A Scriptural and Rational ACCOUNT OF THE Christian RELIGION PARTICULARLY Concerning Justification only by the Propitiation and Redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 5.1 2. Therefore being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ By whom also we have Access by Faith into this Grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the Glory of God Psal 14.1 2. The Fool hath said in his Heart There is no God they are corrupt they have done abominable Works there is none that doth good The Lord looked down from Heaven upon the Children of Men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God Deut. 32.6 Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish and unwise Is not he thy Father that hath bought 〈◊〉 Hath he not made thee and established thee London Printed for Jonas Lumley at the Bird in Hand near the Maypole in the Strand 1695. THE PREFACE IT was the usual Saying of an excellent Person That variety of Books tho upon the same Subject concerning the Principles of Religion was very advantagious that every one might be furnished with a Weapon fitted to his Hand For as in Water Face answereth to Face so the Heart of Man to Man As in general so in particular respects Therefore it may be hoped that in the perusing of the following Discourse some also may be gratified with the Agreeableness of a plain Representation of so great a Truth An Interest in Redemption by the Satisfaction of the Death of our Lord Jesus Christ is that by which every Christian must stand or fall before the dreadful Tribunal of the Justice of God Accordingly the Principle of Justification by the Sufferings Death Resurrection and Righteousness of Jesus Christ is the Article of Faith by which every Church must stand or fall It being the Pillar and Ground of Truth the Rock upon which our Lord hath built his Church against which the Gates of Hell cannot prevail This is the Rock upon which the Reformed Churches were recovered from Antichristian Apostacy For other Foundation can no Man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ But instead of building upon this precious Corner-Stone with precious Stones to bring up the head-Stone with Praise to Divine Grace many unhappily have not taken heed how they build with Wood Hay Stubble Materials for fewel of Contention to make Jerusalem Babylon and defeat the glorious Things spoken of the City of God That Jerusalem might be a Praise and the Joy of the whole Earth For Peace is the Fruit of Righteousness But this must be for a Lamentation and Prognostick of Desolation if not prevented by infinite Grace and Mercy that after so many Years Gospel-Light there should be regard to false Teachers privily bringing in damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them Privily indeed pretending an Inquiry after sensible Ideas of spiritual and supernatural Truths of Eternal Life Whereas they are not able to give an Idea of the Breath of Natural Life Suborning also a Spectre of Rational Demonstration to determine and judg Things invisible which can only be the Objects of Faith in the Word of God Whereas the use of right Reason is miserably lost and overwhelmed in the Ruins of Apostacy from God Vanity now possessing the Mind the Understanding being darkned and alienated from the Life of God through the Ignorance that is in them because of the Blindness and Hardness of their Hearts Thus being past feeling they give themselves over to Lasciviousness and to work all Uncleanness with Greediness For the Heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked even in these pretended Rationalists as well as others That this is the true State and Temper of the universality of Mankind is undeniably evinced by the continual Practice and Conversation of all the World in all Ages and Countries Therefore Natural right Reason is no where to be found directing the Tenor and entire Compass of Human Affections and Actions But those baptized Epicures as they are termed by the most Worthy and Honourable Mr. Boyle that strut under the Name of Deists but are indeed Atheists without God in the World renouncing the Providence of God rejecting the Justice of God denying the Immortality of the Soul and the Future State of Rewards and Punishments Thus Mankind is subjected to a Baseness and Wretchedness inferior to the worst of Brutes And thereby also rescinding the Bond of Security and Peace among all Human Societies and Relations which can only consist in the Fear of God Such happy Infects who desire to live apace may receive their own Idea from Mr. Cowley After Death I nothing crave Let me alive my Pleasures have Happy Insect happy thou Dost neither Age nor Winter know But when thou 'st drunk and danc'd and sung Thy fill thy flow'ry Leaves among Voluptuous and wise withal Epicurean Animal Satiated with thy Summer's Feast Thou retir'st to endless Rest But this is the certain Conviction and inevitable Doom of such Men That the Heart of the Sons of Men is full of Evil and Madness is in their Heart while they live and after that they go to the Dead But as it is appointed unto Men once to die so after this the Judgment A Scriptural and Rational Account of the Christian Religion The invisible Things of God from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the Things that are made even his Eternal Power and Godhead so that all Men are without Excuse Consequently there is implanted in every intellectual Mind a Conscience of Good and Evil accusing or excusing according to the Work of the Law written in their Hearts so that there cannot but be Trembling at the Apprehension of Judgment to come For the Elements of a Rational Creature are dependent upon the Creator for Life God is our Life and the Length of our Days and for a Rule of Action which can be no other than the Will of God the only Eternal Reason of Good and Evil Not any thing being antecedently good to the Unchangable Eternal Holy Will of God Also for the End and Felicity of Being which is the Glory of God including the Salvation of the Immortal Creature God made Man upright in his Image engraved his Mind with a Law holy just and good a Rule of perpetual Righteousness to direct and judg all Human Affections and Actions But Sin which is the Transgression of the Law alienated Man from the Eise of God who thereby becoming vapid and unprofitable fell miserably short of the Glory of God subjected the Creature to Vanity Vexation and Death renounced the all-sufficient Goodness Truth and Soveraignty of the Infinite Almighty Creator God blessed for ever Shall not then the Judg of all the World do right For according to his Fear due to his Infinite Perfections and Absolute Dominions
