cast filth upon it therefore I doe remand it from thee it shall no longer abide in that base unworthie soule of thine henceforth let that ugly image of sinne and hell which it seemes pleaseth thee better seize upon thee take it to thee and fils thy self with it Thus we are all alienated from the life of God Eph. 4.18 This part of the curse lyes heavie on the whole soule 1. On the Mind and understanding part which is impotent and unable to conceive the things of God and to discerne of things that differ our understandings are darkened Eph. 4.18 see 1. Cor. 2.14 2. On the Conscience which is defiled Tit. 1.15 being either sensles and so excusing when it should accuse Eph. 4.19 or when awaked wanting just matter of excusing and so unpeaceable Isa 57.21 3. On the will which is rebellious against the truth and wayes of God revealed to the mind depraved in its power of chusing can will onely that which is evil cannot will that which is good see Pro. 17.11 Jer. 5.23 Math. 23.37 4. On the affections which being the Wills Waiting-Maids are of the same temper disordered affecting evil disaffecting good running into extremitie of excesse or defect and so spoyling the conversation Thus man once made upright yet by seeking out many inventions Eccl. 7.29 is become without God in the world Eph. 2.12 ergo accursed 3. When the soule and body are parted then the wretched soule is sent down to hell to take possession of those everlasting flames As soone as ever the first death hath done its office forthwith the doome of the second death passeth upon the immortall soule and then the great Jaylour of hell layeth hold upon it and drags it into the presence of the Almighty on whom it shall look with horror and amazment Thy now sleeping conscience shall then be awakened and all thy sinnes shall be set in order before thee thou wilt not see them now but they shall then stare in thy face yea thy secret sinnes shall be set in the light of Gods countenance and thy most pleasing iniquities shall appeare before thee in their proper black hiew to gaster thy soule into finall desperation No place left for repentance the doore of mercie and the gate of heaven shall be thenceforth shut up against thee for ever thy wretched soul must take up its lodging in the lothsome prison of hell with the Divell and his Angels Luk. 16.22 23. 1 Pet. 3.19 where it shall lie filled with the wrath of God for the present astonished and swallowed up with the apprehension of the eternitie of that to come and tremblingly waiting for the great day of reckoning and the dreadfull houre when it shall be poured downe in full vials upon the whole man III. The curse which comes upon body and soule together or the whole man may be summed up in these 3 particulars also 1. The losse of his right unto and soveraignty over the creatures The Lord invested Adam in the day of his creation into a title and power * Jus 〈◊〉 potâ—staâ—e vâ— over the work of his hands especially the creatures here below he had free libertie to use them and they were given to be serviceable to him even the Sun Moone and starres to give him light the garden and all the trees of it except that one for his necessarie and comfortable sustenance and refreshing God hath given the earth to the children of men Psal 115.16 yea the Patent extended to dominion over the creatures Gen. 1.28 in which respect the Psalmist greatly admires the Lords high honouring of mankind Psal 8.4 6. c. But now by the fall Adam hath forfeited all this interest so that the creatures might justly deny us their service the Sun Moon and starres might withhold their light heat and influences from us the fire aire water c. might refuse to act or work for our good yea contrarily the creature setts it self against us in the quarrell of its Creatour as if it owed us a mischeif the Lion Bear Woolf would devoure us the beasts of the feild make head against us yea every worme will turne againe All the hosts of heaven and earth are readie even like to rebell against us This is a curse which all the sonnes and daughters of Adam feele in some measure and sometimes reacheth to the taking away of life limbe and all comforts And although the sinner enjoy the benefit of the creatures both for necessitie and delight yet that is onely by the indulgence of the most High who makes his Sun to shine and his raine to fall upon all and the choicest enjoyments are but as the Accommodations afforded to a Traitour in the Tower there 's a deadly curse lying hid in the bowels of them which will make sad work in the latter end 2. The general Judgement after death which is called the Judgement of the great day Jude 6. The Lord Jesus shall come in the clouds and shall be revealed from heaven with his mightie Angells in flameing fire 2. Thes 1.7 8. He shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the trump of God 1. Thes 4.16 When the trumpet sounded at the giving of the law Exod. 20 18 Heb. 12.19.20 21. it was doubtles to set forth the terribleness of the curse which attends the Law but at this great day it shall sound farr lowder to fill the eares and hearts of sinners which have broken it with the dreadfull report of it to their conviction and confusion Jude 14.15 Their bodies shall be raised out of the dust and united to their soules and their persons shall be presented before this glorious Judge and arraigned at the barr of his great Tribunall The books shall be opened and all their foule businesses although now cast behind their backs and laid to sleep in the darkest vaults of forgetfulness shall be unmasked before the whole world Eccl. 12.14 The processe and result of the transactions of that day will be no small part of this curse when the Goats which shall stand at Christs left hand shall heare him solemnly sounding out that most dolefull sentence Depart ye cursed c. Math. 25.41 3. The full and finall Execution after Judgement As soone as ever this great work of judging the world is over and the last doome awarded then shall follow the execution thereof accordingly then shall the great black curse be poured downe upon sinners all the curses of the Law and Gospell too shall meet together as in one Sea and fall upon the soules and bodies of all impenitent ones in their perfect strength and furie and abide on them for ever this is called everlasting punishment Math. 25.46 and it stands in 2 things 1. Some that 's privative called the punishment of losse * Paenae damni an utter expulsion or banished from the blessed face and presence of God and the glorie of heaven Depart from me Math. 7.23
determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God The hands whereby he was taken crucified and slain were wicked hands yet those hands therein did that very thing which the hand and counsel of God determined before to be done Act. 2.23 4.28 Therefore he is called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world Rev. 13.8 that is 1. In respect of Gods eternal purpose manifested by the promise made in Paradise That the seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head Gen. 3.15 And 2. Of the efficacie of his death upon all the Elect from the beginning of the world although the world was four thousand years old before he was actually slain It is observable that the Scripture ascribes the dispensation of this whole work to God the Father as the first moover and sovereign Manager of it He laid on him our iniquity Isa 53.6 He made him to be sin for us 2 Cor. 5.21 He set him forth Rom. 3.25 He sent him Rom. 8.3 Gal. 4.4 It pleased the Lord to bruise him Isa 53.10 The Lord calls on the sword Zach. 13.7 to awake and smite his Shepherd the man that is his fellow he means Jesus Christ God-man who is equal to the Father as God but inferiour to him as man appointed to be the great Shepherd of the sheep the Lords little flock But saith the Lord I will smite the Shepherd Symbol Athanasâ—â— The application of this Prophesie we have Matth. 26.31 2 Christs voluntary condescention thereunto Joh. 14.31 having disavowed Satans power over him he professeth his own willingness and that from a principle of love to do that which his Father had commanded him Compare this with Joh. 10.18 where he saith I lay down my life of my self c. And it will appear that this was his own act to be made a Curse for us in that he did freely and of his own accord submit to his Fathers Commandment touching the laying down of his life God the Father made him perfect by sufferings Heb. 2.10 and he sanctified himself Joh. 17.19 by preparatory sufferings first and then by offering up himself even as the Priests in the Law were first sanctified by the sprinkling of blood upon them and then they offered for the sins of the people Exod. 29.20 21. He gave himself for our sins Gal. 1.4 He made himself of no reputation He took on himself the form of a servant he humbled himself and became obedient c. Phil. 2.7 8. yea although he knew before what was his Fathers will and his own duty yet by the sufferings themselves he learned obedience that is he came experimentally to know as a man what it is to obey and how hard a thing it is for the creature to grapple with the wrath of the Almighty and to submit to the pleasure of his justice in conflicts with the second death Vide Bezam Pareum Gerhardum in Locum Heb. 5.8 His willingness appears further by his setting his face stedfastly to go to Jerusalem when the time of his suffering drew near Luke 9.51 by his taking up Peter very sharply for discouraging and dis-swading him from it Matth. 16.22 23. and by his speech to him at his apprehension when he had cut off the ear of Malchus The cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it Joh. 18.11 3 A compact or agreement solemnly made betwixt God and Christ the Mediator which is the result of the two former Gods Commandement and Christs obedience We may present it to our understanding in this form God the Father saith to Christ the Mediator I look upon Adam and his posterity as a degenerate seed a generation of Apostates and back-sliders yea Traitors and Rebels liable to my severest wrath and utterly undone yet I cannot finde in my heart to see them all perish I have determined to shew mercy upon a considerable number of them to save them and bring them to glory If therefore thou wilt undertake for them becoming a Curse in their stead and so making satisfaction to my justice for their sins I will give them unto thee to take care of them and to bring them up to my Kingdome for the manifestation of the glory of my grace Well saith Christ I am content I will do it with all my heart and so the agreement is made This may be gathered from Psal 2.7 8 9. and Psal 40.6 7 8. Christ the Son speaks in both places In the former he publisheth the Decree or Ordinance of heaven touching himself and bringeth in the Father installing him into the Priesthood or office of Mediator for so the Apostle applieth that Text Heb. 5.5 Thou art my Son c. and also avouching this Covenant and agreement in the two main parts of it 1 The Condition which he will have performed on Christs part or what Christ must do He must ask of God that is not onely verbally by prayers and supplications beg mercy pardon righteousness and salvation for poor lost sinners but also really by fulfilling the righteousness of the Law both in doing and suffering and so by his satisfaction and merit purchasing acceptation for them at his hands 2 The Promise which he ingageth to perform on his part or what he will do himself thereupon The Son must ask and the Father will give he will give him the heathen c. that is he shall both be the Lords salvation to the ends of the earth Isa 49. â—6 Mâ—t. 28.18 Phil. 2.10 11. and have all power given him in heaven and earth so that all knees shall bow to him and every tongue shall confess him to be Lord. In the other Text before mentioned Psal 40. Christ declares his compliance to the agreement and his subscribing the Covenant on his part when he came into the world as the Apostle explains it Heb. 10.5 c. Mine ears saith he hast thou digged or pierced Lo I come to do thy will as if he should say Oh Father thou dost ingage me to be thy servant in this great work of saving sinners Lo I come to do the work I here covenant and agree to yeeld up my self to thy disposing and to serve thee for ever It seems to be an allusion to the Masters boaring through the servants ear Exod. 21.6 we have an abridgement of this Agreement Isa 53.10 in both parts Si posuerit sacrificium pro reatu animam suam or Si posuerit sacrificium anima eâ—us 1 On Christs part his soul shall be made an offering for sin 2. On the Fathers part he promiseth that thereupon Christ shall see his seed he shall have a numerous spiritual posterity begetting and bringing many thousands to the obedience of his Father Yea further vers 11. So ample shall be the fruit of his sufferings that he shall be satisfied in seeing the travel of his soul he shall have abundant joy and contentment even in that which hath cost him dearest he shall justifie many poor guilty
