like manner is it with his daily Infirmities these are not indulged but they lie as an heavy burden upon him he wishes for he breaths after Perfection Oh! that there were no remaining Sin no moats of Infirmity But alas it will not be here Aust de Temp. Serm. 45. Concupiscere nolo concupisco saith the Father Innate corruption will be stirring and bubling up in us all that can be done on Earth is to war and fight against it the Triumph the Crown of sinless Perfection can be found no where but in Heaven But to clear this Particular I shall set down two things The one is this A Man who indulges or allows sin in himself cannot while he doth so lead an holy Life he hath no Principles for it no Principle of Repentance he cannot mourn over sin while he joys in it he cannot hate sin while he loves it he cannot forsake sin while he follows after it No Principle of Faith he cannot trust in God's Mercy when he rebels and is in Arms against him he cannot receive the Lord Christ when he hath another Master to rule over him he cannot close in with the precious Promises of the Gospel when he embraces the lying Promises of Sin No Principle of Holy Love he cannot truly love God with an Idol in his Heart he cannot love him and close in with sin his great Enemy he cannot love him and habitually willingly violate his Commands Such an one can have no pure Intention towards God's Will or Glory not towards God's Will he obeys with a salvo or exception he picks and chuses among the Divine Commands he complies only with those Commands which cross not his darling Lust The Jewish Rabbins say He that saith I receive the whole Law except one word only despises the Command of God The same Divine Authority is upon all the Commands and that Obedience which is with the exception of one Command which crosses the indulged Lust is as none at all Nor yet towards God's Glory How can he glorify God who by willful sinning dishonours him or how can he aim at that Glory who aims at the satisfaction of his own Lust or which way can one promote two such contrary ends as that Glory and his own Satisfaction Heaven and Hell Light and Darkness Holiness and Impurity may as soon be reconciled as two such contrary ends can meet together Every indulged Lust is one Idol or other either it is Baal Pride and Lorliness or Ashtaroth Wealth and Riches or Venus carnal and sensual pleasure or Mauzzim Force and earthly Power unless the Idol be put away we cannot serve God in in an holy Life The other thing is this It is of high concern to an holy Life to mortify Sin An holy Man is one in Covenant with God therefore he must maintain war against Sin the Enemy of God Sin is an opposite to God a rebellion against his Sovereignty a contradiction to his Holiness an abuse to his Grace a provocation to his Justice a disparagement to his Glory and how can an holy Man a Friend of God do less than set himself against it that he may kill and utterly destroy it Ye that love the Lord hate evil saith the Psalmist Psal 97.10 The Exhortation is pregnant with excellent Reason If you do indeed love God who is Purity Power Wisdom Excellency it self ye can do no less than hate Sin which is Pollution Weakness Folly and Vileness and if you do hate it you will seek the utter ruine and extirpation of it an holy Man is one in union with Christ and upon that account he must mortify Sin in Christ crucified he hath a pattern of Mortification what was done to his pure Flesh in a way of Expiation must be done to our corrupt Flesh in a way of Mortification The Nails which fastned him to the Cross tell us that our corruption must have such a restraint upon it that it may like one on a Cross be disabled to go forth into those acts of sin which it is propense unto the piercing and letting out his Heart-blood shews us that the Old Man must not only be restrained but pierced that the vital Blood the internal love of sin may be let out of the Heart he was active in his Passion he freely laid down his Life yet violence was done to him in like manner we must freely sacrifice our Lusts we must willingly die to sin yet sin must not die a Natural Death but a violent one it must be stabb'd at the heart and die of its wounds And because it will not die all at once it must by little and little languish away till it give up the Ghost there must be Mortification upon Mortification because sin is long a dying But further we have from Christ not an Examplar of mortification only but a Spirit and Divine Power for the Work while by Faith we converse about the wounds of Christ We have that Spirit from him which mortifies the deeds of the Body Rom. 8.13 That mind of Christ which makes us suffer in the Flesh ceasing from sin That we may no longer live to the Lusts of Men but to the Will of God 1 Pet. 4.1 2. If then the holy Man will live like himself and as becomes a Member of Christ he must by that Vertue and Spirit which he hath from him crucify his Lusts and Corruptions Thus the Apostle They that are Christ's have crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts Gal. 5.24 They ought to crucify them they do crucify them so far that sin can reign no longer they go on crucifying every day more and more that the body of sin may be destroyed Moreover An holy Man hath such a Divine Faith as blasts all the World in comparison of Heavenly things in the Eyes of Faith Earthly Riches are not the true ones those Treasures which glitter so much to Sense are but poor moth-eaten things the World's substance is but a shadow an apparition a thing that is not too low for an immortal Soul to aim at too mean to enrich the inward Man the sensual pleasures which ravish Flesh and Blood are but the vain titillations of the outward Man Momentary things such as perish in the using and die in the embraces leaving nothing behind them but a sting and worm in the Conscience of the poor voluptuary Mundane Glories which take carnal Men so much appear to be but a blast a little popular Air to a Man up among the Stars the whole Earth would be but a small thing and to a Man who by Faith converses in Heaven Earthly Crowns and Scepters are no better Now when Sin which uses to wrap up it self in one piece of the World or other is blasted in its Covers and Dresses of apparent Good when those Pomps and Fancies of the World which usually paint and cover Sin to render it eligible unto Men are discovered by Faith to be but vanities and empty Nothings Sin
it were out of the fire and breathes out a Death and a Curse against it It further appears when the Threatning comes forth in actual Judgments in which God falls upon his own creature the work of his own hands It more appears when Wrath comes down not upon this or that sinner but upon multitudes and not upon the offending persons only but upon their Infant-relations upon their fellow-creatures upon the very places where they acted their iniquities Adam sinned and Wrath fell upon the whole Race of mankind nay and a Blast and a Curse fell upon the Creation such as makes it groan and travel in pain with an universal Vanity The old World was drowned in sensualities and a Deluge sweeps away them and their fellow-creatures The Sodomites burned in their unnatural lusts and fire and brimstone was rained down upon them Korah Dathan and Abiram turned Rebels and the Earth opened her mouth and swallowed up them and all that appertained to them These are notable Tokens of displeasure but a greater is yet behind The Eternal Son of God cannot assume our flesh and stand as a Sponsor for us but he must bear an infinite Wrath such as was due to the sin of a World Though he were the Wisdom of God he must be sore amazed and ready to faint away in a fit of horror Though the Fathers joy he must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 surrounded with sorrows even unto death He bore up all things yet now under the burden of Wrath he must fall and grovel upon the ground He must pour out tears and strong cryes to God that the bitter Cup may pass He must be in an Agony a dismal conflict with the Wrath of God and sweat great dropt and clotters of blood under the pressure of it The blessed and beloved One of God he was yet he must be made a Curse and upon a tormenting Cross cry out My God! My God! why hust thou for suken me The Sun must now withdraw his light and the Earth quake in sympathy with their Creator Oh! What a spectacle of displeasure was here What is a Deluge or the groans of a dissolving World in comparison There meer creatures suffer but here God in the flesh The Marks of divine Wrath were now set upon that humane Nature which as assumed into an infmite Person is far above all the Greation Never was there so high a demonstration of Gods infinite hatred and antipathy against sin as there is here No created Understanding of Men or Angels could ever have found out such a wonderful Manifestation as this is Infinite Wifdom did it to make sin look like it self infinitely odious Moreover As it is the nature of Hatred to be a Murderer to seek the not being of the thing hated so it was the great Design of this Mysterie to extirpate sin out of the hearts of men For this purpose was the Son of God mantjested that he might the stroy the works of the devil 1 John 3.8 There are three things in sin the guilt the power and the being The aim of a crucified Christ was to extirpate there all Christ was made Sin and a Curse for us He did by his sweet-sinelling Satrifice fully fatisfie the Law and Justice of God And why did he do it but that the bonds of guilt might be broken off from us The strength of sin in binding us over to Death and Hell is the Law and the Law in its threatning of a Curse and Condemnation is the voice of vindictive Justice these two being fully satisfied in Christ the guilt of sin becomes powerless and unable to hold such sinners as by Faith and Repentance partake in that Satisfaction There was in Christs Sufferings not only a fulness of Satisfaction but a redundance of Merit Thereby he procured the Holy Spirit for us and why so but that the power of sin might be dissolved in us Our own spirit of it self could not would not do this but the divine Spirit which Christ hath procured doth in true Believers effect it Sin is no longer a prevailing-Law in the heart the Holy Spirit takes away its dominion that the Throne of Christ may be set there It is true as Saint Bernard saith Velis nolis infra fines tuos habitat Jebusaeus Sin hath a being in Believers but even that doth the holy Spirit in the Article of Death remove from them that their Souls may fly away into that pure Region where are the