by the Law and the Prophets who consent that it should be unto all and upon all them that believe for their Justification Rom. 3.20 21. And that the mighty God suffereth the Prince of the Devils to do with the Law what he can against this most wholesome and godly Doctrine it is to shew the Truth Goodness and Permanency thereof For this is as who should say Devil do thy worst When the Law is in the Hand of an easie Pleader tho the Cause that he pleadeth be good a crafty Opposer may overthrow the right but here is the Salvation of the Children in debate and whether it can stand with Law and Justice The Opposer of this is the Devil his Argument against it is the Law he that defends the Doctrine is Christ the Advocate who in his Plea must justifie the Justice of God defend the Holiness of the Law and save the Sinner from all the Arguments Pleas Cavils Stops and Demurrs that Satan is able to put in against it And this he must do fairly righteously simply Pleading the Voice of the self-same Law for the Justification of what he standeth for which Satan pleads against it For tho it is by the new Law that our Salvation comes yet by the old Law is the new Law approved of and the way of Salvation thereby by it consented to This shews therefore that Christ is not ashamed to own the way of our Justification and Salvation no not before Men and Devils It shews also that he is resolved to dispute and plead for the same tho the Devil himself shall oppose it And since our Adversary pretends a Plea in Law against it 't is meet that there should be an open Hearing before the Judge of all about it But for as much as we neither can nor dare appear to plead for our selves our good God has thought fit we should do it by an Advocate we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous This therefore is the second thing that shews the need that we have of an Advocate to wit our Adversary pretends that he has a Plea in Law against us and that by Law we should be otherwise disposed of than to be made Possessors of the Heavenly Kingdom But Thirdly There are many things relating to the Promise to our Life and to the Threatnings that minister Matter of Question and Doubt and give the Advantage of Objections unto him that so eargerly desireth to be putting in Cavils against our Salvation all which it hath pleased God to refel by Jesus Christ our Advocate 1. There are many things relating to the Promises as to the largeness and straitness of Words as to the Freeness and Conditionality of them which we are not able so well to understand and therefore when Satan dealeth with us about them we quickly fall to the Ground before him we often conclude that the Words of the Promise are too narrow and strait to comprehend us we also think verily that the Conditions of some Promises do utterly sâ—ut us out from hope of Justification and Life But our Advocate who is for us with the Father he is better acquainted with and learned in this Law than to bafled out with a bold Word or two Isa. 50.4 or with a subtil piece of Hellish Sophistication He knows the true Purport Intent Meaning and Sense of every Promise and piece of Promise that is in the whole Bible and can tell how to plead it for Advantage against our Accuser and doth so And I gather it not only from his Contest with Satan for Joshua Zech. 3. and from his Conflict with him in the Wilderness Mat. 4. and in Heaven Rev. 14. but also from the Practice of Satan's Emissaries here For what his Angels do that doth he Now there is here nothing more apparent than that the Instruments of Satan do plead against the Church from the pretended Intricacy Ambiguity and Difficulty of the Promise whence I gather so doth Satan before the Tribunal of God but there we have one to match him we have an Advocate with the Father that knows Law and Judgment better than Satan and Statute and Commandment better than all his Angels And by the Verdict of our Advocate all the Words and Limits and Extensions of Words with all Conditions of the Promises are expounded and applyed And hence it is that it sometimes falleth so out that that very Promise that we have thought could not reach us to comfort us by any Means has at another time swallowed us up with Joy unspeakable Christ the true Prophet has the right Understanding of the Word as an Advocate has pleaded it before God against Satan and having overcome him at the common Law he hath sent to let us know it by his good Spirit to our Comfort and the Confusion of our Enemy Again 2. There are many things relating to our Lives that minister to our Accuser occasions of many Objections against our Salvation for besides our daily Infirmities there are in our Lives gross Sins many horrible Backslidings also we oft-times suck and drink in many abominable Errors and deceitful Opinions of all which Satan accuseth us before the