reason of frequent neglects faylings wandrings swarvings from the rule of the word since his conversion Oh saith the godly soul I can do nothing aright how often do I miscarry in the manner motives and ends of obedience Methinks I am fettered that I cannot go a foot pace much less run in the way of Gods Commandements To some kinde of evill ready and free enough to some kinde of good too often dead and sluggish If I be redeemed indeed why am I thus or what comfort can I have in the work of Redemption while I am in this case Doth the prisoner when he is released feel the shackles still on his legs If Christ by undergoing the curse of my former bondage hath brought me into liberty why am I still in bondage who shall answer for me now or where is the ransome for it But now consider if these distempers are the unavoidable workings of remaining corruption which cannot be wholly shaken off The best Saints may finde in themselves an indisposedness to good and forwardness to evil especially about those things which are most spiritual and require much self-denial in their carnal and earthly interest of ease credit and other outward enjoyments as in a constant course of secret prayer private reproof of others upon just occasion acknowledging a miscarriage to their own disgrace putting up wrongs for the maintaining of peace and such like Why is thy heart dejected for that which is the common lot of all the godly Thou mayest think it is well that the Lord hath not left thee to grosser sins and although thou hast many failings yet the Lord looks upon thee according to thy better part he will own his own grain in the midst of much chaffe And here is the crown of thy comfort Christ Jesus hath offered a sacrifice for every one that erreth and for him that is simple Ezek. 45.20 and he can reasonably bear with the ignorant and those that are out of the way Heb. 5.2 and he will carry on his work in thy soul till thy sinful distempers bee wholly subdued and thou shalt have no more cause to complaine Sect. 2. Comfort against inward terrours reproaches of men and outward afflictions 2. AGainst inward fears and terrours of conscience arising from sense of guilt and liableness to Gods displeasure Even the Lords redeemed may have shrewd remainders of the spirit of bondage upon them their spirits are sometimes startled and terrified with the fear or feeling of Divine wrath God lets Satan loose against them to bring their old sins to remembrance or to roar upon them as a Lion for new miscarriages And when he meets with a timorous unbeleeving heart he plies it so long with his fiery darts till at length he bereaves the sinner of all comfort Sometimes he is dejected and laid low in the sight of his own vileness Sometimes he is tossed and disquieted as the Sea with storms and tempests Sometimes he is even swallowed up with waves of soul-trouble as a ship ready to sink so that Satan seems to have his will of him Lam. 3.18 and he saith My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord. A sad and unwelcome business I confess yet many of Gods dear servants have been thus put to it as both Scripture and experience do testifie Job complains that God held him for his enemy and made him to possess the iniquities of his youth Job 13.24 26. and therefore the poyson of his arrows did drink up his spirit and the terrours of God did set themselves in array against him Iob 19.25 Chap. 6.4 yet elsewhere he professeth his faith in the Redeemer David cries out that Gods arrows stuck so fast in him and his hand pressed him so sore that there was no soundness in his flesh nor rest in his bones Psal 38.3 4. The like we may see in Heman the Ezrahite Psal 88.3 6 7 14 15 c. But let the afflicted soul now have recourse to this harbour of Redemption and there he shall finde good shelter against all these storms What hast thou to fear save the curse of the Law why but that is removed and gone Thy Surety hath freed thee from it by making an end of thy sins No sin no curse If the Lord hide his face and frown upon thee it will bee for a moment for a small moment but he will return and with everlasting kindness have mercy on thee And for this thy Redeemer hath ingaged his word Isa 54.7 8. As for Satan that Lion of hell when he can neither hold nor recover his prisoners it is his next policy to disquiet them and to make their lives uncomfortable But tell him that thou art Christs devoted servant by vertue of a dear ransome and he hath nothing in thee neither shall hee rule in thy conscience he may go lash and torment his own marked slaves but thou art out of his reach And if the Lord and Satan do still pursue thy soul with terrours remember that thy Master Christ hath drunk of this bitter cup before thee and be assured that he will plead thy cause with his Father and at length he will take that roaring Lion under-hand and rend him as he would rend a Kid as it is said of Sampson Judg. 14.6 Know it dear Christian for thy comfort there are no storms in heaven 3 Against the cursings evill speakings reproaches contradictions of the men of the world Their tongues are set on fire of hell and they are very eloquâ—nt in the hellish art of cursed language especially against the Lords Redeemed ones smiting them with bitter words and heaping upon them the basest indignities which either the Devil can suggest or their malicious hearts invent Hast thou been acquainted with such unwelcome salutations Do thy prophane neighbours open their mouthes against thee And dost thou hear the words of cursing and bitterness yet be not troubled at it These arrows though they be very sharp and sent from a strong arm yet they shall not reach to pierce thy heart these coals of Juniper though they keep in the fire a whole year yet thou needest not fear scorching by them the malignity of them is taken away by the grace of Redemption If the curse of Gods righteous Law be voided to thee much more is the curse of mans unrighteous law If the Lord hath reversed and disanulled his just sentence passed against thee in heaven will he suffer the unjust sentence of sinful man on earth to stand in force against thee If the curse which is deserved shall not come much less shall that which is causeless Prov. 26.2 Say thou to God as David Let them curse but bless thou Psal 109.28 thou mayest hope that the Lord will requite thee good for their cursing as 2 Sam. 16.12 when the children of Israel were brought out of Egypt and upon their way to the promised Land Balaam was hired to curse them but the Lord turned the curse into a
interessing us in the grace of Redemption so we cannot doubt that the Lord hath put upon it this office also to be after the manner of a condition if we observe these Scripture-expressions Rom. 4.24 if we believe on him that raised up Jesus it shall be imputed to us for righteousness Rom. 10.9 If thou shalt believe in thy heart thou shalt be saved and the want of this condition is threatned with death Jo. 8.24 See also Jo. 20.31 Acts 8.37 But 2. This faith towards the Lord Jesus is ever accompanied with repentance towards God which is called repentance from dead works and coupled with faith in God as twins in the doctrine of the foundation of Christ Heb. 6.1 This is the souls irking with its former sinfull estate and wayes and a deep displeasure at himself for them together with a forsaking of them and turning away from them unto God in the sincere purpose of the heart and serious endeavour of the conversation And that repentance hath some hand in this business to be a mean and as a condition too in part of interest in Redemption may appear by promises of mercie pardon and healing made to it Pro. 28.14 Iob 33.27 28. Job 11.14 15 c. 2 Chron. 7.14 Acts 3.19 and the contrary threatning Luke 13.3 which plainly implies that without this there is no escaping of perdition and therefore no actual Redemption So that the sinner now as by one hand of faith he takes Christ's Righteousness unto himself so by Repentance as by the other hand he thrusts away sinne from himself out of his heart and hands that he may enjoy a part in the grace of Redemption Christ the Redeemer himself made these the chiefest subject of his preaching Mark 1.15 and so did his Apostles to whom the publication of this Doctrine was committed Acts 20.21 and directed humbled soules to both these as they had occasion S. Peter ascribes Repentance with Baptisme Acts 2.38 and S. Paul saith Act. 16.31 not that those two preachers differed in their judgements or that either of these two graces were sufficient alone by it self but rather to shew their near affinity that they cannot be separated that the right and thorough performance of the one is the performance of both This is the Kings High-way if you hope to compass Redemption and salvation in any other way you will certainly be deceived Oh that you the careless sinners in Zion for unto you I speak all this while would at length be rouzed by the sound of this trumpet to look out for deliverance by Christ before the prison doors be made so fast upon you that there will be no remedy and to provoke you the more to a thing so necessary consider these Motives 1. There is no possibility of deliverance from sinne and the Curse by any other means A redeemer you must have or you are undone and the redeemer must pay a vaste summe for your Redemption This is done to your hand by Jesus Christ if you will accept it upon his termes If you will not I would aske where will you finde a Redeemer Do you look for another to come He that must do this work must bear the Curse for you But where is the man that can or will undertake this God hath found none in heaven or earth mighty enough to lay this help upon Isa 63.5 but Jesus Christ therefore he hath laid it upon him Psal 89.19 and now there remaines no more sacrifice for sinne There is no wisedome nor power in all the world that can relieve or bestead the sinner which will not submit to this way of God 2. If thou wilt not give way to Christ to glorifie his mercie in rescuing thee from the Curse and Condemnation he will glorifie his Justice in letting thee lie an accursed prisoner for ever If thou wilt seek the Lord his hand will be upon thee for good But if thou forsake him his power and his wrath will bee against thee to thy ruine Ezra 8.22 If thou wilt not kiss the Sonne he will be angry and thou shalt perish in the way Psal 2.12 His taking the Curse upon him will not serve thy turne to secure thee from the danger of it unless thou wilt be perswaded to come up to his termes and heartily embrace him as thine onely Lord-Redeemer will give a large commission to it to destroy thee without mercie He that obeyes not the Sonne the wrath of God abides on him John 3.36 and he will come with vengeance in his hands against them that obey not the Gospel 2 Thes 1.18 3. Now the Lord offers you this incomparable mercie you have the render of it still continued in the Ministerie of the Word and the Spirit is Still inviting and beseeching you to accept of this redemption and reconciliation thereby Oh then hearken to the motion and yeild your selves forthwith unto the Lord. For although you do not give a peremptory denial yet if you sit still and triffle your hearts will be hardened Psal 95.7 8. I know thy thoughts thou takest it for granted that thou canst come and get a part in Christ when thou pleasest but it is not so It 's easie to say God be mercifull to me and it is in thy power to presume but to repent and to believe unfainedly and in truth thou shalt finde to be a work above thy strength I tell thee thou bold sinner God will one day come near and plead thus with thy conscience I gave thee Twenty thirty fortie yeares and all that while my Spirit hath been wrastling with thee to draw thee to Christ and thou sayest I can come at my pleasure If thou canst why hast thou not come all this while Seing therefore thou hast dallied with my grace and rendred all my importunity and waiting void and ineffectuall thou shalt never enter into this blessed rest of Redemption 4. If you have any true love to the Ministers of Christ or any desire of their welfare and comfort then come in and seek for a share in this benefit Wee are the servants of the Lord Jesus sent forth to proclaim Redemption to the world How would it glad our hearts to see you all flocking in as doves to the windowes for your interest therein that we may rejoyce in the day of Christ and say Behold here am I and the soules whom thou hast ransomed with thy blood which have yielded themselves to thee through our Ministery If you set light by this grace and love the world and the contentments of it better than Jesus Christ you break our hearts and you will bring down our heads with shame and sorrow to the grave But if you have no regard of us yet at least pittie your selves When the Lord of the whole world shall call us to give an account of our stewardship and we shall be forced to give in this true evidence against you Lord we have stretched out our hands all the day all the
in their first birth this Livery that they are children of wrath Eph. 2.3 and his wrath is revealed from heaven against sin Rom. 1.18 yea the Lord is said to hate not onely sin but sinners Psal 11.5 Hos 9.15 and they are called haters of God Psal 5.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dei osores Deo exosi Pareus sic Theophyl Deut. 5.9 Rom. 1.30 But now by the Redemption which is in Christ as the Curse is taken off so the enmity also is slain wrath is turned away reconciliation is wrought The Messiah was to make reconciliation for iniquity Dan 9.24 which is as much as that 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself Being enemies we are reconciled by his death Rom. 5.10 and when poor sinners being by sin enemies and strangers do receive Jesus Christ then in him they receive the Attonement Rom. 5.11 so that now they are actually reconciled Col. 1.20 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and set in an estate of firm amitie and friendship with the glorious God through the blood of the Covenant In the first Adam he disclaimes us as base Rebels but in the second he owne's us as reconciled friends Let the Lord's Redeemed ones lift up their heads and know their happiness Jesus Christ hath slain the enmity which was betwixt God and you This price of Reconciliation hath broken down the wall of separation and although the Lord be still a consuming fire marching against the briars and thornes and burning them altogether yet even then he saith to his vineyard Furie is not in me Isa 27.4 2. Remission of sinnes This goes hand in hand with reconciliation 2 Cor. 5.19 As the violation of the Law of an earthly Governour brings upon the offender besides the Governour 's displeasure an obligation to punishment and when that obligation is voyded then he is said to be pardoned so man's disobedience against the great Lord of heaven and earth did oblige him to such punishment as the royal Law had threatned but Christ our Surety by bearing it for us hath voided that obligation and so we are discharged from it and in this stands our Pardon Therefore the Apostle joynes Redemption and Remission together as being upon the matter both one Eph. 1.7 Col. 1.14 and expresly ascribes them both to his blood as the meritorious cause Vide Grot. defens cap. 6. Ludov. Luc. Assert contra Mich. Gittich arg Iun. Non idem sed tantundem Whence by the way we may discover the weakness of that Socinian Argument against Redemption by Christ's satisfaction because our Redemption is called Remission For where satisfaction is made say they by undergoing due punishment or paying a valuable price there is no place for pardon But surely the Holy Ghost knowes better then we how to speak properly It 's Redemption by his blood and yet it is forgiveness of our sinnes And their argument hath more shew then weight For this satisfaction was not made by paying the very same but the as much not the proper strict debt which the Law changeth upon the sinner but the full value or weight of it with some alteration The Law saith The soul that sinneth shall die even the self same person and it must be death eternal because the sinner can never pay the uttermost