impossible for the Sinner to deny any particular but he will be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Self-condemned Secondly As there will be no denying 2. No Extenuation so there will be no room for extenuation this was one of the Sinner's hiding places while in the Land of the Living Sinners have their buts Eccle. 5.6 Iâ— was an Errour per exteruationum It was but a mistakâ— now It was but thus and thus it was but a little one c. Great sins were but small sins and small sins were no sins Now the Sinner will have no such Sanctuary to fly unto the Account will now be inverted Those that were no sins before will be sins now small sins will be great sins and great sins will be infinite the last Judgment will give sin its just proportion that which the Law could never do though it were given on purpose the Fire of the day of Judgment will effectually do make sin appear exceeding sinful The Popish distinction of mortal and venial sin will vanish before that fire into smoak while Penitent reforming Sinners will find all their sins Venial in the blood of Christ secure impenitent Sinners will find every sin mortal and damning in its own merit and nature the Carnal Protestant will then find to his cost there is no such thing as a small sin because then he will be convinced there is no small God against whom sin is commited no small Law whereof sin is the violation no small Christ whom sin hath Crucified no small Heaven which sin hath forfeited no little Hell which sin hath merited and by its merit hath justly now plunged him into for ever Thirdly 3 No translating of sin there will be no translating of sin upon others as here below there was the Thief enticed me the Drunkard seduced me Gen. 3.13 the Harlot deceived me the Serpent beguiled me yea what bold Sinners are not afraid to speak will not then be heard amongst the Malefactors at Christ's Bar God tempted me Jam. 1.13 or God decreed it no these and all other palliations and colours wherewith men do wash the face of sin will melt before the fire of the day of Judgment God will say to the Sinner Jer. 2.17 Hast thou not procured these things to thy self yea Sinners shall then own their own guilt confess that their destruction is of themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pâ—ut de seâ—â Num. vindict their heart shall cry out as Apollodore dreamt his heart cried to him in a Cauldron of boyling Lead O Apollodore I am the Cause of this Vengeance how have I hated Instruction and my heart despised Reproof and have not obeyed the voyce of my Teachers nor inclined mine Ear to them that instructed me Fourthly There will lye no appeal from this Tribunal 4. No appealing once there lay an appeal from Moses to Christ from the Law to the Gospel but proud Sinners scorned it or securely presumed they had made the appeal by a loose verbal Application of Jesus Christ whil'st yet they stuck in themselves and their own foolish presumptions their serving of God their good works and their good meanings and their good desires and why should not they be saved as well as others but now if they should appeal their appeal's with themselves will be cast out as Reprobate Silver this is now the supream and last Judicatory from hence is no appeal once doomed here the sentence is irreversible for ever Fifthly 5. No Pardon Neither is there any Pardon to be expected at this Judgment Seat Pardons were tendered in the Gospel upon gracious terms but ungracious Sinners would have none of them or would have them upon their own terms Sin and Pardon too their Pardons were nothing unless they might have dispensations also such as the Pope sells often times but Christ's Pardons sc Pardon Repentance Pardon of sin and forsaking of sin Pardon of sin and Hatred of sin Act. 5.31 Prov. 28.13 Jude 23. Heb. 12.14 Pardon and Holiness would not be accepted and now the time of Pardons is out the day of Grace is expired no cries nor entreaties will prevail with the Judg no though the Sinner would fall upon his knees and weep as many Seas of Tears as once the Ministers wept Tears of Compassion over them or as Christ himself shed drops of blood upon the Cross Christ was once upon his knees in the Person of his Ministers beseâ—ching them to be reconciled 2 Cor. 5.19 20. Though the Sinner was first in the Transgression yet God was first in the Reconciliation and followed the Sinner as it were on his knees intreating him to accept of Mercy as if God had stood in as much need of the Sinner as the Sinner did of Mercy but nothing would prevail a deaf ear was still turned to Christ's importunity and now Repentance is hid from the eyes of the Judg as once Repentance was hid from the eyes of the Sinner the things of their peace are everlastingly hid because they knew them not in that the day of their Vision As Sinners obdurated their heart against Christ's voyce so Christ will harden his heart against the Sinner's cry Prov. 1.24 Sixthly There shall be no mitigation of the punishment not a farthing abated of the whole debt 6. No mitigation Math. 5.26 there was once Mercy without Judgment before the Sinner now there shall be Judgment without Mercy now Sinners shall know that God is not mocked that the Lamb of God is also the Lyon of the Tribe of Juda His voyce was once Fury is not in me Isa 27.4 now the voyce will be Meckness is not in me mercy is not in me now must the Sinner expect nothing but the utmost severity of divine justice who once despised the yearnings of Christ's bowels the lowest condescentions of divine Grace the Sinner in his day knew no moderation in sin the Judg now in his day will know no mitigation of Judgment there will be a Sea of wrath without a drop of Mercy Seventhly Not a word of any good that ever the wicked did 7. No mention of any good that ever Sinners did shall now be mentioned to their honour or advantage as none of the sins which ever the Saints committed were mentioned to their shame in their Process so none of the good that ungodly Sinners have done shall be once named unless it be by way of aggravation of their sins for indeed they mannaged the good they did at such a rate Splendida peccata Aug. as even their duties differed not from their sin As under the Law the Sacrifice of the Wicked was abomination to the Lord killing Oxen but Murder Prov. 15.8 Isa 66.3 Sacrificing Lambs but cutting off Dogs necks Oblations as Swines blood Incense as Idolatry so under the Gospel their Prayers were but so many takings of God's Name in vain and hearing the Word mocking of God Fasting but holding
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by a reprobate world even as the filth of the world and the off-scouring of all things the scraping of their Shooes or the common Town-Dung-cart into which every one cast's their soil and draught I say though the Saints of God are thus base and contemptible in the opinion of the ignorant World yet they have another rate and value set upon them in Heaven Heb. 11.6 Heb. 2.11 Cant. 4.8.11 Rev. 21.9 God is not ashamed to be called their God nor Christ ashamed to call them Brethren Yea he dignifies them with the stile of his Spouse the Bride the Lambs Wife and all this upon the account of that admirable and inconceivable Vnion which is between Christ and them that spiritual real operative inriching total intimous and indissoluble Vnion by vertue whereof 1 Cor. 6.17.15.19 they are in Christ and Christ in them as to their more divine part their Soul 's one spirit with the Lord and even as to their terrene and corruptive part their Bodies Members of Christ and Temples for the Holy Ghost to dwell in yea saith my Text their very dust is United to Christ They sleep in Jesus Such Honour have all his Saints How should the sense of it engage them to Honour Christ Third Use who hath put so great honour upon them yea to honour themselves whom Christ hath so highly honoured to stand upon their advancement and not to prophane themselves by any thing that is common or unclean or upon the least account unsutable to their glorious Union with Jesus Christ but to possess their Vessels in Sanctification and Honour 1 Thes 4.4 as under an holy awe of that tremendous Sentence If any man defile the Temple of God 1 Cor. 3.17 him will God destroy Surely the thought of so near and intimate an Union with the Son of God should make sin become an impossibility Upon all the Adulterous solicitations of the Flesh World or Satan to make holy Joseph's quick reply How can I do this great Wickedness and sin against my Vnion with Jesus Christ Fourthly Fourth Use And oh that such as have for many years together Exhortation to such as are yet out of Christ sitten under the Ministry of the Gospel of Christ and to this day are altogether strangers to this blessed Union with Christ would now with all seriousness and holy contention apply themselves to know it and to know it experimentally that they would with holy Paul account all things loss and dung for the excellency of the knowledg of Jesus Christ Phil. 3.8 9 even this that they may be found in him to know him with interest to know him in this mysterious and beatifical Vnion Christ in them and they in Christ This only is the saving knowledg of Jesus Christ to be able to make out our Conjunction with him upon Scripture-evidence Alas this is the undoing Mistake of thousands that are called Christians they know somewhat of the History of Christ they have some notions of a Christ in their heads but this is the precipice upon which they ruine themselves They think to be saved by a Christ without them they hang upon the outside of the Ark they live upon bare notions The Son of God took our nature upon him died for sins rose again James 1.21 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is gon up into Heaven and sits at God's right hand and therefore conclude they shall be saved Oh but what a paralogism and fallacy do they put upon their own Souls They put more into the Conclusion then there is in the Premisses while they leave out this great and indispensible medium of Vnion and Conjunction with Jesus Christ without which a Christ and no Christ is all one Men and Women generally take Faith to be nothing else but a loose conjectural application of Christ and his Merits to themselves not considering that the great saving Office of Faith is To unite the Soul to Jesus Christ Eph. 3.17 It is true there is no Condemnation but it is only to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom 8.1 Christ is the hope of Salvation it is true I but it is not simply Christ in the Womb of the Virgin not simply Christ on the Cross not Christ in the Grave no not alone Christ on the Throne but saith the Apostle Christ in you the hope of Glory Colos 1.27 It were an easie thing to be saved if a Christ without us were all and I know no reason why reprobate men and Devils might not get to Heaven on such terms No but as there is no other name under Heaven