cast an aspiring glance after them Upon the whole matter we see this first Obstacle is such as no creature in Heaven and Earth was able to remove out of the way 2. Ex parte creaturae the impossibility is apparent may we look up to Heaven There seems to be a division above a kind of variance among the divine Attributes On the one hand Mercy that tender indulgent Attribute seems to melt and cry out over fallen man What! shall man made after the divine Image a poor seduced creature shall he nay his whole race Eternally perish shall I have never a Monument among the sons of men nay nor in the whole Creation shall nothing of the humane nature serve God or enjoy him On the other Justice pleaded That every one must have his due the wages of sin is death the Majesty of Heaven must not be offended nor his sacred Law violated without a just recompence Holiness which cannot but abhor sin could do no less than stand on the same side Truth remembred that that threatning moriendo morieris Thou shalt surely die was too sacred a thing to be made nothing of some way or other it ought to be satisfied Thus the Attributes themselves seem to be at a distance 3. Could a Ransom be found out to the content of Justice how should man depraved polluted man be made capable of receiving such a benefit who should unscale his eyes that he might look upon such a mystery who should break his iron-sinewed will that he might yield to such terms as Salvation was to be given upon It is certain that blind impenitent creatures cannot enter into Heaven before they can arrive thither their eyes must be opened upon the great Offer their hearts must be dissolved into the divine Will and how this shall come to pass is another difficulty Now after the difficulties let us see the admirable solution of them when all finite understandings were posed and nonplust at the case of fal'n man when neither men nor Angels could so much as start a thought touching a remedy infinite Wisdom found out a way of Salvation for us The incomparable contrivance was thus A creature a finite person could not satisfie Justice but an infinite one shall do it There are three persons in the sacred Trinity but the Son of God shall do it He shall assume an humane nature in it He shall obey and die upon a Cross and thereby he shall satisfie divine Justice and purchase Grace and Eternal life for us That the Son should do it rather than any other person was very congruous many ways Gods beloved One was fit to reconcile us his essential Image was fit to repair the gracious one none could be more meet to usher in Adoption than Gods natural Son nor to enlighten the World than the brightness of his glory the Eternal Word Incarnate must needs be an excellent Prophet the middle person in the sacred Trinity a most congruous Mediator The blessed Father shewed forth himself in a former work in Creation the holy Spirit appears in a subsequent work in Sanctification it was therefore very meet that the Son the second person in the Trinity should manifest himself in the middle work in Redemption But that we may look a little further into this admirable Design it will not be amiss to fix our eyes upon those rare Conjunctions which the divine Wisdom hath framed in order to our Salvation 1. There is a Conjunction of Natures God and Man in one person Jesus Christ who was consubstantial with the Father as to his Divinity was made consubstantial with us as to his Humanity Heaven and Earth were united together in an ineffable manner the distance between God and man was as it were filled up in this wonderful Incarnation supremum insimi did attingere infimum supremi the creature came as near God as possibly could be Admirable are the tendencies of this Union He was Man that he might be capable of suffering and that by suffering he might satisfie in the same Nature which had sinned He was God that he might stamp such an infinite value upon his sufferings that those though but the sufferings of one might answer for a World and though but temporal sufferings might counterpoise Eternal He was Man that in condescension to our weakness he might speak to us through a vail of flesh He was God that he might speak to our hearts in divine illuminations in words of life and power He was Man that he might be touch'd with a feeling of our infirmities and melt into tender compassions towards us He was God that he might break all the powers of darkness and erect an holy Throne in our hearts This was the first fundamental Conjunction a thing worthy to attract from us a much higher admiration than what is due to the Wonders in Nature 2. There is a Conjunction of Justice and Mercy These in men do usually like the Sun and Moon reign by turns but in this wonderful Dispensation these are in exercise and glory both at once Justice appears in that Jesus Christ our Sponsor was smitten and wounded to death and that an accursed one for our sins Mercy shines forth in that Sinners repenting and believing are spared nay and advanced to glory Justice did not spare the Surety but exacted all Mercy doth not exact ought from the believer but forgive all The sufferings of Christ respect both Attributes they satisfied the Law and founded the Gospel Justice had a full compensation and Mercy sprung up in promises of Grace and Life 3. Holiness in God which hates sin is the fundamental root of that Justice which punisheth it Punishment issues out of Justice Justice springs out of Holiness Now that Holiness may be contented and so Justice satisfied not only in it self but in its very foundation there was in Christs Sufferings a Conjunction of punishment and obedience It 's true the Socinians think these two altogether inconsistent Si Christi passiones rationem obedientia habent rationem poenae habere non possunt obedientia enim virtus est poena autem propter inobedientiam infligitur Schlict contr Meisn 128. because obedience is a Virtue but punishment is inflicted for disobedience But in Scripture the thing is clear there was a virtuous action in his Passion a signal obedience in his Sufferings he poured out his soul he was obedient unto death Pure entire obedience run through his whole life to the last gasp upon the Cross it was not at all broken or interrupted by the bloody Agony nor lost or forsaken in that night of desertion when he cryed out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me His Sufferings were very penal in themselves and inflicted by Justice yet freely undertaken and obedientially undergone Here therefore was an admirable work of Wisdom his Sufferings as penal satisfied Justice and as obediential gratified Holiness 4. The Truth of God was concerned in that first Threatning Thou shalt surely
