of the Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father by faith and this must bee done at the doore of the Tabernacle the meaning is he is a common Saviour to all beleevers that as it is in a common ground every one hath a share in it and every borderer though never so poore may come and put on and feed his cattle as well as the best so here every poore beleever may come and feed upon the Lord Jesus Christ therefore the Apostle in the 3. verse of Iude cals it the common salvation not common to all the wicked and unbeleevers but to all the faithfull that border upon the promises and doe beleeve in them it is common to them all and the man that offered the sacrifice was to lay his hand upon the head of the sacrifice and there to confesse all the sinnes of the children of Israel this was the unburthening himselfe of his sinne and laying it upon the head of the sacrifice the Lord Jesus Christ that so what wee are not able to beare hee may beare for us and answer divine justice for us and so there was another ceremony Leviticus 16.21 Of the scape goat there were two sacrifices to bee offered the one was to bee a burnt offering and the other was to escape Aaron was to put his hand upon the head of the live goat and to confesse over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel and their trespasses putting them upon the head of the live goat and shall send him away by the hand of a man appointed into the wildernesse so the goat shall beare upon him all the iniquities to a land not inhabited and the other was to be offered up for a burnt offering this was the type now the intendment of the ceremony was this the goat was the Lord Jesus Christ and when Aaron did put his hands upon the head of the goat and confesse over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel and did put them upon the head of the goat it was thus much God the Father did charge all the sinnes of all the world upon the Lord Jesus Christ even of all from the beginning of the world to the end of it and did put them all upon the Lord Christ and howsoever he was a sacrifice for sinne yet hee was a scape goat and hath escaped out of the hands of hell and death and is now in Heaven and with him all beleevers shall escape from hell and death by the power of his merits Further ye see how the Prophet expounds the Law Esay 53.4 5. We thought him afflicted and buffetted for himselfe but he was wounded for our sins and broken for our iniquities hee was neglected amongst the wicked and they judged him as smitten for his owne sins but he was wounded for our sins imputed to him that wee through him might bee eased thereof and therefore the Text saith Hee bore our iniquities and me thinkes it hath reference to the scape goat and it is that which the Apostle doth peremptorily say Heb. 7.22 He was made a suretie of a better covenant Now the suretie hath not onely the payment to make but hee is accounted as the debtor the debt is laid to his charge as well as the payment is required thus the point is proved Now for the better discovery of this Doctrine let me doe two things First I will shew after what manner God did this and what is the behaviour of the Lord when hee chargeth the sinnes of the faithfull upon Christ Secondly I will shew the reasons of it why God the Father did so whereby it shall appeare that it is reasonable and it doth wonderfully magnifie the Justice and mercy of God Quest. 1 For the first if a man aske me what God the Father doth when hee chargeth the sinnes of the faithfull upon Christ Answer I answer this act carries three things in it or God brings about the worke by a threefold act First God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ made a mutuall decree and purpose that so many should beleeve they should bee saved And they did not only purpose this but they did make a mutuall agreement betweene themselves that the Lord Jesus Christ should take the care of those soules to make them beleeve and to save them by beleeving and the Lord Jesus Christ undertooke the worke according to their compact God the Father said I will have these children saved and Christ saith I will take the care of them Iohn 10.14 15 16. It s strange to see how our Saviour there speakes of his Office in the 14. verse he saith I am the good Shepheard and know mine and am knowne of mine that is I know those that are committed to my charge and knowledge even as the shepherd knowes his sheepe but how doth the Lord Christ know who God the Father will have to be saved looke verse 15. As the Father knoweth me so know I the Father and wee have agreed amongst our selves that so many shall bee saved The Father hath said I will have so many soules saved and Christ saith those soules shall bee my care and charge and in the 16. verse hee saith Other sheeâ— I have also which are not of this sold them also must I bring and they shall heare my voyce when the Father hath revealed that so many in such a place and so many in such a place shall bee saved then the Lord Christ undertakes the care of them and he calls at such a doore and saith I must have that poore drunken creature and he must be humbled and broken hearted and he must