of himself to act such a work in such a way The 8th Argument or Instance as he calls it is this If Christ be a meer creature then the value of that offering which Christ offered when he offered himself to God is taken away and the satisfaction which Christ gave to divine justice is destroyed for if the person that dyed were a meer man and the blood that was shed was the blood of a meer man and not of God as it is called Acts 20. 28. then how could it satisfie for the sins of many transgressours For there is no proportion betwixt one meer man dying for sin and many men sinning and deserving death each of them for the sins they have committed And how an finite justice offended should be satisfied with a sacrifice infinite in value is unconceiveable and against the tenor of the Scripture He puts it into this forme That doctrine which takes away the value of Christs offering and destroyes the satisfaction which he gave to divine justice brings in as it were another Gospel c. But that doctrine which makes Christ a meer creature doth so therefore He grants the Major and answeres to the proofs of the Minor proposition which are presented in the forme of two Queries the first was If Christ was a meer creature then how could he satisfie for the sins of many transgressours To this he makes this reply If it please you to consider Rom. 5. 12 and so forward you may answer your own Querie or see a good reason of this which I shall now propound If Adam were a meer creature how could his sin make many transgressours If through the offence of one many be dead much more the grace of God and the gift by grace by one man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many Rom. 5. 15. Christ as well as Adam was a common person and therefore the Lord having laid on him the iniquity of us all and he bearing the curse of the Law his members are delivered both from the sinne and curse Reply There is nothing in the place which he hath directed me to viz. Rom. 5. 15. which he hath or can fetch out with all his consideration that will answer my Querie His asking of an other question will be no answer to mine Adams sinne might make many transgressours upon that account as no mans righteousnesse can render them being transgressours righteous and just persons 1. All persons which afterward sprung from him were in his loyns at that time when he sinned and were parts of him and consequently they sinned in him and with him his sinne was their sinne it extended unto them and they could not but participate of it as of Levi it is said that he paid tythes in Abrahams loynes Heb. 7. 9 10. 2. Adams state in which he stood when the whole world was in him was a state of grace and favour with God from which if he sinned himself was to fall and all his posterity with him after the manner of some persons that holds an estate upon the good will of their Lord whom if they offend they are cast out and all their posterity with them for that is the condition upon which it is given to be possessed and the children and off-spring are in volved in the guilt of such persons trespasses whose favour is on such termes God is to be looked upon as soveraigne Lord of all creatures to whom it belongs to shew favour to what creatures he will and upon what termes he will and under what conditions he pleaseth and under what penalties in case of transgression liketh him therefore it was that he set Adam over the works of his hands entred into a conditionall League and Covenant with him and did both priviledge him and restrain him and abridge him therein and this was done under penalty of dying both to him and his in case of trespasse thou shalt dye the death saith God to him And thus it came that through the offence of one many are dead 3. Sinne was propagated and generated to and in Adams posterity after that Adam fell and lost Gods image It is said of him that begat a son after his own image Gen. 5. 3. And so all persons came to be conceived in iniquity and to be borne in sin for out of an unclean thing nothing that is clean can proceed And so it comes to passe that Adams sinne made many transgressours for by propagation all men have sins of their own over and above the sinne of Adam imputed to them Thus the passage of sin and death from one Adam to all men appears facile and easie there is no obstruction in the way soveraignty and holinesse and justice and truth furthered it effected it But now in reference to Christ it cannot be thus asserted that righteousnesse passeth upon men after this manner 1. Righteousnesse is not propagated at all but only imputed 2. It is not by participation because none are in Christs loynes by nature Christ hath no naturall seed that are parts of him 3. If there be any such relation betwixt Christ and men as that Christ should be a father to them and they children to him that he should be as a second Adam it is not unto all but to those only that beleeve and this is also meerely through grace and so there may be an imputation of righteousnesse from one to many but it is through grace Therefore it is said the grace of God hath abounded by one man unto many Not unto all men but to all that receive it that do beleeve vers 17. 4. being to be imputed through grace there comes to be an obstruction to it justice and truth must be satisfied before there be any place for grace and if grace cannot passe the gift of grace which is righteousnesse and life to men through Christ cannot passe neither And so it appears that the way of sins passing is more ready from one man to many then the way of righteousnesse abounding through one to many Because of satisfaction that must interpose that grace may have a free and open passage unto many 5 If it be through satisfaction that must interpose before the grace of God and the gift by grace can by one abound to many and if first the sins of those many that grace abounds to through one must be laid upon that one that that one might bear the curse of the Law that by this means the grace of deliverance which consists in righteousnesse imputed and in life might passe over through that one and abound to those many as he himself though somewhat darkely doth confesse then this one man through whom grace must abound to many cannot be any one but such an one who is able to give satisfaction for many And concerning this satisfaction the querie is made how it could be that any one meer man could satisfie for the sinnes of many transgressours and the disproportion is pleaded No proportion betwixt one meer