spirits of just men made perfect Thus God manirests his hatred of sin in that he laid in the Sufferings of Christ a design for the extirpation of it 4. Gods Holiness as it imports a love of holiness in man is here clearly seen in that when it was lost he did so much for the recovery of it Holiness that divine Life being by the Fall beaten out of the heart of man stood without in the letter of the Law but that it might be recovered into the heart of man again that his heart might be made a Sanctuary an holy Place for the divine Majesty to dwell and take pleasure in God hath done very much and been at a vast expence about it He hath not only wished for Holiness O that there were such an heart in them Deut. 5.29 but he hath sent his own Son into the flesh to be a rare Pattern and Samplar of it nay and to bleed and die upon a Cross that it might be revived in poor fallen man It could not be revived there without the holy Spirit and that could never have been had unless Justice were satisfied and Satisfaction could not be made without a Sacrifice of infinite value Christ therefore was made such an One that the holy Spirit might come and re-imprint Holiness in man again God died in the flesh that man might live in the Spirit One great end of Christs sufferings was Holiness He gave himself for us that he might purifie to himself a peculiar people Tit. 2.14 that he might have a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle Ephes 5.27 Rather than lose Holiness which is the Glory He would humble himself to the shame of a Cross rather than we should not be sanctified or consecrated to God in Holiness he would sanctifie and consecrate himself to be a sacrifice to Justice Oh! What a rate or value doth God set upon Holiness in man How highly must he delight and take pleasure in it when he will come in the flesh and die rather than suffer it to be extinct in the World a greater demonstration of Love to it than this cannot possibly be imagined Further Gods love to Holiness appears in this that he orders things so that no man can partake of Jesus Christ unless he subject himself to the holy terms of the Gospel he that names the Name of Christ must depart from iniquity What if Christ be a most glorious Saviour and Redeemer What though he fulfilled Righteousness and made Satisfaction What though he opened a
folly to expect Grapes from Thorns or Figs from Thistles and to look for an holy Life from an unregenerate Heart is no less It is the Apostle's Conclusion They that are in the Flesh cannot please God Rom. 8.8 By those in the Flesh is not meant the Regenerate who if any on Earth do surely please him but the Unregenerate accordingly the Apostle opposes those in the Flesh vers 8. to those in the Spirit in whom the Holy Spirit dwells vers 9. That is the Unregenerate to the Regenerate Hence we may conclude thus The Unregenerate are in the Flesh in their corrupt Nature and because such they cannot please God they cannot live that holy Life which is grateful to him Therefore the Apostle in this Chapter doth not only distinguish between the Regenerate and Unregenerate the one being in the Spirit and the other in the Flesh but between the acting of the one and of the other The Regenerate or those in the Spirit are after the Spirit and mind the things of the Spirit the Unregenerate or those in the Flesh are after the Flesh and mind the things of the Flesh vers 5. We have here two distinct Principles and Actings the Regenerate Nature acts in a way of Holiness and Obedience but the Old corrupt Nature acts in a way of sin and wickedness and unless a Man be new made by Grace it will continue to do so neither need we wonder at it the Proverb is no less rational than ancient Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked 1 Sam. 24.13 A Sinner studies sin and hath it in the very frame of his Heart he thirsts after it and drinks it as water he rejoyces in it and makes a sport at it he is never so much in his Element as when he is committing it But in an holy Life there is nothing congruous or connatural to him his carnal Mind is enmity against God it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be Rom. 8.7 His Will is contrary to God's the way of Holiness is a burden to him too grievous to be born and how can we expect that in this unregenerate state he should in the least enter upon an holy Life In all reason first there must be a Power or Divine Principle and then an Act it is unnatural and cross to the Method of Wisdom that the beam should preceed the Sun or the Fruit the Root that acts of Sence or Reason should go before their Faculties or that an holy Life should be imagined to take place before that Divine Nature which is the vital Root of it De Concord cap. 13. The Eye saith Anselm must be acute before it can see acutely The Wheel saith St. Austin * Ad Simpl. L. 1. must be round before it can move regularly The Will must be first illuminated and rectified in Regeneration before it can rightly will and move Repairing Grace saith Hugo first aspires that there may be a good Will and then inspires that it may move rightly Charity saith the Apostle is out of a pure Heart a good Conscience and Faith unfained 1 Tim. 1.5 But alas in the Unregenerate what Principles are there can ought be found there which may tend to an holy Life His Heart is impure through the many vile lusts which dwell there his Conscience is defiled through the many guilts which he hath contracted his Faith is a vain Fancy or Presumption and not a Faith and how can he live holily or what Principles hath he for it There must be a proportion between the Power and the Act And so there is in the Regenerate between the Seed of God and the crop of Holiness between the holy Unction and the Odours of Good Works But what proportion can be imagined between an unregenerate Heart and an holy Life An unregenerate Man as he is described in Scripture is weak and without strength and what can he do towards it He is unclean and polluted and how can such a thing as an holy Life proceed from him He is dark nay darkness it self and how can he walk in the Light He is dead in sins and trespasses and how can he live a Divine Life He is a Stranger nay and an Enemy to God and his Law and how can he walk with God or comply with his Law In an holy Life we walk in the Spirit and shew forth the Vertues of God and how can he walk in that or shew forth that which he hath not An holy Life points directly to Heaven as its center but the Principles in a Carnal man tend to Hell and Death Instead of bearing a Proportion to Holiness and Life eternal they carry in them a black contrariety and opposition to both I will only add one thing more to say That there may be an holy Life in one unregenerate is a contradiction The very light of Nature tells us That God must be consecrated in the Heart and worshipped purâ mente In the Heathen Sacrifices the Priest first looked on the Heart to see that it was right The Persians thought that God regarded nothing but the Soul in the Sacrifice God loves Spiritualitèr immolantes those that offer up the Spirit to him in every Duty an holy Life if it be such in substance and not in shadow only must be from a pure Heart and who can find such an one in an unregenerate Man Or if if it could be found there what need could there be of Regenerating Grace If an holy Life must be from a pure Heart and such an Heart cannot be in a Man unregenerate then it is not at all possible that an holy Life should be in him till Regenerating Grace hath made his heart Right It is said of Amaziah That He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord but not with a perfect Heart 2 Chr. 25.2 In the first part of the Verse his Obedience looks very fair and amiable but in the latter part of it there is a black mark set upon it to shew that it was not right the like mark must be set upon all that seeming Sanctity which is in unregenerate Men. The next thing proposed is this An holy Life issues out of a Principle of Regeneration The Socinians who deny original sin and therefore cannot speak cordially of Regeneration do sometimes speak so blindly and perversly of the Holy Spirit as if they meant to confound an holy Life and its Principle together Thus Socinus Christi Spiritus obedientia est The Spirit of Christ is Obedience De Servat par 4. c. 6. as if the cause and effect were all one Thus Volkelius will understand by the Spirit De Ver Rel. l. 4. c. 23. either the mind of Man informed with Christ's Doctrine or else the Doctrine it self as being loth to own the Regenerating Spirit But it is evident in Scripture that an holy Life is distinct from Regeneration and issues from it as a Blessed Fruit thereof First God creates us
Speculum Theologiae in Christo OR A VIEW OF SOME Divine Truths Which are either Practically Exemplified IN JESUS CHRIST Set forth in the GOSPEL Or may be reasonably deduced from thence By EDWARD POLHILL of Burwash in Sussex Esq LONDON Printed by A. M. and R. R. for Tho. Cockerill at the Three Legs in the Poultrey over-against the Stocks-Market MDCLXXVIII TO THE CHRISTIAN READER IT was anciently observed by St. Austin touching the Prophets under the Old Testament Non tantum lingua illorum hominum verum etiam vita fuit Prophetica They did not only prophesie or reveal the mind of God by words but by things done by or upon them Isaiah must walk naked and barefoot to shew the shame of the Egyptian captivity Jeremy must go down to the Potters House and there see the Vessel marred to give the Jews a pregnant demonstration that God could unmake and destroy them Ezekiel was to remove and bring forth his stuff to give them a lively representation of their captivity Above all this was eminently seen in our great Prophet Jesus Christ He did not only reveal the Gospel but he himself is the substance and marrow of it He is the very mirror of Divine Truths and Perfections His stile is the Image of the invisible God the brightness of the Fathers Glory As an eternal Son he is such in himself As incarnate he is such to us The Messiah say the Rabbins is facies Dei the face of God The Glory of God faith the Apostle is in the face of Jesus Christ The Divine perfections appear in him as beauty doth in the face The invisible one may here be seen the inaccessible Majesty may be approach'd unto Infinity to accommodate it self to our Model appears nube carnis in a Cloud of flesh that his glory might not swallow us up In our Emanuel we have a body of Theology an excellent Summary of Divine Truths in a very lively manner set forth to us The Atheist who owns not