Sentence And accordingly in Scripture it sometimes signifies to do Justice in general whether by acquitting or condemning a person that stands charged with a Crime according to the true and strict Merits of his Cause In which sense the Prophet Isaiah useth it chap. 43.9 Let all the Nations be gather'd together and let the People be assembled i.e. Call a Court and let them bring forth their Witnesses that they may be justified i.e. that Justice may be done them In other places it signifies the acquitting or discharging an accused person from the Punishment that the Law threatens the Crime with that he is charged with This Justification or acquitting an accused person is either Legal according to the Rules of strict Justice or it is of Favour and Grace The former is the acquitting and Innocent person or the declaring him who has stood his Tryal not to be guilty of the Crime charged upon him In which sense it is taken in the following Texts Deut. 25. If there he a Controversie between Men and they come into Judgment that the Judges may Judge them then they shall justifie the Righteous and condemn the Wicked i.e. They shall proceed according to strict Justice and give Sentence according to Right the same Sentence as the Law gives in the Case without any partial respects to the Persons whose Cause is before them He that justifieth the Wicked and condemneth the Just even they both are an Abomination to the Lord Prov. 17.15 The latter is the dispensing with the Rigour of the Law and remitting the Punishment that a guilty person has deserved in favour or in respect to the Mediation of an acceptable person And of this nature is that Justification which St. Paul speaks so frequently of and which the Christian Religion which is a Law of Grace does make known to the World For if God's justifying us did mean no more than his declaring those to be Just who Legally are so there would be no standing before him If thou Lord should'st mark iniquity O Lord who shall stand Psal 130.3 There would be no escaping from Death when once it has laid hold upon us if there was not forgiveness with God for he that transgresses a Law that threatens Death must die by that Law unless Mercy interposes The Law that condemns him does for ever determine of his Condition And it is not possible that such a person should be Justified but by a Pardon When therefore God justifies a Sinner he does not Pass the same Sentence upon him as the Law he has transgressed does For then there could be no such thing as Justification at all in our Circumstances For whom the Law condemns God must do so too if his Judgment be Legal But when he justifies a Sinner he justifies him whom the Law condemns And when he does this it must be by remitting the Severity of the Law and sparing the Life of the Offender out of mere Grace and Mercy And of this nature is the Justification that the Gospel speaks of only with this difference That it does not only respect us as Sinners such as by Transgressing the Divine Law have deserved to die but such as for our Disobedience are already condemned to die So that it is God's Act of Mercy towards Adam's condemn'd Race whereby through the Mediation of his Son he is pleas'd to remit the Sentence of Death that in Adam we are fall'n under and to restore us to a state of Probationership for Immortality and Glory For my part I know of no other Justification that the Gospel which is designed to be a Remedy to the Mischief that by the first Transgression is come upon us speaks of as a Blessing we are already possess'd of but this of acquitting us so far from the Sentence that is already pass'd upon us that we shall not die Eternally because we are already condemn'd to die but shall assuredly live again I know indeed that in our Gospel-state we stand in need of Mercy for innumerable Sins that we are daily guilty of and for all the Sins that we do commit the Gospel does assure us of Pardon upon our sincere Repentance i.e. that God will justifie us But it is not upon account of this Mercy that we are in a justified state but of that favour alone that has remitted Adam's fault to us and assures us of a Resurrection to Life again But after this we must expect to undergo another Trial whether we deserve the Forgiveness that is with God i.e. Whether our Repentance for our own Sins and our Endeavours to do the Will of God in our Gospel i.e. Our justifying state have been so sincere that he will accept of it And this will be when the Author of our Religion shall come to try whether we deserve the Life that he will raise us to Then he will justifie all his sincere Followers but his Justifying at that day means his accepting and approving of the sincerity of our Faith and Repentance according to the very Terms of the Law of Mercy that he has given us to live by But then this supposes that we are in a justified state as we are discharged from the Eternity of the Punishment that Adam's Transgression has exposed us to otherwise we could not rise again nor would there be any need of a second Judgment to be pass'd upon us By being thus justified our Gracious Redeemer puts us into the state of Probationers for Immortality So that so long as we are in this World we are in our state of Trial whether we will chuse Life or Death not in such a justified state that we may assuredly say of our selves that we shall undoubtedly be glorified For thus we shall not be justified till our Lord comes the second time to try what use we have made of that Mercy that set Life and Immortality before us But for the clearing this matter I shall observe 1. That our Justification is a delivering us from a state of Condemnation For nothing is more plain in the Holy Scriptures than that it does suppose a Judgment to be already pass'd upon us and that we are in a condemn'd condition For it is that Mercy whereby we are discharged from some punishment which we have deserved and are adjudged to It is not God's declaring our Innocency or a Legal adjudging us to an Immortal state because the Law whereby we should have been thus Justified is Transgress'd and we are condemned to die for that Transgression Thus indeed Adam would have been Justified for if he had not sinned he would not have deserved to die and if he had not merited Death according to the Law of entire Nature by which he was to live he must have lived an Immortal life i.e. He would have been made Immortal without being justified from Death as now we must In this case there would have been no need of Mercy to assure Immortality to him that had no Crime for Mercy to pardon nor no
A DISCOURSE OF The Resurrection SHEWING The Import and Certainty of it BY WILLIAM WILSON M. A. Rector of Morley in Derbyshire LONDON Printed by J. H. for William Rogers at the Sun against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet MDCXCIV IMPRIMATUR Geo. Royse R. R. in Christo Patriac Dom. Dom. Johanni Archiep. Cantuar à Sacris Domest April 26. 1694. Advertisement LAtely Printed A Discourse of Religion shewing its Truth and Reality or The Suitableness of Religion to Humane Nature By the same Author TO THE Right Reverend Father in God RICHARD Lord Bishop of Bath Wells My Lord IT is not above a day or two since I thought of recommending this Discourse unto the World under the Patronage of some Great Name not that I believed it sufficient of it self to walk abroad without such a support but because I was unwilling to lay the Burden of its faults upon such a one as had not Fame and Reputation enough to bear the weight of them and on the other hand I did believe it too great a Crime to charge any person with them that had And had not Your Lordship obliged me so much as of late you have done I should not have thought of doing it now much less of doing it under Yours Men had need be well assured of the Goodness of those Discourses which they publish under the Name of some known Friend because Dedications detract from those whom they design to Honour if what is offer'd to the World under their Protection be mean and trifling But this is not the worst of my case For though I know Your Lordship by the report of Your Exemplary Piety and Vertue yet I am so altogether unknown to You that I am ashamed to think that That which gives a Lustre to Your Goodness should be an Aggravation of my Crime in defaming Your Judgment so publickly and that too while I tell the World I am bound in Gratitude to confult Your Honour The Subject My Lord I here present You with is great and worthy the most serious Consideration of every Christian For it sets before us the Glad-tidings of the Gospel and the indispensible Necessity of a Holy Life Two things of that vast moment that were they well consider'd it would not be a very easie thing for Men to do themselves so much mischief as to forfeit their Hopes of an Immortal Life merely for the sake of a Bodily Lust when they judge it a hardship upon us to be condemn'd to a Mortal condition for Adam's fault And though I know my own Defects too well to believe I can write any thing upon a Subject of so lofty a Nature suitable to the Dignity of it yet if it will but contribute any thing towards the awakening Men to a sense of that Obligation to Holiness that our Religion by acquainting us with the ground of that Hope we are begotten to le ts us know we are under I shall presume upon Your Lordship 's known Goodness for a Pardon for the weakness of my Performance And the World I hope will believe that at least I meant well when I ventured this way to own my self Your Lordship's Most Faithfull and Obliged Servant Will. Wilson THE Introduction AS in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive saith the Apostle 1. Cor. 15.22 In which words he sets before us the Reason of that Mortality we are subject to and the great advantage of the Christian Religion upon the account of the Hopes of a glorious Immortality after Death that we are restored to If we take a view of our own Nature nothing can be more unaccountable than that a Creature who carries an Immortal Principle in him should die And therefore the Apostle acquaints us that Death is not a Natural Calamity but the Effect and Consequence of that Condemnation that in Adam we fell under In Adam all die i.e. It is upon the account of Adam's Sin that Humane Nature is corruptible and that Death has any Power over us Whereas had he maintain'd his Innocency Immortality according to the Divine Constitution had been the reward of his Perseverance But the Calamity which Justice doom'd us to Mercy has provided a Remedy for And the Design of the Gospel is to acquaint us with the wonderfull Method whereby Life and Immortality are brought to light That for the conquering Death and delivering us from the Power of it God appointed his only begotten Son to bear our Sins and to became a Curse for us Such a Person he chose to die for us as could rise again from under the Wrath that would have lain for ever upon us and who by rising from the Dead has given the World an Instance of the Mighty Power of that Life and Spirit which he communicates to his sincere Disciples and in respect of which he is styled the Resurrection and the Life So that though in Adam all die yet in Christ shall all be made alive i.e. We shall not suffer an Eternal Death our Souls shall not for ever be separated from our Bodies upon the account of that fault that at first subjected us to Death But though we die because Adam sinned yet we shall rise to another Life because Christ who is our Life had appeared to take away Sin This is that comfortable and joyous Message that our Religion does publish to the World And it is the only Tidings that could revive our Spirits since Nature within us droops and languishes upon the account of the Mortality we are doom'd to And therefore for the delivering poor Mortals from those fears that all our life-time keep us in Bondage as St. Paul speaks Heb. 2. the main subject of the Apostle's preaching was Jesus and the Resurrection That indeed is an Article so little accountable to our Reason that some Men are upon that very account apt to look upon Faith as a very unreasonable Duty because it consists in the taking such things for granted which we have no Natural knowledge of But now that which the Enemies of Believing do find fault with Faith for is the very thing which God accepts and is pleas'd with it for Thus it was in the case of Abraham who upon the account of the Excellency of his Faith is styled the Father of the Faithfull For when God promis'd him a Son that which he took so well from him was his believing this Promise against Hope If he had consulted his own Reason what he should have believed in the case it would have been as much against Believing that he should have a Child when Old Age had wasted his strength and Sarah's Womb was dead as it can be pretended to be against a Resurrection But when he did not ask his Reason what was possible or what was fit to be believed but did depend upon the Divine Promise notwithstanding all the Difficulties he might have urged God was so well pleased with him that he accepted him as an approved Servant And thus God by
