reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and hath given us the ministry of reconciliation 6 There is the imputation of Christs propitiation to particular selected sinners this is also ascribed to the Father Rom. 4.6 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputes righteousness without works 7 There is the infusion and gift of Faith to apprehend this and the comfort of it Eph. 2.8 Yee are saved by grace through faith not of your selves it is the gift of God c. Lastly The preservation of faith and grace unto glory is attributed to the Father Rom. 8.3 Whom he hath justified them also he hath glorified These things I mention not that any should conceit that the other persons are excluded from such intensness and wonderful acts of love to sinners for as Christ saith Joh. 14.11 Beleeve mee that I am in the Father and the Father in mee So that their love is one and Joh. 5.23 The Father hath committed all judgement to the Son that all men may honour the Son as they honour the Father as they honour him not more nor less but therefore I speak these things to shew that a carnal heart hath no just cause from the Scripture to make or conceit any disparity in the divine subsistence To shut up this use The love of all the Divine persons equal Let us consider the infinite love of all the persons of the holy and undivided Trinity to poor sinners that hath devised and provided such an unspeakable way of Righteousness and Peace to kiss each other that poor sinners might bee justified and saved Eph. 2.7 That in ages to come hee might shew the exceeding riches of his kindnesse towards us in Christ Jesus So here that at this time he might declare his righteousness And can wee imagine that all this cost and labour of Gods love in Christ should bee lost can wee possibly fear that God should lose his end in the shedding of his Sons blood as sure as hee is just hee is the justifier of him that beleeveth in Jesus this the Text shews and wee cannot without Atheism question his justice therefore why should the beleever question the other so that wee may boldly say with Paul who shall separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.38 39. Use 4. Carnal and obdurate persons should consider this end of God Exhortation and it is 1 To carnal and unregenerate persons to remember and seriously consider the weight of this point Let mee propound this Meditation to all such as have benummed and obdurate hearts and consciences That the Lord would have his Justice declared and proved by such a manifest token thereof represented wheresoever the Gospel or Christ is Preached yea why is this reserved for the last times of the daies of the Son of man why truly the Lord hath a most wise and holy end therein surely that it may bee an awakening to Christlesse sinners in the times of the Gospel I beseech you to say to your own hearts why would the Lord have this Justice declared to mee and such exact Justice as this is can any reasonable Creature imagine that such justice should bee executed upon the Son of God that had no sin but by imputation and yet that a Christlesse sinner should escape the justice of God and his righteous judgement Surely Their judgement sleeps not neither doth their damnation slumber If any say that hee looks at Christ as answering the justice of God let such a one hear what Christ saies to such Mat. 7.23 Depart from mee yee workers of Iniquity I know you not Ah poor creature bethink thy self at the last that the Avenger of blood is pursuing of thee at the heeles yea sin lyeth at the door This was Preached in a sick time and thou hast yet no sanctuary or place of refuge to hide thy self in yea that Justice is riding circuit in the Country and goes from house to house yea from person to person yea this Gospel justice which is the most terrible which must stand at the bar to answer it in their own persons and let not any please themselves with their priviledges or profession call that to minde Zephan 3.5 which is spoken of Gods people of old The just God is in the midst of them every morning he brings his judgements to light but the unjust knows no shame Oh beloved this the Lord will do even still that judgement shall begin at the house of God Now take a few Considerations 1 That now in the times of the Gospel it is in vain for any man to plead ignorance of Gods justice Considerations and directions to hard-hearted sinners seeing that it is so solemnly published and declared 2 No man can now doubt of it seeing that in Christs death there is such a manifest token and demonstration of it yee may bee sure that Gods threatnings against sin are in good earnest when hee makes such execution 3 There bee very few that do know the justice of God even amongst Professors what means that heavenly Prayer Joh. 17.25 Righteous Father the World hath not known thee but I have known thee and these have known that thou hast sent mee hee speaks of God as a righteous Father even towards himself which none of the world knows and hee doth evidently intend or comprehend the Jews in that world though the people of God 4 If justice bee not satisfied and anger with-drawn all thy proud Helpers will stoop under him Job 4 1â— Mat. 3.17 conceive what helps the World can afford thee or the wit of men invent they will bee but broken reeds to succour or support thee God is not well pleased but in his Son Quest What course should a poor sinner take in this Condition Ans 1 Let him conclude undoubtedly with his own soul that there is abundance of unrighteousnesse in every sin committed by him much more in all his sins together seeing that Gods justice proceeds so severely against imputed sin Gods justice and judicial proceedings do clearly discover and are directly opposed to the unrighteousness of sin therefore labour by all means to see by the consideration of Gods righteousnesse what abundance of unrighteousnesse there is in sin Ponder that place well Rom. 5.20 Where sin abounds there grace abounds much more but the Law entred that sin might abound The Law shews that there is abundance of wickednesse in every sin do not think that it belongs onely to some kinde of sins of an hainous nature for it belongs to all sins whatsoever being transgressions of Gods Law as the Text is clear therefore do not sleight any sin 2 Bee sure that God is exceeding willing that his justice should bee satisfied in and by the Surety and hee would not have poor sinners to indure the brunt and the intollerable burthen of it thou maiest in the saddest thoughts of thy condition stay up thy heart with this that Christs death was as well
and disanul in their thoughts and apprehensions the Justice of God as though it were altogether Heterogeneal Heterodox and impertinent to the mystery of the Gospel Now I beseech you that yee would bee convinced of this whatsoever yee forget that there is more of the justice of God declared and demonstrated in the Gospel and Gospel mysteries thereof than there is in the Law I might tell you of those dreadful Threatnings against them that sin against the Gospel See Heb. 2.2 3. Heb. 10.26 27. Heb. 12.25 where there is a far heavier punishment denounced against the Gospel sins and sinners than there ever was against the transgressions or transgressors of the Law and if wee look into Examples it is true that there were heavy punishments inflicted in the times of the Old Testament as the drowning of the whole World the destruction of Sodome and Jerusalem yea take in the rejection of the evil Angels yet none of all these were comparative to the example in the text and Heb. 1. Christ is set above the Angels and hath a name above every name yet even upon him Divine Justice hath passed never any Justice was like this yet this must go for Gospel-justice yea this is the end of all that grace that the Lord hath shewed in the Gospel and in the death of Christ it is for the demonstration of the Justice of God yea the indispensable Justice of God The Lord would convince all the World in the Tenor of the Gospel how terrible his Justice and his Wrath is That is very remarkable Rom. 1.17 18. That in the Gospel the Righteousness of God is revealed from Faith to Faith Even since that in the same Gospel The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousnesse and ungodliness of men c. why but was not Gods Wrath revealed in the Old Testament Truely the Text shews that it was never so cleared and demonstrated before Now let mee adde this that the Text holds forth in those words at this time what time was that time but the time of the Gospel whereby the Spirit of God intimates that there would bee mighty need and more than ever in the secure times of the Gospel that the Justice of God should bee manifested now many will think that since the death of Christ nothing but the Grace of God should bee heard of and that it would be accounted Legal Preaching to tell the people of the Justice of God but even at this time behold I say in these wanton times of the Gospel behold that God would have his justice declared more than ever in former times and say not that in the Gospel times this justice as executed onely upon Christ is declared for though that bee true in regard of the members of Christ yet doubtlesse as for others no doubt but the state of Chorazin and Bethsaida Tyre and Sidon is far worse than the state of unbeleevers and impenitent persons in the times of the Old Testament I do willingly receive and imbrace the difference betwixt the Law and Gospel held forth by the Protestant divines that free grace and remission of sins is promised and bestowed in the Gospel upon all beleevers Joh 3.16 which the Law strictly taken mentions not yet the contempt or neglect of this grace being a greater sin than any other must needs bring an heavier weight of justice upon them that are guilty thereof Let all this serve to rectify our judgement concerning the main Scope of the Gospel which is not onely to set forth Gods infinite grace in Christ but also to demonstrate his justice against sin Vse 3. The grounded security of the faithful Instruction It may shew us the impregnable and grounded security of the faithful and the strongest foundation of assurance that I know of in the whole book of God that is in short the infinite love of God in Christ that follows necessarily upon this demonstration of his justice in the death of Christ If that the Lord had forgiven sinners without any more adoe of his meer will and Grace without any price or ransome this easy way of forgiveness prated of by the Socinians and Carnal Gospellers would in no sort have so declared or