some temptations wherein the Flesh assaults the Spirit with that violence that Love it self is obliged to call in Fear to its assistance as being more proper to repress its inordinate motions 'T is only in Heaven that perfect Love will consume all concupiscence and cast out fear of Judgment but whilst we are encompast with temptations we must not think under the pretext of a more raised Spirituality that the fear of Hell is either unbecoming or unnecessary 'T is not unworthy a Child of God to employ all the Motives of the Gospel We are commanded to work out our own Salvation with fear and trembling But the opening of Hell to our view is not sufficient alone to make us Holy For the strongest terrors although they restrain from the outward forbidden act yet they do not change the Heart According to that of St. Austin Inaniter se victorem putat esse peccati qui poenae timore non peccat quia etsi non impletur foris negotium malae cupiditatis ipsa tamen cupiditas intus est hostis That is the fear of Punishment can never make us truly victorious over sin because although we do not actually accomplish the desires of the corrupt Will yet the corrupt Will is still an enemy that lives within and is only destroyed by the love of Holiness which allures us by the excellent Reward that is promised to it Besides Fear is a violent Passion to which Nature is repugnant so that although its power is great yet not constant how strong soever the force is by which a stone is thrown upwards yet 't is weakned by degrees and overcome by the natural weight of the Stone whereby it falls to the Centre So the Humane Nature resists Fear and lessens its impetuousness so far that frequently it returns to sensual Lusts. Therefore that the Law of the Spirit may be perfect and stable it must be confirmed by the hopes of Heaven As the Natural so the Spiritual Life must be nourisht by grateful food 't is not preserv'd with Aloes or Worm-wood For this reason our Saviour 2. To encourage and raise our Hopes offers to us a Reward infinitely valuable for as God is Infinite such is the Happiness he bestows on his favourites 'T is described to us in Scripture under the most enamouring representations as a state of Peace and Love of Joy and Glory The Prince of Peace reigns in the Holy Jerusalem that is above and preserves an everlasting serenity and calmness The mutinous Spirits that rebell'd were presently chased from thence into this lower Region where they brought trouble and disorder He maketh Peace in his high Places The Peace of Heaven is like the Chrystal Sea before the Throne of the Lamb which no unquiet agitation ever troubles or disturbs An inviolable Love unites all his Subjects no division or jealousie discomposes their Concord They enjoy without envy for infinite Blessedness is not diminished by the number of the possessours The Inheritance in light is communicated to all Although the Angels are distinguish'd by their several Orders and Ministrations as Seraphims and Cherubims Thrones and Powers yet a Chain of Holy Love binds all their affections together And the Saints although they shine with different degrees of Glory yet as in a Chorus of Musick although the voices are different they make but one intire harmony So Love that ever continues unites their wills in a delightful harmonious Agreement Although there are millions of the Celestial Inhabitants yet they all make but one Society Love mixing in one mass of Light and Glory all their understandings and wills And since all true Joy and Sweetness springs from Love 't is impossible but they must feel unspeakable complacency in the reciprocal exercise of so Holy and Pure an Affection But principally their Joy arises from the possession of God himself by the clearest Knowledg and purest Love of his Excellencies They see him as he is Sight is the most Spiritual and noble Sense that gives the most distinct and evident discovery of its objects The Soul in its exalted state sees the King in his Beauty all the perfections of that infinitely Glorious and Blessed Nature in their brightness and purity And this Sight causes the most ardent Love by which there is an intimate and vital union between the soul and its happiness and from hence springs perfect delight In thy presence is fulness of Joy It expels all evil that would imbitter and lessen our felicity And this is an admirable priviledge for the Humane Nature that is so sensible of trouble All complaints and cries all sighings and sorrows are for ever banisht from Heaven If the Light of the Sun be so pleasant that every morning revives the World and renders it new to us which was buried in the darkness of the night how infinitely pleasant will the Light of Glory be that discovers the absolute and universal Excellency of the Deity the beauty of his Holiness the perfection of his Wisdom the greatness of his Power and the riches of his Mercy How inexpressibly great is the Happiness that proceeds from the illumination of a purified