unto all other Christians Because these Churches had partly corrupted the grace of God and partly rejected the Meanes of it by Christ for they had sowred the liberty of the Gospel with the necessity of legall Ceremonies especially that of Circumcision Yet in saying unto the Churches of Galatia he allowes them the name of Churches because they yet retayned severall parts of Christianity As in like maner he doth to the Corinthians who were fowly tainted and stayned with divers corruptions both in doctrine and maners VERSE 3. Text. Grace be to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ Sense Grace i. e. All love favour and kindnesse be to you from God and Christ Peace i. e. All happinesse and blessednesse be to you from God and Christ Reason After the harsh Direction followes a kind Salutation in the best forme which is by way of Benediction and for the best Matter which is Grace and Peace from God and Christ In the former verse Paul had denied unto the Galatians that ordinary respect which usually accompanieth the Direction of Epistles and therefore hee doth heere bespeake them with a most pious and Christian Salutation that hee might seeme to recompence the flatnesse and sowrenesse of his former Direction with the kindnesse and sweetnesse of this Salutation For although hee were unwilling to vouchsafe them their Title yet he is ready to afford them his Prayer in the best and holiest maner And the prudent Apostle practiseth this variety of discourse that he might gaine some advantage by every forme of Arguing sometime by harshnesse and sometime by sweetnesse leaving no meanes unassayed whereby to recover the Galatians from their errour Comment The forme of salutation among the Jewes Grace what and Peace Of blessednesse God the Authour and Christ the meanes The title of the Father of Christ Yet neithers title exclude the others There are many Gods and many Lords yet to us but one so and but one supreamely so Invocation is due to Christ the Ground thereof the Command of it and Practice of it A mis-reading of the Text and a misconstruction of it GRace be to you and Peace This is the ordinary forme of Apostolicke Salutation and benediction in the Epistles of Paul Peter John and Jude And the verbe substantive Be which by Paul is silenced in the originall is by Peter expressed by the word Be multiplied 1. Pet. 1.2 Grace unto you and peace be multiplied The ancient forme of Salutation among the Hebrewes was Peace be unto you Which forme was also used by Christ himselfe and he commanded the use of it to his Apostles Luke 10.5 And into whatsoever house ye enter first say Peace bee to this house But afterward among the Christians in memory of that rich Grace which came by the meanes of Christ the word Grace was added and prefixed to the former ancient Salutation Grace then is the love favour or kindenesse of God by the meanes of Christ or that rich kindenesse of God towards us whereof Christ is the Messenger and Mediatour the Beginner and the Finisher who first published the truth and procureth the finall effect of it Peace denoteth unto us Christians all the effects events and issues of Grace for Peace includes all those blessings which are the fruit growing from Grace as from the roote Whether those blessings bee temporall and spirituall in this life or celestiall and eternall in the life to come according to the sence of the Hebrewes who by Peace understand all safety prosperity and happinesse whatsoever From God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. The persons from whom Paul salutes them and prayes a benediction upon them are expressed to bee two namely God the Father as the originall and prime cause from whence all grace and peace doth arise and Christ our Lord as the instrumentall and meane cause wherby all Grace and Peace is conveyed For hee wisheth a blessing upon them from the very same persons in the very same order that hee had his Calling namely from God the Father by Jesus Christ Or to use the very same words wherein hee expresseth himselfe elsewhere 1 Cor. 8.6 From God of whom are all things and from Christ by whom are all things Unto each of these divine persons severally Paul attributes a peculiar dignity or title of honour For unto the Father hee gives the title of God in an eminent and transcendent sense because the Father is the supreame and most high God who of himselfe hath soveraigne dominion and power over all things over all persons and who of himselfe is that person from whom all other persons are descended And unto Christ he gives the title of our Lord because Christ is the person to whom the Father hath communicated the universal dominion governement over all things and persons excepting one onely who is the Father himselfe For the Father hath ordained Christ in a peculiar manner to bee the Lord or head over his Church in all matters thereto pertaining And heereby Christ in a peculiar relation unto us becomes our Lord in whom wee must believe and trust and whom wee must worship serve and obey Yet it is not Pauls meaning to make these titles so peculiar to each person as if Christ were not God or as if the Father were not our Lord for each person beares both these titles but that when they are mentioned both together these are the usuall formes to difference them Hence from these two attributes thus differenced and distributed unto these two divine persons of God unto the Father and of Lord unto Christ and because there is but one Father and one Christ therefore it is frequent with the Apostle Paul to call the Father one God and Christ one Lord. For although there bee extant many Gods and many Lords Yet there is extant but one God and one Lord to bee by us invocated and worshipded i. e. God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ Because there is but one person who unto us hath that relation of God which the Father hath and but one person who unto us hath that relation of Lord which Christ hath Hence it is sayd 1 Cor. 8.5 For though there bee that are called Gods whether in Heaven or in Earth as there bee Gods many and Lords many But to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and wee for him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and wee by him Where by the way wee may note that there are made three degrees the first is of those who are called Gods but are not indeed so as the Sunne and Moone in Heaven Idolls and Images on Earth the next of those who are called so and are indeede so but not supreamely so as the Angels in Heaven and Rulers on Earth and the last of those who are called so and are really or indeed so and also are supreamely so to bee invocated and worshipped as
to him that teacheth it but it seldome troubles the soul that receives it whereas errour disquiets and distracts the conscience leaving her uncertaine of the issue pretended and troubling her about the means thereto leading And would pervert the Gospel of Christ The issue of their counterfeit Gospel which though it might not be the intent of the false teachers yet it would bee the event that the Gospel of Christ would thereby be perverted i. e. it would bee cast into a new mould or frame contrary to the forme it had before The addition of Circumcision and other legall Ceremonies doth adulterate and corrupt the Gospel of Christ by compounding it into a new nature contrary to the genuine simplicity and sincerity wherein it was originally planted and taught for they confound the Gospel who compound and complie it with the law because they who unto the Gospel of Christ would super-adde the law of Moses must consequently needs teach that Grace on Gods part and faith on our part make not a sufficient title to our right of inheritance unto blessednesse but that our title by grace and faith requires a further corroboration from our works according to the law of Moses such as Circumcision and difference of meats which are such servile works and such beggerly services unto God and so far from making us a title to have that right that they serve not for a tenure whereby to hold it but that right must bee held by our filiall works of love as wee are the sonnes and heires of God and as they are prescribed in the Gospel of Christ which works Evangelicall are of a more noble nature and more pleasing to God then the legall works under the law which were but beggerly and servile services VERSE 8. Text. But though we or an Angel from heaven preach any other Gospel unto you then that which we have preached unto you let him bee accursed Sense But though we i. e. Though I. Or an Angel from heaven i. e. an heavenly Angel Which we have preached i. e. Which I have preached Reason Though formerly the Apostle had sufficiently declared that the revolt of the Galatians from the Gospel of Christ was a foul errour and that they who obtruded another counterfeit gospel upon them were corrupters of the true Gospel and therefore not to be followed yet heere also hee further insisteth upon the same point shewing them what they are to thinke of any other person whatsoever that should presume to preach any doctrine contrary to his or different from it Comment Angels are some celestiall others infernall Doctrine may be false two wayes 1. Directly 2. Indirectly And such are humane Traditions The doome of false Doctrine BUt though we or an Angel from heaven Wee i. e. I Paul for he speaks only of or concerning himselfe using the plurall number for the singular as appears in the words in the verse following as we have sayd before for Paul only was the person who had sayd the words of this verse And the force of this argument is very moving because the Apostle argues for the truth of his owne doctrine even against himselfe q. d. Not only they who trouble you and would enforce a new gospel upon you are to bee wholly rejected but also I my selfe if I should attempt it am to bee repelled as an execrable person And not only I but if an Angel should come to you