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
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
A Scriptural and Rational ACCOUNT OF THE Christian RELIGION PARTICULARLY Concerning Justification only by the Propitiation and Redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 5.1 2. Therefore being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ By whom also we have Access by Faith into this Grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the Glory of God Psal 14.1 2. The Fool hath said in his Heart There is no God they are corrupt they have done abominable Works there is none that doth good The Lord looked down from Heaven upon the Children of Men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God Deut. 32.6 Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish and unwise Is not he thy Father that hath bought 〈◊〉 Hath he not made thee and established thee London Printed for Jonas Lumley at the Bird in Hand near the Maypole in the Strand 1695. THE PREFACE IT was the usual Saying of an excellent Person That variety of Books tho upon the same Subject concerning the Principles of Religion was very advantagious that every one might be furnished with a Weapon fitted to his Hand For as in Water Face answereth to Face so the Heart of Man to Man As in general so in particular respects Therefore it may be hoped that in the perusing of the following Discourse some also may be gratified with the Agreeableness of a plain Representation of so great a Truth An Interest in Redemption by the Satisfaction of the Death of our Lord Jesus Christ is that by which every Christian must stand or fall before the dreadful Tribunal of the Justice of God Accordingly the Principle of Justification by the Sufferings Death Resurrection and Righteousness of Jesus Christ is the Article of Faith by which every Church must stand or fall It being the Pillar and Ground of Truth the Rock upon which our Lord hath built his Church against which the Gates of Hell cannot prevail This is the Rock upon which the Reformed Churches were recovered from Antichristian Apostacy For other Foundation can no Man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ But instead of building upon this precious Corner-Stone with precious Stones to bring up the head-Stone with Praise to Divine Grace many unhappily have not taken heed how they build with Wood Hay Stubble Materials for fewel of Contention to make Jerusalem Babylon and defeat the glorious Things spoken of the City of God That Jerusalem might be a Praise and the Joy of the whole Earth For Peace is the Fruit of Righteousness But this must be for a Lamentation and Prognostick of Desolation if not prevented by infinite Grace and Mercy that after so many Years Gospel-Light there should be regard to false Teachers privily bringing in damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them Privily indeed pretending an Inquiry after sensible Ideas of spiritual and supernatural Truths of Eternal Life Whereas they are not able to give an Idea of the Breath of Natural Life Suborning also a Spectre of Rational Demonstration to determine and judg Things invisible which can only be the Objects of Faith in the Word of God Whereas the use of right Reason is miserably lost and overwhelmed in the Ruins of Apostacy from God Vanity now possessing the Mind the Understanding being darkned and alienated from the Life of God through the Ignorance that is in them because of the Blindness and Hardness of their Hearts Thus being past feeling they give themselves over to Lasciviousness and to work all Uncleanness with Greediness For the Heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked even in these pretended Rationalists as well as others That this is the true State and Temper of the universality of Mankind is undeniably evinced by the continual Practice and Conversation of all the World in all Ages and Countries Therefore Natural right Reason is no where to be found directing the Tenor and entire Compass of Human Affections and Actions But those baptized Epicures as they are termed by the most Worthy and Honourable Mr. Boyle that strut under the Name of Deists but are indeed Atheists without God in the World renouncing the Providence of God rejecting the Justice of God denying the Immortality of the Soul and the Future State of Rewards and Punishments Thus Mankind is subjected to a Baseness and Wretchedness inferior to the worst of Brutes And thereby also rescinding the Bond of Security and Peace among all Human Societies and Relations which can only consist in the Fear of God Such happy Infects who desire to live apace may receive their own Idea from Mr. Cowley After Death I nothing crave Let me alive my Pleasures have Happy Insect happy thou Dost neither Age nor Winter know But when thou 'st drunk and danc'd and sung Thy fill thy flow'ry Leaves among Voluptuous and wise withal Epicurean Animal Satiated with thy Summer's Feast Thou retir'st to endless Rest But this is the certain Conviction and inevitable Doom of such Men That the Heart of the Sons of Men is full of Evil and Madness is in their Heart while they live and after that they go to the Dead But as it is appointed unto Men once to die so after this the Judgment A Scriptural and Rational Account of the Christian Religion The invisible Things of God