when we are told it is to be through a full satisfaction made by his Son and price invaluable paid by him By him who though the infinite God became a finite Man Tho' Gods equal became his Servant Though the Blessed God yet was made a Curse for us We cannot but persist asking How can these things be It nothing repents me that I have often said We do now as much need to have the Spirit of God Live in us as ever we did need the Son of God to Dye for us And as the Purchase of Reconciliation did require a Divine Person the Proof of it doth require no less God deals with Man as Man In a way of Reason suited unto his Reasonable Nature Which cannot Believe any thing without a Reason for Belief of it Of all the great and marvellous things that God commands our Faith he first giveth sufficient grounds for our Faith of them Particularly of his foresaid Purpose to reconcile Sinners and of his Sons Purchase foresaid things of greatest worth and weight and of Concernment to as many as do need Reconciliation Of these extraordinary things God hath provided extraordinary Proof Even the Testimony of a Person no less than the Father himself or the Son Of the Glorious Spirit coessential and coequal with both This Divine Infallible Person who cannot be deceiv'd himself or deceive us is sent by the Father and his Son to certifie us of the Purpose and the Purchase which we speak of To inform us of both to conquer and drive away the Objections of our Minds against both to give us a certain kind of presence and sight of both A sight sufficient to move our Wills and make our Hearts to relye and rest upon both as really true And to draw our Affections in necessary degrees causing us to Love and long for the possession of the Reconcilement so purposed and so purchased And to over-rule our Lives and make them nothing so much as a course of Contemplation Prayer and Action for this said Reconciliation For be it deeply considered The Holy Ghost is declared in the Word to be sent for this end To be a Witness unto Jesus Christ and an Agent for him It would be very vain to object that the Holy Spirit was given under the Old Testament long before Jesus Christ came to Reconcile us by his Death For he was so upon Christs interposing as our Reconciler straight-way after sins entrance and that with respect to Christs future Oblation and Intercession for our Reconcilement And then as for degrees there is no comparison The Spirit drop'd but Dews in the Old Testament In the New he rained down Showers So that comparately he is said not to be given till Christ was Glorified He our Redeemer comes into the World and proclaims Gods Love unto it and purpose to reconcile and save sinners As also his own undertaking according to a contract made between the Father and himself to effect that Reconciliation by his Oblation and Intercession This the guilty graceless World could not believe nor have the patience to hear from the reputed Son of a Carpenter Jews as well as Gentiles made light of it yea rose in arms against it all save a handful and those better taught by him whom we are next to speak of The Holy Spirit as was agreed on between the Divine Persons now cometh and what does he Why he guides Souls into the Vnderstanding and Faith of all the Truth by Christ preach'd He Glorifies Jesus Christ convinceth Unbelievers that Christ is no Impostor but a Glorious Person come with a Glorious Commission to pursue Gods Glorious Purpose and to make the Glorious Purchase foresaid He receiveth Christs Spiritual things and shews them unto Men that could not see them before even his Truth and his Grace He receiveth them from Christ as the Lord Treasurer of them and shews them abroad that it may be seen what they are and in whose hand they are That Glory may be brought unto Christ That he may be owned and honoured as the Purchaser of the purposed Reconciliation Jo. 16.13 14 15. c. This did the blessed Spirit effectually causing the Church in all Ages to exalt the Father as the Original Purposer the Son as the Meritorious Purchaser the Holy Ghost as the convincing Proof-maker of our Reconciliation Without which Proof no Soul had ever believed it or found an Heart to look after a portion in it Which is the next great Consideration concerning it For if God has Purposed and Christ has Purchased Reconciliation and the Holy Ghost has proved it so fully that there is no just place for the least doubt but they have so done the very next thing to be looked after must be 4. The Sinners possession of it For whatever be the proportion of a good it avails not me without propriety Let this Reconciliation be thought as it is in truth a good no less than infinite If it be not made mine