* Haec cura omnes non omnino Atheos necessariò excruciat est tristis conscientiarum tortura Pareus in loc The dreadfulness of Condemnation set forth Atheists this Condemnation would affright and startle them Now do I speak to any here of you as being under this woful security if it be possible to reach your Consciences and to stir up fear in you I would desire you to consider these four or five things 1. 'T is God himself who will be your Judge and who will pass the condemnatory Sentence upon you 'T is somewhat terrible to be arraign'd and condemn'd at the Bar of man but how much more terrible will it be to be arraign'd and condemn'd at the Bar of God what a vast disproportion is here betwixt the Crimes the Judge the Sentence the Execution c. O Sinners when you must stand before such a Judge in order to the receiving of such a Sentence for Crimes so high and hainous will you not tremble Methinks the Majesty Omnisciency Omnipotency Righteousness of this Judge should strike us all with fear and dread There 's no standing before him such is his Majesty no hiding of any thing from him such is his Omnisciency no resisting of him such is his Omnipotency no corrupting of him such is his infinite Righteousness What then will become of you who are in your sins but out of Christ at the Tribunal of this God you must hold up you hands be try'd and so condemn'd is this nothing to you And because he will not himself immediately judge the world but mediately by Christ * Acts 17.31 that man whom he hath ordained to this Office therefore Christ in his own person shall appear and ride his great Circuit as the Universal Judge and every one of you shall be summoned before him to be judged by him 2 Cor. 5.10 We must all appear before the judgment of Christ that every one c. And may not the consideration of this very much heighten your fear you not being in Christ how will you be able to stand before Christ where he is not a gracious Head will he not be a severe Judge You must be judged by him whom you so often so scornfully have rejected he will be your Judge whom you would not have to be your King and Saviour what favour can you expect from him whom you have so basely used In what glory will this Judge appear when you shall stand before him now you know the glory and solemnity of the Bench adds to the terrour of the Malefactour at the Bar. Matth. 25.31 When the Son of Man shall come in his glory and all the Holy Angels with him then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory O to be tryed cast and sentenced by so glorious a Judge in so solemn a manner this must needs be terrible to Sinners when they see it and hear it though now they make nothing of it Rev. 6.15 16 17. And the Kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains and the mighty men and every bond man and every free man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb For the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand 2. Think with your selves what this Condemnation is Men are fearless because they are thoughtless did they but weigh and ponder what the things of another world are what it is to be everlastingly condemn'd they would not be so secure as they are Condemnation what is it 't is in short to be adjudged to eternal death Men condemn their guilty persons to dye a temporal death and that 's as high as they can go but God being an higher Judge and greater offences being committed against him than what are committed by man against man he inflicts a greater penalty and his Sentence is to dye eternally he doth not condemn to a Prison to an Axe or Gallows just to dye and then there 's an end of all O no! he sentences to Death and eternal Death too And this is no less than the loss of Gods love and favour and presence which is the poena damni and the undergoing of endless easeless remediless torments in Hell which is the poena sensus Both are very sad but Divines generally give the preheminence to the * Omnia Gehennae supplicia superabit Deum non videre bonis carere Bernard de inter domo cap. 38. See Bolton of the four last things p. 95. c. first The Hell of Hell is the loss of Heaven and of Gods Love But both put together must needs make the Sinner extreamly miserable and he that is out of Christ shall feel both of them Would you know what this Condemnation is you have a sad draught or description of it Matth. 25.41 Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Every word here if I could speak to it is thunder and lightning to be thrust from Christ and thrown into sire into everlasting fire into that very fire which is prepared for the Devil and his Angels O here is misery indeed Hear me therefore you who are out of Christ if you so live and so dye you shall never see God and this is not all for you shall also feel those torments in * Vide Chrys ad pop Antioch Hom. 49. very full upon this comparison of which Stone Gout Strangury Racking by men the most exquisite pains here are in a manner perfect ease or at least very inconsiderable pain And this too you must lye under to â—all eternity O this is worst of all this puts an accent indeed upon this Condemnation 't is eternal Condemnation This eternity fills up the measure of the Unbelievers misery and makes it to run over in Heaven 't is eternity of joy in Hell 't is eternity of woe To be miserable as long as god shall be blessed to be always dying and yet always to live to be always drinking and yet the cup still to continue full to launch out into a boundless Ocean of eternal wrath to lye under evils and to see no end of them that when millions of millions of years are over all is as it were to begin again and the poor creature is but after the efflux of so much time just where he was at the first to pass from dying comforts to never dying sorrows what tongue can express what heart can conceive the greatness of this misery 'T is everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord 2 Thess 1.9 't is everlasting punishment Math. 25.46 't is everlasting fire Matth. 25.41 't is the worm that never dyes Mark 9.44 't is everlasting chains Jude 6. the blackness of darkness forever Jude 13. Now Sirs what
was willing to be condemned in you there is very much to deserve condemnation and yet you shall never be condemned here 's the admirable boundless infinite love of Christ VSE 4. Comfort to all in Christ Lastly The main tendency and drift of this Truth is Comfort to Believers and what a full breast of Consolation is here for such as are in Christ No condemnation to them this no condemnation is the ground of all Consolation what a word is here for Faith and Hope O magnae spei verbum as he crys out what a * Ut frustra sibi blanditur homo carnalis si de emendandâ vitâ nihil sollicitus huâ—us gratiae praetextu impunitatem sibi promittat Ita habent trepidae piorum conscientiae invictum propugnaculum quòd dum in Christo manent sciunt se esse extra omne damnationis periculum Calv. in loc mighty support is here for poor doubting and dejected Souls The great thing that such are afraid of is Condemnation but here 's that which secures them from it the assertion is very express and full and 't is grounded too upon a sure foundation there is now no Condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus O you that are in Christ as your thankfulness should be high so your joy should be high also and what will raise your joy if this will not 'Pray improve it upon all occasions and be chearful Set this against all the present evils you meet with God afflicts you but he will not condemn you why should you be troubled affliction becomes very tolerable upon No-condemnation what though it be sickness pain loss of Relations a low estate so long as the soul is safe and the main state secured there may be * 1 Pet. 4.12 fiery tryals here but there 's no * Mark 9.43 unquenchable fire to burn in hereafter O there 's comfort What are the comforts of this world if we shall be kept out of Heaven and what are the crosses of this world if we shall be kept out of Hell Take the wicked there 's condemnation at the bottom of all their good take the Saints there 's Salvation at the bottom of all their evil Again men condemn you ah but God will not condemn you this is but * 1 Cor. 4.3 mans day where you may have the worst of it but Gods day is coming and then all will go on your side O let it be a very little thing to you to be judged of man so long as God doth and will acquit You have Sin in you too much God knows yet 't is no condemnation and if sin it self it being pardoned and * Rev. 1.5 washed away by the blood of Christ if this I say shall not condemn you what then shall After Pauls sad complaints of sin yet he here says there 's no condemnation Condemn your selves for sin you do and so you should do provided this self-condemnation flow from Repentance not from Vnbelief but the great God by whose judicial Sentence your everlasting state shall be ordered will not condemn you for it 'T will be so far from this that as some * Hinc fidelium peccata non prodibunt in judicium Quum enim in istâc vitâ per sententiam justificationis tecta sunt ablata ultimum illud judicium confirmatio erit manifestatio ejusdem sententiae non esset consentaneum ut in lucem denuo tum temporis proferantur Ames Med. lib. 1. cap. 41. Divines hold the sins of Believers shall not be so much as mentioned at the great day The Law is a condemning thing 't is so indeed in it self but 't is not so to you who are in Christ You must dye and be judged but welcome death welcome judgment so long as there is no condemnation why should you be afraid of these which will only let you see the accomplishment of what is here affirmed This is the happiness of you who are in Christ will you act faith upon it and take the comfort of it I would have you live and dye with this Cordial always by you there is therefore now no condemnation c. And let me add 't is not only your priviledge but your duty to rejoyce because of this 't is not only you may but you ought to be cheerful you cannot be otherwise unless you either distrust or disparage what is here spoken of The Sinner hath no reason to be jocund and merry for he is liable every moment to Condemnation the Saint hath no reason to be dejected and pensive for he is out of all danger of Condemnation The Sinner is secure as though there was no Hell and the Saint is sad and cast down as though there was no Heaven the good Lord convince the one and comfort the other I 'le close all with two words of advice 1. Get assurance in your own Souls that there is to you No Condemnation 'T is a sad thing to live under peradventures about this may be God will save and may be too God will damn to hang in doubtfulness 'twixt Heaven and Hell is a very uncomfortable state Were you but clear in your evidences about this Priviledge you could not but rejoyce Now in order to this do but make sure of your Vnion with Christ and that will assure you of No Condemnation 2. Let this Happiness be a great incentive to Holiness 'T is good to infer Duty from Mercy Are you secured from Condemnation what manner of persons should you be How should you differ from others here who shall so differ from others hereafter Though Sin shall not condemn you yet do you condemn it I 'le end with an allusion to that of our Saviour to the Woman taken in Adultery * Joh. 8.10 11. Woman saith Christ where are those thine accusers hath none condemned thee she said No man Lord. And Jesus said unto her Neither do I condemn thee go and Sin no more ROM 8.1 There is therefore now no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus c. CHAP. II. Of the Saints Vnion with Christ The Subject of the Proposition next opened What it is to be in Christ Jesus The difference betwixt Christs being in Believers and their being in Christ Vnion with Christ a great Mystery A threefold Vnion The Vnion of Three Persons in one Nature the Vnion of two Natures in one Person the Vnion of Persons where Persons and Natures are distinct This is Mystical Legal or Moral Scripture Resemblances by which the Mystical Union is shadowed out Its Properties 'T is a Sublime Real Spiritual Intimous Total Immediate Indissoluble Vnion Use 1. For Tryal whether we be in Christ A double distinction concerning this Vnion with Christ is either Material and Natural or Spiritual and Supernatural Either External and Visible or Internal and Invisible How it may be known whether we be really and savingly in Christ. Some Scriptures insisted upon for the Evidence of this Use 2.
5.8 If any provide not for his own and especially for those of his own house he hath denied the faith You are Christ's * Joh. 13.1 own of his house and kindred nearly related to him nay members of himself and therefore certainly he will provide for you And that he will do in all your concerns whether outward or inward that look as you must * 1 Cor. 6.20 glorifie God in you body and in your spirit for both are Gods so Christ will supply you in your bodies in your spirits for both are his Death shall not hurt them 5. Are you in Christ then you have no reason to be afraid of Death Though it be * Job 18.4 the King of terrours of all terribles the most terrible yet as to you there 's no cause of fear why because it can never dissolve the union that is betwixt Christ and you and so long as that abides death can never do you much hurt Hear me thou sincere Christian do'st thou live thou art in Christ do'st thou dye thou art in Christ neither life nor death therefore shall be hurtful to thee Nay 't is so far from that that death it self shall be thy advantage To me to live is Christ and to dye is gain Phil 1.21 You read of dying in the Lord Rev. 14.13 of sleeping in Jesus 1 Thes 4.14 the Saints dye their bodies are thrown into the grave that vast repository yet there they are united to Christ yea their very dust is so This Death cuts asunder all other knots but it cannot do so to the mystical knot it dissolves the union 'twixt soul and body 'twixt husband and wife c. but it shall never dissolve the union betwixt Christ and the believing Soul When the body of a Child of God shall be no better than a rotten carkass Christ will say O yet this very carkass is precious to me for 't is in union with me * Psal 102.14 David speaks of the Saints favouring the dust of Zion the very dust of dead Believers is valued by Christ insomuch that he will not lose the least atome of it They shall certainly rise again 6. Are you in Christ Here 's matter of Comfort as to the certainty of an happy resurrection Your bodies may be lock'd up in the grave for a time but Christ who hath the key of the grave they being united to him will certainly open it and take them out he will raise them up again and that with advantage too for they shall then * Phil. 3.21 be fashioned like to his own glorious body The head is risen and the members shall rise also by virtue of the union that is betwixt them Quod praecessit in capite sequetur in corpore as Austine speaks 1 Cor. 15.20 Now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that sleep Rom. 8.11 If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you So Joh. 6.54 Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day And this is not to be limited to a bare resurrection there is more in it than so for * Dan. 12.2 1 Cor. 15.22 all shall arise the resurrection shall be general and universal But yet there will be a vast difference in it 't will be an happy resurrection to them who are in Christ but a dreadful resurrection to others The wicked shall be raised by Christ as a judge in order to their tryal and the passing of the sentence of death upon them but the Saints shall be raised by Christ as an head virtute unionis in order to the receiving of the blessed sentence of life Joh. 5.28 29. Marvel not at this for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation How should Believers rejoyce in this Great is the love of the Father to them 7. Are you in Christ then great is the Fathers love to you Take Believers as they are in themselves the Father greatly loves them but now as they are in Christ and made one with him there 's an additional love an higher love belonging to them from the Father because they are so near to his own Son Therefore upon this union God loves them with the same love wherewith he loves Jesus Christ himself Joh. 17.23 I in them and thou in me c. that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me O Believers what a love hath the Father for you upon this And Christ's own love too is very great to you for you are his flesh and * Eph. 5.29 30. no man ever hated his own flesh yea he told his Disciples * Joh. 15.9 As my Father hath loved me so have I loved you So near an union must needs be accompanied with a very dear affection 't is not always so with us but as to Christ the strength of the affection from him shall always be answerable to the nearness of the union with him They shall persevere 8. Are you in Christ Jesus Here 's Comfort as to your perseverance stability and fixedness in the state of grace This upon which all depends a Child of God may be fully assured of for will Christ lose a member a part of himself shall one united to him finally and totally fall away from him no that shall not be So long as the union is firm and indissoluble do not fear I speak not against the duty of fear but the sin of fear 'T is not here in and out in to day and out to morrow but 't is once in Christ and ever in Christ there 's your safety Indeed the Saints stand firm upon several great foundations as the Fathers election the * Heb. 6.17 immutability of his council the tenour of the Covenant c. but this also must be taken in their inseperable union with Christ You are not only in Christ's hands out of which none shall pluck you Joh. 10.28 but you are in Christ as your head and who shall be able to sever the members from this head If Christ should lose a member he would be imperfect as an head you are * Eph. 1.23 his fulness as hath been said now he will be Christus plenus a full Christ as * Aug. in Ps 36. he speaks which he would not be if any of his members should be taken away from him If he might lose one he might then lose another and another and so he would be sure of none O your life is hid with Christ in God Col. 3.3 therefore 't is sure and
of (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodoret. Confer supra cap. 7.23 24. ubi utriusque Legis neinpe Legis Peccati Mortis mentio facta est Quare non videtur hic esse Figura 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vorstius in Schol. Interpreters open it The Law of Sin is always attended with the Law of Death and freedome from the Law of Sin is always attended with freedome from the Law of Death the power and dominion of Death stands or falls by the power and dominion of Sin But what is this Law of Death * August contra Fortunat. Disput 2. Austine answers the Law of sin is Whoever sins shall dye the Law of Death is Dust thou art and to dust shalt thou return * Lex mortis est mortuum perseverare mortuum est de morte non esse reditum ad vitam Cajes Cajetan makes it to be permanentia in morte the abiding or continuance in the state of Death So Believers are freed from it for though they may for a time be subjected under it yet it shad not always have power over them so as to hold them forever as the Word is used concerning Christ Acts 2.24 they shall arise and live again they are not under the Law i. e. the everlasting evercontinuing full power and strength of Death You have Ver. 10 11. the matter of this Explication If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousness But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you But to pass these by as the Law of Sin is the power of sin so the Law of Death is that power and right which it hath over Men by reason of sin for it hath its empire and dominion as well as sin Therefore as you read of the reigning of sin so also you read of the reigning of Death Rom. 5.14 But death reigned from Adam to Moses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it reigned as a King as the word imports Death is either Temporal or Eternal both of which carry that in them which may give them the Title or Denomination of a Law but regenerate persons upon the Law of the Spirit of Life are freed from both From the first not simply and absolutely but onely in a restrained sense viz. as 't is strictly a Curse or the fruit and product of that primitive Curse Gen. 2.17 From the second as it notes eternal condemnation for these two are all * Ut sibi respondeant Mors damnatio Estius one they are absolutely freed This Death they being in Christ and by the sanctifying Spirit delivered from the Law of sin hath no power or authority over them I say no authority for 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev. 20.6 on such the second death hath no power This is the First General in the Words that Gracious Deliverance from the Law of Sin and Death which they hold forth Second General The Second is the Subject of this deliverance This the Apostle puts down in his own Person The Law of the Spirit c. hath made me free from the Law of sin and death Here is Enallage Personae the change of the Person 't was them in the foregoing Verse 't is me in this I have already observed and I would now more fully open it that our apostle throughout this whole Chapter wherein he mainly treats of the Saints Priviledges speaks altogether in the Plural Number excepting onely this one Verse 'T is true where he is speaking of some high act of Grace as performed by himself there he purs it in the Singular Number as Ver. 18. I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us And so too where he is speaking of some high Assurance a thing not so common there also he expresses it in the Singular Number as Ver. 38. For I am persunded that neither c. But wherever the great and fundamental priviledges of Believers are before him there he always expresses himself in the Plural Number then 't is us altogether And 't is observable that oven where he speaks of himself as to some special act or enjoyment yet even there as to the main Priviledge he takes in all the people of God You may see this made good in the two fore-mentioned places 't is I reckon but 't is the glory that shall be revealed in us and 't is I am persuaded but 't is shall separate us from the love of God Well! here he puts in himself as the Subject of the Priviledge but 't is not to exclade or shut out Others onely he propounds himself as one great Instance of freedome from the Law of sin by the Law of the Spirit here is application and appropriation as to himself but no impropriation or exclusion with respect to Others He that had so much of Faith and Experience as to be able to apply this to himself had withall so much of Knowledge and Wisdom as to know that it was with Others yea with all regenerate persons just as it was with himself And therefore 't is in the * Observandum est in causâ Gratiae nullum esse inter Apostolum quemvis Christianum duntaxat verum discrimen Non est quod dicamus Paulus suit Apostolus nos non item ex eo quod sibi contigit per gratiam Christi probat hoc quod tribuit omnibus Christianis Muscul Continet Argumentum á Testimonio viz. experientia Apostoli ita fimul Argumentum á Pari quod enim Apostolus in se expertus fuerat id pari ratione omnes credentes in se experiuntur nempe operationem illam Spiritus Sancti regenerantis Piseas Non ego solus sed omnes quotquot in Jesu Christo sunt c. Zuingl Me fidelem quemvis Gomar i. e. quemvis verè Chriftianum Grot. Pronomen me demonstrat ipsum in Christo ambulantem c. personam fiquidem talium induit Cajes In corum personâ de se Apostolus loquitur haec verba Estius Soto will be sure to extend it far though for be glosses upon it Me i. e. Gonus humanum persons of all these that he here thus speaks and this me is inclusive not exclusive every Child of God in the world may say as here Paul doth the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death and indeed every Believer should be so well acquainted with the workings of the Spirit of God upon his own heart as to be able to apply this to himself But why doth Paul here particularize himself and speak thus in the Singular Number in this place rather than in Others I ansiver 1. Because he looked upon himself
ire Cypr. fear it For to you 't will come without a sting and you know the Serpent that hath lost its sting may hiss but cannot hurt 't is in it self an enemy and the * 1 Cor. 15.26 last enemy but to you 't is an harmless because a conquer'd enemy it may seem to threaten the greatest evil but in truth it shall do you the greatest good But here lies your main happiness you are wholly exempted from eternal death the second death you shall dye but once and then live with God forever 'T is this second death that makes the first to be so formidable for a man to dye that he may live that 's not at all dreadful but to dye here in order to a worser death hereafter there 's the thing which is only dreadful When death is but an inlet to eternal life a departure to be * Phill. 1.23 with Christ when there 's no condemnation to follow after it you may and you should meet it with joy and holy triumph And know that to you it shall not be bare freedome from eternal death but it shall also be the possession of eternal life there 's very much in the privative part of the mercy but when the positive part too is joined with it how high doth it rise ô admire and adore the Grace of God! The least of your sins deserves death the best of your duties doth not deserve life and yet you are freed from that which you so much deserve and shall be put into the possession of that which you so little deserve here 's the riches of the grace of God towards you Sin and Death are the two * Peccatum mors sunt duae partes adaequatae humanae miseriae nam in culpâ poenâ tota miseria hominis consistit Streso comprehensive evils all evil is summ'd up in and under them but you are freed from both what reason have you to rejoice and to admire the Lords boundless goodness ô the damned in hell who are under this death and feel it what would they give to be freed from it You through the merit of Christ and the power of the Spirit are made free from it therefore you should first be very thankeful and then very chearful What great things hath the gracious God done for you he hath delivered you from the Rule of sin whilst you live from the hurt of death when you dye have not you abundant cause of blessing and rejoicing 'T will not be long before this Death will look you in the face and lay its cold hands upon you 't is every minute making its nearer approaches to you by every breath you draw it gets ground upon you well be not troubled at this you know the worst on 't 't is death but not damnation 't is the parting of the Soul from the Body but no parting of the Soul from God 't is but dying temporally that you may live eternally how great is your happiness proportionable to which how great should your thankefulness and holy joy be So much for this Verse ROM 8.3 4. For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh That the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit CHAP. IX Of the Laws inability to justify save High and glorious Matter contained in these two Verses Of their Coherence with what went before The difference amongst Expositors about that The General sense and meaning of the Words The various Readings and Explications of them They are divided into Five Parts There 's a Complication in them of the several Causes of the Sinners Justification and Salvation The First Branch of the Text insisted upon What the Law c. Four things observed in it Of its Literal Exposition What is here meant by Law What that was which the Law could not do How 't is said to be weak What the Flesh is by which 't is weakened The whole matter drawn into one Observation Of the Special matter of the Laws impotency as it refers to Justification and Salvation Three Grounds or Demonstrations of its impotency 1. It requires more than what the fal'n Creature can perform 2. It doth not give what the fal'n Creature needs 3. It cannot make reparation for what the fal'n Creature bath done Use 1. To humble us because we have a Nature in us by which Gods own Law is thus weakened where some thing is said against the Power of Nature Use 2. First To vindicate the Honor of the Law notwithstanding the Weakness charg'd upon it Secondly The Laws Obligation not to be cast off because of this Thirdly Nor yet is it to be look'd upon as altogether weak or useless Use 3. To take men off from expecting Righteousness and Life from and by the Law Use 4. To stir up Believers to adore the Love and Mercy of God in sending his Son when the Law was under an utter inability to justifie and save High and glorious things contained in these Verses OUr Apostle here Eagle-like soar's aloft and rises up in his discourse to the most sublime truths of the Gospel These two Verses set things before us so high and glorious as may fill Heaven and Earth Angels and Men with amazement and astonishment Here 's the whole Gospel sum'd up in a few words contracted and brought into a narrow compass here 's in one view Man undone and Man recover'd the depths of the Creatures misery and the heights of Gods Mercy in a short abridgement Here 's Gods sending his Son which surely was the greatest thing that ever he did it being the highest contrivance of his infinite Wisdom and the highest product of his infinite Love Here 's this Son sent in our flesh the first and the great Mystery of the Gospel for it comes in the front of the Gospel-Mysteries 1 Tim. 3.16 Here 's sin condemn'd and the Sinner acquitted the Law represented as impossible for us to keep yet fulfilled for us in a most strange and wonderful manner as Christ hath done and suffered that for us which we were utterly unable to do and suffer our selves O the * Eph. 3.18 bredths lengths depths heights of the Wisdom Mercy Justice Holiness of God! for all these several Attributes in what is here set forth do concur and shine forth in their greatest lustre Who can hear or read these two Verses with due consideration and not be in a divine transport and extasie for the truth is whatever is short of the most raised workings in the Soul is too low for the glorious things here spoken of The Coherence of them with what goes before We must first enquire into their Coherence or Connexion with what goes before They are a further proof or confirmation of the main Proposition laid down in the first