Acts 4.12 given amongst men whereby we must be saved but the Name of Jesus Christ i. e. his merit and influence So there is no other medium whereby that merit and influence can be effectually applied to the Soul but only this spiritual real operative enriching intimous total and inseparable Union with Jesus Christ Christ must be in us by his Spirit and we must be in Christ by Faith or else our persons and our hope as to the present state are both reprobate 2 Cor. 13.15 Of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption 1 Cor. 3.22 23. All is yours if you be Christ's as Christ is God's Appear before God's Tribunal in the great day Math. 7.21 22 23. Luk. 13.26.27 without this Vnion and plead what you will your answer will be I never knew you depart from me c. Believe this Oh all you carnal Christ-less Christians and tremble and swim no longer down the stream of Security lest it empty you forth into the Lake of Perdition but work out your Salvation with Fear and Trembling and give all diligence to make this conjunction with Christ sure to your own Souls Colos 3.3 4. that when He shall appear you may also appear with him in Glory Remember All your true and solid comfort and rejoycing in life in death and at the day of Judgment is all bound up in your Vnion with Jesus Christ Christ in you the hope of Glory Fifthly and Lastly Fourth and last Use Consolation The Doctrine of this glorious Union with Christ is not more for the honour of the living than for the comfort of the dying Saints and of their surviving mourners And for their sakes it is here specially calculated by the Holy Ghost behold this Vnion is not dissolved by death it self though it dissolve the Union between Body and Soul it cannot dissolv◠the Vnion which is between Christ and his Members Hence you find even death it self filling up the Apostle's Triumph What can separate neither life nor death c. Not life for Christ by vertue of this Union is their life Not death for as terrible as it is let death do its worst it cannot dissolve this blessed Vnion Neither life nor death can separate c. Why do ye tremble at the
no more for ever yea the Lord Jesus nailed all their sins to his Cross Colos 2.14 Rom. 4.15 and buried them all in his Grave yea and crossed the debt-book with the red lines of his own blood If now he should call them to remembrance to charge the Saints with their sins he should undo what he had done he should cross the great design of his Cross Rom. 4.25 upon the matter deny himself to be risen again from the dead and disown his own hand and seal Upon this foundation stands the absolute impossibility that sin the least sin the least circumstance of sin should be so much as once mentioned by the Judg in the process of that judicial tryal unless it be in a way of Absolution and so sin shall be mentioned indeed The Saints Absolved of Sin in the day of Iudgment in what sence 1 In their own Conscience but in order to the magnifying of their Pardon and Absolution Their sins may then be said to be blotted out in a two-fold respect First Because the Saints shall then be fully and finally Absolved in their own Consciences It is true there be some of the Saints even in this life to whose Consciences the Spirit of God doth evidence and seal up Remission of sin who are not only safe but sure and possess not only the blessedness of a pardoned estate but the comfort and assurance of that blessedness nevertheless 1. Not all the Saints 2. Nor any at all times 3. Nor alwaies in the same degree as they have their lucida intervalla so they have also and more frequently their dark times their Eclipses as well as their Transfigurations and no wonder since the Sun of Righteousness himself suffered an Eclipse upon the Cross so dreadful as forced the great Master of Astrology in Egypt to cry out Either the God of Nature suffers Aut Dâ—us naturae patitur aut mit di machina dâ—ssolvituâ— or the whol frame of nature is dissolved and caused the Lord Jesus Himself to the just astonishment of Heaven and Earth to cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Is it any wonder then if many of the poor Saints of God with Paul and his Ship-wrack't Company see neither Sun-light nor Star-light for many days together and no small tempest doth often lye upon them Act. 27.20 so that all hope of being saved is taken away yea not a few precious deserted Hemans are there Psal 38.15 who from their youth up are afflicted and ready to dye and while they suffer the terrors of God are even distracted yea and that which is more tremendous their Sun as to any observation which Standers by could make though very rarely hath set in a Cloud I but now at this blessed day the Judg of the Quick and the Dead shall Absolve the Saints of God not only at the Tribunal of his own Justice but at the Tribunal of their Conscience He will proclame that Name in their Bosoms which he Proclamed before Moses The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering abundant in Goodness and Truth pardoning Iniquity Transgression and Sin c. And He will speak so audibly that every Saint shall hear the voyce and so particularly that every one shall know he speaketh to him and shall all eccho back again with joy and joynt acclamation Who is a God like unto thee Micah 7.18 pardoning Iniquity c Nor shall any reflexion either upon sin or sorrow ever damp that joy any more Though the Saints cannot plead Not-guilty in regard of fact yet they shall be acquit by the Sentence of Christ Not that they never sinned but that they are before the Judg as if they had never sinned Not in His Account only but even in their own Consciences and that will fully and finally resolve the Question which all the Ministers in the world while they lived on Earth could never resolve with all the Absolutions which ever they applied to their doubting Souls though it were even Clave non errante from the testimony of the Word This Proclamation shall do it and leave no room for doubting or misgiving thoughts for ever Secondly 2ly The Saints absolved in open Court The Saints are then said to receive their full and final Absolution because then their Absolution shall be Proclaimed in open Court the Judg in Person shall pronounce their Absolution in the Audience of God and all the Elect Angels and of the whole world of Men and Devils what Christ in the days of his flesh said to one poor trembling Penitent he will now say to all Sons and Daughters be of good cheer your sins are forgiven you This will be good Cheer indeed These be the times of refreshment from the presence of the Lord when the sins of the Saints shall be blotted out Acts 13.19 blotted they were before out of God's book but now they shall be blotted out in the sight of all the world so that now indeed Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect since Heaven and Earth yea and Hell it self must be witnesses to the Crossing of the book and to the Cancelling of the Bond wherein they stood obliged to Divine Justice Oh what inexpressible inconceivable refreshment will this be to the Saints of God even the perfecting of all their former refreshments The sense of their pardon pronounced by the Spirit to some of their Consciences within was wont to be exceeding sweet yea any Scriptural hopes of purdoning mercy though apprehended by a weak and trembling hand of Faith were a reviving to their drooping Spirits What must needs then the highest plerophory ratified by the most solemn Proclamation of the great Judg before the upper and neather world as well as to Conscience be but life from the dead Surely it will be even Heaven before the Saints come to Heaven Nor shall any reflection either upon sin or sorrow ever damp that joy any more nor shall Willow-boughs mix with the Palms of the Saints Triumph in that blessed Jubile but everlasting joy shall be upon their Heads and sorrow and sighing shall flee away The Second Branch of the Saints Justification is that the Judg will pronounce them perfectly Righteous This may seem superfluous as supposed to be included in the sentence of Absolution Not to be a Sinner seemeth to imply a Saint To be pardoned all sin and all the degrees of sin and all kinds of sin omissive as well as commissive all defects of perfection all want of conformity to as well as transgression of the Law of God this seemeth to be perfection Answ It doth seem so and truly it doth but seem so for Pardon relates to what is past only Rom. 3.25 Remission of sins that are past it is but privativum quid a freedom from Guilt and a freedom from Punishment it doth not suppose any real and positive Righteousness which may set a man rectus in
curiâ perfect before the Tribunal of Gods Justice Obj. If it be objected There is not a third State or a third Person viz. one that is not Guilty and yet not Righteous a man must be one of these either Guilty or Righteous if he be not Guilty he is Righteous if Righteous he is not Guilty Answ The objection admits of a fair and easie solution namely this * The Law is satisfied by suffering the Penalty in mens precepts but not in God's wherein not only Penalties are threatned but Blessings are promised Down de Justif It holds true in matters of criminal Justice where a person is tried upon Indictment of a Crime suppose Theft or Murder or Sacrilege or the like there upon Examination to be found Not Guilty is to be Righteous Legally Righteous there being no other Righteousness looked after in that Tryal but Whether Guilâ—y of the Fact or not Guilty But in matters of remunerative justice where the Law propounds a reward to such and such qualifications there a not-Guilty will not suffice Ex. gr If a Scholar in the University be a Candidate for an office there or a Fellowship in a Colledg where the Statutes do require such and such qualifications there upon Examination to be found not-Guilty of Murther of Sacriledg or any other Crime this will not capacitate the Candidate for the preferment this is the case in hand The Saints are now Candidates for Heaven and Glory Absolution or Pardon is not sufficient to capacitate them for this glory yea though it be supposed the pardon be extensive to all not the transgressions only of the Law but the very omissions defects too yea to the least non-conformity unto the Law in its utmost perfection it sufficeth not because a pardon is not the qualification which the Law requireth but a positive perfection Fac hoc c. Do this and Live Whether God by absolute Prerogative cannot dispence with this qualification and pardon the want of it I will not dispute but Whether God can in Justice dispence with his own Law and with that Condition of Righteousness and Life established in the first Covenant is the main Enquiry of which anon It is true there is not a third State a State which is neither a state of Guilt nor a state of Righteousness neither is there a third person there is not a person to be found which is