from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the Things that are made even his Eternal Power and Godhead so that all Men are without Excuse Consequently there is implanted in every intellectual Mind a Conscience of Good and Evil accusing or excusing according to the Work of the Law written in their Hearts so that there cannot but be Trembling at the Apprehension of Judgment to come For the Elements of a Rational Creature are dependent upon the Creator for Life God is our Life and the Length of our Days and for a Rule of Action which can be no other than the Will of God the only Eternal Reason of Good and Evil Not any thing being antecedently good to the Unchangable Eternal Holy Will of God Also for the End and Felicity of Being which is the Glory of God including the Salvation of the Immortal Creature God made Man upright in his Image engraved his Mind with a Law holy just and good a Rule of perpetual Righteousness to direct and judg all Human Affections and Actions But Sin which is the Transgression of the Law alienated Man from the Eise of God who thereby becoming vapid and unprofitable fell miserably short of the Glory of God subjected the Creature to Vanity Vexation and Death renounced the all-sufficient Goodness Truth and Soveraignty of the Infinite Almighty Creator God blessed for ever Shall not then the Judg of all the World do right For according to his Fear due to his Infinite Perfections and Absolute Dominions
of the Devil and more evidently by the Institution of Sacrifices For it is a most absurd Derogation from the Soveraignty of a Creator and Contradiction to the Duty of a Creature to impose upon God the necessity of accepting the groundless Fancy of a guilty Malefactor in the highest degree of desperate Wickedness to be a Price of Redemption from everlasting Wrath Considering also that Man had no Title of Interest or rightful Power over any of his Follow-Creatures to substitute any of them a Sacrifice for his Sin Indeed It was an early and due Apprehension that every Sin was of capital Guilt and Forfeiture of Life But it could never have entered into the Heart of Man to conceive how God could be just and the Justifier of Sinners until God had revealed it by his Spirit and the Word of his Grace The Apprehension of Propitiation attainable by Sanguinary Sacrifices could not be a Primary Notion in any Human Mind but consequent and derivative from the Institution of Sacrifices by the express Command and Appointment of God without which it was impossible to please God For Faith cannot be or subsist without a word of Command and Promise But to fancy a Religious Worship to appease the just Wrath and to conciliate the Favour of the Majesty of the Great and Terrible God the Creator of all Beings by any performance of Offering not instituted expresly by God is a presumption becoming a dumb Idol or some precarious Superstition and is an effectual practical Denial of the insinite Perfections of God obtruding and imposing the Blood and Carcass of a wretched Calf or Sheep to expiate the Guilt of most nefandous Crimes and satisfy infinite Justce Neither can there be any possible ground of Reason to imagine that the Ceremonial Ordinances of Sacrifices and other Rites of Divine Worship and Service were instituted by God with respect to or Motive from the superstitious Practice or Expectation of profane Sinners who offered their Devotion to Devils as the Word of God expresly testifies That the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to Devils and not to God But Sacrifices and all other Typical Services and Ordinances were by God appointed until the time of Reformation when Christ came an High Priest of good things to come that is everlasting who by the eternal Spirit offer'd himself without Spot to God by his own Blood to purge our Consciences from dead Works that is from Sins deserving Death to serve the living God The Ceremonial Law had a Shadow of good things to come but not Virtue to make the Comers thereunto perfect For it is not possible that the Blood of Bulls and of Goats should take away Sin Therefore because in Sacrifices and Offerings for Sin God could not take Pleasure as therein receiving any Satisfaction to Justice When Jesus Christ came into the World he faith A Body hast thou prepared me Lo I come to do thy Will O God by the which Will we are sanctisied through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once But this Will of God was not induced by any Temporary Consideration it was from everlasting God hath chosen us in Christ before the Foundation of the World God hath saved us and called us with an holy Calling not according to our Works but according to his own Purpose and Grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the World began In hope of Eternal Life which God that cannot lie promised before the World began Who verily was fore-ordained before the Foundation of the World but was manifested in these last Times It could not then be in Compliance with any Human Apprehension of Expiation of Sin by any Sacrifice of any Creature that Jesus Christ was constitued and given by God to be the Propitiation and Redemption for Sinners But contrariwise God having according to the Counsel of his own free Will made known to our first Parents in their dismal Fall the Mystery of his Will in the Promise of the Seed of the Woman