conjunction p. 329 330. The conjunctions between Christ and us p. 331 to 334. How Christs Righteousness is imputed to us p. 335 to 337. That it is not only the Meritorious but Material cause of our Justification 338. This is proved from that phrase The Righteousness of God ib. 339 340. From the nature of Justification p. 341 to 343. From the parallel of the two Adams 344 to 351. From other phrases in Scripture 351 to 357. From a pardon as not being the same with Justification 357 to 364. From Christs suffering in our stead 364 365. The Objections against imputed Righteousness answered 365 to 374. What justifies us as to the Gospel-terms 374 c. The necessity and connexion of a twofold Righteousness 375 to 381. How we are justified by Faith 381 382. How Good works are necessary 382 to 387. A short conclusion 387 388 c. CHAP. XII Touching an Holy Life 390 to 392. It is not from principles of Nature 393 394. It is the fruit of a renewed regenerated heart 395 to 401. It issues out of faith and love 401 to 407. It proceeds out of a pure intention towards the will and glory of God 407 to 414. It is humble and dependent upon the influences of Grace 414 to 421. It requires a sincere mortification of sin without any salvo or exception 421 to 427. It stands in an exercise of all Graces 427 428. It makes a man holy in ordinances alms prosperity adversity contracts calling 428 to 441. There is such an exercise of graces as causeth them to grow 441 to 447. The conclusion of the Chapter 447 to 449. CHAP. I. Chap 1 A short View of Gods All-sufficiency and condescension in revealing himself The various ways of Manifestation In the making of the World and Man After the fall in the moral Law and in types and shadows Lastly and above all in and by Jesus Christ GOD All-sufficient must needs be his own happiness he hath his Being from himself and his happiness is no other than his being radiant with all Excellencies and by intellectual and amatorious reflexions turning back into the fruition of it self His Understanding hath prospect enough in his own infinite Perfections his Will hath rest enough in his own infinite Goodness he needed not the pleasure of a World who hath an eternal Son in his bosom to joy in nor the breath of Angels or men who hath an eternal Spirit of his own he is the Great All comprizing all within himself nay unless he were so he could not be God Had he let out no beams of his glory or made no intelligent creatures to gather up and return them back to himself his happiness would have suffered no eclipse or diminution at all his Power would have been the same if it had folded up all the possible Worlds within its own arms and poured forth never an one into being to be a monument of it self His Wisdom the same if it had kept in all the orders and infinite harmonies lying in its bosom and set forth no such series and curious contexture of things as now are before our eyes His Goodness might have kept an eternal Sabbath in it self and never have come forth in those drops and models of Being which make up the Creation His Eternity stood not in need of any such thing as time or a succession of instants to measure its duration nor his Immensity of any such Temple as Heaven and Earth to dwell in and fill with his presence His Holiness wanted not such pictures of it self as are in Laws or Saints nor his Grace such a channel to run in as Covenants or Promises His Majesty would have made no abatement if it had had no train or host of creatures to wait upon it or no rational ones among them such as Angels and men to sound forth its praises in the upper or lower World Creature-praises though in the highest tune of Angels are but as silence to him as that Text may be read Psalm 65.1 Were he to be served according to his Greatness all the men in the World would not be enough to make a Priest nor all the other creatures enough to make a Sacrifice fit for him Is it any pleasure to him that thou art righteous saith Eliphaz Job 22.3 No doubt he takes pleasure in our righteousness but the complacence is without indigence and while he likes it he wants it not That such an infinite All-sufficient One should manifest himself must needs be an act of admirable supereffluent Goodness such as indeed could not be done without stooping down below his own Infinity that he might gratifie our weakness Those two Hebrew words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which imports flesh or weakness and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is to annunciate and declare good tidings are of a neer affinity In the mysterie of the Incarnation God came down into our flesh and in every other manifestation of himself he comes down as it were into the weakness of creatures or notions that we who cannot hear or understand the eternal Word in it self or enter the Light inaccessible might see him in reflexes and finite glasses such as we are able to bear Every manifestation imports condescension The World as fair and goodly a structure as it is is but instar puncti aut nihili like a little drop or small dust to him Creature-reason though a divine particle and more glorious than the Sun it self is but a little spark for the Infinite Light to shew himself in No words no not those in the purest Laws and richest Promises are able to reach him who as an Ancient hath it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Essence Goodness Wisdom all in hyperbole in a transcendent excess above words or notions His Name is above every name nevertheless he humbles himself to appear to our minds in a Scripture-image nay to our very senses in the body of Nature that we might clasp the arms of Faith and Love about the holy beams and in their light and warmth ascend up to their great Original the Father of Lights and Mercies God hath manifested himself many ways He set up the material World that he though an invisible Spirit might render himself visible therein all the hosts of Creatures wear his colours Sensible things say the Platonists are but the types and resemblances of spiritual which are the primitive and archetypal Beings Every thing here below say the Jewish Cabalists hath some root above and all Worlds have the print and seal of God upon them Eternity shadows forth it self in time infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness pourtray out themselves upon finite things in such legible characters that as soon as we open our eyes upon them we see innumerable creatures pointing to the Creator and teaching that Wisdom which Archytas the Philosopher placed in the reduction of all things to one great Original Almighty Power hath printed it self upon the World nay upon every little particle of it
Creator that a finite good should run and do homage to an Infinite one nothing can be more absurd and inordinate than this That a Creature should be a center to it self or should be loved or enjoyed for it self or that God the most excellent Being should be made but a Medium or should be loved or used for some other thing This is practically to blaspheme and say God is not God there is something better than he to be loved and enjoyed for it self When the Angels would stay at home and frui seipsis enjoy themselves they became Devils and lost all their glory in a moment All things therefore must be referred unto God his Glory must be the supream End to this Angels fly with Eagles wings to this holy Men walk to this irrational Creatures by a secret Instinct are carried to this Devils Will they nill they must be drawn this is the great End of all things for a rational Creature not to aim at this is against Nature and Reason the want of this made an essential defect in the Moral Vertues of the Pagans here they fall short They did not in them aim at the glory of God This appears in divers things they at the best made Vertue but pretium sui the Reward of it self for the honesty which was in it But they looked no further to the glory of God as they ought they looked on themselves as the chief object of their