were imputed to him upon the account of his Union with us in nature and his consent to be our Surety so his Righteousness is meritoriously imputed to us upon our Union with him by a lively Faith The man that lookt on the Rainbow when he was ready to be drown'd what relief was it to him that God had promised not to drown the world when he must perish in the waters So though Christ hath purchased Pardon for repenting Believers and a Rainbow encompasses the Throne of God the sign of Reconciliation what advantage is this to the Unbeliever who dies in his Sins and drops into the Lake of Fire 'T is not from any defect of Mercy in God or Righteousness in Christ but for the obstinate refusal of it that men certainly perish This inhances their Guilt and Misery All the rich expence of Grace for their Redemption shall be charged upon them The Blood of Christ shall not be imputed for their Ransom but for their deeper Damnation and instead of speaking better things than the Blood of Abel shall call louder for Vengeance against them than that innocent blood which reacht Heaven with its voice against the Murderer Briefly whom so precious a Sacrifice doth not redeem they are reserved entire victims whole burnt Offerings to Divine Justice Every impenitent Unbeliever shall be salted with fire CHAP. XVI Of all the Divine Perfections Holiness is peculiarly admirable The honour of it is secured in our Redemption In the bitter Sufferings of Christ God declared Himself unappeasable to Sin though appeaseable to Sinners The Priviledges purchased by Christ are conveighed upon terms honourable to Holiness Pardon of Sin Adoption the Inheritance of Glory are annexed to special Qualifications in those who receive them The Redeemer is made a quickening Principle to inspire us with new Life In order to our Sanctification He hath given us the most perfect Rule of Holiness He exhibited a compleat Pattern of it He purchas'd and conveyes the Spirit of Holiness to us He presents the strongest Motives to perswade us to be holy The perfect Laws of Christ are considered as they enjoin an absolute separation from all Evil and command the practice of all substantial Goodness Some particular Precepts which the Gospel especially enforces with the Reasons of them are considered OF all the Perfections of the Deity none is more worthy of his Nature and so peculiarly admirable as his Infinite Purity 'T is the most shining Attribute that derives a lustre to all the rest He is glorious in Holiness Wisdom degenerates into Craft Power into Tyranny Mercy loses its nature without Holiness He swears by it as his Supreme Excellency Once have I sworn by my Holiness I will not lie unto David 'T is the most venerable Attribute in the Praise whereof the Harmony of Heaven agrees The Angels and Saints above are represented expressing their extasy and ravishment at the beauty of Holiness Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole Earth is full of his Glory This He only loves and values in the Creature being the Impression of his most Divine and amiable Perfection Inferiour Creatures have a resemblance of other Divine Attributes The Winds and Thunder set forth God's Power the firmness of the Rocks and the incorruptibility of the Heavens are an obscure representation of his Unchangeableness but Holiness that is the most Orient-Pearl in the Crown of Heaven only shines in the reasonable Creature Upon this account Man only is said to be formed after his Image And in Men there are some appearances of the Deity that do not entitle to his special Love In Princes there is a shadow of his Sovereignty yet they may be the objects of his displeasure but a likeness to God in Holiness atracts his Eye and Heart and infinitely endears the Creature to him Now this Attribute is in a special manner provokt by Mans sin and we are restored to the favour and friendship of God in such a manner as may preserve the Honour of it intire and inviolable This will fully appear by considering what our Redeemer suffered for the purchasing our Pardon and the terms upon which the precious Benefits of his Death are conveied to us and what he hath done to restore our lost Holiness that we may be qualified for the enjoyment of God 1. God's Infinite Purity is declared in his Justice in that He would not pardon Sin but upon such terms as might fully demonstrate how odious 't was to him What inflam'd the Wrath of God against his Beloved Son whom by a voice from Heaven he declared to be the object of his delight What made Him inexorable to his Prayers and Tears when He sollicited the Divine Power and Love the Attributes that relieve the miserable crying Abba Father all things are possible to thee let this Cup pass from me What made him suspend all comforting Influences and by a dreadful Desertion afflict him when he was environ'd with Sorrows 'T is Sin only that caused this fierce displeasure not inherent for the Messiah was cut off but not for himself but imputed by his voluntary undertaking for us God so loved the World and so hated Sin that He gave his Son to purchase our Pardon by Sufferings When his Compassions to Man were at the highest yet then his antipathy against Sin was so strong that no less Sacrifice could reconcile Him to us Thus God declared himself to be unappeasable to Sin though not to Sinners 2. The Priviledges that are purchased by our Redeemers Sufferings are dispenst upon those terms which are honourable to Gods Holiness I will instance in the three great Benefits of the Evangelical Covenant The Pardon of Sin Adoption into God's Family and the Inheritance of Glory All which are conditional and annext to special Qualifications in the persons who have a title to them 1. The Death of Christ is beneficial to Pardon and Life only to those who repent and believe The Holy God will by no means spare the