sence like man that he should repent Those whom he thus loveth he loveth to the end that is he cannot cast off whom he hath chosen For these councells of grace concerning these persons being without respect either to good or evill in the persons themselves Rom. 9. 11. The good or evill that followed them in such persons could neither confirme them nor overturne them because they stand upon this basis the immutable and unchangable Will of God not upon the uncertain and wavering creature and hence it came to passe that when one means of effecting them viz mans own righteousnesse proved ineffectual God to shew his firmenesse in his Councels found out other means to accomplish them by viz. the righteousnesse of another and therefore gave Christ John 3. 16. 2. Though sinne did not could not overturn the Decree of life yet it broke the Covenant of life and so overthrew that visible state of life in which the elect were whom God had chosen and so brought them into a dreadfull visible state of death though not into a final miserable state because of Gods election Sin altered the state of elect persons though it altered not Gods thoughts concerning them so that it might be said he that was before in the state of salvatiō is now through sin in the state of condemnation though it cannot be said that God will because of sin now damn that person whom his thought and purpose was to have saved Rom. 3. 11. Destruction and misery is in their paths and ver 23. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and Rom. 5. 12. As by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin so death passed over all men because all had sinned 3. Sin having overthrown the Covenant of life and glory and brought men into the state of death all hope and expectation of life was together with it taken away and nothing but a fearfull expectation of death and condemnation It is said of Adam when he had sinned that he hid himself from God when God came into the Garden as one that expected no good from Cod. We read of the condition of the elect before deliverance that through fear of death they were all their life subject to bondage This is to be interpretend in reference to their consciences which tormented them with the representations of death but this will be granted that Christ came to satisfie the conscience and quiet it but not to satisfie God 4. Though the election of God stand sure and the sove of God could not be broken off yet the amity and friendship of God was brought to an end and wrath was manifested instead of love and God instead of prosecuting his Decree of life prosecutes the breach of the Covenant of life which was violated by sin and ratifies the threatning which was this thou sbalt surely die and doth unfold the curse in it and open it in some part of its latitude which was shut up under these generall words thou shalt die Gen. 3. 16. to 20. And Ephes 2. 3. Elect person are called Children of wrath as well as the reprobate they are in one state till deliverance come And 1 Thes 1. 10. Jesus is said to deliver us from wrath to come Now wrath is not a passion in God as I have shewed but it is Gods righteousnesse conflicting with and prosecuting sinne viz. the first sin in the violation of the Covenant of of life and all after sins also And such which sinne are accursed Gal. 3. 10. that being the sentence of the Law is the sentence of God whose the Law is so that God as a Judge prosecuting sinne on the Lawes behalf is represented unto us 5. If God must be a righteous and just God and faithfull and true God he must be even he himself the prosecutor of the Elect notwithstanding his Decree of life and glory in which he had comprehended them wherein his goodnes freely wrought from all eternity towards them because God had threatned and must not reverse it least he suffer in his truth least his word be falsified which was that Adam transgressing his Commandement should surely die and the law saith That that soule that sins shall die His truth therefore binds him to it God must be true and every man a liar that contradicts him in that which he speaks And the Apostle Paul speaks of some persons That knew the judgement of God that they that commit such things are worthy of death He had mentioned many sins which men committed and brings in the knowledge that they had of the demerit of such sins against them that such sins were worthy of death and that it might not be thought that they judged these sins worthy of death through the working of their consciences only the Apostle shews that they had the knowledge of the judgement of God and that thence it was that they judged these sins worthy of death Now the judgement of God is according to righteousnesse therefore Justice presseth God on to a prosecuting where ever sin is 6. Though God because he hath chosen some to life will not suffer them to perish but will bring them to life everlasting and though he love them so well that to save them he will give Christ to them and for them as from John 3. 