that which was lost Luk. 19. 10. 5. That he should not come to judg the World to but to save the World John 12. 47. 6. That Christ Jesus should come into the World save Sinners of whom I am chief 1. Tim. 1. 15. 7. That he should love us and wash us from our Sins in his own Blood Revel 1. 5. What amazing Condescention and Humility is this Phil. 2. 6 7 8 9. How Jesus Christ addressed himself to the Work of our Redemption I Come then in the next place to shew you HOW Jesus Christ addressed himself to the Work of mans Redemption The Scripture saith he became poor That he made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant that he humbled himself unto death even the Death of the Cross. But particularly 1. He took upon him our Flesh. 2. He was made under the Law 3. He took upon him our Sins 4. He bore the Curse due to our Sins First He took upon him our Flesh. I shewed you before that he came in our Flesh and now I must shew you the Reason of it namely Because That was the way to address himself to the Work of our Redemption Wherefore when the Apostle treated of the Incarnation of Christ he addeth withal the reason to wit That he might be capable to work out the Redemption of men There are three things to be considered in this 1st Head 1. that he took our Flesh for this Reason That he might be a Saviour 2. How he took flesh that he might be our Saviour 2. That it was necessary that he should take our Flesh if indeed he will be our Saviour For the First That he took our Flesh for this Reason That he might be a Saviour For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the Flesh Rom. 8. 3 4. The Sum of the Words is forasmuch as the Law could do us no good by reason of the inability that is in our flesh to do it for the Law can do us no good until it be fulfilled and because God had a desire that good should come to us therefore did he send his Son in our likeness clothed with flesh to destroy by his doing the Law the tendency of the Sin that dwells in our flesh He therefore took our flesh that our Sin with its effects might by him be condemned and overcome The Reason therefore why he took flesh is Because he would be our Saviour For asmuch then as the Children are Partakers of Flesh and blood he also likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the Power of Death that is the Devil and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life-time subject to bondage Heb. 2. 14 15. In these words it is asserted that he took our flesh for certain Reasons 1. Because the Children the Heirs of Heaven are Partakers of Flesh and Blood For asmuch then as the Children are Partakers of Flesh and Blood he also himself took part of the same Had the Children the Heirs been without flesh he himself had not taken it upon him had the Children been Angels he had taken upon him the Nature of Angels but because the Children were Partakers of Flesh therefore leaving Angels or refusing to take hold of Angels he took Flesh and Blood the Nature of the Children that he might put himself into a capacity to save and deliver the Children Therefore it follows That through death he might destroy him that had the Power of Death that is the Devil This therefore was another Reason that he might destroy the Devil The Devil had bent himself against the Children he is their Adversary and goeth forth to make war with them The Devil your Adversary And he went to make war with the Remnant of her Seed 1 Pet. 5. 8. Revel 12. Now the Children could not destroy him because he had already cast them into sin defiled their Nature and laid them under the Wrath of God Therefore Christ puts himself among the Children and into the Nature of the Children that he might by means of his Dying in their Flesh destroy the Devil that is take away Sin his Work that he might destroy the Works of the Devil for sin is the great Engine of Hell by which he overthroweth all that perish Now this did Christ destroy by taking on him the similitude of Sinful Flesh of which more anon That he might destroy him that had the Power of Death that is the Devil and deliver them This was the thing in chief intended that he might deliver the Children that he might deliver them from death the Fruit of their Sin and from Sin the Sting of that Death That he might deliver them who through the Fear of Death were all their Life-time subject to bondage He took flesh therefore because the Children had it he took it that he might die for the Children he took it that he might deliver the Children from the Works of the Devil that he might deliver them No Deliverance had come to the Children if the Son of God had not taken their Flesh and Blood Therefore he took our Flesh that he might be our Saviour Again In a Saviour there must be not only Merit but Compassion and Sympathy because the Children are yet to live by Faith are not yet come to the Inheritance It behoved him therefore in all things to be made like unto his Brethren that he might be a Merciful and Faithful High-Priest in things pertaining to God to make Reconciliation for the Sins of the People Heb. 2. 17 18. Two Reasons are rendred in this Text why he must take Flesh namely that he might be their Priest to offer Sacrifice to wit his Body and Blood for them and that he might be merciful and faithful to pitty and preserve them unto the Kingdom appointed for them Mark you therefore how the Apostle when he asserteth that the Lord Jesus took our Flesh urgeth the reason why he took our Flesh. THAT he might destroy the Devil and Death THAT he might deliver them It behoved him to be made