own if I am not Reconciled the sound of its Doctrine is to me but as the speech of Bread to a Man starving for want of it Or as words of a Pardon to a Man going up the Ladder when he hath it not O what Pillows do they sleep on who lay their Eyes together without this Reconciliation attained One would think it should be more easie to rest on the points of swords and spears then upon one thought of God unreconciled I will say with my dear and now blessed Friend Mr. Richard Alleyn of Somerset-shire If all the Kings of the Earth would give me all they are worth I would not lie down on my bed any night with one sin Vnrepented and without some hope of God Reconciled to me But I return The Holy Spirit in his Word testifyeth a purpose of Reconciliation that is Eternal As also a Reconciliation at the Death of Jesus Christ that is Fundamental But he doth as clearly deny any actual Reconciliation before Conversion Before our Understanding and sincere Consent unto the Covenant of Grace How should Divine Wifdom throw the richest Pearl to the vilest Swine Or Holiness forgive and embrace Creatures contrary to it There is no Law above God but God is a Law to himself And though he can do what he will he cannot will what is Unwise or Unholy Elect or not Elect he that believeth not on the Son the wrath of God abideth on him Jo. 3.36 He that hath not the Son of God to wit in Marriage-Covenant he hath not Life to wit the Life of Peace with God or of Hope from him or of Holiness toward him 1 Joh. 5.12 In a word Look at what time God teacheth and you learn at what time God draws and you run after him at what time you unfeignedly say Lord I do rely on the promises and I do consent to the demands of the Gospel-Covenant at that time in that very punct of time your Pardon is seal'd in Heaven 'T is published in the Gospel
consider that Sinners Reconciliation unto God is a thing purposed by God purchased by Christ and proved to be so by the Holy Ghost I have shewn it to be so But O Man Vnderstandest thou what thou readest I have proved it by Authority of Sacred Scriptures but alas Believest thou the report of them It is scarce every hundredth Man of those who own them that doth in truth believe them So judg'd the great Calvin himself And the truth is if in any thing it be harder then other to credit Divine Scripture it is in its Testimony unto this great Truth Nevertheless so it is that its Testimony herein must be credited sincerely and considered of seriously before we can be qualified for Christianity That is for Jesus Christs reconciling and saving Religion For the embracing it with seriousness and sincerity unto our Reconciliation and Salvation Who can charge his Conscience with all respects to a Religion whose first Principles and very Foundations he is ignorant or doubtful of Who can pursue it whatever it costs him and give it the Government of his Life and Soul They who do any less do but dally with Religion they do not use it like it self And they who do so much need to be very well certified of the goodness of the grounds they go upon If not they must continually be like to Builders who doubt their Foundation is ill laid and therefore either by and by desist from their work or go on very heartlesly with it Thus therefore must thou do whoever thou art that desirest Reconciliation unto God With a solemnity suitable to the moment of the affair thou must go and enquire into these things Namely Whether thou hast Faith And if thou hast What a Faith it is that thou hast concerning the things foresaid Alas Sin is distractive And Minds sinfully distracted do conceit themselves to believe whatever they do not in words contradict Nor do they at all discern the difference between Moon-light and Sun-shine Though the former be cold and dispel no Vapours and ripen no Fruits as the latter doth by its equally useful and beautiful Beams They distinguish not between the Historical and worthless Faith of Divels and the operative saving Faith of the operation of God Though the difference be as plain as that of a painted Sun upon a rotten Sign-post from the true Sun in the middle Heaven In a word Thou must discourse thy self soundly concerning these things and admit no rest till thou feelest thy self more then almost perswaded Till thou canst say as the Doctor of the Gentiles I know and am perswaded and as the Doctor of the Jews I believe and I am sure Lord 1. There is a God 2. This God is Three distinct Persons as to manner of Being and of Working 3. Of these Divine Persons the First hath eternally Purposed the Second hath in time dearly Purchased the Reconciliation of lost Sinners and this the Third hath convincingly Proved 4. I perish for ever if