by the Apostle Paul and that without a Figure the Blood of God Act. 20.28 i. e. which the Sonne of God shed in that Humane Nature which he had united unto himself Who is there then that will not think such Blood sufficient Ransome For as the Apostle argues excellently Heb. 9.13 If the Blood of Bulls and Goats sanctifies to the purifying of the Flesh How much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the Eternall Spirit offered himself up to God purge our Conscience from Dead Works i. e. Cleanse our Souls both from the Leprosie and Guilt of Sinne So that to eek out this Sacrifice by mingling with it any Vain Oblations of our own is nothing else but to lessen its value as they who light up their Candles at noon-day doe onely Affront and Prejudice the splendour of the Sunne When such a Price is already paid for any to appear Nice and Dainty to cry out they are not Humbled not Sorrowfull not Thankfull Enough and therefore neglect to make use of it this is nothing else but either Peevishly to refuse offered Comfort or else Proudly to think we are able by our delay to make our selves worthy of it Reason 3 Thirdly The last Argument may be taken from the Impossibility there is that we should be able to perform any thing acceptably unto God till we are come within the Terms of the Covenant Then are we within the Covenant on Gods part when we have accepted it on ours but till then we are under the Law all our Works are Legall Works and our Repentance it self is to be repented of as being infinitely short of that Perfection which the Law requires Besides upon supposition that such a measure of Humiliation Sorrow Contrition or other such like Acts were prerequired to capacitate and make us fit for the receiving of our Pardon what infinite disquiets must this needs beget in every Sinner that is now upon the point of his Conversion for who shall be able to fix a just Proportion or assuredly tell him that he hath grieved and mourned enough since there can be no Proportion between our Sinne and our Sorrow and likewise our Bodies may be wasted with Grief and our Eyes fail us with weeping and yet all our Fears prove onely an Idle and a Fruitless Expence as Cains and Judas did There can be therefore no better or more warrantable Advice be given unto a poor lamenting Creature than to bid him leave off his Works and throw himself immediately into the Arms of Mercy since who so rests upon his own Endeavours labours in the very Fire and undertakes a Task beyond his manage in thinking to Fit himself for Mercy whereas it must be Mercy already in some measure apprehended which must qualifie and fit us for the receiving more Object 1 Against this it may be objected That the Promise in the Gospell runs Mar. 16. He that believeth shall be saved and the Command by the Apostle is Acts 3 19. Repent that your sinnes may be blotted out From whence it may be gathered that Faith and Repentance are required as Conditions to Remission and that Pardon of Sinne is not so Absolute on Gods part but that still something must be done on ours to qualifie us for the receiving it But I answer Answ 1. For Repentance that is no distinct and separate condition of it self because it alwayes follows Faith and can no more be severed from it than Motion from Life whence it is that the Apostles doe promiscuously use one for the other as Peter to those who were wrought on by his Sermon and came to him for Direction he bids them Repent Acts 2.37 but Paul to the Jaylor who was in the same case he commands him to Believe and our Saviour joyns them both together in that Epitome of his first Sermon Repent and believe the Gospell Mar. 1.13 thereby intimating that one could not be without the other Therefore 2. Though Faith be required as a Condition to the receiving of Christ and Pardon by him yet it is such a Condition as takes nothing at all from the Freeness of Gods Gift no more than Emptying the Hand and taking an Almes doth lessen his Bounty that bestowes it For Faith is nothing else but a Naked Hand and hath no influence at all upon Gods Gift to make it more or less Free but all its influence is downwards by applying and appropriating of that Gift to make it Ours And therefore in Scripture-language to Believe in Christ and to Receive Him is the same thing As John speaks Joh. 1.12 As many as received him to them he gave power to become the sonnes of God even to as many as believe on his Name As a Medicine may be given gratis by a Physician he may ask nothing for it yet except the sick-man take it it will not cure him So God offers Christ and Mercy freely but unless we Believe i. e. Receive him he will not profit us And in this and no other sense is Faith a Condition But 3. Even in this signification as Faith signifies not a power of Acting but meerly a power of Accepting yet so it is a Condition onely of Gods bestowing and not of Mans procuring Thus our Saviour Joh. 6.44 vers 35. None can come unto me i. e. believe on me as he there explains except the Father which hath sent me draw him And again He that hath heard and learned of the Father he cometh unto me so No man can come unto me vers 45. except it were given to him of my Father All which places show that