Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n
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A42685
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The nature of justification opened in a sermon on Romans V. 1. By Mr. Gibbons, sometime preacher at Black-Fryers, London.
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Gibbon, John, 1629-1718.
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1695
(1695)
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Wing G651; ESTC R216248
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24,547
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32
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have satisfied God's injur'd Law for our past breach the Law would still have come upon us for future exact Conformity to pay the residue of that Eternal Debt and its Language would be Sin no more lest a worse thing befall thee as a Fellon though burnt in the Hand is yet bound to live honestly for the future at his Peril Now the New Covenant of Grace relieves us as to both these Cases and dispenses with the Rigour of the Law As to the first It comforts us with the good News That the Son of God hath satisfied his Father's Justice and if we believe but in him God will accept of us as if we had satisfied in our own Persons The case the Law leaves us in is well-expressed Isa 33.14 and Heb. 10.51 But the relief the Gospel brings us in St. Paul's Language Rom. 8.33 34. You have both together excellently Ezek. 33.10 11. As to the second Obligation the New Covenant dispenseth with the Rigor of that too for woe to a justified and pardoned Person if he must lose all again upon the least defailance therefore the Gospel proclaims pardon of Sin upon Repentance and acceptance of sincere Endeavours to obey him God's Language now is Sinners be but in good earnest do but love me heartily and my Ways let me but see a Child-like Ingenuity in you and I will put down your upright though imperfect Performances in the Book of my Remembrance Mal. 3.16 and blot out your Transgressions when repented of out of the Book of my Remembrance Mandata Dei tanquam facta reputantur quando quicquid non fit ignoscitur Thus doth the Candor of the Gospel dispence with the Rigor of the Law God deals not with us as an Aegpptian Task-master but as a Father with his Children whom he loves Christ's yoke is easie his burthen light Object 2. If any doubt how it stands with God's Veracity and Immutability having once declared that the Soul that sinneth shall die to contradict it by declaring that He that believeth shall never die but have Eternal Life John 11.26 I answer We must look upon Threatnings as a part of the Law declaring the dueness of the Punishment what the Offender hath deserved to suffer not as Predictions of the Event any more than Thou shalt and Thou shalt not in the Command are Predictions but only are expressive of the dueness of Obedience Nor will it hence follow that we have the least cause once to suspect that God may if he please to revoke his Promises as well as his Threatnings and then what would become of us for there is a wide difference in their essential Natures and Properties In a Promise the Obligation lies upon the Party promising he hath past away his own Liberty and the thing is now no longer his but the others who may if he please release and quit-claim to his Pretensions he may dispense with and surrender his own Right but if he claim his Right to and Interest in the Benefit by vertue of the Promise it cannot be detained without notorious Wrong and Injury which God forbid we should charge him with for he were not God if he were not infinitely true and faithful How should he else judge the world But now the Obligation unto Punishment lies contraily upon the Sinner threatned he hath past away his own Indemnity and given God the right of punishing him I say the Right not the Necessity if God will claim this Right he may but if he please he may dispense with it It is no Injury if he punisheth yet no Obligation lies upon him but his own Honour And that indeed obligeth him not never to dispense with his Law but never to dispense with it upon a light Cause or upon Terms misbecoming his Glorious Attributes And the Dispensation we now speak of is an honourable one for 1. There are weighty Inducements moving God hereunto If he had not dispensed with the rigour of it First He had lost the opportunity of the highest possible way of glorifying his own Goodness which now so infinitely endears him to the World and lays such Obligations on us to admire and adore him Secondly As all Israel lamented over Benjamin Judg. 21.6 that a Tribe was lost so the Creation would have mist a Tribe which is the reason some Divines have given why Christ took not on him the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham because only some of the Angelical Tribe lost their Birth-right only some kept not their first estate but man being in honour continued not but became like the Beast that perisheth Thirdly All Religion had been extinguish'd and frozen by Despair unavoidably if there had been no Hope the Fear of God his Worship and Service had for ever utterly perish'd from off the Earth But now his Name is excellent in all the earth even that Name proclaimed to Moses Exod. 34.6 The Lord is known in Judah and his Name is great in Israel Psal 79.1 2. As the Causes inducing are weighty so the Terms on which he dispenseth with his Law are as honourable which was our third Query propounded in the opening the Point For since Christ Redeemed us not by way of Solution strictly as a Surety paying the Debtor's proper Debt to the Creditor but by way of Satisfaction as a Mediator and Intercessor offering a valuable Consideration to the offended Judge of the World in lieu of the Laws executing the Penalty threatned upon the Sinner It necessarily follows that no Right at all in the Benefits of this Satisfaction can accrue to the Delinquent but upon such Terms precisely as the offended Party and the Mediator that satisfieth him shall agree unto and upon mutual Treaty and Com-promise joyntly ratifie so that Justification by way of Satisfaction provides not only the Sinner's Indemnity but in such a manner as also to consult the Interests and Honour both of the Party satisfying and satisfied and this latter is the rule and measure of exhibiting the former and of making over the Satisfaction for discharge of the Offender Query 3. What are the Terms therefore upon which both God and Christ have agreed to justifie Sinners I answer First Faith which is a hearty receiving Christ as he is tendred by the Gospel and here the Soul quits all Pretensions of being justified by any Righteousness of its own and rolls it self upon the Lord its Righteousness and therefore hath Faith the honour to be the justifying Grace because it so highly honoureth Christ it is the Nuptial Knot whereby the Soul joyns it self to its Lord-Redeemer in an everlasting Marriage-Covenant it denies it self and forsakes all its other Lovers and clasps about its Lord and Husband as it 's all in all Look what a Wife doth in a Marriage-Covenant to her Husband that doth a Soul in believing unto Christ it saith unto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou art my Husband Hos 2.16 And he saith unto his Spouse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you are
