Covenant For it was easier for Man to understand the quality of the punishment that attended sin than to conceive of Celestial Happiness of which he was incapable in his animal state 'T is true God might have bestowed Heaven as an absolute gift upon Man after a course of obedience but 't was not due by the condition of the first Covenant A natural work can give no title to a supernatural reward Mans perseverance in his duty according to the Original Treaty had been attended with Immortal Happiness upon the Earth but the blessed Hope is only promised in the Gospel and unspeakably transcends the felicity of Nature in its consummat state This Reward is answerable to the unvaluable treasure which was laid down for it The Blood of the Son of God as 't is a Ransom to redeem us from misery so 't is a Price to purchase glory for Believers 'T is called the Blood of the New-Testament because it conveys a title to the Heavenly Inheritance Our impunity is the effect of his Satisfaction our positive happiness of his redundant merit God was so well pleased with his perfect Obedience which infinitely surpasses that of any meer creature that he promised to confer upon those who believe in him all the glorious qualities becoming the Sons of God and to make them associates with him in his Eternal Kingdom The compleat happiness of the Redeemed is the Redeemers recompence in which he is fully satisfied for all his sufferings Now the transcendent excellency of this above the first state of Man will more distinctly appear by considering I. The place where 't is enjoyed and that is the Heaven of Heavens Adam was put into the Terrestrial Paradise a place sutable to his natural being and abounding with all pleasing objects but they were such as creatures of a lower kind enjoyed with him But Heaven is the Element of Angels their native seat who are the most noble part of the Creation 'T is the true Palace of God intirely separated from the impurities and imperfections the alterations and changes of the lower World where he reigns in Eternal Peace 'T is the Temple of the Divine Majesty where his exellent Glory is revealed in the most conspicuous manner 'T is the habitation of his holiness the place where his honour dwells 'T is the sacred Mansion of Light and Joy and Glory Paradise with all its pleasures was but a shadow of it II. The Life of Adam was attended with innocent infirmities For the body being composed of the same principles with other sensitive creatures 't was liable to hunger and thirst and weariness and was to be repaired by food and sleep Adam was made a living Soul therefore subject to those inclinations and necessities which are purely animal And although whilst innocent no disease could seize on him yet he was capable of hurtful impressions though he should have been preserved from death yet he was perishable His life was in a perpetual flux 't was Immortal not meerly from the temperament of his Body but to be sustained by the power of God in the use of means From hence it follows that Adam in his natural state was not capable of the vision of God Heaven is too pure an Air for him to have lived in The Glory of it is inconsistent with such a temper'd Body Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of Heaven The faculties would be confounded with its overcoming brightness Till the sensitive powers are refin'd and exalted to that degree that they become spiritual they cannot converse with glorified objects Now the bodies of the Saints shall be invested with Celestial qualities The Natural shall be changed into a Spiritual body and be preserved as the Angels by the sole vertue of the quickning Spirit The life above shall flourish in its ful vigour without any other support than the Divine power that first created it And as the body shall be spiritual so truely immortal and free from all corruptive change as the Sun which for so many ages hath shined with an equal brightness to the World and hath a dureable fulness of light in it In this respect the Children of the Resurrection are equal to the Angels who being pure Spirits do not marry to perpetuate their kind for they never die And the glorified body shall be cloathed with a more Divine beauty in the Resurrection than Adam had in the Creation The glory of the second Temple shall excel that of the first In short the first Man was of the Earth earthy and could derive but an earthy condition to his descendents But the Lord Christ is from Heaven and is the principle of an Heavenly and Glorious life to all that are united to him III. The felicity of Heaven exceeds the first in the manner and degrees of the fruition and the continuance of it 1. The Vision of God in Heaven is immediate Adam was a spectator of God's Works and his understanding being full of Light he clearly discover'd the Divine Attributes in their effects The stroaks of the Creators Hand are engraven in all the parts of the Universe The Heavens and Earth and all things in them are evident testimonies of the excellency of their Author The invisible things of God from the Creation of the World are clearly seen And the knowledg that shined in his soul produced a transcendent esteem of the Deity in whom Wisdom and Power are united in their supreme degree and a superlative love and delight in him for his goodness Yet his sight of God was but through a Glass an eclipsing medium For inferior beings are so imperfect that they can give but a weak resemblance of his infinite perfections But the sight of God in Heaven is called the seeing of him as he is and signifies the most clear and compleat knowledge which the rational soul when purified and raised to its most perfect state can receive and out-shines all the discoveries of God in the lower World Adam had a visible copy of his invisible beauty but the Saints in Heaven see the glorious Original He saw God in the reflection of the Creature but the Saints are under the direct beams of Glory and see him face to face All the Attributes appear in their full and brightest lustre to them Wisdom Love Justice Holiness Power are manifested in their exaltation And the glorified Soul to qualify it for converse with God in this intimate manner hath a more excellent constitution then was given to it in the Creation A new edge is put upon the faculties whereby they are fitted for those objects which are peculiar to Heaven The intellectual eye is fortified for the immediate intuition of God Adam in Paradise was absent from the Lord in comparison of the Saints who encompass his Throne are in the presence of his Glory Besides 'T is the peculiar excellency of the Heavenly Life that the Saints every moment enjoy it without
happy therefore he wishes there were no God to whom he must be accountable He is no more wrought on by the Divine perfections and beauties to love the Deity than a guilty person who resolvedly goes on to break the Laws can be perswaded to love the Judge for his excellent knowledg and his inflexible integrity who will certainly condemn him Besides the great and abundant blessings which God as Creator and Preserver bestows upon all cannot prevail upon guilty Creatures to love him Indeed the goodness that raised us from a state of nothing is unspeakably great and layes an Eternal Obligation upon us The whole stock of our affections is due to Him for conferring upon us the humane Nature that is common to Kings and the meanest Beggar All the Riches and Dignity of the greatest Prince whereby he exceeds the poorest Wretch compared to this benefit which they both share in have no more proportion than a Farthing to an immense Treasure The Innumerable Expressions of God's Love to us every Day should infinitely endear Him to us For who is so inhumane as not to love his Parents or his Friend who defended him from his deadly Enemies or relieved him in his poverty especially if the vein of his bounty be not dryed up but alwayes diffuses it self in new favours If we love the memory of that Emperour who reflecting upon one day that past without his bestowing some benefit with grief said Diem perdidi I have lost a day how much more should we love God who every moment bestows innumerable blessings upon his Creatures But sinful Man hath contracted such an unnatural hardness that he receives no impressions from the renewed Mercies of God He violates the Principles of Nature and Reason For how unnatural is it not to love our Benefactour when the dull Ox and the stupid Ass serve those that feed them and how unreasonable when the Publicans return love for love Now there is nothing that can perfectly overcome our hatred but the consideration of that Love which hath freed us from Eternal Misery for the guilty Creature will be alwayes suspicious that notwithstanding the ordinary benefits of Providence God is an enemy to it and till Man is convinced that in loving God he most truly loves himself he will never sincerely affect him This was one great design of God in the Way as well as in the Work of our Redemption to gain our hearts intirely to himself He saves us in the most endearing and obliging manner As Davids affection declared its self I will not serve the Lord with that which cost me nothing So God would not save Man with that which cost him nothing but with the dearest price hath purchased a Title to our Love God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself as well as through Christ reconciling himself to the World He hath propounded such Arguments for our Love so powerful and sublime that Adam in Innocence was unacquainted with He sent down his own Bowels to testifie His Affection to us And that should be the greatest indearment of our Love which was the greatest evidence of his And if we consider the Person of our Redeemer what more worthy object of our affection than Christ And Christ dying with all the circumstances of dishonour and pain and dying thus for Love and this Love terminated on Man If He had no attractive excellencies in himself yet his dying for us should make him infinitely precious and dear to our Souls He is more amiable on the Cross than in the Throne For there we see the clearest Testimony and the most Glorious Triumph of his Love There he endured the Anger of Heaven and the scorn of the Earth There we might see Joy sadned Faith fearing Salvation suffering and Life dying Blessed Redeemer what couldst thou have done or Suffered more to quicken our dead Powers and inflame our cold Hearts toward thee How can we remember thy bleeding dying Love without an Extasy of affection If we are not more insensible than the Rocks 't is impossible but we must be toucht and softened by it Suppose an Angel by special delegation had been enabled to have trod Satan under our feet our obligations to him had been inexpressible and our love might have been intercepted from ascending to our Creator For Salvation is a greater benefit than the meer giving to us our natural being As the privation of felicity with the actual misery that is joyned with it is infinitely worse than the negation of being Our Lord pronounced concerning Judas It had been good for that Man that he had never been born Redeeming Goodness exceeds creating Now the Son of God that he might have our highest Love alone wrought Salvation for us And what admirable Goodness is it that he puts a value upon our affection and accepts such a small return our most intense and ardent love bears no more proportion to his than a spark to the Element of Fire Besides His Love to us was pure and without any benefit to himself but ours to him is profitable to our Souls for their eternal advantage Yet with this He is fully satisfied when we love Him in the quality of a Saviour we give Him the Glory of that he designs most to be Glorified in that is of his Mercy to the miserable For this reason he instituted the Sacrament of the Supper the contrivance of his Love to refresh the memory of his Death and quicken our fainting love to him Now the Love that our Saviour requires must be 1. Sincere and Unfeigned This declares it self by a care to please Him in all things If a Man love me saith our Saviour he will keep my Commandments Obedience is the most natural and necessary product of Love For Love is the spring of Action and employs all the faculties in the service of the person loved The Apostle expresses the force of it by an emphatical Word The Love of Christ constrains us it signifies to have one bound and so much under power that he cannot move without leave As the inspired Prophets were carried by the Spirit and intirely acted by his motions Such an absolute Empire had the Love of Christ over him ruling all the inclinations of his Heart and actions of his Life 'T is this alone makes Obedience chearful and constant For Love is seated in the Will and the Obedience that proceeds from it is out of choice and purely voluntary No Commandment is grievous that is performed from Love And it makes Obedience constant that which is forced from the impression of fear is unsteadfast but what is mixt with delight is lasting 2. Our Love to Christ must be supreme exceeding that which is given to all inferiour Objects The most elevated and entire Affection is due to Him who saves us from Torments that are extreme and eternal and bestows upon us an Inheritance immortal and undefiled Life it self and all the endearments of it Relations Estates
internal Malignity of Sin abstracted from its dreadful effects is most worthy of our hatred For 't is in its own nature direct enmity against God and obscures the Glory of all his Attributes 'T is the violation of his Majesty who is the universal Sovereign of Heaven and Earth A contrariety to his Holiness which shines forth in his Law A despising his Goodness the atractive to Obedience The contempt of his Omniscience which sees every sin when 't is commited The slighting of his terrible Justice and Power as if the Sinner could secure himself from his Indignation A denial of his Truth as if the threatning were a vain terror to scare Men from sin And all this done voluntarily to please an irregular corrupt Appetite by a despicable Creature who absolutely depends upon God for his being and happiness These Considerations seriously pondered are most proper to discover the extremity of its evil But sensible demonstrations are most powerful to convince and affect us and those are taken from the fearful Punishments that are inflicted for Sin Now the Torments of Hell which are the just and full recompence of Sin are not sensible till they are inevitable And temporal Judgments cannot fully declare the infinite Displeasure of God against the wilful contempt of his Authority But in the Sufferings of Christ 't is exprest to the utmost If Justice it self had rent the Heavens and come down in the most visible Terrour to revenge the Rebellions of Men it could never have made stronger impressions upon us than the Death of Christ duely considered The Destruction of the World by Water the miraculous burning of Sodom and Gomorrah by showers of Fire and all other the most terrible Judgments do not afford such a sensible instruction of the evil of Sin If we regard the Dignity of his Person and the depth of his Sufferings He is an unparallel'd example of Gods Indignation for the breach of his Holy Law For He that was the Son of God and the Lord of Glory was made a Man of Sorrowes He endured Derision Scourgings Stripes and at last a cruel and cursed Death The Holy of Holies was crucified between two Thieves By how much the Life of Christ was more precious than the lives of all men so much in his Death doth the wrath of God appear more fully against Sin than it would in the destruction of the whole world of Sinners And His Spiritual Sufferings infinitely exceeded all His Corporeal The Impressions of Wrath that were inflicted by Gods immediate Hand upon his Soul forced from him those strong Cries that moved all the powers of Heaven and Earth with Compassion If the curtain were drawn aside and we should look into the Chambers of Death where Sinners lie down in Sorrow for ever and hear the woful expressions and deep Complaints of the Damned with what horrour and distraction they speak of their torments we could not have a fuller testimony of God's Infinite displeasure against sin than in the Anguish and Agonies of our Redeemer For whatever His Sufferings were in kind yet in their degree and measure they were equally terrible with those that condemned Sinners endure Now how is it possible that Rational Agents should freely in the open light for perishing vanities dare to commit sin Can they avoid or endure the Wrath of an Incensed God If God spared not his Son when he came in the similitude of sinful flesh how shall Sinners who are deeply and universally defiled escape Can they fortifie themselves against the Supreme Judge Can they encounter with the fury of the Almighty the apprehensions of which made the Soul of Christ heavy unto Death Have they patience to bear that for ever which was to Christ who had the strength of the Deity to support him intolerable for a few hours If it were so with the green Tree what will become of the dry when exposed to the fiery Tryal If he that was Holy and Innocent suffered so dreadfully what must they expect who add impenitency to their guilt and live in the bold commission of Sin without reflection and remorse What prodigious Madness is it to drink iniquity like water as a harmless thing when 't is a poison so deadly that the least drop of it brings certain ruine What desperate Folly to have slight apprehensions of that which is attended with the first and second Death Nothing but unreasonable Infidelity and Inconsideration can make men venturous to provoke the living God who is infinitely sensible of their Sins and who both can and will punish them by Torments extreme and eternal 2. The strictness of Divine Justice appears that required Satisfaction equivalent to the desert of sin The natural Notion of the Deity as the Governour of the World instructed the Heathens That the transgression of his Laws was worthy of Death This proves that the obligation to punishment doth not arise from the mere will of God which is only discovered by Revelation but is founded in the nature of things and by its own light is manifested to reasonable creatures From hence they inferred That it was not becoming the Divine nature as qualified with the relation of Supreme Ruler to pardon Sin without Satisfaction This appears by the Sacrifices and Ceremonies the Religions and Expiations which were performed by the most ignorant Nations And although they infinitely abused themselves in the conceit they had of their pretended efficacy and vertue yet the universal consent of Mankind in the belief that Satisfaction was necessary declares it to be true This as other natural Doctrines is more fully revealed by Scripture Under the Law without shedding of blood there was no remission not that common Blood could make Satisfaction for Sin but God commanded there should be a visible mark of its necessity in the Worship offer'd to him and a prefiguration that it should be accomplisht by a Sacrifice eternally efficacious And the Oeconomy of our Salvation clearly proves that to preserve the honour of Gods Government Sin must be punisht that Sinners might be pardoned For nothing was more repugnant to the Will of God absolutely considered than the Death of his Beloved Son and the natural Will of Christ was averse from it What then moved that Infinite Wisdome which wills nothing but what is perfectly reasonable to ordain that event Why should it take so great a circuit if the way was so short that by pure Favour without Satisfaction Sin might have been pardoned Our Saviour declares the necessity of his suffering Death supposing the merciful Will of his Father to save us when He saith That as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believes in him should not perish 'T is true Since God had foretold and prefigured his Death by the oracles and actions under the Law it necessarily came to pass But to consider things exactly the unchangeable truth of Types and Prophesies is not
is insufficient to restore man to his original integrity and felicity Reason sees that Man is ignorant and guilty mortal and miserable that he is transported with vain passions and tormented with accusations of Conscience but it could not redress these evils Corrupt Nature is like an imperfect Building that lies in rubbish the imperfection is visible but not the way how to finish it for through ignorance of the first design every one follows his own fancy whereas when the Architect comes to finish his own project it appears regular and beautiful Thus the various directions of Philosophers to recover fallen Man out of his ruines and to raise him to his first state were vain Some glimmerings they had that the happiness of the reasonable nature consisted in its union with God but in order to this they propounded such means as were not only ineffectual but opposit Such is the pride and folly of carnal wisdom that to bring God and Man together it advances Man and depresses God The Stoicks ascribed to their Wiseman those prerogatives whereby he equall'd their Supreme God They made him the architect of his own vertue and felicity and to vie with Jupiter himself to be one of his Peers Others reduced the Gods to live like Men and Men like Beasts by placing happiness in sensual pleasures Thus instead of curing they fomented the hereditary and principal Diseases of mankind Pride and Concupiscence which at first caus'd the separation of man from God and infinitely increas'd the distance between them For what sins are more contrary to the Majesty and Purity of God than Pride which robs him of his Excellency and carnal lust which turns a man into a beast Besides all their inventions to expiate sin to appease the Deity and make him favorable to calme the Conscience were frivolous and unprofitable And their most generous principles and accurate Precepts were short of that purity and perfection werewith moral duties are to be perform'd to God and men Briefly they wasted their Candle in vain in searching for the way to true happiness But God who created Man for the enjoyment of himself hath happily accomplisht his eternal Decree by the work of our Redemption wherein his own Glory is most visible And the Gospel which reveals this to us humbles whom it justifies and comforts those that were condemned it abases more then the Law but without dispair and advances more then Nature could but without presumption The Mediator takes away the guilt of our old sins and our inclination to new sins we are not only pardoned but preferred made Heirs of God joynt-Heirs with Christ. For these reasons the Apostle sets so high a value upon the Heavenly Doctrine that reveals a Saviour to the undone World He desired to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him Crucified He despised all Pharisaical and Philosophical Learning in comparison of the Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Jesus Other knowledge swells the mind and increases the esteem of our selves this gives us a sincere view of our state It discovers our misery in its causes and the Almighty Mercy that saves us Other knowledge inlightens the understanding without changing the heart but this inspires us with the love of God with the hatred of sin and makes us truly better In seeking after other knowledge the mind is perplext by endless inquiries here 't is at rest as the wavering Needle is fixt when turn'd to it s beloved Star Ignorance of other things may be without any real damage to us for we may be directed by the skilful how to preserve Life and Estate But this Knowledge is absolutely necessary to Justifie Sanctifie and Save us All other knowledge is useless at the hour of death then the richest stock of Learning is lost the vessel being split wherein the treasure was laid but this Pearl of inestimable price as 't is the ornament of our prosperity so 't is the support of our adversity A little ray of this is infinitely more desirable then the light of all humane Sciences in their lustre and perfection And what an amazing folly is it that men who are possest with an earnest passion of knowing should waste their time and strength in searching after these things the knowledge of which can't remove those evils which oppress them and be careless of the saving knowledge of the Gospel Were there no other reason to diminish the esteem of earthly knowledge but the difficulty of its acquisition that error often surprises those who are searching after truth this might check our intemperate pursuit of it Sin hath not only shortned our understandings but our lives that we cannot arrive to the perfect discovery of inferior things But suppose that one by his vast mind should comprehend all created things from the Centre of the Earth to the Circumference of the Heavens and were not savingly inlighten'd in the Mystery of our Redemption with all his knowledge he would be a prey to Satan and increase the triumphs of Hell The Historian upbraids the Roman luxury that with so much cost and hazzard they should send to foreign parts for Trees that were beautiful but barren and produc'd a shadow only without fruit With greater reason we may wonder that men should with the expence of their precious hours purchase barren curiosities which are unprofitable to their last end How can a condemned Criminal who is in suspence between Life and Death attend to study the secrets of Nature and Art when all his thoughts are taken up how to prevent the execution of the Sentence and 't is no less than a prodigy of madness that men who have but a short and uncertain space allowed them to escape the wrath to come should rack their brains in studying things impertinent to salvation and neglect the Knowledg of a Redeemer Especially when there is so clear a Revelation of him The righteousness of Faith doth not command us to ascend to the Heavens or descend into the deep to make a discovery of it but the Word is nigh us that discovers the certain way to a happy immortallity Seneca a Philosopher and a Courtier valued his being in the world only upon this account that he might contemplate the Starry Heaven He only saw the visible beauty of the Firmament but was ignorant of the Glory within it and of the way that leads to it yet to our shame he speaks that the sight of it made him despise the Earth and without the contemplation of the Celestial bodies he esteem'd his continuance in the World not the life of a Man but the toil of a Beast But what transports had he been in if he had been acquainted with the contrivance of our Redemption the admirable order of its parts and the beauty that results from the composition of the whole But we that with open face may in the Glass of the Gospel behold the Glory of the Lord turn away
