Christ c. 2 Have I no reservation within my self where I would bee dispensed withall in any courses of life or any secret lusts or corruptions at lest known or allowed in judgement or practice Hath my faith such a commanding power that it will not let mee alone in commission of sin or Omission of duty then I may conclude that the faith of Christ is wrought in mee and thence undoubtedly conclude that I am a justified person Because that hee that beleeveth on Christ is already justified Now when this is soundly concluded the soul may upon daily occasions put forth and exercise his faith in Christ for his spiritual and everlasting comfort Direct 5. When thou wouldest exercise thy faith at any time thou must not go about it in thine own strength either of nature or grace received but look up for a fresh influence of the Spirit and his assistance For as it is sure that no creature can of himself look upon natural things nor act without a renewed and fresh concourse of Gods common providence So Grace though it bee above nature and stronger than it yet its motion is from the Holy Ghost And this assistance of the Spirit comes from Christ as the light from the Sun by an efflux Joh. 8.12 the power is in Christ though it work on us Therefore all things are said to be done through Christ strengthening of us Phil. 4.13 Every act of Faith requires a power of Christ in a fresh administration wher in he fulfils the good pleasure of his will and the work of faith with power 2 Thess 1.11 And this is the meaning of Pauls prayer for the Ephesians Chap. 3.16 17. that they might bee strengthened with might by the Spirit and that Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith And as the Holy Ghost must assist the grace of faith before it can act so hee must clear up the objects of faith before faith can work upon them as the light must shine upon the brasen Serpent before the Israelite can see it Wherefore the Apostle praies earnestly that God would give the spirit of wisdome and revelation to know the things they beleeved and hoped for Eph. 1.17 18. Wherefore as in all other graces so in faith God worketh in us the deed as well as the will Phil. 2.13 and Jud. 20. building us up in faith is by praying in the Holy Ghost and wee must look up to the Holy Ghost by earnest prayer to help us in the whole progress of our faith and every act of faith till wee receive the end of our faith the Salvation of our souls Christ Crucified the special Object of Justifying Faith THE SIXTEENTH SERMON ON Romans 3.25 Faith in his blood HItherto of Faith in General as the Instrument of our Justification and Christ the more special Object of it as justifying Now follows the third thing premised concerning the most special Object or the most special consideration of that object in those words Faith in his blood for the understanding whereof let mee put you in minde of the former Explication of the word blood which hath been expounded to bee meant Synecdochically a part being put for the whole So that it signifies all the sufferings of Christ in the whole state of his abasement but most especially his sufferings both in body and soul at his death even all the pains of the first and second death which our Saviour did undergo upon the Cross So that by faith in his blood wee are to understand Faith apprehending Christ crucified or undergoing the shameful and accursed death of the cross Therefore we observe Doct. It is the duty of sinners for their Justification distinctly to apprehend and rely upon Christ crucified Or thus That it is the Duty and should bee the care of sinners to place their confidence on Christ crucified for Justification For that is the meaning of the phrase Faith in his blood that is faith relying on Christ crucified This notes the subject matter of redemption whereon our Faith is principally grounded in the article of our Justification Our faith indeed in the point of Justification doth imbrace whole Christ but most properly and in a peculiar manner it is terminated in the Sacrifice and Propitiation or Death of Christ and this the Scriptures attest Joh. 6.53 54 55. Jesus said unto them Verily Verily I say unto you except you eat the body of the Son of God and drink his blood you have no life in you and this is by beleeving on Christ crucified for Christ doth not speak there immediately of the Lords Supper though Sacramental eating may bee comprehended under it and hee saith peremptorily that there is no life and therefore no justification or Salvation without the eating there mentioned but hee addes on the contrary vers 54. Who so eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood by faith hath eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day There is a direct promise of Life Justification and Salvation to them that do beleeve on Christ crucified and vers 56. Hee that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in mee and I in him i.e. hath union and communion with Christ Jesus in all his benefits and therefore must needs bee justified and this is the same which John preached Behold the Lamb of God c. Joh. 1.29 i.e. the Lamb of God for Sacrifice that wee should behold for justification with the eye of faith Yea so Joh. 3.14 16. As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness c. that lifting up was especially when Christ was Crucified and lifted up upon the Cross and looking on the brazen Serpent signifyed beleeving on Christ crucified that such as did so should not perish but have everlasting life And this is the very condition of the Covenant of grace Reas 1. Taken from the Old Testament wherein the mystery of Christ and Justification was more veiled and dark yet even then this truth was received that their reconciliation was by faith in the Messiah to come and made a sacrifice for sin and hence the Covenant was confirmed with blood shed Heb. 9.20 neither was the Old Testament dedicated without it Exod. 24.8 For when Moses had spoken every precept hee took the blood of Calves and Goats and sprinkled both the book and all the people saying This is the blood of the Testament that God enjoyned unto you and vers 23. it was necessary that the heavenly things themselves should bee purified with better sacrifices than these and it is necessary still that there should bee the same way of cleansing of sin away by way of Sacrifice and Blood of the New Testament Matth. 