compulsory on the Jewes and Pilates part but also voluntary on his own part by yeelding himselfe unto death From which if he would have shunned it he could easily have rescued himselfe not only by his owne single power but Matt. 26.53 by the ayd of more then twelve Legions of Angels which at his request his Father would have presently given him but hee willingly yeelded and gave himselfe up to death So the word unto death must be understood Ephes 5.2 Walke in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himselfe for us viz. unto death as the words immediatly following declare it And Ephes 5.25 Husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the Church and gave himselfe for it viz. unto death And 1. Tim. 2.6 Christ gave himselfe a ransome for all i. e. Gave himselfe unto death And Tit. 2.14 Christ gave himselfe for us that he might redeeme us from all iniquity i. e. Gave himselfe unto death For our sinnes Heere againe another word must be supplied which in many places of Scripture is silenced but yet supposed and understood because in other places it is mentioned And that word is Remission or forgivenesse that Christ gave himselfe unto death for the remission or forgivenesse of our sinnes So the word Remission must be understood Rom. 4.25 who was delivered for our offences i. e. Was delivered unto death for the remission or forgivenesse of our offences for this sense is declared by the words immediatly following and rose againe for our justification And 1. Cor. 15.3 I delivered unto you how that Christ died for our sinnes i. e. For the remission of our sinnes And Heb. 10.12 But this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sinnes for ever i. e. For the Remission of sinnes for ever For when in other places of Scripture our sinnes are referred to the death of Christ or unto his bloud being put for his death the word Remission is mentioned expresly As Matt. 26.28 This is my bloud of the new Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sinnes And Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to bee a propitiation through faith in his bloud to declare his righteousnesse for the remission of sinnes that are past And Ephes 1.7 In whom wee have redemption through his bloud the forgivenesse of sinnes according to the riches of his grace All which sayings and the like are explications or comments upon these words of Paul heer who gave himselfe for our sinnes Sometime the word Remission is not mentioned expresly but implicitly by substituting in stead thereof some other word therto equivalent as the word Taking away for the Remission or forgivenesse of sinnes is nothing else but A taking away of that punishment which by the Law is due unto sin Hence John 1.29 Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world Heere Christ is compared to a Lamb in respect of his death for sin which by his death is taken away i. e. is remitted or forgiven And 1. John 3.5 Ye know that he was manifested to take away our sinnes i. e. To remit or forgive our sinnes And the word Bearing which when it is applied unto Christ in respect of sin signifieth bearing away i.e. taking away from us the punishment of sin which is all one with Remission or forgivenesse As Esay 53.11 By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many and shall beare their iniquities And againe in the next verse following Hee was numbred with the transgressors and bare the sin of many i. e. He shall and did beare away or take away from many the punishment of their iniquities and sinnes which in one word is the Remission or forgivenesse of their sins And 1. Pet. 2.24 Who his owne self bare our sinnes in his own body on the tree i. e. Tooke away from us the punishment of our sins Yet Christ did not take the punishment of our sinnes upon himselfe to beare and suffer in himselfe the punishment due to us for our sinnes for he was not punished in our stead for our sinnes but he only tooke away or bare away from us the punishment of them without inflicting it upon himselfe The certainty of this truth for this sense of these two words taking and bearing is taught us by Matthew for when the Prophet had sayd Esay 53.4 Surely he hath borne our griefes and carried our sorrowes Matthew cites this upon the miracles of Christ in healing all that were sick saying Matt. 8.17 Himselfe tooke our infirmities and bare our sickenesses Now in healing the sicke Christ did not so take their infirmities and beare their sicknesses as to be infirme or sicke himselfe but he only tooke away or bare away from the sick their infirmities and sicknesses For when a Physitian cureth a disease he doth not take it unto himself to be sick of it himself but he only takes it away from the Patient So Christ in dying for our sins took not unto himself the punishment of thē to beare or suffer the punishment himself but he only took away and bare away from us the punishment of our sins And when by the meanes of the Physitian the disease is taken from the Patient it is not necessary it should be layd on the Physitian or on any body else for it sufficeth if the disease be abolished So when by the means of Christ the punishment of sin is taken away from sinners it is not necessary it should bee layd upon Christ or on any else because it is finally abolished For the punishment of sin is eternall death which is already abolished in grant or promise and shall be abolished in esse at the Resurrection for death is the last enemy that shall be destroyed Our sinnes then are not the efficient cause of Christs death for Christ died not to be punished for them but his death is an efficient cause of the Remission or forgivenesse of our sinnes for by the meanes of his death the punishment of our sinnes is taken away or borne away And consequently the Remission of our sinnes is a finall cause end or effect of Christs death yet not immediat or proximous but a remote effect For as shall bee more largely declared cap. 2. ver 21. the immediat or proximous finall causes ends or effects of Christs death were to testifie to confirm and to execute the last Will and Testament of God whereof one article is the Remission of our sinnes which by way of Legacy is therein devised or promised unto us Christ then gave himselfe to death for our sinnes partly because by his death he testified and confirmed the new Testament wherein the right of Remission of sinnes is given us for that Testament being confirmed becomes of force and we by meanes of our faith have a present right to the future forgivenesse of our sinnes And partly because through his death he was made perfect with power to execute that Testament that he might actually
