God can be well-pleased with sinners even through the Blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God who purgethi'geth our Consciences from the dead Works of Sin to serve the Living God For by one Offering he hath perfected ever them that are sanctisied Therefore to imagine any Possibility of the Pardon of Sin without out the atoning Propitiation and Satisfaction only obtained by the Blood of Christ is an evil Figment to palliate the desperate Wickedness and Sinfulness of Sin to make void the Law of perpetual Righteousness which is the inâ—sible Rule and Judg of all Affections and Actions and doth indeed effectually contemn and blaspheme the infinite Majesty Holiness and Justice of God the Creator and Preserver of all Beings and consequently miserably deprives a Sinner of that strong Consolation given by God to those that fly for Refuge unto Christ to obtain by his Resurrection the Evidence of his compleat Satisfaction to Divine Justice the Answer of a good Conscience The Worshippers thus purged as the Scripture saith having no more Conscience of Sins the Lord having laid on him the Iniquities of us all who do the Work of God to believe on him whom he hath sent For this is the true Cabala the faithful Saying and worthy of all Acceptation That Christ Jesus came into the World to save even chief Sinners In the Cases of Life and Death according to universal Justice in the World it is fatal not only to be an Outlaw flying from Justice Mute in refusing to answer Justice but it proves no less mortal to suggest a Plea which the Law will not allow If a Criminal condemned to die be favoured with some Reprieve and then by the Soveraign's Commission intrusted with an important Imployment the faithful Discharge of that Trust is meer Duty but not Merit and he remains still a condemned Malefactor liable to the former Sentence by the Law of Attaint and Death from which not any thing can deliver but a Pardon from the Soveraign laid hold on and legally pleaded by the Criminal It is thus according to the Rule of Righteousness between the Judg of all the World and every Mortal Creature that God might be just and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus Therefore we must not be ignorant of Saton's Devices the Popish Doctrine of Merit by Works sprinkled as they say by the Blood of Christ available to Justification and Salvation is an Antichristian Departure from the Faith and the teaching of Lies in Hypocrisy For there cannot be any Work possible to be accepted by Divine Justice but what is an Act of Obedience to the Law and the best Performances of such is but as our Saviour saith that of an unprofitable Servant When we shall have done all those things which are commanded us we must say We have done that which was our Duty to do Therefore the Observance of a present Duty the Neglect or Male-performance whereof would be criminal Guilt cannot in any just Construction be assumed or imputed to expiate a precedent Transgression guilty of Felony and Treason Yet this Truth doth not in any degree exempt from the Obedience of Faith which is the inseparable and indispensable Obligation and Duty annexed to the Covenant of Grace So that there is not in the least degree any Pretence for Antinomian Libertinism For the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all Men teaching us that denying Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World Because Faith unites us to the Principle of Life and works in us by Love which is the Operation or Activity of Life in the fulfilling of the Law There is also another Method of the Depths of Satan to cloud the Glory of God's free Grace and the compleat Merit of Christ's Satisfaction and Righteousness and also to shake the Confidence of a Sinner's Hope to obtain Remission and Acceptance by suborning the Act of Faith to share in the Merits of Christ Now how weak and unreasonable this Supposition is will appear by the Consideration of parallel Cases of Civil and Natural Instances in Judicature Tho the guilty Person cannot have Benefit unless he plead the Royal Pardon yet there is no Virtue in the Plea and humble Claim but only in the extensive Validity of the Pardon Likewise in desperate Sickness or deadly Wound the healing Virtue is not in the meer Application or receiving the Sovereign Balm or Elixir not withstanding the Patient cannot be healed without the Reception or Application