demonstrated the infinite love of God to the Elect as this doth that when as God the Father without violence and wrong to his just and holy nature I may speak it with reverence could not pardon one sin by his grace yet in his admirable wisdome and grace hee hath been at that cost to give his Sons blood to bee a ransome for sin that justice may have its due course This is the meaning of that vers 24. wee are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ this is admirable grace and free grace indeed All the Angels in Heaven and men on earth may bee astonished at this Oh! how exceeding pretious were our sinful souls to the Lord our God that they should bee valued at such a price by the Lord himself when as the Son of God himself was valued but at thirty peeces of silver by sinful men there was never such a price as this given for any creature besides and never such a love as this that either would or could be at this cost Object It is prophanely and wickedly objected by Hereticks in this case that if Christ dyed for sinners then the Sons love to us far exceeded the Fathers love the Father deals rigorously with sinners but the Son laies down his life for them God the fathers love to the faithful in scripture expressions and divers effects so all the Love is in the Son and not in the father Answ In the general the love of all the Divine persons is infinite and the same and therefore cannot admit degrees let us therefore abhor all such odious comparisons More particularly to root out all such evil surmises see what course the Scripture takes to discover the Fathers love in this whole mystery which is by all means to bee acknowledged and adored 1 There is the Fathers eternal Purpose and Decree to save a certain number of faln man-kinde and to redeem them from destruction which is called his so loving of them Joh. 3.16 2 There is the Fathers love in sending of his Son to take flesh upon him 1 Joh. 4.9 10. herein is the love of God manifested that he sent his Son into the World c. 3 There is the Fathers commandement given to his Son to dye for his Elect thus the Son himself acknowledgeth Joh. 10.18 I have power to lay down my life and power to take it up This commandement have I received of my father 4 God the Father therefore loves his Son because hee laid down his life Joh. 10.17 Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life 5 God the Father is pleased to reveal this grace in the Gospel and the ministry thereof 2 Cor. 5.18 All things are of God who hath
yee Prisoners of hope As Anna the Prophetess Luk. 2.38 spake of Christ to all those that looked for redemption in Israel so speak we this day to all such amongst us as look for eternal redemption Wee cannot mention any other means but only Christ nor any better thing than liberty For Motives to seek redemption 1 Liberty is the best news to Captives that the world can afford The Father calls the time an acceptable time and the day of salvation Isa 49.8 9. when Christ is given for a Covenant of the people that he may say to the Prisoners goe forth and to them that are in darknesse shew your selves So Isa 61.1 2 3. Christ saith The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek to proclaim liberty to the Captives the opening of the Prison to them that are bound c. The possibility of liberty is good news to a Gally-slave but Spiritual liberty is the best news on earth 2 This Redemption is most excellent It is the Spiritual Jubilee the year of general release the acceptable year of the Lord Isa 61.1 2. How solemn was the Jewish Jubilee observed Levit. 25.8 10. yet that lasted but a year this is eternal Heb. 9.12 3 It is dangerous to refuse this Redemption yet those Jews 2 Chro. 36. ult when Cyrus by Proclamation gave them all a free discharge to depart from Babylon a place where they had suffered grievous bondage to their own Country accepted not the Kings royal favour but abode willing Captives and Slaves still loving Babylon more than Jerusalem so after Proclamation of Redemption wrought and at this day generally offered many love Babylon more than Jerusalem their bondage under the Devil more than their liberty through Christ Joh. 8.36 The Jews contemned the liberty that the Son would have given to them The people of Nazareth hearing Christ preach deliverance to captives liberty to the bruised c. Luke 4.18 24. at first admired the gracious words that came out of his mouth yet would have destroyed Christ and set at nought his counsel So some love the general news of Christ a Redeemer but care not to apply it nor earnestly to seek it The hired Servants might goe free Levit 25.40 41. at the year of Jubilee but many would not goe to their families and fathers possessions but said I love my Master and like my condition so that they had their ears boared with an Awle to be servants for ever Exo. 21.5 6. Thus it is to be feared many might bee boared for Spiritual Bond-men and that Satan hath boared many for his Bond-men Bee exhorted therefore to consider the present offer Gospel days are Jubilee days the year of release the acceptable year of the Lord. It concerns all Bond-men to sue out the general Proclamation if they would have any benefit thereby It was the most prevailing motive amongst the Romans to act when their Liberties lay at stake Estote viri Libertas agitur In this quarrel they would bee prodigal of their bloud but here 's no danger but in not contending for your liberty And indeed Isa 61.2 The day of vengeance is joyned with the Proclamation of liberty Oh see then the dreadful danger of refusal Quest How should I partake of this plenteous Redemption in Christ Jesus Ans Directions to attain Spiritual liberty 1. Let us bring the matter to an issue and draw some conclusion giving the Verdict one way or other that wee are in bondage or at liberty Satan is willing that wee should leave the matter in suspense or else draw a false conclusion As the Jews Joh. 8.32 pleaded that they were not in bondage forgetting that Gal. 3.22 The Scripture hath shut up all under sin without exception And that all that are redeemed are drawn up from out of the sink of sin Tit. 2.14 and that all the redeemed were taken from under all the Curses of the Law Gal. 3.13 They like the escaped Beast have as it were a ropes end about their neck and fetters at their heels 2 Let us seek liberty with courage and magnanimity for we must expect discouragements When we but talk of Liberty the tale of Bricks will be doubled and if we are escaping we shall be pursued with all the forces of Pharaoh The Devil will presse hard after us if we set but a foot forward for Canaan Hee will increase our durance and raise all the Train-bands of Earth and Hell against us with all the Militia in the Magazine of our hearts But Isa 57.14 Cast yee up cast you up prepare the way take up the stumbling-block out of the way See your Leader in the Cloud and Pillar of Fire Zech. 9.12 Isa 4.5 See the door of Hope the valley of Achor Hos 2.14 3 Let us renounce all Redeemers but Christ Some think they can redeeme themselves by leaving their sins amending their lives or excusing their sins as small and making God amends for them by duties and services forgetting that no man can redeeme his brother Psal 49.8 nor yet can any redeeme himself 4 Let us with Israel cry continually in our bondage The Lord saw their affliction and heard their cry Exod. 3.7 and sent Moses to them when they were at worst to set them at liberty give God no rest Fill Heaven and Earth with your cryes So did the Church Lam. 5.16 whose bondage was not comparable to ours The Crown is faln from off our heads wee bee to us for wee have sinned vers 21. Turn us O Lord and wee shall c. 5 Study the truth of the Gospel for the promises setled on the heart by meditation bring home the Redeemer and set us at liberty Joh. 8.32 imprison it not therefore Rom. 1.18 6 Attend the motions of Gods Spirit in and with the Word for it belongs to the holy Spirit to apply this Redemption called therefore the spirit of liberty 2 Corinth 3.16 17. slight not the suggestions of it but follow it home into the soul Thus farre for instruction of Captives 2 Exhortation to the Redeemed in divers particulars from this Doctrin 1 To labour for a deadly hatred of sin Return not into Aegypt and watchfulness against it that brought us into this bondage Let us not be like unthankful Israel that when our Ransome is paid and Salvation wrought we should desire to return again into Aegypt What is this but to despise the price paid God destroyed them that he had redeemed out of Aegypt because they beleeved not Jud. 5. And will take it very hainously at our hands that wee should voluntarily accept that slavery that he paid so great a price to redeeme us from Not only a vile conversation is now dangerous but a vain one not only to live scandalously but to live unprofitably For 1 Pet. 1.18 We are redeemed from our vain conversation 2 To make continual use of Christ our Redeemer Make continual use
part of the World have quite mistook it and where there is any discovery of it infinite errors have been broached with it And the heart of man turns and windes under it not being able to close with the way of it Bee cautelous therefore and know That there is no true Justification but what Centers in Christ Act. 4.12 There is no Salvation not a jot in any other for there is none other Name given under Heaven God the Father gave no other way nor Name Therefore no other Way nor Name can possibly bee found out Redemption was alone by Christs blood Eph. 1.7 Hee is made our redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 Hee shall give his Life Matth. 