Blood of the slain Sacrifice So our Redeemer first performed what was necessary for the Expiation of Sin and then He past through the visible Heavens and ascended before the Throne of God to appear as our Advocate He made an oblation of Himself on the Earth before He could make intercession for us in Heaven which is the consummation of his Priestly Office The first was a proper Sacrifice the second is a commemoration of it Therefore He is said To appear before his Father by Sacrifice Besides what hath been discours'd of the order and dependance of these parts of his Priestly Office which proves that He had accomplisht the expiation of Sin before He was admitted into Heaven to intercede for us There are two other Considerations which manifest the compleatness of his Satisfaction 1. The manner of his Intercession 2. It s omnipotent Efficacy 1. The manner of it He doth not appear in the form of a Suppliant upon his Knees before the Throne offering up tears and strong cries as in the day of his flesh but He sits at Gods right hand making intercession for us He sollicits our Salvation not as a favour to him but as the price of his Sufferings and as due to his infinite Merit His Blood in the same manner pleads for our Pardon as the blood of righteous Abel call'd for vengeance against the Murderer Not by an articulate voice but by suing to Justice for a full recompence of it In short His Intercession is the continual representation of his most worthy Passion 2. The omnipotent Efficacy of his Intercession proves that God is fully satisfied He frees us from the greatest Evils and obtains for us the greatest Good in the quality of Mediator If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the propitiation for our Sins and not for ours only but for the Sins of the whole world He disarms the Anger of God and hinders the effects of his Indignation against repenting Sinners Now the prevalency of his Mediation is grounded on the perfection of his Sacrifice The blessedness of Heaven is confer'd on Believers according to his Will Father I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am to see my glory His request is effectual not only because He is Gods Son and in highest favour with Him but for his meritorious Sufferings 'T is for this reason that the Office of Mediator is incommunicable to any Creature There is one God and one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all The Apostle makes a Parallel between the unity of the Mediator and of the Deity which is most Sacred and inviolable For the right of Intercession as 't is an authoritative act is founded in Redemption they cannot be divided And we may observe by the way How the Popish Doctrine that erects as many Advocates as Angels or Saints or whoever are Canonised is guilty of Impiety and Folly Of Impiety In taking the Sovereign Crown from the Head of Christ to adorn others with it as if they had more credit with God or compassion for Men And of Folly In expecting benefits by their Intercession who have no satisfactory Merit to purchase them The numerous Advocates that are conceived by superstitious Persons in their Fancies are like the counterfeit Suns that are drawn in the Clouds by Reflexion as in a Glass which although they shine with a considerable brightness yet they are only Suns in appearance and derive no quickening Influences to the Earth The blessed Spirits above who enjoy a dependant Light from the Sun of Righteousness yet convey no Benefits to Men by Meritorious interceding for them We obtain Grace Glory only upon the requests of our Redeemer Briefly The acts of his Priest-hood respect the Attributes which in a special manner are to be glorified in our Salvation By his Death He made Satisfaction to Justice by his Intercession he sollicites Mercy And they both join together with the same readiness and warmth to dispense the Benefits which He purchased for his People Thirdly The Compleatness of his Satisfaction is fully proved by the glorious issue of his Sufferings This will be most evident by considering the connexion and dependance which his Glory hath upon his Humiliation And that is twofold 1. A dependance of Order His Abasement and Sufferings were to precede his Majesty and Power As in Nature things pass from a lower state to Perfection This Order was necessary For being originally in the form of God it was impossible he should be advanced if he did not voluntarily descend from his Glory that so he might be capable of exaltation He was first made a little lower than the Angels and after raised above them 2. A dependance of efficacy Glory is the reward of his Sufferings This is expresly declared by the Apostle Christ humbled himself and became obedient to the Death of the Cross wherefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a Name above every name that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow The mark of that homage that all creatures pay to him This exaltation is correspondent to the degrees of his abasement His Body was restored to Life and Immortality and ascended on a bright Cloud God's Chariot being attended with Angels and the everlasting Gates opened to receive the King of Glory He is set down at the right hand of the Throne of the Majesty in Heaven this signifies that Divine Dignity to which He is advanced next to his Father For God being an infinite Spirit hath neither right nor left hand in strict sense Our Redeemers Honour is the same and His Empire of the same extent with his Fathers Thus the Apostle interprets the words of the Psalmist that the Messiah should sit at the right hand of God till he made his Enemies his Footstool by reigning for he must reign till he hath put all his Enemies under his feet And Saint Peter tells us That the Father hath made him Lord and Christ That is by a Soveraign trust hath committed to him the Government of the Church and the World not devesting himself of his essential Dominion but exercising it by Christ. The height of this Dignity is emphatically set forth by the Apostle The Father hath seated him at his own right hand in the Heavenly places far above all Principalities and Powers and Might and Dominion which titles signify the several degrees of Glory among the Angels and every name that is named not only in this World but that which is to come that is hath given him a transcendent and incommunicable Glory the use of names being to signify the quality of Persons In short he is made the Head of the Church and Judge of the World Angels and Men shall stand before his Tribunal and receive their Eternal decision from him Now
the primitive and main reason of the necessity of things but only a sign of the certainty of the event In strictness things do not arrive because of their prediction but are foretold because they shall arrive It is apparent there was a Divine Decree before the Prophesies and that in the Light of God's Infinite Knowledg things are before they were foretold So 't is not said a Man must be of a ruddy complexion because his Picture is so but on the contrary because he is ruddy his Picture must be so That Christ by dying on the Cross should Redeem Man was the reason that the Serpent of brass was erected on a pole to heal the Israelites and not on the contrary Briefly the Apostle supposes this necessity of Satisfaction as an evident principle when he proves wilful Apostates to be incapable of Salvation Because there remains no more Sacrifice for sin For the consequence were of no force if sin might be pardoned without Sacrifice that is without Satisfaction 3. This account of Christs Death takes off the scandal of the Cross and changes the offence into admiration 'T was foretold of Christ that he should be a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offence not a just cause but an occasion of offence to the corrupt hearts of Men and principally for his Sufferings The Jews were pleased with the titles of honour given to the Messiah that he should be a King Powerful and Glorious But that poverty disgrace and the suffering Death should be his character they could not endure therefore they endeavoured to prevert the sense of the Prophets His Disciples who attended him in his mean state expected those sad apappearances would terminate in visible Glory and Greatness but when they saw him arrested by his Enemies Condemned and Crucified this was so opposite to their expectation that they fainted under the disappointment And when Christ Crucified was Preacht to the Gentile World they rejected him with scorn His Death seemed so contrary to the Dignity of his Person and the design of his Office that they could not relish the Doctrine of the Gospel They judged it absurd to expect Life from one that was subjected to Death and Blessedness from him who was made a Curse To those who look on the Death of Christ with the eyes of carnal wisdom and according to the Laws of corrupt reason it appears folly and weakness and most unworthy of God but if we consider it in its principles and ends all the prejudices vanish and we clearly discover it to be the most noble and eminent effect of the Wisdom Power Goodness and Justice of God To the eye of sense 't was a spectacle of horrour that a perfect Innocent should be cruelly tormented but to the eye of Faith under that sad and ignominious appearance there was a Divine Mystery able to raise our wonder and ravish our affections For he that was naked and nailed to the Cross was really the Son of God and the Saviour of Men And his Death with all the penal circumstances of dishonour and pain is the only Expiation of sin and Satisfaction to Justice He by offering up his Blood appea'sd the wrath of God quencht the flaming Sword that made Paradise inaccessible to us he took away sin the true dishonour of our natures and purchased for us the Graces of the Spirit the richest ornaments of the reasonable Creature The Doctrine of the Cross is the only foundation of the Gospel that unites all its parts and supports the whole building 'T is the cause of our Righteousness and Peace of our Redemption and Reconciliation How blessed an exchange have the Merits of his Sufferings made with those of our Sins Life instead of Death Glory for Shame and Happiness for Misery For this reason the Apostle with vehemence declares that to be the sole ground of his boasting and triumph which others esteemed a cause of blushing God forbid that I should Glory save in the Cross of Christ. He rejects with extreme detestation the mention of any other thing as the cause of his Happiness and matter of his Glory The Cross was a tree of Death to Christ and of Life to us The supreme Wisdom is justified of its Children 4. The Satisfaction of Divine Justice by the Sufferings of Christ affords the strongest assurance to Man who is a guilty and suspicious creature that God is most ready to pardon sin There is in the natural Conscience when opened by a piercing conviction of sin such a quick sense of Guilt and Gods Justice that it can never have an intire confidence in his Mercy till Justice be atoned From hence the convinced Sinner is restlesly inquisitive how to find out the way of reconciliation with a Righteous God Thus he is represented inquiring by the Prophet Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the most High God shall I come before him with Burnt-Offerings with Calves of a year old will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousand rivers of oil shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my Body for the sin of my Soul The Scripture tells us that some consum'd their Children to render their Idols favourable to them But all these means were ineffectual their most costly Sacrifices were only food for the fire Nay instead of expiating their old they committed new sins and were so far from appeasing that they inflamed the Wrath of God by their cruel oblations But in the Gospel there is the most rational and easy way propounded for the Satisfaction of God and the Justification of Man The Righteousness of Faith speaketh on this wise Say not in thy heart Who shall ascend into Heaven that is to bring down Christ from above Or who shall descend into the deep that is to bring up Christ again from the dead But if thou wilt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved The Apostle sets forth the anxiety of an awakened Sinner he is at a loss to find out a way to escape Judgment for things that are on the surface of the Earth or floating on the Waters are within our view and may be obtain'd but those that are above our Understanding to discover or Power to obtain are proverbially said to to be in the Heavens above or in the Deeps And 't is applied here to the different wayes of Justification by the Law and the Gospel The Law propounds Life upon an impossible condition but the Gospel clearly reveals to us that Christ hath performed what is necessary for our Justification and that by a lively and practical Faith we shall have an Interest in it The Lord Jesus being ascended hath given us a convincing proof that the Propitiation for our Sins is perfect For otherwise He had not been received into Gods Sanctuary Therefore to be under
were imputed to him upon the account of his Union with us in nature and his consent to be our Surety so his Righteousness is meritoriously imputed to us upon our Union with him by a lively Faith The man that lookt on the Rainbow when he was ready to be drown'd what relief was it to him that God had promised not to drown the world when he must perish in the waters So though Christ hath purchased Pardon for repenting Believers and a Rainbow encompasses the Throne of God the sign of Reconciliation what advantage is this to the Unbeliever who dies in his Sins and drops into the Lake of Fire 'T is not from any defect of Mercy in God or Righteousness in Christ but for the obstinate refusal of it that men certainly perish This inhances their Guilt and Misery All the rich expence of Grace for their Redemption shall be charged upon them The Blood of Christ shall not be imputed for their Ransom but for their deeper Damnation and instead of speaking better things than the Blood of Abel shall call louder for Vengeance against them than that innocent blood which reacht Heaven with its voice against the Murderer Briefly whom so precious a Sacrifice doth not redeem they are reserved entire victims whole burnt Offerings to Divine Justice Every impenitent Unbeliever shall be salted with fire CHAP. XVI Of all the Divine Perfections Holiness is peculiarly admirable The honour of it is secured in our Redemption In the bitter Sufferings of Christ God declared Himself unappeasable to Sin though appeaseable to Sinners The Priviledges purchased by Christ are conveighed upon terms honourable to Holiness Pardon of Sin Adoption the Inheritance of Glory are annexed to special Qualifications in those who receive them The Redeemer is made a quickening Principle to inspire us with new Life In order to our Sanctification He hath given us the most perfect Rule of Holiness He exhibited a compleat Pattern of it He purchas'd and conveyes the Spirit of Holiness to us He presents the strongest Motives to perswade us to be holy The perfect Laws of Christ are considered as they enjoin an absolute separation from all Evil and command the practice of all substantial Goodness Some particular Precepts which the Gospel especially enforces with the Reasons of them are considered OF all the Perfections of the Deity none is more worthy of his Nature and so peculiarly admirable as his Infinite Purity 'T is the most shining Attribute that derives a lustre to all the rest He is glorious in Holiness Wisdom degenerates into Craft Power into Tyranny Mercy loses its nature without Holiness He swears by it as his Supreme Excellency Once have I sworn by my Holiness I will not lie unto David 'T is the most venerable Attribute in the Praise whereof the Harmony of Heaven agrees The Angels and Saints above are represented expressing their extasy and ravishment at the beauty of Holiness Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole Earth is full of his Glory This He only loves and values in the Creature being the Impression of his most Divine and amiable Perfection Inferiour Creatures have a resemblance of other Divine Attributes The Winds and Thunder set forth God's Power the firmness of the Rocks and the incorruptibility of the Heavens are an obscure representation of his Unchangeableness but Holiness that is the most Orient-Pearl in the Crown of Heaven only shines in the reasonable Creature Upon this account Man only is said to be formed after his Image And in Men there are some appearances of the Deity that do not entitle to his special Love In Princes there is a shadow of his Sovereignty yet they may be the objects of his displeasure but a likeness to God in Holiness atracts his Eye and Heart and infinitely endears the Creature to him Now this Attribute is in a special manner provokt by Mans sin and we are restored to the favour and friendship of God in such a manner as may preserve the Honour of it intire and inviolable This will fully appear by considering what our Redeemer suffered for the purchasing our Pardon and the terms upon which the precious Benefits of his Death are conveied to us and what he hath done to restore our lost Holiness that we may be qualified for the enjoyment of God 1. God's Infinite Purity is declared in his Justice in that He would not pardon Sin but upon such terms as might fully demonstrate how odious 't was to him What inflam'd the Wrath of God against his Beloved Son whom by a voice from Heaven he declared to be the object of his delight What made Him inexorable to his Prayers and Tears when He sollicited the Divine Power and Love the Attributes that relieve the miserable crying Abba Father all things are possible to thee let this Cup pass from me What made him suspend all comforting Influences and by a dreadful Desertion afflict him when he was environ'd with Sorrows 'T is Sin only that caused this fierce displeasure not inherent for the Messiah was cut off but not for himself but imputed by his voluntary undertaking for us God so loved the World and so hated Sin that He gave his Son to purchase our Pardon by Sufferings When his Compassions to Man were at the highest yet then his antipathy against Sin was so strong that no less Sacrifice could reconcile Him to us Thus God declared himself to be unappeasable to Sin though not to Sinners 2. The Priviledges that are purchased by our Redeemers Sufferings are dispenst upon those terms which are honourable to Gods Holiness I will instance in the three great Benefits of the Evangelical Covenant The Pardon of Sin Adoption into God's Family and the Inheritance of Glory All which are conditional and annext to special Qualifications in the persons who have a title to them 1. The Death of Christ is beneficial to Pardon and Life only to those who repent and believe The Holy God will by no means spare the guilty that is declare the guilty innocent or forgive an incapable subject All the Promises of Grace and Mercy are with respect to Repentance from dead works and to a lively Faith The Son of God is made a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance and Remission of Sins And the Apostle tells us That being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The first includes a cordial grief for Sins past and sincere effectual Resolutions to forsake them and hath a necessary conjunction with Pardon as by vertue of the Divine Command so from a condecency and fitness with respect to God the giver of Pardon and to the quality of the Blessing it self The other Qualification is Faith to which Justification is in a special manner attributed not in respect of Efficiency or Merit for the Mercy of God upon the account of Christs Satisfaction is the sole Cause of our Pardon but as a moral instrument
Image from glory to glory how much more the Vision of his unveiled Face Our Graces here are but as the rude draught and first colours of the Divine Image that shall then be in its perfection We know that when he appears we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is The similitude between the Saints above and Christ is so exact that if one should enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and were not directed by the Light of that place he would be apt to think every glorified Saint he meets to be more than a creature St. John the beloved of Christ and as clear-sighted as any of the Apostles mistook an Angel for God and would have adored him although he did not appear in his full glory The Kingdoms of the world with all their splendour are no more in compare to it than a dead spark to the Sun in its brightness The very Bodies of the Saints shall be raised from the Grave and beautified with eternal Ornaments They shall be Companions with the Angels and conformed to the glorious Body of Christ. Briefly In the present state we are not capable to receive the full knowledg of Heaven What we understand is infinitely desirable but the most glorious part is still undiscovered The Apostle tells us Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it enter'd into the heart of man to conceive what God hath prepared for those that love him All that is beautiful or sweet here is but a shadow of that Glory a drop of that vast Ocean of delights For all that is desirable in the Creatures and is disperst among them is united in God as the Original in an infinite and indeficient manner with all the Prerogatives that the Creatures have not Celestial Blessedness as much exceeds our most raised thoughts as God is more glorious in himself than in any representations made of him by the shadows of our earthly Imaginations There is a greater disproportion between the condition of a Saint on Earth and in Heaven than between the Life of an Infant in the Womb and of the same person when advanc'd to the Throne and attended with the Nobility of a Nation St. John declares Now we are the Sons of God but it doth not appear what we shall be Who knows the full signification of being heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ of partaking in that glorious Reward which is given to him for his great Services to the Crown of Heaven Who can tell the weight the number and measure of that Blessedness To him that overcomes saith our Redeemer will I grant to sit with me in my Throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his Throne We have reason to break forth in the Language of the Psalmist How great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for those that fear thee and supply the defects of our understanding with a Holy admiration that is the only measure of those things that are above our measure Besides the Reward as in excellency 't is Divine so in duration 't is perpetual Heaven is an inheritance as safe as great Here we are subject to time that carries us and all our goods down its swift stream but there Eternity that is fixt and unchangeable embraces us in its bosome We shall be secure and at Rest for no Person shall take away our Crown we shall reign for ever and ever At Godâ—s right hand are pleasures for evermore that can never abate or end As his Liberal Hand bestows so his Powerful preserves our Happiness The Blessed shall sing Everlasting Hymns of Glory and Songs of thanksgiving to the Great Creatour Redeemer and Sanctifier who hath prepared and purchased that felicity for them and hath brought them to the secure possession of it Now can there be a more powerful motive to Obedience than Infinite and Eternal Blessedness what can pretend to our Affections in competition with it Carnal pleasures only gratifie our viler part the Body in its vilest state but the Joys of Heaven are Spiritual and Sublime and proportioned to our noblest and most capacious Faculties Earthly delights cannot satisfie our senses but the Peace of God passes understanding One hours enjoyment of it is better than an Eternity spent in the pleasures of sin What inexcusable madness is it to prefer painted trifles before that inestimable Treasure Who can truely believe there is such an excellent Glory but he must love it and vigorously endeavour to obtain it Who would not go to the Celestial Canaan though the way lies through a Wilderness where no Flower or Fruit grows All temporal evils are not only to be endured but chearfully embraced in order to the possessing of it The Apostle tells us I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not comparable with the Glory that shall be revealed in us And he was the most fit person to make the comparison having made tryal of both States For he was a Man of Sorrows that had past through affliâ—ctions of all kinds and he was ravisht up to Paradise where he heard those things that exceed all expressions of Humane Words Now after a serious estimate he declares that the Eternal weight of Glory infinitely outballances the Light and momentany troubles of this Life Thus from what hath been said concerning the greatness of the recompences hereafter we may understand how powerful they are to deter Men from Sin and to allure them to Holiness 2. That these objects may be effectual our Saviour hath clearly revealed them and given us convincing evidence and assurance of their reality The Heathens had only some glimmerings and suspicions of a future state They were under doubts concerning the Nature of the Soul whether mortal or incorruptible wavering between the assent and denial and inclining to this or that part as Sense perswaded them to believe themselves only as Bruits or Reason to acknowledge themselves Men. Socrates before his Judges speaks as one that desired Immortality and in his last Discourses to his Friends he endeavours to perswade them but could not conquer his own doubts nor assure himself All his discourses end in Conjectures and uncertain guesses Besides the Hell which they fancyed was made up of such ridiculous and senseless terrours that could only affect Children who were not arrived to the perfect use of Reason And their apprehensions of Happiness in the next Life were so extravagant that what the Philosopher said in general of Hope that 't is the Dream of waking Men is more justly applicable to the Hope of the Heathens in respect of the future reward For as the illusions of a Dream have many times a real Subject but environ'd with so many fantastick Imaginations as spoils all the proportions of it so their Opinion had a foundation in Truth but was mixt with many Errours inconsistent with perfect felicity And as the pleasure of