Creature now he designing Life for Life therefore he pitch'd upon blood wherein the life did lye The Apostle tells us Heb. 9.22 And almost all things are by the Law purged with blood and without shedding of blood is no remission and if you look into the Levitical Sacrifices you 'l find what he saith to be true In the Burnt-offering for private Persons there was killing and blood Levit. 1.5 the same in the Peace-offerings Levit. 3.2 8 13. the same in the Sin-offerings Levit. 4.7 16 17 18. and so in the rest And the observation of these commands which run so much upon blood was so necessary that should any of the Priests have dared to have entred into God's presence in any other way than by Sacrifices and the blood thereof he would not have taken it well at their hands yea should they have brought into the Temple never so many Bullocks Rams Goats c. and not have slain them or having slain them had not presented their blood before him according to his Institution they would have done no good either to themselves or others for God to shew his Justice Hatred of Sin c stood upon blood and blood he would have From all this we may infer that those old Sacrifices did not expiate as bare Antecedents or Conditions without which God would not pardon or as the offering of them carried in it some Obedience to God's Commands both of which were common to many other things as well as to them surely there was more in it than so Dr. Stillingfl against Crell p. 516 c. for can we reasonably think that God would have been so positive and so express in his Injunctions about somany Sacrifices so severe in the punishing the neglect of them have ordered the taking away the lives of so many Creatures and have so much insisted upon their death and blood in order to expiation had he look'd upon them only as pre-requisite and remoter Conditions of pardon or common acts of Obedience and that as such only they should be expiatory Certainly had there been nothing in them more than this the merciful Creator would have spar'd the blood of the poor Creatures and would have pitch'd upon some other course which might have seem'd at least more consistent with his Wisdom and Goodness We may conclude them therefore to be Means instituted by God in order to atonement and expiation to the effecting of which by virtue of his own institution and the mevit of the great Sacrifice to come they had a direct and effectual tendency This foundation I have laid for the better understanding of the destroying killing shedding of blood that was in the typical Sacrifices I come now to build upon it with respect to the real Sacrifice Christ Jesus In conformity to them therefore Christ was slain died upon the Cross his body broken his blood spilt c. all which speaks him to be a true expiatony Sacrifice Had he not died and suffer'd he could not have been such but upon that he is not only such a Sacrifice really but eminently the dignity of his Person putting a superlative worth and â—fficacy upon his Death and Sacrifice O what was the death of Greatures to the death of God's Son what was the blood of Beasts to the blood of him who was God Acts. 20.28 for such aâ—person to die to shed his blood for the expiation of Sin here was a Sacrifice indeed And surely one great end of God in ordering the death of the old Sacrifices was to convince the World of the necessity of the death of this far greater Sacrifice by them he designed in ways best known to himself to lead men to a dying and bleeding Christ How much doth the Scripture spake of his blood and though his whole humiliation must be taken in as making up his Sacrifice yet in special what a stress and emphasis doth it put upon his Death and Blood wherein his greatest humiliation lay with respect to their influence upon the good of Sinners Eph. 1.7 In whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins Rom. 3.25 whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood c. Rom. 5.9 Much more then being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him 1. Joh. 1.7 and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin Rev. 1.5 Vnto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood 1 Pet. 1.19 but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot Mat. 26.28 This is my blood of the New-Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins Heb. 9.12 c. Neither by the blood of Goats and Calves but by his own Blood he entred in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us For if the blood of Bulls and of Goats c. Col. 1.14 having made peace through the blood of his Cross Surely there must be some special reason why this blood of Christ is so often mention'd and why the great benefits which Sinners receive by him are in such a way of eminency ascrib'd to it of which some account will be given in the following particular O the severity of God's Justice which nothing could satisfie but the blood of his own Son O the love of Christ who thought not the best blood in his veins too good for Sinners O the truth of his Satisfaction for what could such blood be spilt for but for that what end could be proportionable to such a medium but Satisfaction O the admirable harmony between type and antitype the shadow and the substance Sacrifice and Sacrifice under the Law 't was blood under the Gospel ' t was blood too only that was common blood but this excellent and precious The Fourth Head of the Ends Effects of the old expiatory Sacrifices and how they are applicable to Christ 4. Fourthly if we compare Christ with the Jewish Sacrifices in their Ends and Effects that will further demonstrate him to be a true expiatory Sacrifice What were they atonement and expiation by them God was to be atoned and Sin to be expiated now both of these were designed and admirably effected in and by Christ therefore he was what I am proving That those Sacrifices were of an atoning nature and appointed for that end what can be more plain Here the so often cited Text which indeed is the key to the whole body of the Levitical-Sacrifices doth recur Levit. 17.11 I have given it to you upon the Altar for what end to make an atonement for your Souls where the word used as in very many other places is Caphar which signifies to * This sense of the word justify'd by all Anti-Socinian Writers Franz Disp 15. th 38. Turretin de Satisf p. 208. Grot. de Sat. p. 39. Hoorneb Socin Confut. p. 607. Dr. Stillingfl p. 509. c. pacify
This is my body which is given for you c. and this is my blood which is shed c. did he mean that giving of his body or that shedding of his blood which was done just at the Sacrament that we utterly deny What then did he mean why that which would shortly be when he should die on the Cross then his boody should be broken and his blood poured out in a real and substantial manner but not till then And this Interpretation is not at all weakened by Christ's expressing himself in the Present Tense which is given which is shed it being usual in the Scripture to put that Tense for the Paulo-post-futurum and I hope this Answer will not be either opposed or slighted by our Adversaries since the Vulgar translation it self renders the words in the Future tense which shall be given shall be shed yea in their Canon Missae too they are so rendred 2. But Secondly having shewn what the Lord's Supper is not I am now to shew what it is As to that in brief 't is a lively representation solemn commemoration of that Sacrifice which the Lord Jesus offered up to God when he dy'd upon the Cross 't is not a Sacrifice but a memorial of a Sacrifice herein lies the nature of this Ordinance and this was the great end of Christ in the instituting of it Do this saith he in remembrance of me Luk. 22.19 As oft as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do shew the Lord's death till he come 1 Cor. 11.26 This too was the great end of the Passeover unto which the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper succeeds Exod. 12.14 And this shall be unto you for a memorial Great mercies have alwayes had their * See Vines on the Sacrament p. 143 144. memorials that they might not be forgotten what a mercy was Christ's dying and sacrificing himself what glorious and unspeakable benefits do believers receive thereby therefore least this should wither and decay in their memories this Ordinance was appointed to be a standing memorial thereof And this is that notion which the †This prov'd by Morn de Euch. l. 3. c. 4 5. with divers others FATHERS had of the Sacrament though some would fain draw them to be of another Opinion then which nothing more false 't is not to be deny'd but that they very often did call it a Sacrifice yea sometimes they speak of ‖ Euseb Demonstr Evang. l. 1. c. ult unbloody Sacrifices but did they thereby mean any real propitiatory unbloody Sacrifice in the POPISH sense no they explain themselves by the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Hom. 17. in Ep. ad Heb. Quid ergo nos nonne per singulos dies offerimus offerimus quidem sed recordationem facientes mortis ejus Ambros in Ep. ad Heb. c. 10. Illud quod ab hominibus appellatur Sacrificium signum est veri Sacrificii in quo caro Christi post ascensionem per Sacramentum memoriae celebratur August de Civit. Dei l. 10. c. 15. Vide etiam contra Faustum Manichaeum l. 20. c. 21 Theodoret. in c. 8. Ep. ad Heb. Sacrificium quod quotidiè in Ecclesiâ offertur non est aliud à Sacrificio quod ipse Christus obtulit sed ejus commemoratio Aquin. in 3. p. Qu. 22. Art 3. resp ad 2. Illud quod offertur consecratur vocatur Sacrificium oblatio quia memoria est repraesentatio veri Sacrificii sanctae immolationis factae in arâ crucis c. Lombard L. 4. Dist 12. commemorating of Christ's Sacrifice by the offering up of praises thanksgivings penitential tears to God the like in which respects only they did so speak of it To this also we may add the Lord's Supper is not only a memorial of but a * See Dr. Cudworths true Notion of the Lord's Supper chap. 5. Feast upon Christ's Sacrifice the believing Soul doth therein by Faith feed and feast it self upon a crucify'd Saviour Antiently Sacrifices were attended with †Stuckius de Sacrif p. 145. Rosin Antiq. Rom. l. 3. c. 33. Ubi quod Diis tributum erat conslagrasient ad epulas ipsi convivia vertebantur c. Feasts nullum Sacrificium sine epulo as soon as the Sacrifice was over men used to have a Feast to eat and drink together and this custom prevail'd both amongst ‖ Dr. C. chap. 2. Jews and Gentiles Gen. 13.54 Then Jacob offered Sacrifice upon the Mount and called his brethren to eat bread c. Exod. 18.12 And Jethro Moses father-in-law took burnt offerings and Sacrifices for God and Aaron came and all the Elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses father-in-law before God See also Exod. 34.15 Numb 25.2 1 Cor. 10.18 c. Now parallel to this after Christ's Sacrifice there 's the Sacramental Feast wherein the Communicant doth spiritually feed upon the body and blood of the Lord Jesus eats and drinks of the bread and water of Life here is not oblatio but participatio Sacrificii The Apostle having spoken to the Sacrifice Christ our Passeover is sacrificed for us he presently subjoyns the Feast which was to go along with that Sacrifice Therefore let us keep the Feast not with old leaven c. 1 Cor. 5.7 8. At the Sacrament there is not only a commemoraion of Christ's death but there is the Christians fetching out of the sweet and comfort thereof for inward strength and nourishment Yet further the Lord's Supper is a Seal of all those blessings which Christ by his Death and Sacrifice did purchase for his but this I must pass over I have been very long upon this Fourth Inferenee but no longer than what the Nature of the thing and our present state did make to be necessary 't is highly requisite that we should all have right apprehensions concerning the blessed Sacrament therefore to help you therein and to obviate all POPISH delusions I have been thus large upon this Head The happiness of Believers under the Gospel above that of them who liv'd under the Law 5. Fifthly I infer the happiness of such who live under the Gospel above those who liv'd under the Law 'T is none of the least of our mercies that we are cast under the Evangelical rather than under the Legal administration Old-Testament believers were the elder brethren but the younger those who live under the New-Testament are the best provided for For the making out of this I shall not insist upon the comparing of Sacraments and Sacraments Priesthood and Priesthood Priviledges and Priviledges but only touch upon the matter of Sacrifices In reference to which we have the advantage in sundry respects for they in a manner had but the shell 't is that we have the kernel they had but the shadow 't is we that have the substance they had but the type 't is we that have the antitype All their Sacrifices were but darker adumbrations of that
* 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 2. p. 97. PORPHYRY's Objections against Sacrifices in general viz. they would encourage men to be wicked All to labour after an interest in Christ's Sacrifice and in the benefits thereby procured 3. Thirdly I would excite you to labour after and to make sure of a personal interest in this great Sacrifice and in the benefits resulting from it For 't is a thing to be resented with the greatest sadness imaginable that where â—ere is such a Sacrifice so at first offered up to God and now so revealed to men that yet so many millions of Souls should perish and as to their spiritual and eternal state be little the better for it because they regard not as to themselves either the thing or the good that flows from it My Brethren I beseech you if you have any love for your Souls let it not be so with you but let it be your greatest care to secure an interest in this Sacrifice and to partake of the blessings procured by it be often considering and questioning with your selves here 's a Sacrifice for expiation and atonement but what 's this to us here 's a dying Christ but did he die for us shall we be ever the better for his death if this propitiatory oblation be not ours what will become of us Under the Law the Gentile-strangers were to offer Sacrifices as well as the born-Jews see Numb 15.14 15. Lev. 17.8 and amongst the Jews the poor as well as the rich with respect to which difference in mens outward condition God accordingly appointed different Sacrifices Lev. 14.21 but yet something or other both were to Sacrifice and in their offerings for the ransome of their Souls all were to give alike Exod. 30.15 The rich shall not give more the poor shall not give less than half a Shekel Now all this was to shadow out two things about Christ's Sacrifice 1. its equal extent to all men notwithstanding all national or civil differences be they Jews or Gentiles rich or poor 't is the same Christ to all if they believe for there is no difference Rom. 3.22 2. the equal obligation lying upon all men to look after make sure of and rest in this one and the same all-sufficient Sacrifice none in order to remission justification atonement eternal life need to carry more to God by Faith and Prayers and none must carry less Sirs let us all put in for a share in Christ's offering and in the benefits purchased thereby for if we should come short of that we are lost eternally Are not reconciliation with God the expiation of sin eternal redemption c. things most necessary and most desireable if so where can we hope to have them but in a sacrific'd Redeemer but in the imputation of the merit of his death and Sacrifice And I add do not only make sure of the thing objectively considered but labour also after the subjective assurance of it Oh when a Christian can say Christ dy'd for me * Gal. 2.20 gave himself for me his body was broken and his blood shed for me he took my guilt and bare my punishment how is he filled with †1 Pet. 1.8 joy unspeakable with | Phil. 4.7 peace that passes all understanding what a full-tyde of comfort is there in his Soul This is the receiving of the atonement as some open it and that is very sweet Rom. 5.11 And not only so but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the atonement This is to be ey'd and only rely'd upon 4. In the actings of Faith eye Christ as a Sacrifice for sin and there let all your hope and confidence be bottom'd I say in the actings of Faith eye Christ as a Sacrifice for indeed this grace hath to do with him mainly and principally as dying and sacrific'd the Apostle speaks of Faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 't is a bleeding crucified Saviour that is the great and most proper object of Faith true it takes in a whole Christ all of Christ his Nativity holy Life Resurrection Ascension Intercession c. but that which it primarily and chiefly fixes upon is his death and passion When a Soul is brought into Christ to close with him in the way of believing what of him is first in its eye in that act is it a Christ as ascending as sitting at the right hand of God as interceding no thus it beholds him for the after-encouragement and support of Faith but that which it first considers is a Christ as dying upon the Cross and so it layes hold upon him And no wonder that 't is so since all the great blessings of the Gospel do mainly flow from Christ's death they are assur'd and apply'd by his Resurrection Ascension and Intercession but they were procur'd and purchas'd by his death as the Scriptures abundantly shew Rom. 5.9 10. Eph. 1.7 et passim now tnat which hath the most causal and most immediate influence upon these that deserves to be first and most eyed by Faith Here 's the difference 'twixt Faith and Love this chiefly looks to the excellencies of Christ's Person but that to the merit and efficacy of his Sacrifice When the Apostle Gal. 2.20 had spoken so high of his Faith in the Son of God he tells you in what notion he did therein consider him by adding who loved me and gave himself for me The stung Israelite was to look upon the brazen Serpent as lifted up and so he was healed do you desire to find healing redemption salvation by Christ O look upon him as lifted up upon the Cross so all good shall come to you Further I say let all your hope and confidence be bottom'd here this is that firm rock which you must only build upon for pardon peace with God salvation for all Oh take heed of relying upon any thing besides this Sacrifice Gal. 6.14 God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ he that glory 's or trusts in any thing besides that his glorying is vain The forlorn undone Sinner should be alwayes clasping and clinging about this Cross resting upon the merit of Christ thereon and upon that only for all that hope will be but dying hope which is not solely bottom'd upon a dying Saviour The * Quum sis ipse nocens moritur cur victima pro te Stultitia est morte alterius sperare salutem Heathens could not believe that ever the death of Sacrifices should do the guilty person good they look'd upon it as folly to hope for life by anothers death but blessed be God we see that which they did not we firmly believe and steadily hope for expiation and Salvation by Christ's one offering of himself and lay the sole stress of our Faith and happiness upon that which they counted folly But let us be sure we do not mistake here I mean let us indeed
pleasing to God Phil. 4.18 But to do good and to communicate forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleas'd Heb. 13.16 And to summe up all holiness of heart and life that 's an excellent Sacrifice excelling all the old Law Sacrifices whatsoever 1 Sam. 15.22 Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord Behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams Micah 6.6 7 8. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God shall I come before him with burnt-offerings with calves of a year old Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousands of rivers of oyl shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God The * Vis Deos propitiare bonus esto Satis illos coluit quisquis imitatus est Senec. Ep. 9.5 Non immolationibus sanguine multo colendus est Deus sed mente purâ bono honestóque proposito Idem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Porphyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 2. p. 62. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Rhet. l. 3. with many more in Stuck de Sacrif p. 153. col 2. Saubert de Sac. c. 1. p. 4. HEATHENS themselves upon the light of Nature look'd upon moral goodness as the best and most acceptable Sacrifice I 'me sure Evangelical Holiness is so The wickedness of the Jews made God even to abhorre and slight the Sacrifices which were instituted by himself as we find Isa 1.11 c. Isa 66.3 Jer. 6.20 7.21 c. Amos 5.21 22. if we live in sin we may offer this and that to God but 't is all nothing nay that makes all our Sacrifices an abomination to him Prov. 15.8 Oh live the holy life keep the heart pure mortifie whatever is evil do good shun all excesses be heavenly in your affections in all things act in complyance with God's Nature and Will c. this will please him more than the most costly oblations which you can bring to him These are the Sacrifices which now under the Gospel we are to offer and surely we should offer them with all readiness and faithfulness our Lord having submitted to the bloody Sacrifice of himself on the Cross and left us none but these easie and delightful Sacrifices how reareadily should we close with them But so much for this Vse A third shall put an end to this Subject and that is of Comfort Was Christ a Sacrifice for sin Vse 3. For Comfort to Believers did he thereby condemn sin what doth this Truth drop but honey and sweetness to them who are in Christ I say to them who are in Christ for they are the persons only who can lay hold upon the grace contain'd in it as the non-condemnation of the person in the first verse so the condemnation of sin in this belongs only to such You that are in the number of these to you I bring glad tydings matter of great joy out of the bitter comes sweet for Christ to do die as a Sacrifice this was bitter to him but 't is sweet to you his death passion and whole humilation speak nothing to you but consolation Oh did Believers especially such as are under a troubled spirit but better understand and better improve this sin-condemning Sacrifice they would certainly have more of inward peace and comfort than now they have I must not in fist upon the particular and full drawing out of that consolatory matter which it affords therefore shall conclude with a brief review only of what the Text offers And so 1. here 's a Sacrifice for sin All men in ADAM having sinned wilfully after that they had receiv'd the knowledge of the truth there might have been no Sacrifice for their sin to allude to that Heb. 10.26 but the gracious God notwithstanding all this was pleas'd to admit of a Sacrifice yea himself to find out and ordain that Sacrifice here 's matter of comfort 2. Christ himself was this Sacrifice And if so how pleasing must it needs be to God! Eph. 5.2 and hath given himself for us an offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour I tell you there was infinitely more in this one Sacrifice to please God than there is in all your sins put them all together to displease God If Christ be the Sacrifice there must be an infinite efficacy and merit in it from the dignity of his person an infiniteness of merit must needs result if he will die and shed his blood what can be too high for you surely too there 's more in his Offering to save you than there is in Sin to damn you If he be the Sacrifice no question but the Father did accept of it and indeed of this he hath given sufficient evidence to the world not only by his carriage towards the Saints but also and chiefly by his carriage towards Christ himself for whereas of old he was wont to testifie his acceptation of the Sacrifices by consuming them by fire from heaven Gen. 15.17 Levit. 9.24 Judg. 6.21 2 Chron. 7.1 here with respect to Christ's Sacrifice he testify'd his acceptance in an higher way viz. by raising him from the dead taking him up to heaven re-admiting him into his presence and setting him at his Son had he not been well-pleased with his person and oblation Oh there 's a convincing evidence of this in his going to the Father Joh. 16.8 10. By this Sacrifice thus accepted you are made perfect as you have often heard out of Heb. 10.14 18. there 's nothing now to be done by Christ or by you but only to apply and improve what he hath already done is not this ground of strong consolation And know further for your comfort that the vertue of Christ's Offering is as great now as it was at the first his blood is as effectual with God for your good now as it was when it was just running warm from his veins and * Adeò magnum est hoc Sacrificium ut quamvis unum sit semel oblatum sufficiat ad aeternitatem Anselm so it shall be to the end of the world And that he may make the best of it he is entred into the holy place where 't is his business to present and plead the merit thereof he back 's his oblation on earth with his intercession in heaven and what can be spoken higher for your support comfort he that was the Sacrifice here is the Advocate there 3. By this Sacrifice Sin was condemn'd Sin condemn'd what a word is that that which would have condemned you and which only can condemn you that is by Christ condemn'd it-self condemning sin is condemn'd by a condemned Saviour And
