repent and believe and be holy And that in order to our being happy And hath he not finally excluded from life and happiness all such that are impenitent unbelieving and impure Can there be any doubt concerning this to him that reads the Gospel and believes it to be of Divine authority And is he not do you think serious in all this What shall the unchangeable God that cannot lie be deemed like degenerate Man to speak one thing and mean another Or is he serious only in his promises and not so also in his commands and threatnings Why Are not both equally founded upon the same immutable nature and veracity of God And if you can perswade your selves to hope that God will revoke his threatnings and commands Why should you not also doubt whether he will make good his promises We have no other foundation whereon to build our faith and hopes but the declared will of God and if that be changeable our faith 's no better than opinion and our hopes presumption We can then neither be sure that the wicked shall be turned into Hell nor yet that the righteous shall be saved If this then be the fixed and unchangeable order and method of Salvation by the Covenant of Grace that either we must repent or perish return or die believe or be damned be holy or not see God be obedient or suffer the vengeance of eternal fire as hath been shewn how can we hope to be saved otherways than in repenting and turning and believing and obeying of the Gospel Otherways than in the actual performance of these duties 2. Have we not more than once by our own voluntary act solemnly engaged our selves to the actual performance of all these conditions When we were baptized when we after this approached to the Lords Table when we have at any time professedly humbled our Souls before the Lord in any solemn ordinance yea when we first entertained the tenders of Grace and Salvation did we not then promise and engage to amend our evil wayes and doings and turn to God and believe in Jesus Christ and receive him in all his offices and keep his Commands and walk in all holiness and obedience well pleasing in his sight Now either we were serious and in good earnest or not when we thus engaged If serious 't is morally impossible that we should indulge our selves in the wilfull neglect of these duties since an intentional and approved violation of our promise is inconsistent with sincerity And therefore the conscience of our own obligation will necessarily put us upon all possible endeavours to act conformable to our own engagements And since the thing to which we obliged our selves was not meerly the profession and acknowledgment but actual performance of these duties we shall accordingly study to perform them But if we say we were not serious in these solemn engagements we then plainly confess that our design therein was only to play the Hypocrites with God and to impose upon his omnisciency But is it possible that any reasonable creature should ever become so prodigious a Monster Or that ever it should enter into the heart of Man to imagine that the all wise and holy God He that requires truth in the inward parts Psal 51.6 He that hath curst the deceiver Mal. 1.14 He that hath denounced so many woes against the Hypocrite Matth. 23. and hath sentenced them to the lowest place in Hell Matth. 24.51 That he I say should bind himself by Covenant to such Miscreants to pardon them and bless them and admit them to the best and choisest priviledges of his Kingdom What such as design to mock God and play the Hypocrite with him and to be treacherous and unfaithful to him Be not deceived saith the Apostle God is not mocked Gal. 6.7 Besides if our stipulating with God in the Covenant or as the Prophet expresseth it our subscribing with the hand to the Lord be necessary as hath been demonstrated in order to our recâ—iving the blessings of it then our actual performance of what we stipulated and subscribed to must needs be much more necessary since our solemn engagement to the Covenant is râ—quired not meerly for it self but only as a means to this end that is to bind us to a more punctual performance of the conditions of it 3. How else shall we distinguish betwixt the righteous and the wicked the Heirs of Glory and the Sons of perdition They may all be baptized They may all subscribe with the hand to the Lord. They may all eat and drink at his table They may all be professors in Religion and make a fair shew in the flesh as the Apostle speaks Gal. 6.12 These things are common to both and therefore can be no mark of distinction betwixt them No but herein lies the difference The one break off their sins by repentance and turn to God the other not The one come to the foot of Christ take his yoak and bear his burden and sincerely believe in him the others not The one keep his Commandments and obey from the heart his Laws and Doctrine the others not The one love the Lord with all their Souls and thoughts and strength the others have not the same love of the