Love and so this Love never ascended to God they boasted and gloried in their Vertues as meerly their own and never saw any center but themselves they did not therefore aim at the glory of God in them Hence St. Austin who pronounces them no true Vertues saith That true Vertues are to be discerned Contr. Jul. l. 4. non officiis sed finibus not by the Work it self but by the end and that their Vertues were good only in officio in the work done not in fine in a right end And that not only the Epicureans who would taste of Carnal Pleasures Aug. de Verb. Apost Serm. 13. But the Stoicks who would set up Right Reason did live after the Flesh their Vertues were referred to themselves and that was corrupt Flesh they were no longer Vertues but pieces of Pride and Presumption Virtutes saith the same Author De Civ Dei l. 19. c. 25. cum ad seipsas referuntur inflatae superbae sunt Vertues if referred to themselves are proud and blown up with their own excellency Julianus the Pelagian Aust contr Jul. l. 4. c. 3. was so far convinced of this that he said They were steriliter boni because they acted not for God their Vertues would do them no good in another World in all reason those Vertues which are not referred to God as the ultimate End cannot possibly have any thing of Holiness in them They cannot be holy without a consecration to God and that cannot be without a pure Intention towards his glory It is not therefore enough for an holy Life to have Moral Vertues but we must search our Hearts and see what our end is what forms are in Naturals that the end is in Morals As the Man thinketh so is he Prov. 23.7 Mens cujusque id est quisque The Man is as his Mind is and his Mind is as his End is though the End be extrinsecal to the Act in genere entis yet it is essential to it in genere moris the Act cannot be holy unless the end be so Hence the Apostle tells us That whatsoever we do all must be done to the Glory of God 1 Cor. 10.31 The Jewish Rabbins say the same That whatever we do must be done in Nomine Dei in the Name of God an Act not dedicated to that great End is cut off and separate from its center And upon that account it is not holy but common and profane no less a nullity in Spirituals than a Creature if cut off from God the Fountain of Being would be in Naturals Hence St. Austin tells us That which is good in officio may yet be sin in fine For Quicquid boni fit non propter hoc fit propter quod fieri debet etsi officio videtur bonum ipso non recto fine peccatum est Contra Jul. l. 4. c. 3. as the Schools speak Finis dat speciem in Moralibus Those Acts which are good in the matter of them may be utterly marred by perverse Intention It becomes us than to look to the scope of our Actions Our Saviour Christ the great Exemplar of Sanctity tells us That he sought not his own Glory but his Father's Joh. 8.50 compared with Joh. 7.18 He was Deus de Deo God of God the Eternal Greator yet as he was in formâ servi in the form of a Servant a Man in time he sought not his own Glory but his Father's We see here what is the Design of an holy Life it is that God may be glorified our Holiness should shine as a little Beam or Spark from the Holy one the drops and measures of Mercy in us should point out that infinite Ocean of Mercy which is in him We should by our Obedience tell the World that God is Supream and by our sincerity testifie that he is omniscient and present every where we should study how to serve the Interest of the Blessed God how to shew forth his Praise how to unfold his Glory in an holy righteous humble heavenly Conversation still there should be Oculus in metam a pure Intention at the Glory of God If we are by a pure Intention joyned to that great End then our Works will be spiritualized our Holiness will never see corruption there will be be a kind of Immortality in every good Action but if we are off from that great End our Holiness perishes or rather is none at all There is a worm at the Root one base low inferiour End or other putrifies the good Work and makes it moulder into nothing When the Woman in the Revelations was ready to be delivered the Dragon stood before her to devour her Child but it was caught up to God and his Throne A devout Papist glosses it thus Nerimb de Vit. Div. When we bring forth our good Works Satan stands before us to devour them by one false Intention or other and will certainly do it unless by a pure one they be caught up to God and his Glory Another expostulates thus Quid juvat bonorum operum prolem gignere eam per Intention is depravationem necare What profits it to beget a progeny of Good Works and to kill it by a depraved Intention A Man who wants a right Intention murders his best progeny The Church therefore tells us That all her fruits were laid up for Christ Cant. 7.13 Propter te Domine propter te is the holy Man's Motto all his good Works are by a pure Intention consecrated unto God When an Hypocrite doeth good
in man there is his Image but a finite a created one but Jesus Christ is the infinite increated Image of God The nearer any creature doth in its perfections approach to God the more it reveals him life shews forth more of him than meer being sense than life Reason than all the rest but oh what a spectacle hath Faith when an humane nature shall be taken into the Person of God when the fulness of the Godhead shall dwell in a creature Hypostatically Here the Eternal Word which framed the World was made flesh the infinite Wisdom which lighted up Reason in man assumed an Humanity never was God so in man never was man so united to God as in this wonderful Dispensation more glory breaks forth from hence than from all the Creation We have here the Center of the Promises the substance of the types and shadows the Complement of the Moral Law and Holiness and Righteousness not in letters and syllables but living breathing walking practically exemplified in the Humane nature of Jesus Christ CHAP. II. Chap. 2 Christ considered as a Prophet and a speculum The Divine Attributes shine in him particularly Wisdom The obstacles of Redemption to be removed The Son of God fit for the work many admirable conjunctions of God and Man of Justice and Mercy of Punishment and Obedience in Christs sufferings of Satisfaction and a kind of execution of the Law of Satisfaction and Merit of Merit and Example all tending to our Salvation The rare conquest of Sin Satan the World Death Humility of mind necessary The desperate issue of the pride of humane Reason need of Humility from the threefold state of Reason in Integrity after the Fall after Faith JESUS CHRIST as he is the eternal Son of God is the brightness of his glory and the express Image of his person Heb. 1.3 But because our weakness could not bear so excellent a Glory without being swallowed up by it he veiled himself in our flesh that he who was light of light in the eternal Generation might become the light of the World in an admirable Incarnation and such he was under a double notion He may be considered either as revealing the Gospel and thus he is the great Prophet who from his Fathers bosom brought down so many pretious truths and mysteries to the World or else as set forth in the Gospel in his conception birth life death resurrection and exaltation at Gods right hand and thus he is speculum Theologiae a pure glass of Divinity Hence the Apostle tells us