of the Remedy Thus it is with a Sinner before the Divine Tribunal Faith believes the Truth and Goodness of the Promise and embraces and relies upon it that is upon the Redemption purchased by Jesus Christ for compleat Salvation from the Condemnation and Corruption of sinful Death for Reconciliation and Acceptance with God and for Participation of Eternal Life which is in Christ Jesus to be communicated to all those who by Faith receive Christ and so have an Union of Life with Christ Now as in the Body the Artery and Nerve is the Ligament the Vessel and Conveyance for vital Union and Motion unto all the Members by the Blood and Animal Spirits So Faith to the Soul is a Means of vital Union with Christ and of the Application and Merits of Christ All which is effected by the Spirit of Christ without which we are none of Christ's and Faith it self is dead The Look of one stung with the deadly fiery Serpent to the Brazen Serpent had no share in the healing Virtue of that Divine Ordinance yet without looking up to the Brazen Serpent the Person stung could receive no Benefit but must die So Faith hath no justifying Virtue inherent in it self For what may prevail to justify must make the Conscience perfect Consequently the Efficient of Perfection must of it self be perfect but Faith cannot be such for it is not of our selves it is the Gift of God Now whatsoever is received is received according to the Measure and Capacity of the Recipient which 〈…〉 and frail 〈…〉 it cannot be 〈…〉 the Law was weak and 〈…〉 through the Flesh so even the Gift of Faith is not able through the remainder of Corruption to perform any perfect Work Therefore the Scripture represents the Lord Jesus Christ under the Notion of the most tender Compassion to the weak in Faith that he will not break the bruised Reed nor quench the smoaking Flax but will bring forth Judgment unto Victory which proceeds not from any Virtue and Power inherent in the Work of Faith but from the Righteousness and Strength which only is to be found in the Lord Jesus by perishing Sinners who sly for Refuge unto the Hope that is set before them Jesus Christ the Son of God Even as the Man-slayer under the Law could not be secure from the Avenger of
Man concerning his Justification but only a true and lively Faith which nevertheless is the Gift of God and not Man's only Work without God And yet that Faith does not shut out Repentance Hope Love Dread and the Fear of God to be joined with Faith in every Man that is justified but it shutteth them out from the Office of justifying So that altho they be all present together in him that is justified yet they justify not altogether Nor the Faith also doth not shut out the Justice of our good Works necessarily to be done afterwards of Duty towards God for we are most bounden to serve God in doing good Deeds commanded by him in his holy Scripture all the days of our Life but it excludeth them so that we may not do them to this intent to be made good by doing of them For all the good Works that we can do be unperfect and therefore not able to deserve for our Justification But our Justification doth come freely by the meer Mercy of God and of so great and free Mercy that whereas all the World was not able of themselves to pay any part towards their Ransom it pleased our Heavenly Father of his insinite Mercy without any our desert or deserving to prepare for us the most precious Jewels of Christ's Body and Blood whereby our Ransom might be fully paid the Law fulfilled and his Justice fully satisfied So that now Christ is the Righteousness of all them that truly do believe in him He for them paid their Ransom by his Death he for them fulfilled the Law in his Life So that now in and by him every true Christian Man may be called a Fulfiller of the Law forasmuch as that which their Infirmity lacked Christ's Justice hath supplied Now that the most important Truths which have been represented in this small Treatise may appear in right Light let the following Propositions be duly considered according to Reason enlightned and directed by the Word of God God having given to Man an Intellectual Faculty to judg and discern of the Nature Use and Excellency of Things a Conscience of the Laws of things morally good or evil and the certain inseparable Appendixes of Rewards and Punishments are imprinted upon the Mind with inward experimental Assurances as certain as that we