and because none but such who do so shall by the Tenor of the Gospel suffer eternal Punishment therefore it is no Objection against the Merit of our Saviour's Death to say that his temporal Death cannot expiate an eternal Punishment because he did not suffer Death for any such Purpose and he did not do so because he did not suffer Death for those who alone shall suffer eternal Punishment that is he did not suffer Death for those who shall refuse and reject the only Means of Salvation which he purchased for Mankind by his Death Much more might be offered upon this Occasion but this being sufficient in this Place I shall therefore here add no more In the mean while I do not question but that the Value of our Saviour's Sufferings sâ—fficient to expiate the Guilt of any Sins for whose Expiation such Sufferings were designed tho' such Guilt should be supposed or allowed to deserve eternal Punishment of it self And from the Whole that has been spoken on this Subject we do at last conclude That a Release from the Vengeance due to Sin by the Law and purchased for Man by his Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who for Man's sake made his Soul a Sacrifice for Sin is a just and legal Pardon and agreeable to the Measures of Right Reason and to the Laws of Justice For because the Pardon of Sin does imply in it a Desert of Punishment in the Party forgiven and because the laying the Punishment which he deserves upon another is in effect a Remission of that Punishment to him and because lastly a Remission of Punishment to the Party which deserves such Punishment may be truly accounted a Pardon of his Sin For Pardon of Sin to any Party whomsoever is neither more nor less than the Releasing or Freeing him from the Punishment due to his Sin Therefore if by what has been spoken it has appeared that the Punishment due to our Sins was without any Injustice translated upon another and that upon such Translation it cannot justly be exaâ—â—ed of us then it will follow that so far forth as our Sin was pardoned so far forth the Pardon was just And therefore so far as we have hitherto gone we may truly and rationally conclude That that Method in which the Gospel discovers our Salvation to be brought to pass does exactly square to the Rules of Right Reason and Justice For so we have seen that it does in the first thing which a Gospel-Forgiveness does imply and contain in it and that is the Pardon of Sin CHAP. VIII Bare Pardon of Sin not sufficient for a Gospel-Salvation Some Reasons offered for it They who are entitled to the Reward of the Law must be entitled to the Obedience paid to the Law Such Obedience must be perfect Some Practical Reflections THo' we have hitherto asserted the Sufficiency of our Saviour's Sacrifice for the Expiation and Pardon of Sin yet it must be confessed that bare Pardon of Sin upon any Considerations whatsoever be those Considerations never so valuable yet can never in Reason or Justice make out a Gospel-Salvation And therefore we laid it down at the Beginning that as in order to a Gospel-Salvation there was first required an Expiation and in consideration of such Expiation a Pardon of Sin so there is also required a Restitution to Holiness and the Gift of Eternal Happiness For because God's Law as every good Law besides does consist of Two Parts First the Directive or what it requires to be obey'd and Secondly the Vindictive or what upon Disobedience it requires to be suffered And because Sin is the Disobedience to or Transgression of the Law Therefore so far as we have discoursed of the Justice of the Pardon of Sin so far we have only discoursed of that Justice which concerns the Vindictive Part of the Law But by doing that we have not at all discoursed of that Justice which concerns the Directive Part of the Law And if upon our neglect to follow such Directions God does for any Reasons whatsoever forgive us the Penalty which we incur by such our Neglect and nothing more it must be confessed that by such a way of Proceeding all Care of the Directive which is indeed the principal Part of the Law is thrown away For because all Men are Sinners that is because none do obey the Law tho' God upon valuable Considerations do remit the Punishment to some or all of those Sinners yet still it is certain that the Duty enjoined by the Law remains undone by all And I therefore say it is certain because it will notoriously appear by what follows that the Pardon of Sin that is the Pardon of the Transgressionof the Law tho' such Pardon be granted by God and obtained by us in Consideration of our Saviour's Suffering in our stead can never pass for the Performance of the Directions of the Law that is can never pass for that Righteousness which consists in an Obedience to such Directions and therefore as we shall see more fully hereafter can never be sufficient for our obtaining a Gospel-Salvation which includes in it an eternal Holiness and an eternal Happiness as well as the Pardon of Sin Now that the Pardon of our Transgression of the Law can neither in Reason nor Justice pass for our Performance of the Directions of the Law will appear notorious from these following Considerations 1. Because Forgiveness does imply in the very Notion of it a Desert of Punishment and a Desert of Punishment does imply in it the Transgression of the Directions of the Law For no Man can be truly forgiven who does not justly deserve to be punished and no Man can justly deserve to be punished who does not transgress the Directions of the Law Now for the same Reason and upon the same Account to esteem a Man Innocent and yet a Criminal must needs be absurd because it is a Contradiction And then because in Contradictions only one Part can be true therefore so sure as we are that he who is truly forgiven must be a Sinner so sure we are also that he neither is nor can be truly supposed to be Innocent And therefore when God forgives as it is supposed in Reason and Common Sense that he does forgive Sins and is so expressed in general in the Scriptures so it is supposed in the same Reason and the same Common Sense that he does forgive those Sins to Sinners And therefore we cannot be supposed to have obeyed the Directions of the Law upon the Account that God does forgive us the Punishment threatned in the Law 2. Nor can we be so secondly Because should we undergo the Punishment which the Law threatens yet we could not by so doing ever fulfil the Directions of the Law For it is notorious in it self that the suffering what the Law threatens is not the doing what the Law commands Now it is certain that the Forgiveness of that Punishment which we have deserved can give us no
Reason of Man's Tenure and Subjection Sixthly As we may suppose the Forbidden Tree to have stood in the midst of the Garden from the Ninth Verse of the Second Chapter of Genesis so a Tree so placed was by its very Situation a very fit and proper Thing to be made use of for such a purpose because being in some measure at least equidistant from the Boundaries of the general Grant it must for that Reason be most likely to present it self to Adam's View to whatever Part of the Garden he moved and by so doing must constantly or at least frequently put him in mind of the Nature of his Tenure viz. that he held it of him who had setled him in the Possession and Use of all the rest So that as the Law is Positive if we only look upon the express Words of it so it is Moral if we consider what is implied in it And therefore as the immediate and direct Transgression of the Law was the eating the forbidden Fruit so the couched Immorality of such Transgression was an Usurpation upon God's Prerogative in this lower World and an Encroachment upon the reserved Rights and Demeans of the Supreme Lord. The Transgression of the express Law then was a Sin against God's Command But the Transgression of the implied Law was a Sin against his Natural and Supreme Right The first was a Sin because it did what God had expresly forbid The last was implicitly forbid because it was a Sin and therefore was a Sin tho' God did not expresly forbid it The first was therefore only unlawful because forbidden The last was unlawful in it self To sum up all in a few Words Tho' the Designation of the particular Thing viz. the Tree in the midst of the Garden was Arbitrary and therefore Positive yet the Designation of Something was as Just and Wise so I may add Moral and Necessary too at least so far as it is so that God's Supreme Right ought to be asserted and owned For so far forth the Prohibition given to Man of eating of the Fruit of any Tree marked out or of medling with any Thing else is grounded upon the Antecedent and Eternal Rules of Reason and Justice that is of Morality And therefore tho' the express Prohibition of the Law be only Positive yet the Reason of the Prohibition is at least so far Moral as it is so That Man by some Means or other should acknowledge God to be his Supreme Lord and that he receives from him whatsoever he enjoys and that if God do expresly appoint the Way and Means of his so doing he ought to do it by the Way and Means so appointed And I therefore say expresly because so far as the Words of the Law under our present Consideration do go it is notorious that what is expresly prohibited by it is only Arbitrary and Positive But that the Morality of the Prohibition is not expressed but at the most but couched and implied By what has been spoken we may learn 1. That the Sin expresly prohibited by the Law may therefore truly be esteemed a lesser Sin because it is only a Sin against a Positive Law For such a Sin is a Sin only against God's Authority Whereas a Sin that contains a Natural Immorality in it if I may so speak is a Sin both against God's Authority and against his Purity and Holiness too 2. That the express Penalty of the Law is only a Punishment threatned against the Transgression of the express Prohibition of the Law For it does not look like Justice to assign an express Punishment in the Law for the Transgression of any Thing which is not expresly contained in the Law 3. Such Punishment so threatned against the Transgression of the express Law is express absolute and peremtory Adam then did therefore fatally suffer the Penalty of the Law because he sinned against an express Prohibition which was ratified by an absolute peremptory and express Threat For God may therefore be thought to be obliged by his Truth to punish Adam's Transgression according to the express Threat of the Law because he had passed his more solemn Word that he would do so And as he was obliged by his Truth to punish it as the Law had threatned so he was obliged to punish it because it was a Sin For so undoubtedly is the Transgression of any of God's Laws From hence it may be concluded that we all die a temporal Death for Adam's Sin For as we were in the Loins of him in the day of his Transgression so God has not by any other Law assigned an Universal Mortality as the Punishment of Sin And so speaks the Scripture In Adam all died 4. As the Moral Law couched in the Positive Law is not express so neither is there any express Punishment threatned to the Transgression of such couched Law For while Man was in a State of Innocence as there was no need that God should prescribe him any express Law to guide him in such Things which were in their own Nature good because the dictates of his own reason were of themselves sufficient for such his guidance for Moral Goodness is nothing else but the Dictates of right Reason employed about the Actions of Rational Creatures So for the same Reason there was no occasion to threaten him in that Case with any express Penalty because the threatning of an express Penalty antecedent to the Commission of the Crime can only be proper there where there is an express Law commanding a Duty Whereas Man had never by his Reason known that it had been a Sin to eat of any Fruit which kindly offer'd it self to his View and natural Inclinations if such Fruit had not been forbidden by some express Law And therefore for the same Reason that it was necessary that such Law should be express it was necessary that the Penalty of such Law should be express too 5. As the Sin against the Moral Duty which is only implied in the Law were that Duty supposed to be express Law is greater than the Sin against the express but Positive Law so were there a Punishment to be expresly assigned to such Sin it must in Justice be greater than the Punishment assigned to the less Sin that is to the Transgression of the Positive Law The Punishment therefore assigned by the express Law to the Transgression of it being only Death and that too as appears from the Nineteenth Verse of the Third Chapter of Genesis a temporal Death our Reason and that natural Sense we have of the Proportions of Justice will assure us that the Law which forbids a greater Sin than this Law does must in Reason and Equity assign an heavier Punishment to such greater Sin 6. Such heavier Punishment must suppose a Resurrection For a greater Punishment than Death cannot therefore be inflicted upon a dead Man without a Resurrection because no Punishment at all can be so inflicted upon him For where there is no Sensation
of Sin Let us first hear what the Spirit saith who in the Fourth to the Ephesians the Fourth and Fifth Verses tells us That when the Fulness of Time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law that is his Son was Incarnate and was under the Law and therefore made so as to be obliged to be obedient to it to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Sons And when we are told in one place That the Son of God was manifested for this very purpose that he might destroy the Works of the Devil and in another That he was manifest to take away Sin And when to answer to and explain the Meaning of these Places we are assured from other Places that at least one Way of his taking away Sins was by the Sacrifice of himself as in the Twenty sixth Verse of the Ninth to the Hebrews and that he appeared for that very purpose in the same Place And when we add to all this what we find in the Fifth Verse of the following Chapter that God had prepared him a Body and in the Tenth Verse that we are sanctified that is our Sins are put away through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all who as St. Peter speaks his own self bare our Sins in his own Body on a Tree I say when the Spirit of God does all along in the Scriptures expresly and categorically tell us That our Saviour suffered in his Body shed his Blood lost his Humane Life for our Sins for the Remission of Sin for the Redemption of Sinners when it does in several Places compare his Death to the Expiatory Sacrifices under the Law when it calls him the Lamb of God alluding to the Paschal Lamb that taketh away the Sins of the World when it tells us that he is the Propitiation for our Sins and the like It does by these and such like Expressions as much as Words can do it acquaint us at the same time that he suffered in his Body and died to atone for and to expiate our Sins And therefore all the uncouth and forced Interpretations of these and such like Texts which yet are a multitude that attempt to evacuate their plain Meaning may as soon persuade an honest and sincere Man that the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament are a Book full of Collusion and Prevarication as they may that Jesus Christ our Saviour did not die to expiate the Sins of Mankind And were I not assured of God's Providence I should be apt to fear that the Devil might in time so bring Things about that if he could upon Pretences of Reason wipe away that Part of the Bible that concerns our Saviour's Incarnation and the Relation which that has to Man's Redemption that he might at last raise his Hopes of blotting out the whole Christian Religion For to tell us that our Saviour is only such a Man as other Men are but only conceived in a different and therefore more wonderful manner to tell us that he died patiently tho' wrongfully only that he might give us an Example of an exact Patience and of an entire Submission to God's Providence to tell us that he was slain a Sacrifice only to confirm the Covenant of Grace but that there was no such Design in his Death as to suffer for or to expiate our Sins as it is a notorious Contradiction to and not an Exposition of the Scriptures so for that very Reason it will appear to have a direct Tendency towards the overthrowing the Grand Design of the whole Book of God All which to them who shall scan the Scriptures exactly is directed to and does center in the Saviour and that Redemption which he purchased for Mankind by his Death and Merits Having therefore thus in short taken notice of what the Scripture tells us concerning the Expiation of Sin by the Susserings of our Saviour and having already made it out 1. That no Creature can by any means expiate the Sin of Mankind and 2. That our Saviour is God Incarnate or God and Man united in One Person we do in pursuit of our main Design lay it down in the 3. Third place That the Way and Method of Man's Salvation as it is expresly and frequently laid down in the Scriptures which is by the Sufferings and Death of the Son of God manifested in the Flesh is agreeable to right Reason and exactly congruous to the Measures of Truth and to the Rules of Justice And in order to our making this plain and clear we take notice 1. That that Law about the Transgression of which and the Release from the Penalty of such Transgression the Gospel-Forgiveness is only concerned was given to Man For the Scriptures give us no Account of the Forgiveness of the Breach of any other Law but only of that Law which God had prescribed to Mankind And therefore tho' in the Scriptures we have several broad Hints of the Fall of the Angels and tho' our Reason tells us that that which put them under the Displeasure of God must needs be Sin in the general yet we are therefore ignorant what their Sin was because we are ignorant what that Law was against which they sinned 2. We take notice That as that Law about which alone the Gospel-Forgiveness is concerned was the Law given by God to Man so the Gospel takes no other or farther notice of the Transgression of that Law than as that Law is broke by Man From whence we infer in the 3. Third place That that Punishment which the Law threatens against those who transgress it can only in Justice belong to those to whom the Law was given and directed For they can never transgress a Law who have no Law assigned them and they can never be justly punished for the Transgression of the Law who can never transgress the Law The Law therefore about which alone a Gospel-Forgiveness is concerned being the Law given to Man and transgressed by Man Man alone can justly suffer the Penalty of such Transgression From whence we infer in the 4. Fourth place That if any Penalty can ever justly expiate that Guilt which is contracted by the Breach of the Law that Penalty that must make such Expiation must be a Penalty laid upon Man And therefore our Common Sense of Justice will not allow us to think that either Angels which are ranked above Mankind nor Beasts which are ranked below them can by any Sufferings whatsoever expiate or atone for the Breach of such Law which being given by God to Man does so far forth concern Man alone And tho' we have before made it out that neither Angels on the one Hand nor brute Beasts on the other can expiate the Sin of Mankind as both the one and the other are Creatures yet what we now say is that they cannot do it as they are different Creatures For it seems necessary and that