to a stupid contempt of it which is the method that bad Men grow fearless of it by this shows that Death is somewhat more than what our Bodies suffer by it Yet 2. It is not such a state of Insensibility as supposes the Soul as well as the Body to be laid in a profound sleep and that it is out of such a state of Silence that the Resurrection will awaken us For there is nothing more plainly taught us in all the Holy Scriptures than that the Soul does survive the Body and is in a state either of Happiness or Misery from the very time of its departure out of the Body For how else could God in any sense be styled the God of the living and not of the dead if there be no part of us that lives after Death For if the Soul as well as the Body falls asleep when Death puts an end to this lie and so continues to sleep as well as the Body till the Resurrection gives new life unto it the Soul is as much Dead as the Body till the Resurrection does quicken it again And if so God must be the God of the dead and not of the living till at the Resurrection he gives us new life And besides the Parable of Dives and Lazarus does prove that the Souls both of good and bad Men do live in another state after Death For how else could it be said that the one was carried into Abraham's Bosom and the other tormented in Hell if there were not two different States in which the good and bad do live after this life For if the Souls of all Men do sleep from the day of Death till that of the Resurrection then the Souls of Dives and Lazarus must have been in one and the same condition which the Parable does not suppose they were But 3. It is the haling the Soul out of its own proper Dwelling to a Prison or the banishing it from its own home to a strange unknown Region It is not the setting it at liberty by breaking down the Walls of its Prison which has been of old and still is a very prevailing Notion Sumus in his inclusi compagibus corporis Est enim Animus coelestis ex altissimo domicilio depressus quasi demersus in terram locum divinae Naturae aeternitatÃque contrarium saith Tully We are shut up within these fleshly Walls For the Soul was thrown down from its sublime Habitation and forced into an Earthly dwelling a place contrary to the Divinity and Eternity of its Nature which was the Opinion of Plato and his Followers who supposing a Pre-existence of the Soul taught it was thrust out of its Celestial Habitation into an Earthly Body for some fault and therefore that Death did but restore it to its ancient State by setting it at liberty from the Body So Hierocles discourses That it was by leaving the Fields of Vertue and Truth deplumed and thrust into an Earthly Body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being banish'd Heaven and made a Vagabond upon Earth And therefore it is no wonder that they made light of Death which they supposed did set them at liberty and restored them to their first and most ancient way of living Ex vita discedo tanquam ex hospitio non tanquam ex domo I go out of this life as from an Inn not from home Now according to this Notion of Life and Death we have infinitely more reason to be weary of Life than afraid of Death and to mourn the Birth rather than the Death of our friends But the case is quite otherwise if we take a view of Death without any respect had to those Considerations that Religion furnishes us with For there is nothing more dolefull no greater Calamity can befall a Man and therefore there is nothing that he has more reason to stand in awe of and tremble at It is so far from breaking open the doors of a Prison and restoring our Souls to their pristine liberty that it pulls down its House and drives it like an Exile from its native Soil to live in an unknown place after an unusual manner The Body is not its Prison but its House and Dwelling-place and when Death takes it hence it is not as from an Inn where it never intended to stay long but from the Habitation where it would fain live its Immortal life and where according to the appointment of our Creator it was designed to inhabit for ever Now that Death does mean thus much is plain from the Doctrine of the Resurrection which is design'd to bring our Souls out of the Prison whither they are carried to live in a Body again which Doctrine God has made us acquainted with as a wonderfull Instance of his Mercy to us and that great Blessing which is to bear up our Minds against the Apprehensions of and sad Aversions we have to Death But now what Blessing would this be to us and what Comfort would it afford us if the restoring our Souls to their Bodies was to return them to a Prison and for ever to deprive them of their true and native Liberty This would be so far from being matter of joy and comfort to us that we should rise again that we had reason to look upon it as a Menace and bewail it as a Calamity as grievous as the Platonists suppose the first descent of the Soul into its Body to have been For what comfort can it be to us to know that our Souls after they are restored to their liberty if their separate condition be their true and most genuine way of living they shall be caged up again at last so as never to recover their liberty more But if it be an expression of abundant Mercy to us a matter for which we are bound to bless the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that he has begotten us again to a lively hope of rising again by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ we have no reason to think that Death does us a kindness by setting our Souls at liberty from the Body as from a Prison It is in one respect a kindness as we shall rise again and live in pure and immortal Bodies but consider'd in it self if the Resurrection will be a Blessing to us it is a Calamity we ought to dread for it imports an Execution of that frightfull Sentence by which we stand condemn'd to lose our Souls that Sentence that suffers not the Breath that God has breathed into us to abide with us So that we have as much reason to be afraid of Death as a Criminal has to dread a Jail or an Exiled person to lament his Misfortune when he is condemn'd to quit the Society of his friends and acquaintance to go into a strange Country perhaps to live among a Barbarous people the Customs and Manners of whom he is unacquainted with 2. We may hence observe what Death is now to us since we have the hopes of a
Punishment for Grace to save him from But the case is not thus with us For the Scripture saith he has concluded all under sin Gal. 3.22 i.e. He has already given Judgment upon us and therefore his Justifying us cannot be by declaring us Righteous according to the Law of Integrity but by acquitting us of the sin he has concluded us under And what other Judgment is it that the Apostle has a respect to in this Expression but that which he gave upon Adam when for his Disobedience he condemn'd him to die God 't is true does in a secret and invisible way govern and judge the World in all Ages of it He hurls contempt upon Princes he humbles the proud and makes a Land barren for the wickedness of those that dwell therein And when he does any thing of this nature he concludes that sinfull People under their own Sins whom he punishes for their Wickedness But yet these and such-like Calamities though they are the Judgments of God and argue him to have pass'd a doom upon such a People Yet it is secret and does not determine of Men's state and condition any further than as to the Temporal comforts of this life But the sin that the Scripture tells us we are concluded under does respect all Men and the Judgment it speaks of had finally determin'd of our state had not Mercy interposed And of this nature was the Sentence that God pass'd upon Adam For his Judging him was of the same nature as the great Judgment at the End of the World will be It was open and by way of Process and Accusation Adam was cited charged admitted to plead for himself and at last convicted and condemned And this Sentence did determine of the final condition of Mankind appointing him and his Posterity irrevocably to Death So that he had died immediately and this Wrath of God would have lain upon us for ever had not the Divine Mercy contrived a means to justifie and save us And since it is by vertue of that Sentence we all die we are concluded under the guilt of Adam's sin i.e. We know our Doom and what we are to expect upon the account of that corrupt and mortal Nature that we receive from him If then Justification be from some punishment that we are already condemned to suffer it must be from this of Dying because no other Sentence is as yet pass'd upon us And unless we be discharged from this it is in vain that we have a new Law given unto us For we are not capable of Immortality till we are pardon'd the fault for which we are condemned and no Man can qualifie himself for a Blessing that he is not capable of This is the account of Justification that St. Paul gives us when he opposes it to Condemnation and makes it to consist in the Abolishing of Death Forasmuch as the Children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself took part of the same that through Death he might destroy him that had the power of Death that is the Devil and deliver them that through fear of Death were all their life-time suject unto bondage Heb. 2.14 15. i.e. The reason of Christ's Incarnation and Death was that he might bear our Punishment and set our Minds at rest which upon the account of that Sentence that doom'd us to die are full of Anxiety and Trouble at the thoughts of losing a Life that we are so fond of He under-went all that we account an Evil in Death His Body was turn'd to a Carcase and his Soul went to Hell or the place whither Death transports our Souls that state where the Devil designed when he robb'd us of our Immortality to erect a Tyranny over the Souls of Men where having vanquish'd that wicked Spirit he return'd triumphant with the spoils of our Enemy to his Body again And therefore as St. Paul saith there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 In which words he has not a respect to the last Judgment in which all Flesh shall be Eternally sentenced either to an Immortal Life or an Eternal Death as if no Christian need to fear being condemn'd at that day For there are no doubt many vicious and leud Chrisitians that will be judg'd unworthy of the Name they bear and of the Hopes that belong to it But his meaning is that they are absolved and acquitted from the Sentence of Death that Adam and his Posterity long since received that their Souls being rescued out of his hands who has the Power of Death shall at the Resurrection return in a Triumphant manner to their Bodies again which is the great Privilege we have by Jesus Christ For these words are an Inference from what he discoursed in the foregoing Chapter where he consider'd and complain'd of the Misery of Man's Natural state as we are obnoxious both to Sin and Death Oh wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death Rom. 7.24 And sets before us the