know that we are and have a Being The Demonstrations of which Truths are clearly manifested in the Word of God the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament which do not only move and perswade but effectually constrain and inforce an enlightened Soul to yield Obedience to the incomparable and undeniable Divine Authority thereof as to the Fountain of all saying Knowledg and the Standard and Rule of all holy Practice in order to everlasting Blessedness the supreme End and Felicity of Man Now as Mathematical Theorems tho equally demonstrable yet are not alike perceived and apprehended by every Human Mind the Faculty not being rightly disposed to the Object as in species visible it is not sufficient that the Object and Medium be duly disposed unless the Organ be suifficiently enabled and not disturbed For neither a blind Eye nor a Jaundice Sight can judg of Colours Accordingly the holy Scriptures which are the lively Oracles of God full of Lights and Perfections do fully demonstrate the great Mysteries of Godliness concerning the eternal invisible yet certain and necessary Felicities and Duties of Rational Intelligent Beings whose Immortality also is therein undeniably proved Yet notwithstanding all these glorious and excellent Truths of the Spirit of God are not received by Animal Minds to whom they are Foolishness as all sort of Wisdom is to Fools because of the Blindness and Ignorance of the Understanding the Mind it self the governing Power in Man being vitiated with the sussusion of Vanity and the deceitfulness of Sin until the Power of the Spirit come into the Soul with a quickning renewing restoring Demonstration upon the Intellectual Faculty to make it receive in Love the benign Influences of eternal Truth and Goodness Accordingly consider duly 1. That from everlasting to everlasting God is Infinite in his Perfection of all Divine Incomprehensible Attributes whose Essence is eternally in and of himself and gives and preserves all Beings which were made for his Pleasure and Glory according to his own Will not out of any necessity of Nature his Majesty being exalted above all Blessings and Praise so that his infinite Essential Glory cannot be liable to any Addition or Detraction from any Creature 2. That in the beginning of Time God condescended to manifest his immense Wisdom Power and Goodness in the Creation of the World and all Beings therein by the Word of his Power by which all things are upheld and do consist All being made and preserved for the Glory of God according to the Original Law of the Will of God respectively dispensed to every Being 3. That all things were made for distinct final Causes appointed by the Law of God to be the Rule for the Operation of Life conferr'd upon every Being 4. That the Providence of God doth actually effectually continually govern and over-rule all the Actions and Operations of all Beings to his Glory according to his determinate Counsels For known unto God are all his Works from the beginning of the World so that all contingent Effects and Actions of all created Beings are not only futurely turned and disposed but primarily decreed and ordered to be infallibly subservient for the Glory of God's eternal Truth Justice and Goodness 5. That as Activity and Operation is the necessary Expression of Life it is also necessary that there be an universal Law to direct regulate and judg the Affections and Actions of all Intelligent Beings Which Law can only be the holy and righteous Will of God the Creator of all Beings who only can righteously reward and punish all Actions 6. God made Man upright in his Divine Image 〈◊〉 Righteousness Knowledg and Holiness with Freedom of Will but under a Covenant of Life upon Obedience and of Death upon Disobedience which is Sin For Sin is the rebellious Transgression of the Law 7. Man tho made upright being left to the Freedom of his Will rebelled against and renounced God his Creator in his all-sufficient Truth and Goodness and sought out and embraced the Vanity and Iniquity of the Devil's Lie by which Apostacy and Rebellion Mankind fell into a state of the Condemnation and Corruption of Death which is endless Misery according to the righteous Judgment of God 8. The first Parents of Mankind were not only Persons individual but common Representatives of all their Posterity The Evidence whereof necessarily flows form the Consideration of the Covenant of Life which God made with Man when created and placed in Paradise The eating of the Tree of Knowledg of Good and Evil being threatned with Death which passed upon all Mankind both Infants and Adult according to the righteous Denunciation of God and the Consent of