Man concerning his Justification but only a true and lively Faith which nevertheless is the Gift of God and not Man's only Work without God And yet that Faith does not shut out Repentance Hope Love Dread and the Fear of God to be joined with Faith in every Man that is justified but it shutteth them out from the Office of justifying So that altho they be all present together in him that is justified yet they justify not altogether Nor the Faith also doth not shut out the Justice of our good Works necessarily to be done afterwards of Duty towards God for we are most bounden to serve God in doing good Deeds commanded by him in his holy Scripture all the days of our Life but it excludeth them so that we may not do them to this intent to be made good by doing of them For all the good Works that we can do be unperfect and therefore not able to deserve for our Justification But our Justification doth come freely by the meer Mercy of God and of so great and free Mercy that whereas all the World was not able of themselves to pay any part towards their Ransom it pleased our Heavenly Father of his insinite Mercy without any our desert or deserving to prepare for us the most precious Jewels of Christ's Body and Blood whereby our Ransom might be fully paid the Law fulfilled and his Justice fully satisfied So that now Christ is the Righteousness of all them that truly do believe in him He for them paid their Ransom by his Death he for them fulfilled the Law in his Life So that now in and by him every true Christian Man may be called a Fulfiller of the Law forasmuch as that which their Infirmity lacked Christ's Justice hath supplied Now that the most important Truths which have been represented in this small Treatise may appear in right Light let the following Propositions be duly considered according to Reason enlightned and directed by the Word of God God having given to Man an Intellectual Faculty to judg and discern of the Nature Use and Excellency of Things a Conscience of the Laws of things morally good or evil and the certain inseparable Appendixes of Rewards and Punishments are imprinted upon the Mind with inward experimental Assurances as certain as that we know that we are and have a Being The Demonstrations of which Truths are clearly manifested in the Word of God the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament which do not only move and perswade but effectually constrain and inforce an enlightened Soul to yield Obedience to the incomparable and undeniable Divine Authority thereof as to the Fountain of all saying Knowledg and the Standard and Rule of all holy Practice in order to everlasting Blessedness the supreme End and Felicity of Man Now as Mathematical Theorems tho equally demonstrable yet are not alike perceived and apprehended by every Human Mind the Faculty not being rightly disposed to the Object as in species visible it is not sufficient that the Object and Medium be duly disposed unless the Organ be suifficiently enabled and not disturbed For neither a blind Eye nor a Jaundice Sight can judg of Colours Accordingly the holy Scriptures which are the lively Oracles of God full of Lights and Perfections do fully demonstrate the great Mysteries of Godliness concerning the eternal invisible yet certain and necessary Felicities and Duties of Rational Intelligent Beings whose Immortality also is therein undeniably proved Yet notwithstanding all these glorious and excellent Truths of the Spirit of God are not received by Animal Minds to whom they are Foolishness as all sort of Wisdom is to Fools because of the Blindness and Ignorance of the Understanding the Mind it self the governing Power in Man being vitiated with the sussusion of Vanity and the deceitfulness of Sin until the Power of the Spirit come into the Soul with a quickning renewing restoring Demonstration upon the Intellectual Faculty to make it receive in Love the benign Influences of eternal Truth and Goodness Accordingly consider duly 1. That from everlasting to everlasting God is Infinite in his Perfection of all Divine Incomprehensible Attributes whose Essence is eternally in and of himself and gives and preserves all Beings which were made for his Pleasure and Glory according to his own Will not out of any necessity of Nature his Majesty being exalted above all Blessings and Praise so that his infinite Essential Glory cannot be liable to any Addition or Detraction from any Creature 2. That in the beginning of Time God condescended to manifest his immense Wisdom Power and Goodness in the Creation of the World and all Beings therein by the Word of his Power by which all things are upheld and do consist All being made and preserved for the Glory of God according to the Original Law of the Will of God respectively dispensed to every Being 3. That all things were made for distinct final Causes appointed by the Law of God to be the Rule for the Operation of Life conferr'd upon every Being 4. That the Providence of God doth actually effectually continually govern and over-rule all the Actions and Operations of all Beings to his Glory according to his determinate Counsels For known unto God are all his Works from the beginning of the World so that all contingent Effects and Actions of all created Beings are not only futurely turned and disposed but primarily decreed and ordered to be infallibly subservient for the Glory of God's eternal Truth Justice and Goodness 5. That as Activity and Operation is the necessary Expression of Life it is also necessary that there be an universal Law to direct regulate and judg the Affections and Actions of all Intelligent Beings Which Law can only be the holy and righteous Will of God the Creator of all Beings who only can righteously reward and punish all Actions 6. God made Man upright in his Divine Image 〈◊〉 Righteousness Knowledg and Holiness with Freedom of Will but under a Covenant of Life upon Obedience and of Death upon Disobedience which is Sin For Sin is the rebellious Transgression of the Law 7. Man tho made upright being left to the Freedom of his Will rebelled against and renounced God his Creator in his all-sufficient Truth and Goodness and sought out and embraced the Vanity and Iniquity of the Devil's Lie by which Apostacy and Rebellion Mankind fell into a state of the Condemnation and Corruption of Death which is endless Misery according to the righteous Judgment of God 8. The first Parents of Mankind were not only Persons individual but common Representatives of all their Posterity The Evidence whereof necessarily flows form the Consideration of the Covenant of Life which God made with Man when created and placed in Paradise The eating of the Tree of Knowledg of Good and Evil being threatned with Death which passed upon all Mankind both Infants and Adult according to the righteous Denunciation of God and the Consent of