a God in Heaven might here if he had eyes of Faith see God in the flesh The Wisdom of God doth here appear not in the orders and harmonies of nature but in a plot much greater and more admirable God and Man infinite and finite Eternal and Temporal are met in conjunction that the human finite temporal nature in Christ might be the Theater for the Divine Infinite Eternal nature to shew its perfections in The Truth of God manifests it self illustriously in that no difficulty could hinder the early promise of the Messiah made immediately after the fall of man neither could any time bury it in oblivion He would be true in that which was the hardest thing for him to do in parting with his only begotten out of his bosom for us After many ages the Promise must bud and blossom and bring forth the Messiah We see here That God is the holy one his hatred of sin is writ in Red Characters in the blood and wounds of our dear Lord. His love to holiness was such that he would send his own Son in the flesh to recover holiness into the heart of man again We have here Providence accurately watching over our Saviour all-along first over his Genealogy then over his birth life death resurrection And lastly over the issue of all a Church raised up to sing Hosannah's to him for ever Omnia plena Sacramentorum saith an Ancient Every thing in Christ reads us a Lecture of Divinity He being the second Adam who brought in righteousness and life unto men we are sure that there was a first who brought in sin and death to them From his conception being an extraordinary one we may plainly gather what the Two states of Nature and Grace are By the common generation we are flesh of flesh unclean creatures By the power of the regenerating spirit overshadowing our hearts we become spirit of spirit holy new-creatures In his life and preaching we have miracles triumphing over nature and all the order of it Mysteries exceeding Reason and all its Acumen and a Samplar of humility Meekness Mercy Righteousness Holiness Obedience such as the Sun never saw In his death we have what the proud Socinian thinks impossible Infinite Mercy and Infinite Justice kissing and embracing each other Mercy was seen that God should give his only his dearly beloved Son for us Justice was seen that God should exact of him standing in our stead as much as would counterpoize the sin and suffering of a World in his glorious satisfaction We see what that is which justifies sinners and makes them stand before the Holy God In his excellent example we see how justified ones which are mystical parts and pieces of him ought to walk and tread in his steps These things are the subject matter of the ensuing Discourse may all who are called Christians study Jesus Christ The little 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Reason of Man is much cried up in this Age may we much more adore the Infinite Word and Wisdom of God The temper of St. Bernard may be recommended to all Si scribas non sapit mihi nisi legero ibi Jesum si disputes aut conferas non sapit mihi nisi sonuerit ibi Jesus The devout Father could not relish any thing but Jesus Christ may our hearts ever burn and be inflamed with love to him in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledg may we desire none but Christ Non aliud praeter illum non aliud tanquam illum non aliud post illum Nothing besides him nothing like him nothing after him This is the scope of my Book if it profit or do good to any it is enough and as much as is desired by him who is A Lover of Truth Edw. Polhill Jan. 21. 1677. THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. A short View of Gods Allsufficiency and condescension in revealing himself p. 1 2. The various ways of manifestation In the making of the World and Man p. 3 4 5 6. After the fall in the Moral Law and in types and shadows p. 7. Lastly and above all in and by Jesus Christ p. 8. CHAP. II. Christ considered as a Prophet and a Speculum p. 9. The Divine Attributes shine in him particularly Wisdom p. 10. The obstacles of Redemption to be removed p. 11 12. The Son of God fit for the work p. 13. Many admirable conjunctions of God and Man of Justice and Mercy of Punishment and Obedience in Christs sufferings p. 14 15. Of Satisfaction and a kind of execution of the Law p. 16. Of Satisfaction and Merit p. 17. Of Merit and Example p. 18. All tending to our salvation ibid. The rare conquest of Sin Satan the World Death p. 19 20 21. Humility of mind necessary p. 21. The desperate issue of the pride of Human Reason p. 21 22. Need of Humility from the threefold state of Reason in Integrity after the Fall after Faith p. 23 24 25. CHAP. III. Holiness the glory of the Deity
in giving his Son for us The Giver is God himself no other could do it And here two things offer themselves to us The one is the earliness of his Love It was no Novel temporary thing but ancient nay eternal upon the Prescience of the Fall he eternally designed that his Son should assume our Nature and in it dye as an expiatory Sacrifice for us Christ was the Lamb foreordained before the foundation of the world 1 Pet. 1.20 He was set down for a Redeemer in the eternal Volumes before the world was up and slain above in Decree long before he was slain below in Time A Plaister was provided before the wound a Saviour before the Fall of Man When David would set forth Gods Mercy in the highest strain He doth it thus His mercy is from everlasting to everlasting Psal 103.17 Such is his Love in Christ reaching as I may say from one end of eternity to another Each one of us may cry out as that Ancient did Sero te amavi Domine Lord 't was late e're I loved thee Our love is but of yesterday a temporary thing but his was as early as eternity it self The other is the freeness of it Love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Rhet. l. 2. c. 4. as the Philosopher speaks wills good to another for his sake not for our own In that wonderful Gift of Christ the Love was Gods the profit ours Mercy in man hath a kind of respect to the Donor frail Humanity and the wheel of a mutable world tell him That himself the now giver may peradventure come to be a receiver Hence the Apostle would have us remember them in adversity as being in the body Heb. 13.3 and restore the lapsed considering thy self Gal. 6.1 It may be our own case There is in such acts of Mercy a kind of respect to our future self which possibly may become an object for Mercy But Mercy in God which is the suavity of his Essence issues out in a pure gratuitous way no such respect can fall upon him who is immutable and blessed for ever In the freeness of his Love there are two things considerable On Gods part there was no want on Mans no attractive On Gods part there was no want of us or our Services were there want with him he could not be God Could we supply him we should be greater than himself in furnishing him with that which he could not do for himself He is All-sufficient and what want can be in him Infinite and what can be added to him An Ocean though vast yet because finite may receive an addition from a little drop But what can be added to infinity which in its unmeasurable excellency comprizes all things within it self All nations to him are but as the drop of the bucket and as the small dust of the ballance Isa 40.15 Their Righteousness cannot add one beam to his essential Glory neither can their iniquity in the least eclipse it However it be with the Creature he is still himself His own happiness a sphere of all Perfections a Theatre of Glory to himself Hence it appears that Gods Love in giving his Son for us was not a Love of indigence but of fulness and redundance flowing out in a pure gratuitous manner towards us that the honour might be his and the profit ours He gives like himself out of super-effluent goodness as becomes one who is a Donor only but no Receiver On Mans part there was no attractive to move God to give his Son for us Mans Love is usually drawn out by some excellency or other in the object but what can draw out Gods Could the Origine of all goodness be attracted by any thing in the Creature Yet is it possible that any thing should be found in a fallen Creature to attract it Mans misery was indeed the occasion but what was the attractive Was our Love first and a charm to his Oh! no to say that a Creature is first in Love is to blaspheme the Supreme Goodness which sets up Love in it The Apostle is express Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins 1 John 4.10 Between men Love is ordinarily reciprocal he that loves is beloved again but here the Love was on one side only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Rhet. l. 2. c. 4. God loved his very Enemies so far as to give his Son for them to raise up their Love to its great Original Among men an harmony of spirits a sameness of tempers is a motive to Love But what was there could there be any such thing in fallen man as such How then was he fallen What need was there of a Saviour That holy Harmony was Mans Primitive rectitude and whilest it lasted there was no need of any restorer Alas fallen man was a very Chaos of corruption his very rational Powers were depraved there was flesh in his spirit enmity in his mind against him who lighted up a pure Reason in him at the first There was bondage in his Will it could not nay such was its horrible perversness it would not elevate it self to the fountain of its liberty Among men goodness is an allective to Love but what goodness was there in a fallen degenerate Creature full-fraught with sin and opposite to its Maker The very reliques of the Divine Image which sin could not utterly expel out of the humane Nature were yet so captivated and imprisoned there that gross Idolatry filled the world in spight of all the notions of a Deity implanted in the hearts of men We see cleerly there was no attractive on our part Why then did God give his Son for us The only reason was from himself it was meer Grace self-moving Mercy a pure emanation of Love towards us unworthy Creatures who might have been made the objects of his Wrath and that for ever The next thing considerable is the Gift it self and that was the Son of God very God a greater a dearer person could not be given if we measure Gods Love by the Gift it is like that altogether unmeasurable Hence the Apostle tells us That there is a breadth and length and depth and height infinite dimensions in it such as pass the knowledg of men and angels Eph. 3.18 19. When God gave us the Creatures for our use he gave us but the drops and models of his Goodness but when he gave his Son for us he gave himself God was the Giver and God the Gift When God could swear by no greater he sware by himself when he could give no greater he gave himself Here was Love acted to the uttermost elevated to the highest point a greater Gift there could not be 'T was great Love in Jonathan to David that for him he would strip himself of his Robe nay and venture the cast of a Javelin from an angry Father But what manner of Love was it in God that