like unto his Brethren THAT he might be merciful and faithful THAT he might make Reconciliation for the Sins of the People The Reason therefore why he took our Flesh is declared to wit That he might be our Saviour And hence you find it so often recorded He hath abolished in his Flesh the Enmity He hath slain the Enmity by his Flesh and you who were sometimes Aliens and Enemies in your Minds by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the Body of his Flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable in his Sight Ephes. 2. 15 16. Col. 1. 21 22. How he took Flesh. I Come now to the Second Question to wit How he took our Flesh. This must be inquired into for his taking Flesh was not after the common way never any took man's Flesh upon him as he since the Foundation of the World 1. He took not our flesh like Adam who was formed out of the Ground Who was made of the Dust of the Ground Gen. 2. 7. Chap. 3. 19. 2. He took not our flesh as we do by Carnal Generation Joseph knew not his Wife neither did Mary know any Man till she had brought forth her First-horn Son Luk. 1. 34. Mat. 1. 25. 3. He took flesh then by the immediate working and over-shadowing of the Holy Ghost And hence it is said expresly She was found with Child of the Holy Ghost Now the Birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise When-as his Mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together she was found with Child of the Holy Ghost Mat. 1. 18. And hence again When Joseph doubted of her Honesty for he perceived she was with Child and knew he had not touched her the Angel of God himself comes down to resolve his doubt and said Joseph thou Son of David Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy Wife for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost Mat. 1. 20. But again Though the Holy Ghost was that by which the Child Jesus was formed in the Womb so as to be without Carnal Generation yet was he not formed in her without but by her Conception Behold thou shalt conceive in thy Womb and bring forth a Son and shalt call his Name Jesus Luk. 1. 31. Wherefore he took flesh not only IN but OF the Virgin Hence he is called HER Son the SEED of the Woman And hence it is also that he is called the Seed OF Abraham the Seed OF David THEIR Seed according to the Flesh Luk. 2. 7. Gen. 13. 15. Chap. 12. Chap. 22. Gal. 3. 16. Chap. 4. 4. Rom. 1. 3. Luk. 1. 32. Rom. 9. 5. And this the Work he undertook required 1. It required that he should take our Flesh. 2. It required that he should take our Flesh without sin which could not be had he taken it by reason of a Carnal Generation for so all Children are conceived in and polluted with sin Psal. 51. And the least pollution either of flesh or spirit had utterly disabled him for the Work which to do he came down from Heaven Therefore Such an High-Priest became us who is holy harmless undefiled separate from Sinners and made higher than the Heavens Heb. 7. 26. This Mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God was thus compleated I say That he might be in all points like as we are yet without sin for sin in the Fesh disableth and maketh incapable to do the Commandment Therefore was he thus made thus made of a Woman And this the Angel assigneth as the Reason of this his Marvelous Incarnation The Holy Ghost saith he shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee therefore also that Holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God Luk. 2. 35. The Overshadowing of the Holy Ghost and the Power of the Highest the Father and the Holy Ghost brought this Wonderful thing to pass for Jesus is a Wonderful One in his Conception and Birth This Mystery is that next to the Mystery of three Persons in one God It is a great Mystery Great is the Mystery of Godliness God was manifested in the Flesh. The Conclusion is That Jesus Christ took our Flesh that he might be our Saviour and that he might be our Saviour indeed he THUS took our Flesh. That it was necessary that he should take our Flesh if he will be our Saviour I Come now to the Third Thing namely That it was necessary that he should take our Flesh if he will be our Saviour And that first from the Nature of the Work his Work was to save to save man sinking man man that was going down to the Pit Job 34. 24. Now he that will save him that is sinking must take hold on him And since he was not to save a Man but Men therefore it was necessary that he should take hold not of one Person but of the Common Nature clothing himself with part of the same He took not hold of Angels but took on him the Seed of Abraham For THAT Flesh was the same with the whole Lump of the Children to whom the Promise was made and comprehended in it the Body of them that shall be saved even as in Adam was comprehended the whole World at first Rom. 5. Hence we are said to be chosen in him to be gathered being in him to be dead by him to be risen with him and to be set with him or in him in Heavenly Places already I phes 1. 4 10. Rom. 7. 4. Col. 3. 1 2 3. Chap. 2. 12 13. This then was the Wisdom of the great God that the Eternal Son of his Love should take hold of and so secure the sinking Souls of perishing Sinners by assuming their Flesh. Secondly The Manner of his doing the Work of a Saviour did call for his taking of our Flesh. He must do the Work by dying Ought not Christ to have suffered Christ must needs have suffered Luk. 24. 26. Acts 17. 3. or else no glory follows The Prophets testified before-hand the Sufferings of Christ and the Glory that should follow 1 Pet. 1. 11. Yea they did it by the Spirit even by the Spirit of Christ himself This Spirit then did bid them tell the World yea testify that Christ must suffer or no man be blest with Glory For the threatning of death and the Curse of the Law lay in the Way between Heaven-Gates and the Souls of the Children for their Sins wherefore he that will save them must answer Divine Justice or God must lye in saving them without inflicting the Punishment threatned Christ then must needs have suffered the Manner of the Work laid a necessity upon him to take our Flesh upon him he must die he must die for us he must die for our Sins And this was effectually foretold by all the Bloody Sacrifices that were offered under the Law The Blood of Bulls the Blood of Lambs the Blood of Rams the Blood of Calves
