to the Sinner because the Lord is God and not Man Therefore we Read that Mercy and Truth are met together Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other Psal 85. 10. God is as Just in Justifiing him that Believeth in Jesus as he is in Condemning the Unbeliever Rom. 8. 26. So that it as clear as the Sun shining at Noon day that as Mercy was the first and only moving Cause of Gods sending his Son into the World to save Sinners and therefore there was no need of his coming to procure Mercy his coming being the greatest Demonstration of Mercy and Love Joh. 3. 16. So likewise is it a Demonstration that all he did and especially what he Suffered was with respect to Justice The determinate Counsels of the Three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost the one Eternal God had first if we may to help the weakness of our understanding use such an expression as First or Second concerning the decrees of God I say the First thing God had in his Eye in saving Sinners by sending his Son into the World was the Manifestation of his own Glory This being the best good must be the First Cause and Last End of all Gods Works and in Subordination thereunto Gods Mercy and great Love wherewith he Loved us was the moving Cause of sending his Son into the World with respect to God himself the Manifestation of his own Glory was the Cause and must be the Effect and last End thereof with respect to us Love Pity and Compassion and Mercy was the First moving Cause and our Eternal Salvation the last End so then if Christ came to Expiate sin or to take away sin it must be to bear the punishment due to sin or to the Sinner for sin to take away the guilt of sin which cannot be done but by bearing the punishment due for sin the guilt must be taken away For God will by no means therefore not by Mercy it self clear the guilty Therefore the guilt must be taken away that Mercy may flow in with all its Blessed effects upon the Sinner therefore the Fathers sending his Son was the Highest Act of Mercy in the Father and the Sons coming and dying in our Nature was the highest Act of Love in the Son The thing it Self was all Mercy with respect to us and the doing of it was with respect to the Honour of Gods Law and and the Manifestation of his Justice and Truth Therefore Christ did not offer himself up as a Supplication to the Mercy of God but as an expiatory Sacrifice to his Justice and not as a partial expiating of sin for that would but in part take away guilt but all guilt must be taken away or else the sinner will remain guilty and God will by no means clear the guilty Hence we read of Gods forgiving for Christs sake Eph. 4. 32. and of Redemption through his Blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his Grace Here is Redemption but at no less Price than the Blood of Ghrist here is the forgiveness of sins but it is through the Blood of Christ for we are not Redeemed with Corruptible things but by the precious Blood of Christ Peter 1. 18 19. All which shews that we are freely Forgiven and yet Justice is fully satisfied God having no Motive nor was it possible he should to concern himself about our Salvation but his own Soveraign good Will and good Pleasure he will have Mercy because he will have Mercy This makes the difference between Man and Man and this makes the difference between Man and Devil he took not upon him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham And what ever Reasons may be given for this by those wise Criticks that will vainly intrude into those things that they have not seen yet they must at last all Center in this Even so O Father because it pleaseth thee It was the good pleasure of God to save his Elect therefore Christ did not come to purchase this good pleasure but to Execute it by taking away sin both in its guilt and filth and to bring in an Everlasting Righteousness Therefore we read the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand Isa 53. 10. Dan. 9. 24. And our Lord doth so often declare that he came not to do his own will but the will of him that sent him that is needless to mention particular Scriptures to prove it All which shows that Christ offering himself up by the Eternal Spirit as a Sacrifice to God was to take away sin both in the guilt and filth of it and had respect to the Justice and Holiness of God to Vindicate his Truth and the Honour of his Law in shewing Mercy to the Sinner Therefore it is said he was made sin for us that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him and in respect to Mercy and Love our Lord tells us At that day ye shall ask in my name and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you For the Father himself loveth you Joh. 16. 26. Yet if any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous 1 Epist of Joh. 2. 1. And he tells us again At that day ye shall ask in my name and I say unto you that I will pray the Father for you and in Joh. 16. ver 23. Verily verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you Which compared with Joh. 14. 13. 14. shews that the Father and the Son are One for saith he Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son And again in the next Verse If ye shall ask anything in my name I will do it All which shews that Christ did not purchase nor doth he interceed for the Fathers Love and Mercy but interceeds as an Advocate pleading his own merrit in taking away sin and bringing in an Everlasting Righteousness so that is for Gods glory the Honour of his Law the strickness of his Justice to shew Mercy to the Sinner Therefore he saith I will do it that the Father may be glorified in the Son And indeed it is little less then the Blasphemy to say that the Fathers Love and Mercy is not so great or was not so early as the Sons for God is of one Mind and who can turn him Having thus proved that Christ offered himself up as a Sacrifice to the Justice of God to make an Attouement for Transgression It will be necessary to enquire what kind of Priest and Sacrifice this must be what mighty Mediator this must be that interposeth between the Justice of God and the guilty Sinner Aand as the Doctrine of Satisfaction ought to be received with all Humility and Thankfulness with all Care and Watchfulness to prove our selves to be of the number of those that are Redeemed from
