the higher faculties under the filthiness of the Spirit So Eph â— 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the Lusts of our Flesh how why in fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the * Non Corpoâ—s tantum hâ—e partis ratione carentis sed etiam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 opera esse vult omnes esmedi cupiditates quas ex solâ animae parte quae censetur rationis expers produci Platonici prohibent Salmas in Epictet p. 117. mind So that all Lusts do not he in the desires of the flesh but there are some which lie in the mind and in the highest faculties of the Soul Therefore the Apostle in this Chapter v. 6. speaks of the wisdom of the flesh where God willing we shall shew against the Papists that the Flesh and the Lusts thereof are not to be confined to the lower and sensitive part in man but that they do also extend to the nobler and higher part in him And to instance but in one place more you read Col. 2.18 of a fleshly mind These are the Lusts that are situated in the upper region of the Soul but then there are Others which reside in that region which is lower They are called fleshly Lusts 1 Pet. 2.11 I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly Lusts c. They are also called worldly Lusts Tit. 2.12 The grace of God which hath brought salvation teacheth us to deny ungodliness and worldly Lusts They are stiled fleshly Lusts because they are altogether for the satisfaction of the fleshly and sensual part or because they reach no further than the fleshly part and they are stiled wordly Lusts because they are drawn forth by wordly Objects or because they draw out a man in eager propensions after worldly things What it is to walk after the Flesh in this particular consideration of it Now to bring this down to the business in hand The Flesh being thus particularly considered so to walk after it it 's this For a person to be under the regency and dominion of Lust in whatever part or faculty it may reside or exert it self so that he acts in a ready willing full subjection to it and compliance with it 'T is to be under the unbroken strength of sensual propensions and to follow them in the course of life More closely 't is to be carried out with vehemency of desire after some fleshly good so as wholly to be swallowed up in pursuits after it and delights in it even to the slighting undervaluing total neglect of what is truly and spiritually good this is Lust by which whoever is thus acted he is a walker after the Flesh For wherever Lust commands and is obeyed in one respect or another there 't is walking after the Flesh Oh doth it bear sway in any of you that you obey and act by it in heart and life the dark side of the Character is towards you you walk after the Flesh and not after the Spirit Saints in Christ Jesus do not thus walk the Flesh may sometimes be stirring and lusting in them but they dare not hearken or give way to it they repel its evil motions and propensions do not follow or steer their course by the commands and counsels thereof and they are not inordinately desirous of sensual things In general they do not they dare not * Rom. 6.12 obey sin in the lusts thereof or fall in with the cursed suggestions and follicitations of the Flesh to that which is evil They that are Christ's have crucified the Flesh with the affections and lusts thereof Gal. 5.24 But let this suffice for the opening of the Negative who walk not after the Flesh much more might be added but that which follows will give more light about it Before I enter upon the applying of this let me proceed to the opening of the positive or affirmative part Such as are in Christ Jesus do not walk after the Flesh what then do they walk after why after the Spirit The Question here to be answered is Quest what is it to walk after the Spirit or when and how may persons be said to walk after the Spirit Ans What is meant by Spirit For the better answering of which Question we must first enquire what we are to understand by the Spirit for that being cleared the walking after it will be the more evident Here also not to insist upon the several significations and senses of the word Spirit in this place it must be taken either Personally for the Spirit of God the third Person in the Sacred Trinity or Habitually for Grace in us the Divine Nature implanted in the Soul in the work of regeneration or it must be understood of both You find Grace in Scripture set forth by Spirit Joh. 3.6 What is born of the Flesh is Flesh and what is born of the Spirit is Spirit where the latter Spirit must be understood of the heavenly and renewed Nature Jude 19. the Apostle speaks of some who were sensual having not the Spirit which though it be chiefly to be understood of the Spirit of Grace of which these persons were destitute yet it takes in the Grace of the Spirit too So Gal. 5.17 The Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh i. e. the corrupt Nature and the renewed and sanctified Nature do reciprocally oppose and contend each against the other So some interpret that of our Saviour Mat. 26.41 The Spirit is willing but the Flesh is weak but I cannot lay so great a stress upon this place for this import of the word And as the sinful Nature may very well be set forth by Flesh so Grace or the sanctified Nature may as well be set forth by this appellation of Spirit Why Grace is set forth by the Spirit And that for these reasons 1. because 't is of the Spirit of God it being immediately infused and created by him 2. Because 't is principally seated in the Spirit the Soul of man 3. Because 't is a spiritual thing and vents it self most in spiritual acts 4. Because of the nobleness and excellency of it Now you 'l ask in which of these senses is Spirit here to be taken I answer 't is best to take in both namely both the Spirit of Grace and also the Grace of the Spirit or the renewed Spirit in the Creature the thing here spoken of is applicable to both and therefore why should we limit it to one The word Spirit throughout in this Chapter is generally taken in the personal notion for the Holy Ghost himself and no sooner had the Apostle mentioned Spirit in this verse but presently in the second verse he speaks of the Spirit as consider'd personally the Law of the Spirit of Life c. he means the living and quickening Spirit of God therefore to be sure this sense must be taken in And Grace habitually considered or the renewed
TWo Observations I have gone through I come now to the third and last 'T is the Law of the Spirit of Life which frees the Regenerate from the Law of Sin or thus 't is by the mighty power of the living and regenerating Spirit that any are deliver'd from the power and dominion of Sin This is the great effect here spoken of and the Apostle shows who is the Author and Efficient of it or how 't is brought about the Law of the Spirit of Life hath made me free from the Law of Sin I shall as much as conveniently I may contract in what I have to say upon this Point that I may draw towards the close of this Verse which I fear I have staid too long upon The Spirit frees from the Law of Sin Now here observe 1. The Spirit frees from the Law of Sin he is the true and proper Agent in the production of this Effect In reference to which you may consider him either essentially as he is God or personally as he is the third Person distinct from the Father and the Son in both of which considerations he makes free from the Law of Sin As to the first so there can be no question made of the thing * Factum Spiritus S. factum filii Dei est propter Natun◠Voluntatis unitatem Sive enim Pater faciat sive Filius sive Spiritus Sanct. Trinitas est quae operatur quicquid tres fecerint Dei unius est operatio Aug. in Qu. N. T. Quaest 51. because the Spirit so considered acts in common with the two other Persons and a they with him what the Father doth and the Son as God that the Spirit doth also and so vice versâ I speak of (b) August in Enchirid. c. 38. actiones ad extra which onely are indivisae As to the second so the thing is also clear because 't is the Spirits personal and proper act to weaken and dethrone Sin in the heart for as 't is the Sons proper act to free from the guilt so 't is the Spirits proper act to free from the power of Sin that being a thing done within the Creature this person is the proper author of it it belonging to the Son to do all without and to the Spirit to do all within The Father and the Son are by no means to be excluded yet 't is the Spirit which doth immediately bring about in the Soul that blessed freedom which I am upon If you cast your eye a little upon what lies very near the Text you 'l find all the Persons mentioned as all concurring to the advancement and promoting of the good of Believers 't is (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrysost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oecumen Chrysostomes observation upon the Words That saith he which the Apostle always doth going from the Son to the Spirit from the Spirit to the Son and Father ascribing all to the Trinity that here he doth also For when he said who shall deliver me from the body of this death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord heshews that the Father doth this by the Son then he shews that the Spirit also doth this by the Son when he says that the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus c. then he brings in again the Father and the Son v. 3 4. But I say this freedom from the Law of Sin 't is the proper and immediate effect of the Spirit therefore 't is said * 2 Cor. 3.17 where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty the meaning of which Scripture I had occasion to touch upon before That which God once said to Zerubbabel in reference to the building of the Temple * Zech. 4.6 Not by might not by power but by my Spirit is applicable to deliverance from Sins dominion which is not brought about by any external and visible force and strength but onely by the internal effectual operations of the Holy Spirit How the Spirit of Life comes in 2. Secondly observe this is done by the Spirit of Life he doth not say onely the Spirit had made him free from the Law of Sin but he joyns this with it the Spirit of Life What is contain'd in this as 't is consider'd abstractly and in it self I show'd at my first entrance upon this Verse but I conceive it here hath some special reference to the effect spoken of it being either a description of the Spirit who frees from the Law of Sin he is a living Spirit or it pointing to the special time when the Spirit doth this viz. when he quickens and regenerates a man or it noting the way and method of the Spirit wherein or whereby he frees from the Law of Sin that is by working the spiritual Life or regeneration The Spirit who renews when he renews by renewing brings Sin under these are distinct things and yet are all couch'd in this Spirit of Life I might enlarge upon each but I will not because that which I have in my eye doth not much depend upon them The Law of the Spirit frees from the Law of Sin 3. Then observe thirdly 't is the Law of the Spirit by which this is done 'T is a Metaphorical expression as was shown in the opening of the Words the Law of the Spirit is the power of the Spirit as the Law of Sin is the power of Sin Here is Law against Law power against power the power and efficacy of the Spirit against the power and efficacy of Sin The Apostle elsewhere speaks of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an inworking power Eph. 3.20 according to the power that worketh in us that is the same with the Law of the Spirit in the Text so that when he saith the Law of the Spirit c. he means this that through the mighty power of the Holy Ghost authoritatively and effectually working in him Sins power was abolish'd its dominion brought down its kingdom in him destroyed and not only so but likewise Christs kingdom was erected in him for this Law of the Spirit doth both conjunctly wherever it dethrones Sin it also at the same time inthrones Christ and Grace in the heart When I was upon the Law of Sin I told you it hath a twofold power a moral and a physical power in reference to both of which 't is called a Law so 't is with the Spirit he hath his Moral power as he doth persuade command c. and he hath his Physical power as he doth strongly efficaciously incline urge impell the Sinner to such and such gracious acts yea which is highest of all as he doth effectually nay irresistibly change his heart make him a new Creature dispossess Sin of its regency and bring him under the Scepter and Government of Christ The difference betwixt the Law of the Spirit and the Law of Sin And herein the Law of the Spirit is above the Law
heart such as thus * Math. 5.4 mourn shall be comforted these * Joh. 2.9 waters Christ will turn into wine As joy in sin will end in sorrow so sorrow for sin will end in joy But to return to our Apostle He had as to his outward state his abasements and his advancements too and he knew how to carry himself under both * Philip. 4.12 I know how to be abased and I know how to abound So as to his inward state he also had his abasements and his advancements Sometimes t is O wretched man that I am c. there 't was abasement then presently 't is There is no Condemnation c. there 't was advancement And let me add that Pauls comfort in this Chapter had never been so high so full as to himself so encouraging as to others if he had not in the former Chapter first smarted under the cutting and piercing Conviction of Sin O to have one who but even now was almost pressed down under Soul-burdens now saying yet there is no Condemnation to them c. how may this animate and strengthen the Faith of a poor Christian when ever troubles of Conscience by reason of sin shall be upon him The Prop. considered in its parts This being the Proposition I will consider it in its Parts And so you have in it First The Praedicate or the Priviledge asserted viz. exemption from Condemnation There is therefore now no Condemnation c. Secondly The Subject or the Persons described to whom and to whom onely the Priviledge belongs And to take the most easie division of the words at present they are described 1. By their Vnion with Christ in reference to their State they are such who are in Christ Jesus 2. By their Qualification or Property in reference to their Course they walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit I conceive this Clause doth more immediately refer to the persons who are in Christ and is properly descriptive of them yet mediately they may refer to and be descriptive of the persons to whom there is no Condemnation as I shall hereafter show Of the different readings of the words If you take the words in the body of them there is some yet no very great difference in the reading of them The latter branch but after the Spirit is wholly left out by the Vulgar Translation and by those Expositors who follow it I know not why unless it be because the Syriac Version did the same which * Proinde nulla est Condemnatio iis qui non ambulant secundum carnem in Jesu Christo Vers Syr. Version in the reading of the Words is not only defective as to this but very harsh in the misplacing of them There is therefore no Condemnation to those who walk not after the flesh in Christ Jesus Some other such Variations might be taken notice of but I 'le pass them by The General Proposition being taken in pieces will afford us these two Observations 1. That there is no Condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus The Obs raised 2. That such who are in Christ Jesus and so secured from Condemnation this is their Property or Course they walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit The discussing of these two Points will take me up some time Of the first Observation I begin with the First in the handling of which I will 1. chiefly speak to the Priviledge and only in a general way joyn the description of the Subject with it 2. I will then more particularly speak to that and show what it is to be in Christ Jesus or how persons may be said to be in Christ Jesus Of the First at this time For the better opening of which I must premise these seven things Seven things premised for explications 1. First the Apostle doth not say There is now no Affliction or no Correction to them who are in Christ but there is no Condemnation to them who are in Christ 'T is one thing to be afflicted another thing to be condemned God may and will afflict his Children but he 'le never condemn them it may be much affliction yet 't is no Condemnation Indeed God afflicts here that he may not condemn hereafter 1 Cor. 31.32 When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the World God is so gracious that he will not condemn yet withall so wise so just so holy that he will afflict Grace in the Heart secures from eternal not from temporal Evils God cannot condemn and yet love but he can chasten and yet love nay therefore he chastens because he loves As many as I love I rebuke and chasten whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth And it may be even to them who are in Christ not only bare Affliction but there may be something of the nature of * Quamvis Deus absoâ—vit verè poenitentes ab omni poenâ satisfactoriâ propter Christi mortem non tamen illos liberat abomni poenâ medicinali castigatoriâ Davenant in Col 1.24 See of this Burg. of Justif Lect. 4.5.10 Eaxt. Aphor. p. 68. c. Boltons Bounds c. p. 163. c. Rutherfâ— Survay paâ—â—â— ch 31. Punnishment in that affliction though not in a vindictive way or upon the account of satisfaction The nearer a person is to Christ and the dearer he is to God the surer he is to be punished if he sin Tou only have I know of all the Families of the Earth therefore I will punish you for your iniquities Amos 3.2 God may pardon and yet punish temporal punishment is very consistent with pardoning Mercy Psal 99.8 Thou answeredst them O Lord our God thou wast a God that forgavest them though thoù tookest vengeance of them for their iniquities God had put away Davids sin yet he shall smart for it his own Soul shall live but his Child shall dye as a punishment for his sin See 2 Sam. 12.13 14. The Malefactor may not be condemn'd to dye as to his Life he may be acquitted yet he may be judged to be whipp'd or burnt in the hand for his offence so 't is here You must distinguish therefore betwixt no Condemnation and no Affliction or no Correction Saints are exempted from the former but not from the latter 2. Secondly The Apostle doth not say there is no Matter of Condemnation in them who are in Christ only as to Fact he saith there is no actual Condemnation to such There is a vast difference betwixt what is deserved and what is actually inflicted betwixt what is de Jure and ex Merito and what is de Facto Take the very best of Saints there is enough and enough in them which deserves eternal Condemnation and if God should proceed according to their merit it would be Condemnation over and over again for even they have sin and commit sin and wherever
would not for some considerations put him to death 1 Kings 2.26 so here the highest in Grace have that in them which renders them worthy of Condemnation but yet they being in Christ and thereupon sin not being imputed they shall not actually be condemned This is the true and genuine sense of the words There is therefore now no Condemnation to them c. and thus our (a) Non dicit non esse pecâ—atum c. sed remitti propter Eidem in Christum Melanct. in Dispos Orat. ad Ep. ad Rom. p. 18. Credentibus nulla est Condemnatio non per se quidem sed ex accidenti h. e. ex Dei misericordiâ non imputantis eis peccata ad condemnationem Parens in Resp ad Dub. 1. Notandum est quod non dicit Nihil condemnabile aut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non dicit in Christianis nihil esse amplius peccatorum c. sed esse illos condemnationi quae peccato competit exemptos Habent quidem Sancti reliquias peccati verù extra condemnationem sunt proptet Gratiam Christi c. Museul Protestant Expositors open them wherein their Opinions are so far from being ex Orco excitatae fetch'd from Hell as (b) Disput 1. in Cap. 8. ad Rom. Pererius with virulency and malice truly ex Orco excitata is pleased to say that they are from Heaven from the God of truth and fully consonant to the Word of truth 3. I premise Thirdly That 't is Gods Condemnation onely from which such as are in Christ are exempted the Universal Negative No Condemnation reaches no further than the supream final irreversible condemnatory Sentence of the great God As to this all in Christ are safe but there is other Condemnation which they do lye under Take a threefold instance of this 1. Men condemn them I mean the wicked who are and always have been condemners of the righteous The Saints as assessors with Christ shall * 1 Cor. 6.2 judge the world hereafter and the world will be judging the Saints here the Saints condemn Sinners by their holy conversation as 't is said of Noah * Heb. 11.7 He prepared an Ark by which he condemned the World and they will be condemning the Saints in that false judgement those sharp censures which they are pleased to pass upon them What more common than for the Godly to have their persons practises strict walking condemned by a mistaken and malicious World O they are Hypocrites factious * Ezra 4.15 seditious turbulent * 1 Kings 18.17 troublers of Kingdoms unnecessarily scrupulous proud selfish false covetous and indeed what not Sometimes the Condemnation is only Verbal going no further than bitter words wherein their names are aspersed the innocency of their persons sullied the goodness of their Cause blackened Sometimes it rises higher men condemn Gods people even to the taking away of their Lives as Jam. 5.6 You have condemned and killed the just c. this is the condemning of the soul of the poor Psal 109. ult though possibly there may be something more in this expression than striking at the bare natural Life for such is the inveterate malice of the wicked against the godly that they will be condemning of them even as to their final and everlasting state they condemn the Soul of the poor even to Hell it self thus the condemned world is a condemning world But yet God condemns not neither here nor hereafter all this is but mans day and * 1 Cor. 4.3 mans judgment the righteous God judges otherwise of his people He 's so far from condemning them that he will openly vindicate them against all the groundless accusations and condemnations of their enemies 'T was Davids Prayer to God Let my sentence come forth from thy presence Psal 17.2 q. d. Lord man doth thus and thus pass sentence upon my person cause actions but Lord do thou thy self pass sentence upon me that I am sure will be as just and righteous as the sentence of my enemies is false and malicious and do not keep thy Sentence about me to thy self but let it come forth from thy presence that the world may see and know what I am and what thoughts thou hast of me 'T is a very gracious promise that in Psal 37.32.33 The wicked watcheth the righteous and seeketh to slay him the Lord will not leave him in his hand nor condemn him when he is judged i. e. though man condemn God will not He will not always let such as are upright with him lie under the worlds Condemnation he will clear up their innocency as the light of the noon-day probably he may do this for them here but certainly he will do it at the Great day and certainly too which is more close to my business though men are very free in their condemning of them as to their present concerns yet God will not condemn them as to their State for eternity 2. Sometimes Conscience condemns them For this Conscience bears the place and office of a Judge in the Soul and therefore it will be passing Sentence with respect to mens state and actions and its Sentence often is in a condemnatory way If our heart condemn us not then have we confidence towards God 1 Joh. 3.21 I and 't is so even with Gods own Children upon the commission of some great sin or under some great darkness of spirit in time of conviction or desertion O how forward is Conscience then to condemn and to give in sad judgment upon them And truly a condemning Conscience is a very dreadful thing be they Saints or Sinners who lie under it they will all find it to be bad enough 't is a little Hell or an anticipation of Hell there 's no pain in the body comparable to the torment of a condemning Conscience a man had better be condemned of all the World than of his own Conscience Yet the people of God have this to comfort them though Conscience condemns below yet God doth not condemn above To the wicked 't is a condemning Conscience and a condemning God too O there 's the very height of misery to the Godly 't is sometimes a condemning Conscience but never a condemning God even when that speaks nothing but Guilt and wrath then God designs nothing but Grace and mercy The inferior Judge condemns in the Court below but the supream Judge acquits and justifies in the Court above 3. Satan too he will be condemning such as are in Christ He 's a proud Creature and loves to be upon the Bench and to assume that Authority and judicial Power which doth not belong to him O it greatly pleases him to be judging of the spiritual and eternal state of Believers he that is but Gods Executioner he 'le take upon him to be a Judge And as his Pride puts him upon judging so his malice puts him upon condemning there 's not an upright person in
than if God had said I will always be with thee So here as to Propositions when they are laid down in the Negative this form of expression doth add both greatness and certainty at least wise as to us to the matter of them And therefore Paul designing here to set forth the safety and happiness of Believers with the greatest advantage he chuses to express it in the Negative rather than in the Positive The Observat more strictly spoken to These things being premis'd I come now to the more close handling of the Point There is no Condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus Here I 'll shew 1. What this Condemnation is which the persons spoken of are secured from 2. I 'll make out the truth of the Assertion and give you the Grounds of it Condemnation opened 1. First 't is requisite I should a little open the Condemnation here mentioned The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here in this Verse 't is the Substantive you have the Verb v. 3. and for sin condemned c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Participle v. 34. who is he that condemneth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sometimes 't is set forth by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Math. 23.14 1 Tim. 3.6 2 Pet. 2.3 Rom. 3.8 sometimes by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Joh. 3.19 Joh. 5.24 sometimes by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 2 Cor. 3.9 These several words are promiscuously used to signifie one and the same thing That here in the Text commonly carries a very black and dreadful sense with it I do not deny but that sometimes 't is used to set forth temporal evils and punnishments as condemnation to a temporal death so Math. 20.18 Math. 27.3 but usually it as the Verb in this Composition is expressive of spiritual and eternal evils of everlasting death so Rom. 5.16.18 Mark 16.16 1 Cor. 11.32 As to its direct and proper notation it signifies judgment against one that 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't is a forensick word relating to what is in use amongst men in their Courts of Judicature To condemn Propriè judicis est cùm mulctam reo vel poenam per sententiam erogat 't is the Sentence of a Judge decreeing a mulct or penalty to be inflicted upon the guilty person Amongst men for the parallel will illustrate that which I am upon the Malefactor or guilty person is indicted arraigned before the Judge judicial process is form'd against him his offence is proved upon this the Judge passes sentence upon him that he is guilty of that which is charg'd upon him and then that he must undergo the penalty or penalties which are answerable to the nature and quality of his crime if that be Capital he must dye for it So here the impenitent unbelieving sinner is indicted arraigned at Gods Bar process is made against him he is found guilty of the violation of the holy Law and which is worse of the contempt of the Gospel too whereupon God judges him to be guilty and upon that guilt adjudges him to everlasting death this is Gods condemning or condemnation in allusion to that condemnation which is amongst men Pareus makes it to be the damnatory sentence of the Law that * Gal. 3.10 Curse which it denounceth upon all and against all because of sin Grotius makes it to be that eternal death spoken of Rom. 6 ult several such Glosses there are upon it but all tend to one and the same thing Condemnation refers to Guilt and Punnishment Condemnation is either respectu Culpae Reatus or Poenae in respect of Guilt or Punnishment for both of these are included in it God condemns the sinner how why first he judges him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 guilty of that which the Law charges him with O saith the Law Sinner thus and thus thou hast offended such Duties have been omitted such sins have been committed such Sabbaths have been profaned such mercies have been abused such tenders of grace have been slighted here the Gospel Law comes in as an accuser too c. Well now saith God Sinner what dost thou say to this charge is it true or false canst thou deny it what defence or plea canst thou make for thy self Alas he is * Math. 22.12 speechless hath not one word to say for himself he can neither deny nor excuse or extenuate what is charged upon him Why then saith God the righteous Judge I must pronounce and I do here pronounce thee to be guilty And is this all no upon this guilt the Law pleads for a further Sentence for the decreeing and inflicting of the penalty threatned by God himself and incurred by the sinner Ah saith God and I cannot deny it I must be just and righteous and therefore Sinner I here adjudge thee to dye eternally This is Condemnation in the extensive notion of it if you consider it with respect to Guilt so 't is opposed to justification if you consider it with respect to Punishment so 't is opposed to Salvation In the former notion you have it Rom. 5.16 18. And not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift for the judgment was by one to condemnation but the free gift is of many offences to Justification Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life In the second notion you have it Mark 16.16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be condemned These are the two things which make up the Condemnation in the Text Guilt and Death from both of which such as are in Christ are secured they shall neither be judged Guilty their Guilt being done away by Christ and the Sentence proceeding according to what they are in Christ and not according to what they are in themselves nor shall a Sentence of eternal Death pass upon them for guilt being taken off that would not be righteous there is therefore none of this Condemnation to Believers Of the Sentence and State of Condemnation There is the Sentence of Condemnation and the State of Condemnation the former actively considered refers to God and is his Act the latter refers to the Sinner and is consequential upon the former The Sentence hath been already opened the State of Condemnation is the Sinners undergoing of the utmost of Vindictive Justice in his eternal separation from God and enduring of everlasting torments in Hell of which you will hear more in what follows Neither of these do belong to them who are in Christ Jesus not the former they being now justified not the latter they being sure to be glorified I shall take in both yet mainly freedom from the State of Condemnation the Apostle I conceive had this chiefly in his eye when he here said There is now no Condemnation