better a Title to Obedience than our suffering such Punishment could have done had that Punishment not been forgiven And it looks absurd at first view that Guilt should consist in the neglect of Obedience and that Punishment should be the Desert and therefore in Justice the Effect of our Guilt and yet that Obedience should be the Effect of our Punishment That is that Guilt after one Remove should be the proper and in a manner natural because just Cause of Duty But we may be therefore sure that it is no such matter because we are told by God himself that there is a Punishment after this Life which shall be Eternal which yet would be impossible if the suffering of Punishment were equivalent to a perfect Obedience to the Directions of the Law Which because for the Reason alledged and for more that might be alledged it cannot be therefore neither can the Forgiveness of such Punishment be so For it is evident that the Forgiveness of our Punishment can do no more towards the making us obedient than the Punishment it self could do should we undergo it And therefore the Pardon of our Sins for the Sake of our Saviour's having suffered in our stead does not of it self suppose us to have fulfilled the Directions of the Law 3. The Forgiveness of our Sins does imply nothing more in it than our Freedom from that Vengeance which the Law has threatned and which we have deserved by our Transgression of the Directions of it and so does only free us from the vindictive Part of the Law But does not for that Reason entitle us to those Rewards which the Law promises to those who obey its Directions Now it is a very different Thing to be barely freed from the Vengeance of the Law and to be entitled to the Promises of the Law because the Case may really so be put as that a Man may obtain a Release in the First Case and yet never be entitled to or possess the Promise in the Last And in all Cases let them be what they will yet still we are certain that the First can only in Reason nay in Nature belong to those who have transgressed the Law and that the Last can only in strictness of Law belong to those who have obeyed the Law And therefore that the First can be only Matter of Favour whereas the Last may be Matter of Right Now if there be any Difference in the Two Cases then let that Difference be lodged where it will yet we are from thence assured that the Cases are not the same and therefore neither can the Forgiveness of our Sins upon the Account of our Saviour's suffering the Vengeance of the Law in our stead be any Argument that we have fulfilled the Directions of the Law And therefore tho' it be affirmed by several Learned Men that we are sufficiently entitled to Eternal Happiness by the bare Pardon of our Sins in Consideration of our Saviour's Sufferings and that for this Reason because when we are treated by God with Impunity we are at the same time treated as Innocents and that he who is treated as an Innocent by God himself who cannot be mistaken in the Case must therefore needs be so Yet these Men as they do not sufficiently distinguish between an Innocent and a Saint so neither do they between Impunity and a Reward For tho' our Saviour's Sufferings are meritorious of a Reward to himself and so the Scriptures tell us yet they are only expiatory to us and that too in the Nature of the Thing For the utmost Design the natural Tendency and the only Business of an Expiation is to obtain an Impunity for such who have deserved and therefore must in Justice without such an Expiation suffer Punishment But neither Scripture Reason or Justice will tell us that a Purchase of Impunity from the Vengeance due to the Transgressors of the Law can be a Purchase of that Reward that is only due to Obedience to the Law In one Word Reward and Punishment derive not only from different but from contrary Principles And Impunity has and that too in the Nature of the Thing a Respect or Relation only to Punishment but none at all to Reward And for that Reason the meritorious Cause of Impunity can have no Concern with Reward neither Since then the Death of our Saviour is the meritorious Cause of Pardon to those who have transgressed the Law it is absurd in Nature and Reason to make it also the meritorious Cause of that Reward which as it supposes no need of Pardon so does by the Law only belong to those who have obeyed the Law So that an Expiation does at the most but make a Man Innocent but does nothing to make him a Saint For it only cancels his Neglect of Duty but does not do that Duty for him which he has neglected By all which it appears 1. That Reward does in Propriety and Justice only belong to Obedience to the Law 2. That Punishment does in Propriety and Justice only belong to the Transgression of the Law 3. That Expiation has no Relation to the Reward of Obedience but that it only concerns that Punishment which without such Expiation is in Justice due to Disobedience Now because God has taught us not only that our Sins shall be forgiven in and through our Saviour but that also in and through the same Saviour we shall obtain a glorious Reward And because as has appeared in general Reward does in Reason and Justice as properly belong to Duty and Obedience as Forgiveness does to Expiation Therefore our next Enquiry must be upon what Obedience such Reward is grounded For we are very sure that because the Distribution of such Reward is lodged in God's Hand therefore the Reward will be bestowed justly and because we are sure of that therefore we are farther assured that it will be conferr'd upon Duty and Obedience And indeed having in what went before seen what Provision God has made for the fulfilling the Vindictive Part of the Law in order to the Possibility and Justice of Man's Salvation and being satisfied that that Provision which he has made for that purpose will not also fulfil the Directive Part of the Law it must be our next Business to enquire what Provision he has made for the fulfilling of such Directive Part. For 1. In the first place We may therefore be certain that it shall be fulfilled one way or other because the Law being God's is in it self Holy Just and Good And we know and that too by the Light of Nature that it cannot be an indifferent Thing to the Ever-wise and most Holy Law-giver whether a Law which is so be obeyed or not For that would be in effect to cast off all Regard to Duty Holiness and Righteousness Nay which is yet more because every just Law must for that Reason even because it is just design the Obedience of them for whom it is made I say because it
the Law had promised to such Obedience 1. Now in order to our making good our first Proposition we must examine what Qualifications are absolutely necessary in order to fit any one to make such Purchase and then enquire farther Whether such Qualifications either do or can belong to any other besides our Saviour alone 1. Now the first and leading Qualification in him who shall be fitted for the Purchase of a Release from the Penalty of the Law which they have incurred who transgress the Law is that he who makes such a Purchase must be one of the same Kind with them to whom the Law was given that is in the present Case must be a Man For the Law was given to Man was broke by Man and therefore also the Breach of it in the Congruity of Things and by the Laws of Common Sense and Justice is to be punished in Man Now tho' our Saviour was not the only Person in the World who had this Qualification for every Man besides is as real a Man as he was yet he was the only Man among all Mankind who by this Qualification was fitted for the effectual enterprising and bring to pass those other Things which are absolutely necessary for the Purchase of the Release spoken of 2. For secondly The next Qualification of him who is fitted for the Purchase of a Release from the Penalty of the Law is that he must be an Innocent Man He was to be a Lamb without Spot or Blemish and to answer to the Paschal Lamb which in this as in several other Things was a Type of that Lamb of God which should take away the Sins of the World For he who is qualified to suffer for others in order to release those others from the Penalty of Sin must not therefore be a Sinner himself because if he be so then he must by the Laws of Justice and even according to the Tenor of that Law which assigns such Penalty suffer the Penalty for his own Sin And he who suffers the Penalty of the Law for his own Sin cannot therefore suffer the Penalty of the Law for the Sin of others at least in the present Case he cannot because the Penalty of the Law upon the Transgression of it being the loss of Life his own Penalty exhausts the whole Stock or Possibility of his so suffering For he who has but one Life and no Man has more can pay that Life but once And therefore if he lays it down for his own Sin he must for that Reason have nothing remaining to lay down for the Sin of others 3. He who is duely qualified to purchase for Mankind a Release from the Penalty of their Sins must be a Man whose Life is of more value than the Lives of all the rest And the Reason for it is plain and obvious because we know that the Lives of all the rest can make no such Purchase And the Lives of all the rest cannot therefore make any such Purchase because the Death of no single Man can make such a Purchase for himself For what no single Man's Death can do for himself that the Death of all Men cannot do for all For there is just the same Proportion between all Men and the Death of all that there is between one Man and the Death of one Besides supposing a Man to be a Transgressor of the Law it looks very absurd to affirm that the Death of such a Man which is the Punishment of his Transgression can be the Purchase of his Release from such Punishment For then the self-same Thing and that is his Death will bear a quite contrary Character for it will be both the Wages of his Sin and the Purchase of his Ransom that is it will be the Vengeance of the Law and the meritorious Cause of his Freedom from the same Vengeance Every Sinner therefore against the Law must be a Sufferer under the Vengeance of the Law and that Law which adjudges those who transgress it to Death does not by so doing design to return them to Life For if it did then by inflicting its Sentence it must design to revoke that Sentence and by making the Punishment a Release from the Punishment must look like Trifling and not like Justice The Loss of no Sinner's Life then is of Value sufficient to put a Period to the Execution of that Sentence which the Law pronounces against those who do transgress it And every Man's Death in the Course of the Law had been eternal were there nothing else to remove it but his own Strength that is in the present Case but his own Death For if the Death of a dead Man can do nothing for him we are sure that no other of his Powers or Merits can For in the Case before us he can have no other Merits of his own to restore him to Life but the Merits of his Death and the Merits of his Death as we have seen are none at all And to expect any Relief from a dead Man's Powers is to expect Relief from no Powers at all for Death crushes all the Powers of all Men whom it seizes Now this being the Condition of all Men who die because they are Sinners we may from hence safely conclude That if any Man who is not a Sinner shall undertake by his own Death to make good the Ransom of all the rest from Death and after that shall make good his Undertaking I say if any Man shall do this we may be sure that his Death or his Life which you will is therefore of more Value than the Life or Death of all the rest because he does by it make that Purchase which all the rest could not do by theirs For in the present Case the Value of the Thing may be truly and justly estimated by the Possibility of the Purchase it can make because the Possibility of the Purchase depends upon the Allowance of the Great and Just God And then when God is willing to release Man from Death in Consideration of the Death of his Innocent Saviour and when he is not so in Consideration of sinful Man 's own Death and when he does professedly declare such his Will in many Places of his Word and by the repeated Attestations of Matter of Fact whereby several People have been raised from the Dead in the Name and by the professed Power of the Saviour I say when we find all these Things to be so as we do or at least easily may find them so to be we may from the Whole conclude That the Death of our Saviour is of more Value than the Death of all Mankind because it can do that which the Death of all the rest cannot do and that too by the Allowance of God himself Now from these Propositions so laid down we may therefore conclude That there is not Salvation in any other but only in our Saviour set forth in the Gospel 1. Because it was absolutely necessary in Justice that the
Things required 1. An Expiation of Sin 2. A Restitution to Holiness Negatively the several Ways how such Expiation cannot be made from whence an Inference of the Doctrine asserted with some Practical Inferences Page 36 CHAP. IV. That Person to whom the Expiation of Sin is by the Scriptures ascribed is by the same Scriptures set forth to us 1. As God 2. As Man 3. As God and Man united in one Person or God Incarnate No Man a competent Judge of all possible Unions The Incarnation agreeable to the Sentiments of Mankind and variously foretold prefigured and suggested in the Scriptures Some Practical Inferences somewhat enlarged Pag. 57 CHAP. V. The Son of God by his Incarnation accommodated his Condition for the making good the Expiation of Man's Sin Pag. 96 CHAP. VI. The Divinity of the Son of God necessary for the Expiation of Man's Sin as well as his Humanity Some Doctrinal Inferences A general Proof That as our Saviour did actually die so that he might justly die for the Expiation of Sin Pag. 113 CHAP. VII Answers to Three Objections 1. The Punishment was in Justice only due to us not to him This Objection retorted upon the Socinians 2. That his Death was but a Temporal Punishment but the Expiation pretended to be made was of an Eternal Punishment 3. The Absurdity that God should suffer for the Satisfaction of his own Justice Pag. 134 CHAP. VIII Bare Pardon of Sin not sufficient for a Gospel-Salvation Some Reasons offered for it They who are entitled to the Reward of the Law must be entitled to the Obedience paid to the Law Such Obedience must be perfect Some Practical Reflections Pag. 160 CHAP. IX Whos 's that Perfect Obedience is in Consideration of which Eternal Happiness is given to Man That it is our Saviour's Some Objections answered and the Doctrine of the Imputation asserted 1. Against those who acknowledge the Expiation 2. Against those who deny it This Doctrine agreeable to the Scriptures Pag. 179 CHAP. X. Some Objections answered and some Practical Inferences made Pag. 216 CHAP. XI The First and General Proposition asserted from all that has been said That the whole Doctrine of a Gospel-Salvation as laid down in the Scriptures is agreeable to the allowed Practices of Mankind in their Legal or Judicial Proceedings and is worded in the Scriptures accordingly Pag. 233 CHAP. XII That besides the Saviour's Righteousness imputed God will after their Resurrection endow Believers with a perfect inherent and eternal Holiness How the Saviour did fit and prepare Men for such an Holiness Pag. 254 CHAP. XIII By what Means Men shall be put into the Actual Possession of Eternal Life Pag. 277 CHAP. XIV Wherein the Happiness of Eternal Life does consist Several Reflections and Considerations on what has been said tending to promote an Holy Life Pag. 297 ERRATA Page Line For Read 50 2 their Sons them Son 118 10 naturally actually SALVATION BY JESUS CHRIST ALONE The INTRODUCTION I. SAlvation implies in the very Notion of it either the Prevention of some Mischief to which we are obnoxious or a Deliverance from some Mischief which we actually suffer Now because it is our professed Design and Business at present to discourse of the Salvation of Mankind by our Saviour therefore in order to our so doing it will be proper first to consider what Mischief it is from which they are saved For the true Knowledge of the Occasion and Nature of the Mischief will very much assist us in our Enquiries into the Nature and Justice of such Salvation We must know therefore That when God who made Man and all Things beside had placed Man in this lower World as he did provide for his Well-being by his Bounty so he did provide for his greater Happiness by his Law For by the first he only put all Creatures here in subjection to Man but by the last he acquainted Man with his own Subjection to Himself For it is an undoubted Truth That it is a greater Happiness to be a true Subject to God than it is to be Tenant of the whole Earth and a deputed Lord over all the Creatures in it Now in order to some few Remarks which we shall make upon God's first Law given to Man and which will open a Way to our main Design it will be convenient that we lay down the Law as it was given forth Thus therefore it stands Of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil thou shalt not eat of it For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die or as it is in the Original dying thou shalt die The Reduplication in that Language being equivalent to an Asseveration in ours It has been a Doubt among Learned Men whether this first Law be a Moral or only a Positive Law Now for the Resolution of such Doubt it may not be improper to consider apart First What is expresly contained in the Law and Secondly What is implied under such Expression And first If we only consider the express Words of the Law which forbid the eating of the Fruit of the Tree specified the Law in such Case is therefore Positive not Moral because before the Prohibition there was no more Immorality in eating of that Tree than of any other But then secondly If we farther consider that tho' the Law as to the particular Thing prohibited was purely Arbitrary and therefore so far forth only Positive yet that the Prohibition did imply in it a Moral Duty grounded upon very equitable Considerations we may conclude that under this express and Positive Law there is implied and couched a Moral Law For First God gave Man not only his Being but also all Things for the necessary and convenient Support of such Being and from thence we may by our Natural Reason inform our selves that his so doing was a very equitable Consideration why Man should be bound up in Gratitude and that is as much as being bound up in Morality to acknowledge the Kindness and Bounty of his Great Benefactor Secondly Man being bound in Gratitude to acknowledge the Kindness and Bounty we may truly add that he was farther bound to acknowledge such Kindness and Bounty in such Way as such his Benefactor should appoint Thirdly God having made the Earth and all Things in it he might grant as many or as few of the Things so made to Man as he himself pleased And therefore might except any one or more of them out of such Grant Fourthly God having an undoubted Power of Reserving to himself what he pleased out of those Things which he had made he might in Justice and Equity require that Man should give one Testimony of his Gratitude by abstaining from what he should please so to reserve Fifthly God by singling out the Forbidden Tree from all the rest and by so doing reserving it to himself had made that a standing Mark and Signal of his own rightful and supreme Dominion over the Whole as also for the same