this Reconciliation be not Purposed concerning me if it be not Purchased for me and if it be not Proved some way unto me 5. Until I have this Proof made unto me I cannot possibly have knowledge of the Purchase and Purpose touching me 6. Wherefore I ought I may and I will by Gods assistance seek diligently this said Proof unto my inmost Heart and Reins Hasten Man hasten thou go Read go Pray go Hear and go Consult the best Ministers and Christians Beseech them both to tell thee how they gat assurance and certainty hereof charge them to pray the same Spirit in the use of like means to give it unto thee But this caution take thou Never judge thy Belief right and valid until it discover it self to be so by these properties e. g. Till it do shame thee for former neglects of the Father Son and Spirit and their Purpose Purchase and Proof Making thy blushing Soul to exclaim O never had I one thought worth the thinking till now Miserable Fool I have lived like a bruit as if I had been born in the Field and bred among the Cattle therein I abhor my self and every breath of my past Life Again Till it do smart and pain thee and give thee grievous feelings of thy want of more acquaintance with the Divine Persons and these their actions Causing thee to esteem and desire acquaintance with the same above all the sensual delights under the Sun Likewise Till it become an effectual Goad to quicken thee to the use of all means for it and a Nail also to fasten thy Soul unto it Driving thee to this conclusion q. d. Whatever I shall henceforth propose to my self or prosecute in the World I will never so absolutely propose any thing Never so laboriously and incessantly pursue any thing as my acquaintance with the Divine Persons and these their foresaid Works In other things I will be less resolute and more moderate in this I will be peremptory and I will strain every Nerve of my Soul Lastly Till it do sweeten and make grateful and pleasant all thy Religious pains At least as the most imperfect certainty that Husbandmen have of Harvest doth impart a sweetness unto their perpetual motions Till thou canst truly say thus So much I know of the Divine Persons So far I do credit the Holy Spirits Testimony of their Works Such Faith I have of both that what Ordinances and Duties were heretofore burthensome or undelightful are now become of my chiefest joy And such as I could not live without And now Man now first beats thy Pulse This is the first breath of thy laudable Life The first step of thine toward God The first stroke of reconciling work This is the first hairs breadth thou hast stirred from thy self-ruining Enmity toward the way of Peace God speed thee onward For Secondly Thou must Pray and Labour for the actual possession the comfortable perswasion and the practical improvement of Reconciliation unto God Thou art now out of doubt there is a way to get possessed of the Reconciliation Purposed Purchased Proved But can thy blindness unassistedly find that way Or can thy halting Soul enter into and walk in it unassistedly Or if with much ado thou wer 't able wouldst thou go without infallible counsel and invincible aid And that for want of asking Or didst thou never hear of multitudes that perish in the very mouth of their way Stumbling unto perdition at the very threshold of the door of Salvation I do now suppose thee to have an Eye in thy Head And if so I nothing question but thou hast a Tongue in thy Head too The Eye of Faith and Mouth of Prayer were never yet known far asunder And indeed it would be a wonder if any seer of Reconciliation should not be straitway a wrestler for it However wot it well Divine Authority requires and Bounty invites and intreats thee to shew that with thy sight of Reconciliation thou hast received Praying Lips and
in Deo A Holy Man is never so like a Holy Angel as when he rejoyces in God Have thy set times for solemn Consideration of these things sc How God is Pleased and Honoured by Joy so Hallowed How he Praiseth it and Rewardeth it How much it honours him more than pining querulous Sorrow doth How certain it is that the most pious and penitent Sorrow is nothing but a Purge prescribed by him for cleansing us and making us to relish the fat things of the Feast that I speak of How excellently this Joy strengthens the Soul sweetens Duty lightens Trouble graceth Religion suits the Gospel and an adopted state Yea and serves to subdue the sins that most easily beset us and most extreamly pester us Even incomparably more than all the self-disquieting distraction that goes under the name of Humiliation In a word How desirable a temper the Apostles was As sorrowful yet always rejoycing 2 Cor. 6.10 Sorrowing alway