16. is manifest he doth yet in the giving of Christ he will have such respect to his justice and to his truth that neither of them may be violated or wronged Hereto the Apostle gives witnesse Rom. 3. 25 26. God hath saith he set forth Christ to declare his righteousnesse that he might be just and the justifier of them that beleeve in Jesus God had regard to both these in sending and setting forth Christ that he might justifie those that he had chosen and had brought to faith and that he might be just in so doing because the sinne that such had commited or participated in was worthy of death by Gods owne dome therefore God minds both that goodness and righteousnesse might be exalted together in the same Christ So in Gal. 3. 10. 13. God had an eye to his truth when he gave Christ it was written in the Law that he that continued not in all things contained there was accursed and because no man did continue in all things written there that God in the Law might be true Christ whom Gods electing love gave to the elect became accursed for them Christ therefore died not for any such end as to ratifie the doctrine which he had brought from the Father for by his miracles he gave sufficient witnesse thereto nor is this made the end of Christs dying any where in Scripture but it was to appease God and to fulfill righteousnesse 7. Gods laying the sinnes of the Elect upon Christ Isa 53. 6. was in order to satisfaction to God It was not only done to assure us that in mercy they are taken away from us that we might not fear
could not save by Christ without transmitting that curse and wrath which was due to all and every of the Elect to Christ and if Christ had been but a meer man then there would have been need of so many Christs to have suffered and endured as there are Elect persons and every one of these Christs must have suffered hel viz. the torments of hell as well as death and then they must have suffered ever also without any end and yet could not have justified the Elect because while they should be suffering till that be ended God could not be satisfied and if God could not be satisfied the Elect could not be justified and discharged and so to all eternity the Elect could not be acquitted and this appears in Christ if he had suffered and had never got through his suffering we had never been saved if he had dyed and had never risen we had never risen to life and glory And this is that which I presented in that Argument or Instance as he calls it of mine viz. that the satisfaction which Christ gave to Gods justice is destroyed if Christ be but a meer man and not God for how could the blood of aman satisfie for the sins of many transgressours whereas there is no proportion betwixt one meer man dying for sin and many men sinning and deserving death each of them for the sins they have committed The righteousnesse is in Scripture called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 5 18. which signifies a just satisfaction or satisfaction according to the exactnesse of justice and Gods scope is thereby to declare himself just that is to magnifie his justice thereby Rom. 3. 26. By all this that hath been presented it appeares how sleight and weak he is in his answer to an Argument of the highest weight and moment For what thing is there of greater consequence for the satisfying of the conscience then to know that the satisfaction is full and sufficient which Christ hath given which was shewed by the Argument that I brought to be disproportionable upon his Tenent of Christs meer creatureship to which he returnes no other answer but this As the sin of one meere man was imputed unto and brought death upon all men even so the gift of grace by one man Jesus Christ whom he makes but a meer man abounded unto many unto justification and life In the next place he comes to discusse and give answer to my 2d Querie How it may be conceivable that an infinite justice offended should be satisfied by a sacrifice finite in value And thus he expresseth himself What matters it if it be unconceivable must it therefore be uncredible doubtlesse in all controversall doctrines you will not hold this for an orthodox all Tenent In the doctrine of the Trinity credit must be given to things unconceiveable but the like liberty will not be allowed in Christs Mediatorship Reply 1. If no more words had been added by me to these expressions It is unconceivable yet if there be a truth therein that it is unconceivable these bare expressions without any addition might have passed with him for an unanswerable Argument because he professeth himself to be a man so given up to reason that he will prostrate himself to use his own expressions to the shadow of it and his faith will not carry him beyond reason how shallow soever his apprehension is he will not beleeve further then he can see which hath caused him to be so unsetled and unstable in the doctrine of the Trinity and to question it so long till at last he hath rejected it 2. That which is unconceivable and wants the authority of Scripture so to countenance it is not receivable So did not the doctrine of the Trinity for though it be an incomprehensible mystery yet it is not an unscriptural doctrine but it is compassed about with a cloud of witnesses both of the old and new Testament which do declare it with the greatest clearnes but that such a thing should be in Christs Mediatorship that that which is finite in nature value should yet satisfie for that which is infinite in provocation and offence hath neither the light of reason nor the truth of Scripture to draw out consent unto it therfore is worthy to be expunged out of the Saints beliefs 3. That which is unconceivable against the tenor of the Scripture which words I added but he would take no notice therof deservs no credit with Christians but must be razed from among the articles of their faith but that a sacrifice that is finite in value should satisfie an infinite Justice offended is both incomprehensible by reason and contradictory to Scripture as appears from Heb. 9. 