as an Evangelist or an Apostle with a message from Heaven contrary to the doctrine by me planted amongst you he is in like maner to be abandoned The words from heaven are not to be referred to the act of preaching but to the person of the Angel to whom they are an attribute and signifie only an heavenly Angel for there are Angels who in respect of their residence are celestiall and supernall in the highest Heaven and there are Angels who for their residence are aereall and infernall for in comparison of the highest Heaven which is most supernall the Ayre which makes the lowest Heaven is infernall Hence wicked spirits are called Princes of the Ayre and are sayd to bee in Heavenly Places i. e. in the Ayre for the Ayre though in respect of the highest Heaven above it it bee Hell yet in respect of the Earth below it it is Heaven and consequently the Ayre in a different and subalterne respect is both Heaven and Hell See and compare Mat. 6.26 and Luk. 13.19 and Ephes 2.2 and Ephes 3.10 and Ephes 6.12 and 2. Pet. 2.4 But to supply the Argument with the greater force the Apostle supposeth a condition altogether impossible seeing it could never come to passe that either hee himselfe should against himselfe or an Angel from Heaven against him should ever attempt to preach another Gospel Should preach any other Gospel unto you then that which wee have preached The Greeke is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. literally should preach unto you besides what wee have preached Heereby is excluded from the Gospel of Christ all such Doctrine that is either against his Gospel or besides it for whatsoever Doctrine is against it is also besides it and more then besides it and consequently all such Doctrine is excluded as alien from the Gospel of Christ which either doth wholly alter or partly subvert the way delivered by Paul for obtaining a true right and a right title to the Inheritance of Blessednesse And this is done either directly when any thing is taught manifestly contrary to that Doctrine which is necessary to salvation as to teach that Jesus is not the Christ or that there is no New Covenant Or indirectly when any thing not necessary is proposed and urged as necessary though it bee not contrary to the Gospel of Christ but onely disparate or diverse from it as to urge the Ceremonies either of Moses or of others as necessary to salvation for by this meanes the way to salvation is partly changed and assigned to some by-way whereto Christ and his Apostles assigned it not Yet because at that time the legall Ceremonies were urged as necessary to salvation especially by those Christians which were converted from Judaisme whose infirmity was tolerated by the rest of the Apostles and by Paul himselfe who Rom. 14. plainely declares that their opinion was no prejudice to their salvation Therefore wee must not affirme that it was the Apostles minde in this place to pronounce a curse upon all those who any manner of way should teach something as necessary to salvation besides what hee had taught if they taught it out of meere ignorance or errour but those onely hee pronounceth accursed who out of arrogance or some by-respect should presse as necessary to salvation those things which they knew the Apostle had taught to bee not necessary Doth not this Text reach unto the Church of Rome who urgeth as necessary to salvation the Traditions and Precepts of the Church as shee calls them which shee acknowledgeth not to bee comprised in the
Gospel which hee preached was not humane but divine drawne from a narration of his conversion from the Jewish Religion to the Christian and first hee puts them in minde of his carriage in Judaisme and of his zeale to the Law while hee lived a Pharisee that from thence they might collect that hee would by no meanes ever have forsaken the Ceremonies of Moses and the Traditions of his Fathers unlesse God or Christ himselfe had withdrawne him from them after a miraculous and manifest manner and further that in preaching of the Gospel his present asserting of faith against the workes of the Law proceeded not from any hatred of the Law whereto once hee was so wholly addicted but onely from the Authority and command of Christ Comment Pauls former conversatioÌ„ was not his piety But his Activity In persecuting the Church and in wasting it which is a Metaphor taken from Warre or from a cursed Judgement And argues Pauls former fury and his excesse FOR yee have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jewish Religion By his former conversation in the Jewish Religion wherein after the most straitest Sect hee lived a Pharisee hee understands not his piety towards God in any acts of devotion for the worshippe and service of God whereto the Pharisees above the rest of the Jewes were great Pretenders especially for the acts of fasting and praying for as it appeares by the description of their Devotions recorded in the Gospel they fasted thrice in the weeke they prayed publickly in the corners of the streetes and they prayed tediously by making long prayers although all this were Hypocrisie Yet Paul by his conversation in this place hath reference to none of these But hee meanes his activity or madnesse as himselfe calls it in being wholly transported with fervency and zeale to defend the Law and oppose the Gospell by persecuting and destroying the Professours thereof as himselfe intimates in the words following For all the conversation of some men in their Religion especially of those who professe themselves the strictest is onely a blinde and bloody zeale to persecute and destroy all Dissenters from them and the murders they commit by the fury of this zeale they account the worshippe and service of God as Christ foretold it unto his Disciples John 16.2 Of Pauls former conversation this way the Galatians must needes heare either before or at least upon his planting of the Gospel amongst them because his persecution was very generall entering into every house haling men and women to prison and because the dispersion of the Disciples therupon was very generall also for they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the Word See Act. 8.3.4 And because of the fearfull accident that fell upon him in his journey to persecute at Damascus neare whereunto hee was strucken to the ground with lightning from Heaven the fact whereof was so notorious and publick that the fame of it must needes spread to the hearing of the Galatians seeing the confines of Galatia lay not farre remote from the confines of Syria whereof Damascus was the chiefe City How that beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God An instance or example of his conversation in the Jewish Religion namely that beyond measure he persecuted the Church of God and beyond measure wasted it Beyond measure i. e. Beyond all excesse even unto extremity for Beyond measure is an expressâ—on too flat and too dry to utter the sharpnesse and bloudinesse of that persecution wherewith Paul once wasted the Church of God for therein he exceeded unto all extremity Into the profession of persecution Paul as it seemes had his initiation at the martyrdome of Stephen with whose bloud his zeale was fleshed for he was accessory to Stephens death by consenting thereto and by keeping the rayment of them that stoned him See Acts 7.58 and Acts 22.20 Of the bloudy persecution against the Church at Jerusalem whereby all the Saints were thence scattered abroad throughout the Regions of Judea and Samaria though the chiefe Priests were the chiefe authors yet Paul was the chiefe actor for hee entred not only into every Synagogue but into every house and haling out men and women committed them to prison See Acts 8.3 and Acts 26.11 Hee sollicited the high Priest for authority and obtayned a commission from him to commit the like outrage in the Synagogues at Damascus as he had executed before in those at Jerusalem See Acts 9.1.2 and Acts 22.5 and Acts 26.12 And wasted it The degree of his persecution was that it proceeded unto wasting of the Church for that word expresseth the extremity of his persecution that it advanced and increased not only beyond measure but beyond all excesse The Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred elsewhere in our last English Translation destroyed See Act. 9.21 and afterward in this cap. ver 23. which expression is too generall and flat coming short of the full sense of the word but in this place it is fully and properly translated wasted For wasting is a speciall kind of destruction executed with fury and excesse not only upon mens persons but upon their lands and goods and properly signifies a vast destruction For Wast is a metaphor taken from War by the fury wherof a Countrey is depopulated the people slaine with the sword the Towns burnt downe by fire the cattell driven away and all the goods made a prey such a Wast was done upon Jericho Jos 6.21.24 Or rather Wast seemes to be a metaphor taken from the Execution of a heavy Judgement upon a cursed person who to be made an example unto others is put to a fearfull death his wife and children turned out of doores and his house pulled down to the ground his gardens supplanted his meadowes plowed his trees digged up by the roots and all his goods forfeited Such a wast was by the judgement of God executed upon the house of Jeroboam upon the house of Baasha upon the house of Ahab and upon the house of Baal which was turned into a draught-house See 1. King 15.29 and 1. King 16.3.4 and 1. King 21.22 and 2. King 10.27 Such a Wast in a maner Paul laboured to bring upon the Church of God as it may easily appeare from two grounds 1. From the fury of his mind for hee was exceeding mad against the Church of God and his mind was so bloudy that his very breath was bloud in breathing out threatnings and slaughters against the Disciples of the Lord. See Act. 9.1 and Act. 26.11 2. From the excesse of his actions for he haled men and women out of their houses into prison he forced divers into banishment persecuting them even unto strange Cities hee punished the Saints in every Synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme and when they were put to death hee suffraged or gave his voyce against them in a word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word explicates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. he made havocke of the