26.28 For this is the meaning of the sacrifices they were oppointed for attonement yea almost all things by the Law were purged with blood Heb. 9.22 and without shedding of blood there is no remission and so it was then and thereby the people are taught to look for justification by Christ Hence
was and confessed them as Saul and Pharaoh did and a while abstained from them as Simon Magus from his Sorcery and making restitution of their ill gotten goods In the mean time not seeking with diligence the Pearl of price but putting off all upon Christ and his grace hoping that they shall find mercy though they fly not to this satisfaction as the Man-slayer with fears terrours and restlesse speed from the Avenger of bloud to the City of refuge forgetting that God will make us know the worth of a Redeemer and of satisfaction by Christ before wee shall have it Psal 107.12 13. Hee brought down their strength with labour they fell down and there was none to help Then they cried unto the Lord c. Let all such carelesse wretches know That if justification be a state of Blessednesse Psal 32.1 2. then their state is a state of cursednesse And though they sleep in that estate their damnation slumbereth not but may come on them in a night and stop their breath while they lye sleeping Vse 2. Faln mans misery Let us hereby bee convinced of the misery of faln man whose state is not only dangerous but desperate without this satisfaction And yet alas how little is it considered by wretched Sinners our days are like those Matth. 24.39 We have many Noahs preachers of righteousnesse to warn us of the evil to come but no man takes warning Wee are singing and chanting to the sound of the Viol while God sounds an alarum by the trumpet of warre Wee are dancing in jollity while God is marching in Battalia We are drinking in the Wine and strong Drink while God is letting out our Blood Wee are devouring the Creatures while wee are devoured of the Creator Wee are joyning Sexes in Marriage while God is separating soul from body Swimming in pleasures till we are drowned in the floud and no man takes warning as if there were no danger in the matter wherefore to give you ataste of it 1 Consider that all have sinned Rom. 3.23 All without exception have been in an estate of sin and in want of that righteousnesse that should stand before God for acceptation And though education or a better nature should stop sin in some from bringing forth so early or breaking out so foulely as it doth in others yet there is no difference there lyes a hidden Spring-head in all both Jewes and Gentiles circumcised and uncircumcised binding them over to the Wrath of God And least you should therefore say you shall escape as well and your condition is as good as others 2 Consider we all are come short of the glory of God Rom. 3.23 come short of his grace by the losse of original righteousnesse and of his glory by the separation which our sins have made The fruition of God is the Goal of our race wee run to obtain our sins have cast us behind in this race as the Greek word there sounds Justification by Christs satisfaction is the only way now left to attain the end of our race which whosoever wants must never hope to enjoy God 3 Nothing in the Creature can justifie Good Works Duties Services Prayers Tears Groans are all too mean to make God to account him righteous no nor to give all his estate to the poor and his body to bee burnt for Religion for the Law required that God should bee served with all our might and all our power and ability but by the works of the law can no flesh bee justified Rom. 3.20 Moreover by the Law sin is known and manifested but what makes known sin cannot justify from it for 't is madnesse for a Traytor when hee is convicted of Treason by some Statute to expect an acquittance by that Statute that condemned his Crime to Death so 't is in man to expect Absolution by the Law which condemns his sin to death The Law therefore leaves man without all hope 4 The grace of God cannot justify any soul without Christs satisfaction Men may hope to bee saved by Gods Grace and Mercy but without Christs satisfaction their hope is meerly groundlesse Paul names Gods grace in the Text but addes through the Redemption which is in Christ Jesus not by grace without it The Devil would plead Gods grace to get out of his misery if that would do it as well as you Every carnal wretch would plead it 'T is a pretious Plea to flye to Gods grace yet none is welcome but hee that hath a High-Priest Heb. 4.15 16. Let us come boldly to the throne of Grace what may any poor soul come Surely no unlesse hee hath the Therefore to the Wherefore Unless hee hath a High Priest that was tempted in all points like unto us Else hee 'le finde the throne of Grace to bee a Judgement Seat and may call to the mountains to fall upon him Revel 6.16 to save him from the wrath of him that sits upon the Throne when hee comes to beg for grace Nothing but the redemption that is in Christ Jesus can procure the souls