neither Guilty nor Righteous but though there be not a third State or a third Person yet there is tertius Conceptus a third Conception or notion in the understanding though there be not a person which is neither Guilty nor Righteous yet to be not-Guilty They differ as to the praedicate though they be not separate as to the subject and to be Righteous are two different capacities considerable in one and the same person it is one thing for a man to be considered meerly as not Guilty or purely as an absolved person another thing to be considered as a Righteous person invested with all those excellent qualifications which may capacitate him for the priviledg annexed to the condition Ex. gr As it is between Sin Holiness He that is not sinful is holy there is not a person to be found who is not sinful and yet not holy the notions are different though the subject be one and the same So it is between not-Guilty and Righteous there is not a person who is neither not-Guilty and yet not-Righteous for although the considerations be unseparable yet they are not identical Not-Guilty is not the same notion with Righteous that is purely privative this positive though they are ever Vnited yet they are not to be Confounded Again as in point of Eternal punishment He that is punished with the pain of Loss Paena damni Paena sensus is punished also with the pain of Sense yet is not the pain of Loss the same with the pain of Sense He that is deprived of Gods presence and the joys of Heaven doth suffer the torments of Hell with the Devil and his Angels for ever the punishments are distinct though they be inseparable So it is between the two capacities relating to these two places Hell and Heaven The Person under the notion of not-Guilty is an absolved person and acquitted from Hell and eternal damnation And as under the notion of Righteous he is capacitated for Heaven and life everlasting Not-Guilty relates to freedome from Hell Righteousness relateth to Heaven as the proper qualification thereof Do this and Live though where the one is there is the other yet the one is not formally the other And according to these two capacities and places there are two great Works which the Redeemer did undertake for the Redeemed The one to make satisfaction for sin to divine justice by his Blood i. e. by his Death The other to yield most absolute Conformity to the Law of God both in Nature and Life By the one we may conceive the Redeemed freed from Hell and everlasting burnings by the other we may conceive them qualified for Heaven and everlasting Glory Yet not so precisely neither the one or the other but that both may be produced by both Active and Passive obedience may have a joynt influence upon both his Active to save from Hell and his Passive to bring to Heaven As a man that payeth a debt and purchaseth an Inheritance either of them to the value of five hundred pounds at the same time with a Jewel worth a thousand one half whereof relates to the debt the other to the Purchase yet so as it is hard to distinguish which is done by which there is a distinct consideration in it yet so as that both concurr to both so in the case in hand As the Active and Passive obedience in Christ suppose not two Redeemers but one and the same Person under both these distinct engagements so Absolution and positive real Righteousness infer not a distinction of persons but diversity only of considerations in one and the same person But further That a positive Righteousness is requisite to the justification of a Sinner as well as Absolution from guilt and punishment may appear upon a four-fold account viz. Of 1. The Justice of God 2. The Perfection of the Law 3. The Necessity of the Sinner 4. The Excellency of the Redeemer First the Justice of God 1. Accompt The justice of God this is for the glory of Gods Justice to justifie man in such a way as wherein he may also justifie himself This the holy Apostle counts highly worthy our best observation That he might be just Rom. 3.26 and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus God would shew himself a Righteous God in justifying of Vnrighteous men and this he declareth in both the parts of Justification Sc. Pardon Accounting Righteous First In Pardon God shews himself just He declareth his Righteousness for the Remission of Sins that are past Remission looks backward Righteousness
forward Pardon relateth to a state past already Righteousness to a state future the State of a Sinner for the time to come Now in both these God's design is to declare himself a just God in Remission he declareth himself a just God by pardoning upon the accompt of satisfaction by the justice of God we are to understand the infinite severity of God in punishing sin in a way agreeable to the nature of his justice and this God eminently declareth Pardoning Sin in God is not an Act of mercy only but of Justice as in the Eternal Damnation of the Reprobates in their own persons so even in pardoning the sins of the Elect while he doth not pardon them Justitia nemine intelligatur summa illa Dei in vindicandis peccaris sâ— veritas justissimae ipsius na urae coâ—veniens Bez. in loc but upon the accompt of a valuable consideration namely as in the beginning of the verse of that propitiation or propitiatory Sacrifice which Christ hath made to divine justice by his Blood apprehended by Faith Whether God could not have pardoned sin by absolute Prerogative is an enquiry of an extrinsick consideration to this place since the Text informs us God was resolved to Consult his own Honour as well as the Creatures Happiness in this great Act of jurisdiction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Placamâ—ntum Beza namely Pardoning of Sin and purposed in Himself as highest reason requireth to pitty Sinners so far as He might not be Cruel to Himself and to shew Mercy to them in such a way as he might not wrong his own glorious Attributes and cast no blemish upon his Law and Government Should God indeed without any further Consideration have meerly Pardoned it might have had the shadow of a Reflection sc 1. Upon his Wisdom as if he had made a Law either so Strict as could not have been kept or so inconsiderable that being broken it was not worth the Vindication Or 2. Upon his All-sufficiency as if he wanted Power to have Chastised the breach of his Holy and Just and Good Law with Condign punishment Or 3. Above all His Veracity and Justice who having presentenced the breach of his Law with Death Death surely answerable to the nature of his Righteous and Eternal Law The Law being now notoriously Violated He should account it a a matter of indifferency whether He executed the threatned Sentence yea or no c. Oh how had this been to have prostituted the honour of His Government to be trampled under foot by bold and presumptuous Sinners Nay but God Pardoning Sin upon no inferiour accompt than the Propitiatory Sacrifice which his own Blessed Son made to Divine Justice by his Death hath born Witness to his High and Glorious Attributes Wisdom Power and Justice c. And hath left such a dreadful Monument of severity in the world as may for ever affright lapsed Sinners from daring God and destroying themselves Thus God is just in not putting up the wrong done to his most glorious Attributes by Sin without either the death of the Sinner according to the Letter or the death of the Surety according to the Equity of the Threatning 2dly As God declareth himself a just God by pardoning upon the accompt of satisfaction so he declares his Justice also in accompting the Sinner Righteous upon the consideration of a positive Righteousness For the better clearing of which point I shall briefly speak of the second accompt viz. Secondly The perfection of the Law And for better understanding of this I shall lay down these following propositions 1. Prop. The first is this The Law which at first God wrote in mans heart and afterward in two Tables of Stone was a Law of a most holy and absolute perfection It must needs be so for if God in his own nature and ends be most Holy his Law also must be so too it being the very Image of Gods Nature and Will So that the Law was a perfect mirrour wherein the perfections of the Divine Nature were made visible and conspicuous 2. Prop. This most perfect Law was given by God for two great Ends sc 1. To be a rule and pattern of Eternal Life and happiness 2. To be a condition of Eternal Life and happiness Do this and Live It was not only a Command but a Covenant with a promise of Eternal happiness upon perfect and perpetual obedience 3. Prop. These two ends being of perpetual necessity the Law it self must needs be so too such an excellent piece of beauty and perfection God never made for an Almanack to continue but for a year yea a day rather or moment of mans Integrity It is hard to conceive that God should intend to null this Law this had been for God to have let go his hold of man and to set up another in the room of it considering the end he aimed at as soon as he had made it A Law of an higher perfection Hoe solum omnipotenter non potuit God could not make and A Law of an inferiour perfection would not serve the turn either Gods's or man's 4. Prop. Although God permitted man to lose the perfection of his nature he never did intend to lose or dispence with the perfection of his own Law Heaven Earth may pass away but one jot or tittle of the Law must not pass away The Righteousness of God's Law like that of his Nature is immutable and everlasting Man being fallen and so by the abuse of his own free will having rendred himself altogether unable to fulfil this holy and perfect Law God sent his only begotten Son into the world not to introduce another Law or another Righteousness but another medium to fulfil and establish the former Rom. 3.31 There was no need of a new Law but of a new Nature to keep and fulfil that which was already in being That Law was abundantly able to justifie but the laps't Nature of man was not able to keep it what defect there was lay in the humane Nature not in the divine Law The Law was weak Rom. 8.3 but how through the flesh If fallen man could have fulfilled the Law the Law as considered in its self and its first institution could have justified him Christ therefore when he comes into the world destroys not that which was perfect but repairs Mat. 9.27 and perfects that which was weak and that he did by taking the humane nature into the same Personality with the divine Nature by a supernatural Conteption in the Womb of the Virgin Gal. 4 4. 6. Prop. Jesus Christ as Mediatour thus born of a Woman was under the Law He that made the Law as God was made under the Law as God-Man whereby both the Obligations of the Law fell upon him Paenal Praeceptive The Paenal Obligation For in the laps'd Estate there we begin to undergoe the Curse and so to satisfie Divine Justice The Praeceptive Obligation to fulfill all Righteousness Math.