bestowes upon man for the acts of kinde persons are also called kindnesses are divine blessings beseeming the goodnes and greatnes of God as a right of heavenly freedome a right of Alliance with God and a right of inheritance in his kingdome For God is so free that his will is to make man free of heaven by giving him a right of divine freedome as a Denizen or Citizen of the Kingdome of Heaven See John 8.32 36. and Rom. 6.22 and Rom. 8.2 and 1 Cor. 7.22 and Ephes 2.19 and Heb. 8.10 And God is so kinde as to make man his Kinsman by giving him a right of divine alliance in making him his Son and becomming a father to him which makes not a remote and distant alliance but the nearest and best degree of kindred See John 1.12 and Rom. 8.14 and 2 Cor. 6.18 and Phil. 2.15 and Gal. 4.5 and 1 John 3.1 2. So fatherly kinde as to make man his heire by giving him a right of inheritance in Heaven where God hath provided for him many Manors and Mansions so goodly and so glorious that the Manors and Mansions on earth are but the figures and shadowes of those in Heaven for God who hath feared man here upon earth will hereafter most gloriously settle him in Heaven whereof he hath already made him the Heire by giving him a present right to the future possession of it for this kinde of right makes the nature of an Heire See Mat. 5.3 and Mat. 25.34 and John 14.2 and Rom. 8.17 and Gal. 4.7 and Ephes 1.3 and Ephes 2.6 and Tit. 3.7 and James â— 5 and 1 Pet. 1.4 But for the better conveyance and settling of these Heavenly kindnesses God frames his Will into a Testament wherein more blessings are devised and bequeathed unto man by way of gifts and Legacyes for hence the holy Scriptures both New and Old are called Gods Testaments though at the first making neither of them were written but were nuncupative because God at first declared his will by the word of his mouth for hence the same Testaments are called the word of God but his Will being afterwards written became the Scriptures And God by publishing of his Testament reveales the Gifts and Legacies thereof into promises for Gods promises are but his Gifts and Legacyes declared he covenants with man for the performance of those Promises and confirmes his Covenant that it may be irrevocable Now the proper virtue and effect of Testaments Promises and Covenants especially being once confirmed is to constitute ordaine impute and convey unto the persons concerned rights interests and claymes to the things therein specified And the rights and claymes constituted ordained and conveyed in Gods Testament are no lesse precious then the inheritances of Heaven whereto man is instituted Heire for although among men here on earth some Lands and inheritances cannot be disposed by Will and Testament yet all the inheritances of Heaven are deviseable by the Will and Testament of God And Gods Testament argues Gods marvellous loving kindnes for can a man possibly shew greater love and kindnes then first to give away all his estate and at last to confirme that gift give up his life all which is done in the making of a Will because a Will is a Deed which makes away all and yet it selfe is not fully made at least not made of force untill the death of the maker And Gods Testament for the purpose of it is a Will ad pias causas i. e. for godly and charitable uses wherein Gods goods are all distributed for the reliefe of impotent poore and needy wretches for all the parties instituted in Gods Testament are miserable persons such as are the blind and lame the deafe and dumbe the dead and buried such as are strangers unto God as aliens bondslaves captives and prisoners unto Satan such as are Sinners against him as offendors and malefactors For hence the publishing of Gods last Will and Testament is called by Christ Luke 4.18 preaching of the Gospel to the poore sending to heale the broken-hearted preaching deliverance to the captives recovering of sight to the blind setting at liberty them that are bruised And this againe doth magnifie Gods marveylous loving kindnesse for can a Testament shew greater love and kindnesse then when it is all for charitable uses And the better to qualifie these miserable persons and to inable them for the possession of these blessings Gods will is yet further to performe all acts thereto conducing as to Illuminate and instruct them in heavenly knowledge that they may know God to be their gratious Father to Regenerate and sanctifie them by writing his divine Law in their hearts that they may carry themselves as the sons of God to Expiate pardon and forgive all their sins in generall past present and to come to Redeem from the grave their dead and vile bodies transforming them into heavenly and glorious bodies and lastly to Glorifie them at their entrance into their Lords joy where they shall be partakers of his divine nature and the freeholders of eternall blessednesse For such clauses there are in Gods will See Heb. 8.10 11 12. and Phil. 3.21 and 2. Pet. 1.4 Hence the nature of Justifying may easily appeare For when unto a Sinner and a stranger God by his Will and Testament deviseth or imputeth a present right to a future blessing then God justifieth the ungodly and when a Sinner hath that right then a man is justified And therefore actively and factively all the gifts and Legacies of Gods Will and all the promises of God doe justifie because it is the nature of a Legacy and of a promise to impute a present right to some future benefit or blessing And therefore againe passively and effectually all the free men of Gods kingdome and all the sonnes and heyres of God are justified because it is the nature of a freeman of a son and of an heyre to have a present right to a future estate When unto Abraham who at first was a sinner and a stranger God by his Will and Testament devised these earthly blessings That he should have an heyre from his owne body and should have the Kingdome of Canaan for his inheritance Gods will was that Abraham should have a present right to those blessings and when effectually Abraham had that right then was he justified When unto Rahab who was an harlot and a stranger God by the same Will imputed a present right to her future safety and consequently to make her free in Israel then was Rahab justified When unto the Jewes who were sinners God by his last Will and Testament which is his new Covenant devised and ordayned the kingdome of Heaven and those heavenly blessings wherof the Earthly kingdome of Canaan and her blessings were but figures and shadowes as their exemption from the Law the Priviledge and benefit of Repentance the Renovation of their mindes the Remission of their sins the Resurrection of their bodies and the Inheritance of
everlasting life in the kingdome of Heaven Gods Will was to give them a present right to those blessings and those Jewes who effectually had that right they were justified And when the Gentiles who were both sinners and strangers were by the same Will made fellow-citizens with the Saints fellow-heyres fellow-members and partakers of Gods promise in Christ to have the same right unto the same blessings with the believing Jewes then were the Gentiles justified The Names of Justifying or other words whereby in Scripture this is expressed are too many to be mentioned here yet for the better understanding of the thing we may take notice of some which intimate either the causes effects affections or resemblances of it 1. Therefore it is called adopting or making Sons of God Joh. 1.12 As many as received him to them gave he power to become or be made the sonnes of God i. e. he justified them by giving them the right or priviledge of Sons for so the word power is explained in the margin 2. Manumising infranchising or making free John 8.36 If the Sonne shall make you free you shall be free indeed i. e. if the Son shall justifie you by giving you the right of freedome the Kingdome of Heaven ye shall have that reall and true freedome whereof your earthly freedome is but a figure or shadow 3. Reconciling or attoneing with God Rom. 5.10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God i. e. justified by way of amity or alliance to be made the friends and Sons of God and at the next verse following By whom we have now received the attonement i. e. by whom we have now been justified for in the originall the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in both these verses but is rendred in the 10. reconciled and in the 11. attonement 4. Inoculating or grafting Rom. 11.24 If thou wert cut out of the Olive tree which is wilde by nature and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good Olive tree i. e. if contrary to nature thou wert justified for as the Cions or Graft hath a right of life and maintenance to partake of the root and sap of that stock whereinto it is inoculated so the justified are made joynt-heyres with Christ to have the same rights with Christ into whom they are incorporated 5. Ingratiating or making accepted Ephes 1.6 To the praise of the glory of his grace wherein 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath made us accepted in the beloved i. e. hath justified and graced us by giving us a right in Christ who is the beloved of God 6. Infeoffing or estating Ephes 1.11 In whom also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wee have obtained an inheritance or have been infeoffed i. e. by whom we are justified to have that inheritance whereto God had predestinated instituted or ordained us in his will and