9. Gifts and Sacrifices while the first Tabernacle was standing were offered which could not make him that did the service perfect it could not purge away his sin nor justifie him what was the reason of it could not God have taken these gifts and sacrifices for satisfaction no he could not the Apostle faith it could not be there was no proportion an offence against God must be purged away with better sacrifices then these Tâ—â— Apostle that was of Gods counsel and knew the truth tels us so Heb. 9. 23. It was necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices then these why necessary because the justice of God could not be satisfied by these nor the truth of God fulfilled therefore it was necessary there should be better then these but if these better be not proportionable to the offence to purge the guilt away in a satisfactory way to justice wherin is the betternes betwixt them there is no difference in this respect they are alike without preheminence one to the other He repeats it again Heb. 10. 1. as that which is of weighty consideration and which he would have the Christian Hebrews to be throughly instructed in The Law saith he having a shadow of good things to come can never with those sacrifices which they offered make the comers thereto perfect and v. 4. It is not possible that the blood of buls and goats should take away sin It was possible at first but after God had said In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death it was not possible aâ—ter the law had cursed every one that continues not in all things written therein it was not possible and the Apostle fetcheth his confirmation from Christs own words in Ps 40. which he mentions and applies to this purpose v. 5. Wherefore he saith when he cometh into the world sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not but a body hast thou prepared in burnt offering and sacrifice thou delightest not then said I loe I come to do thy will O God Why would not God have sacrifice but prepared a body for his Son the reason is because this flesh of Christ is called a greater and more
be more nearly allyed to the one then to the other more to God then to man but as he frames the Argument if Christ the Mediator be God then he is a party when as it is manifest that he is man also no nearer related to God though he be God then he is to man because he is man the Major is palpably false must be denied by that time he hath seriously considered of this which I have here presented I hope he will be forced to confesse that I knew what I did when I brought that reason that Christ if a meer creature would be a party rather then a Mediator But he gives an instance In reconciliation saith he by a Mediator we are to suppose three One offended another offending and a third mediating for peace betwixt them God was offended men were offenders and Christ was the Mediator Now if Christ had been a sinfull man he had been of the party offending and and if he had been God he was the party offended but Christ was not a Party From the Proposition which I have thus confirmed and the Assumption which you have acknowledged I will draw up this Conclusion That Christ the Mediator is not God Rep. In this Instance and in the application of it there are some things that are justly liable to exception and other things manifestly false 1. That there be three in reconciliation wil be granted but that the third must be so distinct as he holds it forth as not to partake of the other two is denied For a son that mediates betwixt father and mother which may somtimes be the case is of the flesh of both and yet notwithstanding is distinct from both but not so distinct as not to partake of both So in the reconciliation made by Christ betwixt God and man there are three that are distinct 1. There is God offended 2. There is man viz. mankind offending 3. There is Christ mediating who is neither meerly and only God nor yet meerly and only man but is both God and man yet distinct from both God and man Distinct from God because he is man and distinct from man because he is God Yea there is yet a further distinction for Christ though he be man viz. of that kind for nature and essence which was the offending party yet not one of those persons in that kind that did offend but without sin himself and though he be God and so for essence and nature one with that party which was offended and was offended in his own person yet distinct in personality or which is all one a distinct person from the Father and the Holy Ghost who more visibly do manage the offence against man For the Son though he was offended together with the Father and the Holy Ghost yet he appears not prosecuting the offence but therein he is veiled and appears only appeasing the Father that was offended in both these respects there are three in this businesse of reconliation But he makes mention of three in reconciliation which in titles and names are the same with the three which I have already spoken of viz. God men Christ But when he comes to open and unfold these three he makes the third which mediates betwixt the other two to be so distinct from both of them as to partake of neither of them And under this lies couched the