beleeve and he calls at such a doore and findes the adulterer in the armes of the harlot and hee saith I must have that unclean wretch I must humble him for his sinnes and I must make a separation betweene him and his sinnes A good shepheard will have a care of his sheep and will fetch them wheresoever they be as it was with David He did fetch his prey from the mouth of the Lion so though there were never so many baits to allure a man yet if the Lord Christ intend to save him hee will fetch him out of the mouth of the Lion and he saith that poore soule is mine I have taken the charge of him and therefore I must have him and he must heare my voice nay he shall heare my voyce Many times you have turned the deafe eare upon Christ and hee calls and knocks and yet that will not serve the turne untill hee breakes in upon the soule by horrour of heart therefore God the Father commits the care of all those wandring soules to the charge of Christ and hee will have them by one means or other As it is with a Husbandman that hath a great flocke of sheepe and he saith to his sonne loe I commit the care of them to thee loe here they are I would have thee to be carefull of them the number thou knowest and the
that Christ charged them upon himselfe they both make a compact that poore lost man shall be saved and Christ submits and is contented to beare their sinnes and to have the Law proceed against him Now I come to the reasons why God the Father doth charge the sinnes of all the faithfull upon Christ the reasons are three and I reason from the explication thus Reason 1 First that which the Lord Jesus Christ did willingly yeeld and submâ—â—imselfe to without sinne that God the Father might lay upon him without any wrong and might charge it upon him as due debt I say what the Lord Jesus Christ did willingly submit himselfe to without any dishonour to himselfe that God the Father might justly charge upon him but our Saviour did willingly submit himselfe to the divine Justice of God the Father to take their sinnes and to beare their sorrowes and to bee in the roome of a sinner he came voluntarily in our roome and therefore being under the Law and being our scapegoat the Father might justly lay and charge our debts upon him because hee had taken them upon himselfe he that will enter into bond with the creditor and free the debtor it is very equall that the creditor proceed against him as against the debtor Reason 2 Secondly the justice of God requires this at the hands of Jesus Christ to wit that he should not onely suffer for sinners but also take the very guilt of sinners upon himselfe by imputation and bee in their roome And that the justice of God doth require this at the hands of Christ may thus be conceived The anger justice and severitie of God were manifested in the fall of man for when man back sinned and fallen then anger and justice began to worke and now Adam saw God to bee an angry and a just God now the glory of those attributes appeared and now all the complaint stands upon mercies side and therefore mercy appeals to the great Court in Heaven and then it saith wisedome and power and goodnesse have all beene manifested in the Creatâ—on and anger and justice they have beene glorified in the fall of Adam but I have not yet beene manifested Oh let some poore soules bee comforted and saved that they may know there is a mercifull God and then the case is debated onely justice steps in and takes it selfe as wronged It is true saith justice it is fit that mercy should bee honoured yet it is not fit that I should bee wronged must my glory be injured would you have a company of sinfull rebels pardoned and forgiven when they have thus abused holinesse and goodnesse and resisted the Will of God nay except they be punished I cannot have my due mercy must be honoured but yet justice must not be wronged Now God is a just God and hee must give every one their due glory to whom glory belongs and justice to whom justice belongs justice must not be offended but must bee appaid and have its right this is the controversie therefore the Lord Jesus Christ steps in and makes up all even on both sides and there is a way devised whereby justice may bee fully satisfied and yet mercy magnified and so much the more is mercy magnified by how much justice was wronged Then Christ comes in and saith that justice shall punish all unbeleevers and so it shall be satisfied for all the wrong done to it and mercy shall bee magnified upon the beleeving soules because the beleever is not able to beare divine justice himselfe therefore Christ Jesus is contented to bee accounted guiltie that justice may inflict punishment upon him as deserving it for otherwise to punish the innocent and to acquit the guiltie will not stand with justice Now therefore that justice may have his due from him and yet doe him no wrong therefore he was content to be accounted guiltie and though hee were innocent yet he was contented to bee accounted noceâ— Now if God in justice require punishment of our Saviour then the same justice must account our Saviour as guiltie otherwise hee should punish the innocent which he cannot in justice doe but God the Father