guilty that is declare the guilty innocent or forgive an incapable subject All the Promises of Grace and Mercy are with respect to Repentance from dead works and to a lively Faith The Son of God is made a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance and Remission of Sins And the Apostle tells us That being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The first includes a cordial grief for Sins past and sincere effectual Resolutions to forsake them and hath a necessary conjunction with Pardon as by vertue of the Divine Command so from a condecency and fitness with respect to God the giver of Pardon and to the quality of the Blessing it self The other Qualification is Faith to which Justification is in a special manner attributed not in respect of Efficiency or Merit for the Mercy of God upon the account of Christs Satisfaction is the sole Cause of our Pardon but as a moral instrument
Graces are amiable and attractive in the view of Men as easiness to pardon a readiness to oblige compassion to the afflicted liberality to the necessitous sweetness of conversation without gall and bitterness these are of universal esteem with mankind and soften the most savage tempers If there be any Vertue and if there be any Praise think on these things And St. Peter excites Believers to joyn to their Faith by which the Gospel of Christ is embrac't Intellectual and Moral vertues without which 't is but a vain picture of Christianity Add to your Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly kindness and to Brotherly kindness Charity He enforces the command give all diligence that these things abound in you and ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the Knowledge of Christ. Now these Graces purifie and perfect refine and raâ—se the humane nature and without a Command their Goodness is a strong obligation I will take a more distinct view of the Precepts of Christ as they are set down in that excellent abridgement of them by the Apostle The Grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all Men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present world Here is a distribution of our duties with respect to their several Objects our selves others and God The first are regulated by Temperance the second by Justice the third by Godliness And from the accomplishment of these is formed that Holiness without which no man shall see God 1. In respect to our selves we must live soberly Temperance governs the sensual appetites and affections by sanctified reason The Gospel allows the sober and chast use of pleasures but absolutely and severely forbids all excess in those that are lawful and abstinence from all that are unlawful that stain vilify the Soul and alienate it from converse with God and mortifie its lust to spiritual delights By sensual complacency Man first lost his Innocence and Happiness and till the flesh is subdued to the spirit he can never recover them The carnal mind is enmity against God Fleshly lusts war against the Soul Therefore we are urged with the most affectionate earnestness to abstain from them by withdrawing their incentives and crucifying our corrupt inclinations In short the Law of Christ obliges us as to deal with the body as an enemy that is disposed to revolt against the Spirit by watching over all our senses lest they should betray us to temptations so to preserve it as a thing consecrated to God from all impurity that will render it unworthy the honour of being the Temple of the Holy Ghost 2. We are commanded to live Righteously in our relation to others Justice is the supreme Virtue of humane Life that renders to every one what is due The Gospel gives rules for Men in every state and place to do what Reason requires As no condition is excluded from its Blessedness so every one is obliged by its Precepts Subjects are commanded to obey all the lawful commands of Authority and not resist and that upon the strongest motive not onely for Wrath but for Conscience They must obey Man for Gods sake but never disobey God for Mans sake And Princes are obliged to be an encouragement to good Works and a terror to the evil that those who are under them may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all Godliness and Honesty It injoynes all the respective duties of Husbands and Wives Parents and Children Masters and Servants And that in all contracts and commerce none defrauds his Brother accordingly in the esteem of Christians he is more religious who is more righteous than others Briefly Christian righteousness is not to be measured by the rigor of Laws but by that rule of universal Equity delivered by our Saviour Whatsoever ye would have others do to you do it to them 3. We are instructed by the Law of Christ to live Godly This part of our duty respects our apprehensions affections and demeanour to God which must be sutable to his Glorious perfections The Gospel hath revealed them clearly to us viz. the Unity Simplicity Eternity and Purity of the Divine Nature that it subsists in three Persons the Father Son and Spirit and his Wisdom Power and Goodness in the Work of our Redemption It requires that we pay the special Honour that is due to God in the esteem and veneration of our Minds in the subjection of our Wills in the assent of our Affections to him as their proper object That we have an intire Faith in his Word a firm Hope in his Promises a Holy Jealousie for his Honour a Religious care in his Service And that we express our reverence love and dependance on him in our Prayers and Praises That our Worshp of Him be in such a manner as becomes God who receives it and Man that presents it God is a pure Spirit and Man is a reasonable Creature therefore â—e must worship him in Spirit and Truth And since Man in his fallen State cannot approach the Holy and Just God without a