Faith which is a coming to Christ vers 64. is not wrought in any but peculiar Power and Influence of God And accordingly the Apostle Paul By Grace saith he are ye saved Ephes 2.8 through Faith and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God i. e. That Faith by which ye are enabled to receive Christ is as much the Gift of God as Christ himself who is received by it Therefore he prayes that they may be strengthened by the Spirit of God c. 3.16 17. in the Inner Man that so Christ might dwell in their Hearts by Faith intimating that without such Supernaturall Assistance they neither could nor would Believe Object 2 Against this it may be objected again If God alone gives Faith why then are we commanded to Believe and to Repent for this presupposes a Power in the Creature to Obey or else the Command would be in vain Answ I answer That Gods command doth not alwayes presuppose a Power already existing in the Creature but being a Word from God it gives that Power which was not there before As when God said Let there be Light there was no activity in that Dark Chaos sufficient of it self to produce it but God by his Word at the same time created what he did command To which Action of Gods the Apostle compares his
Liberality of the Invitation There is no condition so sad but there is some word of Invitation or other which particularly concerns that condition Prov. 9.4 5. Isa 55.1 Mat. 11.29 Rev. 22.17 The Foolish and simple in Proverbs The Hungry and Thirsty in Isay The Weary and Heavy-laden in Matthew and which is beyond all Whoever will in the Revelations Whoever will let him come and drink of the Water of Life freely There cannot be any thing more free and more inviting than this that whoever will may be sure of Well-come I doe not say that any Man hath this will of or from himself but this I say that he who hath a Will hath a Warrant and may boldly come to Christ and claim the benefit of his Promise Especially since Justification dependeth not at all upon our Working but upon our Willing as the Apostle hath it to him that worketh not that is that bringeth no meritorious works along with him but believeth on him that justifies the Ungodly his Faith is counted for Righteousness Lastly Consider the Tender and the Compassionate Nature of Christ how he never refused any that came unto him And therefore Lepers the Blind and Lame Publicans and Sinners had on earth most both of his Presence and Power The same Promises which brought them he hath left to encourage us when he sayes Every one that my Father giveth me will come unto me and He that cometh to me Joh. 6.37 I will in no wise cast out He that saith of himself He came not onely to save but likewise to seek that which was lost will not be harsh to any who are now upon the point of returning to him Hence we read that Peter who denied Paul who persecuted the three thousand in the Acts who crucified him were all upon their Repentance received by him Our Saviour hath the same Bowels still and though he hath changed his Place yet he hath not changed his Nature Heb. 4.15 16. Wherefore in the Apostles words since we have not an High-Priest which cannot be touched with our infirmities Let us come with boldness unto the Throne of Grace that we may obtain Mercy and find Grace to help in a time of Need. And so much for the first Point Doct. 2 The second Point to be handled was this That Nothing is more effectuall to mortifie the power of In-dwelling Sinne than to consider how Free and Absolute Gods Grace is in pardoning it By Free here that I may repeat what I mentioned a little before I doe not mean Free as excluding Christ in consideration of whom God is thus Free to Pardon as the expressions run 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself And Rom. 3.24 We are justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus And In whom i. e. in Christ we have redemption through his Blood the forgiveness of Sinnes according to the Riches of his Grace But I mean Free as excluding our selves or any thing we can doe either as a Cause procuring or as a Condition qualifying us for receiving this Grace In this sense that the Freeness of Gods Grace is the best way to mortifie the Power of In-dwelling Sinne will appear 1. From Instances 2. From Reason 1. For Instances here is one occurres in the Text How shall we i. e. Believers who are dead to Sinne live any longer therein i. e. In us this Doctrine being rightly understood hath wrought to the killing of Sinne since we now learn how much we are indebted to Christ and therefore something must be done to express our Thankfullness which he prosecutes throughout the following Chapter and uses an Argument to draw them off from sinning which at first sight may seem Harsh and Inconsequent but indeed is most demonstrably efficacious Ye shall not sinne or sinne shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the Law which like Pharaohs Task-masters requires the whole tale of Brick and allows no straw but ye are under Grace ye now stand in those termes with God that he gives strength and accepts of what you doe in proportion to that Ability which he bestows and for this Reason Sinne shall not have dominion over you So again the