a way of Satisfaction Impetration Merit or Intercession it were true but as he words it it may be very Erronious and it is to Scrue an Error he doth thus express it Hence because he finds Repentance and Faith are so necessary to our Salvation he hath in his Pulpit endeavoured to inform Men how Christ repented and that he repented for us and though he doth not-publish it in this Sermon as he did elsewhere That Christ believed for us yet you 'll see presently how much he endeavours to convince us that he did so for if he believed whilst humbled it was for us and it 's imputed to us as he oft in this Book affirms Had I Mr. M's liberty what would I call this Error for though it 's in Christ's Strength and Grace that we Repent Believe turn to God and do good Works yet if we do not these as our Personal Acts Misery will be our Portion If you not I believe not you shall die in you Sins John 8. 24. Except you not I repent you shall all perish saith Christ Luke 13. 3. I say Except your Righteousness not mine exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees you shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Matt. 5.20 Had Mr. M. been an Auditor he had not said Lord thou understandest not the Gospel it 's thou art to do these things this is the deep Counsel of God however legally thou speakest He might as well say it 's thou Christ shall perish as thou Christ art to repent 2. Faith is a prime and principal part of our Being conformable to the Image of Christ c. He is the first Pattern and original Copy of Believing P. 62 63. Reply Is Christ's Faith the Pattern of Faith in Christ I remember somewhere Dr. Goodwin speaks of God's trusting Christ till he was Incarnate and of Christ's trusting the Father since the time of his Sufferings Yea we may easily grant that Christ believed God's Promise and as a Man depended and relied on God's Power and Truth But this is no other Faith than Adam in Innocency acted than the Law of Works directed to By this account we may think better of the State of Pagans than most do for without Gospel-Revelation they may believe in God trust him and depend on him But what is this to the account the Scripture gives of Faith in Christ Did Christ come to himself as a Saviour Did he receive himself as a Crucified Redeemer Did he eat his own Flesh and drink his own Blood for Eternal Life Did he plead his own Merits and rely on his own Righteousness for Pardon and restored Peace Did he consent to be married to himself Did he look to himself for Healing Or to use Mr. M's account of Faith in this very Page Did he go out of himself unto himself for all Yea take part of his Description of Faith in Christ p. 39 40.1 The Subject of Faith is the Heart of a convinced broken-hearted Sinner c. The very Nature of Faith and the acting of the Soul in it is such as doth imply and include a Sight and Sense of Sin and Misery and a lively heart-influencing Conviction of utter Helplesness in a Man's self and unworthiness to be helped by God c. Reader Doth Christ's Faith in the Nature of it imply a Sense of utter Helplesness and Unworthiness in himself or of his Sin and Misery The Reason he gives for Justling out such as Abram and setting up Christ for the original Copy of believing in himself is this The Humane Nature of Christ lives and subsists in the second Person leaning on the Eternal Deity of the Son of God it hath its Subsistence in the Bosom of the Godhead c. and hath the Eternal Power of the Deity clasping about it P. 63. The Apostle did not know this Faith when he said that Charity was greater than Faith Well as Sublime as this Reason seems to be I will venture to say This is not that Faith in Christ which the Gospel requires of Sinners 1. I will give you a Reason of Mr. M's which besure is none of the best P. 7. Christ's dwelling in our Nature is no part of the Punishment of Sin for then the Divine Nature only is punished and not the Humane at all nor the Person It 's a bad one for what he brings it since that Assuming the Nature and dwelling in it differ and I have answered it before and it needs a great Allowance to keep it from But if the Sufferings or Acts of only one Nature be not the Sufferings or the Acts of the Person of Christ then the acting of Faith of the one Nature on the other Nature is not acting of Faith upon the Person of Christ and consequently not Gospel-Faith which is to be acted on the Person of Christ here the Humane Nature believes but that is not with him Christ that believes it believes on the Divine Nature and that with him is not Christ who is believed on What now is become of Christ's Believing even by his own Reasoning 2. The Object of Faith in Christ is God-Man Mediator a Crucified Christ c. but the Deity of the Son of God abstractedly considered is not God-Man Mediator c. Truly if our Gospel-Faith is specified by this I see not the need