transgressors and upon that score we stand indebted to the justice of God and lie under the stroke of his wrath Now the Lord Jesus Christ seeing us in this condition he steps in and stands between us and the blow yea he takes this wrath and curse off from us unto himself he stands not only or meerly after the manner of a Surety among men in the case of debt for here the Surety enters bond with the Principal for the payment of the debt but yet expects that the debtor should not put him to it but that he should discharge the debt himself he only stands as a good security for the debtor no Christ Jesus doth not expect that we should pay the debt our selves but he takes it wholly upon himself As a surety for a murtherer or traytor or some other notorious malefactor that hath broken prison and is run away he lies by it body for body state for state and undergoes whatsoever the malefactor is chargeable withal for satisfying the Law Even so the Lord Jesus stands Surety for us runagate malefactors making himself liable to all that curse that belongs to us that he might both answer the Law fully and bring us back again to God As the first Adam stood in the room of all mankind fallen so Christ the second Adam stands in the room of all mankind that are to be restored he sustains the person of all those which do spiritually descend from him and unto whom he bears the relation of a Head When God appointed his dearest Son to be a Surety for us and charged all our debts upon him and required an exact satisfaction to his Law and Justice insomuch that he would not abate the Son of his love one farthing token of the debt he did demonstrate a greater love to Justice than if he had damned as many worlds as there are men in the world O let us never cast an eye upon Christ's Suretyship but let us stand and wonder yea let us be swallowed up in a deep admiration of Christs love and of his Fathers impartial justice Ah what transcendent wisdom also does here appear in reconciling the riches of Mercy and infinite Justice both in one by the means of a Surety If all the Angels in heaven and all the men on earth had been put to answer these Questions How shall sin be pardoned how shall the sinner be reconciled and saved how shall the wrath of God be pacified how shall the Justice of God be satisfied how shall the Redemption of Man be brought about in such a way whereby God may be most eminently glorified they could never have answered the questions But God in his infinite Wisdom hath found out a way to save sinners not only in a way of Mercy and Grace but in a way of Justice and Righteousness and all this by the means of Christ's Suretyship as hath been already declared Now from the consideration of Christ's Suretyship a believer may form up this Seventh safe comfortable and blessed Plea as to the ten Scriptures formerly cited that refer to the great day of account or to a man's particular account O blessed Father remember that thine own Son was my Ransom his blood was the price he was my Surety and undertook to answer for my sins I know O blessed God that thou must be satisfied but remember When a man matries a woman with her person he takes her debts and satisfaction too so does Christ when he takes us to be his he takes our sins also to be hiâ— my Surety has satisfied thee not for himself for he was holy and harmless a Lamb without a spot but for me They were my debts he satisfied for and look over thy Books and thou shalt sind that he hath cleared all accounts and reckonings between thee and me the guilt of all my sins have been imputed to my Surety who did present himself in my stead to make full payment and satisfaction to thy Justice as Paul said to Philemon Philem. ver 18. concerning his servant Onesimus If he hath wronged thee or oweth thee any thing put it upon my account So saith Christ to the penitent and believing soul If thou hast any guilt any debt to be answered for unto God put them all upon my account if thou hast wronged my Father I will make satisfaction to the uttermost for I was made sin for thee 2 Cor. 5. 21. Isa 53. 12. I poured out my soul for thy transgressions it cost me my hearts blood to reconcile thee to my Father and to Acts 20. 28. Gen. 27. 13. slay all enmity And as Robeckah said to Jacob in another case Vpon me my son be the curse so faith Christ to the believing soul why thy sins did expose thee unto the curse of the Law but I was made a curse for thee I did Gal. 3. 13. bear that burthen my self upon the Cross and upon my shoulders were all thy griefs and sorrows born I was Isa 53. 4 5 6 7 8. 10. Eph. 1. 