then either as it is an Habit or as it is an Act not verily as an Habit for so it falls within the List of Graces and is a branch of Sanctification Nor as it is an Act For so it is a Work and would confound the two Covenants We assert indeed with the current of Scripture Justification by faith but in the sense of the reformed Churches sc Not by vertue of any intrinsic merit in faith but by vertue of the extrinsic object which faith layeth hold on namely Christ the great Sponsor of the New Covenant fulfilling the Righteousness of the Law for Believers Fourthly lastly And least of all can Remission of sin supply the office of the Fac hoc Take it in the utmost extent and latitude that may be sc as including Commissions Omissions Defects or imperfections even to the least want of Conformity to the Law either in 1. Life or 2. Nature Pardon can no more make a man Righteous Anth. Burgess do justificat The Law is not fulfilled by the passive Righteousness of Christ only and therefore pardon alone cannot justifie then it can make a man Learned Remission not being the qualification which the Eternal Law of God calls for Object To which if it be Objected No more is imputed Righteousness The Righteousness which the Law requireth upon pain of Damnation is a perfect obedience and Conformity to the whole Law of God performed by every Son and Daughter of Adam in his own person To this Objection I offer these particulars following by way of Answer 1. Imputed Righteousness is the same materially with that which the Law requireth It is Obedience to the Law of God exactly and punctually perform'd to the very outmost iota and tittle thereof without the least abatement Christ hath paid the uttermost farthing He is the fulfilling of the Law for Righteousness ut suprà 2. Christ's fulfilling or accomplishing of the Law was performed in and by the humane Nature For verily to this purpose Heb. 2.16 Rom. 9.8.14 It is not always necessary the debt be paid by the Principal if it be done by the Surety it is all one as if the Principal had paid it himself Rom. 8.3 Especially if the Creditor gave his consent the Lord Jesus took not upon him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham Because the Children of Promise undertaken for were partakers of flesh and blood He also took part of the same to the intent the Law might be fulfilled in the same Nature to which it was at first given 3. It was expresly done in their names and on their behalf that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us as if our Lord had said This I suffer and this I do to the use and in the stead of my Covenant Seed that they may have a Righteousness which they may truly call their own 4. All was done not without full consent of all parties for 1. As to the Law-giver it was his own free gratuitous motion I will send my Son God seeing how the case stood with poor lapsed man took up a resolution to save some whatsoever it should cost him Well said he I will send my Son 2. God the Father no sooner made the motion Heb. 10.7.9 but the Son echoeth unto it Lo I come Yea observe how quick he is then said I The word was no sooner out of God's mouth but it laid a Law of sweet Compulsion upon Christ's heart his bowels yern'd within him and then said he Lo I come to do thy Will by the which Will we are Sanctified i. e. either the Will of the Father appointing the Son to his Mediatory Office or the Will of the Son accepting it so readily or by both we are Sanctified freed from the evil of sin and accounted Righteous and holy before God And though as we may so say the Lord Jesus ensnared himself by the words of his mouth yet he never repented to this day nor ever sought to be released from this Suretiship but rejoyceth in it as if he were the gainer Psal 16.7 I will bless the Lord who hath given me Counsel He giveth thanks to his Father for imploying him in this Work Hereunto if it be objected that the Lord Jesus Object when the hour of His Sufferings drew nigh did Repent of his Suretyship and in a deep passion prayed to his Father to be released from his Passion Father Math. 26. if it be possible let this Cup pass from me and that three times over ver 39.42.44 We Answer Answ that in those words of our Lord there is a twofold Voyce sc 1. There is Vox Naturae the Voyce of Nature Let this Cup pass from me 2. There is Vox Officii the voyce of his Mediatory Office Nevertheless Not as I will but as thou wilt The first Voyce let this Cup pass intimates the Velleity of the Inferionr part of his Soul the Sensitive part proceeding from a natural abhorrency of death as he was a Creature The later Voyce Nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt expresseth the full and free Consent of his Will complying with the Will of his Father in that grand everlasting Designe of bringing many Sons unto Glory by Making the Captain of their Salvation perfect Heb. 2.10 through sufferings It was an Argument of the truth of Christ His humane Nature that he naturally dreaded a Dissolution Omne appetit Conservationem sui He owed it to Himself as a Creature to desire the Conservation of his Being and He could not become unnatural to himself Phil. 2.8 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh c. But being a Son he learned submission and became obedient to the death even the death of the Cross that Shameful Cruel Cursed death of the Cross The suffering whereof he owed to that solemn Astipulation which from everlasting passed between his Father and Himself 1 Joh. 5.8 As to Christs humane Nature the Cup was Calix ameritudinis the third Person in the Blessed Trinity the Holy Ghost being Witness And therefore though the Cup was the bitterest Cup that ever was given man to drink as wherein there was not Death only but Wrath and Curse yet seeing there was no other way lest of satisfying the Justice of his Father Nor did Bridegroom go with more chearsulness to be Married to his Bride then our Lord Jesus went to his Cross Luk. 12.50 Ratione officij it was Calix Salxtis and of saving Sinners most willingly He took the Cup and having given Thanks as it were in those words The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it He drank it It was Bitter indeed but he found it sweetned with three Ingredients 1. It was but a Cup not a Sea 2. It was his Father that mingled it not the Devil 3. It was a Gift not a Curse as to himself The Cup which my Father giveth me He drank it I say and drank
God they can afford him little ground of Confidence alas hinc illae lachryâ—ae hence his fears and doubts and diffidence do arise His Prayers need Pardon his Tears need washing Job 10. his very Righteousness will Condemn him here is no place for the sole of his foot to stand uponâ— If thou Lord should'st mark iniquity O Lord Psal 30.3 who shall stand Gal. 2.19 This was that which scared Paul from coming to the Law for Justification Why saith he I through the Law am dead to the Law q. d. That I seek not to the Law for Justification and Life The Law may thank it self I come to the Law for Justification and it convinceth me of sin I plead my innocence that I am not so great a Sinner as others are I plead my Righteousness my duties and good meanings and good desires and it tells me They are all too leight the best of my duties will not save me but the least of my sins will damn me It tells me mine own Righteousnesses do Job 9.20.21 as filthy rags defile me and my duties themselves do witness against me I plead Repentance and it laughs me to scorn It tells me my Repentance needs Pardon and my Tears need washing Besides if they were never so good What careth it for my Repentance It looketh for my Obedience perfect and personal which because I have not it tells me I am Cursed and pronounceth Sentence and when it hath so done it hath no mercy at all for me though I seek it carefully with Tears What can I expect from so severe a Judg I l'e come no more at that Tribunal Behold I appeal to the Gospel there Repentance will pass and Tears will find pitty there imperfect obedience so sincere will find acceptance though not to Justification There there is a better Righteousness provided for me an exact perfect Righteousness as perfect as that of the Law for it is indeed the very Righteousness of the Law though not performed by me yet by my Surety for me The Lord my Righteousness I here 's a foundation for the feet of my Faith to stand upon here I can have pardon of all my debts though the Law will not abate me one farthing here be long white Robes though I never spun a thread of them with my own fingers To this Tribunal will I come and here will I wait for my Justification If I Perish I Perish Yea here Obj. may one say is foundation for presumption to stand on here 's a Bed for Security to sleep in here 's a doctrine to send men merrily to Hell while they break the Law to tell them There is one that hath fulfilled it for them while they sin Christ hath Righteousness enough to justifie them Surely this is a doctrine that makes God not only the Justifier of Sinners but the Justifier of sin too So disputed the Free-will men of those times against the Apostles and so the Free-will men of our times against us but for Answer 1. Answ The Apostle disclaims the Consequence with a vehement negation Absit q. d. God forbid any one should be so impudent to force such a scandalous Conclusion upon such immaculate Premises 2. He shews the reason of it and the reason is taken from the New Covenant wherein God hath inseparably joyned the merit of Christs Cross and the power of Christs Cross together in so much that whosoever hath a share in the merit of the Cross for Justification hath also an interest in the power of his Cross for Mortification He instanceth in himself Verse 20. I am Crucified with Christ q. d. While through grace I appeal to the merit of Christ's death for my Justification I can also through grace evidence my appeal to be Scriptural by the power of the Cross whereby the World is Crucified to me and I to the World Gal. 6.14 And as it is with me so it is with all truly justified persons for they that are Christ's have Crucified the flesh with the Lusts and Affections thereof They have Crucified them Gal. 5.24 and they do Crucifie them they are upon the Cross and with their Lord and Redeemer refuse to come down till they can say with him It is finished therefore let the scandal of the Cross and of Justification cease for ever The Sinner's necessity to such a justification in the day of