his great love to them Joh. â 16 Tit. 3.4 sometimes with the greatness of his mercy and tenderness of his compassion Exod. 34.6 Luke 1.72 sometimes with the delight and pleasure that he takes in shewing mercy Micah 7.18 Ezek. 33.11 sometimes with his faithfulness Heb. 10.13 1. Cor. 10. â2 sometimes with the Oath that he hath made in order to shew men what great security they have of his Promises Heb. 6.17.18 Luke 1.72 73. sometimes with his desire of their salvation 1. Tim. 2.4 sometimes with his great grief when men appear obstinate Jer. 44.4 sometimes with the great provision that he hath made for mans salvation Matâ 22.4 Heb. 9.14 And lastly with the consideration of the glory that will accure to himself and to his Grace by their believing Eph. 1.6.12 I confess Piscator hath an harsh expression Non vult Deus reprobos credere licet linguâ profiteatur se velle but is not this to God to deal with men in matters of salvation as the Poets fain the gods to have dealt with âoor Tantalus set pleasant food to eat and water to drink and yet he is capable of neiâher so God dealeth with man if the doctrine of Piscator be under any circumstance whatever to be believed but seeing God hath been pleased to declare his intention in this âarticular of his willing all men to believe in his Son for salvation he hath sent his Son ãâã save all for do but shew me the man for whom Christ never died and I will shew you ââe man that is not bound to believe on him I hasten now to draw some inferences from ââe Discourse in general and so conclude 1. Seeing that God hath sent his Son to save all Men then all men are in posââbility of being saved for certain it is that as nature doth nothing in vain so God âoth nothing in vain for he hath not sent his Son to put men into a worse state then ââey were in by the Fall of Adam but certainly in a far better 2. This overthrows the Doctrine of the Church of Rome who establisheth another âeans of Salvation and Christ being made a propitiatory Sacrifice for the Quick and ââe Dead which is a means of our life and happiness and of our atonement with Alâighty God with what face can that abominable Strumpet introduce another propiâââtory Sacrifice to come in competition with that Sacrifice that was offered up once for all ââen the Sacrifice of the Mass which She impudently asserts to be a Propitiatory Sacriâââe for the Quick and Dead 3 Seeing that Jesus Christ came with an intent to save all men then how ought the âânisters of this Salvation purchased by the Blood of Christ endeavour by their conâââât care over their respective Charges to make known and reveal the grace of God ãâã man in order to reconcile man to God consider the example of St. ãâã â 10 11 12. who did therefore labour in the Ministry of the Gospel ãâ¦ã ãâã reproach because He did trust in the living God who is the Saviour of ãâ¦ã especially of such as believe and to this purpoâe he exhorteth Timothy 2. Epââ ãâ¦ã â 26 meelâly to instruct those that are contrary mânded that he might bââ ãâ¦ã out of the snare of the Devil and thereby they may render themselves Innoceâââ Blood of all men Acts 20.26 27. 4. Let us then love obey this Jesus who hath thus loved us and gave himselfe ãâã us See 1 John 4.19 We love him because he first loved us And this is St. Peter's oââ Argument to persuade the Christians to whom he wrote to pass the time of their ãâã journing here in fear because they were not redeemed with things corruptible as ãâã silver or gold from their vain conversation received by tradition from their fathers but with ãâã precious blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1.17 18.19 See that expression of St Paul 1 Cor. ãâã 20. Seeing saith he you are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your spirit a ãâã in your bodies which are Gods 5. Let us love one another for seeing it is apparent that Christ came to save us ãâã did manifest the love of the most high God by coming into the World and dying ãâã our sin let this oblige us to a mutual love one to another considering that the ãâã postle doth draw this duty from the manifestation of Gods love to us herein is loââ not that we loved God but he loved us and sent his Son to be a propitiation for ãâã sins Beloved saith the Apostle If God so loved us let us love one another theââ fore let each name of division and contention cease and God will assist us here with ãâã grace and hereafter exalt us to the Kingdom of his glory where we shall injoy ãâã presence of God in whose presence is fulness of joy and at whose right hand ãâã pleasure for evermore Which God grant for his Son Jesus Christ his sake Amen FINIS
Office of a merciful and faithful high Priest but according to the most exact measureâ and rules sollicite our case before Almighty God and by this means obtain relief for ouâ necessities So verse 18. For that he himself hath suffered being tempted he is able to succour theâ that are tempted For that it is undoubtedly true that the doleful afflictions that ouâ dearest Redeemer underwent do with an high hand make it appear it was Gods desigâ then that his Son should be compassionate by the unparallel'd experience of temptations he should be inclined to relieve and succour all that fall into temptations and afflictions that attend the best of men on this side the grave Estius saith plainly Whereas the holy Apostle saith that he might be a merciful high Priest it was Vt condoleret miseriae nostrae ex eo commiserationis affectu causam nostram fideliter ex animo apud Deum ageret hae enim partes erant Pontificis quas Christus praestare non potuiâ nisi naturae conditionis nostrae particeps esset cum multis aliis c. So that we have not onely the testimony of the Apostle and the Learned of subsequenâ Ages but also reason plainly points at the same viz. that one great reason why Jesuâ Christ did take upon him the seed of Abraham and was therefore stiled the Son of Maâ was that he might succour them that are tempted 2. That he might deliver them from the power and fear of death both of which were the dismal consequences of the transgression of our first Parents But of these in their Orders 1. The powers of death which is apparent from that of the Apostle Heb. 2 14. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood he himself likewise took part of thâ same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the deviââ You may easily call to mind what Adam entailed upon his posterity by his neglect oâ eating of the Tree of life and by eating the forbidden fruit even eternal death under which the generality of Mankind were held till the coming of the Son of Man in the fulness oâ time As in the first Adam all men die so in the second all shall be made alive 1. Cor. 15.21 By the miscarriage of our first parents way was made for a design of our Enemy the Devil to hold us under death Now therefore it is apparent that the end of Christs coming in the flesh and becoming the Son of Man was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to abolish or to take away all force and power and to frustrate the design of the Devil as the phrase ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã doth import and cancel that testament by which upon the account of sin men coming into the world were bound over to death But Christ he being the son of man deliverd mankind from eternal death For although by Christs death temporal death is not taken away yet it is deprived of that reigning power over man as St. Paul elsewhere saith Ro. 5.17 Firsâ if by one mans offence death reigned by one man c. of which reigning power I say death is devested so of its sting victorious progress Hence that of St. Paul 1 Cor. 15.55 56 57. ãâã death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strengthoâ sin is the Law But thanks be to God who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ who got the victory over death for us For it is apparent that Christ overcoming the sharpness of death did rescue man from the power of death so that it is impossible for man to be for ever held under it From all which we may easily gather this that Christians or Believers who are to be brought to Heaven by Christ are here in humane flesh and sufferings And seeing that Brethren or Fellow-children are of like natures Christ therefore who is called our Elder-brother is declared to have part with us in flesh and sufferings to this very end and purpose that he might frustrate and make void the design of him that was our enemy from the beginning which was to keep men under death and its raging power and to rescue man from the grave so that as in Adam all di'd so in him the second Adam all might be made alive 2. From the fear of death When Christ came into the world and did design to establish another Law amongst the sons of men upon which account he could not but expect because of the different nature of this Institution from that which they lived under and the corrupt dispositions that they had contracted by reason of sin that this his Law would be opposed and the professors of this new Law would be persecuted therefore like a great exemplar of true courage he suffers these experiences of temptation and affliction withân his own Soul to this end that he might simpathize with and deliver them who through fear of death were in their life-time subject to bondage And therefore our Apostle St. Paul here layeth it as a foundation of comfort to them that dreaded persecutions because they fear death Now that they might be able to go on in the obedience of faith and act like Champions in their several stations and fight manfully against the opposers of his Gospel viz. the Divel the World and the Flesh the Apostle assures them that Christ hath redeemed them from death O death I will be thy plagues Hos 13.14 O grave I will be thy destruction Therefore if any be under any pressures of spirit upon the account of the profession of Christian Religion though they do not out-live and enjoy the promise of deliverance here in this life they shall rise again to eternal joy felicity through him that loved them gave himself for them is risen again from the dead is become the first fruits of them that slept Therefore the Apostle Heb. 2.15 saith that Christ did take our nature in order to deliver them who through fear of death were all their life-time subject to bondage From which I necessarily conclude that the reason why the Messias was the Son of man was that he might take away the fears of persecution and death it self which makes men so cowardly and keeps them in such awe that is in a most unchristian and servile condition whilst they see no hopes of deliverance Therefore Christians are by the same Apostle Heb. 12.1 2 3. admonished that in those afflictions that so easily beset men they âay aside all worldly love and fear that may incumber them in their Christian race and in order to this to look unto Christ Jesus who hath in himself endured the highest afflictions and will be sure to crown their sufferings with the greatest rewards if they follow him with all perseverance patience therefore let them consider his patience in enduring such notorious contradictions
into the world was to intitle man to all the Acts and Titles of friendship and kindness which are the consequences of this his design of saving lost man which can be received from God by man or given by God to man In this reconciling men to God which was effected by Jesus Christ we shall find these particulars worth our serious consideration First That there was an intention on Gods part that as there was a valuable consideration of the purchase of Christ by him made in procuring mans salvation so it should be appliable to man without any fraud or limitation of the same to them so that by meanes of mans being reconciled to God he hath plainly set forth not only his willingness but his intent and purpose to save them Secondly That he hath put man into a fair possibility of being saved so that if he voluntarily sinneth his destruction is of himself for now he hath taken off from them the guile and condemnation which was brought into