the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe ch 3.22 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood c. v. 24 25 26 Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness ch 4.3 Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up the Lord Jesus from the dead who was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our justification v. 23 24 25 Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God thorough our Lord Jesus Christ ch 5.1 Especially read what the Apostle writes in drawing up the Parallel betwixt the two Adams ch 5.15 to the end of the Ch. I say read and consider what is before asserted over and over concerning Justification and then tell me whether the Apostle might not well thus infer There is therefore c. and whether there be not strength enough in these premises to bear the weight of the Conclusion There is therefore now no Condemnation c. for unquestionably the Illative therefore upon which the Proposition is bottom'd like the Handle in the Dial points to all that the Apostle had been speaking of concerning justifying Grace 2. The Priviledge is farther sure upon Sanctification From their Sanctification Such as are in Christ are always sanctified wherever the Union is with the Son there is Sanctification by the Spirit now such as are sanctified shall never be condemned Rev. 20.6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection on such the second death or Condemnation hath no power Sanctification doth not carry in it such a direct and intrinsick opposition to Condemnation as Justification doth nor is it any meritorious ground of Non-condemnation Yet where there is Sanctification there shall be no Condemnation for upon this the power and dominion of sin is taken away * Dum non essent in Christo consentirent concupiscentiae erat illis damnatio Nunc autem cum sint in Christo repugnent concupiscentiae nihil damnationis est illis quamquam ex carne concupiscant quia non pugnatores sed victi damnantur nec est damnabile si existant desideria â—â—rnalia sed si eis ad peccatum obediatur Anselm This must be understood of Condemnation in Event and that too as grounded upon the meer Grace of God vigorous resistance is made against it the bent of the heart is for God there 's the participation of the Divine Nature the Image of God is renewed in the Soul the Creature in part is restored to that original rectitude which was before the Fall with many such like considerations upon all which the sanctified person is secured from Condemnation God hath such a love to Grace it being the work of his own Spirit and to gracious persons they in sanctification being made after himself as 't is exprest Eph. 4.24 that he will never suffer such to perish eternally Grace merits nothing yet it secures from the greatest evils and entitles to the greatest good Nothing shall save where Grace is not nothing shall damn where Grace is The Sinner shall not live the Saint shall not dye O this Sanctification though it be imperfect yet how great good doth result from it Paul had sad remainders of sin in him but withall Grace was in him he had his double self as the Moralist expresses it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his renewed self and his unrenewed self the Law was spiritual but he was carnal sold under sin what he would not that he did what he would that he did not he was led captive by the Law of sin and death here was his unrenewed self Yet where he complains most of Sin even there he discovers much if not most of Grace he had a sinning Nature but he allow'd not himself in sin he consented to the Law that it was good it was not he that did so and so but sin that dwelt in him to will was present with him though how to perform he did not find he delighted in the Law of God in the inward man with his mind he served the Law of God c. here was his renewed self Do not these things evidence Grace was all this spoken in personâ irregeniti as some tell us No doubtless the Apostle here speaks as a * With my mind I serve the Law of God Ego qui in me significo quemlibet justum sub gratiâ constitutum Anselm Quod meo judicio tantam vim tantam emphasin habet ut illi planè humanae naturae corruptionem ignorare videantur si qui sint qui eam cum tali animi constitutione consistere posse putant nisi aliundè sit aliquatenus immutata Amyral Consid cap. sept Ep. ad Rom. p. 16. He might have gone higher â—haâ—â— aliquatenus immutata gracious man and in the person of gracious men And what doth he infer from all this There is therefore now no Condemnation c. Oh saith Paul I have sin enough to humble me but yet sin shall not damn me there 's too much of it in me but yet it hath not my heart with my mind I serve the Law of God the main bent of my heart is for holiness the corrupt Nature is very strong in me but yet it hath not its full strength its entire unbroken power and dominion over me that through Grace I am freed from I am though but imperfectly yet truly sanctified and hereupon though I may lie under much trouble here yet I am safe as to my eternal state there is therefore now no Condemnation to me I desire it may be observed that he doth not only infer Non-condemnation from the work of Grace in him spoken of in the closure of the former Chapter but as soon as he had laid down in common this great happiness of persons in Christ he presently confirms it as to himself from his sanctification and the dethroning of sin in him by the regenerating Spirit For the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death And with respect to others he much enlarges upon it Rom. 6.5 6 7 8 21 22 23. Well then persons in Christ they being justified and sanctified are above the danger of Condemnation and these are the two great Pillars upon which the Therefore in the words is built From their union with Christ The Text affords us another Argument or Ground of Non-condemnation and that lies in the Subject it self There is no Condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus why so because they are in Christ Jesus for these words are not only descriptive of the persons to whom the priviledge belongs but they are also argumentative and contain a
reason or proof of the Thing spoken of The Expression as shall be hereafter opened notes that near and intimate union which is betwixt Christ and Believers Now shall there be Condemnation where there is such an Vnion what in Christ and yet under Condemnation those that are so near to Christ here shall they be set at an eternal distance from him hereafter will the head be so severed from his members when Christ is in Heaven shall a part of him lie in Hell O no! a limb of Christ shall not perish Besides upon this union there is interest in all that Christ hath done and suffered he that is in Christ hath a right to all of Christ the Obedience Righteousness Merits Satisfaction the Life Death Resurrection Intercession of Christ all are his who is in Christ It being so how can this person miscarry The Apostle upon this triumphs over Condemnation v. 34 Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us What there is in each of these Heads the Death Resurrection Exaltation Intercession of Christ to secure those who are in him from Condemnation shall in due time if God please be fully made out but that is not now to be done Only for the further confirming of the Truth in hand let me a little descant upon the Question which the Apostle here doth so triumphantly propound Who is he that condemneth He seems to challenge all inferiour Accusers and bid them do their worst he hangs out a Flag of Defiance to all who saith he will attempt or in case they should attempt would be able to carry on such a thing as the condemning of those who are in Christ For God himself who must be spoken of with all reverence he will not for he justifies and he cannot justifie and condemn too his justice is satisfied he hath declared that he hath accepted of Christs satisfaction made in the sinners stead and he will not be satisfied and yet condemn Then to be sure Christ will not for his great design was to prevent and keep off this Condemnation this was the very thing which he had in his eye in his great and most blessed undertaking he 's so far from doing this himself that he will not suffer it to be done by any other Come to sin that shall not for that is pardoned expiated by the blood of Christ that is condemned it self Rom. 8.3 and a condemned thing shall never be a condemning thing The Law cannot for that is fulfilled by the Surety and that is appealed from as not a proper judge and Believers are not under it i. e. as to its vis damnatrix but under Grace Rom. 6.14 The Gospel too will not because its conditions are performed though imperfectly yet sincerely which it accepts of It appears then by this Induction that there is there shall be no Condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus So much for the Proofs or Grounds of the Truth in hand Observe that I have onely instanced in those which the Text leads me to for divers others might have been produced as Gods eternal electing Love the Covenant of Grace the earnest of the Spirit c. but these I pass by Nothing remains but the Application VSE 1. The misery of all out of Christ And First This proclaims the misery of all who are not in Christ Jesus The Cloud is not so bright towards Israel but 't is as dark towards the Aegyptians the Point is not so full of Comfort to Believers but 't is as full of Terrour to Unbelievers Here 's the very marrow and sweetness of the Gospel for the one and yet withall here 's the bitterest Gall and Wormwood of the Law for the other There 's no Condemnation to them who are in Christ what more sweet but there 's nothing but Condemnation to them who are out of Christ what more dreadful Art thou a Christless graceless unbelieving impenitent person do not deceive thy self this exemption from Condemnation belongs not to thee The Apostle doth not say there is no Condemnation and so break off but that none may flatter themselves and presumptuously apply that to themselves which belongs not to them he puts down the Subject which onely is concerned in the Priviledge Oh! you who are out of Christ know it and be assured of it there is Condemnation to you you are condemned * Joh. 3.18 already in the Sentence of the Law and it will not be long before you be actually solemnly condemned by the Sentence of the Judge so many Unbelievers so many condemned persons And if so is it nothing to you to be condemned what a dreadful word is Condemnation how should we all fear and tremble at the hearing of it All the evils of the present life are a meer nothing meer trifles to this put all afflictions calamities miseries together one Condemnation out-weighs them all Sickness pain poverty sufferings all are light inconsiderable things in comparison of this I cannot but stand and wonder and be filled even with amazement at the woeful stupidity and security of Sinners out of Christ the Condemnation of God hangs over them wherever they are or go they are no better than condemned men and yet how merry jovial unconcerned are they Good God what shall we say to this Amongst us what a sad spectacle is it to see a poor Malefactor that is condemned by man and to be executed within a few days altogether unaffected with his condition he spends that span of time which he hath to live in feasting drinking trimming and dressing of himself and considers not that he is a condemned man and must dye within a day or two Ah Sinners this is your State nay yours is much worse for you are under a far worser Condemnation even the Condemnation of the great God and that too to dye eternally And yet how do you carry it you please the flesh take your fill of sensual pleasures you * Amos 6.5 6. chant to the sound of the Viol drink wine in bowls live a merry life nothing troubles you no though the dreadful Sentence of God be pass'd upon you and is ready to be executed every moment yet all is well in your thoughts what prodigious security is this * Dan. 5.5 6. Belshazzar in his cups and height of mirth when he saw the hand writing upon the wall this made him tremble Sinner thou art at ease sporting thy self in thy worldly delights look but into the Word there 's a dreadful hand-writing against thee there 's Condemnation written over and over in broad and legible characters as thy portion wilt not thou fear Surely 't is sad dancing over the mouth of Hell there 's but a breath betwixt thee and everlasting flames and yet art thou secure is eternal misery a thing to be dallied with or slighted If men were not down-right
Vnion Joh. 14.20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you that day refers either to the time when the Spirit should be given which is promised v. 16 17 or to the glorisied state spoken of v. 19 upon the effusion of the Spirit men may come to know something of this Union but it will never be fully understood by them till they be in Glory In the opening of it so far as the present state and the height of the mystery will admit of I must look into the Word and keep to that and fetch all from that for 't is Revelation and not Reason which here must give us Light The Word having reveal'd it Reason may be useful as an Handmaid to shadow it out by such and such Resemblances thereby to help us the better to conceive of it but that which must be our first and main Guide about it is Scripture Revelation Now the Scripture speaks of a threefold Vnion 1. There is the Vnion of three Persons in one Nature Of the Vnion of the Three Pexsons of the two Natures in Christ and of the Mystical Vnion 2. There is the Vnion of two Natures in one Person 3. There is the Vnion of Persons where yet Persons and Natures are distinct 1. There is the Vnion of three Persons in one Nature This is in the Trin-Vnity where you have three Persons united in the Godhead the Trinity in Vnity and the Vnity in Trinity One in Three in respect of Nature and Essence and Three in One in respect of Personality This is that ineffable incomprehensible Union which is between the Father Son and Holy Ghost in the same common Nature of the Godhead Of which the Apostle speaks 1 Joh. 5.7 There are three that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one Here are Three and yet One Three as to their distinct Personal Subsistences and yet One as to their common Nature This a Mystery to be adored not to be fathomed a * The Union betwixt the Three Persons c. the knowledge of this is not nay cannot be attained unto by the Light of Nature No example can illustrate no Reason Angelical or humane can comprehend the hidden excellency of this glorious Mystery But it is discovered to us by a divine Revelation in the written Word and our Faith must receive and our Piety admire what our Reason cannot comprehend Cheynel of the Divine Trin-Unity ch ◠p. 19 Vide Aquin. p. 1. Qu. 39. Art 1 2. Lombard Lib. 1. Dist 2 3. Mystery much too deep for the Plummet of Reason to reach he that by Reason would go about to grasp it is as foolish as he that would attempt to put the Ocean into a bucket or to grasp the Universe in the hollow of his hand 2. There is the Vnion of two Natures in one Person This is that which we commonly call the Hypostatical Vnion or the Union of the two Natures in Christ his Godhead and his Manhood both making up but one Person You may thus conceive of it 'T is the substantial supernatural conjunction of the two Natures in Christ the Divine assuming the Humane and giving it a subsistence in its self so that both make but one Person and yet so as that the being and properties of both Natures are preserved intire As to this twofold Vnion I am not at present concern'd to speak to them when I shall come to the third Verse I shall have occasion there to speak to the latter 3. There is the Vnion of Persons where yet Persons and Natures are distinct and this is the Mystical Vnion The Mystical Vnion opened that which is betwixt Christ and Believers this I am only now to speak to Concerning which that you may not mistake the Nature of it you must know here is Vnion but no transmutation confusion or commixtion here is the union of persons but not personal union 1. Here is union but no transmutation confusion or commixtion I 'le put them together for brevity sake Believers are united to Christ but yet not so as that they are changed or transformed into the very essence or being of Christ so as to be Christed with Christ as some too boldly speak or that he is changed or transformed into the essence and being of Believers no you must not entertain a thought of any such thing Christ is Christ still and Believers are but Creatures still notwithstanding this Union though they be really and nearly united yet both keep their Natures distinct and are the same after the Union that they were before it As it is in the Persons in the Sacred Trinity (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Damasc de Orthod Fide lib. 1. cap. 11. pag. 42 there is Vnion but no confusion they are Essentially one yet they have their personal Properties and distinct Subsistences And as it is in the two Natures of Christ they are under a near Vnion they make but one Person yet for all this they are (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Synod Calced distinct the Godhead is not turned into the Manhood nor the Manhood into the Godhead they are united but not confounded or converted for both of them even after this Union do still retain their * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Damasc Dial. cap. 66. essential properties without confusion or conversion So 't is in the Union of Believers with Christ for thus far we may make use of the two former Vnions to open the Mystical Union by they all agree in This though in other things they differ You may take a lower resemblance of it if you please In Man there is a near Vnion between Soul and Body and these two united make up the man * Vide Nemes de Nat. Hom. p. 97. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. yet upon the union the Soul is not turned into the nature of the Body nor the Body into the nature of the Soul they are not confounded though united they yet retain their essence and properties distinct the Soul is the Soul still and the Body is the Body still So it is in the Vnion between Christ and Believers 2. Here is the Vnion of persons but not personal union And here lies the difference between the Mystical Vnion and the Hypostatical Vnion The Hypostatical Vnion is Personal but not of Persons the reason is because in Christ there are two Natures but there is but one Person there is this Nature and that Nature in Christ but not this Person and that Person in Christ as Nestorius held there is in Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aliud aliud but not alius alius as the Learned express it Christ did not assume the * Vide Lombard Lib. 3. Dist 5. Person of man but the Nature of man into his Person Non assumpsit Hominem Personam sed
for though the Saints proximately and immediately are united to Christ yet the Union is not so terminated in him but that through him they are united to the Father too Therefore 't is said Joh. 17.21 That they also may be one in us 't is not one in Me singly but one in Vs conjunctly And the Apostle saith 1 Thes 1.1 2. To the Church which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ the same you have 2 Thes 1.1 So * Of the Saints Union with the Father as well as with the Son see Burg. upon Joh. 17. p. 586. Newton upon Joh. p. 450. of the Moral Vnion that Believers in some respects are in both and united both to Father and Son But as to the Law-union arising from Suretyship and Vadimony that is only proper to Christ he of all the Persons being the alone Surety for Believers Thirdly There is a Moral Vnion between Christ and Believers 'T is called Moral from the Bond or Ground of it which is Love and the word Moral is us'd not as it stands in contradistinction to Spiritual but to Natural and Physical I say the Bond of this Union is Love for Faith unites mystically and Love unites morally Love is an uniting grace as well as Faith though it doth not unite in the same way therefore 't is said He that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him 1 Joh. 4.16 'T is all for union and it produces union take two persons who love each other their mutual affection makes them to be One there is a real Oneness between Friend and Friend The Philosopher very well defined Friendship by One Soul in two Bodies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A * Aristot Ethic. l. 9. c. 3.9 Friend is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alteridem another Self Thus 't is in that which is before us there is a mutual reciprocal hearty Love between Christ and Believers he loves them and they love him and by vertue of this mutual Love there is a real and close Vnion betwixt them The Husband and Wife are One not meerly upon the Marriage Covenant and external Relation but also and chiefly upon that Love and Affection that is betwixt them So it is 'twixt Christ and Saints * Qui scilicet dilect à Christo vicissim Christum amant Hocenim est in Christo esse non tantum Christo amari sed Christum amare Corn Mussus Qui Coristo incorporati sunt puro perfecto amore Idem Some therefore open this being in Christ Jesus or Oneness with him by Love in respect of this Love Believers are in Christ And so I have opened that threefold Vnion which is between Christ and Believers I have a little insisted upon the two latter branches of it but 't is the first the Mystical Vnion that I shall further mainly speak to for the truth is this is the Vnion which the Gospel principally sets before us Scripture-Resemblances by which the Mystical Vnion is set forth The Second Thing propounded was to instance in those several Scripture-resemblances by which the Mystical Vnion is set forth These are very many For this being a very high and mysterious thing it hath pleased God to make use of various Resemblances for the better describing of it that he might thereby make it to us more credible and more intelligible And 't is observable how the Spirit of God summons in all Vnions Natural Relative Artisicial that he might by all of them more clearly and distinctly shadow out the grand Vnion betwixt Christ and Saints Yet I must tell you though those are very useful as to the End designed and are very high the highest in genere Vnionis yet they all come short of the Mystical Union which they refer to they may illustrate it but they cannot reach or equalize it I will but briefly go over them both because they are fully handled by Others and also because that which is proper from them to the business in hand may be dispatched in few words The First is that of Husband and Wife A very fit and full Resemblance a * See Dr. Cudworths Union of Christ and the Church shadowed Type say some of the Mystical Vnion Upon the conjugal relation there is a very near and close conjunction If you please to look to its first institution you will find a deep foundation of Oneness laid therein Gen. 2.23 24. This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh Now Christ and Believers stand in this Conjugal relation each to the other he is their Husband they his Spouse they are espoused to Christ their Husband 2 Cor. 11.2 married to Christ Rom. 7.4 betrothed to God and Christ Hos 2.19 their name is Hephzibah and Beulah Isa 62.4 The Marriage-Vnion in the very height of it the Apostle brings down to Christ and Believers Eph. 5.28 29 c. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies he that loveth his wife loveth himself For no man ever yet hated his own flesh but nourisheth it and cherisheth it even as the Lord the Church For we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones For this cause shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall be joyned to his wife and they two shall be one flesh Well what of all this he adds This is a great Mystery but I speak concerning Christ and the Church As if the Apostle had said do not misapprehend me though I speak so much of the Vnion that is betwixt Husband and Wife according to the primitive Institution yet that is not the main thing which I drive at I aim at an higher Vnion than that namely at that Spiritual Vnion which is between Christ and the Church The Husband and the Wife are one Christ and Believers are so much more Another Resemblance is that of the Head and Members In the Body Natural there is a near and close Vnion between these two being fastened and joyned each to the other they make up one and the same body Thus 't is with Christ and Believers in the Body Mystical he is the Head they are the several Members belonging to that head Col. 1.18 He is the Head of the body the Church Eph. 1.22 God gave him to be the head over all things to the Church which is his body 1 Cor. 12.27 Now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular So Rom. 12.5 As truly and as nearly as the head and the members so truly and so nearly are Christ and Believers united also A third Resemblance is that of the Root and Branches There is also union betwixt these otherwise how should the One convey juice sap nourishment life growth to the Other So 't is with Christ and Believers he is the Root they the Branches Joh. 15.5 I am