Judgment-Seat of God and pleadeth hard that we may be damned forever for them Besides Some of these things are done after Light received against present Convictions and Disswasions to the contrary against Solemn engagement to Amendment when the Bonds of Love were upon us Jer. 2.20 These are crying-Sins they have a loâ—d voice in themselves against us and gâ—ve to Satan great Advantage and Boldness to sue for our Destruction before the Bar of God. Nor doth he want Skill to aggravate and to comment profoundly upon all Occasions and Circumstances that did attend us in these our Miscarriges to wit that we did it without a Cause also when we had had we had Grace to have used them many things to have helpt us against such Sins and to have kept us clean and upright There is also a Sin unto Death 1 Joh. 5. and he can tell how to labour by Argument and Slight of Speech to make our transgressions not only to border upon but to appear in the Hue Shape and Figure of that and thereto make his Objection against our Salvation He often argueth thus with us and fastneth the Weight of his Reasons upon our Consciences to the almost utter Destruction of us and the bringing of us down to the Gates of Despair and utter Destruction The same Sins with their aggravating Circumstances as I said he pleadeth against us at the Bar of God But there he meeteth with Jesus Christ our Lord and Advocate who entereth his Plea against him unravels all his Reasons and Arguments against us and shews the guile and falshood of them he also pleadeth as to the Nature of Sin as also to all those high Aggravations and proveth that neither the Sin in it self nor yet as joined with all its advantageous Circumstances can be the Sin unto
is part of the Plea of our Advocate against Satan for his Servant Joshua when he said The Lord rebuke thee O Satan Zech. 3.2 Now to be a Brand pluckt out of the Fiâ—e is to be a Saint impared weakned defiled and made imperfect by Sin. For so also the Apostle means when he saith And others save with Fear pulling them out of the Fire hateâ—ng even the Garment spotted by the Flesh Jude 23. By Fire in both these Places we are to understand Sin For that it burns and consumes as Fire Rom. 1.27 Wherefore a Man is said to burn when his Lusts are strong upon him and to burn in Lusts to others when his wicked Heart runs wickedly after them 1 Cor. â— 9 Also when Abraham said I am but Dust and Ashes Gen. 18.27 he means he was but what Sin had left Yea he had something of the Smutch and besmearings of Sin yet upon him Wherefore it was a Custom with Israel in Days of old when they set Days apart for Coâ—fession of Sin and Humiliation for the same to sprinkle themselves with or to wallow in Dust and Ashes Est. 4.1 3. Jer. 6.26 Job 30.9 chap. 42.6 as a token that they did confess that they were but what Sin had left and that they also were defiled weakned and polluted by it This then is the next Plea of our goodly Advocate for us O Satan This is a Brand plucked out of the Fire As who should say thou objectest against my Servant Joshua That he is black like a Coal or that the Fire of Sin at times is still burning in him And what then the Reason why he is not totally extinct as tow is not thy Pity but my Father's Mercy to him I have plucked him out of the Fire yet not so out but that the smell thereof is yet upon him and my Father and I we consider his Weakness and pity him For since he is as a Brand pulled out can it be expected by my Father or me that he should appear before us as clear and do our biddings as well as if he had never been there This is a Brand plucked out of the Fire and must be considered as such and must be born with as such Thus as Mephibosheth pleaded for his Excuse His Lameness 2 Sam. 17.24 25 26. So Christ pleads the Infirm and indigent Condition of his People against Satan for their Advantage Wherefore Christ by such Pleas as these for his People doth yet further shew the Malice of Satan for all this Burning comes through him yea and by it he moveth the Heart of God to pity us and yet to be gentle and long suffering and merciful to us For Pity and Compassion are the Fruits of the yearning of God's Bowels towards us while he considereth us as infirm and weak and subject to Slips and Stumbles and Falls because of Weakness And that Christ our Advocate by thus pleading doth turn things to our Advantage consider 1. That God is careful that through our Weakness our Spirits do not fail before him when he chides Isa. 57.16 17 18. 2. He stays his rough Wind in the Day of his East Wind Isa. 27.7 8 9. and debates about the Measure of Affliction when for sin we should be chastened lest we should sink thereunder 3. He will not strictly mark what 's done amiss because if he should we cannot stand Psal. 130.3 4. When he threatneth to strike his Bowels are troubled and his Repentings are kindled together Hos. 11.8 9. 