7. wounded for thy transgressions and I was bruised for thy iniquities and therefore we are said to have redemption and remission of sins in his blood O blessed God! thou knowest that a surety-doth not pay the debt only for the debtors good but as standing in the debtors stead and so his payment is reckoned to the dâ—btor And thus the case stands between Christ and my soul for as my Surety he hath paid all my debts and that very payment that he hath made in honour and justice thou art obliged to accept of as made in my stead Oh dearest Father that Jesus who is God-man as my Surety he hath done all that the Law requireth of me and thereby he hath freed me from wrath to come and from the curse that 1 Thes 1. ult was due to me for my sins This is my plea O holy God and by this plea I shall stand Hereupon God declares this plea I accept as just and good and therefore enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Christian Reader I have gone as far in the opening and clearing up of those Grand Points of the Gospel that have fallen under our consideration as I judge meet at this time By the Title-page thou mayest safely conclude that I have promised much more than in this Treatise I have performed but be but a little patient and by divine assistance I shall make sure and full payment The Covenant of Grace and the Covenant of Redemption with some other Points of high importance I shall present to thee in the Second Part which will be the Last Part. In this First Part I don't offer thee that which cost me nothing I desire that all the interest thou hast in heaven may be so fully and duly improved that this First Part may be so blest from on high as that Saints and Sinners may have cause to bless God to all Aeternity for what is brought to hand and beg hard
33. 24. everlasting death then mercy steps in and pleads I have found a Ransom the sinner shall not die but live When the Law saith ah sinner sinner thus and thus hast thou transgressed all sorts of duties thou hast omitted and all sorts of sins hast committed and all sorts of mercies thou hast abused and all sorts of means thou hast neglected and all sorts of offers thou hast slighted then God steps in and saith ah sinner sinner what dost thou say what canst thou say to this heavy charge is it true or false with thou grant it or deny it what defence or plea canst thou make for thy self Alas the poor sinner is speechless Mat. 22. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was muzzled or haltered up that is he held his peace as though he had a bridle or a halter in his mouth this is the import of the Greek word here used he hath not one word to say for himself he can neither deny nor excuse or extenuate what is charged upon him why now saith God I must and do pronounce thee to be guilty and as I am a just and righteous God I cannot but adjudg thee to die eternally but such is the riches of my mercy that I will freely justifie thee through the righteousness of my son I will forgive thy sins and discharge thee of that obligation by which thou wast bound over to wrath and curse and condemnation so that the justified person may triumphingly say who is he that condemneth He may read over the most dreadful passages of the Law without being terrified or amazed as knowing that the curse is removed and that all his sins that brought him under the curse are pardoned and are in point of condemnation as if they had never been This is to be justified to have the sin pardoned and the penalty remitted Rom. 4. 5 6 7 8. But to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justisieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man to whom God imputeth righteousness without works saying Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin It is observable that what David calleth forgiveness of sin and not imputing of iniquity St. Paul stiles a being justified But Secondly as the first part of Justification consists in the pardon of sin so the second part of Justification consists in the acceptation of the sinners person as perfectly righteous in God's sight pronouncing him such and dealing with him as such and by bringing of him under the shadow of that divine favour which he had formerly lost by his transgressions Cant. 4. 7. Thou art all fair my love and there is no spot in thee that is none in my account Deut. 32. 5. nor no such spots as the wicked are full of Look as David saw nothing in lame Mephibosheth but what was lovely 2 Sam. 9. 3 4 13 14. because he saw in him the features of his friend Jonathan so God beholding his people in the face of his son sees nothing amiss in them They are all glorious within and without Psal 45. 13. Look as Absolom had no blemish from head to foot so they are irreprehensible and Jer. 2. 32. without blemish before the throne of God Rev. 14. 5. The pardoned sinner in repect of divine acceptation is without Eph. 5. 26 27. spot or wrinkle or any such thing God accepts the pardoned sinner as compleat in him who is the head Colos 2. 10. of all principality and power Christ makes us comely through his beauty he gives us white raiment to stand before the Lord Christ is all in all in regard of divine acceptance Eph. 1. 6. He hath made us accepted in the beloved All persons out of Christ are cursed enemies objects of God's wrath and Justice displeasing offending and provoking creatures and therefore God cannot but loath them and abhor them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath made us favourites so Chrysostom and Theophilact render it God hath ingratiated us he hath made us gracious in the son of his love through the blood of Christ we look of a sanguine complexion ruddy and beautiful in God's eyes Isa 62. 4. Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken but thou shalt be called Hephzibah for the Lord delighteth in thee The acceptation of our persons with God takes in six things 1. God's honouring of us 2. His delight in us 3. His being well pleased with us 4. His extending love and favour to us 5. His high estimation of us 6. His giving us free access to himself It is the observation of Ambrose that though Jacob was not by birth the first-born yet hiding himself under his brother's cloaths and having put on his coat which smelled most fragrantly he came into Gen. 27. 36. his father's presence and got away the blessing from his elder brother so it is very necessary in order to our acceptation with God that we lie hid under the precious Robe of Christ our elder brother that having the sweet 2 Cor. 2. 15. savour of his garments upon us our sins may be covered with his perfections and our unrighteousness with the Robes of his righteousness that so we may offer up our selves unto God a living and acceptable sacrifice not Rom. 12. 1. Isa 64. 6. Phil. 3. 9. having our own righteousness which are but as filthy rags but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith Thus you see that Justification for the nature of it lies in the gracious pardon of the sinners transgressions and in the acceptation of his person as righteous in Gods sight But Secondly In order to the partaking of this grace of the forgiveness of our sins and the acceptation of our persons we must be able to produce a perfect righteousness before the Lord and to present it and tender it unto him and the reason is evident from the very nature of God who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity Habak 1. 13 that is Habak 1. 13. Heb. And to look on iniquity thou canst not do it with patience or pleasure or without punishing it There are four things that God cannot do 1. He cannot lie 2. He cannot die 3. He cannot deny himself 4. He cannot behold iniquity with approbation and delight Josh 24. 19. And Joshua said unto the people ye cannot serve the Lord for he is an holy God he is a jealous God he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins such is the holiness of God's nature that he cannot behold sin Psal 5. 4 5 6. that he cannot but punish sin where ever he finds it God is infinitely immutably and inexorably just as well as he is incomprehensibly gracious Now in the justification of a sinner God doth act as a God of justice as well
as a God of compassion God is infinite in all his attributes in his justice as well as in his mercy these two cannot interfere as justice cannot intrench upon mercy so neither may mercy encroach upon justice the glory of both must be maintained Now by the breach of the Law the justice of God is wronged so that although mercy be apt to pardon yet justice requires satisfaction and calls for vengeance on sinners Every transgression Heb. 2. 2. must receive just recompence and God will not in any case absolve the guilty till this be done the hands of Exod. 34. 7. mercy are tied that she cannot act And seeing satisfaction could not be made to an infinite majesty but by an equal person and price therefore the son of God must become a curse for us by taking our nature and pouring out his soul to the death and by this means justice and mercy are reconciled and kiss each other and mercy now being set at liberty hath her free course to save poor sinners God will have his justice satisfied to the full and therefore Christ must bear all the punishment due to our sins or else God cannot set us free for he cannot go against his own just will observe the force of that phrase Christ ought to suffer And thus it behoved Christ to suffer Luk. 24. 26. and Mat. 26. 54. Thus it must be why must but because it was 1. So decreed by God 2. Foretold by the Prophets every particular of Christ's sufferings were foretold by the prophets even to their very spitting in his face 3. Prefigured in the daily morning and evening sacrifice this Lamb of God was sacrificed from the beginning of the world A necessity then there was of our Saviour's sufferings not a necessity of coaction for he died freely John 10. 11 14 17 18. and voluntarily but of immutability and infallibility for the former reasons mentioned An earthly Prince that is just holds himself bound to inflict punishment impartially upon the malefactor or his surety it stands upon his honour he saith it must be so I cannot do otherwise this is true much more of God who is Justice it self God who is great in counsel and excellent in working had store of means at hand whereby to set free and recover lost man-kind yet he was pleased in his infinite wisdom to pitch upon this way of satisfaction as being most agreeable to his holy nature and most suitable to his high and sovereign ends viz. Man's salvation and his own glory and that God doth stand upon full satisfaction and will not forgive one sin without it may be thus made evident First from the nature of sin which is that abominable 1. â—eâ— 44. 4. God could not â—salvâ— jure pass over the sin of man so as absolutely to let it go unpunished thing which God hates The sinner deserves to die for his sins Rom. 6. 23. Tho wages of sin is death every sinner is worthy of death They which commit such things are worthy of death Rom. 1. 32. Now God is just and righteous It is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you 2 Thes 1. 6. yea and God did therefore set forth Christ to be a propitiation through faith in bis blood Rom. 3. 