as he suffered from Men so he suffered for righteousness sake Observe then That as he suffered for sin so no MAN took away his Life but as he suffered for righteousness so THEY slew him by wicked hands What is it then Christ must needs have suffered and the Wisdom of God had so ordained That those things which God before had shewed by the Mouth of all his Prophets that Christ should suffer he hath so fulfilled Acts 3. 18. Thus therefore we ought to distinguish of the Causes and Ends of the Death of Christ. Again As Christ suffered for sin so he would neither be taken at mans pleasure nor die at mans time 1. Not at mans pleasure and hence it was that they so often sought his Life in vain for his Hour was not yet come to wit the Hour in which he was to be made a Sacrifice for our Sin John 13. Chap. 17. 1 2. Chap. 18. 1 2. 2. Not at their Time but contrary to all expectation when the due time was come he bowed his Head and gave up the Ghost John 19. 30. And for this last work he had power given him of God that is power to die when he would I have power said he to lay down my Life and I have power to take it again This Power never man had before This made the Centurion wonder and made Pontius Pilat marvel And indeed well they might for it was as great a Miracle as any he wrought in his Life It demonstrated him to be the Son of God Mar. 15. 38 39. The Centurion knowing that according to nature he might have lived longer concluded therefore that his dying at that instant was not but miraculously And when he saw that he so cried out and gave up the Ghost he said Truly this Man was the Son of God And the Reason why he had power to die was That he might offer his Offering willingly and at the Season 1. Willingly If his Offering be a Burnt-Sacrifice of the Lord let him offer a Male without blemish he shall offer it of his own voluntary Will at the Door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation before the Lord Levit. 1. 3. 2. He must offer it at the Season Thou shalt keep this Ordinance the Passeover in his Season Exod. 13. 10. Now both these Offerings having immediate respect to the Offering of the Body of Christ for sin for he came in the room of all burnt-Sacrifices the Passeover also was a Type of him Heb. 10. 3 4 5 6. 1 Cor. 5. 7 8. Therefore he being now the Priest as well as Sacrifice must have Power and Will to offer his Sacrifice with acceptation and this the Scripture testifieth he did where it saith In due time Christ died for the Ungodly Rom. 5. 8 9. In due time that is at the time appointed at the acceptable time Thou must therefore unless thou art willing to be deceived look upon the Sufferings of Christ under a double Consideration and distinguish between his Sufferings as our Example and his Suffering for our Sins And know that as he suffered as our Example so he suffered only for righteousness sake from the Hands of wicked Men but as he suffered for our Sins so he suffered as being by God reputed wicked the Punishment that was due to sin even the dreadful Curse of God Not that Christ died two deaths one after another but he died at the same time upon a double account for his Righteousness sake from Men for our sins from the Hand of God And as I said before had he only suffered for righteousness sake death had not so amazed him nor had he been so exceeding heavy in the Thoughts of it that had never put him into an Agony nor made him Sweat as it were great drops of Blood Besides When men suffer only for righteousness sake God doth not use to hide his Face from them to forsake them and make them accursed But Christ hath delivered us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us Object But if indeed Christ hath paid the full price for us by his Death in suffering the Punishment that we should have done wherefore is the Scripture so silent as not to declare that by his Death he hath made satisfaction Ans. No Man may teach God Knowledg he knoweth best how to deliver his Mind in such words and terms as best agree with his Eternal Wisdom and the Consciences of these that are truly desirous of Salvation being over-burdened with the guilt of Sin Perhaps the Word Satisfaction will hardly be found in the Bible and where is it said in so many words God is dissatisfied with our Sins Yet 't is sufficiently manifest that there is nothing that God hateth but sin and Sinners for the Sake of sin What meant he by turning Adam out of Paradise by drowning the Old World by burning up Sodom with Fire and Brimstone from Heaven What meant he by drowning of Pharaoh by causing the Ground to swallow up Corah and his Company and by his destroying Israel in the Wilderness if not to shew that he was dissatisfied with Sin That God is also satisfied yea more than satisfied by Christ's Sufferings for our Sins is apparent For granting that he died for them as these Scriptures declare Isa. 53. 1 Cor 15. 1 2 3 4. Gal. 1. 4. 1 Cor. 5. 8. 2 Cor. 5. 21. Gal. 3. 13. 1 Pet. 2. 24. Chap. 3. 18. 1 Joh. 2. 2. Chap. 3. 16. Chap. 4. 14. Revel 1. 5. Chap. 5. 9. Isa. 49. 4 5 6. 1. It is apparent because it is said That God smelled in that Offering of the Body of Christ for our Sins a Sweet-smelling Savor He gave himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling Savor Ephes. 5. 2. 2. It is apparent because it is said expresly That God for Christ's Sake doth now forgive Be ye kind one to another tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's Sake bath forgiven you Ephes. 4. 32. 3. It is apparent that God is satisfied with Christ's Blood for our Sins because he hath declared that he can justifie those that believe in or rely upon that Blood for Life in a way of Justice and Righteousness Being justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ 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 believeth in Jesus Rom. 3. 24 25 26. Now I say to object against such plain Testimonies what is it but 1. To deny that Christ died for Sin or to conclude 2. That having so done he is still in the Grave Or 3. That there is no such thing as Sin Or 4. No such thing as Revenging Justice in God against it Or 5. That we must