Mediator he is directed by the Gospel to address himself to the Throne of Grace in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ who alone can reconcile our Persons and render our Services acceptable with his Father Besides the immediate service of the Deity Godliness includes the propension and tendency of the Soul to him in the whole conversation and it contains three things 1. That our Obedience proceeds from love to God as its vital Principle This must warm and animate the external action this alone makes Obedience as delightful to us so pleasing to God He shews Mercy to those who love him and keep his Commandments Faith works by Love and enclines the Soul to obey with the same Affection that God enjoins the Precept 2. That all our Conversation be regulated by his Will as the Rule He is our Father and Sovereign and the respect to his Law gives to every action the formality of Obedience We must choose our Duty because he commands it Whatsoever ye do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus that is for his command and by his assistance 3. That the Glory of God be the supreme End of all our Actions This Qualification must adhere not only to necessary Duties but to our natural and civil Actions Our light must so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorifie our Father which is in Heaven Whether we eat or drink or whatsoever we do all must be done in a regular and due proportion to the Glory of God A general Designation of this is absolutely requisite and the renewing of our intentions actually in matters of moment For He being the sole Author of our Lives and
If it did not support him when he stood how can it raise him when he is fallen If there were a power in lapsed Man to restore himself it would exceed the original Power he had to will and obey It being infinitely more difficult for a dead man to rise than for a living man to put forth vital Actions For the clearer opening of this Poinâ— concerning Mans absolute Disability to recover his Primitive State I will distinctly consider it with respect to the Image and Favour of God upon which his Blessedness depends 1. He cannot recover his Primitive Holiness This will appear by considering that whatsoever is corrupted in its noble parts can never restore it self the power of an external agent is requisite for the recovering of its Integrity This is verified by innumerable instances in things artificial and natural If a Clock be disorder'd by a fall the Workman must mend it before it can be useful If Wine that is rich and generous declines by the loss of spirits it can never be revived without a new supply In the humane Body where there is a more noblâ— form and more powerful to redress any evil that may happen to the parts if a Gangrene seize on any Member nothing can resist its course but the application of outward means it cannot be cured by the internal principles of its constitution And proportionably in moral Agents when the Faculties which are the principles of action are corrupted it is impossible without the virtue of a Divine cause they should ever be restor'd to their original Rectitude As the Image of God was at first imprinted on the Humane Nature by Creation so the renewed Image is wrought in him by the same creating Power This will be more evident by considering that inward and deep depravation of the Understanding and Will the two Superiour Faculties which command the rest 1. The Understanding hath lost the right apprehension of things As Sin began in the darkness of the Mind so one of its worst effects is the encreasing that Darkness which can only be dispell'd by a supernatural Light Now what the Eye is to the Body that is the Mind for the directing the Will and conducting the Life And if the light that is in us be darkness how great is that darkness How irregular and dangerous must our motions be Not only the lower part of the Soul is under a dreadful disorder but the Spirit of the mind the divinest part is depraved with Ignorance and Error The Light of Reason is not pure But as the Sun when with its beams it sends down pestilential Influences and corrupts the Air in the enlightning it so the carnal Mind corrupts the whole Man by representing good as evil and evil as good The Wisdome of the flesh is enmity against God And the Apostle describes the state of the Gentile World That their understandings were darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their hearts The corruption of their Manners proceeded from their Minds For all Vertues are directed by Reason in their Exercise so that if the Understanding be darken'd all vertuous Operations cease Besides corrupt Man being without Light and Life can neither discern nor feel his Misery The carnal Mind is insensible of its Infirmity ignorant of its Ignorance and suffers under the incurable extremes of being blind and imagining that 't is very clear-sighted More particularly the Reasons why the carnal Mind hath not a due sense of sinful Corruption are 1. Because 't is natural and cleaves to the principles of our being from the Birth and Conception and natural things do not affect us 2. 