of Christ's Incarnation or Death yea or regard thereto 3. This leaning and especially to the purposes assigned to this Act of Christ's Humane Nature is not all that which is Essential to the Faith in Christ which the Gospel requires But why should I Scribble the little Paper left It 's like the Reasons he gave for Christ's Repenting viz. The reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me and he was a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Grief 3. He plainly discovers his Mind to be that Faith is an Act of the Soul whilst spiritually dead and unregenerate P. 61. He joins with such as say Faith is the means and way of our being made spiritually alive rather than our acting Life as being already brought into a state of Life as the Bodies Clasping hold on the Soul by the animal Spirits which are Corporeal things is rather the means of Life than an act of Life c. P. 62. Suppose that the principle of Grace begotten and created in us in Regeneration contain in it the Habit of Faith which I will not now call in question Yet c. P. 32. All our new Obedience and all the Graces of the Spirit comprized under that one word Love are the Effects and Fruits of our being justified P. 60. In Vnion by Faith which is the cause of this Union we are brought immediately into a state of Spiritual Life first Relative then Qualitative c. Repl. Here with the Arminians he denieth the habit of Faith necessary to the actings of Faith He is contrary to the Assembly of Divines who tell us That God in effectual Vocation takes away
justified by his blood It 's by this Blood as the procuring Cause this was the Propitiation Hence his Blood is said to cleanse us 1 Iohn 1.7 I hope you will not doubt that that of Christ for which we are justified is at least a part of Christ's Righteousness 4. If Christ's Poverty merited Riches for us then his Sufferings merited for us but Christ's Poverty merited Riches for us 2 Cor. 8.9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ that thô he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich He was Owner of all Things but for a time he quitted as it were his Claim to acquire Treasures for us who has forfeited all He had not a Cottage of his own to lay his Head in that he might purchase Mansions for us 5. That in the Virtue whereof Christ intercedes for and gives out the saving Blessings we receive did merit for us but it 's in the Virtue of his Death and Sufferings that Christ intercedes for and gives out the saving Blessings we receive He is entred into the holy place Heb. 9.12 Into heaven it self v. 24. There he presents the Offering he had finished on Earth that is in the Virtue thereof he claims and expects the Blessings promised thereto and merited thereby The dispensing thereof is committed to him and each of them is given to us and received by us in the express Virtue of that Offering I shall enumerate some and shew that each is assigned to Christ's Death and Sufferings Col. 1.14 In whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins Which Blood was shed for the remission of sins Matth. 26.28 Eph. 1.7 We have redemption through his blood Heb. 13. 12. Wherefore Iesus that he might sanctifie the people with his own blood suffered without the gate Reconciliation is owing to the same cause Col. 1.21 22. Now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy c. Yea eternal Life the sum of all promised good is granted on the same account Heb. 9.15 That by means of death for the redemption of their transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance Can you suppose that we have Remission Sanctification Peace and an eternal Inheritance for Christ's Death and Sufferings and that his Intercession for these and other Blessings is in the Virtue of his Blood and yet his Death merited not these 6. I might add Heb. 10.14 He hath by one offering perfected for ever them that are sanctified Which must not only prove that Christ's Death and Sufferings merited for us but that all saving Blessings are under their Influence as the meritorious Cause thereof Object Christ's Death and Sufferings were but the paying of a Debt and therefore merited nothing 1. A. Was not our Obedience a Debt Yea it was so more properly than our Sins or Punishment Sins are metaphorically called Debts but they are not Things we owe to God but are the neglect of that Obedience which we do owe to God and so oblige us to Punishment Punishments are called a Debt not as what God owes to us as a Debt or we to him but as what we are obnoxious to â—or Disobâ—dience if God is pleased to inflict them But yet he is not so obliged to Punish us as to exempt him from a Pardoning Right in the way his infinite Perfections will adjust If the Objection then will prove that Christ's Death merited nothing because it was the payment of a Debt theâ— it will more follow that Christ's