Judgment Phil. 3.6 Inveniri in Christo tacitam habet relationem ad Dei judicium in ijs nullam invenit condemnationem quia justitiá qualem esse requirit i. e. perfectâ ac cumulatâ exornatos nos invenit nempe justitia Christi per sidem nebis imputaâ—a Bern. in loc Secondly The other indispensable necessity the Sinner hath of such a Righteousness to his Justification is For the securing of his Appearance in the day of Judgment The great Apostle who had as fair a shew for a legal Justification as any other in the world protesteth he dares not think of appearing without this positive Righteousness in the last and dreadful Judgment But oh that I may be found in him not having mine own Righteousness which is of the Law In Him in Christ not in my self in his Mediatory Righteousnes not in mine own Personal Righteousnesses away with them they are but filthy Rags rotten Clouts dogs-meat in comparison of Christ's Robes Give me the Righteousness which is of God by Faith of Gods Ordination and of Faith's Application That that the Righteousness of the Law fulfilled by Christ in my behalf and then the Law cannot say black is mine eye I fear it not In that if I appear not I am undone for ever Behold here is the Sinner's necessity of such a Justification Peace of Conscience and Boldness in the day of Judgment I come to the fourth Accompt The Excellency of the Redeemer This way of justifying believing Sinners doth infinitely become the excellency of our glorious Redeemer set forth Heb. 7.26 Such an high Priest became us saith the Apostle who is holy harmless undefiled separate from Sinners made higher than the Heavens Holy By Gods special and immediate Vnction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Consecration of him to his office 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Harmeless He did no sin neither was there guile found in his mouth 1 Pet. 2.22 He that would expiate the guilt of others must have none of his own so expounded Verse 27. Vndefiled Immaculate in respect of his humane Nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well as of the divine without the lest stain or spot of a sinful Nature in him to the same end also he must be Separate from Sinners conceived and born 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not after the Law of other the Sons Daughters of Adam for that which is born of flesh is flesh Made higher than the Heavens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. of an higher Perfection than all created Powers in Heavenly Places whether Angels or
Principalities c. Such an High Priest became us An High Priest of an inferiour perfection would not have done our business for us And as such an High Priest became us so truly such a way of justifying believing Sinners became him namely it was becoming a person of such a transcendent worth and excellency to justifie his Redeemed in the most ample and glorious way c. by working out for them and then investing them with a Righteousness adaequate to the Law of God a Righteousness that should be every way commensurate to the miserable estate of fallen Man and to the holy design of the glorious God It was a becoming thing that the second Adam might restore as good a Righteousness as the first Adam lost that this should justifie as sully as the other did condemn Rom. 5. from verse 15. to the last This is the very designe of that famous Parallel instituted by the Apostle between the two Adams namely to signifie an equality not of number in the persons receiving but of efficacy in the persons deriving and communicating what was their own to either of their Seeds The first Adam to his natural Seed and the second Adam to his Spiritual Seed to the end that Men and Angels might take notice that Jesus Christ the second Adam was not less Powerful to save than the first Adam was to destroy To which purpose it is of great use to observe how exact the Apostle is in setting the specialties of either Adams Legacy one over against the other the wound and the cure the dammage and the reparation Observe the Parallel The first Adam Propagates his Offence Guilt Death vers 15. Condemnation Bondage Slavery Sin ver 19. The second Adam obtains Forgivness for many offences A gift of Righteousness 17. Life vers 18. Justification ibid. Reigning in Life Righteousness Every way the Salve is as Soveraign as the Wound was Mortal the Cure as Vital as the Sickness deadly yea the Apostle winds up with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on the second Adams part and an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold Absolution for Condemnation Righteousness for Sin Reigning for Slavery Life for Death and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eternal Life into the bargain Thus it became our High Priest to justifie his Redeemed The great Apostle cannot pass it by without special notice He is able to save to the uttermost such as come to God through him To the uttermost of what To the uttermost Obligation of the Law preceptive as well as penal to bring in perfect Righteousness as well as perfect Innocence To the uttermost demand of divine Justice perfect Conformity to divine Will as well as perfect Satisfaction to divine Justice Perfection as well as Pardon To the uttermost Indigency and necessity of the lost Creature Qualification as well as Absolution To the uttermost of our High Priest's perfection in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily Oh for such an one to have saved a cheap way to drive the Purchase to as low a price as might be by pardoning their sin and making reparation to divine Justice to satisfie for the wrong which man had done to the Creator and his Law This only with Reverence may we speak it had not become so August a Redeemer as the Son of God was But to set him upon his Legs again to make him as good a man as he was in his Created perfection one way or other such as all the Attributes of God should acquiesce in to put him into a capacity of demanding Eternal life not by gift only but by merit through a Redeemer yet so still as it is the Redeemers merit not Mans not that Christ hath merited that we might merit as the Papists would vainly varnish that proud doctrine of merit no all was done by Him and is Ours only by Imputation Such an High-Priest became us And such a glorious way of saving Sinners became him who was made higher than the Heavens i. e. than all created perfections whatsoever Angels Cherubins or Seraphims or what ever Order else may be possibly conceived This is the Righteousness Non est metuendum ne nimis divites simus in Christo wherewith our Redeemer saveth us and we need not sear to wrap up our selves in this fine Linnen to put on these Robes we need not fear to be made too rich by Christ who when he was Rich became Poor that we through his Poverty might be made Rich. 2 Cor. 8 9. And this Righteousness indeed was made over to the Saints of God by Imputation at the very first moment of their Conversion In this they lived In this they died as Standard-Bearers wrapt up and buried in their Colours And in this they shall arise and appear at that glorious Appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who will then and thus be glorified in all them that believe to the Admiration of all the Elect Angels the extream horror of the Reprobate and the infinite joy and ravishment of the Saints who shall then sing Isa 61.10 I will greatly rejoyce in the Lord my Soul shall be joyful in my God for he hath Clouthed me with the Garments of Salvation he hath covered me with the Robe of Righteousness as a Bridegroom decketh himself with Ornaments and as a Bride adorneth her self with her Jewels Oh how glorious will Christ be in his Saints when they shall all wear one and the same sparkling Livery with Christ and this shall be his Name Jehovah Tzed-kenu Jer. 23.6 The Lord our Righteousness Thus I have done with the Second End I should now immediately come unto the Third save that before we wholly dismiss this point we cannot but take a little notice of the insolency of the Papists in Reproaching and Blaspheming this blessed doctrine of Justification by imputed Righteousness at which though they scoff and laugh at with so much scorn and derision that the Earth is not able to bear their words calling it Spectrum cerebri Lutherani Staplet Putativa imaginaria justitia Bellarm. Amentissima insania Andrad Yet it seems to stand firm and unshaken upon these impregnable Arguments 1. That way whereby the guilt of the first Adam is made ours that way the Righteousness of the second Adam is made ours also Rom. 5.12 cum 15. 2. That way whereby the Redeemer is made a Sinner that way the Redeemed are made Righteous 2 Cor. 5. Vlt. 3. That way wherein Abraham was justified are all Believers justified also Rom. 4. The Father and the Children have all the same Righteousness and it is Communicated to them the same way Vt sup 4. The fulfilling of the Law communicatur eo modo quo communicari potest id quod transit nimirùm per Imputationem as Bellarm. himself confesseth in point of satisfaction 5. The Scripture is clear and express for those two branches as of absolute necessity to Justification scil Pardon Righteousness distinct from