farthing Had this been there had been no place for pardon Psa 69.4 But now Christ comes in and voluntarily undertakes to restore the things which he took not away that sinners which took them away might be set free Suppose a subject hath committed a crime deserving in rigour of Law perpetual imprisonment if now the King's Son be content to undergo 6 moneths imprisonment in his stead which considering the quality of the person is as much as a mean man's suffering it during life the King indeed may refuse this way of satisfaction because it is not the very letter of the Law but if he accept it what doth it import less then a pardon to the subject This is the Case The Son of God giving himself a sacrifice for sin doth in a short time wrastle through and master those sufferings which would have mastered sinners and hold them under to all eternity Now although Almighty God the great Law-giver might have refused this kinde of payment as not being the very same which the Covenant of works exacteth yet having not onely consented but devised and settled it as the most covenient way for the security of sinners and the manifestation of his glory thereupon he is well pleased with it being as full satisfaction to justice as if the sinner had satisfied in his own person So that the Lord 's accepting of it upon this account is so far from excluding remission that it rather makes way for it and gives it a being This appears further by the Apostles ruled case Heb. 9.22 See Jun. paral Pareus without shedding of blood no remission which holds both in Legal sacrifices and in the great sacrifice of Christ typified thereby as the scope of the place shews But to return The Law chargeth the curse upon the sons of men The Lord Jesus takes the curse upon himself and thereby makes an end of sinnes for this was one of the works which he was to do Dan. 9.24 the debt being paid the book is cross'd the bond is cancelled No forfeiture to be taken no penalty to be undergone Let wretched sinners take notice of their happiness in this also Christ was sent to purge away all your iniquities 1 Ioh. 1.7 Psal 65.3 Redemption blots out all your Items and layes up pardons in heaven for your use to be readie for you in the time of need 3. Justification of our persons Obligation to punishment doth imply liableness to accusation and condemnation for the offence which deserves such punishment The righteous Law of God finding man a transgressour and so unrighteous threatens death as his due And in order to the inflicting of it stands up as an Accuser and passeth sentence against him Now Christ being made sinne and a curse in the sinners stead doth thereby with one and the same labour both set him free from the punishment of sin and acquit him from the accusation and condemnation of the Law Whereupon he may plead that although the demerit of his sin doth crie aloud for punishment yet it is not due to his person because Jesus Christ hath borne it for him and made full satisfaction to justice Rom. 3.24 The Apostle makes justification an effect of the Redemption which is in Christ Jesus Dan. 9.24 the Messiah was to bring in everlasting righteousness Jer. 23.5 6. a righteous Branch is promised to be raised up to David and his name shall be called Jehovah our Righteousness And thus he is made of God to us Righteousness 1 Cor. 1.30 When the offence is taken away by a pardon the person is accounted righteous Therefore the not imputing of sin and the
them out of my sight and let them go forth or as Zach. 11.9 I will not feed them that that dyeth let it dye c. So that we may sadly complain and bewail it that our defence is departed from us and we are exposed to all dangers that not only judgements but also mercies may become poysonful and baneful to us But now the Lord Jesus by paying our ransome from the curse hath renewed our interest in the providence of God so that he looks after us and watcheth over us in a special manner for our good It is said of the earthly Canaan that it is a Land which the Lord cared for his eyes were alwayes upon it from the beginning of the year to the end of it Deut. 11.12 It is true much more of the heavenly Canaan the invisible Church whereof that was a type His special providence is at work for the whole and every particular member of it continually Hee will keep his Vineyard of red wine both night and day Isa 27.3 This is the Theme or Argument of the 90. and 121. Psalmes where it is largely handled And the Apostle saith That God is the Saviour of all men specially of them that beleeve 1 Tim. 4.10 This priviledge is very comprehensive and might be inlarged in many particulars We may take a short view of them thus The special providence of God towards the Redeemed is exercised about good and evil 1. About good things It goes before them Psal 5.11.12 103.4 5. compasseth them round and is their rereward The Lord takes care of them and as I may say fore-casts what may be best for them puts them upon honest and warrantable courses in their going out and comming in prospers them in all things they take in hand Psalm 1.3 as Joseph Gen. 39.3.23 and Hâ—zekiah 2 Chron. 31.21 blesseth a little unto them and makes it to go far Psal 37.16 It is our Redeemer Christ that turns our water into wine and multiplies a few loaves and fishes to feed many thousands 2. About evill things by saving them 1. From 2. In 3. Out of evils 1. He saves them from evills The Lord is not onely a Sun to inlighten and to warm us but a Shield to proâ—ect and guard us Psalm 84.11 Hee saveth the poore from the sword c. Job 5.15.19 20. Sometimes hee doth so carefully watch over his people that troubles and dangers do not overtake them the floods of great waters do not come near them Psal 32.6 for he hideth them in the hollow of his hand till the storms be blown over and so they are safe 2. He saves them in evills When afflictions and troubles are upon them He keeps all their bones â— Psal 36.20 Dan. 〈…〉 2â— â— 2â— 23. he bears a part with them Isa 63.9 he sustains and succours them he gives them patience in suffering he strengthens them with heavenly might he conforms them to himself purging out their dross and making them partakers of his holiness yea sometimes he conveyes for them miraculously preserving them safe in the very mouth and midst of mischief as the three Children and Daniel restraining the rage and violence of the creatures even contrary to their natures that they could do them no hurt 3 He saves them out of evills Although in his wise and just counsel he suffers troubles to seize upon them and chastens them with rods yet he hath his times of deliverance here sooner or later The godly injoy many petit partial redemptions in this life before that great day of Redemption come Psal 34.22 He knows how to deliver them 2 Pet. 2.9 Jacob hath his time of trouble but he shall be delivered out of it Jer. 30.7 For the rod of wickedness shall not alwayes rest on their lot Psa 125.3 Yea their death is precious in his sight Psal 116.15 so that even then they have hope And in a word this providence doth so order all things both good and evill that all shall work together for their good Rom. 8.28 All the parcels of this precious priviledge flow from the Redemption which is in Christ Jesus It is prophesied of Christ under the type of Solomon that he shall deliver the needy and redeem their souls Psal 72.12 c. When the Branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious there shall be a Tabernacle for a shadow and a covert from the storm Isa 42.6 When Christ shall reigne the man shall be as a hiding place from the wind Isa 32 1 2. It is Jacobs Redeemer that will help him Et erit vir sc Christus Rex c. Jun. in Sch. ad loc and be with him in the water and fire Isa 41.14 43.12 God will save Judah by the Lord their God that is by the Messiah to come Hos 1.7 See that special promise Mark 16.18 What say you to this yee ransomed souls your own experience may make out all these things For hath not the Lord made provision for you Psal 94 13. and laded you with benefits even beyond expectation Do yee not see how hee keeps some sad stroaks off from you while some of the Devils slaves are beaten black and blue gives rest to you while the pit is in digging for the wicked bears your hearts up while some of your neighbours sinke under the burden rescues you out of six and seven troubles while they are swallowed up of them you may rejoyce in Benjamins portion The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him c. Deut. 33.12 and say as David The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want Psal 23.1 Thus you have a Septenary of priviledges besides that of benefits which are the peculiar portion of the Lords Redeemed Let our hearts breath out the Psalmists admiration Oh how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee c. Psal 31.19 Sect. 6. Four priviledges more common I Shall add other four which though they be more common and not proper to the elect yet deserve the name of priviledges too 1. Redemption by Christ is the opening of a sluce for the waters of life to run amongst the Gentiles The Prophets are very frequent in holding forth this priviledge that strangers shall come in and submit themselves Psal 18.43 c. all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God Psal 98.2 3. the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord Psal 86.9 Psal 87.4 Isa 65.1 Isa 11.9 waters shall break out in the wilderness c. Isa 35.6 7. and 41.18 19. This was the work of Christ our Redeemer so it was prophesied Gen. 49.10 Shiloh shall come and to him shall be the gathering of the people Psal 22.27 David tells us that all the ends of the earth shall turn to the Lord and that upon this ground because he is King and governour among the nations vers 28. but how comes he to this Soveraigntie it was
in Religion and in common conversation which they kept on foot from father to son as things of necessity and helps to holiness as standing by themselves in the Synagogue to pray by themselves Luke 18.11 that they might not be defiled by being near to sinners washing their hands to their very elbows lest some uncleanness had crept beyond the wrests before they eat washing of cups and tables and many other things in a superstitious imitation of their predecessors From this vain conversation they were redeemed by the blood of Christ and the grace of the Gospel taught them not onely to abandon the lusts of their former ignorance and the apparent breaches of the Law but also those foolish and unsavoury traditions Wilt thou now bring thy state and wayes to this Touchstone Thou hopest that thou art redeemed but canst thou shew us these tokens this resolution and endeavour Hast thou learned to cast away thy old iniquities Dost thou feel really a separation betwixt thy soul and thy formerly beloved sin If not thou deceivest thy self But observe further there be sundry by courses too usual not onely with the men of the world but those also that profess Religion some clearly sinful others at least groundless and unprofitable as communicating onely or necessarily at Easter coming to the Sacrament fasting as more holy dropping down to prayer in the Assembly in time of publick worship idle and unnecessary meeting in the Ale-house to drink shots for good-fellowship mixt dancing garish attire curious dressings flaring long haire Doing one ill turn for another Mat. 5 38 â—9 So did they and so do we these and the like practices are at the best but so many parcels of a vain conversation and if thy soul have truly tasted the sweetness of this precious benefit thou canst freely let them fall both out of thine heart and hands and say unto them Get you hence If thou hast no minde to part with them but holdest them fast and stretchest thy wit to plead for them I feare thou hast yet no portion in this benefit Sect. 3. Other three marks of interest in Redemption 4. SEparation from the world from the earth from men They are not of the world even as their Redeemer is not of the world Joh. 17.14 St. Paul doth solemnly profess that the world was crucified to him 1 Ioh. 5.4 and he to the world by the Cross of Jesus Christ Gal. 6.14 Those hundred forty four thousand which stood on Mount Sion with the Lamb are redeemed from the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and from among men Rev. 14.3 4. They are partakers of the Divine nature and so escape the corruption that is in the world through lust 2 Pet. 1.4 They are more excellent than their neighbours Prov. 12.26 Their designes desires delights aimes are higher than the earth they aspire above it On the contrary those that abide in their sin have their portion in this life Psal 17.14 And its one bad property of the enemies of the Cross of Christ that they minde earthly things Phil. 3.19 What saith thy heart to this Art thou carried up above the world Doth the earth and the things of it seem mean and base and vile in thine eyes Art thou in the frame and carriage of thy soul above the common pitch and scantling of the sons of men So that thou thinkest not willest not affectest not as they do but goest in an higher orbe thy conversation is more in heaven than in earth Phil. 3.20 This is a sweet evidence of a redeemed soul But art thou a friend to the world Is it thy Darling Do the profits pleasures Iam. 4.4 contentments of it allure and prevaile with thee to fall down and worship them and to devote thy self to their service Is the earth thine element Do the things of this life take up thy thoughts thy cares thy imployments so that thou art even drowned in them and thou hast not an heart that can savour things of a better life Dost thou walk as a man Are thy words actions aimes like thy neighbours Are they no better nor higher than other mens Why then it seems thou art still in thine old bondage 5. Walking in and after the Spirit The walk of the natural man who is the Devills bond-slave is in and after the flesh The corrupt wisdome of the old man which is enmity to God Rom. 8.7 is his light and the will thereof is the very life of his soul He hath neither light nor life within him available to salvation the instinct and dictatings of his fallen nature carry him on in his whole course But when the grace of Redemption is brought home to the soul and the Son hath set him free then the Spirit of the Son who of a slave hath made him a Son doth animate act lead and guide him all along in the residue of his conversation according to that remarkable promise Ezek. 36.27 and the Apostles grave Aphorisme Rom. 8.14 The flesh abiding in him will be still lusting against the Spirit and drawing him out of his way but his frame bent desire and constant endeavour is to be at the direction and appointment of the Spirit in all his wayes He looks upon the flesh as a very bad guide and not to be trusted therefore if at any time he be misled by it when he perceives it he turns away from it with sorrow for his folly It is the Spirit of God which he chuseth for his guide unto it speaking in the word he repairs continually for counsel and resignes himself up to follow it in all things This is the signal evidence which the Apostle gives of those that are freed from condemation by Jesus Christ and he makes it out upon this ground Because the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath freed them from the law of sin and death Rom. 8.1 2 3. When the Angel of the Lord had rowsed up Peter in the prison and caused the chaines to fall off from his hands he gave him a command to follow him Peter being now set at liberty goes after him from one place to another Act. 12.7 8. c. Even so when the Spirit of God hath loosed a sinner from his bonds by setling upon him the benefit of Redemption he is then fit and ready to walk after the same Spirit from one stage of duty to another As in Ezekiels Vision the Spirit that was in living creatures acted the wheels to go when they went and to stand when they stood Ezek. 1.19 20 21. So the members of Christ are carried on by the breathings of his Spirit dwelling in them in all their wayes But take notice that it is not a private spirit but the Spirit of God speaking in the word not a spirit opposed to the Scriptures but the Spirit speaking in the Scriptures which is the Guide whom the Redeemed follow The word of God revealed in them is the breathing and voice of