did punish Christ Jesus for justice is satisfied by the punishment therefore it is requisite that he should bee under the Law also God in justice must account him guiltie that in justice he may be punished so the issue is this If God the Father doe in iustice punish Christ then it is required that heâ— should bee accounted as guiltie and under the Law but the Father did doe it therefore he did account him as a sinner and as guiltie and did lay their sinnes unto his charge Reason 3 Thirdly the third argument is taken from the love and mercy of Jesus Christ which abundantly is magnified herein in taking upon him the roome of a sinner for whatsoever the Lord Jesus Christ could doe for a poore sinner without sinne that he did doe in the pardon of sinne but this Christ might doe without sinne and is doing thereof might expresse abundance of love not onely to lay downe his life for us but to vaile his innocencie for us hee was accounted a malefactor and a sinner for us this is the highest pitch of admirable love that can bee for the lower the degree of his abasement was the greater was his love for it is one thing to die and it is another thing to vaile his honour and holinesse and he that was God equall with the Father to be accounted as guilty of sin this argues marvellous mercy and love therefore it was fit that it should be taken Vse 1 The first use is a word of instruction to all the faithfull of God they are to learne this point of wisedome Is it so that God the Father hath laid thy sinnes upon Jesus Christ doth the guilt of them lie there and hath Christ taken them and the guilt of them upon himselfe and the condemnation due unto the same then doe thou not take them from him to thy selfe Therefore what the Jewes did with the sacrifice so doe you with a Saviour Leviticus 16.21 When Aaron came to offer up the scapegoat he laid both his hands upon him with all his might and he put all the sinnes of Israel upon the head of the live goat The Hebrew Writers observe three things in the words First hee laid on both his hands with all his might Secondly there was nothing betweene the hand of the offerer and the sacrifice which was made Thirdly he must confesse his sinnes and the sinnes of all the Israelites over the goat and say Lord I have transgressed and have committed this and that iniquitie but now Lord I returne to thee and bring an offering of attonement and I beseech thee good Lord to accept it So let this bee the guise of the heart of every faithfull Christian when hee would have quiet and ease if ever you would have acceptance with Christ then carry him with thee to the Father
soule there is but one way every man hath committed sinne must suffer for his sinne the sentence is passed every man that beleeves not is condemned already what would you have now thou faint thorow couldest have a pardon but wouldest thou not have riches or friends the soule saith Alas what is that to me to bee rich and a reprobate honoured and damned let me bee pardoned though impoverished let mee bee justified though debased though I never see good day beside why then labour for a Christ for there is no other way under heaven get a broken heart get a beleeving heart but oh above all get a Christ to justifie thee get a Christ in all to save thee If I could pray like an angell could I heare and remember all the Sermon could I conferre as yet never man spake what is that to mee if I have not a Christ I may goe downe to hell for all that I have or doe looke into your soules and observe your lives and conversations when a man hath prayed and hee findes his minde dull his heart awke and untoward his thoughts wandring and roving why thinke with your selves doe wee condemne our selves for the duties wee doe performe and judge our selves for the services we have discharged and yet doe wee thinke to be acquitted by the Law of God Oh therefore above all intreat the Lord to give thee a Christ that hee may justifie thee here and save thee everlastingly hereafter Phil. 3.8 I count all things drosse and dung in comparison of a Christ Paul was a proud Pharisee learned Paul reverend Paul a man of admirable parts yet saith the Apostle That I thought to bee gaine was losse to mee yea dung and dog smeat in comparison of a Christ yea doubtlesse and I doe count all things losse that is not onely my parts and credit and privileges when I was a Pharisee but the best dutie that ever I did the best service that ever I performed I account all as dung and dogsmeat in the point of justification in respect of the Lord Iesus Christ grace therefore is good and duties are good seeke for all we should doe so performe all we ought to doe so but oh a Christ a Christ a Christ in all above all more than all Thus now I have shewed you the way to the Lord Iesus I have shewed you also how you may come to be implanted into the Lord Iesus and now I leave you in the hands of a Saviour in the bowels of a Redeemer and I think I cannot leave you better the worst is past now you are come hither Rom. 5.9 If you be justified by his death then much more shall you be saved through his righteousnes and merits You whose eyes God hath opened whose hearts God hath