die our selves for our Sins Or 6. That sin may be pardoned without a satisfaction Or 7. That every man may merit his own Salvation But without shedding of Blood there is no Remission Heb. 9. 22. To avoid therefore these cursed Absurdities it must be granted that Jesus Christ by his Death did make satisfaction for sin But the word Satisfaction may not be used by the Holy Ghost perhaps for that it is too short and scanty a Word to express the Blessedness that comes to Sinners by the Blood of Christ. 1. To make satisfaction amounts to no more than compleatly to answer a legal Demand for harms and injuries done Now this when done to the full leaveth the Offender there where he was before he committed the Injury Now if Christ had done no more than this he had only paid our debt but had not obtained eternal redemption for us 2. For a full Satisfaction given by this Man for harms done by another may neither obtain the Love of the Person offended nor the smallest Gift which the Person offending hath not deserved Suppose I owe to this Man ten thousand Talents and another should pay him every Farthing there remaineth over and above by that compleat Satisfaction not one single half-Penny for me Christ hath therefore done more than to make satisfaction for sin by his Blood He hath also made us Kings and Priests to God and his Father and we shall reign with him for ever and ever Revel 1. 5 6. Chap. 22. 5. But take a few more Scriptures for the Proof of the Doctrine before asserted First We have redemption through his Blood Col. 1. 14. 1. Redemption from Sin Ephes. 1. 7. 2. Redemption from Death Heb. 2. 14 15. Hos. 13. 14. 3. Redemption from Satan Heb. 2. 15. 4. Redemption from the World Gal. 1. 4. 5. Redemption to God Revel 5. 9. 6. Eternal Redemption Neither by the Blood of Goats and Calves but by his own Blood he entered in once into the Holy Place having obtained Eternal Redemption for us Heb. 9. 12. Secondly We are said also to be washed in his Blood 1. Our Persons are washed He loved US and washed US from our Sins in his own Blood Rev. 1. 5. 2. His Blood washeth also our Performances Our Robes are washed and made white in the Blood of the Lamb Revel 7. 14. Thirdly We are said to be purged by his Blood 1. Purged from Sin before God When he had by himself purged our Sins he sat down on the Right Hand of God Heb. 1. 3. 2. Purged from evil Consciences How much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your Conscience from dead works to serve the Living God Heb. 9. 14. Fourthly We are said to be made nigh to God by his Blood But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the Blood of Christ Ephes. 2. 13. Fifthly Peace is said to be made by his Blood 1. Peace with God Col. 1. 20. 2. Peace of Conscience Heb. 10. 19 20 21 22. 3. Peace one with another Ephes. 2. 14. Sixthly We are said to be justified by his Blood Much more being now justified by his Blood we shall be saved from wrath through him Rom. 5. 9. Justified that is acquitted 1. Acquitted before God Ephes. 5. 25 26. 2. Acquitted before Angels Mat. 28. 5. 3. Acquitted by the Law Rom. 3. 21 22 23. 4. Acquitted in the Court of Conscience Heb. 9. 14. Seventhly We are said to be saved by his Blood Rom. 5. 8 9. Eightly We are said to be reconciled by his Blood Col. 1. 2◠21 22. Ninthly We are said to be sanctified by his Blood Heb. 13. 12. Tenthly We are said to be admitted into the Holiest by his Blood Heb. 10. 19. Eleventhly We are said to have Eternal Redemption by his Blood Heb. 9. 12. Yea Lastly This Blood which was once spilt upon the Cross will be the burden of our Song in Heaven it self for ever and ever Revel 5. 9. Now if we be redeemed washed purged made nigh to God have peace with God if we stand just before God are saved reconciled sanctified admitted into the Holiest if we have eternal Redemption by his Blood and if his Blood will be the burden of our Song for ever then hath Christ paid the full price for us by his Death then hath he done more than made satisfaction for our Sins Several Demonstrations more proving the former Doctrine BUt before I conclude this Answer I will give you nine or ten more undeniable Demonstrations to satisfie you if God will bless them to you in the Truth of this great Doctrine to wit That Jesus Christ by what he hath done hath paid the full Price to God for the Souls of Sinners and obtained Eternal Redemption for them The first Demonstration ANd First I begin with his Resurrection THAT God that delivered him up unto death and that made him a Curse for Sin THAT God raised him up from the dead But God raised him from the Dead Act. 3. 15. Chap. 13. 30. Now considering that at his Death he was charged with our Sins and accursed to death for our Sins That Justice that delivered him up for them must have amends made to him before he acquit him from them for there can be no change in Justice Had he found him in 〈◊〉 Sins in the Grave as he found him in them upon the Tree for he had them in his Body on the Tree 1 Pet. 2. 24. he had left him there as he left him upon the Tree yea he had as surely rotted in the Grave as ever he died on the Tree But when he visited Christ in the Grave he found him a Holy Harmless Undefiled and Spotless Christ and therefore he raised him up from the Dead He raised him up from the dead having loosed the Pains of Death because it was not possible that he should be helden of it Act. 2. 24. Quest. But why not possible now to be helden of death Ans. Because the Cause was removed Sin was the Cause he died for our Sins he gave himself for our Sins 1 Cor. 15. 1 2 3. Gal. 1. 4. These Sins brought him to death But when God that had made him a Curse for us looked upon him into the Grave he found him there without sin and therefore loosed the Pains of Death for Justice saith This is not possible because not lawful that he who lieth sinless before God should be swallowed up of death therefore he raised him up Quest. But what did he do with our Sins for he had them upon his Back Ans. 'T is said he TOOK them away Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the World 'T is said he PUT them away Now once in the End of the World hath he appeared to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself Joh. 1. 29. Heb. 9. 26. That is by the Merit of his undertaking he