and only moving Cause of God's sending his Son into the World and therefore all that he did in the World could not be the Cause nor so much as a Means ro procure his Mercy consider'd without respect to Justice John 3. 16. For God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life Mercy and Love in God as the truly Rational and Heavenly Dr. Owen hath observed being no less than God's willing good to the Creature and whoever God wills Good to they must have that Good willed to them For God's Will in this Sence must infallibly be done both in Heaven and in Earth But God will not convey Good to any Creature in a way that shall destroy a greater Good then the Salvation of all the Men and Angels in Heaven and Earth will amount unto But such is the Manifestation of the Glory of God's Justice therefore though God's loving Kindness and Mercy was from everlasting and therefore needed not a Sacrifice in time to procure it much less a propitiatory one to appease it which is a Contradiction with a Witness but this is not to be taken Notice of in Men that have ingross'd all contradiction to themselves under the specious pretence of Reason for 't is below the pretended Wits of our Day the Great Vain glorious Freemen of the Common-Wealth of Wit and Learning to prove themselves little Fools But I say Mercy will never be extended in a way that in the least derogates from the Justice and Truth of God No Justice and Truth must be equally exalted with Mercy where-ever it is extended Therefore when God proclaims his Name in Exod. 34. 6 7. he proclaims himself to be a God that will shew Mercy and yet will by no means clear the guilty This you Men of Reason are pleased to contradict and do in so many words tell us that a Debt fully paid and yet freely for given is a contradiction Nameless Author page 6. col 1. And Mr. Considerator calls it a Mock Payment pag. 13. col 1. But we know the things of God useth to be accounted Foolishness with Men but Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ we do as well know that God hath made foolish the Wisdom of this World and that the foolishness of God is Wiser then Men 1 Cor. 1. 20 21 25 26 27. But in the aforesaid Exod. 34. The Lord proclaims himself to be the Lord God merciful and Gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness and Truth Pray observe goodness and Truth must go together and without Truth Goodness would cease to be so And in verse 7. He saith Keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity Transgression and sin and that will by no means clear theguilty Now Gentlemen are you not ashamed if you are not you may be to say a Debt fully paid and yet Freely forgiven is a Contradiction for do you not thereby Contradict God himself and Charge him with Folly and Falshood who saith he will pardon iniquity and forgive sin and yet will by no means clear the guilty Surely God is true and can no more Lye then he can dye or deny himself therefore his infinite wisdom hath contrived that which his Almighty Power hath effected a way to pardon sin and yet by no means clear the guilty This could not be done by offering up a Sacrifice to the Mercy of God nor was there any need of such a thing Mercy being the first moving Cause of setting infinite Wisdom to Work to find out a way to save the sinner and yet not clear the guilty and at the same time to save the Honour of Gods Law and to vindicate the immutability of his Truth to shew Mercy to the sinner and yet at the same time to magnifie his Law and make it Honourable Isa 44. 21. to magnifie his Mercy and yet at the same time and by the same way and means and with respect to the very same Persons to exalt his Justice This was a Work becoming God because no Created being had Wisdom and Power to do so and as it is wonderful in its own Nature so likewise should it be to us and Humbly and thankfully closed up with It is not to be quarrelled with but if you will reject the Counsel of God against your selves because it is Foolishness with you yet know you that to them that believe Christ is the Wisdom of God and the Power of God and they do receive this Truth with all manner of Acceptation And although it may seem to be foolishness to you wise Grecians yet to them that believe both Jews and Greeks Christ is the Wisdom of God and the Power of God hence it comes to pass that the Lord is well pleased for his Righteousness sake he thereby magnifying his Law and making it Honorable this answers the end of God both in Creation and Redemption The end of God was to manifie his own glory but for which he would not have descended into the Work of Creation nor Redemption For he bath made all things for himself even the wicked for the day of evil Prov. 16. 4. And we are Redeemed and Called for this very end that we may be to the Praise of the Glory of his Grace in Christ Jesus Eph. 1. 6 12. Yet so as that the Glory of his Justice might shine forth with equal Luster with his Mercy Rom. 3. 25 26. Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through Faith in his blood to declare his Righteousness for the Remison of sins that are past through the forbearance of God ver 26. To declare I say at this time his Righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus God doth all things becoming himself and Gods glory being the chiefest good and the manifestation thereof the Highest end God could have no Lower end than the manifestation of his own Glory as the first and chief end in the Work of our Redemption and our Salvation next thereunto A wise Man will not do great and Noble things for a base and low End how much less will God save sinners in a way that advances the Glory of one attribute to the abasement or in the least Ecclipsiing the Glory of another This would reflect on his Wisdom and Power but God will not God cannot extend Mercy in a way that may reflect on his Justice and Truth If the King pardon a Convicted Traytor he thereby extends his Mercy and shews a great deal of Pitty and Compassion and good Will to the Person of the Traytor But he cannot with respect to that Person but stop the Execution of Justice and the Law in that particular Falls to the Ground and that because he is Man and not God but not one jot nor Title of Gods Law shall Fall to the Ground neither shall Justice be in the least stopt or Suspended by Gods extending Mercy