20.28 This is the great Lesson to learn Christ your satisfaction to the Father Now then as a poor man asks his Friends how hee shall pay his debts fears the Creditor will come to clap him up in Gaol and there hee must lye and dye because hee cannot pay as that complaint is 2 King 4.1 so ask you what you shall do to bee saved where you shall find a Ransome your soules are deeply indebted and you have not to pay Mat. 18.25 and the Creditor is coming hastily upon you O bee not more careful to save your bodies out of Prison than your souls out of Hell Lay hold on Christ who alone is Current mony and full satisfaction Quest But how shall we compass this satisfaction of Christ and comfort by it Answ You must do as the poor bankrupt doth First to get him a surety to undertake the debt Secondly to gain to himself an Acquittance under hand and zeal Get Christ to bee thy surety and an Acquittance written with his blood Now an Acquittance is derived by the Lawyers from the word quietantia an old barbarous term but very significant which when once it is got the Debtor is then at rest No suits in Law nor brangling controversies can bee maintained any longer against him for hee hath his quietus est a free and full discharge Plead for this from God and that from the beginning of the world to this day For Adam left his posterity in debt This Acquittance is nought else but what Paul speaks of Rom. 5.1 Peace in Conscience arising from Christs satisfaction for our sins And that you may attain this surety and Acquittance 1 Consider the necessity and worth of Justification It is the Justification of Life yee are dead without it Rom. 5.18 And having obtained it you are fit for any thing for glory whom hee justified hee glorified Rom. 8.30 Enoch had this testimony that hee pleased God Heb. 11.5 then was hee fit for Heaven Fit to bee a teacher of others Isaiah cries now send mee when his sins were pardoned But without it you are fit for nothing If Death arrests you how will you scramble for Bail how will you wish you had pleased God how unfit to go off the world O leave not that to the last gaspe that should bee done first Thou mayest bee great and rich and honourable and yet not fit to live nor to dye but he that is justified is fit for both 2 Highly esteem the Ransome It was no less than the blood of God that ransomed you And if things are to bee esteemed by what they cost nothing is more precious than this Ransome And accordingly the Apostle valued it Phil. 3.8 9. hee accounted all the worlds glory but Dirt and dung in comparison And desired to abandon all knowledge that hee might know Christ and him crucified How highly doth hee prize 1 Cor. 2.2 Christ not glorified but Crucified mainly intending to preach that Hence the whole work of the Ministery is called Preaching the Cross 1 Cor. 1.18 In a word the greatest love that God ever shewed to man and the greatest blessing man ever attained to it is this satisfaction of Christ Love with an affix 1 Joh. 4.10 3 Consider the lenity and difficulty of the satisfaction God would not have sent his Son if all the world could have made satisfaction Isa 53.10 11. Hee shall see of the travel of his soul and bee satisfied Hee saw the pay was current the travel of his soul to wit all the sufferings of Christ gave him satisfaction What need Christ take such pains if any else could do it It cost not Christ half so much pains to make the world Psal 33.9 10. Hee spake the word and it was done c. This work of satisfaction made him sweat drops of blood 4 Receive an unlimited Christ and entertain him in all his Offices Receive his person first and then his benefits Joh. 1.12 as many as received him c. Receive him and then his adoption and satisfaction Let him bee King as well as Priest Luke 19.27 Take him as a sanctifier as well as a Saviour Accept his Majesty as well as his Mercy Take Holiness as well as Happiness from him Let the water of regeneration bee welcome with the blood of Justification And that with speed for Luke 14.24 if you come not when invited you may never bee welcome The Israelites that denied to enter Canaan when God offered it Heb. 4.1 had never after an opportunity Francis Spira under dreadful torture pittifully lamented that now God would not give him one motion of his blessed Spirit more many of which he slighted before If therefore you minde eternity and have any care of your souls or any respect to Christ or fear of God if heaven bee worth having give Christ entertainment in all his Offices Use 4. Comfort to all that are in Christ Comfort to sincere Christians that your ransome is paid Lift up your heads with joy for your redemption draws nigh 1 Consider your sins are satisfied to the full Poor bankrupt souls have all Bills and bonds and hand-writings that are against them cancelled Col. 2.14 Davids prayer is answered all his Transgressions are blotted out Psal 51.12 Oh what joy what contentation should display its triumph in the heart The discharge of sin is another gates thing than all other discharges The Debt is greater the Creditor more dreadful the Gaol more horrible the Gaoler more cruel and the satisfaction fuller then men ever felt or found Your Moralists say It is the hardest of all satisfactions for an Inferiour to satisfy a Superiour in point of honour If hee had injured him in his goods satisfaction might have been made but what will hee do here will hee submit to him that hee ought alwaies to do Will hee do it by his goods no a good name is better than Riches Prov. 22.1 Sin violated Gods Justice and affronted his God-head For every sin is a kinde of Dei cidium a murthering of God Hence men are called God-haters Rom. 1.30 but hee that hateth his brother is a murtherer 1 Joh. 3.15 so is hee that hateth God And indeed hee doth kill God as to himself for as the Sun though it cannot lose its light yet is utterly eclipsed as to
and wounded his soul and why should they be contentment to mine God forbid 3 Minde the desert of sin We must fear sin because it crushed Christ and the severe proceedings of God against it in Christ our surety Luke 23.31 If this be done in the green tree what will bee done in the dry Christ was the Green tree full of sap exceeding fruitful the true vine Joh. 15.1 the very embleme of fruitfulness yea the tree of life Rev. 2.7 yet this could not exempt him from his sharpest sufferings Christ was free from all sin in his nature the Devil himself could find nothing in him Joh. 8.46 but we have a World of wickedness in us Christ was full of righteousness Rom. 5.17 and wee full of wickedness yet God spared not his Son where shall wee ungodly and sinners appear Christ was the onely begotten and wee are in comparison strangers if hee had no tenderness to his Son what can his Slaves hope for Christ was both God and Man in personal Union strengthened by Angels yet what Agony what tears what conflicts did hee undergo wee are but stubble but a rotten stick fit fuel for everlasting burnings how shall wee stand in the day of tryal O it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Heb. 10.31 Oh that wee had hearts to apprehend the evil of sin before wee come to feel it Blessed are they that beleeve and fear and tremble and never experimentally know the vileness of sin God seeing the hardness of our hearts hath manifested the evil of sin by the sufferings of Christ a better argument then all the curses racks and torments of Hell it self could produce to demonstrate the dreadful nature of it This may convince the hardest hearts in the world and let the very godly themselves see that sin is more vile than ever they imagined it to bee 4 Know that sin will kill us as well as it killed Christ if wee prevent not the malignity of it Death is the proper wages of sin both the first and second death Object But a Childe of God is in no danger of sinning nor of eternal punishment Sol. Surely 't is true Doctrin that 1 Pet. 4.17 18. The time is come that judgement must begin at the house of God Wee know how Churches have smarted for sin for little sins in the Worlds account The Jews cast off for unbeleef Saints corrected though not damned for sin the Church of Ephesus for forsaking her first love Laodicea for lukewarmness threatned to bee dis-Churched Add that Ezek. 9.6 the destroying Angel had a charge to begin at Gods sanctuary Yea many godly men smart for their boldness in sin here in this World Paul writes to Saints Rom. 8.13 and yet tells them If you live in the flesh yee shall dye and speaks not onely of a temporal but eternal death You will say 't is not possible for Saints to dye eternally I answer 't is as possible for Saints to dye eternally as to sin eternally Let all men look to it for sin continued in will certainly destroy all its practitioners Having therefore these considerations Let us dread to have any thing to do with sin This consideration is proposed to this very end Heb. 12.2 3. that the sight of what Christ endured by sin might make us constant and couragious in withstanding all the fiery darts of the Devil and declining every evil way striving against it unto blood vers 4. as Christ did to the very death not refusing the worst of sorrows The worst sorrow is better than the best sin to eschew the best of sins to part with your heart blood as well as your good names ease and profit if God call you to it Thus doth Peter argue 1 Pet. 4.1 2. Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered in the flesh for us let us arm our selves likewise with the same minde for hee that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin that hee no longer should live the rest of his life in the flesh to the lusts of men c. The issue of the words is this The Faithful have Union and Communion with Christ and therefore they must bee conformable to Christ in Holinesse but must ceafe from sinne arguing thus That if wee have lost our head for sin it is not possible we should live in sin any longer but we have lost our head for sin Or thus All they dyed in Christ for sin for whose sin Christ dyed and they that dyed once for sin cannot sin any more If therefore thou continuest to sin how beleevest thou that Christ dyed for thee Let thy conscience bee the judge 3 Hath Christ loved us so dearly Christs death merits our love that merited heaven for us as to suffer such dreadful torments for us then what shall wee do for Christ O man return this day an Answer to the Lord what course thou wilt take to walk suitable to his kindness When David received a deliverance from God hee saies Psal 18.1 I will love thee dearly O Lord my strength God shewed him much love and hee intends to make a retaliation And indeed love is the Load-stone of love Never was such love shown as that of Christ Rev. 1.5 Who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood Eph. 5.2 Who gave himself for us his life and blood and all Yea hee parted with his fathers love which was a thousand times better than life for us Hee became accursed that might have been blessed Let us not bee scanty in our love to him but give him our heart both freely and liberally to the death his death well merits our love that merits heaven for us Where Christ hath laid such deep ingagements sleepy faint good wishes will not serve the turn Love in Christ was stronger than death 't is pitty that any cold velleities of love and service should bee our sacrifice All blessings of the World should endear us more and more to the Lord but oh what an Obligation should it bee that Christ became a Curse for us The very Master-piece of all mercies and blessings to the Elect yea it gives a sweet seasoning to all our blessings which have a Curse cleaving to them for all that are out of Christ turning all their sweet morsels into the poyson of Asps or into gravel Prov. 1.32 yea their prosperity is destructive Alas what are Riches and Accommodations and good fare when the Lord once charges Sin upon the conscience what is it to bee rich and reprobate to bee deliciously fed with the rich Glutton and a damned creature The World is a Prison and Riches are shakels Creatures are enemies all wee have is vanity and vexation of spirit all blessings turned into cursings Mercies are curses without Christs death yea and all Ordinances gifts parts duties c. without Christs blood are but carnal things You say how doth that appear why Eph. 1.3 those are alone spiritual