Soul when such is the amiableness of God that his infinite and eternal Felicity arises from the fruition of himself The Joy of Heaven is so full and satisfying that a thousand years there are but as one day Inferiour earthly goods presently lose the flower of novelty and languish in our enjoyment of them Variety is necessary to put an edge upon our appetites and quicken our delights because they are imperfect and fall short of our expectation But the object of our Blessedness is infinitely great and produces the same pure and perfect Joy for ever After the longest fruition it never cloys or satiates but is as fresh and new as the first moment And that which is the peculiar Pleasure of the Redeemed is that they shall be with Christ and see his Glory What a marvellous joy will fill our hearts to see our Blessed Saviour who suffer'd so much for us on Earth to reign in Heaven Here He was in his enemies hands there he hath them under his feet Here He was in the form of a Servant there He appears in the form of God adorn'd with all the marks of Majesty Here He was under the cloud of his Fathers displeasure there He appears as the Brightness of his Glory Here He was ignominiously Crucified there He is crown'd with Immortal Honour Now considering the ardent Affections which the Saints have to their Redeemer the contemplation of him in this glorious state must infinitely ravish their hearts Especially if we consider that the exaltation of Christ is theirs The Members triumph when the Head is crown'd His excellent Glory reflects a lustre upon them and by the sight of it they are chang'd into his Likeness If the imperfect and dim sight of his Divine Vertues in the Gospel hath a power to change Believers into his
world When our Saviour was on the Earth the End of his Sermons as appears in the Gospel was to regulate the lives of Men to correct their vicious Passions rather than to explicate the greatest Mysteries Other Religions oblige their Disciples either to some external actions that have no moral worth in them so that 't is impossible for any one that is guided by Reason to be taken with such vanities Or they require things incommodious and burthensome The Priests of Baal cut themselves And among the Chineses though in great reputation for wisdome their Penitents expose themselves half naked to the injuries of the sharpest Weather with a double cruelty pleasure of the Devil who makes them freez here and expects they should burn for ever 'T is not the most strict observance of serious Trifles nor submitting to rigorous Austerities that ennobles the humane nature and commends us to God The most zealous performers of things indifferent and that chastise themselves with a bloody Discipline labour for nothing and may pass to Hell through Purgatory But the Religion of Christ reforms the Understanding and Will and all the actions depending on them It chases away Errour and Vice and Hatred and sheds abroad Light and Love Purity and Peace and forms on Earth a lively representation of that pure Society that is in Heaven The End of it is to render men like the Angels in Holiness that they may be so in Blessedness This will render it amiable to all that consider it without Passion And 't is worthy of observation that although many Heathens and Hereticks have contradicted other parts of the Christian Religion yet none have dar'd openly to condemn the Moral part of it The Effect of the Gospel hath been answerable to the Design One main difference between the old and new Law is that the old gave the knowledg of Rules without power to observe them the new that is attended with the Grace of Christ enables us by a holy Love to perform that which the other made men only to understand Of this we have the most sensible Evidence in the Primitive Church that was produc'd by the first beams of the Sun of Righteousness had received the first fruits of the Spirit What is more wonderful and worthy of God than that perfect Love which made all the first Believers to have one Heart and one Soul What greater contempt of the World can be imagined than the voluntary parting with all their Goods in consecrating them to God for the relief of the Poor And the Churches of the Gentiles while the Blood of Christ was warm and His Actions fresh in the memories of men were exemplary in Holiness They were as Stars shining in a perverse generation There was such a brightness in their Conversations that it pierc'd through the darkness of Paganisme and made a visible difference between them and all others Their words and actions were so full of zeal for the Glory of God of Chastity Temperance Justice Charity that the Heathens from the Holiness of their lives concluded the Holiness of their Law and that the Doctrine that produc'd such fruits could not be evil The first light that discovered the Truth of the Christian Faith to many was from the Graces and Vertues that appear'd in the Faithful The Purity of their Lives their Courage in Death