his Members also this is his great request to his Father Joh. 17.24 Where 't is Vnion it shall be Vision in Christ here and with Christ hereafter are inseparable a Christ in you is a sufficient ground for the hope of glory Col. 1.27 Christ in you the hope of glory You therefore who are in Christ should highly comfort your selues with these things I would desire such not to put from them these Cordials as if they were not proper for them because of the weakness of their graces the imperfections of their duties the meaness of their persons or upon any other discouragement of this nature Art thou a Believer be thou never so weak yet thou art in Christ thou art low in grace in gifts in thy outward condition yet thou art in Christ The meanest member in the body is united to the head as well as that which is the highest and so 't is here Though the eye was weak which look'd upon the brazen Serpent yet it looking thereupon there was healing for all that The weakest faith is healing faith and 't is so not only because it takes a view of Christ but also because it knits to Christ O Christian Faiths uniting virtue doth not depend upon its strength but upon its sincerity the very minimum quod sic is enough to put thee into Christ therefore be not discouraged because thy faith is so weak and low And for thy outward condition that 's nothing at all to the state or priviledge the poor are in Christ as well as the rich the ignoble as well as the noble He doth not choose his members by any external considerations If Grace be in thy heart though thou art very mean in thy outward state hast scarce bread to put into thy belly or rags upon thy body Christ is not * Heb. 2.11 ashamed to own thee as one of his Members and Brethren Let this suffice for the opening of the Subjects of the Priviledge so far forth as they are described by their Vnion There is no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 There is therefore now no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit CHAP. III. Of the Holy and Spiritual Life in opposition to the Sinful and Carnal Life The Subjects of the Priviledge are further characteriz'd by their Course The words repeated Verse 4. with some little variation They are descriptive both with respest to the Non-condemnation and also to the Being in Christ Jesus Why the Apostle singles out this Character What Walking imports The Observation rais'd Eight things taken notice of from the Words 1. The Apostle doth not say There 's no Condemnation to them in whom there is no Flesh but to them who walk not after the Flesh 2. He doth not lay his Evidence upon particular acts but upon the general Course 3. Here is not redditio Causae but only descriptio Personae 4. The description is not laid down in the Negative only but also in the Affirmative 5. The two Walkings are supposed to be contrary 6. First 't is being in Christ Jesus and then 't is walking not after the Flesh c. 7. There always was and always will be different walkers 8. The Apostle lays it down in the general and the reason givenw by he so doth The Parts of the Description opened What is meant by Flesh and by walking or not walking after the Flesh Flesh considered 1. More Generally what it is to walk after it in that respect why the Corrupt Nature is set forth by Flesh a fivefold account given of that 2. More Particularly what it is to walk after it in that respect Of Lust or Lusting the most natural act of the Flesh What is here meant by the Spirit What it is to walk after the Spirit That opened in Five Particulars The Doctrine confirmed Applied 1. by way of Information in three things 1. That Scripture Marks or Signs grounded upon Sanctification and Holiness are not under the Gospel to be rejected by Believers 2. That the Popish Calumnies against Protestants and the Protestant Doctrine are causeless and groundless 3. That there are but few who are in Christ Jesus Use 2. To examine the walking whether it be after the Flesh or after the Spirit Use 3. 1. To dehort from walking after the Flesh Several Motives to enforce that Dehortation What is to be done for the avoiding of it 2. To exhort to walking after the Spirit Three Motives to that Use 4. Such as do walk after the Spirit are exhorted 1. To be very thankful 2. To walk yet less and less after the Flesh and yet more and more after the Spirit 3. To take the Comfort of this walking The great discouragement of troubled Christians about it removed THere is in the whole Verse as you have heard the Priviledge and the Description of the persons who have a share in that Priviledge They are described 1. By their Vnion with Christ There is no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus this hath been spoken to 2. By their holy course they are such who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit this I proceed now to speak to In the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greek the Words run thus There is no condemnation to them in Christ Jesus not walking after the Flesh but after the Spirit Our Translators put in to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after c. And they part the being in Christ and the not walking c. and read them as distinct but Others put them together and make all but one sentence Thus the Syriack Version cited before thus (a) Nulia condemnatio iis qui per Jesum Christum sive per Evangelium eousque perducti sunt ut non eant quo carnis affectus rapiunt sine discrimine sed Spiritum Sanctuâ—â— adepti ejus motibus constanter obsequuntur Grot. Grotius There is saith he no condemnation to them who by Jesus Christ or by the Gospel are brought to this not to go whether carnal affections do carry them but having obtained the Spirit they constantly obey his motions Some difference there is in this double reading but I 'le not enquire whether (b) Unica est in textu Pauli oratio sed Interpres distinxit in duas c. quam vis ad sensum non intersit Cajet material or not The Apostle recites these words v. 4. with a double variation 1. There he brings in the Relative and joyns it with the Participle which here he doth not for there 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereas the Relative here is joyned with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Here 't is express'd in the Third person there in the First person that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit The Words are descriptive and characteristical of Persons both
maledictione carni suae interim securè indulgens Ut ergo frustra blanditur c. Calvin Non satis est Christum ore profiteri oportet Fide per opera esfioaci Christo ahhaerere quod fit non Carnis sed Spiritus ductum sequendo in vitâ Observa secundò quòd connexam esse docet Justificationis Sanctificationis Gratiam adeò ut divelli nequeant ut frustra de priore glorietur qui posteriorem non habeat Qui igitur habâ—nas laxant carni testantur se in Christo non esse c. Hinc refutatur trita Papistarum Calumnia c. Atqui docemus cum Apostolo non esse in Christo nisi qui secundum Spiritum ambulant qui carni indulgent eos inanem Fidem profiteri c. Pareus Sunt cohaerentes quidem c. Beza this very place say that which might be enough to all ingenuous men to obviate these Calumnies But let this pass Give me leave onely in the General to vindicate our Faith in this matter and to shew that what we believe herein is not at all repugnant to this or to any other Scripture For do we hold that Believers are exempted from condemnation and shall most certainly be sav'd upon their being in Christ though they live a sinful carnal wicked life how often have our Opposers been told that we detest and abhor such an Opinion We say indeed that sanctification holiness or walking after the Spirit are not the meritorious causes of Non-condemnation that honour we give to the alone merits of our Saviour yet withall we say that whoever hath an interest in such blessedness he is a sanctified person and he must and shall live an holy life Is not this enough as much as what the Word will bear us out in Can we not be for Walking after the Spirit unless we make it to be a Cause of our justification or can we not hold imputed righteousness but we must deny inherent righteousness are these two inconsistent Our Adversaries asperse us as if we denied the latter which we do not but what may we say of them who do most certainly deny the former To go on Do not we set inherent righteousness as high as they bate but perfection and merit the First of which would make it impossible in this life as the Other would derogate from the freeness of God's grace and the fullness of Christ's merit And we appeal to the world do our Censurers with their principles live more holily than Protestants with theirs we wish we could see it Nay take the whole model and platform of their Doctrine and of ours and let the would judge which doth most tend to the * See Dr. Stillingslees of the Idolatry of the Church of Rome Chap. 3. p. 178. promoting of a strict and holy conversation Indeed if we give way to the flesh and walk after the flesh we are to be blamed for our practices but the principles of our Religion are strict holy and good In short we are for the same things which They contend for and that too in the highest measures and degrees so far as the infirmities of the present state will admit of but not upon the same grounds We are for the spiritual life as the fruit and evidence of the Vnion and as always attending the person who is in Christ and shall not be condemned but we dare not make it to be the meritorious ground or to have any causal influence upon the one or the other If this will not satisfie let our revilers revile on 3. There are but Iew who are in Christ 3. If this be the way and course of such who are in Christ that they walk not after the flesh but after the spirit it informs us then that there are but few who are in Christ or who have any interest in the Mystical Vnion I would not streighten or narrow the Grace of God or the happiness of the Creature further than the word it self doth but on the other hand I must not make them wider than that doth The most it is to be feared are out of Christ because the most do walk after the flesh 't is but here and there some few who walk after the spirit Instead of walking not after the flesh but after the spirit the generality of men walk after the flesh and not after the spirit they are in the flesh there 's their state and they walk after the flesh there 's their course O that this was not as evident as the light of the noon day This Flesh as you have heard is either the corrupt Nature in the general or more particularly 't is the corrupt Nature venting it self in and about fleshly and sensual things now in both respects how do fleshly Walkers abound As to the First what an unholy sinful life do the most live how doth the depraved Nature break forth and show it self in their whole course this is that which acts them all along by which they steer and order their conversation And as to the Second look upon the greatest number of men how sensual are they they lie tumbling and wallowing in the mire of Lust are even immers'd and swallowed up in fleshly things minding nothing so much as the pleasing of the flesh Go to them at their Tables there 's gluttony excess in eating and drinking they pamper the body whilst they starve the soul Mind them in their pursuits 't is some fleshly good they mainly drive at some fleshly interest by which they steer their course what do they most consult but the Fleshes ease and interest O that 's the thing which they make provision for that they may fulfil the lusts thereof which the Apostle so expresly forbids Rom. 13.14 their forecasts projects contrivances are for the Flesh yea all their thoughts are imployed as so many caterers or purveyours for their sensual lusts is not this walking after the flesh and is not this more or less the Walk of the most Alas as to that walking after the spirit which hath been opened how few are there that know any thing of it the generality are wholly strangers to it understanding the Angelical life in Heaven as well as the spiritual holy life of Saints here upon earth you can scarce make them believe that there is such a life so far are they from the living of it Thus 't is with the multitude and is not this then too clear an evidence too full a demonstration of the paucity of such as are in Christ O that we could bewail and lament it what more plain than that such who are in Christ do walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit and what more plain too than that the body of men do walk after the Flesh and not after the Spirit Sirs let us not flatter and think too well of our selves * Ut eos omnes intelligamus esse exclusos qui Fidem Evangelium jactitant cum interim volutentur in
to God daily for help against it well God will not lay particular failings thus circumstantiated to your charge The Damsel under the Law that was ravished if she cry'd out for help and did not consent to the fact was to be acquitted Deut. 22.25 so you do to God under the assaults of the Flesh and so God will do to you True sin is sin though it hath not full and deliberate consent but God is so gracious that where that is not he will not impute it I have also told you that you must distinguish betwixt (c) Non dicitur vivere secâ—ndum Carnem qui Spiritum ducem sequitur etiamsi aliquando extra viam vestigium ponat Justin lapses into sin and walking in sin thou sometimes fallest by the Flesh but yet thou doest not walk after the Flesh where the fleshly act especially if it be gross is not repeated where the Soul resists it where there is a rising again by repentance deep humiliation for for what is past and all diligent circumspection and stedfast resolation in God's strength for the time to come there 't is but a lapse and not a walking This I hope is your case and if so then what you alledge against your selves will not amount to make you walkers after the Flesh And as to the positive part the walking after the Spirit though you come short as to degrees and are not so rais'd in the spiritual life as you ought yet in such a measure which God accepts you do live it The Spirit is your Principle your Guide spiritual objects have your affections the Heart inclines and bends chiefly to that which is good your great end is to enjoy and glorifie God O be of good comfort this is walking after the Spirit You are imperfect in it yet sincere you aim at more than what you can as yet arrive at God accepts of you and will deal with you as persons really ingrafted into Christ your holy walking discovers your Vnion and your Vnion secures your Non-condemnation What have you to do but to beg of God that he will yet guide you and more and more fix and stablish you in this your spiritual walking He that knows the goodness of your Way knows also the weakness of your Graces O pray much for strengthening Grace that you may stedfastly continue in your holy course to the end Psal 17.5 Hold up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not Psal 119.117 Hold thou me up and I shall be safe and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually So much for the Application of this Point Two things should therein have been further spoken to but now must be omitted namely 1. To vindicate the true Notion of the Spiritual Life against all the false MONASTICK glosses and interpretations which Some do put upon it 2. To answer those usual and common Objections which too many do raise against it But the due handling of these two Heads would take me up some considerable time and they will in the following Verses again offer themselves and I fear I have already been too long upon this Verse therefore at present I shall not meddle with them I have done with the First Verse There is therefore now no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit ROM 8.2 For the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and death CHAP. IV. Of the Sinners being made free by the power of the Spirit from the power of Sin and Death Of the Connexion of this Verse with the Former Some bring in the Words by way of Prolepsis The proper import of the Particle For cleared and made good against the Papists In the Words something imply'd something express'd All reduc'd to three Heads A gracious Deliverance the Subject the Author of that deliverance What Sin is here mainly intended How far the being made free from it doth reach Whether it points to the Guilt or Power of Sin What is meant by the Law of Sin Of deliverance from the Law of Sin and Death Paul instances in himself as the Subject of it How that is to be taken Why he speaks in the Singular Number The Law of the Spirit c. opened A Fourfold Exposition of the Words What that is which is in Christ Jesus is it the Life or the Spirit or the Law of the Spirit In the close one Truth briefly handled That the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Life How or in what respects he is so Some short Application made thereof The Connexion of this Verse with the Former THe Apostle having in the former Verse more succinctly laid down that great Truth upon which he designed to build his following discourse he here in this Verse falls upon the amplifying and enlarging of himself about it and all that he says from this Verse to the Seventeenth is but by way of amplification upon what he had more concisely said in the First 'T is obvious at the first view that this Verse doth not onely immediately follow but that in its Matter it is link'd and imbodied with the Former the particle For plainly shows that 't is brought in to prove or to explain something there asserred For the Law of the Spirit c. Now the Apostle having there 1. propounded the happy state of persons in Christ and 2. having describ'd and characteriz'd those persons a Question here doth arise Which of these Two doth he in this Verse design to prove or open I say to prove or open for the Words may come in by way of illustration as well as by way of proof or argumentation For answer to which I see nothing of reason why * Hinc utrumque depender quod Versu praecedenti statuit Prius c. Lud. de Dieâ— both may not be taken in the Words will bear a fair reference both to the One and to the Other too 1. First as to the Priviledge He had said there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus now this being the great prop or pillar of the Believers faith and hope he will therefore fasten it sure he is not satisfied barely to affirm it but hee 'l confirm and make it good and also show how 't is brought about For the Proof of it he first brings this Argument They who are freed from the Law of Sin and Death to them there is no condemnation But such who are in Christ are thus freed from the Law of Sin and Death Ergo c. All the difficulty lying in the Minor Proposition he shewes how this freedom from the Law of Sin and Death is effected and as to that he saith 't is by the Law of the Spirit of Life Which being done in this method in and for Believers they are in no danger of condemnation For the explication of it if you take the Words in that notion the Apostle
sets down the Way and Manner how this Non condemnation is carried on That is done two ways partly by the Spirit of Christ partly by the Merit of Christ In order to the Sinners Justification and Salvation two things are necessary 1. he must be freed from the tyranny usurpation and dominion of sin 2. he must be freed too from the guilt of Sin and the Justice of God must be satisfied Now saith the Apostle Both of these are accordingly done the Former by the Spirit of Christ which is spoken to in this Second Verse the Latter by the Merit or Satisfactory Obedience of Christ in his own Person which is spoken to in the Third and Fourth Verses Thus the Apostle clears up the way and method of God in the bringing about of the Non-condemnation of Believers and this in the double reference which the Words will bear with respect to the Priviledge 2. Then Secondly they way refer too to the Character or Description who walk not after c. It might be ask'd How doth the truth of this appear viz. that persons in Christ do thus walk or rather How comes it about that Such do arrive at this spiritual course The Apostle answers The Law of the Spirit of Life hath freed Such from the Law of Sin q. d. I have spoken of the holy and heavenly course of Believers and do not wonder at it you may believe me in what I have asserted for the mighty power of the Spirit of God having subdued Sin and broke its strength and dominion in these persons upon this they are brought to holy walking or therefore they do so walk In this reference several * Lex spiritus vitae quae pertinet ad gratiam liberat à lege peccati mortis facit ut non concupiscamus impleamus jussa legis c. August Octoginr Quaest p. 575. t. 4. Verius certius est quod hoc versiculo rationem reddere Apostolus voluerit non illorum verborum nihil nunc damnationis sed cur hanc quasi conditionem illis verbis adjecerit iis qui non secundum carnem ambulant Stapl. Antidot p. 625. The Apostle proves the Spiritual walking à causa procreante quae est Spiritus Sanctus Piscat He gives a reason why the true members of Christ do walk according to the Spirit Deod Expositers carry the Words but this for their Connexion Some Divines make them to be in part Proleptical as if the Apostle foreseeing some Objections which might be made against what he had laid down did here design to prevent and anticipate those Objections For as to both the forementioned Things doubts and discouragements might arise in some who were in Christ They might object thus Blessed Paul thou saist there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ but how can this be what so much Sin and Guilt and yet no Condemnation can we who are nothing but a very mass of Sin be thus safe and secure as to our eternal state O this we scarce know how to believe And again thou speakest of Walking not after the Flesh but after the Spirit alas who do thus walk when we have so much of Flesh in us and that doth so often draw us to carnal acts c. how is this qualification practicable To obviate this double Objection or Discouragement the Apostle brings in these Words in which he renders both the Priviledge and the Property of persons interested in it real and credible viz by their being freed from the Law of Sin and Death through the Law of the Spirit 'T is as if he had said 't is too true that even such who are in Christ will have Sin in them and sin will too often be committed by them yet for all this I say that such shall not be condemned why because they are freed from the Law of Sin and so consequently from the Law of Death Sin I grant is in them but 't is not a Law in them or to them it still keeps its residence in them but its reign its commanding power is gone now where it is not commanding it shall not be condemning So then this notwithstanding the foundation of a Believers Safety and Comfort stands firm and unshaken And for the Other discouragement here is a kind of tacit and implicit Concession that the people of God are Flesh as well as Spirit and that as to some particular acts through infirmity they may follow the guidance and motions of the Flesh but yet they are not under the Law and command of the Flesh why because they are freed from the Law of Sin there is another Law which hath thrust out that Law of Sin viz. the Law of the Spirit Indeed time was when they were at the beck and command of the Flesh when they walked after it but the Law of the Spirit having taken hold of them now for the main they do not they cannot walk after the Flesh The force of the is Particle FOR opened I come more strictly and narrowly to look into the Words For the Law of the Spirit of Life c. 'T is a Scripture that either is dark in it self or else 't is made so by the various and different interpretations put upon it Which before I can well speak to the first word For must be a little considered and the rather because 't is made use of and insisted upon in some matters of Controversie That which unites Verse and Verse divides party and party this little Word is made to bear its part in some sharp Contests and though to us at the first view it may seem but inconsiderable yet 't is not so to the ROMANISTS who in their arguings against PROTESTANTS make no small use of it They tell us that 't is here to be taken * Subscribit causam praedictae liberationis Soto Apostolus hanc libertatem à lege peccati per Spiritum Dei ponit ut causam ejus quod prius dixerat Stapl. Antid p. 625. With many Others causally as containing in it the Ground of Justification that it points to inherent Righteousness as the Cause of the Non-condemnation before spoken of and by this they attempt to prove that the Believer is not justified by the imputed righteousness of Christ but by his own personal inherent righteousness For say they the Apostle having said that there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ he proves it from inherent righteousness as the proper and formal cause of it there is no Condemnation For the Law of the Spirit c. And that the Argument may be the more pressing and concluding to us PROTESTANTS they urge that Calvin and Beza themselves do make this Law of the Spirit of Life to point to grace regeneration inherent righteousness To whom I reply 1. That 't is not safe either for Them or Vs in matters of great moment to lay too great a stress upon little Words which onely joyn Verse and Verse
Silas Acts 16.23 they were thrown into prison the Jaylor charged to keep them safely he throws them into the inner prison made their feet fast in the stocks yet for all this they were delivered how Suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and every ones bonds were loosed what could have brought these persons under these circumstances out of prison but the miraculous interposures of the mighty power of God and that did it effectually Thus 't is with men in their Natural State Sin and Satan have them fast bound secur'd in chains and fetters they cannot stir hand or foot to help themselves are fully under the power of their enemies how are these now released why God comes and the Spirit comes by renewing grace and therein he opens the doors of their hearts though shut up very fast knocks off their fetters conquers the Guard that is set upon them breaks all the power and force of Sin and so rescues them from that thraldom and bondage which they were under ô the power of renewing grace well might Paul say Eph. 3 20. according to the power that worketh in us The truth is in the freeing of a Soul from the Law of Sin no less power is put forth than that very power of God put forth in the raising up of the Lord Jesus from the dead so the Apostle makes the parallel Eph. 1.19 20. and that was much above that power which was exerted in the rescuing of the forementioned persons out of their confinement It had been morally impossible that ever the Children of Israel should have been freed from the power of Pharaoh and that woful bondage they were under if God himself had not made bare his arm and brought them out with a strong and mighty hand as 't is Deut. 6.21 Psal 136.12 but 't is a much harder thing to free the Sinner from his spiritual bondage he being under a sadder captivity and held therein by a far greater strength than what Pharaoh had ô surely no deliverance could be expected from Sins dominion unless infinite power was engag'd in the bringing of it about therefore how necessary as well as efficacious is renewing Grace but more of this when I come to the third Observation One Use I have finished several Others should have been made of the Point in hand as to shew you yet further how you may find out your particular Cases whether you be under the Law of Sin or not how you may be freed from this Law if as yet you be not so why you should labour after this freedom c. But these things will as well fall in under the next Observation and therefore I will there insist upon them ROM 8.2 For the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and death CHAP. VI. Of Regenerate Persons being made free from the Law of Sin The Second Observation spoken to viz. That persons truly regenerate are made free from the Law of Sin This is 1. cleared and stated where 't is shown that the freedom is not to be carried further than the Law of Sin How Sin is in the best yea and hath a great power in them and yet they are not under the Law of Sin when persons may be said to be so or what that is which constitutes the Law of Sin That not to be found in those who belong to God The Observation 2. confirmed by Scriptures and Reasons 'T is 3. applied First by way of Examination Mistakes about things which look like freedom from the Law of Sin and yet are not so Five Particulars instanc'd in Secondly all are exhorted to make out after this freedom One Direction in order to it Thirdly suth as are made free c. are exhorted 1. To be humble 2. To stand fast in their Liberty and also to walk suitably thereunto 3. To bless God Fourthly Gracious persons are comforted from hence THe Sum of these Words after the giving their proper sense and meaning hath been drawn into three Observations The 2. Observ spoken to the First of which hath been spoken to the Second now follows and 't is this That persons truly regenerate are made free from the Law of Sin this is the priviledge of all such and that which always accompanies the State of Grace or Regeneration viz. freedom from the Law of Sin Paul being such a person here saith he was made free from the Law of Sin For the better opening and stating of this Truth the first thing to be done The opening and stating of it I must necessarily inmind you of some things which in the explication of the Words and elsewhere too I have had occasion to insist upon As 1. Though the Apostle here speaks in his own person the Law of the Spirit of Life hath made me free c. yet the thing spoken of is not to be limited to him individually considered but to be extended to all who are regenerated and sanctified his knowledge of it might be somewhat special but the thing it self is common and general in all Saints 2. That the freedom mentioned in the Text refers to the being made free from the commanding reigning power of Sin rather than to the being made free from the condemning power of Sin 3. The Apostle speaks of it as an act that is past hath made me free c. therefore that freedom from Sin which the Saints shall have hereafter in their glorified estate is not here primarily intended but rather that which they have already upon their sanctification 4. This especially must be observed which I must more enlarge upon that the thing which the Saints are freed from is but the Law of Sin So the Apostle here states it Saints freed from Sin only in the Notion of its being a Law and therefore the Words are to be carried no further than to deliverance from that in Sin which doth properly denominate it to be a Law or which doth belong to it in the notion and appellation of a Law so far the Saints in this Life are made free from it but no farther For the preventing of mistakes and the due bounding of the Point two things must be laid down and made good As 1. That this freedom is not to be taken simply and absolutely for perfect deliverance from the very being and inhesion of Sin but only for deliverance from Sin in the notion of a Law The highest Saints God knows and they themselves know too well in their present state are far from being wholly compleatly perfectly made free from Sin in this respect yet the very lowest Saints are truly and really made free from the Law of Sin There 's a great difference 'twixt the inbeing and the Law of sin 'twixt the residence and the reign of sin betwixt Sins mansion and Sins dominion Sin will have a being in Gods people
