and speed well Page 280 The conclusion of this passage with further satisfaction to the broken soul Page 281 282 CHAP. XI 5. TO the Lords Redeemed ones walk as it becometh such in five Duties Page 283 1. Admire this mercy rejoyce in it and let this joy break forth in praises Page 284 2. Hold fast your liberty and return not into a second bondage either more palpable by Apostacy or more covert of conscience or conversation ibid. 3. Give your selves up wholly to the pleasure and obedience of the Redeemer both in doing and suffering Page 290 The equity of this shewed in three Motives ibid. 1. He onely hath propriety in you Page 293 2. Your safety and comfort here depends very much upon this Page 294 3. This shall be most insisted upon in the great day of Inquisition Page 295 The general neglect of this duty bewayled with further pressing it Page 297 4. Labour to bring others to partake of this benefit which concerns Page 299 1. Ministers of the Gospel Page 300 2. Governours of Families Page 302 3. Neighbours and friends especially allyed in blood or affinity Page 305 5. Love the appearing of your Redeemer manifest it by the actings of Page 308 1. Vehement desires ibid. 2. Lively hope Page 309 3. Hearty rejoycing in the foresight of it Page 310 Helps to this duty Page 312 1. Keep thy self unspotted of the world ibid. 2. Preserve in thy self a willingness to dye Page 313 3. In thy whole course after conversion commit thy soul and hopes of happiness unto Jesus Christ Page 314 4. When death arrests thee commend thy spirit into the hands of the Lord thy Redeemer Page 316 CHAP. XII 6. ADmonition to beware of cursing our selves or others inferred upon this new ground further pressed by motives as being both irrational and irreligious Page 317 Mount EBAL levell'd OR Redemption from the Curse Gal. 3.13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us CHAP. I. The introduction shewing the coherence scope and summ of the Text in three conclusions THe Apostle Paul writ this Epistle to the Churches of Galatia with his own hand so we find chap. 1 2. 6.11 This countrey was scituate in Asia the lesse See Calvin Pâ—scator Bullinger Paraeus c. and the inhabitants thereof as some Historians report were anciently descended from the Galli or French who growing a very numerous people were inforced to seek abroad into forraign coasts for convenient habitation some of them coming into these parts and lighting upon a countrey which bordered upon Cappadocia and Bithynia sate down there and called it in reference to their first Original Galatia see 1 Pet. 1.1 Who was the first that preached the Gospel among them and was the instrument to reduce them from their Gentilisme to the faith and profession of Christ whether it was S. Paul or some other of the Apostles as it is not easie to determine so neither is it necessary for us to know This is certain 1. That there were Churches planted in that region chap. 1 2. 1 Cor. 16.1 2. That Paul and his companions travelling through those parts were forbidden to preach the word in Asia Act. 16.6 Yet 3. That he preached the Gospel unto them in his ovvn person see chap. 1.8.11 and 4.13 probably at that time vvhen he passed through that region before the inhibition came to him and 4. That after all this he vvent over that countrey again and strengthened all the disciples in the truth of the Gospel vvhich they had received Act. 18.23 But as it often fell out that the Churches began too soon to degenerate and decline from their primitive purity * Vergere in pejus so these Galatians vvere quickly removed from the simplicity of the Gospel by the instigation of the false Apostles pressing a necessity of circumcision and the observation of the Lavv of Moses to be joyned vvith Christ unto justification and salvation And to the end they might the more easily prevail those deceitful vvorkers vvent about to slight and debase the authority of the Apostle by all means possible Upon this occasion he sends them this Epistle vvherein after the inscription he chides them sharply for their Apostasie then he asserts the truth of his doctrine and authority of his Apostleship for the clearing vvhereof he sets dovvn the story of his life past both in his Judaisme and Christianisme After vvhich he sets upon the main business to maintain the doctrine of justification by faith alone vvhich he prosecutes in this chapter and the next adding thereunto an earnest exhortation to stand fast in their spiritual liberty and to the practise of other Christian duties of speciall concernment and so concludes We shall fetch the coherence no higher then from the 6 verse of this chapter The hinge of his disputation runs upon this conclusion We are justified by faith alone without the works of the Law To make the proof more clear and full he brings Arguments both for the Affirmative and for the Negative The Affirmative part is We are justified by faith alone To prove this he layes down tvvo Arguments 1. Dravvn from the example of Abraham look by vvhat vvay or means Abraham our Father vvas justified by the same are all his children justified but he was justified by faith alone Ergo ver 6 7. 2. Drawn from Gods mind touching this made known beforehand Look how the Scripture chalks out Gods way of justifying the Gentiles in aftertimes that way they are justified but faith in Christ is the way which it hath chalked out Ergo ver 8 9. The Negative part is We are not justified at all by the works of the Law and for this also he brings two Arguments 1. Drawn from the sentence of the Law it self If the Law it self do solemnly pronounce a curse upon all that depend upon it then justification is not by the works of the Law for if it justifie it blesseth if it curse how doth it justifie but the Law doth so pronounce Ergo ver 10. 2. Drawn from the inconsistence of these two the Law and faith It s onely by faith that the sinner is justified and so lives but the Law is not of faith These two in the businesse of justification flie asunder and cannot stand together even as grace and works do in the decree of election Rom. 11.6 Ergo ver 11 12. Now whether these words be intended for a new argument * Summum et potentissimum argumentum Jun. Paral. or onely for an amplification of something before delivered is doubtful if the former then the ground of the argument must be the near connexion of Redemption and Justification thus If Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law then we are not justified by the works of it for if Justification may be had by the Law then there is no need of Redemption by Christ so the Apostle reasoneth chap. 2. But Christ
2. Thes 1.9 They shall be shut out as incurable Lepers or as Dogs from communion with God and the society of the Saints They shall be deprived not only of all possibilitie of soul-blessings which they never cared for but also of the good things of this life which were their onely portion The glorious God will not owne them any more Jesus the Mediatour will offer them salvation no more the Spirit of Christ will strive with their soules no more there shall be no Minister to preach peace to them to weep over them and to beseech them to be reconciled to God no friend to comfort them and to wipe away their teares no Sun to shine upon them no bitt of bread or drop of water to refresh them No blessing of God once to come neere them no good to be seen enjoyed or ever to come within their kenning unlesse it be to aggravate their miserie that they may gnash their teeth for madnes in considering what they have lost unto all eternitie without remedie 2. Something that 's positive called the punishment of sense or paine * Paena sensus a totall subjection to the heavie yea intolerable wrath of God in the torments of Hell Everlasting fire Math. 25.41 The vengeance of eternall fire Jude 7. And the wrath to come 1. Thes 1.10 The whole person soule and bodie shall be companion with the Divell and his Angels and beare a part with them in torment The worme of a guiltie conscience shall lie gnawing at the hearts of sinners like a snake or a viper and never die Mar. 9.44 The Lord himself who is a consuming fire will power all the full vials of his wrath upon them troopes and swarms of woes shall encompasse them the raging waves of hellish flames shall roare against them and overwhelme them thus they shall have their portion in the lake that burnes with fire and brimstone which is the second death Rev. 21.8 God will set his infinite wisdome on work to extract the Quintessence of all the curses of the Law and his Almightie power shall second this wisdom in inflicting them to the full The fire shall be unquenchable never goe out Mar. 9.43.44 see Rev. 14.9 10 11. The breath of the Lord doth kindle it and still blowes it and keeps it in Isa 30.33 He will hold up the wretched creature with the one hand that it may continue in being and beat it with the other hand that it may ever be dying and never die The perfection of curses Thus I have presented to your view some small scantlings or shadowes and but shadowes of that which no understanding of man or Angel is able to conceive or expresse to the life Viz the curse of the Law due to sin I proceed to the Application Sect. 3. Use 1. 