saith of himselfe John 3.11 Verily verily I say unto thee wee speake that wee know and testifie that wee have seene viz. the New Testament or last Will of God which God had therefore revealed unto him that hee should speake and testifie it And againe hee saith John 18.37 To this end was I borne and for this cause came I into the World that I should beare witnesse unto the truth viz. unto the New Testament that it was the true and last Will of God Hence the Apostle saith of him 1. Tim. 6.13 that before Pontius Pilate hee witnessed a good confession now the confession which Christ witnessed before Pilate hee also witnessed with his death Hence hee is called the faithfull and true witnes Revel 3.14 These things saith the Amen the faithfull and true witnesse viz. because hee was the first true Martyr of the New Testament to testifie it with his blood Hence his blood is tearmed a witnesse on earth 1. John 5.8 And there are three that beare witnesse on earth the spirit and the water and the blood and these three agree in one And hence his Gospel which is the New Testament is called his Testimony Because it was testified and witnessed by his death 1. Cor. 1.6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you i. e. the Gospel or New Testament which Christ testified And 2. Tim. 1.8 bee not thou ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. i. e. of the Gospel or New Testament which Christ testified by his death upon the Crosse for unto the Gospel that shamefull death was made the common reproach and there was no other cause why Timothy should bee ashamed thereof 2. To establish or confirme the force of the New Testament Every Testament doth necessarily require a solemne Confirmation of it that may cause it to be of strength and in force because the constitution or making of a Testament is in it selfe an imperfect and infirme act untill it be ratified and established by a further act of Confirmation whereby all power to revoke it is extinguished in the Testator and whereby the Testament comes to be of force And among men this Confirmation of a Testament is made or done by the death of the Testator because his death doth wholly and for ever extinguish in him all power to revoke it for the dead have no power to do any act at all much lesse to make or revoke a Testament made That Testament therefore which during the Testators life lay dormant and was of no force doth upon his death ipso facto come to be in force Because every Testament according to the definition and nature of it is a Decree touching things to be done after death For the Testator in the time of his life doth predestinate ordaine and devise in his Testament those things which he would have take effect after his death and which before his death are of no force Hence sayth the Apostle Heb. 9.16 Where a Testament is there must also of necessity be the death of the Testator for a Testament is of force after men are dead otherwise it is of no strength at all whilst the Testator liveth The New Testament then was confirmed because God would have the world take notice that he had not onely no will to revoke it but also had left himselfe no power to revoke it And it was confirmed by death because God would further have all men to understand that upon the death of the Confirmer the Testament was ipso facto in force and began to take effect But God who is the Testator could not confirme his Testament by his owne death in his owne proper person because though he be a Person Testable who can make a Testament yet withall he is a person immortall who cannot dye and therefore the most High God hath this prerogative that he may confirme his Testament by the death of another For hereupon God confirmed his Old Testament by the death of Beasts whose bloud was sprinkled on the people to establish his Testament unto them Exod. 24.8 And Moses tooke the bloud of the Oxen slayne for sacrifice vers 5. and sprinkled on the People and sayd Behold the bloud of the covenant or Testament which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words But God confirmed his New Testament by the death of Christ a most Sacred person who was next himselfe and so neare unto him that he was in a maner himselfe even his onely and dearely beloved Son whom God made his substitute to dye in his stead for the confirmation of his last Will and Testament For as the New Testament is better then the Old and established upon better Promises so it had a most excellent confirmation For can I devise a greater assurance of blessednesse then to read the devise of it in Gods last Testament which cannot be revoked but is confirmed by the death of Christ to stand in force for ever and therefore actually justifieth upon the accesse of my fayth by giving me a present right to the future possession of that Inheritance which long before the confirmation of that Testament was therein predestinated pre-imputed and devised unto me Could God who could not dye devise a way to come nearer death then by the death of Christ who was next unto him Or could God devise a course more consequent and suitable to that love and grace which he shewed in framing of the New Testament then that his owne and onely Son should suffer death to confirme it Or could Christ devise a more precious meanes whereby to shew his love then to lay downe his life for a company of sinners who stood condemned to death that by Meanes of his death that Testament might come to be in force by which they might clayme not onely a pardon from eternall death but also an Inheritance to eternall life which is setled upon them at the price of his bloud For hence Christ instituted the Eucharist as a perpetuall commemoration of his death and called his bloud the bloud of the New Testament because the New Testament was thereby established and confirmed to be in force Mat. 26.28 For this is my bloud of the New Testament which is shed for many for the Remission of sinnes i. e. the Wine in this cup is a memoriall representing or betokening my bloud which is to be shed to confirme the New Testament wherein the Remission of sinnes is bequeathed unto many even unto all Believers And againe the like saying is expressed Marc. 14.24 This is my bloud of the New Testament which is shed for many i. e. the bloud wherby the New Testament was confirmed Hence Christ is frequently in Scripture sayd to give himselfe for us and to dye for us because by his death hee confirmed the new Testament to be in force for our sakes that wee thereupon might actually have our present right to all the blessings therein conveyed unto us Hence also the bloud of Christ is opposed
it have beene truly performed according to the precept of the New Testament wherein the forgivenesse of sinnes is promised Because Christ is the sole Executor of that Testament and unto the Executor it belongeth to examine judge and allow the conditions of Legacies conditionall that accordingly hee may discharge them for the discharge of Legacies lies alwayes upon the Executor And at the day of judgement when Christ shall sit Judge of the quicke and the dead hee will also discusse the condition of our repentance or holynesse judging thereof by the workes of love in giving meate to the hungry drinke to the thirsty clothing to the naked c. as it is largely described Mat. 25.35 And accordingly hee will frame the finall sentence either for the remission of sinnes unto the inheritance of everlasting life or for the retention of sinnes unto the punishment of eternall death Yet Christ will not examine the condition of our repentance or holynesse by the Rules of severity and rigour but of grace mercy and kindnesse accepting and allowing of a competent holynesse in a meane degree though it have not beene precisely performed Because the New Testament is a Testament ad pias causis or for charitable uses and such Testaments admit of this priviledge that their conditions are at the mercy of the Executor and hee hath power to allow them though they bee not precisely performed Thus Remission of