us Being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The God of Peace fill you with all joy and peace in believing Rom. 5. 1 2. Chap. 15. 13. This Peace is expressed diversly 1. Sometimes it is called QUIETNESS for it calms the Soul from those troublous Fears of damning because of sin And the work of Righteousness shall be Peace and the Effect of Righteousness Quietness and Assurance for ever Isa. 32. 17. 2. Sometimes it is called BOLDNESS for by the Blood of Christ a Man hath encouragement to approach unto God Having brethren Boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the Vail that is to say his Flesh Heb. 10. 19 20. 3. It is sometimes called CONFIDENCE because by Jesus Christ we have not only encouragement to come to God but confidence that if we ask any thing according to his Will he not only heareth but granteth the Request which we put up to him In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the Faith of Jesus Ephes. 3. 12. 1 John 5. 14 15. 4. Sometimes this Peace is expressed by REST because a Man having found a sufficient Fulness to answer all his Wants he sitteth down and looks no further for satisfaction Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Mat. 11. 28. 5. It is also expressed by SINGING because the Peace of God when it is received into the Soul by Faith putteth the Conscience into a Heavenly and Melodious Frame And the Ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with Songs and Everlasting Joy upon their Heads they shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall fly away Isa. 35. 10. 6. Sometimes it is expressed or discovered by an Heavenly glorying and boasting in Jesus Christ because this Peace causeth the Soul to set its Face upon its Enemies with Faith of a Victory over them for ever by its Lord Jesus Let him that glorieth glory in the Lord and My Soul shall make her boasts in the Lord the Humble shall hear thereof and be glad Jer. 9. 23 24. Psalm 34. 2. 7. Sometimes it is expressed or discovered by Joy Joy unspeakable because the Soul having seen it self reconciled to God hath not only quietness but such apprehensions do now possess it of the unspeakable Benefits it receiveth by Christ with respect to the World to come that it is swallowed up with them Whom having not seen ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1. 8. 8. Lastly It is expressed or discovered by the Triumph that ariseth sometimes in the Hearts of the Believers for they at times are able to see Death Sin the Devil and Hell and all Adversity conquered by and tied as Captives at the Chariot-Wheels of Jesus Christ Taken captive I say and overthrown for ever Thanks be to God who causeth us always to triumph in Christ. O clap your Hands O ye People sing unto God with the voice of Triumph 2 Cor. 2. 14. Psalm 47. 1. Now that all this should be a cheat is impossible that is it is impossible that Believers should thus have Peace with God through the Blood of his Cross he having not paid full price to God for them especially if you consider that the Authors of this Peace are all the three in the Godhead and that upon a double account 1. In that they have given us a Gospel of Peace Rom. 10. 15. or a New-Testament which propoundeth Peace with God through the Redemption that is in Christ. Now as this is called the Gospel of Peace so 1. It is called The Gospel of God 1 Thes. 2. 9. 2 Thes. 1. 8. 2. The Gospel of Christ Rom. 15. 19. 3. A Gospel indited by the Holy Ghost 1 Thes. 4. 8. I say therefore that Redemption and Salvation being that throw Christ and the Truth thereof proclaimed by the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost in the Word of the Truth of the Gospel it must needs be that we who believe shall be saved if we hold the confidence and the rejoicing firm unto the End 2. As the three in the God-head are the Authors of this Peace by inditing for us the Gospel of Peace or the good Tidings of Salvation by Jesus Christ So they are the Authors of our Peace by working with that word of the Gospel in our Hearts And hence 1. the Father is called the God of Peace now the God of Peace be with you all And the very God of Peace sanctifie you Rom. 15. 33. 1 Thes. 5. 23. And because he is the God of Peace therefore he filleth those that believe in his Christ with joy and peace through believing Rom. 15. 13. 2. Again Christ is called the Prince of Peace therefore the Prayer is Grace be with you and Peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thes. 1. 2. 3. The Holy Ghost also is the Author of this Peace this inward Peace Even righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14. 17. And I say as I also have already said the procuring or meritorious Cause of this Peace is the doings and sufferings of Christ. Therefore by his Doings and Sufferings he paid full price to God for Sinners and obtained Eternal Redemption for them else God would never have indited a Proclamation of Peace for them and the Tenour of that Proclamation to be the Worthiness of the Lord Jesus yea he would never have wrought with that Word in the Heart of them that believe to create in them Peace Peace Secondly As peace with God is an Evidence the Blood of Christ being the Cause thereof that Christ hath by it paid full price to God for Sinners so Holiness in their Hearts taking its beginning from this Doctrine makes this fist Demonstration of double strength 1. That Holiness true gospel Holiness possesseth our hearts by this Doctrine 't is evident because the ground of Holiness which is the Spirit of God in us is ministred to us by this Doctrine When the Apostle had insinuated that the Galatians were bewitched because they had turned from the Doctrine of Christ Crucified he demands of them Whether they received the Spirit by the Works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith Gal. 3. 1 2 3 4. That is whether the Spirit took possession of their Souls by their Obedience to the ten Commandments or by their giving credit to the Doctrine of the forgiveness of their Sins by Faith in this Crucified Christ strongly concluding not by the Law but by the hearing or preaching of Faith that is of the Lord Jesus as Crucified who is the Object of Faith 2. As this Doctrine conveyeth the ground or ground-Work which is the Spirit so also it worketh in the Heart those three Graces Faith Hope Love
