Mystery of Iniquity the Doctrine of Devils to suborn the Worship of Baalim of many Lords or middle Gods Mediators between God and Man Now the Spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter Times some shall depart from the Faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils This is the notorious Apostacy from the absolute Simplicity and Purity of Christian Religion unto the fabulous Superstition and Will-worship which gangren'd both Eastern and Western Churches The Mediation of Saints and Angels being introduced as succedaneous to the Heathen Adoration of Baalim Heroes and middle Deities called Dii Medioximi Those Pagan Idols having been cast to the Moles and Bats by the Divine Influence of Gospel Light in the Manifestation of Truth even this faithful Saying and worthy of all Acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the World the only Mediator between God and Men to save Sinners Now also for these last hundred and fifty Years the Gospel-Reformation miraculously both begun and preserved hath again as it were brought Life and Immortality to light exploded the fabulous Legends of Popery evidenced the pretence of Antiquity to be no other than as Defection from Primary Institution precedes Restitution and Reformation convinced the Idolatry of the Mass and the Superstition of their Will-worship and Adoration of Saints and Angels all cherished by an imposed Ignorance the Parent not of Devotion but of crual Persecution But as in the first Manifestation of the everlasting Gospel unto the World that lay in Darkness and the Shadow of Death the Serpent cast out of his Mouth a Flood of deceitful Errors of desperate Wickedness to carry away with that Flood the Church from the Rock of Truth So now the Reformed Churches have been and are infested not only with the Dragon 's great persecuting Wrath but no less dangerously with the Serpâ—â—iâ—â—â—â— Suggestions of false Teachers â—â—vily introducing damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them This being the Master-stroke of Satan by verisimilar Errors to suppress the Fundamental Truth of Salvation for Sinners by the Expiatory Propitiation of the Death of the Lord Jesus Christ in Satisfaction of the Justice of God according to his good Pleasure which he had purposed in himself before the Foundation of the World That this Truth may appear in a right Light it must be considered that all the Divine Attributes are equally of infinite Perfection Consequently to detract from or limit any is to evacuate and effectually to deny the Essential All-sufficiency of God Therefore to retrench the particular and universal efficacious Providence of God and to impeach the supreme absolute Justice of God is under the Prosession of owning God not to glorify him as God but to change the Glory of the incorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible Man a meer Idol which is nothing in the World and as the Prophet expresses neither able to do Good or Evil. But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord is God Who knoweth the Power of his Anger According to his Fear so is his Wrath according to the infinite Perfections for which God is indispensably to be feared so is his Wrath in the Vindictive Execution of his Justice upon every Violation of his holy just and good Laws the natural Rules of perpetual Righteousness to direct and judg all the Affections and Actions of all Mankind Herein therefore the manifold Wisdom of God is glorified in the Establishment of the infinite Perfections of Justice and Mercy in the Redemption and Salvation of Sinners It being impossible to make way for immense Mercy to be manifested without Satisfaction to infinite Justice which otherwise must be exposed to blasphemous Contempt and Annihilation Accordingly the Apostle Paul expresses that we are justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth for a Propiriation through Faith in his Blood to declare his Righteousness for the Remission of Sins that he might be just and the Justifier of him even of the ungodly which believeth in Jesus So that Faith cannot fly for Refuge unto Mercy until plenary Satisfaction be made unto Justice thereby to obtain the Answer of a good Conscience towards God through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ The Scripture fully and always testifies that Remission of Sins is an Act of absolute Sovereign Justice vouchsafed upon plenary Satisfaction represented under the Notion and Terms of Redemption Propitiation Ransom which word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by the Septuagint Numb 35.31 32. is duly translated Satisfaction And the learned in the Hebrew observe that the word in the Original imports sufficient Preservation which a Sinner can only find in the compleat Merits of the Death Resurrection and Righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ applied by Faith and imputed by Grace Accordingly the Scripture stiles the Act of Divine Pardon to be Justification Reconciliation Atonement Righteousness