welcome No gift of man can appease God Prov. 6.34 35. The jealous God will not spare in the day of vengeance hee will not regard a ransome neither will hee rest contented though thou givest many gifts God-man in one person is alone the accepted price The Father would not take a farthing more than his justice did exact nor a farthing less than what was due As where ten pound is due the Creditor exacts not twenty and where twenty pounds are due hee will not accept often so the father required Christ for satisfaction being the exact return according to the fathers Justice For Job 34.23 God will not lay upon man more than is right And Paul clears him Rom. 3.5 6. what shall wee say then Is there unrighteousness with God God forbid Hee is no Extortioner to take more nor could take less than his due He doth not willingly afflict the children of men Lam. 3.34 35. much lesse doth hee exceed in the affliction of his own Son Now therefore if God required his Son as an infinite price for the satisfaction of his infinite wrongs to become a ransome for lost man surely man was faln into a most woful estate Beware therefore O sinful wretch that sleepest in thy security least God cause his consuming fire to fall on thee this moment as it did on Sodom O what a remediless what a helpless estate is thy soul fallen into Let thy tears run down like a river day and night give God no rest cease not to complain to him Let thine heart like Noahs Dove find no place to rest on till thou hast gotten Christs satisfaction to bee thy souls Ransome Use 3. Of Instruction and Exhortation to every man Instruction to take the right way to justification to take the right way for Justification The world hath been tampering about it ever since Adams fall and the Devil hath so much over-clouded it That the greatest
and wounded his soul and why should they be contentment to mine God forbid 3 Minde the desert of sin We must fear sin because it crushed Christ and the severe proceedings of God against it in Christ our surety Luke 23.31 If this be done in the green tree what will bee done in the dry Christ was the Green tree full of sap exceeding fruitful the true vine Joh. 15.1 the very embleme of fruitfulness yea the tree of life Rev. 2.7 yet this could not exempt him from his sharpest sufferings Christ was free from all sin in his nature the Devil himself could find nothing in him Joh. 8.46 but we have a World of wickedness in us Christ was full of righteousness Rom. 5.17 and wee full of wickedness yet God spared not his Son where shall wee ungodly and sinners appear Christ was the onely begotten and wee are in comparison strangers if hee had no tenderness to his Son what can his Slaves hope for Christ was both God and Man in personal Union strengthened by Angels yet what Agony what tears what conflicts did hee undergo wee are but stubble but a rotten stick fit fuel for everlasting burnings how shall wee stand in the day of tryal O it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Heb. 10.31 Oh that wee had hearts to apprehend the evil of sin before wee come to feel it Blessed are they that beleeve and fear and tremble and never experimentally know the vileness of sin God seeing the hardness of our hearts hath manifested the evil of sin by the sufferings of Christ a better argument then all the curses racks and torments of Hell it self could produce to demonstrate the dreadful nature of it This may convince the hardest hearts in the world and let the very godly themselves see that sin is more vile than ever they imagined it to bee 4 Know that sin will kill us as well as it killed Christ if wee prevent not the malignity of it Death is the proper wages of sin both the first and second death Object But a Childe of God is in no danger of sinning nor of eternal punishment Sol. Surely 't is true Doctrin that 1 Pet. 4.17 18. The time is come that judgement must begin at the house of God Wee know how Churches have smarted for sin for little sins in the Worlds account The Jews cast off for unbeleef Saints corrected though not damned for sin the Church of Ephesus for forsaking her first love Laodicea for lukewarmness threatned to bee dis-Churched Add that Ezek. 9.6 the destroying Angel had a charge to begin at Gods sanctuary Yea many godly men smart for their boldness in sin here in this World Paul writes to Saints Rom. 8.13 and yet tells them If you live in the flesh yee shall dye and speaks not onely of a temporal but eternal death You will say 't is not possible for Saints to dye eternally I answer 't is as possible for Saints to dye eternally as to sin eternally Let all men look to it for sin continued in will certainly destroy all its practitioners Having therefore these considerations Let us dread to have any thing to do with sin This consideration is proposed to this very end Heb. 12.2 3. that the sight of what Christ endured by sin might make us constant and couragious in withstanding all the fiery darts of the Devil and declining every evil way striving against it unto blood vers 4. as Christ did to the very death not refusing the worst of sorrows The worst sorrow is better than the best sin to eschew the best of sins to part with your heart blood as well as your good names ease and profit if God call you to it Thus doth Peter argue 1 Pet. 4.1 2. Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered in the flesh for us let us arm our selves likewise with the same minde for hee that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin that hee no longer should live the rest of his life in the flesh to the lusts of men c. The issue of the words is this The Faithful have Union and Communion with Christ and therefore they must bee conformable to Christ in Holinesse but must ceafe from sinne arguing thus That if wee have lost our head for sin it is not possible we should live in sin any longer but we have lost our head for sin Or thus All they dyed in Christ for sin for whose sin Christ dyed and they that dyed once for sin cannot sin any more If therefore thou continuest to sin how beleevest thou that Christ dyed for thee Let thy conscience bee the judge 3 Hath Christ loved us so dearly Christs death merits our love that merited heaven for us as to suffer such dreadful torments for us then what shall wee do for Christ O man return this day an Answer to the Lord what course thou wilt take to walk suitable to his kindness When David received a deliverance from God hee saies Psal 18.1 I will love thee dearly O Lord my strength God shewed him much love and hee intends to make a retaliation And indeed love is the Load-stone of love Never was such love shown as that of Christ Rev. 1.5 Who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood Eph. 5.2 Who gave himself for us his life and blood and all Yea hee parted with his fathers love which was a thousand times better than life for us Hee became accursed that might have been blessed Let us not bee scanty in our love to him but give him our heart both freely and liberally to the death his death well merits our love that merits heaven for us Where Christ hath laid such deep ingagements sleepy faint good wishes will not serve the turn Love in Christ was stronger than death 't is pitty that any cold velleities of love and service should bee our sacrifice All blessings of the World should endear us more and more to the Lord but oh what an Obligation should it bee that Christ became a Curse for us The very Master-piece of all mercies and blessings to the Elect yea it gives a sweet seasoning to all our blessings which have a Curse cleaving to them for all that are out of Christ turning all their sweet morsels into the poyson of Asps or into gravel Prov. 1.32 yea their prosperity is destructive Alas what are Riches and Accommodations and good fare when the Lord once charges Sin upon the conscience what is it to bee rich and reprobate to bee deliciously fed with the rich Glutton and a damned creature The World is a Prison and Riches are shakels Creatures are enemies all wee have is vanity and vexation of spirit all blessings turned into cursings Mercies are curses without Christs death yea and all Ordinances gifts parts duties c. without Christs blood are but carnal things You say how doth that appear why Eph. 1.3 those are alone spiritual
there is no other way in the New Testament for attonement but by the blood of some sacrifice and this is of none but Christ Reas 2. That is especially to bee apprehended and rested upon by faith for Justification that presents not only to God by his own appointment and his justice full satisfaction but to the troubled soul of a Sinner peace and satisfaction Now this the blood of Christ doth because it hath expresly the satisfaction in it and carries the pay with it Hee made him sin for us 2 Cor. 5.21 that is a sacrifice for sin Christ hath delivered us from the curse of the Law being made a Curse for us Gal. 3.13 Nothing that hee did besides this could free us from the curse So 1 Pet. 3.18 Christ suffered for us the just for the unjust to bring us unto God Now when wee are brought unto God wee are justified The destruction of death and Satan is from Christs death Heb. 2.14 By death he destroyed him that had the power of death that is the Devil Rom. 5.9 10. When wee were sinners wee were reconciled to God by the death of his Son So that in Christ crucified when as faith apprehends him there is the essence of justification laid up and therein what may satisfy God and what may satisfy the troubled conscience of a sinner is contained and therefore this is the sure way to attain a justified estate Reas 3. Because of the contempt that the world doth cast upon Christ crucified it pleased the Lord therefore to advance and glorify the Cross of Christ This reason is exprest in 1 Cor. 1.23 24. Wee preach Christ crucified to the Jew a stumbling block c. but to them that are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdome of God All the wise ones in the World have stumbled at the cross of Christ and thought it a matter of disgrace that the Saviour of the World should bee hanged on a tree but hee will have the World to know that this is the power of God and the wisdome of God and for the honour of Christ that hee crucified is advanced and made the object of our faith and the author of eternal salvation Wherefore God hath highly advanced him and given him a name above every name c. Phil. 2.6 Reas 4. We may reason from both the Seals which are appointed by God for the confirmation of faith in Christ crucified Know yee not that as many as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death and buried with him in Baptism Rom. 6.4 6. and therein wee are planted together in the likeness of his death and our old man is crucified with him So that baptism hath its main respect to Christs death and the washing away of our sins by his blood and the same is verified of the Lords Supper 1 Cor. 11.23 the end of it is to shew forth the Lords death Now why doth hee give us such means and helps to strengthen our faith in Christs death but especially to confirm our faith and assurance of our justification by that death Vse 1. This discovers unto us the perniciousnesse of the Socinian Doctrines that make Christ's death onely for Imitation and Exemplary that Christians should onely follow the example of his patience but they deny the satisfaction and merit of Christ's death