Goodness of our Christian state which assures us of pure and glorious Bodies Bodies perfectly deliver'd from Mortality and those corrupt Affections and Appetites which Adam's Sin has let loose upon us I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord v. 25. So that they who are in this state and take care to approve the things that are Excellent that they may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ are in as good a condition as if Sin and Death had never enter'd into the World For there is no Condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus i.e. By Christ we are deliver'd from the Body of this Death or this Mortal sinfull Body And shall for ever enjoy the benefit of this Deliverance if we walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit And in this respect Jesus Christ is styled the second Adam in opposition to the first from whom Sin Mortality and Death are derived to us That as by the Apostasie of the first we are condemned to die by the Obedience of the second we are discharged from so dreadfull a Punishment and restored to the Hopes of living again And this he discourses more fully in the fifth Chapter where having observed the Calamity of that Mortal condition we are doom'd to by reason of Adam's Transgression he magnifies the Grace of God in this respect That through the Redemption we have by Jesus Christ we are deliver'd from this Effect of Adam's Offence As by the offence of one Judgment came upon all Men to condemnation i.e. As all Men were condemned to die for Adam's sin even so by the Righteousness of one the free gift came upon all Men to justification of life v. 18. i.e. All Men were discharged from the severity of this Sentence and allowed the liberty of providing for a Life that is Eternal as if they had never sinn'd nor ever been condemn'd to die It is true the Apostle discourses as if it was
not Adam's sin alone but our own too are the Reason why we die and consequently that our Justification is not from Adam's Offence only but from those many that we are guilty of By one Man sin enter'd into the World and Death by sin and so Death passed upon all Men for that all have sinned v. 12. i.e. All Men die as well as Adam because all have sinned as well as he For untill the Law sin was in the World And again Death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression v. 13 14. i.e. All that lived between Adam and Moses died though they did not Transgress a positive Law as Adam did but only sinn'd against the Law of Nature But if we look a little narrowly into the Apostle's discourse the contrary will be evident For when he instanceth in a time when there was no Law that condemn'd Men to die for their own Offences his design is to prove that the Sin and Judgment that pass'd upon Adam does reach to all Men For what account else shall we give saith he of the Death of those that died before the Law of Moses was given They sinn'd 't is true but that could not be the Reason why they died because they were not under any Law that threatned them with Death if they sinned and therefore since they died it could be by vertue of no other Law but that by which Adam was Judg'd and Condemn'd He does say indeed that Death pass'd upon all Men for that all have sinned Yet Sin is not imputed where there is no Law which was the case of all that lived between Adam and Moses The summ then of the Apostle's discourse is this That Adam's Sin and the Judgment that was pass'd upon him is the Reason why all Men die but we are not to think that Men die only for Adam's Sin in such a sense as if themselves were not Sinners For though all have sinned yet all die because of Adam's Sin Obj. But if this be the meaning of the Apostle how comes it to pass that he tells us afterwards that the free gift is of many offences unto Justification Ans To which I reply That though by the undertaking of our gracious Mediatour we are justified from our own particular Offences i.e. Are put into such a state that we have no reason to fear being condemned when we come to answer for our own Actions if with sincerity we conform our Lives according to the Rules of the Gospel though we be guilty of many Errours and Mistakes Yet it is plain from what he discoursed before that it is Adam's Offence alone is the reason why we die because it is for Adam's Offence alone that we are born Mortal and are under a Sentence of Condemnation But by being justified from Adam's Sin and Condemnation we by sincerely submitting to the Law of Grace are acquitted of all those particular Sins that in our Natural state we are guilty of Because Adam's Sin being the Root and Original cause of our own particular Offences by being discharged from the Punishment that Adam's Sin brought upon Mankind we upon our embracing the Law of Grace are accepted by God to a liberty of working out our own Salvation notwithstanding our own Sins The many Offences that the Apostle here speaks of are those that in their Natural state Men are guilty of For of these alone he spoke in the foregoing Verses when for the proving it was for Adam's Transgression that we all die he instanced in those that lived between Adam and Moses who were not under the Government of any other Law but that of Nature and therefore did not die for their own particular Offences And of these he tells us the free gift is to Justification as well as of Adam's Sin because by being discharged from the Punishment of Adam's Transgression we shall not be condemned for those that no positive Law does threaten with Death But as for those Sins that in our Christian i.e. our Justified state we are guilty of we must be justified or condemned for them by the Sentence of our Mediatour according to the very Voice of the Law that he has given us to live by 2. Then Justification puts us into a possibility of living again after Death for ever For since it is the taking off from us the Curse that is come upon our Nature for the publick Transgression of our first Parents it takes away that which is the Cause why we die and which if it was not taken away would for ever hold us in a state of Death The Reason why we die is because God has doom'd us to it and that which is the Reason why we die would be a Reason too why we should never live again if God in Mercy had not pitied our Condition and absolved us from the Guilt for which we are condemned to die For as it is upon the account of God's Wrath that we die if we had for ever lain under that Wrath we must for ever have continued in a state of Death i.e. according to the Sentence God had pass'd upon us we had forfeited the Immortality of that Life that consists in the vital Union of the Soul and Body So that the import of the Sentence of Death we fell under was nothing less than an Eternal separation of the Soul and Body A Doom that adjudged the Body to Dust for ever and the Soul to live without its Body under the Dominion of that Evil Spirit that seduced us and the dreadfull Marks of the Divine displeasure for ever And as this is the meaning of that Judgment to Condemnation that is come upon all Men so the meaning of that free gift that is come upon all Men to Justification of Life is the hopes of rising again to that Immortality we lost For by Justifying us God acquits us from the Punishment he had condemn'd us to and by withdrawing that Wrath from us which sentenced us to an Eternal Dissolution of the Soul and Body he puts us into a hopefull condition of living again for ever As when he condemn'd us his Justice laid us under an obligation of satisfying his Wrath by a perpetual separation of our Souls from our Bodies So when he justifies us his Mercy re-instates us in his Favour and by discharging us from the Curse we are fallen under gives us an Assurance that Death shall not be Eternal but that there will come a time when our Bodies shall come out of their Graves and our Souls and Bodies shall happily by united again So that 3. Justification is an Act of mere Mercy and Goodness It is mere Grace and Favour that spares the Life of a Criminal when he is condemn'd to die For in such a case he can have no hopes of living unless he who has the Power of Life and Death does by reversing the Sentence save him from the Punishment Whereas a Law that allows
with all Spiritual and Divine Perfections that he could not possibly by Improvement make himself a more noble and excellent Creature than he was He had without question all those Perfections that are Natural otherwise he could not have been sufficiently qualified for such an Improvement of himself as God expected from him He was I mean perfectly free from that Cloudiness of Mind that suffers us not to discern things as they are and had none of that false Biass upon his Will as renders a vertuous Course difficult to us But yet these Natural Perfections were capable of Improvement For though as he was no way disposed to Vice so he wanted those dispositions to Vertue and Goodness which are not acquired but by repeated Acts and which when they are laid in the Mind do give Reason a greater strength and vigour and do the more readily turn the Will to the Approbation and Choice of Vertue Now that this Improvement of his Mind to such a confirm'd state that Temptations should neither hurt nor reach him was his business is evident from that Threat of being hurl'd into a Mortal state if he disobeyed the Law of his Maker that the Scripture gives us an account of This shows that he was a Probationer for Immortality and that this was to be the Reward of his Labour when by the Practice of Divine Vertues he had exalted his Nature to an Impeccable state I mean when he had laid such strong Inclinations to Vertue in his Mind as to live in the Practice of it by a Natural disposition And as this was the state Adam was created in and is the Natural state of all Mankind because the Powers of our Nature if there was no Corruption in us are not so pure and excellent but they may be still Exalted The mischief that Sin let in upon us was the putting an End to this state by subjecting us to the Wrath of God For when God gave Judgment upon Adam had not his Mercy laid a design to recover us all hopes of advancing our selves to an Immortal state had been at an End And considering how low our Souls sunk into Sensuality by yielding to the Temptation that undid us there was no Moral possibility that we should raise our Nature so corrupted to a state of Impeccability again So that the Judgment that God gave upon us and the state he doomed us to was no other than the Natural consequence of our Apostasie Upon which account we have no Reason to complain that he has dealt severely with us in condemning us for one Sin because that one Sin put us into such a condition that we could never have improved our Nature to such an Excellency as Innocent Man might and was required to do Men are very apt to think it hard that God should give such a Sentence upon Adam and in him upon us as took from us the liberty of trying whether we could recover what he had lost and by a greater Application of our Minds over-come all those mighty Difficulties that Sin had laid in our way to the Perfection we were to aspire after But they who think it hard do not consider the waste that Sin had made in our Natural Powers and that it would have been no kindness to have tried us any longer in that way as Adam was to have improved himself but a Cruelty because we could not For it would have been a very hard thing to have held us to that Duty which we are utterly disabled for And now since it was upon these Terms that God plac'd Man in this World and the Duties of our entire Nature were become Morally impossible when he determined to put us upon another Trial he justified us from the Sentence that he had passed upon us for our Miscarriage in the first And this I take to be the great Blessing and Advantage of our being in a Justified state That being discharged from Death as a Punishment of Sin i.e. from the Eternity of it we are tried by the Divine Mercy whether the Hopes of Immortality will yet make us dutifull and obedient to him