that is the Worship of God is taught by the Precepts of Men. The course of Rational Argumentation carrying the Mind to infer that if the Object of Adoration must be obliged to depend upon the Will and Fancy of Human Imposition how and when and with what Mediums or Ceremonies it shall be adored Then the Deity must become a meer Fiction and such Religion nothing but an Idol-Contrivance of the crafty or the foolish Such Superstition being sacrilegious Invasion of the Divine Majesty to institute or practise any Rite Formulary or Ceremony in Religion not commanded by God or otherwise than God hath commanded because God only can be the Law-giver of his own Worship for all other Worship falls short of Acceptance with God consequently cannot make the Worshipper happy but prepares for an Atheistical Rejection of all Religion The most refined Human Intelligence could never find out to Perfection the Works of God which are the Objects of our Sense so as fully to discover the Formation Texture Consistence and compleat Use and End of created Beings Who can fully understand the glorious Orbs of Light which dazle the Beholder Who knows the Firmament of his Power Who knows the Ballancings of the Clouds the wondrous Works of him which is perfect in Knowledg how thy Garments are warm when he quieteth the Earth by the South Wind The very Augmentation of Stones and other Subterranean Materials the Growth of Vegetables the Production Generation Use and Operation of Animals even of the most despicable Insects have escaped and surpassed the diligent Inquiry of the most sagacious Pretenders The Certainty of all which having only Substance and Evidence in Faith by which we understand that the World was made by the Word of God so that things which are seen are not made of things which do appear But who can by searching find out God Or who can find out the Almighty unto Perfection It is as high as Heaven what canst thou do deeper than Hell what canst thou know Yet this is Life Eternal to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent The Mysteries of the Divine Trinity and of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ God manifested in the Flesh must necessarily transcend the Comprehension of any finite created Intelligence But tho the Love of Christ passeth Knowledg it is impossible for sinful Man to be delivered and saved from Wrath to come that is from eternal Death but by unfeigned Faith in God the Father to be just and the Justifier of an ungodly Sinner which believeth in Jesus in God the Son who only is able to save to the utmost having by himself purged us from our Sins and satisfied Divine Justice is only capable to be an everlasting Mediator of Redemption and Intercession Also in God the Holy Ghost who only can regenerate and sanctify a Sinner to be received into Communion of Life with God for ever Now for a Golden Clasp to the rehearsed Truths none of them being of private Fancy or Invention duly consider the two first Articles of Religion being the Doctrine of the Church of England published in the beginning of the Reformation confirmed by Act of Parliament and continually subscribed by the Clergy Articles of Religion I. Of Faith in the Holy Trinity THere is but one living and true God everlasting without Body Parts or Passions of Infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness the Maker and Preserver of all things both visible or invisible And in Vnity of this Godhead there be Three Persons of one Substance Power and Eternity the Father Son and the Holy Ghost II. Of the Justification of Man WE are accounted righteous before God only for the Merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith and not for our own Works or Deservings Wherefore that we are justified by Faith only is a most wholsom Doctrine and very full of Comfort as more largely is expressed in the Homily of Justification FINIS Prov. 27.19 1 Cor. 4.11 12. 