other World will by being eternally separated from its Pleasures convert into a hopeless desire and upon that account grow more furious impatient For of all the torments of the Mind I know none that is comparable to that of an outragious desire joyn'd with despair of satisfaction which is just the case of sensual worldly-minded Souls in the other Life where they are full of sharp and unrebated desires and like starved men that are shut up between two dead Walls are tormented with a fierce but hopeless hunger which having nothing else to feed on preys and quarries on themselves and in this desolate condition they are forced to wander to and fro tormented with a restlefs Rage and Hunger and unsatisfied desire oraving Food but neither finding nor expecting any and so in unexpressible Anguish they pine away a long Eternity And though they might find Content and Satisfaction could they but diver their affections another way and reconcile them to the heavenly Enjoyments yet being irrecoverably pre-engaged to sensual Goods they have no Savour nor Relish of any thing else but are like Feverish Tongues that disgust and nauseate the most grateful Liquors by reason of their own over flowing Gall. Lastly if in any thing I have writ about Christ's meritorious Satisfaction I peradventure fully accord not with some Divines the difference when the Matter is duly weigh'd will prove I hope to be only verbal For I assert sect 11. First That Christ's death on the Cross was of infinite value and merit Secondly That by and through the same Remission of Sin Justification and every other Good whether of Grace or Glory are obtain'd Thirdly That Christ's Crucifixion was as real and proper an expiatory Sacrifice for Sin as any under the Law of Moses but of infinitely more value ever was Fourthly That God's Justice is de jure prevented thereby from being exerted agaist Sinners in their everlasting Destruction The only difference then if any remaining is in this That I cannot apprehend what some others perchance think viz. That Christ's Merits operate upon God and work an Effect of Mercy and Favour in his Will whereas I humbly conceive them to be a secondary efficient Cause subservient to God's Love to Man for conveying and applying the same unto him by being an effectual Means of converting his Affections from the Vanities of the World unto God that he may be eternally saved for which I offer to serious consideration these following Reasons inducing me thereto 1. That Christ's most gracious doings and sufferings for Man are held by all Christians to be a Meritorious Cause 2ly That a Meritorious Cause is an efficient Cause 3ly That it is the Property of an Efficient Cause to work some real Effect 4ly That it seems plainly impossible that any real Effect should be wrought in God who is impassible and immutable sect 1. par 8 9. for otherwise seeing whatsoever is in God is God sect 1. par 11. such an Effect would be God himself and so the Merits of Christ would be the efficient Cause of the Deity 5ly That Christ's Merits therefore are not an antecedent but a subsequent Cause to the merciful-lovingkindness of God to Man by which the eternal Goodness actually confers all the happy Effects of divine Favour and Grace on him whereby he is delivered from Sathan Sin and Damnation and brought to everlasting Bliss If it be replied that however plausible yea certainly true this arguing be yet there is something more in Christ's Suffering for the Sin of Man than what hath hitherto been said namely the satisfying Divine Justice I answer that strictly speaking neither Justice nor Mercy nor other Attributes of God are formally distinct either from one another or from the very Essence of the Deity Sect. 1. Par. 11. and therefore albeit I willingly grant that Christ died for all men even the Reprobate as to me seems plain from these Words of the Apostle But there were false Prophets also among the People even as there shall be false Teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift Damnation 2 Pet. 2. 1. yet it was not to this very intent and purpose that he should undergo those Pains and Punishments which were allotted for Sin the everlasting Torments of Hell but to put Mankind thereby into a Way State and Condition that not any one should finally perish save only such as embraced not the Mercy of God in Christ manifested to the World in his Holy Gospel for what Justice is it that the Damned should suffer the Pains of Hell in case Christ had as truly and fully satisfied for them as if they had already undergone them themselves If it be answered that the actual Benefit of Christ's Satisfaction only reaches to those who believe in him and obey his Word so as that they shall not perish but have everlasting Life I readily own that Christ's Merits and more especially his bloody Death and Passion did in this sense abundantly satisfie Divine Justice for by these he really affected that none can justly be damned to whom they are