5. He will spin out his Patience to the utmost length because he knows we are such Bunglers at doing Jer. 9.24 6 He will accept of the Will for the Deed because he knows that Sin will make our best Performances imperfect 2 Cor. 8.12 7. He will count our little a very great deal for that he knows we are so unable to do any thing at all Job 1.21 8. He will excuse the Souls of his People and lay the Fault upon their Flesh which has greatest Affinity with Satan if through Weakness and Infirmity we do not do as we should Mat. 26.41 Rom. 7. Now as I said all these things happen unto us both Infirmities and Pity because and for that we were once in the Fire and for that the Weakness of Sin abides upon us to this Day But none of this Favour could come to us nor could we by any Means cause that our Infirmities should work for us thuâ— advantageously But that Christ our Advocate stands our Friend and pleads for us as he doth But again before I pass this over I will for the clearing of this present you with a few more Considerations which are of anoâ—her Rank to wit that Christ our Advocate as such makes mention of our Weaknesses so against Satan and before his Father as to turn all to our Advantage 1. We are therefore to be saved by Grace because by Reason of Sin we are disabled from keeping of the Law Deut. 9.5 Isa. 64.6 2. We have given unto us the Spirit of Grace to help because we can do nothing that 's good without it Eph. 2.5 Rom. 8.26 Ezek. 16.8 3. God has put Christ's Righteousness upon us to cover our Nakedness therewith because we have none of our own to do it withal Phil. 3.7 8. 4. God alloweth us to ride in the Bosom of Christ to the Grave and from thence in the Bosom of Angels to Heaven because our own Legs are not able to carry us thâ—ther Isa. 40.11 chap. 46.4 Psal. 67.17 Luk. 16.22 5. God has made his Son our Head our Priest our Advocate our Saviour our Captain that we may be delivered from all the Infirmities and all the Fiends that attend us and that plot to do us Hurt Eph. 1.22 Col. 1.18 Heb. 7.12 6. God has put the fallen Angels into Chains 2 Pet. 2.4 Rev. 20.1 2. that they night not follow us too fast and has inlarged us Psal. 34.7 and directed our Feet in the way of his Steps that we may haste us to the strong Tower and City of Refuge for Succour and Safety And has given good Angels a Charge to look to us Heb. 1 14. 7. God has promised That we at our counting days shall be spared as a Man spareth his own Son that serves him Mal. 3.17 Now from all these things it appears that we have Indulgence at God's Hand and that our Weaknesses as our Christ manages the Matter for us are so far off from laying a Block or Bar in the Way to the Enjoyment of Favour that they also work for our good Yea and Gods Foresight of them has so kindled his Bowels and Compassions to us as to put him upon devising of such things for our Relief which by no means could have been had not Sin been with us in the World And had not the best of the Saints been as a Brand plucked out of the Burning I have seen Men and yet they are worse than God take most care of and also best
Death Col. 2.19 because we hold the Head and have not made Ship-wrack of Faith 1 Tim. 1.19 but still as David and Solomon we confess and are sorry for our Sins Thus tho we seem through our Falls to come short of the Promise with Peter Heb. 4.3 and leave our Transgressions as stumbling Blocks to the World with Solomon and minister Occasion of a Question of our Salvation among the Godly Yet our Advocate fetches us off before God and we shall be found safe and in Heaven at last by them in the next World who was afraid they had lost us in this But all these Points must be managed by Christ for us against Satan as a Lawyer an Advocate who to that end now appears in the Presence of God for us And wisely handleth the very Crisis of the Word and of the Failings of his People together with all those nice and critical Juggles by which our Adversary laboureth to bring us down to the Confusion of his Face 3. There is also the Threatnings that are annexed to the Gospel and they fall now under our Consideration They are of two sorts such as respect those who altogether neglect and reject the Gospel or those that profess it yet fall in or from that Profession thereof The first sort of threatning cannot be pleaded against the Professors of the Gospel as against those that never profess'd it Wherefore he betaketh himself to manage those Threatnings against us that belong to those that have professed and that have fallen in or from that Profession Psal. 109.6 Joshua fell in it Zech. 3.1 2. Judas fell from it And the Accuser stands at the Right Hand of them both to resist them before the Judgment of God. To resist them by pleading the Threatnings against them To wit that God's Soul