lawfull selflove in your breasts if you have not wholy abandoned all compassion of your selves and are become your own enemies be awaked from your sloth and look about you Do you thus requite the Lord Jesus O foolish people and unwise Is not he thy father Rom. 7.9 that hath bought thee Rather let my counsel be acceptable to you in these few particulars 1. Give way to the Light and authority of the Law in the ministry of it to bring thee to a thorough conviction of thy misery and extream need of the help of their Redeemer Think it not sufficient that the Law hath lent thee light enough to say All men are sinners and so to wrappe thy self in gross with them and to be content to be reckoned among them seeing thou canst not avoid it but bring it home to thy conscience believe thy self to be his accursed sinner and say I am the man Imprison not the truth in unrighteousness but let it so overpower thy soul that thou mayest be no longer able to resist it but mayest yield thy self into the arrest of God's justice that the spirit of bondage may cause thee to fear the curse and wrath of God and thou mayest lie slain Deut. 32.6 and dead in thy self utterly unable to recover thy self and therefore helpless and hopeless as to thy self or any thing in the world Let the Law have its free course to work thee into this frame When the Lord meane's to apply the ransome to a poor sinner for his deliverance from the pit he first open's his ears and scale's his instruction that he may hide pride from him Job 33 17.-24 If thou be wise thou wilt meet the Lord in this way though it be unpleasant yet it is profitable But if thou either continuest dead and blockish under the discoveries of the Law or favourest thy self in thy sloth and ease or liftest thy crests in confidence of the safety of thy condition there is no hope for the present of any saving good towards thee And yet alas how is the Spirit of the Law straitened in these sad times Our people will not suffer it to come near them much less to master them If any thing be offered them in way of conviction they either drown it in their cups or sing it away in merry Jiggs or laugh it out of countenance or at the best suffer it to wear off and to die in their hands But in the fear of God beware of these things I tell thee thou mayest be quite dismounted and cast down at the Lords feet All wayes must be block'd up whereby the carnal heart may take occasion to nourish hope of escaping out of this prison 2. Being at this loss advisedly resolve not to abide in this condition but to make hast out of it Say to thy self O my soul Where in what case art thou It 's no tarrying here It 's too hot to be under the curse in the flames of hell Who can dwell with the devouring fire with everlasting burnings Isa 33.14 Search enquire ask counsel Go to the ministers of Christ and say unto them as these Acts 2.37 Men and brethren what shall we do and the Jaylour Acts 16.30 Sirs what must I do to be saved They are the messengers of the Lord of hosts their lips should preserve knowledge and you must seek the law at their mouths Mal. 2.7 Their office is to publish this ransome and to declare unto the humbled sinner his righteousness in pronouncing him delivered by virtue of that Ransome Job 33.23 24. But oh alas if there be a Minister in the Town an Interpreter one that is willing according to the measure of the gift bestowed on him to reveal the counsel of God to poor sinners how long may he sit at home before any of his neighbours will knock at the door to tell him that they are wretched prisoners under the Curse and know not how to get out yea although he be accounted one of a thousand scarcely four persons in a whole twelve-moneth will come to him travelling under their burthen and propounding such questions as these Oh how shall I get from the Curse of the Law who shall draw me out of this woful dungeon wherein I ly Truly this speaks sad things to such a people and testifies against them that they are seared in their consciences and sealed up unto condemnation 3. Fall down before the glorious Majestie of the great Lawgiver the Lord of heaven and earth as forlorne prisoners and condemned Slaves Spread your case before him by a free and full Confession ripp up the bowels of that darkness and death that sinkhole of hell that lies in your souls Tell him in what a desperate state thou art deal plainly seriously and sincerely leave no covert or shelter or figg-leaf to hide thy self under but lay thy soul bare and naked before him Let thy Laughter be turned into mourning James 4.9 and in the sence of thine undone condition crie mightily as the prisoner at the barre for mercy and deliverance Ionah 3.9 who can tell but that the Lord will returne and have compassion on thee that thou perish not in the hands of the Curse When Saul was stricken down to the earth by a light and voice from heaven and stood before the Lord trembling and astonished he forthwith falls to this work Lord saith he What wilt thou have me to do as if he should say Lord thou hast overcome I must yield what shall I do in this exigent If thou wilt shew me thy minde and the way which I should go Lo I am here willing to obey Acts 9.3 4 c. and the Lord speaking of him to Ananias mentions it as a thing very remarkable even with a starre in the forehead Behold See Iob 3â— 26 he prayeth verse 11. And certainly If the Spirit of bondage hath brought the Curse close home to thy soul and caused it to sting thee to the purpose thou wilt not be restrained but thy chamber and closet and every corner where thou canst have Libertie to disburden thy self will be witnesses of thy complaints and petitions and thou wilt let the Lord see that thou art in good earnest But wo is me while our people continue so sottish and prophane and their hearts so unaffected with their misery that they cannot bow nor bend they have neither expressions nor affections of prayer it is no marvel if the grace of Redemption lie altogether neglected Restraint of prayer argues security Iob 15.4 If the bankrupt debtor be so stout and stiff that he will not fall down and beseech his Creditor to have patience and compassion on him he may lie by it who can pittie him 4. In the mean time take notice that there is a Ransome paid for sinners by Jesus Christ that he hath taken upon him the Curse to buy them out from it Take it for granted and write upon it as unquestionable that redemption is feasable
not my mountain stands strong I can manage all things my self my welfare is in mine own hands When thy soul is filled with comfort by the light of Gods countenance lifted up upon it do not now trust thy self with thy spiritual happiness say not I shall carve so for my self as it shall be ever thus with me but lean upon thy Redeemer as the soveraign disposer of all thy concernments Psal 138.8 Especially look to this in the dayes of adversitie or danger by afflictions of soul or body then thou shalt be put to it thrust thy self under the wings of thy Saviour and deliver up all thine interests into his hands who hath bought thee for himself and will not see thee miscarry Is there any person or creature in heaven or earth whom you can betrust with them in assurance of safetie None besides him The Apostle Peter gives this savourie counsel to suffering Christians 1 Pet. 4.19 and we have two choice examples pertinent to this purpose The former of the Psalmist Psal 49 5-15 who in the dayes of evil when the iniquity of his heels should compass him about that is when he shall be exercised with afflictions and chastisements for his sinfull strayings and uneven walking yet resolves that he will not be afraid because he hath committed his soule unto God being assured that he would redeem it from the power of the grave in the morning of the resurrection while the men of the world whose trust is onely in the broken staffe of the creature shall fall short of their hopes and be miserably devoured by death eternal The latter example is the Apostle Paul 2 Tim. 1.12 who beares up courageously in the midst of his sufferings for the Gospel upon this ground He hath deposited his soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vide Bezam and the glory prepared for him in the hands of Christ and he was perswaded that he was able and willing too that is implyed to keep that which he had committed to him against that day 4. When the summons of death come to arrest thee and call thee hence then commit and commend tby spirit into the hands of the Lord God thy Redeemer Thus did David when Saul and his men hemmed him in on every side so that there was no way of escape open but he said he was cut off a gone man Psal 31.5 22. Some interpreters do probably take this See Mollerus and Piscator to be the occasion of his penning that Psalm The story is 1 Sam. 23.26 Jesus Christ thy Redeemer being readie to give up the Ghost on the Cross uttereth the same words Luke 23.46 and in this commending his soul into the hands of his father He hath respect to his members and thereby undertakes the safe keeping of all their soules Omnes suorum animas custodâ—endas suscepâ—t Calvin So that thou needest not fear to commit thy spirit at death unto him as he committed his to his Father Some of the most precious servants of God are recorded in Scripture as Presidents herein That expression of holy Jacob breathed out in the midst of his solemne speech to his sonnes on his death bed doth clearly imply this gracious practise Gen. 49.18 and Stephen the first Gospel-martyr followed the example of his master Jesus herein Acts 7.59 Go thou and learn that lesson that thou mayest have it in readiness on the day that thou shalt go hence and be no more Say thus Oh Lord here I am an unworthy creature but thou hast in pure love to my soul bought me out from the Curse and so delivered me from the pit of corruption Isa 38.17 and now that I must lay down this earthly Tabernacle I do freely render thee thine own I am thine save me Psal 119.94 I humbly wait for that Crown of righteousness the full possession of glory in perfect union with thy blessed self which thou hast purchased with so dear a price and is laid up for me and many poor soules in heaven 2 Tim. 4.8 Thus much of the Fifth Use which was for exhortation CHAP. XII Use 6. Admonition 6. LAstly I would improve this Truth by way of Admonition and from this as a new ground briefly whet upon your hearts that inference which I drew from the first Conclusion concerning Cursing that it is both irrational and irreligious So shall the just condemnation of that wicked practise be established in the mouth of two approved witnesses Deut. 17.6 As it is madness to wish a curse to our selves or others seeing we are all under the stroak of it by nature So truly it is a double madness to do it now that we are redeemed from it by grace Your own reason may disswade you from it on the former ground unless you be so desperate as to continue still under the curse and to implunge your selves deeper into the gulf and Religion may take you off on the latter ground unless you will resolve thus Christ indeed hath delivered sinners from the Curse but we are content to tamper with it still and so make your selves a thousand times more the children of wrath than you were before Yet alas how common is this miscarriage even among them that profess themselves to be redeemed by Christ It is too usual with some men to wish a curse to their own souls thereby either to confirm the truth of something or to binde themselves to do that which they have purposed in their hearts to do It is true we have examples of the best men in Scripture which have so done as Job chap. 31.7 8. c. and David Psal 7.3 4 5. but these were for the most part rather necessitated than voluntary for the clearing of their innocency alwayes advised and weighty with solemn reverence in the presence of God from whom they did certainly expect the accomplishment of their wish against themselves in case they should bee found faulty And thus they may be lawfull being used very sparingly But this cannot justifie the too frequent use of them without necessity upon trivial occasions rashly headily brutishly when the fear of God in the heart doth not manage the business to render it accepted As for the cursing and banning of others Oh how rife is it How easily do the common people fall into that base language If they be but a little provoked if passion get the upper hand in a small measure their tongues are forthwith all on a flame in bitter imprecations It is true also that some holy men are reported in Scripture to have cursed others It is commanded Jud. 5.23 It was practised by David Psal 69.22 c. By Elisha 2 King 2.24 By Nehemiah chap. 13.25 and Jeremy chap. 18.20 21. But these are meerly extraordinary being predictions of evill against others uttered by the Spirit of Prophesie which cannot warrant us to do the like And I suppose we shall scarcely meet with one approved example in the Book of God which will bear us