to break the Serpent's Head And then for the Confirmation of that Promise and for the support of Faith instituted Sacrifices revealed first to Adam then to Noah and consequently in them to the whole World of Mankind Noah builded an Altar unto the Lord and took of every clean Beast and of every clean Fowl and offered Burnt-offerings upon the Altar And the Lord smelled a sweet Savour or a Savour of Rest and Satisfaction Now this could not he affirmed or believed unless such Sacrifices had been according to the express Institution of God who as was before observed only could appoint the Discrimination of Beasts clean and unclean All which also was performed and accepted with respect to and in virtue of the Offering and Sacrifice of Christ himself to God for a sweet smelling Savour Immediately upon Noah's Sacrifice God established his Covenant with Noah and his Seed after him Thus all Mankind was by Divine Institution initiated in the Religion of Propitiatory Sacrifices all in reference to and deriving Virtue and Acceptance from the Merits of Jesus Christ the Lamb of God which taketh away the Sins of the World But as it is charged upon Israel both by David and Moses so all Nations soon forgot God's Works they forgot God their Saviour which had done great things for their Preservation they corrupted themselves their Spot was not the Spot of his People they for sook God which made them and lightly esteemed the Rock of their Salvation they provoked him to Jealousy with strange Gods they sacrificed to Devils not to God So that the offering of Propitiatory Sacrifices by the Universality of Mankind was not a Human Invention but a Derivation from Divine Institution tho wretchedly corrupted by Satanical Suggestion Neither was there any Rite of Religious Worship among the Heathen but what was pretended to be a Direction and Command from Heaven so deeply engraven was the Impression in every Rational Mind that Divine Worship could not be acceptable unto God unless commanded by God The whole Work of Redemption and Salvation of Mankind by Jesus Christ was in every part and respect proceeding originally from and effectually to fulfil the Will of God Salvation by Christ was promised before the World began In the fulness of Time he was made of a Woman his Sufferings in every particular Circumstance was to fulfil the Scriptures Our Lord died according to the Scriptures and rose again according to the Scriptures that is for the End appointed by the Word of God to make full Satisfaction to the infinite Justice of God so as to make perfect the Comers unto God by Jesus Christ by Faith in whom the Heart is sprinkled from an evil Conscience that is from the Conscience of the Guilt of Evil To obtain the Answer of a good Conscience towards God by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
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
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
Manifestation of his infinite incomprehensible Being which Manifestation of the Deity is given in his Word of Truth to be God the Father God the Son God the Holy Ghost one and the same living and true God blessed for ever 21. The Efficacy of the Covenant of Grace consists in Redemption and Regeneration Redemption by the Propitiation to Divine Justice through the Satisfactory Merits of the Sufferings Death and Righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the Will of God for the Justification of a Sinner Regeneration by the Holy Ghost in the Renovation of the Soul quickened and sanctified in all the intellectual Faculties unto Newness of Life by a new spiritual Birth The Condition of the Covenant is Faith fiducially resting on Christ and vitally uniting unto Christ for Justification and Sanctification by effectual Vocation The Obligation and indispensable Duty of the Covenant is the Obedience of Faith working by Love in the fulfilling all the Commandments of God 22. The Covenant of Works being made with the first Adam who was a meer Creature and therefore liable to fall when left to the freedom of his Will the Perseverance in his created Uprightness could not be secure But the Covenant of Grace being made with the second Adam the Lord from Heaven both the Performance of the Duty of Obedience to the Precepts of the Covenant and the final Perseverance in the Conditions of the Covenant are according to the Promise of God by the Spirit of God enabled to preserved in and perfected So that no believing Sinner may presume in himself or despair in the Grace of God by whose Power he is kept through Faith unto Salvation The everlasting Covenant is ordered in all things and sure for this is our Salvation that nothing shall be able to separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 23. That which is stiled Natural Religion is the Rational Conviction upon the Intelligent Mind of Man of indispensable Duty to fear trust obey believe and love God with all his Heart Mind and Strength according to the Commandments of God Therefore there is a necessity of the Revelation of the Will of God by which is made known the compleat Perfection of instituted Religion Instituted Religion is the Rule of true Wisdom to bring Mankind to eternal Happiness by directing all his Affections and Actions in the Fear Faith and Love of God to their proper Objects according to the Will of God and the