that the light of the knowledg of the glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 This latter Notion is that which this discourse aims at to contemplate those many Truths which are either lively expressed in the Incarnate Word or may be reasonably drawn from that incomparable Dispensation God that he might help our weakness and attract our faith to himself hath been pleased to come as it were out of his unapproachable light and manifest himself in Attributes such as Wisdom Holiness Justice Grace Mercy Power with the like These Rays of the divine Perfection are let down on purpose that we might sanctifie him in our hearts that our souls might be in a posture of holy humility faith fear love joy and obedience suitable to those Excellencies in him My first work therefore must be to shew how these Attributes are displayed in Jesus Christ We all with open face behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 3.18 Jesus Christ is that pure Glass wherein the glory of God that is the divine Attributes so eminently shine forth to us that we may contemplate them with open face To begin first with the Attribute of Wisdom this is the great Disposer which in all things places the Center and draws the lines fixes the end and harmonizes the means thereunto There is a fair impress of it in the work of Creation much more in that of Redemption a Nobler end there cannot be than Gods glory in the Salvation of lost man nor a more admirable means than God manifest in the flesh This is the Wisdom of God in a Mystery 1 Cor. 2.7 a thing more sublime than all the secrets in the Creation Humane reason may by its own innate light go into the outward Temple of Nature but into the Sanctuary of Evangelical mysteries it cannot unless supernaturally illuminated ever enter and when it is there it is capable but of a little portion thereof nay the very Angels who stoop down to pry into it are not able to search it to the bottom nor to tell over the treasures of Wisdom which are in it This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the manifold wisdom of God Ephes 3.10 Never was such a constellation of Attributes as there is here that Power Wisdom and Goodness which appeared in Creation are here in greater lustre and over and above Holiness Justice and Mercy shine forth in their orient Excellencies never did the glory of God so break forth as it doth in this wonderful Dispensation That we may the better view it it will be requisite to consider first the obstacles in the way and then how admirably the divine Wisdom did pass through them and accomplish the great Work The Obstacles were such as these 1. Man turning apostate from his God and primitive Integrity justly sunk himself into an horrible gulf of sin and misery Sin lay upon him and wrath for sin the broken Law pronounced Death an eternal curse against him divine Justice appeared through the threatning like devouring fire ready to catch hold on him as fit fuel for eternal flames unless Satisfaction were made he must have gone into Hell the proper place for irremediable sinners in this forlorn estate what may he can he do Shall he melt himself into repentant tears or consecrate himself unto perpetual Holiness Alas depraved Nature cannot elevate it self unto these nor will Grace dispense them to an unatoned sinner nay could they be had they would be as finite nothings in comparison of that infinite Satisfaction which Justice calls for Sin is an infinite evil objectively infinite a kind of deicidium a striking at the Majesty Holiness Justice nay the very Life and Being of God and without another deicidium a crucifying the Lord of glory which is a Sacrifice of infinite value not to be expiated Which consideration also tells us that all the Angels in Heaven though creatures without spot could not have been able to have satisfied for the sin of man all that they have is but finite the burden of Gods wrath was much too heavy for them one sin sunk their fellow-Angels into chains of darkness and how could they stand under a world of iniquity The titles of Saviour and Redeemer which equal if not exceed that of Creator were too high for them and how could they who knew their own station and were confirmed therein attempt or so much as
he would strip himself of his Orient pearl that he would give his Son his eternal Joy out of his bosom to assume an humane Nature and in it to bear the horrible stroke of Justice which was due to us for our iniquities In giving Laws and Promises God gives but a created Image of his Sanctity and Grace but in giving his Son he gave his essential increated Image to suffer in the flesh for us that his holy Image broken in the fall might be repaired again in us When we were off from God the Center of Souls and wandring in the foul ways of sin God out of his immense Love sent no less person than his only begotten Son to seek us and bring us back unto himself that we might be for ever happy in the fruition of him The greatness of this Love will yet further appear if we consider the manner how the Son of God was given for us The lower a man stoops and condescends to do another good the higher and more eminent is his Love the steps wherein the Son of God came down and humbled himself for us evidently declare the infinite height of that Love which made him stoop so low to compass our Salvation The first step was his Incarnation the word was made flesh he who was in the form of God took on him an humane Nature In the Creation infinite produced finite but here infinite assumed finite there Eternal brought forth Temporal but here Eternal took Temporal into it self and what a wonderful Condescension was this It 's true Reason in the Socinian laughs at it but Faith in the Christian must needs admire it Had the greatest Monarch on Earth confined himself to the poorest Cottage there it would have been nothing to God Tabernacling in the flesh Should the highest Angel in Heaven have put off his Perfections and come down into an humane Nature and from thence have passed into a brutal bestial one and so on into a tree or stone and at last into nullity it would not have been a Condescension comparable to that of the Son of God coming in the flesh His Sacred Person was infinitely more above humane Nature than an Angel is above matter or nullity it self and what unparallel'd Love was here The Creator became a Creature the Son of God assumed our nature and that after it was in us tainted with sin Dr. Bates of the Attributes fol. 171. The natural distance saith that excellent Man between God and the Creature is infinite the Moral between God and the sinful Creature if possible is more than infinite Yet the mercy of our Redeemer overcame this distance What an extasie of Love transported the Son of God so far as to espouse our nature after it was defiled and debased with sin He was essential Innocence and Purity yet he came in the similitude of sinful flesh which to outward view was not different from what was really sinful Thus he St. Austin calls Love junctura duo copulans a coupling of two together That after man had rent off himself from God by his Apostacy God should assume an humane Nature into himself to make up the breach and reduce Man into an Union with himself again Miror Deum in utero Virginis miror omnipotentem in cunabulis miror quemodo verbo Dei caro adhaeserit Cypr. de