as a free Denizon of it who doth so little know how to value such a priviledge Go thy way therefore and be a slave again since thou knowest not how to carry it as becomes one that is free Now I say if God should deal thus with any of you would it not be sad true he will never wholly reverse what he hath done in you and for you but thus far he may go he may let corruption at some times and in some acts prevail over you and he may wholly deprive you of the sense and comfort of your spiritual liberty and would not these be bad enough To walk suitably to it Let me under this Head press another thing upon you viz. to walk suitably to this your freedom wherein doth that consist why in this in being holy and very holy If you so be this will suit with the deliverance from the Law of Sin which you have upon regeneration and which you must therefore be because 't is one great end of God in doing that for you Luk. 1.74 75. That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life 'T is observable how God ushers in the Ten Commandements with his delivering the people of Israel out of the Egyptian bondage thereby to lay the greater obligation upon them to obey and keep those Commandements Exod. 20.2 I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage then the several Commandements follow And as to that particular Command of keeping the Sabbath you find God enforcing of it with this Argument only Deut. 5.15 Remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt c. O how holy how obedient should they be whom God hath brought out of the state of spiritual bondage the obligation rising higher from this deliverance than from the former Christians you should be very holy partly from a principle of gratitude partly because now the life of holiness is made more easie and facil if you be not so now the power of Sin is broken in you it must be from your sloth or something worse * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oec Some observe upon the latter-Clause of the preceding Verse who walk not after the flesh c. that now under the Gospel 't is much more easie to live the heavenly life than it was formerly under the Law so that say they if men do not live that Life it must be charg'd meerly upon their own negligence so here I say persons being delivered from the Reign of Sin to them now 't is much more possible nay easie to be holy in their walkings than sometimes it was and therefore if they do not so walk 't is meerly from their idleness and sinful neglects Sirs now the holy Life is made practicable to you what an engagement doth this lay upon you to live it The Apostle here according to that Connexion of the Words which some pitch upon brings in freedom from the Law of Sin as the ground of not walking c. therefore they who are in Christ do not follow the sinful and carnal but the holy and spiritual course because they are freed from Sins power I 'm sure as to the thing 't is the duty of such so to walk upon this account Let me add a third Consideration regenerate persons upon this must be very holy that there may be some proportion 'twixt Nature as renewed in the way of Holiness and Nature as depraved in the way of Sin 'pray observe it so long as depraved Nature was upon the throne you were very sinful therefore now when renewed Nature is upon the throne you should be very holy I do not from hence plead for an equality that I very well know is not possible and the reason is because corrupt nature before Conversion was entire not broken or weakened by any contrary habit or principle but 't is not so with the renewed Nature after Conversion for that hath Sin mingled with it striving against it making opposition to it therefore men cannot be so entirely good after grace as they were entirely evil before grace yet I may and I do plead from hence for some proportion whilst Sin ruled you you were very sinful therefore now Christ and Grace rule you you should be very holy So the Apostle argues Rom. 6.19 20. As you have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness For when ye were servants to sin ye were free from righteousness therefore which though it be not express'd yet 't is imply'd proportionably now when you are the servants of righteousness you should be free from sin Upon this threefold Consideration such as are made free from the Law of Sin should be holy Against Sins actual and partial dominion Now that I may be somewhat more particular about this Sin being that which is opposite to Holiness and much of the nature of holiness lying in refraining from sin and also the dominion of any particular sin very ill agreeing with deliverance from the Law thereof therefore in both of these respects I would caution all regenerate persons against it but 't is the latter only that I shall speak a few words unto Where I would be very earnest with you who have passed under the regenerating work of the Spirit to take heed even of the actual and partial dominion of Sin and there is great need of this admonition for though upon regeneration you are secur'd from its Habitual and Vniversal dominion yet as to some particular Sin and some particular evil acts it may have that which looks too much like dominion though strictly and properly it be not so Here therefore I desire you to be very careful that you do not suffer any one sin to reign in you for how would this consist with your being made free from the Law of Sin since as hath been said the power of any one sin and subjection thereunto if it be full and free plenary and voluntary doth as certainly prove its dominion as the power of many nay of all ô take heed that this and that sin do not rule or be too high in you 'T was Davids prayer Psal 19.13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins let them not have dominion over me then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgression he goes further and takes in all Psal 119.133 Order my steps in thy word and let not any iniquity have dominion over me Saints are not so freed from the Law of Sin by the Spirit but that there is need of daily prayer and that there be all endeavours and care on their part against it and their care must reach even to this that not any single iniquity may have dominion over them
who shall deliver me from the body of this death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord Titus 3.3 4 5. For we our selves also were sometimes foolish c. but after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost he lays it upon the kindness and love of God which indeed are admirable in the freeing of a Soul from the Law of Sin by the regenerating Spirit this kindness of God should draw out the thankefulness of every gracious heart So much for this Vse of Counsel VSE 4. Comfort to regenerate persons upon their being made free from the Law of Sin A word in the fourth place for Comfort I would have every truly gracious person upon this Truth to be even filled with joy what glad tidings doth it bring to thee whoever thou art upon whom regenerating Grace hath taken hold it tells thee thou art made free from the Law of Sin Sin may and doth trouble thee but it doth not rule thee it lorded it over thee too long but now its dominion is gone from the very first moment of thy Conversion thou hast been made free believe it and take the comfort of it What think you had not Paul great joy in himself when he uttered these words the Law of the Spirit c. thou maist say the same concerning thy self the new birth having pass'd upon thee why therefore shouldst not thou be brimful of joy also This is so great a thing that the sense and comfort of it should revive and cheer thy Spirit under all outward evils the Laws of Men possibly may be somewhat heavy upon thee thou maist groan under such and such external pressures there may be much of bondage in thy outward condition but the Law of Sin is abolish'd thy Soul is made free the spiritual bondage is taken off is not this well very well Under the Law how were the poor Servants overjoy'd when the year of Jubilee came which gave them a release from all their servitude ô Christian thou hast liv'd to see a glorious Jubilee wilt not thou rejoyce So also when oppressed Subjects are freed from cruel Vsurpers 't is a time of great rejoycing mens joy then runs over and will be kept in no bounds or limits what a full tide of joy should be in their Souls whom God hath graciously delivered from Sins tyranny and usurpation ' True Sin never had any right to rule yet de facto rule it did therefore triumph over it as though its authority had been just as the * Hoc illi in malis suis indulgente fortunâ ut de eo populus Romanus quasi de vero Rege triumpharet Florus lib. 2. cap. 14. people of Rome once did with a mean person That Sin which once had you under is now brought under it self and 't is subdued therefore cannot much hurt you Adonibezek himself when in chains Bajazet when in an Iron Cage the fiercest Enemies when broken in their power cannot do much mischief God be blessed so 't is with Sin and therefore as to the main state fear it not I know you lie under many discouragements you feel such cursed inclinations to evil Sin doth so often prevail over you repeated back-slidings afflict you greatly your corruptions daily pursue you c. Well! I would have you to be very sensible of these things and mourn over them but yet know the reigning commanding power of Sin is gone notwithstanding all these yet 't is not the Law of Sin How much good may an unregenerate person do and yet Sin reign in him and how much evil may a regenerate person do and yet Sin not reign in him Under the Law every scab did not make one a Leper neither doth every prevalency of Sin make one a slave to it The Spirit of Life hath freed you from its dominion that being duely stated and that too in such a manner as that you shall never again be brought under it Sin shall not have dominion over you c. Rom. 6.14 Is all this nothing or but little in your thoughts is not here sufficient matter of great joy ô know what God hath done for you and make the best of it Being freed from the Law of Sin you are freed from Guilt Wrath Hell eternal condemnation for the Apostle having said there 's no condemnation c. he proves his assertion by this for the Law of the Spirit of Life c. And where 't is not the Law of Sin there 't is not the Law of Death these two Laws are link'd and fast'ned each to the other therefore he that is delivered from the one is delivered from the other also Believers there is but one thing remaining to be done for you which in due time shall most certainly be done too and that is to free you from the very being of Sin and from all those remainders of power which yet it hath in you do but wait and a little time will put an end to these also be of good comfort Sin is dying and weakening and wearing out every day shortly 't will dye indeed so as never to molest you more As you are justified its guilt is gone as you are sanctified its power is gone it will not be long before you will be glorified and then it s very being shall be gone too here in Grace Pharaoh's yoke is broken but above in Glory Sin shall be like Pharaoh drowned in the bottom of the Sea ô let every regenerate Soul greatly rejoice in these things So much for the Second Observation ROM 8.2 For the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and death CHAP. VII Of the power of the Holy Spirit in the making of persons free from the Law of Sin The Third Observation viz. that 't is the Law of the Spirit of Life which frees the Regenerate from the Law of Sin How this is brought about by the Spirit by the Spirit of Life by the Law of the Spirit c. what this imports Of the necessity sufficiency efficacy of the Spirits power for and in the production of this Effect The particular ways and methods of the Spirit in it opened Of its workings at the first Conversion Of its subsequent regency in the renewed Soul Vse 1. Of the greatness and glory of the Spirit his Godhead inferr'd from hence Vse 2. To show the true and proper Cause of freedome from the Law of Sin where men are exhorted 1. To apply themselves to the Spirit for this freedome 2. In case it be wrought in them to ascribe and attribute the glory of it only to the Spirit Saints exhorted 1. To love and honour the Spirit 2. To live continually under the Law of it 3. To set Law against Law The third Observation handled
Mihi placet ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nominativus positus sit absolutè loco Genitivi ut sensus sit cum enim effet impossibile c. Erasm Fateri necesse est Panli orationem mutilam esse imperfectam nifi dicamus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 positum esse absolute loco secundi Casus quo Graeci eo firmè modo utuntur quo Latini Casu auferendi c. Justin Some would read it absolutely and change the Nominative Case into the Genitive the Greeks using that Case as the Latines do the Ablative in that form of expression thus for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they turn it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Law being unable in that it was weak through the flesh God sent c. Some take it in the Accusative Case and put in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the impossible part of the Law God performed or made good by the sending of Christ Some change the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 putting in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what was the impossible of the Law or to the Law that God supplied by the sending of his Son this comes neerest to our Translation * Impossible legis i. e. impossibilitas implendae legis ex eo procedebat quoniam Lex infirma erat per Carnem Tolet. Some make the impossibile Legis to be taken Substantivè for impossibilitas implendae Legis which impossibility of fulfilling the Law proceeded from hence because the Law was weak through the flesh ‖ So Camerarius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Articâ constructione usitatà accipi commodè potest pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beza Propter impotentiam Legis eò quod per camem erat infirmata Pare Some tell us the Words are an Atticism and they make a double Atticism in them 't is first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then the sense of them runs thus For the impotency and inability or because of the impotency and inability of the Law therefore God sent his Son The * Quùm impotens esset Lex propter infirmitatem carnis c. V. Syr. Ob defectum virium legis quo laborabat in carne c V. Arab. Et cum impotentes cramus ad praestandum mandata legis c. V. Ethiop Ancient Versions bring it in with a Since or Because Since there was an utter impossibility or inability in the Law to justifie or recover lost man therefore God pitch'd upon another way viz. the Incarnation Obedience Satisfaction of his own Son I thought it not amiss to put down these several Explications and Readings of the Words for the satisfaction of more inquisitive persons concerning the Expression it self and the Coherence of the Matter but as to the plain Sense that our Translators as I said before give us very well For what the Law could not do or because of the Laws inability to do in that it was weak through the flesh therefore God sent his Son c. The Sum of the Words in Two Proposi ions I pass from the Letter of the Words to the Matter contain'd in them and that may be sum'd up in these Two Propositions 1. There was something to be done by and for the Sinner 1. Prop. which the Law could not do it was under an impossibility of doing it 2. Therefore the Law could not thus do 2. Prop because it was weak through the flesh For the better understanding of which Propositions 4 Questions answered it will be necessary to resolve these Four Questions 1. Of what Law doth the Apostle here speak 2. What was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which the Law could not do 3. How is the Law said to be weak 4. What is meant by the Flesh from which the Laws weakness proceeds First Of what Law doth the Apostle here speak 1. Quest What Law is here meant when he saith What the Law could not do I answer Of Gods own Law and that too in its strict and proper acceptation Answ For the Word Law is taken sometimes in an improper allusive Metaphorical notion as in the Verse foregoing where you read of the Law of the Spirit and of the Law of Sin which is nothing but the power and commanding efficacy of the Spirit and of Sin But here in this Verse 't is to be taken in the strict and proper notion of a Law viz. as it notes that declaration or revelation which God the great Law-giver hath made of his Will therein binding and obliging the reasonable creature to duty I know Some understand the Law here of that * Lex mentis quae impleri non poterat propter carnem peccati Tolet. Crediderim ego non hic legem Mosis sed legem illam mentis accipiendam esse Justin Potest de lege mentis intelligi quam supra dixit velle facere bonum sed per infirmitatem fragilitatem carnis implere non posse Orig. Law of the Mind spoken of Chap. 7.23 which lies in strong propensions efficacious and commanding impulsions to what is holy and good springing from the Sanctifi'd nature in regenerate persons But I conceive this interpretation is not so genuine nor so well suiting with the Apostles Scope in the words where he is treating not of the Law which is in some persons but of the Law which is imposed upon all of that Law the righteousness of which was to be fulfilled as it follows Vers 4. and therefore it must be understood of Gods own Law that being it which Christ was to fulfil and satisfie and not any other Law Since then the Words point to the Law of God we must bring the Question into a narrower compass and enquire What Law of God is here spoken of For answer to which that I may as much as I can avoid unnecessary excursions I shall only say this That 't is either that Primitive Law which God impos'd upon Adam and in him upon all mankind upon the keeping of which he promised Life upon the breaking of which he threatned death it being the Summary of the Covenant of Works Or else 't is that Law which God gave the people of Israel from Mount Sinai namely the Decalogue or Moral Law Which Law was but a new draught of the Law first made with Adam for that being by his Fall much defac'd nay almost quite obliterated as it was written in his heart it pleas'd the Lord to copy it out again and to write it afresh in Tables of Stone in fair and legible Characters And this too was a Scheme or Transcript and Summary of the Covenant of Works first made with Adam though it was not given to the people of Israel purely and absolutely as the Covenant of Works for in reference to its end and design there was much
but little better with the Moral Law it self though that was a far higher and better Law even this was and is as weak as the former This very Law which is so much for doing which requires and commands the creature to be so much in doing it self can do little or nothing The lost Sinner hath great things to be done by him and for him but in all these the Moral Law though God's own Law and an excellent Law cannot without Christ give the least help or assistance to him The Third Enquiry is 3d Quest How the Law is said to be weak What is the weakness of the Law here spoken of The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Answ which is used to set forth any debility or weakness whether it be natural or praeternatural as being occasioned by some bodily disease or distemper in which Sense 't is often used in the New Testament 'T is applied here to the Law and 't is brought in as the ground of its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before mentioned Else where the Apostle uses it he speaks of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the weakness of the Commandment Heb. 7.18 And speaking of the ordinances rites injunctions of the Ceremonial Law he calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 weak and beggarly elements Gal. 4.9 Here in the Text an higher Law was in his eye and yet he attributes weakness to it also it could not do because it was weak and it was weak because it could not do for these two do reciprocally open and prove each the other And let me add that this weakness of the Law is not * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex quâ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nascitur virium non imbecillitatem sed omnem destitutionem declarat Beza Non dicit quod Legi erat grave difficile sed quod c. quibus sanè verbis adimit Legi in universum justificandi vim c. Muscul Infirmitatem Legis accipe quomodo solet usurpare Apostolus vocabulum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non tantùm pro modicâ imbecillitate verùm pro impotentiâ ut significet Legem nihil prorsus momenti habere ad conferendam justitiam Calv. Quamquam per verbum infirmari 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab Interprete versum sit vis tamen illius verbi Graecè potius significat vires nullas quam imbecillas Salmer tom 13. p. 532. gradual or partial but total 't is not the having of a lesser strength but 't is the negation of all strength 't is so weak that it hath no power at all to accomplish what is here intended The Apostle carries it up to an impossibility he doth not say it was somewhat hard or difficult for the Law to do thus and thus or that it could do something though but imperfectly but he says this was impossible to it as being utterly above its power and ability A man that is weak may do something though he cannot do it vigorously exactly and throughly but now as to Justification and Salvation the Law considered in its self is so weak that it can do nothing it cannot have the least influence into these effects further than as God is pleased to make use of it in a preparatory or directive manner It s weakness as to the great things of the Gospel is like the weakness of the body when 't is dead 1 Cor. 15.43 It is sown in weakness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't is the same word with that in the Text concerning the Law it is raised in power a dead body is so weak that it cannot put forth one vital act it may be weak in part whilst it lives but when 't is dead it lies under a total weakness Such is the weakness or impotency of the Law in reference to the taking away of guilt and the making of a person righteous before God Fourthly 4th Quest What are we to understand by Flesh It will be query'd What the Flesh is here by which the Law is made thus weak The word Flesh occurs thrice in this Verse c. Answ in that it was weak through the Flesh God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh and for sin condemned sin in the Flesh As 't is us'd in the first place it carries in it a very different sense from what it doth in the two following places and t is not unusual in holy Writ for one and the same Word in one and the same Verse to be taken in different senses as you may see Matth. 26.29 Matth. 8.22 When 't is said the Law was weak through the Flesh here Flesh is taken Morally for the corrupt nature in man but when 't is said God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh and so on there Flesh is taken Physically for the humane nature of Christ But to come to the business in hand The Law was weak through the Flesh By this Flesh the Manichees of old understood the very being and substance of Flesh that which constitutes the body in man but this interpretation is rejected by all Origen with some others expounds it of the * Puto quod stance of Flesh that which Legem Mâ—sis in duas partes Apostolus dividat aliud in eâ carnem aliud Spiritum nominat et illam quidem observantiam quae secundum literam geritur sensum caruis appellat illam verò quae accipitur spiritualitèr Spiritum nominat Impossibile Legis cò quod c. Intellectus qui secundum literam est accipi potest ipse enim impossibilis erat c. Orig. Vel per carnem infumabatur Lex i. e. per carnalem intellectum et per carnalem observantiam erat imbecilla non per seipsam Anselm Per Carnem h. e. Per carnalem Legis intelligentiam sive carnis infirmitatem cui deerat Evangelica Gratia Erasm Origenes Per Carnem intelligit crassam literalem et carnalem Legis intelligentiam atque etiam Legis infirmitatem in eò collocat quod impossibile fuer it Legis Ceremonias omnes secundum Carnem i.e. secundum Literam observare A. Lapide Ceremonial Law with respect to the gross and literal sense and meaning of that Law Now 't is true as hath been already observed that that Law may be stiled Flesh because it lay very much in fleshly things 't is called the Law of a carnal commandment Heb. 7.16 it stood only in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances imposed till the time of reformation Heb. 9.10 And 't is also most true that they who looked no further than the fleshly part the letter of that Law who did haerere in cortice and only rodere literarum ossa as the Jews did to them it must needs be weak and unable to bring about any Evangelical and saving good But this is not the Law as you have heard which the Apostle here doth mainly intend * Distinguit hoc loco impurissimus ille scriptor Legem