Justifying grace that are on record in the Scripture What hath been done may be done again Nay will be done again in the case we speak of by the God that changeth not God hath pardoned as great Sinners see Ephraims case Jer. 31.18 see the Corinthians example 1 Cor. 6.10 11. see Pauls 1 Tim. 1.13 Whoever goes and doth likewise shall receive likewise for Christ is yesterday and to day and the same for ever Fifthly Consider it is the very design of God in giving his Son and of Christ in giving himself to die for us to Justifie such as thou art Isa 16.1 Luk. 4.19 20. Jer. 3.12 1. John 5.9 Use 4. Exhort First To the Unconverted Use 4. Exhort Let me then beseech Sinners not to love Death Why should iniquity be your ruin There is Balm in Gilead there is a Physician there Why are ye unwilling to be healed Turn ye Turn ye why will ye die Would it be a hard matter to perswade a Condemned Person to be willing not to be Executed were he not distracted If having a pardon offered upon the easie Terms of confessing his fault and serious promising Amendment he should bid the Prince keep his Pardon to himself for his part he was in love with his Chains he would not be Released he would die Thou art the man whoever thou art that neglectest Gospel-grace what Fury and Raging madness is it that thou art Guilty of Thy Soul with all its Eternal interests lies at Stake and as if it were neither here nor there what became of thee for ever thou despisest the riches of Gods forbearance after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath Rom. 2.4 5. Is it well done of thee Sinner is this thy kindness to thy own Soul is this thy thanks to thy Redeemer How inexcusable art thou thy self being Judge thou can'st not answer it to thy Conscience to thy God with the least Colour or Shadow of a reason God sends his Gospel Proclaiming Repent ye and be converted that your sins may be blottted out Acts 3.19 His Ministers Proclaiming We then are Embassadours of Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled unto God 2 Cor. 5. Why dost thou hate thy Soul and say I will not why wilt thou not Is it because it doth not concern thee or because Eternal Life and Death are trifles small little things not worth thy considering or doth any body hinder thee No no our Saviour gives the true account Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life Let me intreat this small request of thee for Gods sake for thine own take the next opportunity and spend half an hour alone let thy Spirit accomplish a diligent search pursue this inquiry to some Issue am I Justified or no if not what will become of me if it should happen sometimes such things fall out that I should die now presently I cannot promise my self that I shall see to morrow morning Thus go on and bring it to something before thou leavest give not over till thou art not only clearly convinced of but heartily affected with thy Guilt not only to see but seel thy self to be the Man who art undone without an Interest in this Justification Be in good earnest thou canst not mock thy God and is there any Wisdom in mocking and cheating thy own Soul What thou do'st do it heartily as unto the Lord as for thy life as one that would not rue thy self-deceiving folly when it cannot be recalled and if thou art hearty and serious in these Reflections 1. Thou wilt deeply humble thy self before the Majesty of the Judge of all the Earth with that self-abhorrence and Confusion that becomes one who feels himself even himself being Judge most righteously condemned 2. Thou wilt Sollicite and Assail the Throne of Grace with all redoubled favours and Holy Passionate Importunities of Prayer and Supplication giving God no rest till he hath given thee his Spirit according to his own promise Luke 11.13 Ezek. 36.26 27. To help thee to perform the conditions of the Gospel Covenant plead his own promise with him Wrestle with him for a broken and clean Heart for Faith for Repentance unto Life for these are not of thy self they are the Gift of God let him not go till he hath Blessed thee with these Blessings in Christ Jesus This will confound every Sinner at the day of Judgement that when he might have had grace yea the Spirit of Grace for asking he either asked not or if he did it was so coldly as if he were contented enough to go without Now if thou art in good earnest God is I assure thee in full as good earnest as thou he is ready to meet thee try but once whether it be in vain to seek him all that ever tried found it good to draw near to God and found him easie to be entreated he useth not to send the Hungry empty away He that commands us to work out our Salvation with fear and trembling he it is that worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure Phil. 2.12 13. Secondly To them that are the Children of God by faith in Christ Jesus Let me beseech them 1. To walk Worthy of God who hath called them to his Kingdom and Glory to adorn their Holy Profession take the Exhortation in Pauls words Col. 2.6 As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him Receive not this Grace of God in vain the interest of your comfort obligeth you hereunto hereby you will know that you know him that you are in Christ Jesus that there is no condemnation to you if you walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8.1 and herein will your Father be glorified if ye bring forth much fruit Joh. 15.6 2. To live up to the Comforts of their State 1 Joh. 3.1 you are already the Sons of God it doth not yet appear what you shall be who shall lay any thing to your charge it is God that Justifies who is he that condemns it is Christ that died c. Rom. 8.33 Go eat thy Bread with joy and put on thy white raiment God now hath accepted thy works Eccles 9.7 8. I conclude this particular and the whole Discourse with the happy effects and proofs of Jufication which every believer hath as good a Right and Title to as the Gospel it self the Word of the God of Truth can give him as I find by those sweet Effects and Consequences set down in my Text and the words next following it 1. Therefore being Justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ 2. By whom also we have accesse by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoyce in hope of the Glory of God 3. And not only so but we glory in tribulations also knowing that tribulation worketh patience 4. And patience experience and experience hope 5. And hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us wherefore the righteous shall be glad in the Lord and all the upright in heart shall glory Psal 64.10 FINIS