Father in them but love the world and the things of the world as John speaks 1 John 2.15 In a word the one perform the Oath of the Lord and act conformably to their Covenant engagements but the other they draw back and are unfaithful Like the Pharisees they say and do not But the others they say and do And thus they are mutually described and distinguished by the Apostle 1 Joh. 3 7 10. Little children let no man deceive you he that doeth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous ver 7. But whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God ver 10. And herein he tells us the Children of God are manifest and the Children of the Devil Herein they are differenced and hereby they manifestly may be distinguished And the same Character and mark of distinction we have from Jesus Christ himself Job 8.31 15.8 But if the actual performance of these conditions be not unchangeably necessary all distinction betwixt good and bad Holy and Prophane is taken away and we cannot say of any â—owever visibly different in their lives and conversations this Man is wicked or that Man is righteous since one is not this in observing nor the other that in neglecting the observance of them if not neceâ—sary to be observed and so we have no Standard left whereby to judge of either The obedient and disobedient are alike if obedience and disobedience be the same For whatever elective love God may have for any particular person more than for others amongst the degenerate Sons of Men yet since that is only an immanent act in God and that which had an existence from all eternity before we had any thing and wholly lies hid in the secret counsel of Gods
MAN being lapsed and fallen from God into a state of sin and misery beyond all possibility of recovery either by means of his own or the assistance of any created Power it then pleased Divine Goodness to take up thoughts not only to restore but to advance him to a more stable and transcendent felicity than that in and to which he was at first created This we have most emphatically represented in the Prophet by the resemblance of a new-born Infant cast out in the open field in its menstruous blood and uncleanness having neither hand to help nor eye to pity it Ezek. 16.3 4 5 c. These words I confess are spoken with a particular reference to the Primitive state of the Jews at which time they were Heathen and Idolaters being not yet called out of the World and brought into the Bond of the New Covenant But since they were then in no worse condition than the rest of the degenerate Sons of Men there being at first no distinction betwixt Jew and Gentile till Free Grace stept in and made the difference this Text commonly is and without any violence offered to it may be taken in a more large and extensive sense and so be applyed not only to the Sons of Heber the Jews but to the whole Seed of Adam Man universally considered When they and we and all Mankind lay wallowing in their blood and uncleanness then God passing by and beholding us in this miserable and forlorn condition he was pleased to make it a time of love Joh. 3.16 God so loved the World not only the Jews that he gave his only begotten Son c. At the same time when God passed by apostate Angels and left them in Chains of Eternal Darkness without relief he then casts his skirts over degenerate Man and covers his nakedness and in conclusion not only washeth him from his blood and pollution but anoints him with Oyl and cloaths him with broidered Work and sets a Crown of Glory upon his head and makes him by the Ornaments he at last puts upon him exceeding beautiful as the Prophets expression there is concerning the Jewish Nation to which I here allude PROPOS II. Of Man's recovery by Jesus Christ THAT this great Design of Man's Redemption might be carried on and effected in a way most agreeable to the just and righteous Nature of God and most for the honour and advancement of his Divine Perfections his Holiness Justice Truth Goodness c. as also that might lay the surest foundation for the Faith and Hopes of a guilty and despondent Creature God was pleased to send his only begotten Son Jesus Christ the second Person in the Deity to assume the Humane Nature that so he might become a fit Mediator and Surety for Man who by his obeying and suffering in his stead might make attonement and satisfaction for sin and propitiate God to Sinners This we have every where declared in Scripture as the only way and medium by which God designs to save degenerate Man Joh. 3.16 Esa 53.6 and 10. ver Gal. 4.4 5. Eph. 5.2 Gal. 3.13 2 Cor. 5.21 Math. 20.28 1 Tim. 2.6 1 Joh. 4.10 Rom. 3.24 25 26. From these several places 't is plainly evident that God being moved by his own essential Goodness did so far compassionate the case of fallen Man as to give his own Son to be a Ransom and Propitiation for their sins by being made under the Law and bearing the Curse and Penalties threatned by it thereby declaring to the world that he was a righteous