Nat. Christi must needs be Love in a transcendent excess infinite This made St. Cyprian overlook the wonders in Nature that he might ravish himself in the admirations of an Incarnate God The Condescension was here so great that God seems to neglect his own Majesty that he may comply with our necessities yet infinite Love would have the Son of God stoop a little lower and do honour to that Sacred Law which we had violated His humane Nature being an inmate in his infinite Person could not but have a right to Heaven and might have been immediately rapt up thither but Love set him another task He the great Lawgiver was made under the Law He who knew the Father in an infinity of light now knew him in a finite Reason He who embraced the Father in an infinity of Love now loved him in a finite Will He who was Lord of all was subject to Parents and Magistrates He who upholds the world went up and down as a man doing of good he stooped as low as the Ceremonial Law His pure flesh was circumcised he kept the Passeover and so obedientially stood under his own shadow This is a Condescension much greater than if all the Angels in Heaven had put themselves under the Laws of the lowest matter yet infinite Love would have the Son of God go down a little lower We have him hungry thirsty weary weeping suffering the contradiction of Sinners enduring the temptations of Satan all his life-through a man of sorrows at last we have him bleeding on a Cross hanging there as a spectacle of shame his hands and his feet were pierced his body was racked and tortured to death in a stinking Golgotha But which was the greatest of all he bore the Wrath of God and what was that Wrath which was due to the sin of a World or what those Sufferings which satisfied Justice for it What a great thing was the Passion of God and how much beyond the dissolution of a World Words cannot utter it thoughts cannot measure it That Love must be no less than immense which made the Son of God stoop so low to take us up out of the ruins of the Fall The Love of God will yet more appear if we take notice of the persons for whom Christ was given it was for man poor impotent man a creature worth nothing a bankrupt in Spirituals one void of all those Primitive Excellencies which at first Crowned the humane Nature for him it was that God was at so vast an expence as that of his own blood Spond Annal. Anno 431. 'T was great Charity in Paulinus Bishop of Nola that he would give himself in pawn to the Vandals for a poor Child but it was transcendent superlative Love in God to give his Son one worth Millions of Worlds and as rich in Excellencies as a Deity could make him to be emptied and humbled to death for poor worthless worms such as we are Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for our sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 8.9 The Riches of a God were laid out to set up broken man again But further it was for Sinners for Enemies such as were in Arms against God such as had broken his Laws despised his Authority cast off his Soveraignty and as much as in them lay stained his Glory These were the persons upon whose Salvation infinite Love set so high a rate that rather than fail the Life of God should be paid down for it The Apostle notably sets forth this
no other seed no meer man could do it but the Son of God being made of a woman did destroy the works of the devil 1 Joh. 3.8 Partaking of flesh and blood he did through death destroy him who had the power of death that is the devil Heb. 2.14 That first Promise made almost Four thousand years before was accomplished in him He is that seed of Abraham in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed Gen. 22.18 Never was it said of any man but himself That all Nations should be blessed in him Never was any man but he who was God as well as man able to turn that Curse which lay upon the human nature into a blessing He is Jacob's Shiloh Gen. 49.10 at his coming the Scepter departed Herod an Edomite ruled over the Jews and to make himself the more absolute he slew the Sanhedrin in a little time all government was taken away from the Jews Hence that outery in the Talmud Vae nobis Wo to us because the Scepter is departed from Judah The temporal Scepter vanished but our Saviour had a spiritual one to him as to the true Shiloh was the gathering of the people multitudes of Jews and Gentiles were converted to Christianity He is Moses's Prophet Deut. 18.15 never man spake as he spake none but himself ever brought down sacred mysteries from the bosome of God unto the world He is the Star out of Jacob Numb 24.17 The Jews Barchochebas was but Barchozba the son of a Lye a false light and soon extinct But our JESUS is the bright and morning-star Rev. 22.16 who chases away darkness and communicates a divine light to men He is the Lords anointed against whom the Heathen did rage and the Kings set themselves Psal 2 but all in vain God laughed at them and set up his King upon Zion The Jews cannot but confess that this Psalm speaks of the Messiah but that the Minaei the Christians with them esteemed Hereticks may be answered they think it expedient to interpret it of David He is the Child in Isaiah who was born of a Virgin Isa 7.14 which never man was who hath these high titles Wonderful Counsellor the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace Isa 9.6 which are too great for a meer man He is the righteous Branch whose name is The Lord our righteousness Jer. 23.5 6. No other man since the fall had righteousness enough for himself but he had enough for himself and a World He is the Messiah in Daniel his blood made an end of sin his perfect Sacrifice put an end to all the legal ones Under the Messiah there was only to be the Sacrifice of Thoda or Thanksgiving He is the Ruler come out of Bethlehem Ephratah Mic. 5.2 As God his goings forth were of old from everlasting as Man he came in time out of Bethlehem Never such an one as he came from thence He is the desire of the nations in Haggai who filled the second Temple with glory The Man Gods fellow in Zachary who was smitten for us and in his wounds opened a fountain for sin and for uncleanness The Son of righteousness in Malachi who with enlightning and healing-beams shines into the hearts of men The Promises of the Messiah are all accomplished in him What the old Testament foretold the New exhibited The respects and sweet correspondencies which are between the two Testaments clearly and punctually shew that Jesus is the Christ Again here appears the truth of all the other Promises in the Gospel which are as so many superstructures upon the first fundamental promise of the Messiah P. Gal. lib. 2. cap. 23. The earth saith Rabbi Eliezer stands upon Tsadich upon the righteous one that is upon the Messiah I may add Heaven and all the Graces which lead thither stand upon him too In him all the promises are yea and amen 2 Cor. 1.20 sure and stable as being founded upon his blood hence his blood is called the blood of the Covenant Heb. 13.20 as procuring it for us and the New Testament is called the new testament in his blood Luk. 22.20 as being founded upon it God is now obliged to perform the Evangelical Promises not meerly by his own infinite Veracity but by his Contract with his Son from whom he hath received a valuable consideration in his blood for the doing of it The