also this is the Voice of Truth And then as we shewed before that all the good Things that we do or can enjoy did proceed purely and meerly from God's Good-will so I do now add that our Sins do naturally turn that Good-will into Displeasure and then the Good-will ceasing all those Emanations that flowed from it must in course cease also And then because where they cease there the Sinner's Punishment does begin therefore we may now from the Whole begin to perceive that the Punishment of Sin is not so arbitrarious a thing as it is usually taken to be but that it does when traced to the beginning depend upon the same Necessity by which God loves himself For if we sum up all our Discourse upon this Head from the beginning we shall understand That God loves himself That he is in his own Nature Holy That therefore he hates whatsoever is contrary to such his Nature That all Sin therefore is so because it is contrary to his Holiness That the Effects of his Hatred must be contrary to those of his Love or at the very best That the Emanations of his Love must then be stopped when that Love is turned into Hatred and Displeasure That when his Creatures lose those Emanations then their Misery begins That all those Creatures must needs lose them that lose that Love from whence alone they do proceed and That they lose that Love by their Sins because as we said before Sin and Sin alone does turn it into Hatred and Displeasure So that if we may be allowd so to speak in Morality there is an essential Relation between Sin and Punishment and the Necessity of Punishment when narrowly scann'd is founded upon the eternal and immutable Laws of Truth Holiness and Justice But before we leave this Head I would if that be possible make all a little plainer by an Instance And that Instance shall be in that Punishment which the first Sin brought upon the whole Race of Mankind And I do the rather take my Instance there because the Law was given and broken and so the Penalty both threatned and incurred when there was no Saviour to remit the rigorous but just Execution of such Penalty Now we are assured by the Reason of the Thing it-self as we have already discoursed But if that will not do we are assured by God's Word by his Promise by his Oath that he neither wills nor delights in the death of a Sinner And when he swears so to us it would be both proper and modest in us to believe that there is something in Sin which does oblige God in Justice and that is the same thing with God as to be obliged by Necessity to punish it with Death And to this purpose we may take notice that it is derogatory to God's Honour for us to resolve any Punishment which we suffer into God's Will only and not into his Justice Because as we shall presently perceive when God wills the Death of a Sinner he therefore only wills it because Justice does require it and that in the Nature of the Thing antecedently to such his Will For if the Death of a Man should be therefore just only because God wills it tho' the Man do not deserve it then it may be all one as to the Event and that justly too whether a Man were perfectly innocent or the most profligate Miscreant upon the Face of the Earth For according to that Doctrine which we now oppose God might in such a Case justly will the Death of the Innocent and save the Criminal alive For if the ultimate Resolution of the Justice of our Death be only into the Will of God then nothing can hinder but that God may justly slay a perfect Innocent And so when God told Adam that in the day of his Transgression he should surely die the Meaning of his Threat must have been that he might have died whether he had transgressed or not But because we cannot without Blasphemy tax God's Law of such notorious Prevarication therefore we must determine that the ultimate Resolution of Adam's Punishment in such Case must be into the Desert of such Punishment by the Breach of the Law and that God's willing his Death was a just Consequent of such his Desert In short God wills such things only which he can will justly and he who will rationally and truly account for the Proceedings of God in that and such like Cases must have a care to do it so as to maintain the Harmony of all his Attributes He must not magnifie his Power no nor his Mercy so as to impeach his Truth Wisdom and Justice For he who confounds the Events of Innocence and Guilt will be found when his Opinion comes narrowly to be scanned to make God either a Favourer of Sin or an Enemy of Righteousness The Sum of all is That when God tells us that Death is the Wages of Sin he does not therefore pass it into a Law because it pleases him so to do but because it is just in it-self that he should do so And that if it had not been just in it-self he had not upon that single Account willed it at all So that upon the whole it does remain a fixed and setled Truth That Death is the Wages of Sin by the eternal and immutable Laws of Iustice and that it cannot be otherwise so long as God loves himself and so hates whatsoever is contrary to himself and to his Nature as all Sin most undoubtedly is And therefore when any Man sins against God as by so doing he does of necessity forfeit God's Favour so also by consequence he does by necessity forfeit his own Life which has nothing else to depend upon but that Favour alone And as a Temporal Death upon Sin is necessary because both threatned and incurred before the Promise of a Saviour so after the Saviour has laid down his Mediatorial Office an Eternal Death will be found to be so too I word it so lest my Caution before this Head should by this time be forgot Now if it be not an Eternal Law of Justice that Punishment is the necessary Reward of Sin then it may be all one as to the Event and that justly and finally too whether a Man depart this Life the best or the worst Man in the whole World For if there be not some Law of Justice that shall at the last Day distinguish the Event of their contrary Courses then nothing can And if that Justice be not necessary let the Means by which it is not so be what they will the Difference between their Condition can be but casual or at the very best but arbitrary and so we must leave them both to a grand Perhaps which will be in effect to destroy all Religion and Justice There is one thing against this Discourse of weight and moment which tho' I shall professedly answer in another Place yet shall not go unmentioned here And that is That
if the Punishment of Sin be absolutely just and necessary then how came it to pass that God did in his Counsel design and in his Wisdom appoint a Saviour in order to the Paâ—don of Sin For in Order of Nature the Design of Pardon must be antecedent to thâ— Design of sending a Saviour And therefore if the Punishment of Sin be as it is laâ— down both just and necessary God's Design of Pardon going counter to this Law should seem to be unjust For how could he justâ— design to pardon That which in Justice anâ— Necessity he stood obliged to punish Now to this several Things may be answered As 1. First That God did never design 〈◊〉 pardon Sin but only in and through a Savâ—our And how far such his Design undeâ— such a Restriction and Limitation is juâ—â— is very much the Business of that part of thâ— Discourse which in its Place is to follow anâ— therefore must not be forestalled here 2. That notwithstanding a Saviour yeâ— God did never pardon any sinful Creature All the Sinners that we know are the falâ— Angels and Men. What the Scriptures acquaint us with concerning the first we know well enough And among such Things 〈◊〉 know also that it gives us an Account 〈◊〉 the Punishment of their Sin And as foâ— Men those of them that shall be saved aâ— last in consideration of their Saviour's Merits do yet in this World suffer Losses anâ— Crosses and Pains and Diseases and Death All which are undoubted Punishments of Sinâ— And for the rest who shall by a final Impenitence reject the Benefit of the Saviour's Purchase besides the Calamities which they suffer in common with the Good in this World the Scriptures do acquaint us sufficiently with their Doom in the next So that if it may be an Argument that Punishment is the necessary Reward of Sin because all Sinners have do and shall suffer Punishment then God's designing of a Saviour for Mankind in order to their Pardon does not take off the Force of such Argument because notwithstanding such his Design and such Saviour no Sinner whatsoever did or ever will go unpunished 3. But then thirdly It is a Mistake that the Salvation of Man from Punishment was the immediate and direct Design in God's Counsel of sending a Saviour For as we shall see hereafter See Chap. 12. the Business of our Saviour's Coming was to bring back Mankind to his Father's Kingdom who had been drawn into a Revolt from his Dominion and Jurisdiction by the Sollicitations of the Devil and had thereby put a Slight upon the Authority of the King of all the World and so in some sense lesned the Extent of his Kingdom Now those whom our Saviour shall so bring back to their Allegiance by restoring them to their lost Holiness shall indeed be saved But then their Salvation is a Consequence of their Return to Holiness and so was not properly the Design of God's sending a Saviour but the Consequence of the Success of such Design CHAP. II. The Gospel holds forth no such thing as an Absolute or Unconditional Pardon no nor yet an Arbitrary Pardon THe next and Second Proposition offered to be made good in order to our main Design is this That the Gospel holds out no such thing to us as an absolute Forgiveness of Sin Which Proposition I therefore lay down here not only because it is introductive to some Things which are to follow but also to obviate the Conceit of those Men who think they do sufficiently wipe away the Merits of our Saviour in reference to the Pardon of our Sins by telling us that God may without any more ado pardon such our Sins by his Free Grace 1. But in the first place we cannot but take notice that what God may do and what he has declared he will do are Two very different and distinct Things Though therefore it be supposed that God may grant us an absolute Pardon yet if in those very Revelations in which he has discovered to us his Intention of pardoning us he does expresly tell us that he will not do so it will be proper and modest in us to acquiesce in what he so tells us rather than to raise in our Imaginations conceited Possibilities which do directly contradict such his Declarations 2. But secondly He who brought us the Gospel-Dispensation in order to the Pardon of our Sins does in that Dispensation require our Repentance in order to such our Pardon Now if Repentance be a Condition of the Pardon then for that Reason alone the Pardon cannot be Absolute because an Absolute Pardon is an Inconditional Pardon and it is impossible that the same Pardon should be a Conditional and an Inconditional Pardon too 3. An Absolute Pardon of Sin fights directly against all that we have said under our last Head concerning the Necessary Justice of Punishment And therefore till all that be wiped away we may upon those Grounds deny that there is any such sort of Pardon For it looks a little too harsh and that too to Natural Reason to tell us that God will be reconciled to the Enemy of his Nature and that upon the account of mere Mercy and Compassion and that in order to his being so he will throw away all Considerations of his Justice which in this Case we may adventure to call his Natural Displeasure 4. If we should suppose or allow such a thing as an Absolute Forgiveness then we must also allow that it may be the same thing whether a man has been the best or the worst Man in the whole World For an Absolute Forgiveness in the Reason and Nature of it may as well be extended to the one as to the other For let what Reason soever be assigned why it may not and that very Reason be it what it will will prove the Forgiveness not to be absolute For that Forgiveness cannot be so that is limited or restrained by any Reason whatsoever 5. An Absolute Pardon does throw a Slur upon God's Wisdom no less than it does so upon his Justice For the Law being his against which we have transgressed and he having in that very Law threatned Vengeance upon such as shall transgress it if after the Transgression he should grant an absolute Pardon to such Transgression he would by such a Pardon as much void and annul the Law as he had by his Threatning established and confirmed it And so it might come to the same pass as to the final Event whether he had made any Law or no. For what is the Difference not to make a Law and not to execute it And therefore St. Paul point-blank to our purpose tells us in the Third to the Romans the Fifth and Sixth Verses That if God should not execute Vengeance he would not only be unrighteous but that also he could not judge the World And we may add that he would not only be unrighteous but considering the Contrariety that would be between his Practice
and his Law he would be unwise also And therefore 6. Lastly The last Judgment and that Description that we meet with of it in Gods Word do fully assure us that he has no such Designs in his Counsels as to throw away his Laws to gratifie his Enemies with Impunity From all which Reasons and as we do believe from each of them in particular it seems satisfactorily evident that a Gospel-Pardon of Sin is no absolute Pardon And that therefore when God does in the Gospel promise Pardon of Sin there must be some previous Conditions that must be observed in order to such a Pardon And what Share our Saviour has in the Performance and Accomplishment of such Conditions we shall learn hereafter In the mean time before we dismiss this Chapter we must not dissemble that it may be surmised and therefore also that it may be objected That tho' there should be no alsolute Gospel-Pardon that yet there may be an arbitrary Gospel-Pardon and that there are some Expressions in the New Testament that lean that way and may at least incline us to believe that there is such a Thing But because we are sure that no Pardon can come from God but what is just and because we know that Arbitrary Justice is only one Branch of Arbitrary Power and therefore is in reality no Justice at all for it is only a resolute Determination of the Will without any Reason for such Determination therefore we are sure that it cannot belong to God For all his Actions are limited and bounded by his Holiness that is by the Eternal Rules of Reason and Justice And he only therefore wills what he pleases because he neither does not can please to will any thing but what is Just CHAP. III. A Gospel-Salvation contains in it 1. Pardon of Sin 2. The Gift of Eternal Happiness To these Two other Things required 1. An Expiation of Sin 2. A Restitution to Holiness Negatively the several Ways how such Expiation cannot be made from whence an Inference of the Doctrine asserted with some Practical Inferences HAving in the First Chapter made it good that Misery and Death that is in one Word that Vengeance is as the just so also the necessary Wages of Sin And in the Second That the Gospel it self holds out no such thing to us as either an Absolute or Arbitrary Forgiveness of Sin Our next Proposition must be That because the Gospel in this very Case is the Revelation of God's Will and because the Will and Counsel of God in that Gospel revealed is the Pardon and Salvation of Man that therefore Man's Sin is to be pardoned tho' not by an absolute or arbitrary Forgiveness And then because it must for that Reason be pardoned some way or other it will be our next Business to enquire what that Way is For by such Enquiry it may perhaps appear to be a Gospel-Truth and that too agreeable to Reason That there is not Salvation in any other but in Jesus Christ alone and that there is no other Name under Heaven given among Men whereby we must be saved And here because the Gospel promises no absolute Pardon of Sin as we do from thence in the first place conclude that the Pardon must be conditional so we must in the next place enquire what that Condition or what those Conditions are upon which this Pardon is to be obtained Now if in order to our more rational and satisfactory Resolution of this Enquiry we do first look into the Gospel there to inform our selves what a Gospel-Salvation means we may from thence learn that it does contain in it Two Things Whereof the first is Pardon of Sin and the second is the Gift of Eternal Happiness And in order to the obtaining of these Two Things as we shall see more fully in the farther Prosecution of this Matter Two other Things are in the Gospel required 1. An Expiation of Sin and 2. A Restitution to our lost Holiness For as we may conclude from our second Proposition That tho' the Gospel does allow a Pardon yet because it does not allow an absolute Pardon of Sin that therefore something will be required in order to such a Pardon So we may conclude from our first Proposition That because Punishment for Sin is necessary therefore some Punishment be that what it will at present must be suffered for our Sin And then if in the Progress of our Discourse it shall appear that in Consideration of any such Punishment so suffered the Gospel-Pardon of our Sins does afterwards ensue then such Pardon may be so far ascribed to such Punishment as that our Guilt and the Vengeance due to such our Guilt may be truly esteemed to be expiated by it Now in order to find out what Punishment it is that can make such an Expiation we shall first enquire what Punishment cannot do it And because Repentance does not so wholly consist in Action but that it must have something of Suffering mixed with it therefore in pursuit of our Design let our first Negative Proposition be this 1. That our Repentance for our Sins can never make out an Expiation of our Sins For tho' Repentance for our Sins be a Gospel-Condition required of us without which we shall never be made Partakers of the Benefit of the Gospel-Expiation yet notwithstanding that we neither do nor can by our Repentance make out that Expiation for Sin which is by the Gospel necessary for our Salvation For besides that there is no Man's Repentance so exact and compleat as to free him from all Sin while he lives and so after all he must remain a Sinner as long as he lives I say besides that His very manner of going out of the World and that is by Death is a demonstrative Proof that his Repentance has not made an Expiation for his Sins because we may most certainly conclude that his Sins are not then expiated and so neither pardoned when God himself lays on the Penalty threatned in his Law with his own Hand For when God gave his Law to Mankind in their universal Father and Representative Adam we know that he ratified such Law by the Penalty of Death and we know also that every Man let him be as pemtent as can be supposed does still suffer that Penalty And we may from thence also know that for that Reason no Man's Repentance can so far expiate his Sin as to free him from the Punishment threatned to it by the Law And then from the whole we may conclude That if any Man be saved because he is a true Penitent he must be saved by some other Expiation than by such his Repentance forasmuch as his Repentance can at the most but qualifie him to be made a Partaker of such Expiation 2. As Man's Repentance for his Sin which we may call his voluntary Punishment for Sin cannot so neither can his professed Punishment which we may call his legal Punishment for Sin expiate his Sin and so