yet never as men without hope 1. Thess 4.13 Reader I must hope if thou dost thus thy following Life shall be a perpetual labour for abiding and abounding Joy And that if Bodily Maladies and Satanical Illusions have made Grief and Fear a second nature to thee thou wilt be perswadable Perswadable to make so necessary a rupture and try to tear thy self from thy self for the possession of this under Heaven The God of Hope fill thee with all Joy and Peace in believing and expecting thy perfected published Reconciliation Amen My next undertaking is to evince the truth of my Doctrine thus explained To demonstrate that every Man hath this to do and no Man hath any more to do in the World but to believe and consider Gods Purpose Christs Purchase and the Holy Ghosts Proof of their purposed and purchased Reconciliation To Pray and Labour for the possession for the perswasion and for the practical improvement of it And to Hope and rejoyce in the Hope of the perfection and publication of it in the day of Jugment I dare not decline it knowing that many do need it Nor shall I be prolix in it They that cannot see by the Light of the one Sun in the Firmament would not see if there were a thousand shining thence Their Conviction I despair of whomsoever these three Considerations shall not convince But I propose them with an humble confidence that they shall be made Eye-salve unto some Souls And mighty through God against Infidelity as very Spittle and Clay as they shall appear in any wanton Eyes They are but three C. 1. The sure word of Prophesie sets us this to do and no more Acknowledge the Scripture to be Gods Word and a perfect Revelation of his Will and a compleat Rule of our Duty and you acknowledge the truth of my Doctrine I am content that no man believe it ever the more for my Ministry of it if I do not shew that the Scripture sets us to do all I say Or if it can be shewn that it sets us any one thing more than I say Reader Rouze up thy Soul and read not with ordinary care what follows I will not overwhelm thee with many Texts but be careful to set very plain and pertinent ones before thee The Belief and Consideration of Gods Love and Gracious Purpose to Reconcile Sinners is set us Psalm 130.4 There are forgivenesses with thee that thou mayst be feared That is q. d. Lord shouldst thou deal with the best Man alive according unto thy Laws strictness and his own Souls frequent fears Hell must have him But O thou hast Eternal and Unalterable Purposes of forgiving Sins and Reconciling Sinners unto thy self And this is believed and considered of by thy Blessed Command And if it were not there were no manner of foundation for Religion in the World All our encouragement to all our Worship of thee is taken from this Joh. 3.16 God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes on him should not perish but have everlasting Life Who sees not here the Fountain of all good Gods Love that is his Eternal Will and Purpose to Reconcile Sinners This is set to be seen and considered first Then the Conduit through which all the good must flow from that Fountain even Christ the Purchaser of purposed Reconciliation Then the Vessels which must receive all good from the Fountain through the Conduit Namely Believers on Christ entire Consenters to be his in the Bond of the Gospel Covenant Then the streams of good by those Vessels to be received through the Conduit from the Fountain Even Deliverance from ruining Enmity and Possession of blessed Friendship with God for ever To name no more 2 Pet. 1.10 we are commanded to make our Election sure Our Election passively is Gods actively Gods eternal purpose to Reconeile us But how should this be made sure unto our hearts without their believing and considering that God has Eternal Purposes about that matter The Belief and Consideration of Christs Purchase of Reconcilement is set us 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the World to save sinners 'T is the true and great Fundamental Article of Christian Faith Worthy of all reception into Consideration and Improvement that Christ came to save Sinners from Enmity and reconcile them unto God Everlastingly Rom. 5.10 When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son When we did hate and were hated of God Jesus Christ paid a valuable or rather invaluable price to buy our Reconciliation and bought it leaving us as little need as we had ability to bring any Meritory price for it And how plainly do all the Texts that command our Faith in Christs Blood whereby it is Purchased suppose our Belief and Consideration of it to precede The Belief and Consideration of the Holy Ghosts proof of this is set us That it is in especial manner