sinnes and Repentance are of such neare relation that they goe hand in hand as the blessing and the condition of it being in severall passages of the New Testament joyned and coupled together as the two maine poynts or substantialls thereof and as the two maine subjects which make up the worke of preaching the Gospel For the New Testament being commonly distributed into the two maine branches of Promises and Precepts or which is all one of Legacies and conditions remission of sinnes is many times put for all the promises or legacies and repentance for all the precepts or conditions Hence these two made up the preaching of John the Baptist Luk. 3.3 And hee came into all the Countrey about Jordan preaching the Baptisme of Repentance for the remission of sinnes Hence these two made up the summe of that Gospel which the Apostles were to preach in the name of Christ Luk. 24.46 And Christ sayd unto them thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sinnes should bee preached in his Name among all Nations Hence for the execution and effecting of these two Christ was exalted to bee a Prince and a Saviour Act. 5.31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to bee a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgivenesse of sinnes According to the will of God The will of God will not admit of a definition for it is not definite to bee defined but rather definitive and doth define and therefore it must bee designed by such markes as may notifie it and they are chiefely three Namely his Affects Decrees and Purposes For 1. Every affect of God is his will as his Love Grace and Mercy his Hatred and Anger 2. Every Decree of God is his will as his Promises Precepts and Judgements 3. Every purpose of God is his will as his Precognition Prevision and Predestination which Acts being the forethoughts or counsells of his will whereby hee constituteth his Decrees doe note an antecesse of time that the Decree thereby constituted was a long time predestinated or purposed before it was destinated or ordained Hence it will follow that every Covenant of God is his Will because his Covenant is his present Decree for things to bee done for the future And every testament of God is his will because his testament is his present decree for things to bee done after death for that futurity which is limited unto death doth specifie Gods Testament from his Covenant For Gods Testament and his Covenant are not wills opposite or divers but subordinate or graduous because his Covenant is more ample and large for all Gods Covenants are not Testaments but all his Testaments are his Covenants And every Testament whatsoever when it takes effect becomes a Covenant because when the Executor undertakes it there is a full agreement betweene his will and the testators will for the performance of the whole Testament and an agreement of Wills makes up a full Covenant The will of God in expresse tearmes is no where mentioned either in the Law or the Prophets or in the Old Testament excepting onely once Ezra 7.18 But in the New Testament we frequently finde the word and there it is commonly taken for the New Testament it selfe or for that will of God which is his last will and testament So John 1.13 Which were borne not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God i. e. of Gods last will and testament And John 6.38 I came downe from Heaven not to doe mine owne will but the will of him that sent mee i e. to execute and fullfill the last will and testament of God And Rom. 12.2 That yee may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God i. e. What are the Precepts or Commands of his last will and testament And Ephes 1.5 According to the good pleasure of his will i. e. of his last will and testament in which sence it is also taken in the same Chapter vers 9.11 And 1 Thes 4.3 This is the will of God even your sanctification i. e. This is a Precept of Gods last will and testament And Heb. 10.9 Then sayd hee â—e I come to the thy will O God i. e. to execute and performe thy last will and testament as by the words following is plainely declared Hee taketh away the first that hee may establish the second i. e. Hee taketh away the Old Testament which was the first will of God that hee may establish the New which is his second and last will And in this sence is the will of God taken heere when Paul saith according to the will of God and that for three Reasons 1. Because Christ gave himselfe to death according to no other will of God then his last Will and Testament for Christ dyed for this end or effect that by the meanes of his death hee might testifie confirme and execute the New Testament that thereupon it might bee in force and take effect according to the purpose or meaning of God therein expressed 2. Because remission of sinnes for which Christ is heere sayd to dye is according to no other will of God then his last Will and Testament for the Old Testament or Covenant of workes allowed not the remission of all sinnes but onely Errours and Frailties and those also were not remitted unlesse they were expiated by the meanes of a sinne offering and in case of damage of a
same act effected both these things for by his suffering on the Crosse hee confirmed the New Will and Testament for hence his bloud is called the bloud of the New Testament and the Wine at the Communion is the memoriall of that Bloud Mat. 26.27 And hee tooke the cup and gave thankes and gave it to them saying Drinke ye all of it for this is the bloud of the New Testament And by the same suffering hee cancelled the first Will and Testament Col. 2.14 Blotting out the handwriting of Ordinances which was against us which was contrary to us and tooke it out of the way nayling it to his Crosse Yet hee cancelled the first Will but onely Consequently i. e. upon his confirmation of the last Will it followed necessarily that thereby the first was cancelled and frustrated Am dead to the Law In respect of the Law I am putatively or as it were a dead person who am no way acted or moved at any thing in the Law not at her Promises nor her Judgements nor her Precepts in any kind whether for matter of Policy Ceremony or Morality For I regard neither what she promiseth nor what she threatneth not what she commands nor what she forbids And these words of mine are not presumptuous nor any way opprobrious or reproachfull to the Law because the Law it selfe is the cause why I am thus dead unto the Law namely because the Law it selfe is dead for through her death to me I to her am dead Yet my Person is not dead but my subjection to the Law is dead for my subjection was correlative to her dominion and Relatives as they mutually give being one to another so they mutually take away each others being for when either of the Relatives faile the whole Relation ceaseth the dominion therefore of the Law being dead doth make my subjection to dye with it As by the death of the Husband the Wife also dyeth Yet not in her person as she is a woman but in her relation as she is a wife for she ceaseth to bee a wife though still she remaine a woman For by this comparison the Apostle doth elegantly illustrate both the death of the Law and the death of the Jew unto the Law Rom. 7.2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the Law to her husband so long as hee liveth But if the husband bee dead