God loving Righteousness and hating Iniquity as the Psalmist hath exprest it Psal 11.5.7 And thus God having made sufficient provision by the Obedience and Sufferings of his own Son that his Soveraign Authority over the Creature might be owned and the Equity and Goodness of his Law acknowledged and the Threatnings therein denounced fulfilled and his Holiness vindicated and his Hatred against sin and vindictive Justice upon offenders declared and Man for ever discouraged from sin by hopes of impunity This I say being effected by the undertaking of Jesus Christ the Son of God he may now freely pardon the guilty Creature and readmit him into his favour and advance him to the fruition of an Eternal Happiness and Glory without either offering any violence to his own Righteous Nature or weakning the order and foundations of his Government over the World or eclipsing the Glory of any of his sacred Attributes And as God hath hereby abundantly secured his own Honour so hath he also by the same means most effectually relieved the Creature against his guilty Fears and laid a sure and firm foundation for Faith and Hopes in his Mercy Man having sinned against God 't is impossible but the sense of his own guilt and danger should affect his Soul with amazing fears and jealousies especially when he should entertain any serious thoughts of the holy Nature of God his Majesty Power and Justice or of the strictness and severity of his Laws No sooner had Adam sinned but he runs away from God and seeks to hide himself from his presence I but when the guilty offender shall now be assured from the mouth of God himself that he hath found a Ransom and received full and abundant satisfaction at the hands of Jesus Christ his Surety for all that wrong that sin had done him so that now he may at the same time be merciful to the sinner and yet take full vengeance upon his sin or as the Apostle speaks to the same purpose that he may be just and yet the justifier of them that believe in Jesus Rom. 3.26 Yea that he may now reap as much Glory to himself in pardoning humble and repenting sinners as if he had executed the Curse and Penalties of his violated Law upon them When the sinner I say shall be well assured of this his despondent fears and jealous thoughts of God must needs vanish as Clouds and Darkness before the rising Sun and his Soul be quickened and encouraged to address it self with Faith and Confidence to the Throne of Grace for Pardon and Acceptance 1 Pet. 1.18.21 Heb. 4.15 16. For if God the only party offended and concerned will acquit the humble sinner who then shall condemn him as the Apostle argues Rom. 8.33 34. PROPOS III. Of the Covenant of Redemption THIS glorious Contrivance and Design for the recovery of fallen Man was transacted between God the Father and the Son by mutual stipulation and agreement The Father promising to his Son a rich recompence of reward upon his undertaking to satisfie for Man's offence by his death and sufferings and the Son likewise engaging to the Father upon these terms to make satisfaction And this is that which by Divines is now called the Covenant of Redemption to distinguish it from the Covenant of Grace or the New Covenant as most commonly stiled in Scripture made with Believers through Christ A distinction highly necessary and consequently not to be
the guilty Offender that this being removed God might now be at liberty to pardon and reaccept him unto favour in what way and upon what terms he pleased such as he in wisdom should judge most for the honour of his own Being and Perfections Yea but not that therefore God must of necessity pardon the sinner what ever come on 't as one well expresseth it That is whether he repented or believed or not or still continued in his Rebellion and Impenitency Christs Sufferings they were not in a strict sense the Idem i. e. the very thing which the first Covenant required at the hands of Man but the tantundem or an equivalent compensation Not properly solutio debiti the payment of the debt but an equitable satisfaction for a criminal offence And accordingly God in this whole transaction is to be considered not so much as a Creditor as an offended Magistrate or Governour of the World that admits as Seleucus did the putting out of one of his own eyes for the redemption of his Sons the suffering of one for another though of somewhat a different kind and manner for the maintaining of the honour of his Laws and Government And therefore God could not be obliged thereby immediately to acquit and discharge the Offender since the satisfaction given in his behalf was refusable but may in Justice and for the vindicating of his own Holiness and retaining the Creature in his due subjection bring him to terms and conditions before he remit the offence and become actually reconciled to him Much less was God obliged to this by his own essential goodness for though the issues and outgoings of his love be most natural and agreeable to his Being upon which