the work of the Glorious Spirit to Reveal and to Communicate all Purposed by the Father and all Purchased by the Son is foreshewn in this our Discourse well known to the Church of Christ and admirably well shewn by him whom I use to call John the Divine I mean our Learned Dr. Owen in his Pneumatologie or Discourse of the Holy Spirit worthy to be wrote in Cedar and Marble That we are required to believe and to consider his testimony of this matter this single Text would brightly evince if we had no other Mat. 12.31 The blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto mer. Observe here our Saviour had Preached Gods Purpose and his Errand into the World to make a Purchase of the Reconciliation of Sinners The Proof hereof was made by many Testimonies of the Holy Ghost Principally by Miracles wrought by his Power which indeed are the utmost proofs possible These themselves some would not believe and consider unto due purpose No but as it is Mar. 3.30 They
said it was an unclean or untrue Spirit that Christ had to witness these things And this their Blasphemous Unbelief and Inconsideracy is declared unpardonable even so as no other sin is Reader Canst thou think of this without horrour But see also how are we warned not to resist not to quench not to grieve the Holy Spirit Acts 7.51 1 Thess 5.19 Eph. 4.30 Not to resist him in the Ordinances of his Word testifying unto us Gods foresaid Purpose and Christs Purchase in order to draw us to a due pursuit of our Reconcilement Not to grieve him that is not to provoke him to leave us as our Friends use to do when we offend them by Unbelief and Inconsideracy of his foresaid Testimony Not to quench him that is not to oppose and put out the Light and Evidence he giveth us of the things foresaid preferring our Darkness above his Light chusing rather to be ignorant than to know Gods Purpose and Christs Purchase of the said Reconciliation Not to Believe and to Consider the Holy Spirits foresaid Proof is to Resist and Quench and Grieve him if any thing be so to do Prayer and Labour for the possession of this reconciliation is set us Acts 8.28 Repent saith Peter to Simon Magus and pray God if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee That is Pray if possibly thou mayest get possest of God's Peace and reconciliation Luke 13 24. Strive to enter in at the strait gate for many I say unto ye will seek to enter in and will not be able That is do your utmost to enter into the Christian state to get joyned to the Lord in the Gospel-Covenant of reconciling Grace For many faint chill luke-warm souls will seek but ineffectually But put ye your utmost power into act Prayer and Labour for the certain perswasion of this reconciliation is set us Prayer Psal 4 6. Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance on us David 's example is obliging in this case Labour 2 Pet. 1.10 Brethren give diligence to make your Calling that is into the state of reconciliation with God and Election sure Prayer and Labour for the practical improvement of this reconciliation is set us Psal 119.65 66. Thou hast dealt well with thy Servant O Lord and what follows Teach me good Judgment and Knowledge That is holily to improve thy love Eph. 4.32 compare with Eph. 5.1 God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you or been reconciled to you And what then is inferred Be ye therefore followers or as in the Original Imitators of God as dear Children That is as those that think they can never do enough to express their Love and Thankfulness Hope and Joy in the Hope of the perfection and publication of reconciliation to God in the day of Judgment is also set us Hope Tit. 2 11 12 13. The Grace of God that bringeth Salvation teaches us to deny ungodliness c. and live soberly righteously and godly in this present World Looking for that blessed Hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Joy Phil. 4.4 Rejoyce in the Lord alway And again I say Rejoyce 1 Thess 5 16. Rejoyce evermore To conclude He that doth these things is certainly acceptable unto God and approved of Men. All that do fear God Nor can any answer be made to his shame if such a one ask What lack I yet If any do dream otherwise and sear that this is not the whole Duty of man let them shew but one thing more and I will bear the shame C. 2. The Nature of Religion requires this and no more I must be understood of Postlapsarian Religion Religion as since Man's Fall it has been modelled Be it considered that Religion as so considered is nothing else but a restored Friendship or a Reconciliation between God and Man And this made in a way prescribed by the VVisdom and VVill of God whose revealed VVill is to deal with