1 Pet. 2.6 Zech. 4.7 Psal 87.3 Isa 62.7 Psal 48.2 Isa 32.17 Jam. 3.18 Rom. 5.1 2 Pet. 2.1 Ephes 4.17 18. Epicire Grashopper Eccles 9.3 Heb. 9.27 Rom. 1.20 Rom. 2.15 Act. 24.25 Deut. 30.20 Prov. 16.4 Eccl. 7.29 Rom. 2.15 1.12 1 Joh. 3.4 Eph. 4.18 Rom. 3.23 Rom. 8.20 Psal 90.11 Isa 40.13 14. Rom. 11.33 Ephes 1.7 8 9. Rom. 3.26 4.5 Gen. 3.15 Jer. 17.12 Heb. 5.9 Heb. 11.4 Heb 9.22 10.4 Heb. 13.20 21. Rom. 1.21 25. Tim. 3.15 Col 2.2 2 Cor. 5.19 21 Heb. 9.22 Heb. 10.1 Heb. 9.14 Heb. 10.14 Heb. 6.18 Heb. 10.2 Isa 53.6 1 Tim 1.15 Rom. 3.25 26 1 Tim. 4.1 2. Luke 17.10 Tit. 2 1â— 12. Cor. 5.17 James 2.26 Eph. 2.8 Isa 42.3 Mat. 12.20 Isa 45.24 Job 40.14 2 Sam. 23.5 2 Tim. 2.19 Psal 50.16 Rom. 8.9 Ezek. 36.25 Psal 51.7 Heb. 12.24 13.20 21. 9.14 Rom. 8.1 2 Tim. 1.10 Ezek. 36.26 Tit. 3.3 Eccl. 9.3 1 Cor. 2.14 Joh. 3.3 Joh. 6.65 Joh. 6.56 57. Rom. 8.9 Joh. 15.5 16. Ephes 1.4 Rom. 5.18 Joh. 15.6 Eph. 2.10 Heb. 8.10 11. Hos 2 2â— 1 Cor. 1.29 30 31. Gen. 8.20 21. Zech. 5.8 11. Tim. 4.1 Christanam Religionem absolutam simplicem anili superstitione confundere Am. Marcellin Isa 2.19 20 21. Rev. 6.15 16. Joh. 16.3 Rev. 12. Pet. 2.1 Eph. 1.4 9. Rom. 1.23 1 Cor. 8.4 Isa 41.23 Psal 90.1 11. Rom. 3. 1 Pet. 3.21 Rom. 3.24 25. Mark 10.45 1 Tim. 2.5 Rom. 5.1 9 10 11 19. Act. 13.39 10.36 43. Rom. 5.1 Eph. 2.14 Gen. 3.15 Jer. 17.9 Psal 50. Rom. 3.26 4.5 Heb. 9.1 1 Cor. 10.20 Heb. 6.1 Heb. 10.1 4 to 10. Heb. Ephes 1.4 2 Tim. 1. T it 1.2 Ephes 1. Gen. 8.20 21. Ephes 5.2 Gen. 9.9 Joh. 1.29 Psal 106.13 21. Deur 32. Deut. 32.5 15 16 17. Ephes 1.4 2 Tim. 1.9 Tit. 1.2 Mat. 27.35 Mark 15.28 John 19.28 36 37. 1 Cor. 15.3 4. Heb. 9.9 10.1 10.22 1 Cor. 15.17 1 Pet. 3.21 Rom. 8. Eph. 3.18 Rom. 3.5 6 Act. 13.34 2 Sam. 23. Heb. 6.17 18. Heb. 13.8 Rom. 3. Sacrae Scriptura non movent non persuadent sed cogunt agitant vim inferunt Jo. Pic. Mirand Ep. Hâ—m Barbir Prov. 20.27 Prov. 6.23 Heb. 8.10 1 Cor. Rom. 5.2 Heb. 13.10 15. Psal 43.4 2 Cor. 12.4 Psal 31.19 Isa 64.4 1 Cor. 2.9 Joh. 1.1 3. 1 Tim. 3.10 Rom. 9.5 Col. 1.14 15 16 17 18 19 20. Heb. 1.1 2 3 8. Act. 17.31 Luke 16.17 Mat. 25.3 12. Luke 14.18 Mat. 25.41 Ver. 34. Luke Rev. 6.16 17. Psal 14.1 Jer. 17.9 Psal 36.1 2. Psal 130.4 7. Rom. 6.1 2 Rom. 2.4 5 Mat. 11.27 1. Cor. 12.3 Psal 104.2 1 cor 13.12 2 Cor. 12.4 Exod. 33.19 20. Rom. 1.23 Psal 50.21 Isa 45.9 Acts. 2.23 Matth. 10.29 30. Act. 13.48 Isa 33.22 Psal 150.1 Job 37.16 17. Heb. 11.1 3 Job 11.7 8. Joh. 17.3 Rom. 3.26 4.5
without which cur Faith is vain and we are yet in our Sins void of any sufficient Plea to answer the Charge of the Law of Righteousness at the dreadful Tribunal of the Divine Majesty The manifold unfearehable Wisdom of God in the Administration of the Riches of insinite Grace exceeds what Creatures can ask or think The most large and advantagious Pardon from an Earthly Soveraign to a Rebel cannot reclaim a Felon's Mind or alter a Traitor's Heart But they who are in Christ Jesus and free from Condemnation they have the Spirit of Christ by which they are made new Creatures and enabled to walk nor after the Flesh but after the Sprit This is the Comprehension of the Love of God in Christ extended to all Saints Yet the primary Reason of the Death of our Lord Jesus Christ was to make Satisfaction to the Justice of the holy Creator for the Sins of Rebel Apostate Creatures It then became a consequent Corollary of our Lord's Death to awe from Sin and represent the abominable Sinfulness of Sin In all the righteous Administration of Rewards and Punishments supreme Justice obtains the first and necessary Consideration so that if there were no Persons to be deterred from future Crimes yet Justice requires severe Animadversion upon the present Malefactor otherwise How shall God judg the World God cannot be unrighteous in taking Vengeance upon the Damned in everlasting Torments where there is no place for Repentance nor Capacity for the Benefit of a deterring Example The happy Sum of the Doctrine of Man's eternal Redemption and Salvation is That God hath given us the sure Mercies of David He hath made with us an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure and this is all our Salvation where no proud Pharisee can assume or impute to himself nor any humble repenting Sinner doubt or despair Wherein God willing more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs of Promise the Immutability of his Counsel confirmed it by an Oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have a strong Consolation who have fled for Refuge to lay hold upon the Hope set before us which we have as an Anchor of the Soul sure and stedfast Jesus Christ the same yesterday to day and for