2. And 1. Hence we may be bold to conclude without the least haesitation or doubting that Mankinde is not now in that condition wherein it was at first created For Mankinde is under the curse of God and of the Law but certainly God did not create man accursed in the beginning No such work could possibly come out of the hands of the Lord Jehovah who is God blessed for ever Oh no God made him a blessed creature his posteritie with and him putting upon him some parcels of his own blessednes The Lord looked upon him and saw he was very good Gen. 1.31 And said Oh man I have set the stampe of mine own image upon thee and thou art a blessed creature by that blessedness which I have put upon thee The Law looked upon him and saw him every way conformable to it self and said Oh man I can find no flaw in thee therefore I blesse thee in the Name of the Lord. But oh lamentable change * Heu quantum mutatus ab illo The Law looks at him angerly and saith Oh vile accursed creature The Lord looks on him in deepe displeasure and saith surely some mischeivous hand hath been here Did not I sowe the seed of blessedness in this feild how comes it then to be so full of cursed tares oh the Enemie hath done this As Math. 13.27.28 Thus man is wofully flitted from the top of Mount Gerizon to the topp of Mount Ebal and is quite another than God made him as farr differing from what he was once as cursing is from blessing Oh consider this look back and see what we have been He that was once blessed in the shine of his Princes favour and hath now lost it how sensible is he of it how doth the remembrance of it even pinch and sadden his spirit oh then what desperate brutish hearts have wee that can look upon the ruines of our first blessedness with drie eyes 2ly We should seriously consider and take notice of the wofull condition of all men by nature What can be spoken more to the aggravation of our miserie than this that we lie under the curse of the Law of the most high God The Law speakes aloud to all the sonnes and daughters of Adam jointly and severally as Mal. 3.9 ye are cursed with a curse oh ye wretched Backsliders draw neere heare and tremble yea let every one suffer himself to be convinced of this and take it home and say woe is me I am an accursed creature And to drive this Naile home I shall insist a while on the consideration both 1. of the sad effects and 2. the strange properties of this curse Sad effects of the Curse 1. The sad Effects or consequence of the curse I mean such as are felt even in this life are sundrie as 1. The subjection of the whole creature to vanitie It groaneth and travelleth in paine together Rom. 8.20 c. The curse that lyeth on thee for sinne maketh the creature sick causeth heaven and earth to quake Every creature was full of beautie and virtue according to his kind and capacitie but that beautie is greatly decayed and that virtue much wasted and almost dryed up They were all made to serve thee but now that thou art a convicted Rebell and therefore accursed by the doome of the Law they all fare worse for thy sake the curse reflects upon them because of thy treason against God even as when a Nobleman is found a Traitour and so obnoxious to the Law all his servants and retayners are sharers with him lesse or more in his sufferings 2. Spirituall bondage and thraldome unto Sathan This curse is attended with lamentable soule-slaverie infinitely worse than that of the bodie Every naturall man is a prisoner under the power of the Jaylour of hell even while he lives here in this world God the great King and Judge of the world hath said Take him Jaylour and he hath taken him and holdes him captive to doe his will 2. Tim. 2.26 * He hath strong holds in the hearts of sinners he possesseth them and leads them at his pleasure he saith goe and they goe come and they come
as well as to the second both in religious dispositions and holy performances and let this be joyned with a glorious external profession of Christ and the Gospel yet he may still abide under the Law and so be a stranger to the grace of justification It is not any one of these or the like qualifications and workings nor all of them put together that can raise the soul into a justified condition but still it abides under the curse What high characters of more than ordinary holiness doth the spirit of God put upon the Jews Isa 58.2 they sought God daily they delighted to know his ways as if they were a Nation that did righteousness yet they are rejected and disallowed even in their choicest and strictest duties Jesus Christ professeth that he will send away many at the last day which have done wonderfull works in his Name Matth. 7.22 23. This is a fine spun but I fear too common hypocrisie to make graces duties reformations performances the matter of our righteousness before God Let Christians take heed lest while they reckon on the blessing they be found under the curse The issue of this use is to knock us all off from thoughts of justification by the Law seeing we are all under the curse of it Let us not make account of such a thing it will prove but a dreame and we shall be deceived Let us by all means shun this most perilous work Sect. 5. Vse 5 6. 5. IT 's no wonder then if the preaching of the Law be so unwelcome so burthensome yea I may say so hatefull and abominable to the greatest part of our Congregations If you would prophesie unto them of wine and strong drink speak unto them smooth and pleasing things and tell them of nothing but Gospel and promises and comforts you are very welcome oh this is excellent Doctrine But contrariwise the Ministery of the Law is as unwelcome to their hearts as water into a ship or fire into their bones and can ye blame them Ier. 5.14 alas the Law breaths out nothing but curses against the men of the world it s like the roll of the book which was spread before Ezekiel written within and without with lamentations and mournings and woe Ezek. 2.10 which way soever the Minister turns it it speaks cursing to wicked men it flasheth hell fire in their faces continually how should this be endured to hear themselves cursed to their faces all the day long therefore they hate him that rebuketh in the gate Amos 5.10 sometimes they break out into gross and open distempers they rage and storm and persecute us they smite us with their tongues and call us railers and preachers of damnation they go away with their hearts filled with gall and malice and their tongues with clamours and outcries against us they say to us as the possessed persons said to Christ Are you come hither to torment us before the time Matth. 8.29 Others can bite in their wrath but they grumble in their hearts and sometimes say they could wish that their Minister were more discreet and it were well if he would keep him to his Text. But truly he that threateneth the curse of the Law against a natural man is not gone far from his Text. Thus it is and thus it will be while Satan is the God of this world and sin reigneth in the hearts of the men of the world we cannoâ— expect it should be otherwise Even John Baptist when he comes to cast down mountains must look to finde no better entertainment 6. Yet every hour we may strongly infer a necessity of preaching the Law although John Baptist be censured as a busie pragmatical fellow yet he must do his work for all that although the preaching of the Law be both tedious and odious to carnal men yet must we not neglect that piece of our Ministery in any case this law-Law-work must be attended in its due place for seeing man lies under this misery and danger its needfull that he should see and know it that so he may come to be affected with it as the case requires There is no wise man I suppose but would willingly be informed of any mischief that is towards him if he be under the displeasure of the supreme Power or in danger of some mortal disease or if he fear an adversary at Law every one would know the worst of his own cause for he may possibly by this means be put into a way to prevent or avoid it which otherwise ordinarily he cannot How much more needfull is this wisdome in the business of the soul Now the best and most regular way to attain this end is the Ministery and preaching of the Law it self that the wretched sinner by a particular home-application of it may get acquaintance with his wofull condition and so apply himself to the use of means whereby he may escape the danger Every natural man lies under the guilt of sin and therefore under the displeasure of the most high God sick of a mortal soul malady which brings him under the power of the second death cast in his cause before the judgement seat of heaven to his utter ruine and undoing It concerns him therefore to attend upon the Ministery of the Law that he may know how the case is with him A malefactor or trespasser amongst men may discover by searching into the Law of the Land what danger he is in so may the sinner by searching into the Law of God Whence I conceive I may be bold to conclude not onely the conveniency but also the necessity of the seasonable preaching of the Law in our ordinary ministration This is not a politick device of Preachers or purpose to screw into mens consciences that they may Lord it over them as carnal men are apt to judge but a way approved by God himself in order to the conversion of sinners and seconded by the practice of his servants in former times The Law is the Lords candle to reveal sin Rom. 3.20 and â—y consequence to reveal the curse due to sin It s the Lords hand to work wrath in the soul by striking it with conviction and with fear thereupon Rom. 4.15 God the great Law-giver hath put upon it such a beam of purity and authority that it is able to manifest sin to the conscience even in the most slie and hidden aberrations It 's the Lords Bayliff to hunt out sin in the several kinds degrees and colours of it and to lay his arrests upon the sinner It 's the Lords voice to call and fetch every Adam out of his thickets Gen. â— â— 10. yea it 's the Lords sword or slaughtering-knife whereby he kills and slays the sinner in himself that he may live unto God Gal. 2.19 Now that the Law may do all this it is not enough that the sinner have an overly and general knowledge of it but it must be opened and applied in some competent measure of
effectual calling Jesus Christ was made a curse and so became a sacrifice for sinners not that they might immediately without any more ado be made partakers of the redemption purchased thereby or be actually redeemed upon the very offering made but that having first made this benefit feasible so that now there is such a thing to be had which without him neither is nor could be he might afterwards communicate it to the Elect and give them the personal possession of it that they might enjoy it for themselves And this he doth by a powerful drawing them to himself and so by union to him they have a real interest in this benefit Therefore the Apostle sometimes speaks of it as appropriated to beleevers Eph. 1.7 Col. 1.14 and Jehovah stiles himself the Churches Redeemer Isa 49.26 as often elsewhere and Job calls him his Redeemer Job 19.25 Both these considerations are here implied as depending necessarily the one upon the other in respect of those that shall be saved and that they are not to be confounded but distinguished appears by Heb. 9.15 where we may observe a clear difference betwixt the death of the Mediator for the redemption of transgressions and receiving the promise of the inheritance This latter being laid down as a consequent or fruit of the former and limited to them that are called To conclude Take the whole in this short summe Redemption is the buying out and delivering of sinners from the curse of the Law and so from the guilt of sin and the wrath of God and the condemation of hell due thereunto by the death and satifaction of Christ the Mediator Sect. 2. Proof from Scripture-reason FOr the latter this main truth concerning the redemption of sinners by Christ now made a curse for them may receive further confirmation from grounds of Scripture-reason whether we consider the fitness of the person to undertake such an enterprise or the efficaciousness of his sufferings 1 The person was every way fit to redeem us being both God and man 1 He is true God 1 Joh. 5.20 blessed for ever Rom. 9.5 the only begotten of the Father Joh. 1.14 the onely begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father vers 18. and therefore very gracious with him which the Father himself did solemnly testifie by a voice from heaven Matth. 