'T is confirm'd by Custome which is a second Nature and hath a strange power to stupifie Conscience and render it insensible As the Historian observed concerning the Roman Soldiers that by constant use their Arms were no more a burthen to them than their natural Members 3. In the transition from the Infant state 〈◊〉 the age of discerning Man is incapable of observing his native Corruption since at first he acts evilly and is in constant conversation with Sinners who bring Vice into his acquaintance and by making it familiar lessen the horrour and aversation from it Besides those corrupt and numerous examples wherewith he is encompast call forth his sinful inclinations which as they are heightened by repeated acts and become more strong and obstinate so less sensible to him And by this we may understand how irrecoverable Man is by his own Reason The first step to our Cure is begun in the knowledge of our Disease and this discovery is made by the Understanding when 't is seeing and vigilant not when 't is blind A Disease in the Body is perceived by the Mind but when the Soul is the affected part and the rectitude of Reason is lost there is no remaining principle to give notice of it And as that Disease is most dangerous which strikes at the Life and is without Pain for Pain is not the chief evil but supposes it 't is the spur of Nature urging us to seek for Cure So the corruption of the Understanding is very fatal to Man for although he labours under many pernicious Lusts which in the issue will prove deadly yet he is insensible of them and from thence folâ—â—â—s a Carelesness and Contempt of the means for his Recovery 2. The Corruption of the Will is more incurable than that of the Mind For 't is full not only of Impotence but contrariety to what is spiritually good There are some weak strictures of Truth in lapsed Man but they dye in the Brain and are powerless and ineffectual as to the Will which rushes into the embraces of worldly Objects This the universal Experience of Mankind since the Fall doth evidently prove and the account of it is in the following Considerations 1. There is a strong inclination in Man to Happiness This desire is born and brought up with him and is common to all that partake of the reasonable Nature From the Prince to the poorest wretch from the most knowing to the meanest in understanding every one desires to be happy As the great flames and the little sparks of fire all naturally ascend to their sphere 2. The constituting of any thing to be our Happiness is the first and universal Maxime from whence all moral consequences are deriv'd 'T is the rule of our Desires and the end of our actions As in natural things the principles of their production operate according to their quality so in moral things the end is as powerful to form the Soul for its Operations in order to it Therefore as all desire to be happy so they apply themselves to those means which appear to be convenient for the obtaining of it 3. Every one frames a Happiness according to his temper The apprehensions of it are answerable to the dispositions of the
their Vertue and Happiness Philosophy doth not propound the Glory of God for the Supream End of all Humane Actions Philosophy is defective as to the Duties respecting our selves and others It allowes the first sinful motions of the lower Appetites The Stoicks renounce the Passions Philosophy insufficient to form the Soul to Patience and Content under Afflictions and to support in the hour of Death A Reflection upon some Immoral Maxims of the several Sects of Philosophers THe Perfection of the Laws of Christ will further appear by comparing them with the Precepts of Moses and with the Rules which the highest Masters of Morality in the School of Nature have prescribed for the directing our lives The Gospel exceeds the Mosaical Institution 1. In ordaining a Service that is Pure Spiritual and Divine consisting in the Contemplation Love and Praises of God such as the holy Angels perform above The Temple-Service was managed with Pomp and external Magnificence suitable to the disposition of that People and the dispensation of the Law The Church was then in its Infant-state as St. Paul expresses it and that Age is more wrought on by Sense than Reason For such is the subordination of our Faculties that the vegetative first acts then the sensitive then the rational as the organs appointed for its use acquire perfection The knowledg of the Jews was obscure and imperfect and the external part of their Religion was ordered in such a manner that the senses were much affected Their Lights Perfumes Musick and Sacrifices were the proper entertainment of their external Faculties Besides being encompast with Nations whose Service to their Idols was full of Ceremonies to render the temptation ineffectual and take off from the efficacy of those allurements which might seduce them to the imitation of Idolatry God ordain'd his Service to be performed with great splendour Add further The Dispensation of the Law was typical and mysterious representing by visible material objects and their power to ravish the Senses Spiritual things and their efficacy to work upon the Soul But our Redeemer hath rent the Vail and brought forth Heavenly things into a full Day and the clearest Evidence Whereas Moses was very exact in describing the numerous Ceremonies of the Jewish Religion the quality of their Sacrifices the Place the Persons by whom they must be prepared and presented to the Lord We are now commanded to draw near to God with cleansed hands and purified hearts and that Men Pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting Every place is a Temple and every Christian a Priest to offer up Spiritual Incense to God The most of the Levitical Ceremonies and Ornaments are excluded from the Christian Service not only as unnecessary but inconsistent with its Spiritualness As Paint they corrupt the native beauty of Religion The Apostle tells us that humane Eloquence was not used in the first preaching of the Gospel lest it should render the truth of it uncertain and rob the Cross of Christ of its Glory in converting the World for 〈◊〉 would be apt to imagine that 't was not the supernatural vertue of the Doctrine and the efficacy of its Reasons but the artifice of Orators that overcame the spirits of Men So if the Service of the Gospel were made so pompous the Worshippers would be enclin'd to believe that the external part was the most principal and to content themselves in that without the aims and affections of