Glory of God That Religion only is true which is the Practice of Obedience to the Word of God and accordingly brings us to God in Spiritual Worship by Jesus Christ alone who is the only Mediator of Redemption and Intercession That Wisdom which was the Enquiry of Philosophy the Demonstration of Theology is the Possession and Practice of the pure undefiled Christian Religion which removed from all Profaneness Superstition and Will-worship is the commanded and accepted way of Worship to God in Spirit and in Truth of Obedience to all the Commandments of God from Love to God of Righteousness to the Neighbour with Love as to ones self of Holiness and Sobriety in respect of his own Person made and renewed in the Image of God all upon hope of everlasting Blessedness to the Glory of God This Religion is the Characteristick Excellency of Man and is the only true Cement and Security of Mankind in all Conditions and Relations 24. The Felicity to which the Christian Religion gives Title and Possession is both temporary and everlasting In this Life Conversion from Darkness unto Light from the Power of Satan unto God from the Folly and Madness of Vanity and Sin unto the Fear and Love of God which is the beginning of true Wisdom Justification from the Guilt of Sin and thereby Peace with God Sanctification by the renewing of the Image of God in Righteousness Knowledg and true Holiness by the Spirit of God dwelling in the Soul to quicken direct preserve in the Paths of Righteousness from all Apostacy Adoption to be a Child of God an Heir of Heaven and to have Right and Acceptance to cry Abba Father that is to be emboldened to approach the Throne of Grace and to offer continual Sacrifices of Supplication and Thanksgiving upon our only great and glorious Altar the Lord Jesus Christ in him drawing near to God our exceeding Joy This State gives Contentation in every Condition under the assurance that all things shall work together for our good and that all our most difficult Labour to resist Temptation to overcome the World to mortify Corruptions to deny Self shall not be in vain in the Lord but shall receive a full Recompence of Reward in the Kingdom of Heaven Therefore whatsoever is done or suffered is in hope of the Glory of God knowing that the State of this present World is not capable to receive the Blessedness and Glory of Eternity in Heaven The Felicity of Eternity cannot possibly be represented or declared by the Tongues of Men and Angels Unspeakable Words uncapable to be heard or uttered in this Vale of Tears are necessary to set forth what Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither have entred into the Heart of Man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him and fear him and wait for him and trust in him before the Sons of Men. This is that immense Felicity when we shall know as we are known and shall be changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord in the Beatifick Vision of God to all Eternity when the Lord shall bring all his Servants into the Possessions of the Joy and Glory of that Kingdom which God hath prepared for them before the Foundation of the World But most dismal shall be the woful Misery of those who refuse to obey the Gospel commanding to crucify the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts to renounce a vain Conformity to the Pomps and Pleasures of the World to forsake a vain Conversation received by Tradition from our Forefathers to deny self so as to cut off Right-hand and Foot and pluck out right-Eye and to cast them away They that account such Lessons too difficult to be observed must hear and perish under the Sentence Depart from me ye Workers of Iniquity into everlasting Fire where the Worm shall never die and the Fire shall never be quenched The Conclusion and Sum of the whole is this In the beginning i. e. from Eternity was the Essential Word and the Word was with God All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made Who in the fulness of Time was God manifested in the Flesh for of the Seed of Abraham as concerning the Flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for ever Amen In whom we have Redemption through his Blood even the forgiveness of Sins Who is the Image of the invisible
God the first-born of every Creature For 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 And he is the Head of the Body the Church who is the beginning the first-born from the dead that in all things he might have the Preheminence For it pleased the Father that in him all Fulness should dwell And having made Peace through the Blood of his Cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself whether things in Earth or things in Heaven God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son whom he hath appointed Heir of all things by whom also he made the Worlds Who being the Brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person and upholding all things by the Word of his Power when he had by himself purged our Sins sat down on the Right-hand of the Majesty on high For unto the Son he saith Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever a Scepter of Righteousness is the Scepter of thy Kingdom Because God hath appointed a Day in the which he will judg the World in Righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given Assurance unto all Men in