3.17 He is the mighty God Isa 9.6 therefore the Father hath laid help on him Ps 89.20 the Horn of David Psal 132.17 and the Horn of salvation Luke 1.69 mighty to save Isa 63.1 he was infinite lyable to break through all difficulties and with an holy scorn to sleight an whole host of the most terrible enemies to march through them without danger and in despite of them all to fetch waters of life for us out of the Well of Bethlehem He is the Lord 1 Chro. 11.18 Is there any thing too hard for him Jer. 32.27 2 He is true man also in one and the same person flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone next a kin to us therefore he is not ashamed to call us brethren Heb. 2.11 It was a Levitical Ordinance that if an Israelite were fallen into decay and had sold himself to a stranger any of his brethren or nigh of kin unto him might redeem him Lev. 25.47 48 49 and the same might be done if he had sold any part of his possession vers 25. therefore these two phrases are used indifferently to note the same thing a near kinsman and one that hath right to redeem Ruth 2.20 3.9 Of this we have an instance in Hanameel Cosen-german to the Prophet Jeremy Chap. 32.7 8. c. This doubtless had some reference to Christ We had sold our selves to a stranger even to Satan to serve him Christ is a near kinsman one of the same stock and blood with us therefore the right of redemption is his It was also a statute and a custome in Israel That if a man dyed having no childe to inherit after him then his brother or next kinsman should take his wife and raise up seed to his deceased brother Deut. 25.5 c. and withall if the inheritance were alienated or set to sale he was to buy it out or redeem it for the use of the first-born that so it might continue settled upon the Family of the dead man Wee have a clear instantial Gospel-truth lys hid as I conceive Old Adam dyed and left no seed behinde him that might inherit heaven and moreover the inheritance was quite extinct and lost as to him and all his and therefore the Lord thrust him out of Paradise Gen. 3.24 Onely Jesus Christ is found the next kinsman who begetting sons and daughters by the word of Truth doth therby raise up a seed of God redeem the forfeited inheritance and so settle it upon the first-born of Adams family for ever yet with this difference that this seed shall not be called after the name nor inherit in the right of the first Adam but they shall be called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord shall name Isa 62.2 And they shall inherit in the right of the second Adam onely Act. 26.18 Eph. 1.11 2 The sufferings of Christ were fully efficacious to redeem us for thereby 1 He hath given abundant satisfaction to the justice of God and so hath weakned yea nullified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and taken away sin in the guilt and condemning power of it God sent his Son in the similitude of sinful flesh and for sin that is upon the sad and woful occasion of sins being in the world or that he might abolish and destroy it And what is the fruit of this glorious designe Why he hath condemned sin in the flesh that is by laying the curse which the Law threatned against sinners upon that very flesh or nature which had sinned he hath cast sin in its own plea. A mans work may be said to plead for his pay the crime of a Malefactor cryes for the execution of the Law upon him so sin pleads against the sinner and calls for death its wages to be inflicted upon him Sin although as an act it be transient yet in the guilt of it lyes in the Lords high Court of Justice filed upon record against the sinner and calling aloud for deserved punishment saying Man hath sinned and man must suffer for his sin But now Christ having suffered for sin that plea is taken off Lo here saith the Lord the same nature that sinned suffereth mine own Son being made flesh hath suffered death for sin in the flesh the thing is done the Law is satisfied and so he non-suits the action and casts it out of the Court as unjust Thus whereas sin would have condemned us he hath condemned sin and there is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 3. The blood of the Mediator out-cryes the clamor of sin We read Lev. 16.7 c. of two Goats which were
a sufficient and satisfactory price unto God for the party Redeemed 1 Cor. 6.20 Therefore we are said to be bought with a price And this Price is called a ransome price Matt. 20.28 A price to ransome us out of our spirituall captivity Matt. 20.28 and it is said to be laied down 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now the preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as learned men know signifieth a substitution and Surrogation of one in the roome of another As Matt. 2.22 Archelaus is said for to raign 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the roome of Herod Adde further That this Price which Christ laid down for our Redemption is called not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Counter-prise or a price correspondent and answerable 1 Tim. 2.6 to the debt it is paid for It was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If any shall ask what this price was Saint Peter tells us 1 Pet. 1.19 Act. 20.28 It was the most pretious bloud of Christ and Saint Paul tells us It was the Bloud of God It is called the Bloud of God because shed in his humane nature by him whose Person was God blessed for evermore Rom. 9.5 and hereby it came to have an infinite virtue and efficacy in it Ex infinita Personae dignitate infinitum erat pretium sanguinis et carnis quam pro nobis obtulit Hence it was that the Bloud of one man became sufficient to Redeem all beleevers and the Bloud shed in a little space able to satisfy for sins which deserved eternall punishment because the Person that suffred was God as well as man All this and much more which might be added doth clearly prove That Jesus Christ hath made Satisfaction to God for the Sins of all who beleeve in him This great and fundamentall truth is very pithily soundly Orthodoxly practically and profitably handled in this ensuing Treatise It is written by a grave ancient and religious Minister of very good repute amongst the Godly in Yorkshire A Master-builder in Gods House If any shall not relish and taste the sweetness of it he will thereby make it appear that his Palate is much out of tune For to a real Christian it must needs be very welcom Let not our ignorance of the Author hinder us from buying and reading of it but let us consider that it is recommended to us by one who well knowes him Mr. Edw. Bowles Mininster at York and who is well-known to the world and in whose judgment we may safely confide The subject matter of this discourse is to shew how Jesus Christ who is the fountain of all blessedness volutarily submitted himself to be made a curse not onely accursed but a curse to Redeem us from the curse of the Law due to our sins And that this may not seem a riddle or a Paradox you must know that Christ Jesus may be considered 2 wayes 1. As he was the Sonne of God 1 Pet. 2.24 2. As our surety bearing our sins in his body upon the Cross In the first respect he was alwaies the well-beloved Sonne of God in whome he is well-pleased But as he was our Representative in this respect he underwent the wrath of God and the curse of the law due to us not due to him simply Mâ—tt 3.17 but due to us and born by him as our surety The hatred was against us and our sins God never hated his Sonne But yet as he stood in our stead and was made sin for us who knew no sin he suffered the effects of Gods hatred even the puishment due to our sins 2 Cor. 5.21 And whereas the Socinians and those who are against Christs Soule-sufferings say That Christ is therefore onely said to be made a curse because he suffred the bodily death of the Cross which by the law was a cursed way of dying and this they say is evident by what the Apostle addes in the latter end of the curse for it is written Gal 3.13 Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree This is notoriously false as appears 1. Because that curse which Christ redeemed us from that curse Christ was made or else the Apostle had not reasoned soundly in saying Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us That curse which Christ redeemed us from that curse he was made But Christ redeemed us from the corporal spiritual and eternal curse And therefore such a curse he was made secundum aequipollentiam though not secundum omnimodam Identitatem Jesus Christ for our sins suffered so much of the curse of the law as was possible D. Willet and necessary for him to suffer And as a learned man saith he suffred all such pains of hell which were neither dishonourable to his person nor defiling to his nature nor obstructive to the works of Redemption 2. The bodily death of Christ upon the Cross is brought in by the Apostle as one very well saith not as the formal reason of the Curse Calovâ—us in his Socinismus profligatus but onely as a signe and declaration of it The Curse did not precisely consist in the death of the cross neither were they that were hung upon a Tree therefore accursed because hung upon a Tree but the hanging on the Tree was a signe they were accursed as Hierome excellently Hier. upon Galat. 3.13 Non quicunque pependerit in ligno maledictus coram Deo sed qui propter scoelus suspensus Not every one that hangeth on a Tree is cursed of God but he that hangeth there for his sinne If Haman had prevailed for the hanging of innocent Mordecah upon the gallowes he should not have stood accursed Wherefore it was not the death of the Cross but our sinnes hanging upon the Cross that derived this curse upon Christ. This is evident by the very words of Moses quoted by the Apostle Deut. 21.22 23. If a man hath committed a sinne worthy of death and he be to be put to death and thou hang him on a Tree his body shall not remain c. By which words it appeares That it was not so much the kinde of death as the desert of death which made it ignominious It was our sinnes hanging with Christ upon the Cross which made the same an accursed death Adde what Moses saith Deut. 21.23 He that is hanged is accursed of God But now no death is in it self more ignominious then another before God 3. The shame thereof is external and concerneth men Ergo the Curse was not onely nor especially in the shamefulness of the death The ordinary gloss thus noteth upon the words Non est hoc in contumelia Domini quid mirum si maledictus dicitur a Deo qui habet in se quod Deus odit id est peccatum This redoundeth not to the reproach of God for what marveil if he be said to be accursed of God in 3 Gal. that