she is loosed from the Law of her husband i. e. Shee ceaseth to bee his wife And from hence hee inferres this conclusion vers 4. Wherefore my brethren yee also are become dead to the Law by the body of Christ That I might live unto God These words are a tacit prevention of an objection that might bee made against his former words For some man might say unto him if the Law bee dead and you dead to the Law and free from the dominion of it then you may freely sinne without controule Heereto his answer is I am not dead to the Law for that purpose that I might sinne But contrarily I am dead to the law that I might not sinne but might dye as well to sinne as to the Law For I am therefore dead unto the Law that I might live unto God by framing all my actions according to his grations Will his last Will and Testament which is the Will that hee hath surrogated to the deceased Law of Moses that was his former Will but is now infringed and which is the Rule whereby I am now to walke that my wayes may bee acceptable and pleasing unto God For to this very end the Old Law is dead and I am dead to the Law that I might become a new Creature to live a new life in the service of God To serve him not carnally after the old way in the Old Testament but spiritually after the new way declared in the New Testament Rom. 7.6 But now wee are delivered from the Law that being dead wherein wee were held that wee should serve in newnesse of spirit and not in the oldnesse of the letter A like expression to the words in hand wee have Rom. 6 11. Likewise reckon yee your selves to bee dead indeed unto sinne but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And another afterward Rom. 6.13 Neither yield yee your members as instruments of unrighteousnesse unto sinne but yield your selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousnesse unto God VERSE 20. Text. I am crucified with Christ Neverthelesse I live yet not I but Christ liveth in mee and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Sonne of God who loved me and gave himselfe for me Sense I am crucified i. e. Quasily or in a maner for my old man or the man that I was is mortified or put to death With Christ i. e. By way of resemblance as Christ was put to death and because he was put to death Neverthelesse I live 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. But I live viz. a temporall life in this world Yet not I. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. No more I or no longer the same man that I was before when sinne lived in me But Christ lived in mee i. e. Christ by his spirit and by his doctrine is the guide and rule of all my life And the life which I now live in the flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. But in that I now live in my mortall body or body of flesh I live by the faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. I live in the Faith or in the Religion q. d. though I live in a body of flesh Yet my life is not fleshly but religious Of the Sonne of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. That of the Sonne of God q. d. the Religion wherein I now live is not that of Moses but that of Christ who is the son of God And gave himselfe for mee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. And delivered himselfe for mee viz. unto death or suffered death for my sake Reason This Verse is a Confirmation of his words in the former wherein hee affirmed that hee was dead unto the Law not to this end that hee might freely sinne but to this that hee might afterward live in the service of God the reason is saith hee because I am crucified with Christ For his being crucified doth argue or prove him dead because all Crucifying is dying and being crucified effectually is being dead though all dying bee not crucifying for crucifying is but one kinde of violent dying And his being crucified with Christ doth argue or prove that hee lived to God Because Christ though hee dyed on the Crosse yet now liveth unto God The rest of the Verse being a further Declaration of this first clause is adorned and varied with pathetick expressions arguing his divine and pious affections wherein by continuing his former Personation in transferring upon himselfe the person of a man
all be made alive But of these words for me the meaning is that Christ delivered himselfe to death and actually died for my sake for my good and for my great benefit which benefit is no lesse unto me then first my Right and afterward my Possession of eternall Blessednesse For by or through his death I collect from Scripture these five benefits 1. Hee Certified mee of blessednesse That the Will and Testament which he published to the World concerning the future blessednesse of heaven was the true whole and last Will and Testament of God seeing hee testified this truth and made faith thereof by his death for because hee witnessed it with his bloud therefore his bloud is sayd to beare witnesse on earth 1 John 5.8 And there are three that beare witnesse on earth the spirit and the water and the bloud 2. He justified me to blessednes For the Will and Testament of God wherein the Legacies or Promises of blessednes are devised unto me was confirmed and established by the bloud and death of Christ who dyed instead of the Testator that the Testament might bee in force and that being in force I am upon my actuall faith actually justified to my Legacies therein for hence wee are sayd to bee justified by the bloud of Christ Rom. 5.9 Being now justified by his bloud we shall be saved from wrath through him 3. He sanctified me for blessednesse For those acts of holinesse which consist in dying to sin and in newnesse of life and which are the conditions and Precepts of Gods Will and Testament whereto the possession of blessednes is limited and without which I shall never possesse it were figured and shaddowed out unto mee by the death and resurrection of Christ For hee that had no sin himselfe how could hee otherwise represent unto me this duty of my death unto sin and newnes of life And that Christ dyed to doe this good upon mee is expresly taught in many places of the Scripture as Gal. 1.4 Who gave himselfe for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evill world And Ephes 5.25 Husbands love your Wives even as Christ also loved the Church and gave himselfe for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it c. And Tit. 2.14 who gave himselfe for us that he might redeeme us from all iniquity and purifie unto himselfe a peculiar people zealous of good workes And Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the bloud of Christ who through the eternall spirit offered himselfe without spot to God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God And 1 Pet. 1.18 Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vaine conversation received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious bloud of Christ. And 1 Pet. 2.24 Who his owne selfe bare our sins in his owne body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousnesse 4. He exemplified unto me the way to blessednesse The way leading unto blessednesse is a hard rough and narrow lane beset with many troubles dangers and certaine death through all which hee commands mee to passe A way that unto flesh and bloud is exceeding fearfull and full of horrour for it seemes to