would not for some considerations put him to death 1 Kings 2.26 so here the highest in Grace have that in them which renders them worthy of Condemnation but yet they being in Christ and thereupon sin not being imputed they shall not actually be condemned This is the true and genuine sense of the words There is therefore now no Condemnation to them c. and thus our (a) Non dicit non esse pecâ—atum c. sed remitti propter Eidem in Christum Melanct. in Dispos Orat. ad Ep. ad Rom. p. 18. Credentibus nulla est Condemnatio non per se quidem sed ex accidenti h. e. ex Dei misericordiâ non imputantis eis peccata ad condemnationem Parens in Resp ad Dub. 1. Notandum est quod non dicit Nihil condemnabile aut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non dicit in Christianis nihil esse amplius peccatorum c. sed esse illos condemnationi quae peccato competit exemptos Habent quidem Sancti reliquias peccati verù extra condemnationem sunt proptet Gratiam Christi c. Museul Protestant Expositors open them wherein their Opinions are so far from being ex Orco excitatae fetch'd from Hell as (b) Disput 1. in Cap. 8. ad Rom. Pererius with virulency and malice truly ex Orco excitata is pleased to say that they are from Heaven from the God of truth and fully consonant to the Word of truth 3. I premise Thirdly That 't is Gods Condemnation onely from which such as are in Christ are exempted the Universal Negative No Condemnation reaches no further than the supream final irreversible condemnatory Sentence of the great God As to this all in Christ are safe but there is other Condemnation which they do lye under Take a threefold instance of this 1. Men condemn them I mean the wicked who are and always have been condemners of the righteous The Saints as assessors with Christ shall * 1 Cor. 6.2 judge the world hereafter and the world will be judging the Saints here the Saints condemn Sinners by their holy conversation as 't is said of Noah * Heb. 11.7 He prepared an Ark by which he condemned the World and they will be condemning the Saints in that false judgement those sharp censures which they are pleased to pass upon them What more common than for the Godly to have their persons practises strict walking condemned by a mistaken and malicious World O they are Hypocrites factious * Ezra 4.15 seditious turbulent * 1 Kings 18.17 troublers of Kingdoms unnecessarily scrupulous proud selfish false covetous and indeed what not Sometimes the Condemnation is only Verbal going no further than bitter words wherein their names are aspersed the innocency of their persons sullied the goodness of their Cause blackened Sometimes it rises higher men condemn Gods people even to the taking away of their Lives as Jam. 5.6 You have condemned and killed the just c. this is the condemning of the soul of the poor Psal 109. ult though possibly there may be something more in this expression than striking at the bare natural Life for such is the inveterate malice of the wicked against the godly that they will be condemning of them even as to their final and everlasting state they condemn the Soul of the poor even to Hell it self thus the condemned world is a condemning world But yet God condemns not neither here nor hereafter all this is but mans day and * 1 Cor. 4.3 mans judgment the righteous God judges otherwise of his people He 's so far from condemning them that he will openly vindicate them against all the groundless accusations and condemnations of their enemies 'T was Davids Prayer to God Let my sentence come forth from thy presence Psal 17.2 q. d. Lord man doth thus and thus pass sentence upon my person cause actions but Lord do thou thy self pass sentence upon me that I am sure will be as just and righteous as the sentence of my enemies is false and malicious and do not keep thy Sentence about me to thy self but let it come forth from thy presence that the world may see and know what I am and what thoughts thou hast of me 'T is a very gracious promise that in Psal 37.32.33 The wicked watcheth the righteous and seeketh to slay him the Lord will not leave him in his hand nor condemn him when he is judged i. e. though man condemn God will not He will not always let such as are upright with him lie under the worlds Condemnation he will clear up their innocency as the light of the noon-day probably he may do this for them here but certainly he will do it at the Great day and certainly too which is more close to my business though men are very free in their condemning of them as to their present concerns yet God will not condemn them as to their State for eternity 2. Sometimes Conscience condemns them For this Conscience bears the place and office of a Judge in the Soul and therefore it will be passing Sentence with respect to mens state and actions and its Sentence often is in a condemnatory way If our heart condemn us not then have we confidence towards God 1 Joh. 3.21 I and 't is so even with Gods own Children upon the commission of some great sin or under some great darkness of spirit in time of conviction or desertion O how forward is Conscience then to condemn and to give in sad judgment upon them And truly a condemning Conscience is a very dreadful thing be they Saints or Sinners who lie under it they will all find it to be bad enough 't is a little Hell or an anticipation of Hell there 's no pain in the body comparable to the torment of a condemning Conscience a man had better be condemned of all the World than of his own Conscience Yet the people of God have this to comfort them though Conscience condemns below yet God doth not condemn above To the wicked 't is a condemning Conscience and a condemning God too O there 's the very height of misery to the Godly 't is sometimes a condemning Conscience but never a condemning God even when that speaks nothing but Guilt and wrath then God designs nothing but Grace and mercy The inferior Judge condemns in the Court below but the supream Judge acquits and justifies in the Court above 3. Satan too he will be condemning such as are in Christ He 's a proud Creature and loves to be upon the Bench and to assume that Authority and judicial Power which doth not belong to him O it greatly pleases him to be judging of the spiritual and eternal state of Believers he that is but Gods Executioner he 'le take upon him to be a Judge And as his Pride puts him upon judging so his malice puts him upon condemning there 's not an upright person in
reason or proof of the Thing spoken of The Expression as shall be hereafter opened notes that near and intimate union which is betwixt Christ and Believers Now shall there be Condemnation where there is such an Vnion what in Christ and yet under Condemnation those that are so near to Christ here shall they be set at an eternal distance from him hereafter will the head be so severed from his members when Christ is in Heaven shall a part of him lie in Hell O no! a limb of Christ shall not perish Besides upon this union there is interest in all that Christ hath done and suffered he that is in Christ hath a right to all of Christ the Obedience Righteousness Merits Satisfaction the Life Death Resurrection Intercession of Christ all are his who is in Christ It being so how can this person miscarry The Apostle upon this triumphs over Condemnation v. 34 Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us What there is in each of these Heads the Death Resurrection Exaltation Intercession of Christ to secure those who are in him from Condemnation shall in due time if God please be fully made out but that is not now to be done Only for the further confirming of the Truth in hand let me a little descant upon the Question which the Apostle here doth so triumphantly propound Who is he that condemneth He seems to challenge all inferiour Accusers and bid them do their worst he hangs out a Flag of Defiance to all who saith he will attempt or in case they should attempt would be able to carry on such a thing as the condemning of those who are in Christ For God himself who must be spoken of with all reverence he will not for he justifies and he cannot justifie and condemn too his justice is satisfied he hath declared that he hath accepted of Christs satisfaction made in the sinners stead and he will not be satisfied and yet condemn Then to be sure Christ will not for his great design was to prevent and keep off this Condemnation this was the very thing which he had in his eye in his great and most blessed undertaking he 's so far from doing this himself that he will not suffer it to be done by any other Come to sin that shall not for that is pardoned expiated by the blood of Christ that is condemned it self Rom. 8.3 and a condemned thing shall never be a condemning thing The Law cannot for that is fulfilled by the Surety and that is appealed from as not a proper judge and Believers are not under it i. e. as to its vis damnatrix but under Grace Rom. 6.14 The Gospel too will not because its conditions are performed though imperfectly yet sincerely which it accepts of It appears then by this Induction that there is there shall be no Condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus So much for the Proofs or Grounds of the Truth in hand Observe that I have onely instanced in those which the Text leads me to for divers others might have been produced as Gods eternal electing Love the Covenant of Grace the earnest of the Spirit c. but these I pass by Nothing remains but the Application VSE 1. The misery of all out of Christ And First This proclaims the misery of all who are not in Christ Jesus The Cloud is not so bright towards Israel but 't is as dark towards the Aegyptians the Point is not so full of Comfort to Believers but 't is as full of Terrour to Unbelievers Here 's the very marrow and sweetness of the Gospel for the one and yet withall here 's the bitterest Gall and Wormwood of the Law for the other There 's no Condemnation to them who are in Christ what more sweet but there 's nothing but Condemnation to them who are out of Christ what more dreadful Art thou a Christless graceless unbelieving impenitent person do not deceive thy self this exemption from Condemnation belongs not to thee The Apostle doth not say there is no Condemnation and so break off but that none may flatter themselves and presumptuously apply that to themselves which belongs not to them he puts down the Subject which onely is concerned in the Priviledge Oh! you who are out of Christ know it and be assured of it there is Condemnation to you you are condemned * Joh. 3.18 already in the Sentence of the Law and it will not be long before you be actually solemnly condemned by the Sentence of the Judge so many Unbelievers so many condemned persons And if so is it nothing to you to be condemned what a dreadful word is Condemnation how should we all fear and tremble at the hearing of it All the evils of the present life are a meer nothing meer trifles to this put all afflictions calamities miseries together one Condemnation out-weighs them all Sickness pain poverty sufferings all are light inconsiderable things in comparison of this I cannot but stand and wonder and be filled even with amazement at the woeful stupidity and security of Sinners out of Christ the Condemnation of God hangs over them wherever they are or go they are no better than condemned men and yet how merry jovial unconcerned are they Good God what shall we say to this Amongst us what a sad spectacle is it to see a poor Malefactor that is condemned by man and to be executed within a few days altogether unaffected with his condition he spends that span of time which he hath to live in feasting drinking trimming and dressing of himself and considers not that he is a condemned man and must dye within a day or two Ah Sinners this is your State nay yours is much worse for you are under a far worser Condemnation even the Condemnation of the great God and that too to dye eternally And yet how do you carry it you please the flesh take your fill of sensual pleasures you * Amos 6.5 6. chant to the sound of the Viol drink wine in bowls live a merry life nothing troubles you no though the dreadful Sentence of God be pass'd upon you and is ready to be executed every moment yet all is well in your thoughts what prodigious security is this * Dan. 5.5 6. Belshazzar in his cups and height of mirth when he saw the hand writing upon the wall this made him tremble Sinner thou art at ease sporting thy self in thy worldly delights look but into the Word there 's a dreadful hand-writing against thee there 's Condemnation written over and over in broad and legible characters as thy portion wilt not thou fear Surely 't is sad dancing over the mouth of Hell there 's but a breath betwixt thee and everlasting flames and yet art thou secure is eternal misery a thing to be dallied with or slighted If men were not down-right
be in it I tremble to think of that distress that you will be in at the Great day though now you are quiet and unconcerned * Undique erunt tibi angustiae hinc erunt accusantia peccata tremeda justitia subter patens horridum Chaos desuper iratus Judex intùs Vermis Conscientiae foris ardens mundus Beâ—n de Consc when your sins shall fly in your faces and accuse you when the tremendous justice of God shall affright you when if you look downwards there 's an Hell ready to receive you if upwards there 's an angry Judge if inwards there 's the Worm of Conscience if about you there 's a World all in flames O what a time will this be what would you then give to be in Christ take heed I beseech you of an after-wisdom VSE 2. To exhort all to make sure of exemption from Condemnation Secondly I would exhort you to make sure of this exemption from Condemnation to labour to be in the number of those to whom there is no Condemnation 'T is infinite mercy that such a thing is attainable surely he must be strangely besotted and utterly void of all sense of eternity who doth not with the greatest care and diligence put in for a share in this happiness No Condemnation Justification here and Salvation hererfter what can be so worthy of our utmost pains and endeavours as these what pitiful trifles and very Nothings are all other things in comparison of these 'T is no great matter how things go at present if the future everlasting state may be secured O that all your thoughts desires pursuits might be swallowed up in this You dread such and such Evils here alas what are these to the eternal Evils which have been set before you you are set upon the worlds good and what is that to an endless blessedness in the Vision and Fruition of God in Heaven think of Hell and nothing here will be very evil and of Heaven and nothing here will be very good Should you come to a condemned man and talk to him of the riches honours crowns and scepters of this world Ah! saith he what 's this to me I am a poor condemned man can you tell me how I may get out of the condemnation that I lye under then you 'l say something which will suit my condition Why Sirs you trouble your selves about the getting of wealth the greatning of your selves in the world but you do not consider you are condemned men such you were as you came into the world * Rom. 5.18 By the offenos of one judgment came upon all to Condemnation and there 's a worser Condemnation for you when you shall go out of the world O what have you to do but to get out of this Condemnation 'T is to be feared that the greatest part of men not out of any want of mercy in God or from any thing to be charged upon God but meerly through their own sin and folly will perish therein you read of the condemning of the world 1 Cor. 11.32 Now therefore what are you or what do you do that you may be exempted from the general misery Certainly if you lye in the common State and live in the common Course you must perish in the common Condemnation think of it and make some timely provision against it Your Judge deals very graciously with you he warns you before hand tells you how his terrible Sentence may be prevented nay he offers Life and Pardon to you if you will but accept of it and after all this will you force him to condemn you then 't will be Condemnation with a witness I would upon this Consideration be the more earnest with you in the present advice because though this Condemnation will be sad enough to all yet to you it will be superlatively sad you living under the Gospel where the way of Salvation is set before you where tenders of Grace are made to you if you be not wise and serious in securing the main this will not only make your Condemnation more unavoidable * Heb. 2.3 How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation but also more intolerable 't will be Condemnation with an Accent or Emphasis to you * Joh. 3.19 This is the Condemnation that light is come into the world c. The Scripture speaks of * Matth. 23.14 greater damnation 't will be great damnation to Pagans and Infidels but greater damnation to Christians According to the different measures of that Gospel-light and Gospel-grace which men live under so will the different measures of their future misery be if they live and dye in impenitency and unbelief O how will these aggravate your Condemnation if there be one place in Hell hotter than another that very place shall be yours whilst others shall mitiùs ardere * Matth. 12.23 24. Thou Capernaum which art exalted unto heaven c. but I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you What persons are to do that it may be No-Condemnation You will ask me What are we to do that it may be to us No-Condemnation For answer to this several Directions might be given and much enlarg'd upon but I will give you only five or six and be but short upon them First 1. Dir. Let sin be condemned in you and by you For thus the case stands sin must either be condemned by you or you for it a condemnatory Sentence must pass either upon the Sin or upon the Sinner and is it not better it should pass upon the Sin rather than upon the Sinner that it should dye rather than you should dye O let not Sin live in you nor do you live in it for if it be so it will be Condemnation This sin is the condemning thing had there been No Sin there had been No Condemnation 't is that and that only which makes the Creature liable to eternal Death * Rom. 6.23 the wages of sin is death Did not the Malefactor break the Law by stealing murdering c. he would not be obnoxious to the Laws penalties and so 't is here We violate Gods Law upon that violation there is guilt upon that guilt there is obnoxiousness to punishment and to a Sentence of Death O take heed of sin here lies the evil of it it exposes to and ends in eternal Condemnation it pleases the Sinner for a * Heb. 11.25 season and then entails everlasting wrath upon him Was it not for this a Life in sin would be a fine Life I must recall my self a Life in sin a fine Life no was there no Hell hereafter yet such a Life would be and is a base sordid cursed Life but Hell and Wrath and Condemnation and all follow upon it and this spoils the pleasures and delights of a sinful Life Who would not fear and shun Sin a Child of
to the Lord of Glory but 't is as much your duty to deal thus revengefully with the Flesh O let all cry out in the height of their hatred against it Let it be crucified why but what evil hath it done nay rather ask what evil hath it not done therefore cry out the more let it be crucified And indeed the crucifixion of our Natural Flesh in Christ without the crucifixion of moral and sinful Flesh in our selves will not profit us Paul saith he was crucified with Christ Gal. 2.20 how why in a spiritual and mystical sense so as to be dead to the Flesh and so as to live the spiritual life And the Apostle lays it upon this 1 Pet. 4.1 2 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh arm your selves likewise with the same mind For he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men but to the will of God 'T is a Scripture somewhat dark but the strength of it lies thus Christ hath suffered for us and we in an analogical sense must be ready to suffer too this is the same mind here spoken of and Christ having suffered hath ceased from sin h. e. so as to dye for sin no more so saith the Apostle you too in your own persons must so dye to sin as no longer to live in it This is the being planted into the likeness of Christ's death Rom. 6.5 and you find the Apostle there in that Chapter from this very Topick the Death of Christ earnestly disuading persons from walking after the flesh I have done with the Motives to inforce the Dehortation What men are to do that they may not walk after the Flesh Before I go off from this Head something must be hinted by way of Direction What is to be done some may say that we may no longer walk after the Flesh I answer 1. Get out of the Flesh For being in the flesh is always attended with walking after the flesh as the State is always according to the Course so the Course is always according to the State if you be in the fleshly state your conversation will be a fleshly conversation Such as the man is such are the principles and such as the principles are such will the practises be also Therefore get out of the state of Nature in which the Flesh rules and carries a man whither it pleases and get into Christ persons out of Christ are all Flesh and thereupon will be wholly followers of the Flesh Spiritual walking discovers the Vnion but first the Union is the ground of spiritual walking that will certainly follow upon being in Christ but being in Christ must necessarily antecede it Till thou beest ingrafted into Christ no good fruit can grow upon thee he that is flesh must needs live and act flesh 2. Get the Spirit and walk after the Spirit 'T is the divine Spirit and the divine Nature from that Spirit which must dethrone and break the power of sinning and sinful Nature Till the Holy Spirit and grace come into the heart the Flesh lords and domineers in the life as you will hear more fully when I come to the second Verse The Apostle joins together Sensual and not having the Spirit Jud. 19. where the latter clause is not onely a further description of the persons spoken of but 't is also the assignation of the cause or reason of their being sensual viz. because they had not the Spirit Till the mighty Spirit of God comes into the Soul by saving illumination and overpowering influences to say efficaciously to a man * Isa 30.21 This is the way walk therein there may be convictions purposes resolutions to the contrary yet still there will be one way or other walking after the Flesh And so for Grace no sooner doth this take possession but the Walking is altered which it never is before to any purpose Prov. 2.10 When wisdom entereth into the heart c. discretion shall preserve thee c. to deliver thee from the way of the evil man c. who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness who rejoice to do evil c. Your way to be rid of the Flesh is to get the Spirit set a thousand Arguments the most effectual Considerations imaginable before the Sinner to draw him off from this fleshly walking till the regenerating sanctifying Spirit take hold of him they are all weak and ineffective I add Walk after the Spirit Every man will be walking there 's no standing still all will be in motion so long as they are in viâ and every mans Walking will be in one of these two ways either after the Flesh or after the Spirit for non datur tertium And these being contrary do mutually exclude each the other he that walks after the flesh cannot in sensu composito walk after the spirit and he that walks after the spirit cannot walk after the flesh therefore Gal. 5.16 Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh the Reason then upon which this Direction is grounded is strong and evident And let me tell you Principles you will and must have some or other which if they be not good they will be bad and so as to Guides Affections Propensions Ends these will be in every reasonable Soul from one cause or another So that if you be not spiritual you will be carnal for one of these two you must be as both you cannot be O let it be the Former that it may not be the Latter 3. Take heed of particular allowed fleshly acts for they make way for that general course which you are to shun Acts produce Habits as well as Habits do produce Acts particular acts of sin especially if allowed and repeated end in a course of sin If you gratifie the flesh in some things it will grow upon you as sad experience proves the Gangrene or Leprosie at the first begins with some particular member but if it be let alone in a little time it diffuses it self over the whole body and so 't is here as to sin A little leaven leavens the whole lump 'T is true as hath been observ'd the Apostle here fixes his Character upon the Course and not upon single acts but he that allows himself in them will not stay there in time hee 'l fall into a wicked and fleshly Course 4. Timely suppress the first risings of the flesh it gains by delays O as soon as the corrupt Nature begins to stir and show it self see that you fall upon it presently make speedy and vigorous resistance to it if you give the Enemy time hee 'l grow stronger and the Conquest will be the more difficult You read Jam. 1.15 of the conceiving of Lust 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Vide Stobaeum in Eclog. Serm. 3. p. 9. when Lust hath conceived