their sin But the same are beloved as touching Election even before their Calling As Absolon was beloved of David as a Son but hated as a Rebel and Traytor 2 Two things must bee considered in the love of God his benevolence and his beneficence Or his affection to the Elect and his manifestation thereof That is eternall in Election This is not until they are brought home to Christ 1 Joh. 4 9. Before the Elect do beleeve the wrath of God and all the effects of that wrath are removed from their persons by the satisfaction of Christ and they have interest in the special love of God But not in knowledge sense and injoyment thereof until faith bee wrought 1 Joh 4.16 1 Reas From the Office of Christ as being made Mediatour betwixt God and man Now the Mediatours work is to bring both the parties at oddes unto peace and attonement Thus Christ Isa 9.7 Col. 1.20 Hee makes peace by the blood of his Cross i.e. the bloody death upon the Cross And all those that are in Christ do partake in their measure and as they are capable of all the benefits of Christ and are free from the wrath of God 2 Reas From their union with Christ Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ 3 Reas Because this is all that God requires that there should bee a full satisfaction made to him for the injuries done to him by sinful creatures whether the satisfaction be made by themselves or by their surety Heb. 7.22 Now the surety being of Gods own appointment the satisfaction such every way as cannot be excepted against it must needs follow that God can have no further controversy with them that are in Christ 4 Reas This was one end of Christs sending into the world to pacify his Fathers wrath 1 Joh. 4.10 Now then if this should not bee accomplished fully his incarnation his grievous sufferings and his fathers love to the Elect should all be in vain Use 1. The dreadful condition of those that are not in Christ This shews their misery that are not in Christ in that they are objects of the displeasure and wrath of God What comfort can any poor creature have when God is angry with him Rom. 1.18 The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all c. God hath power enough to punish sin and justice that hee will do it and this hee hath revealed from heaven in those unknown and unknowable sufferings of his Son Jesus Christ Let mee say to you as Paul to Agrippa Do yee beleeve the Prophets or Apostles either Oh why should I propound such a question in this place and in these professing daies Alas if wee did all beleeve them why are there so many half Christians amongst us Do they know the power of thine anger O Lord as Moses Psal 90.11 Thou that diddest not spare the Angels that sinned but castedst them down to Hell and deliveredst them unto chains of darkness to bee reserved to the judgement of the great day 2 Pet. 2.4 what will thy justice and wrath bee to other sinners Consider the Angels what glorious creatures they were what an innumerable company there was of them and what chains of darknesse are cast upon them already and what further terror of eternal judgement is expected by them and reserved for them and that for one sin How comes this to pass why because they have no Christ no propitiation no Mediatour to suffer and satisfy for them Deut. 29.24 What then meaneth the heat of this great anger Even to shew thee that whilst thou art without Christ thou art in the state of the very Devils thy glory or excellency shall not deliver thee from wrath any one of thy sins may make thee eternally miserable O remember this and shew your selves men bring it again to mind O ye Transgressors Isa 46.8 shew your selves to have the understanding of reasonable creatures and that in the knowledge of this Not so much the motions of the Heavens or any such curious Arts had need to bee known by you but the motions of Hell what rivers of brimstone are running there kindled by the wrath of this angry God Quest Who are those that know not the power of Gods anger Who they are that know not Gods anger Answ 1 They that fear it not but are bold in committing of sin Jer. 8.6 that do rush into sin as the horse in the battel Jerem. 8.6 Like the horse of war Job 39.22 29. he knows not what hurt the sword or the spear may do him therefore he fears them not So it is with them that are bold to commit any though the smallest sin that they know to be a sin 2 They that are hardened in sin Eph 5.6 those unperswadable persons As Covetous persons gather gold so these do adde sin to sin and fuel to fire and wrath to wrath against the revelation of the righteous judgement of God Rom. 2.3 hence Rom. 9.22 they are called vessels of wrath and they shall bee filled brimful with it Zach. 7.11 12. They refused to hearken and pulled away the shoulder and stopped their ears that they should not hear This is the very description of a hard heart Oh yee generation of vipers can yee escape the damation of hell said our Saviour Mat. 23.33 3 There bee Lingerers that as Lot do delay to depart out of Sodome after they are warned of eminent judgements These know not the dread of Gods anger The children of God are sometimes too slack in preventing particular judgements But the case is far worse with them who lye in a state of sin untepented of and are every moment exposed to eternal vengeance And the best that they will bee brought unto is but promises and purposes of amendment hereafter Ah how quickly is Gods anger kindled Josh 22.18 yee have sinned to day and to morrow hee will bee wroth How immediately and dreadfully did hee destroy Corah Nadab and Sapphira c. And though hee bee patient yet hee hath not limitted any set time for his patience to bee protracted to Sometimes hee cuts off men in the very act of sin and then all their good purpose sdo perish 4 Those who when Gods anger hath seized on them in part they take a wrong course and fall to shifting off the hand of God e.gr. They are sick and they run to the Physitian they are poor and they fall to filching and over-reaching c. and so in like cases But Christ is forgotten all this while yea and sin too and thus they regard not the removal of that These are they whom Elihu speaks of Job 36.21 that choose sin rather than affliction and hope to escape affliction by sin forgetting the true cause that is Gods displeasure and the certain remedy that is the grace of Christ 5 Stiff unbeleevers the wrath of God abideth on them that shall never be removed John 3. last verse Object But wee see wicked
In former times by the sacrifice of the Law the Mercy Seat and other types thus was Christ then set forth Act. 10.36 All these interpretations are usefull and precious which I comprehend therefore in this Doct. Christ was purposed and proposed our Propitiation That God the Father purposed from eternity and proposed in fulness of time his Son Jesus Christ to bee the propitiation for sinners 1 It s much insisted on in Scripture that the eternal decree and purpose of God is mentioned as the ground mark of our redemption 1 Pet. 1.2 Elect according to the fore-knowledge of God and the sanctification of the Spirit and obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Here wee have three works of the divine persons in the salvation of souls The Fathers election the Sons redemption and the Spirits application And these two latter are grounded in the former As also 1 Thess 5.9 1 Joh. 4.10 Act. 4.28 2 Christ was proposed formerly in the Old Testament I mean in the promises prophecies and types Act. 10.36 Luke 1.70 1 Pet. 1.10 11. The Prophets prophecyed of the grace of God in Christ and testified before hand of the sufferings of Christ c. Heb. 9.22 3 Most clearly in the Gospel-times 1 Pet. 1.20 The Lamb fore-ordained was manifested and offered in our times 2 Tim. 1.9 10. Gods purpose and grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the World began but is now made manifest by Christ c. when he came in flesh then was the fountain set open Zach. 13.1 Quest How was the decree of God the Father about the propitiation of Christ Answ There was from all eternity a gracious Covenant betwixt the persons of the Holy Trinity as it is expressed Isa 53.10 c. with Heb. 10.8 The Father saith If hee will make his soul an offering for sin c. And the Son saith Loe I cometo do thy will my God Quest Why did God the Father purpose from eternity Christ to be our propitiation Answ No reason can bee given but the good pleasure of the Lord Isa 53.10 It pleased the Lord to bruise him c. It s called the love of God and the free love of God 1 Joh. 4.10 that hee sent his Son to bee our propitiation Nothing without God whether faith or works or perseverance foreseen could move God to purpose any mans salvation For I may speak it with reverence God could not foresee any mans faith and good works except hee had decreed to give faith and obedience too himself Quest Why did God propose in the times of the Old Testament Christs propitiation Answ 1. It was necessary for the salvation of all the Elect before the comming of Christ there being no salvation to be had in any other but him Act. 4.12 and no salvation by Christ but by his sacrifice Heb. 9.22 but this is certain that God appointed their salvation and therefore appointed the means thereof that is the proposal of the Sacrifice and propitiation of Christ 1 Thess 5.19 2 It was necessary for after times for hence it is that Christ and his Apostles did Preach still out of the Old Testament Besides If they had one way of salvation and wee another then there would have been more waies to heaven than one and that would have endangered our salvation for wee should have been left in doubt and suspicion which way to take But the Scripture shews us that wee must bee saved as the fathers were Act. 15.11 Quest Why was Christs sacrifice proposed so openly since the comming of Christ Answ 1. In respect of the Elect both Jews and Gentiles that both might see their free admittance to him and acceptation in him Act. 2. cap. 3. 