lead mee unto utter destruction yet is indeed the right true and onely way to eternall blessednes Now seeing Christ by his death passing this way came thereby to his crowne of glory doth not hee by his example in taking the assay of death and in tasting it for mee encourage me to suffer death and assure unto mee the likenesse of his glory for may I not playnely see this in the death of my Saviour Jesus Christ Heb. 2.9 But we see Jesus who was made a little lower then the Angells for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour that hee by the grace of God should taste death for every man 5. Hee will glorifie mee with the crowne of blessednesse The Legacies or promises of my future blessednes are to be performed unto me by Christ because he is the sole Executor of that Will and Testament wherein they are devised unto mee and therefore also he is the Captaine of my salvation Unto which Office hee was enabled and perfected through the sufferings of death that after his death he might possesse his owne glory and might also bring me to glory after mine because this was a way beseeming and becomming the good pleasure of God whereby to bring all his sons unto glory Heb. 2.10 For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons unto glory to make the Captaine of their salvation perfect through sufferings Christ himselfe having been once dead and gained by his death the power over death doth the more commiserate my death and will be the readier first to succour me at it and hereafter to rayse me from it Heb. 2.18 for in that he himselfe hath suffered being tempted be is able to succour them that are tempted In a word hee therefore dyed and revived that hee might bee my gratious Lord in what state soever I am whether dead or alive Rom. 14.9 For to this end Christ both dyed and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living Yet I am further to conceive that these words Christ gave himselfe or dyed for mee must bee understood of him by way of eminency or excellency in a speciall and singular manner For although some other persons may dye for mee yet they cannot bee sayd to doe it in that maner or in that sense that hee did it Because Christ was the first person who dyed for mee in this kinde and by the meanes of whose death principally and chiefely according to the grace and mercy of God my salvation is established And because Christ was the onely person who dyed for mee to these speciall ends of Justifying Sanctifying and Glorifying of mee as hee was my sole and onely Mediatour without the conjunction of any other person heerein And because this deede of Christ in dying for mee is sometime in Scripture attributed unto Christ as a speciall property peculiar to him for hence it is sayd Rom. 14.15 Destroy not him with thy meate for whom Christ dyed viz. in an eminent and excellent manner And 1. Cor. 1.13 Was Paul crucified for you i. e. Neither Paul nor any other person was crucified for you principally and especially Otherwise besides Christ some other person may also dye for mee and may bee truely sayd to dye for the good of my salvation For touching himselfe Paul saith 2. Cor. 1.6 That hee was afflicted for the consolation and salvation of the Corinthians And 2. Cor. 12.15 That hee would very gladly spend and bee spent for their soules for so the Margin declares the Originall And Ephes 3.1 That hee was the Prisoner of Jesus Christ for the Gentiles and if consequently to his imprisonment hee had suffered
in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the minde and were by nature the children of wrath even as others but God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith hee loved us even when wee were dead in sinnes hath quickned us together with Christ by grace yee are saved and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the Ages to come hee might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindnesse towards us through Christ Jesus Certainely such love as heere is mentioned so exceeding rich in grace mercy and kindnesse must needes bee free from wrath and anger unlesse wee are content to say that at one and the same time in respect of the same action and of the same persons God was exceeding loving and yet exceeding angry which at last will come to this that at the same time the same God loved and loved not 2. God was not angry with Christ when he dyed For would God bee angry with his onely begotten Son of whom hee gave this publick testimony from Heaven Mat. 3.17 This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased With his Son who was so obedient that hee tooke upon him the forme of a servant and God calls him his chosen servant in whom his soule was well pleased Mat. 12.18 Behold my servant whom I have chosen my beloved in whom my soule is well pleased With his Son who was so Innocent that in all his life hee knew no sin and therefore could bee no subject of Gods anger And could God bee angry with his Sonne then when hee was about Gods owne worke a worke to God so pleasing that God therefore loved him because he undertook it John 10.17 Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life that I might take it againe A worke to God so agreeable that Ephes 5.2 it was an Offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour A worke to God so acceptable that for his undergoing of it God hath highly exalted him and caused every knee to bow unto him Phil. 2.8 Hee humbled himselfe and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow c. 3. God was not angry with us when Christ dyed for us For could God bee angry with us then when wee were the objects of his admirable and infinite love when hee did a worke for our sakes whereby hee especially intended to free us wholly from his anger a work wherein he playnly declared the exceeding riches of his grace and the abundance of his mercy and kindnesse towards us a worke wherein hee spared not his own most dearly beloved Son but delivered him up for us all and thereby manifested that hee would freely give us all things a worke whereby hee conveyed unto us a right interest and clayme to the eternall possession of Heavenly blessednes Or if God were then angry with us when to settle upon us eternall life hee exposed his owne Son to a bitter death what sufficient argument can wee draw from his death whereby to assure our soules that God remaines not angry with us still even unto this very day True it is that God was angry with the Jewes who put Christ to death for his bloud was upon them and upon their children and afterward God punished their wickednes with a sin all desolation Yet if wee consider that anger of God according to the right course of causality we shall easily perceive that Gods anger against the Jewes was not the cause of Christs death but contrarily Christs death was the cause of Gods anger against the Jewes For God whose anger caused not the worke was justly angry with the workemen who did it because they on their part made it a wicked worke for they did it not as Gods worke not as his Will not for his sake not for his end nor by his authority Gods anger therefore against the Jewes for the death of Christ maketh nothing against the verities by mee premised that his anger was not the cause why Christ dyed For the like may bee sayd of every Martyr whose death is a just cause of Gods anger