God's justifying us is to put us into our Original state of Probation for an Immortal Life For as his condemning us put an End to this state because they whom he condemns have lost the opportunity for Improvement So his Pardoning takes off the Impediment to Improvement and puts Life again into our hands to take care of But when I say it puts us into our Original state I do not mean that which Adam was in before he sinn'd for such an Improvement as he was capable of making before Sin had corrupted his Nature is not possible to us But the Original state I speak of is that of being Probationers for Heaven though the Trial we are put to is suited to the infirmity of our Condition It is not expected that we should live as Innocent Man might have done nor improve as he ought to have done for God has condescended to such a Righteousness as our maimed Powers are able to reach to A Righteousness that is by Faith and it is expected that we should be sincere and hearty in our Obedience to this Law of Grace though we cannot arrive in this Life to such a state of Impeccability which was the Work and was to be the Aim of Innocent Man And to this purpose we are Exhorted to work out our Salvation and by a patient continuance in well-doing to seek for Glory and Immortality which and many other places of Scripture would be insignificant if we were not to consider this Life as a state of Trial. For to what purpose are the Exhortations of this Nature if we must still die as condemn'd Criminals that have no right to Life at all When therefore these Exhortations are made to us they suppose we are discharged from the Sentence that will not let us live and that if we make but a good use of this Mercy the former Sentence will not be rigorously executed upon us but that we shall live again and when we do live again shall be Immortal But if we neglect so great Salvation and continue to preferr the Pleasures and Enjoyments of a Sensual life before the Joys and Glories of an Immortal state though we do not suffer the Death we are doom'd to when God so solemnly Judg'd Adam to die yet which is worse even after we are risen to Life again we must undergo a second Judgment and be condemn'd to die a second time SECT II. How Christ rose for our Justification II. I Come now to consider in what sense Christ is said to have risen for our Justification From whence not only the Certainty that there is a Resurrection but that we shall rise again will appear Now his rising from the Dead is an Exemplification of the great Blessing of our Justification For a Creature that dies can no otherwise be Justified i.e. discharged from such a Punishment but by rising to Life
again So that Christ's rising for our Justification does imply these things 1. That God discharged him from the Punishment that he bore for our Offences 2. That he has received Power to justifie us 1. His rising for our Justification means his being discharged from the Punishment he suffer'd for our Offences If we consider his Resurrection with a respect to himself and his Sufferings as personal none can deny but God did in a very glorious manner bear witness to his Innocency thereby and acquit him of those Crimes wherewith his Accusers charged him and that unjust Sentence that his Enemies gave upon him When he was taken by wicked hands and haled before a Judge when he was accused condemned and executed upon a Cross between two Thieves he appear'd as a vile Criminal in the Eye of the World according to what the Prophet Isaiah spoke of him long before We esteem'd him stricken and smitten of God and afflicted i.e. That a just Providence had deliver'd him up to suffer a deserved Punishment But when he rose to Life again he was justified in the sight of Angels and Men to be that Holy and Innocent Person that had done nothing worthy of Death This his Enemies were so sensible of that when his Apostles publish'd to the World how that he was risen again they exclaim'd against them and by Threats and severe Usages endeavour'd to silence them because they brought his Blood upon them This was a visible Justification of his Innocence For no other way was more effectual to take away his Reproach and to procure him Honour among Men than by giving him the Life that was taken from him This indeed was his own Personal Justification But it teaches us That it is not agreeable to the Nature of Justice that Death should hold those that are Innocent And although we cannot plead our Innocence to excuse our selves from Dying yet when the Offences for which we die are pardoned Justice can no longer consider us as under an Offence For since Death is a Punishment for our Offences the same Mercy that pardons the Offence does likewise remit the Punishment i.e. it gives us a Right to our Lives And it is but just that we should have our Lives restored i.e. that we should rise again when Justice can no longer treat us as Offenders by keeping us under the Power of Death And in this sense God by justifying his Son has likewise justified us For though he was Innocent yet for the accomplishing the Redemption of Mankind he was content to charge himself with the Sins of the whole World And as it was by Sin that Death enter'd into the World he who would bear our Transgressions was according to the just Judgment of God that doom'd sinfull Man to die appointed to bear our Punishment likewise So that his Resurrection is not only an Argument that God looked upon him as a Righteous Person that had been unjustly condemned to die but as a Person that having sufficiently satisfied for the Offences for which he died Justice had no right to keep under the Power of Death As it was an Attestation of his Innocence and the spightfull Accusations that his Enemies loaded him with it was an Act of Justice i.e. it was Justice that acquitted him from the unjust Sentence of Pontius Pilate But as it was a freeing him from the Punishment of the Offences for which he was deliver'd it was a mercifull Discharge from an Obligation to Punishment So that since he was deliver'd for our Offences and died because a Sentence of Death was pass'd against Offenders his Rising again is a visible Declaration of that Mercy that pardons Offences For he who dies upon the account of Sin must rise from under a Sentence of Condemnation when he returns to Life again And thus it was that Christ rose He rose from under a Curse and was deliver'd from Death not as a Calamity but as a Punishment And since his Resurrection was of this nature let us consider in what respect it is for our Justification Now as to this matter we may observe these things 1. That by rising from the Dead he has given us an instance that it is possible that a Creature that is condemn'd to die because of an Offence may rise again 2. That that Justice which has condemn'd us to die is fully satisfied and therefore we shall rise again 3. That his Resurrection was not a Personal Privilege but the Triumph of our Representative and Mediatour over Death and consequently a publick Discharge of Mankind from the Sentence of Condemnation 1. That by rising from the Dead he has given us an instance that it is possible that a Creature that is condemn'd to die because of an Offence may rise again One of the greatest Difficulties that lies against this Doctrine is this That we are condemn'd to die by the just Judgment of God and undergo it as a Punishment of our Sin For is it possible that a Punishment when it is inflicted a Sentence after it is executed should be reversed A condemn'd Person before the Sentence is executed upon him may be reprieved and pardon'd And if we were not deliver'd over to Death at all i.e. if we did not see Men die it might easily be believed that we could live an Immortal life But when we are condemn'd and die because we are condemn'd it appears too late to hope for a Pardon after the Punishment is inflicted But this will be no such difficulty if we consider that the Divine Mercy provided that the Death we are adjudged to should not be Eternal by promising before Sentence was given upon us That the seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpent's head So that although Justice did require that we should lose our Lives for ever as Malefactours do and does 't is true inflict such a Death upon us as for ever separates us from this present World what Difficulty can there be in a Resurrection which restores us no more than what Divine Mercy reserved for us when his Justice condemn'd us and is the fulfilling of that Original Promise made to Adam Had we been condemn'd never to live again neither in this life nor in another Mercy could not have saved us when once the Sentence had been executed up us because a Pardon would then have come too late to save us But when it is only a Death that deprives us of the Hopes of living again in this life that we are condemned to our being condemned to such a Death cannot render it impossible that we should live again in another This is the difference between the Death that we are all condemned to already and that which wicked Men will be condemned to in the Day of Judgment This deprives us only of the Hopes of living again in this life but not in another and therefore a Resurrection from the Death we are now condemned to is not impossible upon the account of the Sentence we are fall'n under
But that will deprive them of all hopes of living again after it because there is no other World beyond that for them to hope to rise to So that wicked Men when once they are condemned to lose the next life must die Eternally because it is impossible that any Mercy should save them who are condemned both to lose this life and the next too beyond which there is no other life to be expected But after this life there is another and though we are condemned to lose this life for our Offences yet we may hope to live again in another because the Divine Goodness has by giving us a Saviour taken care that we shall not die Eternally in the next World unless we abuse and sin away his favour in this And this possibility of living again which is the thing that is intended at the least by our being justified from Death is exemplified to us in the Resurrection of Christ For he was condemned to die and for the same Offences too for which we are condemned to die And since after he was crucified and slain according to the determinate Counsel and Foreknowledge of God he was raised again it is a proof of the possibility of our rising again to another life though we are condemned to lose this If we be condemned to die for our Offences so was Christ deliver'd for them too and if he who suffer'd the Punishment of our Sins did rise again why may not we hope to live again after Death though we do suffer the Punishment we are condemned to It is certain that it is not impossible we should rise again because we are condemned because he who was condemned to undergo the same Punishment as well as we did rise again For if our being condemned does oblige us to a Death that is Eternal then Christ could not have risen who suffer'd for Sin as well as we There is 't is true this difference between his Death and ours That he died for no Sin of his own as we do But yet it was upon the account of the same Sentence that he died which obliges us to die likewise And this is sufficient to satisfie us that it is possible for us to rise again though we are condemn'd and that the Sentence that obliges us to die is not irrevocable But further 2. His being dischaged from the Punishment of Sin proves that the Justice that condemn'd us is satisfied and that the Divine Mercy will save us For though he died for no Sin of his own but ours yet he died to another End than we should have done if he had not died He died to bear the Malignity of our guilt and to satisfie Divine Justice by making an atonement for us Which if he had not done we must have perish'd for ever under our guilt without any hopes of satisfying the Justice that has condemn'd us Death as inflicted upon us would have been for the satisfaction of Justice but it would have been by bearing the Vengeance of it for