2 In respect of the reprobates that they might be left without excuse and Gods justice cleared in their destruction Eph. 2.13 Use 1. The hainousness of their sin who do neglect Christ This may serve to discover the hainousnesse of their sin that do either neglect or despise Christs Sacrifice or propitiation For 1 Consider that that revelation of Christ in the Old Testament though but dark and imperfect yet was sufficient and effectual unto the salvation of all the Elect then the Patriarks and Prophets c. John 1.29 Act. 10.43 Could the Ceremonies and the shadows save how much more Jesus Christ the body it self as hee is now revealed Could they see the Promises afar off and embrace them then And wee when they are near at hand put them away from us Had they but the predictions of Christs death and were saved by it and wee are not who have the full accomplished thereof God reserved for us these better things sad and very sinful is it if wee become never the better but the worse Act. 13.32 33. The Promise which God made unto the Fathers hee hath fulfilled unto us their children the neglect of these must needs be a more hainous sin for which the Patriarks and Prophets of old shall stand up in the judgement and condemn us 2 Because Christ is so generally and freely offered to all that will receive him Rev. 22.17 Whosoever will let him come and take of the waters of life freely What can men say but that their destruction is now of themselves wholly and that they are self-murtherers This will make the fire of Hell furnace seven times hotter than ordinary and worse than Sodomes Hell to think how ready and open the way to the Mercy Seat was and nothing hindered thee from it but thine own vile heart To see persons worse sinners than thy self saved in Heaven and thou thrust out Mat. 8.11 12. Many shall come from the East and West c. 3 It s aggravated by this that Jesus Christ was the onely propitiation determined of God for sinners from everlasting both his person and the manner of his redemption Psal 33.11 And hence unless wee could null the Counsel of God its impossible to finde any other propitiation No equivalent price for mans redemption besides this No Mercy Seat but meerly this By Gods decree the matter is eternally limitted that there is not any other way than by Christs death How shall wee escape if wee neglect so great Salvation Heb. 2.2 3. what recompence of vengeance can bee sufficient for this sin not onely if wee despise or scorn but if wee neglect or care not for this salvation Now hee that doth take care about this salvation will use all means rowl every stone take any pains about it will as Darius Dan. 6.14 18. Set his heart to the matter cared for it laboured about it passed the night without his accustomed meal his musick or his sleep and early and in haste arose and went unto Daniel whom he cared for thus 2 Cor. 7.11 Now if this bee the true care then those who have no fixed settled serious thoughts about their salvation That will not abate one jot of their sinful delights nor carnal contentments for it but
not hasty in concluding that thou hast it And for the discovery of this whether thou art in the faith consider these trials 1 more general 2 more particular 1 More general Consider First Tryals of faith whether thou hast a lower work of faith which although it doth not justify yet it is a step unto the other viz. to beleeve the truth of all the things that are written in the Law and the Prophets Act. 24.14 It thou hast not a dogmatical faith of these thou art worse than the Devils and if thou beleevest them but as the Devils thou shalt have no more benefit by thy saith than the Devils have But if this faith have a tendency to justifying Faith it is of pretious use to thee and causeth thee as it did Paul to exercise thy self to have a Conscience void of offence toward God and man ver 16. This is known very much by your beleeving the Commandements as well as the Promises but see do you beleeve the Commandements hee that beleeves them will set upon the obeying of them Heb. 11.8 yea he will have respect to every Commandement do you beleeve the threatnings Sure then you will tremble at them So David did Psal 119.120 Isa 66.2 5. As when wee see a Childe shooting at us wee fear not his arrows not will stir for him because we beleeve not that hee can or will hurt us But if we see a skilful archer to level at us wee will not dare to stand within bow-shot because wee beleeve hee will hit us So 't is in apprehending Gods threatnings against our sins When he shoots his arrows at us Ps 45.5 certainly if a man beleeves not Commands and Threatnings hee beleeves not with justifying faith Yea see how thou likest the faithful application of the word to thy conscience especially when it is impartial A naughty unbeleeving heart will turn from it 2 Tim. 4.3 at the least hee doth not love to apply it to himself for his profit Heb. 4.2 and such a hearer may sit under the means all his life time and never bee the better 2 See whether thy faith bee a working faith By this thou shalt know whether it bee the work of God if it act vigorously against the allowance of any sin that Faith which lyeth dead and idle is like a dead and unsavory carcass in Gods accompt Jam. 2.22 24. that Faith that works not by repentance Mark 1.15 that works not by love Gal. 5.6 that brings not forth good fruits that bauks any duty and imboldens to any Sin Col. 1.10 Psal 119.1 2. it is not hard for him that shall descend into his own conscience to discern what manner of faith hee hath attained unto 3 See whether your faith bee any other than what you have by natural power and abilities attained unto hee that hath no other hath not this saving faith wrought in him for this is wrought by a divine supernatural power Matth. 16.17 flesh and blood hath not revealed it Col. 2.12 Faith of the operation of God Eph. 1.19 It is true a carnal man may do many duties required of him in the moral Law for the outward performance because hee hath the seeds of the Law left in him but saving faith must bee created and wrought onely by the power of God which shews that the faith of some is but a meer fancy seeing they have no more than meer nature in them there was never any difficulty in the attainment of it 4 It is a grace that is not wrought in the heart unless soundly humbled Neither will ever abide in a proud heart how can you beleeve c. Joh. 5.44 Heb. 2.4 See how the Lord brought down Paul and the Jaylor and those Act. 2. So that until Pride and Self conceitedness and Vain-glory and Contempt of others bee removed yea all glorying in and boasting of our own righteousnesse And unlesse the heart bee brought to some constant frame of humility it neither will or can beleeve And the want of this is the cause why so many Professors turn to errours and prophaneness and a loose kinde of life it comes from the unbrokenness and untamedness of their hearts Now Faith of all other graces is a heart-breaking and soul-humbling grace More particularly There are divers degrees and measures of faith And wee must take heed that wee do not lay stumbling blocks before the eies of weak beleevers by setting down such trials of faith as belong onely to strong beleevers Such as Abraham Moses Job c. When as weak ones cannot finde them in themselves they disquiet themselves without just cause For clearing of which consider some signs of the weakest faith out of Mark. 9.24 where you shall find an example in the poor man that brought his Son to our Saviour Christ to bee healed and made profession of his Faith in which wee may observe these particulars Signs of the weakest faith 1 There is a sound Conviction of his unbeleef hee perceives what an unbeleeving heart hee had and this is the first work of the Spirit of God Joh. 16.8 and a work perceiveable by the weakest beleever now none can convince the soul of its unbeleef but the Spirit of God and this is such a conviction as causeth the sinner not onely to see but to mourn for his unbeleef before the Lord to pray and strive earnestly against it He said with Tears Lord help my unbeleef hee therefore that is not sensible of this sin on the like manner hath not so much as a weak faith wrought in his heart 2 There is a strong desire after faith and grace and Christ So there was in this poor beleever It is ordinary in the Scripture to expresse the nature of the weakest faith by hunger and thirst as Joh. 7.37 38. now that signifies a restless desire after Christ and Grace accompanied alwaies with strong indeavours in the use of the means to attain unto the things desired It is not a lazy and listless desire such as the Sluggard hath which kills him but such as sets the heart and outward man on work to attend diligently on the means of grace to attain unto faith in Christ and that in a greater measure Wherefore let lubberly and lazy Professors take notice of this that they have no true faith in their hearts 3 In this beleever there was a holy jealousy that hee might not bee deceived about his grace that made him so to complain A weak beleever deals like a wise man that is but a young beginner and newly set up in his trade hee fears exceedingly lest hee should bee deceived with counterfeit wares or copper mony so it is with a provident Christian hee is very circumspect and wary lest hee should bee deceived with Copper and Alchymy faith Therefore hee loves a faithful and searching Ministry that will gage his heart and discover the unsoundness of it Joh. 3.21 Hee comes to the light that his deeds may bee made manifest