the world by Adam's transgression so that the guilt of our first Parents shall not be laid to our charge Thirdly Christ in reconciling man to God procured for them this favour and grace from the Eternal God that they should receive from him such competent measures of strength to do his will and pleasure and act in his Commandments as became the servants of so holy and good a God as he hath been pleased to represent himself in Scripture to be and be by him enabled to repent and believe and persevere in both unto the End so that they might actually enjoy the salvation which Christ designed for them by his death Fourthly in this great work of Reconciliation Christ hath designed that upon the account of repenting for sin and believing in God through the preaching of his Name they may be accounted righteous and blameless in the day when he shall come to judge the World in power and great glory and have the end of their faith even the salvation of their souls for by virtue of the reconciliation purchased by the Blood of Christ of which we now speak all the means of Grace are so sanctified to the very end they may appear prevalent and effectual for mans inheriting that life and glory which we have promised and Christ is gone before to possess for them Fifthly In this work of Reconciliation great joy and confidence is now designed by the Son of God it is apparent that man having obtained this great benefit of being reconciled to Almighty God he hath the ground of the greatest joy and confidence and dependence upon God in all conditions that may or can befall him in this life for now he hath not only occasion of rejoycing in the future hopes of eternal life and glory but also in his very sufferings in that he may if he use the means be assured of this that his afflictions will be made sweet unto him Rom. 5.3 11. Sixthly In this work of Reconciliation to Almighty God Christ did design for man boldness to enter into the Holiest that is with all freeness to approach the presence of Almighty God by prayer Heb. 10.19 Having therefore Brethren boldness to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesut and in verse 20. the Apostle as he sheweth that this boldness âs designed in the Blood of Christ so he sheweth us also by what way this enârance is to be made even by a new and living way which he hath Consecrated for us that is to say his Flesh The dispensation of the Law could not procure this priviledge therefore in this great work of the reconciliation of man to God Christ our dearest Redeemer hâth procured this confidence and freeness of approaching the presence of the Almighty by a way never known before and that a clear and living way in opposition to the dead shadowâ and beggarly rudiments under the Law which might minister matter of discouragement but no consolation and freeness with God in any address whatever made or to be made to his Divine Majesty now all this was design'd and accomplish'd by his breaking down of the partition wall which hindred mans access to God and to this very end and porpose that man might serve and worship this God who thus hath manifested his love to them in his Son whom he sent to save that which was lost with all unfeignedness and fulness of Faith reforming their lives conforming their wills according to the Rules of the word of this Reconciliation which I now Preach that those afflictions dangers that may appear might not cause them to waver in their conformity to the Laws of this Jesus who came to save fallen man from sin and Satan to translate to the happy state of being the Son of God through Faith in him which brings me to the Second Particular 2. A second priviledge that Christ came to invest men withal was the Adoption of Sons for as he came to bring men to the friendship of God and to reconcile them to that God from whom they were gone astray agianst whom they had acted open hostility so he came to renew a Relation in man to God to this end did he deliver man from the Yoke of the Law that he might become a Son of God see Gal 4 4.5 In the fulness of time God sent his Son made of a Woman under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the adoption of Sâns It is true Man was âhe Son of God by Creation but here is a new way that Christ retrieves this Relation forfeited by sin and Disobedience of man to God by contriving his Redemption by his Blood and designing his Eternal Salvation in the world to come upon the performance oâ those duties to which he is obliged by vertue of the Redemption Christ purchased for him And to this end that he may be secured that Almighty God owns this his Relation he hath given him the spirit of Adoption whereby they cry Abba Father so that by this state of Sonship to God they are designed to be delivered by Christ from the spirit of Bondage again to sear for it is evidently true that those who were ever in a Jewish state and therefore might have a great right to the promises of God Rom 9.4 were so far from being the Sons of God that at the best they were but in a servilâ condition for they were obliged to those performances which were slavish and being but external had nothing at all of any internal goodness in them and these werâ done meerly for fear of disobeydience and being punished with stoning the like which is the condition of Slaves who must do what the Master commands or be beaten if they perform it not and if this were the state and condition of the Jews iâ what a Predicament the Gentiles were I leave it to the judgment of rational men certainly theâr condition must be more base and servile haveing little