testament 7. Seating or placing in Heaven Ephes 2.6 And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus i. e. hath justified us by making us co-heires with Christ by Christ and giving us a present right to a future seat or possession in Heaven where Christ is already seated for in this life we doe not actually sit in heavenly places but in this life we are made to have a present right for our future sitting there 8. Allying or making nigh unto God Ephes 2.13 Yee who sometimes were farre off are made nigh by the bloud of Christ. i. e. ye who were sometimes strangers unto God are now justified and made to have an allyance with God amounting in a manner to a consanguinity and as effectuall as a nearenesse by bloud yet not by your bloud but by the bloud of Christ 9. Inabling or making meet Col. 1.12 Which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light i. e. hath justified us to make us fellow-heires and fellow commoners with the Saints 10. Translating in the next verse following Who hath delivered us from the power of darkenesse and hath translated us into the Kingdome of his deare Sonne i. e. and hath justified us by changing our state or condition from being bondslaves and captives in the Kingdome of Satan to be made Owners and Freeholders in the Kingdome of Christ 11. Pardoning or forgiving Col. 2.13 And you being dead in your sinnes and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath hee quickened together with him having forgiven you all trespasses i. e. having justified you by giving you a right of impunity or pardon whereby ye are released from the punishment of all your sinnes 12. Ransoming or Redeeming Revel 5.9 For thou wast slaine and hast redeemed us to God by thy bloud i. e. hast justified us by delivering us from the bondage and slavery of Satan and by asserting us into a spirituall freedome and a divine allyance with God The Matter of Justifying or the Right which thereby a man is made to have is a Right of State which is a permanent and stable condition wherein his person standeth remaineth and resteth and this State is as it were the standerd base or ground to all the rest of mans future rights priviledges and benefits which unto this state are incident and subsequent to be raised and built thereon For as in many Kingdomes of the world so in the Kingdome of God mens persons are made to stand and rest under severall states and conditions whereof the most remarkable are the two states of spirituall bondage and of spirituall freedome which being in themselves contrary draw after them contrary consequents and accidents Spirituall bondage is a restraint pressure closenesse or fastnesse of the spirit whereby a man stands tyed from good unto evill debarred from having the good that hee would and should have is hindred from doing the good that hee would and should doe is constrained to doe the evill that hee would not and should not doe is a drudge to the pleasure of sinne is a slave to the motions of his lust and a Captive under the power of Satan This is a state of wrath a low base terrene and miserable condition a condition farre beneath the proper nature and quality of man a condition that hath no right or interest to any spirituall benefit nor while it lasteth is capable of any a condition charged and loaden with so many burdens and miseries thereto incident and consequent that in poynt of Law the Bondman is reputed a dead man Contrarily spirituall freedome is a gallantry braven fluency cleernesse or loosenesse of the spirit whereby a man is inlarged from evill unto good is advanced to have that good which hee would and should have is inabled to doe that good which hee would and should doe is restrained from doing that evill whereto Sathan may tempt him is licensed to live according to his owne will or rather according to a better will then his owne namely according to the good will and pleasure of God whose will hee makes his owne will
maine argument was that God had raysed him from the dead See Act. 2. and Act. 3. and Act. 4. and Act. 5. and Act. 13. For this is the very life of faith 1. Cor. 15.17 For if Christ be not raysed your faith is vaine ye are yet in your sinnes And it is the very heart of saving faith for Rom. 10.9 If thou shalt confesse with thy mouth that Jesus is the Lord and shalt beleeve in thy heart that God raysed him from the dead thou shalt be saved Shall wee not beleeve one risen from the dead Surely the damned are not so unbeleeving for they seeme to beleeve that one risen from the dead is the fittest person to gaine faith and beliefe Hence Dives requested Abraham to send Lazarus to his five brethren living for he supposed that if one should come to them from the dead they would be more perswaded by him then by Moses all the Prophets Luk. 16.30 Can now the unbelieving Jew believe any thing in the World that he hath not seen Can he believe that Abraham was his Father by whom he had a right to the Kingdome of Canaan And can he not believe that Jesus is the Christ by whom he hath a right to the Kingdome of Heaven Can hee believe that Moses was the man of God by whom God gave his Law And can he not believe that Jesus is the son of God by whom God gives his grace Hath he any grounds to believe in Moses And hath hee not far greater stronger for his faith in Jesus Christ for besides the grounds arguments for faith in Christ which hitherto we have mentioned Christ had also the Testimonies of Moses and the Prophets which were sufficient to make faith of him and by the indication of John the Baptist actually did make it in the first of his Disciples for say they John 1.45 We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets did write But the Incredulous Jew gives not full credit to his owne Creed he boasteth of Moses and glorieth in his writings and yet hee believes not the writings of Moses for if hee did hee would also believe in Jesus Christ John 5.46 For had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me for he wrot of me The Reason why Christ doth declare and prove the last Will and Testament of God is because Christ is the Executor of it Seeing that Gods Will is a Testament therefore it must needes have an Executor i. e. a person in the place or stead of God to performe the minde and will of God Because the nominating or appoynting of an Executor is the very essence of a Testament which alone doth make a Will to become a Testament and without which no Will eyther is or can bee rightly tearmed a Testament for by the best Lawyers a Testament is defined to bee a Will wherein an Executor is nominated Now the Executor of Gods last Will and Testament is Jesus Christ who is a person in the place and stead of God to execute and performe the will of God For hence saith Christ John 6.38 I came downe from Heaven not to doe mine owne Will but the Will of him that sent mee and the Will heere mentioned is Gods last Will and Testament for in the next following verses hee expresseth one clause of that will containing the blessed Legacies of the Resurrection from the dead and Everlasting life devised or bequeathed to every believer in Christ And againe the Apostle saith Heb. 7.22 Jesus was made a Surety of a better Testament i. e. In effect the Executor of a better Testament for although every Surety bee not an Executor Yet the surety of a Testament is the very same with an Executor because the Executor of a Will stands bound for the Testator to pay all his Debts Gifts and Legacies as the Surety in a bond stands bound for the principall Debtor And againe Christ professeth that hee came into the World on purpose to bee the Executor of Gods last Will and Testament Heb. 10.9 Then sayd hee Loe I come to doe thy Will O God for by Gods will heere is meant his last Will and Testament even that will whereby hee tooke away the first Will that hee might establish the second as plainely appeares by the rest of the words in that verse Now it is the office of the Executor to declare and prove the Will and Testament of the Testator Seeing then Christ is the Executor of Gods last Will and Testament therefore hee declared and proved it to make faith thereof unto us 3. It is called faith in Christ Because faith in Christ is the Title or appellation whereby men are nominated in Gods last Will and Testament If Gods Will containe Promises Legacies and Gifts as most certainely it doth then the persons to whom those Legacies and Gifts are predestinated or devised must bee really truely and certainely nominated for otherwise neither can the Executor duely performe those Legacies neither can the Legataries know how to claime them It must therefore follow that in Gods last Will and Testament men are really truely and certainely nominated Yet not by their proper names nor by their sirnames but by names appellative or common For they who are predestinated or instituted in Gods will are therein predestinated or instituted by the appellative or common names of the Faithfull in Christ of Believers in Christ of Receivers of Christ or such like words equivalent to these as John 3.16 Whosoever believeth in Christ shall not perish but have everlasting life and John 6.47 He that believeth in me hath everlasting life And Acts 16.31 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house And Rom. 3.26 That God might be just and the Justifier of him that believeth on Jesus And Rom. 10.9 If thou shalt confesse with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved And 1 John 5.13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the Name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have eternall life When therefore any man can really truly and certainly be denominated from the appellative or common name of a Believer in Christ or of having faith in Christ the Promises Legacies and Gifts of God are thereby as firme and sure unto him as if he had been nominated in Gods Will by his single or proper name In like maner men are reprobated or disinherited in Gods Will not by their proper or single names but by the appellative or common names of unbelievers in Christ and of Carnall Livers and such like names to these as John 3. 18. He that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the onely begotten Son of God Againe John 3.36 He that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him And John 8.24 If ye believe