account he is stiled in Scripture a Sun and Fountain yet are they not like the ebullitions of water from their Fountain or emanations of light from the Sun absolutely necessary and involuntary No they are still free though most natural Else how comes it to pass that Apostate Angels were not redeemed from their Chains and Darkness and the Spirits now in Prison set at liberty and freed from torments And the Inhabitants of the Earth that still sit in darkness and under the shadows of death have not the Sun of Righteousness arising upon them with healing in his Wings as well as we in these Northern Islands What ever acts by constraint and necessary impulse of Nature 't is uncapable of setting any bounds or limits to its own actions but imparts it self and influences universally at all times and alike to all The same Sun shines not to some parts only of the Earth but equally to both the Hemispheres And the same Sea and Fountains scatter their streams not only to some few Passengers but indifferently to all that pass by without exception And if such were the egress and communications of Divine Love and Goodness then tell me whence it is that there is any difference betwixt fallen Angels and degenerate man Betwixt Jew and Gentile the Christian and Pagan World Why is not the whole Earth India and America as well as Europe turned into a Goshen a Land of light and made as Eden the Garden of the Lord Why is so great a part of it yet left to be as a darksom Egypt or barren Wilderness Doth not all this sufficiently argue that the bequeathments and application of Christs satisfaction and purchase with all the rich Fruits that spring from both are made not by necessity but ad placitum according to the meer good will and pleasure of God to sinners as the Apostle speaks Ephes 1.5 and 9. PROPOS VI. Of Gods freedom to prescribe the terms upon which sinners shall be saved SInce all the communications of Grace and Mercy to the Creature even to those that Christ hath redeemed with his blood are absolutely free and issue forth only according to the Prerogative of the Divine Will and Pleasure God may therefore give out and apply the merits of his Sons obedience and sufferings to whom and in what way and method and upon what terms he in wisdom shall think meet He that cast the skirts of his love over the lost Sons of Adam when he saw them polluted in their own blood might also if he had pleased have made it a time of love to the Apostate Angels and have put them with Man since Christs Merits were intrinsickly sufficient for both into the same Act of Grace and Indemnity And he that hath chosen only some few to be Heirs of Glory out of the common Mass of Mankind might likewise have extended the same mercy and favour to all the rest Judas as well as Paul might have been an Elect Vessel to the Lord. Yea but one is taken and the other is left to shew that God hath mercy upon whom he will have mercy and that whom he will he hardneth Rom. 9.18 And as God freely makes choice of the persons whom he will effectually pardon and save by his Son Jesus Christ so also of the mediums and ways in and by which this salvation shall be dispensed to them First only in a dark and mysterious Promise so to Adam Gen. 3.15 Then more explicitely by actual Covenant so to Abraham Gen. 17. After this by Types and Shadows so to the Jews And last of all by open and manifest Revelation through the ministration of Christ and his Apostles so to all under the Gospel Dispensation Heb. 1.1 2. Thus Jesus Christ and in him salvation is first promised then typified and then exhibited and that first to the Jews only but afterwards to the Gentiles also And he surely that makes choice of whom he will to be the Objects of Mercy and freely determines in what way and order they shall have salvation dispensed to them he cannot but be alike free to appoint the terms and conditions upon which they actually may be saved He that hath power to appoint the End must also have power to appoint the Means by which it may be obtained God in this whole transaction is to be considered not only as Lord and Governour but as the offended party and our great Benefactor and upon all these accounts the Right of prescribing the terms upon which the guilty and condemned Creature shall be admitted to pardon and happiness properly and solely belongs to God As he is absolute Lord of all so he may do whatsoever he pleaseth with the Works of his own hands And as he is rightful Governour over the World so he may prescribe what Laws he thinks meet for the due government of his Creature And as pars laesa the party wronged and offended by Man he may say upon what terms he will be reconciled to him And as our great Benefactor that designed and contrived the way of Mans pardon and salvation by the death and sufferings of his only begotten Son he must dispense these benefits according to the pleasure of his own Will Math. 20.15 To save a sinner upon any terms