it Never was such a seal set to the Law as here never did such a person as he obey it Here the Lord did magnifie his Law and make it honourable and that after a long and dark eclipse put upon it by the sins of a World Here the Antinomian who opposes the Law might satisfie himself The Law doth not condemn believers but it is and must be a Rule Our Saviour's whole life was a proof of it and Commentary upon it and our lives should imitate his we should tread in his steps and walk as he walked in both an homage is done to the Law The Minatory part of the Law denounced a death and a curse against the transgressor It 's true here God acted by Prerogative he relaxed the rigor and letter of the Law that the death and curse might not fall upon the sinner himself but was the threatning totally neglected was sin altogether unpunished No our sins were punished in our Sponsor Jesus Christ It 's true Socinus will not admit this De Servat pars 3. c. 4. Quas nos dicitis Christi poenas non vere proprie sunt poenae Christs sufferings however we call them were not such as were properly and truly penal He would not have them properly penal lest they should be properly satisfactory But I answer Where sin is not the impulsive cause there sufferings are not penal Sin is the foundation of punishment there cannot be poena sine fundamento a punishment without a why or a wherefore is a punishment for nothing that is no punishment But in Christs sufferings there wanted not an impulsive our sins were laid upon him Isa 53.6 they were condemned in his flesh Rom. 8.3 he bore them in his body 1 Pet. 2.24 he was wounded and bruised for them Isa 53.5 His sufferings were for sin and therefore penal Where meer Soveraignty inflicts there sufferings are not penal What is penal is from Justice not Power What is from Power is meer suffering not punishment But our Saviours sufferings were inflicted by Justice Indeed the relaxation of the Law the introduction of a Sponsor were acts of Prerogative and Supreme Power but the inflicting of sufferings upon our Sponsor the punishing of our sins in him were acts of Rectoral Justice Jesus Christ was set forth to be a propitiation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 3.25 to declare not the Dominion but Justice of God His sufferings were inflicted by Justice and therefore penal But if they were penal might they not have been somewhat less than a death and a curse No he bore both God had a respect to his threatning his sufferings were as much as might be to comply with the terms of the Law Though the threatning was not executed in a strict rigorous manner in the first debtor yet in an equitable way it was in a sort executed in the Sponsor he did undergo the essentials of punishment though not the accidentals Thus the truth of both parts of the Law was manifested in our Saviour Moreover the truth of all the types and shadows was set forth in our Saviour who was the body and substance of them all there was in him somewhat that did symbolize with them and somewhat that did infinitely transcend them Manna came down from Heaven and so did Christ but from the highest Heaven the place of Gods glorious presence to give not a temporal life but a spiritual an eternal one not to one Nation only but to a world Ex hoc pane coeli sancti reficiuntur Angeli With this bread of Heaven Saints and Angels are refreshed as an Ancient speaks The Rock smitten by Moses's Rod supplied the Israelites and Christ smitten by the curse of the Law supplies the Church not with earthly water but with heavenly with rivers of living graces and comforts following believers not for a time but indeficiently and for ever Hence the Jewish Rabbins say that the turning the Rock into water was the turning the property of Judgment into the property of Mercy All Mercies issue out from this spiritual Rock The brazen Serpent was lifted up upon a Pole and Christ was lifted up upon the Cross that healed the wounds made by the outward Serpents in the body and he heals the wounds made by sin in the conscience The corporal cure came by the eye by looking to the brazen Serpent the spiritual one comes by faith by looking to our Saviour for salvation God dwelt in the Tabernacle and Temple and in Christ he dwelt in the flesh not in types and symbols but really and hypostatically not for a time but for ever Christ is the true Tabernacle and Temple who hath all the holy things in him Here 's the Shecinah the Divine Majesty appearing in our nature Here 's the Ark where the Tables of the Law broken by men are kept inviolate Here 's the Mercy-seat or Propitiatory which covers our sins and from whence God communes with us in words of grace Here 's the vail the flesh of Christ which hid his Deity and through which there is a way into Heaven it self Here are the holy Lamps the Spirit of Wisdom and Grace derived from our Saviour Here 's the Altar of Burnt-offering the Deity of Christ sanctified his Humanity to be a sufficient sacrifice for a World And the Altar of Incense the odours of his Merit perfume all our services and render them acceptable unto God Almost every thing did breathe forth Christ and speak to his Honour He was in one all the Sacrifices and more than all of them Sacrifices began with the first promise of the Messiah The seed of the woman shall break the Serpents head Gen. 3.15 and after almost 4000 years standing they ended in his death a singular respect they had to him and a full complement in his perfect Sacrifice De Sacrif Disp 4. Adam and the ancient Patriarchs as the learned Franzius observes used at the sacrifices to speak of the Messiah and his sufferings these being the scope and ultimate mark of all the sacrifices were not altogether unknown to them A hint of them we have in that first promise of the Messiah the seed of the woman Gen. 3.15 who was to suffer a bruise in his heel his human nature that the Serpents that is Satans head might be broken Those Ancients knowing something of Christs sufferings though imperfectly and at a distance did in all probability at their sacrifices speak of them The believing Jews did not hang upon the shadow the outward sacrifices only but look at Christ the substance and marrow of them else they did as it seems worship God in their sacrifices in an ignorant manner without knowing the spiritual meaning of them nay else they offered them up in a mistake in the belief of that false impossible thing that the blood of Bulls and Goats could take away sin They knew that there was no remission without expiation they knew that moral guilt did as much nay more
the eternal spirit offered up himself without spot to God shall purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God Heb. 9.14 Emphatica omnia totidem pene causae quot verba aeternae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per Christum partae saith the worthy Paraeus all things in the Text are Emphatical and there are almost as many causes as words of the eternal redemption obtained by Christ He offered not as the Gentiles to Devils but to God he offered not as the Priest under that Law a Sacrifice distinct from himself but he offered himself the thing offered and the Priest beyond all parallel were one and the same He offered not as the deceiver a corrupt thing Mal. 1.14 but his pure and innocent self in whom there was no spot or blemish He offered up himself not meerly through an human spirit but through a Divine Eternal one through his Divinity which aspired an eternal vigor and fragrancy into his Sacrifice so that it needed not as the legal ones any reiteration for as the Apostle hath it he hath by one offering perfected for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 This is that great Sacrifice more than all other sacrifices which satisfied Justice expiated moral guilt averted the wrath of Heaven and procured an eternal redemption for us Further Christ was not only the substance of the sacrifices but of the High-Priests also He hath the true holy garments the graces of the Spirit the true Vrim and Thummim lights and perfections His girdle is Truth his golden bells pure Doctrine his anointing the Spirit and Power He entred not with the blood of Goats and Calves into the Holy of Holies here below but with his own blood into Heaven there to appear in the presence of God and bear the names of his people upon his heart He is an High-Priest above all high-priests not a meer man but God whose Deity poured out an infinite virtue upon his Sacrifice He was not made an High-Priest only but made such by an oath The Lord sware Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedeck Hebr. 7.21 The Aaronical Priesthood was temporary and of less moment but Christs was unchangeable and of far greater moment hence God pawned his Holiness Life Being it self to make it immutable for ever Other high-priests died as men but Christ though he died as a Sacrifice yet as an High-Priest he lives for ever hence the Apostle saith That he was a Priest after the power of an endless life Heb. 7.16 His Deity made him an everliving Priest and transfused an endless life of merit into his Sacrifice He is consecrated for evermore Heb. 7.28 He is a perfect Priest the efficacy of his Sacrifice is perpetual the holy Unction on his head is indeficient and ever running down upon believers This is the great High-Priest the substance of all those under the Law Lastly The truth of Gods Worship is set forth in and by Christ Though the truth and sincerity of Worship were required under the Law though external Worship as well as internal be due under the Gospel yet the truth of Worship was never so excellently set forth as it is in and by Christ This appears in three or four things 1. The matter of Worship is now more free and pure than it was the clog of Ceremonies and ritual observances is now removed Under the Law there was abundance of Corn Ordinances a great number of Sacrifices Circumcisions Washings Purifyings Fringes Festivals Travels to the Temple and distinctions of meats but in and by Christ the yoke is broken the carnal Ordinances cease and all is turned into spirituality