such is his Wrath in the Execution of Vindictive Judgment upon all Sinners so that if there could be an Intermission of this providential Circulation an immediate Deliquium of the Universe must ensue The conscientious Awe of this being the only real Security of Human Relation and Society There must then upon every hainous Offence be either Satisfaction to Justice or the Execution of Justice Both which intirely and absolutely depend upon and proceed from the Will of God which cannot be liable to any finite Thought or Assignation Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord or being his Counsellor hath taught him With whom took he Counsel and who hath instructed and taught him in the Path of Judgment O the Depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledg of God! The Riches of his Grace hath abounded towards us in all Wisdom and Prudence according to his Pleasure which he hath purposed in himself To declare his Righteousness that he might be just and the Justifier of the ungodly which believeth in Jesus The Institution and Hope of this Redemption was revealed to our first Parents under the forlorn Consternation of their Fall when God gave the Promise of the Seed of the Woman to bruise the Serpent's Head In the Scriptures relating the History of the World and of the Church before the Ministry of Moses it hath not pleased the Holy Ghost to speak particularly of the Institution of Ceremonial Worship and Religion But as from Adam to Moses Death the Wages of Sin reigned now Sin is not imputed when there is no Law for Sin is the Transgression of the Law So likewise the Salvation of the first Patriarchs and of the whole Church of God particularly of Abel and Enoch could not be obtained but by Faith in the promised Mediator without which it was impossible to please God Neither can Faith be separated from Obedience to a Word of Command and Promise The Object of Faith being from the beginning even Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day and for ever The Expression of the Prophet Jeremy is to this most apposit A glorious high Throne from the beginning is the place of our Sanctuary That is from the beginning of God's reconciling the World to himself Jesus Christ the Lamb of God slain from the Foundation of the World was the only and necessary Mediator of the Covenant of Grace between God and Man for Redemption and Remission also for Intercession and Acceptance who so became the Author of Eternal Salvation to all that obey him Obedience then to the revealed Will of God is the indispensable Duty of all true Worshippers of God with Acceptance It pleased God in gracious Condescension to Human Frailty before the Fulness of Time came that Jesus Christ should offer up himself once in the End of the World when he appeared to put away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself in that mean time to institute Sacrifices which were not voluntary Devotions by the Will of Man either gratulatory to God or representative to the Offerer but exact Performances according to the express Precept of God For as Lactantius says God only can teach how he would be worshipped The Evidence of this also appears from the words of holy Scriptures concerning Abel offering a more excellent Sacrifice by which he obtained Witness that he was Righteous which could not be unless his Sacrifice were entirely and only such as God commanded so that being dead he yet speaketh and instructeth us in this great Truth That there can be no Righteousness in any Religion but as it is the Observance of the Word of God It evidently also appears that Sacrifices were of Divine Institution because they were only to be such Offerings of Beasts and Fowl as were not by natural Distinction but by positive Command selected to be clean and made capable to be sacrificed all other Species being excluded as unclean In the next place must be understood the right End and Intention of Sacrifice The Scripture speaks expresly that without shedding of Blood there is no Remission of Sin yet the Blood of Bulls and Goats could not avail to make the Worshipper perfect so that the continual Sacrifice daily offered and all other extraordinary Burnt-offerings occasionally appointed by the Law were merciful Surrogations of Typical Propitiations with respect to Christ whose Blood only could take away the Sins of the World Whose Blood being the Blood of the everlasting Covenant could only make the Comers unto God perfect Man being made in Honour did not therein abide but because like the Beasts that perish Also being raised up to Hope in the Promise of Grace by Jesus Christ they apostatized quickly becoming vain in their Imagination and their foolish Heart being darkened changed the Truth of God into a Lie and worshipped and served the Creature more than the Creator who is blessed for ever Notwithstanding there remained in the Hearts of the Heathen Idolatrous Nations a Conviction that there was a necessity of Propitiatory Sacrifices to appease the Wrath and atone the offended Justice of Divine Majesty Profane Histories are full of continual Instanccs of the Solemnities of Sacrifices Ilastical to appease the Wrath of God All which Offerings were feigned and imposed as if divinely authorized and instituted And the Ceremonies relating thereunto stiled Mysteries as being the visible Signatures of spiritual Intention and Efficacy For tho the Medium and Object of propitiatory Worship by the Heathen were vain and false yet most rational was the indelible Conviction of the necessity of Propitiation and Atonement towards God for the Remission of Sins committed by the Rebellion and A postacy of Human Creatures The mystery of Godliness great without Controversy represents God manifested in the Flesh believed on in the World This is the Mystery of God and of the Father and of Jesus Christ The Explanation of which is That God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself not imputing their Trespasses unto them For he hath made him who knew no Sin to be Sin for us that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him This Reconciliation and Remissfion is always expressed under the Notion of Ransom Atonement Redemption Propitiation and Expiation all which is to be performed by the Death of a slain Sacrisice For the Scripture testifies without shedding of Blood there is no Remission of Sins But it is not possible that the Blood of Bulls and Goats should take away Sins The Divine Justice could not take Plcasure in any Sacrifices which were offered tho by the Typical Law for Sin so as thereby to receive Satisfaction Therefore when the Son of God came into the World a Body was prepared for him therein to do the Will of God by the which Will we are sanctified through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all For it is only the beloved Son of God in whom