without holiness there is no vision for without holiness no man can see the Lord Heb. 12.14 And holiness doth dispose the Soul for this blessed Vision three wayes First By removing the distance between God and the Creature Secondly By assimilating the Soul to God Thirdly By causing mutual delight and complacency between them First Holiness disposeth the Soul for the seeing of God by taking away that distance which is between God and the Soul Sin is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that great Gulf In this respect sin is Hell which separates between God and the Creature and surely sin sets a vaster distance between the holy God and a sinner than there is between Heaven and Hell yea than there is between God and the Devil that is between God as a Creator and the Devil as he is a creature Until this distance be removed there is no possible access for the Soul to God this partition wall is broken down when holiness is set up and according to the degree of purity is the degree of vision as the Soul passeth from one degree of holiness to another so it passeth from one state and degree of vision to another 2 Cor 3. We all beholding as in a glass c. The purer the glass the brighter the vision Secondly Holiness disposeth for the vision of God by approximation and assimilating the Soul to God Holiness is the very Image of God the divine nature not in a fanatick sense not the divine being Indeed holiness in God is the divine essence but holiness in the Creature is but a gracious quality whereby the Creature resembleth God 1 Pet. 1.15 and is made pure as he is pure holy as he is holy This advanceth the Soul to a nearer vicinity to God whereby it is put into a passive capacity of seeing God passive I say for the formal visive power of seeing God is from the object more than the subject of it scil so far as God is pleased to beam in his glory into the faculty and enableth it to bear it Lumen confortans Schol. holiness only gives the Soul a sutableness to receive in those divine irradiations Thirdly Holiness causeth mutual delight and complacency between God and the Soul all liking is founded in likeness conformity is the fountain of complacency so that until holiness be formed in the Soul neither can God delight in the Soul nor the Soul in God verily without this mutual complacency the vision of God would be penal to the Creature rather than beatifical not much better than that vision which the damned themselves may be conceived to have of God in hell whose vision of God makes full one half of hell at least Oh quam miserum est Deum videre perire they see God and despair this is the Worm that never dyeth they only see what they have lost Christians as ye love Gods face look to your boliness God loveth holiness more than he loveth the Creature saith Arminius and I say so too if we understand it of the holiness that dwelleth in God for that is his essential holiness Exod. 15 11 God himself so loving holiness he loveth himself Gods holiness is his glory glorious in holiness he accounts it the most radiant Jewel in his Crown Royal the very varnish and beauty of all his glorious Attributes for the love he beareth to which he loveth to see the very image and likeness of it in the Creature but he loved the Creature so well in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he did elect the person unto the qualification though not for the qualification God chose the elect Eph. 1.4 not because he foresaw they would be holy but that they might be holy holiness was not the cause but the end of their election Oh love that dear Souls which God loves so much and loveth to see in his Saints who are therefore called Saints from their holiness There is nothing can make you so beautiful in Gods eye as holiness because in your holiness he seeth the reflection of his own beauty Ezek. 16.14 Taliter pigmentatae Dei habebitis Amorem Tert. Thou wast comely through the comeliness which I put upon thee God cannot chuse but love his own likeness where ever he seeth it oh love the Lord all ye his Saints and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness Psal 30.4 Let your hearts leap within you as oft as you think what an holy God you have who if he can but see true holiness in your faces will admit you to see that holiness which is in his face for ever Love holiness I say but be sure it be such an holiness as God loves there is an holiness in the world which is but a thing like holiness but is not so moral righteousness an harmless innocence a sober retiredness from sensual excesses a pretty ingenuity a readiness to do offices of love a negative Religion concerning which you may better tell what it is not than what it is yea there is a thing called holiness in the world that hath not so much as the appearance or shaddow of holiness freedom from grossest impieties and that but partial too not to swear at the highest rate to be soberly drunk and privately unclean Apud vos optimi censentur quos comparatio pessimorum sic facit Arnob. not to be overmuch wicked c. in a word as Arnobius speaks of the Gentiles not to be so bad as the worst is a kind of being good even this Sirs will pass in the world for holiness And lastly there is a superstitious holiness which to the Evangelical holiness is no better than what the Ivy is to the Oak and hath eaten out the very heart of it a Brat which as * Gurnats Christians Compleat Armour p. 2. one saith the Devil hath put to nurse to the Romish Church which hath taken a great deal of pains to bring it up for him and it hath brought in no small revenue as to her self of worldly riches and treasure so to Him of Souls for such holiness is the very road to Hell the followers of Antichrist fill up the greatest part of it But hear our Lord plainly telling you Except your righteousness exceed the best of these ye cannot enter c. Oh Christians get you a copy of grace out of the Scripture-Records those Court-Rolls of Heaven which may be seen and allowed by God and Angels and Saints if ever you desire to see Gods face Holiness of a peculiar strain Titus 2.14 Perfecting holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. 7.1 Holiness to the Lord not an holiness that may approve it self to men only that is easily done but unto God Vnblameable holiness in Gods fight Colos 1.22 His holiness Heb. 12.10 That is An holiness which hath God for its pattern 1 Pet. 1.15 16. An holiness which hath God for its motive 1 Pet. 1.15 16. Be ye holy as God
day of redemption whereby ye are sealed i. e. whose office it is to seal up believers Grieve him not Malitious sins despise the Holy Ghost Heb. 10.29 Wilful sins vex the Spirit Isai 63 10. Obstinate going on in sin resists the Holy Ghost Acts 7.51 Immersing our selves in pleasures and profits of this present world doth quench the Spirit 1 Thess 5.19 But the least sins convinced of grieve the Spirit He is an holy Spirit and therefore sin must needs grieve him sin quâ sin being a pure contrariety to his holy nature Enemies do despise and vex and resist and quench but friends are properly said to grieve and such are the persons to whom the Apostle directs his exhortation friends believers unkindnesses do most properly grieve a friend Oh all you that desire assurance take heed of Vnkindnesses take heed of small sins appearances of sin take heed of neglecting your communion with God in holy duties take heed of bitterness wrath anger be ye kind one towards another Res delicato est Spiritia sanctin tender hearted c. for so it exegetically followeth the Text q. d. by all these the Spirit is grieved It is a tender thing and you may quickly grieve it and if you grieve your Comforter who shall comfort you And if you grieve the holy Spirit who shall sanctifie you And if you grieve the sealing Spirit who shall seal you to the day of redemption Never look for assurance as long as you are not afraid of grieving the Spirit which is the earnest of the inheritance Carnal mens question is May I do this and not be damn'd But a godly mans question is Can I do this and not grieve the Spirit of God Will not Jesus Christ take this unkindly 5. 5. Means Take heed of blotting that evidence Take heed of any thing that may darken your evidences or damp your comforts a small drop of ink or dirt falling upon an Evidence may make it illegible or darken it people make nothing of small sins but small sins do not the least hurt to the soul if it were no more than this small sins will raise up a jealousie between God and the soul great sins will destroy peace little sins will disturb it the least hair casts its shadow and a barly corn laid upon the light of the eye will hinder the sight of the Sun as well as a mountain abstain from all appearance of evil if you desire God should be a God of peace to you 1 Thess 5.22 cum 23. Abstain from all appearance of evil and the God of peace sanctifie you Make much of the least intimations of love and favour from God in prayer hearing or reading meditation 6. Means Make much of the least hint of Divine love at Christs Table or any other of your holy converses with God the least beam or ray of Gods face upon thy soul let it be as life from the dead do as Benhadad's servants 1 Kings 20.33 did to the King of Israel Diligently observe whether any thing will come from him any smile from Christs face any wink of his eye any sweet breath any whisper of peace from his lips such possibly Son be of good cheer thy sins be forgiven thee or the like and hastily catch at it thy Son Lord I am most unworthy to be called so not worthy to be an hired servant but Lord since thou pleasest to deign me so infinite an honour Luke 1.33 Behold the servant of the Lord and be it unto me according to thy word come in thou blessed Lord and take possession of my soul and rule in me according to all the desire of thine heart Object But how shall I know whether such a whisper of peace may be indeed the voice of God or a delusion of Saan Answ For answer briefly 1. Such breathings of God upon the soul do usually carry their own evidence with them if God say I am thy salvation the irradiation carrieth a satisfying light with it the Sun needeth no other luminary to comment upon its own light but its own nor the Spirit of God any other manifestation of its own presence but it self 2. We say though it want no other manifestation it hath other the effects as Christ said of his miracles John 5.36 and impressions of such whispers and breathings upon the soul will witness of them whence they come Springs will rise as high as they fall that which cometh from heaven will carry up the soul to heaven Do therefore such hints and intimations of love and favour endear God to thy soul cause that to say as Psal 103.1 and 116.1 Do they make Evangelical Ordinances publick and private more sweet and delightful to thee To say as Psal 43.4 I will go to God my exceeding joy Do they make thee more active and vigorous for God and for the promoting of the interests of Christs Kingdom in thy place and station Fear not thy God and the God of thy Fathers hath given thee treasure in thy sack That is the answer which in my poor ministry I have used to give to all those who have repaired to me for satisfaction whether their peace and comfort be good Doth your comfort make you more humble more active for God more holy Peace be unto you your comfort is heaven-born comfort and you may christen it Gad for behold a troop cometh Oh be very thankful for the least of such messengers of peace to thy soul and write down such divine testimonies in thy book Habemii dabitur Mat. 25.29 with the year and day of the month that it may never be forgotten be thankful for what thou hast and thou mayst comfortably expect more Be much in duties of mortification 7. Help lye often in sackcloath and ashes before the Lord exercise thy self in frequent acts of Self denial little dost thou know how soon God may put a new song into thy mouth Lord thou hast turned for me my mourning Psal 30.11 thou hast put off my sack-cloth and hast girded me with gladness to the end my glory may sing praise unto thee and not be silent c. Be careful to mortifie corruptions and to crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts Gal. 5.24 A mortified Christian is the fittest vessel to contain the precious liquor of assurance Mortification first purifieth and then dilates the heart and makes it capacious to divine consolations I keep under my body and bring into subjection 2 Cor. 9. ult 2 Cor. 5.1 was his voice that could say We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God c. He filleth the hungry with good things Set others to pray for thee Yet not every one 8. Help who it may be can pray Assurance is not an errand to send every common Christian to the Throne of Grace about Special Favourites are imployed to Princes for special Favours thou canst not pray