ever whereas he died to satisfie it by the Meritoriousness of his Obedience And since he died for this End his Resurrection is a publick Declaration of the Power of that Mercy to Sinners that he has procured for us It not only proves that it is possible for a condemn'd Person to live again though he does undergo the Punishment that he is doom'd to suffer but that as the Apostle saith being justified by his blood i.e. being acquitted from the Obligation to suffer an Eternal Death by his laying down his Life for us we shall be saved from wrath through him Rom. 5.9 i.e. From that Wrath we should otherwise have lain Eternally under For if God commended his Love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life v. 8 10. i.e. We have good reason to conclude from the Resurrection of Christ that we shall rise again because it gives us a view of the success of his undertaking when he died for us It shows that we are in a state of Mercy and Grace and that though we go out of this World under an Arrest yet our Debt is discharged by him who became our Surety It was but fit that Divine Justice should sentence us to Death when we preferr'd a Mortal before an Immortal condition and so far corrupted our Nature as render'd it impossible we should live For in this case the Justice that condemn'd us took nothing from us but what we had forfeited and lost And besides a Malefactour has no reason to complain of the severity of that Law that takes away his life when by violating it he has render'd himself unfit to live This was our case till Divine Justice was satisfied and since that Justice that condemn'd us is satisfied 't is in the power of Mercy to save us by restoring us the life we had forfeited And what Mercy can do the Resurrection of Christ is a sufficient Assurance that t will do because it is for the satisfying us that the Guilt for which we die is remitted and that we are under the benefit of a Pardon Whether the Mercy of God be of that nature that he could without a satisfaction have given us our Lives that his Justice takes from us and we might depend on it for Salvation though Christ had not died is a question not becoming a Christian to make For we can know no more of the Nature of God's Mercy i.e. how far he will or how far he can in honour extend it than he has revealed to us And if he had no-where reveal'd that his Mercy is of such a nature why should we think it is His Mercy indeed is infinite and it is an infinite Mercy that he should send his only begotten Son upon such an Errand And if this be the Mercy that he has revealed and which he would have us depend upon 't is a vain presumption to fansie either that there is Mercy with him of another nature for Sinners which we may depend upon than that which he has revealed or that his Mercy is not such as we have an account of And if we consider his mercifull Nature without a respect to the Revelation he has given us of it 't is hard to say whether it be so mercifull as to pardon those whom his Justice condemns only for his Mercies sake For though he be mercifull and on that account we may hope he will yet we have as much reason on the other hand to fear he will not upon the account of his Justice And especially when we consider him as the Governour of the World our own Reason will tell us that such Mercy is not to be supposed to belong to him which will render him despised and contemned For in this case we are not to consider what the Compassions of his mercifull Nature may incline him to do but how he may best maintain his own Honour and
that could have been concluded would have been this That if at any time after there should be any Man that lived as Holily add deserved Death as little as he did Divine Justice would do them the same right as it did him if their Lives should be violently torn from them as his was But since he undertook to deliver a sinfull Race from Death by becoming a Curse for us he rose as our Triumphant Redeemer not for his own Justification only but ours And his Resurrection does not only proclaim to the World that Divine Justice will not suffer an Innocent person who is unjustly condemn'd and with Violence put to Death to lie for ever under the Power of so unjust a Sentence But that Divine Mercy has pardon'd the Offences for which we who are under a Sentence of Codemnation do die and will not suffer us who die for our own faults as Criminals to lie for ever under the Sentence that is pass'd upon us For 1. His Resurrection was a Justification from guilt For since he bore our Sins when he died we are not to consider his Resurrection as the Justification of an Innocent person only but of a person laden with Iniquity And if we may inferr That it is agreeable to Divine Justice to restore a person that lives as much without Sin as he did his Life again if it should be wrongfully taken from him because he thus justified the Innocence of his beloved Son the least that we can conclude from his rising from under a Curse and the burthen of our Sins is That our Sins and the Curse that is come upon us are not of that weight but that we may likewise hope to rise from under them But further 2. It informs us that our whole Nature is Redeem'd and Hallowed And therefore the Holy Scriptures represent him as another Adam to inform us that he bore the same Relation to us in all he has done to restore Life to the World as Adam did when by his Fall and Punishment Sin and Death came upon us As in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive 1 Cor. 15.22 i.e. As Humane Nature was corrupted and made Mortal by Adam's Transgression and the Sentence of Death that he fell under came upon us who are his Posterity so Humane Nature is quickned and revived in Christ and his Resurrection is the great Instance of that Grace that remits to us the Punishment we are condemn'd to He is as well the Root from whom Immortality and Life are derived to us as Adam was the Root from whom came Mortality and Death And upon this Reason he is styled the first-fruits of the Dead Now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first-fruits of them that sleep For since by Man came Death by Man came also the Resurrection of the Dead v. 20 21. i.e. A Resurrection to another Life is come by Man in the same manner as Death came by Man For as we are all condemned in Adam so we are all acquitted from Death and made alive in Christ So that he is the first-fruits of them that sleep not only as he was the first Man that after Death rose to an Immortal Life but as his Resurrection is the consecrating Humane Nature afresh or the taking of the Curse that in Adam came upon us In this Expression the Apostle alludes to the Jewish Custom of offering the first-fruits of all their Encrease unto God which Oblation did not only sanctifie the Fruits that were offer'd but consecrated the whole Harvest And that which he informs us is this That God by raising up Jesus from the Dead has Hallowed us to an Immortal Life Obj. If it be objected that this is to put wicked Men into a Justified state Ans I reply That without doubt they have this advantage be the Death of Christ that with the rest of Mankind they are acquitted from the Condemnation that is come upon us in Adam else no reason can be given why they rise from the Dead and why they must be judg'd and condemn'd again for their own faults which supposes that here in this Life they are in a state of Probation That they shall rise again is as plainly revealed to us as that every good Christian shall Marvel not at this saith our Saviour for all that are in their Graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the Resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation Joh. 5.28 29. All that die the bad as well as good must rise again because the bad as well good do die And if the bad as well as good must arise it must be because they are freed from the Condemnation that came upon all Men in Adam For if they still lie under that Curse the Wrath that kills them would for ever give Death a power over them Neither would there be any reason why they should rise again to receive another Sentence if they be not freed from the former and restor'd to a possibility of saving their Souls So that since they must rise to receive another Sentence for their own faults it implies that they were in the same condition in this Life with those that made a better use of the Mercy that is granted us i.e. That they were pardon'd as to the Sentence that was given upon Adam but that they must be condemned because their own Sins will not suffer them to live when they are risen which will be so much the more dreadfull as it will be the Sentence of a Redeemer that came to save them And now let us consider what improvement we may make of this And. 1. Let us consider how comfortable a state we are restored to It is as I have observed a state of Pardon and Forgiveness A state that frees us from the Terrours of Divine Justice and puts us under the favourable influences of Grace and Mercy and gives us the liberty of a second Trial whether we will chuse Life or Death And therefore the Apostle takes notice of it as the peculiar Privilege and Blessing of our present Condition that we are not under the Law but under Grace Rom. 6.14 We are not under the Dominion of Justice that condemns but under the Rule of Mercy that justifies us The Law has condemn'd us and it is certain justly enough because it gives no other Sentence upon us than what by corrupting our Nature sin does naturally oblige us to suffer For it is naturally impossible that a Creature that is corruptible should not see Corruption But being justified by the Divine Grace we are put into a Condition of gaining that Immortal life that we are condemned to lose So that though Corruption and Mortality be the Natural fruits of Sin yet the Mercy that is procured us by the Mediation of Jesus Christ does give us a comfortable prospect of rising to an Incorruptible and Immortal state He who
to a sensible Creature But that which is most grievous in it is That it comes upon us as a Punishment and that we die by the just Judgment of God upon us And how much comfort must it give us to think that we are discharged from that Condemnation which is the severest Consideration in Death How may it revive our Spirits and raise our Heads to think That though in Adam all die yet in Christ shall all be made alive To know that we are justified in the Resurrection of him who died for our Offences is such a healing Consideration to our Minds as leaves nothing in Death that is troublesome but those little Aversions that Nature has to a Dissolution It is 't is true and always will be difficult matter to meet Death without concern and something of consternation because there is something praeter-natural in it But yet how unwilling soever Nature is to submit to so hard a fate yet we know we must and since the Law that has appointed us to die is irreversible the only wise thing we have to do in such Circumstances is to reconcile our selves to the thoughts of dying as well as we can that we may go out of the World with as little disquiet and aversion to a thing that we cannot help as is possible And the only Consideration that is sufficient in this case is this of our being in a Justified state and that we know the Reason of that Hope which alone is sufficient to bear up our Minds For with what peace and satisfaction may we go to our Graves when we know that the place our Souls go to will not be an Eternal Prison to them and that Death is not inflicted as an Eternal Punishment 5. Let us consider with how much care we ought to live while we are in this World For since we are acquitted from Condemnation we are not in so hopeless a Condition as those that must die without Mercy For the Grace and Favour of God that has remitted to us that Sentence has favour'd us with an opprtunity of escaping from the Wrath that is Eternal This is the favour that he publishes to the World in the Gospel and that which he calls upon us to do is to lay hold on this opportunity and to make a good use of it The grace of