applied by a lively and efficacious Faith Sect. 11. so that at the last day it will be equally just for God to render some for and through the Merits of Christ eternally blessed as it will be to give up others for their Sins to be for ever miserably afflicted and contrariwise it would be alike unjust to save the Wicked in that day who do not believe in Christ and obey him as to destroy the Godly who believe and put their Trust and Confidence in him whose Death on the Cross was as real a propitiatory Sacrifice for Sin but of infinitely more value as the annual expiatory Sacrifice under the Law as by the explanation of the Nature and Efficacy of it will appear The Sacrifice of Expiation was never compleat and perfect nor had the designed and due Effect of its Institution by the sole slaying and offering of the Beast however rightly and solemnly performed both by the Priest and People unless they added thereto the afflicting of themselves as is plain by Levit. 16. ver 29 30 31. In the seventh Month in the tenth Day of the Month ye shall afflict your Souls and do no Work at all whether it be one of your own Country or a Stranger that sojourneth among you For on that day shall the Priest make an Atonement for you to cleanse you that ye may be clean from all your Sins before the LORD It shall be a Sabbath of Rest unto you and ye shall afflict your Souls by a Statute for ever And again Chapt. 23. ver 27 28 29 30 31 32. On the tenth Day of this seventh Month there shall be a Day of Atonement it shall be an holy Convocation unto you and ye shall afflict your Souls and offer an Offering made by Fire unto the LORD And ye shall do no work in that
same day for it is a day of Atonement to make an Atonement for you before the Lord your God. For whatsoever Soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day he shall be cut off from among his People And whatsoever Soul it be that doth any Work in that same day the same Soul will I destroy from among his People Ye shall do no manner of Work it shall be a Statute for ever throughout your Generations in all your Dwellings It shall be unto you a Sabbath of Rest and ye shall afflict your Souls on the ninth day of the Month at Even from Even unto Even shall ye celebrate your Sabbath Lo how strictly it was commanded by God that every one should afflict himself to wit with Fasting and other pious Signs of Sorrow as Interpreters agree and to what end but that their afflicting themselves should work Contrition in them for their sins that the Lord might be propitious to them for without Contrition the inward Sacrifice of the Heart and a real turning from Sin unto God to which the very External Rite of Sacrificing did contribute something I say something for the Law made nothing perfect Hebr. 7. 19. whensoever it was seriously perform'd with calling to mind and detesting their Sin which the Institution necessarily required the offering of the Victim was not at all grateful to God but rather an Abomination to him though in the sight of the People who are not privy to the thoughts of the Heart the Law was fulfilled thereby and Offenders freed from Judicial Punishment as diverse Places of Holy Writ plainly shew To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices unto me saith the LORD I am full of the Burnt-offerings of Rams and the Fat of fed Beasts and I delight not in the Blood of Bullocks or of Lambs or of He-goats When ye come to appear before me who hath required this at your hand to tread my Courts Bring no more vain Oblations Incense is an Abomination to me new Moons and Sabbaths the calling of Assemblies I cannot away with it is iniquity even the solemn Meeting Your new Moons and your appointed Feasts my Soul hateth they are a Trouble unto me I am weary to bear them And when you spread forth your Hands I will hide my Eyes from you yea and when ye make many Prayers I will not hear your Hands are full of Blood. Wash ye make ye clean put away the Evil of your Doings from before mine Eyes cease to do Evil Isa 1. ver 11 12 13 14 15 16. To what purpose cometh there to me Incense from Sheba and the sweet Cane from a far Country Your Burnt-offerings are not acceptable nor your Sacrifices sweet unto me Jerem. 6. 20. I hate I despise your Feast-days and I will not smell in your solemn Assemblies Though ye offer me Burnt-offerings and your Meat-Offerings I will not accept them neither will I regard the Peace-offerings of your fat Beasts Amos 5. 21 22. But of the inward Sacrifice of the Heart Contrition thus saith the Royal Prophet The Sacrifice of God is a troubled Spirit a broken and contrite Heart O God shalt thou not despise Psal 51. 