more precious than a Ruby and who art thou that thou shouldst refuse Cordials from Heaven made of the blood of Christ Jewels taken out of Gods own Cabinet Away away Christian with Rachels peevishness and Jonas his passion which serve for nothing but to turn sorrow into sin I do well to be angry doth ill become meekness of Christs Spouse say rather I will bear the indignation of the Lord Mic. 7.9 because I have sinned against him What if God hath given thee a bitter potion he comes now to comfort thee he offers thee a sovereign Cordial Oh spill it not upon the ground as a vile thing nor say in thy passion Let God keep his Cordials to himself and so as it were take revenge on God for afflicting thee Oh lay thine hand upon thy mouth yea put thy mouth in the dust that it may not cause thy flesh to sin Thou art a man or woman of sorrows it were thy wisdom as well as thy duty to look out for some spiritual Cordials and not to reject soul refreshment when it is offered say not to thy comforters with the Prophet Isaiah Look away from me Isai 22.4 I will weep bitterly labour not to comfort me and thy case will not bear it He was weeping the Churches tears thou art poring over a private personal trial consider in so doing thou art but preparing new causes of sorrow for thine own soul and when thou hast done sorrowing for thy loss thou wilt begin anew to sorrow for thy sin in so sorrowing Heark soul Ever be with the Lord. Is not there a word that may wipe away all tears from thine eyes even on this side heaven In the next place 8. Branch of Information hence we gather this sad truth scil That there is not a word of comfort belonging to wicked men when they die nor while they live in sin Comfort one another none other but one another not the ungodly they and their parasites may flatter themselves and one another but there is not one word of comfort belonging to them of all those Rivers of pleasures that are at Gods right hand not one drop for a Dives Of all those treasures of glory not one mite for an Esau Indeed pity belongs to wicked men and reproof belongs to them Reprove them rather Ephes 5.11 and counsel belongs to them Let the wicked forsake his wickedness and expostulation belongs to them Why will ye die c. And prayer belongs to them Father forgive them c. But comfort doth not belong to them Consolation is none of their portion in the state wherein they are As there is no peace to the wicked so consequently no comfort for them Indeed a wicked man hath his portion but 't is a dreadful one Psal 11.6 Vpon the wicked shall the Lord rain snares fire and brimstone alluding to the destruction of Sodom this shall be the portion of their cup these fiery ingredients shall be put into their cup after the delicious draughts of sinful pleasures this was Dives his case Luke 16.23 24 c. after his delicate fare the Devils snap dragon draughts of flaming fire was his portion for ever and this is all the comfort that is to be administred to them Isai 3.11 Say thou to the wicked it shall be ill with him They shall be cast into utter darkness with the Devil and his Angels for ever c. These are their words of comfort they are ministers of hell who have any better words of comfort for wicked men while wicked for the Devil would have them dance about the snare till their foot be taken in his gin They that can cry peace peace when there is no peace are the Devils Factors who bring him in the greatest revenues to his Kingdom But alas how shall a wicked man be comforted His death is not a sleep but death indeed Rev. 6.8 death armed with all its horrors death with its sting which is sin death with hell at the heels of it death with the wrath of God and death with the loss of eternal life Indeed a wicked man shall rise again but it is that he may have the more solemn trial and more tremendous sentence from the Judge in the face of heaven and earth and who can comfort him that doth truly represent his condition to him How much then are we concerned to labour to be such as may have comforters in our own death 9. Branch of Information and leave matter of comfort to our surviving friends It is a duty incumbent on us to make our death as comfortable to our selves and our godly friends as may be And how is that done but in a word to get an interest in Christ Scripture evidence of that interest and the Seal of the Spirit to those evidences The death of some persons is exceeding dreadful not only to themselves but to standers by this is the supposed reason of that lamentable ingemination of David Oh my Son Absalom my Son my Son Absalom q. d. Absalom dyed in his rebellion I fear he is fallen into a worse hand than Joabs Oh that my death might have prevented so dreadful a miscarriage Oh Absalom would God I had dyed for thee But alas my brethren it is not freedom from such parricidious villanies no nor all the moral innocence in the world nor civil righteousness in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the altitude of it that can fill a dying Saint with joy or the surviving godly Mourners with comfort whatever blaze unregenerate persons make in the world they go out like a stinking snuffe but a Saint leaves a persume behind him he embalms his own death he leaves every one of his weeping friends a Legacy of hope concerning his eternal state he sets up a lustre in the House of mourning brighter than those were with which Great mens Hearses are watched and in an instant turneth it into a House of rejoycing he is entered into glory and hath left behind him the prints of his feet to guide us thither and being dead yet speaks to us as Christ to Mary Magdalene Why weepest thou The wicked is driven away in his wickedness but the righteous hath hope in his death Prov. 14.32 Study therefore I say an interest in Christ that while you are ravished with the joyes of Heaven you may leave comfort on Earth for your godly Relations Carnal friends are satisfied with a negative holiness for themselves or for their Relations that dye before them to be better than the worst is evidence enough to them of a blessed state or whatever their life hath been put but in a little dead repentance into the premises they will put heaven into the conclusion Oh say they he is happy he is in heaven sure enough But Christians whose eyes have been opened to look into the horror of the bottomless pit out of which free grace hath redeemed the Saints the purity of the Gospel rule and the glory
the wicked 2.73 Of great comfort to the godly 2.75 Judgment-day whether the Saints that are then alive must die literally or analogically only 2.65 Why concealed 2.68 Whether Christ will sit upon a visible throne 2.70 Christ will appear in the same humane nature which he assumed of the Virgin and why 2.71 Christ will appear personally for three reasons 1 The judgment must be personal 2.70 2 A recompence to his abasement 2.71 3 To perfect his mediatory office 2.72 Justification the Saints shall be fully and finally justified at the last day which consists 1 In their publick absolution 2.133 2 In the Judge his pronouncing them perfectly righteous 2.138 God justifieth a sinner in that way wherein he may justifie himself 2.141 It is not by any intrinsick merit in faith but extrinsick object that faith layeth hold on 2.148 It is variously denominated according to its causes 2.153 Legal and evangelical what it is 2.154 Law and Gospel reconciled in the mystery of justification 2.153 K Kindness all kindnesses done to Christ or his members will be owned at the day of judgment 2.129 Knowledge whether the Saints shall know one another with a distinguishing knowledge in heaven affirm 3.8 Knowledge of one another in heaven a great motive to converse one with another on earth 3.11 Whether the knowledge of our elect relations in heaven do not infer a distinct knowledge of our relations in hell and whether that may not be terrible Neg. 3.13 How many wayes we shall have knowledge of God set forth by several steps 3.31 L Law pardon is not the qualification that the Law requireth but perfection 2.139 That which God at first wrote in mans heart and afterwards in two tables of stone was a law of a most holy and absolute perfection 2.143 The law the image of Gods nature and will 2.143 It was given to be 1 A rule and pattern of an holy life 2.144 2 A condition of eternal life ibid. It is of perpetual necessity 2.144 It is not to be dispenced withall 2.144 Christ did not bring in another law but another medium to fulfil the former 2.144 Christ as Mediator was born under the law 2.145 Christ his fulfilling the law was performed in and by the humane nature 2.149 Law and Gospel reconciled in the great mystery of justification 2.153 Likeness we shall be like God in 1 Our understanding 3.78 2 Our will 3.80 3 Our affections 3.80 4 Our memories 5 the whole image 1 The soul 3.81 2 the body 3.82 Loss fear of loosing of heaven would make it worse than hell 3.96 Love of God a great assurance of the eternity of heaven 3.94 A superlative love to Christ an evidence of heaven 3.120 M Marriage of the Lamb consummated at the last day and the solemnity of it 2.162 Marriage its happiness consists in suitableness 3.67 Maityrdom like Elijah 's Charriot 3.139 Means God not tyed to them 3.48 Memory the Saints shall be like God in their memories 3.80 Of the Saints shall be like the ark of the covenant 3.80 Mercy the mercy of God