25. To declare his righteousness that he might be just vers 26. Now if God be a just and righteous God then sin cannot absolutely escape unpunished for it is just with God to punish the sinner who is worthy of punishment and certainly God must deny himself if he will not be just 2 Tim. 2. 13. but this he can never do sin is of an infinite guilt and hath an infinite evil in the nature of it and therefore no person in heaven or earth but that person our Lord Jesus who is God-man and who had an infinite dignity that could either procure the pardon of it or make satisfaction for it no prayers no cries no tears no humblings no repentings no resolutions no reformations c. can stop the course of Justice or procure the guilty sinners pardon 't is Christ alone that can dissolve all obligations to punishment and break all bonds and chains of guilt and hand a pardon to us through his own blood Eph. 1. 7. we are set free by the blood of Christ By the blood of thy Zach. 9. 11. covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit 't is by his blood that we are justified and saved from wrath Rom. 5. 9. Much more being justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath by him Pray tell me what is it to be justified but to be pardoned and what is it to be saved from wrath but to be delivered from all punishment Eph. 2. 13. Colos 1. 20. and both these depend upon the blood of Christ But The veracity of God requires it Look as God cannot but be just so he cannot but be true and if he cannot but be true then he will make good the threatnings that are gone out of his mouth Gen. 2. 17. In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Heb. in dying thou Under the name of death are comprehended all other calamities miseries and sorrows shalt die death is a fall that came in by a fall and without all pâ—radventure every man should die the same day he was born for the wages of sin is death and this wages should be presently paid did not Christ reprieve poor sinner's lives for a season upon which account he is said to be the Saviour of all men not of eternal preservation but of a temporal reservation He will by no means clear 1 Tim. 4. 10. the guilty The soul that sinneth it shall die Ezek. 18. Exod. 34. 7. 20. The wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him Rom. 2. 6. He will render to every man according to his deeds Oh sirs God can never so far yield as to abrogate his own Law and quietly to sit down with injury and loss to his own Justice himself having established a Law c. The Law pronounces him cursed that continues not in all things Gal. 3. 10. that are written therein to do them Now though the threatnings of men are frequently vain and frivolous yet the threatnings of the great God shall certainly take place and have their accomplishment though many ten thousand millions of sinners perish not one tittle of the Mat. 5. 18. dreadful threatnings of God shall fail till all be fulfilled Josephus saith that from that very time that old Eli heard those terrible threatnings that made their ears tingle 1 Sam. 3. 11 12 13 14. and hearts tremble that heard them Eli never ceased weeping ah who can look upon the dreadful threatnings that are pointed against sinners all over the book of God and not tremble and weep God cannot but in justice punish sinners neither is it in his choice
sufferings of Hell are eternal Certainly Infernal fire is neither tolerable nor terminable Impenitent Sinners in There is no Christian which doth doth not believe the fire of Hell to be everlasting Dr. Jackson on the Creed l. 11. c. 3. Hell shall have end without end death without death night without day mourning without mirth sorrow without solace and bondage without liberty the damned shall live as long in Hell as God Himself shall live in Heaven their imprisonment in that land of darkness in that bottomless pit is not an imprisonment during the Kings pleasure but an imprisonment during the everlasting displeasure of the King of Kings Suppose say some that the whole world were turned to a Mountain of Sand and that a little Wren should come every thousand year and carry away from that heap one grain of Sand what an infinite number of years not to be numbred by all finite beings would be spent and expired before this supposed Mountain could be fetcht away Now if a man should lye in everlasting burnings so long a time and then have an end of his Woe it would administer some ease refreshment and comfort to him but when that immortal Bird shall have carryed away this supposed Mountain a thousand times over and over alass alass sinful man shall be as far from the end of his anguish and torment as ever he was he shall be no neerer a coming out of Hell then he was the very first moment that he entred into Hell If the fire of Hell were terminable it might be tolerable but being endless it must needs be easeless Bellar de arte moâ—iendi l. 2. c. 3. and remediless we may well say of it as one doth O killing Life O immortal death Suppose say others that a man were to endure the torments of Hell as many years and no more as there be Sands on the Sea-shore drops of water in the Sea Stars in Heaven Leavs on Trees Piles of Grass on the ground Hairs on his head yea upon the heads of all the Sons of