accursed through sinne it 's a wonder that the first and second death have not fallen pel-mel upon them all and devoured them at once it s a wonder that the curse hath not dashed us all to peices and brought the whole world into a Chaos long agoe This is from the wise and good providence of God who for the preservation of the whole frame and for the comfort of his owne people doth snub restraine and moderate the curse and keepes it within certaine bounders as the Sea within its banks that it cannot overflow and destroy the earth We see that the horse the Ox and other such like creatures have not quite renounced mans service but are easily brought into subjection Yea the most savage creatures are not invincibly rebellions but God affords to man both skill and power to tame them Jam. 3.7 And 2. What a mercifull dispensation is this that such swarmes of curses should flie abroad in the world and yet so very few of them in comparison should touch us That so few are born blind deafe maimed idiots That nature is sustained in health strength vigour yea that we live upon the earth and enjoy the influence of heaven That the heaven over our head is not brasse and the earth under our feet iron yea that we are in any estate short of hel who might justly have been stript of all at once and made the common Butt of all his curses And further Isa 3. What a sweet providence is it that when the Lord inflicteth evils or judgments which are properly and in themselves the bitter fruits of the curse he doth not alwayes inflict them meerly as curses in reference to the sinnes of the persons but sometimes onely praeventions of sinne and the miseries which follow it as 1. Cor. 11.32 Or as exercises of patience as in the famous example of Job or as meanes which his divine wisdome is pleased to use for the manifestation of his owne glorie in some way or other Whereof we have a notable instance in the man which was blind from his birth Jo. 9.1.2.3 The disciples ask our Saviour whose sinne was the cause of that judgment his owne or his parents He answers neither of both but that the works of God should be made manifest in him his meaning is this you think this man is thus marked out for some notorious sinne either of his owne Or his Parents but you are mistaken for although sinne be an universal cause of all judgments ⸫ See Piscator and Gualter on the place yet in this case the Lord did not look upon the sinnes of either of them as the adaequate or next mooving cause of inflicting this blindness but he intended hereby the manifestation of his works the work of justice and severitie in afflicting him so sadly and so long the work of goodnes and mercie in bestowing the blessing of sight upon him and cheifly that this miracle wrought by me saith Chirst may be a cleare and undeniable demonstration that I am the Son of God seeing it could not possibly be done by any other hand ⸫ ab v. 32. To shut up this use let us not reckon our selves the lesse miserable because of these and the like providences but rather ascribe them to the indulgence of mercie and adore the glorie of his dispensations who suffereth us not to be so accursed as we deserve 4ly Hence I inferre that there is no justification to be had no nor any possibilitie thereof by the works of the Law It is a vaine thing once to expect it The Law curseth sinners how then doth it bless them but if it justifie them it blesseth them All men are under the curse of the Law therefore no man is under the acquittance and absolution of the Law This is one of the Apostles arguments in the verses before to look for justification and blessing from the Law is not onely to lose our labour but also to bring upon our selves more mischeif It s the way to inwrappe us more in the folds of the curse to implunge us into a deeper Sea of guilt yea to seale up the curse against our owne soules and to make it sure to our selves Observe what is the conclusion which the Apostle would prove from the text alledged out of Deuteronomie vers 10. before It is that those which are of the works of the Law are under the curse that is not onely those which break the Law or doe not keep it perfectly but those that depend upon it and reckon of justification by the works of it even these also are accursed so Rom. 3.19.20 The Law chargeth all men with sinne and thereby stoppes every ones mouth and makes all the world subject to the vengeance of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whence it followes unavoydably that no flesh shall be justified by the deeds of the Law Therefore the Apostle professeth that he would by no meanes be found having his owne righteousnes which is of the Law Phil. 3.9 As if he should say If I should appeare before Gods judgment-seat clothed in that habit he would abhorre me and I were utterly undone So then there is no justification to be had by the Law No man can possibly reach that conformitie to the Law of God either inward or outward in the frame of the heart or cariage of the life which will be able to plead his justification in the sight of God It is not any good qualitie within us or any goodwork that comes from us or both joyned together though never so excellent for kind or degree that can set us right in the court of heaven There is nothing at all which a man hath nothing at all which he doth or can doe for which God will pronounce him righteous but when he hath done all and is got up to the highest pitch the Law will tell him to his face that he is still Accursed This is needfull to be urged for not onely the world but the churches of Christ are full of justitiaries which carve unto themselvs an imaginary self-righteousness according to the Law Oh that these persons would open their eares to this truth and take it down Of these I observe 4 sorts I meane such as seek a Blessedness by the Law which they shall never find 1. Professed Papists which submit unto and hold fast the establish'd doctrine of the Church of Rome especially as it is set forth in the councell of Trent where they determine thus The alone formal cause of the Justification of a sinner before God or that which gives being to it is Righteousness implanted or a new qualitie of grace or frame of holines wrought in the soule which what is it else but personall and inhaerent conformitie to the Law of God They tell us further of a first justification whereby of unrighteous a man is made righteous and secondly whereby of unrighteous he is made more righteous The former if I mistake not they hold incompleat
condemned sinners by their knowledge of him or by faith in his Name for he shall take upon him their iniquities and acquit them from blame And this Covenant of God with Christ is the very basis or bottome of the Covenant of Grace God made a Covenant with Christ the spiritual David Psal 89.3 4. that he might make a Covenant with all his Elect in him Rom. 11.26 27. He made this Agreement with Christ as the Head and on this is reared up the whole frame of precious promises comprised in the Covenant of Grace as a goodly building upon a sure foundation And herein the Levitical Priesthood was a type of the Priesthood of Christ That was settled on Aaron and his successors and continued unto them by Covenant their anointing was to be an everlasting Priesthood Exod. 40.15 and more fully Numb 25.12 13. he gave to Phineas and to his seed the Covenant of an everlasting Priesthood and by vertue thereof they were inabled to manage the Covenant of life and peace which was with them Mal. 2.5 as to the Legal and Ceremonial administration of it even so the true Priesthood is settled on Christ and continued to him by Covenant and by vertue of this he manageth the Covenant of Grace in its Evangelical and Spiritual administration And as they must bear the iniquity of the Congregation and so be made typically a Curse for them Lev. 10.17 So Christ must be made a Curse truly by imputation by bearing the iniquity of the Congregation of the first-born which are written in heaven Only the Apostle gives us this difference betwixt these two Covenants that those in the Law were made Priests without an oath but Christ was made with an oath Heb. 7.20 21. For the proof of which he brings Psal 110.4 noting out a special preheminence of his Priesthood above theirs that theirs was changeable and so had an end but his is unchangeable and perpetual the Lord having confirmed the Covenant by his Oath and so infeoffed him in it by a grant never to be revoked Therefore Covenant and Oath are sometimes put together as Psal 89.3 But I am sensible that I have expatiated too far The issue of all is this in short Christ being made a Curse for us proceeds from the purpose and good pleasure of God appointing him and calling him out thereunto and it is the execution of a wonderfull and glorious design or contrivement agreed upon by God and Christ for working out the salvation of the Elect. I hasten to the Application Sect. 4. Use 1. Information in four particulars ANd first This Truth will afford us matter of very useful Information to establish our judgements in some particulars of special concernment 1 It holds forth unto us the strange mischievousness of sin in the nature and workings of it Oh the excessive sinfulness the unspeakable poysonfulness of sin that could reach as high as heaven and bring the Son of the Eternal God under the Curse Oh that the sons and daughters of Adam would look about them begin at length seriously to consider what an hideous Monster they nourish what a venemous Serpent they keep yea hug in their bosomes Look upon it in this glass and see how black and ugly it appears If you have not seen it by the Ministry of the Law so as to humble you and to lay you low before the Lord I beseech you turn your eyes unto Jesus Christ and see what foul work it hath made what mischief it