poyson and malignancy of his doctrine For as he layes it down he not only denies the Godhead of Christ which is the doctrine in dispute betwixt us but he destroyes the Manhood also and overturnes that satisfaction which in the nature of man he gave for man for his words are these If Christ had been a sinfull man he had been of the party offending His designe is to shew that he was a distinct person partaked of neither Party betwixt whom he mediated He was not of the Party offending for he was not a sinfull man He was not the Party offended for he could not be God because he could not be a Party Let it be considered seriously what he saith and it will be found to be false and dangerous and reacheth not his own designe 1. False for was Christ therefore not of that Party because he was without sin Was he not a true man in all things like other men sin onely excepted Had he not a true Body and Soule Was not soule and body subject to the same infirmities and weaknesses sin excepted as other mens soules and bodies were Was he not the Seed of the Woman which was promised Was he not conceived in the womb of the Virgin and was flesh of her flesh Was he not Abrahams seed and Davids seed Was not Satan to be broken and destroyed in all his strength by one that must be of the Woman that must spring out of her and be her seed And should all this be and yet Christ not this Party He was no offender indeed but yet he was of that Party which did offend he had the same nature for essence Abraham was of that Party which offended and so was David and were offenders themselves and he was their seed and was of them and from them therefore it is a great untruth and grosse mistake to say that he was not of that Party for he was flesh of their flesh and bone of their bone but kept by the Holy Ghost from that naturall pollution and staine which defiled them 2. Dangerous for if Christ were not of that party that offended he could not satisfie for that party which offended for in the same nature in which the offence was committed must the satisfaction be given for both the justice and truth of God required this It was threatned that the soule that is the person that sins shall die and if another suffer that penalty yet it must be one in that nature therefore it is said he bore our sins on his own body on the tree It was necessary it should be so els the truth of God would not be fulfilled nor justice satisfied And if Christ be not of the offâ—nding party if he be another from them not partaking of them but be of another nature and not of theirs then he might as well have been no man at all for any fruit or beneâ—it that accrues to sinfull man thereby And Christ might as well have taken the nature of Angells and as much to the benefit of lost men as have assumed flesh if it be not thâ— flâ—sh and nature of men that did offend if he be not of their party though not spotted with their sin 3. It reacheth not his own designe which is to make Christ a third and distinct person or party from those he mediates betwixt partaking of neither for he knowes that if it be confessed that Christ partakes of the nature of one of the parties whom he is to make peace betwixt and not of the other then he will undeniably be a party instead of a Mediator to
but might possesse our soules in quietnesse but it was done to assure us that in justice and righteousnesse they are taken away and upon such termes as that God is no loser therefore they were laid upon Christ when he was upon the tree 1 Pet. 2. 24. to intimate to us that it was to that end that they were laid upon him that he might there and then satisfie for them in which regard it is said in Isa 53. 5. that he was wounded for our transgressions he was brused for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him The meaning is he had wounds and bruises by chastisements which belonged to us because of our iniquities by reason of which God was wrath with us that he by enduring and bearing them might make peace for us 8. It is asserted in Scripture that Christ suffered for us died for us Rom. 5. 6. 1 Pet. 3. 18. and in many other places which must not be understood finaliter as if we onely were the end of Christs sufferings and had onely some profit by them but for us is as much as in our stead as when David said of Absolom would God I had died for thee that is in thy stead so it is to be understood in Rom. 5. 6 7 8. Scarcely for a righteous man would one die that is scarcely in stead of him to deliver him from death and so in application to Christ for us is as much as in his roome and place and stead which further appears because first the very evils which were due to us Christ endured as first the wrath of God in his soule such which the very damned have in hell but more intolerable it is said that his soul was heavy unto death and that on a cold winters day he did through the meere anguish of his soule and while he was conflicting with Gods anger sweat drops of water and blood notwithstanding all the support he had which was his fathers immediate stroke for no hand was upon him at this time but Gods and it was the torment of the mind that had such an influence upon his body for his body was put to no paine Now this wrath was upon him because wrath was due to us we were children of wrath Eph. 2. 3. 2. He endured the curse of the law and was not the curse of the law our portion for transgression Col. 3. 10. 3. He suffered death and was not death the wages of our sinne The wages of sinne is death saith the Apostle Rom. 6. 23. Secondly Christ endured the very evils that were due to us to deliver us from enduring them as 1 Thes 1. 