Christ we can never do any thing faithfully for whatsoever is done doubtfully is not of Faith and whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin It is our Comfort and our Wisdom we care for no Knowledge in the World but this that Man hath sinned and God hath suffered That God hath made himself the Son of Man and that Men is made the Righteousness of God God Poureth his Wrath upon all as long as he reputeth them Sinners Behold the Lord's Hand is not shortned that it cannot save neither is the Ear heavy that it cannot hear But your Iniquities have separated between you and God and your Sins have hid his Face from you that he will not hear Isa 59.1 2. Here we see Sin to be the Division between God and Man and Man is Enemy to God till he be reconciled in Christ Now God was in Christ and reconciled the World to himself not imputing their Sins unto them and hath committed unto us the Word of Reconciliation 2 Cor. 5.19 Redemption taken for the Remission of Sins is all one with Justification For St. Paul expounds it in his Sermon Acts 13. ver 28. Through Christ is Preached Remission of Sins and from all things by which he could not be justified by the Law of Moses by him every one that believeth is justified we are justified not by any inherent or infused Righteousness but by imputed Justice and by Remission and Forgiveness of our own injustice God looks on his Servants as they are the Members of Christ cloathed with his Righteousness For as Jacob did not deserve the Birth-right in himself and in his own right but received the Blessing and Inheritance in the Garments and Apparrel of Esau his Eldest Brother to whom the same did properly belong so we receive the Blessing of God and are accepted to Eternal Life in the Garment of the Righteousness of Christ for whose sake and sufferings God looks upon our Sins with a discerning not a revenging Eye Howsoever our Sins cleave to our Souls let us hate them as we hate Hell for thence they are and the Devil worketh them Yet though they are many in Number and grievous in their Nature our hopes are not in our own Persons but in the Body of Christ into which we are Grafted and in which there is no spot nor blemish but perfect Righteousness By this Perfection he hath delivered us out of a more than an Aegyptian Thraldom for we were lyable to that Servitude and Punishment where Hell should be our Prison the Devil our Jaylor Sin our Crime our own Conscience our Accuser and perpetual Torments our Punishment Thanks be to God who hath given us Victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. If Christ have paid a Ransom for all it followeth that all without Exception even Mary Christ's Mother were Captives all Sinful none absolutely Righteous in themselves but were absolutely Righteous in Christ. If one have died for all then all were dead in Sins We are not to rejoyce that we are Just but that we are Redeemed Not that we are without Sin but that our Sins are forgiven us For the first Man that was made the first Man that was born he sinned Death which is the Punishment of Sin seizeth upon all therefore all are Sinners And if we were not all Captives and Sinners we should need no Redemption at so high a rate as through his Blood which Blood tho' it wash and purge us yet it doth not take away the stain and infection of Sin but only the Guilt thereof It maketh us not to fulfil all the Law but causeth that which is not done to be pardoned When thou hast done all that thou canst nay all that thou wouldest nay all that Men can or will say Thou art an unprofitable Servant and hast need to be washed with his Blood 4. Blood is taken for the Effusion of his Blood and it is spoken by a Synechdoche implying the Sacrifice and Oblation of his Body and besides all this all the Sufferings which he endured in his aboad upon Earth which Expiation was finished upon the Cross when he said Consumatum est This Sacrifice was paid unto God For He it was whom we offended and He it was who had the Power to condemn us therefore his Justice was to be satisfied But he paid nothing as was said before to the Prince of Darkness who held us Captive but only broke his Power and triumphed over his Kingdom with a mighty and streached-out Arm. As soon as we were absolved and reconciled to God the Tyrant was compelled being but the Jaylor to restore us God's Justice could not be satisfied without the Effusion of this Blood For Debts which do not wrong the Majesty of the Owner may be remitted without any Recompence or Satisfaction but those Debts which do detract from the Dignity of the Creditor as Sins are repugnant to the Majesty of God cannot be released without a Mediator Now as Adam makes us Sinners in his Seed