large to be written out Ambrose expounds it The Law saith he of the Spirit of Life it is the very Law of Faith * Chrysostome distinguishes much to the same purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in loc The Law of Moses was a Spiritual Law because it forbad Sin but it was not the Law of the Spirit of Life because it could not remit Sin and so quicken the dead But this Law of Faith is the Law of the Spirit of Life because it doth not onely restrain Sin but it also restores from death c. This Law in Christ Jesus that is by Faith doth free the Believer from the Law of Sin and Death The Law of Sin is that which dwells in the members which persuades to that which is contrary to the Will of God the Law of Death is the Law of Moses because it kills Sinners And no wonder that this Law should be the Law of Death when the Gospel is to some the savour of death unto death and so he goes on in the further explication of it Amongst modern Interpreters Pareus follows this Exposition making the Law of the Spirit of life to be the Doctrine of the Gospel and the Law of sin and death to be the Law of Moses The Gospel saith he is the Law of the Spirit because 't is attended with the conveyance of the Spirit the Law of Moses was spiritual but not the Law of the Spirit because it did not convey the Spirit And that was the Law of Sin because it discovered sin irritated sin made sin to be sin and of Death too because it had a killing virtue in it 2 Cor. 3.6 The letter killeth but the spirit giveth life Thus Pareus who after he had laid down and opened his Opinion thus concludes With submission to other mens judgments I judge this to be the most plain and genuine meaning of this place This way very many * Lex Spirituâ— c. est doctrina Evangehi fide apprehensa Osiand Fortasse legem Mose intelligit per legem peccati mortis à quâ etiam lege liberati sumus in vulgato Jesu Christi Evangelio Massus Utraque est Spiritus Sancti ut actoris utraqne est Spiritus nostri directivaâ— sed haec est Spiritus Sancti quatenus est vivificator noster in Jesu Christo c. Cajetan Legem peccati vocat literam Legis quae peccatum excitare solet damnationem revelare Vatabl. Opponitur haec Lex Spiritus Legi Mosaicae Crell Posset etiam per Legem peccati mortis intelligi Lex Mosis c. Perer. Vide Lud. de Dieu in loc Baldwin Dr. Hammond in Paraphr Others go either as to the whole or as to the most considerable part of it But neither shall I close with this Interpretation and that for two Reasons I. Because though the Gospel may very well be stiled the Law of the Spirit of life yet it sounds somewhat harsh to call the Mosaical Law God's own Law the Law of sin and death There is I grant something of truth in it and it may admit of a very fair and sound explication but then there must be a great deal of stating and limitation and cautioning before you can come at it And therefore many * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrysost Legem peccati mortis non ausim cum quibusdam accipere pro Lege Dei c. Quamvis enim peccatum augendo mortem generet Paulus tamen ab hâc invidiâ consultò supra deflexit Calvin His verbis non significatur Lex Mosaica c. Pet. Mart. Expositors do not approve of the application of this title to the Mosaical Law Nay our Apostle himself warns us against it whose way and custome it was whenever he had touch'd upon any thing which might seem to reflect any disparagement upon the Law presently to subjoin something for the vindication of its honour Rom. 7.7 What shall we say then is the law sin God forbid when the commandment came sin reviv'd and I dy'd and the commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death c. yet saith he the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good was then that which was good made death to me God forbid but sin that it might appear sin working death in me by that which is good that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful No man did ever depress the Law more than Paul did in the matter of Justification yet in other respects none did ever more vindicate and exalt it Well! this is one Reason why I shall not fall in with this Sense A Second is this because the Apostle here is not treating of the Law-state or Gospel-state or of the Covenant-aà ministration proper to either but he is more closely treating of the State of Nature and of Grace of freedome from Condemnation by the taking away of sins power and guilt in pursuance of which he pitches upon Sanctification by the Spirit and Satisfaction by the Son And therefore though the Former Notion may be taken in yet certainly that which directly falls in with the Latter as that Sense will which I shall presently give must be most agreeable to the Apostles Scope in this place 3. Thirdly by the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus Some understand nothing but the very Spirit of Christ Jesus They make the Law of the Spirit to be the very Spirit it self and nothing more thus * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Theophyl Oâ—cumen Theodor. say the same Lex Spiritus i. e. Lex quae est Spiritus Aquin. Chrysostome and his Followers This is a very good foundation to build upon but yet without some further addition it will not so fully reach that special matter in the Words which hath a great weight and emphasis in it 4. Fourthly therefore Others do interpret them not onely as pointing to Gods Spirit but to make it the more express they consider the Spirit of God as renewing as regenerating as working the new and heavenly life in the Soul with great power and efficacy The Spirit is stiled the Spirit of life both as he is a living Spirit himself and also as he is a quickening Spirit to the Creature as he makes Sinners who were * Eph. 2.1 dead in trespasses and sins to live by working Grace and Regeneration in them and so life thereby But what is the Law of the Spirit of Life why 't is the mighty power of the regenerating Spirit put forth upon men in order to the freeing of them from the power and dominion of sin There are I know sundry other explications given of it (a) Lex-Spiritus vitae una eademque est quae Lex Dei sicut una eademque est Lex peccati mortis Nihil damnationis erit his qui Lege peccati quae est Lex mortis liberantur Legi Dei quae est Lex
God hath no love there the Sinner must dye eternally You have in the Text the Law of sin and the Law of death coupled together ô what a dangerous thing is the Law of sin where Sin hath its full power over the creature to make him wicked Death upon this will have its full power also to make him miserable So Rom. 6.16 Know you not that to whom you yield your selves servants to obey his servants you are to whom you obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righreousness V. 21. For the end of these things is death V. 23. the wages of sin is death And is it so who then would be Sins servant who would serve that master who pays no better wages than death you that are Servants would you enter into the service of One that would pay you such wages such a master sin is and such wages it doth pay ô therefore quit its service be wise for your Souls be sensible of the danger of continuing under the Law of sin otherwise this Law of sin will soon be turned into the Law of death And indeed it is this which ends in death 't is not barely sin which condemns but 't is the Law of sin which condemns when it hath the Supream and Soveraign commanding power in the Soul and reigns there as Lord paramount then 't is killing and damning And now Sirs may not that which hath been spoken be sufficient to convince you of the evil of that bondage that miserable hereditary bondage which you all lie under so long as you are in the natural and unregenerate state and will you not be prevailed with to endeavour speedily to get out of it by the Law of the Spirit to be made free from the Law of Sin You may be freed from this bondage if you will Christ is come as for other ends so for this to give liberty to the captives and to open the prison to them who are bound Isa 61.1 to knock off Sinners bolts and chains and to make them free indeed Joh. 8.36 in his name I do this day tender freedom to you and deliverance from Sins vassalage will you not accept of it And here 's the Law of the Spirit too to make you free from the Law of Sin why then shall not this be done Will you still like Sins yoke I assure you Christ's is not so easie but Sins is as uneafie will you have its dominion yet kept up in you are you loath to part with your old Master then your ears must be boared for Sin and Sathan * Exod. 21.5 6. as the Servant under the Law was to be served who might have been set at liberty from his Master but he had no mind to it If it be thus I can say nothing more onely pray that the Lord will convince you what the reign and power of Sin is what a miserable bondage attends it that you may with the greatest earnestness press after Conversion and the Law of the Spirit of Life in order to freedom from it So much for the First Branch of this Vse of Information 2. Branch of Information concerning the Necessity c. of restraining and renewing Grace Secondly it informs us further of the Necessity Power and Efficacy of restraining and renewing Grace I 'le speak to them apart 1. For restraining Grace By which I mean that grace whereby God keeps in mens corruptions and sets bounds and limits to them in Sin so as not to suffer them to be as vile and wicked as otherwise they would be That such a thing is done by God all grant he that bounds the Sea that it doth not break forth and overflow all 't is most elegantly set out Job 38.8 10 11. Who shut up the Sea with doors when it brake forth as if it had issued out of the womb And brake up for it my decreed place and set bars and doors And said hitherto shalt-thou come but no further and here shall thy proud waves be stayed as also Jer. 5.22 which have placed the sand for the bound of the Sea by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass it and though the waves thereof toss themselves yet can they not prevail though they roar yet can they not pass over it I say he that thus bounds the Sea that unruly body doth also bound the wickedness of mans heart a far more unruly thing than the Sea it self this God keeps in or lets out as seems good unto him You see it in the case of Abimilech whose Lust did strongly work in him towards Sarah but saith God Gen. 20.6 I withheld thee from sinning against me therefore I suffered thee not to touch her the like you have in several other instances Now this Law of Sin proves both the necessity and also the mighty power and efficacy of this restraining Grace for the making out of which be pleased to take notice of the following Particulars 1. That the most of men are under the Law of Sin All are born under it and the most continue under it for the most are in the state of Nature and in that state the Law of Sin carries it Here and there you have a Soul brought in to God converted savingly wrought upon * Jer. 3.14 one of a city and two of a family but the generality of men are strangers to this work and therefore they are under the full power and dominion of a cursed nature It being so how necessary is restraining grace for the less there is of regenerating grace the more need there is of restraining grace 2. Men naturally being under this Law it doth vehemently and impetuously put them upon sin for herein lies its being a Law and a Principle as you have heard The depraved Nature doth not barely dispose men to sin or faintly persuade them to sin but it doth powerfully and efficaciously incline urge impell nay necessitate them to sin they cannot cease from sin 2 Pet. 2.14 3. It is not this or that sin which this Law urges men to but if it be left to it self it urges to every sin yea to the very worst of sins This indwelling sin contains all sin in it the corrupt Nature is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Seminary or Seed-plot of all wickedness in that one sinful habit all sinful acts do lie seminally and radically and Sin where it is a Law is for all Sin it will excite instigate provoke not onely to lesser evils such as the world puts a fairer interpretation upon but also to those which are most enormous hideous and horrid as Atheism Blasphemy Murther Theft Adultery c. 4. This Law of Sin hath great advantages in and over men for 't is a Law that is in them an innate ingenit inbred Law 't is written and engraven in their very nature Sin is now connatural to them yea 't is as natural in some respects for apostatized man to sin as 't is for the fire to burn
dye Rom. 5.12 Wherefore as by one man Sin entred into the world and Death by Sin even so Death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Ver. 17. For if by one mans offence Death reigned by one c. here 's Death and the Law of Death too by Sin it hath got a power over men so as to reign over them Had there been no Sin there had been no Death if man had continued in his sinless and innocent state he might have been * Vide Grot. de Sat. c. 1. p. 18. mortal i. e. under a posse mori he being but a Creature and made up of contrary principles but he had not actually dyed much less had he been under a necessity of dying if he had not sinn'd Death did not come into the world upon Gods meer dominion and Soveraignty or meerly upon the frailty of the humane Nature as Pelagians of old and (a) Mors non erat poena vel effectus transgressionis Adami sed conditionis naturalis consequens Socin de Statu primi hominis Vide Praelect Cap. 1. contra Paccium Cap. 5. Socinians of late assert but as the (b) Calov Soc. Prost p. 250. Hoorn Soc. conf vol. 1 l. 3. c. 4. p. 583 c. Franz Scho Sacr. Disp 1. p. 7. fruit and punnishment of Sin Immortality was a part of (c) Molin Enod Grav Qu. de statu Innoc. Tract 3. p. 62. Gerhard Loc. Com. de Imag c. t. 1. c. 4. p. 199. Zâ—â—em de Imag. c. c. 8. Art 2. Moretâ—n's threefold state of man p. 1. c. 2. p. 35. Gods Image at first imprinted upon man that image being defac'd mortality took place You know in Gods dealing with our first Parents how he back'd his Command or Prohibition with the threatning of death Gen. 2.17 Of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye they disobeyed this most equitable Commandment and thereby brought death both upon themselves Gen. 3.19 and also upon all their posterity Besides the guilt of this Sin made over to all mankind by imputation there is mens personal sin habitual and actual which renders them yet more obnoxious unto death and that too not onely to temporal but also to eternal death Rom. 6.21 the end of those things is death v. 23. the wages of sin is death The Apostle in James 1.14.15 treats of the first and last of Sin shows where it begins and where it ends sets down its rise progress and final issue But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished it bringeth forth death Sin is the issue of Lust and Death is the issue of Sin So that our Apostle here in the Text might upon very good grounds link and couple Sin and Death Where 't is the Law of Sin there 't is the Law of Death 2. Observe that 't is the Law of Sin and the Law of Death which is here coupled together so that where 't is the Law of Sin there and there only 't is the Law of Death When Sin is reigning and commanding then 't is ruining and condemning 't is the power of Sin that exposes to the power of death Rom. 6.16 Know ye not that to whom ye yield your selves servants to obey his servants ye are to whom ye obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness 'T is true every sin in its own nature deserves death the Scripture knows no such thing as venial sin it being judge all and every sin is mortal indeed as to event the Apostle saith there is a Sin not unto death 1 Joh. 5.17 but as to merit every Sin be it what it will deserves death Yet God is so gracious as that Sin shall not condemn and end in death where it doth not command 'Pray mark it how in the words the Law of the Spirit is join'd with Life and the Law of Sin with Death as where the power of the Spirit is there is Life so where the power of Sin is there is Death I know the Death in the latter Clause doth not carry a direct opposition to the Life in the former for the Life there referring to Grace and Regeneration and not to Glory hereafter the Death which refers to eternal Condemnation and the misery of the future state cannot be look'd upon as directly opposite to that Life yet there is a truth in the Parallel As upon the Law of the Spirit there is Life spiritual and eternal so upon the Law of Sin there is ' Death spiritual and eternal too Further I know there is a great disparity betwixt the Spirits working Life and Sins working Death the Law of the Spirit works Life in the way of proper Efficiency and Causality the Law of Sin works Death only in a final consequential meritorious way yet here also we may speak by way of Parallel as the power of the Spirit works Life in its way so the power of Sin works Death too in its way That which I drive at is very plain if I be so happy as to express my self clearly about it Regenerate persons are made free from the Law of Death 3. Observe that such who are brought under the power of the regenerating Spirit they are made free from the Law of Death This was Paul's happiness here laid down and 't is the same to all that are regenerate the proof of which I need not insist upon for this deliverance undeniably follows from the former they who are made free from the Law of Sin by that Grace are also made free from the Law of Death it being the Law of Sin which subjects the Creature to the Law of Death The power or right of Death stands or falls by the power of Sin so that if the person be freed from the latter as you have heard every regenerate person is it certainly follows in the course and methods of Gods Grace that every such person shall be freed from the former too for the Law of Death is penal or the effect of the Law of Sin now take away the Cause and the Effect ceases Quest How is this to be understood But a little explication will be necessary How may Regenerate Persons be said to be made free from the Law of Death For answer to this Answ you know Death is either temporal or eternal I do not instance in spiritual Death because though 't is very true that the Saints upon the Law of the Spirit are made free from this Death yet I conceive that is not so much intended here the former lies in the separation of the Soul from the Body for a time the latter in the everlasting separation of both Soul and Body from the love and favour and presence of God This separation from God is
the death of this Death or that wherein it mainly consists hence though it doth not carry in it any annihilation yea though it be attended with a kind of Life both Soul and Body retaining their physical being existence and union yet 't is called Death because there is in it a separation from the fountain of true Life and of all blessedness upon which account 't is not only Death but the worst Death and this too is the worst part of this worst Death for though there be more included in it than the loss of Gods presence viz. the punnishment of sense eternal torment in Hell-fire yet it might easily be prov'd that herein lies its greatest evil the Mat. 25.41 departing from God is worse than the going into everlasting fire But to apply this distinction to the business in hand How Believers are made free from the Law of temporal death 1. The Law of the Spirit of Life frees the Regenerate from death temporal Not simply and absolutely from death considered abstractly and in it-self for so all must dye Believers themselves are within the compass of the general Statute Heb. 9.27 It is appointed unto men once to dye Psal 89.48 What man is he that liveth and shall not see death shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave but it frees from death as so qualified and so circumstantiated in the language of the Text it frees from the Law of Death How 's that why take a gracious man Death hath not a full right or an absolute power over him so as to keep him under its dominion forever for so I show'd you some open this Law of Death Such an one may dye but he shall live again the grave shall not always hold him he may be thrown into prison for a time but Christ will fetch him out and then death shall never again exercise its power over him after he hath died once he shall dye no more as 't is said of Christ Rom. 6.9 Again Grace frees from the Law of this Death that is from the hurtfulness sting and curse of it Death carries much of a curse in it 't is the result and fruit of the primitive * Gen. 2.17 curse now in this notion sanctified persons are freed from it The nature and property of death is altered to a godly man to him 't is now but the paying of that debt or tribute which is due to Nature but a (a) 1. Thes 4.14 sleep but a (b) Job 14.14 change but a (c) Luk. 2.29 departure or going out of prison but a (d) If. 57.2 going to bed but an (e) 2 Cor. 5.4 uncloathing but a passage into an endless and everlasting life an inlet into the immediate fruition of God O set but sense aside what an harmless innocent thing is this death to such a person the Lion being slain by Christ there 's hony now in the belly of it I allude to that of Sampson Judg. 14.8 1 Cor. 15.55 O death where is thy sting ô grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law but thanks be to God which give thus the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Christ by death hath overcome death unstung it and taken off its hurtful quality by dying himself he hath expiated Sin vanquished Satan atoned God satisfied the Law secured from Hell purchased eternal life and these things being done where is now the Law of Death Heb 2.14 15 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil And deliver them who through fear of dâ—ath were all their life time subject to bondage How from the Law of eternal death 2. There is that death which is much worse than this viz. eternal death that which indeed is the death incomparably surpassing any other as no life like to eternal life so no death like to eternal death To have the Body separated for a while from the Soul is a thing to Nature very dreadful but what is that to the separation both of Body and Soul from God forever This is sometimes set forth by Death without the addition of any Epethite as Joh. 8.51 If a man keep my sayings he shall never see death Rom. 6.23 8.6 passim Sometimes by the second death and 't is so stiled because it succeeds upon and doth not commence till after the first death Rev. 2.11 He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death Rev 20.6 21.4 This is that death which the * Sicut is qui liberatur a Lege Spiritus vitae permanet in Christo qui est vita ita qui servit Lege peccati permanet in morte quae venit ex damnatione peccati Orig. unconverted and impenitent are obnoxious unto but such as turn to God by true repentance and live and holy life they are freed from it And this deliverance is absolute the former was but in such a qualified sense but this I say is absolute Even such may and shall dye the first death but they shall never dye this second death Rom. 20.6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death hath no power You read of the abolishing of this death by Christ 2 Tim. 1.10 eternal death is quite abolished to all regenerate persons But this very much falls in with the No-condemnation in the foregoing Verse of which having there said enough I 'le add nothing more VSE 1. Men exhorted to live in the belief of this that 't is Sin and Death By way of Vse 1. I would exhort you all to live in the steady belief of this and often to revive it upon your thoughts that 't is Sin and Death Especially when at any time Satan and your own hearts sollicit and tempt you to sin be sure then you think of this so as to retort it upon the temptation speedily what shall I sin and dye shall I for the pleasures delights satisfaction of sin which are but * Heb. 11.25 for a season expose my self to death yea to eternal death no that I dare not that I must not do 'T is good to break the force of a temptation by such reasonings as these for though 't is true the great restraints from sin should be taken from the love of God the fear of offending God c. yet it 's good and God allows it to take in the advantage of self-love too and the fear of self-destroying Surely if men did indeed believe or did nor strangely smother and suppress all serious convictions about this that 't is sin and death they durst not sin as they do Where 's the man let him be never so thirsty or let the draught be never so alluring that would venture upon it should he
be told there 's poyson in it and that if he drinks it he 's a dead man ô the stupendious folly nay madness of men we tell them from Gods own mouth there 's death at the bottom of sinful practises and yet because these suit with and please their sensual part they will venture upon them The fear of temporal death to be inflicted by the Magistrate keeps off many from those enormous acts which otherwise they would commit they dare not thus and thus transgress the Law by stealing killing c. though they have a good mind to it why because they know if they so do they must dye Ah Sinner God backs his Laws with the penalty of eternal death to which thou makest thy self liable by the violation of them and yet wilt thou dare to do it shall the fear of this not at all restrain thee from what is evil Here 's the Devils cunning in his temptations he presents the bait but hides the hook he tempts from and by the pleasure delight contentment that is in sin but conceals the death that will follow upon it nay he doth not onely conceal the evil threatned but either in thesi or in hypothesi he flatly denies it This lying Spirit will tell the Sinner he may sin without danger what dye for it no there 's no such thing thou shalt not dye Thus he began in his first assault upon our first Parents Gen. 3.4 And the serpent said to the woman ye shall not surely dye and thus he doth with Sinners to this very day He always sharpens his temptations by blunting the edge of the Laws threatning assuring the poor besotted Creature that he may sin and yet not dye Now I beseech you do not hearken to him or believe him for he is what he always was a lyar and so a murderer Joh. 8.44 Let the temptation be never so inviting and alluring yet 'pray consider * 2 Kings 4.40 death is in the pot and therefore there is no meddling with it let the enticements of Sin be never so specious and plausible yet know nothing less than eternal death will inevitably follow upon it and doth not the evil of that infinitely weigh down all the good which Sin promises Sin is the falsest thing in all the world its promises are very fair but its performances are quite contrary it pretends to this and that which takes with the Sinner exceedingly but the very upshot and end of all is everlasting destruction Suppose it be as good as its word as to some temporal concerns yet alas its good is soon over and gone but its bad abides forever the pleasant taste of its hony in the mouth is but short but its gall lies fretting in the bowels to all eternity now what madness is it for a man for a few minutes delight to run himself into everlasting and endless torments 'T is one of the saddest things that is imaginable that men do and cannot but know that 't is Sin and Death and yet in a stâ—â—nge defiance of God and in a bold contemning of all that he threatens yea even of eternal death it self they will venture upon Sin Rom. 1.32 Who knowing the judgment of God that they which commit such things are worthy of death not onely do the same but have pleasure in them that do them But surely did they but know and consider what this death is they would not carry it thus I cannot now enter upon any particular description of it onely let me tell them what there is in it the absence of all good the presence of all evil is not this enough that in short 't is the summary and abridgment of all that misery which the Humane Nature is capable of and should not such a thing make a poor Creature tremble As to this death the Sinner would fain dye but cannot he must live though he be dead even whilst he lives at the * Mors prima pellit animam nolentem de corpore mors secunda detinet animam nolentem in corpore Aug. de Civit. Dei l. 21. c. 3. first death the Body and Soul are loth to part but in the second death they would fain part if they might but the just God will keep them together that as they sinn'd together so they shall suffer together What a sad meeting will there be 'twixt these two at the general Resurrection when they shall be reunited onely in order to their being eternally miserable Now do not Sinners tremble at this do they not dread that which will bring all this upon them if not what can we further say or do As to you dearly Beloved I hope you are not given up to a reprobate mind to this desperate hardness of heart to make nothing of dying eternally 'pray therefore * Psal 4.4 stand in awe and sin not do not dare to live in that for which you must dye and perish forever let Sin dye that you may never dye for it must be either its death or yours If you live sin you love death and is death a thing to be lov'd Prov. 8.36 He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own Soul all they that hate me love death Methinks that 's a very sad description of the carriage of the poor amorous Wanton under the enchantments of the whorish Woman Prov. 7.21 22 23. With much fair speech she caused him to yield with the flattering of her lips she forced him He goeth after her straightway as an oxe goeth to the slaughter or as a fool to the correction of the stocks Till a dart strike thorow his liver as a bird hasteth to the snare and knoweth not that it is for his life Sirs will you carry it thus under Sins enchantments not considering that it aims at your life and exposes you to eternal death A fool sees but a little way but a wise man looks to the issues and consequences of things you know what I mean Simply to dye is not so much but to dye eternally ô that 's a formidable thing as you would shun that shun sin for itâ— house is the way to Hell going down to the chambers of death Proverbs 7.27 VSE 2. Comfort to all Regenerate Persons 2. Let the people of God see their happiness and take the comfort of it You that by the power of the regenerating Spirit are made free from the Law of Sin know that upon this you are also made free from the Law of death ô precious and admirable mercy what a cordial is this to revive you under all your faintings As to temporal death you are not wholly exempted from it that 's common to you as well as to others yet 't is a quite other thing to you than what it is to others ô whenever it shall come bid it welcome and do not * Non est formidandum quod liberat nos ab omni formidando Tertull. Ejus est mortem timere qui ad Christum nollet