Apostle in his Epistle to the Galatians handling the same subject he layes down this Position Gal. 2.16 That a man is not justified by the Works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ Against which he brings an Objection But if saith he while we seek to be justified by Jesus Christ we our selves also are found sinners is therefore Christ the Minister of sinne i. e. If we who profess to be justified by Christ alone doe notwithstanding sinne daily will it not thence follow that this Doctrine makes men careless as if thereby they might take occasion to sinne more freely To this the Apostle answers as he doth here first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Farre be it and then he urgeth to the contrary his own example I am crucified together with Christ Gal. 6.14 and in another place Farre be it that I should glory in any thing save in the Cross of Christ by which the World is crucified unto me and I unto the World And what he affirms of himself we find him in another place ascribing unto all Believers of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They who are Christs Gal. 5.24 i. e. who by Faith have received and are united to him have crucified the Flesh i. e. their corrupt and sinfull Nature with the Affections and Lusts i. e. have rooted up as it were the very Fibres and lesser particles by which sinne was fastned and incorporated into them And the Reason of this is clear Reason Because He who is once truly in Christ i. e. who hath rightly apprehended him forthwith becomes a New creature as the Apostle argues Christ saith he 2 Cor. 5.15 17 died for All i. e. Believers that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them From whence he inferres Therefore if any man be in Christ be is a New Creature i. e. he is altogether another kind of person than he was before What the meaning of those words New Creature are will best appear by comparing two places of Scripture together In one place it is Gal. 6.15 In Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision but a New Creature which in another place runs In Jesus Christ Gal. 5.6 neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Uncircumcision but Faith which worketh by Love From whence it appears that in the Apostles sense to be a New Creature is nothing else but to have a Faith working by Love which our old Nature is no more capable of than Darkness is of Light but as soon as ever the Spirit of God begets Faith in the Heart of any that Faith presently produceth Love as Fire begets Heat and then Love enflames and
abounded there Grace or the Gift of Life by Christ did much more abound The word in the Originall signifies something more than enough something 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that was above and beyond what was sufficient to Antidote and to Expell the Contagion of Adams sinne Just as if a Man should let in a Sea to cleanse a sink so abundant was the Overflow of Christs Righteousnesse for the Purifying of those Natures which Adams sinne had infected Object 3 The third and last Objection is conteined in the Text and the sense of it amounts to this Some may say If the Merit of Christs Death doth so infinitely transcend the Demerit of Adams Sinne as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports then will it not follow from hence that the Gospell will be a Rule of Strictness and Severity of Life no longer but rather set open a door to all manner of Impiety since this Conclusion may easily be drawn Since Gods Goodness is so Free as well as full since Christ in the most proper acception did die for Sinners will it not follow the greater Sinners we are the more acceptable we shall be to Christ and the more Offences we commit the better will his Goodness in pardoning them appear As to run upon the Score is the best way to set out and to adorn a Creditors Munificence Come on then will wicked men say Let us sinne that Grace may abound Answ To this Odious and Unworthy Inference which yet so corrupt and disingenuous it our Nature most men are ready not onely to Reason but to Live by the Apostle returns a double Answer 1. In a Phrase of Abhorrency 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He seems as it were to start and to blush at the bare mention of such a supposall and therefore hastily cries out Farre be it that any should be such a Wretch as to make Rich and Undeserved Mercy a Motive of his Contumacy that any should therefore presume to Offend because God is Willing to Pardon that any should therefore spurn their Heavenly Father on the Bowels because they are Tender and Yearn toward them This doth not use to be our manner of dealing with Men and therefore Farre be it that any should thus deal with God 2. He answers by instancing in the Life of Himself and those Believing Romanes to whom he writes As if he had said Farre be it that any should make such Impious Conclusions from so Holy and so Gracious Premises that any should presume to Poison themselves because there is an Antidote so neer them If any doe so it is their own Fault for we have experimentally found this Doctrine of Free-Grace to have had a clean contrary Effect and Operation upon us and instead of Exciting