make some short reflections upon the Types of the Law to show how they are compleated in Christ. The Mosaic Dispensation was so contriv'd as to bear a resemblance of the Messiah in all its parts The Law had a shadow of good things to come Christ was the end of the Law the substance of those shadows The main design of the Epistle to the Hebrews is to shew that in the antient Tabernacle there were models of the Heavenly things reveal'd in the Gospel The great number of Types declares the variety of the Divine Wisdom and the admirable fulness of Christ in whom they are verified Three sorts were instituted 1. Some were things without Life whose qualities and effects shadowed forth his Vertues and Benefits 2. Things endued with Life and Sence 3. Reasonable Persons that either in their offices actions or the memorable accidents that befel them represented the Messiah Of the first sort I will briefly consider the Manna that miraculously fell from Heaven the Rock that by its stream refresht the Israelites in their Journey to Canaan and the Brasen Serpent premising two things 1. That in comparing them with the Truth we are to observe the design of God and not to seek for Mysteries in every thing As in Pictures some strokes of the Pencil are only for ornament others for signification Besides when Superlative things are spoken of them exceeding their Nature and that cannot be applied to them without a violent figure the full and entire Truth is only found in Jesus Christ. 1. Manna was an eminent Type of him Accordingly the Apostle declares of the Israelites they did all eat the same Spiritual meat not in respect of its Material but Symbolical Nature The express Analogy between Manna and Christ is visible in respect of its marvelous production The Mosaical Manna was not the fruit of the Earth procur'd by humane industry but form'd by the Divine Power and rain'd down upon them therefore 't is called the Corn of Heaven This typified the celestial original of our Redeemer He is the true bread from Heaven given by the Father He is call'd the gift of God eminently being the richest and freest without any merit or indeavour of Men to procure it And we may observe the truth infinitely exceeded the Type for Manna descended only from the Clouds therefore our Saviour tells the Jews Moses gave ye not that bread from Heaven But he really came from Heaven where the great and Glorious Presence of God is manifested and appear'd under a visible form in the World Manna was only stil'd the Bread of Angels to signify its excellency above common food but the bread of God is he which cometh down from Heaven 2. Manna was dispenst to all the Israelites equally not as the delicious fruits of the Earth that are the portion of a few but as the light and influences of the Heavens that are common to all and herein 't was a representation of Christ who is offer'd to all without distinction of Nations to the Jews and Gentiles to the Graecians and Barbarians and without the distinction of quality to the Honourable and Mean the Rich and the Poor the Learned and Ignorant And here we may observe the excellency of the Spiritual Manna above the Mosaical for that â—ed but one nation but the bread of God gives life to the World his infinite merit is sufficient for the Salvation of all 3. Manna was a delicious food the Taste of it is described to be like wafers mixt with honey that have a pure chast sweetness this typified the Love of Christ shed abroad in the hearts of Believers Such an exalted ravishing pleasure proceeds from it that the Psalmist breaks forth in an extasy Taste and see how Good the Lord is 4. Manna was their only support in the Wilderness strengthning them to vanquish their Enemies and endure the hardships to which they were incident in their passage to Canaan In this regard 't was a lively image of Christ who is our Spiritual food whâ—e we are in the desert of the lower World the place of our trial exposed to dangers By him alone we shall be finally victorious over the Enemies of our Salvation And in this also the Truth is infinitely above the Type that prefigured it For Manna could only preserve the Natural Life for a time As our Saviour tells the Jews your Fathers eat Manna in the Wilderness and are dead But Jesus Christ is the living bread that came down from Heaven and hath a Supernatural Vertue to convey a Life incomparably more noble and answerable to the quality of his Original 'T is incorruptible as Heaven from whence He came If any man eat of this Bread he shall live for ever Death is so far from extinguishing that it advances the Spiritual Life to its perfection 2. The Apostle testifies that the Israelites drank of that Spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ. That the Miracle was mysterious is evident from the circumstances related of it When the Israelites were in great distress for water The Lord said to Moses I will stand before thee there upon the Rock in Horeb and thou shalt smite the Rock and there shall come water out of it that the People may drink If there had been no other design but the relieving their necessity that might have been supplied by rain from Heaven or if only to give a visible effect of the Divine Power that had been discovered in causing new Springs to rise from the Earth or the Command of God had been sufficient to strike the Rock But he went to it to signifie the respect it had to himself He was the Son of God that spake to Moses and conducted the People For this reason He is stiled the Angel of Gods presence not with respect to his Nature but Offices I will briefly observe the parallel between the Rock and Christ. 1. A Rock is the ordinary Title of God in Scripture to represent his unchangeable Nature and infinite Power whereby He upholds the World And in a special manner it resembles the Messiah He is called The Stone which the builders refused that was made the head of the corner He is the Rock upon which the Church is built and secur'd against the violence of Hell Now Israel was not supplied from the Clouds or the Valleys but the Rock to shew that the mystical Rock the Son of God can only refresh the Spiritual Israel with living Water 2. The quality of the Rock hath a proper Signification For although it had in its Veins a rich abundance of Waters yet to appearance nothing was more dry and hard In this it was a Figure of the Spiritual Rock The effects have discovered in him unfathomable depths of Righteousness Grace and Salvation yet at the first view we had no hopes For if we consider Him as God He is infinitely Holy and Just encompast with everlasting flames against Sin and
his supreme Dominion which extends it self to all things in Heaven and Earth Now in the Participation of these the Image of God did principally consist The Holiness of Man was the copy of the Divine purity his Happiness a representation of the Divine Felicity and his Dominion over the lower World the resemblance of Gods Soveraignty I will take a particular survey of them 1. Man was conformed to God in Holiness This appears by the expressions of the Apostle concerning the Sanctification of corrupt man which he sets forth by the renewing of him in knowledg righteousness and holiness after the image of the Creator The Renovation of things is the restoring of them to their Primitive state and is more or less perfect by its proportion to or distance from the Original Holiness Righteousnesse are the comprehensive Sum of the Moral Law which not only represents the Will but the Nature of God in his Supream Excellency and in conformity to it the Divine likeness eminently appear'd Adam was created with the perfection of Grace the progress of the most excellent Saints is incomparably short of his beginning By this we may in part conjecture at the Beauty of Holinesse in him of which one faint ray appearing in renewed persons is so amiable This primitive Beauty is exprest in Scripture by rectitude God made Man upright There was an universal entire rectitude in his Faculties disposing them for their proper Operations This will more fully appear by considering the distinct powers of the Soul in their regular Constitutions 1. The understanding was inrich'd with knowledg Nature was unveiled to Adam he enter'd into its Sanctuary and discover'd its mysterious Operations When the Creatures came to pay their Homage to him whatsoever he called them that was the name thereof And their Names exprest their Natures His knowledg reach'd through the whole compass of the Creation from the Sun the glorious vessel of Light to the Gloworm that shines in the hedg And this knowledg was not acquir'd by Study 't was not the fruit of anxious inquiry but as the illumination of the Air is in an instant by the light of the Morning so his Understanding was enlightned by a pure beam from the Father of Lights Besides He had such a knowledg of the Deity as was sufficient for his Duty and Felicity His mind did not stick in the material part of things but ascended by the several ranks of Beings to the Universal Cause He discover'd the Glory of the Divine Essence and Attributes by their wonderful effects 1. Almighty Power When he first open'd his eyes the stupendious Fabrick of Heaven and Earth presented itself to his view and in it the most express and clear characters of that Glorious Power which produced it For what could overcome the Infinite distance between not being and being but Infinite Power As there is no proportion between not being and being so the cause which unites those terms must be without limits Now the Divine Word alone which calls the things that are not as if they were caused the World to rise from the Abyss of empty nothing At Gods Command the Heavens and all their Host were created And this led him to consider the Immensity of the Divine Essence For Infinite Power is incompatible with a finite Essence and by the consideration of the Immensity he might ascend to the Eternity of God To be Eternal without beginning and Infinite without bounds infer one another and necessarily exist in the same subject For 't is impossible that any thing which is form'd by another and hath a beginning should not be limited in its Nature by the cause that produced it Therefore the Apostle declares that the Eternal Power of God is set forth in the Creation of the World joyning with the discovery of his Power that of his Eternity 2. Admirable Wisdom appear'd to Man in the Creation For by considering the Variety and Union the Order and Efficacy the Beauty and Stability of the World he clearly discerned that Wisdom which so regularly disposed all 'T is thus that Wisdom speaks in the Book of Proverbs When he prepared the Heavens I was there when he set a compass upon the face of the depth When he established the Clouds above When he strengthened thâ— Fountains of the Deep when he gave the Sea his Decree that the Waters should not pass his Commandments when he appointed the Foundations of the Earth I was with him contriving all in the best manner for Ornament and Use. The knowledg of this fill'd his Soul with wonder and delight The Psamist breaks forth with astonishment as one in the midst of innumerable Miracles O Lord how manifold are thy works in Wisdom hast made them all And if he discovered such wonderful and Divine Wisdom in the Works of God when the vigour of the humane Understanding was so much impair'd by the Fall how much more did Adam who perfectly understood Universal Nature the offices of its parts the harmony of the whole and all the just Laws of Union by which God hath joined together such a multitude of beings so distant and disagreeing and how the Publick Peace is preserved by their Private Enmity This discovery caused him to acknowledge that Great is the Lord and of great Power his Understanding is infinite 3. Infinite Goodness shin'd forth in the Creation This is the leading Attribute that call'd forth the rest to work As there was no matter so no motive to induce God to make the World but what arose from his Goodness For he is an All-sufficient Being perfectly blessed in himself His Majesty is not encreased by the Adoration of Angels nor his Greatnesse by the Obedience of Nature neither was he less happy or content in that Eternal Duration before the existence of any Creature than he is since His Original Felicity is equally incapable of accession as of diminution 'T is evident therefore that only free and unexcited Goodness moved him to create all things that he might impart being and happiness to the Creature not inrich his own And as by contemplating the other works of God so especially by reflecting upon himself Adam had a clear sight of the Divine Attributes which concurr'd in his Creation Whether he consider'd his lowest part the Body 't was form'd of the Earth the most artificial and beautiful piece of the visible World The contrivance of its parts was with that proportion and exactness as most conduc'd to Comliness and Service It s stature was erect and raised becoming the Lord of the Creatures and an observer of the Heavens A Divine Beauty and Majesty was shed upon it And this was no vanishing ray soon eclips'd by a Disease and extinguisht by Death but shin'd in the countenance without any declination The Tongue was Man's peculiar glory being the interpreter of the mind and capable to signifie all the Affections of the Soul In short the Body
was so fram'd as to make a visible discovery of the Prerogatives of his Creation And when he reflected upon his Soul that animated his dust its excellent endowments wherein 't is comparable to the Angels its capacity of enjoying God himself for ever he had an internal and most clear testimony of the glorious perfections of his Creator For Man who alone admires the works of God is the most admirable of all 2. The Image of God was resplendent in mans Conscience the seat of practical Knowledg and Treasury of moral Principles The directive faculty was sincere and incorrupt not infected with any disguising tincture 't was clear from all prejudices which might render it an incompetent Judg of good and evil It instructed Man in all the parts of his relative Obligations to God and the Creatures 'T was not fetter'd and confin'd fearfully restraining from what is Lawful nor licentious and indulgent in what is forbidden Briefly Conscience in Adam upright was a subordinate God that gave Laws and exacted obedience to that glorious Being who is its Superior 3. There was a Divine Impression on the Will Spiritual Reason kept the Throne and the inferiour Faculties observed an easy and regular subordination to its dictates The Affections were exercis'd with proportion to the quality of their Objects Reason was their inviolable Rule Love the most noble and Master-affection which gives being and goodness to all the rest even to hatred it self for so much we hate an object as it hinders our enjoyment of the good we love this precious Incense was offer'd up to the excellent and supreme Being which was the Author of his Life Adam fully obeyed the first and great Command of loving the Lord with all his heart soul and strength His love to other things was regulated by his love to God There was a perfect accord between flesh and spirit in him They both joyn'd in the service of God and were naturally mov'd to their happiness In short the image of God in Adam was a living powerful Principle and had the same relation to the Soul which the Soul hath to the Body to animate and order all its Faculties in their Offices and Operations according to the Will of his Creator 2. The Image of God consisted though in an inferiour degree in the happy state of man Herein he resembled that infinitly Blessed Being This happiness had relation to the two Natures which enter into Mans Composition 1. To the Animal and Sensitive and this consisted in two things 1. In the excellent disposition of his Organs 2. In the enjoyment of convenient Objects 1. In the excellent disposition of the Organs His body was form'd immediately by God and so not liable to those defects which proceed from the weakness of second causes No blemish or disease which are the effects and footsteps of sin were to be found in him His health was not a frail inconstant disposition easily ruin'd by the jarring elements but firm and stable The humours were in a just temperament to prevent any destemper which might tend to the dissolution of that excellent frame Briefly all rhe senses were quick and lively able to perform with facility vigour and delight their operations 2. There were convenient Objects to entertain his sensitive faculties He enjoyed Nature in its original Purity crown'd with the benediction of God before 't was blasted with the curse The World was all Harmony and Beauty becoming the goodness of the Creator and not as 't is since the Fall disorder'd and deform'd in many parts the effect of his Justice The Earth was liberal to Adam of all its Treasures the Heavens of their Light and sweetest Influences He was seated in Eden a place of so great beauty and delight that it represented the Celestial Paradise which is refresht with Rivers of Pleasure And as the ultimate End of the Creatures was to raise his mind and inflame his heart with the love of his great Benefactor So their first and natural use was the satisfaction of the Senses from whence the felicity of the Animal Life did proceed 2. His supreme Happiness consisted in the exercise of his most noble Faculties on their proper Objects This will appear by considering that as the spiritual Faculties have objects which infinitely excel those of the sensitive So their capacity is more inlarged their union with objects is more intimate and their perception is with more quickness and vivacity and thereby are the greatest instruments of pleasure to the rational being Now the highest Faculties in Man are the Understanding and Will and their happiness consists in union with God by Knowledg and Love 1. In the Knowledg of God As the desire of Knowledg is the most natural to the humane Soul so the obtaining of it produces the most noble and sweetest pleasure And proportionably to the degrees of excellency that are in objects so much of rational Perfection and Satisfaction accrues to the mind by the knowledg of them The discovery of the Works of God greatly affected Man yet the excellencies scatter'd among them are but an imperfect and mutable shadow of God's infinite and unchangable Perfections How much more delightful was it to his pure understanding tracing the footsteps and impressions of God in Natural things to ascend to him who is the glorious Original of all Perfections And although his finite understanding could not comprehend the Divine excellencies yet his knowledg was answerable to the degrees of Revelation wherein God was manifested He saw the admirable Beauty of the Creator through the transparent vail of the creatures And from hence there arose in the Soul a pleasure pure solid and satisfying a pleasure divine for God takes infinit contentment in the contemplation of Himself 2. The Happiness of Man consisted in the Love of God 'T was not the naked speculation of the Deity that made him happy but such a knowledg as ravisht his Affections For happiness results from the fruitions of all the Faculties 'T is true that by the mediation of the understanding the other Faculties have access to an object the Will and Affections can't be enclin'd to any thing but by vertue of an act of the mind which propounds it as worthy of them It follows therefore that when by the discovery of the transcendent excellencies in God the Soul is excited to love and to delight in Him as its Supreme Good 't is then really and perfectly happy Now as Adam had a perfect knowledg of God so the height of his love was answerable to his knowledg and the compleatness of his enjoyment was according to his Love All the Divine Excellencies were amiable to him The Majesty Purity Justice and Power of God which are the terrour of guilty creatures secur'd his happiness whilst he continued in his Obedience His Conscience was clear and calm no unquiet fears discompos'd its Tranquillity 't was the seat of Innocence and Peace Briefly His love to God was perfect without any
allay of tormenting fear and Delight its inseparable attendant was pure without the least mixture of Sorrow 3. There was in Mans dominion and power over the Creatures a shining part of God's Image He was appointed God's Lieutenant in the world and adorn'd with a Flower of his Crown God gave him the solemn Investiture of this dignity when he brought the Creatures to receive their names from him which was a mark of their homage and a Token of his supreme Empire to command them by their names As this Dominion was establisht by the order of God so 't was exercised by the mediation of the Body In his Face and Words there was something so powerful as commanded all the hosts of the lower world And as their subjection was most easie without constraint or resistance so 't was most equal without violence and oppression Thus holy and blessed was Adam in his Primitive state And that he might continue so he was obliged for ever to obey the Will of God who bestowed upon him Life and Happiness By the first neglect of his Duty he would most justly and inevitably incur the loss of both This will appear by considering the design of God in the Creation God did not make the World and Man for the meer exercise of his Power and so left them but as the production of all things was from his Goodness so their resolution and tendency is for his Glory He is as universally the final as the efficient cause of all creatures For that which receives its being from another can't be an end to it self for the prevision of the end in the mind of the Creator sets him a work and is antecedent to the being of the creature Therefore the Wiseman tells us that God made all things for himself And the Apostle that Of him and to him and through him are all things to whom be glory for ever The lower rank of Creatures objectively glorifie God as there is a visible demonstration of his excellent Attributes in them Man is only qualified to know and love the Creator And as the benefit of all redounds to him 't is his duty to pay the tribute for all By his mouth the world makes its acknowledgment to God He is the Interpreter of the silent and uninterrupted Praises which the full Quire of Heaven and Earth renders to him O Lord all thy works praise thee from the most noble to the least worthy thy Saints bless thee Thankfulness is the homage due from understanding Creatures And from hence it follows that Man was only in a state of moral dependance and capable of a Law For a Law being the declaration of the Superiours Will requiring Obedience and threatning Punishment on the failure thereof there must be a principle of Reason and choice in that nature that is govern'd by it 1. To discover the Authority that enjoins it 2. To discern the matter of the Law 3. To determine it self out of judgment and election to Obedience as most excellent in it self and advantageous to the performer Now all inferiour Creatures are moved by the secret force of natural inclinations they are insensible of moral engagements and are not wrought on in an illuminative way by the foresight of rewards and punishments But Man who is a reasonable creature owes a reasonable service And it is impossible that Man should be exempt from a Law For as the notion of a God that is of the first and supreme Being excludes all possibility of obligation to another Who hath first given to the Lord and it shall be recompensed to him again And of subjection to a Law for supremacy and subjection are incompatible so the quality of a Creature includes the relation of dependance and natural subjection to the Will of God This is most evident from that common Principle which governs the intelligent Creation 'T is a moral Maxime to which the reasonable nature necessarily assents That the dispensing of benefits acquires to the Giver a Right to command and lays on the Receiver an Obligation to obey and these rights and duties are measured by the nature of the benefits as their just Rule This is visible in that Dominion which is amongst men If we ascend to the first Springs of Humane Laws we shall find the original Right of Power to arise either from Generation in Nature or Preservation â—n War or some publick Good accruing to the Society by the prudent care of the Governor Now the being and blessedness of the creature are the greatest and most valuable benefits that can be received and in the bestowing of them is laid the most real foundation of Power and Authority Upon this account Man who derives his life and felicity from God is under a natural and strong obligation to comply with his will From this right of Creation God asserts his universal Dominion I have made the Earth and created Man upon it even my hands have stretcht out the Heavens and all their hosts have I commanded And the Psalmist tells us Know ye that the Lord he is God it is He that made us and not we our selves we are his people and the sheep of his pasture His Jurisdiction is grounded on his propriety in Man and that arises from his giving being to him Remember O Israel for thou art my servant I have formed thee From hence he hath a supreme Right to impose any Law for the performance of which Man had an original Power Universal Obedience is the just consequent of our obligations to the Divine Goodness Suppose that Man were not the work of God's hands yet the infinite excellency of his nature gives him a better title to command us than Man hath upon the account of his reason to govern those Creatures that are inferiour to him Or suppose that God had not created the matter of which the Body is compos'd but only inspir'd it with a living Soul yet his right over us had been unquestionable The Civil Law determines that when an Artificer works on rich materials and the engraving be not of extraordinary value that the whole belongs to him who is the owner of the materials But if the matter be mean and the workmanship excellent in which the price wholly lies as if a Painter should draw an admirable Picture on a piece of Canvas the Picture of right belongs to him that drew it So if according to the errour of some Philosophers the matter of which the World was made had been Eternal yet God having infused a reasonable Soul into a piece of clay which is the principle of its life and gives it a transcendent value above all other beings which were made of the same element it is most just he should have a property in him and dominion over him The Law of Nature to which Man was subject upon his Creation contains those moral Principles concerning good and evil which have an essential equity in them