legis impotentiam aliò ut Legem absolvat à culpá quam dat carni viz. nostrae i. e. corruptae nostrae naturae Muscul Ne quis parum honorificè Legem impotentÃae argui putaret vel hoc restringeret ad Ceremonias expressit nominatim Paulus defectum illum non à Legis esse vitio sed Carnis nostrae corruptelâ Calvin through our Flesh 't is not so in and from it self but only through our depraved nature 't is meerly by accident et aliundè that it lies under this impotency The Law is not to be blamed but we had not we finn'd the Law would have been still as able and mighty in its operations as ever it was did it but meet with the same subject it would soon appear that it hath the same power which it had before Adam fell So that I say the Law is not at all in the fault but only we because of the Flesh Observe here the wisdom and care of our Apostle where-ever he seems to tax the Law there he will be sure to vindicate it As where he speaks of its irritating of corruption he there layes the blame upon his own wicked nature not at all upon the holy Law Rom. 7.8 9 10 11. Sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence for without the Law sin was dead For I was alive without the Law once but when the commandment came Sin revived and I died And the commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death For Sin taking occasion by the commandment deceived me and by it slew me Yet vers 12 13 14. The Law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good Was then that which is good made death unto me God forbid But Sin that it might appear Sin working death in me by that which is good that Sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful For we know that the Law is spiritual but I am carnal sold under sin And thus we should carry it with respect to the Laws weakness O in it self 't is mighty and powerful but there is sin in us by which only the Law is made weak there therefore the blame must lye Could we but get rid of this Sin we should soon find what a mighty thing the Law is so mighty that nothing would be too high or too hard for it 2 Secondly Take heed that you do not cast off the Law upon this pretence 'T is indeed weak as to such ends but yet 't is a Law and that which is obligatory to all even to Believers themselves under the Gospel State and Covenant Shall we because of this weakness especially it being occasioned by our selves cast off the Law and pretend that we are not under the obligation of it we must not so argue Observe it in the Apostle even when he was proving the weakness of the Law as to Justification and shewing that God had found out another way for that viz. the way of Faith yet foreseeing that some might run themselves upon this rock and infer from hence that they had nothing to do with the Law he therefore adds * Rom. 3.31 Do we then make void the Law through Faith God forbid yea we establish the Law in its proper place and Sphere The Creature as a creature is under a natural and therefore indispensable obligation to this Law so as that nothing can exempt him from that obligation It commands to love fear serve honour obey God wherein it obliges so strongly that God himself with reverence be it spoken cannot free the creature from its obligation to these duties True indeed Believers are not under the curse rigor or bondage of this Law or under it as it is the condition of life but they are and it cannot be otherwise under the obligation of its commands as to an holy life There may be and blessed be God there is a great change as to circumstances a great relaxation as to the Laws rigors severitys and penaltys but for the main duties of Obedience and Holiness it is eternally obligatory and never to be abrogated O therefore do not look upon your selves as made free from this Law though it be weak and unable to justifie and save you it can damne upon the breaking of it though it cannot save by the keeping of it 3 Thirdly Neither must you upon this look upon the Law as altogether weak or useless I say not as altogether weak for though as to some things it be under a total impotency yet as to other things it still retains its pristine power It cannot take away sin or make righteous or give life which it promis'd at first and for which it was appointed for the commandment was ordained to life Rom. 7.10 here 's the weak side of the Law as to these 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But as to the commanding of duty the directing and regulating of the life the threatning of punishment upon the violation of it here it can do whatever it did before The Laws preceptive and punitive part where 't is not taken off by Christ are yet in their full strength only as to the promissory part of it viz. its promising life upon the condition of perfect Obedience there 't is at a loss In a word its authority to oblige to duty or punishment is the same that ever it was but its ability to give righteousness or life in which respects only the Apostle here speaks of it is not the same If God open this Law to you and set it home upon your Consciences you will find it hath yet a very great strength and efficacy in it let it not therefore be altogether weak in your eye Nor altogether useless For Some will be ready to say if the Law be thus weak then what use is there of it to what end doth it serve what is to be looked for from that which can do so little for us But do not you thus reason For though the Law be not of use to you as to Justification I mean in a way of immediate influence upon the Act or State a remoter influence it may have yet in other respects 't is of great and admirable use viz. as a Monitor to excite to duty as a Rule to direct and guide you in your course as a Glass to discover sin as a Bridle to restrain sin as an Hatchet to break the hard heart as a * Gal. 3.24 Schoole-master to whip you to Christ The Lord Jesus indeed hath taken Sin-pardoning God-atoning Justice-satisfying Soul-saving work into his own hands he would not trust this in the hands of the Law any longer because he knew the weakness of it but for other work the awakening and convincing of a Sinner the terrifying of the secure the humbling of the proud the preparing of the Soul to close with Christ though this last act be only eventual and accidental as to the Law all this work I
some things as 't is plain he was for he knew not the * Vide Najanz Orat. 36. p. 588. precise time of the day of judgment Mark 13.32 as he was God he knew all things so his Vnderstanding was infinite he must therefore have some other Vnderstanding which was but finite in reference to which there might be something which he did not know He also had an humane Will distinct from his Divine Will for what could that Will be which he did submit and subordinate to the Will of his Father but this Luk. 22.42 Nevertheless not my Will but thine be don Then for those Affections which are proper to the Soul 't is clear Christ had them as namely Anger Mar. 3.5 Mar. 10.14 Love Mat. 10.21 Sorrow Mat. 26.38 Luk. 19.41 Fear Heb. 5.7 Joy Luk. 10 21. Joh. 11.15 Pity Mat. 9.36 Mat. 13.32 Now where these three things are most certainly there is a true and real Soul Yet here also our blessed Lord and Saviour is assaulted he hath two Natures which make up his Person his Deity and his Humanity but both of them by several persons are taken away as you heard but now and there are two Essential parts which make up one of his Natures his Manhood viz. Soul and Body but both of these too by several persons are taken away also Marcion divests him of a Body and * See Epiphan vol. 1. p. 743 771. Apollinaris of a Soul the Arrians also are charged with this Heresie these held that Christ had no Soul but that the ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodor. lib. 5 contra Haeres cap. 11. Deity was to him instead of a Soul and supply'd the office thereof that what the Soul is to us and doth in our bodies all that the Divine Nature was to Christ and did in his Body O what light can be clear enough for their Conviction and guidance in the way of truth whom God hath given up to †2 Thes 2.11 strong delusions that they should believe lies Are not the Scriptures clear enough in this matter that Christ had a real Soul what was the subject of his inexpressible sorrow and agonies in the Garden but his Soul Matth. 26.38 My Soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death c. Joh. 12.27 Now is my Soul troubled and what shall I say what did he in special recommend to God when he was breathing out his last gasp but his Soul Luk. 23.46 When Jesus had cryed with a loud voice he said Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit and having said thus he gave up the Ghost what was the part affected in his sore desertion when he cry'd out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me surely his Body could not be the immediate subject of a punishment purely spiritual no that must terminate in his spiritual part the Soul By all this it appears then that Christ was as truly God so also truly Man he having a true Body and a true Soul Yet a little further that I may take in the whole truth Of Christ's submitting to the common Adjuncts c. of the Humane Nature and leave out nothing which may tend to the heightning of Christ's incomparable Love and condescension to Sinners he was not barely sent in Flesh so far as the verity of the Humane Nature is concern'd in his assuming the Essential parts thereof but he also submitted to the common accidents adjuncts infirmities miseries calamities which are incident to that Nature He lay so many Weeks and Months in the Virgins womb received nourishment and growth in the ordinary way was brought forth and bred up just as common Infants are ' bating some special respects shown to him to discover the greatness of his Person had his life sustain'd by common food as ours is was hungry thirsty weary poor reproached tempted deserted c. liv'd an afflicted life then dy'd a miserable death was a * Isal 53.3 man of sorrows and acquainted with grief †Phil. 2.7 made himself of no reputation took upon him the form of a Servant was made in the likeness of man not only in the taking of their Nature but also in submitting to those abasements and miseries which now that Nature is lyable unto his whole life was a life of sufferings wherein as there was enough in his Holiness * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Martyr Expos Fidei Miracles to shew him to be God so there was also enough in his meanness poverty sufferings to shew him to be Man In a word he took all our infirmities upon him take it with a double restriction 1. To all our †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Damascen de Orthod Fid. l. 3. c. 20. sinless infirmities such as are culpable and carry sin in them they must be excepted for though he was made like to us in all things yet without sin Heb. 4.15 2. To all our Natural infirmities as to personal infirmities such as are proper to this and that Person as blindness deafness lameness c. these Christ did not put himself under for he did not assume this or that Person but the Nature in common and therefore was not lyable to the particular infirmities of Individuums How the Humane Nature in Christ and in us differs but only to those which properly belonged to the common Nature I would carry this a little higher though I have said so much concerning the reality and sameness of Christ's Humane Nature with ours yet you are not in all respects to equalize that Nature as 't is in him and as 't is in us for Substance and Essence 't is one and the same in both yet in other considerations there 's a great disparity for 1. The Humane Nature is solely and singly in us in Christ 't is conjunctly with the Divine 2. We have it in the way of common and ordinary generation Christ had it in a special and extraordinary way 3. 'T is tainted and defil'd in us in Christ 't is perfectly pure and holy 4. In us it hath its proper subsistence in Christ it subsists only in his Godhead Thus I have shewn what this sending of Christ in the Flesh is and what it imports viz. the truth of his Incarnation of his Body and his assumption of the whole entire and perfect Nature of Man and also as the several Heads fell in my way I have out of the Word given you the proof of them I say out of the Word for these Mysteries are only to be known and believed upon the light and authority thereof if it asserts them that certainly must be sufficient to command the belief of Christians who profess in all things to make the Scriptures to be the Rule of their Faith And as to the credibility of Christ's incarnation from rational Considerations in subserviency to and grounded upon Gospel-revelation sundry * Tertull. de Carne Christi Deo nihil impossibile nisi quod non vult
himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity Matth. 18.11 For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost as soon as Man fell Christ was * Gen. 3.15 promis'd as incarnate but not before The truth is had we not been Captives what need would there have been of a Redeemer * Venit Filius hominis quaerere salvare quod perierat si homo non periisset filius hominis non venisset Aug. Serm. 8. de Verbis Apost Nulla causa fuit veniendi Christo Domino nisi peccatores salvos facere tolle vulâ—era tolle morbos nulla est medicinae causa Idem Serm. 9. had we not been sick and wounded what need of a Physician had there been no breach 'twixt God and us what need of a Mediatour in the way of reconciliation As to that which †Smalcius disp 12. contra Franzium See Franzius's answer to him de Sacrif Disp 15. Th. 75. c. Some alledge that Christ might have come though there had been no sin for this end that he might have secured man though in innocency from death that is grounded upon a meer falsehood for had there been no sinning there would have been no danger of dying and consequently no need of one to secure from death in a sinless state I have done with the First thing observed in the Words Christ was sent in Flesh in the opening of which I have been somewhat large but if that be all I hope none will blame me for it for the Incarnation and Manhood of the Son of God being the great foundation of our happiness a thing wherein we have the very pith and marrow of the Gospel the highest demonstation of the love of God surely I could not stay too long upon it 't is an Argument which very * As Athanasâ— de Incarn Verbi Dei tom 1. p. 53. c. p 591 c. de Hum. Nat. susc 595. c. Cyril Alex. tem 5. p. 678. c. Tertull. de Carne Christi contra Marcion Cassian Petav. Theol. Dogm tom 4. Ragusa in 3 part Aquin. with Vasquez c. Zanâ—h Oper. Theolog. tom 8. Gerhard Loc. Com. tom 1. de Pers Officio Christi p. 312. c. et in Uber. Exeg Artic. tom ult lib 4 â—p 424. c. Calvin Instit lib. 2. cap. 12. 13. with inâ—numerable others many have wrote upon and Some very fully but that which I have said as 't was necessary because the Text led me to it so 't is sufficient with respect to my design in this Work Of the Second Head Before I fall upon the application of this Head I must speak something to the Second namely that Christ was sent in the likeness of sinful flesh the Apostle doth not say only God sent him in flesh but he adds in the likeness of sinful flesh In the handling of this I have two things to open 1. Christ was sent in the likeness of sinful Flesh 2. It was but in the likeness of sinful Flesh How Christ was sent in the likeness of sinful Flesh Of the first the Apostle again uses his former Hebraism for in the Greek 't is in the likeness of the flesh of sin which is as much as according to our rendring of it in the likeness of sinful flesh The meaning of it is this as Christ had true Flesh so he was under some appearance of having sinful flesh there was some outward shew as if his Humane Nature had been tainted with sin he externally appeared like a sinner yea as like a sinner as one could do who yet indeed and in truth was none such as look'd upon him and saw how it was with him in his external condition might be apt to conceive of him as they once did Joh. 9.24 We know this man is a sinner There was something about Christ that had some resemblance of sin otherwise Paul would not have called it the likeness of sinful flesh he saith Heb. 9.28 Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation implying that Christ at his first coming was not without some appearance of sin when he shall come the second time there shall not be the least shew or appearance of it in him nothing then but Majesty and Sanctity but Greatness and Goodness shall be seen in him but at his first coming it was otherwise But wherein was it the likeness of sinful flesh I answer if you take it in the restrained notion of the flesh or body of Christ that was like to sinful flesh how why in as much as it was so far like to our flesh which is really sinful as to be * Camem peccatrici similem in paenâ non in culpâ Habet tamen similitudinem carnis peccatâ—icis per passibilitatem mortalitatem August In carnem suam non pecâ—atum transtulit tanquam venenum Serpentis sed tamen transâ—â—lit mortem ut esset in similitudine carnis Peccati paena siue culpâ unde in carne peccati culpa solveretur paena Idem See him lib. 14. c. 5. contra Faustum Manich. Similem carni peccatrici in hoc quod erat passibilis nam caro hominis ante peccatum passioni subjecta non erat Aquin. Si peccatum cum carne accepisset dictus esset missus in Carnem peccati si etiam Carnem immotalem impassibilem sumpsisset qualem modo habet non diceretui missus in similitudinem carnis peccati at qula carnem accepit sine peccato passibilem tamen mortalem qualis est peccatorum caro propter peccatum talis effecta ideo dicitur missus in similitudinem carnis peccati Tolet. passible and mortal passibility and mortality the suffering of pain anguish c. and dying are shrâ—wd signs and tokens of sin Had man continued in his innocent and sinless state his body had not been lyable to either of these but he sinning it became lyable to both and it being so too with Christ's own body here was the likeness of sinful flesh If you take it in the large notion of the whole Humane Nature or Person of Christ as Man so 't was the likeness of sinful flesh in several respects He was truly man and in appearance and likeness he was sinful man for he was * Ut tractaretur quo modo nocentes tractari solent Grot. in Loc. dealt with handled used just as guilty and sinful persons are and that both by God and by Men. By God he charg'd upon Christ the sin of all the Elect †Isa 53.6 the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all ‖ 2 Cor. 5.21 he made him to be sin for us who knew no sin c. He then let out his wrath upon him demanded satisfaction of him would have him to suffer did * Rom. 8.32 not spare
him in the least yea †Isa 53.10 it pleased the Lord to bruise him though he pray'd that ‖ Matth. 26.39 the Cup might pass from him yet his Father would have him drink of it was not here the likeness of sinful flesh in God's dealing thus with him By Men to them 't was more than likeness they charg'd him to be really and actually guilty of sin that he was a * Matth. 11.19 glutton a wine-bibber a friend of Publicans and Sinners an impostor a †Matth. 27.63 deceiver a ‖ Joh. 10.36 blasphemer a breaker of the Law and what not Towards the close of his life they accus'd him of crimes of a very high and heinous nature arraign'd him as a malefactor condemn'd him to die executed him crucify'd him 'twixt two thieves * Isa 53.12 Mar. 15.28 numbred him amongst transgressors he that had sin upon him by imputation was also a sinner by reputation was not here the likeness of sinful flesh Look upon him in his sorrows afflictions sufferings he was †Isa 35.3 a man of sorrows acquainted with grâ—â— his whole life was but one continued passion never was any sorrow like to his sorrow afflicted without afflicted within he suffer'd from God he suffer'd from Man drunk such a Cup as never any drank before him was not here the likeness of sinful flesh Did not the blind and sadly mistaken world judge Christ's own personal sin to be the proper Cause of all his suffering Isa 53.4 Surely he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted Are not suffering and sin so conjoyn'd and link'd together that where there is the one there is some appearance of the other also I do not say that really and in truth where there is suffering there is also sin yet I say apparently and in the opinion and judgment of men who take their measures in their judging of persons by their outward condition where-ever there is suffering there is sin so that in our most holy and innocent Saviour it was the likeness of sinful flesh because it was the reality of suffering flesh Will you go on to his * In morte ejus potissimam causam sitam arbitramur cur ei similitudo carnis peccati attributa sit ab Apostolo De Dieu Caro peccati habet mortem peccatum similitudo autem carnis peccati habuit mortem sine peccato Si haberet peccatum caro esset peccati si mortem non haberet non esset similitudo carnis peccati Anselm Death the worst and most exquisite part of his Sufferings did he die did he so die undergo a death so ignominious so painful yea and so penal too the †Tametsi nullis maculis inquinata fuit Christi caro peccatrix tamen in specie visa est quatenus debitam sceleribus nostris paenam sustinuit Calvin punishment due for the sin of all believers being therein inflicted upon him O surely here was a very great likeness of sinful flesh There seem'd to be much of meer man in Christ's low condition whilst he continued in the world but there seem'd to be much of sinful man in the manner of his going out of the World What so to suffer and so to die and yet no sin no no sin for all that but so to suffer and so to die and yet no shew or appearance of sin yes that there was especially to them who could not look into things who were altogether ignorant of Christ's Person and of the great designs which he was carrying on There was such a likeness of sin in these things as that it never yet ‖ Christus indeubat personam peccatum habentis c. cum caro passionibus mortique subjecta signum est communissimum hominis peccatum habentis nec in aliquo fefellit nisi in Christo Cajeran fail'd and was but a likeness but only in this one great and unparalled'd Instance of our blessed Saviour As he submitted to the ordinary infirmities of the Humane Nature hunger thirst c. in them there were some features and lineaments of sinful flesh but as he submitted to death to such a death there was a more lively draught a fuller resemblance of sinful flesh As it was with the Creatures which were offer'd in Sacrifice they in themselves were harmless and innocent yet having the sins of the people laid upon them and they dying for them so they had the likeness of sinful flesh and just so it was with Christ upon his being offered up upon the Cross as the Sacrifice for our sins 'T was in Christ but the likeness of sinful Flesh Of his Sanctity Holiness 2. Here was much likeness you see of sinful flesh yet 't was but likeness and nothing more some external appearance of sin there was but that was all yet no sin in truth and reality 't was the verity and sameness of natural flesh 't was but the likeness of sinful flesh As 't was with the brazen Serpent that was made in an exact resemblance of the fiery Serpents having that very shape and form which they had yet 't was but the likeness of them for it had not that poison and venome in it which was in them so here as to Christ of whom the brazen Serpent even in this was an excellent type he seem'd to have that very flesh which we have and so he had in such a sense but yet there was this difference ours is envenom'd his not 't is truly sinful flesh in us 't was but like sinful flesh in him This as before may be understood either of Christ's fleshly part or of his whole Humane Nature In the first respect so his flesh was sinless he had a true body but there was no sin in that body 't was pure holy untainted * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyrill Lib. 15. contra Julian Peccatricem carnem non assumpsit qualis est nostra naturalem vero illam nostram assumpsit Si Caro Adae erat vera Caro antequam peccavit in Paradiso utique Christi caro vera est humana caro etiamsi peccati qualitatem non assumpserit Muscul Nostram induens suam fecit suam faciens non peccatricem eam fecit Tertull. de Car. Christi Hierom's gloss upon the Words if those Commentaries upon this Epistle be his is lyable to exception susceptâ postea carne quae ad peccandum esset proclivior ipse tamen absque peccato cam suscepit See Perer. upon this Disp 3. p. 850. flesh 't was made as to purity and sanctity †Athan. de Incarnat Christi p. 620. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the primitive and archetype-formation of Adam's body in the state of innocency that was created holy and spotless and just such a body Christ did assume 't is true his body and Adam's differ'd in the manner of their production but as to their purity