against his Persecutors though Gods anger bee no cause at all of his death But some man may say that the truth of these words who loved me and gave himselfe for me being spoken by Paul of himselfe and in his person of every Christian might be certainely knowne unto Paul Because hee might bee assured of this truth by the meanes of some revelation made unto him thereof for either Christ whom hee had heard and seen or God who revealed Christ unto him might also reveale this truth unto him But you that were borne some hundred yeares since the death of Christ and have no revelation touching any such love of Christ toward you how can you for your part certainely know and bee assured concerning your selfe that Christ loved you and gave himselfe for you Hereto I answer That this saying is also true of mee I certainely know and am assured from hence because my name is written in Gods last Will and Testament that Christ loved mee and gave himselfe for mee Yet I find not my name written there by my proper Christian and sir-name but by an appellative or common name of mine which unto mee is farre better and more certaine then my proper name For I certainely know of my selfe that I am a Believer in Christ and am truely called by that name and under that name I finde it written of mee that Christ loved me and dyed for me John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave to death his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life And againe Rom. 3.21 But now the righteousnes i. e. the kindnes of God without the Law is manifested being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets even the righteousnesse or kindnes of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his bloud Christ then dyed for all Believers whatsoever of what Nation and what age soever not onely for those who lived in that age wherein hee dyed but for all those also who should afterwards live in any age whatsoever Now because Christ for certaine dyed for all Believers and I for certaine am a Believer therefore for certaine Christ dyed for mee And if this Reasoning be not right there is no reason why man should bee accounted a reasonable creature or if this Reasoning breed not certainty man can have no certainty in any knowledge and consequently he cannot bee certaine that himselfe is a
man much lesse can hee bee certaine that any thing is doubtfull This nomination of mee by the common name of a Believer is fully sufficient to convey unto mee a proper right to everlasting blessednesse My Father by his last Will setled his estate upon my elder Brother and upon his heires but my Brother dying without issue I came to enjoy my fathers estate Because I was named to it in his Will yet not by my single or proper name but by my appellative or common name of Heire for collaterally by my birth I was heire to my Brother But because this is a parable therefore it is not necessary that the Argument of it should agree with the thing it should argue in every particular circumstance but it shall suffice that it hold in the maine purpose and scope of it My heavenly Father by his last Will setled the Kingdome of Heaven upon Christ my elder Brother and upon his Heires and heereby the inheritance of Heaven is assured unto mee Because in Gods Will I am named to it not by my single or proper name but by my appellative or common name of heire to Christ for having God my Father by faith I consequently become Brother to Christ and co-heire with him And an heire by faith when the Testator is pleased so to assigne it is jurally as sure as an heire by birth and in the case present much surer because the assignation is universall to all in generall Whosoever believeth in Christ shall not perish but have everlasting life And the righteousnes of God unto all and upon all them that believe If therefore a common name written in mans will be of force to convey and assure an estate much more shall it doe the like in Gods Will. Oh my deare and blessed Lord who hast loved mee and given thy selfe for mee and therefore wilt give mee any thing else beside grant mee the spirit of thy love that thine to mee may beget mine to thee But let mine bee a soveraigne love to adhere to thee against all the world and let it bee a diligent love not in word but in deed to serve thee faithfully in all thy commands Grant mee also the virtue of thy death to worke in mee my death to sinne that as thou for my sake didst lay downe thy life so I for thy sake may lay downe my sinne Let the sprinkling of thy blood fall upon my heart to withdraw mee from the course of the world to cleanse mee from all vaine conversation to purifie mee from sinne and iniquity to consecrate and dedicate my soule to holynesse that as Adams sinne made mee guilty so thy death may make mee holy And when my naturall death approacheth seeing thou hast tasted death for mee bee pleased to succour mee at the houre of mine Let mee not feare or grieve or grudge to dye but answering the way of thy love let mee give my selfe for mee and then Lord Jesus receive my spirit for which thou didst vouchsafe to dye VERSE 21. Text. I doe not frustrate the grace of God For if righteousnesse come by the Law then Christ is dead in vaine Sense I do not frustrate the grace of God i. e. I make it not vaine or voyd by despising or rejecting it in attributing that blessing unto Gods Law which proceedeth from his grace For if righteousnesse come by the Law i. e. If the Right whereto Gods righteousnesse or kindnesse justifieth come by the Law or if Justification come by the Law as an effect of the Law Then Christ is dead in vaine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. dyed without a cause then Christ who dyed on the Crosse to settle that Will and Testament of God whereby this Right was conveyed dyed without a cause or there was no sufficient reason why he should so dye Reason These words containe the third and last Argument in this Chapter whereby he proves the Negative of his principall Assertion concerning Justification that A man is not Justified by the works of the Law and consequent y that he himself was not so justified For the Apostle according to his former personation continueth his argument in his owne person concluding his Negative from an absurdity which must necessarily follow upon the contrary Affirmative of it For if I am justified by the workes of the Law then it must needs follow that thereby I doe frustrate or made voyd the grace of God because the Law of God and the Grace of God make such opposite titles that if I claime by his Law I must needs disclaime his Grace The Necessity of this consequence he further declares and confirmes by instancing in the gracious Meanes whereby this divine Right of Inheritance to Blessednes is conveyed and setled upon me namely by the bitter death of Christ upon the Crosse wherein God shewed the riches of his grace when by the death of his owne Son he testified and confirmed that Will and Testament wherein this Inheritance was devised unto mee For if my Right of Inheritance came by reason of the Law then Christ who died to settle this Right upon me dyed without any cause on Gods part and there was no sufficient reason why his Father who so dearly loved him should expose him unto death much lesse unto such a bitter death if therefore I frustrate the death of Christ I thereby also frustrate the grace of God And for this argument from Gods grace hee seemes to take occasion from the last words of the former verse wherein hee mentioned the love of Christ because all grace is love Comment Frustrate ampliated to 4 senses which really are the same Grace put for it selfe and for all the effects of it Of Justification the Matter the Title the Tenure the Author the Motive is meere Grace The Nature of grace in 2. things Testimonies for it No causes for it Yet reasons 5. 