Our Sacrifice is to present and consecrate our selves to God which is a service highly reasonable and indeed no other than the right posture of the soul towards him Our Circumcision is in the spirit and a cutting off the corrupt flesh of it Our Washing is that of Regeneration and Reformation Our Purifying is that of Faith which purifies the heart by the Blood and Spirit of Christ apprehended by it Our Fringes are no outward ones those being supplied by the Law in the heart Christ is our Passover the Holy Spirit poured out our Pentecost Our Feast is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to do our duty as one saith To delight in works of Virtue as another hath it There is now no tye to this or that place Omnis locus viro bono templum Every place is a Temple to a good man Every-where we may lift up holy hands to God Nor any distinctions of meat To the pure all things are pure The Levitical uncleanness in beasts did shadow out the moral uncleanness in men Quod Judaei vitabant in pecore id nos vitare oportet in more What the Jews avoided in the beast that we are to avoid in our conversation If there be no discretion of things in us the beast doth not part the hoof if no heavenly rumination it doth not chew the cud An idle person is a fish without fins or scales seldom in motion An earthly man is a creeping thing that goes upon his belly and feeds on dust Thus in and by Christ Religion is refined the load of carnal and ritual observations is cast off and Worship is brought forth in its pure and spiritual glory 2. The mode of Worship is excellently set forth in the Gospel God who is a Spirit must be served as becomes him in spirit and truth There must be a lowliness and humility of mind a reverence and godly fear an elevation and devotional ascension of the soul to God a filial love and obedience to his command a single eye a pure intention at his glory a divine fervour and freedom of spirit in the work a faith in the great Mediator for acceptance a waiting and holy expectancy upon God that he would bless his own Ordinance and irradiate the duty with the light of his countenance It 's true this mode of Worship was known under the Old Testament but it was never so illustriously set forth as by our Saviour Jesus Christ As a Painter saith Theophylact doth not destroy the old lineaments but only make them more glorious and beautiful so did Christ about the Law by his pure discoveries he put a gloss and glory upon the Divine Worship 3. The help to Worship is communicated in and by Jesus Christ The Holy Spirit which first new-frames the heart for pure spiritual Worship and then stirs up and actuates the holy Graces in it is more largely afforded under the Gospel than ever it was before Under the Law there were some dews and droppings of it in the Jewish Church but under the Gospel it is poured out upon all flesh It was a Judaical axiom The Divine Majesty dwells in none without the Land of Israel But after Jesus Christ had by his sweet-smelling Sacrifice purchased the Spirit and in the glory of his Merits had ascended into Heaven he shed forth the Spirit in a
not Carentia justitiae debitae inesse a want of what ought to be in us it is not a privative want a want of what we once had in Adams righteousness and afterwards lost in his sin but it is a meer negative want a want of that we never had nor never forfeited Adams righteousness being not imputed to us we never had it Adams sin being not imputed to us we never forfeited it such a meer negative want is no sin What though there be a pravity and propensity to all manner of sin in us It is no sin in unfallen creatures it is no sin to be made or created it is no sin to be born or brought forth it is no sin if there be no cause or foundation of it in us and there can be no cause or foundation of it in us if we no way participate of Adams sin it may be called misery but it is no sin Hence that saying of St. Austin Nulla foret hominis culpa si talis a Deo creatus esset qualis nunc nascitur There would be no fault in man if he were created such by God as he is now born the pure primordials of nature cannot be culpable That man who is meerly what his Creator made him is as he ought to be The result of all is this Adams sin not being imputed to us there can be no such thing as original sin though this Doctrine hath been maintained in the Church in all ages yet there is no such thing neither is Adams sin imputatively ours nor yet is the natural pravity in us any sin If therefore we will acknowledg original sin we must acknowledg that Adams sin is ours by a just Imputation Thus much touching the first original thing in sin Adams sin is imputatively ours The other is this We have an inordination and inherent pravity in us this depends upon the former All habitual sin hath an essential relation to some actual sin precedent no man can can be a sinner habitually who is totally free from actual sin If we had not in some sense sinned in Adams sin we could not have been habitually vitiated by it At first man was an excellent creature sparkling with a divine image of knowledg and righteousness all was in harmony the rational powers of the Soul were subordinate to God their Creator the sensitive powers were subject to the rational in every part there was a just decorum But upon the fall which was interpretatively ours the Crown fell from our head the Glory of the Divine Image departed the Soul became naked the very shame of the body told it that the primitive rectitude was wanting darkness fell upon the Mind the once region of light bondage and impotency fell upon the Will the once seat of power and liberty all was out of frame The rational powers turned rebels to God the sensitive were all in a mutiny against the rational There was in us a pravity an horrible propensity to all manner of iniquity a Belial-heart such as is evil and only evil and that continually This pravity runs parallel with our being and humanity it overspreads the whole Fabrick of our nature and so adheres to it that even in the Saints it is not utterly extinct till the last breath nor totally cleansed away till the Clay-walls of the body fall into the grave This is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the conceiving-lust the womb where all iniquity is formed This is the Grave or Sheol in man which in its unreasonable desires never hath enough This is that Concupiscence which as the Rabbins say doth aedificare inferos make and build an Hell for men Now that there is such an inordination and inherent pravity in us doth easily appear by the following Considerations 1. The Scripture doth abundantly testifie it Adam begat a son in his own likeness after his image and called his name Seth Gen. 5.3 Adam was created in the likeness of God v. 1 but after his fall he begat a son in his own likeness When God created man in his likeness it was sanctus sanctum an Holy God created an holy man But when Adam begat a son in his likeness it was corruptus corruptum polluted Adam begat a polluted son and in the Text there are two words likeness and image to set the greater brand upon corrupt nature It is remarkable that the Text doth not here speak of Abel who dyed without issue nor of Cain all whose progeny was drowned in the flood but of Seth by whom all mankind hath hitherto been continued in the world which shews that none are exempted from it God saw that every imagination of the thoughts of mans heart was only evil continually Gen. 6.5 and afterwards God saith that it was so from his youth Gen. 8.21 according to the original it is Every formation or figment of the heart all that was framed or effigiated there is only evil and that from his youth Where the Hebrew word used reaches in other Scriptures even to infancy Which shews that we are transgressors from the womb Hence one of the Jewish Rabbins being asked when the evil imagination was put into man answered From the hour that he is formed Hence that ancient saying Ipse ortus in vitio est Our first rise is iniquity Job speaking of mans birth saith Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one Job 14.4 Man who is of unclean Parents must needs be unclean Nothing but supernatural grace can purifie such an one none but the Holy One can make us clean David cries out Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me in the Hebrew it is warm me Psal 51.5 He confesses that there was iniquity even in primo ardore in the first warmth of natural conception before he was born or saw the light he was polluted and unclean Antequam nascimur Apol. Dav. cap. 11. maculamur saith St. Ambrose Before we are born we are polluted Our Saviour speaking of Regeneration saith That which is born of the flesh is flesh Joh. 3.6 In natural generation there is nothing but flesh or corrupt nature the Spirit or Divine nature is from Regeneration only St. Paul stiles this inward pravity a body of sin Rom. 6.6 It is a loathsome carkass made up of vile matter It is not so much one sin as virtually all other sins are parts and branches of it The weight and pressure of this body made even St. Paul cry out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Rom. 7.24 Thus and much more doth the Scripture bear witness to this truth 2. No man who seriously looks into the frame of his own heart can want a proof of this truth Upon a faithful inspection into himself a sink of sin a Chaos of turpitudes and horrible irregularities will appear to be in him Reason was lighted up by God but it is now as a beam prodigiously cut off