us to Sinne even to cut up and root out in us not onely the Acts but even the Habit of Sinfullness How then saith he shall we that are dead to sinne live any longer therein Which being the Full scope and Design of the Apostles whole Discourse it affords us this usefull Observation That the best and most effectuall way to mortifie the Power of In-dwelling sinne is to consider how free how Absolute how Unconditionall Gods Grace is in pardoning it Before I proceed to handle this I must needs take notice of the Objection and from thence observe Doct. 1 That Corrupt and Curious Wits doe usually draw pernicious and destructive consequences from the most Precious and soul-saving Truths For Instance What Doctrine can be more Winning to a Desperate or more comfortable to a Despairing Sinner than to hear that Christ hath already fully satisfied for Sinne that God is willing to be reconciled that notwithstanding his Greatness he even woes us to be at Peace with him and in token of his Readiness he offers us Peace and Pardon unclogged with any Condition he requires nothing but Faith i. e. a Naked and an Empty hand to take what he is willing in Bounty to bestow Yet the Disputer in my Text labours to make this Sweet appear to be very Unsound Doctrine and would fright men from embracing their Cordiall lest by accident it should heighten and encrease their Distemper Thus it hath fared with all the Abstruse and most Mysterious Points of our Religion the Incarnation of the eternall Sonne of God the Resurrection of the Body the Assistance of the Holy Spirit in the Hearts of Believers have been all attaqued and set upon by mens Irregular Fancies and each Age hath produced some Sect or other who have made themselves Famous by direct opposition unto those forementioned Truths But to omit them I shall content my self with those Instances which the Apostle makes in this Epistle Chap. 3 He layes down this Conclusion That God in the Wisdome of his Providence so orders and manages all Events as that out of Evill he doth extract Good and makes even our Unrighteousness vers 5. to set off and to illustrate his Righteousness From whence one presently inferres then is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance i. e. who punisheth men for that which at last doth redound to the Advantage of his Glory and then goes on Let us doe Evill that good may come of it i. e. Let us Sinne that Gods Glory may be promoted Which Impious Deduction whereby Gods Providence is made to countermand his Precepts the Apostle confutes in that sharp Expression Whose Damnation is Just i. e. such who will not actively Glorifie God by their Obedience unto his Revealed Will God will get himself Glory of them by Punishing their Disobedience Again in that Great Business of Gods Absolute and Unconditionall Electing of some unto Eternall Life Rom. 9. the Apostle instanceth in the Examples of Jacob and Esau who when as yet neither of them had done Good or Evill yet one was preferred before the other or which the Apostle gives no other reason but this That the Purpose of God according to Election might stand not of Works but of him that calleth Against which Unmerited and Irrespective choice vers 14. there is One in that place objects Is there not then Unrighteousness with God i. e. Is not God Partiall and Unequall in his determinations concerning Man thus to chuse and preferre one before another when as by Nature All are Equall To this he answers by alleaging God's Soveraignty vers 15. who in the case of Pharaoh affirms of Himself I will have Mercy on whom I will have Mercy and the Apostle inferres from thence and whom he will he hardens i. e. he showes no Mercy to but leaves them in their Naturall Hardness and Impenitency And when the Objector is not satisfied with this but cries out Why doth he then find fault i. e. why doth he reprove and seem Angry against sinne and sinners for who hath resisted his Will The Apostle then in stead of answering any further asks a Question which the Bold Disputers of our times will never answer and that is Who art
bringing any to the Knowledg of Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 God saith he that commanded Light to shine out of Darkness hath shone into our Hearts to give unto us the Knowledg of his Glory in the Face of Christ So in the New Testament when our Saviour commanded the Sea to be still the Blind to See the Dead to Rise c. there was no Ability in those Creature to Obey his Commands but his Command going out with Divine Authority gave unto them Power so when the Ministers of the Gospell command Sinners to Believe and to Repent the word goes out in the Name and in the Strength of God and whereever it is effectuall it conveighs that Power which was not there before And this is it which makes Preaching necessary unto the worlds end because the Spirit of God doth cooperate with it as the Apostle hath it when he commands a Minister to be Meek and ready to Teach even those that set themselves to oppose the Truth if saith he 2 Tim. 2.24 peradventure God will give them Repentance We Preach to and Pray for Sinners onely with a Peradventure perhaps God may work some good by us but if God doth not work our Words cannot