the Soul which are the life of all our Services Besides upon another account outward Pomp in Religion is apter to quench than enâ—â—ame Devotion For we are so compounded of Flesh and Spirit that when the corporeal Faculties are vehemently affected with their objects 't is very hard for the Spiritual to act with equal vigour there being such commerce between the fancy and the outward Senses that they are never exercised in the reception of their objects but the Imagination is drawn that way and cannot present to the mind distinctly and with the calmness that is requisit those things on which our thoughts should be fixt But when those diverting objects are removed the Soul directly ascends to God and looks on him as the Searcher and Judge of the Heart and worships him proportionally to his perfections That this was the design of Christ appears particularly in the Institution of the Sacraments which he ordained in a merciful condescension to our present state for there is a natural desirâ— in us to have pledges of things promis'd therefore he was pleased to add to the Declaration of his Will in the Gospel the Sacraments as confirming seals of his Love by which the application of his Benefits is more special and the representation more lively than that which is meerlâ— by the Word But they are few in number on Baptism and the Lords Supper simple in their nature and easy in their signification most fit to relieve our infirmity and to raise our Souls to Heavenly things Briefly the Service of the Gospel is answerable to the excellent light of knowledge shed abroad in the hearts of Christians 2. Our Redeemer hath abolisht all obligation to the other Rituals of Moses to introduce that real Righteousness which was signified by them The carnal Commandments given to the Jews are called Statutes that were not good either in respect of their matter not being perfective of the humane nature or their effect for they brought Death to the disobedient not Life to the Obedient the most strict observation of them did not make the performers either better or more happy But Christians are dead to these Elements that is perfectly freed from subjection to them The Kingdom of God consists not in Meat and Drink but Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost for he that in these things serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved of Men. We are commanded to purge out the old leaven of Malice and Wickedness that sowers and swells the mind and to keep the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth We are obliged to be free from the moral imperfections the vices and passions which were represented by the natural qualities of those Creatures which were forbidden to the Jews and to purify the Heart instead of the frequent washings under the Law But the Gospel frees us from the intolerable yoke of the legal abstinencies observations and disciplines the amusements of low and servile Spirits wherewith they would compensate their defects in real Holiness and exchange the substance of Religion for the shadow and colours of it For this reason the Apostle is severe against those who would joyn the fringes of Moses to the robe of Christ. 3. The indulgence of Polygamy and Divorce that was granted to the Jews is taken away by Christ and Marriage restored to the purity of its first Institution The permission of these was by a political Law and the effect was temporal Impunity For God is to be considered
same condition with us to command their Passions to overcome the most glorious and glittering Temptations we are incouraged in our Spiritual Warfare 3. Examples by a secret and lively incentive urge us to imitation The Romans kept in their houses the Pictures of their Progenitours to heighten their Spirits and provoke them to follow the Presidents set before them We are toucht in another manner by the visible practice of Saints which reproaches our defects and obliges us to the same Care and Zeal than by Laws though holy and good Now the Example of Christ is most proper to form us to Holiness it being absolutely perfect and accommodate to our present state 1. 'T is absolutely perfect There is no example of a meer man that is to be followed without limitation Be ye followers of me as I am of Christ saith the great Apostle Nay if we would unite the Excellencies of all good Men into one yet we might not securely follow him in all things for his remaining defects might be so disguised by the Vertues to which they are joyned that we should err in our imitation But the Life of Christ was as the purest Gold without any allay of baser metal His conversation was a living Law He did no sin neither was any guile found in his mouth He was holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners He united the efficacy of example with the direction of Precepts his actions always answered his words Christianity the purest Institution in the World is only a conformity to his pattern The universal command of the Gospel that comprises all our duties is to walk as Christ walked 2. His Example is most accommodate to our present State There must be some proportion between the model and copy that is to be drawn by it Now the Divine Nature is the Supreme Rule of Moral Perfections We are commanded to be Holy as God is Holy But such is the obscurity of our Minds and the weakness of our Natures that the Pattern was too high and Glorious to be exprest by us We had not strength to Ascend to Him but He had goodness to Descend to us and in this present state to set before us a Pattern more fitted to our capacity Although Light is the proper object of Sight yet that immense Light which the Sun hath in the Meridian is invisible to our sight we more easily discover the reflexion of it in some opacous Body So the Divine Attributes are sweeten'd in the Son of God