God i.e. the Gospel which brings or acquaints us with this Salvation teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts Tit. 2.12 For it sets Life and Death before us i.e. it lets us know that God is willing to try us once more and therefore favours every Man as he did Adam with the Liberty of chusing for himself which of these two he pleaseth And surely it is but a just and reasonable Expectation that we should lay hold of the opportunity that is put into our Hands of escaping for our Lives That if Death be so terrible a thing to us as we make it and we cannot very easily brook being condemned for a fault that is none of ours we should be very carefull for the future not to do any thing that may provoke God to condemn us for our own faults and be extremely fearfull of offering Violence to our selves and having our own Hands in the blood of our Souls It might be judg'd a hard Law by us that the fault of others should be charged upon us and that we should be under a Condemnation to Death because our first Parents sinn'd Therefore he calls upon us to look to our selves and tells us there is no more occasion for complaint as if the Children's teeth were set on edge by the sowre Grapes that our Fathers have eaten For he has remitted to us that Sentence that assigned us over to the power of Death and has privileg'd us with the liberty of taking care of the Life we are so unwilling to lose And if Life be so precious a thing to us as by our Apprehensiveness of Death we would be thought to account it what a wretched Madness is it while we are complaining of the hardship of our Circumstances as we are condemn'd in Adam to take so little care of it now it is put into our own hands to secure it as if it was all one to us whether we lived or died If Death be an indifferent thing to us why do we tremble at it Why does the near approach of it put us into terrible Agonies Why do we seem to account it a hard fate to be doom'd to die for a fault that was not in our power to help But if it be as really frightfull as it appears why should we neglect so favourable an opportunity of providing for our future safety as it put into our hands This will be a very great Aggravation of the Folly and Misery of wicked Men when they come to be condemn'd to a second Death that there will be no altering of that Sentence no more Mercy to be expected for the delivering them from the Wrath that their own faults will then bring upon them Oh how many sad Reflections will it occasion to think that they have twice forseited Life and that it is in spight of Mercy and Grace that they have destroy'd themselves by their own saults That they have been tried a second time whether they would chuse Life and Immortality but have made no better a choice for themselves than their first Fathers did So that the Mercy that deliver'd them from the Death they were condemn'd to in Adam was thrown away upon them and which will not a little add to the Misery of the second Doom as much as they fear'd dying they have yet made it their choice And since this will be the Fate of all Men that neglect so great Salvation ought we not to be carefull how we use it Surely after such an escape as this is there is great reason that God should expect that we should look well to our Ways and be very watchfull over our selves for the future That when-ever any sensual Appetite begins to be over-craving or the Riches Pleasures or Honours of this World do tempt us to Covetousness or Oppression to Sensuality or Intemperance to Pride or Ambition we should call to mind the Danger we have escaped and that we shall perish with scorn and contempt if we let our Love of our Bodies undo us twice This use we ought to make of our being in a Justified state for since the Sentence of Death is remitted we have a fair opportunity put into our Hands of securing a Life that is Immortal But if we lose this opportunity we shall sorfeit our Lives again and all the Mercy that would save us 2. His being raised for our Justification does imply his receiving Power and Authority to justifie us And here we are to consider Two things 1. That he is invested with Power and Authority to deliver us from Death 2. That this Power he received when he rose from the Dead 1. That he is invested with
Power and Authority to deliver us from Death 1. By raising us again out of our Graves And in this respect he is styled the second Adam in whom all shall be made alive in opposition to the first in whom all died to denote him to be the Author of Life to a condemn'd World as the first Adam was the Author of Death to a race that was designed for Immortality But yet he is not the Author of Life and Immortality only as he was merited it as Adam's Offence has entailed Death upon us but as he is that Person whom the Father has constituted to be the Dispenser of that Grace and Mercy that pardons the Offences for which we die and to communicate that Spirit of Life by which we shall rise again at the last day In which respect it is that he so often styles himself the Life of the World and the Resurrection and the Life by which he informs us of the great Authority the Father has put into his hand and that the Nature of that Office which as the Mediatour between God and Man be executes is for the discharging us from that Obligation to die Eternally which was the fruit of Sin As the Father hath life in himself so has he given to the Son to have life in himself Joh. 5.26 i.e. He has made him the Lord of Life and given him Power to bestow it For as the Father raiseth up the dead so the Son quickneth whom he will i.e. He as well as the Father has the Power of Life in his Hand We are not to understand this Expression as if there were some whom he would not restore Life unto but that the Power of giving Life which he has received is unlimited so that he can give and take away Life to and from whom he pleases Verily verily I say unto you the Hour is coming and now is when the Dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live Thus the Scripture does constantly represent the Power of abolishing Corruption and Death to be in the Hands of the Son of God And that Renovation of all things when the Creature that now groans under Corruption shall be redeemed from Vanity and Corruption and restored to an indissoluble state will be the work of him that came to redeem us from Death For as the Father is the first Fountain of Life from whom all Creatures received Life and Being in the first Creation of all things so the Son is appointed to be the Fountain of Life to all things again when the World shall be created a-new and put into such a state as shall endure for ever For we are to consider that when God first made the World it was a much more excellent thing than now it is being designed to be the Habitation of Innocent Man But when Man fell and lost his Innocency all this visible Creation suffer'd with him and was accurs'd for Man's sake i.e. It was put into a state proper for a Creature that was doom'd to Labour and Sorrow to dwell in Cursed is the ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life Thorns also and Thistles shall it bring forth to thee Gen. 3.17 18. Of what nature this Curse was is not easie to tell But however thus much it plainly imports that the Nature of this World was much alter'd for the worse and that it does not nourish us now as it would have done had we not been doom'd to a laborious and mortal Life But this is not all For the Scriptures represent it as such a Change as that which we our selves have undergone when instead of Immortality Mortality and Corruption seiz'd us And that at the last this World must undergo a purgation by Fire by means of which it will be restored to its ancient incorruptible State The Heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat Nevertheless we according to his promise look for new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness 2 Pet. 3.12 13. Which is the thing that St. Paul means when he tells us That the earnest expectation of the Creature waiteth for the Manifestation of the Sons of God Rom. 8.19 i.e. The visible Creation waits for that time when we shall become the Sons of God being the Children of the Resurrection at which time it will be freed from its Curse as well as we shall be deliver'd from the Wrath that is come upon us For the Creature was made subject to vanity not willingly but by reason of him that hath subjected the same in hope Because the Creature it self also shall be deliver'd from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Children of God v. 20 21. i.e. As it does partake of our Curse so it shall of our Blessing when we rise to an Immortal life being new made And as the first Creation was the work of the Father who has Life in himself i.e. from whom all that Life that is in the World is Originally derived So the second Creation when all things shall be put into a lasting incorruptible State will be the work of the Redeemer of all things For he came to give Life to the World and to be the restorer of all things i.e. to take away the Curse under which we and all this visible World do suffer The Authority that is conferr'd upon him is for the repairing those breaches that Sin has made in our Nature and for the putting a disorder'd World into its right indissoluble Frame And therefore the account he gives us of himself and his Errand is the giving Life to the World I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly Joh. 10.10 or in a more perfect and excellent degree than here they have He does 't is true give us a Specimen of his Power in the Renovation of our Souls in this Life which is the first beginning of that Life that he came to bestow upon the World But the great Exercise of his Authority will be at the Resurrection when all that are in their Graves shall hear his voice and come forth which will be his great Act of justifying us personally from the Sentence that has appointed us to die The Spirit that he communicates for the raising us to a new and holy Life is styled the Earnest of our Inheritance For nothing can be a more lively Emblem of our future Resurrection when we shall be deliver'd from Death than that New life we are raised to here by the Power of his Spirit For it is every whit as great an Instance of his Power to quicken and revive a dead Soul to its own Spiritual life as to raise a dead Body to life again And this is a great Evidence that God has given him Power to justifie a condemn'd World because that Spirit by which we begin to live again to God