not this judged the act of the whole body He was the Tree we the branches when the tree falls all the branches fall with it * Corruit cuncti simul in genitore cadente corruimus 3. We do all actually break the Law in our own persons and that 2 wayes 1. in the frame and disposition of our natures which are corrupt filthy crooked wholly broken off and turned aside from conformity and subjection to the Law Our disobedience in Adam draws along after it a woful depravation of our natures so that we are all bred and born transgressours Psal 58.3 Isa 48.8 Adam begat a son in his own image a sinner like to himself Gen. 5.3 David in his penitentiall confessions after his grievous fall bewails this as the rise of all the mischief Psal 51.5 This leprosie this poyson hath overspred all mankind and the whole nature of it all sorts sexes states degrees and not one free and all the parts and powers of every man in soul and body throughout Our first Father being a corrupt tree hath infused corruption into all the branches and being a poysoned fountain hath shed his poyson into all the streams flowing from him Hence every man is born not onely destitute of all goodnesse but also wholly averse from it not onely prone to all evil but also full of it as a Toad is full of poyson Rom. 1.29 and this sinful stain is as fresh at this day and so will be till the worlds end as it was at the first it is renewed in every succeeding generation with advantage 2. in the course and practise of our lives we do according to our kind the bad tree brings forth bad fruit the corrupt spring brings forth unwholsome waters if the powers or habits be depraved the operations and actings which proceed from them can be no better * Laesae facultates lasae actiones Prov. 21.4 all the workings of man in his corrupted estate are evil and sinful like himself See Psal 14.1 2.3 * Laesae facultates lasae actiones Prov. 21.4 All our wayes in reference to the fiâ—st Table are unholinesse in reference to the second unrighteousnesse It were easie to demonstrate this by running over all the Commandments We are still breaking the Law 1. In thought all the buddings and imaginations of our minds are onely evil continually ⸫ Pro. 24.9 Gen. 6.5 Matth. 5.19 Tit. 1.15 2. In affection the motions and actings of our hearts are perverse and wicked We love the evil and hate the good Mich. 3.2 so our trusts fears joyes c. they all run crosse and counter Jer. 17.9 3. In speech evil corrupt loose unprofitable communication falshood flattery pride scorning censuring and a thousand extravagancies of the tongue Psal 5.9 and 36.3 Rom. 3.13 4. In action we commit evil and omit good or marr it in the making Psal 14.1 abominable works none that doth good not one Gal. 5.19 c. These and such like are the sparks which do dayly fly out of the hellish furnace of our wofull natures as Hos 7.6 And thus much of the second proposition III. All men are found guilty of sin by the light and verdict of the Law The Law of God is a right line which at once discovers what is straight and what is crooked ⸫ Index sui obliqui As it shews unto man what is good and what the Lord requires of him Micah 6.8 so when man hath swarved and transgressed it shews him his contrary evil and chargeth him with doing that which he ought not to have done It 's a glasse which might both let him see his native beauty if he had any and his deformity and spots which he hath brought upon himself It 's a finger which both points at the right way and discovers to the traveller the wrong way As it is in humane Laws the very same Statute that forbids treason murther theft c. doth also when any of these facts are committed charge them upon the Actours and the ordinary Rule and Warrant to proceed by in trying the parties is this or that Statute or Law of the land so it is in the Law of God it hath a voice whereby it can cry aloud to the conscience of the sinner and tell him This is a misdemeanour and that is a miscarriage for which thou must answer Thus it was with our first Parents as it may very probably be inferred from Gen. 3.7 And yet it is not materiall as to the truth and authenticknesse of the verdict whether the sinner see this light and hear this voice or not the Sun sends forth his light although all the world were blind the candle will shine although all in the room were asleep so the righteous Law of God cryes out of violence and wrong although sinners be deaf and cannot hear it and chargeth them with iniquity although they wretched souls be so blockish that they will take no notice of it In brief the Law chargeth all the world to be under sin and guilty before God Rom. 3.9.19 Thus of the third Proposition IV. All men being found guiltie by the verdict of the Law doe therefore stand accursed by the doome of the same Law for there is a necessarie connexion betwixt guilt and curse If Adam and his posteritie be justly chargeable with sin against the Law then are they also justly liable to the Curse of the Law for the Law breaths out a curse against all the sonnes and daughters of Adam and claps it on their backs because of sinn so that they are all under the curse even the curse of Almightie God revealed and expressed in the Law To cleare this further let us look upon it 1. in the sentence 2. in the execution of it 1. In the sentence This is the voice of the Lord sounding out in the Law which both threatens it to the transgressours and declares them to be accursed The Law pronounceth the curse against all sinners in the Name of the Lord it tells Adam and his posteritie that they are accursed it saith to every one in particulâ—r without respect of persons to Kings and subjects to fathers and children to Masters and servants to rich and poore c. Thou man thou woman art accursed se Deut. 27.15.16 c. Gen. 4.11 Jer. 11.3 Psal 119.21 It is the flying Roule 20 cubits long and 10 cubits broad which goes forth over the face of the whole earth Zach. 5.2 c. 2. In the exicution as the Law declareth and denounceth the curse so the Lawgiver strikes the sinner accordingly Look what the Law speakes the Lawgiver makes good he executes by his own hand or by his instruments the judgement written as Psal 149.9 As the just judge on earth executes the sentence passed upon the Malefactor according to the Law so doth the Lord the Judge of all the world he inflicts the curse which the Law awards in such manner and measure as he pleaseth thus he
2. Thes 1.9 They shall be shut out as incurable Lepers or as Dogs from communion with God and the society of the Saints They shall be deprived not only of all possibilitie of soul-blessings which they never cared for but also of the good things of this life which were their onely portion The glorious God will not owne them any more Jesus the Mediatour will offer them salvation no more the Spirit of Christ will strive with their soules no more there shall be no Minister to preach peace to them to weep over them and to beseech them to be reconciled to God no friend to comfort them and to wipe away their teares no Sun to shine upon them no bitt of bread or drop of water to refresh them No blessing of God once to come neere them no good to be seen enjoyed or ever to come within their kenning unlesse it be to aggravate their miserie that they may gnash their teeth for madnes in considering what they have lost unto all eternitie without remedie 2. Something that 's positive called the punishment of sense or paine * Paena sensus a totall subjection to the heavie yea intolerable wrath of God in the torments of Hell Everlasting fire Math. 25.41 The vengeance of eternall fire Jude 7. And the wrath to come 1. Thes 1.10 The whole person soule and bodie shall be companion with the Divell and his Angels and beare a part with them in torment The worme of a guiltie conscience shall lie gnawing at the hearts of sinners like a snake or a viper and never die Mar. 9.44 The Lord himself who is a consuming fire will power all the full vials of his wrath upon them troopes and swarms of woes shall encompasse them the raging waves of hellish flames shall roare against them and overwhelme them thus they shall have their portion in the lake that burnes with fire and brimstone which is the second death Rev. 21.8 God will set his infinite wisdome on work to extract the Quintessence of all the curses of the Law and his Almightie power shall second this wisdom in inflicting them to the full The fire shall be unquenchable never goe out Mar. 9.43.44 see Rev. 14.9 10 11. The breath of the Lord doth kindle it and still blowes it and keeps it in Isa 30.33 He will hold up the wretched creature with the one hand that it may continue in being and beat it with the other hand that it may ever be dying and never die The perfection of curses Thus I have presented to your view some small scantlings or shadowes and but shadowes of that which no understanding of man or Angel is able to conceive or expresse to the life Viz the curse of the Law due to sin I proceed to the Application Sect. 3. Use 1. 2. And 1. Hence we may be bold to conclude without the least haesitation or doubting that Mankinde is not now in that condition wherein it was at first created For Mankinde is under the curse of God and of the Law but certainly God did not create man accursed in the beginning No such work could possibly come out of the hands of the Lord Jehovah who is God blessed for ever Oh no God made him a blessed creature his posteritie with and him putting upon him some parcels of his own blessednes The Lord looked upon him and saw he was very good Gen. 1.31 And said Oh man I have set the stampe of mine own image upon thee and thou art a blessed creature by that blessedness which I have put upon thee The Law looked upon him and saw him every way conformable to it self and said Oh man I can find no flaw in thee therefore I blesse thee in the Name of the Lord. But oh lamentable change * Heu quantum mutatus ab illo The Law looks at him angerly and saith Oh vile accursed creature The Lord looks on him in deepe displeasure and saith surely some mischeivous hand hath been here Did not I sowe the seed of blessedness in this feild how comes it then to be so full of cursed tares oh the Enemie hath done this As Math. 13.27.28 Thus man is wofully flitted from the top of Mount Gerizon to the topp of Mount Ebal and is quite another than God made him as farr differing from what he was once as cursing is from blessing Oh consider this look back and see what we have been He that was once blessed in the shine of his Princes favour and hath now lost it how sensible is he of it how doth the remembrance of it even pinch and sadden his spirit oh then what desperate brutish hearts have wee that can look upon the ruines of our first blessedness with drie eyes 2ly We should seriously consider and take notice of the wofull condition of all men by nature What can be spoken more to the aggravation of our miserie than this that we lie under the curse of the Law of the most high God The Law speakes aloud to all the sonnes and daughters of Adam jointly and severally as Mal. 3.9 ye are cursed with a curse oh ye wretched Backsliders draw neere heare and tremble yea let every one suffer himself to be convinced of this and take it home and say woe is me I am an accursed creature And to drive this Naile home I shall insist a while on the consideration both 1. of the sad effects and 2. the strange properties of this curse Sad effects of the Curse 1. The sad Effects or consequence of the curse I mean such as are felt even in this life are sundrie as 1. The subjection of the whole creature to vanitie It groaneth and travelleth in paine together Rom. 8.20 c. The curse that lyeth on thee for sinne maketh the creature sick causeth heaven and earth to quake Every creature was full of beautie and virtue according to his kind and capacitie but that beautie is greatly decayed and that virtue much wasted and almost dryed up They were all made to serve thee but now that thou art a convicted Rebell and therefore accursed by the doome of the Law they all fare worse for thy sake the curse reflects upon them because of thy treason against God even as when a Nobleman is found a Traitour and so obnoxious to the Law all his servants and retayners are sharers with him lesse or more in his sufferings 2. Spirituall bondage and thraldome unto Sathan This curse is attended with lamentable soule-slaverie infinitely worse than that of the bodie Every naturall man is a prisoner under the power of the Jaylour of hell even while he lives here in this world God the great King and Judge of the world hath said Take him Jaylour and he hath taken him and holdes him captive to doe his will 2. Tim. 2.26 * He hath strong holds in the hearts of sinners he possesseth them and leads them at his pleasure he saith goe and they goe come and they come