17. And in all sincere Contrition a renouncing of Sin is always necessarily implied for whoever in good earnest bewails his sin cannot while so doing continue in a voluntary course of sinning There was then no Remission of Sin before God even under the Law of Moses but that Transgressors notwithstanding their observance of its external Ordinances were liable to Punishment yea and that Temporal also as well as Eternal as is evident from the Almighties afflicting the Jewish Nation with Plagues Famines and Captivity for their sins to prevent the sinning still anew and consequently the Aggravation of the Pain of such as he knew would never be reclaim'd and to be a Motive to the rest to leave their wicked ways in this World and transmitting those that continued obstinate and impenitent to everlasting Misery in the World to come for no Repentance no Pardon He that covereth his Sin shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have Mercy Prov. 28. 13. Let the Wicked forsake his Way and the Vnrighteous Man his Thoughts and let him return unto the LORD and he will have Mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Isa 55. 7. It may be that the House of Judah will hear all the Evil which I purpose to do unto them that they may return every Man from his evil Way that I may forgive their Iniquity and their Sin Jerem. 36. 8. If the Wicked will turn from all his Sins that he hath committed and keep all my Statutes and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live he shall not die All his Transgressions that he hath committed they shall not be mentioned unto him in his Righteousness that he hath done he shall live Ezek. 18. 21 22. Neither are Sins remitted in the time of the Gospel any more than they were in the time of the Law unless forsaken as might be proved from many Texts of the New Testament of which for brevities sake I will produce some few plain ones Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Luke 13. 3. 5. Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out Acts 3. 19. But shewed first unto them of Damascus and at Jerusalem and throughout all the Coasts of Judea and then to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn unto God and do works meet for repentance Acts 26. 20. Let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from Iniquity 2 Tim. 2. 19. as if the Apostle had said Let no Man presume that Christ will save any one who is a Christian unless by virtue of his Christianity he depart from iniquity Since then it is apparent that there is no Pardon of sin without Repentance and Conversion unto God and that the design of the Sacrifice of Expiation in Moses's Law was to be a Motive and Cause to incline Men to call their sins to remembrance to be sorry for them and to forsake them without doing of which that Sacrifice had not the Effect intended by its Institution as is clear from the Scriptures above recited it remains only to make it manifest that Christ's Crucifixion was a proper Expiatory Sacrifice for Sin to shew these two things First That he purposely came to suffer Death upon the Cross to the end that he might convert men thereby from their sins to God. And Secondly That there is no Condemnation to those that are so converted First That Christ came on purpose into this World to die the Death of the Cross for this very end that he might turn Mens Hearts from Sin unto God these following Texts of Sacred Writ will irrefragably I doubt not evince When our Blessed Saviour told his Disciples of his Death near at hand he said Now is my Soul
neither of these is true not the former because God is always alike Omnipotent so that in respect of him the World might as well have been created from Eternity as when it was nor the latter because no moment can be thought on wherein the World could have been more capable to be created then in any other Ergo the World might have been eternal Answer The World was incapable of existing eternally for since the glorious Structure thereof was successively made and not instantaneously as is clear from the account we have of its Origin Genes 1. and from these words also On the seventh day God ended his Work which he had made Gen. 2. 2. it implies a Contradiction that it should have been eternal for what was done on the second third fourth fifth and sixth day of the Creation could not possibly be eternal otherwise whatsoever was done on any of those days would have been done as soon as that which was done on the first day which is impossible because what was not done till the second third fourth fifth or sixth day could not be done before unless the same thing might be done and not be done at the same time And as what was done on the six latter days could not be eternal so neither that which was done on the first for in regard the first day was only one day before the second two days before the third three days before the fourth four days before the fifth and five days before the sixth it is not possible that what was done on the first day should be any more eternal then what was done upon any of the other except the addition of one day to two three four or five others could make their finite Number infinite If it be said that this indeed rationally makes it out that the World supposing the manner of the Creation as it is