so Christ justifieth us in his Blood The Israelites were instructed of Necessity to seek a Mediator by the Priests Office for they could not come to offer their Prayers Vows or Gifts but by the Mediation of the Priest for whom it was unlawful to enter into the Temple with empty Hands but he must needs offer up Blood or other Sacrifice all which Sacrifices were ended in Christ whom they did prefigure being Types and Shaddows of the true Body It is not possible that the Sacrificers should think their Salvation might be wrought by the Blood of Sheep or Goats but expected a Lamb sent from God to be slain for the People Christ alone worketh in them the Work of Man's Salvation Our own Works are rather the Fruits than Causes of Redemption For Men are not therefore the Sons of God because they do good Works but they have the Grace of God fructifying to good Works because they are the Sons of God As a Princess invested with Kingly Ornaments and thereby distinguished from Vulgar Women is not therefore the King's Spouse because she is adorned with gorgeous Apparel but she is cloathed with soft Raiment because she is the King's Spouse We exclude good Works from Meriting not from Being Our own Merits and Satisfactory Actions are excluded from free Remission of Sins For he is said to remit who expungeth the Debtors Name without any Payment And this is God's own Testimony that of meer Favour he remits our Offences Isaiah 43. Ver. 25. I even I am he that putteth out thine Iniquity for mine own Sake and will not remember thy Sins And let every Man's Conscience be at Peace with God when he is perswaded of that We read Isaiah 53.6 All we like Sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own Way and the Lord hath laid upon him the Iniquity of us all What Peace of Conscience where Man's Satisfaction is required The least Satisfaction that can be imagined requireth a Days Labour wherein it
may be effected and who can tell how oft he offends in a Day Then for the Satisfaction of one Days Sin a whole Life is not sufficient Sufficit ad Meritum scire quod non sufficiant Merita sed ut ad Meritum satis est de Meritis non praesumere sic carere Meritis satis est ad Judicium Concerning Merits It is sufficient to know that they do not merit Heaven but to want good Works is sufficient for Condemnation The Devil doth labour by Two Seducements to weaken our Faith First He would perswade us that good Works are the Cause and Means of our Salvation If he cannot succeed this Way then under a Pretence of Faith he would draw us from true Obedience and suggests it into our Minds That if we have Faith let us be indulgent to all Affections and commit all Offences yet Faith will bring us to an everlasting Kingdom But we are taught that real Sanctity of Life is never separated from a free Remission of Sins and we who are interressed by Faith in the Right of Inheriting by Works are wrought to the actual Possession of eternal Bliss Sanctification is a true and inseparable Companion of Justification For whom he hath justified them hath he also sanctified For how can a Christian be perswaded that he is beloved of God unless he be certain that he loveth God with an unfeigned Heart And who can love God who is not willing to perform and obey his Will and Precepts If ye love me keep my Commandments saith our Saviour Tho' we say that Children or Infants may be saved out of the Depth of Perdition by the Depth of God's Mercies without the Works of the Law yet let those to whom the Lord hath lent the length of Days think that he will exact an Account of their Stewardship how they have spent their Time how they have imployed their Talents which he in his Mercy had bestowed upon them Since our Redemption is of so high a rate that Christ's Blood was shed for it since the Malady of Sin is so cruel a Disease that nothing could cure it but the Death of the Physitian it behooveth us who are washed with his Blood to look to our ways and take heed of Vnrighteousness It is already manifest that our own Works are no causes of Redemption but rather the Fruits thereof 5. Now let us fall a little into Consideration of the Passion of our Lord and Saviour Christ and hear what great things he hath done for us And here I find him Buffetted Crowned with Thorns Spit upon Reviled Blasphemed Condemned Executed Dead and Buried Civis Romanus sum was enough to save a Citizen from Scourging and so St. Paul tryes the Experience of it Yet Christ that was Lord of Heaven and Earth and the only Door by which we enter and are made free Citizens of the new Jerusalem he was Whipped Who but our Saviour would have spent his Blood for our Sakes Who but our Saviour could have satisfied for our Sins and renewed