Incarnate and being united with the Graces proper for the Humane Nature are more perceptible to our minds and more imitable by us This was one great design of his coming into the World to set before us in doing and suffering not a meer Spectacle for our wonder but a Copy to be transcribed in our Hearts and Lives He therefore chose such a tenor of life as every one might imitate His Supreme Vertue exprest it self in such a temperate course of actions that as Abimelech said to his followers Look on me and do likewise So our true Abimelech our Father and Soveraign calls upon us to imitate him The first effect of Predestination is to conform us to the Image of the Son who was for this end made the first-born among many Brethren He assumed the Humane Nature that we might partake of the Divine not only by His Merit but by His Example This will appear more fully by considering There are some Vertues necessary to our condition as Creatures or with respect to our state of trial here below which the Deity is not capable of and those most eminently appear in the Life of Christ. I will instance in three which are the Elements of Christian Perfection His Humility in despising all the Honour of the World His Obedience in Sacrificing His Will intirely to God's and His Charity in procuring the Salvation of Men by his Sufferings and in all these He denied to his Humane Nature the priviledge due to it by its union with the Eternal Word 1. Humility in strictness hath no place in God He requires the Tribute of Glory from all his Creatures And the Son of God had a right to Divine Honour upon his first Appearance here below Yet He was born in a Stable and made subject to our common imperfections Although He was ordain'd to convert the World by his Doctrine and Miracles yet for the tenth part of his time he lived concealed and silent being subject to his Mother and reputed Father in the servile work of a Carpenter And after his solemn investiture into his Office by a Voice from Heaven yet he was despised and contemned He refused to be a King and stoopt so low as to wash his Disciples feet All this he did to instruct us to be meek and lowly to correct our Pride the most intimate and radicated corruption of Nature For as those Diseases are most incurable which draw nourishment from that food which is taken for the support of Life so Pride that turns vertuous actions which are the matter of praise into its nourishment is most difficultly overcome But the Example of the Son of God in whom there is an union of all Divine and Humane Perfections debaseing himself to the form of a Servant is sufficient if duly considered to make us walk humbly 2. Obedience is a Vertue that becomes an inferior either a Servant or Subject who are justly under the power of others and must be complying with their Will So that 't is very distant from God who hath none superior to him in Dominion or Wisdome but his Will is the Rule of Goodness to his own and others Actions Now the Son of God became Man and was Universally Obedient to the Law of his Father And his Obedience had all the ingredients that might commend it to our imitation The value of Obedience arises upon three accounts 1. The Dignity of the Person that obeys it is more Meritorious in an Honourable than in a mean Person 2. From the difficulty of the Command it being no great Victory over the appetite in Obedience ubi diligitur quod debetur where the instance is agreeable to our affections 3. From the intireness of the will in obeying For to perform a commanded Action against our consent is only to be subject in the meaner part of Man the Body and to resist in the superior which is the Mind Now in all these respects the Obedience of Christ was Perfect In the Dignity of the Person Obeying it exceeded the Obedience of all the Angels as much as the Divine Person exceeded all created The difficulty of the Command is greater than ever was put upon Servant or Subject He was Obedient to the Death of the Cross that is Death with dishonour and torment the evils that are most contrary to the Humane Nature and Appetite And the compleatness of his Will in obeying is most evident For if Christ had desired deliverance from his
Him in the admirable Oeconomy of our Redemption 'T is not upon the account of his essential and eternal Purity which is common to all the Persons but in regard of his Office to infuse Holiness into the depraved Soul and renew the Divine Image that he is so call'd Now Jesus Christ purchased the Spirit by his Humiliation and Sufferings and conveys Him to us in his Exaltation and Glory 1. He purchas'd the Spirit by his Sufferings For since Man fell from his original Innocence he is justly depriv'd of special Grace that is necessary to heal and recover him And till by a perfect Sacrifice Divine Justice was appeased that had shut the Treasury of Heaven and the Forfeiture taken off he could not obtain the eternal Riches God must be reconciled before He will bestow the Holy Spirit a Gift so great and so precious the earnest of his peculiar Love and special Favour to us Therefore our Saviour tells his Disciples who were extremely afflicted for his departure from them That it was expedient he should go away for otherwise the Spirit would not come whose Office was to convince and convert the World The departure of Christ implied his Death and Ascension both which were requisite in order to the sending of Him If the Blood of Christ had not been shed on the Cross the Spirit had not been poured forth from Heaven The effusion of the one was the cause of the effusion of the other The Rock that refreshed the Israelites in the Desert did not powre forth its miraculous waters till it was struck by the Rod of Moses to instruct us That Christ our Spiritual Rock must be struck with the Curse of the Law the mystical Rod of Moses to