all which words are juridical Phrases evidencing such a Person to be Rectus in Curia right in Court according to the judicial Authoritative Sentence of Law This cannot possibly be obtained or performed unless due Satisfaction were made to the infinite Justice of the Divine Majesty For Pardon upon any other less or diluted account must leave the Justice of God violated and void of Satisfaction Also the Sinner must be without possbility of a Conscience free from Guilt consequently never able to arrive at Peace which flows from being justified by Faith in Jesus Christ who is our Peace with God It is also absurd Contradiction to imagine any Benefit can possibly be obtained by the atoning Virtue of the Death of the Lord Jesus Christ without the quickning regenerating Power of the Spirit of Christ make the Sinner a new Creature There is the manifold multifarious Wisdom of God magnisied to a Sinner that the Work of Grace may be compleatly perfect in respect of the Justice and Mercy of God and of the damning Guilt and deadly Corruption inherent in the desperate Wickedness of every Sin Yet the manifold Wisdom of God decreeing from Eternity and effecting in the fulness of Time the Redemption of Sinners by the Blood of the everlasting Covenant could not possibly have any Cause or Motive antecedent to the Eternal Purpose of God which he purposed in Christ Jesus out Lord and from the beginning of the World was hid in God For it was both impossible for a sinite narrow Intelligence to conceive how God should be manifest in the Flesh And it would have been impious blasphemous Presumption to imagine that the Son of God who knew no Sin should be made a Propitiatory Sacrifice for Sin unless the Will of God had so promised and declared Indeed the immense Goodness of God made this known immediately after Man's Apoltacy by the Promise of the Seed of the Woman to break the Serpent's Head that is to destroy the Works
Blood if he were found out of the City of Refuge it was only the City of Refuge which conferr'd and established his Preservation and Safety So the Sinner cannot be saved from Wrath to come without Faith in Christ But the Propitiation according to the Will of God by the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant can only make a Sinner perfect before the Tribunal of God's infinite Justice Therefore to assign any degree of Ability to any Act of Faith as meritorious of Justification is to usurp upon Christ and to incur the severe Animadversion of the Almighty Then will I confess unto thee that thine own Right-hand can save thee The everlasting Covenant of Grace is ordered in all things and sure For the Foundation of God standeth sure having this Seal The Lord knoweth them that are his And let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from Iniquity But unto the wicked God saith What hast thou to do to declare my Statutes or that thou shouldst take my Covenant into thy Mouth These Scriptures fully evidence that altho the Covenant of Mercy to Sinners is established only in the free Grace of God and the meritorious Satisfaction and Righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ yet there remains an utter Incapacity in any Person to partake actually of the Benefit thereof until by the Spirit of Christ without which not any can be Christ's he be born again and made a new Creature For the State of every Man since the Fall is a Complication of Misery under Condemuation Dementation and mortal Corruption Accordingly the necessary Remedies are distinct Justification to take away Condemnation and Sanctification to free from Corruption by a new Principle of Life by a renewed Faculty of Life acted by a new Rule the Word of God written in the Heart directed to and aiming at a new End and Mark the Glory of God and the Prize of our high Calling in Christ Jesus our Eternal Salvation Accordingly the Tenour of the New Covenant is both promised and expressed in the Old and New Testament Then will I sprinkle clean Water upon you and ye shall be clean This imports that washing throughly and cleansing from Iniquity and Sin so as to be whiter than Snow which is supplicated by David and promised by God to Sins of the deepest Stain being effected by the Blood of Sprinkling the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant which makes us perfect to do his Will For the End why the Blood of Christ who by the Eternal Spirit offered himself without Spot to God purges the Conscience from dead Works is to serve the Living God But God is the God of the Living not of the Dead Therefore as the Condemnation of Death is to be taken away in Christ Jesus so the Corruption of Death is to be abolished which cannot be without a new Principle and Faculties of Life and being made a new Creature Accordingly the Covenant of Grace proceeds to promise A new Heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you This is that renewing of the Holy Ghost vouchsased unto the foolish and disobedient who are unperswadable by any Moral Argumentation being deceived