and the world was made by him and the world knew him not Eph. 3.9 c. Who created all things by Jesus Christ by him not as an instrument but as a social or coordinate cause Col. 1.16 17 By him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers All things were created by him and for him And he is before all things and by him all things consist Heb. 1.2 By whom also he made the worlds Now could Christ have thus cooperated with the Father in the Creation and yet not have a being before his incarnation which was so long after the Creation Joh. 1.15 John bare witness of him and cryed saying This was he of whom I spake He that cometh after me is preferred before me for he was before me how was Christ before John Baptist if he did then only exist when he was born for in reference to that John Baptist was before Christ he being born before him Joh. 17.5 And now O Father glorifie thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was mark the latter words with the glory which I had with thee before the world was Phil. 2.6 Who being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subsisting existing in the form of God c. Joh. 16.28 I came forth from the Father and am come into the world again I leave the world and go to the Father Joh. 6.62 What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before in respect of his Divine Nature or as he was the Son of God Do not these Scriptures sufficiently evince that Christ had a Being before he was Incarnate the drawing forth of their full strength and the answering of the several Cavils and Evasions of the Adversaries about them would fill up a Volume the Learned know where and by * See Arnold Catech. Racov Major de Personâ Christi p. 187. c. Hoorneb Socin Conf. Tom. 2. de Christo cap. 1. Calovius Socin Proflig de Filio Dei controv 1. But especially Placei Disput de Argum. quibus efficitur Christum prius fuisse quà m in utero Beatae Virginis secundum carnem conciperetur This is fully and learnedly discoursed of by Dr. Pearson on the Creed Art 2. p. 213. to p. 237. Whom both of these are fully done This Sending of Christ therefore speaks his existence before he assumed flesh he must have an antecedent Being otherwise he would not have been capable of being * Necesse est ut qui mittitur existat priusquam mittatur fatente Enjedino Calov Socin Proflig p. 183. sent And he was first sent and then incarnate his Mission being antecedent to his incarnation though this be dony'd by the †Misit à se per virtutem Spiritus Sancti genitum ex matte suâ natum ad virilem aetatem perductum non adhuc generandum oriturum quod dictu ipso absonum est Scripturae planè dissonum Slichting Enemies with whom we have to do for God sent him that is appointed that he should assume the bumane nature and this is his being sent in the likeness of sinful flesh as a judicious Expositor descants upon the words Of Christ's Personality 2. Secondly this Sending of Christ speaks his Personality He did not only exist before he took flesh but he existed as a Person he had his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein the notion of a Divine Person consists his manner of subsistence distinct from the subsistence of the Father and of the Holy Ghost but this explication of Christ's being a Person more properly belongs to the next head Here I say Christ was a Person by which I mean he was not a thing quality dispensation or manifestation as some fondly and dangerously speak but he was and is a Person having a proper personal subsistence And he must be so or else he could not be the Subject of this Sending 'T is very true God may be said to send or give that which is but manifestative as he sends his Gospel which yet is not a person but only a manifestation of his Will Grace Love Wisdom c. But now in Christ there is something more than bare sending even that which will amount to the proving of him to be nothing less than a Person For he is sent to be incarnate to take the likeness of sinful flesh upon him now a bare Quality or Manifestation are under an utter incapacity of being thus or doing thus who will be so absurd as to assert such a thing If Christ be sent by God the Father and upon that doth assume flesh then certainly he was a Person for none but a Person could do this had the Apostle only said that God sent Christ the Truth in hand had not been so evident at leastwise from this Text but when he adds he sent him in the likeness of sinful flesh this undeniably proves his personality 3. Thirdly it notes the distinction that is betwixt the Father and Christ Which appears not only as One is the Father and the Other is the Son though that evidently infers a distinction for the same Person in the same respects cannot be Father and Son too cannot beget and be begotten too but also as the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiphan adv Haeres p. 740. See Gerhard Loc. Com. tom 1. cap. 6. p. 263. de personali Filii a Patre S. S. distinctione One sends and the Other is sent The Father and the Son are One in Nature and Essence with respect to which he saith †Joh. 10.30 I and my Father are One yet they are ‖ Una est Patris Filii Spiritus Sancti Essentia in quâ non est aliud Pater aliud Filius aliud Spiritus Sanctus quamvis Personaliter sit alius Pater alius Filius alius Spiritus Sanctus Fulgent lib. 1. de Fid. Ecce dico alium esse Patrem alium Filium alium Spiritum Sanctum Male accepit idiotes quisque aut perversus hoc dictum quasi diversitatem sonet ex diversitate separationem pretendat Patris Filii Spiritus Ter tul adv Praâ—eam Of the distinction of the three Divine Persons See Dr. Cheynel of the Trin-unity c. 7. p. 181 c. et 227. to 248. distinct Persons The number and distinction of the Persons in the Trinity is usually taken notice of by Diviâ—â—s from this Scripture The Apostle faith Theophylact had spoken of the Spirit in the former Verse in this he speaks of the Father and of the Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tenching the Trinity And saith * Ex his verbis apparet Divinarum Personarum in Sanctâ Triade Numerus Distinctio Pet. Martyr from these words the number and distinction of the Persons in the holy Trinity doth appear Which great Truth is also frequently
semel tantum missus est Dei Filius secundum alterum saepe missus est mittitur quotidie Nam secundum alterum missus est ut sit Homo semel tantum factum est secundum alterum verò mittitur ut sit cum Homine quomodo quotidiè mittitur ad Sanctos missus est etiam ante incarnationem ad omnes Sanctos qui ante fuerunt etiam ad Angelos Unde Aug. de Filio c. Lomb. L. 1. D. 13. twofold sending of him the one External and Visible the other Internal and Invisible the First was Christ's sending to be Man that 's past and over and was to be but once the Second is Christ's sending into Man that yet continues and is reiterated from time to time Now these two though they are of a different nature must not be parted he that would regularly hope for Salvation by Christ must have the latter as well as the former sending for 't is most certain that a Christ without if it be not also a Christ within will never save A Christ in our Flesh must be accompanied with a Christ in our Hearts there must be not only a Christ sent to us but also a Christ sent into us or else he will not profit us The whole business of Merit lies upon the Christ without as he took our Nature and therein fulfilled the Law but the fitting or qualifying of persons to have a share in the blessings merited that lies in the Christ within as he is received into the heart In a word the impetration is by Christ without but the application is by Christ within Now therfore I say you must nor rest in the One unless you find the Other too there are very dangerous mistakes abroad in the world about this Some are all for a Christ within making nothing of a Christ without a most pernicious Opinion and destructive of all Christianity Others again are all for a Christ without contenting themselves with this that he was sent into the world to save Sinners and this to them is enough for future happiness they look no farther But now whoever would be wise to Salvation must take in both so as to adore believe in rest upon a Christ as externally sent and yet so as to make sure of a Christ in * Col. 1.27 himself through the gracious operations of the Spirit Paul here in this Verse speaks of the External Sending in the 10 Verse he speaks of the Internal Sending And if Christ be in you all that live under the Gospel know the former but few know the latter O how is it with you Christ was sent to you but is he in you he was formed in the Virgins womh but is he formed in your hearts as the expression is Gal. 4.19 he came from heaven in a corporeal manner for you but did he ever in a spiritual manner come into you you have the external mission but have you also the mystical Vnion hath the Father who sent his own Son in your Flesh sent also his own Spirit into your hearts which is the great Promise of the New Testament as the former was the great Promise of the Old see Joh. 14.26 Joh. 15.26 Joh. 16.7 'Pray search diligently into these things for be assured that a Christ as only sent in the likeness of sinful flesh if He and his Spirit be not also received within I say a Christ so stated will never make you happy Men exhorted to believe in him whom God sent 6. Did God thus send Christ it calls aloud to you all to believe in him Hath the Father chosen him set him apart every way fitted him to be a Redeemer sent him into the world for that end and after all this will you not receive embrace fly to and venture your selves your All upon him O what an Argument is this to draw Sinners to an hearty closure with Christ what will engage Souls to believe on him if this will not Christ as sent is the Object the Ground and also the great Encouragement of Faith Sinners you may very safely believe on him for he 's no Impostor or Deceiver but that very person whom God sent to be the Saviour of the world And 't is not only so that you may safely believe on him but 't is your great duty to believe on him for he who sent him layes this as his grand Command upon you so to do 1 Joh. 3.23 And this is his Commandment that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ Joh. 6.29 This is the work of God that great Work which he injoyns that ye believe on him whom he hath sent 'T is observable how high Christ speaks of the knowledge of himself under this notion as he was sent of God Joh. 17.3 This is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent As also how desirous he was that the World might know and believe that he was thus sent of God Joh. 17.21 23. That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they all may be one in us that the world may believe that thou hast sent me I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me Now what was it that Christ propounded to himself in all this certainly he had more in his eye than the bare notional knowledge of or naked assent to this great Truth that he was the Person sent of God Yes his desire reach'd to a practical and fiducial knowledge of it to such a knowledge as might be attended with true and saving Faith So that 't is not enough for you to know and believe in a common and general way that Christ was indeed sent of God which will only make you differ from Jews and Heathens but you must so know and so believe it as to receive accept close with rest upon him in a saving manner which will make you differ from all outside and formal Christians Further let it be considered what was God's great design in the sending of Christ 't was this that Sinners believing in him might live So the Gospel tells you over and over * Joh. 3.16 17 God so loved the world that he gave or sent his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved is not here a strong engagement as well as an high encouragement to believe And it being God's act to send his Son he looks upon Himself as highly concerned according as men carry it towards him therefore saith Christ * Math. 10.40 He that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me * Luk. 10.16 He that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me And especially this holds true in
Christ is stiled the only begotten of the Father which Title the Evangelist John often repeats the Other Evangelists speak much of Christ's Manhood and of his Birth as Man but * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiphan adv Her lib. 2. tom 2. p. 747. John is altogether taken up with the Godhead of Christ and with his eternal Generation as the Son of God whence Nyssene saith of him that he did indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Some think he was from hence call'd John the Divine In reference to which he calls him over and over God's only begotten Son as you see Joh. 1.14.18 Joh. 3.16.18 1 Joh. 4.9 Now how is Christ the only begotten Son of God surely it must be in respect of some extraordinary way and manner of his Sonship peculiar to himself and what can that be but that which I am upon Never was any person * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Damasc Naianz Orat. 2. de Filio Sp. Sancto Pag. 590. puts in another word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so begotten of the Father as he was God hath other Sons begotten of him as some prealledged Scriptures testifie but yet Christ is stiled his only begotten Son because of his special and incommunicable Generation because he is the Son of God by Nature and hath that very Nature and Essence which God the Father hath Take away this speciality of his Sonship and how shall we interpret this exclusive title of Christ the only begotten of God He is not only called God's own Son but also his only Son and nothing can make him to be so as will appear by and by but his being the Natural Son of God and by eternal Generation 'T is observable after the Evangelist had been speaking of the Sonship of Christ Vers 14. and he speaks of this as being of a different kind and order from the former upon which he calls him the only begotten of the Father The old Arrian Hereticks had a pretty evasion for this Christ sayes Eunomius whom Basil and his Brother Nyssen have so profoundly confuted was the only begotten of the Father in as much as he was begotten only of the Father which evasion exactly falls in with that modern Gloss which some Socinians give upon the Text Christ was God's own Son i.e. he was the Son of no other but of God But to this 't is answered there 's a great difference betwixt being begotten only of the Father and being the only begotten of the Father the first makes God to be the only begetter but not Christ to be the only begotten without which this Title of his would signifie nothing For 't is true as to the Saints they are begotten only of the Father but yet 't is not true that they are the only begotten of the Father indeed this belongs not to them at all but only to Christ their Sonship by regeneration and Christ's Sonship by eternal Generation are things of a quite different Nature and Species and it must be so or else he could not truly be stiled the only begotten of the Father The Apostle in this Chapter Vers 32. calls Christ God's own Son He that spared not his own Son c. now the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports as much as God's proper or natural Son That 's the fignification of it in other references Luke 6.44 Every tree is known by his own fruit 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that fruit which is proper and natural to it so that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to be taken 1 Cor. 15.38 God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him and to every seed his own body And so Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God 's own Son that is his Son who hath the same Nature and Essence with himself There are three Properties if the two First be not one and the same belonging to Christ in his Sonship which are incommunicable to any other As 1. He is a Son Co-equal with his Father Joh. 5.18 The Jews sought the more to kill him not only because he had broken the Sabbath but said also that God was his Father making himself equal with God The Jews were in the right as to the thing only they erred as to the Person because they would not see that Christ was this Son of God and therefore equal to the Father their Argument was good and their Inference proper and genuine if Christ do claim to be the proper Son of God then he must be equal with God nothing could be more true And he had and must have such a Sonship as will rise up to this therefore his whole discourse in which he is very large Joh. 5. 10 Chapt. tends to the proving of nothing lower than his Natural Sonship and consequently his equality with his Father And if he had been only the Son of God in a lower way why did he not so explain himself why did he suffer the charge of blasphemy upon it nay why did he lose his life upon it Had he been the Son of God only as others are the very telling of that had quieted the people acquitted him from blasphemy and saved his life but he lets them alone to go on in their malice against him because that was the very truth which they pitched upon and which he would have to be known namely that he was so the Son of God as to be equal with God For a further proof of this take that of the Apostle where he speaks it out expresly Phil. 2.6 Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God surely there is more in this being equal with God than what Some particularly * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est spectari tanquam Deum Grotius As though there were no more in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 than in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dr. Pearson on the Creede p. 246. Grotius are pleas'd to make it to be it notes equality of Nature and Essence not only some external show or appearance or estimation by others The latter Clause must be expounded as 't is joyn'd with the former and then its sense and emphasis will be clear enough Christ being in the form of God existing in the Divine Nature and really participating of that Nature thought it no robbery no bold encroachment upon the honour of God to be equal with God to assume and apply that Nature to himself which he had in truth And which will much strengthen this exposition of the words as that which follows Vers 7 8. speaks Christ's Natural equality with us as he was Man and must be so interpreted so this here speaks Christ's Natural equality with the Father as he was God and must be so interpreted also 2. Christ is a Son Co-essential with the Father He is not only like him but of the same Nature and Essence with him not only under some resemblance of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but under a perfect identity and
Essential Son of God 't is the very Title which they prefix before some of their Treatises in which One would think that they did concur with us holding the same thing which we do and giving the same honour and respect to Christ which we do when in truth there 's no such thing they do but speak fraudulently according to the custom of their * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. See much of the fraud of the Arrians in this in Epiphan adv Haeres lib. 2. tom 2. p. 738 Of them Hilarius speaks to the same purpose Tribuunt Christo Dei nomen quia hoc hominibus sit tributum Fatentur Dei verè Filium quia Sacramento Baptismi verè Dei Filius unusquisque perficitur Ante tempora saecula confitentur quod de Angelis Diabolis non est negandum Ita Domino Christo sola illa tribuuntur quae sunt vel Angelorum propria vel nostra Caeterum quod Deo Christo legitimum verum est Christus Deus verus i.e. eadem esse Filii quae Patris Divinitas denegatur Contra Auxent Mediolan old Predecessors for here 's the Fallacy they me an by all this nothing more than that Christ was the Son of God in regard of his wonderful Conception and Nativity by the Virgin Mary But to pass by their frauds let us come to the thing We say Christ's filiation or Sonship was grounded upon something of a far higher nature than this that he was the Son of God antecedently to it even from all eternity they ground his Sonship upon it only making it but then to commence when he was begotten by the holy Ghost conceived and born by the Virgin Against which dangerous Opinion we argue thus 1. If Christ's Sonship did result from this as the true and proper ground of it then the * Vide Stegm Photin Dip. 16. p. 180. Arnold Catech Racov. major p. 176. Holy Ghost the third Person should rather be intituled the Father of Christ than the First Person because that effect which was the foundation of Christ's Sonship was more immediately produced by him than by the First Person But this is notoriously false for all along in the whole current of the Word Christ is brought in as the Son of the Father and as standing in this relation to the Father and not to the Spirit 2. Christ himself never resolves his Sonship into his miraculous Conception or Birth You find him sometimes professedly treating upon it and giving the world ' an account about it what doth he then ground it upon why he carry's it up to his doing what the Father did Joh. 5.19 to his quickning whom he will even as the Father doth Joh. 5.21 to his having life in himself as the Father hath life in himself Joh. 5.26 to his being one with the Father Joh. 10.30 to his being in the Father and his Father in him Joh. 10.38 He doth not at all mention his miraculous Conception which in all probability he would have done if that had been the proper Ground of his Sonship but he insists altogether upon things tending to the proof of his participating of his Fathers Nature and Essence and by them he designs to make out his Sonship yea and that it was such a Sonship as did render him equal with his Father but this he could not have done either with truth or evidence had he been only the Son of God upon what is here pretended 3. Though Christ's Conception and temporal Generation was very wonderful yet that did but reach to his Flesh or Humane Nature and there terminate Now the Scripture doth not place his great Sonship in his Humane but in his Divine Nature therefore as to that it speaks him to be the * Qui factus est ex semine David secundum carnem hic erit Homo Filius Hominis qui declarandus est Filius Dei secundum Spiritum Sanctificationis hic erit Deus sermo Dei Filius Tertul. adv Praxean Torquetur frustra locus Luc. 1.35 c. A nuda enim conceptione nativitate Carnis ex Virgine manavit non Filii Dei sed Filii hominis appellatio Quod verò Angelus porrò affirmat illud est hâc Filiatione non obstante etiam vocandum Filium Dei adhibitâ exactè particulâ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad conciliandam utramque Filii Hominis Filii Dei uni Christo tribuendam appellationem per communicationem idiomatum c. Cloppenb Ant. Smalc p. 71. Son and Seed of David or the Son of Man in contradistinction to his being the Son of God And his Sonship to God cannot be grounded upon that which was the ground of his Sonship to Man for where the Sonships are so different they must needs have different Grounds and foundations Pray let these two Texts be well weighed and they will sufficiently prove what I say Rom. 1.3.4 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the Son of God with Power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the resurrection from the Dead Rom. 9.5 Whose are the Fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for ever The sum of all Christ hath two Natures according to which two Natures he hath two distinct Sonships he is the Son of God and he is the Son of Man these different Sonships must have different causes grounds therefore his Conception upon which he was the Son of Man cannot make him also to be the Son of God 4. As to the Text alledg'd by our Adversaries to prove their Opinion there 's a double Answer commonly given to it 1. The particle therefore in it is not causal but illative 'T is not brought in as signifying the Ground of Christ's Sonship but as a note of inference wherein something is inferr'd from what went before The Angel had told Mary that the Holy Ghost should come upon her and the power of the Highest should overshadow her and then adds therefore also the Holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God therefore what may be the force of this word in this place 't is a meer deduction drawn from the premises to this effect Since such a thing shall be done by the Holy Ghost therefore according to what was prophesied Christ shall be called the Son of God The words plainly refer to the prophesie Isa 7 14. Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and shall call his name Immanuel The Evangelist brings them in expresly in that reference Matth. 1.21 22 23. And she shall bring forth a Son and thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the Prophet saying Behold a
forth like the Sun after it hath been shut up under a dark and thick cloud then God owned him as his own Son before all the world and made it to appear who and what he was And this is that which the Apostle aimed at in the place cited his onely design there being to prove that God had given the World sufficient Evidence that Christ was his very Son and amongst other Evidences of it he instances in the miraculous raising of him out of the Grave So that the begetting in Psal 2. and in Acts 13. are of a quite different nature the one being proper as relating to the thing it self the other improper as relating only to the declaration or manifestation of the thing We argue from the proper and primary sense of the words Thou art my Son c. the Adverse Party from their improper and secondary sence as the Apostle makes use of them in that place In the Scripture dialect several things are said to be done when they are declared and manifested to be done so Paul brings in Christ as begotten at the day of his Resurrection because it was then declared that he was the eternally begotten Son of God A Fourth False Ground of Christ's Sonship 4. 'T is said Christ is God's Son and so called because of the preheminence and dignity of his Person or because of his great advancement and exaltation to the Offices of King and Priest Heb. 1.4 5. Being made so much better than the Angels Deus misit suum Filium i. e. Christum illum suum cui communis alioqui Filii Dei Titulus propter singularitatem excellentiam proprius est factus Slichting in Loc. as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they For unto which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And again I will be to him a Father and he shall be to me a Son Heb. 5.5 Christ glorified not himself to be made an high Priest but he that said unto him Thou art my Son to day have I begotten thee Here you see Christ's Sonship comes in upon his exaltation with respect to his Person and Office Christ not God's Son in respect of his dignity and advancement I answer this proves as little as that which went before for here also 1. 'T is clear that Christ was the Son of God before he was thus exalted 2. His Exaltation was not the ground but the result and consequent of his Sonship he was not a Son because he was exalted but he was exalted because he was a Son First the Apostle describes him in what relates to the formality and Essence of his Sonship Heb. 1.3 Who being the brightness of his Glory and the express image of his Person and then he sets down the Honour which the Father put upon him not to be a Son for that he was already but because he was a Son for that 's the ground of the more excellent name given to him and so the words in Vers 4 5. come in 3. 'T is strange that this day of Christ's begetting should be so multiplied there 's the day of his Nativity and then it was to day have I begotten thee there 's the day of his Resurrection and then too it was To day have c. there 's the day of his Exaltation and then again it was To day have c. Had this Text been cited forty times in forty several Cases we must have had so many several grounds and Causes of Christ's Sonship But why then Some may say is this place so often repeated in the New Testament I answer not only because 't is apply'd to the several declarations of Christ's Sonship but also to shew that all which the Father did to and for Christ was all to be resolv'd into his eternal Sonship as the ground thereof he was raised again because he was the Son of God exalted to great Honour and Dignity because he was the Son all was grounded upon this his Relation And therefore when ever such great things are brought in concerning Christ this Text is mentioned as pointing to that Sonship which was the ground of them but not to assert that they were the ground of it * Christ not the Son of God because of his Kingly Dominion Vide Jacob. ad Portum contra Ostorod Def. Fid. Orthod c. 37. p. 512 ad 518. Not because of his preheminence c. Epiph. adv Heres p. 740. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 4. Though the glory which the Father hath conferr'd upon Christ as King Prophet and Priest be very great yet it will not reach that which is wrapp'd up in his being the proper and only begotten Son of God Sonship and Office are different things and the highest Office can never come up to what is in Sonship by eternal Generation A Fifth False Ground of Christ's Sonship 5. Fifthly 't is said that Christ is the Son of God in respect of that special love and affection which the Father bears to him Matth. 3. 17. Lo a voice from heaven saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased And whereas Christ is called the only begotten Son of God they with whom I have to do say there 's no more in it than only this that Christ is the most beloved of God As Isaac is stilled Abraham's only Son Gen. 22.2 his only begotten Son Heb. 11.17 now how is this to be taken had not Abraham an Ishmael as well as an Isaac how is Isaac then called his only begotten Son why only as he had a greater share in his Fathers love than Ishmael had For the same reason Solomon calls himself an only Son Prov. 4.3 therefore the Septuagint render the word there used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the beloved and so our Translators fill it up and only beloved in the sight of my Mother So say they 't is here as to Christ's being the only begotten Son of God God hath a special love for him and that 's all Christ not the Son of God in respect of his Fathers special Love Answ But we must not suffer this great Title of our Lord Jesus to be thus wrested out of our hands Without all question God hath transcendent superlative love for Christ his dear Son he is called Col. 1.13 but yet we say 1. As before this Love is not the Cause of his Sonship but his Sonship the cause of it He is not a Son because belov'd but he is belov'd because a Son therefore it cannot be the Cause which is but the Effect 2. If this was the proper foundation of Christ's Sonship then there would be only a * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiph. adv Haer. l. 1. c. 2. p. 741. gradual difference betwixt his Sonship and the Sonship of Believers For they being belov'd of the Father as well as he and even as he is