am mortified and dead onely in respect of my lusts which are unruly and sinfull motions of my flesh or sensuall appetite but in respect of my love and other holy motions proceeding from my spirit or rationall Will I am vivified and quickned Wherefore I am dead and aliue in respect of different faculties of my soule because the death of one faculty is the life of the other for the death of my flesh is the life of my spirit This kinde of death and life not only may but needs must consist comply and stand together in me for in effect and substance this death and life are but one and the same thing which under contrary names make up in mee that one and the same thing which is sanctity or holinesse For as in a journey there seem two contrarieties namely a departing from one place and a travelling to another yet really and in effect both these are but one and the same journey differing onely in tearmes of recesse from one place and accesse to another yet the motion interceding betweene those distant places is one and the same Or as in curing the body of some disease there seeme two contrary actions namely an expelling of the disease and an inducing of health yet really and in effect both these make but one and the same cure So in my Repentance regeneration renovation sanctification or by what names soever the Scriptures call the cure of my soule there seem two contrarietyes namely my forsaking of sin or dying to it and my approching to holinesse or living to God yet really and in effect both these are but one and the same conversation or walking Hence it appeares that mortification and vivification are really but one and the same motion making up in me that one and the same morall alteration which is my sanctification yet there is between them a rationall difference in 3 respects 1. Of their order for in order of nature or reason though not of time or continuance mortification is first for that beginneth that consequently vivification may follow 2. Of their object for the matter mortified is sin but that vivified is holines 3. Of the subject for the faculty mortified is the flesh but that vivified is the spirit Yet the faculty of my flesh is not mortified for the essence of it but for some qualityes of it for the faculty of the flesh doth also live in mee as much as that of the spirit for although unto some motions my flesh bee deaded yet unto some others it still liveth and conduceth to usefull and lawfull effects in mee For as in the killing of quick-silver the silver remaines after the killing it and serves for severall uses but that malignity ferity or quicknes of the silver which in the use thereof would prove noxious and hurtfull is extinguished and deaded So in the Mortifying of my flesh the faculty remaines after the mortifying and lives in me to divers good purposes but that fiercenes rashnes and quicknes of my appetite the lusts and frauds of it whereby it would usurpe over my Spirit to reigne and rule in me these qualities and motions of my appetite are mortified and extinguished that thereby she may become obedient and serviceable unto my spirit for the better speeding of many holy duties And so when a horse is made to amble his motion lives in him still but the trot of his motion is deaded and a pace is put upon it that moves with more ease to the rider Yet not I. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. no more I or no longer I the same man that I was before I was justified when sin lived in me For elswhere the very same words are translated No more I as Rom. 7.17 Now then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. it is no more I that doe it but sin that dwelleth in me And Rom. 7.20 Now if I doe that I would not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. it is no more I that doe it but sin that dwelleth in mee And in this very place our former English translation which was in use before that of King James hath it thus not I any more q. d. Though after my crucifying or mortifying I live yet I am not any more the man that I was before neither doe I live any longer the life I did when living a naturall and carnall life sinne lived in mee and over-ruled mee For the man that I was is now mortified and dead unto sinne it is crucified as Christ was crucified and because hee was crucified But now there is a great alteration in my morall life or conversation for my old man which was naturall and carnall being dead I am now become a new man and a new creature to live a life which is spirituall and christian For in vaine I professe my selfe a Christian unlesse I become a new creature 2. Cor. 5.17 Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature For neither Ceremony nor not-Ceremony nor any thing else availeth in Christ but onely this to become a new creature Gal. 6.15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature But Christ liveth in mee Not by his Person for so hee lives in Heaven sitting at the right hand of God But hee lives in mee by his spirit for his spirit infused into mee inspireth my spirit inlightning my minde animating my will and governing my actions to a life of holynesse whereto my single spirit in her naked state of nature could never of her selfe elevate and raise mee For unto my spirit the spirit of Christ is a Light a Strength and a Guide by whom I am lead and after whom I walke in the wayes of holynesse And Christ lives in mee by his life for as his death was the cause and paterne of my death whereby I am mortified with him So his life is the cause and paterne of my life whereby I am vivified with him For the holynesse of his life hath such an influence upon mine that according to the measure of grace and of my ability in my mortall condition I labour to bee holy as hee was holy that I may imitate and resemble his holynesse though I can not equall it However hee is the Rule whereby I live for I live not after mine owne will but after his and hee is the End for which I live for I live not unto my selfe to seeke my selfe but unto him to seeke him who dyed for mee and I therefore live thus because he dyed for mee For a like phrase to this is that 2. Cor. 5.15 And that hee dyed for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which dyed for them and rose againe And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. But in that I now live in the flesh For so it is rendred in the Vulgar Latine in the Vulgar
all be made alive But of these words for me the meaning is that Christ delivered himselfe to death and actually died for my sake for my good and for my great benefit which benefit is no lesse unto me then first my Right and afterward my Possession of eternall Blessednesse For by or through his death I collect from Scripture these five benefits 1. Hee Certified mee of blessednesse That the Will and Testament which he published to the World concerning the future blessednesse of heaven was the true whole and last Will and Testament of God seeing hee testified this truth and made faith thereof by his death for because hee witnessed it with his bloud therefore his bloud is sayd to beare witnesse on earth 1 John 5.8 And there are three that beare witnesse on earth the spirit and the water and the bloud 2. He justified me to blessednes For the Will and Testament of God wherein the Legacies or Promises of blessednes are devised unto me was confirmed and established by the bloud and death of Christ who dyed instead of the Testator that the Testament might bee in force and that being in force I am upon my actuall faith actually justified to my Legacies therein for hence wee are sayd to bee justified by the bloud of Christ Rom. 5.9 Being now justified by his bloud we shall be saved from wrath through him 3. He sanctified me for blessednesse For those acts of holinesse which consist in dying to sin and in newnesse of life and which are the conditions and Precepts of Gods Will and Testament whereto the possession of blessednes is limited and without which I shall never possesse it were figured and shaddowed out unto mee by the death and resurrection of Christ For hee that had no sin himselfe how could hee otherwise represent unto me this duty of my death unto sin and newnes of life And that Christ dyed to doe this good upon mee is expresly taught in many places of the Scripture as Gal. 1.4 Who gave himselfe for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evill world And Ephes 5.25 Husbands love your Wives even as Christ also loved the Church and gave himselfe for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it c. And Tit. 2.14 who gave himselfe for us that he might redeeme us from all iniquity and purifie unto himselfe a peculiar people zealous of good workes And Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the bloud of Christ who through the eternall spirit offered himselfe without spot to God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God And 1 Pet. 1.18 Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vaine conversation received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious bloud of Christ. And 1 Pet. 2.24 Who his owne selfe bare our sins in his owne body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousnesse 4. He exemplified unto me the way to blessednesse The way leading unto blessednesse is a hard rough and narrow lane beset with many troubles dangers and certaine death through all which hee commands mee to passe A way that unto flesh and bloud is exceeding fearfull and full of horrour for it seemes to lead mee unto utter destruction yet is indeed