10. He delivereth us from wrath to come it was by his bearing wrath and from the curse he saves us that is by becoming a curse Gal. 3. 13. And by death it was that he delivered us from the fear of death to which we were in bondage Heb. 2. 15. Now if he suffered in stead of us then it was in a satisfactory way because our sufferings would have been to satisfie the law and Gods justice which is in the law and the damned in hell do suffer for that reason to pay that debt to justice which because they can never compleatly do therefore they do ever suffer 9. Our salvation which through Christ we partake of is through redemption Rom. 3. 24. But redemption in a proper acception hath satisfaction in it for it may be thus described Redemption is a freeing a captive from the hands of him that detains him by a price given unto him as when a person is taken captive by the Turks there is a price given to him for the freeing of such a person So it is in the redemption effected by Christ on the behalfe of the Elect and there are these following particulars in it 1. The captives that are detained in bondage and misery these are those that were appointed unto glory before the world was but through sin are become captives Rom. 8. 21 22 23. Col. 1. 13. Rom. 7. 24 25. 2. The person that detains them in this bondage this is God for it is the wrath of God that holds them in it they are the children of wrath under the power of wrath Ephes 2. 3. and they are held under it till they be delivered from it 1 Thes 1. 10. Rom. 5. 9. Now wrath relates to God as the subject in whom it is for it is God that was wronged therefore he it is that was offended and is angry and whose wrath burnes like fire till satisfaction be given and then it is turned away It is also the justice and judgment of God that detains them Rom. 1. 31. The conscience of the sinner is brought in by the Apostle acknowledging the righteous judgment of God and subscribing unto this that they that commit such things are worthy of death It is also the Law that detaines them for the Law worketh wrath Rom. 4. 15. that is the wrath of God is revealed in the Law against all unrighteousnesse of men and this worketh disquietnesse in the mind till the Law be satisfied God is not satisfied for the Law is Gods Law and his righteousnesse in it and till both the Law and God the Author of it be satisfied the prisoner the poore captive must necâ—ssarily be detained 3. The enemies and evils under whom and which these Prisoners and Captives are detained These are Satan death the infernal pit sin Acts 26. 18. 1 Pet. 1. 18. Col. 1. 13. Heb. 2. 45. Luke 1. 74. and unto these was man delivered viz. unto the power of these after he had sinned in and by that sentence of God viz. in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death Gen. 2. 17. And God hath soveraign power over all these plagues and evils for though some of them be Gods grand enemies as well as ours yet they are Gods servants as well as his enemies and they do but hold men while Gods will is they should Rev. 16. 9. and chap. 19. 10 15 14. And indeed there is no reason but that Gods proceedings must be with men that have finned as well as Angels that sinned till he have satisfaction but he spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to hell and delivered them to chains of darknesse to be reserved to judgement 2 Pet. 2. 4. Therefore it is he that delivers men to death and to him that hath the power of death that is the devil and to hell also and those chains of darknesse there to be reserved till either satisfaction come or the last doom be passed 4. The person that redeems these captives from Gods just judgement and from his wrath and from these enemies and evils and this is Christ Rom. 5. 9. 1 Thes 1. 10. Gal. 3. 13. and chap. 4. 4 5. Luke 1. 69 70 71. 5. The price that is given by this Redeemer unto God for his satisfaction This is the life of Christ John 10. 15. And the
impartiall therein when his son whom he loved had offended by adultery caused one of his sons eyes and another of his own to be put out save only the praise of his justice and truth in his lawes and this is that which God grieves at And if the Judge loving the prisoner that is before him and knowing he hath nothing to pay and yet the law recovers payment will give his own son to be his surety and will lay the debt upon him and is content that his son shall fetch the price out of his own treasure yet the law is satisfied and the judges righteousnesse in reference unto it and his love to the Prisoner are glorified Nor is the satisfaction the lesse because God the offended person procures it and not man that offended him for the truth of God stands firme by that means and the law takes place and is not made of none effect as it would have been had no satisfaction been given which would have redounded to Gods dishonour Yea the righteousnesse of God and his love to undeserving creatures shines forth because the satisfaction is of Gods own procuring And though it proceed from God yet it cannot be said that God satisfies himself or that he was satisfied before for he that provides it doth not act it but it is acted in and by an other person The Father sends the Son and the Father in the Son receives satisfaction and though the Father and Son be the same God yet they are not the same person nor is the satisfaction that the Son gives materially considered given in the divine nature or God-head but the Sonne took flesh and in that flesh by dying and sheding his blood gave satisfaction so that it is from God but not in God if we speak of the next and immediate subject which is the man-hood if the matter of the satisfaction be respected And though it may be said that God was satisfied before in