were as powerful to convert the World as their Sermons Disputations and Miracles And those who were under such strong prejudices that they would not examine the Doctrine of the Gospel yet they could not but admire the Integrity and Innocency that was visible in the conversation of Christians They esteemâ—d their persons from the good qualities that were visible in them when they hated the Christian name for the conceal'd evil they unreasonably suspected to be under it This Tertullian excellently represents in his Apology The most part are so prejudic'd against the Name and are possest with such a blind hatred to it that they make it a matter of reproach even to those whom they otherwise esteem'd Caius they say is a good man he hath no fault but that he is a Christian. Thus the excellent Holiness of the Professors of the Gospel forc'd a veneration from their Enemies But we are fallen from Heaven and mixt with the dust Our conversation hath nothing singular in Holiness to distinguish us from the World The same corrupt Passions reign in Professors of Christianity as in those who are strangers from the Sacred Covenant If we compare our selves with the Primitive Church we must confess our unworthiness to be call'd their successors Sixteen hundred years are run out since the Son of God came down to sanctifie and save the World which are so many degrees whereby we are descended from the first Perfection We are more distant from them in Holiness than in Time So universal and great is the Corruption that 't is almost as difficult to revive the dying Faith of Christians and to reform their Lives according to the purity of their Profession as the Conversion of the World was from Heathenism to Christianity 'T is true In every Age there are some Examples of the Vertue of the Gospel that reflect an honour upon it And this last Age which we may call the Winter of the World in which the Holy Spirit hath foretold That the love of many shall grow cold by a marvellous Antiperistasis hath inflam'd the hearts of some excellent Saints towards God and Religion But the great number of the wicked and the progress of Sin in their Lives there is no measure of Tears sufficient to lament Fourthly I shall press Christians to walk as becomes the Gospel of Christ answerably to the Holiness and Purity of that Divine Institution and to those great and strict Obligations it laies upon us The Gospel requires an entire Holiness in all our Faculties an equal respect to all our Duties We are commanded to cleanse our selves from all pollutions of flesh and spirit to be holy in all manner of conversation We are enjoin'd To be perfecting Holiness in the fear of God To be holy as He that hath called us is Holy A certain measure of Faith and Love and Obedience a mediocrity in Vertue we must not content our selves with 'T is not a counsel of Perfection given only to some Christians of a peculiar order and elevation But the command of a Law that without exception binds all Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect The Gospel gives no Dispensation to any Person nor in any Duty The Doctrine that asserts there are some excellent works to which the lower sort of Christians is not obliged is equally pernicious both to those who do them by Presumption as if they were not due and were therefore meritorious and to those who neglect them by a blind Security as if they might be saved without striving to reach the highest degrees of Obedience 'T is a weak pretence that because the
'T is the worst impiety for the Sinner to think God like himself as if he took complacency in sin because he is silent for a time and suffers the commission of it In the next state he will fully vindicate his Glory and convince the whole World of his eternal aversation from sin by inflicting on sinners the most dreadful and durable torments 4. The goodness of God is not disparag'd by permitting the fall This appears by considering 1. That God bestowed on Man an excellent being and a happiness that might satisfie his nature consider'd as humane or holy But he perverted the favours of God to his dishonour and this doth not lessen the goodness that gave them 'T is unreasonable to judg of the value of a Benefit by the ingrateful abuse of the receiver and not from its own nature 'T is a chosen Misery that is come upon Man and not to be imputed to any defect of the Divine Goodness 2. God is infinitely Good notwithstanding the entrance of Sin and Misery into the World We must distinguish between natural and voluntary agents Natural agents have no power to suspend their acts but are entirely determin'd and their Operations are ad extremum virium to the utmost of their efficacy If there were infinite degrees of Heat there would be no Cold it being overcome by the force of its contrary But God is a wise and free Agent and as he is Infinite in Goodness so the exercise of it is voluntary and only so far as he pleases 3. God is an omnipotent Good and 't is his peculiar