Death For what better and safer hands can this Power to deliver and save us be lodged in than the hands of our Saviour For he to be sure will suffer nothing to be lost that he came to save and which he has Power to save This I have insisted on because some who believe that Christ rose again cannot see any Reason from thence to believe that we shall rise again too Now there are but Two things that I can think of that can be an occasion of distrust in the case 1. That this Power was not given him to this purpose 2. If it was we are not certain that he will make use of it Now we are sufficiently secured against any fears of this nature For 1. If he has any Power at all given him it must be to this purpose For none can be said to have a Power to do a thing given him which he is not to do by the use of that Power A Power which is not to be made use of is no Power at all and it could not be said that Christ has Power given him to raise us if this Power that is given him be sufficient to do this and yet he is not permitted to use this Power to this purpose Now that he has such a Power his own Resurrection is a sufficient proof For upon the same Reason that we believe he rose from the Dead we must believe that he has Power to raise the Dead because the Scriptures that teach us the one do teach us the other also So that if he has the Power of raising us committed to him it must be to this purpose that he may raise us And 2. We have great Reason to believe that he will make use of this Power to this purpose For will not he accomplish his own undertaking Will he not finish the thing that he has been sollicitous for Has a Malefactour any reason to doubt whether his Life shall be saved when his friend that has with Cost and Charge been long suing for his Pardon has it at last in his own hands No we are secured by the Love of our Redeemer that the Power he has received will be made use of for our deliverance For where can such a Power be better lodged than with him whose great concern it is to have us saved Thus the Apostle does argue upon this matter If when we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his Life Rom. 5.10 i.e. If he loved us so much when we were Enemies as by dying to reconcile us to God can we believe that he loves us the less now for having loved us so much before Or that after he has procured such a Power of delivering us from Death he will not do what he was so desirous should be done He who died that we might live will undoubtedly give us Life now that he has the Power of giving Life conserr'd upon him This is the Faith that the Gospel requires of us and it is so well grounded that nothing can be more reasonable But 2. Since Christ has received Power to justifie us by raising us from the Dead and giving us Eternal life This may insorm us wherein the Mercy of the Gospel does consist This is a Matter worthy our Consideration because there are so many that mistake it There are few or none so little acquainted with the Circumstances of our Nature but are sensible that we stand in need of a great deal of Mercy to save us And this Universal acknowledgment that it must be Mercy that saves us is an acknowledgment likewise that no other Religion but such a one as is sounded upon Mercy is suited to the Natural condition of Mankind A Religion that only teaches us our Duty and what improvement is necessary to qualifie us for Immortality is not now so adapted to our Nature as when Man was Innocent For because there are strong Aversions in us to that which is good Sensual inclinations that render man Sins very gratefull to Flesh and Blood and by that means give Sin such a power over us that the Conquest of one Sin is many times the labour of a Man's life we are not in a Condition to improve our selves for Immortality as Innocent Man might But though this is the Acknowledgment of all Men and the Gospel upon that account does contain the best Religion we can be under the Government of yet the Mercy of the Gospel which is the Mercy we want is not so well consider'd but that many who believe it is Mercy must save them do rest upon such Mercy as will not save them For that which many found their Hopes upon is the simple Consideration of the mercifull Nature of God without any regard to any particular Instance wherein he has Exemplified to us the Mercy he would have us depend upon For because Mercy is an Attribute that belongs to the Divine Nature they persuade themselves that nothing severe can be dreaded from a God of Mercy Thus bad Men bear up their Spirits under the pressure of their guilt and put by those Terrours wherewith the Consideration of God's Justice would affright them into an amendment of Life and at last make a shift to go out of the World without any great sense of their Danger For if they must appear before a Just and Holy God yet the God that will Judge them has the Bowels and Compassions of a Father And this Thought lays all frightfull Apprehensions of his Justice They consider not that Death is the Wages or the just desert of Sin and that by carrying their Sins along with them into the other World they carry that along with them that the Justice of God has already condemn'd and does punish them for when they die They think not that while they do wickedly they despise the Mercy that God has shown us and even throw away their own Lives which the Divine Mercy by justifying them from a Sentence of Condemnation has put into their own power to save It is evident indeed that their own Consciences being witnesses they do that which deserves Death I mean the Eternal loss of their Souls when they have a recourse to Mercy for their hopes of recovering them again when they are lost i.e. When they are separated from their Bodies and sent into the other World to live among Cursed Spirits For why else should they expect to receive their Souls again from the Hands of Mercy rather than of Justice if they were not conscious to themselves that they justly lose them And since they are conscious of this in their own Minds what reason have they to think that God will not do that which their own Consciences tell them they have deserved And there is this further to prove the Folly of such a Hope that they see the Mercy they trust to does not save them from the Punishment of Sin But Death
deprives them of their Souls and Justice sends them into the other World and no Mercy but such as is Revealed can assure them that they who die by the Hand of Justice shall have their Souls restored to them again when once they have lost them For those who were not informed of this matter by any Divine Revelation never thought of such a thing as a Resurrection though they did believe that Mercy was an Attribute that belonged to the Divine Nature Neither does the Mercy of the Gospel consist only in revealing to us that God is Mercifull For there needs no Revelation to such a purpose And a Revelation of this nature would be of no great use to us if the Extent of his Mercy was not made known to us in some particular Instance that might encourage us to depend upon it and assure to us the Certainty of the Blessing that we hope for from his Mercy i.e. If he had not Reveal'd to us what we are to Hope for and upon what grounds we are to build our Hopes For to hope in his Mercy only because he is Mercifull is to hope for nothing that is certain and that can afford but cold comfort to Creatures that know they must be miserable for ever unless he shows 'em such a special Favour and Mercy as they stand in need of And it is observable that they who build their hopes of Mercy at large do talk very much at random as if they knew not what to hope for and were altogether unskill'd in the state and condition of another life Further it does not consist in prescribing to us the most perfect Vertue in the Rules and Example of our great Lord. For though this be an Eminent part of the Gospel-Mercy and Goodness yet it would be no Mercy if we were not put into a condition of obeying the Gospel with Hope For what Mercy is it to have the most exalted Vertue set before us if we cannot attain unto it and yet must perish if we do not Or if though we could attain unto it we must die by reason of a former Sentence For it is too late for a Malefactour to apply himself to that Obedience that the Law requires when he is already condemned for transgressing it Neither can he receive any Benefit from the best Informations concerning his Duty till he is acquitted from the Sentence he is fall'n under And therefore Zacharias in his pious Hymn celebrated the Mercy of the Gospel upon this account That being deliver'd out of the hands of our Enemies we may serve God without fear Luk. 1.74 Once more It does not consist only in God's Revealing to us that he will forgive us our Sins upon our Repentance and not charge the many Errours of our Lives upon us if we do our best to perfect Holiness None must deny but this is a very great degree of Mercy and that the Gospel does acquaint us that there is such Mercy with God For it encourages us to turn from Satan to the living God by the Promise of Forgiveness and assures us of Everlasting life upon the Sincerity of our Obedience So that he who applies his Mind with the greatest care and industry to improve himself according to the Rules of the Gospel will be acquitted even by the very Justice of his Redeemer when he comes to be Judged though he has not a Righteousness every way compleat to plead at that day But though this be a very mercifull Condescention yet it does not set before us the utmost height of that Mercy that the Gospel sets before us For it further lets us know That God's just Sentence of Death upon us is remitted without which all his other Mercy would have been to no purpose And that as upon this account St. Paul exhorted the Corinthians 1 Epist 15.58 We may be stedfast unmoveable and always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as we know that our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord i.e. Because we are assured we shall rise again from under our former Sentence and be rewarded with Everlasting life And therefore this is styled the Hope of the Gospel Col. 1.23 to denote it to be the peculiar Mercy wherewith it encourages us to live according to the Laws of Christ The grace of God which brings Salvation or makes known our being discharged from Death as a Punishment and that therefore we shall rise to Life again teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godlily in this present World looking for that blessed hope Tit. 2.11 12 13. i.e. That Immortal life that this Mercy encourages us to labour for For he that has this hope which no Man could have unless he was freed from Condemnation i.e. Justified purifies himself as God is pure 1 Joh. 3.3 And still for our greater encouragement the Gospel lets us know that this Mercy is merited and that the Hopes of rising to Life again which we are begotten to is founded upon the Redemption we have by Jesus Christ and the price of our Mediatour's Blood That there is forgiveness with God because Divine Justice is satisfied and the Power of Justifying us to Eternal life is committed to him who has suffer'd the Punishment of our Sins This is that height of Mercy that the Gospel reveals to us 'T is Mercy that is procured for us by the Death of our Redeemer and Exemplified to us in his Resurrection And therefore we know what it is that we are to expect from him 'T is Mercy that we have a right to upon the account of the Price that has been paid for it and therefore we know that it is just with God to restore us the Lives we lose In a word it is Mercy that is in the Hand of our Mediatour that has conquer'd and triumph'd over Death and on that account we have a full Assurance that he will remember his own Mercy and compell Death and the Grave to give up the Dead that are in them The Mercy of the Gospel then is a sufficient encouragement to us to do our Duty because it does not leave us at Uncertainties as those Hopes do which are grounded only upon the Mercifull Nature of God It is owing to the Mercifull Nature of God that we have the Hopes of Immortality But that Resurrection to Life which is the great Grace of the Gospel is not a thing that we are still to depend upon the Will and good Pleasure of God for For it is already granted us And though it is the Gift of God it is a Gift in the Hands of our Surety who is entrusted with the Power of giving Life 3. Since he has received Power to Justifie i.e. to Raise us and to give Eternal lise to his sincere Disciples This may inform us what Honour and Reverence is due to him And this is a Matter well worth our Consideration because there are a sort of Men that discourse as