and the Sinner himself will not Vse This may serve to teach all those who begin to be troubled for their past Sinnes which way they must take to arrive unto Comfort and satisfaction There are some Ignorant and Unskilfull Physicians of the Soul who prescribe Fasting Pennance Uneasie Postures of Prayer and the like which are at the best but Bodily exercise 1 Tim. 4. which Profits little because it reacheth not to the Core of Sinne that lies within Such kind of Methods as these doe onely prune and lop the Branches of Corruption but leave the Root entire Men may in a needless Rigour starve their Bodies and all the while doe nothing else but feed their Pride My advice rather is to a disconsolate Sinner that he would presently lay hold upon his Pardon And my grounds for this Advice are these two Motive 1 1. Nothing doth more engage us in a Wilfull and Deliberate Course of Sinning than Despair of Pardon When once Cain cries out Gen. 4. that his Sinne was greater than could be forgiven the next News we hear of him is That he went out from the Presence of the Lord. Thus when God summoned the People by his Prophet Jeremy Jer. 18.12 to return from the Evill of their Wayes he brings them in saying There is no Hope and then it presently follows but we will walk in the Imagination of our own Hearts The Apostle Peter therefore exhorting those to whom he writes to make a Progress in Holiness by adding one Grace to another But he saith he who wants these things is blind 2 Pet. 1.9 forgetting that he was cleansed from his old sinnes thereby intimating that as Presumption begets Confidence so Despair begets Carelesness in Sinning As we read of some who have died for fear of Death so is it in this case when men dare so much wrong Gods goodness as to imagin that he will not make good his Promise to them though it runs Indefinitely they runne so farre in Sinne till at last they dare not think of Returning which seems to have been Davids case when he cries out Innumerable Evils have compassed me about mine Iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up they are more than the hairs of my head therefore my heart faileth me While he stayed and forbore to pass the Ford which Mercy had shallowed for him his Sinnes like a Torrent began to overwhelme him with horror and amazement Motive 2 2. Pardon of Sinne for the time past and Power against Sinne for the time to come goe both together As when a Judge doth free a Prisoner at the same time he gives him Liberty he knocks off his Chains so when God intends to doe good unto a Sinner he never severs his Gifts but compleats the work of his Redemption by Purifying and strengthening Grace at the same time As he speaks by the Prophet Ezek. 36. I will sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean then he presently adds A new heart also will I give you and I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my wayes and you shall keep my Judgments and doe them And the reason of this is clear because when a Sinner hath once received his Pardon he may boldly goe to God and Christ and by Prayer engage their Power in his behalf but till then he is not able to doe any thing he cannot pray in Faith because he hath no Assurance that he shall be heard he cannot act in Faith because he hath no Promise that he shall be assisted but when once he hath taken what God offers he hath a certainty of both But some may object That were their Sinnes less Object then there was some Hope but their Sinnes have been so many and so strangely aggravated that they must needs sit down under the sorrow as being in an hopeless condition For answer I wish all those who make this Objection Answ as indeed none ever thinks of returning to God but he meets with this Lion in his way would seriously ask whether they find themselves as Willing to forsake their Sinnes as they pretend to be sorry for them And if they doe then let them consider these three things 1. The Latitude and Extent of Christs Death I doe not mean as to the Universality of the Persons for I find no ground for that but as to the Qualifications of those for whom Christ died And we shall find it was for Sinners for the Ungodly for Enemies Rom. 5.6 8 10 from whence a Repenting Sinner may thus argue If Christ died for Sinners then certainly he will not refuse me because I have been a Sinner If he died for Enemies then sure he will not cast me off if I am ready to lay down my Weapons and be reconciled unto him This was it which comforted Paul It is saith he a Faithfull saying 1 Tim. 1.15 that Christ came to die for Sinners among which I am chief he confesses as much Guilt as could possibly stick to him and yet takes comfort in that generall Truth that Christ came to die for Sinners And then proposes his own Example For this cause I obtained Mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting We must take heed how we frustrate the Grace of God for as the Apostle argues If Righteousness or Justification had been by the Law then had Christ died in vain So if Sinners who are desirous above all things to come unto Christ should therefore be driven out from him because they have been Sinners then would Christ have died in vain 2. Consider the Freeness and