humbled and whose soules God hath called home to himselfe you are now in the hands of the Lord goe your way and when you see hell flaming and the devils roaring and the damned yelling and crying out looke backe I say and see this ditch out of which you are escaped looke upon the pit which you were going over you may blesse God and say wee are past that those dayes are gone wee are past from death to life Acts 20.32 when Saint Paul was to goe away from them and for ought hee knew should never see their faces more why yet marke what hee saith to them Brethren I commend you to God and the Word of his grace that is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among those that are sanctified as who should say God and his Word was the best Commandment he could put them over to as who should say Paul must depart and Paul must be imprisoned and Paul must die so that now he shall bee with you no longer to teach to informe to direct you but the good Word of the Lord endures to comfort for ever to cheere for ever to assist refresh for ever those that are weake and discouraged I put you over therefore to a good Word to an everlasting Word I commend you to a blessed and a living Saviour who will bee with you for ever by the immutable assistance of his blessed Spirit I leave you in the hands of your Saviour that when the head of your Minister haply shall lie full low or death overtake him why yet remember I have put you over to a Saviour Oh love this Word and love this Christ more than all prize this Christ above all and he will preserve you and this I will wish you that you would keep yourselves close to this good Word that will informe you and to this blessed Saviour that will support you from day to day THE SOVLES Iustification 2 COR. 5.22 For he hath made him to be sin for us which knew no sinne that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him FOr our more orderly proceeding herein you may remember that I shewed you before for what a man is not justified Now wee come to handle for what a man is and may bee justified and this I conceive so farre as my light serves mee to bee in the words of the Text for the Apostle having shewed that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himselfe and not imputing their sins Now in this Text hee shewes the reason how this comes to passe namely God â—aid their sinnes to Christs charge and made him sinne for us that knew no sinne It s no wonder then though God did not justifie a poore sinner for what hee had and did and though hee did not expect perfect righteousnesse at their hands for Hee hath made him to hee sinne for 〈◊〉 which knew no sinne that wee might be made the righteousnesse of God in him For our more orderly proceeding I will doe two things First I will discover the Doctrine of Iustification in a description Secondly I will open the description Quest. 1 For the first If any man aske me what Iustification is it is this briefly Answer Iustification is an act of God the Father upon the beleever whereby the debt and sinnes of the beleever are charged upon the Lord Iesus Christ and by the merits and satisfaction of Christ imputed to the beleever hee is accounted just and so is acquitted before God as righteous There are foure particulars in the description First it is an act of God the Father upon the beleever Secondly the debt of the beleever is charged upon our Saviour God the Father followes as it were the suit upon the suretie and not upon the debtor both these are in these words of the Text Hee hath made him sinne for us which knew no sinne Thirdly the satisfaction of Christ is put over to the beleever and set upon his score as in these words That wee might be made the righteousnesse of God in him Fourthly by this means the debt on our sides being laid upon the Lord Iesus Christ and his righteousnesse being applied to us God the Father acquits
beds and all kinde of dalliance and hee knowes nothing but goes as an Oxe to the slaughter untill a dart strike through his liver and he knowes not that it is for his life hee goes and his life goes Her house is the way to the grave which goeth downe to the chambers of death the like is in Iudas hee desired to betray Christ and for what onely to get a little poore pittance of thirtie pence his covetousnesse was now asleep and he had a murthering heart towards the Lord Jesus Christ and a covetous heart for himselfe all this while sinne was asleepe but when Christ was attached and condemned then Iudas began to be worried with his corruptions hee comes in horrour of heart and throwes downe the thirtie pence and comes into the high Priests hall and saith I have sinned in betraying innocent blood Now tell mee Iudas is it good to bee covetous now when his conscience was awake and thus wrath of God began to seize upon it and that Lion began to rore upon him then his heart begun to shake within him and hee departed and went away and hanged himselfe his sinne made way for it and thus it will be with every wicked man in the world Howsoever now you have delâ—ons to cozen others and you have your unjust measures and you can carry it away bravely your corruptions are now asleep but that covetousnesse