entered into the heart of man to conceive Now the carnal Man is only affected with gross and corporeal things The certainty immensity and immortality of the Heavenly Reward doth not prevail with him to seek after it He hath no palate for Spiritual Pleasures 't is vitiated by luscious Vanities and can't rellish rational and refined Joys 'Till the temper of the Soul be altered the bread of Angels is distastful to it For the Appetite is according to the disposition of the Stomack and when that is corrupted it longs for things hurtful and rejects wholsome food If a carnal Man were translated to Heaven where the Love of God reigns and where the brightest and sweetest discoveries of his Glory appear he would not find Paradise in Heaven it self For Delight arises not meerly from the excellency of the object but from the proportionableness to the Faculty Though God is an infinite Good in himself yet if he is not conceiv'd as the Supreme Good to Man he cannot make him happy Suppose some slight Convictions to be in the Mind that Happiness consists in the enjoyment of God yet this being offerâ—d upon the terms of quitting all sensual Lusts the carnal Man esteems the condition impossible and therefore is discourag'd from using any endeavours to obtain it For to excite Hope 't is not sufficient to propose a Reward that is real and excellent but that is attainable For although Hope hath its tendency to a difficult Good as its proper object and the difficulty is so far from discouraging that it quickens the Soul and draws forth all the active Powers by rendering it greater in our esteem yet when the difficulty is excessive and confines upon impossibility it dejects the Soul and enclines it to despair Thus when the condition of obtaining some good is necessary but insufferable it takes off from all endeavours in order to it To consider it in a temporal Case will make it more clear As one that labours under a Dropsie and is vext with an intollerable and insatiable thirst if a Physician should assure him of Cure upon condition he would abstain from drinking he could not conceive any real hope of being healed judging it impossible to resist the importunity of his drought he therefore neglects the means he drinks and dies Thus the corrupt Heart of Man that is under a perpetual thirst of carnal Pleasures and is more inflamed by the satisfaction it receives judges it an insuperable condition to part with them for the acquiring of spiritual Happiness And this sensual and sottish Despair causes a total neglect of the means 'T is thus expâ—est by the Israelites when God commanded them to return from the evil of their waies in order to their Happiness and they said There is no hope but we will walk after our own devices and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart They were Slaves to their domineering Appetites and resolved to make no trial about that they judg'd impossible Briefly In faln Man there is somthing predominant which he values above the favour and fruition of God and that is the World As in the Parable where Happiness is set forâ—h under the familiar representation of a Feast those who were invited to it excuse themselves by such reasons as clearly discover that some amiable Lust charm'd them so strongly that in the competition 't was prefer'd before Heaven One saith I have bought a piece of ground and I must needs go see it and another I have bought a yoke of oxen and must go to prove them and a third I have married a wife and cannot come The objects of their Passions are different but they all produce the same effect they reject Happiness The sum of all is That as Man fell from his Obedience and lost the Image of God by seeking Perfection and Satisfaction that is Happiness in the creature so he can never return to his Obedience and acknowledg God as his Supreme Lord till he chooses him for his Happiness And this he can never entirely do till he is born again and hath a new principle of Life that may change the complexion of the Soul and qualifie it for those delights which are sublime and spiritual Secondly Faln Man can never recover the Favour of God And this is evident upon a double account 1. He is not able to make satisfaction to Gods Justice for the dishonour brought to him 2. He is incapable of real Repentance which might qualifie him for Pardon First He is unable to satisfie Justice for his offence either by exact obedience for the future or by enduring the punishment that is due to Sin 1. Supposing that Man could perform exact Obedience after his Fall yet that could not be satisfaction 'T is essential to Satisfaction that the action by which 't is made be in the power of the person that satisfies A Servant as a Servant cannot make satisfaction for an injury done to his Lord for whatsoever service he performs was due before the offence and is not properly a restitution because 't is not of his own Now the compleat Obedience of the Creature is due to God He is the Lord of all our Actions and whatever Man doth is but the payment of the original Debt The Law requires a perpetual reverence of the Law-giver and express Obedience to his Will in all things So that 't is impossible that the highest respect to it afterwards should compensate for the least violation of it Besides To make Satisfaction for a Fault 't is necessary the Offender do some voluntary act that may be as honourable to the person and as much above what he was before obliged to as the contempt was dishonourable and below that which was due Unless God receive that which is as estimable in the nature of Obedience as the injury he received is in the nature of Contempt there can be no Satisfaction Now there is a greater dishonour brought to God by the commission of one Sin than there is honour by the perfect Obedience of all the Angels For in their Obedience God is preferr'd by the Creature before things infinitely beneath him which is but a small honour but by one Sin he is disvalued in the comparison which is infinite Contempt 2. Man cannot make satisfaction by Suffering For the Punishment must be equal to the Offence which derives its guilt from the dignity of the Person offended and the indignity of the offender Now God is the Universal King his Justice is Infinite which Man hath injur'd and his Glory which Man hath obscur'd and Man is finite And what proportion is there between finite and infinite How can a worthless Rebel that is hateful to God expiate the offence of so excellent a Majesty If he sacrifice himself he can never appease the Divine Displeasure for what doth he offer but a lump of Rebellion and Ingratitude He can make no other Satisfaction but that of the Devils which continues
all understanding Agents first propound an end and then choose the means for the obtaining of it And the more perfect the Understanding is the more excellent is the end it designs and the more fit and convenient are the means it makes use of for the acquiring it Now when God whose Understanding is infinite and in comparison of whom the most prudent and advised are but as dark shadows when he determines to work especially in a most glorious manner the end and the means are equally admirable First The end is of the highest Consequence Were it some low inconsiderable thing it were unworthy one thought of God for the effecting it To be curious in the contriving how to accomplish that which is of no importance exposes to a just imputation of Folly But when the most excellent Good is the end and the difficulties which hinder the obtaining of it are insuperable to a finite understanding it then becomes the only wise God to discover the Divinity of his Wisdom in making a way where he finds none And such was the end of God in the work of our Redemption This was declar'd by the Angels who were sent Ambassadors extraordinary to bring tidings of peace to the world They praised God saying Glory to God in the highest and on Earth Peace good Will towards men The supreme End is his own Glory and in order to it the Salvation of Man hath the nature and respect of a medium The subordinate is the Recovery of the world from its lapsed and wretched state 1. The supreme End is the Glory of God This signifies principally his internal and essential Glory and that consists in the Perfections of his Nature which can never be fully conceived by the Angels but overwhelm by their excellent greatness all created Understandings But the Glory that results from Gods works is properly intended in the present Argument and implies 2. The manifestation whereby he is pleased to represent Himself in the exercise of his Attributes As the Divine Nature is the primary and compleat Object of his Love so he takes delight in those Actions wherein the image and brightness of his own vertues appear Now in all the works of God there is an evidence of his Excellencies But as some Stars shine with a different glory so there are some noble effects wherein the Divine Attributes are so conspicuous that in compare with them the rest of Godâ—s works are but obscure expressions of his Greatness The principal are Creation and Redemption The Heavens declare the glory of God and the Firmament his handy-work And when God surveyed the whole Creation and saw that all which he had made was good He ordain'd a Sabbath to signifie the content and satisfaction he had in the discovery of his eternal Perfections therein But especially his Glory is most resplendent in the Work of Redemption wherein more of the Divine Attributes are exercisâ—d than in the Creation and in a more glorious manner 'T is here that Wisdom Goodness Justice Holiness and Power are united in their highest degree and exaltation Upon this account the Apostle useth that expression The glorious Gospel of the Blessed God It being the clearest revelation of his excellent Attributes the unspotted mirrour wherein the great and wonderful effects of the Deity are set forth 3. The Praise and Thanksgiving that ariseth from the discovery of his Perfections by reasonable Creatures who consider and acknowledg them When there is a solemn veneration of his excellencies and the most ardent affections to Him for the communication of his goodness Thus in Gods account Whoso offers praise glorifies him An eminent example of this is set down in Job 38.7 when at the birth of the World The Morning Stars sang together and all the Sons of God shouted for joy And at its new Birth they descend and make his praise glorious in a triumphant Song It will be the eternal exercise of the Saints in Heaven where they more fully understand the Mystery of our Redemption and consider every circumstance that may adde a lustre to it to ascribe Blessing Honour Glory and Power to him that sits on the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever Secondly The subordinate End is the restoring of Man And this is inviolably joyn'd with the other 'T is exprest by Peace on earth and good will towards men Sin had broke that sacred Alliance which was between God and Man and exposed him to his just displeasure A misery inconceivable And what is more becoming God who is the Father of Mercies than to glorifie his dear Attribute and that which in a peculiar manner characterises his Nature by the Salvation of the miserable What is more honourable to Him than by his Almighty Mercy to raise so many Monuments from the dust wherein his Goodness may live and reign for ever Now for the accomplishing of these excellent Ends the Divine Wisdom pitcht upon those means which were most fit and congruous which I shall distinctly consider The Misery of faln Man consisted in the Corruption of his nature by Sin and the Punishment that ensues And his Happiness is in the restoring him to his primitive Holiness and in Reconciliation to God and the full fruition of him The way to effect this was beyond the compass of any created Understanding That God who is rich in Goodness should be favourable to the Angels who serve him in perfect Purity we may easily conceive for although they do not merit his favour yet they never provokt his Anger And 't is impossible but that he should love the Image of his Holiness wherever it shines Or suppose an innocent creature in Misery the Divine Mercy would speedily excite his power to rescue it For God is Love to all his Creatures as such till some extrinsecal cause intervenes which God hates more than he loves the Creature and that is Sin which alone stops the effusion of his Goodness and opens a wide passage for wrath to fall upon the guilty But how to save the Creature that is undone by its own choice and is as sinful as miserable will pose the wisdom of the world Heaven it self seem'd to be divided Mercy enclin'd to save but Justice interpos'd for satisfaction Mercy regarded Man with respect to his misery and the pleas of it are Shall the Almighty build to ruine Shall the most excellent creature in the lower world perish the fault not being solely his Shall the enemy triumph for ever and raise his Trophies from the Works of the most High Shall the reasonable Creature lose the fruition of God and God the subjection and service of the Creature and all Mankind be made in vain Justice consider'd Man as guilty of a transcendent Crime and 't is its nature to render to every one what is due now the wages of Sin is Death and shall not the Judg of all the world do right All the the other
Attributes seem'd to be attendants on Justice The Wisdom of God enforc'd its Plea it being most indecent that Sin which provokes the execution should procure the abrogation of the Law this would encourage the commission of Sin without fear The Majesty of God was concern'd for it was not becoming his excellent Greatness to treat with defiled dust and to offer Pardon to a presumptuous Rebel immediately after his Offence and before he made Supplication to his Judge The Holiness of God did quicken his Justice to execute the threatning For he is of purer eyes than to behold Iniquity As Goodness is the essential object of his Will which he loves unchangeably wherever it is so is Sin the eternal object of his hatred and where 't is found in the love of it renders the subject odious to him He will not take the wicked by the hand The Law of contrariety forbids Purity and Pollution to mix together And the veracity of God requir'd the inflicting the punishment For the Law being a declaration of God's Will according to which He would dispense Rewards and Punishments either it must be executed upon the Offendâ—r or if extraordinarily dispens'd with it must be upon such terms as the honour of Gods Truth may be preserved This seeming conflict was between the Attributes The sublimâ—st Spirits in Heaven were at a loss how to unravel the difficulty and to find out the miraculous way to reconcile infinite Mercy with inflexible Justice how to satisfie the demands of the one and the requests of the other God was to overcome Himself before He restored Man In this exigence his Mercy excited his Wisdom to interpose as an Arbiter which in the Treasures of its incomprehensible Light found out an admirable expedient to save Man without prejudice to his other Perfections That was by constituting a Mediator both able and willing between the guilty creature and Himself That by transferring the punishment on the Surety he might punish Sin and pardon the Sinner And here the more severe and rigorous Justice is the more admirable is the Mercy that saves In the same stupendious Sacrifice he declared his respect to Justice and his delight in Mercy The two principal relations of our Redeemer are the one of a gift from God to man the other of an oblation for men to God By the one God satisfies his infinite Love to Man and by the other satisfies his infinite Justice for Man Neither is it unbecoming God to condescend in accepting the returning Sinner when a Mediator of infinite dignity intercedes for favour The Divine Majesty is not lessen'd when God is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself Neither is the Sanctity of God disparag'd by his Clemency to Sinners for the Redeemer is the principle and pattern of Holiness to all that are saved The same Grace that enclin'd God to send his Son to die for us gives his Spirit to live in us to renew us in the inward Man that by conformity to God we may be prepared for communion with him Here is a sweet concurrence of all the attributes Mercy and Truth are met together Righteousness and Peace kiss each other Who can count up this heap of wonders Who can unfold all the treasures of this mysterious Love The tongue of an Angel cannot explicate it according to its dignity 'T is the fairest copy of the Divine Wisdome the consummation of all God's Counsels wherein all the Attributes are displayed in their brightest lustre 'T is here the manifold wisdome of God appears The Angels of Light bend themselves with extraordinary application of Mind and arâ—ent Affections to study the rich and unsearchable variety that is in it only the same Understanding comprehends it which contriv'd it But as one that views the Ocean although he cannot see its bounds or bottom yet he sees so much as to know that that vast collection of waters is far greater than what is within the compass of his short sight So although we cannot understand all the depths of that immense Wisdom which orderâ—d the way of our Salvation yet we may discover so much as to know with the Apostle that it surpasses knowledg He that is the Brightness of his Fatherâ—s Glory and the Light of the World so illuminate our dark Understandings that we may conceive aright of this great Mystery The First thing that offers it self to Consideration is the compass of the Divine Wisdome in taking occasion from the Sin and Fall of Man to bring more Glory to God and to raise him to a more excellent state Sin in its own nature hath no tendency to good 't is not an apt medium to promote the Glory of God so far is it from a direct contributing to it that on the contrary 't is the most real dishonour to Him But as a black ground in a Picture which in it self only defiles when plac'd by Art sets off the brighter colours and heightens their beauty So the evil of Sin which considered absolutely obscures the Glory of God yet by the disposition of his Providence it serves to illustrate his Name and to make it more glorious in the esteem of reasonable Creatures Without the Sin of Man there had been no place for the most perfect exercise of his Goodness O foelix culpa qâ—ae tantum talem meruit habere Redemptorem Happy fault not in it self but by the wise and merciful Counsel of God to be repair'd in a way so advantageous that the Salvation of the Earth is the Wonder of Heaven the Redemption of Man ravishes the Angels The Glory of God is more visible in the recovery of lapsâ—d Man than if the Law had been obeyed or executed If Adam had persever'd in his Duty the Reward had been from Gaace for owing himself to God he could receive nothing but as a gift from his Bounty so that Goodness only had then been exerci'sd and not in its highest and most obliging Acts which are to save the guilty and the miserable for Innocence is incapable of Mercy If the Sentence had been inflicted Justice had been honour'd with a solemn Sacrifice but Mercy the sweet tender and indulgent Attribute had never appear'd But now the Wisdom of God is eminent in the accord of both these Attributes God is equally glorious as equally God in preserving the authority of his Law by an act of Justice upon our Surety as in the exercise of Mercy by remitting the punishment to the Offender And 't is no less honourable to God's Wisdom to restore Man with infinite advantage 'T is a mystery in Nature That the corruption of one thing is the generation of another 't is more mysterious in Grace that the Fall of Man should occasion his more noble Restitution Innocence was not his last End his supreme felicity transcends the first The holiness of Adam was perfect but mutable But Holiness in the Redeemed though in a less degree shall be
victorious over all Temptations for they are join'd to the heavenly Adam in a strict and inviolable union And those Graces are acted by them for the exercise of which there was no objects and occasions in innocence As Compassion to the miserable Forgiveness of injuries Forâ—itude and Patience all which as they are a most lively resemblance of the Divine Perfections so an excellent ornament to the Soul and infinitely endear it to God And the Happiness of our renewed state exceeds our primitive Felicity Whether we consider the nature of it 't is wholly spiritual or the place of it Heaven the Sanctuary of Life and Immortality or the constitution of the Body which shall be cloathed with celestial qualities But this will be particularly discussed in its proper place These are the effects of infinite Wisdome to the production of which Sin affords no casuality but hath meerly an accidental respect As the Apostle interprets the words of David Against thee only have I sinned that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings and overcome when thou judgest Which doth not respect the intention of David but the event only The greater his injustice was in the commission the more clear would God's Justice be in the condemnation of his Sin 2. The Wisdom of God appeared in ordaining such a Mediator who was qualified to reconcile God to Man and Man to God The first and most admirable Article in the mystery of Godliness and the foundation of all the rest is that God is manifest in the flesh The middle must equally touch the extremes A Mediator must be capable of the sentiments and affections of both the parties he will reconcile He must be a just esteemer of the Rights and Injuries of the one and the other and have a common interest in both The Son of God assuming the Humane Nature perfectly possesses these qualities he hath zeal for God and compassion for Man He hath taken pledges of Heaven and Earth the supreme Nature in Heaven and the most excellent on the Earth to make the hostility cease between them He is Immanuel by nature and office And if no less than an inspired Wisdom could devise how to frame the earthly Tabernacle wherein God dwelt in a shadowy and typical manner what Wisdom was requisite to frame the Humane Nature of Christ wherein the Deity was really to dwell Now to discover more clearly the Divine Wisdome in uniting the two Natures in Christ to qualifie him for his Office 't is requisite to consider that the office of Mediator hath three charges annext to it the Priestly which respects God the Prophetical and Kingly which regards Men. These have a respect to the â—â—ils which oppress faln Man And they are Guilt Ignorance Sin and Death Man was capitally guilty of the breach of Gods Law and under the tyranny of his Lusts and in the issue liable to Death The Redeemer is made to him Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption These Benefits are dispens'd by Him in his threefold Office As a Priest he exipates Sin as a Prophet he instructs the Church as a King he regulates the lives of his Subjects delivers them from their Enemies and makes them happy Now the Divine and Humane Nature are requisite for the performance of all these For nothing is effectual to an end but what is proportionable and commensurate thereunto and to proportion excesses as well as defects are opposite This will appear by taking a distinct view of the several Offices of our Mediator 1. The Priestly Office hath two parts 1. To make expiation for Sin 2. Intercession for Sinners Now for the making expiation of Sin there was a necessary concurrence of the two Natures in our Redeemer He must be Man for the Deity was not capable of those Submissions and Sufferings which were requisite to expiate Sin And he must be Man that the sinning nature might suffer and thereby acquire a title to the Satisfaction that is made The mâ—ritorious imputation of Christs Sufferings to Man is grounded on the union between them which is as well natural in his partaking of Flesh and Blood as moral in the consent of their Wills As the Apostle observes That he who sanctifies and they that are sanctified are all one So he that suffers and they for whom he suffers must have communion in the same nature For this reason God having resolved never to dispense Mercy to the fallen Angels the Redeemer did not assume the Angelical nature but the seed of Abraham And as the Humane Nature was necessary to qualifie him for Sufferings and to make them suitable so the Divine was to make them sufficient The lower nature consider'd in it self could make no satisfaction The Dignity of the Divine Person makes a temporal punishment to be of an infinite value in God's account The humane Nature was the Sacrifice the divine the Priest to render it acceptable He had sunk under the weight of wrath if the Deity had not been personally present to support him Briefly To perform the first part of his Office he must suffer yet be impassible Die yet be immortal and undergo the wrath of God to deliver Man from it 2. To make Intercessâ—on for us it was requisite that He should partake of both Natures that he might have credit with God and compassion to Man The Son hath a prevailing interest in the Father as he testifies I know thou heardst me alwaies A Priviledge which neither Abraham Moses nor any other who were the most favoured Saints enjoyed And as Man he was fit for Passion and Compassion The Humane nature is the proper subject of feâ—ling pity especially when it hath felt misery God is capable of Love not in strictness of Compassion For Sympathy proceeds from an experimental sence of what one hath suffer'd and the sight of the like affliction in others revives the affections which weâ—e felt in that state and enclines to pity The Apostle offers this to Believers as the ground of comfort that He who took our nature and felt our griefs intercedes for us For we have not an High-Priest that cannot be toucht with the feeling of our Infirmities but was in all things tempted as we are yet without Sin that with an humble confidence we may come to the Throne of Grace He hath drunk deepest of the cup of Sorrows that he may be an Allâ—sufficient Comforter to those that mourn He hath such tender Bowels we may trust him to sollicite our Salvation In short 'T is the great support of our Faith that we have access to the Father by the Son and present all our requests by a Mediator so worthy and so dear to Him and by One who left the Joys of Heaven that by enduring Affliction on Earth his heart might be made tuneable to the hearts of the afflicted Secondly For the discharge of the Prophâ—tical Office 't was necessary the Mediator should be God and
was not convenient the Father should For 1. He must then have been sent into the World which is incongruous to the Relations that are between those glorious Persons For as they subsist in a certain Order so their Operations are according to the manner of their subsistence The Father is from Himself and the first motions in all things are ascribed to Him the Son is from the Father and all his actions take their rise from him The Son can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father do The effecting our Redemption is refer'd to the Fathers Will as the supreme cause our Saviour upon his entrance into the world to undertake that work declares I come to do thy will O God Upon this account the Apostle addresses his thanks to the Father as the first Agent in our Salvation which is not to lessen the glory of the Son and Spirit but to signifie that in the accomplishment of it their working follows their being 2. It was not fit that the Father should be incarnate for He must then have sustained the part of a Criminal and appear'd in that quality before the Supreme Judg But this was not consonant to the order among the Persons For although they are of equal Majesty being one God yet the Father is the first Person and to him it belongs most congruously to be the Guardian of the Laws and Rights of Heaven to exact Satisfaction for offences and to receive Intercessions for the Pardon of the Penitent 3. Neither was it fit that the Third Person should undertake that work For besides the Sacrifice for Propitiation it was necessary the Divine Power should be exerted to enlighten the Minds and encline the Wills of men to receive the Redeemer that the Benefits of his Death might be applied to them Now the Redeemer is consider'd as the Object and the Holy Spirit as the Disposer of the faculty to receive it And in the natural order of things the object must exist before the operation of the faculty upon it There must be Light before the Eye can see it So in the disposition of the causes of our Salvation the Redeemer must be ordain'd and Salvation purchas'd before the Divine Power is put forth to enable the Soul to receive it and accordingly 't is the Office of the Spirit who is the Power of God and by whom the Father and the Son execute all things to render effectual the Redemtion procured by the Son Briefly The Mission of the Persons is according to their principle The Father sends the Son to acquire Salvation for us the Son sends the Spirit to apply it Thus there is no disturbing of their Sacred order more particularly in appointing the Son to assume the Humane Nature and to restore lapsed Man the Wisdom of God is evident For by that 1. The Properties of the Sacred Persons are preserved intire the same Title is appropriated to both Natures in our Redeemer His state on Earth corresponds with his state in Heaven He is the only Son from Eternity and the first-born in time and the Honour due to the eternal and divine and to the temporal but supernatural Sonship is attributed to Him 2. To unite the glorious Titles of Creator and Redeemer in the same Person The Father made the world by the Son By this title he had an original propriety in Man which could not be extinguisht Though we had forfeited our Right in Him He did not lose his Right in us Our contract with Satan could not nullifie it Now 't was consonant that the Son should be employed to recover his own that the Creator in the begining should be the Redeemer in the fulness of time 3. Who could more fitly restore us to Favour and the Right of Children than the only begotten and only beloved Son who is the singular and everlasting object of his Father's delight Our relation to God is an imitation and expression of Christs He is a Son by nature a Servant by condescention we are Servants by Nature and Sons by Grace and Favour Our Adoption into the line of Heaven is by the purchase of his Blood The Eternal Son took flesh and was made under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of sons Who was more fit to repair the Image of God in Man and to beautifie our Natures that were defiled with Sin than the Son who is the express Image of his Fathers person and brighness and beauty it self Who can better communicate the Divine Counsels to us than the Eternal Word 4. The Wisdom of God appears in making the Remedy to have a proportion to the cause of our Ruine that as we fell in Adam our Representative so we are raised by Christ who is made the Head of our Recovery The Apostle makes the comparison between the first and second Adam Therefore as by the offence of one Judgment came upon all to condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men to the justification of Life For as by one Mans Disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one many shall be made righteous They are consider'd as Causes having the same respect to the effects produced by them The effects are Sin and Righteousness Condemnation and Justification As the Disobedience of the first Adam is meritoriously imputed to all his natural Posterity and brings Death upon all so the Righteousness of the second is meritoriously imputed to all his spiritual Progeny to obtain life for them And as the carnal Adam by his Rebellion made forfeiture of our original Righteousness and derives a corrupt nature to all that descend from him So the spiritual hath by his Obedience purchased Divine Grace for us that being the price without which so rich a treasure as Holiness could not be obtain'd And from him there is a vital efficacy conveighed to renew his People The same Spirit of Holiness which annointed our Redeemer doth quicken all his race that as They have born the Image of the earthly they may bear the Image of the heavenly Adam 5. The Divine Wisdom is visible in the manner whereby our Redemption is accomplisht that is by the Humiliation of the Son of God By this He did counterwork the Sin of Angels and Man Pride is the poison of every Sin for in every one the Creature prefers his pleasure and sets up his Will above Gods but it was the special Sin of Adam The Devil would have levell'd Heaven by an unpardonable usurpation he said I will be like the Most High and Man was infected with his breath you shall be like God and became sick of the same Disease Now Christ that by the quality of the Remedy he might cure our Disease in its source and cause He applies to our pride an unspeakable humility Man was guilty of the highest Robbery in affecting to be equal with God and