will and so absolutely unknown to us that cannot possibly either make any change of our state or become any foundation for any real and forensick distinction betwixt Man and Man 'T is not that which makes this Man a Judas and that Man a Paul The one actually wicked and the other personally righteous And therefore whoever God predestinates saith the Apostle thâ—m also he calls before they are either justified or glorified Rom. 8.30 He makes them to pass under the rod and brings them into the bond of the Covenant and pours clean water upon them and puts his Spirit into them and writes his Laws in their hearts and causeth them to walk in his ways and keep his Judgments before he will own them to be his people and dignify them with the name of Saints and Children and righteous ones Ezek. 36.25 26 27 28. Jer. 31.33 1 Cor. 1.2 Take Paul for an instance He was you know a chosen vessel to the Lord Acts 9.15 Separated in Gods predeterminate counsel from his Mothers womb Gal. 1.15 Yea but was he therefore immediately justified and sanctified and adopted and owned for a Saint a Child of God from his Mothers womb No for all that he will tell you that he was for some years a Pharisee an injurious person a Persecutor a Blasphemer 1 Tim. 1.13 And as he speaks of the Ephesians that he was dead in sins and trespasses a Child of disobedience and of wrath without Christ having no hope and without God in the World Eph. 2.1 2 3 12. To this effect he speaks expresly of himself Tit. 3.3 And may we not now truly say of Paul however elected that he was a wicked Man during his continuance in this state And consequently that he was not righteous since 't is impossible for the same person to be righteous and wicked dead and alive at the same time But how then came Paul to be amongst Gods Jewels his holy ones How God humbles him at the foot of Christ Acts 9.5 6 c. and calls him by his Grace Gal. 1.15 and makes him obedient to his call Acts 26.19 and regenerates him by his Spirit Tit. 3.3 4 5. and causeth him to believe and obey the Gospel Acts 24.14 15 16. and to live intirely to Jesus Christ Philip. 1.21 Thus Paul obtaineth Mercy as he tells you 1 Tim. 1.16 and is listed into the number of the Saints his name now is changed Acts 13.9 'T is no more Saul but Paul no more a Persecutor but an Apostle of Jesus Christ and now he is justified Gal. 2.16 and now he receives a Crown of righteousness 2 Tim. 4.8 And thus you see what it is that denominates a man righteous or wicked and what is the only note of distinction betwixt an Heir of wrath and a Child of God not baptism or profession or being in the visible Church or the elective love of God but doing righteousness as John speaks which is nothing else but the actual performance of the Conditions of the New Covenant of which I am treating 4. Why else hath God sent his holy Spirit into the World Is it not plainly for this end that he may help our infirmities Rom. 8.26 and that he may assist us in the actual performance of those duties which are by the New Covenant required of us That we may look upon him whom we have pierced by our sins and mourn Zech. 12.10 that we may believe in Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.13 that we may mortifie the deeds of the flesh Rom. 8.13 that our hearts may be purified in obeying the truth 1 Pet. 1.22 And that we may walk in the wayes and keep the Judgments of God Ezek. 36.27 All this is said to be by the assistance of the Divine Spirit And therefore it is that the ministration of the Spirit is still necessary in order to our Salvation notwithstanding that Jesus Christ hath fully discharged the office and perfâ—cted the work of a Redeemer and Mediator for us Joh. 16.7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth It is expedient for you thâ—t I go away for If I go not away the comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you The Spirit here is expresly promised to be sent in the room of Christ to supply his place and office when he should leave the World as that which should be of more advantage to them than still to enjoy Christs personal presence here on Earth Nevertheless I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I go away But why expedient For then the Spirit shall come But when he is come what shall he do Why He shall convince the world of sin of righteousness and of judgment ver 8. I but if Jesus Christ hath so done all as that we have nothing at all to do and that his imputed righteousness alone be sufficient to save us without our personal and obediential righteousness to what purpose is the administration of the Spirit His work and office is wholly superseded For what needs a Spirit of mourning to be poured down upon us if so be the Covenant of Grace require us not personally to repent Or a Spirit of Faith as the Apostle calls it 2 Cor. 4.13 if we are not bound to believe Or a Spirit of holiness if it oblige us not to be actually holy Or a spirit of obedience if we may be saved without obeying If then our having of the