man in a way agreeable to the Nature whereof he hath made him and yet in every respect suited to the Soveraignty he hath over him Plainly thus in all his wayes with us God will himself so act that the Power and Praise shall be as visibly as truly his own Yet so that there shall be room and place for our acting by and under him And Duty shall still be truly and visibly ours In this Reconciliation each person of the blessed Trinity hath his Gracious Part. The Father Reconciles us to wit as the Primary Cause purposing of it 2 Cor. 5.19 The Son Reconciles us to wit as the Meritorious Purchaser Eph. 2.16 The Blessed Spirit Reconciles us as the Efficient VVorker and VVitnesser of the Grace by which we are made Partakers of the Reconciliation and are assured thereof Joh. 3 5. Rom. 5.5 So that the Kingdom Power and Glory is here illustriously and equally to be ascribed unto the Father Son and Spirit In the mean time we also have our part left us We are bid in my Text our selves to Reconcile our selves That is to do our part toward it So Ezek. 33.11 Turn ye turn ye that is Reconcile Reconcile your selves q.d. No longer turn your backs on God as Enemies turn about your Faces toward him as Friends Now what I affirm is this Namely that this part to be done by us toward our Reconciliation consists in the things foresaid and no more Of these we are capable by the aids of Divine Grace And so proper are all these to be done by us that the Neglect must needs incense Divine Justice Of doing ought more we have no Capacity as blessed be God we have no Commandment in his Word which hath been fore-asserted Of Believing and Considering the parts done by the Divine Persons we have Capacity Natural I mean Though impotent and perverse our Faculties be till Grace give them strength and inclination unto good They were created in us by God for this Noble use And should he admit our Reconciliation without their being used thereto an unsufferable spot would fall upon his infinite Wisdom It would be said he had made noble Powers for no use or but vile Yea and upon his Truth also For it would be said His wrath came not down upon the very children of Vnbelief Contrary to Eph. 5. Of Praying and Labouring for our Possession Perswasion and Practick improvement of Reconciliation unto God the same is to be said We have Natural and surely English people may be supposed to have some Acquired Abilities too If not gracious and supernatural And alas what did God give us these for What a Blemish would it be unto his Wisdom and Government if he should require no use of them unto their chiefest ends But grant us Reconciliation and Assurance and Spiritual Prosperity without them And let it be told through the Earth that he was no Condemner of slothful servants Nor Enemy to such as call not upon his name He bids us pray and labor
God willed And as dear to God as he himself could will or wish For as to Relation he was made his Son Luk. 3.38 As to Portion God gave him all things Psal 8.6 As for Tenure he held all by Covenant and was sure to lose nothing till he should sin it away Gen 2.17 As for Covenant he had it sign'd and seal'd The Trees of Life and of Knowledge were Sacramental Gen. 2.9 And as to Communion doubtless that was great between God and Adam till Adam made himself a fugitive and God made him an exile For ought we know it was not much less between God and Adam in Paradise then between God and Angels Large Minds have thought the sin of the Angels was their Envy at the Honour by God given unto Man While Man was himself without all peradventure he would rather have been annihilated then consented to one vain thought And as soon have chosen to live in a boyling Cauldron of Oyl as any course of sin But Pos 2. Sin made God and Man extreme Enemies At one blow it destroy'd the Likeness the Love the Relation the Portion the Covenant the Communion aforesaid Of Father and Son it made them as Fire and Water Contrary to each other Justice armed God against Man and Malice enraged Man against God Righteously God cursed Man and no doubt but Man bitterly cursed and blasphemed God Had not our Redeemer interposed God would have assoon embraced a Divel as a Man And before Christ was preached unto Adam I question not but he wish'd the destruction of his Creator In a word The Scriptures declare God and every unconvert Man while such at open war and at utmost enmity Before that Abels be converted God does hate them and more then Cains do hate them afterward Neither doth any Cain hate his Brother as they hate their Maker No Souls do near so much hate their Neighbours as all Unregenerate ones do hate their God Lamentable truth Till Christ makes the blessed Peace God and