Promises are secured by a double seal God's Veracity and Christ's Blood so they can no more fail than the Truth of the one and the Merit of the other The Apostle argued thus God spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him freely give us all things Rom. 8.32 We may thus argue If God would not go back but perform the promise of the Messiah which could not be done but at an expence so vast that in the doing of it he must part with his Son out of his bosom and his Son must part with his blood for us how shall he not fulfil all other Promises The Promise of the Messiah was the most difficult of all either for God to perform or for us to believe the foolish builder lays the foundation and is not able to finish but the wise and true God who laid the foundation of Promises in his Sons blood will be sure to accomplish them not one thing of them shall fail upon what Promise soever we can regularly set our faith we may take it as our own all the blessings of it shall be made good to us Further we see here the truth of the Moral Law that is made up of two parts a Mandatory part and a Minatory The Mandatory part stands in Precepts the truth of these consists in this that they are the Counterpanes of Gods heart real copies of his approving will the matter of them is consonant to his Sanctity and Rectitude acceptable and well-pleasing in his eyes obedience to them is very grateful and sure of an Euge an approbation from him A notable evidence of this we have in our Saviour It 's true the Law proves it self to be divine by its intrinsecal Rectitude and Justice but the sin of a World lying as a cloud upon that glory God would have it proved such by obedience no man since the fall being able enough for this work the Son of God came down from Heaven to do it As God he could not be under the Law but he assumed humanity and with it moral duty he was made of a woman and so made under the law Gal. 4.4 which reflected a greater honour upon it than the being of all men under it could do He perfectly obeyed it and in his obedience the Law had its end and an higher proof of its Divinity than it would have had if all men had obeyed it None can now doubt that the Law came from Heaven from the Father's bosom when the Son of God who came from thence did subject himself and obey
grace nay precious love-tokens from their Father in Heaven The wicked in their worshipping of God give him only the shell and outside accordingly he gives them the things of this world which in comparison to those of a better are but toys and trifles The good serve God in spirit and truth sutably he makes them to inherit substance Prov. 8.21 that is those spiritual and eternal Realities which transcend all the shadows and pompous apparitions of the world The wicked are creatures and so have a portion in this life yet in the midst of all their prosperity they move to that Hell which is the center of their iniquity The good are sinners and so have some afflictions to purge out the reliques of sin yet in the midst of their troubles they pass on to that Heaven which is the center of their fanctity If the wicked should have nothing but adversity it would look as if there were no judgment to come no after-reckoning for their iniquity If the good should have nothing but prosperity it would seem to hint as if their reward were only here as if there were no such things as Heaven and Life-eternal reserved for them The wicked prosper that we might not set too high a rate or value upon those outward things which the vilest and basest of men enjoy The good are afflicted that the Crowns and Recompences of Holiness might appear to lye not in this vale of tears but in that Region where there is perfect blessedness But pretermitting all these we have an eminent solution of this scruple in our Lord Christ What an excellent one was he What a pure innocent lamb how meek humble holy harmless merciful zealous heavenly obedient patient was he how fair and lovely in all Graces was he what a divine light and lustre did his Virtues cast forth into the World how attractive and ravishing were the Perfections shining out in him What Sermons did he preach What Cures did he do What was his life but a continual doing of good Who where is the man that ever was so profitable to Mankind or so obliged the World as he did And yet how was he used What entertainment did he meet withal here He was despised rejected a man of sorrows acquainted with griefs extreme poor not having where to lay his head at last he was arraigned falsly accused unjustly condemned spit upon buffeted mocked nailed to a tormenting Cross there to breathe out his last Never did Innocency so suffer as here and yet never did Providence shew it self in such glory in and by the sufferings of this Holy One the great work of Redemption was accomplished his Stripes were healing ones his Blood a laver to wash sinners his Cross was a triumphant conquest over Death and Hell his Sacrifice made a perfect atonement his Sufferings answered for the sin and suffering of a World His sorrows made way for good tydings his shame procured glory for us his condemnation was in order to our absolution his poverty was to enrich us with grace and glory This was the very Masterpiece of Providence never did the Sun see such an incomparable design as here out of death comes life out of the sufferings of an holy righteous person rises up an eternal spring of blessings and all good things The last Objection made against Providence is this If there is a Providence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence is that greatest of evils sin Providence rightly and wisely disposes of things sin is an horrible and monstrous ataxy and confusion such as makes the Earth without form and void Jer. 4.23 as if the old Chaos were come again and how comes it to pass that such an inordinate thing should be in the world It was the Objection of Marcion * Si Deus bonus praescius suturi avertendi mali potens cur hominem quidem imaginem suam passus est labi Tâ—rt Advers Marcion l. 2 That if God were good and foreknowing of futures and able to avert evil he would not have suffered man to fall In answer to this Objection it is to be premised That God is not nor cannot be the author of sin God is light sin darkness God purity sin uncleanness God omnipotency sin imbecillity God a pure act sin a defect Sin cannot be from such an one as he is nevertheless it is clear that sinful actions do not fall out altogether without a Providence The Scripture is very pregnant herein Joseph's Brethren sell him into Egypt but God sent him thither Gen. 45.5 Shimei cursed David but God bid him do so 2 Sam. 16.11 Absalom lies with his Fathers Concubines but God said I will do it 2 Sam. 12.12 a lying spirit deceived Ahab but God said Go and do so 1 King 22.22 Thus and much more saith the holy Book but neither is Reason silent herein I shall therefore offer two things 1. It was a determinate Verity and that before the event that such and such sinful actions should come to pass a Verity it could not be without a Providential purpose for then it would be an independent self-originated unpreventable truth the thing must come to pass whether God would or no That which is of it self and a kind of origine to it self can have no impediment it will exist and be a kind of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or