hath brought on him Behold here a strange sight a sad spectacle the blessed Son of God made acursed The justice of the Law hath found him amongst sinners and singled him out from all the company and set him as a mark to shoot at yea hath spent all the arrows of its quiver upon him and thereby hath mangled and rent and torn and wounded him grievously yea hath brought him down to the gates of death even as low as hell When thou hast presented him to thy minde in this pittiful pickle then reflect upon thy self and say What evill beast hath done this Was it any offence that he hath done against the Law in his own person that hath provoked it to pour out such a flood of curses upon him Oh no he was holy harmless undefiled there was no spot of unrighteousness in him It was for my rebellion treason apostacy from my Maker Me me adsum qui feci I have sinned and Christ hath suffered the curse for my sin Take now a survey of the several branches of this curse and see how it dogged him all along from his birth to his burial especially the griefes and the groans the sorrows and the sweats the tears the terrors and the torments of his soul under the power of the second death and then say in thy heart Oh fool that I was I did not beleeve that sin had been so exceeding bad as it is I see now it is no tame beast but an unreasonable ravenous devouring Serpent full of deadly poyson Canst thou see all this heavy load lying on the back of Christ and yet judge any sin to be small or go on with a proud heart and a high look maintaining thine old league with sin and continuing in the hell of thine accursed natural condition as if it were thy heaven 2 It re-mindes us further of the greatness of that misery whereinto man is implunged by sin For if Christ be made a curse who had no sin of his own but onely ours laid upon him What a grievous curse then must needs lye upon them who have the guilt of their personal sins sticking close to their consciences and still lye weltring in their own gore-blood especially on those wretched souls which must bear the wrath due to sin in their own persons for ever The men of the world put the evil day far from them they feel no harme they fear no danger and therefore they blesse themselves in their present state and say No curse shall take hold upon them But oh how much better were it to reason thus Christ was made a curse for sinners therefore surely sinners in themselves and without Christ are in a desperate condition If we should see a man grievously tormented and put to death with extraordinary tortures and should withall understand that he suffered all these things for another mans crimes and not for his own we would conclude thus Surely that man was a notorious Malefactor and if the stroke of Justice had fallen upon his own head what a terrible death must he have indured If this curse was so bitter his wrath so heavy on Christ our Surety how unspeakably bitter and heavy would it be on us the principals Yea bring it home to thy self and say Alas What have I done I have surely spun a fair thred I have brought my self into a lamentable condition that either the Son of God must come down from heaven and be made a curse for me or else I
prisoner till he shall pay the uttermost farthing and Sathan being also his deadly enemy and unwilling to let him go in this respect there is a necessity of an heavenly might to be put forth for rescuing the poor prisoners from him that they may be actually and thoroughly redeemed But here again some may say There is no need of any such Conquest or Rescue for when justice is satisfied then the prisoner must be discharged and the jaylour can hold him no longer so Christ having paid the debt and given full satisfaction to the justice of the Law for the sin of man God doth now discharge the poor sinner and how can the Jaylour of hell hold him under his power still Ans 1. Admit for the present that de jure he cannot hee ought not to keep sinners under now that the ransome is paid yet for all that de facto indeed he doth it and will do it till he be forced to let them go Let us suppose a jaylour having notice of a Goal-deliverie to be shortly or having received a writ for setting at Liberty such such prisoners by name should yet 1. wilfully refuse yea oppose and resist the execution thereof with force and armes 2. serve himself of them and strive to keep them in bondage for his pleasure Is it not now high time for the King or the supream power to come against this jailor to suppress him to put him out of office that so he may perfect his own grant rid the poor prisoners out of his hands This is the very case in hand God hath long agoe declared his will Isa 52.10 Hos 13.14 Job 33.24 concerning the redemption of mankinde and he is daily sending out Writts for setting free some of his prisoners but Sathan out of an inbred malice against the Redeemer and Redeemed 1. doth oppose and resist with all his might He hath been an adversary to this work from the first he endeavoured to strangle it in the cradle by stirring up Herod to kill all the young male-children in Bethlehem Matt. 2.16 Mat. 4.6 Mat. 16.22 Jo. 13.2.27 hoping that the childe Jesus might go to the pot among them he tempted him to self-murther he suborned Peter to diswade him from suffering he filled the heart of Judas to betray him that he might be cut off at once And when he could by no force or subtilty prevent the payment of the price but it was done in despite of him yet he hath set himself ever since by all means to hinder both the publication of it by the Gospel and the efficacy of it by the Spirit in the hearts of sinners to render it altogether useless 2 Cor. 4.4 as water spilt on the ground 2. He holds his Captives still that he may serve himself of them by setting them to do his work and ruling and riding them at his own pleasure 2 Tim. 2.26 Eph. 2.2 As Pharaoh and the Egyptian taskmasters kept the children of Israel by strong hand to work in morter and brick and in all manner of service in the field Exod. 1.14 and after that the Assyrian oppressed them and last of all the King of Babylon brake their bones Isa 52.4 Jer. 50. 17. and no way of deliverance but by conquest Even so do those infernal Taskmasters keep under the sinfull sonnes and daughters of Adam and will not let them go till the Redeemer fetch them with an out-stretched arm In a word it was Sathan that first by his lures brought them into this snare and being now the God of this world he is so settled in his vast dominions by prescription of a long time that he will not relinquish his title but must be ejected by violence 2. As for that branch of the Objection that upon Christ's paying the ransome God doth discharge the sinner it may not pass for a truth without some explication It was not the minde of God the Father or Christ the Mediatour that this benefit should actually inure to the Elect immediately from the time of the payment it self God did determine and prescribe a certain order way whereby they should come to the personal enjoyment of it and have it laid in their bosomes which will be at the time of the respective conversion of every of them I speâ—k of G d's ordinaâ—y couâ—se excepting the case of Infants and not before The Apostle granteth this when he saith Rom. 7.6 Now we are delivered from the Law Now in opposition to the verse before when we were in the flesh So that although we be redeemed as to the price and satisfaction of justice yet Sathan will keep us still in bondage till Christ bring the benefit home to our souls by the work of Conversion 3. I add this third consideration The bondage and slaverie under which wretched man lies through sin although it may be truly said to be forced in respect of Sathan yet as to sinners themselves it is voluntary When Cyrus had proclaimed to the Jews a dismission from the captivity of Babylon many of them slighted it and chose rather to stay in captivity still Their practise is the very temper of all the children of Adam what they are that they will be Slaves they are to sin and slaves they will be and consequently accursed and under condemnation Liberty is proclaimed by the Gospel and the hearts of sinners are averse from it the wisdome of the flesh is enmity in this more than in any thing yea they resist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or fal cros against the Holy Ghost Acts 7.51 Therefore the Redeemer must come with an almighty power to subdue every high thought in man to demolish all his strong holds and even to force this Redemption upon him with holy violence or else he will not embrace it while he lingers the Angel of the Covenant must lay hold upon his hand and bring him forth as Lot from Sodom Gen. 19.16 Sect. 4. Another Objection It might have been done in an easier way Answered BUt here lies another Rub in our way which must be removed Some may say It was not necessary that Christ should become a curse for us as is before expressed Might not the work of Redemption be wrought by some other means Could not God the Father have chalked out Cur per sanguinem quod potuit facere per sermonem and Christ the Mediatour have walked in a more smooth and easie way but he must go in this rough and thorny path of subjection to the curse for the effecting of this business Ans 1. Seeing the holy Scripture doth ascribe the whole administration of this mysterie from first to last to the good pleasure of God's will as the first and supream cause Ipsum interrogatum mihi scire licet quod ita cur ita non licet Bernard Therefore it may be judged an unwarrantable over-bold curiosity in the silly sonnes of men to enquire or determine what God might have done