us by his Spirit conferring infinite Graces upon us when we lay Dead in Sins and Trespasses Who but our Saviour could get Life into us and that by the sprinkling and shedding of his most Pretious Blood like the Pelican which is a Symbol of Christ Plutarch reports That the Senate durst not accuse Caesar for conspiring with Cataline and his Confederates against the State for if Caesar had been convented he would sooner have saved others than have suffered himself In like case it was an Happiness for us that Christ was Indicted for our Sins who was able to repel all the fiery Darts of Satan and to Triumph over him that had the Power of Death that is the Devil Heb. 2.14 A Mystery it is that our Saviour should vanquish both Death and the Devil by Death which proceeded from the Maliciousness of the Devil that he should make the Devils Glory his shame his Power his Overthrow his Kingdom his Undoing What could the Prophet David in all his Zeal for God wish more against reprobate Men Trayterous to Christ and his Gospel than thus to wish Let their dainty Tables be Snares to take them and let their Prosperity be their Ruin Even thus Christ hath vanquished the Devil He hath spoiled Principalities and Powers and hath made a shew of them openly and hath Triumphed over them in the same Cross Behold Christ once again and consider Dilectionem in discendendo Mansuetudinem in Patiendo Fortitudinem in animose Perferendo Vtilitatem in mala Poenae et Culpae auferendo All the Punishments which we had deserved were inflicted upon our Mediator and he hath quit the Score So whatsoever Afflictions befal the Godly in this Life they are not Punishments but Fatherly Chastisements and Corrections for our Humiliation and Amendment Yea Death her self is spoiled of her Sting and is become to the Godly only a passage into a more Blisful Life The Afflictions of the Wicked in this Life make them readier for greater Torments in the World to come for they tend only to revenge but the Corrections of the Godly make them afterwards more Cautelous and tend to their Instruction Saul was punished by the taking away of his Kingdom David was amended by the loss of his Child Ferulis Verberantur Filij non ut mulctam delictorum Deo persolvant sed ut inde ad Resipiscentiam proficiant as Judicious Calvin hath it When we lay strugling in the midst of all Miseries Let us remember what our Jesus hath done for us and then it will be to us as we have believed The Heathen Philosopher could say None is of Strength to raise himself some Man must lend his Hand and then he shall be lift up The Mind of Man cannot be without some Refuge and as we say of the Elephant cannot rest unless it hath something to lean upon Let Christ be our rest which is the chief Corner-Stone of his Church and we shall never fall and let us so rest that we be not idle but obedient to his will and fructifying to good works Themistocles said of himself That the Athenians used him like the Plane-Tree to which in a Tempest they ran for Succour but the Storm being passed and fair Weather succeeding they tear down his Leaves and tread on them Let it not be so said of you who finding no other Remedy for your afflicted burdened Conscience but the Merits of Christ's Passion his Mediation but when the Storm is past and you begin again to find in your selves that Peace of God and Conscience which Passeth all Vnderstanding you should return again with the Dog and Sow to the Vomit and trample under feet the Blood of the New Testament and make a mock of the Passion of Christ who was so kind for you as to pay all those huge Sums wherein you stood bound to God and that without either Price or Prayers of ours but according to the Riches of his Grace Our Election into
not believed the Truth he shall believe Lies till Vanity wash away his Years and he fall into Eudless Destruction 2 Tim. 2.9 Who will not believe since God hath sealed those that are his Signamus quae elegimus Merchants set their Seals on their Merchandise which they would distinguish from others but their Seals are set for their own Gains whereas God Seals us as a Loving Father to assure us of Everlasting Salvation I have spoken sufficiently of the Apprehension of Redemption It is our Apostles intent in this Place to shew how our Redemption was wrought in Christ by the Oblation of his Body and Effusion of his Blood Which Redemption according to our proposed Method is now to be considered In the work of our Redemption we see the manifold Wisdom of God For in our Creation he only said fiat and it was done But there be diverse courses in Redemption and turnings that seem almost Contradictory in his Eternal Decree He elected the Gentiles yet at the Creation he