serving divers Lusts and Pleasures because the Heart of Man is full of Evil and Madness is in his Heart while he lives and after that he goes to the Dead This is the native Misery of every one and the Recovery is as wonderful as to restore the Habit and Exercise of Reason into a Person depraved with Idiotism or Madness Now as they who are such tho they are sometimes capable of uttering some words sensible and rational yet they are utterly unable to perform or maintain the Tenour of reasonable Discourse or Conversation So neither can any meer animal Man dead in Sins and Trespasses before he be made a new Creature by being born again live to the Glory of God the End of Being or in Communion with God the highest Felicity of every Intelligent Being This is the Gift of God as our Lord saith to the Jews No Man can come to me except it were given him of my Father Judas indeed came to our Lord as many do in Profession but not in Heart He did believe with a Faith of general Assent and of particular Fiducial Assiance in the Power of Christ for miraculous Operation but not with a Faith of vital Union with Christ so as to dwell in Christ and Christ in them so as to live by Christ which cannot be without having the Spirit of Christ Also our Lord saith I have chosen you and ordained you to bring forth Fruit that should remain and persevere even much Fruit to the Glory of God Election Vocation Justification and Sanctification are inseparable Eternal Election is unto Holiness and Justification of Life is universally and necessarily conjoin'd with Renovation of Life The End of which is Activity Operation Fruitfulness without which there is Death Burning Destruction for good Works are ordained by God to be the Walk and Conversation of every Child of God For this is the Covenant God makes with every Israelite to put his Laws into their Minds and write them in their Hearts as both the Rule and Inclination of Life which is indeed to be taught of God to know God without which it is impossible that God shall be to any a God Covenant-Relation or that any can be a People to God Now as the Principle of Life and the Operation of Life so Justification and Sanctification are not confoundable yet always inseparable For of God are we in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption That no Flesh should glory in his sight but according as it is written Let him that glorieth glory in the Lord. From the beginning of Apostacy the Devil was a Murderer and a Liar When he speaketh a Lie he speaketh of his own for he is a Liar and the Father of it He envenomed the old World with the evil Imaginations of continual Contempt of God and profane Irreligion which broke out in all the Acts of Wickedness and Violence justly provoking the Vengeance of God to destroy that World of Atheistical Rebels When through infinite Mercy a small Remnant of eight Persons were not only spared to survive the Deluge that had swept away the World of the Ungodly but much more a Covenant of Grace and the Blessing thereof was renewed to them and to their Seed confirmed unto Noah by the Acceptance of instituted Sacrifice Then again the great Adversary and Deceiver of Mankind tempted the new World to distrust Safety in the Promise of the living and true God and to attempt Self preservation in a Structure of Babel or Confusion in the Land of Shinar the proper Base upon which was to be built and established the House of Wickedness that is the
without which cur Faith is vain and we are yet in our Sins void of any sufficient Plea to answer the Charge of the Law of Righteousness at the dreadful Tribunal of the Divine Majesty The manifold unfearehable Wisdom of God in the Administration of the Riches of insinite Grace exceeds what Creatures can ask or think The most large and advantagious Pardon from an Earthly Soveraign to a Rebel cannot reclaim a Felon's Mind or alter a Traitor's Heart But they who are in Christ Jesus and free from Condemnation they have the Spirit of Christ by which they are made new Creatures and enabled to walk nor after the Flesh but after the Sprit This is the Comprehension of the Love of God in Christ extended to all Saints Yet the primary Reason of the Death of our Lord Jesus Christ was to make Satisfaction to the Justice of the holy Creator for the Sins of Rebel Apostate Creatures It then became a consequent Corollary of our Lord's Death to awe from Sin and represent the abominable Sinfulness of Sin In all the righteous Administration of Rewards and Punishments supreme Justice obtains the first and necessary Consideration so that if there were no Persons to be deterred from future Crimes yet Justice requires severe Animadversion upon the present Malefactor otherwise How shall God judg the World God cannot be unrighteous in taking Vengeance upon the Damned in everlasting Torments where there is no place for Repentance nor Capacity for the Benefit of a deterring Example The happy Sum of the Doctrine of Man's eternal Redemption and Salvation is That God hath given us the sure