by his absolute power or why he would do it thus rather then otherwise His Word tells us what he would do and we see by the event what he hath done This way was the will of God and none other and therefore this way Christ took and none other and thereby attained his end Heb. 10.9 10. We may safely rest here and make no further search for who hath known the mind of the Lord Rom. 11.34 His meer will and pleasure Volunt as Dei est pro lege pro causa causarum pro ratione rationum is a reason abundantly sufficient and beyond exception 2. The Lord hath revealed his minde so farr in this particular that we may be bold to go a little further and to resolve thus God who is great in counsell and excellent in working had store of means at hand whereby to set free and recover lost mankinde yet he was pleased to pitch upon this as being most agreeable to his holy nature and most suteable to his high and soveraign ends man's salvation and his own glory I explain it thus God is infinite in all his attributes in his justice as well as his mercy These two cannot interfeere as justice may not intrench upon mercie so neither may mercie encroach upon justice the glory of both must be maintained Now by the breach of the Law the Justice of God is wronged Nec misericordia Dei praescribit justitiam nec justâ—tia aufert misericordiam Aug. so that although mercie be apt to pardon yet Justice requires satisfaction and call's for vengeance on sinners Every transgression must receive just recompence Heb. 2.2 and God will not in any case absolve the guiltie Exod. 34.7 till this be done the hands of Law-mercy are tied that she cannot act And seing satisfaction could not be made to an infinite Majestie but by an equal person and price therefore the Son of God must become a Curse for us by taking our nature and pouring out his soul to the death and by this means Justice and Mercie are reconciled and mercy hath her free course to save sinners So that now presupposing God's Decree we may safely say It must be thus and it could be no otherwise God will have his Justice satisfied to the full and therefore Christ must bear all the punishment due to our sin or else God cannot set us free For he cannot go against his own just will Quod vuli necesse est esse Observe the force of that phrase Luke 24.26 46. Christ ought to suffer and Matth. 26.24 Thus it must be A just earthly Prince holds himself bound to inflict punishment impartially upon the malefactour or his surety it stands upon his honour he saith it must be so I cannot do otherwise This is true much more of God who is Justice it self And as this great design of Christs redeeming sinners by being made a curse for them doth sound out aloud the glory of divine Justice so it also bears visible characters of some other Attributes as 1. His Truth He had passed a peremptory doom and made a solemn declaration of it in his word that he that sinneth shall die the death Gen. 2.17 Rom. 6.21 23. and he will not break his word So he had foreordained Jesus Christ and set him forth to take upon himself this burthen to become a propitiation for sin through his blood Rom. 3. 25. 1 Pet. 1.20 and made known his minde eoncerning it in his written word plainly Isa 53.7 If we read the words It is exacted or strictly required meaning Exigitur as Junius and some others the iniquity or punishment of us all vers 6. is required at his hands he must answer for it in our stead and so he is afflicted and this affliction reacheth even to the cutting him off ver 8. yea the Spirit of Christ in the Prophets did signifie unto them not onely his sufferings but also the very particular time of them 1 Pet. 1.11 Therefore when Christ puts this work upon an ought and must be hee laies the weight of all on the Scriptures thus it is written as we may see in the texts before-cited as if he should say God hath spoken it and his truth ingageth him to see it done 2. His wisdome For hereby 1. he maintains the authority of his righteous Law when a law is solemnly enacted with a penalty in case of transgression all those whom it concerns may conclude for certain that the Lawgiver will proceed accordingly And it is a rule in policie That Laws once established and published should be vigorously preserved If the Lord should have wholly waved the execution of the Law upon sinners or their surety it might have tended greatly both to the weakening of its authority and the diminishing of the reverence of his Soveraignty in the hearts of the sonnes of men 2. He provided a curse against Licentiousness Impurity is apt to lay the reins loose upon the necks of sinners If sin had been pardoned without exacting the penaltie of the Law it might have emboldened men in their sinfull wayes their hearts would have been wholly set upon mischief Eccles 8.11 they will say Where is the God of Judgement Mal. 2.17 But now he lets sinners see that he will not pardon sin no not to repenting persons but upon condition of Christ's bearing the curse for them whence they may conclude that he will not spare them if they be bold to continue in their rebellion 3. And probably that he might hereby also cut of all occasions which the devil his enemy might take to calumniate and traduce him He might accuse him 1. of inconstancy and changeableness that having threatned death to transgressours he did quite forget himself in waving the threatning and dispensing wholly with his Law by granting them free remission Yea 2. of partiality and respect of persons that he should be so easie and forbearing as to let them pass without any punishment at all Quasi tam facilis fuisset antea sâ—verus erga seipsum having been formerly so severe and rigid against himself in casting him and his angels into everlasting flames without hope of recovery Sathan might say Lord thou mightest have spared me as well as man But the Lord may answer man hath made satisfaction he hath borne the curse and thereby fully discharged all the demands of the Law if he had not I would not have spared him any more than thee 3. His goodness and loving kindeness God the great Lord and Governour of the world might have rigorously exacted the penalty of the Law on the persons of sinners themselves but he hath so farr dispensed with the Law as to admit of a Suretie by whom the end of the Law that is the manifestation of his justice and hatred of sin might be fulfilled and yet a considerable part of mankinde might be preserved from the jaws of the second death which otherwise must have perished eternally Saith the Lord I
in their first birth this Livery that they are children of wrath Eph. 2.3 and his wrath is revealed from heaven against sin Rom. 1.18 yea the Lord is said to hate not onely sin but sinners Psal 11.5 Hos 9.15 and they are called haters of God Psal 5.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dei osores Deo exosi Pareus sic Theophyl Deut. 5.9 Rom. 1.30 But now by the Redemption which is in Christ as the Curse is taken off so the enmity also is slain wrath is turned away reconciliation is wrought The Messiah was to make reconciliation for iniquity Dan 9.24 which is as much as that 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself Being enemies we are reconciled by his death Rom. 5.10 and when poor sinners being by sin enemies and strangers do receive Jesus Christ then in him they receive the Attonement Rom. 5.11 so that now they are actually reconciled Col. 1.20 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and set in an estate of firm amitie and friendship with the glorious God through the blood of the Covenant In the first Adam he disclaimes us as base Rebels but in the second he owne's us as reconciled friends Let the Lord's Redeemed ones lift up their heads and know their happiness Jesus Christ hath slain the enmity which was betwixt God and you This price of Reconciliation hath broken down the wall of separation and although the Lord be still a consuming fire marching against the briars and thornes and burning them altogether yet even then he saith to his vineyard Furie is not in me Isa 27.4 2. Remission of sinnes This goes hand in hand with reconciliation 2 Cor. 5.19 As the violation of the Law of an earthly Governour brings upon the offender besides the Governour 's displeasure an obligation to punishment and when that obligation is voyded then he is said to be pardoned so man's disobedience against the great Lord of heaven and earth did oblige him to such punishment as the royal Law had threatned but Christ our Surety by bearing it for us hath voided that obligation and so we are discharged from it and in this stands our Pardon Therefore the Apostle joynes Redemption and Remission together as being upon the matter both one Eph. 1.7 Col. 1.14 and expresly ascribes them both to his blood as the meritorious cause Vide Grot. defens cap. 6. Ludov. Luc. Assert contra Mich. Gittich arg Iun. Non idem sed tantundem Whence by the way we may discover the weakness of that Socinian Argument against Redemption by Christ's satisfaction because our Redemption is called Remission For where satisfaction is made say they by undergoing due punishment or paying a valuable price there is no place for pardon But surely the Holy Ghost knowes better then we how to speak properly It 's Redemption by his blood and yet it is forgiveness of our sinnes And their argument hath more shew then weight For this satisfaction was not made by paying the very same but the as much not the proper strict debt which the Law changeth upon the sinner but the full value or weight of it with some alteration The Law saith The soul that sinneth shall die even the self same person and it must be death eternal because the sinner can never pay the uttermost farthing Had this been there had been no place for pardon Psa 69.4 But now Christ comes in and voluntarily undertakes to restore the things which he took not away that sinners which took them away might be set free Suppose a subject hath committed a crime deserving in rigour of Law perpetual imprisonment if now the King's Son be content to undergo 6 moneths imprisonment in his stead which considering the quality of the person is as much as a mean man's suffering it during life the King indeed may refuse this way of satisfaction because it is not the very letter of the Law but if he accept it what doth it import less then a pardon to the subject This is the Case The Son of God giving himself a sacrifice for sin doth in a short time wrastle through and master those sufferings which would have mastered sinners and hold them under to all eternity Now although Almighty God the great Law-giver might have refused this kinde of payment as not being the very same which the Covenant of works exacteth yet having not onely consented but devised and settled it as the most covenient way for the security of sinners and the manifestation of his glory thereupon he is well pleased with it being as full satisfaction to justice as if the sinner had satisfied in his own person So that the Lord 's accepting of it upon this account is so far from excluding remission that it rather makes way for it and gives it a being This appears further by the Apostles ruled case Heb. 9.22 See Jun. paral Pareus without shedding of blood no remission which holds both in Legal sacrifices and in the great sacrifice of Christ typified thereby as the scope of the place shews But to return The Law chargeth the curse upon the sons of men The Lord Jesus takes the curse upon himself and thereby