doe this and they doe it He blinds their minds hardens their hearts and works in them powerfully Eph. 2.2 Indeed they spitt at him and say they defie him yet neverthelesse they are his drudges and carry his pack and doe his worke And while they professe that they scorne to serve him yet even then they serve him willingly and with both their hands Oh miserie beyond all expression 3. Unfruitfulness towards God He may complaine of Mankind as once of Israel Jer. 2.21 I had planted the a noble Vine wholly a right seed how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange Vine unto me All our fruit is fruit unto death we can bring forth no fruit unto God The curse of the Law hath blasted us we are as it were Thunder-struck and made unserviceable We can doe nothing that is truly good or wel pleasing to God Rom. 8.8 When Christ came neere to the figtree and saw nothing on it but leavs he cursed it and then it withered Mat. 21.19 So the Lord seeing Adam and his posteritie now by their Apostasie become degenerate plants pronounced a curse upon them saying Never fruit grow on you any more and so we are become no better than withered stumps Thou thinkest that thou dost good duties this and that good work thou hadst thy hand in such and such good fruits thou canst shew but alas it s nothing so thou art a drie and a barren tree 4. Liablenes to all the plagues and judgments of God The curse setts us in such a posture as we are continually exposed to some mischiefe or other The ground which brings forth bryars and thornes being neere unto cursing its end is to be burned Heb. 6.8 The foolishman thinks his tongue is his owne to use as he will Psal 12.4 But Solomon tells him his mouth is neere to destruction Pro. 10.14 See Ezech. 7.5 6 7. 2. Pet. 2.3 Speaking of false Teachers he saith their judgment lingers not but is hastening on its way their damnation slumbreth not it keeps waking to seize on them in due time And indeed what is it that hindreth vengeance from falling on sinners but onely the Lords patience Thaâ— consuming fire is at hand readie to lick thee up and to destroy thee there is but one stepp betwixt thee and death The Lord might forthwith stop thy breath anâ— then thou art gone for ever the ladder iâ— every moment like to be turned thoâ— hangest but by one weake threed and wheâ— that is broken then thou droppest into thâ— flames of hell 5. Punishing sinne with sinne a very sad effect of the curse when the Lord hath determined to set home the curse upon a sinner with a witnesse then he leaves him to himself for his former provocations either to run himself deeper into the same sinnes or else to fall into more vile and vicious courses and so to heap up wrath against himself As sometimes a father saith of an hopeless child Seeing he will not be reclaymed let him take his course let him run himself out of breath and hasten to his owne ruine Thus he scourged the Gentiles for their wilde courses against the light of Nature Rom. 1.26.28 And the Jewes for their contempt of the word Psal 81.11 12. And their opposing the Gospell 1. Thes 2.15 16. Thus the Lord deales with many of the secure sleepie sinners they give no regard to the offer of mercie therefore the Lord shutts them up in ignorance and saith let him that is ignorant filthy carnall be so still they are not bettered by mercies or judgments therefore they shall be made worse The close deceiver becomes a grosse robber and God gives him over to lying swearing forswearing c. The immoderate use of the creatures becomes grosly riotous God gives him up to beastly drunkenness mispending of his time wasting his estate yea sometimes to wantonness and bodily filthyness to hatred yea scorning of good counsel and the like abhominable practices 6. Hellish terrours startlings of conscience feare of death and of the Judgment to come These are the sparkles which flie up out of these everlasting burnings while the furnace is in heating to devoure the ungodly of the earth Isa 33.14 Fearfulness surprizeth the hypocrites Heb. 2.15 It s one maine branch of mans naturall miserie that through feare of death he is all his life subject unto bondage Act. 24.25 When the Aostle Paul preached of the Judgment to come Felix trembled The sinner feeles many a privie nippe while he is walking on in the wayes of his owne heart he hath gripings in his spirit that torment him and he feeles the flashing of hell fire sometimes in his conscience so that he is appaled with the foresight of the wrath to come His heart smites him and tels him that Vengeance lyes in wait for him because of ignorance drunkenness contempt of the Gospell c. The thoughts of death and judgment damp him and strike him to the heart and he saith oh I must once goe downe into the dust what shall then become of this poore soule * Animula vagula blandula Quae nunc abâ—bis in loca I must be brought to judgment how shall such a sinful wretch as I look the great Judge of heaven and earth in the face Alas poore sinner thou settest a good face on the matter before men but thy heart knowes that it is thus 2. The strange properties or qualities of the curse Strange properties of the Curse are especially these 5. I call them strange because 1. Most of them lie out of the road of the naturall mans apprehension and beliefe they are hid from his eyes he will not easily be perswaded of them 2. Yea the godly themselves doe not so clearly discerne nor so carefully observe or make use of them as they might 1. It is a grievous and a bitter curse Can there be any thing more grievous and bitter than the abandoning of the creature from God It was a very girevous curse which Shimei the Benjamite shott against King David as David himself termes it 1. Kin. 2.8 A strong sore forcible curse so the originall word signifies How much more rightly may all this be spoken of the curse of Gods Royall Law When the Angel of the Lord would measure out a curse against the Merozites according to the bredth of their sinne he bids curse them bitterly Jud. 5.23 Gods curse against sinners is bitter Jer. 4.18 It s made up of gall and worme-wood * Ier. 8.14.9.15 When Solomon would give warning of the danger which may come by the ensnaring of an whorish woman he tells us that in his owne experience he finds her more bitter than death Eccl. 7.26 If he had knowne any thing more bitter he would have mentioned it Now the curse of the Law is the death 〈◊〉 â—he sinner Gen. 2.17 The curse of the people upon Merciles self-seeking persons is grievous it bites sore Pro. 11.26 28.27 Oh
but what then is the curse of him who is the God of all people that 's but a flea-biting to this 2. It 's a grounded and authorative curse It hath a superscription and stampe of divine warrant upon it the power of heaven goes along with it which puts weight upon it and makes it heavie and bitter Elisha cursed the mocking children in the name of the Lord and that curse commissioned and enraged the 2 she beares to teare them in peices 2. Kin. 2.23.24 So the Law curseth the sinfull children of Adam in the name of the Lord and this curse armeth all Gods judgments against them The causles curse is contemptible it shall not come Pro. 26.2 But the Law of God finds abundant cause in the sonnes of men and therefore it curseth with authoritie and efficacie When a naturall father curseth his children as Noah Cham Gen. 9.25 And Jacob Simeon and Levi Gen. 49.7 This breaths out authority and therefore it strikes deep When the Pope curseth with bell book and candle as they say his seduced slaves which have received his marke tremble at it because they apprehend though falsly the authoritie of Christ himself to be in it how much greater cause of trembling is there when the father of the spirits who is God over all curseth transgressours 3. It 's an impâ—â—â—iall and thorough-dealing curse it overtakes all sinners none can escape or avoyd it Cursed is every one that continueth not in al things c. vers 10. Before No abilitie of nature or religious priviledge or any excellencie whatsoever can possibly shelter or safeguard thee from it till thou arrivest at Jesus Christ We read of Levi that he knew not his father nor his mother nor his brethren nor his owne children Deut. 33.9 So the curse of the Law saith unto every one without exception I have not seen thee I doe not know thee it falls downe-right on all without respect of persons They use to picture Justice blind even the justice of humane Lawes so the justice of the divine Law is after a sort blind it can neither be bribed nor dashed out of countenance it cannot be swayed either by feare or favour it takes no notice of any by considerations which might turne it aside from it's right course Zach. 5.3 The flying roule goes over the face of the whole earth to cut of every one that stealeth and every one that sweaâ—eth c. Yea it 's so impartiall that it will not spare or favour a justifyed person who is now under the wings of Christs blessing but will look grimly upon him and reach him some sharp lashes if it find him faultie or miscarrying 4. It 's a subtil and a spirituall curse it peirceth into the inwards and goes downe into the bowels of the bellie it can strike the very spirit of the sinner so that oftentimes when no curse appeares without yet then there is nothing but curse within when the outward man is compassed about with blessings the inward man lies in the midst of all evil yea is filled with the curse of God The bodie is fat and faire liking the bones flourish like an herb the Estate prospers their name is up no bands in their death c. but even then God sendeth leanness into their soules Psal 106.15 Their minds are more blinded their hearts more hardened their consciences more seared they are more crusted they grow more secure and uncapable of any good Lam. 3.65 Give them obstinacie of heart thy curse upon them Let their hearts be covered over as with a buckler to keep of every blow from Gods word or hand This is Gods curse on the heart so that while all things are so well composed without that they promise to themselves nothing but blessing yet even then the curse of God sits close on their spirits and ripens them insensibly for destruction 5. It 's a standing and abiding curse The Justice of God hath brought it so home and given it such a deep expression into the nature of man that it 's unremoveable No power either of man himself or of any or all the creatures in heaven or earth is able to take it off The sinfull soule under the curse of the Law is like to a prisoner bound hand and foot and throwne into the dungeon readie for execution he cannot loose the chaines nor get himself out he is sure for starting No power abilitie disposednes in or from the sinner himself can availe any thing towards the ridding of him from the jawes of the curse No footsteppe or possibilitie of help by or from the creature man or Angell to put to a little finger towards his release from it The flying Roule which enters into the house of the Theife and swearer must remaine in the midst of his house and consume it timber and stones and all Zach. 5.4 The wrath of God abides on the disobedient sinner Jo. 3.36 Time cannot wear it out Isa 65.20 If a remedie be tendered to the sinner he is utterly uncapable of it * 1 Cor. 2.14 He hath nothing which can concur with grace whereby to further his recovery in the least measure but contrariwise he fastens the curse more upon himself * Rom. 2.5 and runs more and more into the clutches of it and further still out of the reach of blessedness Lay all these things together and judge in your selves what cause we have to reflect sadly upon our selves and to lie downe in dust and ashes under the sence of our owne miserie as finding and knowing our selves to lie under the stroke of his great and terrible curse Woe is me for the lamentable ignorance and sottishnes of our people generally which sport and sing and walk merrily under this burthen as if they were the happiest creatures under the Sun But oh be convinced of it and put it not away from you any longer Why will you not acknowledge your selves to be such as the Lord and his Law have found and voted you to be will you goe about to make the Law a vaine thing and the Lawgiver a liar That thou canst never doe the word of the Lord endureth for ever let God be true and every man a lyar Come downe into the dust cast away thy plumess thy corrupt fancies of an imaginarie blessednes thou art really a cursed man Please not thy self in this Hell of thine as if it were an Heaven but be advised to take downe this unquestionable truth and know it for thy self that it may lie neer to thy heart and thou mayst be humbled under thy wofull condition Thus much of the 2d use Sect. 4. Use 3d 4th THirdly let us heare pause a while that we may consider and admire the wonderfull condescension of the Lords goodnes and wisdome towards the sonnes of men in that he doth so sweetly allay and mitigate the curse that it doth not poure out all it's furie upon us All the inhabitants of the world being
accursed through sinne it 's a wonder that the first and second death have not fallen pel-mel upon them all and devoured them at once it s a wonder that the curse hath not dashed us all to peices and brought the whole world into a Chaos long agoe This is from the wise and good providence of God who for the preservation of the whole frame and for the comfort of his owne people doth snub restraine and moderate the curse and keepes it within certaine bounders as the Sea within its banks that it cannot overflow and destroy the earth We see that the horse the Ox and other such like creatures have not quite renounced mans service but are easily brought into subjection Yea the most savage creatures are not invincibly rebellions but God affords to man both skill and power to tame them Jam. 3.7 And 2. What a mercifull dispensation is this that such swarmes of curses should flie abroad in the world and yet so very few of them in comparison should touch us That so few are born blind deafe maimed idiots That nature is sustained in health strength vigour yea that we live upon the earth and enjoy the influence of heaven That the heaven over our head is not brasse and the earth under our feet iron yea that we are in any estate short of hel who might justly have been stript of all at once and made the common Butt of all his curses And further Isa 3. What a sweet providence is it that when the Lord inflicteth evils or judgments which are properly and in themselves the bitter fruits of the curse he doth not alwayes inflict them meerly as curses in reference to the sinnes of the persons but sometimes onely praeventions of sinne and the miseries which follow it as 1. Cor. 11.32 Or as exercises of patience as in the famous example of Job or as meanes which his divine wisdome is pleased to use for the manifestation of his owne glorie in some way or other Whereof we have a notable instance in the man which was blind from his birth Jo. 9.1.2.3 The disciples ask our Saviour whose sinne was the cause of that judgment his owne or his parents He answers neither of both but that the works of God should be made manifest in him his meaning is this you think this man is thus marked out for some notorious sinne either of his owne Or his Parents but you are mistaken for although sinne be an universal cause of all judgments ⸫ See Piscator and Gualter on the place yet in this case the Lord did not look upon the sinnes of either of them as the adaequate or next mooving cause of inflicting this blindness but he intended hereby the manifestation of his works the work of justice and severitie in afflicting him so sadly and so long the work of goodnes and mercie in bestowing the blessing of sight upon him and cheifly that this miracle wrought by me saith Chirst may be a cleare and undeniable demonstration that I am the Son of God seeing it could not possibly be done by any other hand ⸫ ab v. 32. To shut up this use let us not reckon our selves the lesse miserable because of these and the like providences but rather ascribe them to the indulgence of mercie and adore the glorie of his dispensations who suffereth us not to be so accursed as we deserve 4ly Hence I inferre that there is no justification to be had no nor any possibilitie thereof by the works of the Law It is a vaine thing