1. From Gods gift 2. from his good pleasure 3. from his goodnes or kindnes 4. from his Mercy 5. From his Will and Testament Gods grace is rich Testimonies hereof and Reasons 3. 1 It is without cause Not from Merit nor Request nor Inquiry But from Gods proper motion According to his owne will which otherwise were not his but ours 2. Rich for the Effect of Alliance and Inheritance seated most gloriously 3. For the Meanes which was costly precious Why Grace is not caused by my Works nor by my Will but is onely Gratis for Thankes 〈◊〉 what 〈◊〉 are Yet they follow not necessarily why not Grace how frustrated Righteousnesse put sometime for Uprightnes Faithfulnes Kindnes Heere for a Right For so it is taken in the Old Testament So in the New And sometime is so Englished So also here and why 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies without desert here without cause Christs death ampliated to his other actiōs Especially to his Resurrection Causes of Christs death fit to be knowne the ◠Causes humane the Divine which must be 1. Consequent to Gods
the will of his grace was the prime cause or first mover For according to the good pleasure purpose and counsell of his owne Will hee predestinated or devised this Legacy unto mee Ephes 1.11 In whom wee have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsell of his owne Will For in all Testaments what other cause is there of the Legacies therein devised but only the will and purpose of the Testator whose Testament is in that respect called his Will But if the Legacies proceed from the Will of the Legataries then to speake properly the Testament is their Will and not the Will of the Testator And although among men it may fall out that the Testator may bee moved to some Legacy by the Petition of the Legatary or by the intercession of some friend Yet with God it cannot bee thus because his Will was made from the foundation of the World before the existence of any person interessed who could sollicite or move him thereupon Now that Grace which hath no cause moving it but moves of its owne free accord is farre more rich and gracious then that grace which hath a cause which is sollicited and moved by the importunities and petitions of the Receiver For as an Injury done without cause is the more malicious so a kindnesse without cause is the more gracious whereas grace begged is but beggerly grace 2. Because the Effect of Gods grace is rich That effect is my divine Alliance and inheritance to bee the son and heyre of God and certaynely such a state must needes bee a rich condition For when David was sollicited to an alliance with King Saul his Answer was 1. Sam. 18.23 Seemeth it to you a light thing to be a Kings sonne in law seeing that I am a poore man and lightly esteemed And can it seeme a light thing to mee to bee made the sonne and heyre of God seeing that I am a sinfull man who stand condemned to death Is not the grace infinitely greater for man to bee made the sonne of God then for David to bee made the sonne of Saul And the future Inheritance which God hath prepared for mee is so glorious that the plenty or richnesse therof is both ineffable which no tongue can expresse and incomprehensible which no heart can imagine for it cannot enter the eye or the care which are the senses that should convey it to the heart 1. Cor. 2.9 Eye hath not seene nor eare heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for them that love him Yet of the City wherein I shall bee seated John had a vision wherein hee saw the richnesse of it Revel 21.10 That the walls were made of pretious stones the gates of pearle the streets of pure gold transparant as glasse the light of the City was the glory of God and of the Lambe and they two were also the Temple of it Certainly the Inhabitants of such a City must needs be not only rich but very glorious and therefore Gods grace in translating mee from the grave which is the den of death and rottennesse to seat mee in heaven which is the mansion of joy and blessednes must needs be very gracious 3. Because the Meanes was rich whereby the former effect is wrought That meanes was the Death of Christ upon the Crosse for the Meanes of his death my alliance and inheritance with God is conveyed unto me a Meanes certaynly very gracious arguing the admirable and singular love of God towards me For it cost God that person who was most deare unto him even his owne and only begotten sonne whose bloud was spilt and spent out to convey the effect of this grace unto mee and that bloud was expended not by an ordinary death but by the bitter painfull and shamefull death of the Crosse whereon he suffered in the condition of a malefactour and of a cursed person Hence we are sayd to be Gods Purchase which he bought at a price 1. Cor. 6.20 Ye are not your owne for ye are bought with a price And for the purchase of us hee payd very deare for the price wherewith wee were bought was the price of bloud Ephes 1.7 In whom we have redemption through his bloud And the bloud of our redemption was precious bloud 1. Pet. 18.19 Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vaine conversation received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious bloud of Christ. For the bloud of Christ must needs bee precious because it was the bloud of God Act. 20.28 Take heed therefore unto your selves to feede the Church of God which he hath purchased with his owne bloud And the cause why God expended that bloud was his meere grace according to the richesse and abundance of it Ephes 1.7 In whom wee have redemption through his bloud the forgivenesse of sinnes according to the riches of his grace wherein hee hath abounded towards us Now that grace which is so chargeable to the donour that it costeth bloud must needs be rich and costly My workes then are not the cause of Gods grace because his grace is heerein the supreame and prime cause that hath no cause but is without cause and because grace is not grace if it be of workes though it bee grace when it is granted upon request and because the poorenesse of my workes can never cause the richnesse of his grace But contrarily Gods grace is the cause of my workes if I have any that are good for his grace is the cause of my alliance with him and my alliance with him is or should be the cause of my good workes Neyther is my will the cause of Gods grace because God had first a will to give it me before I had any will to have it and he first called me to take it before I ever called upon him to aske it For in order both of nature and time Gods grace is first and is first given me for this purpose namely to prepare and produce in me those workes of holinesse which is my gratefulnesse or thankefulnesse for his grace for hence John 1.16 Gods grace is called grace for grace i. e. grace for thankes for the word grace doth signifie an antecedent kindnesse done and the subsequent thankefulnesse due for that kindnesse and it is a frequent elegancy in Scripture to repeat sometime in one sentence the same word in another sense when it commonly beareth two senses Which thankfulnesse to God for his grace I can no otherwise really expresse but by my workes of holinesse for that holinesse which in respect of his Law that commands it is my obedience the very same in respect of his grace which requires it is my thankfulnesse Likewise Gods love was first and first shewed to prepare and produce my love for God loves mee not therefore because I first loved him But contrarily because God