should have no Pleasure in â—hem If any Man draws back my Soul shall have no Pleasure in them Here 's a Plea for Satan both against one and t'other they are both Apostatized both drawn back and he is subtil enough to manage it Ay but Satan here is also Matter sufficient for a Plea for our Advocate against thee for as much as the next Words distinguish betwixt drawing back and drawing back unto Perdition every one that draws back doth not draw back unto Perdition Heb. 10.38 39. Some of them draw back from and some in the Profession of the Gospel Judas drew back from and Peter in the Profession of his Faith Wherefore Judas perishes but Peter turns again because Judas drew back unto Perdition but Peter yet believed to the saving of the Soul. Nor doth Jesus Christ when he seeth 't is to no boot at any time step in to endeavour to save the Soul. Wherefore as for Judas for his backsliding from the Faith Christ turneth him up to Satan and leaveth him in his Hand Saying when he shall be judged let him be condemned and let his Prayer become Sin Psal. 109.7 But he will not serve Peter so The Lord will not leave him in his Hand nor condemn him when he is judged Psal. 37.33 He will pray for him before and plead for him after he hath been in the Temptation and â—o secure him by Virtue of his Advocation from the Sting and Lash of the Threatning that â—s made against final Apostacy But Fourthly The Necessity of the Advocate 's Office of Jesus Christ appears namely in this To plead about the Judgments Distresses Afflictions and Troubles that we meet withal in this Life for our Sins For though by Virtue of his Office Christ fully takes us off from the Condemnation that the Unbelievers go down â—o for their Sins Yet he doth not thereby exempt us from temporal Punishments for we see and feel that they daily overtake us But for the proportioning of the Punishment or Affliction for Transgression seeing that Comes under the Sentence of the Law 't is fit that we should have an Advocate that understands both Law and Judgment to plead for equal Distribution of Chastisement according I say as the Law of Grace And this the Lord Jesus doth Suppose a Man for Transgression be indicted at the Assizes his Adversary is also full of Malice and would have him punished sorely beyond what by the Law is provided for such Offence And he pleads that the Judge will so afflict and punish as he in his malicious Mind desireth But the Man has an Advocate there And he enters his Plea against the Cruelty of his Clients Accuser Saying My Lord it cannot be as our Enemy would have it The Punishment for these Transgressions are prescribed by that Law that we here ground our Plea upon Nor may it be declined to satisfie his Envy we stand here upon Matters of Law and appeal to the Law. And this is the work of our Advocate in Heaven Punishments for the Sin of the Children come not headlong not without Measure as our Accuser would have them nor yet as they fall upon those who have none to plead their Cause Hath he smote the Children according to the Stroke wherewith he hath smitten others No In Measure when it shooteth forth or seeks to exceed due Bounds thou wilt debate with it He stayeth his rough Wind in the Day of his East Wind Isa. 27.7 8 9. Thou wilt debate with it enquiring and reasoning by the Law whether the shootings forth of the Affliction now going out for the Offence committed be not too strong too heavy too hot and of too long a time admitted to Distress and break the Spirit of this Christian. And if it be he applies himself to the Rule to measure it by he fetches forth his Plum-Line and sets his Plum-line in the middest of his People Amos 7.7 8. Isa. 28.17 and lays Righteousness to that and willnot suffer it to go further but according to the Quality of the Transgression and according to the Terms Bounds Limits and Measures which the Law of Grace admits So shall the Punishment be Satan often saith of us When we have sinned as Abishai said of Shimei after he had cursed David Shall not this Man die for this 2 Sam 19.21 But Jesus our Advocate answers as David what have I to do with thee O Satan thou this Day art an Enemy to me Thou seekest for a Punishment for the Transgressions of my People above what is allotted to them by the Law of Grace under which they are and beyond what their Relation that they stand in to my Father and my self will admit Wherefore as Advocate be pleadeth against Satan when he brings in against us a Charge for Sins committed for the regulating of Punishments both as to the Nature Degree and Continuation of Punishment And this is the Reason why when we are judged we are not condemned but chastened 1 Cor. 1â— 32 that we shouldnot be condemned with the World. Hence David says the Lord had not given him over to the Will of his Enemy Psal. 27.12 And again The Lord hath chastned me