obtain for him a Gospel-forgiveness and that for this Reason because there is such a Thing in the Gospel as an eternal Punishment allotted to Sin And as under the last Head we found that Reason did fall in with the Gospel and that they both spake the same thing so also we shall find it here For it is certain that the Punishment of sinful Man can therefore never expiate his Sin because it can never purchase a just Release from Punishment and it is certain that it cannot do that if it may be justly continued to Eternity And that it may be so we may learn from hence because the Law of Grace being God's Law as well as the Law of Works must for that Reason be just And we are assured by this Law as much as Words can assure us that the Punishment which it denounces against those who do not fulâ—â—l the Conditions of it is Eternal And that it shall so prove besides the express Words of the Law we have this farther Reason which is that the suffering the Punishment threatned by the Law to those who neglect to perform the Conditions of the Law can neither in Sense or Reason pass for the Performance of such Conditions so neglected and that the Neglect of this Law shall and that in Reason and Justice be repaid with an additional Vengeance for the refusal of the Mercy offered in it which designs to free us from the Punishment of all our other Sins as well as with that Punishment which is due to such Sins For it is Reason and Justice that a more heinous Sin should be punished with a more grievous Judgment and it is Truth and Reason that a Sinner does then become a more heinous Criminal when to his Desert of Punishment he adds a Neglect or Contempt of the easie Conditions of Pardon And since by the Tenor of the Covenant of Grace such Sinner is to suffer his Punishment after his Resurrection from the Dead that is not only after the Time limited for the Possibility of his Pardon is expired but also after Death it self shall be destroyed as we may from thence conclude the certainty so may we also the eternal Duration of his Punishment For as a Punishment due after the Day of Grace is past will not be remitted so such Punishment when Death is no more cannot be determined By which we may understand that as Death is without a Saviour the just and necessary Wages of Sin as we made it good in our first Chapter so also that when such Death is sure by a Resurrection purchased by a Saviour to be taken away in order to an happy and everlasting Life and that too upon the easie or at worst the very feasible Conditions of the Gospel yet if Men will neglect such Salvation so placed within their reach and so leave the eternal Life purchased for them in order to their Happiness exposed to the Vengeance which is the just and necessary Reward of all their other Sins and of such their Neglect they must impute it to their own Folly if such Vengeance in stead of Happiness be the continued Companion of their eternal Life For in the Case so put the Restoration from Death to Life comes from the Mercy of God the making that Life eternal comes from the Mercy of God the Designing to make that eternal Life happy comes from the Mercy of God The granting Means to Men and those no very hard ones neither of obtaining that Happiness comes from the Mercy of God But foolish Man defeats the Counsel of God by an obstinate and unrelenting Perseverance in Sin and does in this Case as he does in most others turn the Blessing of God into a Curse upon himself that is he makes that Life which was designed for his eternal Happiness an Occasion of the eternity of his Misery One thing more may be added to what has been said upon this Head and then we shall apply it to our present Design and that is That at that time when the Punishment we now speak of shall come to be inflicted our Saviour as the Scriptures tell us will have laid down his Mediatorial Office and so Men must stand the Award of their own Deserts and then if such their Deserts be Evil we may be instructed from what was said in the First Chapter that the Justice which will overtake them will be Justice without Mercy and that pure and unmix'd Vengeance will be their Portion even such Vengeance which will only revenge upon them the Breach of the Covenants of their God but will never so much as pretend to make up such Breach To our present purpose then If the Punishment of Men for their own Sins shall without the Interposition of a Saviour be eternal and if this appear to be so by the Testimony of that very Gospel in which however there is a Possibility of Salvation held forth and if Reason do vouch for the Truth of what the Gospel in this Case teaches and lastly if an Eternity of Punishment be absolutely inconsistent with an Expiation of Sin by such Punishment for the last supposes the Sin to be cancelled and the first supposes it to be continued Then we may conclude that the Punishment of Man for his Sin can no more expâ—ate his Sin under this Head than his Repentance as we there made it good could do so under the last Anâ— then because there is no other possible Way for Mankind to expiate their Sin but by their Repentance or by their Punishment wâ— do conclude that there is no possible Way for them to make any Expiation of it at all 3. As Man cannot expiate his Sin by any Punishment of his own neither by his Repentance nor by his Death whether Temporâ— or Eternal So neither can he expiate his Siâ— by the Death of any other Creature This 〈◊〉 therefore add because we may be apt to surmise that what has been done already may be done again And we can hardly be ignorant that the Lives of other Creatures have been offered to God and that too by his own Appointment for the Expiation of the Sinâ— of Men. And which is yet something more they have not only been offered by Man but they have been also accepted by God as aâ— effectual Expiation And that they have beeâ— so the History of the Jewish Religion recorded in the Bible it self may easily convince us But notwithstanding all this yet he who shall look nearer into the Matter and examine it more nicely will be satisfied 1. That all those Sacrifices tho' instituted by God himself were only Types and Shadows of that great Propitiatory Sacrifice that was to expiate the Sins of the whole World And therefore tho' they may serve to inform us that such a Sacrifice ought to be in order to the Expiation of Sins and because they did prefigure such a Sacrifice they might over and above foretell that such a Sacrifice should be yet because they themselves
that the Dignity of the faln Angels and among them one of them Son of the Morning whatever that signifies but we may be satisfied that it signifies something excellent but I say we know that the Dignity of the faln Angels did not so far avail them but that God provided and accepted an Expiation for faln Man whereas he left them in the Hands of Justice to attend the Events of their own Deserts So that for ought we can discover either by Revelation or Reason the Dignity of no Creature whatsoever does qualifie him to make an Expiation for those Sins which he shall commit against the Creator For in this Case the Distance between the Party offended and the Party offending being infinite there cannot possibly be any Mediation or Expiation that can extend it self to both the Extremes And therefore we shall at last from what has been said upon this Head conclude That no Creature tho' never so much above Man can ever make an Expiation to God for the Sins of Man 5. Fifthly and lastly As no sinful Creature can ever by its Punishment expiate its own Sins or the Sins of any other Creature so no innocent Creature can do the last that is no innocent Creature can ever expiate the Sins of any sinful Creature For in such a Case it must in order to its undergoing the Punishment justly first take upon it the Sin willingly and so by putting it self into the Place of the Sinner must first be supposed to be such a Sinner it self before it can undergo the Punishment due to its Sin But then when any Creature is supposed to lie under the Burden of such Sin it is at the same time supposed to be in the same Condition with the Original Sinner himself For when the Punishment comes to be transferr'd from the last to the first it is therefore so transferr'd because the Law allows the Act of the Surety by which he has owned and accepted the Sin to be his own And then the Law in such a Case makes no difference between the Surety and the Principal And if the Law makes no difference then as to the Business of Punishment we may be therefore sure that there is none because both are Creatures and both are Sinners If therefore as we shewed before the Principal could not by his Punishment had he undergone it himself have expiated his Guilt then for the self-same Reasons the Surety will also be unable to expiate the self-same Guilt So that the Conclusion of this Head will be that as no sinful Creature is able to unload its self of its Sin by its Punishment so no Creature be it never so innocent will be able to do it by being punished for its Fellow-Creature And therefore as we do not know that any of the Blessed Angels who retained their Innocence did ever interpose for the Redemption of those that fell so we do most assuredly know that tho' they did interpose the Event did not answer because we know that the Condition of those that fell does continue desperate Nay there do not want probable Reasons to persuade that the faln Angels themselves do not interpose for their own Redemption in any kind no not so much as by Prayer Which if it be true as it is a good Argument of their Despair so it is a probable Argument that they have no Mediator in whose Name they may put up such their Prayers and for whose sake they may with any probability hope that they will be accepted And yet all this while we have no Reason to doubt but that That noble Charity which must needs accompany a perfect and unspotted Innocence such as that of the Holy Angels is would be inclined to engage it self one way or other for the Redemption of their faln Brethren did not their Prudence check and controul such a possible Inclination And then if such their Prudence do not consist in One of these Two Things that is that they either think or know that such their Interposition would be either sawcie or vain we can hardly upon any other ground excuse their Neglect of such their Interposition In One Word The Scriptures have acquainted us that some of the Angels have sinned and that their Condition thereupon is become desperate But the Scriptures have not acquainted us that they have any Mediator to intercede with God in their behalf or to make Expiation for their Sin And as we may be satisfied that were an Expiation made their Sin must in Justice be remitted so may we that if any of the good Angels had taken upon himself to make such Expiation he must in order to his so doing have taken upon himself the Sin and so he must have brought himself into the very same Condition with those that fell and that therefore he would have been just as unable as they to free himself from such Condition No! no! We do or may know well enough that Sin has Weight enough in it to crush both Men and Angels Experience has acquainted us with the first and Revelation has assured us of both And then the Conclusion is easie That he who in such a Case could relieve either must for that Reason be more powerful than both And when we come to make it out that he who did so was so we shall then begin more plainly to perceive that there is not Salvation in any other tho' most of what we have hitherto offered has directly tended to the same Design But before we proceed any farther we shall make some few Remarks upon what has been already laid down that may have an Induence upon our Practice 1. And first From what has been offered we may take notice of the great Malignity of Sin For People would hardly sin so freely if they thought Sin so deadly And yet a little Reflection will tell us that Sin has slain all Mankind from the time of Adam to the time of the Expiration of the last Man that died We may think the Plague the Sword the Famine great Destroyers They are indeed the Beesoms of Destruction and where they come make great Devastations among Mankind but when we have taken a View of the Desolations caused by them and by all other Miseries and Mischiefs besides we must know that as Sin has been the Parent of them all so has it been also of all those Calamities and Destructions that all of them have produced And because it has so therefore we take notice in the 2. Second place That God's Justice is no such trifling Thing as is but too generally thought For there is no Sinner who ever escaped being a Sufferer For if all the Miseries which we suffer in this World and those are neither few nor light do come from our Sins as most certainly they do then we may be easily satisfied that even those Sinners whom yet God does treat with the greatest Kindness of all others do yet never go without the Marks of his Displeasure
And if he does correct his Children with Rods and we may be sure that he never does that but he does it with Justice too then for the same Reason we may believe that he will chastise his Enemies with Scorpions And upon this Account we should take care to hear the Rod and who has appointed it and should make such good use of the Miseries which we suffer in this World as to let them put us in mind to flee from the Wrath to come For if we will not hearken to God's Voice when he chides us we shall at last when he comes to smite us sink under the weight of his Hand and if we neglect his Displeasure we shall fall under his Fury and Indignation 3. If God in the greatest and highest Instance of his Mercy with which he has acquainted us in his Gospel has not allowed us an Absolute Pardon but has even in that his Covenant of Grace required Conditions of us in order to our being made Partakers of that Pardon which is the Purchase of our Saviour then it does highly concern us that we take care to perform the Conditions on our Part that so we be not excluded from the Benefits of such Purchase For tho' it be most certain that we shall not be saved by our Repentance alone yet it is as certain that we shall not be saved without it No! He who has purchased our Ransom has in such his Purchase provided for God's Honour as well as for our Safety and notwithstanding his Purchase has taught us that we shall forfeit the last if we take no care of the first Let us therefore look upon our selves as we are in our selves that is as forlorn miserable Wretches Let us acknowledge our selves such to God Let us quit our Sins which have made us such And as we have by such our Sins hitherto rebelled against him let us for the future resolve to comply with his Will that is to the uttermost of our Power to obey his Laws Let us be heartily sorry that we have been so foolish as ever to have done otherwise And when we have done all this then let us joyfully accept and thankfully acknowledge the Designs of his Pity towards us and the Provisions that he has made for our Safety in a Saviour For this is the Way to bring that Salvation which he has prâ—â—â—ded for Mankind I say to bring it home to our selves and to make it our own And I may add that this is the only way for us to do so For as there is not Salvation in any other but in Jesus Christ alone so there is not any possible Way for us to make our selves Partakers of this Salvation but by Repentance 4. Lastly Because we have seen that the Condition of the faln Angels is forlorn and desperate for want of a Saviour to expiate their Sins therefore this Consideration should enhance and magnifie our Praise to God that whereas he has in his Severity passed by those glorious and exalted Creatures and so has left them to the Stroke of pure and unrelenting Justice yet he has not dealt so with us Men weak and sinful Dust and Ashes Lord what is Man that thou art thus mindful of him or the Son of Man that thou so regardest him Therefore Blessing and Praise and Honour and Glory be to him that sitteth on the Throne and to the Lamb for evermore CHAP. IV. That Person to whom alone the Expiation of Sin is by the Scriptures ascribed is by the same Scriptures set forth to us 1. As God 2. As Man 3. As God and Man united in one Person or God Incarnate No Man a competent Judge of all possible Unions The Incarnation agreeable to the Sentiments of Mankind and variously foretold prefigured and suggested in the Scriptures Some Practical Inferences somewhat enlarged HAving seen in the foregoing Chapter that an Expiation for our Sin could neither be made by our selves nor by any other Creature and that therefore he who could make good such an Expiation must be more than a mere Creature It will be our next Business to search the Scriptures in which as we shall see more fully hereafter the Expiation of Sin is set forth and there to see what Character they give of him who made such Expiation For by that Means only we are likely to come to any true Knowledge and Information in this great Affair 1. Now in such Scriptures we find first that That Person to whom this Expiation is there ascribed is called God the Son of God the Word the Only Begotten of the Father That he is there said to be with his Father before the World began That he laid the Foundations of the Earth and that the Heaven are the Work of his Hand That he createâ— all Things that are in Heaven and that are iâ— Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities oâ— Powers That all Things were created 〈◊〉 him and for him That he is before alâ— Things and that by him all Things consist That to him is given all Power in Heaveâ— and Earth with much more to the same Import and Purpose which we need not repeâ— at present because if we believe so much and we all at least pretend to believe it foâ— the Word of God we may from thence satisfie our selves that he who has such a Character from God must be the True anâ— Everlasting God For so is the Maker oâ— Heaven and Earth and so is he who haâ— all Power in Heaven and Earth For such 〈◊〉 Description does imply in it Omniscience anâ— Omnipotence and such other Attributes bâ— which we do tho' in other Words describâ— the True God both to our selves and to alâ— others But we shall pursue this no farther here because it is not our professed Business at present For we have only mentioned it and confirmed it with some few Texts of Scripture without quoting the Places in order to our full and clear Explication of that Expiation which was made by our Saviour And when we come to do that we shall then more plainly perceive that the Deity of our Saviour and the Expiation made by him do mutually prove and establish each other 2. The Scriptures do acquaint us That that very Person to whom they do ascribe the Expiation of Sin was a true and real Man For they give us an Account of his Conception Nativity Life and Death They acquaint us with his Conversation and Manner of Life with his Natural Actions and Passions and each of them such which are undoubted Arguments of an Humane Nature and Condition Such are his Discourses his Eating Drinking Sleeping Grieving and the like By which Account of his Person we may be as well satisfied of his Humanity under this Head as we may be of his Deity under the last And I may add that if we do with Simplicity and Sincerity receive the Account of his Person and Character that the Scriptures give us
in any degree Pious to be extraordinary good and not a few of us put such a Value upon our good Deeds that we spoil that little Goodness that is in them by our over-valuing them and our spiritual Pride like the Fly in the Box of Ointment robs them of their good Smell and Savour But it must be confessed that in so doing we do not imitate our Lord and Master who was meek and lowly and by his Self-denial ascribed such his Good Works which could not be hid entirely to God's Glory Why what Graces we have do confessedly come from God the Author and Giver of every good thing and therefore to ascribe the Goodness of any thing we have or of any thing we do to our selves is Usurpation and Robbery For we may as well ascribe to our selves our Natural as we may our Spiritual Life Both the one and the other derive from an higher Spring and from a nobler Fountain And he who has taught us by his Word to account our selves when we have done all we can but unprofitable Servants has taught us by his Example to do more For He did exactly fulfil the Law and his Obedience was perfect and yet for all that his Humility was great And then in Reason because our Performances are less our Humility ought to be greater For as Modesty should make us humble when we do well so our Defect in so doing should make us more so And therefore our Saviour's Example which shewed forth the greatest Humility in the Archievement of the greatest and noblest Performances should oblige us poor impotent defective Creatures to a greater were that possible Humility 5. Lastly Did our Saviour come down in our Flesh to save Sinners both from the Slavery and Filth of Sin and from the Wages of Sin too Then this should engage our Endeavours to rescue Sinners from the Errour of their Ways and to do as he did that is to bring them to God by the Ways of Holiness This is a noble Lesson and has our Saviour's Love and Good-will as well as his Holiness for its Pattern For a Man may be good and holy himself and yet Self-interest I mean an allowable Self-interest may be at the bottom of it He may fear God's Vengeance should he be wicked and so his Goodness may have an Eye to his Security But he who endeavours to reclaim another Sinner from the Errour of his Ways mixes Charity with his Piety by making anothers Welfare his Aim and by making more People happy besides himself Indeed the Grand Business of our Saviour's coming into the World was to redeem us from the Slavery and Dominion of Sin for if we be not redeemed from our Sins it is utterly impossible that we should be redeemed from the Vengeance of them And therefore he who endeavours the Conversion of Sinners imitates his Saviour in That that was his chiefest and noblest Design He endeavours to bring Rebel-Subjects under the Dominion of their first and rightful Lord He endeavours to defeat the Designs of the Devil for their utter Destruction He endeavours as far as his little Sphere reaches to restore the Creation to that Order and Harmony that God gave it when he first made it And in all this he does that which is his greatest Glory for he copies out the gracious and merciful Work of the Lord of Glory CHAP. V. The Son of God by his Incarnation accommodated his Condition for the making good the Expiation of Man's Sin IN order to our Vindication of the Counsel of God for the Salvation of sinful Man so far forth as he has been pleased to make manifest such his Counsel by