Mercies of David He hath made with us an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure and this is all our Salvation where no proud Pharisee can assume or impute to himself nor any humble repenting Sinner doubt or despair Wherein God willing more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs of Promise the Immutability of his Counsel confirmed it by an Oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have a strong Consolation who have fled for Refuge to lay hold upon the Hope set before us which we have as an Anchor of the Soul sure and stedfast Jesus Christ the same yesterday to day and for ever Amen Now for a Corollary to the precedent Discourse that it may be evidenced not to be a private Opinion but the Doctrine of the Church of England according to the Scriptures here are subjoined the Expressions of the Homily of the Salvation of Mankind only by Christ our Saviour from Sin and Death Everlasting Homily Because all Men be Sinners and Offenders against God and Breakers of his Law and Commandments therefore can no Man by his own Acts Works and Deeds seem they never so good be justified and made righteous before God But every Man of necessity is constrained to seek for another Righteousness or Justification to be received at God's own Hands that is to say the Forgiveness of his Sins and Trespasses in such things as he hath offended And this Justification or Righteousness which we so receive of God's Mercy and Christ's Merits embraced by Faith is taken accepted and allowed of God for our perfect and full Justification For the more full understanding hereof it is our Parts and Duties ever to remember the great Mercy of God how that all the World being wrapped in Sin by breaking of the Law God sent his only Son our Saviour Christ into this World to fulfil the Law for us by shedding of his most precious Blood to make a Sacrifice and Satisfaction or as it may be called amends to his Father for our Sins to asswage his Wrath and Indignation conceived against us for the same But here may Man's Reason be astonied reasoning after this fashion If a Ransom be paid for our Redemption then is it not given us freely For a Prisoner that paid his Ransom is not let go freely for if he goes freely then he goeth without Ransom For what is it else to go freely than to be set at liberty without paying of Ransom This Reason is satisfied by the great Wisdom of God in this Mystery of our Redemption who hath so tempered his Justice and Mercy together that he would neither by his Justice condemn into the everlasting Captivity of the Devil and his Prison of Hell remediless for ever without Mercy nor by his Mercy deliver us clearly without Justice or Payment of a just Ransom But with his endless Mercy he joined his most upright and equal Justice His great Mercy he shewed unto us in delivering us from our former Captivity without requiring any Ransom to be paid or Amends to be made on our parts which thing by us had been impossible to be done And whereas it lay not in us that to do he provided a Ransom for us that was the most precious Body and Blood of his own most dear and best beloved Son Jesus Christ who besides this Ransom fulfilled the Law for us perfectly and so the Justice of God and his Mercy did embrace together and fulfil the Mystery of our Redemption And of this Justice and Mercy of God knit together speaketh St. Paul in the third Chapter to the Romans All have offended and have need of the Glory of God but are justified freely by his Grace by Redemption which is in Jesus Christ whom God hath sent forth for us for a Reconciler and Peace-maker through Faith in his Blood to shew his Righteousness And in the 10th Chapter Christ is the End of the Law unto Righteousness to every Man that believeth And in the 8th Chapter That which was impossible by the Law in as much as it was weak by the Flesh God sending his own Son in the similitude of sinful Flesh by Sin damned Sin in the Flesh that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us which walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit In these aforesaid places the Apostle toucheth specially three things which must go together in our Justification Upon God's part his great Mercy and Grace Upon Christ's part Justice that is the Satisfaction of God's Justice or the Price of our Redemption by the offering of his Body and shedding of his Blood with the fulfilling of the Law perfectly and throughly And upon our part true and lively Faith in the Merits of Jesus Christ which yet is not ours but by God's working in us So that in our Justification is not only God's Mercy and Grace but also his Justice which the Apostle calleth the Justice of God and it consisteth in paying our Ransom and fulfilling of the Law And so the Grace of God doth not shut out the Justice of God in our justification but only shutteth out the Justice of Man that is to say the Justice of our Works as to be Merits of deserving our Justification And therefore St. Paul declareth here nothing upon the behalf of