suffered them to be made the Vassals of Satan He promised Salvation to Adam and his Posterity by the Seed of the Woman and afterward he elected Abraham and his Seed rejecting the rest He chose the Israelites for his People Who would have thought that they should be cut off that we might be ingrafted yet this is the Mercy of the loving Lord and it is marvelous in our Eyes This Redemption was wrought freely in respect of us saith Bp. Sanderson none of our Money went to this Purchase Not for Price nor Reward Isa 45. But ye shall be redeemed without Money The Meaning is not that there was no Price at all paid but that there was none paid by us We laid out nothing to this great Purchase there went none of our money to it But otherwise that there was a Price paid the Scriptures are clear Ye are bought with a Price saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 6 20. and he saith it over again Chap. 23. He that paid it call'd it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Ransom that is as much as to say a Price of Redemption And his Apostle somewhat more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 20.28 which implieth a just and satisfactory Price full as much as the thing could be worth of any Mans Money Yet not paid to Satan in whose Possession we were for he was but an Usurper he had indeed the Dominion over us but he had no right thereunto He had but bought of us and we by our Sale could convey no more right to him than we had our selves which was just none at all Our Redeemer therefore would not enter any Capitulation with him or offer to him any terms of Composition but thought good rather in pursuance of his own Right to use his Power and so he vindicated us from him by main Strength With his own right Hand and with his holy Arm he hath gotten himself the Victory and us Liberty without any Price or Ransom paid him But then unto Almighty God his Father and our Lord under whose heavy Curse we lay and whose just Vengeance would not be appeased towards us for our greivous Presumption without a condigne satisfaction to him I Say there was a Price paid by our Redeemer and that the Greatest Price that ever was paid for any Purchase since the World began not Silver and Gold saith St. Peter 1 Pet. 1.18 which being corruptible things are not Valuable against our immortal and incorruptible Souls But even himself in whom are absconditi Thesauri amassed and hidden all the Treasures of the Wisdom of God and even the whole Riches of his Grace Coll. 2.3 Treasure enough to Redeem a whole World of sinners take it collectively or distributively Singula generum or Genera singulorum this way or that way or which way you will in Christ there is Copiosa Redemptio Plenty and enough for all if they will but accept it take all Mankind singly one by one He gave himself for me saith St. Paul in one place Take them all together in the Lump He gave himself a Ransom for all in another This Redemption is signified by this Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and was most lively and punctually prefigured by the Deliverance of the Children of Israel from Pharoah Pharoah there Representing the Devil and Moses Representing Christ The Israelites were there delivered from the cursed Tyranny of Pharoah We are freed from the Curse of the Law from Blindness from Sin from Corruption which is the Punishment of Sin We are so freed from this Death that we cannot be holden of it From the First We are freed by Christ's Obedience and fulfilling the Law From the Second By the Preaching of the Gospel From the Third By the Donation of Faith and Grace From the last At the day of the Resurrection by God's Almighty Power Christ at his Coming freed us from the Ceremonial Law the Performance whereof was only exacted till Christ was exhibited Eph. 2.14 For he is our Peace which hath made both one and broken the stop of the Partition Wall in Abrogating through his Flesh the Hatred that is the Law of the Commandments which standeth in Ordinances Coll. 2.14 Putting out the Hand-writing of Ordinances which was against us which was contrary to us he even took it out of the way and fastened it upon the Cross They which were under the Law were subject to that Terrible Gurse Pronounced Deut. 27.26 Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the Words of the Law to do them But we are freed from this strict Exactness and Rigour of the Law Gal. 3.23 Christ hath Redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us We are still bound to observe the Moral Law yet if we fail in Performance we are freed from the Rigour and Curse which it imposeth because Christ hath performed the Law in our Names Ye are not under the Law but under Grace