Heritage to receive the Promise of the Messiah and left the rest in thick and disconsolate darkness there was no apparent cause of this inequality for they all sprang from the same corrupt root and equally deserv'd a final rejection There was no singular good in them nor transcendent evil in others The unaccountable Pleasure of God was the sole motive of the different Dispensation Our Saviour breaks forth in an extasie of Joy I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the wise prudent and revealed them unto babes even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight 'T is the Prerogative of God to reveal the secrets of the Kingdom to whom he pleases 'T is an act of pure Grace putting a difference between one Nation and another with the same liberty as in the Creation of the same indigested matter He form'd the Earth the dregs of the Universe and the Sun and Stars the ornaments of the Heavens and the glory of the visible World How can we reflect on our Spiritual Obligations to Divine Grace without a rapture of Soul The corruption of Nature was universal our Ignorance as perverse and our Manners as profane as of other Nations and we had been condemn'd to an eternal Night if the Light of Life had not graciously shin'd upon us This should warm our hearts in affectionate acknowledgments to God Who hath made known to us the riches of the glory of this mystery amongst the Gentiles and with that revelation the concomitant power of the Spirit to translate us from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of his dear Son If the Publication of the Law by the Ministry of Angels to the Israelites were such a Priviledg that 't is reckon'd their peculiar Treasure He hath shewed his Statutes unto Israel He hath not dealt so with any Nation What is the revelation of the Gospel by the Son of God Himself For although the Law is obscured and defaced since the Fall yet there are some ingrafted Notions of it in the humane Nature but there is not the least suspition of the Gospel The Law discovers our Misery but the Gospel alone shews the way to be delivered from it If an Advantage so great and so precious doth not touch our hearts and in possessing it with joy we are not sensible of the engagements the Father of Mercies hath laid upon us we shall be the ungratefullest wretches in the world 2. This incomprehensible Mystery is worthy of our most serious thoughts and study that we may arrive to a fuller knowledge of it And to incite us it will be fit to consider those excellencies which will render it most desirable Knowledge is a quality so eminent that it truly enobles one Spirit above another As Reason is the singular Ornament of the humane Nature whereby it excels the Bruits so in proportion Knowledge which is the perfection of the Understanding raises those who are possessors of it above others that want it The Testimony of Solomon confirms this Then I saw that Wisdom excells Folly as far as Light excelleth Darkness And according to the nature and quality of the Knowledge such is the advantage it brings to us Now the Doctrine of the Gospel excels the most noble Sciences as well contemplative as practick it excels the contemplative in the sublimity of the object and in the certainty of its Principle 1. In the sublimity and greatness of the Object and it is no less then the highest design of the eternal Wisdom the most glorious work of the great God In the Creation his foot-steps appear in our Redemption his Image In the Law his Justice and Holiness but in the Gospel all his Perfections shine forth in their brightest luster The bare theory of this inriches the mind and the contemplation of it affects the Soul that is conversant about it with the highest admiration and the most sincere and lasting delight 1. It affects the Soul with the highest admiration The strongest Spirits cannot comprehend its just greatness the understanding sinks under the weight of Glory The Apostle who had seen the light of Heaven and had such knowledg as never any man before yet upon considering one part of the Divine Wisdom breaks forth in astonishment Oh the depth of the riches of the Wisdom and Knowledg of God! how unsearchable are his Decrees and his waies past finding out 'T is fit when we have spent the strength of our minds in the consideration of this excelling object and are at the end of our subtilty to supply the defects of our Understandings with Admiration As the Psalmist expresses himself Lord how wonderful are thy thoughts to us-ward The Angels adore this glorious Mystery with an humble Reverence The admiration that is caused by it is a principal delight of the Mind 'T is true the wonder that proceeds from Ignorance when the cause of some visible effect is not known is the imperfection and torment of the spirit but that which ariseth from the knowledg of those things which are most above our conception and our hope is the highest advancement of our Minds and brings the greatest satisfaction to the Soul Now the contrivance of our Redemption was infinitely above the â—light of Reason and our expectation When the Lord turned the captivity of Sion they were as in a dream The way of accomplishing it was so incredible that it seem'd rather the picture of Fancy than a real Deliverance And there is far greater reason that the rescuing of us from the Powers of Hell and the restoring us to Liberty and Glory by Christ should raise our wonder The Gospel is called a marvellous Light upon the account of the objects it discovers But such a perverse judgment is in men that they neglect those things which deserve the highest admiration and spend their wonder on meaner things Art is more admir'd than Nature a counterfeit Eye of Christal which hath neither sight nor motion than the living Eye the Sun of the little world that directs the whole Man And the effects of Nature are more admir'd than the sublime and supernatural works of Grace Yet these infinitely exceed the other The World is the work of Gods hand but the Gospel is his plot and the chiefest of all his waies What a combination of Wonders is there in the great Mystery of Godliness That He who fills Heaven and Earth should be confin'd to the Virgins Womb that Life should die and being dead revive that Mercy should triumph without any disparagement to Justice these are Miracles that transcend all that is done in Nature And this appears by the judgment of God himself who best knows the excellency of his own works For whereas upon the finishing the first Creation he ordain'd the Seventh Day that reasonable Creatures might more solemnly ascribe to him the Glory of his Attributes which are visible in the things
our eyes from it to vanity Here the complaint is more just Ad sapientiam quis accedit quis dignam judicat nisi quam in transitu noverit we content our selves with slight and transient glances but do not seriously and fixedly consider this blessed design of God upon which the beginning of our happiness in this and the perfection of it in the next life is built Let us provoke our selves by the example of the Angels who are not concern'd in this Redemption as man is for they continued in their fidelity to their Creator and were alwayes happy in his favour and where there is no alienation between parties reconcilement is unnecessary yet they are Students with us in the same Book and unite all their powers in the contemplation of this mystery they are represented stooping to pry into these secrets to signifie their delight in what they know and their desire to advance in the knowledge of them With what intention then should we study the Gospel who are the Subject and end of it CHAP. VII The simple Speculation of the Gospel not sufficient without a real Belief and Cordial Acceptance The Reasons why the Jews and Gentiles conspir'd in the contempt of it How just it is to resign up the Understanding to Revelation God knows his own Nature and Will and cannot deceive us We must believe the things that are clearly revealed though we do not understand the manner of their existence Although they are attended with seeming contradictions No Article of Faith is really repugnant to Reason We must distinguish between things incomprehensible and inconceivable Between corrupt and right Reason How Reason is subservient to Faith Humility and Holiness qualifie for the belief of the Gospel-mysteries A naked belief of Supernatural Truths is unprofitable for Salvation An effectual Assent that prevails upon the Will and renders the whole Man obsequious is due to the quality of the Gospel-Revelation THe simple Speculation of this glorious Mystery will be of no profit without a real belief of it and a cordial acceptance of Salvation upon the terms which the Divine Wisdom prescribes The Gospel requires the Obedience of the Understanding and of the Will unless it obtains a full possession of the Soul there is no saving efficacy derived from it And such is the sublimity and purity of the Object that till Reason is sanctified and subdued it cannot sincerely entertain it I will therefore distinctly consider the opposition which carnal Reason hath made against it and shew how just it is that the Humane Understanding should with reverence yield up it self to the Word of God that reveals this great Mystery to us The Apostle tells us that Jews and Gentiles conspired in the contempt of the Gospel Reason cannot hear without great astonishment for the appearing contradiction between the terms that God should be made Man and the Eternal die The Jews esteem'd it an intolerable Blasphemy and without any Process of Law were ready to stone the Lord Jesus That being a man he should make himself equal with God And they upbraided him in his Sufferings that he could not save himself If he be the King of Israel let him come down from the Cross and we will believe on him The Gentiles despised the Gospel as an absurd ill-contrived Fable For what in appearance is more unbecoming God and injurious to his Perfections than to take the frail garment of Flesh to be torn and trampled on Their natural Knowledg of the Deity enclin'd them to think the Incarnation impossible There is no resemblance of it in the whole compass of Nature For natural Union supposes the parts incompleat and capable of Perfection by their joyning together But that a Being infinitly perfect should assume by personal Union a nature inferiour to it self the Heathens lookt on it as a Fable forg'd according to the model of the fictions concerning Danae and Antiope And the Doctrine of our Saviours Death on the Cross they rejected as an impiety contumelious to God They judged it inconsistent with the Majesty and Happiness of the Deity to ascribe to Him that which is the punishment of the most guilty and miserable In the account of carnal Reason they thought more worthily of God by denying that of Him which is only due to the worst of men Celsus who with as much Subtilty as Malice urges all that with any appearance could be objected against our Saviour principally insists on his Poverty and Sufferings the Meanness and Misery of his condition in the world 'T was fit saith he that the Son of God should appear as the Sun which renders it self conspicuous by its own light But the Gospel having declared the Word to be the Son of God relates that he was a man of Sorrows that had no power to defend himself and was deserted by his Father and Followers scourged with Rods and shamefully executed He could not reconcile so many things that seem'd utterly incompatible as Sovereignty and Servitude Innocence and Punishment the lowest of humane Miseries Death with the highest of divine Honours Adoration Briefly Nothing was more contrary to Flesh and Blood than to believe that person to be the Redeemer of the World who did not rescue himself from his Enemies and to expect Immortality from him that was overcome by Death Now the Causes of this Infidelity are 1. The Darkness of the Mind which is so corrupted by Original Pravity that it cannot behold Heavenly Mysteries in their proper light so as to acquiesce in the truth of them The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him and he cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned There is no proportion between the Natural Understanding and Supernatural Truths For although the rational Soul is a Spirit as 't is distinguisht from corporeal Beings yet till 't is purged from Errour and vitious Affections it can never discover the Divinity of things Spiritual so as to embrace them with certainty and delight As there must be a Spirit of Revelation to unvail the object so of Wisdom to enlighten the eye that it may be prepar'd for the reception of it As Heaven is only seen by its own Light So Christ is by his own Spirit Divine Objects and Faith that discerns them are of the same original and of the same quality The natural Understanding as the effects declare is like the Funeral Lamps which by the Antients were put into Sepulchers to guard the ashes of their dead Friends which shine so long as they are kept close a thick moist vapour feeding them and repairing what was consum'd but in opening the Sepulchres and exposing them to the free air they presently faint and expire Thus natural Reason whilst conversant in things below and watching with the dead that is in the Phrase of the Antients studying the Books of Men who have left the world it discovers
made in the likeness of Man this is a lower degree of condescension than the assuming the naked humane nature A Servant is not simply a Man there being many Men of higher quality but a Man in a low State Now he that was in the form of God lessened himself into the form of a servant that is took the humane nature without honour attended with its infirmities So that by the visible condition of his life he was judged to be an ordinary person and not that under that meanness the Lord of Angels had been concealed This will more distinctly be understood if we consider the lowness of his extraction the poverty of his birth and the tenor of his life whilst he converst with Men. What Nation was more despicable in the esteem of the World than the Jews and Christ came of their stock and among the Jews none were more vilified than the Galileans and in Galilee-Nazareth was a contemptible village and in Nazareth the Family of Joseph was very obscure and to him our Saviour was nearly allied His reputed Father was a Carpenter and his Mother a poor Virgin that offered two Pigeons for her purification He first breathed in a Stable and was covered with poor swadling-cloaths who was Master of Heaven and Earth and adorns all creatures with their glory But Love made him who is Heir of all things renounce the priviledge of his supernatural Sonship Incredible condesension Therefore an Angel was dispatcht from Heaven who appeared with a surprizing miraculous light the visible character of his dignity to prevent the scandal which might arise from the meanness of his condition and to assure the Shepherds that the Babe which lay in the Manger was the Redeemer of the World The course of his Life was a preface and preparative for the Death of the Cross. He had a just right to all that Glory which a created Nature personally united to the Deity could receive An eminent instance of it there is in his Transfiguration when Glory descended from Heaven to encompass him that which was so short should have been continual but he presently returned to the lowness of his former condition The fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily yet in his humble state he was voluntarily deprived of those admirable effects which should proceed from that union Strange separation between the Deity and the Glory that results from it God is light and the Son is the brightness of his Fathers Glory yet in his Pilgrimage upon the Earth he was alwayes under a cloud Astonishing Miracle transcending all those in the course of Nature yet the power of Love effected it He was made not only lower than the Angels but less than all Men joyning Oh amazing abasement the Majesty of God with the meanness of a Worm The High and Lofty-One whom the Prophet saw Exalted on a High Throne and all the Powers of Heaven in a posture of Reverence about Him was despised and rejected of Men they turned their eyes from him not for the lustre of his Countenance but for shame If the Lord had assumed our Nature in its most honourable Condition and appeared in its Beauty the condescension were infinite For although Men are distinguish'd among themselves by Titles of Honour yet as two Gloworms that shine with an unequal brightness in the Night are equally obscured by the light of the Sun So all men those that are advanc'd to the most eminent degree as well as the most abject and wretehed are in the same distance from God But He emptied himself of all his Glory he grew up as a tender Plant and as a Root out of a dry ground there was no Form or Comliness in him From his Birth to the time of his Preaching he lived so privately as only known under the quality of the Carpenters Son There was a continual repression of that inconceivable Glory that was due to him the first moment of his appearing among Men. In short His despised Condition was an abasement not only of his Divinity but his Humanity And how conspicuous was his Love in this darkning Condescension We know the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich he became poor for our sakes He did not assume that which was due to the excellency of his Nature but what was convenient for our Redepmtion which was to be accomplisht by Sufferings Where can be found an Example of such Love Some have favourable Inclinations to help the distressed and will express so much Compassion as is consistent with their state and quality But if in order to the relieving of the miserable one must submit to what is shameful who hath an affection so strong and vehement as to purchase his Brothers Redemption at the loss of his own Honour Yet the Son of God descended from his Throne and put on our vile Mortality He parted with his Glory that He might be qualified to part with his Life for our Salvation How doth this exalt his Compassion to us And further He took our Nature after it had lost its Primitive Innocency The natural distance between God and the creature is infinite the moral between God and the sinful creature if possible is more than infinite Yet the Mercy of our Redeemer overcame this distance What an extasie of Love transported the Son of God so far as to espouse our Nature after it was defiled and debased with Sin He was essential Innocence and Purity yet He came in the similitude of sinful flesh which to outward view was not different from what was really sinful He was the Holy Lawgiver yet He submitted to that Law which made Him appear under the character and disreputation of a Sinner He paid the bloody Tribute of the Children of wrath being circumcised as guilty of Adam's Sin and he was baptised as guilty of his own 2. The most evident and sensible proof of the greatness of Gods Love to Mankind is in the Sufferings of our Redeemer to obtain our Pardon He is called in Scripture A man of Sorrows the title signifies their number and quality His whole Life was a continual Passion He suffered the contradiction of Sinners who by their malicious Calumnies obscur'd the lustre of his Miracles and most innocent Actions He endured the Temptations of Satan in the Desert He was often in danger of his Life But all these were nothing in comparison of his last Sufferings 'T is therefore said that at the bare apprehension of them He began to be sorrowful as if He had never felt any Grief till then His former Afflictions were like scatter'd drops of Rain But as in the Deluge All the Fountains beneath and all the Windows of Heaven above were opened So in our Saviours last Sufferings the Anger of God the Cruelty of Men the Fury of Devils broke out together against him And that the degrees of his Love may be measured by those of his Sufferings it
favour Now the Angels are sent forth to minister for them who are Heirs of Salvation Besides in two other things the peculiar affection of the Prince would be most evident to that Nation 1. If he put on their habit and attire himself according to their fashion 2. If he fixt his residence among them Now the Son of God was cloathed with our flesh and found in fashion as a man and for ever appears in it in Heaven and will at the last day invest our bodies with glory like to his own He now dwells in us by his Spirit and when our warfare is accomplisht he shall in a special manner be present with us in the eternal Mansions As God incarnate he converst with Men on Earth and as such he will converse with them in heaven There he raigns as the first-born in the midst of many Brethren Now all these Prerogatives are the fruits of our Redemption And how great is that Mercy which hath raised Mankind more glorious out of its ruines The Apostle breaks out with a Heavenly astonishment Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God! that we who are Strangers and Enemies Children of Wrath by nature should be dignified with the honorable and amiable title of his Sons 'T was a rare and most merciful condescension in Pharaoh's Daughter to rescue an innocent and forsaken Infant from perishing by the waters and adopt him to be her Son but how much greater kindness was it for God to save guilty and wretched Man from Eternal Flames and to take him into his Family The Ambition of the Prodigal rose no higher than to be a Servant whaâ— an inestimable favour is it to make us Children When God would express the most dear and peculiar affection to Solomon he saith I will be his Father and he shall be my Son this was the highest honour he could promise and all believers are dignified with it 'T is the same relation that Christ hath when he was going to Heaven he comforted his Disciples with these words I ascend to my Father and your Father to my God and your God There is indeed a diversity in the foundation of it Christ is a Son by Nature we are by meer Favour he is by Generation we are by Adoption Briefly Jesus Christ hath made us Kings Priests unto God his Father These are the highest Offices upon Earth and were attended with the most conspicuous Honour and the Holy Spirit chose those bright Images to convey a clearer notice of the glory to which our Redeemer hath raised us Not only all the Crowns and Scepters in this perishing World are infinitely beneath this dignity but the honour of our innocent state was not equal to it Secondly The Gospel is a better Covenant than that which was establisht with Man in his Creation and the excellency of it will appear by considering 1. 'T is more beneficial in that it admits of Repentance and Reconciliation after sin and accepts of Sincerity instead of perfection The Apostle magnifies the Office of Christ By how much he is a Mediator of a better Covenant which was established upon better promises The comparison there is between the Ministry of the Gospel and the Mosaical oeconomy And the excellency of the Gospel is specified in respect of those infinitely better promisses that are in it The ceremonial Law appointed Sacrifices for sins of ignorance and error and to obtain only legal impunity but the Gospel upon the account of Christ's all-sufficient Sacrifice offers full Pardon for all Sins that are repented of and forsaken Now with greater reason the Covenant of Grace is to be preferr'd before the Covenant of Works For the Law considered Man as holy and endued with perfection of Grace equal to whatsoever was commanded 'T was the measure of his Ability as well as Duty and requir'd exact Obedience or threatned extreme Misery The least breach of it is fatal A single Offence as certainly exposes to the curse as if the whole were violated And in our lapsed state we are utterly disabled to comply with its Purity and Perfection But the Gospel contains the Promises of Mercy and is in the hands of a Mediator The tenor of it is That Repentance and Remission of Sins be preached in the Name of Christ. And if we judge our selves we shall not be judged 'T is not if we are innocent for then none could be exempt from Condemnation But if the convinced Sinner erect a Tribunal in Conscience and strips Sin of its disguise to view it in its native deformity if he pronounce the Sentence of the Law against himself and glorifie the Justice of God which he cannot satisfie and forsake the Sins which are the causes of his sorrow he is qualified for pardoning Mercy Besides The Gospel doth not only apply Pardon to us for all forsaken Sins but provides a Remedy for those Infirmities to which the best are incident Whilst we are in this mortal state we are exposed to Temptations from without and have Corruptions within that often betray us Now to support our drooping Spirits our Redeemer sits in Heaven to plead for us and perpetually renews the Pardon that was once purchased to every contrite spirit for those unavoidable frailties which cleave to us here The promise of Grace is not made void by the sudden surprizes of Passions If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous The rigour of the Law is mollified by his Mediation with the Father A title of Love and Tenderness God deals not with the Severity of a Judg but He spares us as a man spares his own son that serves him And as He pardons us upon our Repentance so He accepts our hearty though mean services Now the Legal that is unsinning and compleat Obedience cannot be performed the Evangelical that is the sincere though imperfect is graciously received God doth not require the duties of a Man by the measures of an Angel Unfeigned Endeavours to please Him unreserved Respects to all his Commands single and holy aims at his Glory are rewarded Briefly Although the Law is continued as a Rule of living yet not as the Covenant of Life And what an admirable exaltation of Mercy is there in this new Treaty of God with Sinners 'T is true the first Covenant was holy just and good but it made no abatements of favour and 't is now weak through the flesh that is The carnal corrupt Nature is so strong and impetuous that the restraints of the Law are ineffectual to stop its desires and therefore cannot bring Man to that Life that is promised by the performance of the Condition required But the Gospel provides an Indulgence for relenting and returning Sinners This is the language of God in that Covenant I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their Iniquities