Men wage the worst War And there 's no more concord between God and Men then between God and Divels Pos 3. God and Man cease not to be Enemies till they both return to be entire Friends again Friendship is mutual Love 'T is but Love not Friendship where both parties do not Love Enmity also is mutual Hatred Nor is it Enmity but Hatred only when but one of the parties do hate Accordingly Reconciliation is mutual and cannot be said to be made if both Enemies return not from their Hatred to Love Yea and unto that height and very degree of Love from whence they fell A displaced Bone is not right set if it be not brought again into the very place whence it was thrust nor will it ever be easie or comely Reconciliation to God is not right nor will it be saving without his Condescention to us and our Ascension unto him made as in the beginning The things forenamed must be regained to wit our Likeness Love Relation Portion signed sealed Covenant and Communion Reconciliation is full Restoration Pos 4. Reconciliation between God and Man hath seven memorable things relating to it It concerns those that desire any part and portion in it to bear always in mind these things of it 1. Gods Purpose and Promise of it from all Eternity Before the foundation of the World God purposed to reconcile some Enemies Eph. 1.4 5. Before the World began he made a promise of the same unto his Son Tit. 1.2 To wit in those Eternal Transactions that were between the Father and the Son by their one Eternal Spirit Whereof we read Prov. 8.22 to 32. Isa 53.10 11 12. c. 2. Jesus Christs Purchase of it at his Death The Holy Gospel certifies us that Christ by his Death purchased Reconciliation for some sinners Paid the whole price for it and procured that it should in Gods time be given forth unto them Rom. 5.10 Heb. 1.3 Col. 1.14 It has been said that sin made God and Man extream Enemies Let it be considered that God could never Purpose or Promise a Reconciliation but in a way consistent with the honour of his Government And consequently through a full Satisfaction made unto him for all the Glory that our sin took from him And a Price truly valuable paid unto him for all the Favours bestown upon us Now to make such Satisfaction and to pay such Price was infinitely above the power of any meer Creature To invent it was beyond the compass of finite understanding To ask it had been too insolent a boldness To effect it was most perfectly impossible Dr. Owens Diatribe de Justitia Vindictiv and Dr. Bates his Harmony of the Attributes of God in our Redemption abundantly clear this I say but this word or two A meer Creature could not possibly make and pay it by Doing or Suffering Not by Doing For it can do nothing for God but what it owes unto God And if it could yet it could not do so much as would repay the Glory that sin robs God of For One the least sin takes more Glory from God in a minute then all our Obedience would restore in our everlastingness Because our Obedience doth in no sort profit him and gives but little honour to him as preferring him but above poor Creatures themselves But our sin in many respects doth reproach and injure him horribly as to his manifestative Glory casting an unmeasurable Contempt upon him as setting him with all his infinite Excellencies under every Creatures feet Nextly not by Suffering For a Creature cannot suffer infinitely as sin deserves but by suffering endlesly Now if it so suffer it must be alwayes making it will not ever have made the satisfaction we speak of It will be ever paying the price but it will never pay the full payment Alas it is certain that Hell would have some end if the Creatures own torment for a million of years could satisfie for one sin Wherefore it pleasing God to purpose the reconcilement of sinful Men unto himself and there being a necessity it should be upon terms Honourable unto him as well as Beneficial unto us it pleased him to purpose and promise that it should be through his Incarnate Sons foresaid purchase and meritorious procurement God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself 2 Cor. 5. In Christ as his Oblation for us and as his Gift unto us The Oblation that satisfied his Justice for us the Gift that satisfied his Love unto us as a great hand expresseth it So 1 Tim. 2.6 He Jesus Christ gave himself a Ransom for all and Coll. 1.14 We have Redemption through his Blood A Mystery indeed the Mystery of Mysteries and which engageth unspeakably our regards of the next particular concerning this Reconciliation unto God To wit 3. The Holy Ghosts proof of it For of Sinners reconciliation unto God we are ready to think the news too good to be true To cry out How can it be I and