an assurance of heavens eternity 3.92 Ministers must preach nothing but what is warranted by the word 2.67 They may preach with success and yet be cast out 2.171 They must see that the comforts they administer be Gods comforts 3.154 Miscarriage of the image of God in Adam not of improvidence but ordination 3.80 Mistake no mistake of one anothers condition in heaven 3.7 Mixture of Saints and sinners will be here 2.116 Mortification exercise the duties of it 3 130 Motives to assurance 3.111 Mourners are to open their ears and hearts to words of comfort 3.156 Mystery divers mysteries mentioned namely 1 Of the Trinity 2 Of the Incarnation 3 Of Election and Reprobation 4 Of the Creation of the World 5 Of the Resurrection 6 Of all the Arcana Naturae 3.51 We must not pry too much into them 3.55 N Nature the fulfilling of the Law was performed in and by the humane nature 2.149 Negatives cannot fill a dying man with comfort 3.160 O Omnipotence all things are alike to it 2.100 It supports the Saints under their happiness as well as the wicked under their misery 3.90 92 It is omnipotence in God that he cannot sin 3 90 Ordinances a dangerous notion of being above them 3.48 In what sense it is good to live above them ibid. Not to rest in or contented with them 3.49 P Pardon pardon of sin is the privative part of justification 2.133 How sins past present and to come are pardoned in conversion and how not 2.134 Sin fully pardoned at death ibid. It makes sin as if it had never been 2.135 It is not sufficient to capacitate the Saints for glory 2.139 It looks backward Righteousness forward 2.142 It is not the qualification which the Law requireth but perfection 2 139 If God should only pardon and not justifie it would seem to reflect upon 1 Gods Wisdom 2 142 2 Gods â—ll-sufficiency ibid. 3 Gods Veracity and Justice ibid. It maketh not a man righteous 2.148 No pardon at the Judgment-seat 2.169 Perseverance stands not in the nature of grace 1.39 It stands not in the liberty or rectitude of the will though regenerate 1.39 It stands upon 1 Divine compact 140 2 Vnion with Christ ibid. Pleasure sensitive pleasures have only their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3 108 Praâ—se Saints shall be praised for their graces at the last day though wrought in them c. 2.132 Prayer get the faithful to pray for thee and pray for thy self 3.131 Words of prayer are to be joyned with words of comfort 3.165 Presence the Saints shall ever be in the presence of Christ 3.2 Precepts in one place are promises in another 3.112 Pride there is much of pride in refusing comfort 3.157 Promises ought to be studied 3.163 Learn to which of Christs Offices each promise relateth 3.164 Promises in one place are precepts in another 3.112 Refer them to their distinct heads 3.163 They then bring comfort when they are applied by the Spirit 3.164 Propriety to enjoy heaven and to know I do enjoy it is the happiness of happiness 3.71 Punishment shall not be mitigated at the judgment 2.170 Purchase and election are both perfected by the sanctification of the Spirit 2.123 R Recompence Christ his speaking honourably of the Saints in the last day will abundantly recompence the reproaches they have here 2.133 Reconciliation God is first in reconciliation though sinners first in the transgression 2.169 Redeemer he undertook two great works for the redeemed 1. One to make satisfaction for sin 2. The other to yield absolute conformity to the Law of God 2.140 Regeneration Conformity of the Saints to Christ in the Resurrection hath its beginning in it 2.101 111 Relations ours not alone in their death 1.9 When dead they are not lost but sowen 1.19 Though they cease in heaven yet the remembrance of them ceaseth not 3.12 Remembrance the book of Gods remembrance and book of conscience
will agree exactly 2.167 Reproach Reproaches for Christ better than all the applause of the world 3.83 Reprobate the future estate of the reprobate set forth by eternity 3.89 Resurrection three things interest a believer in the triumph of Christ's resurrection 1 Power 1.12 2 Office 1.13 3 Right 1. ibid. Christ arose by his own strength 1.12 As a publick head 1.13 On which account 1 The Saints are said to be risen already 1.14 2 They are assured they shall arise 1.15 Resurrection of Christ why called his youth 1.16 An inseparable connexion between the resurrection of Christ and of the Saints 1 Of merit 1.15 2 Of power and influence 1.16 3 Of design 1.17 4 Of union ibid. Christ is risen as our first fruits 1.19 Resurrection of the Saints stands upon a surer foundation than our faith 1.20 How Christ shall bring the Saints with him at the resurrection 1 Their souls from heaven 1.47 2 Their bodies from the grave and how 1.47 3 Body and soul he shall take up into the clouds and why 1.48 49 4 He shall carry them back with him into heaven 1.50 It shall put believers that are dead into as good a capacity as those that are alive 2.64 Saints that shall then be found alive will be no otherwise capable of it than under the notion of the dead 2.65 The manner of it 2.86 The admirable properties of it 1 Incorruptible 2.89 2 Glorious 2.90 3 Powerful 2.93 4 Spiritual 2.94 Saints shall rise with the same bodies they lye down with 2.87 The body will depend wholly upon the soul 2.95 Our bodies at the resurrection shall he moved by an extrinsic power but shall move themselves by an intrinsic principle 2.107 Why called the Regeneration 2.101 Three consequents of the resurrection 1 The resurrection of the Saints that are dead 2.86 2 The Saints triumphant ascension 2.104 3 The Saints joyful meeting 1 One with another 2.112 2 All with Christ where 1 The persons meeting 2.120 2 The place where 2.124 3 The ends of their meeting 2.126 Christ will welcome the Saints at the resurrection under a threefold relation 1 As the Fathers election 2.121 2 As the purchase of his blood ibid. 3 As the depositum of the Holy Ghost 2.122 Reward is an encouragement to good works e contra 3.91 Riches have wings 3.105 Righteous to be righteous and not guilty are two different capacities 2.139 Righteousness a positive righteousness is required to the justification of a sinner as well as absolution from guilt and punishment which appears on the account 1 Of the justice of God 2.141 2. Of the perfection of the Law 2.143 3 Of the necessity of the sinner 2.154 4 Of the excellency of the Redeemen 2.157 It looks forward pardon backward 2.142 Righteousness imputed to the Saints the first moment of their conversion 2.160 The mediatory righteousness of Christ comes to be a believers as the first Adam 's disobedience came to be his posterities viz. by imputation 2.146 Imputed righteousness the same materially which the Law requireth 2.149 T Sacrament attend often upon the Sacrament of the Lords Supper 3.132 Saints the dignity of them 1.41 They that are alive at Christ his coming shall have no advantage above those that are dead 2.58 They that are dead shall be first remembred at the resurrection 2.60 Those that are alive will be no otherwise capable of the resurrection than under the notion of the dead 2.65 They shall be solemnly espoused to Christ 2.162 They shall be assessors with him at the judgment 2.164 Scripture inference is Scripture 2.67 It concerns us to search the Scriptures 3.163 In reading Scripture make a collection of the Promises 3.163 Secret whatever kindness was shewed to God in secret shall be openly rewarded 2.130 Self-denyal exercise it 3.130 Separation a perfect separation from the society of sinners at the last day 2.117 Sin why sometimes punished here sometimes not 2.78 The Saints sins not remembred at the last day 2.130 And why 2.134 This is no encouragement to sin 2.131 It is fully pardoned at death 2.134 They will appear as they are at the day of judgment 2.168 A vain thing to call any sin small 2.168 The smallest is dangerous 3.128 It sets us at a great distance from heaven 3.41 An universal hatred of it an evidence of heaven 3.120 It is the Devils image 3.120 Sinner the condition of a sinner doth necessarily require an imputed righteousness 1 To settle solid peace in the conscience 2.154 2 To secure his appearance in the day of judgment 2.157 Sinners are mixed with Saints here contra 2.116 They will dread the society of the godly at the last day as much as formerly they hated it 2.117 They were first in transgression but God first in reconciliation 2.169 Sleep Death but a sleep 1.2 Death resembled to sleep in two respects 1.3 Socinians deceived in saying we shall not have real but aerial bodies at the resurrection 2.96 Sorrow there is a sorrow for departed friends which God condemns not 3.144 Souls all of one size 2.94 Not everlasting a parte ante and why 3.86 Spirit the Spirit of Christ the fountain of efficacy but the blood of Christ the fountain of merit 2.122 Spirit of God hath a twofold office about attaining assurance 3.123 Be tender of it 3.127 None but friends can properly be said to grieve the Spirit 3.128 Sufferings of the Saints will be owned at the resurrection 2.129 T Tears of the Saints are bottled 2.128 Terror it will be horrible terror to the wicked to see the Saints sit in judgment with Christ 2.164 Time no farther time will be granted at the great Assize 2.171 Transgression Sinners were first in transgression but God first in reconciliation 2.169 Translate no translating of sin upon others at the great day 2.168 Tribunal there will be no appeal from the great Tribunal 2.169 Trinity the external works of it are undivided 1.46 The order of their work 1.46 Trumpet one end of the Feast of Trumpets might be to put them in mind of the last day 2.114 Last Trump will not be only audible but articulate 2.115 V Vision six things shall be the object of the Saints Vision 1 The seat of blessed souls 3.3 2 The glorified Saints 3.4 3 The elect Angels 3.15 4 The glorified body of Christ 3.26 5 God in the divine Essence 3.18 6 All things in God 3.42 Of glorified Saints will be wonderful glorious 3.4 We shall not have an intuitive Vision of the divine Essence 3.27 How far we shall have a Vision of the divine Essence 3.30 Of God in Scriture is twofold 1 In Grace 3.40 2 In Glory ibid. How these agree and how they differ 3.46 Unbelief the spring of all our misery 1.21 Understanding the glorified understanding shall have a sixfold perfection 1 Spirituality 3.36 2 Clarity 3.37 3 Capacity 3.38 4. Sanctity ibid. 5 Strength 3.39 6 Fixedness ibid. Our understandings will be like unto God in heaven 3.78 Union