makes an end of sinnes for this was one of the works which he was to do Dan. 9.24 the debt being paid the book is cross'd the bond is cancelled No forfeiture to be taken no penalty to be undergone Let wretched sinners take notice of their happiness in this also Christ was sent to purge away all your iniquities 1 Ioh. 1.7 Psal 65.3 Redemption blots out all your Items and layes up pardons in heaven for your use to be readie for you in the time of need 3. Justification of our persons Obligation to punishment doth imply liableness to accusation and condemnation for the offence which deserves such punishment The righteous Law of God finding man a transgressour and so unrighteous threatens death as his due And in order to the inflicting of it stands up as an Accuser and passeth sentence against him Now Christ being made sinne and a curse in the sinners stead doth thereby with one and the same labour both set him free from the punishment of sin and acquit him from the accusation and condemnation of the Law Whereupon he may plead that although the demerit of his sin doth crie aloud for punishment yet it is not due to his person because Jesus Christ hath borne it for him and made full satisfaction to justice Rom. 3.24 The Apostle makes justification an effect of the Redemption which is in Christ Jesus Dan. 9.24 the Messiah was to bring in everlasting righteousness Jer. 23.5 6. a righteous Branch is promised to be raised up to David and his name shall be called Jehovah our Righteousness And thus he is made of God to us Righteousness 1 Cor. 1.30 When the offence is taken away by a pardon the person is accounted righteous Therefore the not imputing of sin and the
magnanima satis est prostrasse Leoni than the dearest mother can be over her childe The lyon of the Tribe of Judah will not hurt that soul which lies prostrate before him 2. It is a special clause in the Mediatours Commission that he should proclaim Liberty to the Captives Isa 61.1 God the Father saith to him Lo I give thee for a Covenant of the people that thou mayest say to the prisoners Go forth Isa 49.8 9. Be sure thou take special care of poor sensible sinners pour oyl into their woundes and give them beauty for ashes Cherish those distressed soules which lie sighing and sobbing under the burthen of their bolts and fetters those that are lost in themselves and come running to thee like the chased Hart panting after the water-brooks and cannot be satisfied without thee Dost thou think that Jesus Christ will not execute his Commission to the full 3. The termes on which thou mayest actually enjoy Christ and Redemption are very fair being both reasonable and easie 1. What can be more reasonable then that the poor slave should in the sence of his undone condition heartily own him for his onely Redeemer who hath both paid his ransome and fetch him out of prison and what is faith but the lost sinner's acknowledging and accepting of Jesus Christ for his All in all 2. What can be more easie than to do a work the stress whereof lies upon another hand not on thine It 's true of thy self thou art no more able to believe than to keep the whole Law for the dead man can stirre his right hand no more then his left but the Gospel or Covenant of grace affords strength to believe whereas the Law or Covenant of works affords none at all to obey Ier. 31.37 Heb. 8.6 â— 10. Therefore Christ tells them His yoke is easie and his burthen light in opposition to those Law-burthens which the Pharisees imposed and call's them to come to him upon that account Matth. 11.28 c. Thus Christ makes believing an easie work to a self-denying soul Even as it is easie for one that knowes not how to fashion a Letter to write a word or a sentence legibly if he will wholly refigne his hand up to be holden moved guided and carried on by the hand of a cunning Writer throughout I may now say to thee poor captive soule as the servants said to Naaman If the Prophet had bid thee do some great thing wouldst thou not have done it how much more c. 2 Kin. 5.13 So here If the Lord did enjoyn thee some difficult exploit or some desperate adventure as the condition of thy salvation would'st thou not have put forth thy self to the furthest how much more when he saith Believe and be saved 4. Faith layes a kinde of engagement on Jesus Christ to relieve a soul in extremitie When a poor creature lies succourless if he can now advisedly look after him and cast his burthen upon him this doth after a sort oblige him to come in with succour An honest man will the rather do his neighbour a pleasure if he see Psal 55.22 Donabile tuum quod tibi dari desideras Buxtorf Io. 6.37 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he depends upon him A mercifull man will make this an Argument why he must do this or that for a poor man Oh saith he the man put 's confidence in me it 's a matter of weight if I fail him he may be undone so Christ takes himself bound to help thee if thou wilt come and commit thy way to him Otherwise Christ lookes down from heaven upon thee and saith There goes a wretched sinner that would gladly be delivered from the Curse and saved but alas he is not capable of help for he dares not trust me hâ— will not come at me The poor servant mâ— have his wages paid because he set's his heart upon it Deut. 24.15 and if thou settest thine heart upon Christ and his satisfaction he will render unto thee thy righteousness If the ship of thy soul be covered with waves through sence of sin and wrath and Christ be asleep thou hast no way but to jogge him by the hand of faith and to awake him as the disciples did Mat. 8.24 c. and if thus thou doest he will turn the storme into a calme Yea if he see thee but offering to come to him by faith and thou art begining to sink by reason of the weakness of it yet if thou canst but sigh towards him he will stretch forth his hand and save thee as he did Peter Matth. 14.29 c. 5. I know thou art vile in thine own eyes thou art willing to be abased even unto the dust thou thinkest thou canst not cast down thy self low enough Well friend this is the right way to self-abasement If thou wilt not come to Jesus Christ till thou canst bring something with thee which may commend thee to him or till thou canst get into a more pleasing posture thou takest the course to raise up thine own Crests and to glory in thy self But if thou wilt denie thy self in the thoughts of unworthiness as well as worthiness and without further disputing put thy self wholly upon his grace and strength for thy deliverance this is the way to a more kindely abasement than any Legal humiliatiâ—â— can possibly work For while thou standest 〈◊〉 from Christ thou wilt flie from God and thy heart will be hardened against him But if thou canst but touch the hemme of his garment thou shalt come in due time to know that in thy self which will lay thee humbly at his feet and melt thy soul in the bosome of his love See the example of the woman labouring long under her bloodie Issue and the manner of her cure Mark 5.26 c. 6. I know thou wouldst advance Jesus Christ thou wouldst give him all the honour thou possibly canst thou wouldst make his praise glorious Well if thou wilt break through all difficulties and heartily accept the offer of deliverance through him alone this is the way to exalt him this is his Crown and his glory It may be thou canst say Let God have his glory whatever become of me Why if thou wilt now come to him in the sorrowfull sence of thy wofull bondage and lay the whole stress of thy soul-affairs upon him thou shalt see that he will work out his own glory by thy salvation Thy Designe is to set up his glory by lying down in thy sorrow as altogether helpless and pining away in discontent but that will not do it thou canst not honour him in thy condition wherein thou art by any other way than by believing It is by trusting in Christ That poor sinners come to the praise of his glory Eph. 1.12 This is the best part of thy thankfulness 7. If thou wilt still hold off from embraceing this free mercy then thou addest one sinne to another even ingratitude to unbelief thou art
score and disanulled the Law as to the Curse of it so that it hath nothing to say against thee This lyon may roar upon thee but be not dismayed the Lord hath sent the Angel of the Covenant and hath shut the Lyon's mouth his Dan. 6.22 rage is abated his undoing power is taken away he may shew his teeth and snatch at thee but he cannot wound thee mortally Thou hast now a just and clear ground to go upon in answering all the demands pleeas and accusations that can lie against thee in God's high Court of Justice Therefore doe not nourish Legal feares any longer but turn the Curse over to thy Redeemer and boldly tell it that it hath nothing to do with thee The Apostle in telling the believers of Rome that they had not received the spirit of bondage again to fear Rom. 8.15 intimates that such a condition to be held down under the slavish fear of condemnation doth not well consist with the estate of the Redeemed sonnes of God 2. Bondage of conversation when a sinner having hearkened to the Call and counsel of the Gospel in accepting the offer of Christ and redemption by him gives leave to the bodie of sinne dwelling in him to act its part too much and to bring him into some degrees of willing bondage under those lusts or sinfull practises which formerly he had escaped and relinquished Dost thou challenge a share in this ransome Oh then do not enslave thy self again unto any sinne Art thou fetch'd out of the house of spiritual bondage with a mightie hand Take heed that thou hanker not after the flesh pots of Egypt or attempt a return thither as the people of Israel did Numb 14.4 Hath the Lord spoken peace to thee wilt thou then turne again to folly God forbid Psal 85.8 Oh! alas that any of us should after continuance in the profession of Christ for some considerable time suffer our selves to be ensnared in our olde lusts or fall into new wayes of sinne which yet is the sad case of some who at their entrance gave hopes of better things Jesus Christ that mightie Champion hath cast the Curse of the Law on a dead sleep If thou wilt give libertie to thy self to commit iniquitie or to trade in any forbidden way thou mayest fear that the noise of thy sinne will awake this fierce Lion ere thou be aware to tear thy soul in pieces Hearken to the Apostle's counsel Fashion not your selves according to your former lusts 1 Pet. 1.14 If the Manslayer having fled to the city of Refuge would afterwards make bold to wander without the border of