glory to bring Good out of Evil that by the opposition and lustre of Contraries his Goodness might be the more conspicuous To speak strictly Sin is the only evil in the world for all the rest which appear so to our fancies and appetites are either absolutely good or upon the supposal of Sin viz. either for the reformation of Sinners or for the ruine of the Obstinate Now the Evil of Sin God permitted as a fit oâ—casion for the more glorious discovery of his Attributes in sending his Son into the world to repair his Image which was defac'd and to raise Man from an Earthly to Celestial Happiness I shall conclude with the excellent Answer of St. Austin to the adversary of the Law and the Prophets Quibus autem videter sic hominem fieri debuisse ut peccare nollet non eis displiceat sic esse factum ut non peccare posset si nollet Nunquid enim si melior esset qui noâ— posset peccare ideo non benefactus est qui posset non peccare An vero usque adeo dâ—sâ—ipiendum est ut homo videat melius aliquid fieri debuisse hoc Deum vidisse non putet Aut putet vidisse credat facere noluisse Aut voluisse quidem minime potuisse Avertat hoc Deus a Cordibus piorum The substance of which is that 't is an impious folly to imagine that God was either defective in wisdom not to know what was the best state for man in his Creation or defective in goodness that knowing it he would not confer it upon him or defective in power that willing he was unable to make him better There is another Objection vehemently urg'd that the imputation of Adam's sin to all his posterity who were not existent at that time and did not give their personal consent to the treaty between God and him is inconsistent with Justice To this I answer 1. The terms of the first Covenant are such that the common Reason of Mankind cannot justly refuse For suppose all the Progeny of Adam had appear'd with him before their Creator and this had been propounded that God would make an agreement with their common father on their behalf That if he continued in his Obedience they should enjoy a happy Immortality if he declin'd from it they should be depriv'd of Blessedness What shadow of exception can be form'd against this proposal For God who is the Master of his own favours and gives them upon what terms he pleases might upon their refusal have justly annihilated them The Command was equal and his Obedience for all was as easie as that of every particular person for himself Besides Adam was as much concern'd to observe the Conditions of the Covenant for securing his own interest as theirs and after a short time of trial they should be confirm'd in their Blessedness By all which 't is apparent how reasonable the conditions of the original Agreement between God and Man are 2. God hath a power over our Wills superiour to that we our selves have If God offers a Covenant to the Creature the terms being equal it becomes a Law and consent is due as an act of Obedience And if a Community may appoint one of their number to be their Representative to transact affairs of the greatest moment and according to his management the benefit or damage shall accrue to them may not God who hath a supreme dominion over us constitute Adam the Representative of Mankind and unite the consent of all in his general Will so that as he fulfilled or neglected his Duty they should be happy or miserable This Consideration alone that the First Covenant was order'd by God may perfectly satisfie all enquiries As Salvian having confest his Ignorance of the reasons of some dispositions of Providence silences all Objections with this Nihil in hac re opus est aliqiud audire satis sit pro universis rationibus Author Deus Neither is this a meer extrinsick Argument as Authority usually is because there is an intrinsick reason of this Authority the absolute Rectitude and Justice of Gods nature Who is righteous in all his waies and holy in all his works CHAP. IV. The impossibility of Mans Recovery by his Natural Power He cannot regain his Primitive Holiness The Understanding and Will the superiour Faculties are deprav'd The Mind is ignorant and insensible of our Corruption The Will is more deprav'd than the Mind It embraces only Sensual Good Carnal Objects are wounding to the Conscience and unsatisfying to the Affections yet the Will eagerly pursues them The moral Impotence that ariseth from a perverse Disposition of the Will is culpable Neither the Beauty nor the Reward of Holiness can prevail upon the unrenewed Will Guilty Man cannot recover the Favour of God He is unable to make Satisfaction to Justice He is incapable of real Repentance which might qualifie him for Pardon WHen Adam was expell'd from Paradise the entrance was guarded by a flaming Sword to signifie That all hopes of Return by the way of Nature are cut off for ever He lost his Right and could not recover it by Power The chiefest ornaments of Paradise are the Image and Favour of God of which he is justly depriv'd and there is no possibility for him to regain them What can he expect from his own Reason that betrayed him to ruin