that he hath raised him from the dead Now it is easier for Heaven and Earth to pass than one tittle of the Law to fail The Son of Man shall come in his Glory and all the holy Angels with him then shall he sit upon the Throne of his Glory and before him shall all Nations be gathered Then the foolish Virgins that neglected opportunity to provide Oil shall be excluded Heaven They that in divers Instances agreed in one Consent to prefer and over-value present Animal Enjoyments before the Lord's Invitation to his Marriage-Supper shall never taste of Eternal Life They that thought it a hard Saying and not to be born the Command of our Lord to crucify the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts to renounce a vain Conversation and a Conformity to the Fashion of the World which passeth away that refuse to deny self to take up the Cross to cut off right Hand and Foot and pluck out right Eye and cast them away All such must hear and perish for ever under that dreadful Word Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels But on the other side to those who believed the Truth as it is in Jesus without contradicting or blaspheming received it in Love and the Obedience of Faith not holding it in Unrighteousness the King shall say Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World But where shall ungodly Sinners appear that send after the Lord Jesus into Heaven this Rebel Message We will not have this Man to reign over us That renounce the Satisfaction and Redemption of Christ that blasphemously deny the Deity of Jesus Christ the Lord of Glory they shall say to the Mountains and Rocks Fall on us and hide us from the Face of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the Wrath of the Lamb For the great Day of his Wrath is come and who shall be able to stand Few Men have been found in any Age or Country to have filled their Hearts with such profligate Madness to deny God Indeed Cicero saith that Epicurus while in words he allowed a Deity he did really and by pretended Notions utterly disavow the Providence of God without which the Name of God must be an empty and contemptible Sound For as Cicero observes if the Fear of God and Reverential Regard to the actual Providence of God be denied or weakened thereby also the common Faith and Security of human Society and the Ground and Foundation of universal commutative and distributive Justice is altogether subverted The Psalmist affirms that the Fool hath said in his Heart there is no God That is the Disposition and working of his Heart in the desperate Wickedness and unexpressible Deceitfulness of all its Purposes and vain Imagination to avow the casting off the regard of God Therefore the Psalmist immediately adds They have done abominable Works there is none that doth good Accordingly the Psalmist again expresses The Transgression of the wicked saith within my Heart that there is no Fear of God before his Eyes For he flattereth himself in his own Eyes until his Iniquity be found to be hateful It is therefore most irrational Dementation to detract from the infinite Perfections of the Eternal God for thereby Man is left in a wretched Condition more abject than that of the Beast which perishes liable to the Miseries of this Life without the help of the Awe and Encouragement of future Punishments and Rewards There needs not any Foreign Topick of Argumentation to prove the Existence of God and his absolute Soveraignty over all Beings For the Conscience of Good and Evil radicated in every human Intelligence is a continual and unanswerable Evidence of the infinite Perfections of the Eternal God blessed for ever It is most absurd Folly and Contradiction to own a Nominal God and to deny the Essential Attributes of the infinite Perfection of the Deity Eternal Being Truth and Goodness are the infinite Perfections of one Almighty All-sufficient God Eternity of Being implies Original Essential Existence absolutely simple altogether independent wholly immutable universally powerful every-where present From whence flows Almighty Power to create and uphold all things according to his Will to be the only Cause of all other Beings and of all Causes of their Life with all distinct and proper Abilities thereof of their Operation with all the Powers of Exercise Rules or Limits to direct and govern and End of Performance Of their Subsistence with all Circumstances of Time and Place for the Beginning Continuance or Progress and finishing their Course with all diversity and alterations of Condition therein Sustentation and Regulation as necessarily flowing from and depending upon God as Origination Truth is original eternal infinite Righteousness and Holiness and Knowledg the Perfection of excellent Eminence whereby the Divine Majesty and Essence is infinitely exalted above and separated from all possibility of Communion with or Respect unto Vanity Impurity Unrighteousness or Wickedness and doth satisfyingly rest in his own All-sufficient Soveraignty Thence derives and dispenses to all Creatures the Law of Truth to guide and direct inherently the Sustentation Operation and final Determination of all Beings according to their several respective Natures for the mutual Support Preservation and Comfort of the Universe all in subordinate necessary Subjection to the supreme Obedience unto the Will of God and ultimate