related by Moses could not be eternal But what if God had pleased to create the World in its full entire Glory instantaneously at once might it not then have been created from Eternity I conceive not for otherwise there would have been infinite successions of times and things which in Sect. 3. Par. 4. is made out to be impossible And therefore although it be not very apparent to Mans Understanding but that something instantaneously made by God might possibly be eternal Yet that any such thing could be created from eternity the Creation whereof would imply the supposal of contradictory assertions to become true from thence as from the Eternity of the World wherein things continually succeed one another the Creation thereof would do Sect. 3. Par. 4. there 's no appearance of any possibility at all Yea if the Reasons given Sect. 3. Par. 8. be found good First That God always of necessity acts according to the highest Wisdom and greatest Goodness Secondly That the Creation of any individual Creature or single Species of Creatures would not have answered that his Wisdom and Goodness Thirdly That nothing but the very Complex of Beings which constitutes the Universe could have been created it seems necessarily to follow that in regard the World which exists could not have been eternal nothing at all could have been created from Eternity Objection 8. Whereas it is affirmed Sect. 4 that God created Man for his own Good that he might inherit everlasting Bliss the Holy Scripture tells us in express words The Lord hath made all things for himself even the wicked for the day of Evil Prov. 16. 4. Answer As to the former part of the Verse The Lord hath made all things for himself I find one Exposition of it in the Critics against which I think nothing can be justly excepted to wit Omnia operatus est Dominus propter seipsum tanquam ultimum finem which as to Man's particular I have shown Sect. 4. Par. 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13. how it is most true And the like must pari ratione be held of all other rational Animals if any such there be in the Universe besides as also of every Angelical Nature whose Chiefest Good and Ultimate End and Perfection must consist in the Vision of God. Yea and meer corporeal Substances although they have not an immediate Tendency towards God yet are they necessarily serviceable to Man at least who has in that the circumstant material World is absolutely requisite to his Generation Nutrition Augmentation Conservation and even Perfection whilst by the Organs of Sense on which are no Operations wrought but by Corporeal Objects and Agents without him he attains to the Knowledge Admiration and Love of God so that all things either mediately or immediately appear to acquire their Vltimate End and Consummation in God. But to suppose the Almighty to have created all things so for himself as that his Ultimate Aim in all his gracious and glorious Acts was to Receive and not wholly to Do Good is to suppose an utter Impossibility to be an absolute Truth For since nothing is good but in respect of some Convenience of Profit or Pleasure which accrues by it to whom it is good 't is clear that God in whom is the Fulness of Perfection is totally incapable of receiving Benefit from the Creature And no less impossible is it that he should acquire Pleasure or obtain Delight from any thing without himself for what is of infinite Excellency is infinitely delightful which because the prime independent Being God is he must needs be infinitely delighted in the Contemplation of himself and to say there can be an accession of Pleasure to infinite Pleasure is in effect to say that Infinity is not infinite But farther I shew the Impossibility of God's receiving Pleasure from any Performances of the Creature thus Whatsoever Pleasure the Almighty has it is either essential to him or accidental essential he can have none but what is necessarily intrinsecal to his very Nature and such is not the supposed Pleasure arising from the Honour exhibited to God by the Creature And to say that any Pleasure by way of accident is in God or of a different Nature from his Essence is to deny him to be the most Simple and in Consequence thereto the most Perfect Being for what is not most simple is some way or other compounded and all Composition denotes Imperfeâ—â—ion because in every Composition the Parts compounding must of necessity be of a finite and limited Nature for if either or both Parts supposing there be only two were of infinite Perfection there could be no Composition made by reason that in one Infinite would be the entire Perfection of whatever could be in both Parts and so there would be nothing more in the Whole or Compound than in one Part thereof which since it is repugnant to the Nature of whole and Parts the Reality of such a Composition is impossible and cannot be in God who is essentially infinite in Perfection As to the latter part of the Verse in the Objection viz. even