If it did not support him when he stood how can it raise him when he is fallen If there were a power in lapsed Man to restore himself it would exceed the original Power he had to will and obey It being infinitely more difficult for a dead man to rise than for a living man to put forth vital Actions For the clearer opening of this Poinâ— concerning Mans absolute Disability to recover his Primitive State I will distinctly consider it with respect to the Image and Favour of God upon which his Blessedness depends 1. He cannot recover his Primitive Holiness This will appear by considering that whatsoever is corrupted in its noble parts can never restore it self the power of an external agent is requisite for the recovering of its Integrity This is verified by innumerable instances in things artificial and natural If a Clock be disorder'd by a fall the Workman must mend it before it can be useful If Wine that is rich and generous declines by the loss of spirits it can never be revived without a new supply In the humane Body where there is a more noblâ— form and more powerful to redress any evil that may happen to the parts if a Gangrene seize on any Member nothing can resist its course but the application of outward means it cannot be cured by the internal principles of its constitution And proportionably in moral Agents when the Faculties which are the principles of action are corrupted it is impossible without the virtue of a Divine cause they should ever be restor'd to their original Rectitude As the Image of God was at first imprinted on the Humane Nature by Creation so the renewed Image is wrought in him by the same creating Power This will be more evident by considering that inward and deep depravation of the Understanding and Will the two Superiour Faculties which command the rest 1. The Understanding hath lost the right apprehension of things As Sin began in the darkness of the Mind so one of its worst effects is the encreasing that Darkness which can only be dispell'd by a supernatural Light Now what the Eye is to the Body that is the Mind for the directing the Will and conducting the Life And if the light that is in us be darkness how great is that darkness How irregular and dangerous must our motions be Not only the lower part of the Soul is under a dreadful disorder but the Spirit of the mind the divinest part is depraved with Ignorance and Error The Light of Reason is not pure But as the Sun when with its beams it sends down pestilential Influences and corrupts the Air in the enlightning it so the carnal Mind corrupts the whole Man by representing good as evil and evil as good The Wisdome of the flesh is enmity against God And the Apostle describes the state of the Gentile World That their understandings were darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their hearts The corruption of their Manners proceeded from their Minds For all Vertues are directed by Reason in their Exercise so that if the Understanding be darken'd all vertuous Operations cease Besides corrupt Man being without Light and Life can neither discern nor feel his Misery The carnal Mind is insensible of its Infirmity ignorant of its Ignorance and suffers under the incurable extremes of being blind and imagining that 't is very clear-sighted More particularly the Reasons why the carnal Mind hath not a due sense of sinful Corruption are 1. Because 't is natural and cleaves to the principles of our being from the Birth and Conception and natural things do not affect us 2. 'T is confirm'd by Custome which is a second Nature and hath a strange power to stupifie Conscience and render it insensible As the Historian observed concerning the Roman Soldiers that by constant use their Arms were no more a burthen to them than their natural Members 3. In the transition from the Infant state 〈◊〉 the age of discerning Man is incapable of observing his native Corruption since at first he acts evilly and is in constant conversation with Sinners who bring Vice into his acquaintance and by making it familiar lessen the horrour and aversation from it Besides those corrupt and numerous examples wherewith he is encompast call forth his sinful inclinations which as they are heightened by repeated acts and become more strong and obstinate so less sensible to him And by this we may understand how irrecoverable Man is by his own Reason The first step to our Cure is begun in the knowledge of our Disease and this discovery is made by the Understanding when 't is seeing and vigilant not when 't is blind A Disease in the Body is perceived by the Mind but when the Soul is the affected part and the rectitude of Reason is lost there is no remaining principle to give notice of it And as that Disease is most dangerous which strikes at the Life and is without Pain for Pain is not the chief evil but supposes it 't is the spur of Nature urging us to seek