the Revelations of his Word we have made it out that we had brought our selves into so forlorn a Condition by our Sins that so far as Reason guided by Revelation can discover there was no possible Way left for our Redemption but only by the Incarnation of the Son of God And in pursuit of such our Design we have in our last Chapter made it good That the Son of God was very God and very Man God and Man united in one Person or God Incarnate That this is a Truth professedly and expresly declared in the Scriptures and that too in such Words that it is impossible to express any thing whatsoever more plainly or more fully That what the Spirit so declares in the Scriptures is in no wise disagreeable to our Natural Reason and that upon both Accounts in Conjunction it is to be admitted into our Christian Belief For undoubtedly whatever God speaks that is not disagreeable to our Reason ought by us so to be admitted Now because in order to a Gospel-Salvation a Gospel-Forgiveness is required and because in order to a Gospel-Forgiveness an Expiation is required and because we have already made it good That no mere Creature can by any Means whatsoever make out such an Expiation Therefore we shall in what is now to follow make it our Business to shew That the Incarnation of the Son of God is as by the Scriptures so also by Natural Reason the most congruous Means and the best accommodated for the making good of such an Expiation For we may be very sure that the All-wise God always makes use of the most proper Means to bring about the Designs of his Counsels And we may be sure also that where he himself tells us that he makes use of any Means for the bringing any such his Designs to pass that what in such a Case he tells us is Truth If therefore he tells us that he employed the Incarnation of his Son for the Expiation of Sin or that his Son was Incarnate in order to such Expiation we may for that Reason alone if yet there were no other be rationally satisfied that such his Son's Incarnation was a proper Means of bringing to pass such an Expiation For the Methods of God's Proceedings in any Case whatsoever are therefore Wise because they are his And if at any time we cannot discover the Wisdom of such Methods it would be both modest and wise in us to impute the Want of such Discovery not to the Impossibility of the Thing but to the Short-sightedness of our own feeble and impotent Capacities Now all this I therefore speak not that I think that the Wisdom and Congruity of the Incarnation in order to the Expiation of Sin cannot be rationally accounted for for I hope we shall by and by find it otherwise but only to check the Confidence of some who make great Pretences to Reason even such Pretences that they do laboriously and industriously endeavour to bring down the most express Revelations of God to the Standard of such their Reason but seem to take no care to bring their Reason to an Accommodation with such Revelations But to return to our Design which is to make it out That the Incarnation of the Son of God is a Means wisely as well as mercifully ordained for making good the Expiation
that know that they all came from one single Fountain that is from one single Man and so that they are all but so many Rivulets from that Fountain And when moreover we are assured that our Saviour is One of those Rivulets For tho' our Saviour was only to be made of the Woman yet because the Woman was made out of the Man therefore our Saviour did by the Woman derive from the same one single Person with the rest of Mankind I say when we consider all this methinks it is no hard matter to conceive that God himself does in his Word lay the Ground-work of Man's Redemption by a Saviour if I may be allowed so to word my self in that near and intimate Relation which our Saviour by becoming Man has to all Mankind besides and that the Intimacy of such Relation consists in this that the Saviour and all Mankind do derive from one single and common Fountain And hence we are told in one Place that as by Man came Death there is the Sin of Adam and the Wages of such Sin by Man came also the Resurrection of the Dead there is the Redemption of our Saviour and his Purchase And more expresly still to our present Purpose speaks the same Apostle in the same Chapter the Fifteenth of the First to the Corinthians For as in Adam all died so in Christ shall all be made alive And to the same purpose again in the Fifth to the Romans and the Eighteenth Verse Therefore as by the Offence of one Judgment came upon all Men to Condemnation even so by the Righteousness of one the Free-gift came upon all Men unto Justification of Life In all which Texts and several others that might be named it is notorious that the Redemption of Mankind is so ascribed to the second Adam the Man Christ Jesus as the Sin and Death of Mankind is ascribed to the first Man Adam And I do not at all question but that those Hints which the Scriptures do frequently offer to us of our Saviour's taking the Humane Nature in order to our Redemption of his taking Part of the same Flesh and Blood with us of his being our Brother and the like I say I do not at all question but that when seriously considered they may mightily assist and facilitate both our Conceptions and Belief of the Wisdom Justice Reasonableness and Congruity of our Saviour's Incarnation Death Resurrection in one Word of that Redemption which he by being made one with Mankind by taking their Nature upon himself has purchased form them And may mightily conduce to the Removing of those Difficulties which the Enemies of the Cross of Christ have thrown as so many Stumbling-blocks in the Way of plain and honest Christians 4. The Wisdom Justice Reasonableness and Congruity of our Saviour's Incarnation in order to his Purchase of Man's Redemption does yet farther appear in that by becoming Man he put himself into a Capacity of suffering Death that is of suffering that Punishment which the Law had denounced against those that should transgress it For it is a gross Mistake and does indeed bring a Scandal upon God's Veracity to affirm That he threatens greater Vengeance in any Law before the Transgression of it than he will execute after the Transgression that so he may the more effectually prevent such Transgression For God never yet threatned any peremptory and unconditional Punishment in any Law which he has not or when the Time comes he will not as certainly execute In the Day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die says God The Threatning we see is peremptory and the Execution we find is so too and therefore all Sinners die And I cannot in the least doubt but that for the same Reason an eternal Punishment will be the certain Vengeance upon a final Impenitence But that is not so direct to my present purpose and therefore here I pass it by But to confirm what I am now upon I say that God does not pardon the Death threatned in his Law against Sin no not in Consideration of the Death of our Saviour and therefore notwithstanding his Death and that too in our stead we see that all Men and even those who hope for Salvation by such his Death do yet die What therefore our Saviour in this Case has puchased for us is not a Freedom but a Release from Death And therefore that Redemption from Death which is the Purchase of his Blood is to be accomplished after we have been dead by a Resurrection A Resurrection then is to make good the Purchase of his Death and therefore his Death purchased for us not a Freedom but a Release from our Death by such Resurrection Now as his Death was necessary for such a Purchase so his Incarnation was necessary in order to such his Death And he was therefore made of the same Blood with all Mankind that by shedding that Blood for Mankind he might after his own Resurrection restore the Lives of all Men which had been forfeited by Adam's Transgression So that as his Death was the meritorious Expiation of Sin and as a Resurrection is the Fruit and Effect of such his Expiation So his Incarnation was a necessary Forerunner of such his Death and therefore before he could possibly die for Man and so purchase a Redemption of Man from Death it was agreeable to the Laws of Wisdom Justice and Reason that he should become Man himself But then how his Death came to be of so valuable a Price as to make so glorious a Purchase we must leave to farther Enquiry For by that it will appear that as it was necessary that he should die the Death of a Man so it was necessary that such his Humanity should be united to the Divinity And by both it will appear that God was manifested in the Flesh to destroy the Works of the Devil and that therefore when the Scriptures tell us so much they tell us no more than what is agreeable to Wisdom Justice and Reason CHAP. VI. The Divinity of the Son of God necessary for the Expitation of Man's Sin as well as his Humanity Some Doctrinal Inferences A general Proof That as our Saviour did actually die so that he might justly die for the Expiation of Sin HAving therefore seen that our Lord Jesus Christ was qualified by his Incarnation to make an Expiation for Sin by the Sacrifice of himself and that such his Qualification is agreeable to the Laws of Justice and to the Rules of Reason and Wisdom Our next Enquiry must be How such his Sacrifice came to be of such a Value as to be justly sufficient to make good such an Expiation For because the Death of an Innocent Man if he be no more than a mere Man is but the Death of a Creature and because no Creature can by its Punishment in another Creature 's stead expiate the Sin of that other Creature for if it could then a Creature might by its own Punishment
expiate its own Sin both which we have already shewed to be impossible Therefore it was necessary that as our Saviour in order to his undertaking the Expiation of Sin should be a real Man a Creature so that he should be more than a Creature in order to the accomplishing of such his Undertaking For tho' by becoming Man he did accommodate his Condition to his Design of undertaking an Expiation as we have just now seen yet for all that his Humanity had sunk under but but had not taken away the Burden had it not been supported by his Divinity For that that crushes both Angels and Men and that too while they cope against it only with their own Strength beyond the possibility of a Recovery must for the same Reason have crushed him also when once he had put himself in Man's stead and by consequence into Man's Condition had he not been endowed with a Power superiour to both to enable him to subdue and conquer it And what Power but that of God can we think sufficient to conquer Sin and Death and that too when they had got to such an heighth as to have infected and over-run the whole Race of Mankind Can we think that when the Contagion and Mischief had spread it self so wide that even the best of Men and those whose Graces are chiefly celebrated by the Spirit of God himself could not preserve themselves from the overflowing Inundation I say can we think that in such a Case any one single Man were he no more than a Man could have saved himself from the universal Mischief by the Strength of his own Resolution or Vertue And if in Reason we must think that he could not then how can we in Reason think that his Strength should be sufficient to rescue and save all the Rest No! Such Salvation belongs only to the Arm of God and He who can save from Sin Death and Hell and can over and above extend such Salvation over all the Earth and that too through all the successive Generations of Mankind that ever did or ever shall live upon the Earth must be God and God alone The Extensive Merit therefore of the Death and Sufferings of the Man Christ Jesus derives it self from the Infinite Dignity of Jesus the Son of God For had not this Jesus been the Son of God as well as the Son of Man he had never been the Saviour of Man And if there be not Salvation in any other as in effect the whole Book of God does tell us it may seem inconceivable how this Seed of the Woman should extend this Salvation and so break the Serpent's Head from the Days of Adam to the Consummation of all Things unless all Things were in his Disposal that is unless he were God No! He who considers the Thing seriously and wisely may be satisfied not only by the Scriptures but by his own Reason also that there is the same Mercy and the same Power required to redeem sinful Man that was required to make Man and that He only who did the first can do the last And therefore as we are taught by God that all Things were made by his Word so are we also that this Word was made Flesh and that by being so made he became to us after we were dead in Trespasses and Sins the Word of Life From all which and a great deal more that might be offered both from Reason and from Revelation some of which Things we have already spoken to and some of which we shall have occasion to speak to hereafter we may be not only informed but assured That the great Merit of our Saviour's Expiation made for Sin by his Death and Passion did arise from hence that his Divinity was personally united to that Body which underwent such Death or that nothing less than the Death of the Son of God could expiate that Death which the Law had denounced against the Sin of Man But because these Thing will appear in a more full and clear Light in the farther Prosecution of our Design therefore we here leave them for a while and proceed For it having appeared as to Matter of Fact and that too by most express Declarations of Scripture that our Saviour was made an Expiatory Sacrifice for Sin and it having also appeared that he did by his Incarnation accommodate his Condition to the making good of such Expiation and that too in a Way very agreeable to our Natural Sense and Reason The next Thing to be spoken to is the Matter of Right or whether or no he could make such Expiation in Justice But before we proceed to speak to That it will be proper that we make some Inferences of weight and moment from what has been already spoken And 1. By what has been said it appears plainly That tho' our Saviour made good the Purchase of our Redemption by his Death and Resurrection yet that such his Purchase shall not be fully made over to us till our own Resurrection That he made good the Purchase his Resurrection is a Demonstration For because the Wages of Sin is Death and because he died for our Sins and not for his own and because after such his Death he rose again and because such his Resurrection was a Discharge from the Penalty of those Sins for which he died I say from all these Things it is evident that he accomplished his designed Purchase that is he made good his Expiation by his Death and Resurrection But then on the other side because it is most certain that we are not redeemed from the Curse or Penalty of the Law till we are redeemed from Death and because we are not redeemed from Death till we rise from the Dead that is till our own Resurrection therefore it is as evident that till such our Resurrection we are not put into the Possession of such his Purchase And therefore strictly speaking no Man be he who he will is â—actually justified in this Life For because every Man that lives shall certainly die and because Death is the Penalty threatned to Sin by the Law it therefore grates too hard upon our common Sense to tell us that any Man is then justified when he is not only liable to the Vengeance of the Law but when he is also sure in a little time to undergo such Vengeance If therefore any Man be according to a Gospel-estimate of Righteousness a righteous or good Man we may upon that Account say and we shall say true that he is in a justifiable Condition but we cannot truly say that he is a justified Person Justification then in the Execution belongs to a future Life and not to this And when we shall come to discourse on the second Thing contained in a Gospel-Salvation which is a Restitution to Holiness and the Consequent of it the Gift of Eternal Life we shall then be more fully satisfied that Justification cannot belong to any Man in this World because no Man in this
with God will yet in spite of these and a Multitude of other express Declarations to the contrary still allow our Saviour to be no more than a mere Man Now it is freely confessed that if the Case were so then his single Death would be no valuable Compensation for the Death of all the Sinners in the World and much less would it be so for the eternal Death of such Sinners But since the Scriptures have over and over told us that his Death was such a Compensation and since such a Compensation cannot not exceed the Dignity of that Character which the same Scriptures have given us of him tho' their Way of Reasoning says otherwise I dare leave it to any sober Christian to judge whether it does not more concern them to answer what the Scriptures do object to them than it does us in the present Case to answer what they do object to us For if the Fulness of the Godhead dwelt in our Saviour bodily and so was united to and with that Body then it will be no inconceivable Strain to imagine that the Infinite Dignity of the Person suffering must needs add an immense Value to such his Sufferings and by so doing must make them more than adequate to the Guilt of all Mankind And tho' this of it self may be sufficient to stop the Mouth of the present Objection yet if we do but recollect some few Things that have been spoken to and made good already we may still be farther satisfied that the Objection against the Value of his Sufferings in order to the Expiation of the Sins of Men will be of no force at all If we do consider therefore that because our Saviour took on him the Nature of Man and not of Angels that he did therefore die for Men and not for Angels If we consider that the faln Angels are left without any hope of Escape from the Vengeance of the final Judgment which Man is not If we consider that the Vengeance which the faln Angels shall then suffer will never work out their Redemption or Forgiveness and that for that very Reason because that Vengeance shall be eternal If we consider that neither would eternal Vengeance work out the Salvation of any Man for the same Reason And lastly If we consider that notwithstanding the utter Impossibility of Man's satisfying the Divine Justice by his own Punishment yet we are assured by the Voice of God that some Men shall obtain Redemption by their Saviour's Blood even Reminion of Sins I say if we conâ—â—der all these Things our Natural Reason will help us to conclude that the Death of our Saviour tho it were but the Death of One and tho' it were but a temporal Death neither yet will do that which all the Eternal Deaths in the World could not do that is it will reconcile Sinners to God and from him obtain their Pardon and that upon that single Account it is of more Value in his Signt than the Death of Angels and Men and that therefore he who suffered that Death was infinitely greater than both By which we may also understand that if there be any Absurdity in the thing that one Person by his single and temporal Death should satisfie the Divine Justice for the Sins and Demerits of so many they who make the Objection do make the Absurdity too because in their Opinion concerning the Person suffering they do degrade him below that Infinite Station and Dignity in which the Scriptures do assure us that he stands exalted 3. The last Objection against our Saviour's Expiation of Sin and that which does indeed rather attempt to prove the Impossibility than the Injustice of the Thing is this That if our Saviour be God himself and if this very Saviour did die to reconcile Sinners to God then it will follow That God suffered to reconcile Sinners to himself Which at at the very first sight looks absurd 1. And so it may indeed to Humane Reason which in many other Things but more especially in the Things of God is very often guided by dark and blind Measures But still the Apostle twice tells us in the Second to the Corinthians chap. 5. ver 18 19. That God was reconciling us and reconciling the World to himself and that he did this by Jesus Christ whom yet the same Apostle in another Place calls God over all blessed for ever Now in the Contrivance and Enterprise of this Reconciliation he was the first and principal Agent and so indeed the very Beginning of the Reconciliation came from the offended Person Nay it was he who contrived the whole Method of Reconciliation for it was hid from Ages and Generations from Principalities and Powers till God made it known to his Church And that we may not think that there is any Absurdity in this his doing he does in this very Case as far as our Circumstances will allow command us to follow his Example For in the Eighteenth of St. Matthew and the Fifteenth Verse he requires that if our Brother offend us we that is we the Offended should go and tell him his Fault So that tho' the Injury be done not by us but to us yet we must make the first Step towards a Reconciliation Now a Man of a worldly Reason would in this Case be apt to cry out What! must I begin to give my self Satisfaction Is this Sense or Justice Did not he do the Injury And is not the whole Reparation to come from him But God's Thoughts are not as Man's Thoughts nor his Ways as Man's Ways And therefore tho' your Enemy began the Injury yet if he commands you must begin the Reconciliation And if God do not only begin the Reconciliation in the Case before us but also suffer himself that he may compleat it all the Inconvenience that will follow from it will be that God can do more than Man For he can do any thing that is not unjust and any thing that is not impossible And as we have already made it out that it is not unjust so we shall go on farther to make it out that it is not impossible 2. For secondly our Saviour being as we have already made it out a Middle Person between God and Man a Mediator in his Person as well as in his Office as he was not so Man but that he was God so he was not so God but that he was Man And then if we add that as Man he suffered for the Sins of Man so much may be allowed now because so much has been proved already And indeed strictly and closely speaking it was Man not God who suffered in the Person of our Saviour For God we are sure is utterly and in his own Nature incapable of any such Thing as that is which we call Suffering So far forth therefore as the Objection furmises that we take God to have suffered so far the Objection is mistaken and laid wrong But yet 3. Because God and Man were personally