has received this Power we may observe upon what Reason it will go worse with wicked Christians at the last than with ignorant Heathens That it will do so our Saviour has assured us in those dreadfull Denunciations against Chorazin Bethsaida and Capernaum the Cities where he frequently taught and wrought his Miracles Wo unto thee Chorazin wo unto thee Bethsaida for if the mighty Works that have been done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in Sackcloth and Ashes But I say unto you It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the Day of Judgment than for you And thou Capernaum which art exalted to Heaven shalt be brought down unto Hell For if the mighty Works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom it would have remained untill this day But I say unto you It shall be more tolerable for the Land of Sodom in the Day of Judgment than for thee Matt. 11.21 22 23 24. And that there is a great deal of Reason it should be so is evident from hence That wicked Christians sin against that Mercy and despise that Salvation that the Heathen part of the World know nothing of For all the Mercy that Heathens have by the Death and Resurrection of Christ is that they shall assuredly rise again from Death because Christ who died for our Offences has discharged all Mankind from Death as it is a Punishment of Sin But how the great Judge will deal with them when they are risen we know not because the Mercy that shall be shown them is not revealed Christ by the Power he has received will raise them to Life again though they know not of it But when they are risen they will not be Judged for not improving this Mercy because they know nothing of it neither Neither have they that Revelation that ascertains to Christians both their Duty and Reward and therefore shall not be condemn'd for not improving themselves to that height of Vertue that the Christian Religion teaches But now the case of wicked Christians is quite otherwise For they must rise to answer for all the abuse of that Mercy that the Gospel acquaints them with And they must die again because they have despised that Life that they must then lose when it was in their Power to have secured it Though they have the means of knowing that they shall not for ever lose their Souls upon the account of the Judgment that came upon all Men to Condemnation in Adam and that they are favour'd with a new Trial whether they will chuse Life or Death they lose the time of their Trial and must die because they chuse Death And this will aggravate their Condemnation that when they were favour'd with the care of their own Souls they foolishly lost the time in which God put them to their choice whether they would live or die So that when they are condemn'd again it will be a startling Consideration to them that they must die for their own neglect of themselves and that they have taken no warning by their former Condemnation but have to no purpose been pardon'd the fault for which they lose this present life And besides it will beget terrible Reflections in them when they come to consider that the Judge before whom they stand is he that came into this World to deliver them from Death by vanquishing that subtil Enemy that betray'd us into Mortality That it is he that will condemn them that when he appears the second time comes with Power to save i.e. to conferr upon us the fruits of his bloody Victory And that he will condemn them because they have taken their Souls out of his hand when he had deliver'd them and have deliver'd them up again to the slavery of those Evil Spirits out of whose power he had rescued them So that their Condemnation will be with the greatest Indignation for disappointing the Hopes and thwarting the Design of him that has procured a Power from his Father to save It will be with bitter Wrath and Vengeance for deserting the protection of a Saviour after all the Sweat and Blood that he was at the expence of to deliver them Those mine Enemies that would not that I should reign over them bring hither and slay them before me Luk. 19.27 And oh with what Consternation and Agonies in their Souls will they then be tortured when they see the direfull Executioners of that terrible Sentence coming upon them to seize them and that they must lose their Lives again which they have but just received and which is worse to lose them within the sight of Immortality He will condemn all that do Unrighteousness but a wicked Heathen will not fall under so much Wrath as a wicked Christian because he sins only against the Light of his own Mind and loses the Benefit of that Salvation that he never heard of But that which will heighten the wicked Christian's Condemnation is this That he has received the Grace of God in vain and must be condemn'd by him whose Kindness they have been frequently told of and whose Mercy they have been courted to accept of and to improve Oh! with what weight will the Wrath of a Redeemer fall upon the Heads of wicked Christians How scorching will that Justice be which the Love and Mercy of a Saviour will be forced to give way unto Because you would none of my Counsel but have despised all my Reproof and trampled on my Blood and turned my Grace into Wantonness Therefore shall ye eat the fruit of your own Ways and be filled with your own Devices Go ye cursed into everlasting burnings Such a Sentence out of the Mouth of a Saviour will come with such Astonishment and Horrour as no Heathen has any reason to dread Neither is this the worst of their case For every one that calls himself a Christian does profess to have put himself under the protection of their Redeemer's Mercy And therefore every Christian that does wickedly must expect to die without pity because he renounces his Trust in that Mercy without which when he embraced the Christian Religion he declared he could not be saved and repenting of his subjection to his Saviour revolts from him who alone has the Power to justifie The case of the Heathens is pitiable because of their Ignorance And therefore the Apostle tells us God winked at the time of the Heathen Ignorance He seem'd to over-look their Follies and out of mere pity to take no notice of their Mistakes But what Mercy can they expect who make light of that Mercy that calls them to Repentance and puts it into their Power to provide better for themselves than their first Parents did 5. We may hence likewise observe how little reason we have to dread a future Judgment There are a great many Considerations that are sufficient to remove those Fears that the thoughts of that Great Day are apt to terrifie us
with For he who is appointed to Judge us is the Man Christ Jesus He is a Man that is sensible of all the Infirmities that we labour under and does carry in his Bowels the Affections and tender Compassions of a Man toward us In that he has suffer'd being tempted he is able or very inclinable to succour them that are tempted Heb. 2.18 For what severe or terrible thing can we fear from a Man like our selves What unkind or hard Sentence have we reason to dread from him who is our Brother Will not he who took part of Flesh and Blood be very tender to the Infirmities of his own Nature Though it be a terrible thing to appear before a Just and Righteous God because the Justice of a God is very frightfull yet it can be no very frightfull thing to appear before a God made Man because we are well acquainted with the Tendernesses that are in the Nature of a Man Or if this Consideration be not enough to reconcile our Thoughts to a Judgment to come because we too often see that the Passions of Men make them violent and injurious cruel and oppressive toward each other Yet he is a Man not subject to the like Passions as we are nor tainted with those Vices as corrupt our Nature and render it a difficult thing oftentimes to converse with those of our own kind But he is a Man famed for Meekness and Humility for Love and Charity for Mercy and Compassion So that he is qualified with all those soft and tender Vertues that we our selves would desire should be in him that is to Judge us And since we must be Judged we would wish for such a Judge as he is But this is not all for the most comfortable Consideration of all is this That the Power to Judge us that is committed to him is a Power to justifie and acquit us from Death He has merited a Power to give Life to the World and therefore when he appears the second time it will be to the Salvation of all that wait for him by raising them from the Dead and giving them Eternal life So that his Judging the World will be an executing of that Power of giving Life that he has received It will be with the Pardon that he has mediated in his hand and for the delivering us who now are appointed to die from any more fear of Death for the future He will 't is true when he appears be cloathed with that Majesty that will be terrible to his Enemies and as a Righteous Judge give a very dreadfull Sentence upon all the workers of Iniquity But yet though he will condemn to a second Death those that he finds not worthy of Life and as well concern himself for the Interests and Reputation of his Father's Justice as our Everlasting Welfare Yet it is plain that the giving so severe a Sentence is besides his purpose and as well contrary to the Office as the Inclinations of a Redeemer because he will raise even those to Life again whom he thus condemns His raising them to Life again will demonstrate even to those that must die again that it is for the dispensing of Mercy and the acting like a Saviour that he does then appear That the primary End of his appearing is for the restoring Lise to Mortal Creatures For why else will he raise them to Life whom he will afterwards condemn to another Death but to let the World see that he designs Life for all if Mercy it self can but save them The true and proper find then of his sitting in Judgment will be the displaying the Mercy of a Redeemer the distributing the price of his Blood and the communicating the Everlasting Grace of the Gospel He came to save that which was lost and to be sure he will not cast away any that he came to save nor easily condemn when his business was to destroy Death He will Judge us who will raise us to Life again And to be sure he who then gives us our Lives will not easily and without very great Reason take them away again And now how terrible soever it is to us to think of undergoing a Trial of our Actions before a just Judge Yet is it not enough to ease our Thoughts to think that this Judgment will be terrible to none but such as have no Reason to hope in his Mercy but that all whom Mercy can save the Bowels of a Mediatour will deliver from Condemnation What more favourable Judge can we expect than such a one as has purchased us and has purchased Eternal life for us Such a one as comes with Power to justifie and save all whom Mercy can deliver and who lets us see his Inclination to give us Life by freeing us from a Sentence of Condemnation when he raises us out of our Graves The Conclusion HAving consider'd the Nature and Certainty of the Resurrection all that I shall observe from the whole is the Necessity that is upon us to live like those that do believe we shall rise again I mean that we do nothing now that will lose us our Lives again when they are restored to us at the Resurrection To live in this World as if we should never live more after Death has taken us out of it is very excusable in those who know not that they shall rise again because they take care of all the Life they know of But for a Christian who believes he must live again to do this is an extremity of Folly and Madness for it is to be thoughtfull only for an inconsiderable part of our Lives And surely it is not to act wisely for our selves not to take care of all the Life we are to live It is in the Opinion of all Men a very great imprudence not to take care of our Lives And therefore that Labour and Toil those vexatious Cares and Solicitudes wherewith Men wear out their Bodies and vex their Minds are justified upon this account that they are for the maintaining of Life And they are lookt upon as Men of little understanding who live without any kind of fore-cast or thoughtfulness for Life Now what Men do and make a great Mark of their Prudence in doing for the support and preservation of this life is much more needfull to be done for the preserving the Life we shall rise to because that is the Life that it principally concerns us to look after When Men neglect the Duties of Religion the general Answer wherewith they satisfie themselves and wherewith they expect that all Men should be satisfied is that they have not leisure The business of this World takes up their time and if they have hardly time sometimes to Eat and Sleep they cannot think but the Cumber and the Urgency of their Affairs will as well excuse them from their Religious Services as it obliges them to a neglect of their Bodies But when Men talk at this rate one would think they were