any allay in the highest degree of its Perfection The Life of Adam was alwaies in a circle of low and mean functions of the Animal Nature which being common to him and Beasts the acts of it are not strictly Humane But the Spiritual Life in Heaven is entirely freed from those servile necessities and is spent in the eternal performance of the most noble actions of which the intelligent Nature is capable The Saints do alwaies contemplate admire love enjoy and praise their everlasting Benefactor God is to them all in all In short That which prefers the Glory of Heaven infinitely before the first state of Man is the continuance of it for ever 'T is an unwithering and never-fading Glory Adam was liable to Temptations and capable of Change he fell in the Garden of Eden and was sentenc'd to die But Heaven is the Sanctuary of Life and Immortality 't is inaccessible to any evil The Serpent that corrupted Paradise with its Poison can't enter there As there is no seed of Corruption within so no cause of it without Our Redeemer offer'd Himself by the Eternal Spirit and purchased an eternal Inheritance for his People Their Felicity is full and perpetual without encrease for in the first moment 't is perfect and shall continue without declination The Day of Judgment is called the Last Day For Daies and Weeks and Months and Years the Revolutions which now measure Time shall then be swallowed up in an unchangeable Eternity The Saints shall be for ever with the Lord. And in all these respects the Glory of the Redeemed as far exceeds the Felicity of Man in the Creation as Heaven the bright Seat of it is above the fading beauty of the terrestrial Paradise CHAP. XI Redeeming Love deserves our highest Admiration and humble Acknowledgments The illustration of it by several Considerations God is infinitely amiable in Himself yet his Love is transient to the Creature 'T is admirable in Creating and Preserving Man more in Redeeming him and by the Death of his Son The discovery of God's Love in our Redemption is the strongest persuasiue to Repentance The Law is ineffectual to produce real Repentance The common benefits of Providence are insuffâ—cient to cause Faith and Repentance in the guilty Creature The clear discovery of pardoning Mercy in the Gospel can only remove our Fears and induce us to return to God The transcendent Love of God should kindle in us a reciprocal Love to Him His Excellency and His ordinary Bounty to Mankind cannot prevail upon us to love Him His Love to us in Christ only conquers our Hatred Our Love to Him must be sincere and superlative The despising of Saving Mercy is the highest Provocation It makes the Condemnation of Men most just certain and heavy 1. ' THis Redeeming Love deserves our highest Admiration and most humble acknowledgments If we consider God aright it may raise our wonder that He is pleased to bestow kindness upon any created being For in Him is all that is excellent and amiable and 't is essential to the Deity to have the perfect knowledg of Himself and perfect Love to Himself His Love being proportioned to his Excellencies the act is infinite as the object And the perfections of the Divine Nature being equal to his Love 't is a just cause of admiration that 't is not confined to himself but is transient and goes forth to the Creature When David looked up to the Heavens and saw the Majesty of God written in Characters of light he admires that Love which first made Man a litle lower then the Angels and Crowned him with Glory and Honour and that providential care which is mindful of him and visits him every moment Such an inconceivable distance there is between God and Man that 't is wonderful God will spend a thought upon us Lord what is Man that thou takest knowledge of him or the Son of Man that thou makest account of him Man is like to vanity his dayes are as a shadow that passeth away His being in this world hath nothing firm or solid 't is like a shadow that depends upon a cause that is in perpetual motion the light of the Sun and is alwayes changing till it vanishes in the darkness of the night But if we consider Man in the quality of a sinner and what God hath wrought for his recovery we are overcome with amazement All temporal favours are but foils to this miraculous Mercy and unspeakably below the least instance of it without it all the priviledges we enjoy above inferior Creatures in this life will prove aggravations of our future misery God saw us in our degenerate state destroyed by our selves and yet O Goodness truly Divine he loved us so far as to make the way for our recovery High Mountains were to be levelled and great depths to be filled up before we could arrive at blessedness all this God hath done He hath brought the Curse of the guilty upon the innocent and exposed his beloved Son to the Sword of his Justice to turn the blow from us What astonishing goodness is it that God who is the Author and end of all things should become the means of our Salvation And by the lowest abasement What is so worthy of admiration as that the Eternal should become mortal that being in the form of God he should take on him the form of a Servant that the Judge of the World should be condemned by the guilty that he should leave his Throne in Heaven to be nailed to the Cross that the Prince of Life should taste of Death These are the great Wonders which the Lord of Love hath performed and all for sinful miserable and unworthy Man who deserved not the least drop of that Sweat and Blood he spent for him and without any advantage to himself for what content can be added to his felicity by a cursed Creature Infinite Love that is as admirable as saving Love that passeth Knowledge and is as much above our comprehension as desert In natural things admiration is the effect of ignorance but here 't is increased by Knowledg For the more we understand the excellent Greatness of God and the vileness of Man the more we shall admire saving Mercy And the most humble acknowledgments are due for it When David told Mephibosheth that he should eat bread with him at his Tâ—ble continually he bowed himself and said What is thy Servant that thou shouldest look on such a dead Dog as I am A speech ful of gratitude and humility yet he was of a Royal extraction though at that time in a low condition With a far greater sense of our unworthiness we should reflect upon that condescending Love that provides the Bread of God for the food of our Souls without which we had perisht for want David in that divine thanksgiving recorded in the Scripture reflects upon his own meanness and from that magnifies the favour of God towards him Who am I
Compleatness of Christ's Satisfaction proved from the Causes and Effects of it The Causes are the Quality of his Person and Degrees of his Sufferings The Effects are His Resurrection Ascension Intercession at Gods right hand and his exercising the Supreme Power in Heaven and Earth The excellent Benefits which God reconciled bestows on Men are the Effects and Evidences of his compleat Satisfaction They are Pardon of Sin Grace and Glory That Repentance and Faith are required in order to the partaking of the Benefits purchased by Christ's Death doth not lessen the Merit of his Sufferings That Afflictions and Dâ—ath are inflicted on Believers doth not derogate from their All-sufficiency THe Third thing to be considered is the Compleatness of the Satisfaction that Christ hath made by which it will appear that Gods Justice as well as Mercy is fully glorified in his Sufferings For the proof of this I will first consider the Causes from whence the compleatness of his Satisfaction arises Secondly The Effects that proceed from it which are convincing Evidences that God is fully appeas'd The Causes of his compleat Satisfaction are two 1. The Quality of his Person derives an infinite value to his obedient Sufferings Our Surety was equally God and as truely Infinite in His Perfections as the Father who was provoked by our Sins therefore he was able to make Satisfaction for them He is the Son of God not meerly in respect of the honour of his Office or the special Favour of God for on these accounts that Title is communicated to others but his only Son by Nature The sole preheminence in Gifts and Dignity would give Him the title of the first-born but not deprive them of the quality of Brethren Now the wisdom and justice of all Nations agree that Punishments receive their estimate from the quality of the Persons that suffer The Poet observes that the Death of a vertuous Person is more precious than of Legions Of what inestimable value then is the death of Christ and how worthy a Ransom for lost mankind For although the Deity is impassible yet he that was a Divine Person he suffered A King suffers more than a private person although the strokes he endures in his body cannot immediatly reach his honour And 't is specially to be observed that the Efficacy of Christs Blood is ascribed to his Divine Nature This the Apostle declares In whom we have Redemption through his Blood even the forgiveness of Sins who is the image of the invisible God Not an artificial Image which imperfectly represents the Original As a Picture that sets forth the Colour and Figure of a Man but not his Life and Nature But the essential and exact Image of his Father that expresses all his glorious Perfections in their immensity and eternity This is testified expresly in Hebr. 1.3 The Son of God the brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person having purged by himself our sins is set down on the right hand of Majesty on High From hence arises the infinite difference between the Sacrifices of the Law and Christs in their value and vertue This with admirable Emphasis is set down in Hebr. 9.13 14. For if the blood of Bulls and of Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purification of the flesh How much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offer'd himself without spot to God purge your Consciences from dead works to serve the living God Wherein the Apostle makes a double Hypothesis 1. That the Legal Sacrifices were ineffectual to purifie from real guilt 2. That by their Typical Cleansing they signified the washing away of moral guilt by the Blood of Christ. 1. Their insufficiency to expiate Sin appears if we consider the subject Sin is to be expiated in the same nature wherein 't was committed now the Beasts are of an inferiour rank and have no communion with Man in his nature Or if we consider the object God was provoked by Sin and He is a Spirit and not to be appeased by gross material things His Wisdom requires that a rational Sacrifice should expiate the guilt of a rational Creature And Justice is not satisfied without a proportion between the Guilt and the Punishment This weakness and insufficiency of the Legal Sacrifices to expiate Sin is evident from their variety and repetition For if full Remission had been obtained The worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sin 'T is the sense of Guilt and the fear of Condemnation that required the renewing of the Sacrifice Now under the Law the Ministry of the Priests never came to a period or perfection The Millions of Sacrifices in all Ages from the erecting the Tabernacle to the coming of Christ had not vertue to expiate one Sin They were only shadows which could give no refreshment to the inflamed Conscience but as they depended on Christ the body and substance of them But the Son of God who offered himself up by the Eternal Spirit to the Father is a Sacrifice not only Intelligent and Reasonable but incomparably more precious than the most noble Creatures in Earth or in Heaven it self He was Priest and Sacrifice in respect of both His Natures His entire Person was the Offerer and Offering Therefore the Apostle from the excellency of his Sacrifice infers the unity of its Oblation and from thence concludes its Efficacy Christ did not by the Blood of Bulls and Goats but by his own Blood He entred in once to the Holy Place having obtained eternal Redemption for us and by one Offering He hath for ever perfected them who are sanctified Upon this account God promised in the New-Covenant That their Sins and Iniquities He would remember no more having received compleat satisfaction by the Sufferings of his Son 'T is now said that once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself And as it is appointed for all men once to die and after Death comes Judgment So Christ was once offered to bear the Sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin As there is no other natural death to suffer between Death and Judgment so there is no other propitiatory Sacrifice between his all-sufficient Death on the Cross and the last coming of our Redeemer There is one Consideration I shall adde to shew the great difference between Legal Sacrifices and the Death of Christ as to its saving vertue The Law absolutely forbids the eating of Blood and the peoples tasting of the Sin-offerings to signifie the imperfection of those Sacrifices For since they were consumed in their Consecration to Gods Justice and nothing was left for the nourishment of the Offerers 't was a sign they could not appease God The Offerers had communion with them when they brought them to the Altar and in a manner
derived their guilt to them but they had no vertue by them in coming from it The Sinner conveyed death to the Sacrifice but did not receive life from it But Christ the Lamb of God was not swallowed up in his Offering to Divine Justice 'T is his peculiar Glory that He hath compleatly made Satisfaction We may feed upon the flesh of this precious Victim and drink his Blood As He enter'd into communion of Death with us so we are partakers of Life by Him 2. The Compleatness of his Satisfaction is grounded on the degrees of his Sufferings There was no defect in the payment He made We owed a debt of Blood to the Law and his Life was offer'd up as a Sacrifice otherwise the Law had remained in its full vigour and Justice had been unsatisfied That a Divine Person hath suffered our Punishment is properly the reason of our Redemption As 't is not the quality of the Surety that releases the Debtor from Prison but the payment which he makes in his name The Blood of Christ shed poured forth from his Veins and offered up to God in that precise consideration ratifies the New Testament The sum is Our Saviour by his Death suffer'd the malediction of the Law and his Divine Nature gave a full value to his Sufferings so that the satisfaction proceeding from them was not meerly ex pacto as Brass Money is currant by composition but ex merito as pure Gold hath an intrinsick worth and God who was infinitly provokt is infinitely pleased 2. The effects and evidences of his compleat Satisfaction are First His Resurrection from the Grave For if we consider the Lord Christ in the quality of our Surety He satisfied the Law in his Death and having made compleat payment of our debt He received the acquittance in his Resurrection His Death appeased God His Resurrection assures Men. As he rose himself so in one concurrent action God is said to raise him He was releast from the Grave as from Prison by publick sentence which is an indubitable argument of the validity and acceptance of the payment made by him in our name For being under such bonds as the Justice and Power of God he could never have loosed the pains of Death if his Sufferings had not fully been fully Satisfactory and received by him for our discharge And 't is observable that the raising of Chiist is ascribed to God as reconciled Now the God of peace who brought again from the dead the great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Blood of the everlasting Covenant The Divine Power was not put forth till God was pacified Justice incensed exposed him to Death and Justice appeased freed Him from the dead And his Resurrection is attributed to his Blood that being the full price of his and our liberty In short when inflexible Justice ceases to punish there is the strongest proof 't is satisfied Secondly His Ascent into Heaven and Intercession for us prove the compleatness and alsufficiency of his Sacrifice If He had been excluded from the Divine Presence there had been just cause to suspect that anger had been still remaining in God's Breast but His admission into Heaven is an infallible testimony that God is reconciled This our Saviour produces as the Argument by which the Holy Ghost will overcome the guilty fears of Men. He shall convince the World of Righteousnss because I go to my Father Christ in his Sufferings was numbred among transgressors He dyed as a guilty person not only in respect of the calumnies of Men but the curse of the Law and the Wrath of God which then appeared inexorable against sin But having overcome Death and broke through the weight of the Law and retired to his Father he made apparent the innocency of his righteous Person and that a compleat Righteousness is acquired by his Sufferings sufficient to justifie all that shall truly accept of it This will be more evident by considering his entry into Heaven as the true High Priest who carried the Blood of the New-Covenant into the Celestial Sanctuary For the opening this we are to consider there are two parts of the Priestly Office 1. To offer Sacrifice 2. To make intercession for the People by vertue of the Sacrifice This was performed by the High-Priest in the Feast of Atonement which was celebrated in the month Tisri The oblation of the Sacrifices was without at the Altar the Intercession was made in the Holy of Holies into which none might enter but the High-Priest once a year And first he must expiate his own sins and the sins of the people by Sacrifices before he could remove the Vail and enter into that sacred and venerable place where no sinner had right to appear Then he was to present the precious Incense and the Blood of the Sacrifices to render God favourable to them Now these were shadows of what Christ was to perform The Holy of Holies was the type of the third-Heaven in its Situation Quality and Furniture For it was the most secret part of the Tabernacle separated by a double Vail by that which was between it and the first Sanctuary and by another that distinguisht the first from the outward Court Thus the Heaven of Heavens is the most distant part of the Universe and separated from the lower World by the Starry Heaven and by the Airy Region which reaches down to the Earth Besides the most Holy part of the Tabernacle was inaccessible to sinners as Heaven is stiled by the Apostle the place of inaccessible light And it was the Throne of God where he reigned according to the Language of the Psalmist He dwelt between the Cherubims The figures of the Cherubims represented the Myriads of holy Angels that adore the incomprehensible Deity and are always ready to execute his commands The Tables of the Law were a Symbol of that infinite Wisdom and Holiness which ordained them and the High-Priests entering with the Blood of the Sacrifice and carrying with him all the Tribes of Israel upon his Breast signified that Jesus Christ the true High-Priest after he had really expiated sin by his Divine Sacrifice in the lower World should enter into the Eternal Sanctuary with his own Blood and introduce with him all his People Of this there was a marvellous sign given for in the same moment that Christ expired the Vail of the Temple that separated the Oracle from the first part was rent from the top to the bottom to signifie that the true High-Priest had Authority and Right to enter into Heaven itself And the special end of his ascending is exprest by the Apostle For Christ is not entered into the Holy places made with hands which are the Figures of the true but into Heaven its self now to appear in the presence of God for us As the High-Priest might not enter into that sacred and terrible place neither could he propitiate God without sprinkling the
some temptations wherein the Flesh assaults the Spirit with that violence that Love it self is obliged to call in Fear to its assistance as being more proper to repress its inordinate motions 'T is only in Heaven that perfect Love will consume all concupiscence and cast out fear of Judgment but whilst we are encompast with temptations we must not think under the pretext of a more raised Spirituality that the fear of Hell is either unbecoming or unnecessary 'T is not unworthy a Child of God to employ all the Motives of the Gospel We are commanded to work out our own Salvation with fear and trembling But the opening of Hell to our view is not sufficient alone to make us Holy For the strongest terrors although they restrain from the outward forbidden act yet they do not change the Heart According to that of St. Austin Inaniter se victorem putat esse peccati qui poenae timore non peccat quia etsi non impletur foris negotium malae cupiditatis ipsa tamen cupiditas intus est hostis That is the fear of Punishment can never make us truly victorious over sin because although we do not actually accomplish the desires of the corrupt Will yet the corrupt Will is still an enemy that lives within and is only destroyed by the love of Holiness which allures us by the excellent Reward that is promised to it Besides Fear is a violent Passion to which Nature is repugnant so that although its power is great yet not constant how strong soever the force is by which a stone is thrown upwards yet 't is weakned by degrees and overcome by the natural weight of the Stone whereby it falls to the Centre So the Humane Nature resists Fear and lessens its impetuousness so far that frequently it returns to sensual Lusts. Therefore that the Law of the Spirit may be perfect and stable it must be confirmed by the hopes of Heaven As the Natural so the Spiritual Life must be nourisht by grateful food 't is not preserv'd with Aloes or Worm-wood For this reason our Saviour 2. To encourage and raise our Hopes offers to us a Reward infinitely valuable for as God is Infinite such is the Happiness he bestows on his favourites 'T is described to us in Scripture under the most enamouring representations as a state of Peace and Love of Joy and Glory The Prince of Peace reigns in the Holy Jerusalem that is above and preserves an everlasting serenity and calmness The mutinous Spirits that rebell'd were presently chased from thence into this lower Region where they brought trouble and disorder He maketh Peace in his high Places The Peace of Heaven is like the Chrystal Sea before the Throne of the Lamb which no unquiet agitation ever troubles or disturbs An inviolable Love unites all his Subjects no division or jealousie discomposes their Concord They enjoy without envy for infinite Blessedness is not diminished by the number of the possessours The Inheritance in light is communicated to all Although the Angels are distinguish'd by their several Orders and Ministrations as Seraphims and Cherubims Thrones and Powers yet a Chain of Holy Love binds all their affections together And the Saints although they shine with different degrees of Glory yet as in a Chorus of Musick although the voices are different they make but one intire harmony So Love that ever continues unites their wills in a delightful harmonious Agreement Although there are millions of the Celestial Inhabitants yet they all make but one Society Love mixing in one mass of Light and Glory all their understandings and wills And since all true Joy and Sweetness springs from Love 't is impossible but they must feel unspeakable complacency in the reciprocal exercise of so Holy and Pure an Affection But principally their Joy arises from the possession of God himself by the clearest Knowledg and purest Love of his Excellencies They see him as he is Sight is the most Spiritual and noble Sense that gives the most distinct and evident discovery of its objects The Soul in its exalted state sees the King in his Beauty all the perfections of that infinitely Glorious and Blessed Nature in their brightness and purity And this Sight causes the most ardent Love by which there is an intimate and vital union between the soul and its happiness and from hence springs perfect delight In thy presence is fulness of Joy It expels all evil that would imbitter and lessen our felicity And this is an admirable priviledge for the Humane Nature that is so sensible of trouble All complaints and cries all sighings and sorrows are for ever banisht from Heaven If the Light of the Sun be so pleasant that every morning revives the World and renders it new to us which was buried in the darkness of the night how infinitely pleasant will the Light of Glory be that discovers the absolute and universal Excellency of the Deity the beauty of his Holiness the perfection of his Wisdom the greatness of his Power and the riches of his Mercy How inexpressibly great is the Happiness that proceeds from the illumination of a purified Soul when such is the amiableness of God that his infinite and eternal Felicity arises from the fruition of himself The Joy of Heaven is so full and satisfying that a thousand years there are but as one day Inferiour earthly goods presently lose the flower of novelty and languish in our enjoyment of them Variety is necessary to put an edge upon our appetites and quicken our delights because they are imperfect and fall short of our expectation But the object of our Blessedness is infinitely great and produces the same pure and perfect Joy for ever After the longest fruition it never cloys or satiates but is as fresh and new as the first moment And that which is the peculiar Pleasure of the Redeemed is that they shall be with Christ and see his Glory What a marvellous joy will fill our hearts to see our Blessed Saviour who suffer'd so much for us on Earth to reign in Heaven Here He was in his enemies hands there he hath them under his feet Here He was in the form of a Servant there He appears in the form of God adorn'd with all the marks of Majesty Here He was under the cloud of his Fathers displeasure there He appears as the Brightness of his Glory Here He was ignominiously Crucified there He is crown'd with Immortal Honour Now considering the ardent Affections which the Saints have to their Redeemer the contemplation of him in this glorious state must infinitely ravish their hearts Especially if we consider that the exaltation of Christ is theirs The Members triumph when the Head is crown'd His excellent Glory reflects a lustre upon them and by the sight of it they are chang'd into his Likeness If the imperfect and dim sight of his Divine Vertues in the Gospel hath a power to change Believers into his