communicate the Waters of Life to us that is the Spirit who is represented in Scripture under that element 2. Our Redeemer confers the Spirit after his glorious Exaltation When he ascended on high he led Captivity captive and gave gifts unto men After his triumph over Principalities and Powers He dispenc'd his Bounty in this rich Donative For the Holy Spirit was first given to Christ as the reward of his excellent Obedience in dying that was infinitely pleasing to God to be communicated from him to Men. And he received the Spirit in the quality of Mediator upon his entrance into Heaven The Psalmist declares this Prophetically Thou hast ascended on high thou hast led captivity captive thou hast received gifts for Men yea for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among them He acquired a right to those Treasures by dying but he takes possession of them after his Ascension Now He is Crown'd He holds forth the Scepter of his Royalty Therefore 't is said that when Christ was upon the Earth the Holy Spirit was not given because Jesus was not Glorified If it be objected that Believers before the Ascension of Christ were partakers of the Spirit the answer is clear 1. It was upon Christ's interposing in the beginning as Mediator and with respect to his future Death and Ascension that the Spirit was given to them 2. The degrees of communicating the Spirit before and after the Ascension of Christ are very different whether we consider the gifts of the Spirit those extraordinary abilities with which the Apostles were endued or the fruits of the Spirit the Sanctifying Graces that are bestowed on Believers the measure of them far exceeds what-ever was conveyed before The Spirit Descended as in a dew upon the Jewish Nation but 't is now powred forth in showers upon all flesh Now in the stile of Scripture things are said to be when apparently and eminently they discover their being So that comparatively to the Power and Virtue of the Spirit discovered in the Church since the Glorification of Christ he was not given before All the former manifestations are obscured by the excess and excellency of the later And not only the Decree of God which is sufficient to connect those things that have no natural dependence but there are special reasons for the order of this Dispensation for the great end of the Spirit 's coming was to reveal fully to the World the way of Salvation to discover the unsearchable riches of Grace to assure Men of happiness after this Life that they might be reduced from a state of Rebellion to Obedience and their affections be refined and purified from all Earthliness and made Angelical and Heavenly Now the Principal demonstrations which he used to perswade Men of these things are the Death and Resurrection of Christ without which these Mysteries had been under a cloud That the Instruction therefore of the Spirit might be clear and effectual it was necessary Christ should Suffer and enter into Heaven and accomplish those things he was to teach And from hence we may observe that the Sanctifying Grace of the Spirit is only the concomitant of the Evangelical Mercy The Gospel and the Spirit are the Wings by which the Sun of Righteousness brings healing and life to the World The declaration of the Law from Mount Sinai was Divine but not accompanied with the efficacy of Grace Therefore 't is called the ministration of Death It conveyed no Spiritual strength as delivered by the hands of Moses considering him precisely in the quality of the legal Mediator but threatned a Curse to the breakers of it All the promises of Mercy scattered in the Books of Moses belong to the Covenant of Grace The Gospel is called the Law of the Spirit of Life and the Ministration of the Spirit that is the Spirit of Holiness and Comfort from whom true and Eternal Life proceeds 〈◊〉 is solely communicated by it The discovery of the Divine Goodness in the Works of Creation and Providence is natural and without the renewing power of the Spirit There is a correspondence between the external Revelation of Mercy and the internal Grace of the Spirit in their Original as the one is supernatural so is the other Not but that the Heathens had some fainter beams of the Sun of Righteousness for he inlightens every man that comes into the World and some lower operations of the Spirit whereby they were reduced from Intemperance Incontinency and other gross Vices to the practice of several Vertues that respect the Civil Life And of this we have an eminent instance recorded by Diogenes Laertius That Polemo half-drunk crown'd with Roses and in the dress of a Harlot rather than of a Man coming into the School of the severe Zenocrates hearing him discourse of Temperance as by a Charm was so perfectly changed that casting away the Garland from his Head and the lascivious Ornaments that were about him and which was more considerable his vicious Habits from his Soul he that entered in a Reveller come forth a Philosopher so corrected and composed in his manners that he was called the Dorick tone which of all others was the most solemn and majestical in the Musick of