reference to his own love to such persons he did not repent of it in such sort as to cast them off nor was his purpose of glorifying them one whit shaken yet he was not satisfied after they had sinned and after he had sentenced them to death in point of righteousnesse and truth to passe by their transgression without satisfaction his Law was not satisfied in a free forgivenesse without satisfaction and so God was unsatisfied because the Law was Object 6. It is likewise asserted that there is an unsatisfied conscience in men men having sinned cannot discerne how Gods heart can be towards them without satisfaction therefore the Scripture speaks of propitiation through Christs bloud and of atonement by his death condescending therein to mans infirmity which could not otherwise apprehend how God could communicate life and glory to men after they had sinned without being first appeased and pacified by Christs blood But if things be rightly considered in themselves as in truth they are Christ dyed not to reconcile us to God but to heal us of an evill conscience and that we might know that God loved us after we had sinned as well as he did before by the gift of Christ who is the manifestation of the Fathers love after the fall which the Elect could not be perswaded of but by a pledge of it Therefore it is said that Christ shed his bloud to purge our conscience from dead works to serve the living God Heb. 9. 14. and not to satisfie God Sol. It will readily be confessed that it was an end of Christs dying to reconcile men to God and that they might have the answer of a good conscience before God 1 Pet. 3. 21. But that this was the solitary end or the principall end or that satisfaction to God is no end but is wholly excluded is denyed and hath been disproved all along in the discourse upon this subject 1. What need would there have been that Christ should have dyed at all if only satisfaction to mens consciences concerning Gods goodnesse and love to fallen creatures had been intended therein For God could best have done that by his spirit and must yet do it by his spirit if it be ever done in the hearts of men Indeed God having given Christ and delivered him up to death the spirit represents it as a great manifestation of the Fathers love but the spirit might have abundantly assured the heart of a sinner of the Fathers love without it so that there was no necessity of Christs dying in that regard 2. The love of God represented unto men in giving Christ is much lessened to them in the representation if Christ were only given to satisfie their hearts in reference to their fears of God not to satisfie Gods justice if there were no need of Christ in reference to any danger they were in in regard of God if God could or would have pardoned sin without him and his justice and truth could have remitted it 3. It is derogatorie to Gods wisdome and love to assert that Christ was delivered up to be crucified upon the crosse and there to shed his blood principally for this end to cure mans panique fears and his groundlesse causeles suspicions of God and not from any necessity that there was in mans evill condition in regard of sin committed by him and of Gods righteousnesse and truth prosecuting it against him For God might have done this in an easier way and have spared his dear Son God is represented prodigall of his dear Sons bloud if he must die and bleed out his spirits to cure some false conceits that men have entertained of God 4. What need was there that the Son should come in flesh and should empty himself of his glory and that he that is the Lord of glory should be crucified if no satisfaction to divine justice was looked at but only the satisfaction of the conscience the bloud of God as it is called would not have been necessary but the bloud of a meer creature Christ would have served the turne for such a purpose had that been all 5. How came those fears in the heart of man after the fall after sinne committed What bred them was there no ground for them were they meer conceipts and jealousies that wanted a right bottom did not the threatning before sinne was committed cause the horrours and terrours that were in the soul after sinne was committed and if they had Gods threatning as the ground of them viz. in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death were they not well grounded and was it possible that these fears should be cured by the bloud of Christ and the cause not removed by the bloud of Christ the threatning not taken away the truth of God and his righteousnes not fulfilled and satisfied which were in the threatning and which bred the feares 6. These fears and terrors of the Elect before Christs bloud be brought to their hearts to remove them are they not of the same nature with the
of God they are but as Wormes and Grashoppers What then if the fault be against God who is the Prince of all Princes and before whom the highest is but as the dust of the ballance who is infinite in his nature and in all his attributes the guilt of such a fault will be according to the person infinite as the person is and hence it is that it cannot be expiated by persons that commit a fault against God no not by sufferings therefore the wicked and ungodly suffer for ever because they can never suffer enough in any time to give satisfaction to God for their transgression therefore they must always suffer and there must be infinity in their suffering so far as they are capable of infinity we say that that which hath no end is infinite but the sufferings of the Reprobate have no end This comes from the Justice of the infinite God which in punishing the creature that sins against him considers the infinite distance that is betwixt him and it and makes the punishment proportionable which made Eli say to his sons If a man sinne against a man the Judge shall judge him but if man sinne against the Lord who shall intreat for him the distance is such that there is no mediatour that the creature can find out for him but he is punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. 