the right true and onely way to eternall blessednes Now seeing Christ by his death passing this way came thereby to his crowne of glory doth not hee by his example in taking the assay of death and in tasting it for mee encourage me to suffer death and assure unto mee the likenesse of his glory for may I not playnely see this in the death of my Saviour Jesus Christ Heb. 2.9 But we see Jesus who was made a little lower then the Angells for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour that hee by the grace of God should taste death for every man 5. Hee will glorifie mee with the crowne of blessednesse The Legacies or promises of my future blessednes are to be performed unto me by Christ because he is the sole Executor of that Will and Testament wherein they are devised unto mee and therefore also he is the Captaine of my salvation Unto which Office hee was enabled and perfected through the sufferings of death that after his death he might possesse his owne glory and might also bring me to glory after mine because this was a way beseeming and becomming the good pleasure of God whereby to bring all his sons unto glory Heb. 2.10 For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons unto glory to make the Captaine of their salvation perfect through sufferings Christ himselfe having been once dead and gained by his death the power over death doth the more commiserate my death and will be the readier first to succour me at it and hereafter to rayse me from it Heb. 2.18 for in that he himselfe hath suffered being tempted be is able to succour them that are tempted In a word hee therefore dyed and revived that hee might bee my gratious Lord in what state soever I am whether dead or alive Rom. 14.9 For to this end Christ both dyed and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living Yet I am further to conceive that these words Christ gave himselfe or dyed for mee must bee understood of him by way of eminency or excellency in a speciall and singular manner For although some other persons may dye for mee yet they cannot bee sayd to doe it in that maner or in that sense that hee did it Because Christ was the first person who dyed for mee in this kinde and by the meanes of whose death principally and chiefely according to the grace and mercy of God my salvation is established And because Christ was the onely person who dyed for mee to these speciall ends of Justifying Sanctifying and Glorifying of mee as hee was my sole and onely Mediatour without the conjunction of any other person heerein And because this deede of Christ in dying for mee is sometime in Scripture attributed unto Christ as a speciall property peculiar to him for hence it is sayd Rom. 14.15 Destroy not him with thy meate for whom Christ dyed viz. in an eminent and excellent manner And 1. Cor. 1.13 Was Paul crucified for you i. e. Neither Paul nor any other person was crucified for you principally and especially Otherwise besides Christ some other person may also dye for mee and may bee truely sayd to dye for the good of my salvation For touching himselfe Paul saith 2. Cor. 1.6 That hee was afflicted for the consolation and salvation of the Corinthians And 2. Cor. 12.15 That hee would very gladly spend and bee spent for their soules for so the Margin declares the Originall And Ephes 3.1 That hee was the Prisoner of Jesus Christ for the Gentiles and if consequently to his imprisonment hee had suffered
quickned us together with Christ by grace yee are saved i. e. The cause of your present right to future salvation is the grace of God And Tit. 3.7 That being justified by his grace wee should bee made heires according to the hope of eternall life i. e. The cause of our Justifying is Gods grace and the effect of it is that thereby wee are made heires of eternall life and because wee are heires wee have good reason to hope for it for who can have better hope of any thing then an heire hath of his inheritance These are the chiefe authorities from the Scriptures to testifie this truth that our inheritance is by grace Causes to prove it there are none for wee sayd that Gods grace was the highest cause which had none above it and therefore this verity must needes bee a principle and consequently cannot bee proved for hee abuseth a principle who attempteth to prove it Yet there are reasons that may argue and perswade it and they being grounded on Scripture are chiefely these five following 1. Because this Right comes from Gods gift John 4.10 If thou knewest the gift of God i. e. everlasting life which comes from Gods gift for so the Well of water is interpreted at the last words of the 14. verse following And Acts 11.18 Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life i. e. then hath God given them the benefit or fruit of repentance which is eternall life for the originall is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. given yet it is Englished well enough because every grant is a gift And Rom. 5.15 But not as the offence so also is the free gift for if through the offence of one many bee dead much more the grace of God and the gift by grace which is by one man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many here unto eternall death the cause whereof was the offence or sin is opposed eternall life the cause whereof is grace for it is a gift by grace And Rom. 6.23 But the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternall life through Jesus Christ our Lord. i. e. The cause of our present guiltinesse unto eternall death is sin whereof death is the wages but the cause of our present right unto eternall life is not our holinesse but Gods grace whereof life is the gift and that gift is conveyed unto us by the meanes of Jesus Christ And Heb. 6.4 It is impossible for those who were once inlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift i. e. who have had the knowledge and have felt the joy of their inheritance to blessednes which is no earthly purchase but a heavenly gift proceeding from God Now the fountaine or cause from which gifts and grants proceed is not Law and justice but grace and favour for what else is a gift or grant but an act of grace 2. Because it commeth from Gods good pleasure Luk. 2.14 Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace good will towards men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. good pleasure towards men q. d. Let the God of Heaven be glorified for that blessednesse on earth descended from his favour or good pleasure towards men which he hath abundantly testified by sending his son to be their Saviour And Luke 12.32 Feare not little flock for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdome i. e. feare not the want of food and raiment for God is your Father and therefore will give it you and more then so for he will also give you the Kingdome of Heaven for the blessing thereof comes from his gift and that gift proceeds from his good pleasure And Ephes 1.9 having made knowne unto us the mystery of his Will according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himselfe i. e. That Will and Testament of God wherein we are made heirs to the inheritance of Heaven was a long time a mystery and concealed in secret but is now published and made knowne unto us and this is according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himselfe first for the making of that Will and after for the publishing of it Now that which proceeds from the good pleasure of any person is not an act of Law and justice but of Grace and favour for matters of Law and justice leave not a man to his good pleasure but oblige him to that which Law and justice require to be done 3. Because it comes from Gods goodnes or kindnes Rom. 11.22 Behold therefore the goodnesse and severity of God on them which fell severity but towards thee goodnes if thou continue in his goodnes otherwise thou also shalt be cut off i. e. The Jews were once in the state of alliance with God to be his children and people but because they fell from their obedience God cut them off and their excision proceeded from Gods severity but Gods election of thee in their room proceeds from his goodnes or kindnes towards thee if thou cōtinue in that state wherinto his goodnes hath grafted thee otherwise thou also shalt be cut off with the like severity And Eph. 2.7 And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come hee might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindnesse towards us through Christ Jesus i. e. God hath raised Christ from the dead and hath seated him in Heaven and in him he hath given us a precedent of our future possession there to be raised as he was and to be seated as he is for he was raised and seated there to him and his co-heirs i. e. to all believers in him that in the world to come after the Resurrection God might shew and impart unto us the exceeding riches or abundance of that blessednes which proceeds from the abundance of his grace and kindnes towards us through the means of Jesus Christ And Tit. 3.4 But after that the kindenesse and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared i. e. Those benefits whereby God is the Saviour of man proceeds from Gods kindnesse and love toward man Now Gods goodnesse or kindnesse is really the very same thing with his grace for his grace is that inward affection from whence his outward kindnesse floweth as the effect thereof 4. Because it comes from Gods Mercy or Pity Rom. 11.30 For as yee in times past have not believed God yet have now obtained mercy through their unbeliefe Even so have these also now not believed that through your mercy they also may obtaine mercy i. e. As heeretofore yee Gentiles were Infidells or Unbelievers yet now have believed upon the Jewes unbeliefe So now the Jewes are become unbelievers that upon your beliefe they may bee provoked to believe Hee calls beliefe mercy because the thing believed and the act of believing proceed from Gods mercy And Tit. 3.5 Not by workes of righteousnesse which wee have done but according to his