united in our Saviour and so made up but one Christ therefore our Reason will tell us that the Sufferings of such a Man must receive an immense Value from his Personal Union with God Take the Thing in an Instance and it will be much more plain and satisfactory A Man strikes a Prince No one will say that he strikes his Dignity for the thing is impossible but only his Body But yet to think that the Injury and Malignity of the Stroke shall not be rated as well by his Dignity as by his Body would be an Imagination that an ordinary Reason would condemn of Weakness And therefore tho' the Bodies of all Men are made of the same Flesh and Blood and so the wounding of a Prince is no greater a natural Hurt to him than the wounding of a Peasant is to him supposing their Wounds to be equal or alike yet we know that the Difference of their Conditions shall make such a vast Difference in the Value of the Mischiefs done by the several Wounds that in the first Case the Fault of such Mischief shall be esteem'd Capital when perhaps in the last it shall hardly be thought Penal The Sufferings therefore of the Man Christ Jesus might be sufficient for the Expiation of the Sins of Mankind not because his Deity suffer'd with his Humanity but because he being IMMANUEL his Deity gave an Infinite Value to the Sufferings of his Humanity by being Intimately because Personally united to it And therefore as my Reason suggests to me the Certainty of the Union of his Deity with his Humanity from the Expiation made by the Value of the Sufferings of his Humanity so from the Union of his Deity with his Humanity it rather suggests to me that he is One Person of the Deity than that his Deity suffer'd for the accomplishing of such his Expiation And I cannot but think that the Arguments already offered will in a good measure warrant such a Suggestion And therefore to what has been already said I add in the 4. Fourth place That tho' the Expiation of the Sin of Man was one Design both of our Saviour's Incarnation and Sufferings yet that it was not the whole Design of such his Sufferings and of such his Incarnation For he came to destroy the Works of the Devil the Kingdom which the Devil had set up in this lower World to recover sinful Man from that Revolt that he had made from God and so to restore him to his Duty and Allegiance to his Sovereign Lord and King as will appear more fully hereafter And to this purpose as it was necessary that he should purchase to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works so it was necessary that he should free such People from that State of Sin in which they were in Bondage and by doing both establish a Kingdom of Holiness and Righteousness in lieu of a Kingdom of Sin and Darkness His grand Design then was the enlarging of his Father's Kingdom by restoring to it what the Devil had torn off from him And then if for the accomplishing of such his Design the Expiation of Man's Sin and if for the Expiation of Man's Sin his own Death was necessary it will be no great strain to conceive that the Man Christ Jesus united to the second Person in the Trinity should do and suffer what he did for the fulfilling the Will of God by restoring and so enlarging his Kingdom by subduâ—ng his Arch-enemy and by taking his usurped Dominion out of his Hand and asserting it to himself For all this our Saviour did when by those Methods with which the eternal Wisdom has acquainted us in his Word he builds up a Kingdom of Righteousness out of one of Rebellion and Wickedness Which Kingdom when his Work is fully accomplished he will which was his main and grand Design resign up to God the natural and rightful Lord of all Kingdom and Dominion See 1 Cor. chap. 15. ver 24. Tho' therefore our Apprehensions may be startled when we undertake to conceive that the Son of God the Alpha and Omega the Word of God by whom he made the Worlds should suffer to reconcile Man who had made himself his Enemy by Sin to himself in order to Man's Pardon Yet when we consider that by the same Undertaking he re-settled his Father's Kingdom asserted his Honour and Dignity displayed his Mercy and in Conjunction with that maintained his Justice and that by doing all this he exhibited God to the World not only a faithful Creator but also a gracious and loving Redeemer I say when all these Things are considered our Wonder and our Incredulity may not only abate but cease and we may be rationally satisfied that it was as well worth our Saviour's Sufferings to bring all these Things to pass tho his Enemy Man had his Interest in it as it was for him to make Man at first Now what we have said is a sufficient Answer to the Objection upon supposition that any or every Sin is of so malignant a Nature that the just Punishment of it shall be Eternal But tho' there be such a Thing as Eternal Punishment most expresly asserted by the Scriptures and therefore we do by no means question the Truth of it whatever the Socinians may pretend to the contrary yet perhaps it is not so certain that the Scriptures do allot any such Punishment to any other Sin besides Unbelief or which amounts to much the same Thing tho' in other Words a final Impenitence For it is most certain that all other Sins if they be truly and heartily repented for shall in Consideration of our Saviour's Merits be forgiven and it is as certain that no Man shall undergo an eternal Punishment for those Sins which shall be forgiven If therefore we do assert what is most true that our Saviour did not die to save Unbelievers or Impenitent Sinners and that they are the only Sinners to whom eternal Punishments are assigned in such a Case the Objection that his temporal Punishment could not take away an eternal Punishment would be of no force because in such Case eternal Punishment was not designed to be taken away For every Unbeliever and Impenitent Person shall suffer it notwithstanding our Saviour's Death And there do not want very good Probabilities and those too in no wise disagreeing to Scripture-Revelations that the Sins of those whose Sins shall not be pardoned after the Resurrection shall have just so much Punishment as they do in Justice deserve be that more or less but that such their Punishment shall not therefore be eternal because such their Sins did deserve such eternal Punishment but because they refused and rejected those easie Means which God had provided in a Saviour by a due Use of which they might have escaped all Punishment whatsoever Now because it is absurd to imagine that our Saviour underâ—ent Death to save those who should slight or reject that Salvation which he purchased by his Death
general that it is founded in our Saviour all the Debate at present is Whether the Promise of the Gospel-Reward be founded in that Saviour's Obedience or in his Death or in other Words Whether the Promise of the Reward be not so grounded upon our Saviour's Obedience as the Promise of Pardon is upon his Expiatory Sacrifice And if those Reasons which we have already or shall hereafter offer do prove that in Justice and Reason it is so then the Objection vanishes I may add That the Objection only speaks to the Matter of Fact that there is a Promise made in the Gospel to an Imperfect Obedience which no one so far as I know denies But it does not speak as to the Matter of Right and Justice how such a Promise can be justly and reasonably made without any Violence offered to the Law of Works which is God's Law as well as the Gospel is so And we may be sure that God's Laws do not either contradict each other or controul any the Laws or Rules of true Justice or Reason That then which is the only Thing which is at present maintained is That the Promise of the Reward in the Gospel to an Imperfect Obedience had never been made to Man at all because it could not have been made justly if the Law of Works given to Man had never been fulfilled by Man and that the Gospel-Promise was granted in Consideration that our Saviour fulfilled that Law And to this the Objection so called is really no Objection at all It is confessed indeed that the Eternal Life promised to Believers in the Gospel will be attended with an Happiness inconceivably greater than the Eternal Life promised in the Law to Adam and it may be thereupon surmised that the Reward promised in the Gospel has no Eye to the Obedience required in the Law and if it has not that then the Eternal Happiness of Believers cannot be the Purchase of our Saviour's Obedience to the Law To which I shall say no more at present than this viz. That it is agreed that our Saviour by his Death took away Death the Curse of the Law and made good such his Atchievement by a Resurrection Now the Life after the Resurrection is a Life in a Spiritual Body not in a Natural I speak the Apostle's Words And our Natural Reason tells us that a Life in a Spiritual Body is a more refined and exalted Life than a Life in a Natural Body and that in multitudes of Circumstances it must needs differ from it perhaps in so many that it may be as inconceivable to us now as the future Happiness of the Saints And yet this refined and exalted Life is no good Argument that it was not purchased by our Saviour's Death nor that such his Death had no Eye to the Law of Works in such Purchase And so say we Tho' the Happiness of the Blessed be greater vastly greater than what was by the Law of Works promised to Adam upon his Obedience yet that can never make it out that such Happiness is not the Purchase of our Saviour's Obedience or that such his Obedience was not an Obedience to the Law of Works It may indeed convince us of the super-eminent Dignity of his Person and of the inconceivable Value of that Reward which by being purchased by him derives such its Value from such his Dignity as we observed before and which is directly to our present purpose it may furthermore convince us that the Reward of Believers is the Reward of their Saviour's Obedience made over to them but not a Reward that does or can belong to their own at the very best Imperfect Righteousness I know very well that this Doctrine is denied by many Divines and other Learned Men and those too not only such who do utterly deny that God bestows Salvation upon Men in consideration of their Saviour's Merit and Purchase but even by the generality of those who yet do ascribe the Salvation of Man to such Purchase and Merits What Reasons they offer for such their Denial we shall speak to hereafter But in the mean time we shall go on to make good the Imputation against each Party that denies it and after that shall shew that the Reasons of such their Denial have not that weight which they seem to have 1. And first we shall speak to them who do not barely acknowledge but even contend that the Salvation of Man is obtained in Consideration of the Merits that is in Consideration of the Death of our Saviour And the Men of whom we now speak do maintain That in order to Man's Redemption our Saviour died for Man's Sin and that by such his Death he puchased for Man a Freedom from that Vengeance which is the just Wages of such Sin Now what they so maintain we believe to be true and are ready to join Hands with them to make it good against all the Adversaries of the Cross of Christ So far therefore we are agreed But then it may be demanded How our Saviour can possibly suffer for Man's Sin if the Sin of Man be not imputed to him For in order to his suffering for Man's Sin he must take upon him such Sin and the taking upon him Man's Sin is the having Man's Sin accounted as his own that is in effect and in other Words the having Man's Sin imputed to him And then on the other Side how can Man have any Pretence of Benefit from his Saviour's Sufferings if the Merit of such Sufferings be not imputed to Man For without such Imputation the Merit be it what it will can only belong to the Saviour himself It is evident therefore by what has been said in short but might be made out in more Words that they who assert the Expiation of Sin by our Saviour's suffering in Man's stead do therefore entitle Man to the Benefit of such Expiation because Man's Sin was imputed to his Saviour and the Merit of his Saviour's Sufferings at least imputed to Man Things therefore standing thus in the Case of the Expiation it may be reasonably and further demanded Why our Saviour's Righteousness or Obedience may not as warrantably be imputed to Man as Man's Sin may be imputed to his Saviour or Why the Eternal Happiness which is assigned as the Reward of Obedience by the Law may not be bestowed upon Man in Consideration that the Merit of his Saviour's Obedience is imputed to Man as well as a Release from Punishment may be granted to Man in Consideration that the Merits of his Saviour's Punishment are imputed to Man For there is the very self-same Reason why the Obedience of our Saviour should be imputed to Man in order to Man's Salvation that there is that the Sin of Man should be imputed to our Saviour in order to such Saviour's Condemnation And there is the self-same Reason why the Merit of our Saviour's Obedience should be imputed to Man in order to Man's obtaining Eternal Life as there is
Mankind besides yet by such Communications it is so far particularized if I may so speak as that in the estimation of the Gospel those who enjoy such Communications do become a Part of himself And hence it is that such People are in the Scripture said to be Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones and that he is so often in the same Scriptures called their Head And we may know that he himself does so account them because he reckons those Kindnesses which are done to his distressed People as done unto himself These Things then being so how does the Scripture teach us to reason upon them in relation to our present Business Why as Sin was the Transgression of Adam entailed upon all his Posterity because the Covenant was made with him and with all his Seed for all Mankind as the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews speaks in the like Case were in the Loins of Adam in the Day of his Transgression So Believers in consideration of their Saviour being regenerated by the Spirit and so becoming the Children of God the Righteousness of such their Saviour does so belong to them who are his Seed See Isaiah 53. ver 10. as Adam's Sin did to his And therefore in him they are the Sons of God and the Heirs of the Covenant of Grace And to this very purpose and in this very manner too if I be not very much mistaken the Apostle argues in the Fifth to the Romans and the Nineteenth Verse For as by one Mans Disobedience many were made Sinners so by the Obedience of one shall many be made Righteous And we may safely pronounce it that the Parallel of the Apostle would be no Parallel at all if the Obedience of Christ did not so affect Men in reference to their Righteousness as the Disobedience of Adam did to their Corruption And therefore the same Apostle tells us in the First to the Corinthians chap. 1. ver 30. That Christ is made to us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption And the same Apostle still after he had renounced his own Righteousness as well knowing that it would not avail him for the Purchase of that Happiness which the Gospel promised does confide only in that Righteousness which is through Faith in Christ in the Third to the Philippians ver 9. And in another Place we are said to be made the Righteousness of God in him and in the Prophet Jeremiah he is twice called the Lord our Righteousness Other Places might be produced which tho' they have been interpreted to a different Sense yet by that Light which has been already offered it does appear that they do more than barely countenance what we now maintain viz. That our Saviour's Obedience shall be made ours and how it shall be made so For what we have said concerning that Intimate Relation between him and his People will be a sufficient Warrant for the Imputation of his Righteousness to them CHAP. X. Some Objections answered and some Practical Inferences made NOW besides those Objections which lay directly in our Way and which we were therefore constrained to speak to in order to clear and open our Passage in the Profecution of the present Argument there are some others which lie against our whole Discourse and which because we have promised so to do we must now speak to apart and by themselves 1. And first it is objected against the Imputation of our Saviour's Righteousness That such his Righteousness which is meant in the present Case is his Obedience to the Law and that his Obedience to the Law does consist in the Conformity of his Actions to the Law His Obedience therefore being lodged in his Actions unless his Actions can be made ours it is impossible that his Obedience should be so For so long as the Actions of one Man are not the Actions of any other Man so long it must and will be true that the Obedience which is only paid by such Actions and which is therefore undoubtedly lodged in such Actions cannot be that others neither This is the Substance of the Objection which might be put in more Words but because I think the full Force of it is sufficiently expressed in what we have spoken therefore it needs not 1. Now in order to clear this matter we observe first That the Right which one Person has in a Thing may be made over or transferred to another Person by the delivery of such Thing to him provided that he who delivers it do some way or other signifie that it is his Mind by such his Delivery to transfer such his Right Where we must take notice of Two Things First That bare Delivery of the Thing without such Signification does not alter the Right in such Thing For in such Case the Thing being only transfer'd naturally but not legally the Right in it is not transferred with it Take the Thing in an Instance A Man puts a Purse of Money into another Man's Hand who stands by him to hold it In this Case the Purse and Money is actually and naturally transferr'd from one Man to another but tho' it be naturally transferr'd yet it is not for all that legally transferr'd For the Alteration of the Possession does not in the Case alter the Right and so tho the Money be removed from one Man to another yet the Propriety in the Money is not On the other Side one Man by Deed of Gift or some other legal and sufficient Conveyance makes over his Right in the Purse of Money to another but still keeps the Money in his own Possession In such a Case tho' the Money be not naturally or locally call it which you please transferr'd or made over to that other yet it is legally so For tho' the Possession remain in the Donor yet the Right is transferr'd to and therefore is in the Donee The second Thing to be observed in this Case is that that Thing whose Right is transferr'd by Delivery must be something which is capable as our Law speaks of Manual Occupation For tho' the Right to some Things may be transferr'd by Delivery yet the Right to others cannot be so transferr'd 2. Secondly therefore The Right in a Thing may be transferr'd from one Person to another by Deed or any proper and legal Instrument of Conveyance there where the Nature of the Thing is such that the Thing it self cannot be transferr'd by Delivery And such a Thing for Instance is a Privilege For we may bestow upon another a Privilege which of Right belongs to our selves and by so doing may give him a Right in such Privilege tho' we cannot so put him in the possession of it as we can do of a Ring or a Garment Such a Thing then may be legally and rightfully transferr'd to another tho' because it is not capable of Manual Occupation it cannot be transferr'd locally or naturally 3. Thirdly Where a Thing not capable of Manual Occupation does so