of the Devil and more evidently by the Institution of Sacrifices For it is a most absurd Derogation from the Soveraignty of a Creator and Contradiction to the Duty of a Creature to impose upon God the necessity of accepting the groundless Fancy of a guilty Malefactor in the highest degree of desperate Wickedness to be a Price of Redemption from everlasting Wrath Considering also that Man had no Title of Interest or rightful Power over any of his Follow-Creatures to substitute any of them a Sacrifice for his Sin Indeed It was an early and due Apprehension that every Sin was of capital Guilt and Forfeiture of Life But it could never have entered into the Heart of Man to conceive how God could be just and the Justifier of Sinners until God had revealed it by his Spirit and the Word of his Grace The Apprehension of Propitiation attainable by Sanguinary Sacrifices could not be a Primary Notion in any Human Mind but consequent and derivative from the Institution of Sacrifices by the express Command and Appointment of God without which it was impossible to please God For Faith cannot be or subsist without a word of Command and Promise But to fancy a Religious Worship to appease the just Wrath and to conciliate the Favour of the Majesty of the Great and Terrible God the Creator of all Beings by any performance of Offering not instituted expresly by God is a presumption becoming a dumb Idol or some precarious Superstition and is an effectual practical Denial of the insinite Perfections of God obtruding and imposing the Blood and Carcass of a wretched Calf or Sheep to expiate the Guilt of most nefandous Crimes and satisfy infinite Justce Neither can there be any possible ground of Reason to imagine that the Ceremonial Ordinances of Sacrifices and other Rites of Divine Worship and Service were instituted by God with respect to or Motive from the superstitious Practice or Expectation of profane Sinners who offered their Devotion to Devils as the Word of God expresly testifies That the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to Devils and not to God But Sacrifices and all other Typical Services and Ordinances were by God appointed until the time of Reformation when Christ came an High Priest of good things to come that is everlasting who by the eternal Spirit offer'd himself without Spot to God by his own Blood to purge our Consciences from dead Works that is from Sins deserving Death to serve the living God The Ceremonial Law had a Shadow of good things to come but not Virtue to make the Comers thereunto perfect For it is not possible that the Blood of Bulls and of Goats should take away Sin Therefore because in Sacrifices and Offerings for Sin God could not take Pleasure as therein receiving any Satisfaction to Justice When Jesus Christ came into the World he faith A Body hast thou prepared me Lo I come to do thy Will O God by the which Will we are sanctisied through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once But this Will of God was not induced by any Temporary Consideration it was from everlasting God hath chosen us in Christ before the Foundation of the World God hath saved us and called us with an holy Calling not according to our Works but according to his own Purpose and Grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the World began In hope of Eternal Life which God that cannot lie promised before the World began Who verily was fore-ordained before the Foundation of the World but was manifested in these last Times It could not then be in Compliance with any Human Apprehension of Expiation of Sin by any Sacrifice of any Creature that Jesus Christ was constitued and given by God to be the Propitiation and Redemption for Sinners But contrariwise God having according to the Counsel of his own free Will made known to our first Parents in their dismal Fall the Mystery of his Will in the Promise of the Seed of the Woman to break the Serpent's Head And then for the Confirmation of that Promise and for the support of Faith instituted Sacrifices revealed first to Adam then to Noah and consequently in them to the whole World of Mankind Noah builded an Altar unto the Lord and took of every clean Beast and of every clean Fowl and offered Burnt-offerings upon the Altar And the Lord smelled a sweet Savour or a Savour of Rest and Satisfaction Now this could not he affirmed or believed unless such Sacrifices had been according to the express Institution of God who as was before observed only could appoint the Discrimination of Beasts clean and unclean All which also was performed and accepted with respect to and in virtue of the Offering and Sacrifice of Christ himself to God for a sweet smelling Savour Immediately upon Noah's Sacrifice God established his Covenant with Noah and his Seed after him Thus all Mankind was by Divine Institution initiated in the Religion of Propitiatory Sacrifices all in reference to and deriving Virtue and Acceptance from the Merits of Jesus Christ the Lamb of God which taketh away the Sins of the World But as it is charged upon Israel both by David and Moses so all Nations soon forgot God's Works they forgot God their Saviour which had done great things for their Preservation they corrupted themselves their Spot was not the Spot of his People they for sook God which made them and lightly esteemed the Rock of their Salvation they provoked him to Jealousy with strange Gods they sacrificed to Devils not to God So that the offering of Propitiatory Sacrifices by the Universality of Mankind was not a Human Invention but a Derivation from Divine Institution tho wretchedly corrupted by Satanical Suggestion Neither was there any Rite of Religious Worship among the Heathen but what was pretended to be a Direction and Command from Heaven so deeply engraven was the Impression in every Rational Mind that Divine Worship could not be acceptable unto God unless commanded by God The whole Work of Redemption and Salvation of Mankind by Jesus Christ was in every part and respect proceeding originally from and effectually to fulfil the Will of God Salvation by Christ was promised before the World began In the fulness of Time he was made of a Woman his Sufferings in every particular Circumstance was to fulfil the Scriptures Our Lord died according to the Scriptures and rose again according to the Scriptures that is for the End appointed by the Word of God to make full Satisfaction to the infinite Justice of God so as to make perfect the Comers unto God by Jesus Christ by Faith in whom the Heart is sprinkled from an evil Conscience that is from the Conscience of the Guilt of Evil To obtain the Answer of a good Conscience towards God by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