Spirit and being led or acted by him be indispensably necessary in order to our Salvation so also is our repenting and believing in Christ and loving God and doing of his will and cleansing our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and perfecting holiness in the fear of God and purifying our selves as he is pure since the effecting this in us is the great errand for which he came into the World and the main office he hath undertaken during the time of Christ Mediatory Kingdom The truth is we can no more be saved without the ministration of the spirit than we can without the Mediation of Jesus Christ This argument runs clear in Scripture He that hath not Christ hath not life 1 Joh. 5.12 But he that hath not the spirit hath not Christ Rom. 8.9 And he that is not holy and obedient hath not the spirit Jude ver 19. For where ever the Spirit is he regenerates and sanctifies the whole lump Body Soul and Spirit as the Apostle speaks 1 Thess 5.22 and so becomes in that Soul a Spirit of Faith Holiness and obedience 5. How otherwise shall Believers attain to any evidence or assurance of their Salvation Or come to know that they more than othes are in a state of friendship with God and made Heirs of the promise and vessels of mercy when so great a part of the World are Heirs of wrath and Sons of perdition That they may be thus assured since some undoubtedly have been so and that they all ought to labour for
and the doctrine of free Grace THis method of Gods saving sinners by way of Covenant as is before explained is very well consistent with and no way derogatory to either the sufficiency of Christs satisfaction and righteousness or to the doctrine of free Grace in Christ I add this because 't is the common fortress to which Men of more loose and debauched lives and principles in Religion are wont to retire when by the evidence of Scripture and reason they are driven from all their other holds Tell them that they must repent and turn to God and amend their evil wayes and doings and bring forth fruits meet for repentance Tell them that they must come to Christ and believe in him and take his yoak and bear his burden and deny themselves and be obedient to his Laws and love him in sincerity Tell them that they must mortifie the deeds of the flesh and deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and live godly and righteously and soberly in this present world and be pure in heart and holy in all manner of conversation as he that hath called them is holy Tell them that there is an indispensable necessity of all this or else their sins cannot be pardoned or their persons accepted or their Souls saved in the day of the Lord Jesus And give them undeniable reason and plain and express Scripture for the proof of all these commands and promises and threatnings all speaking the same language And what is their answer to all this Why The righteousness of Christ is sufficient and the Grace of God in Christ is free and therefore they hope in his mercy and doubt not of their Salvation though they still indulge themselves in sin and continue in a manifest neglect of God and the great duties of Christianity And all that is said to the contrary that might take them off from sin and vanity and perswade them to any greater diligence and exactness in Religion that is immediately condemned and decried for legal doctrine that disthrones Christ and takes the Crown from his head and destroyes the free Grace of God and tends to bring us again in bondage to the Law And that which makes it the more difficult to take Men off from these mistaken notions they have entertained concerning the righteousness of Christ and free Grace is this that they are the only foundation and hold that these Men have for their hopes of pardon and Salvation So that if you beat them off from these you take away all their hopes and confidence yea their Heaven and happiness from them They have nothing then left whereby to stop the mouths of their own awakened consciences or warrant their expectations of Heaven or to keep their Souls from sinking immediately into despair Their hearts they condemn them for their daily neglect of duty and indulgencies to the flesh and disobedience to the Gospel and alas they have nothing within or from the word to witness for them No broken and contrite spirit no mournings in secret for their sins no acts of self-denyal no change of heart or life no spirit of faith or fear or love or adoption to intitle them to the promise and blessings of the Covenant No neither Sun nor Star appears that might encourage them in their way but as it was with Paul in his voyage to Rome all hopes that they should be saved is taken away and therefore 't is that they do with so much constancy and resolution adhere to and contend for these mistaken notions as their only refuge security And thus though they are not able to conquer or encounter those thundering Legions that are brought against them yet whilest they have this strong