Image in so much that hee hath the fathers broad Seal to bee our propitiation and it can be had no where else 3 Hee is the fathers Annointed who received the Spirit without measure qualifying and furnishing of him with all such sufficiencies as were requisite to his Mediators office and this unction was with the Holy Ghost and Power Act. 10.38 i.e. with power to do whatever his office required to be done Mot. 2 Consider Christ in his person as hee is Immanuel God in our nature as being man hee is fit to be a propitiatory sacrifice and being God is able to vanquish all his sufferings and to give infinite vertue and value to them Being man he is flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone and hath a feeling of our infirmities and being God hee is able to apply all his sufferings unto us that a poor beleever may call him Ithiel and Ucal Prov. 30.1 God with mee and the strong one 2 As hee is a middle Person a Mediatour betwixt God and man 1 Tim. 2.5 6. Heb. 8.6 A Mediatour of a better Covenant established on better promises he is a daies-man between God and sinful man and one fit to deal with both parties at Variance And therefore wee need not complain as Job doth Job 9.32 33. Hee is not a man as I am that I should answer him and wee should come together in Judgement neither is there any daies man or umpire between us that may lay his hand upon us both Yea but Jobs redeemer was a fit redeemer and umpire that could lay his hand upon God and take up all matters with him and lay his hand upon the sinner and bring him to God again 3 Consider Christ in all his fulness and freeness to Communicate that fulness of his His fulness Col. 1.19 it pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell See also 1 Cor. 1.30 Heb. 7.25 how free hee is to communicate his fulness Heb. 2.17 Hee is a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining unto God to make attonement c. Joh. 7.37 38. hee makes solemn Proclamation of mercy to all commers and promises the Spirit of grace unto them 4 Consider Christ as just and a justified person and so fitted to purchase and procure our justification Truely if he had not been justified hee could not have justified us 1 Tim. 3.16 hee is said to bee justified in the Spirit i. e. justified by his divine nature whereby hee raised up himself from the dead As at his death hee was condemned by all sorts so at his resurrection hee was absolved and justified from the sins of his Elect imputed unto him and from all the accusations of the world who looked upon him as a grievous malefactour So that his righteousness both personal and publike appeared before all the world and that God the Father was well pleased with him and in him with all that shall beleeve on him Mot. 3. Consider the pretious excellency of the grace of Faith Which appears 1 In that it is an uniting grace It tyes and unites the soul to Christ and to God in Christ Other graces make the soul to bee like to Christ but faith makes the soul to bee one with him Eph. 3.17 thy Love Patience Humility Heavenly-mindedness make thee very like to Jesus Christ but faith makes thee to bee one with him as a member with the head and that is a greater and better condition for ought I can conceive than the state of the Elect Angels Though they are confirmed in glory by Christ yet they are not so united to Christ as a Beleever is They are the children of God by Creation but Beleevers by Adoption being united to the natural Son of God 2 This is the grace that assures us of our eternal Election Act. 13.48 Tit. 1.1 wee may thence most certainly conclude that our Names are written in the book of life Gods Council concerning our everlasting estate lies hidden in the bosome of God till such time as hee commends his love to us in his Son Jesus by working faith in our hearts this is the Coppy of Gods eternal decree and hath written upon it concordat cum originali it agrees with the Original This is the very meaning of this grace that God hath set his heart upon thy soul Now what ever God gives else as Honour Riches or Excellent spiritual gifts without faith brings but little comfort and a man may be a reprobate for all these things which fall alike to the just and unjust 3 Faith in Christ possesseth us of him and that no other grace will do Eph. 3.17 Heb. 11.1 And hence it is the first quieting-grace to the soul Isa 30.15 Thus saith the Lord in returning and rest yee shall bee saved in quietness and confidence shall bee your strength Heb. 4.1 3. there is a Promise made of entering into Gods Rest and wee enter into it by Faith wee who have beleeved are entered woe have this true Sabbath whereof the unbeleeving Jews had but the type wee have the true Canaan typified by the other this is the very Harbour of a tossed and weather-beaten soul As Mr. Burroughs well expresseth it Faith is the first grace that descries land when the soul is in the tempest and storm of a troubled Conscience Oh Beloved this is the excellency of faith that it not only discovers Land for wee may bee cast away for all that but it carries us safe into the harbour for that is our entrance into our Rest the landing of the wearied soul on Christ its rest Mat. 11.28 Quest But how should I get faith in Christ Direct 1 Be very careful to study the knowledge of Christ Yee may bee sure you cannot beleeve on him whom you do not know This is that which is commended by Christ himself as that wherein life eternal doth consist Joh. 17.3 and Paul who was rapt into the third heavens prefers this before any other knowledge Phil. 3.8 hee calls it the over-exceeding and super-excellent knowledge of Christ This is that which acquaints the soul with a Physitian a Redeemer a Saviour a Propitiation and whatever God requires for satisfaction or man desires or can desire for perfection Tell a wounded spirit that is full of horror of Conscience all the most profound and transcendent notions in the whole circle of Learning they will not a jot refresh him or bring him the nearer to heavenly joys Let him bee acquainted with all the motions of heaven they cannot bring him to heaven With all the secrets of nature they cannot bring him out of the dreggs of nature nor make him a Childe of Grace This is sufficiently experienced in the Heathen Philosophers who for all their great knowledge were ignorant of God witnesse the learned Athenians among whom the true God was but an unknown God Act. 17.23 and the reason was because their knowledge was not joyned with the knowledge of Christ There is no other knowledge
9.5 and this is a greater argument than the working any miracle true in a sense it is attributed also to the Apostles whose sins ye remit c. but this is but ministerially in the Court of the World or Church but in the Court of heaven none but God can forgive sin Now this shews the transcendent excellency of this grace The worth of Christs blood that it is the only remedy in the World for the disease of sin it is God only can cure us with the blood of Christ and this is the greatest miracle that ever was wrought for us that we read of in the Gospel 2 The great force of forgiveness appears by the price that was paid for the purchase of it It was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the worthy pretious blood of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.18 19. and it is expressed in the text in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his own blood as Beza notes The blood of Jesus Christ his Son 1 Joh. 1.17 Assuredly God 's love was so great to his onely begotten Son that if any creature could have laid down a sufficient price he would not have sent his Son out of his own bosome to make satisfaction Or if any other excellency in Christ as the integrity of his nature or his active obedience could have procured the pardon of sin for his Elect Christ should not have dyed for that end but Christ must bee offered to take away the sins of many Heb. 9.27 28. It is as if a subject have a disease that can bee cured no other way than with the heart blood of the Prince for no other potion than such an one will heal sins diseases and wounds for the Lord himself who is the onely wise God would not lay down more than was necessary and hence hee spared not his own Son but delivered him up c. Rom. 8.32 3 The worth of it appears because this is a leading grace in the new Covenant And though there bee many other blessings in the Covenant of Gods grace purchased by Christs blood for it purgeth our consciences Heb. 9.14 nourisheth all grace and works the growth and increase of it Joh. 6.55 and gives us an entrance into the holy of holies Heb. 10.19 I say though all other spiritual blessings do flow from Christ yet remission of sins is the chiefest of them the first grace in communion and the first in 〈…〉 soul that is united unto Christ Rom. 5.1 When wee are justified by Faith then follows peace and joy and access to God c. As a King first receiving a Rebel into favour forgives him his treason and disloyalty then hee 〈…〉 or priviledge upon him So the Lord 〈◊〉 in this case wee are all rebells against God and wee can expect nothing at the hands of God till our guilt curse horror and expectation of vengeance bee removed Now this cannot bee removed till Faith All unbeleevers being under condemnation â— So that pardon belongs onely to beleevers Isa 33. last and such an one David pronounceth blessed Psal 32.12 for forgiveness brings a man into favour with God and our salvation stands in it Luke 1.77 Oh let these and many other considerations stir up men highly to prize forgiveness of sins Remarkable is the reproof by the Evangelical Prophet Isa 55.2 Wherefore do you spead your silver c. why are you so eager about baser inferiour things you do but lose your mony and labour after them Moreover consider that Remission is equally bestowed on all beleevers Though some have more sins forgiven them than others yet all beleevers have their sins equally forgiven them the weaker ones as well as Abraham Rom. 4.22 23. and therefore being attainable by the weakest beleever all should look after it as a matter of greatest importance If we felt but the weight of guilt once wee should know what forgiveness is Psal 38.4 Let the conscience bee once arrested by God and persued by Divine Justice it would bee then like the entangled surety Prov. 6.4 Hee would give no sleep to his eies c. but would deliver himself as a Roe from the hands of the Hunter and as a bird from the hands of the Fowler Now I beseech you brethren get and maintain this experience of a wounded spirit get a clearer understanding and sense of your own guiltiness together with the loathsomenesse of sin and then wee shall know how to value the mercy of forgiveness None can prize health but a sick and languishing person nor food but the hungry So that when your soul is truely pained with the horror of sin then you will know better what the remission of sin is as David Psal 32. Exh. â— The second branch of this Exhortation is to testify your true prizing of Remission by unwearied diligence in the use of means to obtain it as First Leave not your heart and Conscience till they are shiftless and past all carnal evasions in regard of the charge of sin It is most sure that every soul naturally is at emnity with Christ hee is one of the Citizens that hated him and will not come at him as long as wee can shift without him So it was with the Prodigal Luk. 15.14 17. that would not come to his Father till hee had spent all and was driven to feed Swine yea to feed with them and no man gave to him So that hee was put beyond all his shifts before hee would return So God deals with sinners as Rom. 11.32 God hath shut up all in unbeleef that hee might have mercy upon all Gal. 3.22 The Scripture hath shut up all in sin c. Gods shutting up in both places seems to be by putting them beyond their shifts by the full convictions of his word that they have never a starting hole to escape by Oh beloved there is never a soul inlightned living under the means but is in a maze and runs from hole to hole from mountain to hill and being ferreted out of one hole runs into another There is no remission in this case whilst you are running like Adam to shift into a wood far away from God as you think but all your strong holds must bee pulled down 2 Cor. 10.4 2 Take a thorough survey of the free offers of Christ and him crucifyed to every soul that hears the Gospel preached and this is both by God the father and Christ himself Joh. 6.40 Rom. 5.8 Joh. 3. â—7 Isa 11.10 Act. 10.43 Rev. 3.20 Now in this case consider two things 1 What end the Lord hath or can have in offering himself thus to a vile sinner who shall bee the gainer if wee do receive him or the looser if wee receive him not what said John the Baptist to our Saviour though hee were more than a Prophet Mat. 3.14 I have need of being baptized of thee and comest thou to mee to bee sure wee have need of Christ but hee hath no need of us Yea what need hath Christ of a