Active Obedience merited nothing for that 's as much at least the paying of a Debt yea more properly The Confusion which this word Debt hath induced weak Men into especially as a Pecuniary Debt in the Doctrine oâ— Satisfaction I shall afterwards be necessitated to speak to 2. A. Christ's Death and Sufferings were Acts of Obedience in Christ and so they merited Our undergoing of Punishment would have been no Act of Obedience in us but an involuntary enduring of Vengeance It was not by a Divine Precept made our Duty but by the Sanction rendred due to us There was a Threatning whence it must be endured but no Commandment that made our being Punished an Obediential Act in us Is it an Act of our Obedience to die a Spiritual Death or to be hated and abhorred by the Lord Yea Is being eternally Damned a Duty performed to God by the Tormented But whatever our Lord Jesus suffered was obedientially and voluntarily endured It was God's Commandment to him and in him an Act of the highest Obedience to God he pleased God therein Ioh. 10.17 Therefore doth the father love me because I lay down my life He was obedient unto death Phil. 2.8 His willing subjection to God's Authority and Design herein was that which gave Life and Enâ—rgy to his Sufferings Truly Christ's Dying was the highest Act of Obedience and what we call his Active Obedience yields no Instance that equalleth this It followeth then that if Christ's Obedience could merâ—â— then his Death and Sufferings merited because they were strictly Acts of Obedience His very ensuring them was Obediential 3. A. Thô Death was due to us as Sinners yet Death was not due to Christ but as it was to be Satisfactory and Meritorious It was thus proposed to him by the Father and thus consented to by Himself He was to bear it as a Punishment for the satisfaction of Governing Justice and to merit the Pardon of Sinners his Sufferings were a Pardoning Price He had committed no Crime and therefore deserved no Punishment nor needed any Pardon But he was willing to bear the Punishment of our Crimes that thereby he might merit our Forgiveness in a way consistent with the Perfections of God and conducive to the Glory of Divine Government Hence Is. 53.5 The chastisement of our peace was upon him It on him was a Chastisement for our Peace as it s designed End True it was for Sin or it had not been necessary nor yet a Punishment but yet it was to purchase our Salvation or he had not submitted to it 4. A. The immediate Efficacy and Operation of Christ's Sufferings upon us are as they be Meritorious Christ's Death must be satisfactory to God or he would not have accounted it Meritorious of Peace to us nor granted us Benefits on the account thereof Provoked Justice and the Injury to Divine Government by Sin stood in the Sinner's way yea stood in the way of all Merit for good to us There must be a Propitiation for Sin to God and this being made to God it 's accepted as a Ransom and Price by him and so it operates on the Sinner in a way of Merit consequential of that satisfaction we are redeemed by Christ's Blood as a Redeeming Price we are saved by it as Meritorious of Salvation Thô it was also offered as an
Atonement and supposed to be so ere Life could be granted to Men for the sake thereof 5. A. It were a great Reflection on the Father and upon Christ as well as destructive to Sinners to suppose that Christ by his Death and Sufferings merited nothing for us God is strangely represented if he will have his innocent Son die for Sinners and yet his Death not be allowed Meritorious of the Release of Sinners We conceive not of Christ according to his Wisdom that he would make his Soul an Offering for Sin and not thereby purchase the Release of Sinners in his way And as to the concern of Sinners What avails it them that Christ died to honour Justice if their Pardon Adoption and Glory be not merited thereby If we should conceive that Christ died for us and yet thereby merited not that we should not die but live it would infer that Christ's Satisfaction did no more than make it consistent with God's Glory to save Believers but not certain that God would save those that believe I say Believers because Christ died to purchase Salvation absolutely for none but them that would believe Thô he purchased Faith for the Elect whereby their Happiness is as sure as if absolutely purchased and the serious Offers of Salvation on the Terms of the Gospel for all Men that hear the Gospel I hope these Considerations will induce you to conclude that the Death and Sufferings of Christ are Meritorious of saving Blessings for us Thô I grant Christ's Active Obedience was Meritorious yea and in a very proper sense Satisfactory too yet if it were necessasary which it is not that we must confine the Merit of Salvation to either his Active or Passive Obedience I should esteem it abundantly safer to confine