God can be well-pleased with sinners even through the Blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God who purgethi'geth our Consciences from the dead Works of Sin to serve the Living God For by one Offering he hath perfected ever them that are sanctisied Therefore to imagine any Possibility of the Pardon of Sin without out the atoning Propitiation and Satisfaction only obtained by the Blood of Christ is an evil Figment to palliate the desperate Wickedness and Sinfulness of Sin to make void the Law of perpetual Righteousness which is the inâ—sible Rule and Judg of all Affections and Actions and doth indeed effectually contemn and blaspheme the infinite Majesty Holiness and Justice of God the Creator and Preserver of all Beings and consequently miserably deprives a Sinner of that strong Consolation given by God to those that fly for Refuge unto Christ to obtain by his Resurrection the Evidence of his compleat Satisfaction to Divine Justice the Answer of a good Conscience The Worshippers thus purged as the Scripture saith having no more Conscience of Sins the Lord having laid on him the Iniquities of us all who do the Work of God to believe on him whom he hath sent For this is the true Cabala the faithful Saying and worthy of all Acceptation That Christ Jesus came into the World to save even chief Sinners In the Cases of Life and Death according to universal Justice in the World it is fatal not only to be an Outlaw flying from Justice Mute in refusing to answer Justice but it proves no less mortal to suggest a Plea which the Law will not allow If a Criminal condemned to die be favoured with some Reprieve and then by the Soveraign's Commission intrusted with an important Imployment the faithful Discharge of that Trust is meer Duty but not Merit and he remains still a condemned Malefactor liable to the former Sentence by the Law of Attaint and Death from which not any thing can deliver but a Pardon from the Soveraign laid hold on and legally pleaded by the Criminal It is thus according to the Rule of Righteousness between the Judg of all the World and every Mortal Creature that God might be just and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus Therefore we must not be ignorant of Saton's Devices the Popish Doctrine of Merit by Works sprinkled as they say by the Blood of Christ available to Justification and Salvation is an Antichristian Departure from the Faith and the teaching of Lies in Hypocrisy For there cannot be any Work possible to be accepted by Divine Justice but what is an Act of Obedience to the Law and the best Performances of such is but as our Saviour saith that of an unprofitable Servant When we shall have done all those things which are commanded us we must say We have done that which was our Duty to do Therefore the Observance of a present Duty the Neglect or Male-performance whereof would be criminal Guilt cannot in any just Construction be assumed or imputed to expiate a precedent Transgression guilty of Felony and Treason Yet this Truth doth not in any degree exempt from the Obedience of Faith which is the inseparable and indispensable Obligation and Duty annexed to the Covenant of Grace So that there is not in the least degree any Pretence for Antinomian Libertinism For the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all Men teaching us that denying Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World Because Faith unites us to the Principle of Life and works in us by Love which is the Operation or Activity of Life in the fulfilling of the Law There is also another Method of the Depths of Satan to cloud the Glory of God's free Grace and the compleat Merit of Christ's Satisfaction and Righteousness and also to shake the Confidence of a Sinner's Hope to obtain Remission and Acceptance by suborning the Act of Faith to share in the Merits of Christ Now how weak and unreasonable this Supposition is will appear by the Consideration of parallel Cases of Civil and Natural Instances in Judicature Tho the guilty Person cannot have Benefit unless he plead the Royal Pardon yet there is no Virtue in the Plea and humble Claim but only in the extensive Validity of the Pardon Likewise in desperate Sickness or deadly Wound the healing Virtue is not in the meer Application or receiving the Sovereign Balm or Elixir not withstanding the Patient cannot be healed without the Reception or Application of the Remedy Thus it is with a Sinner before the Divine Tribunal Faith believes the Truth and Goodness of the Promise and embraces and relies upon it that is upon the Redemption purchased by Jesus Christ for compleat Salvation from the Condemnation and Corruption of sinful Death for Reconciliation and Acceptance with God and for Participation of Eternal Life which is in Christ Jesus to be communicated to all those who by Faith receive Christ and so have an Union of Life with Christ Now as in the Body the Artery and Nerve is the Ligament the Vessel and Conveyance for vital Union and Motion unto all the Members by the Blood and Animal Spirits So Faith to the Soul is a Means of vital Union with Christ and of the Application and Merits of Christ All which is effected by the Spirit of Christ without which we are none of Christ's and Faith it self is dead The Look of one stung with the deadly fiery Serpent to the Brazen Serpent had no share in the healing Virtue of that Divine Ordinance yet without looking up to the Brazen Serpent the Person stung could receive no Benefit but must die So Faith hath no justifying Virtue inherent in it self For what may prevail to justify must make the Conscience perfect Consequently the Efficient of Perfection must of it self be perfect but Faith cannot be such for it is not of our selves it is the Gift of God Now whatsoever is received is received according to the Measure and Capacity of the Recipient which 〈…〉 and frail 〈…〉 it cannot be 〈…〉 the Law was weak and 〈…〉 through the Flesh so even the Gift of Faith is not able through the remainder of Corruption to perform any perfect Work Therefore the Scripture represents the Lord Jesus Christ under the Notion of the most tender Compassion to the weak in Faith that he will not break the bruised Reed nor quench the smoaking Flax but will bring forth Judgment unto Victory which proceeds not from any Virtue and Power inherent in the Work of Faith but from the Righteousness and Strength which only is to be found in the Lord Jesus by perishing Sinners who sly for Refuge unto the Hope that is set before them Jesus Christ the Son of God Even as the Man-slayer under the Law could not be secure from the Avenger of