self-subsistent to avoid which absurdities I take it to be necessary to say that such a verity cannot be without a Providence 2. The greater number of humane actions are sinful and if all these were exempt from Providence how could Providence rule the World If God were the author of sin he could not judg the world because he could not be author and ultor respectu ejusdem but if sin fall out without a Providence he could not rule the World because the major part of humane actions are evil But seeing it is certain that Providence is for being and order and that sin is an ataxy and confusion I shall give a more distinct answer to this Objection and here the light must be divided from the darkness In a sinful action there are three things considerable I mean the anomy or ataxy the entity the order of it 1. The anomy or ataxy is meer darkness it is a defect and only from a deficient agent it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the expression is Joh. 8.44 of a mans own Creatura habet redire ad non esse a se the creature falls from its defectibility and pravity here Providence is only a permissor on the one hand it is certain that no sin can possibly come to pass without a permission If God suffer it not no man can wrong Israel Psal 105.14 And which is less than an injurious act Balaam cannot curse her Numb 22.38 And which is yet less than a cursing word the Idolatrous Nations cannot desire her Land Exod. 34.24 Let a man be in never so great a phrensie of lust God can hedg
must be defended against the Pelagians Ne evacuetur crux Christi lest the Cross of Christ be made of no effect According to the tenour of that place one head cannot stand without the other If Adam derive not sin to us neither doth Christ derive righteousness both must be only patterns neither communicative heads which to say is utterly to overturn the scope of the place 3. Our Saviour Christ instituted Baptism and that for Infants but if there be no Original pollution in them What need a washing-ordinance for them The washing of their bodies whose pure innocent undefiled Souls are uncapable of spiritual washing is but a shadow without substance a Sacrament without internal grace a thing too insignificant for Christ the Wisdom of God to institute Hence when the Pelagians on the one hand granted the Baptism of Infants and on the other denied Original sin Contr. Jul. l. 3. c. 3. St. Austin saith that they spoke wonderful things In Sacramento Salvatoris baptizantur sed non salvantur redimuntur sed non liberantur lavantur sed non abluuntur In our Saviours Sacrament Infants are baptized but not saved redeemed but not delivered washed but not cleansed And a little after he asks If they are saved what was their sickness If delivered what their servitude If cleansed what their pollution Take away the Doctrine of Original sin and the Baptism of Infants seems to be a very ridiculous thing To avoid this absurdity the Pelagians asserted Aust de Pecc Orig. l. 2. c. 5. That the Baptism of Infants was necessary not because there was any Original sin in them but that they might be capable of the Kingdom of Heaven But I answer Where there is no defect there is all due perfection If Infants are pure and free from all sin then have they all the righteousness and rectitude which ought to be in them and if they have so they are without Baptism capable of Heaven or if they were not the baptismal-washing which imports pollution seems to be a ceremony very unfit and incongruous to be applied to them who are without spot or to render them apt for Heaven 4. In and about the death of Christ two things are considerable The one is the horrible wickedness of the Jews in crucifying him The other is The infinite merit which is in his death and sacrifice Both will manifest the Doctrine of Original sin First The horrible wickedness of the Jews in crucifying him will do it The rottenness of the root shews it self in the branches the malignity of Original sin appears in actual ones especially in those which are of a deeper stain than others are It was the aggravation of Solomons sin that his heart was turned from the Lord who had appeared to him twice 1 King 11.9 The more eminently God appears to us the more aggravated are our actual sins against him and the more aggravated those are the more vile and venemous doth the inward root of them appear to be When God appears to us in Reason which is a beam from him more precious than a world it speaks desperate corruption in men that the brutal part should usurp and rule over it that the vile sensual lusts should tread down that Divine spark and as it were annihilate it that nothing of God might have place in the heart When God further appeared in the Law and the Prophets to raise up a purer knowledg of himself than was to be found in Reason as it lay in the dust and rubbish of the fall it argues a greater pravity and malignity in men that they should murder his Prophets and trample his Sacred Laws the images of his holy Will under their impure feet this was in effect as much as in them lay to explode God out of his own world and practically to say that he should not reign there When God yet more eminently appeared when he sent his own Son very God of God to be manifest in the flesh whose glory broke forth most illustriously in excellent Doctrines and Miracles whose whole life among men was nothing but innocency purity mercy meekness goodness humility love zeal heavenliness holiness obedience and all manner of virtue in spotless perfection one might have thought that men would have reverenced the Son that the indwelling-corruption however it had rioted under other manifestations would here have made a pause and stood as one astonied and over-awed at so stupendious an appearance infinitely transcending all other For what is the little spark of Reason to the brightness of Gods glory Or the Law in the letter to incarnate Sanctity and Holiness Or what are all the Prophets to him who came out of the Fathers bosom and brought down supernatural Mysteries into the world Here it might have been expected that Iniquity should have stopt her mouth and held her hands that the Divine Majesty of this appearance should have made Corruption to retire and hide it self in the secret of the heart But alas the event was quite contrary Original Corruption here did its utmost and shewed forth all its malignity the wicked Jews cried out This is the heir come let us kill him They reviled raged blasphemed persecuted apprehended accused condemned buffeted and at last crucified the Lord of Glory Oh matchless wickedness never did Original sin so fully discover it self never did the Hell in the Belial-heart so desperately break forth as here We see here our Corruption in its true colours and malignity it is the root and fountain of the highest impieties Antichrist-like it opposes all that is called God it would have nothing of God remain it would trample down every appearance of him not in Reason or Laws only but in his own Son in God incarnate and were it possible it would even crucifie and annihilate the Deity it self rather than part with its dear lusts it would have God cease to be The next thing considerable is the infinite Merit in Christs death it procured two things for us Regeneration and Salvation First It procured Regeneration for us This is a most precious thing it new-frames and new-moulds us it produces a new spiritual being it draws the Divine image and likeness upon the heart it sets the soul into an holy order and rectitude and whence is it but from the Spirit Or how is that procured but by Christ and his sweet-smelling Sacrifice The Apostle tells us That the Holy Ghost which renews us is shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour Tit. 3.5 6. Through him it is that the Holy Spirit comes down and effects this excellent work in us Again it procured Salvation for us That we are saved from our spiritual enemies that we are at last crowned with life-eternal it is from Jesus Christ alone Hence the Apostle calls him the author of eternal salvation Heb. 5.9 not the Minister but the Author of it meritoriously procuring and efficaciously giving it to his people But now if there be no such