4. That sacrifice is something that was ordained of God to satisfie the justice of God which must needs be confessed if it can be proved that God was attoned appeased pacified by sacrifice and that transgressions against God which carry infinite guilt in them are remitted by them but this is manifest from many places of Scripture Lev. 1. 4. and chap. 4. 26 31 34. and divers others 5. The sacrifice that Christ offered to God when he offered himself to God was sufficient to satisfie Gods justice though infinitely wronged and offended by the Elects transgressions Rom 8. 33 34. Who can lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect it is God that justifieth but how can that be when so just and so holy a law hath been transgressed and the justice of God calling upon God for satisfaction The Apostle answers it in the next words Who can condemne it is Christ that died or rather that is risen again This imports that Christ by dying hath given such satisfaction that nothing can condemne the Law that was transgressed cannot Gods justice cannot Heb. 9. 26. Christ hath once in the end of the world appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself and ver 12. Christ by his own blood entred once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us The minor Proposition or the Assumption is undeniable and needs no proof which is this A sacrifice finite in value cannot satisfie an infinite justice offended for there must be some proportion betwixt the offence by which infinite justice is ingaged against persons that commit it and the satisfaction that is tendred and given to justice so ingaged in reference to transgression but what proportion betwixt a finite sacrifice of a finite value and vertue and infinite justice moved stirred offended and ingaged against men Now unto this Argument there is no answer returned but some little arguing there is against an infinite sacrifice which is rather a denying of the conclusion then an answering to any premise of the Argument Notwithstanding it is necessary that I consider what he objecteth against the thing which I drive at though he comes not near the Argument which I propounded to arrive at it Repl. How doth that appear in my expressions when I onely ask a question how a Sacrifice finite in value can satisfie an infinite Justice offended And in steed of answering it there is deep silence he passeth it over as if he had not observed it Yet he saith The Scripture tels us that Christ was made sin or a sin-offering for us by taking our sins and bearing the Curse but how this Sacrifice was infinite to me is unconceivable Repl. And doth not the Scripture tell us that the person that was made this sin-offering was God therefore his bloud is called the bloud of God Acts 20. 28. was the Lord of glory therefore it is said had they known him they would never have crucified the Lord of glory now this is the Title of the most high God Psal 24. 7. Psal 29. 3. Was the great Shepherd of the sheep yea the chief Shepherd which is equivalent to the most high God for the most high is familiarly in Scripture called a Shepherd Psal 23. 1 and Psal 80. 1. And if so then he is chief Shepherd and if chief Shepherd then Christ is he because there are not two chief Shepherds but one chief Shepherd and so the Father and Christ are one and the same chief Shepherd Heb. 13. 20. 1 Pet. 5. 4. The great or chief Shepherd is said to be brought again from the dead by the Father so that the person that was this sin-offering was as great as high as excellent as can be imagined as high as the highest infinitely high and great as these Scriptures do declare for such a person according to the flesh that he assumed was crucified did shed his bloud was raised again by the Father in some places of Scripture by himself in other for the Father and he work the same works the Father raiseth the dead yea the dead body of Christ and the Son raiseth the dead and his own dead body also as hath been shewed before Yea further Doth not the Scripture tell us that Christ through the eternal Spirit offered up himself without spot to God and that his blood in this regard is made more effectual for the purging away of sin than the bloud of Bulls and Goats Heb. 9. 14. How much more saith the Apostle shall the bloud of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered up himself to God purge your Consciences from dead works to serve the living God In this Scripture here is both the Sacrifice and the Priest that offered it Christ according to his Humanity is the sacrifice it was himself according to the Flesh that was offered up and Christ according to his Divinity or Deity was the Priest that offered up him according to the Flesh It is said that Christ did it through the Eternal Spirit What is this Eternal Spirit It was not the soul of Christ for first The soul of Christ is not properly eternal no more then he will grant the sufferings of the creature in hell to be infinite and yet they never shall have end that is properly eternal which neither hath beginning nor ending and so cannot be measured and therefore nothing can be said to be past and nothing future and to come in that which is eternal and eternity is one of the Attributes of the most high God and incommunicable to the creature though somtimes that which hath no end