Rom. 6.14 What then shall we sin because we are not under the Law but under Grace God forbid Ver. 15. Do we then make the Law of none effect through Faith God forbid Yea we establish the Law Rom. 3. Ver. 3. Libertines they are that under the Pretence of Christian Liberty let loose the Reins to sin when as the Liberty tends to the Peace of Conscience and to encourage us with greater Alacrity to do good Works Those which think themselves tyed to the strictness of the Law are like unto Servants which can do nothing Pleasantly because they know when they have done their Best their good Works will be imperfect But Christians being confident that Christ hath satisfied the Law in their behalf are perswaded that their Obedience will be approved by their indulgent Father and therefore they offer unto him their best Works as a pleasing and acceptable Sacrifice tho' imperfect And thus it behooveth us to do for amidst those Terrours where it is doubted whether God be offended with us or reconciled to us in
the Adoption of his Sons was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the good Pleasure of his Will and according to this Election all the Graces that are bestowed on us are freely wrought in us and derived to us from the Rich Over-flowing Fountain of his Grace The meer Love of God to Mankind is the cause why we are adopted to be his Sons Man miserable and forlorn Wretch had nothing to please God with all but was ashamed to appear before his Sight yet God reflected upon himself and findeth in his own All-sufficiency his glorious Love which he makes the cause of Man's Salvation Christ is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Price of our Redemption the Foundation and meritorious cause of our Salvation But he is not the impulsive or efficient Cause of our Adoption Only the Love of the Father is the Cause thereof God so loved the World that he sent his only Begotten Son Joh. 3.16 It is lawful for him to do with his own what he pleaseth To some he shews himself in Mercy to others in Judgment from both he reaps his own Glory And let no Man reason if Men be saved good Works cannot further them if they be not in the state of Grace bad cannot make them worse for the Ways of the Lord are past finding out and none is his Privy-Counsellor Who dare call God to account It is better by humbling our selves to be conformed then Blasphemously to pry into God's secret Counsels Our Apostle to amplifie God's Favours mentioneth the Riches of his Grace It was favour that he Redeemed us but that he effected this Redemption by the Blood of his only Begotten Son proceeds from the Riches of his Grace For God finding nothing in Man that could move him to compassion but Misery out of his tender Mercy sent his Son to Redeem us I will heal their Rebellion I will love them freely for mine Anger is turned away from Sin And most lovingly He bespeaks us Isay 55.1 Ho! every one that thirsteth Come ye to the Waters and ye that have no Silver Come Buy and Eat Come I say Buy Wine and Meat without Silver and without Money This is his free Grace by which he doth work in us This is the Grace whereby he doth Regenerate us To the Praise of the Glory of his Grace whereby he hath made us freely acceptable in his Beloved Eph. 1.6 Beloved what manner of Men ought we then to be We are grafted and made Members of Christ's Body Shall the Head be Pure and shall the Members remain Unclean We are called out of the Kingdom of Satan into the Kingdom of God out of Darkness into his marvellous Light Let us walk worthy of the Vocation whereunto we are called He hath placed us in a Kingdom He hath made us his Sons and therefore he giveth us his Inheritance not as a Stipend or Reward of mercenary Works but as a free Fatherly Blessing and Benediction Since we are Inheritors of this Kingdom let our own vile Affections be our Servants and let them have no Power over us When God commanded the People Obedience he incited them thereunto by a Preface containing the delivery of them out of Aegypt so that they knowing him to be the Author of Liberty might serve him with greater Alacrity Greater Liberty than we have no Man ever attained unto Let us fashion our selves to be like our Redeemer in all humbleness of Mind and Meekness Long-suffering Supporting one another through Love And after all Conflicts with Errors and Darkness yea with the Prince of Darkness the Devil and his Associates you shall find rest in God yea rest unto your Souls far from Troubles Through this World as through the Wilderness he will bring you to the Heavenly Canaan which floweth with Eternal Bliss and Happiness Whither God of his abundant Mercy bring us for his pretious Death and Passions Sake AMEN FINIS