audiunt they hear and learn of the Father He speaks to them inwardly in such words of life and power as produces the new-creature 4. The Ministry of Christ was a very excellent one He spake did lived as never man did there were Oracles in his mouth Miracles in his hands Sanctity in his life Never was there such an external call as here yet would this do the work Would this secure a Church or people to God No He tells them plainly That except they were born of the Spirit they could not enter Heaven That no man can come to him except the Father draw him There must be an internal traction or else there would be never a believer in the world Trahitur miris modis ut velit ab illo Aust ad Bon. lib. 1. cap. 19. qui novit intus in ipsis hominum cordibus operari In this Traction there is a secret and admirable touch upon the heart to make it believe and receive Christ This is an internal call indeed Yet as pregnant as the words are the Socinians have an art to turn Gods Traction into Mans Disposition and the Divine energy into human probity Vis praecipua in audientium probitate consistebat the chief force consists in the probity of the auditors Prael Theol. cap. 12. Thus Socinus touching that Traction Those who have probity of mind who will do Gods Will those honest Souls will embrace the Gospel When God is said to touch the heart 1 Sam. 10.26 the meaning is they had tangible hearts such as were inclinable to the Divine Will De Vera Rel. l. 4. cap. 1. so Volkelius And again when God draws men he proposes his Will and the probi the honest hearts are perswaded De Ver. Rel. lib. 5. cap. 18. so the same Author Thus by an odd perverse interpretation of Scripture the choicest operations of Grace are at last resolved into nature and freewill This more plainly appears by that explication which Volkelius in the place first quoted gives us of probity There are saith he in Man three things Reason Will and Appetite if the Will the middle faculty apply it self to Reason there is probity if to the Appetite there is improbity We see here what probity is the meer product of the Will Faith is resolved into probity and probity into the Will of man There is no need of Grace at least not of an internal one The probity requisite to Faith is according to these men much the same as Aristotle requires from the auditors of morality that is that they act 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to Reason Eth. l. 1. c. 3. Thus according to them there is nothing of Mystery or Grace in this Traction but only a following the common principles of nature out of this temper Faith will spring up But do these men believe Scripture There the natural unregenerate man is thus described He is dead in sin A corrupt tree which cannot bring forth good fruit He perceives not spiritual things His carnal mind is not subject to the Law nor indeed can be Without grace he cannot do good no nor so much as spend a thought about it He is a stranger from the life of God and blindness is upon his heart and can there be any true probity in such an one The Corinthians at least some of them were before their conversion Fornicators Idolaters Adulterers Effeminate Abusers of themselves with Mankind Thieves Covetous Drunkards Revilers Extortioners 1 Cor. 6.9 and 10. And what probity was in them True probity such as is towards God is no other than sincerity and sincerity is not one Grace but the rectitude of all And may such a thing go before Faith Where true probity is there is a pure intention to do Gods Will and may it antecede that Faith which is the single eye and works by love Probity is not an off-spring of nature but of Grace could Free-will elevate it self to it there would need no traction no influence of Grace at all * Qui humilitati obedientiae humanae subjungunt gratiae adjutorium nec ut obedientes humiles simus ipsius gratiae donum esse consentiunt resistunt Apostolo diceenti quid habes quod non accepisti Gratiâ Dei sum quod sum Conc. Araus 2. can 6. The Fathers in the Arausican Council condemn those who subordinate Grace to mans humility or obedience as if humility and obedience were not gifts of Grace To conclude the Fathers Traction doth not stand in mans probity but in a Divine energy such as produces faith in the heart 2. The internal call is meerly of Grace The Spirit breathes where it lists God calls as he pleases some are called according to purpose all are not so Every heart under the Evangelical means is not opened as Lydia's was God works in us to will and to do of his good pleasure If God be God an infinite Mind he must needs be free if free in any thing he must be so in acts of Grace in his calling men home unto himself It is true that according to some the Spirit is annexed to the Gospel and works equally on all the Auditors But this opinion labours under prodigious consequences I mean some such as these following are The Holy Spirit whose prerogative it is to breathe where he list and divide to every one as he will is here affixed to his own organ the Gospel and must part out his Grace equally to all The Ordinance of Preaching as if it were no longer a meer Ordinance or pendant on the Spirit must confer Grace if not ex opere operato yet in a certain promiscuous way to all The Minister who uses to look up for the spirit and excellency of power to succeed his labours may rest secure all is ready and at hand The peoples eyes which ought to wait on the Lord if peradventure he will give faith and repentance to them will soon fall down and center on the Ordinance where they are sure without a peradventure to have their share of Grace Those emphatical Scriptures which speak of singular Grace to some must now run in a much lower strain The opening of Lydia's heart how remarkable soever must be no singular Grace but common to the rest The tractions and inward teachings of the Father which make some to come to Christ must be general favours and extendible to those who come not to him When the Apostle saith That Christ is to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness but to them that are called the power and wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1. 23 24 How signal soever the difference in the Text be the internal call must be all one in those to whom Christ was a stumbling-block and foolishness as in those to whom he was the power and wisdom of God The called according to purpose are called but as other men Gods purpose is to call all a-like mans only makes the difference These are