consummate measure of Sanctification can only be attained in the next life therefore we should not endeavour after it here For by sincere and constant endeavours we make nearer approaches to it and according to the degrees of our progress such are those of our joy As Nature hath prescribed to all heavy Bodies their going to the Centre and although none comes to it and many are at a great distance from it yet the ordination of Nature is not in vain Because by virtue of it every heavy Body is alwaies tending thither in motion or inclination So although we cannot reach to compleat Holiness in this imperfect state yet 't is not in vain that the Gospel prescribes it and infuses into Christians those dispositions whereby they are gradually carried to the full accomplishment of it Not to arrive to Perfection is the weakness of the Flesh not to aspire after it is the fault of the Spirit To excite us it will be of moment to consider the great Obligations that the Gospel laies upon Christians to be holy By that Covenant the Holy God is pleased to take them into the Relation of his Children and as the nature of Sanctification so the motives of it are contained in that Title For so near an Alliance obliges them to a faithful observation of his Commands and to imitate him with the greatest care that the Vein of his Spirit and the Marks of his Blood may appear in all their actions Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin The allowed practice of it is inconsistent with the quality of a Son of God 't is contrary to the Grace of his Divine Birth Nay the omission of Good as well as the commission of Evil is inconsistent with that Relation 'T is for this reason that Holiness is so much the character of a true Christian that to be a Christian and a Saint are the same thing in the Writings of the Apostles That venerable Title obliges him to a higher practice of Vertue than ever the Pagans imagined He is far behind them if he do not surpass them and if he is surpassed by them he will be cloathed with shame Besides our Redeemer who hath a right to us by so many titles by his Divine and Humane Nature by his Life and Death by his Glory and Sufferings as He strictly commands us to be holy so he hath joyned Example to his Authority That we may walk as he walk'd and be as he was in the world St. Paul makes use of this consideration to restrain the Disciples of Christ from all Sin and to perswade them to universal Holiness After he had mentioned the disorders of the Gentiles to deter the Ephesians from the like he tells them But ye have not so learned Christ that is his rule and practice instructed them otherwise And when he commands the Romans To walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envying he opposes to all these vices the pattern that Christ set before us But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. The expression intimates the Duty that as the Garment is commensurate to the Body so we are to imitate all the parts of his Holy Conversation 'T is no wonder that the Heathens gratified the inclinations of Lust or Rage when their Gods were represented acting in such a manner as to authorise their Vices Semina pene omnium scelerum à Diis suis peccantium turba collegit as Julius Firmicius justly reproaches them There was no Villany how notorious soever but had some Deity for its Protector They found in Heaven a Justification of all their crimes and became vicious by imitation For 't is very congruous for men to follow those whom they esteem to be perfect and to whom they think themselves accountable If they attribute to their Supreme God the Judg of the World Vices as Vertues What Vertues will there be to reward or Vices to punish in Men But for those that name the Name of Christ to continue in iniquity is the most unbecoming thing in the world For they live in the perfect contradiction of their Profession An unholy Christian is a real Apostate from Christ that retracts by his wickedness the Dedication that was made of him in his Baptism Although he doth not abjure our Saviour in words he denies him in his works A proud person renounces his Humility the revengful his Mercy the luke-warm his Zeal the unclean his Purity the covetous his Bounty and Compassion the hypocrite his Sincerity And can there be any thing more indecent and absurd than to pretend the relation and respect of Disciples to such an holy Master and yet by Disobedience to deny him When the bloody Spectacles of the Gladiators were first brought to Athens a Wise man cried out to the Masters of the Prizes That they should remove the Statue and Altar of Mercy out of the City there being such an incongruity between the Goddess they pretended to worship and that cruel Sacrifice of Men for the sport of the People It were more suitable for those who are not afraid to violate the most Holy Laws and to contradict the Pattern of Christ to leave their Profession and to take some other more complying with their Lusts. 'T is not the Title of a Christian that sanctifies those who pollute and defame it 'T is not wearing the Livery of Christ that can honour those who stain it by their filthiness but 't is an aggravation of their guilt 'T is an unconceivable indignity to our Saviour and revives the old calumnies of the Heathens as if the Gospel were a Sanctuary for Criminals when those that call him Lord do not what he commands them I know saith Christ the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews and are not but are the Synagogue of Satan Those that own the Profession of Christianity and live in unchristian Practices are baptised Pagans and in effect revile our Blessed Redeemer as if He had proclaim'd a licentious impunity for Sinners Such Wretches may deceive themselves with a pretence they believe in Christ and that visibly they declare their dependence on him but this pretence will be as unprofitable as 't is vain 'T is not the calling him Lord that will give them admission into the kingdom of heaven The naked name of a Christian cannot protect them from the wrath of God Tertullian smartly upbraids some in his time who were careless of the Dignity Purity of the Christian Profession in their Lives imagining that they might reverence God in their hearts without regarding him in their actions that they might Salvo metu fide peccare Sin without losing their fear of God and their Faith To refute this gross contradiction he propounds it in a sensible example Hoc est salva castitate matrimonium violare salva pietate parenti venenum temperare Thâ—s is the same thing