greatest Kindness will not for that very Reason refuse us in a less It concerns us therefore as we would not reject the Kindness already offered and as we would not exclude our selves from all future Love and Kindness to make good our Gratitude by receiving our Saviour and that Salvation which he brings along with him with a due Acknowledgment and Respect and to make good such our Respect and such our Acknowledgment by receiving him upon any but more especially upon his own Terms Let us therefore cast away our Sins that we may receive him Let us by loving each other practice our selves to love and receive him Let us receive him by receiving the Pledges of his Love exhibited to us in the Sacrament of his most Blessed Body and Blood And let us not think that Christ crucified will profit us any thing if we do not so receive him as he requires and therefore also so receive him as we ought For he does in effect refuse the Gift who refuses the Instrument of Conveyance by which such Gift is to be signed and made over to him And it is irrational and imprudent to expect the Love of him the Pledges of whose Love we do reject Let us cast off therefore every evil Work every Sin that does beset us and gird up the Loins of our Mind as the Scripture speaks and do the Work of Christians in all Cases whatsoever that so at last we may receive the blessed Wages of such Work through Jesus Christ our Lord and only Saviour CHAP. XII That besides the Saviour's Righteousness imputed God will after their Resurrection endow Believers with a perfect inherent and eternal Holiness How the Saviour did fit and prepare Men for such an Holiness BY what has been hitherto discoursed we have seen 1. That God in a Saviour has made Provision for the Expiation of Man's Sin in order to save him from the Vengeance of the Law the just Wages of such Sin 2. We have seen that he has not barely provided for Man's Escape from the Vengeance of the Law by the Merits of his Saviour's Death but that he has also provided for his positive and future Happiness by the Merit of his Saviour's Obedience 3. But yet in what is now to follow we shall find that his Mercy has not stopped here because in the third place he will in and through our Saviour endow Man with a perfect and inherent Holiness By which I mean such an holy Angelical and withal durable Frame of Spirit that shall for ever secure him from all possible Sin and shall for ever engage him in a vigorous and chearful Discharge of all holy Duties and in so doing shall both accompany and secure his Happiness to all Eternity For tho' it be confessed that Believers do by the Communications and Assistances of the Spirit arrive to a Degree of such an Holiness in this Life yet it must be confessed also that it is but an imperfect Degree For it is not vigorous nor uniform nor constant but irresolute and weak and therefore has its frequent Intermissions and Failings But as we shall see more fully in what is to follow the Holiness of the Saints in Glory is like their Happiness firm lasting and immutable and therefore will be found to be a Gift of God in Christ that does vastly if not infinitely exceed the most refined Holiness of the very best Man in this Vale of Sin and Misery It shall be the Business then of our present Undertaking to make it good that besides that Title which Believers in another World shall have to their Saviour's Righteousness in order to their future Happiness that they themselves shall be endowed with a perfect inherent and indefectible Holiness in order to the secure Eternity of such their Happiness Now to put this Matter into a clear Light that so we may be the more rationally satisfied in all that is to follow we lay it down First That God by his Almighty Power having made the World and all particular Beings in it has by virtue of such his Creation an undoubted Right and Title to the Dominion over all Things so by him created And that therefore all his Creatures ought to be in Subjection to him and to act according to the Determinations of his Will And it is hardly to be doubted but that all those Creatures which by the Boundaries of their Creation are devoid of Understanding and Free-will do constantly act according to those Impresses and Powers that God in their Formation has stamped upon them in a regular Subordination to such his Will And the Scriptures do give us not only frequent Hints but also express Declarations that so they do Now as God created those lower Creatures so did he the higher and those which are endowed with more noble Faculties And because among such Creatures upon whom he has bestowed an Understanding to enable them to know his Will and with a Will to enable them to chuse Obedience to such his Will we are not acquainted with any other but Angels and Men and because our Design is only concerned about them and chiefly about the latter therefore directly to our present Purpose we take notice That some of the Angels first and by their Instigation the first Man and because all Men ever since do derive from him in a Lineal Propagation therefore also all Mankind by transgressing God's Will made known to them in his Laws have revolted from their Allegiance to him and have by so doing in effect renounced and disclaimed that their Subjection to his Dominion which was if I may so speak his natural and essential Right For Wickedness is a professed and avowed Renunciation of that Subjection which Rational Creatures owe to their Holy and Rightful Lord and King even the God that made them And for that Reason it is an Encroachment upon his Anthority for it does lessen and contract the Extent of his Kingdom For because a Scepter of Righteousness is the Scepter of his Kingdom and because all those Laws by which its Administration is executed are in themselves Holy Just and Good it is upon that Account very obvious to conceive that Wickedness so far as it goes does defeat such Administration and overturn such Laws and by so doing does diminish the Authority and encroach upon the Jurisdiction and Dominion of the Rightful and Supreme Lord. Now from what has been thus spoken in short we may easily understand that the faln Angels having first revolted themselves and by their Sin withdrawn their Allegiance and Subjection to their most Holy and Supreme Lord did what other Rebels after their Example and perhaps by their Instigation have done to weak and short-sighted People by false Colours and taking Delusions invite Mankind into the same Revolt and Rebellion with themselves and by so doing draw away a Part of God's Kingdom and Dominion and in opposition to his Holiness that is in opposition to God himself set up a Kingdom of
and Asseveration is in effect to say that he may start from his Veracity and that is the same as to say he may start from his Holiness or in other Words that he may himself break the first and principal Part of the Law by remitting the Penalty of the last and less principal For Holiness is so refined a Thing and so all of a Piece if I may so speak that he who transgresses its Rules in any one Case does by so doing forfeit his Title to the whole and therefore is truly called Unholy And therefore I cannot but wonder that Men after almost Six thousand Years Experience in the Case in which because all Men have been Sinners therefore all Men have died I say I cannot but wonder that after so long an Experience to the contrary any Man should now think that Men may be freed from the Curse of the Law before they have fulfilled the Directions of it For methinks by that Experience alone we may be instructed that Men should never be blessed with Impunity till they first return to their Duty and that they must first be obedient to the Law before they shall be freed from the Vengeance of it But because some Things under this Head may bear a Dispute and because some others may seem hard to be understood therefore to be more plain and open and to offer something which is so and which will as well conduce to my main Purpose and Design I lay it down 1. First That as it is asserted in the Gospel and is generally agreed among all Christians That an Eternal Life and Happiness is contained in that Salvation which the Gospel promises so is it That whosoever shall be made Partakers of such Happiness and such Life must be so perfectly Holy as to be eternally free from all Sin For as without Holiness no Man shall see the Lord so the Blessed in Glory are by all allowed as to be eternally without Misery so to be eternally without Sin And we do not question but that it may be made out and that too by Force of Reason without the Assistance of Revelation that compleat Happiness and an Happiness that is not eternal is not compleat and that too in the Nature of the Thing is inconsistent with Sin which does certainly and constantly bring Misery along with it wheresoever it is permitted to come And the Reason why I say I do not question it is because what has Been done already may be done again And we know very well that the Thing has been done already and that too beyond all possible Contradiction But because it is an allowed Thing That where the Seat of eternal Happiness is there nothing can either enter or remain but pure and unspotted Holiness therefore we shall spend no Time in the Proof of it but shall take it for granted and so proceed to our 2. Second Proposition which is That the Holiness of those who shall inherit eternal Life and Happiness does not come from themselves nor is either the Archievement or Fruit of their own Powers This we may be sure of because a clean Thing cannot come out of an unclean and all Men here are unclean because all Men are Sinners And since Man in his Innocence did not keep himself Holy it is unreasonable to expect that after the Fall when Mens Abilities are lessened that any Man should make himself so And we are moreover assured that no Man does make himself so because all Men do die And we are further assured that no Man can carry any more of his own Holiness with him into another World than what he was Owner of in this And lastly we are infallibly assured that no Man can secure to himself an Holiness to Eternity which he has not From which Things run over in short we may be satisfied that that Holiness which shall for ever attend those of Mankind who shall be made Partakers of eternal Happiness is not their own The Thing might be made out in more Words but it needs not And therefore 3. Since that Holiness with which Men shall be endowed in Heaven is not their own it must therefore be bestowed upon them by some other To which we may add That that other can be no other but God For it may be very well presumed that the very best of Creatures have no Holiness to spare upon a Supposition that one Creature could make over any of his own Holiness to another For upon such Supposition whatever they should contribute towards the perfecting of another Creatures Holiness would be so much pared off from their own and so a Defect of their own Holiness would be the Consequence of that other's Perfection and an Abatement at least if not the Loss of their own Happiness a Consequence of such Defect But then it is a vain Thing to conceive that one Creature can make over its own inherent Holiness to another and it is as vain a Thing to think that it can bestow on that other an Holiness which it has not to bestow and it is certain that it has no Holiness but it s own But neither shall I pursue this any farther because I shall at one View offer a short Prospect of all that has been already laid down in order to make it good That our Saviour has made Provision that Believers shall be endowed with an indefectible Holiness in a future and happy Life Take we notice therefore That as a Gospel-Salvation does imply in it not only the Pardon of Sin but the Reward of Righteousness too so the Reward of Righteousness as the Gospel and as he who is both the Author of that Gospel and of that Reward does set it forth is to be eternal and everlasting Now tho' it should be granted that Heaven and Happiness is in it self the just Reward of Duty and Obedience yet it cannot be so freely granted that an Eternity of Happiness is so unless that Duty or Obedience to which that Happiness is assigned be eternal also And the Reason why such a Thing cannot be granted is grounded upon Matter of Fact and that Matter of Fact authorized by God's own Judicial Proceedings For we may safely affirm that the faln Angels were once Holy and we may affirm it so much the more safely because being in their Nature Creatures capable of so noble a qualification there can no doubt be made but that they came forth such out of the Hands of their most Holy Creator Tho' therefore while they remained Holy that is while they did their Duty we do not question their Happiness yet we do maintain that that Happiness then ceased when their Holiness did so And from thence we do conclude that their Happiness was therefore not eternal because their Holiness was not so Now because such their Holiness which was not eternal was their Original or their Natural or their Personal Holiness for you may call it which you please therefore we do farther conclude that there
is no Security that any Creatures Personal or Natural Holiness shall be eternal If therefore we shall bring our present Business to this Case and by comparing one with the other take leave to judge of what may be by having seen what has been we may take notice that if our Saviour did nothing more for Man's Salvation but only expunge the Guilt of his Sins and so restore him again to his Original Innocence all this would warrant no more than that Man should by this Means have been restored to that Innocence or Holiness of which Adam stood possessed before his Transgression But that this Holiness should be lasting and eternal we have not all this while any the least Ground of Warrant no nor of Conjecture Nav we may rather conclude that it would not be so because we know to our Cost that Adam's was not so For I would ask Whether this Innocence or Holiness be sufficient to make Man happy If it be both answered and granted That it is then I would further demand Whether it will secure that Happiness to Eternity If it will then it must be something more than a Restoration of Man to a State of an Adamical Holiness for we are sure that that first Holiness could do no such thing If it will not then it will not answer to a Gospel-Salvation because such a Salvation does imply in it everlasting Happiness and everlasting Happiness must as we have seen be attended with everlasting Holiness In one Word therefore if as Man's Happiness does depend upon his Holiness so his everlasting Happiness must depend upon his everlasting Holiness then we may well reckon that that Holiness of Man which shall accompany eternal Salvation must be an indefectible Holiness that shall never fail and therefore whose Reward shall never cease And by this time we hope that the Truth of what we have laid down and of what we designed to make good may begin to appear which is 1. That the Chief Design of our Saviour's coming into the World was to bring sinful Man to a State of perfect Holiness for by that Man 's chief Happiness and which is yet a great deal more God's original Dominion and Jurisdiction over Man is provided for 2. That an everlasting Holiness is required to an everlasting Happiness 3. That such an Holiness is none of Man 's own and that therefore 4. It must come from some other and that that other must be God Having therefore seen by what has been said that an everlasting Holiness is necessary in order to Man 's everlasting Salvation and that such Holiness must come from God Let us proceed and by that Light which his Revelations have afforded us in this Case enquire what Provision God has made for the furnishing Man with such an Holiness in order to such his Salvation And 1. We are instructed by such Revelations That God sent his Son our Saviour into the World cloathed with the same Flesh with sinful Man to instruct and direct him in the Ways of Holiness by his Doctrine and by his Example That upon this Account he is called the Light of the World for he made our Duty plain and intelligible took off that Veil from Mens Understandings by which they were induced to believe that Holiness did consist in outward Washings in Ceremonies and Formalities and such other or Modes or Gestures which contained nothing of true Holiness in them because they did not form our Spirits to God's Likeness nor make us holy as he is holy And because he found Men laden with Sin he did advise them to unburden themselves by Repentance that so they might the more expeditely set about the Attainment of that Holiness which he recommended to their Practice And hence it was that his Fore-runner John the Baptist first and he himself and his Apostles afterwards did all begin their great Work with an Exhortation therefore to Repent because the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand In a Word in order to terrifie Men from their wicked Courses and to invite them into the Paths of true Piety and Godliness he did by his Threats acquaint them with a more express grievous and future Punishment and by his Promises with a more express happy and future Reward than either Natural Reason or Revelation had as yet discovered These with some other were the Methods which our Saviour when in the Flesh took to persuade Men to add their own Endeavours to his for their obtaining Salvation And because these Things were designed for such a Purpose by him and because they have in themselves a natural tendency to bring such Design to pass and because lastly the Salvation of Man does in the whole Oeconomy of it proceed from the Grace of God therefore these Things when summed up together under one Denomination are called Means of Grace These therefore and the like Means of Grace and them too backed and confirmed by Miracles our Saviour made use of to engage Men to practise and attain that Holiness by which alone they could in Justice be fitted for Salvation 2. But then secondly we are instructed both by God's Word and by our own Experience That all these Means made use of by our Saviour did never yet produce that Holiness in any Man which is to fit him for his designed Salvation For what from Weaknesses and Irresolutions from within and what from Temptations from without what from the Temptations of the Devil and what from his own wicked habitual and over-ruling Practices every Man falls short of the Grace of God and his very best Practices being corrupted with Carelesness or Inadvertency or Wilfulness and all of them Evil do not beget in him that Holiness to which alone eternal Salvation can in Justice belong It may be then demanded How any Man comes to be saved To which I answer in the next that is the 3. Third place That tho' the Means of Grace do not beget that Holiness in any Man in this Life in Consideration of which he can in Justice obtain eternal Salvation yet we are assured that the Means of Grace tendred in the Gospel and made use of by Man may and often have this Effect as to engage Men heartily to desire and wish for such an Holiness This is what our Saviour calls hungring and thirsting after Righteousness An hearty and sincere Desire to be what we ought to be and to make good the Sincerity of such our Desire an hearty and sincere Endeavour to be what we desire to be For no Man does or can heartily and sincerely desire any Thing who does not also heartily endeavour to obtain it Now an hearty Desire and an hearty Endeavour after Holiness does if I may so speak open and enlarge the Soul to admit and receive such Holiness whenever God shall be pleased to bestow it And because every good and perfect Gift comes from above from the Father of Light we may be therefore sure that Holiness the best and most perfect Gift