was so set upon it that in order thereunto he will on purpose send his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh yea in that flesh to offer up himself as a Sacrifice and so to bring about sins condemnation The Explication of the Words But to come to the close handling of the Words They being somewhat obscure my first work must be to open them that I may the better make way for the main Observation which they resolve themselves into There are three things in them to be explain'd 1. The condemning of Sin 2. The condemning of Sin for sin 3. The condemning of Sin in the Flesh What is meant by the condemning of Sin epened more generally 1. What doth the Apostle mean by the condemning of sin and for sin condemned sin c The word in its usual acceptation is apply'd to Persons rather than to Things yet in such a sense 't is properly enough applicable to them also viz. as it signifies the disallowing disapproving sentencing or judging of them to be so and so evil according to which signification sin may as truly be said to be condemn'd as the sinner himself in any other notion But this will not reach the full scope and emphasis of the Word in this place for unquestionably there 's a great deal more intended in God's condemning sin than barely his sentencing or judging it to be a very evil thing though Christ had never come in flesh nor suffered in Flesh yet God would thus have condemned Sin its condemnation is here brought in as a singular effect of the Grace of God to Sinners but according to this stating of it it would only be an effect of his Holiness not at all of his Grace he may thus judge of Sin and yet the Sinner perish by it 'T is very true that God in the Death of his Son did in this respect signally condemn Sin O in that he made it to appear what thoughts he had of Sin what an evil thing he judg'd it to be how he was set against it c. but yet this is not the only thing no nor the main thing held forth in this expression of God's condemning Sin Well! for the right understanding of that I conceive we must borrow our light from Condemnation amongst Men for though sin be not a person yet its being condemned will best be known by what is proper to condemned persons Amongst us malefactors are seiz'd upon brought to tryal arraign'd prov'd guilty sentene'd to die if their Offence be capital then the Sentence is executed upon them to cut them off that they may do no more mischief and this is their being condemn'd just so so far as the nature of the thing would admit of virtually and analogically all this was done by God in Christ's Death against Sin It had been an heinous malefactor guilty of high and notorious crimes had done inexpressible mischiefs for all which God will arraign judge sentence cut it off that it also may do no more mischief to his people and this is its condemnation Divers Expositors in their opening of the Words conceive of Sin here as a Person and accordingly they open its being condemn'd by this allusive and analogical notion whatever is commonly done amongst Men in their judicial processes against great Offenders all that in effect was done by God through Christ's death against sin and so he condemn'd it More particularly in three things In the abolitiof its power But not to take up with Generals this may be more particularly open'd in three things 1. God by Christ condemn'd Sin as he abolished its power Sin 's condemnation is its * Secundum Phrasin Hebraicam positum est damnavit pro abolevit extinxit sustulit Deus Perer. abolition wherein doth that lie why partly in the taking away of its power in the divesting it of that Rule and Command which it had over Sinners for a long time thus God condemn'd or abolished sin he put an end to its reign and dominion pull'd it off from the throne turn'd it out of Office and authority yea adjudged it to die for all the Evils of which it had been guilty Thus 't is with condemned men upon the passing of the condemnatory Sentence upon them they are ipso facto dispossess'd of all their power and authority and further than this too they must suffer the penalty of death for what they have done so answerably it was with Sin in God's dealings with it It had acted the Tyrants part in and over the world a great while had domineer'd and lorded it over its poor Subjects at a strange rate did with men what it pleas'd O but in the Flesh of Christ God condemn'd it that is he broke it in its power brought it down to some purpose stripp'd it of that absolute illimited dominion which it had before Christ's cross was the ruine of sins throne And not only so but there 's a sentence of death too pass'd upon it it shall not only lose its power but its life also God will have it kill'd slain put to death in all who have an interest in Christ's Merits he would not suffer such a malefactor to live hee 'l rid the world of it This condemnatory sentence was pass'd upon it long ago which though it be but gradually and in part executed whilst the Saints are here below yet when they shall once ascend to God then it shall be fully executed insomuch that then sin shall quite be taken out of the way and shall not have so much as a being in them in the glorify'd state Thus many * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Damnavit peccatum i.e. dominio suo mulctavit ne regnaret in carne Staplet Ut ejus dominium robur auferret Tolet. Damnavit interfecit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est interficere sicut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro morte quia damnati interfici solent Interfecit vero i.e. interficiendi vires nobis praestitit Interficere est efficientiam adimere Grot. See Melanch Bucer P. Mart. De dieu Deodat Interpreters do open the condemning of sin and †Who renders it by exauctoravit extinxit abolevit c. De Servat part 2. cap. 23. Socinus likes this interpretation so well that he contends for it but fiercely opposes those which follow In the abolition of Sins guilt 2. Sins Condemnation lies in the abolition or expiation of its guilt It here properly notes the taking away of that which was the hurtful destructive mischievous part of Sin Condemned men can do no hurt let them be never so hurtful before yet when once the sentence of Condemnation is pass'd upon them they can be so no longer Sin had been a very huriful thing and would have been so still to precious Souls but God in the flesh of his Son as suffering and satisfying put a stop to it took it out of the way condemn'd it that is disabled it from doing the
we should have undergone vouchsafed to dye that we might not dye bare himself in his Soul and body as our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the punishment due to us here was substitution far above what was in the Law-sacrifices But this * De Servat p. 2. c. 4. passim In Praelect c. 18. with him concur Crellius Smalcius c. and all of that party SOCINVS and his Followers cannot indure to hear of O they rally all their force unite all their strength set themselves with all their might to oppose and beat down this great Truth there are but few of the Evangelical Mysteries which these pernicious Gospel-destroyers do not assault some way or other but as to that which is now before us Christ's suffering dying satisfying in our stead the summ of Gospel-revelation the great Article of the Christian Faith the main prop and foundation of the believers Hope this they make their fiercest assaults upon whatever stands if they may have their will this shall not But alas poor men when they have done their worst it will stand firm upon its sure basis as an eternal unmoveable Truth 't is so established in the Word and so rooted in the hearts of Christians that in spite of the most subtile and fierce oppositions of all gain-sayers it shall abide for ever Well! however let us see what ground we have for our belief of it and surely upon enquiry it will appear we have enough and enough If the Gospel be not clear in this 't is clear in nothing and blessed be the Lord who in a point of such vast importance to Souls hath given the world a revelation of it so plain and full Substitution in the case of the old Sacrifices is not so evidently held forth in the Law but substitution with respect to Christ and his Sacrifice is more evidently held forth in the Gospel Rom. 5.6 For when we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly Vers 8. But God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us 1 Pet. 3.18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust 1 Pet. 4.1 Forasmuh then as Christ hath suffered for us in the Flesh c. 1 Pet. 2.21 because Christ also suffered for us c. Joh. 10.15 I lay down my life for the sheep Joh. 11.50 Nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people and that the whole nation perish not Heb. 2.9 That he by the grace of God should taste death for every man 2 Cor. 5.14 15. if one died for all then were all dead And that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again In all these places the Preposition * Of this and the other Prepositions Grot. de Sat. c. 10. p. 3. c. 9. p. 115. Hoorneb p. 566 567 568. Calor p. 421. c. et p. 453. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used which though not alwayes yet most frequently notes substitution the doing or suffering of something by one in the stead and place of others see Rom. 9.3 2 Cor. 5.20 and so 't is all along here to be taken where it being used of Persons the nature of the matter spoken of the use of the word in parallel Texts as also in Greek Authors gives this sense the preference before any other But suppose this may be eluded the other Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proves the thing undeniably Matth. 20.28 Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministred unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 2.6 Who gave himself a ransom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for all Christ did not barely deliver poor captive-Souls but he delivered them in the way of a ransom which ransom he paid down for them in their stead so as that what they themselves should have paid that he was pleas'd to pay for them This is and must be the sense and import of the word for every one knows that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Composition out of that I know it hath other senses see Heb. 12.2 1 Cor. 11.15 signifies but two things either * 1 Joh. 2.18 opposition and contrariety or substitution and †Rom. 12.17 Matth. 5.38 1 Pet. 3.9 Luk. 11.11 commutation so that the matter will come to this we must either carry it thus that Christ gave himself a ransom against Sinners than which nothing more absurd or else thus that he gave himself a ransom in the stead and place of Sinners than which nothing more true I might further prove it by 2 Cor. 5.21 He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him Gol. 3.13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us If he had not so been in his own person woe to poor Sinners they must then have ly'ne under it themselves to all eternity What a full and convincing Chapter is that of Isa 53. for the proof of that which I am upon 't would take up a great deal of time to go * This is done by very many Anti-Socinian Writers Particularly see Grot. de Sat. p. 11. c. O that he had not afterwards spoil'd in his Commentaries upon Isa 53. what he had before in this excellent Treatise so nervously and orthe doxly asserted but there he is as weak as here he is strong Dr. Owen against B. p. 499. c. his vindication of the true sense of it against Grotius p. 521. c. over it and to draw out the strength and emphasis of the several expressions in it I must not engage so far But surely the tongue of man could not utter nor the head of man invent any Words or Phrases more plain and apposite for the setting forth of Christ's substitution than what you have there the truth is its edge is every way as sharp against the SOCINIAN who denyes this as 't is against the JEW who denies Christ's Messiah-ship Vers 4. Surely he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows c. Vers 5. The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed Vers 6. The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all or the Lord hath made the iniquities of us all to meet on him Vers 7. He was oppressed he was afflicted c. or as the words are rendred by some it was * So the word Nagas is taken 2 King 23.35 Zech. 9.8 Significat aigere ad solutionem debiti Forer opprimi ad solvendum adigi ab exactore Morus in loc exacted and he answered Vers 8. For the transgression of my people was he stricken Vers 11. for he shall bear their iniquities Vers 12. and he
what could there be in them to pacisie an angry God or to to purifie a guilty Sinner what was the blood of a Beast as considered in it self to expiate the sin of a Man The Apostle plainly tells us Heb. 10.4 It is not possible that the blood of Bulls and Goats should take away sin therefore he sayes there was no perfection by the Levitical Priesthood Heb. 7.11 and the Law made nothing perfect Heb. 7.19 in which were offered gifts and Sacrifices that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the Conscience Heb. 9.9 So that whatever virtue those Sacrifices had further than the taking away of civil guilt ritual uncleanness securing from Church and State-penalties it wholly depended upon the institution of God and the merit of Christ The brazen Serpent heal'd such as were stung yet not from any intrinsick power in it self but only as God was pleas'd to give that power and efficacy to it and so 't was here in the case of the old Sacrifices These four things I have laid down both to clear up the Sacrifices themselves and also because they are of great use to set us right in our conceptions about Christ the great Sacrifice which must be opened by them Answerably now to these two great Ends and Effects of the Mosaical Sacrifices the same were designed to be done and were actually done by the Lord Jesus when he offered up himself to God upon the Cross whereby he also 1. atoned God 2. expiated the sin of the Elect. As God was angry and offended with the Sinner so Christ by his death procur'd atonement pacification reconciliation as the Sinner lay under guilt so Christ brought about the purgation or expiation of his guilt both of these were done by him and that too not only really but in a much higher way than what was done by the old Sacrifices therefore he was a true proper expiatory Sacrifice yea the most eminent expiatory Sacrifice Of atonement and reconciliation by Christs Sacrifice 1. For atonement or reconciliation By Adams Fall a sad breach had been made 'twixt God and Man Sin had greatly incens'd the holy God against his sinful Creatures nay there was a mutual and reciprocal enmity contracted between them Things being in this dismal state the blessed Jesus interpos'd himself in order to the appeasing of an offended God and the reconciling of him and the Sinner the two parties that were at variance For the effecting of which he did not only as a bare Internuntius treat with both or only offer up prayers to the one in which respect Moses atoned God Exod. 34.10 11 12 13 14. and intreaties to the other 2 Cor. 5.20 and so proceed by some verbal interposures but when nothing else would do it he was willing even to lay down his own Life to die as a Sacrifice upon the Cross by this means to bring God and Man together again in amity and love By which death of Christ the offended God was perfectly atoned and reconciled to the Sinner so as that now upon the satisfaction made to him therein he could without any injury to his Justice and Holiness receive the Sinner into his favour and not inflict upon him that wrath and punishment which he had made himself obnoxious unto this is the true notion of atonement and reconciliation by Christ and all that we * Non statuimus Deum irato propriè factum esse propitium sed Christi Satisfactione causas irae divinae obliteratas esse ut salvâ justistiâ suâ possit gratiam exhibere Essenïus p. 253. mean by it But that this was thus done by him what one thing is there in all the matters of Faith wherein the Gospel is more clear and full 1 Joh. 2.2 And he is the propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 4.10 Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood c. Rom. 5.10 11. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life And not only so but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the atonement 2 Cor. 5.18 19. All things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself Col. 1.20 21. And having made peace through the blood of his Cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself c. And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now hath be reconciled in the body of his flesh through death So Eph. 2.13 14 c. Isa 53.6 the chastisement of our peace was upon him i. e. by his penal sufferings our peace was made with God 'T is true which our * Socin de Serv◠p. 1. c. 8. Adversanies would fain improve to their purpose that all along in these Scriptures the reconciliation is said to be on Mans part as if Sinners were reconcil'd to God not God to them but there 's a special reason for that viz. * Baxters Life of Faith p. 189. because they were the first in the breach they fell out with God before he fell out with them as also because the averseness to reconciliation is on their part wherefore if they be willing to be reconcil'd to God and are actually reconciled to him there 's no question of it but that he is willing to be reconciled to them and is so actually Some would have the reconciliation as on God's part to be spoken of Heb. 2.17 that he might be a merciful and faithful high Priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is according to the Hebrew Enallage as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as * De Satisf p. 93. Grotius well observes Howerver supposing that this Text doth not so expresly hold forth the thing yet there is enough in those convincing Reasons Arguments and Consequences which the Word elsewhere affords to prove the reconciliation to be mutual as is fully proved by divers Which reconciliation you see was accomplished by Jesus Christ yea by his death and blood so that he exactly answers to the first effect of the Jewish Sacrifices Of the Expiation of Sin by Christ's Sacrifice 2. The for the Second the expiation of sin that also was done with great advantage by Christ his death carried indeed a Sin-expiating virtue in it and was most truly of an expiatory nature Let us a little look into the Scripture see what it saith about this and that we shall find not only to assert the thing but so to assert it as withal to set down and determine the nature and true notion of it I mean this
the Scripture doth not only in general speak of Christ's taking away or expiating of Sin but it shews in what manner he did it and wherein the nature of that expiation did consist as namely that he did expiate it in that way which was agreeable to what was done in and by the old Sacrifices and that according to the notion proper to their expiation so his must be understood For in speaking thereof it uses those expressions which point to those Sacrifices and to their expiation thereby noting 1. that Christ did expiate in that very way wherein they did and 2. that therefore his expiation in the nature of it must run parallel with theirs Take a few Instances Heb. 9.13 14. For if the blood of Bulls and Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 purge your Conscience from dead works to serve the living God Vers 22 23. And almost all things are by the Law purged with blood and without shedding blood is no remission It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the Heavens should be ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 purified with these but the Heavenly things themselves with better Sacrifices than these Heb. 1.3 When he had by himself * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 purged our sins or as 't is in the Greek he having by himself made purgation or expiation of our sins 1 Joh. 1.7 and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cleanseth us from all sin by which cleansing the Apostle meant the expiation or remission of sin for Vers 9. he puts them together he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Heb. 10.22 having our bearts * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our bodies †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 washed with pure water Revel 1.5 Vnto him that loved us and ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 washed us from our sins in his own blood Now pray observe from these Scriptures 1. That the expiating of sin under the terms of purifying purging cleansing washing sprinkling is expresly attributed to Christ 2. That he as being a Sacrifice by dying and shedding his blood so did expiate sin 3. That the proper and primary effect of his death and blood was the expiation of sins guilt and as a consequent thereof its remission Matth. 26.28 This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins Eph. 1.7 In whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins So Rom. 3.25 4. That as the Jewish Sacrifices were truly expiatory they in their way taking off sins guilt and the punishment due thereupon wherein the formal nature of their expiation did consist so answerably Christ Jesus was a true expiatory Sacrifice he in his way too taking off sins guilt c. wherein the formal nature of his expiation did and must consist also This I ground upon a twofold consideration 1. Because by those very Words which were proper to those Sacrifices and by which their expiation of sin was seth forth I say by those very Words the Sacrifice of Christ and the efficasy thereof is described therefore it must be as truly expiatory of sin as they were this is sufficiently proved in the places that have been cited And I might further add that the words there used are the very same with those which the Greek prophane Authors do always use when they are speaking of their expiatory Sacrifices and of the effect of them of which many instances are given by the * Stuck de Sacrif fol. 148. Grot. de Sat. p. 128 129. with many Others Learned 2. Because the Apostle who most uses these words and in the place too where he most uses them I mean in his Epistle to the Hebrews doth professedly draw a parallel 'twixt Christ and the Law-Sacrifices shewing there was a great analogie and resemblance betwixt them True he asserts a greater excellency and efficacy in the one than in the other and as to the manner of working he shews there was a vast difference between them but yet as to the great effect of a Sacrifice expiation of sin in that so far as the nature of the things would admit of they did agree Well then if they did purifie and expiate so must Christ and as they did purifie and expiate in taking away guilt by death and blood so must Christ otherwise where would the analogie be between them was it not thus there would be expiation in the type and none in the antitype and one way of expiation in the type and another in the antitype both of which are directly contrary to the Apostles scope and design in the forenamed Epistl◠Some possibly will ask why I multiply so many words and stay so long upon this point I 'le tell them I do it to vindicate both the reality and also the true notion of our Saviours expiatory Sacrifice For the SOCINIANS who have not left us one fountain of Evangelical Comfort un-poyson'd herein deal with their usual subtilty very fair words are spoken by them as though they were for and did own Christ's * Socin de Serv. p. 2. c. 11.13 14 16 17. Crellius contra Grot. cap. 10. sect 2. expiation of sin but when they come to open it and to shew what they mean by it they make it a quite other thing than what indeed it is they keep the Word but quit the Scripture-sense thereof Christ say they did expiate sin but how why by begetting Faith in the Sinner by working repentance in him by turning and drawing him off from sin by delivering from the effects of it by declaring the Will of God about remission and the way thereunto as his death was an antecedent to his exaltation in Heaven where say they he only expiates sin c. in such things as these but not in Christ's undergoing the punishment due to the Sinner and dying in his stead they make his expiation of Sin to lie Now though much might be and * Grot. de Sat. p. 136. Hoorneb p. 581. c. Franz p. 207. 450. Dr. Stillingst against Crell c. 6. p. 507. c. Turret p. 202. c. Jacob. ad Portum p. 464. c. is said against each of these particularly yet that which I have in the general insisted upon is a sufficient confutation of them all viz. Christ must expiate sin in that way and sense wherein the Sacrifices under the Law did now did they expiate any other way than as they were substituted in the Offenders room and as they dy'd in his stead therefore that must be the way wherein Christ our Sacrifice doth expiate also
necessitas propitiationem requirit propitiatio non fit nisi per hostiam necessarium suit provideri hostiam pro peccato Orig. in Numb Hom. 4. Christ himself be made a Sacrifice for sin why must he take flesh and then die in that flesh why must his precious blood be poured out why must he feel the wrath of his Father be under a necessity of suffering and of such suffering too was there not a cause for this yes surely and what could that be but satisfaction God had great and weighty Reasons which made him to insist upon this so as that he would in this and in no other way let out his Love and Mercy to Sinners for instance he must vindicate his truth make good his threatning maintain his own honour as also the honour of his Laws make known his Holiness let the world see what Sin was what an extreme hatred he had to it keep up and assert his rectoral righteousness c. for though as * Vid. Hulsium in Theol. Jud. p. 473. Grot. de Sat. c. 2. pars offensa and creditor he might have done what he pleas'd yet as rector mundi he must do that which shall speak him to be just and righteous in his Government now were not these great and weighty reasons for God to do what he did and could these high ends have been attain'd without satisfaction All his Attributes were equally dear to him and thereupon shall all be advanc'd alike he was not for the advancing of Mercy only but of Justice also and therefore he will so carry it in his dealings with man as that he may glorifie the one as well as the other If he justifie the Sinner wherein he displays so much of Mercy hee 'l do it in such a way as that he may display his Justice too wherefore Christ must be a Sacrifice first to expiate Sin by his blood and then God will not charge it upon the Sinner Rom. 3.25 26. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past c. he goes over it again To declare I say at this time his righteousness wherein or son what end that be might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus what could the Apostle have spoken fuller plainer to determine the business in hand how can the Denyers of Christ's Satisfaction and of the necessity thereof stand before the light of this Scripture Propitiation must be made by blood by the blood of Christ that thereby God might declare his righteousness that he might be just not so much in himself and in the general as in this special act of the justifying of a Sinner Had we no other Text in all the sacred Records but this one me-thinks it should be enough to silence and convince gain-sayers 't is a bulwark for Faith which will stand firm in spite of all the little batteries that men can make against it But the truth of Christ's satisfying divine Justice will yet more fully appear from what follows in the next Head therefore I go on to that The true Nature and. Ends of Christ's Death 2. Secondly this may help us to right notions concerning the Nature and Ends of Christ's death For if it be ask'd How or in what manner he dy'd we see he dy'd as a Sacrifice if it be further ask'd Wherefore did he die or what were the main ends of his dying I answer he dy'd chiefly for such ends as are most proper to Sacrifices If God's own Son die undoubtedly there must be something special in his death and some great ends must be design'd to be promoted thereby * 2 Sam. 3.33 died Abner as a fool dieth but what were they Answ such as may best comport and suit with the common ends of all Sacrifices especially of those by which he was more directly typified therefore the pacifying of an angry God the purifying of a guilty Sinner being the principal ends in the death of the typical Sacrifices as you have heard answerably these must also be the principal ends of the death of Christ the real Sacrifice The SOCINIANS in this matter run into two dangerous Errors 1. they make that in Christ's death to be supream and principal which was indeed but subordinate nay 2. they make that which was but subordinate to be the sole thing therein altogether excluding and denying what was supream and principal Now this one thing which I am upon viz. Christ's being and dying as a Sacrifice in correspondency with the Ends of the Levitical Sacrifices was it rightly understood and firmly believ'd would be a sufficient confutation of and antidote against their pernicious tenents For do they say that the main end of the death of Christ was to turn men from sin the contrary appears because that was not the main end in the Law-Sacrifices or do they say that Christ died only for our good 't was not so because that doth not agree with the Law-Sacrifices which were offered not only for the Sinners good but in the Sinners stead or do they say that he died only as a Witness of the Truth as an Example c. 't was not so neither because it shuts out that which was the principal intendment of the Law-Sacrifices But besides this there are some other things of considerable strength which that we may the better take in we must more particularly enquire into those Causes or Ends of Christ's death which * Socin de Serv. p. 1. c. 3. c. et de Officio Christi Crellius de Caus Mortis Christi with all the rest Against them see Grot. de Sat. p. 26. c. Franz de Sacrif p. 400. c. et 606 c. Hoornb Socin conf l. 3. p. 492. c. Portus contra Ostorod p. 447. c. Turret p. 7. p. 247. c. Dr. Stillingst discourse concerning the true Reasons of the Sufferings of Christ with many Others they assign that by the removal of false Causes and Ends I mean in their exclusive sense the true ones may the better appear They say therefore 1. Christ dy'd for this End that he might bear witness to the truth confirm the Evangelical Doctrine and give assurance to the world of the verity of what he had taught To which we reply the question is not whether these were true and proper Ends that we readily grant but whether they were the principal much more the sole Ends of Christ's death that we utterly deny And our denyal is grounded upon these Reasons 1. All along in Scripture the confirmation of the Doctrine of the Gospel is laid upon Christ's Works and Miracles not upon his Death reade Act. 2.22 Joh. 10.25 passim And he having by these given a sufficient proof or evidence of the truth of what he had taught it cannot be imagined that he dy'd only or chiefly for this that by his