Mystery of Iniquity the Doctrine of Devils to suborn the Worship of Baalim of many Lords or middle Gods Mediators between God and Man Now the Spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter Times some shall depart from the Faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils This is the notorious Apostacy from the absolute Simplicity and Purity of Christian Religion unto the fabulous Superstition and Will-worship which gangren'd both Eastern and Western Churches The Mediation of Saints and Angels being introduced as succedaneous to the Heathen Adoration of Baalim Heroes and middle Deities called Dii Medioximi Those Pagan Idols having been cast to the Moles and Bats by the Divine Influence of Gospel Light in the Manifestation of Truth even this faithful Saying and worthy of all Acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the World the only Mediator between God and Men to save Sinners Now also for these last hundred and fifty Years the Gospel-Reformation miraculously both begun and preserved hath again as it were brought Life and Immortality to light exploded the fabulous Legends of Popery evidenced the pretence of Antiquity to be no other than as Defection from Primary Institution precedes Restitution and Reformation convinced the Idolatry of the Mass and the Superstition of their Will-worship and Adoration of Saints and Angels all cherished by an imposed Ignorance the Parent not of Devotion but of crual Persecution But as in the first Manifestation of the everlasting Gospel unto the World that lay in Darkness and the Shadow of Death the Serpent cast out of his Mouth a Flood of deceitful Errors of desperate Wickedness to carry away with that Flood the Church from the Rock of Truth So now the Reformed Churches have been and are infested not only with the Dragon 's great persecuting Wrath but no less dangerously with the Serpâ—â—iâ—â—â—â— Suggestions of false Teachers â—â—vily introducing damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them This being the Master-stroke of Satan by verisimilar Errors to suppress the Fundamental Truth of Salvation for Sinners by the Expiatory Propitiation of the Death of the Lord Jesus Christ in Satisfaction of the Justice of God according to his good Pleasure which he had purposed in himself before the Foundation of the World That this Truth may appear in a right Light it must be considered that all the Divine Attributes are equally of infinite Perfection Consequently to detract from or limit any is to evacuate and effectually to deny the Essential All-sufficiency of God Therefore to retrench the particular and universal efficacious Providence of God and to impeach the supreme absolute Justice of God is under the Prosession of owning God not to glorify him as God but to change the Glory of the incorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible Man a meer Idol which is nothing in the World and as the Prophet expresses neither able to do Good or Evil. But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord is God Who knoweth the Power of his Anger According to his Fear so is his Wrath according to the infinite Perfections for which God is indispensably to be feared so is his Wrath in the Vindictive Execution of his Justice upon every Violation of his holy just and good Laws the natural Rules of perpetual Righteousness to direct and judg all the Affections and Actions of all Mankind Herein therefore the manifold Wisdom of God is glorified in the Establishment of the infinite Perfections of Justice and Mercy in the Redemption and Salvation of Sinners It being impossible to make way for immense Mercy to be manifested without Satisfaction to infinite Justice which otherwise must be exposed to blasphemous Contempt and Annihilation Accordingly the Apostle Paul expresses that we are justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth for a Propiriation through Faith in his Blood to declare his Righteousness for the Remission of Sins that he might be just and the Justifier of him even of the ungodly which believeth in Jesus So that Faith cannot fly for Refuge unto Mercy until plenary Satisfaction be made unto Justice thereby to obtain the Answer of a good Conscience towards God through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ The Scripture fully and always testifies that Remission of Sins is an Act of absolute Sovereign Justice vouchsafed upon plenary Satisfaction represented under the Notion and Terms of Redemption Propitiation Ransom which word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by the Septuagint Numb 35.31 32. is duly translated Satisfaction And the learned in the Hebrew observe that the word in the Original imports sufficient Preservation which a Sinner can only find in the compleat Merits of the Death Resurrection and Righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ applied by Faith and imputed by Grace Accordingly the Scripture stiles the Act of Divine Pardon to be Justification Reconciliation Atonement Righteousness all which words are juridical Phrases evidencing such a Person to be Rectus in Curia right in Court according to the judicial Authoritative Sentence of Law This cannot possibly be obtained or performed unless due Satisfaction were made to the infinite Justice of the Divine Majesty For Pardon upon any other less or diluted account must leave the Justice of God violated and void of Satisfaction Also the Sinner must be without possbility of a Conscience free from Guilt consequently never able to arrive at Peace which flows from being justified by Faith in Jesus Christ who is our Peace with God It is also absurd Contradiction to imagine any Benefit can possibly be obtained by the atoning Virtue of the Death of the Lord Jesus Christ without the quickning regenerating Power of the Spirit of Christ make the Sinner a new Creature There is the manifold multifarious Wisdom of God magnisied to a Sinner that the Work of Grace may be compleatly perfect in respect of the Justice and Mercy of God and of the damning Guilt and deadly Corruption inherent in the desperate Wickedness of every Sin Yet the manifold Wisdom of God decreeing from Eternity and effecting in the fulness of Time the Redemption of Sinners by the Blood of the everlasting Covenant could not possibly have any Cause or Motive antecedent to the Eternal Purpose of God which he purposed in Christ Jesus out Lord and from the beginning of the World was hid in God For it was both impossible for a sinite narrow Intelligence to conceive how God should be manifest in the Flesh And it would have been impious blasphemous Presumption to imagine that the Son of God who knew no Sin should be made a Propitiatory Sacrifice for Sin unless the Will of God had so promised and declared Indeed the immense Goodness of God made this known immediately after Man's Apoltacy by the Promise of the Seed of the Woman to break the Serpent's Head that is to destroy the Works