out of thy shop and that adultery out of thy chamber it will one day rore upon thee looke upon the hands of Christ and they will say there hands were pierced by sinnes and it was sinne that hath fild this soule with astonishment Oh all you that see and heare the good word of the Lord this day see what sin hath done with our Saviour and expect the like effects from sinne if you still continue in it Now we come to the second part that is his sufferings upon the crosse where wee shall have much to doe with the Jesuites You see what he suffered in the garden now follow him to the crosse for when he was in the garden he only tasted of the cup but when he was upon the crosse he drunke the cup quite off in the garden he only sipped the top 〈◊〉 it but now hee drunke the dregs of it and the bottome and all For the opening of this looke Mat. 27.46 about the ninth houre that is about three of the clocke in the afternoone when he was crucified he cried out saying Eli Eli lamusabactani Now Divines say and Interpreter conclude and 〈◊〉 professe it and I beseech you attend to it that in this crie coÌ„plaint of our Saviour was discovered the dregs of the cup of the fierce indignation of the Lord now before I come to the 〈◊〉 and proper sense of the words consider thus much there are two interpretations of it First there is one of the Jesuites which we must confute and remove Secondly there is another interpretation of sound Divines which we must receive and yeeld unto For the first Bellarmine and others make the meaning of the words to be this that our Saviour Christ here complaines that he was left to the hands of the Jewes and that God the Father would not deliver him from that temporal death which they would put him to therefore said they our Saviour in the sense of the death natural cries out that God had left him in the hands of those ungodly men therefore they say the words run thus My God my God why hast thou thus forsaken me and lost me thus in the hands of Pilate and Herod and the Jewes to crucifie mee it is a sinew lesse and a weake imagination that I may speake no worse of it for I can hardly beare it with patience and that this sense is false there are a reasons to beare against it First this meaning is taken from a false ground and therefore the ground and bottome being brittle and weake the building must needs fall It is a weake thing for a man to say that sometimes the miseries and deaths of the Saints of God argue a forsaking of God for I say that though the Saints of God are sometimes delivered up to death by the wise providence of God yet they are not said to bee forsaken of God 2 Cor. 4.9 Wee are persecuted but not forsaken cast downe but wee perish not You know what the ordinarie promises are in this kinde I will be with thee in six troubles 〈◊〉 the seventh I will deliver thee marke this the heaviest afflictions of the Saints of God nay death it selfe is so farre from being an argument of Gods forsaking them that it is an argument of their glorying in God as in 2 Cor. 12.10 Therefore I take pleasure in my infirmities and reproaches necessities and persecutions and in anguish for Christs sake the Apostle rejoyceth in persecutions and in the midst of all extremities A second reason why it is false is this God is said to leave his servants two wayes and there are no other wayes in Scripture that I know of First when God takes away his assistance in the time of trouble and hee lends not that strength and that assistance whereby with patience they may beâ—e and with courage goe through those afflictions but now and then hee lets them not bee soiled by their owne infirmities and to fall by their weaknesses that they may learne to see their owne weaknesses and learne not to trust in themselves but in the Lord their God Now this forsaking cannot nor did not befall our Saviour in common sense because hee prayed for assistance and whatsoever hee prayed for hee had as Hebrewes 5.7 Hee was heard in that which he feared and so consequently assisted nay he was confident of the issue of it Luke 23.42.43 when the good theefe upon the crosse said Lord remember mee when thou commest into thy Kingdome the Lord answered him this way shall thou be with 〈◊〉 in Paradise nay David did prophesie this of Christ and Christ himselfe performes it Psalme 16.8 I have set the Lord alwayes before mine eyes for hee is at my right hand therefore I shall 〈◊〉 be moved therefore God the Father did not leave our Saviour but he did assist him that hee was above all sorrowes and all miseries Secondly the other kinde of leaving which the Scripture speakes of is this when the Lord takes away the sense and feeling of the sweetnesse of his love and 〈◊〉 from the soule in Psalme 27.9 David saith Hide not thy face away from me neither cast away thy servants in displeasure put not a servant 〈◊〉 of doores Here I demand of any man but especially of the Jesuites whether of these two they will grant God did not forsake the Lord Jesus Christ the first way therefore he must doe it this way or none at all and if any man grant this then he grants the cause for then there was not onely the death naturall but the displeasure of the Lord