death he might give a further proof or evidence thereof Besides if this was the main thing designed and effected thereby then in the remission of sin reconciliation with God c. we should owe as much to Christ's Miracles as to his Death than which nothing can be more repugnant to the whole tenour of the Word 2. This would take away the peculiarity or speciality of Christ's death For if there was nothing in it more than bearing witness to the truth or confirmation of the Gospel-doctrine then all the Apostles and Martyrs who ever died did the same in as much as they by dying bore witness also to the truth and confirmed the Gospel-Doctrine then as he saith to us * Matth. 5.47 What do ye more than others we may say the same to him What blessed Jesus dost thou more than others and would not this be a fine question Certainly the death of the Mediator and the death of the Martyr are two different things not only quoad gradum but quoad speciem but if it was as this sort of Men would have it there might be a gradual difference betwixt them but nothing more Must Christ's dying for us amount only to his dying as a Martyr for the truth here 's the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but where 's the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paul laid down his life upon this account and yet saith he * 1 Cor. 1.13 Was Paul crucified for you 3. Nay thirdly if Christ had dy'd only upon this ground and for this end then several of the Martyrs had gone beyond him How readily and chearfully did many of them die how desirous were they of laying down their lives for the Gospel they did not fear death all their fear was that God would not so far honour them as to call them out to suffer it for his sake And when they came to die what abundance of inward peace and comfort had they how were their Souls brim-full of heavenly consolation they had as much thereof as ever heart could hold so much that all their outward torments were nothing to them But was it thus with Christ true he was very ready and willing to die yet there was a time when he pray'd again and again that the Cup might pass from him * Matth. 26.39 42 44. Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me and he had an innocent sinless fear of death for be was heard in what he feared Heb. 5.7 And had he such raptures and extasies of joy at his death as several of the Martyrs had O no! his Soul was * Matth. 26.38 exceeding sorrowful he was under bitter †Luk. 22.44 agonies and conflicts had great terrors in his Spirit c. Now had he dy'd only as they did meerly to have borne his testimony to the truth and for the confirmation of the Doctrine of the Gospel would it have been thus what Saints so full of joy and God's own Son so full of sorrow Saints in their sufferings to have such a mighty presence of God with them and God's own Son to cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Surely there must be something special and extraordinary in his death above theirs and so there was for he had the guilt of all Believers upon him lay under the wrath of God bare the punishment due to Sinners was under the curse of the Law c. these were the sad ingredients in his death which put such a bitterness into it Had there been nothing more in it than bare Martyrdom or what is proper to that how would he have been said to be * Gal. 3.13 a curse for us what singular thing would there have been in his †Phil. 3.8 being obedient to death even the death of the Cross 2. Secondly 't is said Christ dy'd for this end that he might set before men an example of obedience patience submission to God's Will zeal and the like I answer that this was one end is very true but that this was the only end is very false Christ did not design his death to be only exemplary to us but that it should also be satisfactory to God he had in his eye the expiation of our sin as well as our imitation of his example Christ saith the Apostle also suffered for us leaving us an example that we should follow his steps 1 Pet. 2.21 but was that all no Vers 24. who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree here was substitution in our stead susception of our guilt as well as the propounding of an example If Christ should further the happiness of Sinners only in this exemplary way what then would become of the Fathers and of all those who liv'd before he came and dy'd in the flesh who therefore could reap no benefit by his example And this would make the effects of his death to terminate wholly in us and not at all to reach to God whereas he is a Priest in things pertaining to God Heb. 2.17 3. They say Christ dy'd for this end that by his death he might strengthen and encourage faith and thereby raise up men to the assurance of the remission of sin freedom from eternal death the possessing of eternal life c. Answ We grant that Faith receives eminent support and encouragement from this that it gives the highest satisfaction that is possible as to the certainty of Gospel-blessings yet this must not be look'd upon as the primary much less as the only end of Christ's death For 1. the blessing must be procur'd before there can be any assurance of it the thing must be suppos'd to be before persons can be sure of it now how was that brought about but by the death of Christ and if so then the only end thereof was not assurance but there must be another antecedent end viz. the purchasing or effecting of the thing which was to be the matter of that assurance And by that the Scripture mainly represents Christ's death Matth. 26.28 This is my blood of the new Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins mark it 't was shed for the procuring of this great blessing not for the assuring persons of it 2. This assurance is as much if not more the effect of Christ's resurrection as of his death Indeed for him to die that contributes very much but 't is his dying and rising again that hath the greatest influence upon it 1 Pet. 1.3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by what by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead As to purchase and impetration we owe more to Christ's death than to his resurrection but as to assurance and subjective certainty we owe more to his resurrection than to his death therefore the Apostle brings this in with a rather Rom. 8.34 It is Christ
that died yea rather that is risen again He is said to be delivered for our offences and to be raised again for our justification Rom. 4.25 the Sinners justification was merited by his death but it was manifested by his resurrection thence therefore Faith in its being assured of that priviledge must fetch its main encouragement so that this cannot be the only thing aimed at in his death since it more properly belongs to another Head 3. The old-Testament Saints were high in their assurance and yet they liv'd before the death of Christ 4. His death simply considered gives no such encouragement to faith or ground of assurance consider it indeed as we state it that is as he dy'd in our stead to satisfie God's Justice appease his Father's wrath expiate our sin c. and so 't is highly strengthning to Faith but if you take it in it-self and as our Adversaries state it so there 's but little in it for Faith's advantage What inducement or encouragement would this be to Sinners to believe to set before them the death of Christ unless those Ends and Considerations about it be taken in which our Antagonists oppose without which it would rather draw out mens fear than their faith rather drive them from God than to God for so more of his justice and severity would therein appear to deterre them than of his Mercy to allure and encourage them O did God deal so with his own Son who too was innocent and blameless what then will he do to such vile wretched guilty creatures as we are must Christ so die would not God spare him in the least what then will become of such as we Upon the whole matter the Soc. say Christ's death was not at all intended to be satisfactory to God I 'me sure according to their stating of it 't is not at all consolatory to Sinners 4. They say Christ dy'd for this end that he might have a right and power after his death when he should be in heaven to forgive sin Answ Whilst he was here on earth before his death he had that right or power therefore that could not be any end thereof Matth. 9.2 Son be of good cheer thy sins be forgiven thee and when some murmured at this see how he stood upon the asserting of it Vers 6. That ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins c. 5. 'T is said Christ dy'd for this end that he might procure for himself such and such power dignity and glory But to this we say it was so far from being the main end that it was indeed no end at all it being but the Coâ—â—â—â—â—ent not the End of his death see Phil. 2.8 9. These defective Causes and Ends being remov'd it remains that I set down those which were the chief and principal And they were such as these Christ dy'd to be a Sacrifice for Sin Heb. 9.26 10.12 a Ransom 1 Tim. 2.6 Matth. 20.28 a Propitiation 1 Joh. 2.2 to reconcile God to us and us to God Rom. 5.10 2 Cor. 5.19 Eph. 2.13 14. Col. 1.20 c. to deliver us from the curse of the Law by his being made a curse for us Gal. 3 13. to save from wrath to come 2 Thes 1.10 to justifie and make righteous 2 Cor. 5.21 Rom. 5.9 to procure remission of sin by his blood 1 Joh. 1.7 Eph. 1.7 Matth. 26.28 to overcome death by death Heb. 2.14 to purchase eternal life Joh. 6.51 Heb. 9.12 As he dy'd in our place and stead taking our guilt and bearing our punishment so he died for these ends that he might restore us to God's love and favour and expiate all our sins by his making satisfaction for them these were not only Ends but the supream and primary ends of his Death I do not exclude the former provided that 1. they be taken in conjunction with these nay 2. in subordination to them Christ in his dying might intend this and that as his bearing witness c. but his main and principal intendments were satisfaction reconciliation forgiveness of sin c. in the revealing of which the Holy Scriptures are so express and plain that to me 't is very strange that any opposition much more that so vehement opposition should be made against it Good Lord how are Opposers faine to strain their wit to summon in all their invention subtilty for the finding out of some forc'd and pitiful interpretations of the Texts alledged thereby to evade the true sense and meaning of them how do they set these Scriptures and themselves too upon the rack that they may seem to reconcile them with their hypotheses's but all in vain as is abundantly prov'd The vanity falshood of humane Satisfactions 3. Thirdly from hence I infer the vanity and falshood of all humane Satisfactions Was the Lord Jesus himself a Sacrifice for sin and did he thereby condemn abolish expiate all sin for his members then what needs to be done or can be done further by any Creatures in the way of Satisfactions * Eccles 2.12 What can the man do that cometh after the King I cannot but take notice how whoever will engage in these weighty Points he must tread upon thorns and bryars every step he takes no sooner shall he have got off from one Enemy but there will be some other at hand with whom he must encounter also I find it I 'me sure to be so for no sooner have I quit my self of the SOCINIANS but the PAPISTS in a full body make head against me The former would wholly take away Christ's Satisfaction the latter would add Mans to it the One denies the verity the Other the perfection of it For they tell us 't is very true that Christ did fully satisfie the Justice of God by his being a Sacrifice for sin and fully expiate the sins of Believers in respect of their guilt and of the eternal punishment due thereupon but not in respect of temporal punishments these they say they are yet lyable unto notwithstanding all that Christ hath done and suffered and that too not only in the present but for some time in the future state for the preventing or removing of which satisfaction must be made to God either by themselves or by others this is the ROMISH-Doctrine In which so far as I have gone we have falsities enough but should we go farther to their particular explication and stating of the latter branch mens satisfying by themselves or by others what a mass and heap of ungrounded unscriptural absur'd Opinions should we there meet with for there come in their penances fastings pilgrimages corporal punishments voluntary poverty masses and prayers for them who are in Purgatory Indulgences c. O what a big-bellied Error is this of humane Satisfactions what a numerous train of falsities is it attended with Contrary to this we hold that * See the 31 Article of our Church Christ by the once
Pray look into the Text and see what pressing motives there are in it for this 1. Here 's Christ dying as a Sacrifice making his Soul an offering for sin Now Sinners shall that live in you or will you live in that which made your Saviour to die shall he die for sin and will you yet live in sin shall his death as to you be in * Ergo tu dignum te gere tali pretio ne veniat Christus qui te mundavit qui te redemit si te in peccato invenerit dicat tibi Quae utilitas in sanguine meo quid profeci tibi dum descerdo in corruptionem c. Ambros de Virgi vain will you continue sin upon the Throne when Christ was upon the Cross do you desire to have him there again crucified afresh as the Apostle speaks Heb. 6.6 would you renew his wounds and cause them to bleed again was it not enough for such a person to be once sacrific'd can you made even through his precious blood to the gratifying of your base lusts O dreadful I remember that passage of DAVID 2 Sam. 23.15 c. where you find him longing for the waters of Bethlehem Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the Well of Bethlehem which is by the gate upon this his earnest desire three of his mighty men brake through the Host of the Philistines and brought him some of this water but saith the story he would not drink thereof but poured it out unto the Lord why so O saith he be it far from me that I should do this is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives So here sometimes your desires and inclinations are strongly carried out to such and such sins but pray consider there 's blood in the case those sins cost Jesus Christ his blood he did not only jeopard but actually lose his life will you then meddle with them be they never so sweet or pleasing to the flesh I hope you will not I 'm sure you should not To strengthen this further pray consider what Christ's end or ends were in his being thus a Sacrifice they refer either to God or to you to God as he design'd to satisfie his Justice appease his Wrath vindicate his Honour c. to you as he design'd your Sanctification Holiness the abolition of Sins power c. I say the abolition of sins power for though the primary end and the most immediate effect of Christ's Sacrifice was the expiation of its guilt yet in subordination to this however in conjunction with it the breaking of its power and freedom from its evil acts were by him also aimed at therein Gal. 1.4 Who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works 1 Pet. 2.24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed Now was this one of Christ's great Ends in his sacrificing of himself and shall he not have it hath he accomplished his ends with respect to God and shall he not accomplish his ends with respect to you would you divide and compound with him to let him have half of what he design'd and purchas'd but no more would you separate between Justification and Sanctification that will not be allowed How smartly doth the Apostle argue for the death of sin from the death of Christ Rom. 6.3 to the 11. Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin For be that is dead is freed from sin Now if we be dead with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him For in that he died he died unto sin oâ—e but in that he liveth he liveth unto God Sirs was Christ sacrific'd for sin I 'le tell you what we should now do let us sacrifice our sins for Christ there 's a great difference in the sense of the one and of the other yet take but that aright and both are true Christ was a blessed Person and he was sacrific'd out of love but Sin is a cursed thing which therefore must be sacrific'd out of hatred 't was pity that Christ should die 't is pity that sin should live He was sacrific'd for our sin that he might take that away which was injurious to us we must sacrifice our sins for him that we may take that away which is so injurious and offensive to him But to go on in the Text 2. God condemned sin there 's very much in this also to set us against sin in whatever notion the word condemning be taken did God condemn it and shall we approve of it hath he pass'd a sentence of death upon it and shall we yet be for the life of it as if we would reverse or contradict his sentence or hinder the execution of it did he look upon it as a traitor rebel capital offender and shall we look upon it as an harmless and innocent thing hath he in the death of his Son given out such a declaration of his hatred of it and shall we yet love it and like it and live in it Yea 3. God condemned sin in the flesh of Christ now shall it be judged punished abolished in Christ's Flesh and yet * Rom. 6.12 reign in ours shall he in his flesh suffer for it and we in ours commit it what an absurd incongruous thing would this be Upon the whole matter therefore how do we all stand engaged by the strongest obligations that are possible to be holy and not to sin let it be condemned in our flesh as in a different respect it was condemn'd in Christ's as God hath condemn'd it so as that we shall not die for it so let us condemn it so as not to live in it And in special whenever it shall come to tempt you to what is evil pray remember that Christ was made a Sacrifice for it and let it appear by your holy and circumspect walking that you have a due sense thereof and that you do not from thence fetch any encouragement to sin against God which was one of
loved us He that * 2 Cor. 5.21 knew no sin was willing to be made sin †1 Pet. 2.24 to bear our sins in his own body vpon the tree to put himself in our stead yea to die in our stead for our sakes to be ‖ Phil. 2.8 obedient to death even the death of the Cross to let out his precious blood for the expiation of sin when nothing else would do it and when all Mosaical Sacrifices were weak he by a far higher Sacrifice undertook the work * Heb. 10.7 Lo I come to do thy will O God was not here love even love †Eph. 3.19 passing knowledge such high affection on his part should draw out high admiration on our part Let me here add we should so admire God and Christ as to love them and to be thankful Have they ‖ Joh. 3.16 so loved us and shall not we return love for love what monsters and prodigies shall we be if after such a manifestation of their love to us there be not reciprocation of our love to them God design'd and prepar'd the Sacrifice therefore he must have our love Christ was the Sacrifice therefore he must have our love too both deserve it both must have it Joh. 10.17 Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life now doth the Father love him for this and shall not we much more did we but think of this Sacrifice and hold our hearts close to it in holy meditation surely it would cause them to love Christ Then I say be thankful yea let your whole Soul upon this go out in thankfulness be ever praising magnifying God for his unspeakable mercy in Christ your Sacrifice your Redeemer your Saviour often call upon your sluggish hearts and say Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his holy name Did God * Rom. 3.25 set forth Christ to be a propitiation did he †Isa 53.5 6. lay upon him the iniquities of you all was the chastisement of your peace upon him and by his stripes are you healed that guilt and wrath which would have ruin'd you for ever are they now both done away so as that they shall never hurt you did Christ die * Mediator noster puniri pro seipso non debuit quia nullum culpae contagium perpetravit Sed si ipse indebitam mortem non susciperet nunquam nos à debitâ morte liberaret Gregor l. 3. moral c. 13. that you might not die but live for ever did you sin and he suffer was the †innocent person punished that the guilty might be acquitted was sin condemned for you who deserv'd to be condemn'd for it what praise and admiration can be high enough for such things as these The JEWS in the day of atonement were to make the trumpet sound throughout their land Lev. 25.9 So we having received the atonement by Christ's Sacrifice should evermore be sounding forth the praises of the most high You reade of the Elders Rev. 5.8 c. they fell down before the Lamb having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odours which are the prayers of Saints And they sang a new son saying Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood c. * Peccat iniquus punitur justus delinquit reus vapulat innocens offendit impius damnatur pius quod meretur malus patitur bonus c. Quò Nate Dei quò tua descendit humilitas quo tua flagravit charitas c. Ego iniquè egi tu poenâ mulctaris ego facinus admisi tu ultione plecteris c. Me ad illicitam concupiscentiam rapuit arbor te perfecta charitas duxit ad crucem ego praesumsi vetitum tu subiisti aculeum c. August in Quest in V. N. Testam Qu. 55. Christians why are not your harps alwayes in your hands why are not your Souls alwayes full of holy affections as the golden Vials full of odours in the remembrance of him who was slain and sacrific'd for you Christ having offered his Sacrifice we are to offer ours 8. Lastly Do you offer to God the Sacrifices proper to you as Christ offered to God the Sacrifice proper to him For expiatory Sacrifices as you need them not Christ's one Sacrifice being every way sufficient for that end so you are not able to come up to them for you can present nothing to God properly and formally expiatory yet there are other Sacrifices which you may offer up to him And though the external and fleshly Sacrifices of the Law are out of date yet there are the internal and spiritual Sacrifices of the Gospel which you now are as much oblig'd to observe and offer as ever the JEWS were the former What are they why you are to present your selves your bodies Souls the whole man a living Sacrifice holy and acceptable to God Rom. 12.1 you are to dedicate your persons to Christ so as to live to him who dy'd for you 2 Cor. 5.15 yea so as to be ready to be offered in sacrifice by dying for him to allude to that Phil. 2.17 You are as an holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual Sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 2.5 which spiritual Sacrifices are spiritual Dutys and Evangelical Worship prophesy'd of Mal. 1.11 in every place incense shall be offered unto my name and a pure offering Here come in * Oratio purè directa de corde fideli tanquam de arâ Sanctâ surgit incensum August in Psal 141. Prayer and Praise those two eminent Sacrifices under the Gospel Psal 141.2 Let my Prayer be set forth before thee as Incense and the lifting up of my hands as the evening Sacrifice Psal 116.17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the Lord so Psal 107.22 Psal 54.6 Heb. 13.15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name this is set forth as here by the fruit of the lips so elsewhere by the free-will-offerings of the mouth Psal 119.108 by rendring the calves of our lips Hos 14.2 And for the pleasingness of this to God above all the Levitical Sacrifices see Psal 50.13 14. Psal 69.30 31. O this is a Sacrifice which we should often be offering up to God through Christ Jesus Another Evangelical Sacrifice is a broken Spirit than which next to a broken Christ nothing more acceptable to God Psal 51.16 17. For thou desirest not sacrifice else would I give it thou delightest not in burnt-offering The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise So also bounty to the poor distressed Saints this is an odour of sweet smell a sacrifice acceptable well
These in short are the Arguments which incline yea command me to believe the high and strict imputation of Christ's active Obedience or fulfilling the Law But I have as yet done but half of my work the Objections which are made against what hath been asserted must be answered It hath been affirm'd that Christ's active as well as passive Obedience is imputed to Believers now that is objected against It hath been affirm'd also that the imputation of Christ's obedience is to be taken as hath been stated that too is objected against both therefore must be defended The Objectors do not all concur in their Opinions about these two Heads yet in their main Objections about them in a great measure they do wherefore I shall take them as they lie before me promiscuously and in common and so endeavour to answer them Obj. First 't is objected 1. Object that in the Scripture remission of sin justification reconciliation with God eternal life are wholly and solely ascribed to Christ's passive Obedience to his death on the Cross under which yet is included the whole humiliation and abasement of Christ The particular Scriptures cited for the proof of this have been already set down Answ They who are for the active Obedience as a part of Christ's humiliation Answ and as such do hold the imputation of it making it and the passive to be but one and the same Obedience only diversified in its acts all of which do yet meet and concur in his humiliation these I say are not at all concerned in this Argument And they who take them as distinct parts of his Obedience and as such hold the imputation of them are very little pinched by it for the answer is easie and obvious these great effects are attributed to Christ's death and blood not exclusively and solely as to justle out the influence of his holy life and active obedience but eminently only In his dying there was the highest piece the consummation of all his Obedience therefore the main stress is laid upon that the chiefest part being by an usual Synecdoche put for the whole but yet the obedience of his life is to be taken in in conjunction with the obedience of his death and so the Sinners happiness is compleated 'T is not only here said that God for sin condemned sin which refers to Christ's death but also that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us which refers to his life as we reade of our being justified by his blood and the like so we reade of his being made under the Law to redeem them who were under the Law that we might receive the adoption of Sons and of his being the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth Obj. If Christ's active Obedience be imputed 2. Object and in such a manner too so that in his obeying and fulfilling the Law Believers did obey and fulfil it thence it will follow that his passive Obedience his Death it-self was in vain and needless for this being so the Saints must be perfectly righteous as having done what the Law required and so there would be no need of Christ's Suffering or Satisfaction for that supposes guilt and the non-performance of the Law Answ This Objection is very considerable yet I conceive the Consequence is not so pressing Answ the reason is because though upon the imputation of Christ's active Obedience one part of the Law is satisfied yet there being another part of the Law to be satisfied also for that his passive obedience was necessary Suppose that Believers upon the former might be look'd upon as now fulfilling the Laws commands yet guilt being before contracted the penalty of death thereupon iucurred that the one might be expiated by the undergoing of the other it was necessary that Christ should die and suffer The Law requiring both of these in both it must be satisfied insomuch saith * Mr. Burg. of Justif 2. part pag. 411. one that if we could have had a perfect righteousness conformable to the Law de novo and not have satisfied the punishment our debt would not have been discharged we had still been in our sins The twofold Obedience or double righteousness of Christ do not destroy or undermine each the other 't was necessary that he should obey actively for the doing of what the Law enjoyned 't was necessary also that he should obey passively for the suffering of what the Law threatned for both of these were necessary to reach the Laws righteousness and so to lay the foundation of a compleat righteousness for the Creature in order to which therefore both must be imputed to him I know what is objected against this but all cannot be spoke unto at once For the better answering of the Objection in hand 't is said by some that the imputation of Christ's passive Obedience must be supposed to antecede in order of nature though not of time the imputation of his active for in the justifying of Believers God dealing with them as Sinners we must suppose him first to take off guilt and punishment due for what was past before he makes over a positive righteousness to them for the time to come If this be so we shall easily get off from what is objected wherein Dissenters go upon this that a person being judg'd righteous upon his imputative active fulfilling the Law to him no further or subsequent imputation is necessary We say so too but then we suppose an antecedent imputation of that Obedience which was proper to free from guilt and wrath viz. Christ's passive Obedience So that the matter comes to this though Christ's active Obedience being imputed a child of God is righteous and a fulfiller of the Law and so nothing further is necessary for him yet it doth not hence follow that Christ's passive Obedience was in vain or needless because in the methods of divine grace that is first imputed for freedom from guilt and Hell before the active is imputed in order to righteousness and Heaven Very large discourses there are abroad in the world about these things I only design to set down in short what is satisfactory to my self but how far it may be so to others that I must leave with God Obj. Christ's passive Obedience was sufficient 3. Object for thereby the justice of God was fully satisfied the Sinners guilt fully expiated ful payment made of all that he owed c. what need therefore is there of any imputation of his active obedience to be superadded to the imputation of the former Answ If the passive Obedience be taken in conjunction with the active Answ we grant the sufficiency of it to all intents and purposes but if it be taken disjunctly from the active then we grant its sufficiency for such and such ends or effects but not for all For the removal of guilt the satisfying of the penal part of the Law the freeing from Hell and death