all which as naturally purifie the Heart from wickedness as Sope or Niter cleanseth the Cloath He purified their Hearts by Faith by Faith in Christ's Blood And everyone that hath this Hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure And also Love you shall see what that doth if you look into the Text Act. 15. 9. 1 Joh. 3. 3 4. 1 Cor. 13. Now I say this Faith groundeth it self in the Blood of Christ Hope waiteth for the full enjoyments of the Purchase of it in another world and love is begot and worketh by the Love that Christ hath expressed by his Death and by the Kindness he presenteth us with in his Heart-Blood Rom. 3. 24. 1 Cor. 15. 19. 2 Cor. 5. 14. Besides what arguments so prevailing as such as are purely Gospel To instance a few 1. What stronger than a free forgiveness of Sins A certain Man had two Debtors the one owed him five Hundred Pence and the other Fifty and when they had nothing to pay he frankly forgave them both tell me therefore which of them will love him most Luk. 7. 41 42 47. 2. What stronger argument to holiness than to see that though forgiveness comes free to us yet it cost Christ Jesus Heart-Blood to obtain it for us Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our Sins And this Love of God in giving his Christ and of Christ in dying for us there is no argument stronger to prevail with a sensible and awakened Sinner to judg he should live to him that died for him and rose again 2 Cor. 5. 14. 3. What stronger argument to holiness than this If any man sins we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous 1 Joh. 2. 1 2. Unsanctified and graceless wretches know not how to use these Words of God the Hypocrites also fly in our faces because we thus urge them but a Heart that is possessed with Gospel-ingenuity or to speak more properly that is possessed with Gospel-Grace and with Divine Considerations cries if it be thus O let me never sin against God! for the Love of Christ constrains me 2 Cor. 5. 14. 4. What greater argument to holiness than to see the Holy Scriptures so furnished with promises of Grace and Salvation by Christ that a Man can hardly cast his Eye into the Bible but he espieth one or another of them who would not live in such an House or be servant to such a Prince who besides his exceeding in good Conditions hath Gold and Silver as common in his Palace as stones are by the High-way side Having therefore these Promises dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the Fear of God 2 Cor. 7. 1. 5. What greater argument to holiness than to have our Performances though weak and infirm from us yet accepted of God in Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 2. 4 5 6. 6. What greater argument to holiness than to have our Soul our Body our Life hid and secured with Christ in God Mortifie therefore your Members that are upon the Earth fornication uncleanness inordinate affection evil concupiscence and covetousness which is idolatry Col. 3. 1 2 3 4 5 6. What greater argument to holiness than to be made the Members of the Body of the Flesh and of the Bones of Jesus Christ Shall I take the Members of Christ and make them the Members of an harlot God forbid Ephes. 5. 30. 1 Cor. 6. 15. Now all these and five times as many more having their foundation in the Love Blood and Righteousness of Christ and operating in the Soul by Faith are the great Argument unto that Holiness to which is annexed eternal Life 'T is worth our observing that in Act. 26 at the 18. The Inheritance belongs to them that are sanctified by Faith in Jesus Christ For all other pretences to holiness they are but a stollen semblance of that which is true and acceptable though 't is common for even that which is counterfeit to be called by the deluded the True and to be reckoned to be in them that are utter strangers to Faith and the Holiness that comes by Faith But whosoever compoundeth any like it or whosoever putteth any of it upon a stranger shall even be cut off from his People Exod. 30. 33. God knoweth which is holiness that comes by Faith in forgiveness of Sins and acceptance with God through Christ and God knows which is only such feignedly and accordingly will he deal with Sinners in that great Day of God Almighty The Sixth Demonstration THat Jesus Christ by what he hath done hath paid full price to God for Sinners and obtained Eternal Redemption for them is evident because Prayers are accepted of God only upon the account and for the sake of the Name of Jesus Christ Verily verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my Name he will give it you Joh. 16. 23. In my Name in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth in the Name of him that came into the World to save Sinners by dying for them a grievous bloody Death in his Name that hath by himself put away sin and brought unto God acceptable Righteousness for Sinners in his Name why in his Name if he be not accepted of God why in his Name if his undertakings for us are not well-pleasing to God But by these Words in my Name are insinuated that his Person and performances as our undertaker is accepted by the Father of Spirits We may not go in our own names because we are Sinners not in the Name of one another because all are Sinners but why not in the Name of an Angel Because they are not those that did undertake for us or had they they could not have done our work for us He putteth no trust in his Saints yea the Heavens are not clean in his Sight Job 4. 18. Chap. 15. 15. It may further be objected Since Jesus Christ is God equal with the Father and so hath naturally the same Power to give as the Father why should the Father rather than the Son be the great Giver to the Sinners of the World and why may we not go to Christ in the Name of the Father as well as to the Father in the Name of Christ I say how can these things be salved but by considering that sin and justice put a NECESSITY upon it that thus must our Salvation be obtained Sin and Justice could not reconcile nor could a means be found out to bring the Sinner and an Holy God together but by the Intercepting of the Son who must take upon him to answer Justice and that by taking our Sins from before the Face of God by bloody Sacrifice not by Blood of others as the High-Priests under the Law For as every High-Priest is ordained to offer Gifts and Sacrifices it is of necessity that this Man have somewhat also