are the more blinded and hardned by the means and grow worse and worse and never beleeve and never are justified and therefore were never elected For the love of God remember this that obdurate and continued unbelief under the means of Grace is a very Brand-mark of a Reprobate Dreadful is that place 2 Co. 4.4 5. If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that be lost in whom the god of this world hath blinded the eyes of them that beleeve not And remember Joh. 10.26 Obj. 1. But such as these have many good parts good knowledge judgement memory skill in Arts and Tongues Orthodox in Religion yea it may bee just in their dealings live peaceably with their neighbours repair to Ordinances diligently full of good works of mercy courteous and loving in their behaviour c. will you not say that such as these are elected Ans This I will say that these things will not prove to our hearts that we are gone beyond the state of Reprobates Heb. 11.6 Without faith it is impossible to please God Righteousness is unto all and upon all that beleeve but upon none else though Parts Gifts outward conformity and many other natural and moral Excellencies may bee in whom Christs righteousness is not witnesse Judas the Pharisees and others Object 2. But God can do much and save mee at last Answ But thou must look to the ordinary and ordinate power of God which works suitably to his will yea his revealed will and that is not to save but by faith 1 Pet. 1.5 True the absolute power of God can do much but it doth not cross his secret determination or revealed purpose for end or means and God hath sworn that an unbeleever shall not enter into his rest Heb. 3.11 18. and is it possible God should be forsworn Object But many gracious Promises are made by God Answ See for that Heb. 4.1 2. And fear lest a Promise being made c. you come short of it c. Object But I may beleeve hereafter and so have Gods righteousness imputed to me and this will be an evidence of Gods Election in me Answ I will not deny that for otherwise it were clear that thou art a reprobate and the Gospel should no more be preached to thee than to the Devils But let mee tell thee thus much it is a very sad condition for any one long to stand out under powerful means in unbeleef and a deadly Symptome As it is in a disease wherein the strongest medicines have been applyed yet work no cure but the disease grows worse and worse It is a strong presumption that such a disease will never bee healed Jerem. 51.9 Wee would have healed Babylon but shee is not healed forsake her c. Prov. 29.1 Hee then being often reproved c. The Jews among whom our Saviour had Preached and wrought many miracles beleeved not because Isaiah had said Hee hath blinded their eies c. Joh. 12.37 39. So it is with some that stand out long under the means that they are blinded and hardened to their destruction However it is a grievous condition for any poor soul to live in the want of the comfort of Gods eternal election as every unbeleever doth Use 3. It is unspeakable comfort to a true Beleever Hee may hence undoubtedly conclude these things 1 That Christs righteousness is imputed to him 2 That hee is eternally elected 3 That hee shall never lose his faith or the righteousnesse received 4 That hee is no less justified or righteous than any of the faithful from the beginning It is true a weaker measure of faith doth less firmly apprehend this benefit but it doth as truely belong to one beleever as another and there is a double certainty one of the Object and as in the particulars named 2 Tim. 2.19 The foundation of God standeth sure And there is a certainty of the Subject that is the Minde and Heart of the Beleever this is often shaken in the Faithful with Doubts and Fears and Carnal Cavils but it is to bee striven against and every one that beleeves in Truth and knows it ought as certainly to conclude with himself that his sins are forgiven him and righteousness is imputed unto him as hee ought certainly to beleeve the Gospel or God in the Gospel John 3.33 1 John 5.10 Rev. 2.17 And as it is certain so it is unchangeable the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it Christ hath prayed that it fail not Luke 20.22 23. Lastly There is no difference all have righteousnesse alike that is the one robe that serves to cover one and all the rest of the members of Christ By the Righteousness of one the free gift came upon all c. Rom. 5.18 The weakest Beleever is as Righteous before God as Paul Peter Abraham c. This Righteousnesse is not imputed to some more and to some lesse but as the Sun shines alike to all that have eies to see it or to all upon whom it is risen So also the Sun of righteousnesse Vse 4. Exhort To every one then to thrust in amongst the crowd of true Beleevers and to labour to be in the number of them to give diligence to make your calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 Make first your calling sure which is done when saith is wrought and then you need not climbe into Heaven to know whether you are appointed to Justification and Salvation Do but look into your own hearts whither you have faith without Hypocrisy 1 Tim. 1.2 2 Tim. 1.5 that is faith without reigning hypocrisy but here you had need of some Cautions Caut. 1. Cozen not your selves with presumption instead of faith as the most Professors do Caut. 2 Look not at all true faith as that which is justifying there is a true faith a man may make Ship-wrack of 1 Tim. 1.19 but that cannot bee said of Justifying Faith Caut. 3. See that wee do not make an Idol of Faith as though it had any inward virtue in it self to justify a sinner before God For this were to make the Righteousnesse of God in vain for to bee justified by faith is no more than to bee justified by Christ and they are spoken promiscuously Gal. 2.16 17. Caut. 4. That wee do not bring a faith of our own making true faith is of the operation of God Col. 2.12 and it is not in the Creatures power to make it but see thy insufficiency to beleeve and unworthiness too that God should ever work it in thee especially in regard of thy sleighting Christ and grace many a time when it hath been offered to thee Caut. 5. Look not at that as true faith wherewith we can bee content to stand at a distance from Christ Beleeving on Christ is comming to him Joh. 6.35 Eph. 2.13 A beleever will get as near Christ as possibly hee can that Christ may dwell in his heart Eph. 3.17 but on the contrary it is very dreadful when as the soul
his grace wherein hee hath abounded towards us in all wisdome and prudence It was such abundance of wisdome that no creature could reach unto or comprehend that this strange way should bee found out for a sinners attonement 2 The Glory and Riches of Gods grace are singularly manifested hereby it had been glorious grace if that God should or could of his good will alone towards men have pardoned their iniquities as Saul said to David 1 Sam. 24.19 If a man find his enemy will hee let him go well away but sinful men and women which of themselves are Gods enemies and cannot hide themselves any where but God will finde them hee not only lets them go well away and freely pardons them but freely forgives them in such a way that cost him so exceeding dear as the blood of his onely Son When there was no other sufficient remedy for the misery of man but this when as the pardon and redemption of souls is so exceeding costly and pretious this above measure exalts the riches of Gods grace as David said 2 Sam. 24.24 I will not offer of that that cost mee nothing This was Davids royal spirit So this is Gods royal love that hee saved not his people in a way that cost him nothing 1 Joh. 4.9 10. Herein is the love of God manifest to us that hee sent his Son into the World to dye that wee might live by him And again Herein is love that hee sent his Son to bee a Propitition for our sins they that do not understand this have too low and mean conceits of the love and grace of God 3 Here is a demonstration of the glory of the Holinesse of the Lord in his so hating and punishing of sin even to the uttermost though but imputed and that to such a Son he that breaks a pitcher because deadly poyson was in it or burieth a beggars coat because infected with the plague shews his hatred to them but hee that throws away a vessel of gold because poysoned or burneth or burieth some royal and rich robes for the leprosy cleaving to them hee is carried with greatest indignation against the corruptions of them now this is the case of Gods hatred of the sins of the Elect imputed to the Son of God here is the pearl of great price even the richest treasure so and so dealt withall this is mighty holiness and hatred of sin Psal 99.8 9 It is said Thou art a God that forgavest them though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions Whence hee inferres Exalt the Lord our God for hee is holy hee speaks of the Lords manner of forgiving of the sins of his people it was with vengeance for their inventions surely this is an holy God but this is incomparably more to pardon the sins of his Elect in