to the bloud of Abel and is sayd to speake better things then that of Abel Heb. 12.24 And to Jesus the Mediator of the New Testament and to the bloud of sprinkling that speaketh better things then that of Abel viz. Because the sprinkling of Christs bloud confirmed the New Testament which gives rights and claymes to blessednesse whereas the bloud of Abel clamors and cryes for vengeance Hence the New Testament is highly magnified above the Old in respect of the confirmation for although the Old Testament was confirmed by bloud yet that confirmation was made but by the bloud of beasts as of Oxen Calves and Goats for that with such bloud onely the Old Testament was established or confirmed it appeares playnely Exod. 24.8 which place we recited before and is further manifested Heb. 9.18 Whereupon neither the first Testament was dedicated or confirmed to be in force without bloud for when Moses had spoken every Precept to all the people according to the Law he tooke the bloud of Calves and of Goates with water and scarlet wooll and hysop and sprinkled both the Booke and all the people saying this is the bloud of the Testament which God hath enjoyned unto you And hence a contempt against the New Testament is farre more fearefull and dangerous then a despite against the Old because the New was sanctified confirmed or hallowed with holy bloud even with the bloud of the Son of God Heb. 10.28 Hee that despised Moses Law dyed without mercy under two or three witnesses Of how much sorer punishment suppose yee shall hee bee thought worthy who hath troden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the bloud of the covenant or New Testament wherewith hee it should be wherewith it viz. the New Testament was sanctified i. e. was ratified confirmed and established to be and to stand in force 3. To execute or performe the Decrees of the New Testament According to the rule of right reason and to the Law of naturall equity the will of the dead is to bee performed Because otherwise the will also is dead For it is a rule among the Civilians Voluntas Testatoris pro Lege habetâ—â— i. e. the Testators Will is a kinde of Law As therefore the Execution if the Law is the life of the Law So the Execution of a Will is the life of the Will and as the Law bindes the Magistrate to execute it So doth a Will binde the Executor But it is definitive and naturall to a Testament to bee a Will wherein an Executor is nominated that Will therefore wherein no Execution is nominated is no Testament or is not properly so called And to what purpose is an Executor nominated or nominated by the name of an Executor if hee execute not the Testament of the Testator And because it is definitive and naturall to a Testament to predestinate and pre-decree things to be executed after death that Testament therfore which after death is not executed is frustrated or frustrated to those particulars which are not executed And avested Executor who hath some benefit by the Testament wherin he is nominated may be compelled to accept the Executorship or else to lose his benefit by the Testament And although a nude or bare Executor who hath no benefit by the Testament bee not precisely bound to undertake the Executorship for if hee see cause hee may refuse it Yet when once hee hath accepted it he is then precisely bound to execute it Now of the New Testament the Executor was Christ For the New Testament was the last and best Will of God established upon better Promises better Inheritances and better Legacies then were ordained in the former Testament And therefore what better Executor could God nominate and depute for the performance of it then Christ Because Christ was the Son of God and by that relation above all persons in the World was nearest in alliance unto the Testator and fittest in ability to execute the Testament For who but Christ can execute the Office of that Priest who was to enter the Sanctuary of Heaven and there to sanctifie the people of God by expiating their sinnes and sending unto them the holy spirit of God to purifie and cleanse their conscience from sinne And who but Christ can execute the Office of that King who was to set on the Throne of Heaven there to governe the people of God to subdue all their enemies to raise them from death to invest them with heavenly bodies and to seate them in the possession of blessednesse For the Priestly and Kingly Office of Christ wherein else doth it chiefely consist but in the execution of the New Testament In a word who but Christ can discharge the Promises or Legacies of blessednesse which in the New Testament are made and devised unto Believers Hence Christ is called the Mediatour of the New Testament Heb. 9.15 And for this cause hee is the Mediatour of the New Testament And againe Heb. 12.24 And to Jesus the Mediatour of the New Covenant or Testament for that word stands in the Margin and should have beene in the Text. Now the Mediatour of a Testament is hee whom in these times wee call the Executor of it for although every Mediatour bee not the Executor of a Testament yet every Mediatour of a Testament is the Executor of it Because the Executor thereof is a Mediatour or middle person betweene the Testator and the Legataries and by Means of him the finall effect of the Testament is procured and therein in consisteth the finall execution of it But although this be not the onely respect wherein Christ is the Mediator of the New Testament for he mediated it by testifying the truth of it and he mediated it by confirming the force of it yet he also mediated it this way and chiefly this way namely by executing the decrees of it For albeit the Testament were of force upon the confirmation of it yet till the Execution of it it was of no effect But here we shall not further prosecute this verity that Christ is the Executor of the new Testament because we certified it before upon verse 16. And Christ was a vested Executor Because he was to receive an infinite benefit by the new Testament For therein he was appointed the universall heire of God Heb. 1.2 God in these last dayes hath spoken unto us by his Sonne whom he hath appointed heire of all things Now in a testamentary construction an heire and a vested Executor are really all one and the same although some rationall difference may be betweene them Thereby he was to receive universall Power over all the world both in heaven and earth for such power was given him and after his Resurrection he received it Mat. 28.18 And Jesus came and spake unto them saying All power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth Thereby he was to receive universall honour from all persons in Heaven in earth or under the earth for all were to
worship and serve him with divine Honour for unto such honour God exalted him Phil. 2.9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of persons in Heaven and in earth and under the earth i. e. that Christ might have divine worship from all maner of persons whether they be Angels in Heaven or men on earth or the dead under the earth For if the Angels of Heaven have a command to worship him as they have Heb. 1.6 And let all the Angels of God worship him much more is worship due to him from men on earth And lastly thereby he was constituted and ordained to bee the High Priest of Gods Church and the King of Gods Kingdome to set upon the throne of Heaven as the highest person in the world excepting onely the most high God 1 Cor. 15.27 For hee hath put all things under his feet but when hee sayth all things are put under him it is manifest that hee is excepted which did put all things under him Thus Christ was a vested Executor But his Executorship was conditionall For it was charged with the condition of his owne death he must dye before he can enter it and therefore dye that he might performe it Every Testament is a decree of things to be done after death But the New Testament of God had this strange Prerogative that it was of things to be done after the death of the Executor who was to doe the things of it after his owne death A course quite contrary to the Testaments of men wherein the Executor after his owne death is able to doe nothing Although Gods Testament were in force upon the confirmation of it yet the effect of that force for the execution of it must necessarily be suspended untill this condition was accomplished But as the case stood one and the same death of one and the same person was both a Confirmation of that Testament and the condition for the execution of it A condition somewhat difficult and burthensome unto flesh and bloud for it is an hard case that an Executor must dye to compasse his Executorship Yet unto Christ the condition was possible and lay in his power to performe for unto a person who is mortall what is more possible then death And unto Christ it was very feasable for seeing he must dye for the testimony of Gods testament and for the confirmation of it the same death also would serve as the condition for the execution of it And unto Christ this condition was very Necessary for his death was the Meanes by or through which that testament must be executed and without this Meanes it could not be performed And for the Necessity of this Meanes these are two reasons 1. Because without his death he could not receive his owne Inheritance For by meanes of his death he was prepared fitted and perfected to receive that Inheritance which was ordained unto him in the testament whereof he was the Executor as his universall power honour and glory to set upon the throne of Heaven as the perpetuall Priest and King over the people of God Because 1 Cor. 15.50 flesh and bloud cannot inherite the kingdome of God much lesse can it set upon the throne of God That mortall person therefore that will enjoy immortality must first be devested of mortality and the mortality of a person