So that they do leave no foundation or footing for faith to lean upon yea all our Christian Religion is utterly disanulled and frustrate by this means I may say as Paul in the like case that then our faith is in vain and wee are still in our sins 1 Cor. 15.17 and this is one of those damnable heresies 2 Pet. 2.1 that brings swift destruction upon the souls of them that seduce and are seduced therefore wee should take heed of them Use 2. It shews us the great danger of the ignorance of Christ crucified The danger of ignorance of Christ crucified which doth most certainly conclude the want of Faith in Christs blood It is not possible to beleeve in any object without some knowledge of it and therefore such are undoubtedly in an unjustified estate who are thus destitute of this faith If any man have so much as a well-grounded hope of reconciliation with God it can bee built onely upon the death and satisfaction of our Saviour Faith in Christ crucified is called the knowledge of Christ crucified Isa 53.11 by his knowledge c. and 1 Cor. 2.2 Surely then if wee know not Christ crucified wee do not beleeve on him Luke 1.77 Quest How may it appear that the knowledge of Christ crucified is wanting or obtained by us Answ Tryals of our knowledge of it 1 By the rellish that we have of Christ crucified and the preaching of the Cross The preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness 1 Cor. 1.17 18. Beleeving is called the eating of the body of Christ and drinking of his blood Joh. 6. Now if wee cannot relish the doctrin of it and it will not down with us surely it is because wee know not what Christ crucified means Now what little relish it hath with multitudes of hearers is evident because the ministry of it is so little regarded and accepted by our drowsy careless dull formal and curious hearers and professors those glad tydings are no delight at all to them Some sleep scandalously some gaze about others will hardly stir out of doors to hear it were it so they could have some new Lights or Teachers after their own lusts such preaching as maketh the Cross of none effect they would flock after them and prick up their ears to hear them but cannot down with such light Manna and plain doctrin as this is Tri. 2. The knowledge of Christ crucified is an humbling knowledge Prov. 30.1 2 2 Cor. 5.14 it putteth a Christian into a mourning frame that as long as a man lives it will keep his soul in a bleeding condition Zach. 12.10 They shall look upon him whom they have peirced and mourn c. They are so sensible of sin and of the dishonour wrong done unto God thereby that they are still grieving under the sense of it And though a Christians heart is not alwaies in the same frame but sometimes some deadness and hardness is upon it yet they cannot be at rest in such a condition and it is looked at as an uncomfortable state till they recover themselves and a broken frame again But where the knowledge of the Crosse of Christ is unsound it will consist well enough with a proud unbroken untamed disposition of spirit Tri. 3. The knowledge of Christ crucified if sincere is mortifying and killing of the reign of sin Rom. 6.6 Knowing this that our Old man is crucified with him c. Phil. 3.8 10. Yea doubtlesse I count all things but losse for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ What knowledge vers 10. That I might know him and the
they shall be made as if they had not been dyed at all Though our sins by reiterating of them and long continuance in them have doubly and deeply seized on us yet by Gods discharging us of them wee become as if wee had never committed them Mic. 7.19 I will cast all your iniquities into the depth of the Sea As when all the Egyptians were drowned in the Red Sea and they sank like a stone there was no fear of their reviving again And marvellous is that promise Jer. 50. vers 20. In those daies and at that time saith the Lord the iniquity of Israel shall bee sought for and shall not bee found and the sins of Judah and they shall not bee for I will pardon them whom I reserve None by any search shall bee able to finde any sin to charge upon Gods People Rom. 8.34 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect 2 This full forgiveness flows from the satisfaction of Christ Heb. 9.22 Without shedding of blood there is no remission Eph. 1.7 Colos 1.14 In whom wee have redemption through his blood c. 1 Joh. 1.7 Rev. 8.34 Hee loved us and washed us from our sins with his own blood Heb. 1.3 Christ his own self purged away our sins Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit c. 3 The satisfaction of Christ was available for the remission of the sins of all the faithful before his comming in the flesh Rom. 3 22. Rev. 13.8 hee was flain from the foundation of the World viz. in Types and in the vertue of his death and efficacy thereof Heb. 13.8 Jesus Christ yesterday to day and the same for ever and Act. 15.11 Wee beleeve that by the grace of Jesus Christ we shall bee saved as the Fathers Where by the grace of Christ wee may understand as some do the inherent grace of sanctification for that alone will never save any man or bring him to heaven but by the grace of Christ is to bee understood the obedience and satisfaction of Christ and the fruit thereof in our reconciliation Act. 10.43 To him give all the Prophets witnesse c. and this was the meaning of that first promise Gen. 3.13 The seed of the woman c. ie Christ who was therefore manifest to destroy the works of the Devil So Isa 53.5 the faithful of those times say he was wounded for their transgressions c. and 1 Pet. 1.10 11. Of which salvation the Prophets inquired diligently who prophesyed of the grace that should come unto