it the Avenger of blood findeing him might lawfully kill him his blood must be on his own head Numb 35.26 c. Even so if thou hast once betaken thy self to Jesus Christ as thy refuge and after that stragglest out of his liberties into any sinfull practise thou art then within the reach of the Avenger of blood the Curse may meet with thee and slay thy soul Thy Redeemer hath hedged thee out from all such base courses as are contrary to the end of thy Redemption If thou wilt take Libertie where he gives none at thy peril be it The best thou canst expect is that when he comes he will complain and say Alas what profit is there in my blood that I have gone down to the pit to deliver thee out of it seing thou art returning thither again Be advised then thou ransomed Christian to lay a strict injunction upon thy self and say O my soul thou art now set free sinne no more least a worse thing come unto thee Ne veniat Christus c si te in peccato invenerit dicat tibi Quae utilitas in sanguine meo c. Ambros alluding to Psa 30.9 Ier. 37.20 John 5.14 and when through the prevailing of corruption thou art drawn aside into some vagarie make haste to returne by repentance and pray earnestly that the Lord would keep thee from going back into that old prison of sinne and the Curse out of which through the grace of Christ thou art escaped Sect. 2. Third Duty 3. GIve your selves up wholly to the pleasure service and obedience of your Lord Redeemer Resigne your selves to him to be at his appointment and to his glorie So doth the Apostle exhort from this very ground 1 Cor. 6.19 20. The Lord Jesus having paid thy ransome and made thee a freeman from the Curse challengeth thee now for his own and saith Thou art mine It is thy part to Eccho and say Lord I am thine and to dedicate thy self to him with full purpose of heart in the whole stream of thy conversation and that 1. In doing Israels deliverance from Egyptian bondage was an ingagement to obedience See the Preface to the Commandements Deut. 5.6 and one end of our Redemption from the hands of our spiritual enemies is that wee might serve him in holiness Exod. 20.2 and righteousness all our dayes Luke 1.74 75. Christ died and rose again that he might be Lord of quick and dead therefore whether we live or die it must be not to our selves but to him Rom. 14.7 8 9. Those that are redeemed to be Christ's peculiar people must be zealous of good works 1 Pet. 1.15 18 19. Tit. 2.14 Christ hath suffered that we being made partakers of the benefit of his sufferings might live all our time after the will of God 1 Pet. 4.1 2. It was no part of our Redeemer's business to free us from obedience but rather by adding this engagement of Redemption to that of Creation to make the bond more strong that a two-fold cord might not be easily broken We are too carnally selfish If we think that Christ had no aim in this great work but onely to deliver us from hell and bring us to heaven Doubtless he had a further end in his eye even to reduce us unto our first subjection and obedience from which we had wickedly departed with the advantage of better abilitie to serve him that we might be to his glory In all which not our own wisdome or will but the word of God must be attended as our line to work by especially the Morall Law which is the platforme of righteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an eternal fixed Canon for the ordering of our conversation Therefore it 's called the Royal Law because the King of Kings hath appointed it to be the High-way for all his Subjects to walk in yea even believers must fulfil it Jam. 2.8 So that the Law ceaseth to condemne but not to command It is no longer a curse to destroy us yet it is still a Rule to direct us It 's strange that some men either cannot or will not see a clear difference betwixt the mark or finger which shews the way to the Traveller and the strength of body whereby he is enabled to go on in the way betwixt the command of the Law which prescribes us our
work and the grace of the Spirit which gives us power to do it The Spirit and the Letter are not opposite but sweetly subordinate Rom. 7.6 The opposition is onely betwixt the newness of the spirit and the oldness of the Letter That service which we before performed as slaves we now performe as sonnes Christ makes a change in us in relation to the Rule but no change in the matter of the Rule it self 2. In Suffering Christ hath undergone hard measures for thy sake and hath thereby purchased thy freedome Be thou willing to undergo hard measures for his sake that thou mayest advance his honour If thou hast tasted the bitterness of thy bondage and the sweetness of Redemption thou wilt not grudge to lay down all thy worldly contentments at the feet of thy Redeemer yea thou wilt not refuse to put thy life in thy hands and to be sacrificed for the promoting of his glory and be thankfull that thou art thought worthie to suffer for his Name Yea more Acts 5.41 Phil. 2.17 if Gods providence shall so order that a black night of darkness and trouble shall come upon the Church which may threaten to destroy or at least to shake the faith of Christians in this case it seems necessary that such of the Lords Redeemed as are grown strong should put their necks under the heaviest yoke of extraordinary afflictions if it may conduce to the establishing of others in the Truth and the furthering of their salvation S. Paul professeth his readiness hereunto 2 Tim. 2.10 and the Apostle John enjoines it as a necessary dutie upon this very ground 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. We owe it as a dâ—bt Hee laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren 1 John 3.16 Oh the noble heroik spirit of Moses and Paul who were willing to forego their parts in the glory of heaven on condition that the Lords wrath might be turned away from their countrymen the Jewes that they might be saved Exod. 32.32 Rom. 9.3 And oh that we could thus farre deny our selves for the honour of him who hath denied himself infinitely more for us Conclude then for certain that the Lord 's Redeemed ought to resigne themselves wholly unto the will and service of Jesus Christ their Lord The equitie yea necessitie whereof may further appear if ye minde these few motives 1. He onely hath the right of proprietie in you The ransomed Captive is not his own to dispose of himself nor can any other person claim an interest in him to require service of him save onely he that hath paid the price of his Redemption Even so neither thy self nor Sathan nor the world but onely Jesus Christ hath the unquestionable title of dominion over thee to order and to rule thee so that thou art no debtor to live either to thy self or to them but to him that died for thee Rom. 6.11 The Sacrament of baptisme holds forth this lesson Thou wast baptised into the name of Jesus Christ and hereby art really engaged unto his service To withdraw thy self from his service and betake thy self to other Lords is an high degree of theft and Covenant-breaking The Prophet speaks of witholding Tithes and Offerings as of a strange unheard of kinde of robbery Will a man rob God Mal. 3.8 What unreasonable brutishness is this Rom. 12.1 What is it then for a Christian to rob God of himself and his reasonable service Shall the pettie Thieves be severely punished and the grand Robbers escape Resolve then and say Lord other Lords besides thee have had dominion over us but now we disclaim them and we will remember thy name onely Isa 26.13 2. The safety and comfort of your standing all along in this pilgrimage here below depend very much upon this If you will forsake your selves and all other Lords and referre your selves to the guidance and appointment of Jesus Christ you need not fear any hard measures from him in whom there is no unrighteousness you may trust him he will see Psal 92.15 that you shall fare no worse for that but better He that hath saved you in the swellings of Jordan will assuredly look after yoâ— in smaller dangers This is the way to secure your own peace and happiness if having owned Christ by faith for your alone Redeemer you will yield up your selves to him in unreserved obedience in every condition to do and suffer according to his will But if you will needs be your own masters or put your selves under the command of other Lords you do hereby discharge him from taking care of you and expose your selves to infinite perils Thou that hopest thou hast an actual share in this benefit and yet either refusest to live wholly to him or else dost capitulate with him and wilt have a vote in the managing of thine own wayes thou mayest fear that God will give thee up to follow thine own counsels and to shift for thy self in all the stormes which thou mayest meet withall And woe to that poor creature whom God doth leave to himself and to his own carvings he must needs be in a very tottering condition farre from peace 3. In the great day of reckoning which is to come Christ the Redeemer shall be judge for the Father hath committed this business unto him and hath given assurance thereof in that after his sad conflicts with the Curse and death he raised him up a Conquerour Acts. 17.31 Now in that great Assize Inquisition shall be made among those which are retainers to Jesus Christ chiefly concerning 2 things 1. Whether hast thou in the sence of thy wofull bondage under the Curse of the Law heartily accepted of Christ offered in the Gospel and renouncing all other helps in thy self or the creature rested on him as thine onely Redeemer 2. Whether hast thou willingly resigned thy self up to him as thy soveraigne Lord to rule and order thee in thy whole conversation so as thy main study and work hath been to minde and to seek his interest to live to him and to die to him and so to be intirely for him and for his glory This Latter shall then be insisted on and put home Matth. 25.35 42 c. to trie the truth of the former Therefore it concernes you to bethink your selves before hand what answer you will make when you shall stand before the judge If your hearts tell you that you have onely given Christ good words calling him Lord Lord but have not made conscience of coming up to his commandes or yielding obedience to his will or submitting to his pleasure and disposing hand in all things Oh what a black day will that be when you shall not be able to lift up your faces before him but must stand speechless Then shall you be sensible of your desperate folly and condemne your selves for it sadly lamenting that you have so grosly neglected both your Redeemer