once to expect it The Law curseth sinners how then doth it bless them but if it justifie them it blesseth them All men are under the curse of the Law therefore no man is under the acquittance and absolution of the Law This is one of the Apostles arguments in the verses before to look for justification and blessing from the Law is not onely to lose our labour but also to bring upon our selves more mischeif It s the way to inwrappe us more in the folds of the curse to implunge us into a deeper Sea of guilt yea to seale up the curse against our owne soules and to make it sure to our selves Observe what is the conclusion which the Apostle would prove from the text alledged out of Deuteronomie vers 10. before It is that those which are of the works of the Law are under the curse that is not onely those which break the Law or doe not keep it perfectly but those that depend upon it and reckon of justification by the works of it even these also are accursed so Rom. 3.19.20 The Law chargeth all men with sinne and thereby stoppes every ones mouth and makes all the world subject to the vengeance of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whence it followes unavoydably that no flesh shall be justified by the deeds of the Law Therefore the Apostle professeth that he would by no meanes be found having his owne righteousnes which is of the Law Phil. 3.9 As if he should say If I should appeare before Gods judgment-seat clothed in that habit he would abhorre me and I were utterly undone So then there is no justification to be had by the Law No man can possibly reach that conformitie to the Law of God either inward or outward in the frame of the heart or cariage of the life which will be able to plead his justification in the sight of God It is not any good qualitie within us or any goodwork that comes from us or both joyned together though never so excellent for kind or degree that can set us right in the court of heaven There is nothing at all which a man hath nothing at all which he doth or can doe for which God will pronounce him righteous but when he hath done all and is got up to the highest pitch the Law will tell him to his face that he is still Accursed This is needfull to be urged for not onely the world but the churches of Christ are full of justitiaries which carve unto themselvs an imaginary self-righteousness according to the Law Oh that these persons would open their eares to this truth and take it down Of these I observe 4 sorts I meane such as seek a Blessedness by the Law which they shall never find 1. Professed Papists which submit unto and hold fast the establish'd doctrine of the Church of Rome especially as it is set forth in the councell of Trent where they determine thus The alone formal cause of the Justification of a sinner before God or that which gives being to it is Righteousness implanted or a new qualitie of grace or frame of holines wrought in the soule which what is it else but personall and inhaerent conformitie to the Law of God They tell us further of a first justification whereby of unrighteous a man is made righteous and secondly whereby of unrighteous he is made more righteous The former if I mistake not they hold incompleat
must lye by it for ever Let us work this meditation on our hearts for our deeper humiliation 3 It presents unto us the exactness and impartialness of the justice of God against sinners in that he will let the curse fall even on the head of his onely begotten Son if he finde sin upon him Tribulation and anguish must be upon every soul of man that doth evill without respect of persons Rom. 2.9 11. An unquestionable Maxime for we see tribulation and anguish have fallen heavy upon the soul of the Man-Christ though he did no evil himself onely because he was numbred with the Transgressors and bare the sins of many by imputation We may look upon it as a miracle of Justice and stand wondring at the Lords proceedings against Christ how the curse was inflicted on him in all the punishments of it yea the most grievous and piercing that can be imagined If any might have escaped who more likely than the Son of his bosome the Son of his delights but he might not be spared Justice will not suffer it but puts in its plea and saith I expect reparation for the transgression of my righteous Law If therefore Jesus Christ hath undertaken to pay this debt for sinners let him look to it I must and will be satisfied to the uttermost farthing He is willing to be their Surety and to stand in their room let him therefore bear the whole burden I will not acquit him till he hath discharged the whole debt No no his loud crying and tears his bloody and painful sweats his fervent and heaven-piercing prayers his often renewed petitions that this cup might pass away from him not any one of these nor all these could prevail to stay the hand of Divine justice but he must take off this cup of the Curse and drink it even to the bottome Oh that our secure sinners in Sion would weigh these things sadly and take the measure of the Lords severity against sin by his dealing with his own Son and think thus If these things be done in the green tree what shall be done in the dry Luke 23.31 If he was so strict with his Son what will he be to his slave If he dealt so sharply with his darling how will he deal with his enemy If his righteous servant escape thus hardly where shall the ungodly and sinner appear Prov. 11.31 4 It commends unto us the unspeakableness of the love of the Lord Jesus to poor undone sinners Behold here the Son of God the only begotten of the Father who is the image of the invisible God the first-born of every creature the brightness of his Fathers glory and the dearly beloved of his soul who is cloathed with honour and majesty and whom all the Angels worship even he is come down from heaven hath laid aside his Majesty put off the robes of his glory and abased himself to the lower parts of the earth to become not onely a worm and a reproach of men but also a curse for Adam his wretched posterity to take off the curse of the Law from their shoulders and to stand accursed in their stead Listen and hear 〈…〉 Dien Carth. how sweetly he bespeaks the Lord on our behalf Holy Father here is a company of poor miserable debtors very bankrupts wretched malefactors which lye under thy heavy displeasure and are the children of death but I appear here as their Surety I have taken all upon me require no debt inflict no punishment on them put it all on mine accounts I will discharge all their scores I will answer whatsoever can be laid to their charge Oh incomparable love surpassing all that can be found in the creature the highest pitch whereof reacheth but to friends Joh. 15.13 that is to such as are friendly kinde beneficial to us from whom we have received such good turns as do oblige us to a return of thankfulness and yet even this love is very rare To dare to dye for a good man that is a kinde man that hath been good to us is but a peradventure So much doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 import in some places as in Mat. 20.15 Eph. 4.29 Rom. 5.7 But God commends his love to us in that while we were sinners and therefore enemies Christ dyed for us vers 8.10 So then here is unparalleld loving kindness for who would stoop thus low Who would become contemptible yea abominable for others who would bee content to lye under the extremest miseries for enemies traitors and the worst of creatures Who would entertain and imbrace a curse upon any tearms and not rather shun and avoid it yet this hath the Lord Jesus done for us Oh that we had hearts to admire this miracle of mercy Sect. 5. Use 2. Exhortation in two branches SEcondly Hence we may also draw wholesome matter of Exhortation Hath Christ undergone the Curse Was he made a Curse in our stead who lye under the curse of the Law Oh that all the sons and daughters of Adam would take this into their serious thoughts that thereby they may be excited to learn and to practise two very necessary lessons 1 Of wisdome for themselves 2 Of duty to the Lord Jesus 1 Such poor sinners as have been convinced by the former doctrine of their accursed condition should now be wise for themselves even to give free way to him to take the curse from off them that he may bear it and not to take it to themselves Art thou now sensible of thy sinfull condition Dost thou hear the Law cursing thee aloud in thy conscience And dost thou feel the sting and venome of it drinking up thy spirit Then take to thy self the boldness to send it to Christ tell it Jesus Christ hath removed the curse from thee and laid it on his own shoulders Say Indeed I am a great sinner deeply implunged in transgression mine own iniquities have prevailed against me and are gone over my head and therefore the curse doth justly lye upon me and might presse me down into the nethermost hell but the Lord Jesus blessed be his name for ever is become a curse for me he hath born it in my stead it lyes not now on me but on him If thou hast ought to say against me go to him he will answer thee to the full This might be very seasonable if well digested to such convinced humbled sinners as are of so little faith that they dare not reckon of any good by Jesus Christ Oh saith the poor broken soul Wo is me I am undone for I am a vile accursed wretch I hear indeed that the Lord Jesus is becomed a curse for sinners but as for my self I fear the news are too good to be true I cannot be perswaded that he is made a curse for me What the Son of God made a curse for me for such a base sinful worthless creature as I am It is not probable I cannot beleeve it No no I must
of peace and salvation to the lost world but every mothers childe of us had continued in the bond of iniquity and had suffered the extremity of the curse in our own persons for ever For this is the very next bottome whereupon all Gospel-grace and whatsoever is necessary to the salvation of sinners doth stand and as it were the soul from which it hath both being and breathing The excellency of the cause hath a strong influence into the effect to make it excellent also If we look upon the nature and frame of man in the first Creation his body curiously wrought out of the dust of the earth his soul breathed into him from heaven to be both a living creature and made after the Image of God Gen. 1.26 2.7 and all this done with a word we cannot but say it is a very excellent and precious work David stands wondering at it Psal 139.14 15. How much more excellent and precious is the work of grace which is the fruit of Redemption our second Creation for the effecting whereof the Lord did not onely Let it be but as if that were not sufficient the second person must lay aside his glory and take upon him the form of a servant and not onely bear our nature but also our sin and curse even to the death Phil. 2.7 8. By this we should estimate the exceeding great worth of that grace which is brought unto us by the revelation of the Gospel If some good things of nature be precious much more are those of grace Deut. 33.1 c. Prov. 3.14 15. And if we cannot but wonder at some of the eminentest works of nature how much more cause have we to admire the beauty and glory of that great work of grace which the Apostle calls marvellous light 1 Pet. 2.9 See 1 Pet. 1.12 4 God will have a Church Although Adam and all his posterity revolted from God and ran away into the tents of Satan his utter enemy to his dishonour and their own ruine yet for all that he hath a designe to fetch back and recover a number of them to make them his own people and thereby to glorifie the riches of his grace towards them in an eminent measure Me thinks I hear the Lord speaking on this manner What hath the crooked Serpent of hell served me thus Hath he enticed Adam unto rebellion against me and cheated him into the curse of my Law Alas poor man I pitty thee that thou hast suffered thy self to be thus ensnared How art thou fallen from thy dignity Into what a gulf of perdition hast thou implunged all thy posterity Ier. 48.30 But I know Satan his pride his malice and his envy that he would not leave me a people on the earth to serve me I know his wrath but it shall not be so his lyes shall not so effect it I will take a speedy course to befool him in his own plot I will have a people that shall be for my praise in despite of him Having therefore predestinated from eternity a considerable number of this forlorn generation and finding them now among the pots covered all over with filth and shame through their Apostacy his infinite wisdome deviseth a way to recover them out of captivity He gives the Lord Jesus out of his own bosome thaâ— by taking upon him the curse due to them he might ransome them from the curse and separate them from the lost world which lyes in wickedness and under the power of Satan and so form them for himself that they might shew forth his praise Isa 43.21 These are the very matter whereof the Church consists I mean the invisible Church which may be defined a chosen company of the posterity of Adam whom God hath purchased with his own blood out of every Kindred and Tongue and People Mat 16.18 and Nation to be a peculiar people to himself Act. 20.28 Rev. 5.9 Tit. 2.14 Thus out of the ashes of this ruined world God raiseth up to himself a glorious Phenix Eph. 5.26 A Church which shall never dye but shall be established for ever Psal 102.28 125.1 5 The Church is very dear and precious in the eyes of the Lord Jesus They are the purchase of his own blood and thereby are become his peculiar people The costliness of any commodity puts upon it a suitable preciousness endearing it to the person which bare the cost of it Jacob served a hard service for Rachel and that inhanced her worth in his heart and increased his love to her so that the dayes seemed to him but a few Gen. 29.20 Michal Davids wife cost him two hundred fore-skins of the Philistims 1 Sam. 18.27 A great adventure an high exploit This doubtless rendred her the more dear to him which appears by his peremptory requiring her after she was unjustly taken away from him and had been some years another mans wife Probably seven years 2 Sam. 3.13 14 c. Jesus Christ served a very hard service and wrought a very great exploiâ— that he might purchase unto himself a Church to be his Spouse and having compassed her with much difficulty he looks upon her as his Sister his Love his Dove his fair One yea all fair the fairest among women the One the onely One the choice One his heart is ravished with her Cant. 4.9 she is as the poor mans little Ewe Lamb that lay in his bosome and was unto him as a Daughter 2 Sam. 12.31 A Kingdome or City wonne in battel with confused noise Hephzibah Isa 62.4 Multo sanguine ac vulneribus ea victoria stetit and garments rolled in blood Isa 9.5 is so much more dear to the Conquerour because it cost so dear The Kingdome of heaven the City of the great King is conquered out of the the hands of Satan at a very dear rate It cost the Lord Jesus strong crying and tears yea much blood and many wounds therefore surely it is very near to his heart and precious in his sight Isa 43.4 6 The condition of the invisible Church and all the members of the Lords chosen people is incomparably happy They are the onely renowned Society in the world for they are the Lords Redeemed ones This glorious design when once it takes place in poor lost sinners and is laid in their bosomes puts them into a glorious estate We may say of the Church as Moses of Israel Deut. 33.29 Happy art thou who is like unto thee O people saved by the Lord c. That we may take the length and breadth of this happiness let us look upon Redemption in its 1 Properties 2 Benefits 3 Priviledges Sect. 2. Three properties of Redemption and three Benefits issue from it 1 REdemption by Christ hath these three excellent Properties 1 It s free and gracious As the Israelites sold themselves to their corporal enemies for naught so we became slaves to our spiritual enemies without price and as they so we are redeemed without