without which cur Faith is vain and we are yet in our Sins void of any sufficient Plea to answer the Charge of the Law of Righteousness at the dreadful Tribunal of the Divine Majesty The manifold unfearehable Wisdom of God in the Administration of the Riches of insinite Grace exceeds what Creatures can ask or think The most large and advantagious Pardon from an Earthly Soveraign to a Rebel cannot reclaim a Felon's Mind or alter a Traitor's Heart But they who are in Christ Jesus and free from Condemnation they have the Spirit of Christ by which they are made new Creatures and enabled to walk nor after the Flesh but after the Sprit This is the Comprehension of the Love of God in Christ extended to all Saints Yet the primary Reason of the Death of our Lord Jesus Christ was to make Satisfaction to the Justice of the holy Creator for the Sins of Rebel Apostate Creatures It then became a consequent Corollary of our Lord's Death to awe from Sin and represent the abominable Sinfulness of Sin In all the righteous Administration of Rewards and Punishments supreme Justice obtains the first and necessary Consideration so that if there were no Persons to be deterred from future Crimes yet Justice requires severe Animadversion upon the present Malefactor otherwise How shall God judg the World God cannot be unrighteous in taking Vengeance upon the Damned in everlasting Torments where there is no place for Repentance nor Capacity for the Benefit of a deterring Example The happy Sum of the Doctrine of Man's eternal Redemption and Salvation is That God hath given us the sure Mercies of David He hath made with us an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure and this is all our Salvation where no proud Pharisee can assume or impute to himself nor any humble repenting Sinner doubt or despair Wherein God willing more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs of Promise the Immutability of his Counsel confirmed it by an Oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have a strong Consolation who have fled for Refuge to lay hold upon the Hope set before us which we have as an Anchor of the Soul sure and stedfast Jesus Christ the same yesterday to day and for ever Amen Now for a Corollary to the precedent Discourse that it may be evidenced not to be a private Opinion but the Doctrine of the Church of England according to the Scriptures here are subjoined the Expressions of the Homily of the Salvation of Mankind only by Christ our Saviour from Sin and Death Everlasting Homily Because all Men be Sinners and Offenders against God and Breakers of his Law and Commandments therefore can no Man by his own Acts Works and Deeds seem they never so good be justified and made righteous before God But every Man of necessity is constrained to seek for another Righteousness or Justification to be received at God's own Hands that is to say the Forgiveness of his Sins and Trespasses in such things as he hath offended And this Justification or Righteousness which we so receive of God's Mercy and Christ's Merits embraced by Faith is taken accepted and allowed of God for our perfect and full Justification For the more full understanding hereof it is our Parts and Duties ever to remember the great Mercy of God how that all the World being wrapped in Sin by breaking of the Law God sent his only Son our Saviour Christ into this World to fulfil the Law for us by shedding of his most precious Blood to make a Sacrifice and Satisfaction or as it may be called amends to his Father for our Sins to asswage his Wrath and Indignation conceived against us for the same But here may Man's Reason be astonied reasoning after this fashion If a Ransom be paid for our Redemption then is it not given us freely For a Prisoner that paid his Ransom is not let go freely for if he goes freely then he goeth without Ransom For what is it else to go freely than to be set at liberty without paying of Ransom This Reason is satisfied by the great Wisdom of God in this Mystery of our Redemption who hath so tempered his Justice and Mercy together that he would neither by his Justice condemn into the everlasting Captivity of the Devil and his Prison of Hell remediless for ever without Mercy nor by his Mercy deliver us clearly without Justice or Payment of a just Ransom But with his endless Mercy he joined his most upright and equal Justice His great Mercy he shewed unto us in delivering us from our former Captivity without requiring any Ransom to be paid or Amends to be made on our parts which thing by us had been impossible to be done And whereas it lay not in us that to do he provided a Ransom for us that was the most precious Body and Blood of his own most dear and best beloved Son Jesus Christ who besides this Ransom fulfilled the Law for us perfectly and so the Justice of God and his Mercy did embrace together and fulfil the Mystery of our Redemption And of this Justice and Mercy of God knit together speaketh St. Paul in the third Chapter to the Romans All have offended and have need of the Glory of God but are justified freely by his Grace by Redemption which is in Jesus Christ whom God hath sent forth for us for a Reconciler and Peace-maker through Faith in his Blood to shew his Righteousness And in the 10th Chapter Christ is the End of the Law unto Righteousness to every Man that believeth And in the 8th Chapter That which was impossible by the Law in as much as it was weak by the Flesh God sending his own Son in the similitude of sinful Flesh by Sin damned Sin in the Flesh that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us which walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit In these aforesaid places the Apostle toucheth specially three things which must go together in our Justification Upon God's part his great Mercy and Grace Upon Christ's part Justice that is the Satisfaction of God's Justice or the Price of our Redemption by the offering of his Body and shedding of his Blood with the fulfilling of the Law perfectly and throughly And upon our part true and lively Faith in the Merits of Jesus Christ which yet is not ours but by God's working in us So that in our Justification is not only God's Mercy and Grace but also his Justice which the Apostle calleth the Justice of God and it consisteth in paying our Ransom and fulfilling of the Law And so the Grace of God doth not shut out the Justice of God in our justification but only shutteth out the Justice of Man that is to say the Justice of our Works as to be Merits of deserving our Justification And therefore St. Paul declareth here nothing upon the behalf of