ever Amen Now for a Corollary to the precedent Discourse that it may be evidenced not to be a private Opinion but the Doctrine of the Church of England according to the Scriptures here are subjoined the Expressions of the Homily of the Salvation of Mankind only by Christ our Saviour from Sin and Death Everlasting Homily Because all Men be Sinners and Offenders against God and Breakers of his Law and Commandments therefore can no Man by his own Acts Works and Deeds seem they never so good be justified and made righteous before God But every Man of necessity is constrained to seek for another Righteousness or Justification to be received at God's own Hands that is to say the Forgiveness of his Sins and Trespasses in such things as he hath offended And this Justification or Righteousness which we so receive of God's Mercy and Christ's Merits embraced by Faith is taken accepted and allowed of God for our perfect and full Justification For the more full understanding hereof it is our Parts and Duties ever to remember the great Mercy of God how that all the World being wrapped in Sin by breaking of the Law God sent his only Son our Saviour Christ into this World to fulfil the Law for us by shedding of his most precious Blood to make a Sacrifice and Satisfaction or as it may be called amends to his Father for our Sins to asswage his Wrath and Indignation conceived against us for the same But here may Man's Reason be astonied reasoning after this fashion If a Ransom be paid for our Redemption then is it not given us freely For a Prisoner that paid his Ransom is not let go freely for if he goes freely then he goeth without Ransom For what is it else to go freely than to be set at liberty without paying of Ransom This Reason is satisfied by the great Wisdom of God in this Mystery of our Redemption who hath so tempered his Justice and Mercy together that he would neither by his Justice condemn into the everlasting Captivity of the Devil and his Prison of Hell remediless for ever without Mercy nor by his Mercy deliver us clearly without Justice or Payment of a just Ransom But with his endless Mercy he joined his most upright and equal Justice His great Mercy he shewed unto us in delivering us from our former Captivity without requiring any Ransom to be paid or Amends to be made on our parts which thing by us had been impossible to be done And whereas it lay not in us that to do he provided a Ransom for us that was the most precious Body and Blood of his own most dear and best beloved Son Jesus Christ who besides this Ransom fulfilled the Law for us perfectly and so the Justice of God and his Mercy did embrace together and fulfil the Mystery of our Redemption And of this Justice and Mercy of God knit together speaketh St. Paul in the third Chapter to the Romans All have offended and have need of the Glory of God but are justified freely by his Grace by Redemption which is in Jesus Christ whom God hath sent forth for us for a Reconciler and Peace-maker through Faith in his Blood to shew his Righteousness And in the 10th Chapter Christ is the End of the Law unto Righteousness to every Man that believeth And in the 8th Chapter That which was impossible by the Law in as much as it was weak by the Flesh God sending his own Son in the similitude of sinful Flesh by Sin damned Sin in the Flesh that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us which walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit In these aforesaid places the Apostle toucheth specially three things which must go together in our Justification Upon God's part his great Mercy and Grace Upon Christ's part Justice that is the Satisfaction of God's Justice or the Price of our Redemption by the offering of his Body and shedding of his Blood with the fulfilling of the Law perfectly and throughly And upon our part true and lively Faith in the Merits of Jesus Christ which yet is not ours but by God's working in us So that in our Justification is not only God's Mercy and Grace but also his Justice which the Apostle calleth the Justice of God and it consisteth in paying our Ransom and fulfilling of the Law And so the Grace of God doth not shut out the Justice of God in our justification but only shutteth out the Justice of Man that is to say the Justice of our Works as to be Merits of deserving our Justification And therefore St. Paul declareth here nothing upon the behalf of