for Cure So the corruption of the Understanding is very fatal to Man for although he labours under many pernicious Lusts which in the issue will prove deadly yet he is insensible of them and from thence folâ—â—â—s a Carelesness and Contempt of the means for his Recovery 2. The Corruption of the Will is more incurable than that of the Mind For 't is full not only of Impotence but contrariety to what is spiritually good There are some weak strictures of Truth in lapsed Man but they dye in the Brain and are powerless and ineffectual as to the Will which rushes into the embraces of worldly Objects This the universal Experience of Mankind since the Fall doth evidently prove and the account of it is in the following Considerations 1. There is a strong inclination in Man to Happiness This desire is born and brought up with him and is common to all that partake of the reasonable Nature From the Prince to the poorest wretch from the most knowing to the meanest in understanding every one desires to be happy As the great flames and the little sparks of fire all naturally ascend to their sphere 2. The constituting of any thing to be our Happiness is the first and universal Maxime from whence all moral consequences are deriv'd 'T is the rule of our Desires and the end of our actions As in natural things the principles of their production operate according to their quality so in moral things the end is as powerful to form the Soul for its Operations in order to it Therefore as all desire to be happy so they apply themselves to those means which appear to be convenient for the obtaining of it 3. Every one frames a Happiness according to his temper The apprehensions of it are answerable to the dispositions of the
entered into the heart of man to conceive Now the carnal Man is only affected with gross and corporeal things The certainty immensity and immortality of the Heavenly Reward doth not prevail with him to seek after it He hath no palate for Spiritual Pleasures 't is vitiated by luscious Vanities and can't rellish rational and refined Joys 'Till the temper of the Soul be altered the bread of Angels is distastful to it For the Appetite is according to the disposition of the Stomack and when that is corrupted it longs for things hurtful and rejects wholsome food If a carnal Man were translated to Heaven where the Love of God reigns and where the brightest and sweetest discoveries of his Glory appear he would not find Paradise in Heaven it self For Delight arises not meerly from the excellency of the object but from the proportionableness to the Faculty Though God is an infinite Good in himself yet if he is not conceiv'd as the Supreme Good to Man he cannot make him happy Suppose some slight Convictions to be in the Mind that Happiness consists in the enjoyment of God yet this being offerâ—d upon the terms of quitting all sensual Lusts the carnal Man esteems the condition impossible and therefore is discourag'd from using any endeavours to obtain it For to excite Hope 't is not sufficient to propose a Reward that is real and excellent but that is attainable For although Hope hath its tendency to a difficult Good as its proper object and the difficulty is so far from discouraging that it quickens the Soul and draws forth all the active Powers by rendering it greater in our esteem yet when the difficulty is excessive and confines upon impossibility it dejects the Soul and enclines it to despair Thus when the condition of obtaining some good is necessary but insufferable it takes off from all endeavours in order to it To consider it in a temporal Case will make it more clear As one that labours under a Dropsie and is vext with an intollerable and insatiable thirst if a Physician should assure him of Cure upon condition he would abstain from drinking he could not conceive any real hope of being healed judging it impossible to resist the importunity of his drought he therefore neglects the means he drinks and dies Thus the corrupt Heart of Man that is under a perpetual thirst of carnal Pleasures and is more inflamed by the satisfaction it receives judges it an insuperable condition to part with them for the acquiring of spiritual Happiness And this sensual and sottish Despair causes a total neglect of the means 'T is thus expâ—est by the Israelites when God commanded them to return from the evil of their waies in order to their Happiness and they said There is no hope but we will walk after our own devices and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart They were Slaves to their domineering Appetites and resolved to make no trial about that they judg'd impossible Briefly In faln Man there is somthing predominant which he values above the favour and fruition of God and that is the World As in the Parable where Happiness is set forâ—h under the familiar representation of a Feast those who were invited to it excuse themselves by such reasons as clearly discover that some amiable Lust charm'd them