to offer Heb. 8. 3. which Offering and Sacrifice of his being able to perfect for ever them that are sanctified and set apart for Eternal Life Therefore the name of the Person that offered even Jesus made of God an High-Priest is acceptable with God yea therefore is he made for ever by his doing for us the Appeaser of the Justice of God and the Reconciler of Sinners to him Hence it is that HIS Name is that which it behoveth us to mention when we come before God for what God hath determined in his Counsels of Grace to bestow upon Sinners because for his Name sake he forgiveth them I write to you little Children because your Sins are forgiven you for his Name sake To him give all the Prephets witness that through his Name whosoever believeth in him shall receive Remission of Sins 1. Joh. 2. 14. Act. 10. 43. They therefore that would obtain the forgiveness of Sins must ask it of God through the Name of Jesus and he that shall sensibly and unteignedly do it he shall receive the forgiveness of them Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my Name he will give it you Hence it is evident that he hath not only paid full price to God for them but also obtained Eternal Redemption for them And it is observable the Lord Jesus would have his Disciples make a Proof of this and promiseth that if they do they shall experimentally find it so Hitherto saith he ye have asked nothing in my NAME ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full Joh. 16. 24. As who should say O my Disciples you have heard what I have promised to you even that my Father shall do for you whatsoever ye shall ask him in my Name Ask now therefore and prove me if I shall not make my Words good Ask I say what you need and see if you do not receive it to the Joying of your Hearts At that day ye shall ask in my Name and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you I do not bid you ask in my Name as if the Father was yet hard to be reconciled or unwilling to accept you to mercy my Coming into the World was the Design of my Father and the Effect of his Love to Sinners but there is sin in you and justice in God therefore that you to him might be reconciled I am made of my Father Mediator wherefore ask in my Name for there is none other name given under the Heavens among Men whereby they must be saved Act. 4. 12. Ask in my Name love is let out to you through me it is let out to you by me in a way of Justice which is the only secure way for you Ask in my Name and my Father will love you The Father himself loveth you because you have loved me and have believed that I came out from God Joh. 16. 27. My Fathers Love is set first upon me for my Name is chief in his Heart and all that love me are beloved of my Father and shall have what they need if ye ask in my Name But I say what cause would there be to ask in his Name more than in the Name of some other since justice was provoked by our Sin if he had not undertook to make up the difference that by Sin was made betwixt justice and us For though there be in this Jesus infinite worth infinite righteousness infinite merit yet if he make not with these interest for us we get no more benefit thereby than if there were no Mediator But this Worth and Merit is in him for us for he undertook to reconcile us to God it is therefore that his Name is with God so prevailing for us poor Sinners and therefore that we ought to go to God in his Name Hence therefore it is evident that Jesus Christ hath paid full price to God for Sinners and obtained Eternal Redemption for them The Seventh Demonstration THat Jesus Christ by what he hath done hath paid full price to God for Sinners c. is evident because we are commanded also to give God thanks in his Name By him therefore let us offer the Sacrifice of Praise continually that is the Fruit of our Lips giving thanks in his Name Heb. 13. 15. By him therefore wherefore because he also that he might sanctifie us with his own Blood suffered without the Gate ver 12. He sanctified us with his Blood but why should the Father have thanks for this even because the Father gave him for us that he might die to sanctifie us with his Blood Giving thanks to the Father which hath made us meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light who hath delivered us from the Power of Darkness and hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son in whom we have redemption through his Blood even the forgiveness of Sins Col. 1. 12 13 14. The Father is to be thanked for the contrivance was also his but the Blood the Righteousness or that worthiness for the Sake of which we are accepted of God is the Worthiness of his own dear Son as it is meet therefore that God should have thanks so it is necessary that he have it in his Name for whose sake we indeed are accepted of him Let us therefore by him offer Praise First For the Gift of his Son and for that we stand quit through him in his Sight and that in despite of all inward weakness and that in despite of all outward enemies When the Apostle had taken such a view of himself as to put himself into a maze with an out-cry also who shall deliver me he quiets himself with this sweet conclusion I thank God through Jesus Christ Rom. 7. 24. He found more in the Blood of Christ to save him than he found in his own Corruptions to damn him but that could not be had he not paid full price for him had he not obtained Eternal Redemption for him And can an Holy and Just God require that we give thanks to him in his Name if it was not effectually done for us by him Further when the Apostle looks upon Death and the Grave and strengtheneth them by adding to them Sin and the Law saying The Sting of Death is sin and the Strength of Sin is the Law he presently addeth but thanks be to God which giveth us the Victory through Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 15. The Victory over Sin Death and the Law the Victory over these through our Lord Jesus Christ but God hath given us the Victory but it is through our Lord Jesus Christ through his fulfilling the Law through his destroying Death and through his bringing in Everlasting Righteousness Elisha said to the King of Israel that had it not been that he regarded the Person of Jehoshaphat he would not look to him nor regard him 2 Kin. 3. 14. nor would God at all have looked to or regarded thee but that he respected