you searching what and what manner of time the Spirit of Christ that was in them did signify when it testified before hand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow All the true Prophets from the beginning of the World prophesied of the grace and salvation that should come to you by the sufferings of Christ yea the Prophets inquired and searched diligently after this grace besides though there was the same saving grace in the Church from the beginning of the World yet wee have a great prerogative above them who prophesied of that grace not onely that came to them but should come to us 1 Because of a clearer light that shined at the shining of the Sun of righteousnesse and hath been growing since that time 2 Because there is a greater efficacy of the holy Spirit since Christ is ascended 3 Because there is a larger communication of this grace which is now extended to all nations This may further appear to us by the sameness of the Sacraments 1 Cor. 10.1 2. they were baptized unto Moses c. they did all eat the same spiritual meat and drink the same spiritual drink c. Reas 1. Taken from the eternal surety-ship of our Saviour Christ Heb. 7.22 Christ hath undertaken before the foundation of the World to be a surety for the Elect and given his bond for the debt and the after payment thereof Now when a Surety hath undertaken thus a sufficient surety bound himself in behalf of the Debtor it is no marvail though the Creditor set the Debtor at liberty before payment bee actually made as God did the faithful before Christs incarnation Reas 2. Taken from the excellency of Christs person whose satisfaction must needs have infinite worth and dignity in it 1 Joh. 1.7 The bloud of Jesus Christ his Son c. if it be the bloud of the Son of God it must needs have a very cleansing vertue in it Psal 130.7 Rom. 5.17 there is abundance of grace c. God forgives not so much as one sin unlesse he hath accepted of the bloud of Christ for the pardon of it and when this is accepted God must pardon all Again to forgive one sin is an act of Gods free love and that cannot stand with any enmity Reas 3. From beleevers acceptation in Christ which is the receiving of us into favour Ephes 1.6 7. and those who are in Gods favour have their persons and services pleasing to God and so hath this large forgivenesse Rom. 8.1 Reas 4. Because it was the Spirit of Christ that was in the Prophets that did reveal the ministry of Christ to them 1 Pet. 1.10 11. and by them to all the faithful in those times sufficiently unto salvation Reas 5. From the glory of Gods grace by this means Eph. 1.6 7. it is forgivenesse according to the riches of Gods grace that hath so provided for us that our sins are so fully pardoned yea of the very chiefest beleeving sinners as of Paul Manasses and such as crucified the Lord of glory Vse 1. To discover to us the unexcusable and helplesse estate of all unbeleevers who lye under the guilt of their sins especially in these times and places and ends of the world who have the offer and tender of this grace of Christ and yet put it away from them for was the death of Christ sufficient to save those sinners that lived under the Old Testament that had so little light and so much darknesse knowing so little of the Mystery of the Gospel and is it not sufficient to save you from your sins who have this grace so abundantly preached and pressed upon you Why then I say as Matth. 11.20 Thou Capernaum that art lifted up to Heaven c. it shall bee more tollerable for Sodome and Gomorrah than for thee It is true many unbeleevers perished before Christ's coming and were left under the Wrath of God Job 3. ult but innumerable persons more in these dayes Whose Hell shall be greater and hotter than theirs to whom pardon is offered and yet refused Such cannot plead the greatnesse and multitude of their sins for the satisfaction of Christ is so full of vertue and efficacy that it exceeds the greatnesse of sins such shall have nothing to plead before the Lord one day but their bloud shall be upon their own heads because they have despised the bloud of Christ Acts 18.6 And besides
a people that have no understanding â— therefore he that made them will have no mercy on them and he that formed them will shew them no favour Yee have no understanding as if he should have said Yee have unmade and undone your selves by your folly wherefore I will not pitty you as my Creatures but if there were any validity in what this Objector saith then the Devils might comfort themselves which are the Creatures of God as well as men but of them and all the wicked of the world is that verified Prov. 16.4 God made all things for himself and the wicked for the evil day Obj. 5. If I must be the everlasting Object of Divine justice and vengeance for my sin I will bear it as well as I can Answ Now wretched creature is it come to that pass dost thou know what thou sayest know the Lyon by his paw Cain said Gen. 4.13 My punishment is greater than I can bear Proverbs 18.14 A wounded spirit who can bear Remember how it was with Job chapter 6.12 Is my strength the strength of stones Again Job 7.14 15. My soul chuseth strangling c. And Hezekiah Isa 38.13 I reckoned till morning That as a Lion so will he break all my bones Psal 88.15 Heman said whilst hee suffered the terrours of God he was distracted Job 31.23 Destruction from the Almighty was a terror unto me and by reason of his highnesse I could not endure Now these men that are last mentioned were precious Saints and Servants of the Lord that had a singular support of divine grace and yet they upon some lesser manifestations of the terrors of God in this life did thus expresse themselves But what is this in comparison of the Sinners of Sion Isa 33.14 15. what is this in comparison of everlasting burnings everlasting punishment Matth. 