so strongly that in the competition 't was prefer'd before Heaven One saith I have bought a piece of ground and I must needs go see it and another I have bought a yoke of oxen and must go to prove them and a third I have married a wife and cannot come The objects of their Passions are different but they all produce the same effect they reject Happiness The sum of all is That as Man fell from his Obedience and lost the Image of God by seeking Perfection and Satisfaction that is Happiness in the creature so he can never return to his Obedience and acknowledg God as his Supreme Lord till he chooses him for his Happiness And this he can never entirely do till he is born again and hath a new principle of Life that may change the complexion of the Soul and qualifie it for those delights which are sublime and spiritual Secondly Faln Man can never recover the Favour of God And this is evident upon a double account 1. He is not able to make satisfaction to Gods Justice for the dishonour brought to him 2. He is incapable of real Repentance which might qualifie him for Pardon First He is unable to satisfie Justice for his offence either by exact obedience for the future or by enduring the punishment that is due to Sin 1. Supposing that Man could perform exact Obedience after his Fall yet that could not be satisfaction 'T is essential to Satisfaction that the action by which 't is made be in the power of the person that satisfies A Servant as a Servant cannot make satisfaction for an injury done to his Lord for whatsoever service he performs was due before the offence and is not properly a restitution because 't is not of his own Now the compleat Obedience of the Creature is due to God He is the Lord of all our Actions and whatever Man doth is but the payment of the original Debt The Law requires a perpetual reverence of the Law-giver and express Obedience to his Will in all things So that 't is impossible that the highest respect to it afterwards should compensate for the least violation of it Besides To make Satisfaction for a Fault 't is necessary the Offender do some voluntary act that may be as honourable to the person and as much above what he was before obliged to as the contempt was dishonourable and below that which was due Unless God receive that which is as estimable in the nature of Obedience as the injury he received is in the nature of Contempt there can be no Satisfaction Now there is a greater dishonour brought to God by the commission of one Sin than there is honour by the perfect Obedience of all the Angels For in their Obedience God is preferr'd by the Creature before things infinitely beneath him which is but a small honour but by one Sin he is disvalued in the comparison which is infinite Contempt 2. Man cannot make satisfaction by Suffering For the Punishment must be equal to the Offence which derives its guilt from the dignity of the Person offended and the indignity of the offender Now God is the Universal King his Justice is Infinite which Man hath injur'd and his Glory which Man hath obscur'd and Man is finite And what proportion is there between finite and infinite How can a worthless Rebel that is hateful to God expiate the offence of so excellent a Majesty If he sacrifice himself he can never appease the Divine Displeasure for what doth he offer but a lump of Rebellion and Ingratitude He can make no other Satisfaction but that of the Devils which continues
David with respect to Solomon If he commit Iniquity I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the childaen of men that is Chastise him moderately For in the stile of the Scripture as things are magnified by the Epithet Divine or of God as the Cedars of God that is very tall And Nineve is called The City of God that is very great So to signifie things that are in a mediocrity the Scripture uses the Epithet humane or of Men And according to the Rule of Opposition the Rod of God is an extraordinary Affliction which destroys the Sinner 't is such a Punishment as a man can neither inflict nor endure But the Rod of Men is a moderate Correction that doth not exceed the strength of the Patient But every purely vindictive Punishment which the Law pronounces is in proportion to the nature of the Crime not the strength of the Criminal 3. They are distinguisht by the intention and end of God in inflicting them 1. In Chastisements God primarily designs the Profit of his People That they may be partakers of his Holiness When they are secure and carnal He awakens Conscience by the sharp voice of the Rod to reflect upon Sin to make them observant for the future to render their Affections more indifferent to the World and stronger towards Heaven The Apostle expresses the nature of Chastisements When we are judged we are instructed by the Lord They are more lively Lessons than those which are by the Word alone and make a deeper impression upon the heart David acknowledges Before he was afflicted he went astray but now have I kept