a Dream is slight and vanishing so the uncertain expectation of felicity did but lightly touch their Spirits Briefly they had no true Knowledge nor firm Belief of Eternal Blessedness in the Vision of God nor of the endless Torments in Hell and wanting those great Principles from whence the Rules and Power to live in a holy manner are derived they fell short of that Purity which is a necessary qualification to prepare Men for Heaven They were in a confused labyrinth without true Light or Guide intangled with miserable Errours and stumbled every step whilst they sought after Happiness But the Lord Christ hath instructed the World concerning those invisible future Recompences He hath expresly threaten'd what-ever is to be feared by Man as a rational or sensible Creature the Worm that never dies and the Fire that shall never be quencht in case of Disobedience and he hath promised what-ever is to be hoped for in case of Obedience The Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven in the Gospel against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men. And our Saviour hath brought Light and Immortality to light He hath declared the nature and quality of Eternal Life that it consists in the most perfect acts of our raised and most receptive Faculties upon the most excellent objects That it contains perfect Holiness and pure Felicity being for ever distant from the infirmities and defilements of our mortal state He hath revealed as the quality so the extent of it relating to the Body as well as the Soul Whereas the Philosophers of all sorts the Academicks Stoicks Peripateticks Epicureans labouring with all the force of their understanding formed a Felicity according to their Fancies which was either wholly Sensual or else but for half of man For of the Resurrection and consequently the Immortality of the Body not the least notice for many Ages ever arrived to them Our Saviour who alone had the words of eternal life hath promised a Happiness that respects entire man The Soul and the Body which are his essential parts shall be united and endued with all the glorious qualities becoming the Sons of God And of all this he hath given to the world the highest assurance For he verified his Doctrine by his own Example rising from the Grave and appearing to his Apostles crown'd with Immortality and visibly ascending before them to Heaven Since there is no greater Paradox to Reason than the Resurrection which seem'd utterly incredible to men and not to be the object of a rational desire God by raising him from the Grave hath given the most convincing Argument that our Redeemer was sent from him to acquaint the World with the future state Thus the Apostle speaks to the Athenians The times of ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men eve ry where to repent because he hath appointed a day wherein he will judg the World in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all Men in that he hath raised him from the dead Jesus Christ who was attested from Heaven to be the Son of God by that great and powerful Act declared the Recompences that shall attend Men after Death Therefore a full and perfect assent is due to his Testimony Hell with all its Dread and Terror is not a Picture drawn by fancy to affright the World but is reveal'd by him whose Words shall remain when Heaven and Earth shall pass away The Heavenly Glories are not the Visions of a contemplative person that have no existence but are great Realities promised by him who as he died to purchase so he rose to witness the Truth of them And to bring these Great Things that are separate and distant from this present state nearer to us He sometimes causes Hell to rise up from beneath and flash in the face of secure sinners that they may break off their Sins by Repentance and sometimes he opens Heaven from above the Paradise of true delights and sends down of the precious fruits of the Sun of the precious things of the lasting Hills that by the sight of their Beauty and the taste of their sweetness we may for ever abhor the pleasures of Sin By the frequent and sensible experience of the truth of the Gospel in its Threatnings and Promises innumerable persons have been converted from Sin to Holiness from Earth to Heaven from Vanity to Eternity 3. Love is a prevalent affection stronger than Death and Kindness is the greatest endearment of Love Now the Lord Jesus exprest such admirable Love to us that being duly considered it cannot but inspire us with Love to him again and with a grateful desire to please him in all things He descended from Heaven to Earth and delivered himself to a shameful Death that He might redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works And what Argument is more powerful to cause in us a serious hatred of Sin than the Consideration of what Christ hath suffer'd to free us from the punishment and power of it If a Man for his Crimes were condemned to the Gallyes and a Friend of his who had been extremely injur'd by him should ransom him by a great sum when the guilty person is restor'd to liberty will he not blush for shame at the memory of what he hath done But how much more if his Friend would suffer for him the pains and infamy of his slavery if any spark of Humanity remain in him can he ever delight himself in those Actions which made such a benefit necessary to him And is it possible for a Christian to live in those Sins for which Christ died Will not Love cause an humble Fear lest he should frustrate the great Design and make void the most blessed effect of his terrible Sufferings why did he Redeem us with so excellent a price from our cruel Bondage but to restore us to his free service why did he vindicate us from the power of the Usurper to whom we were captives but to make us Subjects to our Natural Prince Why did he purifie us with his most precious Blood from our deadly Defilements but that we might be intirely consecrated to his Glory and be fervent in good works What can work upon an ingenious Person more than sense of Kindness What can oblige more strongly to duty than Gratieude What more powerful attractive to Obedinnce than Love This pure Love confirms the Glorified Saints for ever in Holiness For they are not Holy to obtain Heaven because they are possest of it nor to preserve their Blessedness because they are past all hazard of losing it but from the most lively and permanent sense of their Obligations because they have obtained that incomparable Felicity by a Gift never to be reverst and by a Mercy transcendently great And the same Love to God that is in the Saints above in the highest degree of perfection and makes them for
world When our Saviour was on the Earth the End of his Sermons as appears in the Gospel was to regulate the lives of Men to correct their vicious Passions rather than to explicate the greatest Mysteries Other Religions oblige their Disciples either to some external actions that have no moral worth in them so that 't is impossible for any one that is guided by Reason to be taken with such vanities Or they require things incommodious and burthensome The Priests of Baal cut themselves And among the Chineses though in great reputation for wisdome their Penitents expose themselves half naked to the injuries of the sharpest Weather with a double cruelty pleasure of the Devil who makes them freez here and expects they should burn for ever 'T is not the most strict observance of serious Trifles nor submitting to rigorous Austerities that ennobles the humane nature and commends us to God The most zealous performers of things indifferent and that chastise themselves with a bloody Discipline labour for nothing and may pass to Hell through Purgatory But the Religion of Christ reforms the Understanding and Will and all the actions depending on them It chases away Errour and Vice and Hatred and sheds abroad Light and Love Purity and Peace and forms on Earth a lively representation of that pure Society that is in Heaven The End of it is to render men like the Angels in Holiness that they may be so in Blessedness This will render it amiable to all that consider it without Passion And 't is worthy of observation that although many Heathens and Hereticks have contradicted other parts of the Christian Religion yet none have dar'd openly to condemn the Moral part of it The Effect of the Gospel hath been answerable to the Design One main difference between the old and new Law is that the old gave the knowledg of Rules without power to observe them the new that is attended with the Grace of Christ enables us by a holy Love to perform that which the other made men only to understand Of this we have the most sensible Evidence in the Primitive Church that was produc'd by the first beams of the Sun of Righteousness had received the first fruits of the Spirit What is more wonderful and worthy of God than that perfect Love which made all the first Believers to have one Heart and one Soul What greater contempt of the World can be imagined than the voluntary parting with all their Goods in consecrating them to God for the relief of the Poor And the Churches of the Gentiles while the Blood of Christ was warm and His Actions fresh in the memories of men were exemplary in Holiness They were as Stars shining in a perverse generation There was such a brightness in their Conversations that it pierc'd through the darkness of Paganisme and made a visible difference between them and all others Their words and actions were so full of zeal for the Glory of God of Chastity Temperance Justice Charity that the Heathens from the Holiness of their lives concluded the Holiness of their Law and that the Doctrine that produc'd such fruits could not be evil The first light that discovered the Truth of the Christian Faith to many was from the Graces and Vertues that appear'd in the Faithful The Purity of their Lives their Courage in Death were as powerful to convert the World as their Sermons Disputations and Miracles And those who were under such strong prejudices that they would not examine the Doctrine of the Gospel yet they could not but admire the Integrity and Innocency that was visible in the conversation of Christians They esteemâ—d their persons from the good qualities that were visible in them when they hated the Christian name for the conceal'd evil they unreasonably suspected to be under it This Tertullian excellently represents in his Apology The most part are so prejudic'd against the Name and are possest with such a blind hatred to it that they make it a matter of reproach even to those whom they otherwise esteem'd Caius they say is a good man he hath no fault but that he is a Christian. Thus the excellent Holiness of the Professors of the Gospel forc'd a veneration from their Enemies But we are fallen from Heaven and mixt with the dust Our conversation hath nothing singular in Holiness to distinguish us from the World The same corrupt Passions reign in Professors of Christianity as in those who are strangers from the Sacred Covenant If we compare our selves with the Primitive Church we must confess our unworthiness to be call'd their successors Sixteen hundred years are run out since the Son of God came down to sanctifie and save the World which are so many degrees whereby we are descended from the first Perfection We are more distant from them in Holiness than in Time So universal and great is the Corruption that 't is almost as difficult to revive the dying Faith of Christians and to reform their Lives according to the purity of their Profession as the Conversion of the World was from Heathenism to Christianity 'T is true In every Age there are some Examples of the Vertue of the Gospel that reflect an honour upon it And this last Age which we may call the Winter of the World in which the Holy Spirit hath foretold That the love of many shall grow cold by a marvellous Antiperistasis hath inflam'd the hearts of some excellent Saints towards God and Religion But the great number of the wicked and the progress of Sin in their Lives there is no measure of Tears sufficient to lament Fourthly I shall press Christians to walk as becomes the Gospel of Christ answerably to the Holiness and Purity of that Divine Institution and to those great and strict Obligations it laies upon us The Gospel requires an entire Holiness in all our Faculties an equal respect to all our Duties We are commanded to cleanse our selves from all pollutions of flesh and spirit to be holy in all manner of conversation We are enjoin'd To be perfecting Holiness in the fear of God To be holy as He that hath called us is Holy A certain measure of Faith and Love and Obedience a mediocrity in Vertue we must not content our selves with 'T is not a counsel of Perfection given only to some Christians of a peculiar order and elevation But the command of a Law that without exception binds all Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect The Gospel gives no Dispensation to any Person nor in any Duty The Doctrine that asserts there are some excellent works to which the lower sort of Christians is not obliged is equally pernicious both to those who do them by Presumption as if they were not due and were therefore meritorious and to those who neglect them by a blind Security as if they might be saved without striving to reach the highest degrees of Obedience 'T is a weak pretence that because the
in the flaming Bush to Moses but 't is never said with respect to those Apparitions that the Word was made Flame or Man But when He came into the World to save us He assum'd the compleat Nature of Man into an Hypostatical Union with himself That admirable Person possesses the Titles Qualities and Natures of God and Man In that ineffable Union each of the Natures preserves its proper form with all the necessary consequents proceeding from it The Humane Nature is joyn'd to the Eternal Word but not chang'd into its Divinity 't is not infinite and impassible The Deity is united to Flesh but not transformed into its Nature 't is not finite and passible But although there is a distinction yet no separation Although there are two Natures yet but one sole Jesus In the same Subsistence the Creator and the Creature are miraculously allied Now this is a work fully responsible to Omnipotence and expresses whatever is signified by that Title The Apostle mentions it with an Attribute of excellency Without controversie great is the Mystery of Godliness God manifest in the Flesh. 'T is as sublime as holy In this the Divine Power appears in its Magnificence and in some respect more gloriously than in the Creation For there is incomparably a greater disparity between the Majesty Greatness and Infiniteness of God and the Meanness of Man than between the whole World and Nothing The degrees of disparity between the World and Nothing are not actually infinite but between the most excellent creature and the Glorious Creator they are absolutely infinite From hence it is that that which in other things resolves our doubts here increases the wonder and in appearance makes it more incredible Ye do erre saith Christ to the Sadduces who denied the Resurrection not knowing the Power of God But the more raised thoughts we have of his immense Power the more unlikely his conjunction with a nature so far beneath him will seem to be 2. The Divine Power was magnified in our Redeemers Supernatural Conception 'T was requisite his Body should be miraculously form'd of the substance of a Woman by the operation of the Holy Ghost not only in respect of its singular Dignity and that he might be the pattern of our Regeneration that is performed by the Efficacy of the Spirit not of the Flesh but in respect of his Office For he was the Heavenly Adam and therefore allied to us and absolutely pure from the stain of Sin Heaven and Earth concurr'd to form that Divine Man the King of both the Earth furnishing matter and Heaven the principle of his conception Accordingly the Angel told Mary who questioned how she could be a Mother not having known a Man The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee therefore also that Holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God This was foretold many Ages as an admirable Effect of God's Power When Judah was opprest by two potent Kings despair'd of an escape to raise their drooping Spirits the Prophet tells them the Lord himself would give them a sign of their future Deliverance Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and shall call his Name Immanuel The Argument is from the greater to the less for 't is apparently more difficult that a Virgin without injury or blemish to her purity and integrity should conceive and bring forth Immanuel than the defeating humane forces how great soever If God will accomplish that Stupendious unheard of wonder much more would he rescue his People from the fury of their adversaries 3. The Divine Power was eminently declar'd in the Miracles our Saviour wrought during the time of his publick Ministry to verifie his Divine Mission that He was the great Prophet sent from God to instruct Men in the way of Life In discoursing of this I will briefly shew that Miracles were a convincing proof of his Celestial Calling and that the performance of them was necessary in order to the conviction of the World and consider particularly those He wrought 1. A Miracle is an extraordinary Operation of God in Nature either in stopping its course or in producing some effects that are above its Laws and Power So that when He is pleased to work any they are his Seal to authorise the Person and Doctrine to which they are annext By them Faith is made visible The Unbeliever is convinc'd by his Senses the only witnesses above reproach in his account From hence Nicodemus addresses himself to Christ Master we know that thou art a Teacher come from God for no man can do those Miracles that thou dost except God be with him That is No inferiour Agent can perform them without the special assistance of the Divine Power And 't is not to be supposed that God will lend his Omnipotency to the Devil to work a real Miracle to confirm a falsity and thereby necessarily induce Men into errour in a matter of infinite moment fâ—r such is the Doctrine of Salvation that Christ Preach'd 2. The working of Miracles was necessary to convince the World that Jesus Christ was sent from God whether we consider the Jews or the Gentiles To convince the Jews upon a double account 1. Because the performance of them was one of the characters of the promised Messiah For this reason when two of Johns Disciples came to inquire whether he were the expected Prophet he returns this answer to the question Go and shew John those things which ye do hear and see the Blind receive their Sight and the Lame walk the Lepers are cleansed and the Deaf hear the Dead are raised up and the poor have the Gospel preach'd to them Thus he described his Office and verified the Commission he had from God by representing his Miracles in the Words of the Prophecy 2. Our Saviour came to alter the Religion of the Jews that had been confirmed by many illustrious Miracles therefore to assure them that he was Authoris'd from Heaven he wrought such and so many that for their greatness clearness and number exceeded all that were done before his coming Our Saviour tells the Jews If I had not done among them the Works which none other man did they had not had sin that is in rejecting him For if he had exercised only a Power like unto that of Moses and the Prophets in his Miraculous Actions they had been obliged to have honoured him as one of their rank but not to have attributed an incomparable Dignity to him But he did those which neither Moses nor the Prophets had performed and in those that had been done Christ excell'd them in the manner of doing them This the Jews could not contradict and from hence their infidelity was made culpable Secondly Miracles were necessary to convince the Gentiles 1. For the Gospel forbids the various Religions among them and commands all to worship God alone in Jesus
Injur'd and Incensed to forgive their Enemies and all this for Love to God an affection unknown to all other Laws and Institutions Where-ever it came it miraculously transform'd Pagans into Christians which was as truly Wonderful as for the Basilisk to part with its Poison for a Wolfe to be changâ—d into a Lamb nay for Dogs such were the Gentiles in our Saviours Language to be chang'd into Angels of light and purity An eminent instance we have of its efficacy in the Corinthians who in their Heathen-state were guilty of the vilest enormities But after their receiving the Gospel the Apostle testifys they were washed sanctified and Justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God Justine Martyr tells Triphon that those who had been stain'd with all filthiness and enslav'd by charming imperious lusts yet becoming Christians they were purified and freed and delighted in those Vertues that were most contrary to their former Vices This Alteration was so visible that the lives of the first Christians were an Apologie for their Faith And 't is strongly urged by Origen Tertullian Lactantius and others as a convinceing proof of the Divinity of the Christian Doctrine that it made the Professours of it Divine in their conversations The Creation of Grace was like the Creation of Nature when trees sprang up in an instant laden with fruits so in the converted all the blessed fruits of the Spirit Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance abounded This testimony even a Pagan Persecutor gives the common sort of Christians that they assembled to sing Hymns to Christ that they obliged themselves solemnly to injure no Person to deceive none to preserve faithfully what was committed to them to be alwayes true And as in obedience to the Gospel they gave a divorce to all the sinful delights of sense so which was incomparably more difficult they embrac't those things which Nature doth most abhor no Religion in the World ever exposed its followers to such Sufferings nor inspir'd them with such resolution to sustain them All other Religions were productions of the flesh and being allyed together if any time jealousy caused a discord between them yet an open Persecution was unusual But when Christianity first appear'd they all turn'd their Hatred and Violence against it as a foreigner of a different extraction How many living Martyrs were Exiles for the Faith and depriv'd of all humane consolation yet they esteem'd themselves more blessed in their Miseries than others in their Pleasures How many thousands were put to Death for the honour of our Redeemer yet the least thing is the number in comparison of the manner of their Sufferings If they had suffer'd a mild Martyrdome an easie sudden Death wherein the Combat and Victory had been finisht at a Blow their Love and courage had not been so admirable but they endur'd torments so various and terrible that had they not been practis'd upon them by their enemies it were incredible that ever Malice should be so ingenious to invent or cruelty so harden'd to inflict them If all the Furie of Hell had come forth to suggest new Tortures they could not have devised worse Neither was their mere suffering such Torments so astonishing as their readiness to encounter them and their behaviour under them They maintained their Faith in the presence of the most formidable Princes Some who might by favour were afraid to escape the common Persecution esteeming no Death precious but Martyrdom They contended earnestly to suffer and envied others the honourable Ignominy and happy Torments that were endur'd for their beloved Redeemer We have an instance of their Courage in Tiburtius who thus spake to his Judges Bind me to Racks and Wheels condemn me banish me load me with Chains burn me tear me omit no kind of Torment If you banish me the smallest corner of the Earth shall be to me as the whole World because I shall find my God there If you kill me by the same act you will give me the happy Liberty I sigh after and deliver me from a Prison on Earth to reign in Heaven If you condemn me to the fire I have quencht other flames in resisting Concupiscence Ordain what Torment you please it shall not trouble me since my Heart is fill'd with Love to suffer and desire it They were thankful to those who condemned them and regarded their Executioners with the same eye as St. Peter did the Angel that brake off his Fetters to restore him to Freedom They chearfully received them as those who brought the keys of Paradise in the same hands wherewith they brought their Swords They enter'd into the Fire with joy and were not only patient but triumphant in their Sufferings as if they had been glorified in their Souls and impassible to the Sufferings of their Bodies I have seen saith Eusebius the Executioners tired with tormenting them lie down panting and breathing and others not less fierce but more fresh succeed in their cruel Service But I never saw the Martyrs weary of Sufferings nor heard them desire a Truce much less Deliverance from them If the Judges were softened with their Blood and by the force of Nature were compell'd to be compassionate so as to offer them a release if they would but feign to deny Christ They were fill'd with indignation esteeming it the worst injury that their Persecutors expected they would be guilty of but the shadow of Infidelity to their dear Saviour They were ambitious of the longest and most terrible Sufferings for His sake to be Martyrs in every member They sang the Praises of Christ their Tongues being harmonious with the affections of their Hearts in the Flames they preach'd Him from the Crosses they rejoiced in him as their only Good in the midst of devouring Beasts Briefly They preserved an inviolable Faith to Him notwithstanding the most furious Batteries against them The barbarous Enemy might tear their Hearts from their Breasts but never Christ from their Hearts to whom they were inseparably united by Love stronger than the most cruel Death Now what less then the Divine Power could support them under those Torments which 't is almost incredible a Body made of flesh could endure I wil not Dispute whether it exceeds all Natural force to suffer such from a vitious Affection of Pride or obstinacy but the frequency of it exceeds all Natural Possibility 'T was not impossible for one of the Romans to hold his Right Hand unmoved over a burning Torch to extinguish in the King their Enemy all hopes 〈◊〉 drawing 〈◊〉 him the Secrets of his Country by the force of Torments but it was not Possible that many thousands such should have been in Rome For then that single Example had not been so wonderful in all Antiquity But the Noble Army of Martyrs who overcame in the most bloody battels was numerous beyond account and compos'd of all sorts of Persons of