25. and the last vers streamings of brimstone chains of darknesse everlasting fire c. Matth. 25.41 the bottomeless pit an everlasting death immortal mortality according to that expression Rev. 9.6 they shall seek death and shall not find it they shall desire to dye and death shall flee from them consider but that expression of everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Matth. 25.41 the words are these Then shall hee say also unto them on the left hand depart from me yee cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Mark that word prepared it is spoken as if the Almighty Wisdome did deliberate and as it were set down and devise all stinging and terrible ingredients for a temper of greatest torture to make up that dreadful fire wherein hee meant to torment eternally his enemies do but cast an eye upon the sufferings of the Lord Jesus and his agony and prayer under the sense of his Fathers wrath and judge how well thou art like to bear the wrath of a sin-revenging God In a word let mee shut up this discourse with that of the Prophet Ezekiel Chap. 13. vers 11. Yee speak peace false peace to your own hearts build the Wall and dawb it ever with untempered mortar thus saith the Lord say unto them you dawb it with untempered mortar that it shall fall and there shall bee an overflowing showre and yee O great hail-stones shall fall and the stormy wind shall rent it The great God commands the great hail-stones to throw down the walls and daubings that yee shall say where is the daubing wherewith wee have daubed it All the vain Cavils of impenitent sinners shall bee scattered and do them no good I shall finish this use with a few conclusions following thence Conclusi 1. It is a horrible depth of Satans subtilty to hold an unbeleeving or impenitent sinner in a senseless security without feeling or fear of divine vengeance seeing such a soul is continually subject to bee seized on by the justice of God and that notwithstanding this sinners should bee so desperate that they turn to their course as the horse to the battel Jerem. 8.6 This is suitable to those expressions 2 Thes 2.9 10. where the Apostle tells us of the efficacy of Satan with all power and with all deceivablenesse of unrighteousness in them that perish Now these are Satans plots by which hee deceives souls 1 To procure them secrecy and successe in their wicked enterprizes for secrecy you have a place in Esay chapter 29.15 Their works are in the dark and they say who seeth mee or who knoweth us they dig deep to hide their counsel from the Lord much more from me saith the Prophet surely your turnings of things up and down shall bee as the Potters clay for shall the work say of him that made it hee made mee not Psal 64.5 They incourage themselves in an evil matter they commune of laying snares privily and say who shall see them but God shall shoot at them c. Now for their success in their wickedness and attempts the Devil makes fair promises of that too and for a while it may bee they may prosper Thus Haman Doeg the Scribes and Pharisees for some time prospered so did Julian the Apostate We read of this delusion of prospering in sin in Dan. 8.24 Hereupon the poor deluded wretches strengthen themselves in their wickedness Psal 52.1 2 He draws them by all the Baits hee can to engage them to their lusts to Ale-houses drinking revelling gaming feasting all manner of good-fellow-meetings and Bedlam-fooleries where the Devil himself is present in his Pontificalibus Prov. 1.11 Come say they let us lay wait for blood c. wee shall finde all pretious substance wee shall fill our houses with spoil cast in thy lot c. 3 Hee fills their heads with a multitude of worldly occasions with hope of gathering wealth so hee dealt with Cain in his building and as the Idolaters used when they sacrificed their Children to Moloc to drown the cries of their children with the noise of Drumms so these drown all the noise of Conscience with the lowder noise of the cumber and clutter of those worldly affairs 4 The Devil like a crafty juggler casts mists before the eies of his slaves or else as the Philistims dealt with Sampson puts out their eies that they shall not see the ugly face of sin They call evil good and good evil and so draw on iniquity and Isa 5.19 20. there they challenge God and say Let him make speed and hasten his work c. Let the Counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come c. Oh how miserable is that soul that is thus deluded by the Devil and led captive at his pleasure and what a fearful thing is it to abide one moment in such a condition Conclusi We are to justify God in all his severity 2. Then let us justify God in all the severity of his Commands Threatnings Judgements this was the frame of Davids heart when hee was kindly humbled Psal 51.4 That thou maiest bee justified when thou speakest