Quodcunque Deo indignum est mihi expedit Quid magis etubescendum nasci an mori Carnem gestare an Crucem circuncidi an suffigi educari an sepeliri in praesepe deponi an in monumento recondi Vide Athanas de Incarn Verbi Dei tom 1. p. 88. more fully p. 95. c. Isidor Pelus Ep. L. 1. Ep. 141. Cyril Hieros Catech. 12. p. 111. Cyprian de Bapt. Christi p. 492. Lactant. de Verâ Sapient cap. 22. Fulgent ad Regem Trasim de Christo Mediat Anselm cur Deus Homo l. 1. cap. 3. p. 92. Hoc mysterium à rectâ ratione abhorrere ac tanquam impossibile rejici nunquam probabit Ratio quidem corrupta ac primae Philosophiae ignara futilia quaedam argumenta contra illud fingit verùm ratio quae infinitam divinae Essentiae perfectionem agnoscit ac Scripturam eâ quâ par est modestiâ ac diligentiâ consulit ac confert mysterium hoc divinae naturae omnibusque ejus Attributis quam convenientissimum esse fatetur Incarnatio illa non solum fuit possibilis sed ejufmodi Patris consilio posito quale in hominum salute exequi decrevit simplicitèr necessaria tantumque abest ut à divinâ Majestate abhorreat ut nihil ejus Omnipotentiam Omniscientiam summam Misericordiam ac Justitiam uno verbo infinitam ejus perfectionem magis patefaciat ac illustret Bisterfeld contra Crellium Lib. 1. Sect. 2. cap. 32. p. 341 342. Authors Antient and Modern have written very much with great strength and evidence to prove that 't was neither impossible nor incongruous neither absurd as to the thing nor unbecoming as to the Person for Christ to be made Flesh but I will not engage in so vast an Argument having to do with those who are sufficiently satisfied with what the Word reveals The Grounds and Reasons of Christ's Incarnation Having thus explain'd and confirm'd by Scripture-authority the Point in hand I now proceed to a Second thing to give some short account of the Grounds and Reasons why Christ was thus sent in Flesh Paul puts an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before it Heb. 2.17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his Brethren which behoving he brings down to one particular that he might be a merciful and faithful high Priest in things pertaining to God c. but I must take in more That the Old-Testament Prophesies Promises Types might be accomplished 1. Our Lord Jesus was incarnate that the Old-Testament Promises Prophesies Types might all be fulfilled and accomplished The incarnation of Christ was no new thing or that which was never spoken of before it was done 't was that very thing which the Spirit of God had testify'd beforehand as the Apostle speaks of his sufferings 1 Pet. 1.11 it pleased God betimes very early to give out some though darker discoveries of it you have it hinted in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first-Gospel or first-Gospel-Promise that ever God made Gen. 3.15 I will put enmity between thee and the Woman and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel here 's a Christ incarnate Then 't was more clearly intimated in the promise to Abraham Gen. 22.18 In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed in process of time 't was again held forth in the Promise made to David 2 Sam. 7.12 which the Apostle makes to point to Christ Acts 2.30 Therefore being a Prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins according to the Flesh he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne Afterwards this was most expresly promis'd and foretold God would have it vail'd and clouded no longer but it shall shine forth more clearly Isa 7.14 Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and shall call his name Immanuel Isa 9.6 Vnto us a Child is born unto us a Son is given Yea Moses long before this had given a plain prediction of it Deut. 18.15 The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee of thy Brethren like unto me unto him shall ye hearken 18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their Brethren like unto thee c. now this Prophesie Peter apply's to Christ Acts 3.22 and pray mark those words in it from the midst of thee of thy brethren like unto me which clearly refer to his Manhood and Incarnation and that Prophesie of Balaam Numb 24.17 had some reference to this also You perceive I only meddle with those Scriptural predictions of it which are unquestionable and which God would have fulfilled as to the Sybilline predictions thereof how far they are to be credited or valued I concern not my self at all in that enquiry but if any great stress could be laid upon them one of those * Sybilla Gumaea in Virgil. Eclog. 4. Ultima Cumaei venit jam carminis aetas Magnus ab integro seclorum nascitur ordo Jam redit Virgo redeunt Saturnia regna Jam nova Progenies coelo dimittitur alto c. Of this see Athanas tom 2. p. 386. Dr. Jackson on the Creed 7th Book Sect. 2. Chap. 8. p. 40. c. Sybills went very far so far that some learned Persons do therefore doubt whether its prediction was genuine upon this very reason because 't was so express and clear but I have not to do with them but with the sure Oracles of God Then as to Types which were nothing but real Prophesies or Promises wrap'd up in visible representations these also pointed to a Christ in our Flesh The Old-Testament-dispensation lay much in Types all of which pointed to Christ as the sum and substance of them he was the kernel in those shells all were but as so many fasciae or swadling-hands in which the Babe Jesus was wrap'd as Luther us'd to say Christ saith a * Reverend Author was Abel's Sacrifice Noah's Dove Bp. Brownrigge Serm. p. 115. Abraham's first Fruits Isaac's Bam Jacob's Ladder Moses's Passover Aaron's Rod the Israelites Rock the Patriarchs Manna David's Tabernacle Solomon's Temple and all of these saith he prefigur'd his Incarnation But to wade into the several Typical adumbrations of this would be a long work In short under the Law when Persons or Lands were to be redeem'd he that was next a-kinn was to make the redemption see Levit. 25.25 Ruth 3.13 c. Christ being to redeem sinners he must take their Flesh that he may be a-kinn to them their Goel as he is sometimes stil'd and so be a fit person to be their Redeemer The Tabernacle seems to have a special reference to Christ's manhood so the Apostle brings it in Heb. 8.2 A Minister of the Sanctuary and of the true Tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man so again Heb. 9.11 But Christ being come an high Priest of good things to come by a
alicui persuaderi potuisse valdè mirum esset nisi homines vivi capti dementati essent à Sathanâ c. Dogma tremendum Id. Hom. 8. in 1. cap. Joh. p. 87. Smalcius a very Fable yea Dogma in Christianâ religione ferè monstrosissimum with many other such vile expressions which I either dread or disdain to mention only there 's ‖ Credimus etiamsi non semel atque iterum sed satis crebrò apertissimè scriptum extaret Deum esse hominem factum multo satius esse quia haec res sit absurda fánae rationi planè contraria in Deum blasphema modum aliquem dicendi comminisci quo ista de Deo dici possint quam ista simplicitèr ita ut verba sonant intelligere c. Smalcius Homil 8. in Joh. p. 89. one from this last named Author which out-strips all the rest 't is this We believe saith he that though it should be written not once or twice but very often and that too very plainly that God was made man yet it would be much better this being a thing very absurd contrary to sound reason blasphemous against God to find out some other sense of it which might suite with the Nature of God rather than to take it literally according to what such words do hold forth thereby to expose Religion to scorn O the boldness and even blasphemy of the man 't is a vain thing to argue with these persons either in this or any other Point from the holy Scriptures for let God say there what he will if their Reason as the Supream Judge of what is to be believ'd or not to be believed doth not like it the Divine Revelation let it be never so plain signifies nothing Lord whither will the pride of Reason and the wickedness of the Heart carry men who are given up to themselves But if Scripture-revelation must be thus subjected to humane Reason let 's bid adieu to all Religion saving what is Natural I thought this had been the highest Reason in the world that Creatures should believe what God reveals because he reveals it though they with their poor dimme and shallow reason cannot comprehend what is so revealed by him but I am faln upon another Controversie I hope I speak to those who bear a greater reverence to the sacred Scriptures and surely if these may be believed what can be more clear than this that Christ is not only man but that he who was before the Son of God was afterwards in time made the Son of man Mark the Text God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh where Christ is suppos'd antecedently to be God's Son then as such he was sent and then incarnate So Gal. 4.4 When the fulness of the time was come God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the Law Joh. 1.14 The Word was made Flesh 't is not only he that is Christ the Personal Word was Flesh but he was made Flesh so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred * Joh. 1.12 1 Cor. 1.30 Rom. 7.13 Gal. 3.13 Rom. 1.3 Gal. 4.4 else-where and the subject matter determines it to be so rendred here also But how was Christ made Flesh was this spoken of him only in respect of his mean afflicted calamitous state and condition here was that all that was meant by it surely no! that was so far from being all that the Evangelist had it not at all in his eye when he uttered these words for he adds and we saw his Glory the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father he joyns his being made flesh with the glory of his Person not with the meanness of his condition and further the Substance must antecede the Adjunct the truth of the humane Nature must go before the abasement and miseries of it So that when 't is said the Word was made Flesh it can carry no other sense than that Christ took the very Nature and Substance of man upon him I say Christ for 't is very evident where men do not wilfully shut their eyes that he is all along set forth by the Word he being the personal essential and substantial Word now observe he was the Word before he assum'd Flesh and he who was so praeexisting he assumed Flesh for 't is the Word was made Flesh plainly implying the antecedency of his being in that notion to this his incarnation SOCINVS is shrewdly pinch'd with this Text insomuch that he is fain to fall upon every word in it with his usual Criticisms and forc'd senses thereby to evade and elude the strength of it but all his attempts are in vain So also for the Word is not sparing in the revealing of this Truth though our * Socin de Nat. Christi p. 7. Smalc Hom. 8. in 1. c. Joh. p. 88. Adversaries are pleas'd to assert the contrary Heb. 2.14 16. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil For verily he took not on him the Nature of Angels but he took on him the seed of Abraham here the Apostle lays it down over and over by taking he took part of the same he took not on him the nature of Angels but he took on him the seed of Abraham thereby to note Christ's assuming of the humane Nature and joyning of it to that other Nature which he had before 1 Tim. 3.16 Without controversie great is the mystery of Godliness God was manifest in the flesh c. a Person here must be spoken of and the Lord Jesus must be that Person for the following matter justified in the Spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the world received up into Glory is only applicable to a Person and to Christ as that Person by the way * Erasmus Grotius c. they who alter the reading of the Text putting out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and putting in ὠand so carrying it from the Person of Christ to the Gospel have done no good service either to the truth in general or in special to that particular Truth which I am upon now 't is not here said only that Christ was manifested in the Flesh but God was c. to shew that he who was incarnate for that 's the manifestation in the flesh here intended was first God or God before and then he was incarnate 'T is a mighty Scripture that in Phil. 2.6 7. Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God here 's Christ's praeexisting in the Nature of the Godhead and then after this comes his Manhood But made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men 'T would be a long work to draw out the full strength of these and
several other Texts in order to the more undeniable proving of the Proposition before us as also to answer the various replyes evasions misinterpretations about them by such who dissent and yet I could most willingly engage therein did I think such an undertaking would be proper in such a Discourse as this or tend to the advantage of any but the truth is I fear I should but perplex private Christians with things that possibly would be too high for them and I 'm sure I should do that which is needless for Others who know where this is * Arnold Catech. Racov. major p. 27◠Galov Socin proflig p. 285. Cocceius against Socin in cap. 1. Joh. cap. 15. Bisterf against Crellius p. 564. Jacob. ad Portum against Ostorod p. 166. Owen against Biddle ch 13. p. 289. c. done already And indeed the whole matter in this Controversie is by Crellius himself brought into a narrow compass wherein we are very willing to joyn issue with him for he grants if Christ did praeexist before he was incarnate that then his incarnation must needs be believ'd and own'd according to our stating of it but I have * See p. 284. c. already proved and Others do it much more fully that he did so praeexist therefore upon that Concession the thing is clear and I need say no more upon it Only let me leave this one word with our Opposers their Homo Deus factus is the greatest falshood but our Deus Homo factus is the greatest truth 2. Prop. Christ the Second Person only was incarnate The second Proposition is this that Christ the Son of God the second Person in the ineffable Trinity he only was incarnate 'T is here said God sending his own Son in the likeness c. the taking then of flesh was that personal act which was proper to the Son alone and in that so often alledged Text 't is said * Joh. 1.14 the Word was made flesh which Title the Word is never attributed to the Father or to the Spirit but alwayes to the Son and you see he 's the person who was made flesh 'T is true Incarnation was the act of the whole Trinity approbativè but 't was only the Son's act terminativè all the Persons approved of it and * Sola persona Filii incarnata est operante tamen eandem incarnationem totâ Sanctâ Trinitate cujus opera sunt inseparabilia August Quest de Trinit tom 3. p. 1040. Vid. Anselm de Incam Verbi cap. 3. 4. concurred to it but it was terminated only in Christ the second Person The Schoolmen compare Christ's Flesh to a garment made by three Virgin-sisters which yet but One of them only wears A †See Lombard lib. 3. Dist 1. Dr. Jackson on the Creed 7th Book p. 255. Question is commonly here started why the second Person rather than the first or the third was thus incarnate which Some do venture to answer by assigning the Reasons of it I humbly conceive there is too much of curiosity in the Question and too much of boldness in the Answer why Christ was incarnate I can give several Reasons but why he rather than the other Persons there I must be silent 'T is also query'd * Of this see Zanchy de tribus Elohim l. 5. c. 6. p. 546. c. Tilen de Incarn Filii Dei Disp 1. Sect. 20. Aug. Serm. 3. de Temp. there being such an oneness betwixt all the Persons how the Son can be said to assume the Humane Nature and yet the Father and Spirit not assume it to which the Answer is obvious this difference might very well be upon that personal distinction which is betwixt them for this assumption of flesh being not the act of the Nature which is common but of the Person which is limited the second Person might so assume and yet the other Persons not 3. Prop. Christ not incarnate till the fulness of time Thirdly Christ's incarnation was in time and not till the fulness of time He was alwayes God for he that is not alwayes God is never God the Divine Essence admitting neither of beginning nor end but he was not * Neque enim Caro issa quae ex came Virginis nata est semper fuit sea Deus qui semper fuit ex carne Virginis in carne Hominis advenit Cassian de Incar Dom. Lib. 6. alwayes man there never was a time in which he was not God but there was a time in which he was not Man His Generation as the Son of God was eternal but his Generation as the Son of Man was but temporal In the fulness of time God sent his Son made of a woman c. Gal. 4.4 The Evangelist sets him forth in his two Natures Joh. 1. with respect to his Divine Nature he shews that he was from everlasting In the beginning was the Word c. the same was in the beginning with God c. then he comes to his Humane Nature and that he shews was in time the Word was made Flesh he was not so ab aeterno but he was made so in time In such a sense Christ may be said to be incarnate from all eternity viz. in regard of God's eternal parpose and decree as in reference to that he is said to be the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world Rev. 13.8 but as to the actuality of his Incarnation that was but 1600 and odd years ago A double enquiry here will be made As 1. if this was deferr'd so long what then became of those who lib'd and dy'd before Christ was inearnate The efficacy and benefit of Christ's Incarnation to those who lived before it if that was so necessary as hath been shown what became of the Patriarchs of all who liv'd under the Law before that was in being I answer they had the merit virine benefit of the thing though they had not the thing it self for God having decreed it and Christ having covenanted and ingaged to the Father that in the fulness of time he would take flesh the Father all-along look'd upon it as actually done and accordingly dealt with Believers under the Law as though it had been actually done insomuch that they had the same benefit by a Christ in Flesh which we now have Therefore 't is said Rom. 3.25 Whom God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God Heb. 9.15 For this cause he is the Mediatour of the New Testament that by means of death for the redemption of the trrnsgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance Whatever our Lord is now since the actual exhibition of him he was the same before effectively and virtually for 't is Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day and for ever Heb. 13.8
we should have undergone vouchsafed to dye that we might not dye bare himself in his Soul and body as our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the punishment due to us here was substitution far above what was in the Law-sacrifices But this * De Servat p. 2. c. 4. passim In Praelect c. 18. with him concur Crellius Smalcius c. and all of that party SOCINVS and his Followers cannot indure to hear of O they rally all their force unite all their strength set themselves with all their might to oppose and beat down this great Truth there are but few of the Evangelical Mysteries which these pernicious Gospel-destroyers do not assault some way or other but as to that which is now before us Christ's suffering dying satisfying in our stead the summ of Gospel-revelation the great Article of the Christian Faith the main prop and foundation of the believers Hope this they make their fiercest assaults upon whatever stands if they may have their will this shall not But alas poor men when they have done their worst it will stand firm upon its sure basis as an eternal unmoveable Truth 't is so established in the Word and so rooted in the hearts of Christians that in spite of the most subtile and fierce oppositions of all gain-sayers it shall abide for ever Well! however let us see what ground we have for our belief of it and surely upon enquiry it will appear we have enough and enough If the Gospel be not clear in this 't is clear in nothing and blessed be the Lord who in a point of such vast importance to Souls hath given the world a revelation of it so plain and full Substitution in the case of the old Sacrifices is not so evidently held forth in the Law but substitution with respect to Christ and his Sacrifice is more evidently held forth in the Gospel Rom. 5.6 For when we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly Vers 8. But God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us 1 Pet. 3.18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust 1 Pet. 4.1 Forasmuh then as Christ hath suffered for us in the Flesh c. 1 Pet. 2.21 because Christ also suffered for us c. Joh. 10.15 I lay down my life for the sheep Joh. 11.50 Nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people and that the whole nation perish not Heb. 2.9 That he by the grace of God should taste death for every man 2 Cor. 5.14 15. if one died for all then were all dead And that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again In all these places the Preposition * Of this and the other Prepositions Grot. de Sat. c. 10. p. 3. c. 9. p. 115. Hoorneb p. 566 567 568. Calor p. 421. c. et p. 453. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used which though not alwayes yet most frequently notes substitution the doing or suffering of something by one in the stead and place of others see Rom. 9.3 2 Cor. 5.20 and so 't is all along here to be taken where it being used of Persons the nature of the matter spoken of the use of the word in parallel Texts as also in Greek Authors gives this sense the preference before any other But suppose this may be eluded the other Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proves the thing undeniably Matth. 20.28 Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministred unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 2.6 Who gave himself a ransom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for all Christ did not barely deliver poor captive-Souls but he delivered them in the way of a ransom which ransom he paid down for them in their stead so as that what they themselves should have paid that he was pleas'd to pay for them This is and must be the sense and import of the word for every one knows that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Composition out of that I know it hath other senses see Heb. 12.2 1 Cor. 11.15 signifies but two things either * 1 Joh. 2.18 opposition and contrariety or substitution and †Rom. 12.17 Matth. 5.38 1 Pet. 3.9 Luk. 11.11 commutation so that the matter will come to this we must either carry it thus that Christ gave himself a ransom against Sinners than which nothing more absurd or else thus that he gave himself a ransom in the stead and place of Sinners than which nothing more true I might further prove it by 2 Cor. 5.21 He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him Gol. 3.13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us If he had not so been in his own person woe to poor Sinners they must then have ly'ne under it themselves to all eternity What a full and convincing Chapter is that of Isa 53. for the proof of that which I am upon 't would take up a great deal of time to go * This is done by very many Anti-Socinian Writers Particularly see Grot. de Sat. p. 11. c. O that he had not afterwards spoil'd in his Commentaries upon Isa 53. what he had before in this excellent Treatise so nervously and orthe doxly asserted but there he is as weak as here he is strong Dr. Owen against B. p. 499. c. his vindication of the true sense of it against Grotius p. 521. c. over it and to draw out the strength and emphasis of the several expressions in it I must not engage so far But surely the tongue of man could not utter nor the head of man invent any Words or Phrases more plain and apposite for the setting forth of Christ's substitution than what you have there the truth is its edge is every way as sharp against the SOCINIAN who denyes this as 't is against the JEW who denies Christ's Messiah-ship Vers 4. Surely he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows c. Vers 5. The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed Vers 6. The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all or the Lord hath made the iniquities of us all to meet on him Vers 7. He was oppressed he was afflicted c. or as the words are rendred by some it was * So the word Nagas is taken 2 King 23.35 Zech. 9.8 Significat aigere ad solutionem debiti Forer opprimi ad solvendum adigi ab exactore Morus in loc exacted and he answered Vers 8. For the transgression of my people was he stricken Vers 11. for he shall bear their iniquities Vers 12. and he
in every expiatory Sacrifice there was the destruction or consumption of the thing sacrificed either in part or in the whole there being therefore no such thing in the Lord's Supper it cannot be look'd upon as a true and proper expiatory Sacrifice Pray what is destroy'd therein doth Christ's body and blood cease to be what they were in his Sacrifice upon the Cross there was a destruction in the separation of his Soul and Body for a time but what is there like to this in the Sacrament * De Missâ l. 1. c. 2. BELLARMINE having taken notice of this Argument thinks to elude it with a very pretty distinction viz. †De Missacirc l. 1. c. 27. that Christ's body in it-self is untouch'd in the Sacrament it loosing nothing of its esse naturale when 't is eaten there yet it doth loose its esse sacramentale the bread being eaten by which it was signified and made visible Answ As if the ceasing of something which was but external visible and representative the thing it self remaining untouch'd and the same that it was before would amount to that destruction which was in the Levitical Sacrifices and which was necessary to be made upon the body of Christ at his death in order to his being an expiatory Sacrifice Surely either we are a sort of men so weak and sottish as that wee 'l believe any thing or they are a sort of men so wedded to their Opinions as that they 'l say any thing that will but suit with their purpose otherwise so great a Man had never given so pitiful an Answer to so considerable an Objection 3. Thirdly if the Sacrament be a real propitiatory Sacrifice then so many Sacraments so many propitiatory Sacrifices and as oft as that is administred so oft there is a real substantial oblation of Christ's body and blood in a propitiatory way but this is directly contrary to what the World saith therefore 't is by no means to be admitted For that speaks but of one only propitiatory Sacrifice of Christ's once offering himself namely when he died upon the Cross which one offering was so full and perfect so effectual to all intents and purpoles for redemption propitiation c. as that it is not in any wise to be repeated or reiterated Heb. 7.27 Who needeth not daily as those high Priests to offer up Sacrifice first for his own sins and then for the peoples for this he did once when he offered up himself Heb. 9.12 by his own blood be entred in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us Vers 26 27 28. For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world but now once in the end of the world hath be appeared to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself And as it is appointed unto men once to die but after this the judgment So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many c. Heb. 10.10 12 14. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all But this man after he had offered one Sacrifice for sins for ever sat down on the right hand of God For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Now how shall we reconcile the multiplication of propitiatory Sacrifices the reiteration of Christ's offering with these Texts there is saith the Apostle but one only propitiatory Sacrifice that which our Saviour offered upon the Cross nay say our Adversaries but there is the MASS is a propitiatory Sacrifice also the true propitiatory Sacrifice saith he was made but once nay but say they 't is not so it is renew'd repeated and made over and over again Christ sayes he did once and but once offer up himself nay say they but he is offered again and again as often as the MASS is celebrated in which his body and blood are as really offered as they were when he dy'd upon the Cross Christ saith he by the one oblation of himself hath obtained eternal redemption put away sin perfected for ever them that are sanctified nay say they but he hath not for besides that there must be the propitiatory oblation of him in the Sacrament Now let every person judge whether these things be not flat contradictions to the Word of God according to what we charge them with For the solving of this therefore they give us another pretty distinction viz. of our Saviours bloody and unbloody Sacrifice of that which was offered on the Cross and that which is offered at the Mass that they say 't is very true was but once and is not to be iterated but 't is not so with the latter wherefore the Apostle in all that hath been cited must be understood as designing to exclude only the multiplying and repeating of the bloody but not of the unbloody Sacrifice and so the Mass is not at all concerned therein To which I answer in shunning one contradiction they run upon another for what can be more contradictory to the Word as also to the nature of the thing than an unbloody propitiatory Sacrifice it sayes * Heb. 9.22 Without shedding of blood there 's no remission yes say they but there is in the Sacrament there 's no shedding of blood and yet thereby there is remission do they not still maintain that which plainly contradicts the Scripture and instead of stopping one gap do they not make another The Apostle after he had been speaking so fully of Christ's Sacrifice upon the Cross in the perfection and unrepeatableness thereof draws an inference universally to exclude all other propitiatory Sacrifices Heb. 10.18 now where remission of these is there is no more offering for sin they then must be highly bold who will presume to except and limit where the Spirit of God doth not and where the matter spoken of doth not require any such exception or limitation nay where indeed the matter will not bear any such thing as here it will not for if by Christ's oblation sin be fully remitted how can any further Sacrifice be joyned with it in order to remission To me this is a most necessary principle viz. when men will distinguish upon the letter of the Scripture so as to affirm what that denyes or to deny what that affirms or so as to enlarge what that straightens and to straighten what that enlarges it highly concerns them to look to this that their distinctions be well grounded upon other Scriptures and consonant thereunto for otherwise they must run themselves into dangerous errors without all possibility of being convinced and without this all Religion will be undermin'd and the Word of God made wholly insignificant Now to apply this Rule our Dissenters when we urge the forementioned places which are so clear and cogent for what we hold would put off all by distinguishing of a bloody and unbloody Sacrifice I desire to know what Scripture-ground or warrant they