11th page not only denies it but also acknowledges if he be so he must be the Living and True God because it is an incommunicable Attribute of God Now we have our Lor'ds Words for it over and over again that he will be with his People in all places in the World Now whether Mr. Considerator will believe our Lord's Words or give him the Lye or whether his Reason hath taught him that the Humane Nature of Jesus Christ is bodily present with his People in all places and at all times and if so he gives himself the Lye Or whether he will believe that he is the Living and True God and fills Heaven and Earth with his Presence Let him choose I am not to be accountable for his Faith But the Considerator goes on in his 11th page and tells us some of their Number think Our Lord Jesus Christ may be invocated in Prayer not because he is omnipresent or omniscient but because it pleased the Father to reveal to him our Prayers And quotes Revelation 1. 1. He might as well have quoted Mark 13. 32. For neither of those Texts speak of Prayer but of the Humane Nature of Jesus Christ and if he had been writing to those that deny his Humane Nature they had been to his purpose But Christians that believe him to be Godman are confirm'd in their Faith by these Texts as by several other in Revelations and elsewhere He being that wonderful Person who is the First and Last who was dead and is alive But if some of your Number scruple praying to him I do not know any of the Number of Christ's Disciples that make any scruple of it Stephen the first Christian Martyr dyed calling upon God and saying Lord Jesus receive my Spirit Acts 7. 5. But pray Sir sometimes you pretend to be a Man of Reason but as is your Reason so is your Divinity The Scriptures speak every where of coming to the Father by the Son not to the Son by the Father Ephes 2. 18. Through him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father Neither can any man come to the Father but by the Son John 14. 6. But if the Father reveal our Wants to him and he cannot know them by his own Omnisciency then we are necessitated to come to the Son by the Father and instead of Jesus Christ spreading our Wants and offering our Prayers to the Father with his own Incense the Father must offer up our Prayers to the Son It is not for Mechanicks to call the Learned Blockheads nor will I presume to determine whether it be a Common or a Strange Thing to find such a Monster as a Learned Dunce among the Schoolmen But I must needs say this Sir that notwithstanding your great Boasting in your 44th page of your being free of the Common-Wealth of Wit and Learning though I will not question the Copy of your Freedom of the City of Learning And yet we Mechanicks have so high an Esteem for the Noble City of Learning that we cannot think such Jolts could ever attain the Honour of being free of that City But that we are inform'd that it is the Custom of that City confirm'd by a Law made by a Common Council of the same for the Encouragement of Strangers to send their Children thither that after seven years Service every Tutor shall be obliged to make all his Dunces free But notwithstanding all this Sir I think it is a Reproach to the States of the Common-Wealth of Sound Reason to naturalize such Gentlemen as you are among them Yet I would not reflect on the Proceedings and Conduct of that Sereen Republick And therefore I do freely acknowledge that it is very probable that we Mechanicks may not understand the Meaning of some of those Learned Words that flow so naturally from such great Criticks as you are we having not the Gift of divers kinds of Tongues And therefore it is probable that by Wit and Learning you mean only the Den of Subtilty and Cunning Sophistry whereby you are enabled to devise cunning Fables to deceive us Laymen if God do not give us more Grace and Sound Reason to withstand you And so you may notwithstanding all this foolish Flourish pag. 44. be Strangers and Alliens from the Common-wealth of Sound Reason And truly you have little Reason to Glory in your being free of the Den of Subtilty and Cunning for when you have done all you can the Old Serpent will outdo you in that kind of Learning and Logick But I think it is almost time for me to take my leave of Mr. Considerator for although I promised my self great Improvements of my Reason when I first saw his Title Page and no doubt but much might have been learn'd from him had his Book been as rational as his Attempt is daring and bold And yet upon a Close View I do not find his Reasons are any other that what are contained or may be reduc'd to what I find in my short Accountant save only that his great Learning hath puft him up with so much Vanity that he is not ashamed to speak evil of Dignities But Mr. Considerator goes on in his 11th page from denying the Omnipresence of Christ to deny the Satisfaction of Christ's Death And in page 12. colum 1. he saith The end of Christ's Death was to recommend Mankind to the Mercy Forgiveness and Favour of God And again Col. 2. he saith He suffered to recommend us unto the Mercy of God And in page 32. colum 1. he saith Though he would willingly give it us in the Lord Bishop of Sarum's Words and doth indeed no less than charge his Lordship with a Dissent from the Catholick Church in his 1st colum page 31. But in page 32. colum 1. he saith The Sacrifice of Christ was not tendered to the Justice of God as an equivalent Amends or Reparation but to his mercy as a Supplication and as such accepted And this he saith the Socinians contend for but pray Sir let us reason the Case a little about this Account that you give of the End of Christ's Death But first let it be remembred that you grant that Christ died to expiate the Sins of Mankind page 31. col 2. This expiation was not offered to the Justice of God you say but to his Mercy and to his Mercy not as an Expiation of Guilt but as a Supplication for Mercy This is a double Contradiction I see the Gentleman will not prove himself a small Fool for first you set the Cause in the place of the Effect and the Effect in the place of the Cause And in the second place you destroy the very Nature of Mercy and make it no other than Justice it self in that an expiatory and propitiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of Mankind must be offered up thereunto First You make the Effect to be the Cause of that which it is but the Effect of For the Mercy and Love of God was the first