the Doctrine I come now to make some use of and to apply this Blessed Doctrine of the Undertaking of Jesus Christ and of his paying full Price to God for Sinners and of his obtaining Eternal Redemption for them The first Use. BY this Doctrine we come to understand many things which otherwise abide obscure and utterly unknown because this Doctrine is accompanied with the Holy Ghost that Revealer of secrets and Searcher of the deep things of God 1 Pet. 1. 2. Ephes. 1. 17. 1 Cor. 2. The Holy Ghost comes down with this Doctrine as that in which it alone delighteth therefore is it called The Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledg of Jesus Christ. He giveth also the Light of the Knowledg of the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4. 6. Little of God is known in the World where the Gospel is rejected the Religious Jew and the Wise Gentile may see more of God in a Crucified Christ than in Heaven and Earth besides For in him are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and knowledg not only in his Person as God but also in his Undertakings as Mediator Hence Paul telleth us That he determined not to know any thing among the Corinthians but Jesus Christ and him Crucified Col. 2. 2 3. 1 Cor. 2. 2 3. I say more of God is revealed in this Doctrine to us than we can see of him in Heaven and Earth without it First Here is more of his WISDOM seen than in his making and upholding all the Creatures His Wisdom I say in devising means to reconcile Sinners to an Holy and Infinite Majesty to be a Just God and YET a Saviour to be just to his Law just to his Threatning just to himself and yet save Sinners can no-way be understood till thou understandest why Jesus Christ did hang on the Tree for here only is the Riddle unfolded Christ died for our Sins and therefore can God in justice save us Isa. 45. 21. And hence is Christ called The Wisdom of God not only because he is so essentially but because by him is the greatest Revelation of his Wisdom towards man In Redemption therefore by the Blood of Christ God is said to abound towards us in all wisdom Ephes. 1. 7 8. Here we see the highest Contradictions reconciled here Justice kisseth the Sinner here a Man stands just in the Sight of God while confounded at his own Pollutions and here he that hath done no good hath yet a sufficient Righteousness even the Righteousness of God which is by Faith of Jesus Christ. Secondly The JUSTICE of God is here more seen than in punishing all the Damned He spared not his own Son is a Sentence which more revealeth the Nature of the Justice of God than if it had said he spared not all the World True he cast Angels from Heaven and drowned the Old World he turned Sodom and Gomorrah into Ashes with many more of like nature but what were all these to the Cursing of his Son yea what were ten thousand such manifestations of his Ireful Indignation against Sin to that of striking afflicting chastising and making the darling of his Bosom the Object of his Wrath and Judgment Here it is seen he respecteth not persons but judgeth sin and condemneth him on whom it is found yea although on Jesus Christ his well-Beloved Rom. 8. 32. Gal. 3. 13. Thirdly The Mystery of God's WILL is here more seen than in hanging the Earth upon nothing while he condemneth Christ though Righteous and justifieth us though Sinners while he maketh him to be sin for us and us the Righteousness of God in him 1 Pet. 3. 18. 2 Cor. 5. 20. Fourthly The POWER of God is here more seen than in making of Heaven and Earth for for one to bear and get the Victory over Sin when charged by the Justice of an Infinite Majesty in so doing he sheweth the Height of the Highest Power For where sin by the Law is charged and that by God immediatly there an Infinite Majesty opposeth and that with the whole of his Justice Holiness and Power So then he that is thus charged and engaged for the Sin of the World must not only be equal with God but shew it by over-coming that Curse and Judgment that by Infinite Justice is charged upon him for Sin When Angels and Men had sinned how did they fall and crumble before the Anger of God! they had not power to withstand the terrour nor could there be worth found in their Persons or Doings to appease displeased Justice But behold here stands the Son of God before him in the Sin of the World his Father finding him there curseth and condemns him to death but he by the Power of his God-head and the Worthiness of his Person and Doings vanquisheth sin satisfieth God's Justice and so becomes the Saviour of the World Here then is Power seen Sin is a Mighty thing it crusheth all in pieces save him whose Spirit is Eternal Heb. 9. 14. Set Christ and his Sufferings aside and you neither see the Evil of Sin nor the Displeasure of God against it you see them not in their utmost Had'st thou a view of all the Legions that are now in the pains of Hell yea couldest thou hear their shreeks and groans together at once and feel the whole of all their burden much of the evil of Sin and of the Justice of God against it would be yet unknown by thee for thou wouldest want power to feel and bear the utmost A Giant shews not his Power by killing of a little Child nor yet is his might seen by the resistance that such a little one makes but then he sheweth his power when he dealeth with one like himself yea and the Power also of the other is then made manifest in saving himself from being swallowed up with his Wrath. Jesus Christ also made manifest his Eternal Power and God-head more by bearing and over-coming our Sins than in making or upholding the whole World Hence Christ Crucified is called the Power of God 1 Cor. 1. 23 24. Fifthly The LOVE and MERCY of God is more seen in and by this Doctrine than any other way Mercy and Love are seen in that God gives us Rain and fruitful Seasons and in that he filleth our Hearts with food and gladness from that bounty he bestoweth upon us as men as his Creatures Oh! but herein is Love made manifest in that Christ laid down his Life for us And God commended his Love towards us in that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us 1 Joh. 3. 16. Chap. 4. 10 Rom. 5. 8. Never Love like this nor did God ever give such discovery of his Love from the beginning to this Day Herein is Love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our Sins Here is Love that God sent his Son his Darling his Son that never offended his Son that was