to the bloud of Abel and is sayd to speake better things then that of Abel Heb. 12.24 And to Jesus the Mediator of the New Testament and to the bloud of sprinkling that speaketh better things then that of Abel viz. Because the sprinkling of Christs bloud confirmed the New Testament which gives rights and claymes to blessednesse whereas the bloud of Abel clamors and cryes for vengeance Hence the New Testament is highly magnified above the Old in respect of the confirmation for although the Old Testament was confirmed by bloud yet that confirmation was made but by the bloud of beasts as of Oxen Calves and Goats for that with such bloud onely the Old Testament was established or confirmed it appeares playnely Exod. 24.8 which place we recited before and is further manifested Heb. 9.18 Whereupon neither the first Testament was dedicated or confirmed to be in force without bloud for when Moses had spoken every Precept to all the people according to the Law he tooke the bloud of Calves and of Goates with water and scarlet wooll and hysop and sprinkled both the Booke and all the people saying this is the bloud of the Testament which God hath enjoyned unto you And hence a contempt against the New Testament is farre more fearefull and dangerous then a despite against the Old because the New was sanctified confirmed or hallowed with holy bloud even with the bloud of the Son of God Heb. 10.28 Hee that despised Moses Law dyed without mercy under two or three witnesses Of how much sorer punishment suppose yee shall hee bee thought worthy who hath troden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the bloud of the covenant or New Testament wherewith hee it should be wherewith it viz. the New Testament was sanctified i. e. was ratified confirmed and established to be and to stand in force 3. To execute or performe the Decrees of the New Testament According to the rule of right reason and to the Law of naturall equity the will of the dead is to bee performed Because otherwise the will also is dead For it is a rule among the Civilians Voluntas Testatoris pro Lege habetâ—â— i. e. the Testators Will is a kinde of Law As therefore the Execution if the Law is the life of the Law So the Execution of a Will is the life of the Will and as the Law bindes the Magistrate to execute it So doth a Will binde the Executor But it is definitive and naturall to a Testament to bee a Will wherein an Executor is nominated that Will therefore wherein no Execution is nominated is no Testament or is not properly so called And to what purpose is an Executor nominated or nominated by the name of an Executor if hee execute not the Testament of the Testator And because it is definitive and naturall to a Testament to predestinate and pre-decree things to be executed after death that Testament therfore which after death is not executed is frustrated or frustrated to those particulars which are not executed And avested Executor who hath some benefit by the Testament wherin he is nominated may be compelled to accept the Executorship or else to lose his benefit by the Testament And although a nude or bare Executor who hath no benefit by the Testament bee not precisely bound to undertake the Executorship for if hee see cause hee may refuse it Yet when once hee hath accepted it he is then precisely bound to execute it Now of the New Testament the Executor was Christ For the New Testament was the last and best Will of God established upon better Promises better Inheritances and better Legacies then were ordained in the former Testament And therefore what better Executor could God nominate and depute for the performance of it then Christ Because Christ was the Son of God and by that relation above all persons in the World was nearest in alliance unto the Testator and fittest in ability to execute the Testament For who but Christ can execute the Office of that Priest who was to enter the Sanctuary of Heaven and there to sanctifie the people of God by expiating their sinnes and sending unto them the holy spirit of God to purifie and cleanse their conscience from sinne And who but Christ can execute the Office of that King who was to set on the Throne of Heaven there to governe the people of God to subdue all their enemies to raise them from death to invest them with heavenly bodies and to seate them in the possession of blessednesse For the Priestly and Kingly Office of Christ wherein else doth it chiefely consist but in the execution of the New Testament In a word who but Christ can discharge the Promises or Legacies of blessednesse which in the New Testament are made and devised unto Believers Hence Christ is called the Mediatour of the New Testament Heb. 9.15 And for this cause hee is the Mediatour of the New Testament And againe Heb. 12.24 And to Jesus the Mediatour of the New Covenant or Testament for that word stands in the Margin and should have beene in the Text. Now the Mediatour of a Testament is hee whom in these times wee call the Executor of it for although every Mediatour bee not the Executor of a Testament yet every Mediatour of a Testament is the Executor of it Because the Executor thereof is a Mediatour or middle person betweene the Testator and the Legataries and by Means of him the finall effect of the Testament is procured and therein in consisteth the finall execution of it But although this be not the onely respect wherein Christ is the Mediator of the New Testament for he mediated it by testifying the truth of it and he mediated it by confirming the force of it yet he also mediated it this way and chiefly this way namely by executing the decrees of it For albeit the Testament were of force upon the confirmation of it yet till the Execution of it it was of no effect But here we shall not further prosecute this verity that Christ is the Executor of the new Testament because we certified it before upon verse 16. And Christ was a vested Executor Because he was to receive an infinite benefit by the new Testament For therein he was appointed the universall heire of God Heb. 1.2 God in these last dayes hath spoken unto us by his Sonne whom he hath appointed heire of all things Now in a testamentary construction an heire and a vested Executor are really all one and the same although some rationall difference may be betweene them Thereby he was to receive universall Power over all the world both in heaven and earth for such power was given him and after his Resurrection he received it Mat. 28.18 And Jesus came and spake unto them saying All power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth Thereby he was to receive universall honour from all persons in Heaven in earth or under the earth for all were to