such a way by laying the chastisement of their peace on his only Son Oh what an holy God is this 4 Adde to the rest the glory of Gods Kingdome Providence and Government This is that which the Saints do blesse the Lord for Psal 145.10 11. They speak of the glory of thy kingdome and talk of thy power now the glory of Gods kingdome appears in this that hee rectifies all the disorders that are in the world by sin there is no confusion in the World but that which is in sin or brought in by it which hath made the world like that woful land Job 10.21 22. A land of darknesse and of the shaddow of death without order now to bring all into order again was a busy work and this is a glorious work of the government and providence of the Lord. There are strange examples of Gods glory in holy Writ concerning this in the sin of Josephs brethren selling Joseph into Egypt to bee a bond-servant accused imprisoned and in great abasement many years what strange disorder was here how strangely did the Lord rectify and amend this by setting him at liberty making him Ruler over all the land of Egypt and making his brethren to stoop to him and be beholding to him for their sustenance afterwards Another Example I might tell you of of the great confusion among the Jews by Hamans sin in the daies of Ahasuerus yet how gloriously did the Lord work for his Church in the confusion of Haman and the deliverance of the Church and the destruction of their enemies Here was a great deal of disorder by sin but Gods providence set all in right order again yea and brought great good out of all this disorder that wee may say according to Sampsons riddle out of the eater came forth meat and out of the strong sweetnesse but the matter in hand is a greater and deeper riddle Adams sin had brought a woful Ataxy and confusion into all the world and grievous dishonour to God then Providence findes out a way by the death and blood shed of the second Adam to bring all into a better order than ever they were before in the Lord makes a better and a surer covenant and ordered in all things 2 Sam. 23.5 and Christ is set up in his Kingdome to order and to establish it with justice and judgement for ever Isay 9.7 Ye may see by all this what abundance of glory redounds unto God by the death of Christ and the sinners justification thereby Vse 1. Refutation of Socinians Refutation of that damnable blasphemy of the Socinians in making the death of Christ onely exemplary and no wise satisfactory whereby they do rob God of his glory and would disappoint him of his principal end of the incarnation of his onely begotten Son yea and rob him of his glory which hee hath sworn that hee would not give unto another The Devil hath formerly done great mischief to Christian Religion by Heresies of Monstrous shapes but this is a blasphemy of a more bloody dye whereby hee induces down-right Paganism or as bad as Turcism again Oh that such a Godlesse Christlesse-villany should bee ever tollerated to harbour amongst Christians This is a lamentation and shall surely bee the saddest lamentation of these last perilous times Use 2. The Doctrin of Gods justice is sutable to the Gospel It may serve to discover and confute the general mistake and error about the Doctrin of the Gospel Truely the Lord hath dealt graciously with us in the times of the New Testament and especially with his people in these latter times wherein the Grace of God and the Riches therof are more abundantly sounded forth and magnified above former ages and most blessed is the estate of those vessels of Grace the persons that receive it in truth and are made partakers thereof but beloved I do very much fear lest that Satan get advantage by this means to make innumerable persons to miss their mark and Gods mark too causing them utterly to pervert the doctrine of the Gospel and the grace of God and his principal plot and purpose therein so as to cause many to forget
Controversie leaving things unrevealed to the Lord without doubt hee hath his ways of applying righteousnesse unto them though wee know it not neither doth it so much concern us the Lord in the Scriptures speaks to them that are of age and among them none shall be saved but such as lay hold upon imputed righteousnesse by faith As when he saith He that will not labour shall not eat 2 Thess 3.10 who will apply this to Infants So that Luke 13.3 5 10. Except yee repent yee shall perish Reas 2. From our election in Christ Ephes 3.4 the meaning whereof is 1 That God the Father hath chosen us in Christ as the Head that he may be the head of all the Elect and the Fountain of those good things which are made over to them in their election That is the meaning of 1 Pet. 1.20 when as Christ Jesus is said to be the Head of those that shall bee saved 2 In as much as Christ made manifest in the flesh shed his bloud for the sins of the elect and fulfilled all righteousnesse for them and made the way to eternal glory open to them Heb. 10.19 20. Joh. 10.11 3 In as much as the Elect doe apprehend him and his righteousnesse and satisfaction by faith and by it are ingrafted into him as branches into a true vine Eph. 3.17 and brought to the possession of all those good things which he hath purchased for them But the meaning of the place is not that we are chosen for Christ or that Christ Jesus was the cause of the Fathers electing of us but rather that we are chosen to be in Christ and being in Christ are made partakers of his satisfaction and righteousnesse which are made ours by faith 2 Branch That Gods righteousnesse is imputed and bestowed on all true beleevers without difference and none others Rom. 4.11 Abraham is the Father of Beleevers or all them that beleeve that righteousnesse might bee imputed to them also That look as Abraham beleeved God Rom. 4.3 and it was imputed to him for righteousnesse so it is with all the children of Abraham that they are justified by the same means and have righteousnesse imputed to them Hence it is called the Righteousnesse of faith Rom. 4.13 Phil. 3.9 that is the righteousnesse apprehended and appropriated to beleevers by faith Rom. 4.10 Christ is the end of the law c. to every one that beleeveth i. e. to every one without exception or distinction Acts 13.39 By him all that beleeve c. i. e. by Christ through whom is preached the forgivenesse of sins and so Joh. 3.16 whosoever beleeveth on him hath the righteousnesse of Christ imputed and for the contrary see Mar. 16.16 Joh. 3.18 36. Reas 1. From the equality of the estate of beleevers there is no difference in regard of sin in their Natural estate and this reason is given vers 23. All have sinned c. therefore where they are justified they stand alike in need of imputed righteousnesse the same being imputed to all neither is there any difference in regard of the truth of apprehending the righteousnesse of Christ by faith all true beleevers having the like precious faith 2 Pet. 1.1 now the old rule is that where equal things are added to equal all are equal still Their misery is equal their faith is equal their imputed righteousnesse is equal therefore there is no difference Reas 2. Because that God is one Rom. 3.30 there is one God that justifies the Circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through faith Hee proves that whether Jewes or Gentiles they are equally justified because there is but one God justifies both he means not only one God in regard of essence but one in regard of his will and promise So God is one and the same from the beginning to the end of the world and if hee should deal in a differing way with them in point of Justification he should not bee free from partiality and accepting of mens persons but that is farre from God for an equal price is paid for all and equal satisfaction to Gods Justice Reas 3. Because all unbeleevers or mis-beleevers are excluded from this grace Joh. 3.18 because they have not beleeved on the Name of the only begotten Son of God therefore they are condemned and left destitute of this imputed righteousnesse The dignity of the person and all-sufficiency of his satisfaction and righteousnesse the preciousnesse of the Name of the Son of God and also the Promises made in him doe all concur to the aggravation of the Sin of unbelief and hold unbeleevers in the state of Condemnation Vse 1. Righteousnesse being thus appointed and imputed to all true beleevers and to them only wee may then here see a refutation of two errors 1 Of those that affirm a man to bee justified before faith and from eternity which is an opinion contended for in these dayes and appears to be false for these reasons 1 Because no man can be said to beleeve from eternity and no man is justified before he beleeves No man beleeves before his calling wherein faith is wrought after which his justification follows Rom. 8.30 32. as Glorification and election unto glory doe differ so justification and election to justification differ so that although the elect are appointed to justification before faith yet they are not justified Rom. 8.29 A Sinner cannot be glorified from eternity unlesse wee will take up the error of Himeneus and Philetus 2 Tim. 2.17 18. that said the Resurrection was already past 3 Justification from eternity denies the Scripture that saith in divers places that a state of sin wrath and guilt goe before the state of justification and forgivenesse Eph. 2.1 2 3. 1 Cor. 6.9 10 11. Rom. 9.25 26. Many other things might bee urged to this purpose but my design now is not to enter on the handling of Controversies 2 The other error is that faith fore-seen is the moving cause of the election of Beleevers whereas imputation of righteousnesse and faith are fruits of election Jam. 2.8 2 Thess 2.13 Vse 2. A ground of unspeakable terrour to all unbeleevers and such as are destitute of justifying faith only by unbeleevers I mean those that live under the Gospel preached and faithfully dispensed and continue still in unbelief Many there be that think it a matter of bravery to stand out under a faithful Ministry against the offers of Christ in their pride covetousnesse and unbelief and slight the satisfaction and righteousnesse of Christ as if they were not worth a taking up or looking after What shall I say to such truly this I will say that they are Gospel unbeleevers And though I would not enter into Gods secrets yet undoubted it is that God's purpose of election Rom. 11.7 can never bee frustrate but must take effect in Gods time and those that are chosen to faith and justification shall beleeve and be justified under the means but what shall become of the rest Why they