right and will not punish sins twice So that although they are not exempted altogether from Gods fatherly Chastisements and afflicting hand in this life yet there shall bee no condemnation unto them the exactnesse of Gods Justice cannot doe this Job 38.10 11 12. Farre be is from the Almighty that hee should doe wickednesse c. It would be rightly accounted great injustice in a Magistrate to punish the same offence twice therefore much lesse can God be guilty of it Comf 3. This serveth to answer all cavills and objections though there were Millions of them that can bee made against the good estate of a beleever That is a precious truth that alone overthrows all contrary errours Such is this that our sins are pardoned not only in a way of truth and mercy but in a way of justice Sathan and our own Consciences will object many things against our comfort if we plead only the mercy and the truth of God and will say but where is then the Justice of God Can Mercy pardon without the consent of his Justice but now whilst we beleeve in Christs satisfaction justice and peace kisse each other yea justice saith I am pleased Many things will bee cast in our dish in the day of temptation about the multitude and greatnesse of our sins and our manifold grievous relapses but Tit. 2.14 Christ hath redeemed us from all iniquity hee hath paid the full price that justice could exact or require and we may say as it is in Jam. 2.13 Mercy coming through saith rejoyceth against judgement Comf 4. This is the special favour of the Spouse of Christ that they can plead the righteousnesse of God in Christ as the Lord saith Hos 2.19 I will betroth thee unto me for ever yea I will betroth thee unto me in rightteousnesse and in judgement and in loving kindnesse i. e. in free grace pittying our miserable condition and in faithfulnesse and truth performing his promises that he hath made but is that all No but hee will doe it in righteousnesse too that is in a way whereby he will declare his justice as well as his mercy and truth This is the sure match that the Lord hath made with a poor soul which will stand good not only in the Court of Chancery but in the Court of Justice or Common Pleas too Such an inviolable match hath the Lord made with a poor beleever and how then can he break off from it to leave the soul in a state of Widdowhood Isa 62.4 Thou shalt bee no more termed forsaken but thou shalt bee called Hephsibah for the Lord delighteth in thee Vse 4. For instruction and exhortation and there might be several branches of it 1 If pardon of sin is given and must be received in a way of justice as well as in a way of mercy and truth then let every soul seek pardon of God in such a way as may stand with Divine justice There is many a condemned Malefactor standing at the barre that cries for mercy in vain at the hands of the Judge not considering the place of the Judge which is to doe justice So it fareth with many convicted and awakened sinners they goe to God in such a natural way as Benhadad went to Ahab saying The Kings of Israel wee have heard are merciful Kings so they say we have heard the God of Israel is a merciful God I will goe to him with sackcloath about my loyns and ropes about my neck i.e. with Humiliation and Self-judging and I hope that hee will pardon me Beloved in the Lord this is needful and commendable and I would not discourage any one from it but the distressed sinner is forced to it by the sense of his misery and some natural instinct and indeed alone it is insufficient to prevail with God unlesse he can plead his justice too as well as his mercy Thence you finde that God is described so Isa 45.21 There is no God else besides me a just God and a Saviour i. e. none besides me that is a just God in saving of sinners hee so saves as that hee may be just still and none can save so besides this just God as Jer. 3.22 23. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills and the multitude of the mountains in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel for shame hath devoured the labours of our fathers and we lye down in their shame for we have sinned against the Lord our God It is but a vain thing for you to take pains to goe to any other for salvation besides this just God and if ever he save you it will be in a way of justice Quest What is that way of justice that we must expect justification in Ans There is or can be but one way that was ever heard of to satisfie the justice of God that sinners might bee justified i.e. by the Father's making his own Son a propitiation for them that is the mystery in the text that God forgiveth sins through the bloud of his Son and beloved consider that Luther took a great deal of pains to understand this and prayed much and earnestly to the Lord for it before he could get the right meaning of it The mystery is this That the Son of God manifested in the flesh must make his soul an offering for sin to satisfie Divine justice or else all Mankind must perish eternally Then if this bee so let every one see the great necessity of getting into Christ and accordingly fly without delay to the Lord Jesus Let me say to thee as it was said to Lot Escape for thy life neither stay c. lest thou bee consumed deliver thy self as a Roe from the hands of the Hunter or as a Bird from the hand of the Fowler My thinks this Argument should fire every sinful man out of his miserable estate and make him fill Heaven and Earth with cries that he may gain Christ yea my thinks the Lord seemes to take the Lingerers by the hand as he did Lot Gen. 19.16 The Lord being merciful to them to bring them to Christ The Arguments whereby I would presse this upon poor sinners are The urgent and extreme necessity of a Redeemer for a sinner not only because the Scripture cannot be broken Joh. 10.35 which saith Without shedding of bloud there is no remission Heb 9.22 Besides there is no pardon of sin but in the New Testament and where a Testament is there must needs be the death of the Testator Heb. 9.16 or else the Testament is of no force Nor only the necessity of Gods unchangeable Decree who chuseth every soul that shall bee saved in Christ Ephes 1.4 and these are inviolable things but this is the extreme necessity that now I must needs put you in mind of i.e. the necessity of Gods nature that he is so just that hee can by no means acquit or clear the guilty Look how impossible it is that the God of truth should