hold and fortress to retire to they are little moved by the terrors of the Lord but still apprehend themselves safe and well secured against all that thunder and lightning that is from Heaven poured out against them All is but like the shooting of pointed Arrows against the walls of a Castle which are presently beat back again without making any great impression upon the walls And therefore there is little hopes of ever prevaling with these Men to surrender themselves to the powers either of Scripture or reason though on every hand besieged by them unless this Fortress of theirs be demolished and its Towers broken down and consequently their refuge and defence taken away That is in more plain English unless it be discovered that their notions about the sufficiency of Christ's righteousness and the doctrine of Free Grace are false and vain and that neither the conditionality of the New Covenant nor the necessity of our personal performance of the conditions of it in order to eternal life are any way inconsistent with or prejudicial unto either Grace notwithstanding is still free And the satisfaction and righteousness of Jesus Christ is nevertheless sâ—fficient These are the two things that I am now particularly to speak to and to demonstrate The sufficiency of Christs satisfaction and â—ighteousness is no way either contradicted or prejudiced by asserting the Covenant of Grace to be made not with Jesus Christ but with â—elievers themselves upon certain terms and conditions to the actual performance of which they are personally obliged in order to their receiving and enjoying the benefits â—f it That Jesus Christ hath fully satisfied the demands of the first Covenant and fulâ—â—lled all righteousness and finished his work â—s Mediator and perfected our Redemption â—y his death and suffering And that his saâ—â—sfaction and merit is of infinite value and â—â—erefore abundantly sufficient for the ends â—r which it was intended hath been acâ—nowledged and proved in the foregoing â—â—opositions Propos. 2. and 4. And thereâ—ore I shall need to say nothing here for the â—â—claring my assent to or for the vindicatiâ—â— of these particulars That which I have â—ow to do is only to shew in what sense â—â—operly it may be said to be sufficient and 〈◊〉 remove those mistaken apprehensions that â—â—e concerning it For which purpose it is 〈◊〉 the first place to be observed that by sufâ—iciency here we are not to understand the â—â—â—rinsick worth and value of Christs saâ—â—â—faction and righteousness upon which account it may not untruly be said if rightly construed that 't is sufficient for the Salvatioâ— of many worlds And in this very particular mainly lies the mistake The satisfaction oâ— Christ say they is infinite and his righteousness infinite therefore sufficient for the redemption of this and many worlds if they had been made which as to its absolute valuâ— and dignity is acknowledged But whatâ— then Why Therefore they hope and believe that they shall be saved by it And 〈◊〉 they build their faith and hopes immediately upon the absolute worth and merit 〈◊〉 Christs satisfaction But will this foundatioâ— stand or this argument hold good wheâ— it comes to tryal In this sense 't is sufficienâ— to save the Infidels Jews and Turks Tâ— save the spirits now in
wickedness and kept their weapons in their hands to fight against him This you will grant would undoubtedly be an act of free Grace and favour in the Magistrate yea but would it do you think be to his honour Some few profligate persons possibly who hoped for impunity by it might cry him up as wonderfully gracious and indulgent but would any wise and sober Man commend him for it Surely if he had had any love to justice and righteousness or any regard to his own credit or any due care and respect for his Laws and Governmâ—nt he would never have been guilty of so imprudent and unadvised an action He would never thus have countenanced such impieties and encouraged Men to rebell against him would not this be the plain sense and interpretation of such an act of Grace Just thus do these Men honour God and Christ that make his Grace to be so free as to save impenitent and unbelieving sinners But if it be certain that there is no such free Grace in God nor no such righteousness in Christ as may be sufficient to save such sinners as these then 't is also as certain that the conditionality of the Covenanâ— requiring our personal repentance and faith and holiness in order to our Salvation is no way inconsistent with or derogatory to that stated notion we have of both in the Gospel though it be to those wild notions of them that wicked Men vainly fancy to themselves which I shall yet more plainly demonstrate by shewing first what Grace properly is secondly what is absolutely necessary to make it free 1. Grace properly signifies no more than love and kindness favour and friendly acceptance or bounty and benâ—ficence Luke 1.30 Fear not saith the Angel there to Maâ—y