c. and in that Prayer which he put up so solemnly before his passion he makes requests for those that should beleeve hereafter Joh. 17.20.21 Non humiliter supplicando quasi genibus flexis sed gloriose representande c. Ames Medul l. 1. c. 23. And what he did on earth he doth much more in heaven although not in the same manner but in such a way as agrees to a glorified estate not by falling down on his knees in humble supplications but by presenting his sufferings with the satisfaction and merit of them and procuring at the hands of his Father the actual application of them to poor sinners for their conversion and salvation according to that Psal 2.8 Ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance c. It was by vertue of his prayer on the Cross that so many thousands were brought in as the first fruits immediately after his Ascention and it is by vertue of his intercession in heaven that the whole harvest of the Elect shall be brought in also in all succeeding generations 2 For those that are actually made partakers of this grace of Redemption He appears continually before God to plead their cause Aaron had a brestplate of Judgement wherein were set twelve precious stones with the names of the twelve Tribes of the Children of Israel engraven upon them that he might bear them upon his heart when he went into the holy place for a memorial before the Lord Exod. 28 15.-29 So our Lord Jesus the High Priest of our profession hath the names of all his redeemed people as signets on his heart and presents them continually to his Father in heaven that upon the account of his All-sufficient Sacrifice offered for them he may perswade and prevaile with him for all necessary supplies of grace in all their concernments to continue them in their reconciled condition to give them daily strength to obey him to issue out pardons for their daily slips 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In opposition to Satan who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev. 12.10 1 Joh. 2.1 2. He that is our Propitiation is also our Advocate with the Father and to hold them close to him so that not one of them shall perish but they shall all arrive at the happy haven of eternal glory All this was prefigured in the Law The High-priest having first offered a Goat for the whole Congregation of Israel must come the same day into the Holy of Holies and bring the blood with him and sprinkle it on and before the Mercy-seat withall burning Incense that a cloud might arise and cover it that by thus doing on one solemn day every year he might make an Attonement for all their sins Lev. 16.15 16 -33 34. Even so Jesus Christ our High-Priest having given up himself a sacrifice for the sins of the world and thereby obtained eternal Redemption entered into heaven and there appears with his blood to make Intercession through the merit of it for guilty sinners sprinkling their consciences with it to purge them from dead works Heb. 9 12.-14 to render them accepted by the Incense of his prayers and to manage the whole business of their salvation to the end Christ our Surety carries the price of our Redemption to heaven and renders it in his Fathers house See here righteous Father saith he this is the ransome for lost Man-kinde I have brought the full summe my will is that it shall be effectual both to deliver those that are still captives and to bring those home thou hast given me infallibly to salvation Thus ouâ— redemption by Christ becoming a Curse for us was not onely fully satisfactory to justice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A savour of rest Gen. 8.21 Numb 28.2 but also an offering and sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour Eph. 5.2 Oh what an happiness is this Dear heart thou hast a fast friend in the Court who is both able and willing to look to thy cause and to follow thy business that it shall not miscarry thou needest not fear but he will save thee to the uttermost Heb. 7.25 4 Our Redeemer hath purchased of his Father the gift of his holy Spirit that he may bestow it on all the Elect Having purchased it by hâ—s passion he conveyes it by his intercession Ioh. 14.16 and thereby both fetch them in and carry them on in the state of grace The Apostle acquaints us with this priviledge also in the 14. verse following God sent his Son to redeem us that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith Christ in his Sermon at Nazareth applies to himself that notable Prophesie which is set down Isa 61.1 2. concerning his anointing and sending to heal the broken-hearted and to set at liberty them that are bruised ascribing this to the Spirit Luke 4.18.21 The Redeemer coming out of Zion shall not onely turn away ungodliness from Jacob but convey unto them his Spirit which shal never be taken away from them Isa 29.20 21. The Lord promiseth to put his Spirit on the Messiah his Servant that he may bring forth judgement unto victory Isa 42.1 2. c. which was fulfilled in part Matth. 12.17 18 c. Christ promiseth the Apostles to send the Spirit of Truth from the Father to testifie of him Joh. 15.26 and that even for the conversion of those that hated him as vers 24. Yea he shall convince the world of sin righteousness and judgement Joh. 16.8 c. shewing them the things which he receives from Christ and so glorifying him vers 14. They that are freed from condemnation by Christ coming in the flesh have the Spirit of God dwelling in them Rom. 8.1 2 9. for all necessary supplies in the way of salvation to teach them all things Joh. 14.26 to soften their hearts and to inable them to obey Ezek. 11.19 20. to change them into the image of the Lords glory 2 Cor. 3.18 to frame them to the affections of children and to stir up in them groans of prayer Rom. 8.26 27. Gal. 4.6 to witness with their spirits their adoption As Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to plead for us with God in heaven so the Spirit is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to plead for Christ with us on earth Ioh. 14.16 Rom. 8.16 to be a seal and earnest of their inheritance untill the day of final Redemption Eph. 1.13 14. and to raise up their mortal bodies at the last day Rom. 8.11 Oh admirable priviledge Judge in your selves If a King having ransomed a company of his subjects from Turkish slavery should send to every one of them a Noble-man to be alwayes near them were not this an incredible favour And if Jesus Christ the King of Saints should send a glorified Saint or a good Angel to abide with his redeemed people what an honour were it But if he should give his Spirit to be our Keeper Comforter Leader yea our All under himself
their breathing in the air treading on the earth and the like common favours are the fruits of Redemption Every Son and daughter of Adam is beholding to the grace of the Redeemer for their very lives and their reprival from the damnation of hell yea were it not for this the whole world might probably have been turned into a Chaos again It 's certain that this great visible fabrick with all the creatures in it both living and liveless Sun Moon Starres Elements Plants c. is subject to vanitie God hath subjected it in his just judgement for man's Apostasie So that it lies under the bondage of corruption the creatures have lost much of their beauty and virtue they are forced to do service to the servants of sin Matth. 5.45 The good things of the earth are put to bad uses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mundi partium in ea summus est consensus quod omnes una finem istorum malorum expectant Beza and imployed to the dishonour of the Creator Hos 2.8 under this heavy burthen they sigh yea they travel in pain and that together with joynt consent earnestly exspecting an end of these evils which shall be at the day of the general judgement when all things shall be restored Acts 3.21 and the children of God shall be possessed of full redemption The creature was made for man and as it became a sharer with him in the bondage of corruption so it shall be also according to its capacity in his deliverance and glorious liberty to come Rom. 8.19 20 c. How this shall be by what means and in what manner it is not easie to determine Some think by a total abolition of the substance and if it cease to be it ceases to be under bondage The most say by an alteration of qualities it shall be so changed as it shall seem to be not the same but another and the Scripture tells us that the heavens and earth that are now are reserved to be burnt with fire 2 Pet. 3.7.10 which say they So some expound Job 14.12 see Caryl on that text at large is meant of their purgation not their annihilation Howsoever it be for the manner the thing is without question the creature shall be delivered Now this priviledg flowes from the Redemption wrought by Christ For 1. As it was man's sin that brought the curse upon the creature so the taking away of the sin of man is the taking of the curse from the creature even as the restoring of a Traitor is the restoring of all that depends upon him 2. The present Liberty and glory of the sonnes of God is an effect of Redemption therefore so is the Liberty and glory which the creature shall enjoy with them this being an appurtenance to that and as the shadow to the body It behoves us to take notice of this for our selves It should sadden our hearts when we consider that the Creature fares worse through our Apostasie and yet it may rejoyce us that it fares better by our recovery But I have dwelt too long on the use of Information I shall therefore dismiss it and proceed to another CHAP. VII Use 3. Sect. 1. Consolation against sinnes old and new severally 3. THe Lords Redeemed may with joy draw up cordial waters of Consolation out of this well of salvation The former use hath afforded us much matter of refreshing having sent forth sundry crystal streames of comfort to make glad the city of our God Yet there is moee behinde The main Conclusion Isa 12.3 that Christ hath ransomed us from the curse by becoming a curse for us is a solid ground of consolation to poor sinners against sundry distempers or annoyances whereunto they are subject in this life as 1. Against sinne which may be considered 1. as it was in there old estate of bondage 2. as it is now in their restored condition 1. For the former The humbled soul looking back upon his old slavery under sin may conceive cause of discouragement by sundry aggravations of it which will present themselves unto him But the right understanding of this truth will afford him help against them I observe especially four 1. The greatness and heynousness of his sinnes in particular Oh saith he were mine iniquities of an ordinary size I could have hope but alas they are mighty ones like the great mountains some of them are of a deep die crying crimson scarlet sinnes outragious miscarriages they are gone over my head and reach up to the heavens But oh poor soul dost thou think that thy sinnes can be greater than Christs satisfaction or that he took upon him the curse of small sinnes Dicat terra redempta sanguine Magna iniquitas mea sed maâ—or est redemptio tua Aug. 2 King 21.1 2 c. 16. and not of great ones Assuredly this is a mighty redemption a great salvation God made his power wonderfull in the work of Creation and he makes his mercy as wonderfull in this work of new creation Art thou a greater sinner then Manasseh Read his story where the Holy Ghost points him out in his black and ugly colours and tell me if thou didst ever hear of such a monster yet the fruit of this Redemption reached even unto him for upon his humiliation the Lord was intreated of him 2 Chron. 33.12 13. thy greatest sinnes are finite but the merit of Christ's redemption is infinite If some mountains were removed and hurled into the great Ocean it would swallow them up that they could not be seen So the Sea of Christs bloud will drown the huge mountains of thy iniquities Though thy sinnes be as scarlet thy Redeemer will make them white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool Isa 1.18 Oh then never lay the weight of thy guilt in the balance with Christs satisfaction never fear that that will overweigh this Thy surety hath made thy peace for the greatest as well as the smallest faults He was charged with thy most heinous crimes that thou mightest be delivered from the curse of them 2. The multitude and numerousnes of them Though I have not committed such greisly enormous sinnes as some others have done yet I have made that up in the number which is wanting in weight my transgressions are manifold yea innumerable more than the haires of mine head Psal 40.12 or the sands that are on the sea shore Be it so But dost thou think that they are more than Christs merits Hath he born in his body and made satisfaction for all the sinnes of all the Elect from Adam to the last man on earth and dost thou fear thy sinnes are so very many that this satisfaction cannot reach to take them away The Apostle comparing the guilt of the first sin with the free gift by Christ gives the preheminence to this in that the former brought condemnation for one but this latter brings justification for many offences Rom. 5.16 and