the aged and infirm of tender Youths of delicate Women of the Honourable and obscure Yet in that difference of Ages and Sexes and States there appear'd such an equality of Vertue that it was Visible the same Heavenly Spirit inspir'd them all with Courage and by assuring them of Eternal Life made them despise present Death Such Heroical and frequent Constancy must be ascribed to the Breast-plate of Faith and Love of a Coelestial temper wherewith the Almighty had Arm'd them If it be said that some have died for a false Religion so that the extraordinary assistance of Heaven was not necessary to encourage the Christian Martyrs The Answer is clear There is a vast difference between the number of the Sufferers and manner of their Sufferings 1. Some few moved by Vanity and Melancholy or compell'd have suffered for a false Religion that was authorised by the Custom of their Country for many Ages But innumerable Christians animated by the example of their Crucified King freely sacrificed themselves for the testimony of the Gospel upon the first Revelation of it before any humane respects gave colour to it 2. In those who suffer'd for a false Religion were visible either Fear or Vain-glory Stubbornness or Rage But the Christians in their greatest Sufferings exprest Magnanimity without Pride Constancy without Fierceness Patience without Stupidity and such an admirable Compassion to their Enemies as persuaded some of their Tormentors to be companions with them in Martyrdom 2. The suddainness and universality of the change effected by the Gospel is a signal Evidence of the Divine Power that attended it The Apostle declares the admirable progress of it in all the world during his time In a few years with incredible swiftness it past through Judea Samaria Syria Greece and all the parts of the known habitable World Tacitus acknowledges that in the eleventh year of Nero great numbers of Christians were at Rome at a great distance from the place where the Gospel was first preach'd It appears from the Writings of the Primitive Christians that in the Second Century after the Death of Christ the Roman Empire was fill'd with Christian Churches The World was peopled with a new Generation Now what Secret Power produced that suddain and universal Change How came it to pass that the Gospel contrary to the order of new Things should be so readily receiv'd and in those places where the most insuperable obstacles oppos'd it In Corinth the Seat of Luxury and Voluptuousness in Ephesus where Idolatry had its Throne in Rome it self where Honours Riches Pleasures were ador'd Moses with all his great Miracles never conquer'd one Nation to the true God The Pharisees compast Sea and Land to make a Proselyte But the Gospel in a little time converted many Nations from their Opinions and Manners wherein they had been instructed and educated to those that were not only different but contrary The wonder in Esay was exceeded That a Nation was born in a day For the World was renewed as it were in a moment Such a quickening universal Efficacy was join'd with the Preaching of the Gospel that the Power of God was â—ver more visibly manifested in any work Therefore the Apostle mentions it as one part of the great Mystery of Godliness that Christ was believed oâ— in the World There is nothing but Supernatural as in the birth so in the progress of Christianity 3. The lasting Change made by the Gospel is the Effect of Infinite Power Philosophy though maintain'd by the successive force of the greatest Wits yet declin'd and came to nothing But Christianity attended only by its own Authority establisht its Dominion and rais'd an Eternal Empire of Truth and Holiness in the World The Reason of Man cannot inspire into its Productions a Principle of Life only that Power which conveys to Man an immortal Soul can derive to its Institutions a Spirit to Animate and preserve them And this Victorious Permanent Efficacy of the Gospel is more admirable in regard it prevail'd without the assistance and against the opposition of all The more it was opprest the more it prosper'd It gain'd credit and Disciples by Contradiction and Persecution it was multiplied by the Deaths of its followers The Cloud of Witnesses dissolving in a shower of Blood made the Church Fruitful Although some Persecutors have boasted of their utter abolishing the Christian Name in all parts of the Empire yet those inscriptions are the Proud Monuments of their Vanity not Victory Tyrants are perisht but Truth remains for ever By which 't is evident that as the Gospel had a higher Principle than what is from below so it was assisted with more than Humane Power To sum up in short what hath been amplified how Gloriously was the Arm of the Lord revealed in raising the World that for four thousand years lay in Wickednesse What less than a Divine Power could soften such an obstinate hardnesse as long custome in Sin brings What could pluck up errours that had taken such deep root in the Spirits of Men and were Naturaliz'd to them and plant a Discipline so austere and thorny to sense Who but the Almighty could cast out the Devil from his Empire and withdraw his Subjects that were captivated by the terrour of Laws and by the delights of the flesh What invisible Power made innumerable of the tender sex who were not by temper couragious nor by obstinacy inflexible nay who were so fearful that they could not see a drawn sword without affrightment yet so resolute as to despise all the instruments of Cruelty What is more astonishing than to see a flock of sheep encounter and overcome an Army of Lyons This was the Lords doing and ought to be marvelous in our Eyes Briefly the making a Crucified Person to Reign in the midst of his Enemies and to give Laws to the whole Earth is a Victory worthy the Lord of Hosts The Conversion of the World to Christianity was the effect of infinite Mercy and equal Power Lastly The Divine Power shall be Gloriously manifested in the compleat Salvation of the Church at the end of the World Jesus Christ as Mediatour is invested with Sovereign Power in Heaven and Earth and in that quality he shall exercise it till our Salvation is finisht For he must reign till he hath put all Enemies under his feet But we see not yet all things put under him Although those Persons and things that never degenerated from their Original are intirely subject to him the Angels obey his Will Universal Nature is Govern'd by his Providence The Heavens the Earth the Waters and all things produc'â— from them never resist the Direction of his hand yet there are others that fell from their Integrity and some things consequent to Mans Rebellion which either oppose the Power of Christ or are not yet actually subdued and they are the Enemies of our Salvation Satan Sin and Death Now the perfect Freedom of
the Church from all these will be the last Glorious Act of Christs Regal Office And 't is observeable the Day of Judgment is call'd the Day of Redemption with respect to the final accomplishment of our Felicity that was purchas'd by the infinite Price of his Sufferings The day of Christs Death was the Day of Redemption as to our Right and Title for then our Ransom was fully paid and 't is by the Immortal efficacy of his Blood that we partake of the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of God but the Actual enjoyment of it shall be at the last day Therefore the perfection of all our Spiritual Priviledges is refer'd to that time when Death our Lâ—st Enemy shall be overcome The Apostle saith and not only they but our selves also which have the first Fruits of the Spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our Bodies During the present Life we are taken into Gods Family in the quality of his Children but the most Solemn Act of our Adoption shall be at the last Day In this there is a similitude between Christ and his Members for although he was the Son of God by his marvelous Conception and own'd by him while he perform'd his Ministry upon the Earth yet all the Testimonies of Gods Favour to him were not comparable to the Declaration of it in raising him from the Grave Then in the face of Heaven and Earth He said Thou art my Son this Day have I begotten thee So in this Life God acknowledges and treats us as his Children he cloaths us with the Righteousness of his Son feeds us with his Word defends us from our Spiritual Enemies but the most Publick Declaration of his favour shall be in the next Life when all the Children of the Resurrection shall be born in a Day Add further although the Souls of Believers immediately upon their Separation are receiv'd into Heaven and during the sleep of Death enjoy admirable Visions of Glory yet their Blessedness is imperfect in comparison of that excellent degree which shall be enjoyed at the Resurrection As the Roman Generals after a compleat Conquest first enter'd the City privately and after having obtain'd License of the Senate made their Triumphant entry with all the magnificence splendour becoming the Greatness of their Victories So after a Faithful Christian hath fought the good fight and is come off more than a Conquerour he enters privately into the Coelestial City but when the body is rais'd to Immortality he shall then in the company and with the acclamations of the Holy Angels have a Glorious entry into it I will briefly consider why the Bodies of the Saints shall be rais'd and how the Divine Power will be manifested in that last Act. 1. The General reason is from Gods Justice As the Oeconomy of Divine Providence requires there must be a Future State when God shall sit upon a judicial Throne to weigh the Actions of all Men and render to every one according to their quality so 't is as necessary that the Person be Judged and not one Part alone The Law Commands the entire Man compos'd of his Essential Parts the Soul and Body And 't is obeyed or violated by both of them Although the Guilt or Moral Goodness of Actions is chiefly Attributed to the Soul because 't is the Principle of them yet the Actions are imputed to the whole Man The Soul is the Guide the Body the Instrument 't is reasonable therefore that both should receive their recompence We see the Example of this in Humane Justice which is a copy of the Divine The whole Man is punisht or rewarded The Soul is punisht with Disgrace and Infamy the Body with Pains the Soul is rewarded with Esteem and Honour the Body with External marks of Dignity Thus the Divine Justice will render to every one according to things done in the Body whether Good or Evill 2. The special reason of the Saints Resurrection is their Union with Christ for he is not only our Redeemer and Prince but our second Adam the same in Grace as the first was in Nature Now as from the first the Soul was destroyed by Sin and the Body by Death so the second restores them both to their Primitive state the one by Grace the other by a Glorious Resurrection Accordingly the Apostle saith that by Man came Death and by Man came the Resurrection from the Dead Christ removed the Moral and Natural impossibility of our Glorious Resurrection the Moral by the infinite merit of his Death whereby Divine Justice is satisfied that otherwise would not permit the Guilty to be restor'd to Eternal Life and the Natural by his rising from the Grave to a Glorious Imortality For his Infinite Power can do the same in all Believers 'T is observable the Apostle infers the Resurrection of Believers from that of Christ not only as the Cause but the Original Example For the Members must be conform'd to the Head the Children to their Father the younger to the elder Brother Therefore he is call'd the first-fruits of them that sleep and the first begotten of the Dead In Christ's Resurrection ours is so fully assur'd that the event is infallible Now no less than Infinite Power is requisite to raise the Bodies of the Saints from the dust and to transform them into the similitude of Christs 1. To raise them Nothing is more astonishing to Nature than that the Bodies which after so many Ages in the perpetual circulation of the Elements have past into a thousand different Forms one part of them being resolved into Water another evaporated into Air another turn'd into Dust should be restor'd to their first State What Wisdom is requisite to separate the Parts so mixt and confounded what Power to recompose them what Vertue to reinspire them with new Life It may seem more difficult than to revive a Dead Body whose Organs and matter is not chang'd of which we have Examples in the Scripture When the Spirit of the Lord plac't Ezekiel in the midst of a Valley cover'd with bones and caused him to consider attentively their Number which was very great and their extream dryness he askt him whether these bones could live upon which as one divided and ballanc't between the seeming Impossibility of the thing in it self and the consideration of the Divine Power to which nothing is impossible he answered Lord thou knowest Upon this God commanded him to Prophesie upon those bones and speak to them as if they had been endued with Sense and Understanding O ye dry Bones hear the Word of the Lord Thus saith the Lord God unto these Bones Behold I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live And I will lay sinews upon you and will bring in flesh upon you and cover you with skin and put Breath in you and ye shall live and ye shall know that I am
despis'd whatever is amiable or terrible in the world How is it possible He should deny the Knowledg of Himself to those to whom He gave such a pure Love to Himself But the humane Nature in its corrupted state is contrary both to the Doctrine of the Gospel that propounds Supernatural Verities hard to believe and to the commands of it that enjoin things hard to do For this reason 't was necessary that God by some external Operations the undeniable effects of His Power should discover to the World his approbation of it Now that Christ is the Son of God and Redeemer of the World was miraculously declared from Heaven by the whole Divinity There are Three that bear Record in Heaven the Father and the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are One. The Father testified by a Voice as loud as Thunder at his Baptism and Transfiguration Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased The Son by his glorious appariton to Paul when He struck him to the earth with these words Why persecutest thou me The Light was so radiant the Voice so strong the impression it made so deep and sensible that he knew it came from God And He manifested Himself to St. John with that brightness That he fell at his feet as dead till in compassion He reviv'd him and said I am He that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore And the Holy Spirit by his miraculous descent in the shape of a Dove upon Him and in fiery Tongues upon the Apostles gave a visible testimony that Jesus Christ was sent from God to save the World I will particularly consider one Effect of the Divine Power the Resurrection of Christ this being the most important Article of the Gospel and the demonstration of all the rest For 't is not conceivable that God would by his Almighty Power have rais'd Him from the Grave to a glorious Life and it is impossible He should be otherwise if He had taken the Name of the Son of God in vain and arrogated to himself Divine Honour and only pretended that he was sent from Him By the Resurrection He was declar'd to be the Son of God with Power For that being the proof of his Mission justifies the truth of his Doctrine and particularly of the quality of God's Son which He alwaies attributed to Himself Now if Infidelity object that we who live in the present Age have no sensible testimony that Christ is risen and what assurance is there that the Apostles who reported it were not Deceivers or deceived In Answer to this I will briefly 〈◊〉 how valuable the Testimony of the Apostles is and worthy of all acceptation and that 't was equally impossible they should be deceived or intend to deceive His Death is attested by his Enemies 〈◊〉 a Pagan relates that He Suffered under Pontius Pilate And the Jews to this day 〈◊〉 so unhappy as to boast of their being the causes of his Crucifixion and call him by a name that is the mark of his Punishment But his Resurrection they peremptorily deny Now the Apostles being sent to convert the World were to â—ay this down as the foundation of their Preaching that Jesus Christ was rais'd from the dead that all might yield Faith and Obedience to Him This was then special charge as St. Peter declares Wherefore of thâ—se men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us beginning from the Baptism of John unto the same day that He was taken up from us must be one ordained to be a witness of his Resurrection They were to testifie concerning His Doctrine and Life His Miracles and Sufferings but principally His Resurrection For this reason St. Paul who was extraordinarily admitted into their Order had a miraculous Sight of Christ from Heaven Last of all He was seen of me to testifie it to the World Now for our full conviction 't is necessary to consider the quality of the Witnesses and the nature of their Testimony 1. The Witnesses were such of whom there cannot be the least reasonable Suspicion In Civil Causes of the greatest moment the Testimony of the Honourable and the Rich are accounted valuable because they are not easily corrupted one of a low degree may from baseness of Spirit through Cowardize and Fear be tempted to deny the Truth one in a poor condition may be so dazled with the lustre of Gold when he considers the price of Perjury as to be induced to assert a falshood But who is more incorruptible the Noble that from a sense of Honour abhor a Lie or those who by their Divine Birth and Qualities did so detest it that they would not tell a Lie for the Glory of God Who is more worthy of Credit the Rich whose Riches sometimes excites their desires after more or those who by a generous disdain despised all things Besides Persons of known Integrity whom the different images of hopes and fears cannot probably encline to evil are admitted to decide the weightiest Causes Now the Apostles were so innocent sober honest and unblameable in the whole tenour of their Conversations that their most malignant Adversaries could never fasten an accusation upon them Indeed if their carnal Interests had been concern'd there might have been some colourable Objections against their Testimony But if we duely consider things it will appear utterly incredible that any deceit could be in it For as all the actions of reasonable Men proceed from Reason solid or apparent so particularly Imposture and Fiction are never without some Motive and Design For being contrary to Nature there must â—ntervene a forreign Consideration for their contrivance Now the universal Motives to invent Fables are Honour Riches or Pleasure But none of these could possibly move the Apostles to feign the Resurrection of Christ. Not to insist on the Meanness of their Extraction and Education who had only seen Boats and Nets and convers'd with Lakes and Fishes whereas Ambition usually springs up in Persons of high birth and breeding 't is evident that no respect to humane Praise excited them since they attributed the Doctrine of the Gospel that should give them reputation in the World to the Holy Spirit and ascribed the Glory of their miraculous Actions entirely to the Divine Power When the People of Lystra would have given Divine Honour to St. Paul he disclaim'd it with abhorrency And presently after those who would have ador'd him as a God stoned him as a Malefactor he chose rather to be their Sacrifice than their Idol Besides how could they expect to be great or rich by declaring that One who came to such a Tragical End in the face of the world was rais'd to Life when the hands of the Jews were still bloody with the Wounds of their Master and their hearts so enraged against all that honoured his Name as to excommunicate
was a type of his lying in the Grave and Resurrection Moses in his Prophetical David in his Kingly Office praefigur'd him The Priestly Office being the Foundation of the other two and that upon which our Salvation principally depends was illustrated by two Glorious types Melchisedec and Aaron The one the high Priest in ordinary the other the Priest of God by extraordinary designation I will briefly touch upon the resemblance between him and Christ. Although Sacrifices were offer'd from the Beginning yet he is the first to whom that Title is given as called to that office in a special manner The Divinity of Christs Person the Eternity of his Office and the Infinite Value of his Oblation were shadowed forth by him Melchisedec is introduc'd into the Sacred story as one descending from Heaven and ascending thither without any account of his Birth or Death The silence of the Scripture is Mysterious for the Spirit conducted Holy Men in their Writings The Levitical Priests descended by Natural Generation from their predecessours and had successours in their Office which was annext to the race of Levi. But Melchisedec is represented without Father and Mother without Beginning and End of Days whose Priesthood was permanent in himself For things and Persons have a double being real in themselves and notional as they exist in the mind so that no mention being made of his coming into the World or leaving it the silence of the Scripture is equivalent to his continual duration Now in this was an adumbration of Christ who was the Eternal Son of God and really came from Heaven to execute his office and ascended thither And although his oblation was finisht on the Earth and his intercession shall cease in Heaven yet the effects of it shall be Eternal in his People and the Glory of it in himself The Apostle observes an other resemblance between the Supreme Quality of Melchisedec King of Salem and Jesus Christ He was King of Righteousness and Peace He Govern'd his Subjects in Righteousness and never stain'd those hands with humane Blood that were employed in the Sacred office of the Priesthood And by those Glorious Titles are signified the benefits our Saviour conveys to his People He is the true King of Righteousness By which is not intended the Righteousness that justifies before God in which respect he is call'd the Lord our Righteousness and is said to have brought in Eternal Righteousness for that respects his Priestly office in that quality he acquir'd it But that Title signifies his giving most Righteous Laws for the Government of the Church and his dispensing Righteous Rewards and Punishments Eternal Life and Death by which he preserves the Majesty of his Laws and secures the obedience of his Subjects And he is King of Peace by which we are not to understand his temper and disposition nor our peace with God for reconciliation is grounded on his Sacrifice nor peace with Conscience the effect of the other but that which depends on his Royalty As the King of Peace he keeps his Subjects in a calm and quiet Obedience all their Thoughts and Passions are regulated by his Will The Laws of secular Kings are only exposed to the eyes or proclaimed to the ears of their Subjects but His are engraven in their hearts By the inward and Almighty efficacy of his Spirit he inclines them to their Universal Duty and will bring them to Eternal Peace in his Glorious Kingdom First From hence we have an irrefragable Argument of the Truth and Divinity of the Gospel For 't is evident by comparing the antient Figures with the present Truth the Copies with the Original the Pictures with the Life that Eternal Wisdom contrived them For no created Understanding could frame so various Represenâ—ations of Christ and all exactly agreeing with him at such a distance before His appearance And if we compare the Predictions with the Events 't is most clear that only the Divine Knowledg could reveal them For otherwise how was it possible that the Prophets so many Ages before the Coming of Christ should predict those things concerning Him that exceeded the foresight of all the Angels of Light What Intelligence could there be between Moses and David and Isaiah that lived such a distance of time from one another to deliver such things as meet in him as their Centre And these Prophecies are conveyed to us by the Jews the most obstinate Enemies of Christianity who although they reverence the Letter yet abhor the accomplishment of them So that there can be no possible suspicion that they are feigned and of a later Date than their titles declare Their successive fulfilling is a perpetual Miracle to justifie the truth of our Religion Our Saviour used this Method for the instruction of his Disciples These are the words which I spake unto you that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning me And St. Paul fram'd a powerful Demonstration from the Scriptures to prove that Jesus was the Christ. In his Writings he deciphers the riddles of the Law and removes the Veil to discover the Face of Christ engraven by the Divine Artificer Briefly by shewing the consent between the two Testaments he illuminates the Old by the New and confirms the New by the Old Now what Religion is there in the World whose Mysteries were foretold by the Oracles of God and figured by his Institutions above two thousand Years before 't was exhibited Whose Doctrine perfectly accords with the most antient venerable and Divine Writings Can that Religion be any other than Divine which God did so expresly predict and pourtray in such various manner for the receiving whereof He made such early Preparations in the World Certainly without offering the greatest violence to our rational Faculties none can disbelieve it He degrades himself from the dignity of being a Man that refuses to be a Christian. 2. From hence we may understand the incomparable Happiness of Christians not only above the Heathens who by Divine Desertion were wholly Strangers to the Covenants of Mercy but above God's peculiar People The Messiah was the expectation and desire of Heaven and Earth Before his coming the Saints had some glimmerings of Light which made them inwardly languish after the blessed Manifestation of it But that was reserved for Believers in the last Ages of the World That antient Promise the Morning Blush of the Gospel-Day That the Seed of the Woman should break the head of the Serpent and the Serpent bruise his heel signified the bloody Victory the Messiah should obtain over Satan but how little of it was understood One may as well from the sight of the Root foretel the dimensions of a Tree the colour figure and taste of its Fruits as from that Prediction have discover'd all the parts of our Mediator's Office and the excellent benefits resulting from it The Incarnation Crucifixion Resurrection and