place our whole confidence in Christ's meritorious death for if we rely partly upon that and partly upon something else we spoyl all Gospel-Conditions to be per formed on the Sinners part notwithstanding Christ's Sacrifice 5. Fifthly you must so confide and relie upon Christ's one most perfect and all-sufficient Sacrifice as yet withal to be careful that you on your part do perform those Gospel-conditions which God enjoyns and requires of you in order to remission justification glorification this word of advice is so necessary that 't is by no means to be passed over Christians 't is a thing of very high importance for you rightly to understand your selves in this matter therefore take it thus All your trust and relyance is solely to be bottomed upon the Death and Sacrifice of the Lord Jesus but yet you canâ—ot regularly and warrantably act this trust and relyance upon this â—nly ground or foundation unless in your own persons you perform those conditions which God prescribes in his Word The whole business of merit and satisfaction lies upon Christ that is wholly out of your hands and only in his but as to believing and repenting the two grand Gospel-conditions they lie upon your selves I speak with respect to the act not to the power and must be done by your selves yea and the doing of these is as necessary on your part under the notion of Conditions as suffering and dying was on Christ's part under the notion of merit And 't is most certain that the latter without the former will not profit you because Christ never design'd to impute or make over his merit to any further than as they should make good these Conditions of Faith and Repentance We have here two dangerous rocks before us and it must be our care and skill to shun both of them the one is the setting of inherent grace or duty too high as when we make it to share with Christ in merit and trust the other is the setting of inherent grace or duty too low as when upon the pretence of Christ's alone merit and full satisfaction we quite throw it off and are altogether careless about it as supposing it now to be a thing wholly unnecessary Now we are exceedingly prone to dash upon the one or the other of these rocks either we run our selves upon POPERY in the former or upon ANTINOMISM and LIBERTINISM in the latter O what need have all to beg the guidance of the unerring Spirit that thereby they may eavenly steere betwixt both and avoid each extreams which they shall most happily do if Christ and his Sacrifice be only eyed by them in the way of relyance and yet Holiness Obedience Faith Repentance have also that respect which is due to them as means and conditions Much hath been said concerning the perfection and sufficiency of Christ's Sacrifice that he hath thereby put away all sin fully expiated its guilt perfected for ever them that are sanctified c. shall any now from hence infer that all is done by Christ that the Creature hath nothing to do but only to receive the benefits prepared and purchased God forbid True Christ's Sacrifice was perfect in suo genere but not in omni genere 't was perfect as to what was meritorious and satisfactory so as to exclude all other Sacrifices and supplements whatsoever upon that account but not so as to exclude all Conditions which God will have the Creature to perform which though they can add nothing to the perfecting of the believers great Sacrifice yet they do prepare and fit Sinners for the participation of the benefits merited thereby To instance in all these Conditions or to enlarge upon any one of them would be a long work briefly therefore as ever you desire to be the better for a dying Saviour to share in the great and blessed effects of his Sacrifice look to it that you repent and believe O if you be found at last in the number of the impenitent and unbelieving all that Christ hath done or suffered will be a very nothing to you notwithstanding all that you will eternally perish Here is indeed an expiatory Sacrifice I but yet as to you no repentance no expiation here is Sin condemned by Christ's oblation of himself I but yet if the Sinner doth not penitentially condemn â—n in himself and himself for sin for all this hee 'l be judicially condemned at the great day The Scripture every where makes repentance the way to and condition of remission of sin Acts 2.38 Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins Acts 5.31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins with very many other places to this purpose The Apostle having said 1 Joh. 1.7 The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin presently subjoyns Vers 9. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness great is the efficacy of Christ's blood but 't is upon condition of the Sinners Repentance if we confess our sins c. At the JEWISH anniversary Expiation all the sins of the people were by the Sacrifices done away yet God would have them then to afflict their Souls Levit. 16.29 and the High Priest was in their stead to confess their iniquities and all their transgressions in all their sins Vers 21. we under the Gospel have our great expiation by the death of Christ but this also must be attended with penitential abasement and humilation So likewise as to Faith this too is a grace or condition indispensably necessary to the partaking of the benefits of Christ's propitiatory Sacrifice Therefore the Apostle speaking of propitiation brings in our Faith as well as Christ's blood it having an instrumental as well as that a meritorious influence thereupon Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood c. To the blessings of the new Covenant as the blood of Christ was necessary that thereby there might be * Grotius de Sat. p. 141. impetration so Faith also is necessary that thereby there may be application Our Lord's Sacrifice is every way sufficient for atonement yet he that believeth not the wrath of God abideth on him Joh. 3.36 so also 't is sufficient for expiation yet 't is only whosoever believeth on him shall receive remission of sins Acts 10.43 Under the Law the blood of the Sacrifice was to be so and so * Exod. 12.22 Heb. 9.19 sprinkled with a bunch of hyssope to which custom David alludes Psal 51.7 Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean now answerably to this Paul speaks of the blood of sprinkling Heb. 12.24 't was not enough for Christ only to shed his blood but that must be sprinkled upon the Sinner how why by Faith which under
shall it be condemn'd and you too shall Christ suffer the penalty due to it and you too O no! as God was just to punish it once so he is gracious and just too not to punish it twice What this condemning of sin is you have heard if you follow the word the comfort lies thus a condemnatory Sentence is by God upon Christ's account pass'd upon it he hath adjudg'd it to die for all the mischiefes done by it both against himself and against you too this cursed Tyrant this heinous Malefactor is under a sentence to be cut off that it may no longer either dishonour God or hurt you and should not you rejoyce in this who fears a condemn'd person what do the accusations of a condemn'd man signifie sin is a condemned thing fear it not If you leave the Word and come to the main import of it then the comfort lies thus the guilt of all your sins is fully done away and expiated by Christ's Sacrifice this Lamb of God as offered hath taken it all away his blood hath cleansed you from all sin your Scape-goat hath carried all your iniquities into the land of forgetfulness Oh your guilt was charg'd upon Christ and it shall not be charg'd upon you too you are to mourn over it but yet know he hath fully satisfied for it what would you have more You have in the former Verse the power of sin abolish'd by the Law of the Spirit in this the guilt of sin abolished by the Sacrifice of Christ O how compleat is your redemption the plaister is every way as large as the sore What holy triumphs may you now make over all which may seem to endanger you Rom. 8.34 Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that * Mortuum Caesarem quis metuat sed morte Christi quid efficacius Cyprian de dupl Martyrio died c. 4. Observe 't is Sin that was condemn'd The Apostle speaks of it in the lump and mass and so he saith 't is expiated Our Lord's Sacrifice did not take off the guilt of this or that particular sin but of all sin his expiation was totall and universal Under the Law-Sacrifices the blood was to be sprinkled * Levit. 16.19 seven times thereby to prefigure the thoroughness and perfection of the expiation of sin by Christ's Sacrifice 5. This is brought in as God's act God sent his own Son and for sin condemned sin He that was the persona laesa the injur'd person the just Judge against whom sin was committed and who therefore was to punish it he who is the supream and authoritative Agent in and about the great concerns of Souls he appointed Christ to be a Sacrifice owned and accepted his sacrifice and upon that acquits Sinners from all guilt Oh there 's much in this to encourage the drooping Christian Rom. 8.33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect it is God that justifieth The Father cannot but be well-pleased with Christ's propitiatory Sacrifice since this was of himself Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation c. 6. This was done too in Christ's Flesh which also hath great sweetness in it 'T is added saith * Deodat inloc One for our further assurance to the end that we may not doubt of the forgiveness of our sins which are destroy'd in our proper Nature which the Son of God took upon him Had Christ done and suffered what he did in the Nature of Angels we might have question'd whether any good would thereby have accrued to us but all being done in * Addit Paulus in came quo certior sit nostra fiducia dum videmus peccatum in ipsâ Naturâ nostrâ fuisse devictum abolitum sic enim sequitur naturam nostram vere fieri participem ejus victoriae Calvin our Nature surely he did it for us and we shall reap the benefit thereof 7. To all this let me add one thing further and 't is a great one namely That by this Sacrifice of Christ you have not only the bare condemnation or expiation of sin but with that you also have a right and title unto and collation of all Gospel-blessings and priviledges whatsoever Was it only the taking off of guilt and the appeasing of divine wrath that would be very much but over and beyond these there is Christ's active fulfilling the Law being taken in a positive righteousness made over to you an interest in God's fatherly love the purchase of Heaven and in this sense we are for a redundancy of Christ's merit The benefits of Christ's Sacrifice to Believers are not only those which are privative such wherein they are freed from all evil but there are also those which are positive such wherein they are intitled to and instated in the possession of all good yea even of the heavenly blessedness it self Heb. 5.9 And being made perfect he became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him Heb. 9.12 having obtained eternal redemption for us it comes in as the effect of Christ's blood and Sacrifice In his great undertaking to redeem and save Sinners we may suppose him to have two things in his eye the one was that he should have a people in the world the other was that through him this people should partake of all blessings requisite to their happiness now both of these were effected and secured by his Sacrifice As to the first that was made sure by this according to that promise or prediction Isa 53.10 11. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed c. He shall see of the travel of his soul and shall be satisfied in relyance upon which he himself said And I if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me Joh. 12.32 and that upon his death and Sacrifice he had a people and a numerous people too the Evangelical History doth abundantly testifie Then as to the second that also was promoted and secured by his Sacrifice inasmuch as thereby the Covenant of Grace the summary of all blessings was ratify'd and confirmed 'T was an * Et caesâ jungebant foedera portâ Virgil. See Mr. Medo on Mal. 1.11 ancient custom used amongst men at the sanction and ratification of their Covenants to make use of Sacrifices as we find Gen. 21.22 23 24 c. Jer. 34.18 Exod. 34.7 8. in allusion to which custom 't is said Psal 50.5 Gather my Saints together unto me those that have made a Covenant with me by Sacrifice Answerably now to this Christ by his Sacrifice confirm'd and ratify'd the Covenant of Grace 'twixt God and Believers wherefore he said This cup is the new Testament in my blood i.e. the seal and ratification of the new-Covenant Matth. 26.28 1 Cor. 11.25 and the Apostle doth in special insist upon this in Heb. 9.15 16 c. Well then by Christ's Sacrifice the blood of the Covenant as
't is called Zech. 9.11 all blessings whatsoever are insured and made over to God's people and if so is not that a sufficient ground of comfort to such What shall I say if the atoning of an angry God the washing away of all sin the fulfilling of a righteous Law the satisfying of infinite Justice the ratification of the Covenant of Grace the purchase of Heaven if there be any thing in all these things as surely there is to promote spiritual joy you have them all by this great Sacrifice therefore rejoyce and again I say rejoyce So much for this Head which I very well know I might have dispatch'd with much more brevity but it containing that matter in it which is not commonly so fully opened and which is of so high concern to us therefore I have been thus large upon it ROM 8.4 That the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us CHAP. XIV Of the fulfilling of the Laws righteousness in Believers Of the Second End or Effect of Christ's being sent in Flesh viz. the fulfilling of the Laws righteousness A general explication of the main Scope of the Words and of the principal matter contain'd in them More particularly 't is enquired 1. Of what Law doth the Apostle hear speak 2. What is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or righteousness of the Law 3. What is it to fulfil the Laws righteousness 4. How the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us Four interpretations given of it 1. That 't is perfectly and personally fulfilled by the Saints themselves 2. That 't is personally fulfilled in them though not perfectly yet inchoately and in respect of God's acceptation 3. That 't is perfectly but not personally fulfilled in them Christ's Obedience and perfect fulfilling of the Law being imputed to them 4. That 't is fulfilled in them in respect of the remission of sin Three Propositions laid down to clear up the third interpretation and the main Truth As 1. That Christ was made under the Law that opened in some Particulars 2. That Christ perfectly fulfilled the Law 3. That his fulfilling of it is imputed and reckoned to Believers Two Questions raised and answered Whether Christ's active and passive Obedience or his passive only be imputed In what sense may it be said to be imputed Use 1. First to shew upon what terms Believers are justified and saved Secondly what a respect God had for his Law Use 2. To exhort persons 1. To get an interest in this priviledge 2. Such as have an interest in it are exhorted 1. To go as far as ever they may in the personal fulfilling of the Law 2. To look after the fulfilling of the Evangelical Law in themselves 3. To admire the Love of Christ Use 3. The Comfort of this drawn forth to Believers The Second End or Effect of Christ's being sent in Flesh viz. the fulfilling of the Law for Believers THese words hold forth another end or effect of Christ's being sent in the likeness of sinful flesh for I do not understand them to refer to the Clause immediately foregoing and for sin condemned sin in the flesh as if they were an assignation of the end or effect of Christ's condemning sin by the Sacrifice of himself but I take them as referring to that which is before spoken of God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as they do represent God's end in that wherefore did God so do what did he design or aim at therein why at this that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us The conjunctive particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be taken either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the first notion which is most usual and common it carrys a final sense and notes the end why God sent his Son in Flesh namely that he might fulfil in his own Person the Laws righteousness and so imputatively or in a Law-sense Believers in him I say this was God's end for it doth not come in as a bare event or consequent upon Christ's taking our Nature and doing in that Nature what he did but it was the very * Idque totum hoc consilio fecit ut nos perfectè justi coram ipso perficeremur non secus atque illi habiti suissent qui omnia divinae legis praecepta conservassent Vorst end which God designed and propounded to himself therein viz. that Christ might perfectly fulfill the Law which to do to the Saints themselves in their own persons was altogether impossible and yet upon which it being accepted of by God on their behalf and made over to them they should be accounted just and righteous even as if they had fulfilled it in their own persons this is the first import of the word Then it may be taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or by way of apposition and so it notes the superadding of some further matter and that which is * See Burg. of Justif 2. part p. 361. distinct from what went before in this appositive sense 't is used Joh. 15.12 Joh. 17.3 And so the Apostles meaning is this God sent his Son into the World not only to be a Sacrifice for sin and thereby to condemn sin by his bearing the Laws penalty due to it but also by his active obedience and conformity to the Laws commands to bring things to this that the righteousness of the Law should be fulfilled in believers Christ's being a Sacrifice for sin was not sufficient to answer all the ends and demands of the Law there must be the doing of what it commanded as well as the suffering of what it threatned therefore Christ was sent for both and both were accomplished by him Man in his lapsed state stood in need of two things * Cum duo nobis peperisse Christum dixerimus impunitatem praemium illud Satisfactioni hoc merito Christi distinctè tribuit vetus Ecclesia Satisfactio consistit in peccatorum tralatione meritum in perfectissunâ obedientiae pro nobis praestitae imputatione G. Vossius in Prefat ad Grotium de Sat. Christi In homine lapso duo consideranda quod pro peccatis ejus solvendum fuit ut liberaretur tum ut vitae insuper fieret particeps quod praestari debuit id ad quod vita promissa erat c. Utrumque Apostolus docet conjungit Rom. 8.3 4. c. Hoornb Socin confut l. 3. c. 1. p 657. Satisfaction and Merit Satisfaction with respect to God's punitive Justice the expiation of sin by the undergoing of the punishment incurr'd by it c. Merit with respect to eternal life and the possession of the heavenly blessedness the measure and foundation of which Merit was the fulfilling of the Law in active obedience Now both of these are here distinctly spoken unto Christ for sin condemned sin in the flesh there 's Satisfaction and he also fulfilled the righteousness of the Law in the stead at leastwise for
demanding of active Obedience must be taken in and that too as that which is primarily and principally intended by it therefore 't is (c) Significat eam rectitudinem quae praecipitur in lege P. Martyr Justitia quam Lex exigebat Vatabl. Totum quod Lex praecipit Alap 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ipsa legis praecepta c. Perer. Justitia Legis est justitia quam praecipit Lex Estius Implere justum legis est totum quod Lex precipit efficere Tolet. Ut justificatio legis i. e. justitia quam lex prescribit exigit impleretur c. Staplet Antidot p. 627. Ut ad impleret opus praeceptorum legis Ver. Aethiop Ut nos praestaremus omnia quae in lege Mosis per se honesta sunt Grot. Jus justitia justificatio legis in eo consistit ut per omnimodam cum lege conformitatem justi atque inculpati habeamur coram Deo De Dieu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is any thing that God hath thought meet to appoint or command his people Dr. Hammond generally opened by that The Scripture speaks of the Law of righteousness Rom. 9.31 of righteousness by the Law Gal. 3.21 of the righteousness of the Law Rom. 2.26 and in the Text Some difference there is betwixt these but that I shall not stand upon the latter is all that duty righteousness obedience which the Law requires with the penalty which it threatens and will have inflicted upon disobedience What is it to fulfil the Laws righteousness 3. We are to enquire what this fulfilling of the Laws righteousness is Answ The former Head being rightly apprehended there will be little or no difficulty in this To fulfil the righteousness of the Law 't is fully to answer all its demands to come up to perfect and universal conformity to it to do whatever it enjoyns or to suffer whatever it threatens or both For so it was fulfilled by Christ in his active obedience as to the one in his passive obedience as to the other as he was perfectly holy he did what the Law commanded and besides this as he was made * Gal. 3.13 a curse he underwent what the Law threatned 'T is questioned whether one of these be not enough for us either to obey or to suffer but all grant that both were necessary on Christ's part and that both were done by him and so he fulfilled the Laws righteousness This is the genuine and plain notion of the word yet I know other interpretations are given of it The righteousness of the Law was fulfilled inasmuch say * This interpretation noted and confuted by Burg. of Justific P. 361 362. some as that righteousness which it did foretel was actually accomplished in Christ Rom. 3.21 But now the righteousness of God without the Law is manifested being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets that righteousness which before was witnessed promised foretold in the Law receiv'd in Christ its full accomplishment and therein lies the fulfilling of its righteousness But this exposition of the word is I conceive not so proper to the thing here spoken of 't is another fulfilling which is here intended not so much that which is the bringing into act what was foretold or which is the verifying of a prophesie or prediction in which sense it hath usually joyned with it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Matth. 13.35 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Jam. 2.23 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Luk. 24.44 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Matth. 13.14 as the perfect obeying of what was enjoyned in the Command and the doing to the full what the Law as preceptive did require rather than what the Law as predictive did foretel Again * Bodius in Eph. c. 5. v. 28. p. 799. who yet afterwards sets down that notion which I close with Impleri quoque dicitur cum perfectè praestatur observatur quod â Christo pro nobis factum est etsi eâ praestatione vitam aeternam non dicatur nobis acquisivisse Some make this fulfilling of the Law to be no more than adeptio finis the bringing about of that which was the great end of it what was that why to drive Sinners to Christ By its discovering sin and guilt for the Law was added because of transgressions Gal. 3.21 and wrath the consequent thereof and the Sinners utter inability to help himself eventually it was a means to bring such to look out for help in Christ Therefore Gal. 3.24 't is said The Law was our School-master to bring us unto Christ and in this sense some take that passage Rom. 10.4 Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness i.e. that which God mainly design'd in the Law and which was the great end that he aimed at therein it was to drive Sinners to Christ to obtain righteousness in and through him This explication I do not close with neither for I suppose the Apostle is not here speaking so much of the fulfilling of the end of the Law as of the fulfilling of the matter of the Law for he speaks of that which is imputable to us as you will hear now 't is Christ's performing the matter of the Law and not the end of the Law in it-self which comes under imputation That the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled that is say * Deodate in loc others that it might not be commanded in vain nor without effect as it is in respect of Vnbelievers But this exposition will carry us to that fulfilling of the Law which is in our own persons which is not here intended and this will better suit with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 2.26 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 2.27 rather than with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the text These and such like explications of the word therefore being rejected I stick to that which was first laid down to fulfill the Laws righteousness it is fully exactly to do and to suffer whatever that righteous Law demanded How the righteousness of the Law may be said to be fulfilled in Believers 4. The resolution of the 4th Enquiry will take me up more time How are we to understand the fulfilling of the Laws righteousness in the Saints that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us he means in such who are in Christ Jesus and who do believe on him Every true believer is a fulfiller of the Law but how or in what sense he is so there 's the difficulty in one sense nothing more true in another nothing more false In the resolving of this a fourfold Answer is given and a fourfold Interpretation put upon the words The first Answer or Interpretation about it viz. that the righteousness of the Law is perfectly and personâ—lly fulfilled by the Saints themselves 1. First say some the righteousness of the Law is perfectly and personally fulfilled by the Saints themselves This the POPISH Writers in their