inflicted by Soveraignty but Justice such as were not the Curse causless but merited by sin unless they were merited by sin they were meer suffering not punishment punishment for nothing is no punishment if there was no punishment in his sufferings how were they satisfactory If there was no merit of sin to procure them how were they penal If Justice inflicted them not how were they a punishment or if they were penal how could Justice inflict them upon an Innocent Here we have nothing to say but this Christ was so far made one with us as to render his sufferings penal and satisfactory The other is that special conjunction which is between Christ and Believers Christ is the Head they are the Members the Ligatures of this Mystical Union are the Holy Spirit and Faith the quickning Spirit saith the reverend Vsher descends downwards from the head to be in us a fountain of supernatural life a lively Faith wrought by the same Spirit ascends from us upward to lay fast hold upon him The Scripture notably sets forth this Union We dwell in Christ and he in us John 6.56 We abide in him and he in us John 15.4 We are Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones Ephes 5.30 32. And he is in us the hope of Glory Col. 1.27 This the Apostle calls a great Mystery and the Riches of the Glory of the Mystery we are ingrasted into him as Branches into a Root cemented to him as the building is to the foundation incorporated with him as the food is with our Bodies united to him as Members are to the Head We eat his Flesh and drink his Blood and become one Spirit with him nothing can be more emphatical the Holy Spirit which resides in him the Head falls down upon us his Members and so makes a kind of continuity between him and us too Spiritual and Divine to be interrupted by any local distance Hence St. Chrysostom saith that there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Com. 1 Cor. 3.11 no medium or middle between Christ and us hence St. Austin saith that Fideles siunt cum homine Christo unus Christus Believers are made one Christ with the Man Christ the Head and the Body make up one Christ Hence that of Aquinas that Christ and his Members are but una persona mystica one mystical person the consequence of this admirable Union is the communication of Divine Blessings from him to us tota verae justitiae salutis vitae participatio ex hâc pernecessariâ cum Christo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pendet saith the learned Zanchy All our good things depends on this most necessary Vnion Thirdly The righteousness of Christ may be taken under a double notion either as it was the very idem to all the Laws he was under or else as it was the tantundem a plenary satisfaction to the moral Law by us violated in the first notion it was a righteousness ex naturâ suâ being a perfect conformity to those Laws in the second it was a satisfaction ex divinâ ordinatione being by God ordained so to be in the first notion it was not for us who being once sinners were incapable of it But for himself to justifie and sanctifie him in that state which he undertook to be in In the second it was not for himself who as being pure from all sin was incapable of it but for us to justifie us sinners against the Law Here I shall only add that under the notion of satisfaction I take in all Christ's righteousness Active as well as Passive though I think the Active in it self alone could not have amounted to a satisfaction because without shedding of blood there was no remission to be yet the Active being in Conjunction with the Passive is a part of the satisfaction and makes it the more compleat for a satisfaction made up of both together answers the threatning and honours the precept of the Law it satisfies God's Justice in it self by penal sufferings and in its foundation that is God's holiness by perfect obedience Fourthly The Active and Passive Righteousness of Christ are not imputed to us as they are the Idem a perfect conformity to the Laws he was under for we were not under the Mediatorial Law nor being once sinners are we capable of a perfect conformity to the moral but they are imputed to us as they are the tantundem a plenary satisfaction to the moral Law by us broken for so they are very apt and proper to justifie sinners against the Law Neither is Christ's satisfaction imputed to all actually to justifie them against the Law for all are not justified against it but it is imputed to Believers as being mystical parts and portions of him hence that Learned Bishop saith Dav. de Just hab 369. Quia insiti sumus in corpus ejus coalescimus cum illo in unam personam ideò ejus justitia nostra reputatur because we are ingrafted into his body and grow as it were into one Person with him therefore his Righteousness is reputed ours neither is Christ's satisfaction imputed to his belleving Members according to its fulness and latitude as it is in Christ the Head but in such sort and measure as is meet for it to be communicated to Members this is notably illustrated in the parallel of the two Adams who are two such communicative Heads as never were the like who communicate to theirs in such proportion as is congruous between Head and Members Adam's sin is derived to each of us not in its full latitude but pro mensurâ membri and in like manner Christ's satisfaction is derived to each Believer not in its full latitude but pro mensurâ membri so much of Ada's sin comes upon each one of us as soon as he is proles Adae as makes him a sinner so much of Christ's satisfaction comes upon each one of us as soon as he is proles Christi as makes him Righteous against the Law in both there is a communication to Members yet in such a way as that the difference between Head and Members is observed Fifthly There was a Divine Constitution that Jesus Christ should be our Sponsor and standing in our room should satisfie for us that he should be an Head to Believers and his satisfaction should so far become theirs as to justifie them against the Law accordingly that satisfaction is truly imputed to them Some Persons have been pleased to speak of Imputed Righteousness as if it were a fancy a meer putative imaginary thing but we see here upon what grounds it stands the first Foundation of it is the Divine constitution made touching Christ the intermediate Foundation is this that Christ was our Sponfor and satisfied for us the immediate Foundation is this that Christ is a communicating Head to his believing Members and they as Members participate in his satisfaction these things are sufficient to make us conclude as Bishop Davenant doth
crucified for us neither did it satisfie Justice on our behalf it is therefore Faith in its object that is Christ's Righteousness which justifies us against the Law that Faith which is counted for Righteousness is that which establishes the Law Vers 31. and that Establishment Faith makes not in it self but in its object Christ's Righteousness which established the Law by satisfying of it Faith therefore and its object must be taken together Hence the Apostle who mentions the Imputation of Faith Ver. 5. in the 4. Chapter mentions also the Imputation of Righteousness Ver. 6. It 's true both are but one in sence but in words the latter expresses the object of Faith as the former doth the Act Thus as I said before Faith in Conjunction with its object takes in the whole of Justification and then the after-words quoted out of the Psalm touching Remission do not describe the Imputation of Righteousness in its proper Nature but in its blessed Fruit viz. Pardon of sin which is not properly our Righteousness but a consequent upon it Another place is this Through this Man is preached unto you the Forgiveness of sin and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the Law of Moses Acts 13.38 39. Here it seems that what is called Remission in the first verse is called Justification in the next but I take it they are not the same in the 38. Ver. We have Remission in the offer or tender of the Gospel in the 39. we have Justification actual as it is in the Believer So they are not the same Justification here is not Remission but Justification by Sacrifice Justification by Christ's Sacrifice is opposed to Justification by the Legal ones Justification by these was typical and but in some cases the Law not allowing a Sacrifice in all but Justification by that is real and in all cases where Faith is not wanting here therefore Justification and Remission are not the same Another place is Luke 18. when the Publican penitentially prayed for Pardon God be merciful to me a Sinner he went home justified Vers 13 14. Justified is the same with Pardoned I answer This place shews that Justification follows upon true Repentance but not that Justification and Pardon are the same the Satisfaction of Christ justifies a Sinner a Pardon only frees him from punishment To name but one place more The Free-gift is of many offences to justification Rom 5.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Free-gift seems here to import Pardon as if Pardon and Justification were all one To this I answer The Apostle in this famous place sets down a Parallel between the two Heads Adam and Christ Adam's Sin and Christ's Righteousness Adam's Sin making us Sinners unto death and Christ's Righteousness making us righteous unto Life But the word Pardon or Remission is not so much as once named in all the Parallel by the Free-gift Vers 16. is not meant Remission but Christ's Righteousness This is clear upon a double account the one is this The Free-gift is opposed to Adam's sin and that which in this Parallel is opposed to Adam's sin must needs be Christ's Righteousness this appears throughout the whole Parallel in the 15 16. Vers Adam's Sin and the Free-gift are opposed in the 18. Vers Adam's Offence and Christ's Righteousness are opposed in the 19. Vers Adam's Disobedience and Christ's Obedience are opposed Hence it appears that what is the Free-gift in the 15 and 16. Vers is the Righteousness or Obedience of Christ in the 18. 19. Vers neither indeed can the Parallel stand if any other thing than Christ's Righteousness should be opposed to Adam's sin The other is this these words The Free-gift are put instead of Christ's Righteousness or Obedience this appears in that where the one is mentioned the other is omitted in the 15 16 17. Vers The Free-gift is mentioned but the Righteousness or Obedience of Christ is omitted in the 18 and 19. Vers the Righteousness and Obedience of Christ is mentioned but the Free-gift is omitted Indeed in our Translation we have the Free-gift Vers 18. but not in the Original Hence it appears that they are the same I suppose that in the 18. Vers should be otherwise supplied Thus it appears that the Free-gift is not Pardon Having seen the most material Texts I shall observe one thing more Justification is set forth in such a way in Scripture that it must needs be distinct from Pardon It is set forth so that the Law is established by it Rom. 3.31 but the Law is not established by a Pardon but by a Satisfaction You will say Our Pardon is upon a Satisfaction but if that Satisfaction do not justifie us if it be no Ingredient in our Justification then in our Justification the Law is not established as the Apostle speaks Justification is set forth so that the Righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us Rom. 8.4 But the Righteousness of the Law is not fulfilled in a Pardon neither is it fulfilled in our imperfect though sincere Obedience The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is as Aristotle saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eth. l. 