or no knowledg oâ God amongst them therfore their Engagements to the preformances of the Religioâ that was proposed in the Law of Nature must not come near for eminency to thosâ which the Jews had but Christ our Lord who is above all God blessed for ever hatâ engaged and drawn man with more liberal Bands the commands that he layeth upoâ Man are sweet and pleasant His yoke is easie and his burden light Matt. 11.29 3â His Cords are the Cords of a man and his Bands the Bands of Love In a word they arâ such as we cannot but judge to be most reasonable and most agreeable with human nature and to them is added as to Sons all such promises of love and kindness as may oblige man to act like a Prince in his station and run on in the course of observing thesâ Commands nay the disobeying of these commands are not attended with such servile punishments as of Stoning and the like but Paternal as suspension from Church fellowship and communion which do not tend to mans destruction but his reformation not to the killing of the body but to the saving of the Soul in the day of the Lord Now of this sonship we have sufficient evidence in that they have designed for them by Christs coming into the world the spiâit of adoption which Christ did purchase for man see Rom. 8.15 Ye have not received the spirit of Bondage again to fear but ye have received the spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father which spirit though received by none but by those that believe yet designed for all those that Christ came to save and those in due time shall be discovered is a disposition of Soul formed in Man by God whereby he expresseth his confidence and dependence on God's kindness to him as a Father to look upon God as tender in his dealings with the sons of men and rich in his Evangelical Promises and offers of grace and Favours in opposition to a more servile State under which men were before Christ came to save that which was lost This Spirit is called the Spirit of Christ see Gal. 4.6 And because ye are Sons God hath sent the spirit of his Son into âour bearts crying Abba Father From all which I gather this that Man's Relation to God as a Son appears in this that he hath sent the spirit of Christ into their hearts by which they have power given them to call upon God are enabled to make their aâdresses to him not only as God but as their Father the Gospel of our ever blessed Redeemer assuring them that they are no longer under any servile condition of being bound to any legal observances but that God will deal with them provided they keep the terms of Faith and obedience according to the promises made to the Father of the faithful and will justifie them upon the aforesaid Terms without those Deeds of the Law And for a further confirmation of this we shall find the Apostle St. Paul Rom. 8.16 to say The spirit it self beareth witness with our spirit that we are the Children of God 3. As Jesus Christ did come to give the Sons of Men this honour and privledge of being the Sons of God so he came to give them the inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven for certainly it is a consequence that is natural viz. That if Christ in his coming to save that which was lost did design to bring men to stand in relation to God as Sons then certainly he did design them Heirs of some inheritance See Rom. 8.17 And if children then heirs heirs of God joint heirs with Christ Now this priviledge of mans being designed to the Inheritance by the coming of Christ into the World is further apparent from these six Considerations First God hath prepared it for them for it is apparent that when it pleased God to send his own Son into the world to teach the sons of men what good things he had in tended them he also did give his great Delegate power to inform the World what good was provided for them upon the condition of their obedience to those things he is pleased to propose in his holy Gospel which they have great assurances of enjoying See 1 Cor. 3.9 Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive the things that God hath prepared for them that love him And as love is the condition here of ââoying these great and good things prepared in express terms so let me tell you it iââââes all manner of obedience to the Gospel which is offered and preached together with the good things therein contained which man may enjoy because prepared if he doth âot render himself incapable through disobedience for certain it is that man by vertuâ of this design is an heir not only of the good things of this life whether temporal or spiritual but also of that which is to come and if an heir then it 's certain that this inhââritance is provided for him and this provision or preparation that is thus made is made ââvirtue of Christs coming into the World Secondly Christ's coming into the World and fulfilling the will of God purchased thâ inheritance for man therefore the Kingdom of Heaven is called a purchased possession ãâã was bought for man and man for that by the blood of the son of God not with silver aââ gold or with things corruptible but with the pretions blood of the son Jesus Christ as St. Pâââ saith 1. Pet. 1.19 and St. Paul in plain terms calleth it a purchased possession Eph. 10 1â Thirdly it is promised to man and therefore he is an heir by virtue of the promise ãâã an holy God for whom it is impossible to lye Hebr. 6.18 and will undoubtedly perforââ this promise provided man accepteth of it upon the terms it is offered it is entailed upââ man by an Oath of a God that changeth not so that man hath good security from ãâã mighty God of this inheritance by vertue of this promise which is confirmed by Chriââ coming into the world to save that which was lost 4. They have all the means of grace tending thereunto they have the Gospel preached ãâã words adapted to their capacity and meanes by which they may come to the knowle dââ of God in order to their full fruition and perfect enjoyment of this glorious inheritanâ and as nature doth nothing in vain so God in his great goodness designs all and every of ãâã means of grace to tend to the effectual enjoyment of glory and bliss in another worâ 5. They have designed for them the earnest of the Spirit of God which is the earnest of ãâã purchased possession which if they do not quench or oppose in the Ministry of the woââ and Sacraments it doth enlighten their understanding and inform them of the height aââ depth length breadth of the mercies of God in reference to another life