for thou hast found 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fâ—vour with God and ver 28. thou art greatly or highly favoured 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render in the margin graciously accepted or much graced So Luke 2.52 't is said of Jâ—sus Christ that he encreased in wisdom and stature and favour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with God and Man Acts 2.46 They eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart saith Luke there of those primitive converts praising God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and having favour with all the people And Joh. 1.17 The Law came by Moses but Grace and truth by Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is elsewhere rendred love and kindness And to name no more 1 Cor. 16.3 Whomsoever you shall approve by your letters them will I sâ—nd to bring your liberality 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is your charity as we speak or kindnâ—ss in your liberal contributions for the relief of the poor Saints at Jerusalem In which sense you have the same word taken 2. Cor. 8.4 And therefore whâ—n the fruits of the Spirit as Faith and Love and Hope c. are called Graces as we say the Grace of Faith and the Grace of Repentance c. this is not to be understood in a proper sense for so they are not Grace but metonymically and by way of derivation only either because they come from the special love and favour of God and so are the effects of it or because they render us acceptable to God and so become the objâ—cts of his love upon which account 't is called by the Schoolmen Gratia gratum faciens In the first sense thâ—y are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the second quia By the Grace of God then we are here properly to understand his love and favour and kindness and good will and beneficence to the Sons of Men. 2. But secondly that all this may be truly said to be free free love and free kindness and free beneficence there is nothing more required but that it be not deserved For if I cannot possibly by any thing that lies within the compass of my power to do merit or deserve the least favour or kindness from the hands of another then whatever I receive from him must be acknowledged due to his free love and bounty This therefore I shall take for an undoubted axiome that as what I deserve is my due so that also is undoubtedly free that is undeserved And therefore notwithstanding all that hath been said concerning the conditionality of the Covenant and the necessity of our personal performance of the Conditions of it that of the Apostle will still stand firm Eph. 2.8 By Grace ye are saved through faith and not of your selves it is the gift of God Because it is not possible for any Creature to merit or deserve any thing at the hands of God much lâ—ss such transcendent favours as to be made the Sons of God and Hâ—irs of Glory For who ever merits any thing of another by any thing he gives or doeth that gift or action of his that it may become meritorious or deserving it must of necessity have these four qualifications or properties annexed to it 1. It must be de prâ—prio Somewhat that is his own Otherwise he properly gives nothing but he rather from whom he received it As he thâ—t takes an hundred pound from one Man and gives it to another deserves nothing for such a gift since properly he gives nothing that is his own 2. It must be ex indebito somewhat that is not antecedently due to the party to whom 't is given And therefore no man is judged worthy of a reward that pays no more than the debt he owes 3. It must cedere in lucrum alteri be some way or other beneficial and for the advantage of another and not only to my self or else wherein do I oblige him 4. There must be a due proportion betwixt the datum and acceptum that which is done or given and that which is received by way of reward for it For which reason we say he that gives a peny cannot deserve a pound much less he that gives a farthing deserve millions Now upon all these accounts 't is absolutely impossible that any creature should merit or deserve pardon or grace or glory or any thing from God and therefore all still must needs be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 freely of his grace as the Apostles phrase is Rom 3.24 For first 1. 'T is not properly our own but the Lords whatever we render to him What hast thou that thou hast not received saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 4.7 'T is not only his corn â—nd his wine and his wool and his flax by â—hich we are fed and cloathed as the Prophet â—peaks Hos 2.9 but his strength his assistance â—y which we are inabled to perform all our works 2 Cor. 3.5 'T is he that breaths upâ—n these dry bones and causeth the spirit of â—ife to enter into them Eph. 2.1 'T is he â—hat strengtheneth us with might in the inâ—er man Eph. 3.16 And 't is he that workâ—th in us both to will and to do of his good â—leasure Phil. 2.13