it to his Passive Obedience as Olevian Piscator Windelin Gataker Pitcairn and many of our greatest Divines have done I shall contract the Application of what you have heard and leave the Improvement of such Inferences as these to your Minds 1. How great and awful an Evil is Sin Besides the Defilement which it brings the Debasement of our Rational Nature by it and that Obnoxiousness to Punishment which attends it we have seen how contrary it is to the Holy Nature of God and what an Injury to the Glory of his Government This is that Provocation which Essential Justice required an Atonement for and the Wisdom of God saw necessary to punish in the most awful manner in his very Son What an Offence was that which when his boundless Grace made him willing to forgive yet his other Perfections would not admit to pass unpunished that the Government of God might receive no damage by Man's Impunity The Agony and Death of our Redeemer as convincingly testifie the Evil of Sin as the Howlings of the Damned yea in many respects far more This is that of which without blood there is no remission Heb. 9.22 Yea for which the Blood of Christ alone was a fit Propitiation 1 Ioh. 2.2 The Blood of him alone that was God could wash it out of God's Books and fetch its Stain out of our Consciences Whatever Wonder is displayed in the method of Redemption proclaims the Odiousness and Disorder of Sin Let us then humbly bewail our past Offences wonder that we can make a Mock of Sin be in Distress till our Pardon be sealed to us watch and be afraid of all Sin for the future and be restless whiles this worst of Evils hath any room in our Hearts or advantage to break out in our Lives 2. The Governing Justice of God is strictly exact and his Authority sacred God is infinite in Mercy but not to the least Detriment of Justice he bare a good Will to the Elect but will not eclipse his Throne in forgiving them He will be just even when he Pardons Rom. 3.25 His Son must obey in our Nature if we neglect or fail to obey his Son must die in our Flesh if we offend and yet obtain Remission Angels irremediably perish for their Rebellion having no God in their Nature to atone for them If sinful Man escape it 's by a Satisfaction made by Christ in their Nature as their Sponsor Heb. 2.14 16. More of this afterwards Let us reverence his Laws tremble at his Threats submit to all he Prescribes and serve him with Reverence and godly Fear for our God is a consuming fire Heb. 12.28 29. 3. How amazing is the Love of the Father in giving his Son for us and as astonishing is the Love of Christ in giving himself for us The Indignation of God against Sin and the Love of God to Sinners contend in this Instance God takes occasion to display his Love while he vindicates the Honour of his Justice Rom. 5.8 But God commendeth his love towards us that whiles we were yet sinners Christ died for us He doth herein not only assure us of his Love but gives to Angels and Men an instance of the Infiniteness of that Love of his By this beyond any other he proclaims how much he can love Can you question it when you consider him so provoked by Sin when you weigh the Dignity and Dearness of his Son to him the humble State he was to enter into and the astonishing Miseries he was to endure in that State and this for vile Worms and careless resolved Enemies Well might the Apostle say Herein is love not that we loved God but that God loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 4.10 Alas all Creatures love to God is not worth the name of Love in comparison with his Love to us How should this aggravate our Unkindness raise our admiring Thoughts heighten our Esteem unite our Hearts to him render him the Object of our supreme Delight and render our Obedience to his Commands exact and pleasing yea join'd with the greatest Zeal for his Glory and Serviceableness to his Interests The Father's Love must not be overlook'd which too many are guilty of by representing him to their Mâ—â—ds as only exacting Satisfaction from Christ not minding that he provided and gave Christ to make that Satisfaction Our blessed Redeemer's Love is alike unaccountable he was not ignorant of what attended his Undertaking when he subscribed it he knew all the Abasement of his humble State he understood all the bitter Ingredients of the Cup how deep every Nail in the Cross was to pierce what Impressions Divine Wrath would make and what an Eclipse his own vailed Glory would occasion But yet his Love was sufficient to take on him all this weight and carry him through the utmost of his Undertaking His Kindness was not quenched by floods of Sorrow nor his Heart changed when he felt the most with the bitter Cup in his hand he embraced them for whose sake he was to drink it Ioh. 13.1 When Iesus knew that his hour was come having loved his own he loved them to the end What care took he of them