Polemical discourses and also in their Commentaries upon the Text do assert wherein yet to give every one their due they * Hinc Patet persolam Naturam Legem sine gratiâ Christi hominem in hâc corruptione non posse totam legem totumque Decalogum implere A-Lapide differ from the old PELAGIANS For whereas they held that a man by the meer power of Nature might perfectly keep the whole Law these hold that a man cannot do this without the assisting grace of God but that being vouchsafed they say regenerate persons may keep the whole Law Thus they expound the words and then from them they endeavour to prove against us a possibility of perfect obedience to the Law of God by the Saints in this Life insomuch that say they Saints may here live without all Sin Venial sins only excepted which break no squares betwixt God and the Creature that they may do all the good which the Law requires nay that this perfect conformity to the Law is not only possible but easie nay that such who are high in grace may not only do just what the Law demands but that they may superogate and do more than what it demands This is the Doctrine which †Concil Trident Sess 6. c. 18. Bellarm. de Justif l. 4. c. 10 c. Becan Man Controv. l. 1. c. 17. Perer. Disp 3. in c. 8. ad Rom. Ut justificatio Legis c. i. e. ut nos legem impleremus idque faciendo justi essemus quia factores legis justificabuntur Estius Peccato in nobis per redemptionis Christi gratiam abolito factâque cum Deo reconciliatione legem implere nobis est jam possibile facile Tolet. Vide Justinian Catharin Staplet Rhemists in loc c. Nemo miretur quod dixerim posse nos absque omni culpâ absolute esse Nam iterum dico posse per Dei gratiam libetum arbitrium hominem perfectam assequi justitiam coram Deo immunitatem scilicet ab omni peccato modo voluntas ejus non desit adjuvante diviná ope C. Mussu◠they of the ROMISH-Church teach and maintain with great zeal We are not asham'd to declare * See Calvin Instit l. 2. c. 7. sect 5. Chemnit Exam. De bonis Operibus 3. Qu. p. 181. Chamier t. 3. l. 11. Whittak contra Duraeum de Parad. l. 8. p. 201 202. Bradsh de Justif c. 11. our dissent from them in this proud Opinion which in a great measure owns its descent from the old Pharisees We believe that since Adams fall no man Christ only excepted did ever thus in himself fulfil the Laws righteousness Indeed in the state of innocency man had a power to do this but not since and to hold the contrary is to confound the two states and to make little difference between man as standing and man as fallen The Laws righteousness is a draught or copy of mans primitive holiness so that to say that he can now in himself come up to that righteousness is in effect to say he is as holy and righteous as ever he was and no wayes impaired by Adams Fall By that we are all made unrighteous and such as are unrighteous can never perfectly fulfil a righteous Law He must be sinless do no evil who will exactly reach the Laws righteousness but are any * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Constit l. 2. c. 18. such here on earth 1 Kings 8.46 There is no man that sinneth not Eccles 7.20 For there is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not Jam. 3.2 In many things we offend all 1 Joh. 1.8 If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us Prov. 20.9 Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin reade Psal 130.3 Psal 142.2 Job 9.2 3. Job 15.15 c. Rom. 3.19 Gal. 3.22 Further he must not only do good all good but he must do it in the most intense and highest degree that he is capable of or else he doth not fulfil the Laws righteousness Matth. 22.37 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy mind but where 's the man who thus loves God now if there be but a * Peccatum est cum non est charitas quae esse debet vel minor est quà m esse debet Aug. de Perfect justitiae gradual defect the Law is not fulfilled It s righteousness extends to the inward man and to the inward acts the Soul as to external acts if evil especially if grossely and scandalously evil 't is possible for one to refrain from them if good 't is possible for one to come up to them but this will not amount to the perfect keeping of the Law unless there be an abstaining from Heart-evils from evil thoughts and concupiscence within so Christ the Maker and Expounder of the Law opens it against the Pharisees Matth. 5. and unless also there be the doing of what is good from a right principle to a right end If the righteousness of the Law did lie only in external acts something might be said but when it reaches to internal acts who can say that there all is right O how great is the Laws strictness Deut. 5.32 Ye shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left And its demands are so severe that if you fail in any one point you are gone you fail in all Gal. 3.10 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them Jam. 2.10 For whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of all and if so he must be strangely arrogant and ignorant too that will pretend to come up in himself to the Laws righteousness If any could so do to him the reward would be reckoned not of grace but of debt Rom. 4.4 his justification would be by works whereas the Scripture excludes any from being justified that way Rom. 3.19 20. Gal. 2.16 his righteousness would be of the Law and so as to him Christ died in vain Gal 2.21 If the Laws righteousness was fulfillable in this sense why did the Apostle in the Verse foregoing speak of the Laws 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or weakness whence doth that proceed but from our weakness and utter inability perfectly to obey it If it be said as it is that Christ came in flesh for this very end to take off this weakness that we might be able fully to keep it in our own persons that we peremptorily deny he came that the righteousness of the Law should be fulfilled for us and in us imputatively but not personally Had he designed the latter 't is strange that we should not have one Instance in all the New Testament of
the Law perfectly conforming to it in all its holy commands now this his most perfect obedience to the Law is made over reckoned imputed to his members as if they themselves in their own persons had perform'd it The Laws righteousness is not fulfilled in them formally subjectively inherently or personally but legally they being in Christ as their Head and Surety and imputatively so it is This is the fulfilling which suits with the words for 't is said that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us not by us but in us in us that is not only for our sake and for our good but as Christ's Obedience is ours by imputation If the former senses be rejected this must be received for since the Laws righteousness must be fulfilled in the Saints otherwise what the Apostle here affirms would not be true and since there are but two wayes wherein it can be fulfilled either by themselves or by some other it necessarily follows if they do not fulfil it the first way that the second must take place and so it must be fulfilled by Christ for them and his obedience be imputed to them And this is that Exposition of the words which our * c. Obedientia Christi quae in carne nostrâ exhibita nobis imputatur ut eo beneficio pro justis censeamur Calvin Quomodo justitia Christi in nobis impleta est per Christum Duplici nomine 1. imputative aliena justitia quae Christi est adeoque nostra c. 2. Quod per Spiritum Christi regenerati pro mensurâ Gratiae Dei vitam justitiam eam exprimimus quam Lex Dei exigit Magis placet prior Sententia hoc loco Muscul Vide Bezam in loc Vorstium in loc Justificatio legis quae requirit vel opera vel poenam impleta est in Christo per se ut sic dicam inhaesivè quia ipse praeterquam quod passus est etiam operatus est perfectissime in nobis vero impleta est per fidem ut sic dicam applicative nam per fidem fit ut Christi justitia nostra quodamodo evadat Rolloc See Fulke and Cartwright against the Rhemists Elton upon Rom. 8. p. 97. c. PROTESTANT Divines so far as imputation in general is concern'd do commonly give but about it many things are necessary to be spoken unto both for the explaining and also for the vindicating of it which therefore shall be done by and by Fourth Interpretation The Law is fulfilled in us as Sin is remitted 4. Fourthly the fulfilling of the Laws righteousness say some is no more than the remission of sin He that hath his sins pardoned is a fulfiller of the Law Christ by his death having procured for us the remission of all our sins upon that we are look'd upon by God as if we had done or kept the whole Law thus * Christus suâ morte nobis acquisivit remissionem omnium peccatorum ac proinde effecit ut habeamur pro iis qui perfectam Legi obedientiam praestiterint In Paraphr The righteousness c. quatenus Christus suâ morte eis acquisivit omnium peccatorum remissionem quod perinde est ac si perfectam legi obedientiam praestitissent aequipollent enim haec Nihil peccavisse perfectam legi obedientiam praestitisse In Observ Piscator opens the words And before him Ambrose speaks the same Quomodo impletur in nobis justificatio Legis nisi cum datur remissio omnium peccatorum how is the righteousness of the Law fulfilled in us unless it be in the remission of all our sins To which we may add that of †Retract l. 1. c. 19. Austine Omnia mandata Dei facta deputantur quando quicquid non fit ignoscitur all the commands of God are deemed to be done when that is pardoned which is not done if it be good or which should not have been done if it be evil Two things I would say against this Interpretation 1. It sounds very harsh to say We fulfil the Law when God is pleased to pardon the violation of it nay the thing is not true God's remitting the breach of the Law and our actual fulfilling of the duty 's of the Law are not aequipollent but distinct and different things Upon remission the Sinner is exempted from the Laws penalty but he cannot upon that alone be said to fulfil it If the Prince be pleas'd to pardon the breaker of the Laws will that amount to the making such an one to be a keeper of the Laws there 's enough upon his pardon for non-punition but nothing more 2. In the justification of Sinners there is not only the remission of sin but also the imputation of Christ's righteousness these are the two parts of justification and which take in the whole nature of it 't is not compleat in the one or in the other apart but in both conjunct I know some very * Wotton de reconc pec part 1. l. 2. c. 3. c. learned persons make remission of sin to be the whole of justification I humbly differ from them When God justifies he doth not only pardon and so look upon the Sinner as not guilty but he doth also †Vide Zanch. ad Eph. c. 5. p. 249. quam plures alios Uti Christus nobis factus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ita ad salutem atque justificationem requiritur praeter remissionem peccatorum etiam justitiae Christi imputatio quâ vitae jus nobis addicitur c. Hoorneb Socin confut l. 3. p. 658. impute Christ's righteousness upon which he looks upon him as positively righteous this will hereafter be made out more fully if God give leave Thus it is in the justification or righteousness of the Law to the making up of which 't is not enough only to be pardoned and so not to be judg'd a breaker of the Law but there must be the doing of what the Law enjoyns otherwise its righteousness is not fulfilled 'T is one thing to be ‖ Justus dicatur cui peccata omnia remittuntur justitiâ innocentiae quia positâ hâc remissione innocens censetur c. sed non justitiâ obedientiae cui praemium vitae debetur c. Turretin de Sat. Christi p. 273. innocent in the taking off of guilt and another thing to be righteous in the way of positive obedience both are necessary as to that which I am upon and included in it Not guilty is not a sufficient plea or answer to the Laws demands there must be something either in the Sinner himself or in his Surety which may be look'd upon as a formal and actual obeying of it Thus I have given a fourfold explication of the fulfilling of the Laws righteousness in the Saints The third is that which seems to me to be the best viz. this righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in the Saints as Christ for them in his own person
did perfectly obey the Law and as that his perfect obedience is imputed and reckoned to them upon which 't is theirs to â—â—l intents as if they had so obeyed in their own persons But there being many difficulties about this and it leading me to the main Truth which the words hold forth I must endeavour further to open it Which I shall do in the discussing of these three Propositions Three Propositions to clear up the third Interpretation and the main Truth 1. That our Lord Christ was made under the Law 2. That being made under the Law he fulfilled it 3. That his fulfilling of the Law is imputed to Believers so as that in him they fulfilled the Law also 1. Proposition Christ was made under the Law 1. Christ was made under the Law The Apostle is express in this When the fulness of the time was come God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the Law Gal. 4.4 made under the Law that is made subject to the Law so as that he was under the obligation thereof and bound in all things to conform to its righteousness And this subjection of Christ to the Law did result partly from his Nature partly from his Office From his Nature as he was Man and so a Creature for his Manhood was a created thing now every creature as such is indispensably subject to the Law of God a Creature necessarily must be under the Law of his Creator and Soveraign so far therefore as Christ was such he was indispensably obliged to the Law so far his subjection was natural and thereupon necessary From his Office or that oeconomy and dispensation which he had submitted unto as Mediator Redeemer Surety c. with respect to this he was to be subject too yet in it his subjection was purely free and voluntary 'T is a * See Bodius on Eph. c. 5. p. 812. c. nice Question which some discuss Whether Christ's subjection to the Law did arise from the natural necessity of his being as he was Man and a Creature or whether it did arise only from that mediatory Office which he had submitted to I think things being rightly stated both may be taken in both Nature and Office did require that Christ should be subject to the Law though * This opened in Turret in de Sat. Christi p. 277 278. in different ways For the better understanding of Christ's being made under the Law I desire you to take notice of four or five things Five things to open the Proposition 1. Christ subject to the Law as Man 1. This must be understood of him with respect to his humane Nature This was the Nature which only was capable of subjection Christ as man only could be obedient As to his divine Nature he made the Law so he was the Law-giver and so he was in all acts of power and authority equal with the Father 't was solely in respect of his humane Nature that he was made under the Law which was part of that form of a Servant which he took upon him Phil. 2.7 As he was God 't was proper to him to command as he was Man only 't was proper to him to obey in the former notion he was Lord of the Sabbath Matth. 12.8 in the latter he was bound to keep the Sabbath Christ as man and because man was subject but then 't was only as such 2. As Man in the state of his humiliation 2. Christ as being made under the Law is to be considered not meerly as a Creature upon which he was subject to it but as a Creature in the state of his humiliation and suretyship during which state only his subjection to the Law was to continue For his humane Nature now in Heaven is a Creature and yet there 't is not if we speak strictly under the Law for though Christ there doth materially the things which the Law requires as to be holy to love God c. yet he doth not do them formerly as acts of obedience to the Law but as things which spring from the perfection of his nature and state therefore I say when we are speaking of Christ's being subject to the Law we must not consider him only as Man but as Man in such a way or state in the carrying on of such an undertaking which when he had effected his subjection was to cease Some say that though the subjection which Christ was under in reference to his Office as Mediator be at an end yet his subjection to the Law which was natural and did arise from his being a Creature that yet remains I answer if by this natural subjection they mean only that which results from his Being or that obligation which results from the intrinsick goodness of things so we grant him even in Heaven to be under it but if they mean that subjection or that obligation which relates to and results from an external Law so we deny Christ there to be under it in his glorified state he doth the things which the Law commands but not as or because they are commanded by the Law 3. He was principally subject to the Moral Law 3. The principal Law that Christ was made under and which he was principally obliged to fulfil was the * Vide Bradsh de Justif c. 18. Moral Law This was the Law which at first was made to Adam which he brake and so entayl'd the curse upon all his posterity therefore Christ the serond Adam was also made under this Law that he might fulfil it and so restore man to his primitive happiness This was the Law which was the rule and standard of righteousness wherefore if Christ will convey a righteousness to the creature he must be made under and fulfil this Law He is said to be a curse for us now that curse doth mainly refer to the Moral Law though 't is very true by way of allusion 't is set forth by that which was proper to the judicial Law Gal. 3.13 And he is also said to redeem us from the Law that is from the curse of the Law now 't is the curse annexed to the moral Law that he redeemed us from therefore that was the Law which he was made under This was the Law most excellent if Christ would submit to put himself under the obligation of a Law less exeellent surely he would not refuse to submit to put himself under the obligation of this which was the most excellent Law Especially considering how necessary this was for the good of Sinners for since God stood upon the performance of this Law as the way wherein he would justifie it was most necessary that Christ should be subject to it and perform it or else there would have been no justification Had he been made only under the Ceremonial Law than the benefits of his Obedience would have reached no further than that people who were concerned in that Law and so the Jews
would have had all and the poor Gentiles nothing If Christ will redeem and save both he must make good that Law which did equally oblige both now that was the moral Law Gal. 4.4 c. God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we Gentiles as well as Jews might receive the adoption of Sons Christ came not to save this or that nation or people but mankind wherefore he must be subject unto and fulfil that Law in order thereunto in which not any particular people but all mankind were concern'd which I say was the Moral Law 4. Over and above the Moral Law Christ was subject to other Laws 4. Yet besides this general Law which concern'd all mankind which therefore the Saviour of mankind subjected himself unto there were other * Bradsh of Justif c. 19. particular and special Laws to whose obligation he submitted and unto which he was obedient As he was a man he was subject to the Moral Law as he was of the seed of Abraham of the stock of Israel so he was subject to the Ceremonial Law as he was Mediator there were some particular and positive Laws laid upon him to which he was subject also In obedience to the Ceremonial Law he was circumcised Luk. 2.21 presented in the Temple with the usual offering of the poor and mean Luk. 2.22 kept the Passeover Matth. 26.17 and the like In obedience to the special Laws laid upon him as Mediator the chiefest of which was that he should so and so suffer yea lay down his life he did according to the Will of his Father therefore he 's said to be obedient to death even the death of the cross Phil. 2.8 and to learn obedience by the things be suffered Heb. 5.7 and Joh. 10.18 No man taketh it his life he speaks of from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again this commandme have I received of the Father so Joh. 14.31 We commonly distinguish between the Moral Law under which as being general Christ was and that special Law which was laid upon him as Mediator but * Burg. of Justif p. 2. p. 396. c. Bodius on the Ephes p. 386 387. some I find do not very well approve of this distinction their reason is because it seems to assert that something was impos'd upon Christ by the latter Law unto which he was not oblig'd by the former which say they was not so For there was nothing enjoyn'd in the mediatory and positive Law unto which Christ was not oblig'd by the Moral Law there was indeed in it a more particular application and determination of Christ's duty in his circumstances but the thing it self was pre-enjoyn'd and he pre-engag'd thereunto from the Moral Law but this I will not concern my self about He that would see a particular draught of Christ's obedience to the several Laws which he was made under and the several capacities in which he all-along obey'd may find it done to his hand by others largely and distinctly as particularly by Zanchy on Phil. 2.8 p. 114. c. 5. His Obedience imputable to us and meritorious for us 5. Though Christ was thus made under the Law and so obliged to keep it yet this notwithstanding his obedience thereunto was meritorious for us and imputable to us For this is usually objected by the SOCINIAN * Quo circa nec pro aliis magis quam quilibet alius homo legem divinam conservando satisfacere potuit quippe qui ipse eam servare omnino deberet Socin de Servat p. 3. c. 5. Against him see Calov Socin proflig Sect. 5. Controv. 1. pag. 642. Opposers of the imputation and merit of his Obedience for if Christ say they was subject to the Law as he was and so bound for himself to do what he did how can his obedience be made over to others or merit for others for debitum tollit meritum For answer to this several things are said but I 'le instance only in three 1. In the business before us Christ is not to be considered only as Man but as God-man Had he obey'd as meer Man his Obedience could not have been meritorious for so all would have been but a due debt and for himself but he obeying who was * Obediens factus fuit ad mortem Patri non necessum id habuit natura sed oeconomia nostrae redemptionis Ut etiam meriti vis non naturae humanae quà natura sed quà Deo unita ost adscribenda Stegman Disp 23. p. 266. God-man so it became meritorious for others His obedience and subjection was indeed terminated in his Humane Nature but that must not be abstracted from his Divine both being now united in one person which Vnion though it did not make Christ incapable of obeying yet it did put a singular virtue and worth and merit into his obeying And as to his obeying for himself take the explication of that in the words of a †Mr. Perkins on Gal. 4 4. p. 274. Reverend Divine It is saith he alledged that Christ as Man fulfill'd the Law for himself and therefore not for us Answ The flesh or manhood of Christ considered by it-self apart from the Godhead of the Son is a creature that owes homage unto God yet if it be considered as it is received into the unity of the second person and is become a part thereof it is exempted from the common condition of all other men and is not bound to perform subjection as all men are for if the Son of Man be Lord of the Sabbath then also is he Lord of the whole Law * Quicunque prose suo loco vel Adae vel Abrahae factus est filius is quoque pro se suo nomine ad Legem implendam tenebatur qui vero non pro se sed pro aliis vel homo fieri vel Isrâelita nasci voluit is quoque non pro se sed pro aliis ad legem quamlibet implendam obligatus est At Christus c. Turret de Sat. p. 276. Vide Polanum in Dan. 9. p. 196. Bodium on Ephes p. 811 812. Hoorneb Socin confut l. 3. p. 627. Quamvis humana natura ut creatura quaevis Deo sublex observantiam debuit attamen quia nec eam assumere tenebatur neque simplicis creaturae obedientia fuit sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ideo pro quibus hoc istud factum quidni pro iisdem satisfecisse dicatur 2. Though Christ when he had submitted to assume mans Nature was bound to keep the Law yet his keeping thereof was in effect free and voluntary and so imputable and meritorious inasmuch as he for the sake of man freely consented to the taking of that Nature without which he had not been under any obligation to the Law When he was
* Isa 45.24 In the Lord we have righteousness When you had none of your own God provided another and a better for you Assignata est ei aliena justitia qui caruit suâ Bernard Epist 190. ad Innoc. Christ was * Delicta nostra sua delicta fecit ut justitiam suam nostram justitiam faceret August willing to be made sin that you might be made the righteousness of God in him You may with holy confidence say Law thou demandest much of me and that very justly and I cannot my self answer thee in these demands but there 's my Saviour my Surety he hath paid the full debt for me he hath in my room and place done and suffered all that thou canst require to his satisfaction I appeal a good appeal the Lord give you more and more of the comfort of it That which often causes a gracious Soul to be troubled is the consideration not only of the Laws penalty but also of the Laws purity Oh 't is a righteous Law and it calls for an exact doing righteousness in the Creature what will become of me who cannot answer it herein Now under this trouble the belief of the imputation of Christ's active obedience may be of great use And this is one reason why I would be the more loth to part with the imputation of that obedience because under troubles of Conscience it is so proper so necessary so soveraign a Cordial for many fainting Christians To shut up all Believers Christ's whole Obedience active and passive is yours what would you have more what can Sin or Satan or Conscience or the Law it self now object against you be humble and mourn in the sense of the imperfection of your own inherent righteousness yet withal rejoyce and glory in the fulness perfection everlastingness of that righteousness which is imputed to you 'T is a terrible word to Sinners the righteousness of the Law must be fulfilled on them 't is a comfortable word to the Saints the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in them ROM 8.4 Who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit CHAP. XV. Spiritual Walkers the Subjects of the foregoing Priviledge The Sixth Head in the Words viz. the Description of the persons to whom the priviledge belongs Some short Animadversions upon the Words The main Doctrine raised from them but not handled A brief Survey of these Four Verses and recapitulation of the principal matter in them The Conclusion of this Volume IN the opening of the matter which the Apostle is upon in this and in the preceding Verse I have taken notice of 1. The act it-self viz. the sending of Christ 2. The person whose act this was God sent c. 3. The person who was sent as he stands in a very near relation to God God sent his own Son c. 4. The way or manner in which this Son was sent in the likeness of sinful flesh 5. The great Ends of God in all this or the great Effects produced thereby namely the condemning of Sin c. and the fulfilling of the Laws righteousness in and for Believers These several Heads have all more or less been opened 6. The Apostle having appropriated the last End or Effect the fulfilling of the Laws righteousness to such a sort of persons that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us he goes on to describe those persons by their qualification and course they are such who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit This Description or Character we had before with respect to Vnion with Christ or exemption from condemnation there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Here 't is repeated with respect to Christs fulfilling of the Law and the imputation of that his Obedience who are the persons who have a share also in this and who shall be the better for it why such who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit As the mystical Vnion and freedom from condemnation so the imputation of Christ's righteousness is attended in every Subject that is a real partaker thereof with a spiritual and holy conversation These are different priviledges but for the evidence of them the Apostle makes use of the same character or description Who walk not after the flesh c. The words are not descriptive of the nature of the thing spoken of before as if the righteousness of the Law was fulfilled in Believers in their not walking after the flesh c. as * Pererius Disp 3. in c. 8. ad Rom. Some would have it but they are descriptive of the persons for whom and in whom that thing was done There 's a vast difference betwixt these two †Apostolus non affirmat justificationem Legis à nobis impleri sed in nobis nec quia incedimus secundum Spiritum ut haec causa sit sed ut hoc testimonio judicio intelligamus legis justificationem in nobis impleri qui secundum Spiritum incedimus Whittak contra Duraâ—m de Patad l. 8. fol. 203. our holiness is not the fulfilling of the Law but whoever is an holy man Christ's fulfilling of the Law is imputed to him and so he doth fulfil it In the bringing in of this description three things might be designed by the Apostle 1. To assert the happiness of all who live the spiritual life in them by Christ the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled * Ideo Apostolus admodum apposite c. Vide Bezam in loc Christus est illis justitia qui juxta Spiritum non juxta carnem ambulant Christus enim iis duntaxat justitia Legis satisfactio est qui crucifixo jam vetere homine Spiritui obtemperant h. e. solis fidelibus Zwingl 2. To stave off all others from laying claim to this grace none but holy livers can warrantably apply Christ's satisfying of the Law to themselves 3. To obviate all * Quia suam justitiam nullis communicat Christus nisi quos Spiritus sui vinculo sibi conjungit additur iterum regeneratio ne putetur Christus esse peccati minister sicuti proclive est multis ad carnis lasciviam rapere quicquid de paternâ Dei indulgentiâ traditur Calvin abuses of this precious Truth all mis-interpretations of it as also all †Vide Chrysost Oecum in loc security and carelesness in them who have an interest in the priviledge Hath Christ fulfilled the Law for us some from hence might be apt to infer then we may live as we list there 's nothing now for us to do no not so saith the Apostle for though Christ hath fully satisfied the Law yet all for whom he hath done this do and must walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Who walk not c. Faith being the proper and immediate condition of the imputation of Christ's righteousness or obedience to the Law why doth