mortall is devested onely by the meanes of death or of a sudden change instead of death as shall be done at the last day Christ at the first was made flesh John 1.14 And the word was made flesh but afterward he was made a spirit 1 Cor. 15.45 The last Adam was made a quickning spirit And Christ at the first was made mortall for he was made a little lower then the Angels but afterward hee was made immortall for hee was crowned with glory and honour above the Angels and the Meanes through which this change was made from his mortality to immortality was by or through the suffering of death Heb. 2.9 But we see Jesus who was made a little lower then the Angels for by or through the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour for the meaning of the Apostle is not that the death of Christ was the merit of his crowning but the meanes to it because betweene the two extreames of his mortality and immortality his death was the interposed Meane through which hee was to passe from one to the other 2. Because without his death hee could not discharge the Legacies given to Believers For through meanes of his death hee was prepared fitted and perfected to performe all the Promises of the New Testament For seeing every Testament is a Decree touching things to bee done after death and the New Testament was touching things to bee done after the death of Christ therefore Christ must needes dye before they can bee done and before hee can doe them that through his death hee might bee qualified and perfected for the doing of them God for the bringing of many sonnes unto glory will constitute Christ the Captaine of their salvation But for this Function hee will make Christ perfect through the suffering of death And this meanes of perfecting was so decent and comely that it became Almighty God to perfect him by this meanes Heb. 2.10 For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sonnes unto glory to make the Captaine of their salvation perfect through sufferings Christ was the sonne of God who learned obedience by the things which hee suffered and through that suffering hee was made perfect to become the authour of salvation to all who obey him Heb. 5.8 Though hee were a sonne yet learned hee obedience by the things which hee suffered and being made perfect hee became the authour of salvation unto all them that obey him Christ is ascended into the highest parts of the Heavens for this end and purpose that hee might execute and fulfill all things that were to bee done according to the last Will and Testament of God But thither hee could not ascend unlesse hee first dyed and descended into the Grave which is the lower part of the earth Ephes 4.9 Now that hee ascended what is it but that hee also descended first into the lower parts of the Earth Hee that descended is the same also that ascended up farre above all Heavens that hee might fill all things or rather fulfill all things for so it is in the Margin and should have beene so in the Text. Because in this place the word fulfill is a testamentary word which signifies the executing and performing of a Testament in distributing and discharging the Gifts and Legacies therein devised to fulfill the minde of the Testator For that heer the word beareth this sense it plainly appears partly by the words preceding ver 8. When hee ascended up on high hee led captivity captive
and gave gifts unto men and partly by the words immediately following vers 11. And hee gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the worke of the Ministery for the edifying of the body of Christ Now to doe these things was to execute and fulfill the last Will of God Hence the Apostle teacheth the conveniency of Christs death through the meanes whereof hee was fitted and perfected for the executing and doing of those things which according to the last Will of God conduce to our finall salvation For hence is our Expiation whereby wee are absolved and acquitted from our sinnes for Christ through his death was made a mercifull and faithfull high Priest to performe this gracious Office unto us Heb. 2.17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to bee made like unto his brethren that hee might bee a mercifull and faithfull high Priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sinnes of the people for in that hee himselfe hath suffered being tempted hee is able to succour them that are tempted And whereas at the Legall Expiation the Priest entred the Tabernacle after hee had shed the blood of Goates and Calves But Christ first shed his owne blood and thereupon entred the Sanctuary of Heaven once for all to make an eternall Expiation Heb. 9.12 Neither by the blood of Goates and Calves but by his owne blood hee entred in once into the holy place having obtained eternall redemption Hence is our Consolation whereby wee are succoured in all our sufferings and distresses for seeing Christ suffered and was tryed in all poynts as wee are therefore hee hath a sense of our infirmities and thereupon wee may confidently come to him for helpe in time of neede Heb. 4.15 For wee have not an high Priest which cannot bee touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted as wee are yet without sinne let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace that wee may obtaine mercy and finde grace to helpe in time of neede Hence is our Resurrection whereby wee are raised from death for Christ through his death destroyes the Divell who had the power of death and delivers us from our death whereof though wee feele the pressure yet wee need not feare the bondage that it will bee eternall Heb. 2.14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood hee also himselfe likewise tooke part of the same that through death hee might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Divell and deliver them who through feare of death were all their life time subject to bondage And hence is our Glorification whereby the possession of our eternall inheritance is delivered unto us for Christ was the Executor of the New Testament for this very cause that through the meanes of his death wee might receive the possession of that eternall inheritance to the present right whereof wee are called and justified Heb. 9.15 And for this cause hee is the Mediatour of the New Testament that by meanes of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the promise the promised possession of eternall inheritance Hence also Christ himselfe before his death taught his Disciples the Expediency of his death that it was expedient for them hee should dye for otherwise the Comforter which was the holy Ghost would not come unto them John 16.7 Neverthelesse I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I goe away for if I goe not away the Comforter will not come unto you But if I depart I will send him unto you By his going away and departing hee meanes his dying for wee commonly expresse dying by the words of going away and departing And after his death hee taught them the Necessity of his death that it behoved him to die and rise again from the dead that thereupon the Gospel might be preached in his name Luk. 24.46 And hee sayd unto them thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sinnes should bee preached in his name among all Nations beginning at Jerusalem Thus the immediate proper finall causes or reasons why Christ dyed are chiefely three namely to Testifie the truth of the New Testament to Confirme the force of it and to Execute the decrees of it for unto a Testament once constituted what acts more do necessarily belong then the Testification the Confirmation and the Execution of it But the remote causes of his death might bee many and various For all the actions done by Christ as Mediatour of the New Testament were causes of his death whether wee respect his Prophetick Office in publishing Gods Will preaching his Doctrine and working Miracles or his Priestly Office in sanctifying Believers and expiating their sinnes or his Kingly Office in governing his people and subduing their enemies And all benefits redounding to Believers as the Legacies and Promises of the New Testament were causes of his death as their Justification the Remission of their sinnes their Resurrection and Glorification And all Duties to bee done by Believers as the conditions without which they are not to enjoy their Legacies are the causes of his death as their sanctity or holynesse their dying to sinne and newnesse of life in all the good workes of love But all these and the like are not opposite or repugnant to the three causes by us assigned but are comprehended and included in them are subordinate and consequent to them are collected and inferred from them For because Christ dyed to testifie confirm and execute the New Testament and my sanctity or holinesse is a Precept thereof and a duty by me to be done therefore Christ dyed for my Sanctification that I might dye unto sin and live unto holinesse and consequently he dyed for my patience temperance mercifulnesse c. because these and the like are branches of holinesse And because Christ dyed to testifie confirme and execute the New Testament wherein Remission of sins the Resurrection from the dead and Glorification were devised and promised as Legacies unto Believers therfore Christ also dyed for the Remission of my sins for my Resurrection and Glorification Yet among the remote Causes of Christs death the Scripture doth most frequently mention the Remission of sins Because my sins have the greatest force upon me to bereave or at least to hinder me from the hope of their forgivenes For according to the evidence of reason if I looke upon my sins to consider the custome and foulenesse of them how can I chuse but feare that I have deserved a fearfull punishment and that God in his Justice will inflict it on me Or if I looke upon my death to consider my dissolution and rottennesse in the Grave how can I hope that God whom I