Man necessarily supposed for otherwise the refusal to consent would have been a Sin preceding the Transgression in eating the forbidden Fruit. The Equity of this is owned by the universal Justice of all Nations according to which capital Crimes of Parents corrupt the Blood and devest the Posterity of all Privilege conferred upon such Families Thus all the World must justfy the Ways of God to be most equal 9. The Apostacy of Mankind was not only one transient Act of Offence against a positive Command but the Sinfulness of Sin extended to an utter Renunciation of the Love and Fear of God and introduced a Corruption which the Scripture stiles Death in all the Powers and Faculties of a created Life 10. The Justice of God being infinite the rebellious Offence against that Justice must necessarily incur an everlasting Punishment Such as the Infinite Wisdom Righteousness and Holiness of God the Creator determines to inflict to vindicate his Glory 11. The Salvation and Redemption of Man liable to eternal Wrath as it proceeds only from the free Grace of God so it is impossible to be effected without Satisfaction to the infinite Justice of God For without such Satisfaction the Godhead would be exposed to continual Dishonour and the Fountain of all Righteousness residing only in the infinite Justice of God the violation thereof remaining unsatisfied consequently there must be always a failure of common Justice in the World 12. It was impossible for any meer finite Creature to satisfy the Offence done by Sin against the infinite Justice and Majesty of the Creator 13. It was impossible and also unlawful for any finite created Intelligence to imagine or contrive or effect a due Satisfaction for the Rebellion of the Creature 14. It is the undeniable Sovereign Propriety and Right of God blessed for ever the Creator and Possessor of all Beings to contrive appoint and accomplish the Means of Satisfaction to his own infinite Justice and of Salvation for his miserable condemned corrupted Creature 15. Right Reason is the Faculty of discerning the difference between Good and Evil The Lamp of God for intellectual Evidence for the practical Judgment concerning all Objects being derived from and the Exercise of Knowledg which is part of the Image of God in Man but this being lost by Man's sinful Apostacy from God there is necessity of the recovery and renewal of the Faculty of right Reason by supernatural Light and Power 16. Tho the invisible things of God even his eternal Power and Godhead are clearly seen from the Creation of the World so as to leave Man without Excuse Yet the Manifestation of the Grace of God for the Salvation of Sinners through the Satisfaction of his Justice by a Redeemer is and can only be revealed by the Word of God contained in the holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament and made effectual upon the Heart and Mind of Man by the holy Spirit For the things of God knoweth no Man but the Spirit of God But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God 17. God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days compleated the whole Canon and comprehensive Cycle of the Revelation of his Will as the only Standard in Truth and Goodness for the Faith and Obedience of Mankind 18. The Word of God contained in the holy Scriptures fully makes known the Love of God in Christ which passeth Knowledg 〈◊〉 the Kindness and Love of God our Saviour towards Man which first appeared in the Promise of a Redeemer confirm'd according to the manifold wisdom of God by the Institution of propitiatory Typical Sacrifices and Ceremonial Worships as Shadows and Pledges and symbols that in the fulness of Time God should be manifested in the Flesh even Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God who is the true God and eternal Life 19. It is impossible for an intelligent Beings to devest the knowledg and obligation of Dependance upon God his Creator and Preserver Consequently the Devotion of continual Worship is indispensable Duty and Felicity in drawing near to God the only infinite eternal all-sufficient and necessary Good It is also undeniably true that the only Rule of acceptable advantagious Worship must be the revealed Will of God For only God can direct and teach how He will be supplicated and worshipped The knowledg of this Rule in the Manifestation of the Light and Perfection of Divine Truth and Goodness is only to be found in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament wherein is revealed the absolute Simplicity and Perfection of the Christian Religion freed from the Confusion of vain and fabulous Superstition and Will-worship 20. The Covenant of Life and Happiness vouchsafed by God to Man upon his first Creation being by Man's Apostacy forfeited and the Ability to fulfil it utterly lost A second Covenant called the Covenant of Grace absolutely free on God's part but intirely necessary on the part of Man is by God instituted for the Salvation of Man The Tenor of the Engagement to which Covenant is the Institution of Baptism in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost In which Ordinance is summarily represented the Truth of the Doctrine of the Divine Trinity in the Unity of the Godhead for as the Father is revealed to be the God of Glory so is the Son to be the Lord of Glory and the Holy Ghost the Spirit of Glory The incommunnicable Attributes of the Deity being ascribed unto the Son and 〈◊〉 the Holy Ghost as unto the Father in respect of Creation of Preservation of Regeneration of Omniscience the Necessity of Redemption and Regeneration is evinced by the Misery and Death common to all and by the universal depraved Vitiosity of all Mankind Nor it is impossible that either Redemption or Regeneration can be effected by less Power than Divine Omnipotence and Omniscience The knowledg of the Heart in all the inmost Recesses of Thought and Imagination is ascribed to Jesus Christ and to the Holy Ghost The contrary cannot be fancied without the greatest Absurdity For if the Redeemer and Mediator were not essentially able to know all the Thoughts and Dispositions of the Heart of Man then some profane Hypocrite might mock or defeat with false pretended Devotion the Intercession of our Redeemer or wickedly and securely lie to the Holy Ghost Also something most necessary for a Sinner might escape the discern of our Mediator so that he could not be a Saviour to the uttermost consequently they who come to God by him must remain most miserable The essential Being of God is of such terrible Majesty covered with the Light dwelling in the Light inaccessible so that no created Intelligence can possibly arrive at any due Perception of the Godhead but only according to the Revelation whereby God vouchsafed the