could not be thereby convinc'd However I thought I could not do less than what I have done possibly thereby weaker Christians may come to some clearer insight into these matters if there too I be disappointed yet I have laid down the grounds of my own peâ—suasion which this Subject made necessary Whether the Answers I have given to the Objections will be satisfactory to others I know not but I. seriously profess as to the main they are so to me I must acknowledge in some of them there are those difficulties which 't is not an easie thing to get over yet upon the whole matter I must say that after the most serious thoughts I as to my self can with more ease and satisfaction answer the Arguments brought against the imputation of the active Obedience than I can those which are brought for it otherwise I had not embrac'd an Opinion which some knowing men oppose with scorn and derision I come to the Application wherein I must be very short From the Truth I am upon we learn 1. in what way or upon what terms a Believer is justified Vse 1 What are they why the fulfilling of the Laws righteousness which though it could not be done by the Believer himself yet by Christ it is done for him In the justifying of Sinners God proceeds upon the perfect righteousness and full demands of the Law and being justified they are righteous according to that * c. justi sumus coram Deo ex illâ etiam absolutissimâ legis formalâ Beza If with our justification from Sin there be joyn'd that active Obedience of Christ which is imputed to us we are just before God according to that perfect form which the Law requireth Engl. Annot. strict and exact righteousness which the Law itself holds forth You reade much of Legal and of Evangelical righteousness of justification by works and by faith there seems to be a contrariety between these two and so there is in some respects but if you consider them materially and fundamentally they are one and the same The righteousness by which we are justified 't is both legal or the righteousness of works and also Evangelical or the righteousness of faith in reference to Christ 't is legal as he exactly fulfilled the Law in reference to us 't is Evangelical that righteousness which was never performed in our own persons being graciously made over to us and accepted for us And so as to our selves we are justified by faith but as to our Head and Surety we are justified by works God deals with us in our own persons upon the terms of the Covenant of grace but he dealt with us in Christ upon the terms of the Covenant of works and indeed in the justification and salvation of a Sinner all these concur The Scripture 't is true sets them in opposition one to the other and makes them incompatible but that is only in reference to the same subject under the same personal consideration The same person as considered in himself and by himself cannot be justified by Works and by Faith too by the Covenant of works and by the Covenant of grace too but let Christ be taken in and so these things are reconcileable As Christ in his person did all which the Law or Covenant of Works required so in him our justification is by the Law of Works c. but as that his righteousness is imputed to us and apply'd by us so our justification is of grace by faith c. That very righteousness which is legal in the Head is Evangelical in the members in respect of the application of it Blessed be God for the sweet harmony and concurrence of both Covenants of Law and Gospel Works and Faith in the Sinners justification and salvation 't is admirably brought about by this great thing which the Text speaks of Christs fulfilling the righteousness of the Law for us 2. Secondly it shews us what great respect and value the great God had for his holy Law and what an high honour he put upon it Which appears from this the Apostle here setting down God's high and glorious ends in the sending of his Son into the world he makes them all to center in the satisfaction and accomplishment of his Law that it might be satisfied in its penalty Christ shall be a Sacrifice as you had it before that it might be satisfied in its commands Christ in his own person shall fulfil the righteousness of it as you have it here Here was by both plenary satisfaction made to the Law which was the very thing which God stood upon and would have done and rather than it should not be done his own Son must come from Heaven and put on flesh and be himself made under the Law he must live an holy life and die a cursed death and all to satisfie the Law And this was a thing so great in God's eye as that he look'd upon the fulfilling and answering of the Laws demands as a valuable compensation for all the abasement and humiliation of his dearest Son Oh let us think honorably of the Law for surely God did so The Apostle had seem'd to speak somewhat diminutively of it before what the Law could not do in that it was weak but here he puts a great deal of glory upon it in making this the end of the Incarnation of the Son of God that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us God never designed by the sending of Christ to have his Law * Nota per Christum non abolitam esse Legis justitiam non respectu quidem nostri verum impletam eam etiam respectu nostri in nobis Rolloc abolished or abrogated no but rather to have it accomplished and fully satisfied †Matth. 5.17 think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil In Christ's obedience active and passive we have an high demonstration of that singular respect which God bare to his Law Sin was a base thing therefore that shall be condemned but the Law was good therefore that shall be satisfied Secondly Vse 2 from hence by way of Exhortation I would urge a few things upon you As 1. make sure of an interest in the priviledge here spoken of To have the righteousness of the Law fulfilled in us O what a priviledge is this is it yours are you in the number of the us in the Text is Christ's obeying the Law so made over to you as that in God's estimation the righteousness thereof is fulfilled in you Sirs this is a thing that must be done either by you or for you the former being impossible what relief have you from the latter If you cannot plead this fulfilling of the Laws righteousness either by your selves or by your Surety you are lost for ever you are under that * Gal. 5.3 debt to the Law which you will never be able to pay you are
sin is there is matter of condemnation There 's not a man to be found on earth who upon this account and in this sense is not obnoxious and liable to a sentence and state of Condemnation for * 1 Kings 8.46 there is no man that sinneth not * Jam. 3.2 in many things we offend all * 1 Joh. 1.8 if we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us Besides those actual sins which break forth in external acts which are committed upon deliberation and with consent of which all are more or less guilty I say besides these there is in all a corrupt wicked depraved Nature which Nature puts forth it self in evil motions sinful propensions strong inclinations to what is evil O that Fomes Peccati those Motus Primo-primi as the Schoolmen call them those inward ebullitions of indwelling sin in impure and filthy desires set forth in Scripture by Concupiscence what shall we say to these are not they sinful is there not in them matter of Condemnation if God should enter into judgment and proceed according to the rigour of his Justice and the purity of his Law surely yes If it be prov'd that they are sinful unquestionably then it follows that they expose a person to Condemnation now how full are our Divines in the proof of that Concupiscence the first risings and stirrings of Corrupt Nature even in renewed and regenerate persons are properly and formally sinful whether they consent or not for Consent is not so of the Essence of sin but that there may be sin without it that may have some influence upon the degree but not upon the nature of the thing it self Those evil thoughts and motions in the Heart with which the best are so much pestred are not meer infirmities attending the present state of imperfection but they are plain iniquities there is sin in them The Apostle speaking of them sets the black brand of sin upon them Rom. 7.7 What shall we say then is the Law sin God forbid nay I had not known sin but by the Law for I had not known Lust except the Law had said thou shalt not covet The holy Law forbids these inward workings of the sinful Nature as well as the exterior acts of sin therefore they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a breach of that Law and being so therefore they are sinful They flow from sin they tend to sin and yet are they not sin when Lust hath conceiv'd it bringeth forth sin Jam. 1.13 This is the Doctrine of our (a) Art 9. Church of the ancient (b) August lib. 1. contra duas Pelag. Ep. cap. 13. lib. 3. contra Julian cap. 3. with several others cited in Chamier tom 3. lib. 10. c. 10. Fathers of the Body of (c) Vide Cham. tom 3. lib. 10. c. 4. c. Chemn Exam. Decr. 5 Sess p. 93. c. Calv. Instit lib. 3. c. 3. Daven Det. Qu. 1. Ward Determ Theol. p. 136. c. Protestants and they make it good by several Arguments of great strength The (d) The Council of Trent anathematizeth all who hold Concupiscence in renewed persons and after Baptism to be sin Sess 5. Bellarm. de Amiss Grat. lib. 5. cap. 7. Valentia de Pec. Orig. cap. 7 8. Perer. Quaest ad Cap. 7. in Ep. ad Rom. Disput 7 8 9. Papists are wholly of another mind And whereas 't is said here in the Text There is no Condemnation c. they carry it so high as to affirm that in reference to Original Sin the depravation of Nature Concupiscence the inward motions and inclinations of the Heart to sin after Baptism Faith Regeneration there is no matter of Condemnation or nothing damnable in them who are in Christ He that will please to cast his eye upon the (e) Non tam significat nullam esse Condemnationem justificatis in Christo ob Concupiscentiam quà m nihil esse in eis condemnatione dignum Bellarm. de Am. Gr. lib. 5. cap. 7. Tollitur damnatio quantum ad Culpam quantum ad poenam Primus Motus habet quod non sit Peccatum Mortale ex eo quod rationem non attingit in quâ completur ratio Peccati c. Aquin. in loc c. Et consistit differentia in hoc quod inillis justificatis nempe in Christo nihil committitur damnabile propter donum Christi tam externum quam internum Intendit itaque per nullam damnationem nullum actum quo meremur damnari Et dixit hoc ad diffetentiam Primorum Motuum qui sunt etiam apud justificatos in Christo ut intelligamus illos non esle materiam damnationis Primi enim Motus non reddunt Sanctos damnabiles tum ob eorum imperfectionem tum quia absorbentur a copiâ Sanctarum actionum continuarum Cajet in loc Hinc patet nec concupiscentiam nec aliud quippiam in renatis esse peccatum damnatione dignum A-Lap Non quod volo ago c. ex iis sequitur involuntarios esse Concupiscentiae motus in renatis ac justis quibus proinde ad poenam imputari non possint Est Quamvis Caro contra Spiritum insultans molestias exhibeat iis qui sunt in Christo Jesu nihil tamen est in iis damnatiois quia dum non consentiunt non ipsi operantur illud sed peccatum quod per Concupiscentiam habitat in Corde Soto Citations here set down which are taken especially out of their Expositors upon the Text may see that this is the Interpretation which they put upon it What no matter of Condemnation nothing damnable in them who are in Christ this is much too high Our Adversaries I suppose though they deny any merit of Condemnation upon the forementioned things yet surely they will not deny but that sin in its full Act merits Condemnation if they will be so absurd the Apostle plainly determines it Sin when it is finished brings forth death Jam. 1.15 Now is there not too much of this to be found even in Saints in Christ and therefore are not they worthy of Condemnation True indeed Sin whether in the conception or in the finishing is not * Ad haec respondetur dimitti Concupiscentiam Carnis in Baptismo non ut non sit sed ut in peccatum non imputetur Aug. de Nup. Conc. lib. 1. cap. 25. imputed or charged upon them and so there is no Condemnation but yet as considered in its own Nature it merits Condemnation it doth so ex Naturâ rei exjudicio Legis onely 't is not so in point of Fact and in Event ex indultu Gratiae as one expresses it Sin is sin in the Children of God and it merits Condemnation in them as well as in others whence is it then that there is no Condemnation to them meerly from the Grace of God who doth not impute this sin to them As Solomon told Abiathar he was worthy of death yet he
the Apostle opposes Christ's Sacrifice Vers 5 6 c. and of that he saith Vers 10. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all Vers 11 12. And every Priest standeth daily ministring and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sins But this man after he had offered one Sacrifice for sins for ever sat down on the right hand of God Vers 14. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified The HEATHENS had their Sacrifices which they call'd * Succidaneae dictae si permis hostiis litatum non erat aliae post easdem ductae hostiae caedebantur quae quasi prioribus jam caesis luendi piaculi gratia subdebantur succedebant Gyrald Synt. 17. p. 465. Saubert de Sacrif c. 19. p. 477. Hostiae succedaneae which they offered up to their GODS in case those which they had offered before did not succeed the Lord Jesus by his one Sacrifice did so effectually do what he designed and the Sinner needed as that there is no room for or need of any hostia succedanea 4. The Apostle makes it out from the sanctity of Christ's Person and the perfection of his Sacrifice The Law-Priests offered first for their own sins and then for the sins of the people Heb. 7.27 they ought as for the people so also for themselves to offer for sins Heb. 5.3 the High Priest went once every year into the second Tabernacle not without blood which he offered for * Levit. 16.11 himself and for the errors of the people Heb. 9.7 But now as to Christ he was holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners Heb. 7.26 he had no sin of his own to expiate by his Sacrifice he was made sin but yet he knew no sin 2 Cor. 5.21 Under the Law both Priest and Sacrifice were to be perfect i. e. without any open and external blemish as to the first reade Levit. 21.17 to the end as to the second God gave several precepts about it the Paschal Lamb was to be without blemish Exod. 12.5 the oblation for Vows and for Free-will-offerings the Sacrifice of Peace-offerings were to be without blemish perfect otherwise they should not be accepted Levit. 22.18 to 25. so the red Heifer was to be without spot and wherein there was no blemish Numb 19.2 so the Firstlings of the Cattle Deut. 15.21 and all Sacrifices whatsoever Deut 17.1 And this the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athen. Deipn l. 15. c. 5. c. quas cum immolabant nisi purae integraeque fuissent minus proficere putabant Gyrald p. 491. HEATHENS themselves made conscience of in their Sacrifices In correspondency to all this in a moral and spiritual sense our Lord's Sacrifice was perfect without the least blemish he offered himself without spot to God Heb. 9.14 he was a Lamb without blemish and without spot 1 Pet. 1.19 5. The excellency of Christ's Sacrifice appears from the great effects of it he put away sin by the sacrifice of himself Heb. 9.26 so that there is no more offering for sin Heb. 10.18 being made perfect he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 by this Sacrifice sin was condemned abolished expiated God appeased the Law satisfied †Heb. 9.12 eternal redemption obtained O what an excellent Sacrifice was Christ's Sacrifice and consequently what an excellent Priesthood was Christ's Priesthood Of the Evil of Sin 7. Seventhly was Christ a Sacrifice for sin in order to the condemning of it and could it be condemn'd by nothing short of that hence we are informed that Sin is a very evil thing and of a very heinous nature Had it not been a notorious and capital Offender would God have condemn'd and thus condemn'd it would he so severely have punished it in the flesh of his own Son must even this Son be offered up upon the Cross as a Sacrifice for the expiation of it O what a cursed heinous thing is sin that had made such a breach between God and his Creatures that Christ must die or else no reconciliation that had so highly struck at the Honour of the great God that nothing below the sharpest sufferings of his dearest Son could make Satisfaction for it its poison and venom was such that there was no cure for the Sinner into whom that poyson had got but only the precious blood of Christ himself God had such an hatred and abhorring of it as that for the * Grot. de Sat. Christi p. 67. testifying thereof even he whom he lov'd from all eternity must be made a †Gal. 3.13 Curse what a demonstration was this of the transcendency of the evil of Sin Would you take a full view thereof pray look upon it in and through this glass a sacrific'd Christ gives the clearest the fullest representation of sins hainousness True we may see much of that in Sins own Nature as 't is the transgression of God's most holy and most excellent Law as also in the threatnings which are denounc'd against it and further in the dreadful Effects of it both here and hereafter the loss of God's image and favour and eternal damnation is it not a very evil thing What a mischievous thing hath this sin been it cast the falling Angels out of Heaven into Hell and turn'd them into Devils it thrust Adam out of Paradise made God to be an enemy to him who but now was his favourite cut off the entail of happiness and instead thereof entail'd misery and a curse upon all his posterity it made God at once to drown a whole world it laid Sodom in ashes levell'd Jerusalem it-self to the ground caused God to forsake his own people the Jews c. 't would be endless to enumerate all the sad mischiefs of Sin Now I say in these things we may see much of the evil of it but not so much as what we see in the Death and Sufferings of the Lord Christ there there is the highest discovery and fullest representation of it He to be * Isa 53.3 a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief he to be bruised and broken yea and his Father to be †Isa 53.10 pleased in the bruising of him he in his own person to undergo the Laws penalty to tread the ‖ Isa 63.3 winepress of the wrath of God he to be * Phil. 2.8 obedient to death even the death of the Cross he to cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me he to be kill'd and slain and †Acts 5.30 hang'd upon a tree and all this for sin O what an excess of evil doth this hold forth to be in it Indeed that the poor Creatures should be so destroy'd in the Law-Sacrifices that so many millions of them they in themselves being harmless and innocent should die and be sacrific'd for mans sin this represents very much of
its cursed nature but yet that comes infinitely short of that representation thereof which we have in a dying crucify'd sacrific'd Christ the death of all those Sacrifices was nothing to the death of this one Sacrifice whereby Sin eminently appears in its own colours What a sad thing is it that men generally make so little a thing of it as though there was not much evil either in it or by it but in so doing how do their thoughts differ from God's thoughts for surely if he had not judg'd it to be very heinous he had never carried it towards his Son as he did I would desire Sinners to take their prospect of it through this medium of Christ's being a Sacrifice for it if any thing in the world will bring them to the sight of its malignity this will do it It pleases God to look upon believers through a dying Christ and so he loves them but could we but look upon Sin a thing never to be lov'd through a dying Christ how should we hate it Of the severity of God's Justice 8. Eightly this demonstrates also the severity impartiality terribleness of God's Justice By Christ's death and Sacrifice we have not only a declaration of the Justice of God in it-self in that he would not remit sin without blood for satisfaction Rom. 3.25 but a declaration also of the adjuncts and properties of his Justice viz. that 't is very severe impartial and terrible He was inflexibly set upon the punishment of sin such was his hatred of it and his respect to the honour of his Law that Sin shall not by any means escape his punishing hand and every punishment too shall not suffice but if shall be such as may fully answer the heinousness of the offence I and if his own Son shall interpose in the Sinners stead and take his guilt upon him and become his Surety even he be he never so dear to God must undergo the utmost punishment that ever he was capable of both for matter and degree God will fall upon him and * Rom. 8.32 not spare him no not in the least O how severe and impartial is his Justice Never was there such an instance or demonstration of these as in the sufferings of the Lord Jesus For pray consider what it was that he suffered besides all the sufferings of his Life at last he suffered death and that not a common or ordinary death but the very worst of deaths a death that had all ingredients into it to make it bitter wherein was all that bitterness which either the wrath of man or which was much worfe of God himself could sqeeze into it And though Christ foreseeing what this death was pray'd again and again that he might be * Joh. 12.27 saved from it that this †Mat. 26.39 42 44. cup might pass from him yet his Father was inexorable and would not hear him but die he must and so die too surely here was divine Justice under the highest severity and impartiality yet without the least mixture of injustice And when the thoughts and sense of this were upon Christ they made his ‖ Mat. 26.38 Soul exceeding sorrowful cast him into most bitter agonies insomuch that * Luk. 22.44 he sweat as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground how dreadful and terrible is punitive Justice what a * Heb. 10.31 fearful thing is it to fall into the hands of the living God! this we see and know in our Saviours case O that we may never know and feel it in our own experience I might further infer from the premises 9. the unsearchable Wisdom of God 10. also his unconceiveable Love and Grave 11. the preciousness of Souls 12. the costliness of Salvation 13. the great dignity of Christ's person from which his Sacrifice deriv'd all its virâ—ue efficacy but I must not speak to all that this vast Subject would lead me to So much for the Inferences drawn from the main Point 2. The next Vse shall be Exhortation Vse 2. Of Exhortation in which I would press some of those Duties which do best suit with the Truth before us hitherto I have chiefly been upon the informing of the judgment I now come to matters of practice Christ as a Sacrifice to be much studied and meditated upon 1. And first as Christ's Sonship and Incarnation of which before so his being a Sacrifice and thereby condemning sin should be very much the object of your study and meditation This you are to study that you may know more of it to meditate upon that you may draw out and improve what you already know about it for so I would at present distinguish betwixt these two supposing the one to be like the filling of the vessel the other like the drawing out of that vessel As to the first I would be earnest with you to be much in studying a sacrific'd crucify'd Christ if the knowledge of him as taking flesh is to be laboured after as you have heard it is surely the knowledge of him as dying in flesh and as condemning sin in his flesh is also to be laboured after In this Sacrifice of Christ you have the very mirror of the Grace of God the master-piece and highest elevation of his Love the glorious product of his infinite Wisdom the great basis and foundation of mans happiness should it not therefore with the greatest diligence be look'd into Our excellent Apostle determin'd to know nothing save Jesus Christ and him crucified 1 Cor. 2.2 the preaching of this was the great matter of his Ministry 1 Cor. 1.23 We preach Christ crucified and he makes the Gospel in its revelation mainly to point to this which therefore he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word of the Cross 1 Cor. 1.18 it being so how should the consideration hereof heighten our endeavours after a full and distinct knowledge of it God's own Son to be offered up as a Sacrifice for the sin of man O admirable and wonderful dispensation what a mystery is this how should all be prying into it Here we have Christ at his worst now the knowledge of him as at the worst is the best knowledge for Christians for they having their best by his worst the knowledge of him under that notion must needs be the best knowledge for them If Christ as a Sacrifice in the full import thereof was but better understood by Sinners O what benefit and advantage would thereby accrue to them how steddily would they believe how ardently would they love how patiently would they suffer how thankfully would they adore how chearfully would they walk should not these be prevailing inducements to such to labour after a fuller knowledge of him as so considered But in the enforcing of this duty let me not be mistaken 't is not a notional historical knowledge only of Christ as sacrific'd that I would have you to pursue after but I would state it