5. cap. 7. Correctio injuriae Satisfaction for the injured Law but nothing is such but Christ's Righteousness The Apostle in the precedent Verse saith That sin was condemned in the Flesh of Christ and of this there is a double Fruit first Justification The Righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us that is Christ's Satisfaction becomes imputatively ours and then Sanctification we walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit This Interpretation harmonizes with the first Verse ther first we have Justification There is no Condemnation to them who are in Christ and then Sanctification We walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit as therefore Christ's Righteousness is the only thing which satisfies the Law so it is the only justifying matter against it Justification is so set forth that the Law hath its end Thus the Apostle Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to the Believer Rom. 10.4 as he is the end of the Law so he is for Righteousness he is not the end of the Law in a procured pardon but in a Satisfaction made and applied Justification therefore consists not in a Pardon but in a Satisfaction applied and made ours by Imputation Thus far out of Scripture Secondly Justification cannot be without a Righteousness that God who judgeth according to truth who is Just and a Justifyer doth not esteem or pronounce us righteous unless we are so a pardon is not our Righteousness for that is God's Act and God's Act though it may make or esteem us righteous is not it self our Righteousness neither is that which a pardon gives viz. an immunity from punishment such an immunity from punishment which is ex merâ indulgentiâ as in the case of a pardoned Malefactor is not such the Malefactor
is towards those which serve him spiritually A Man's Life cannot be holy praeterintentionally or by accident it is a pure Intention which spiritualizes and sanctifies the Life before God To clear this it is to be considered That the Life must be dedicated to God in a double respect it must be dedicated to him by a conformity to his Will And again It must be dedicated to him by a tendency to his Glory In both these there must be a pure intention to direct the same The first thing is There must be a pure Intention in our conformity to the Will of God Socinus saith That there is a Verbum quoddam interius a kind of internal word in Man that is a Reason to discern between that which is just and that which is unjust Praelect Theol. c. 2. And then he Adds He that obeys this internal word obeys God himself Etiamsi ipsum Deum non esse quidèm aut sciat aut cogitet although he do not know or think that there be a God And after concludes That such an Obedience is grateful to God But as great an Admirer of Holiness as this Heretick would seem to be it was no less than a prophane Assertion to say That there might be a grateful Obedience without any respect at all had to God or his Will Doth not St. Paul condemn in the Athenians the worship of an unknown God Doth not Christ charge the Samaritans that they did worship they knew not what Yet these are the portenta opinionum which this Master of Reason vents to the World But to pass over this It is not enough for an holy Life that the thing done be materially good but it must be therefore done because God commands it so to be an holy Man follows after Holiness because this is the Will of God Now that the material goodness of a thing is not enough may appear by these Instances Jehu in destroying the House of Ahab did do that which God commanded him to do yet God saith That he will avenge that Blood upon the House of Jehu Hos 1.4 And why so Jehu did that which God commanded but he did not obey in it he did it not in compliance with God's command but in pursuance of his own design as it is with the hand of a rusty Dial which stands still suppose at ten of the Clock to a Traveller passing at that hour it seemeth to go right but it is but by accident so was it with Jehu He seemed to obey in that which hit with his own Will but he did it not upon the account of God's for then he would have done other things But though he destroyed Ahab's House yet he did not destroy the Calves at Dan and Bethel For there God's Will did not fall in with his Another Instance we have in the acts of Moral Virtue in the Heathen those acts were materially good yet they did not in them serve God but their own Reason It 's true right Reason signifies the very Will of God but they did them not in compliance with Reason as significative of God's Will but in compliance with it as a chief part of themselves This is evident upon a double account the one is this That they were animals of Glory They did what they did not in an humble subjection to the Will of God but in a proud self-glorying way they arrogated all the praise and honour to themselves in all they did but sacrifice to the pride of their own Reason The other is this They did not only follow right Reason in their Moral Vertues but corrupt Reason in their Idolatries The Apostle saith Their foolish Heart was darkned Rom. 1.21 Here they followed Reason as a part of their corrupt self which those who follow it as significative of God's Will cannot be supposed to do Right Reason which imports God's Will was against their Idolatries yet they continued in them Hence it appears that in their Moral Vertues they did not serve God but their own Reason Hence St. Austin contends Contr. Jul. l. 4. c. 3. that their Vertues were not true Vertues They might be just sober merciful but they did all infidelitèr without respect to the Will and Glory of God Malè bonum facit qui infidelitèr facit Hence as Camero observes Cam. fol. 356. Lucretia hated Immodesty and Cato Perfidiousness not out of love to God but because those things were incongruous to Reason Another Instance we have in Carnal Professors under the Gospel they hear read pray give Alms but they do not do these spiritually in compliance with the Will of God the Duties are high but the aims in them are low and carnal Vast is the difference between an Holy and a Carnal Man An Holy Man is holy even in Natural and Civil Actions the Kingdom of Heaven is by a pure Intention brought down into his Trade Nay into his very Meat and Drink His deeds are by a Prerogative wrought in God when he toils as a Servant in servile Employment yet he serves the Lord Christ all is spiritualized by a pure Intention But on the other hand a Carnal Man is carnal even in spiritual Actions There is indeed the Opus operatum the Flesh the outward body of a Duty but there is no Soul or Spirit in it No pure Intention to carry it up to the Will and Glory of God to which it is consecrated Thus we see that it is not enough for an holy Life that the thing done be materially good No it must be done in compliance to the Divine Will I will keep the Commandments of my God saith David Psal 119.115 He would keep them not upon any by-account but because they were God's to whose Will he dedicated himself Lo I come to do thy Will O God saith our Saviour Hebr. 10.7 And again I seek not my own Will but the Will of the Father which hath sent me Joh. 5.30 Here we have the great Pattern of Holiness his Will was devoted and swallowed up in God's all that he did and suffered was in conformity to the Divine Will We must not dream of any true Holiness till we do what good we do out of compliance with the Divine Will as in matters of Faith we must believe quià Deus dixit so in matters of Practice we must obey quià Deus voluit His Command must sway and cast the Balance in Heart and Life the Nature of holy Obedience is this to do what God willeth intuitu voluntatis because he willeth it And hence an holy Man doth not pick and chuse among the commands of God but carry a respect to all of them The next thing is this There must be a pure Intention to direct our good Actions to the Glory of God seing God is Alpha he must be Omega seeing he is the Supream good he must be the Ultimate end of all things Nothing can be more rational than this That a Creature should be referred to its
will be loved no longer nay it will look according to its own hue like a vile base deformed thing fit for nothing but to be hung upon a Cross there to die and expire Hence it appears that an holy Man as long as his Faith discovers a vanity and nothingness in the fairest prospects of the World must needs overcome the World and the lusts of it Again An holy Man according to that supernatural Consecration which is upon him surrenders up his Love and Joy and Delight to God and Christ and Heavenly things the stream of his Heart which before run out upon the lying vanities here below is now turned to the excellent things above his Conversation is in Heaven his Treasure and his Heart are both there and then what must become of Sin must it not needs die away and become as a Body without a Spirit in it It is the Love and the Joy and the Delight of Man which animate Sin but if these are not here any longer but risen and gone away into the upper World to place and center themselves upon the excellent objects which are there then Sin must needs languish and die away it hath nothing to animate or enliven it any more were this Divine surrender in perfection Sin could not so much as be and proportionably where it is but in truth only Sin must needs grow heartless and powerless Notable is that of the Apostle Walk in the Spirit i.e. in the Elevations of holy Faith and Love and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of Flesh Gal. 5.16 Sin shall grow weak and by little and little give up the Ghost To conclude this Character An holy Man which way soever he looks sees just reason to mortify Sin the rectitude of the Law saith It must die for its crookedness and ataxy the threatning of Death saith It must die or the Soul must die in the room of it The bleeding Wounds of our dying Lord say That the Crucifier must not be spared but die after that manner That excellent Guest the holy Spirit saith It is too vile a thing to live under the same roof with it self The precious immortal Soul saith The wounds and turpitudes of it are too intolerable to be endured any longer Heaven that blessed Region saith It is not to be tolerated by any who mean to enter into that place We must then mortifie the deeds of the Body that we may live Rom. 8.13 that we may live a Life of Holiness here and a Life of Glory in another World Sixthly An holy Life is not made up of the Exercise of this or that Grace in particular but of the Exercise of all Graces pro hic nunc as