thy words Corrupt Nature makes Gods Favours pernicious but his Grace makes our Punishments profitable Briefly They are not satisfactions for what is past but admonitions for the time to come But purely vindictive Judgments are not inflicted for the reformation of an Offender but to preserve the honour of the Sovereign and Publick Order and to make compensation for the breach of the Law If any advantage accrue to the Offender 't is accidental and besides the intention of the Judg. 2. The end of chastisements upon Believers is to prevent their final destruction When we are Judged we are Chastened of the Lord that we may not be condemned with the World And this sweetens and allays all their Sufferings As the Psalmist declares Let the Righteous smite me and it shall be a kindness let him reprove me it shall be an excellent oile which shall not break my head But the Vindictive Punishment of a Malefactor is not to prevent his condemnation for Death is sometimes the Sentence In this respect the temporal evils that befal the Wicked and the Godly though materially the same yet legally differ For to the Wicked they are as so many earnests of the compleat payment they shall make to Justice in another World the beginnings of Eternal Sorrows but to the Godly they are in order to their Salvation They are as the Red-Sea through which the Israelites past to the Land of Promise but the Egyptians were drowned in it Briefly their Sufferings differ as much in their issue as the Kingdoms of Heaven and of Hell 2. That Death remains to Believers doth not lessen the perfection of Christs Satisfaction 'T is true considered absolutely 't is the revenge of the Law for sin and the greatest temporal evil so that it may seem strange that those who are Redeemed by an Alsufficient ransom should pay this Tribute to the King of Terrors But the nature of it is changed 't is a Curse to the wicked inflicted for Satisfaction to Justice but a Priviledge to Believers As God appointing the Rainbow to be the Sign of his Covenant that he would drown the World no more ordain'd the same Waters to be the token of his Mercy which were the instrument of his Justice Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. And the Psalmist tells us that precious in the sight of the Lord is the Death of his Saints Christ hath taken away what is truly destructive in it 'T is continued for their advantage 1. Corruption hath so depraved the sensitive appetite that during our natural state we are not intirely freed from it but Death that destroyes the natural frame of the Body puts an end to sin And in this respect there is a great difference between the Death of Christ and of Believers the end of his was to remove the guilt of sin of theirs to extinguish the reliques of it 2. 'T is a delivery from Temporal evils and an entrance into Glory Death and Despair seize on the Wicked at once but the Righteous hath hope in his Death 3. The Grave shall give up its spoils at the last It retains the Body for a time not to destroy but purifie it Our Saviour tells us that whoever believes on him shall not see death for he will raise them up at the last day He that dies a Man shall revive an Angel cloathed with Light and Immortality I will conclude this argument with the words of St. Austin Ablato criminis nexu relicta est mors Nunc vero majore mirabiliore gratia Salvatoris in usus justitiae peccati poena est conversa tum enim dictum est Homini morieris si peccaveris nunc dictum est Martyri morere ne pecces Et sic per ineffabilem Dei misericordiam ipsa poena vitiorum transit in arma virtutis fit justi meritum etiam supplicium peccatoris Although the Guilt of Sin is removed yet death remains But by the admirable Grace of the Redeemer the punishment of sin is made an advantage to Holiness The Law threatned Man with Death if he sinned the Gospel commands a Martyr to die that he may not sin And thus by the unspeakable Mercy of God the punishment of Vice becomes the security of Virtue and that which was revenged upon the sinner gives to the Righteous a title to a glorious reward CHAP. XV. Inferences In the Death of Christ there is the clearest discovery of the evil of sin The strictness of divine Justice is most visible in it The consideration of the ends of Christs Death takes off the scandal of the Cross and changes the offence into admiration The Satisfaction of Justice by Christs Sufferings affords the strongest assurance that God is ready to pardon sinners The absolute necessity of complying with the terms of the Gospel for Justification There are but two wayes of appearing before the supreme Judge either in Innocence or by the Righteousness of Christ The Causes why men reject Christ are a legal temper that is natural to them and the predominant love of sin The unavoidable misery of all that will not submit to our Saviour 1. FRom hence we may discover most clearly the evil of Sin which no Sacrifice could expiate but the Blood of the Son of God 'T is true the