whereof we are capable does so too And we are moreover sure in Reason that God will more freely bestow his best Gift there where it is most heartily desired and therefore also most kindly received And we are the more sure that he will do so in the present Case because the Will of Man must in this Case concur with the Grace of God or else it is impossible that the Holiness to be bestowed should ever become his own For no Man can in Reason or Nature be holy against his own Will He then who by the Means of Grace has advanced so far as to hunger and thirst after Righteousness shall be sure to be filled We have his Promise for it who is able to make it good and we have his Promise for it whose Promise cannot fail And then we cannot but be sensible that he who is filled with Righteousness cannot want that Holiness which accompanies Salvation And truly when I consider how these lower good Things the Blessings of Nature which are confessedly the Bounties of the God of Nature do freely flow in upon all his Creatures where their natural Appetites or Wants do desire or require them and where their Powers and Faculties are such in pursuit of such their Desires they endeavour to obtain them it mightily inclines me to think that his Blessing of Holiness will also there flow in where the moral Appetites of his Rational Creatures do sincerely desire it and where they are so sensible of their Want of it as to endeavour after it 4. We proceed and add in the fourth place That we are instructed both by God's Word and by our own Experience that tho' a perfect Holiness may be heartily desired and sincerely endeavoured after yet that it is never attained by any Man in this Life and therefore so neither is a perfect Happiness The Evidence for the first is because all Men in this World are Sinners and the Evidence for the last is because all Men in this World are Mortal Now as Sin is an infallible Confutation of a perfect Holiness so Mortality is an infallible Confutation of a perfect Happiness We are therefore at last arrived thus far that no Man shall arrive at a perfect Holiness till he is translated to another World And because it is difficult if not impossible to conceive how any Man should arrive at a perfect Holiness in the Grave therefore we may go one Step farther and add that no Man shall attain to such an Holiness till the Resurrection And we may very fairly and rationally conjecture I may say infer That then the Faithful shall For we know that by the Resurrection we shall be released from the Curse of the Law on the one Hand and shall enter upon the Reward of Obedience and Holiness on the other 5. And then lastly Because that Happiness which our Saviour has purchased for Believers is an eternal Happiness and because as we have seen it is impossible that there should be any such Thing as an eternal Happiness without an eternal Holiness and because to pretend to bestow an everlasting Happiness upon Man and not an everlasting Holiness without which such an Happiness is impossible is to mock Man and not to save him and because lastly we cannot without Blasphemy and Absurdity tax the Counsels and Purposes of our Saviour in the Business of Man's Salvation of such gross Prevarication therefore we do at last conclude That God in our Saviour will endow Believers at or upon their Resurrection with an Inherent Immutable and Eternal Holiness Now we have observed before That the Punishment threatned by the Gospel against those who shall refuse their Salvation by the Neglect of the Conditions of the Gospel is greater than what was threatned against the Breach of the Law of Works the Law given to Adam And that the Reward proposed by the Gospel to those who shall admit the Conditions of it is greater than what was by the Law proposed to Adam upon his Obedience And we have observed in this Chapter That that Inherent and Indefectible Holiness which is a Part of such Reward is greater and nobler than Adam's Holiness before the Fall because it is more lasting than that of him or indeed of the faln Angels Now it is certain that the Degrees of the Punishments are by Justice proportioned to the Degrees of the several Sinners own Deserts And it is certain that the Rewards of eternal Life and of an Indefectible Holiness do in Justice exceed the Deserts of all that are saved for they have been all Sinners And then what Grounds these Considerations may afford for the magnifying of God's Grace and the Merits and Dignity of our Saviour's Purchase and Person may be a Matter worthy our Meditations But I shall not pursue it here because tho' there be an Occasion for me to enlarge what has been said already yet I am unwilling to repeat CHAP. XIII By what Means Men shall be put into the Actual Possession of Eternal Life HAving thus far discoursed First Concerning the Pardon of Sin and Secondly Concerning the Gift of an Happy and Eternal Life the Two Things in which a Gospel Salvation does consist And having made it good That Believers do obtain both the one and the other only in Consideration of our Saviour's Merits and that their so doing is agreeable to Reason and Justice Two Things do still remain to be examined 1. By what Way or Means they shall be put into the Possession of such Eternal Life And 2. Wherein the Happiness of such Life does consist 1. And in order to the Resolution of the first Thing we lay it down as a certain Truth in the first place That Man in order to his entring upon the Possession of Eternal Life must first rise from the Dead For all Men die because all Men are Sinners And because it is absurd so much as to imagine that Man can enter upon the Possession of Eternal Life while he remains under the Power of Death therefore without any more ado we shall take it for granted that Man must be freed from that Death which is brought upon him by his Sin before he can obtain that Eternal Life which is purchased for him by his Saviour 2. We lay it down in the second place as a certain Truth That because our Saviour underwent Death himself for the Expiation of Man's Sin and because our Saviour could not in Nature or Possibility be qualified to bestow upon Man the Purchase of such his Death till he himself should rise from the Dead That therefore in order to Man's entring upon the Possession of an Eternal Life it was necessary that our Saviour himself as well as Man should first rise from the Dead 3. We lay it down in the Third place That if the Merits of our Saviour's Death were of Value sufficient to make good the Expiation of Man's Sin that then in Reason and Justice he ought to rise again from the Dead For
our Saviour who as we have shewed had an absolute and uncontroulable Power to dispose of his own Life as he himself pleased did put himself in our stead became a Sacrifice for us and so in his own Person suffered that Death which we by our Sins had deserved But then to the making good of our present Proposition we add That as he suffered Death for the Expiation of our Sins so if he had not finished and compleated such Expiation he had not rose again For so long as the Guilt remained so long the Punishment was and that too in Justice to be continued For in such Case there had been the same Reason for the Continuation of the Punishment that there was for its first Infliction And therefore as it was first inflicted for a Guilt so it must have been continued for the Continuation of such Guilt From which we do infer That if he was justly acquitted from the Continuation of the Punishment then he was also acquitted from the Guilt and if he was justly acquitted from the Guilt that then he had by his Punishment made a sufficient Expiation for it And that he was acquitted from the Punishment due to the Guilt and that he was justly acquitted too the Resurrection singly and by it self will make out an undoubted and uncontroulable Argument For our natural and common Sense does assure us that a Resurrection to Life is an Acquittance and Discharge from Death And Reason will tell us that because a Discharge from Death can only come from God and because God cannot but be just therefore that Acquittance and Discharge that is made by a Resurrection must needs be just too And therefore from the Whole we may infer That the Resurrection of our Saviour from that Death which he suffered as the Punishment of our Sins was a demonstrative Argument and Proof that by his Death he had paid a sufficient Ransom and had made a sufficient Expiation for such Sins So that strictly speaking in his Death consisted the Punishment of our Sins in the Infinite Value of his Death consisted the Expiation of our Sins and in the Resurrection appears the full Proof and Evidence of such his Expiation Before we part with this Head it may not be improper to take notice that because his Death was of infinite Value that therefore there was a sufficient Ransom paid for our Sins by that Death so soon as it was suffered For it must be confessed that the Ransom was then made when the Debt was paid And because that is Truth and Justice we do from thence infer That our Saviour might and that justly too have resumed his Life so soon as he had laid it down And so he might for any thing that Justice can offer to the contrary have descended alive from the Cross after he had once died upon it Nor needed his Resurrection in point of Justice to have been deferred to the third Day but might had God so pleased have been caused on the first But tho' it might justly have been done so yet we do not find that it was actually so done for the Scriptures tell us that he did not rise till the third Day From whence we observe That as he died to save Man from Sin so he did for some time continue in a State of Death to satisfie and assure us that he did so die And so as his Death had a regard to God's Justice so his Continuance so long under the Power of Death had a regard to our Faith The first was the Purchase of our Salvation The last was our Assurance of and therefore also our Comfort in such a Purchase By which we may understand that his Love was expressed to us even in the Grave and tho' as the Psalmist speaks no Man remembreth God in the Pit yet we may hence learn that even in the Pit our God both can and has remembred us We may also under this Head take notice That as our Saviour had never died at all as we observed before because he himself was perfectly Innocent if he had not by his own Choice put himself in the stead and so exposed himself to the Punishment of the Guilty so we may be confident that he whose Innocence was so singular and illustrious as not to be in the least tarnished whilst he inhabited in mortal Flesh and Blood must now that Flesh and Blood is spiritualized see the First to the Corinthians chap. 15. ver 44. be rather the more free if that were possible from all possibility of Stain or Guilt And we may be secure that if his glorified Body shall ever live free from Sin it shall for that single Reason if yet there were no other live free from Death too So true is that of the Apostle in the Sixth to the Romans ver 9. that Christ being raised from the Dead dieth no more Death hath no more Dominion over him and that in the Revelations I am he that was dead and am alive and live for evermore So that the Victory which our Saviour obtained over Death by his Resurrection cannot so well be looked upon as a single Conquest since it is to extend it self to all Successions of Ages and Time and is to last when Time shall be no more that is for ever and ever 3. As our Saviour by his Resurrection did so far subdue Death as to obtain to himself a future and secure Immortality so also he did by the same Resurrection so far subdue Death as to secure a future and glorious Resurrection to all those who are so far planted into the likeness of his Death as to be dead to Sin and alive to God For if we live to him while we live here we may from his Resurrection have a comfortable Assurance that notwithstanding we die for a time as he did yet we shall be raised again and live with him for evermore To this purpose we must recollect that when he died he did not die for his own Sins but for ours And then if in his Death he laid down his Life in our stead we may be easily satisfied that it was in our stead that he took it up again at his Resurrection For if our Guilt had not been cancelled and so our Debt discharged by his Death then his Death as we observed under the last Head had been continued still And as then we did conclude that he had therefore satisfied the Debt because he was released from the Penalty so now we do conclude that because the Debt so discharged was ours and not his own therefore the Benefit of the Release must redound to us as well as to him For it must needs be unjust in the Creditor to detain us in Prison for that Debt which our Surety has paid And because we know that the Creditor in the present Case is God himself and because we know also that such a Creditor can do no Injustice therefore we know that as when our Saviour laid down his
Common Sense that Immortality is a sure Fence for that Life If therefore God has graciously made Provision for the Gratification of this our most exalted Appetite by securing to us a future Immortality and if over and above he has engaged to secure that very Immortality from the Loads and Incumbrances of all those Miseries which do constantly attend our Mortal Life in this World I say if God has done so great Things for us we ought to look upon our selves to be obliged in Gratitude to endeavour a Return as far as our slender Abilities go in some measure proportionate to the Almighty Bounty For if ever our Thanks be due to any one whomsoever then most certainly they must be so to him who is willing and able and has promised to gratifie the utmost Pitch and the most exalted Desires of our own Self-love 2. Has God provided an Immortal and Secure Life for us in another World Then that should engage us not to set up for Happiness in this For tho' it be granted that the Good Things of this Life are present and at hand but that those of a better Life are lodged at a distance and so we are engaged in our Pursuit after the first by our Senses but we can only pursue the last by our Faith or Hope Yet because our Experience upon innumerable Repetitions has constantly convinced us that our Senses have alway deceived us for our highest and most exalted Enjoyments here do always determine in Emptiness and Dissatisfaction I say for this single Reason if yet there were no other we should for the future rather seek for the Happiness we desire there where our Faith tells us it may be had than to repeat our Disappointments by pursuing it there where our Experience has convinced us that it cannot Alas a very little consideration may satisfie us that in our Attempts after Happiness by the Pursuit of the Good Things of this Life we always blunder and that too whether we do or do not obtain those Good Things which we so pursue For if we do not then we lose our desired Happiness by our Disappointment But if we do then either they must leave us by reason of their slipperiness and uncertainty or we must leave them by reason of our Mortality And then be it one or be it t'other the Case is much one and the same for in both Cases the expected Happiness vanishes And because by this we may perceive that we cannot be made happy by any Thing in this Life therefore 3. Let us be exhorted to seek our Happiness in a future Life that is as has appeared to seek it there where it may be had For if Happiness be to be had any where undoubtedly it is to be had in the Favour and Presence of God who as he is the undoubted Author of all Things so for that Reason alone he is the undoubted Author of all that Happiness which we can possibly reap from the Enjoyment of any Good whatsoever Now because the same Revelations which have discovered to us a Future and Immortal Life have also acquainted us that that Life is lodged in the kind and favourable Presence of God that is in Heaven and because we know that no unholy or impure Thing shall come into the Presence of him who is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity Therefore to the present Exhortation let me add this Direction and that is That we pursue our future Glory and Immortality or Eternal Life hereafter by an holy Life here For the true and solid Reason why there is no Misery nor Death in Heaven is because there is no Sin nor Wickedness there For Death and Misery are so far forth the inseparable Companions of Sin and Wickedness that as where-ever we find the last there we are sure to find the first so where the first are not there we may be sure that the last are shut out And therefore because Mortality and Misery have no Place in Heaven we may for that Reason stand confirmed that Sin and Impiety have no Place there neither If therefore we do in good earnest design to be lodged in those Regions of Happiness we must first be sure to cast off our Sins and to leave them behind us For so sure as Death is the Wages of Sin so sure it is that Immortality and Happiness shall not be the Portion of the Impenitent And so long as God is in his own Nature Holy and that is so long as he is God so long he must be displeased with all those who are pleased with and make much of Sin the grand Enemy of such his Nature because the grand Enemy of such his Holiness CHAP. XIV Wherein the Happiness of Eternal Life does consist Several Reflections and Considerations on what has been said tending to promote an Holy Life HAving in the last Chapter shewed by what Means we are put into the Possession of an Happy and Eternal Life the Purchase of our Saviour's Merits We must in this according to our Promise inquire wherein the Happiness of such Life does consist And in answer to this Inquiry we lay it down in short That the Consummate Happiness of the Saints in Eternal Life does consist in that Joy Pleasure and full Satisfaction which results from their Loving the Lord their God with all their Heart with all their Soul with all their Strength and with all their Mind and from their Enjoyment of God the Party beloved and his Love I have chose to express the Love of the glorified Saints to God in the Words of Scripture because they seem to me to contain in them such an Intense Love under so large and comprehensive an Expression that had I delivered it in other Words I should more than have doubted that I should have fallen short of the Thing And I do believe that such Caution will then appear to be no scrupulous Nicety when we shall come seriously to weigh and consider those Things that follow 1. And first we take notice what every one may easily be satisfied of by their own Experience That we love our selves best that is before and beyond all other Persons and all Things whatsoever And there neither is nor can be any doubt but that such our Inclination is planted in us at our first Formation by the Hand of God himself And therefore neither does God ever require of us to slight or cast it away but by such Motives that will more than recompense all the Evil that we do or can suffer by our so doing And therefore he who in the Cause of God and Goodness shall so far undervalue his own Welfare as to part with that Welfare be it what it will for the sake of such Cause may be sure of a Compensation from God's Hand that shall repair his Damages with advantage and that too tho' what he so parts with be Life it self And therefore it was a fixed and undoubted Persuasion in the Primitive Christians that