occasion serves St. Peter saith That we must add to our Faith Vertue to Vertue Knowledge to Knowledge Temperance to Temperance Patience to Patience Godliness to Godliness Brotherly kindness and to Brotherly kindness Charity 2 Pet. 1.5 6 7. Holy Men who are partakers of the Divine Nature spoken of immediately before have Grace upon Grace and must as occasion serves exercise one after another that there may be a Constellation of Graces appearing in their Lives to give the more full resemblance of the Perfections which are in their Father in Heaven our Saviour Christ in whom all Graces are set forth in lively and Orient colours and are really and practically exemplified to our view had this character justly given him he went up and down down doing good every step one odour of Grace or other brake forth from him Subjection to Parents or Magistrates or Zeal towards God or Humility in washing his Disciples feet or Meekness under false Accusations or melting Compassions letting out cures on the Bodies and Heavenly truths on the Souls of Men or admirable Patience under great sorrows and sufferings one glorious way of Holiness or other was always coming from him Proportionably an holy Man Who is a living Member of Christ must be in his measure holy in all manner of Conversation 1 Pet. 1.15 In the Original it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which way soever he turn himself he must be holy in it he must have a respect to God at every turn this will best appear by the particular parts of his Life Take an holy Man in Divine Ordinances there he is holy He would first be sure that he is in a right Church and in a right Ordinance in a right Church for there the Lord commands the Blessing even Life for evermore in a right Ordinance for unless the Institution be from God the Benediction cannot be expected from him and then he would serve God in a right manner and sanctify his Name in his approaches when he comes to an Ordinance he hath high thoughts of God as being the Infinite Majesty of Heaven the Excellency of all Perfections one whom Angels adore and Devils tremble at accordingly he lies low before God he serves him with Reverence and godly Fear he draws nigh to him yet forgets not the infinite distance between them he blushes to think that he must go before so pure a Majesty with the dust of Mortality about him and again he blushes to think that he must do so in the spots and rags of many Infirmities which being in the Soul are much more abasive than those in the Body The Beams of the Divine Glory strike an holy awe into him and make him conclude That a Soul though entirely given up is to God but a little very little thing but as a Beam to the Sun or a drop to the Ocean and which is matter of more shame and abasement the Soul is much less in that the innate corruption holds back and the bewitching World steals away a great deal of it from God very little or rather nothing it is that we can give to him however the holy Man such is his Divine temper would not abate any thing but endeavour in Ordinances to give God his Spirit and highest Intention he knows that God is a Spirit and meer bodily worship is as nothing to him what is the bowing of the Knee when there is an Iron Sinew of Rebellion within or the lifting up of the Hands or Eyes when there is an earthly depression upon the affections towhat purpose is an open Ear when the Heart is deaf and shut up against holy Truths And what a shadow a meer lye in worship is the Body when the Mind is stole away and gone after Vanity He therefore sets himself to serve God in spirit and truth while God is speaking to him in his Sacred Word he would have no converse at all with worldly objects he bids these stand by and not interrupt his attention while he is speaking to God in prayer he would not only pour out words to God but his very Heart and Spirit if it were possible all of it without reserving so much as a glance or a piece of a broken thought towards carnal things a Duty to the Great God is a
require it than ceremonial and if they knew nothing of an Expiating Messiah they sought no further for the expiation of moral guilt than the blood of bulls and goats Now touching the Sacrifices two things are to be noted The one is this there is somewhat in Christ which answers to the Expiatory Sacrifices The sacrifice was to be perfect and without blemish that it might be accepted the blind or broken or maimed or corrupted thing was not to be offered up to God answerably the human nature of Christ which was the great Sacrifice was without spot or guile it was formed by the Holy Spirit and breathed out nothing but sanctity that it might be a pure offering unto God Had there been any blemish in it it could not have been united to the Person of the Word nor offered up as a sacrifice to God for us The Sacrifice pure in it self was substituted in the room of sinful defective men there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the life of a Beast instead of that of a Man Sutably Christ the meek patient immaculate Lamb of God stood in our room he died for us he gave his life a ransom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 instead of many Mat. 20.28 His Person was put in the room of ours and his sufferings too in the room of ours Had he not stood in our stead he could not have been capable either to bear the stroke of penal sufferings or to free us from the same not to bear penal sufferings he being nothing but meer innocency in himself nor to free us from them he being in no conjunction with us The sacrifice being put in the sinners room had sin imputed to it they were to lay their hands upon the head of it Lev. 1.4 a confession of sins was made over the Scape-goat Lev. 16.21 their sins were in a sort transferred upon the sacrifice that it might bear them away Thus it was with Christ he was made sin for us 2 Cor. 5.21 The Lord laid on him the iniquities of us all Isa 53.6 Our guilt as it was fundamentum poenae was imputed to him so far as to render his sufferings penal and as an Ancient hath it he was delictorum susceptor non commissor having no guilt of his own he stood under ours in order to a glorious expiation and abolition of it in his death and satisfaction Sin being charged upon the sacrifice there was destructio rei oblatae a destroying of the thing offered so it was with Christ when our sins were laid upon him with the Corn he was bruised with the Wine and Oyl poured out with the Lamb slain and roasted in the fire of Gods wrath and with the Scape-goat driven into the wilderness of desertion crying out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me His sufferings were very many and great for us The sacrifice being slain its blood did expiate sin an atonement was made remission ensued upon it Thus Christ dying on the cross his blood was expiatory our fault was compensated Justice was satisfied wrath was averted and God appeased and reconciled towards us In these things appears a fair analogy between those ancient sacrifices and Christ the grea Sacrifice The other is this There is that in Christ which infinitely transcends all the legal sacrifices In the sacrifice there was only a brute in perfection but in Christ there was an human nature in perfection an human nature which had the Spirit above measure and was as full of grace as the capacity of a creature could hold there was in his humanity such a beauty and unmatchable perfection of grace as far surpassed the united and accumulated excellencies of all the Angels in Heaven The sacrifice stood and suffered in the room of offenders by constraint and compulsion it was bound with cords to the horns of the Altar but Christ stood and suffered in our room by choice and voluntary sponsion his soul was not snatched away but poured out his life was not meerly taken away but laid down he was under no constraint but that of his own compassion he was tied with no cords but those of his own love In the private sacrifice some particular sin was charged upon it in the publick one the sins of the Jewish Nation were charged upon it But upon Christ were laid the sins of a World sins of vast distances as far remote in place as the quarters of the earth and in time as the morning and evening of the world met all together upon him In the sacrifice there was a meer simple death and the blood was but the blood of a brute but Christs death was not a meer simple one but a death with a sting and a curse in it a death with as much wrath in it as was due to the sin of a world nor was his blood the blood of a brute but the blood of a man nay of God himself and what manner of Sacrifice was this how compensative for sin how satisfactory to Justice how aversive of wrath how impetrative of all good In every respect it was infinitely valuable and sufficient The Sacrifice suo modo did expiate sin it took away civil guilt by freeing the offender from that temporal death which in the strict sanction of the Law was due to him It took away ceremonial guilt by freeing him from those legal impurities which excluded him from the publick Worship hence the Apostle saith That the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean did sanctifie to the purifying of the flesh Heb. 9.13 Thus far went the sacrifice but it could go no further the moral guilt was still unremoved Justice was still unsatisfied the wrath to come was still unaverted God as yet was unreconciled there was somewhat done to the flesh nothing to the conscience somewhat in foro soli in the Jewish Judicature nothing in foro poli in the Court of Heaven to give a full satisfaction to Divine Justice Hence the Apostle saith that those sacrifices though often repeated could not make the comers thereunto perfect Hebr. 10.1 The blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin v. 4. Still there was a conscience of sin and a remembrance of it every year v. 2 3. Hence God reprobated all those sacrifices and would have none of them they were not rejected for the hypocrisie of the offerer as they were Isa 1.12 13 nor comparatively as being in the outward work less than mercy Hos 6.6 But they were rejected as not able to do the great work to expiate sin they were to vanish as Clouds before the Sun as Types before the substance But when Christ gave himself an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour Ephes 5.2 there was a penal total expiation of sin not the flesh but the Conscience was purged not ceremonial but Moral guilt was done away Thus the Apostle comparing his Sacrifice with the legal ones saith The blood of Christ who through