Adam that ever were or are or shall be in the world from the beginning of it to the end of it yet he would comfort himself with this poor thought Well there will come a day when my misery and torment shall certainly have an end But wo and alass this word Never Never Never will fill the hearts of the Damned with the greatest horror and terror wrath and rage amazement and astonishment Suppose say others that the torments of Hell were to end after a little Bird should have emptyed the Sea and only carry out her bill full once in a thousand years Suppose say others that the whole world from the lowest Earth to the highest Heavens were filled with grains of Sand and once in a thousand years an Angel should fetch away one grain and so continue till the whole heap were spent Suppose say others if one of the Damned in Hell should weep after this manner viz. That he should only let fall one tear in a thousand years and these should be kept together till such time as they should equal the drops of water in the Sea how many millions of Ages would pass before they could make up one River much more a whole and when that were done should he weep again after the same manner till he had filled a second a third and a fourth Sea if then there should be an end of their miseries there would be some hope some comfort that they would end at last but that they shall Never Never Never end This is that which sinks them under the most tormenting terrors and horrors You know that the extremity and eternity of Hellish torments is set forth by the Worm that never dyes and it is observable that Christ at the close of his Sermon makes a threefold repetition of this Worm Mark 9. 44. where their Worm dyeth not and again ver 48. where their Worm dyeth not and their fire goeth not out Certainly those punishments are beyond all conception and expression which our Lord Jesus doth so often inculcate within so small a pace Now if there be such a diversity extremity and eternity of Hellish pains and torments which the great God will certainly inflict upon the bodys and souls of all impenitent persons after the day of Judgment then there must certainly be some Hell some place of torment wherein the wrath of God shall be executed upon wicked and ungodly men But Sixthly The greatest part of wicked and ungodly men escape unpunished in this world the greatest number of men do spend their days in Pride ease pleasures and delights in Lust and Luxury in Voluptuousness Psal 73 3. to the 13. ver Job 21. 12. Amos 5. 6. and Wantonness They take the Timbrel and Harp and rejoyce at the sound of the Organ They chant to the sound of the Vial and invent themselves Instruments of Musick They drink Wine in bowls They lye upon beds of vers 3 Ivory and stretch themselves upon their Couches and eat the Lambs out of the Flock and the Calves out of the midst of the Stall and therefore there will be a time when these shall be punished in another world God doth not punish all here that he may make way Rom 2. 4 5. 2 Pet. 3 9. 15. vers for the displaying of his mercy and goodness his patience and forbearance Nor doth he forbear all here that he may manifest his Justice and Righteousness lest the World should turn Atheist and deny his Providence He spares that he may punish and he punisheth that he may spare God smites some Sinners in the very acting of their sins as he did Korah Dathan and Abiâ—am Num. 16. and others not till they have fill'd up the measure of their sins as you see in the men of the old World Gen. 6. 5 6 7. But the greatest number of sinners God reserves for the Math. 7. 13 great day of his Wrath. There is a sure punishment though not always a present punishment for every Sinner Eccles 8 12 13. Those wicked persons which God suffers to go uncorrected here He reserves to be punished for ever hereafter 2 Thes 1 7 8 9 10. Sinners know your Doom you must either smart for your sins in this world or in the world to come That Ancient hit the mark that said Many sins are punished in this World that the providence of God might be more Augustin Epist 54. apparent and many yea most reserved to be punished in the World to come that we might know that there is yet Judgment behind Sir James Hambleton having been Murdered by the Mr. Knox in his History of Scotland Scotish Kings means he appeared to the King in a Vision with a naked Sword drawn and strikes off both his arms with these words Take this before thou receivest a final payment for all thy impieties and within twenty-four hours two of the Kings Sons
adding to their Treasure more more So impenitent Sinners are daily encreasing the Treasures of wrath against their own souls Now who would not flee from Treasures of Wrath. But Thirdly Wrath to come is pure Wrath 'T is Judgment 3. Jam. 2. 13. without Mercy the Cup of Wrath which God will put into Sinners hands at last will be a Cup of pure Wrath all Wrath nothing but Wrath Rev. 14. 10. This drinking of the Wine of the Wrath of God without mixture notes suâ— mam paerae severitatâ—m The same shall drink of the Wine of the Wrath of God which is poured out without mixture intâ— the Cup of his Indignation and he shall be tormented with Fire and Brimstone in the presence of the Holy Angels and in the presence of the Lamb. Look as there is nothing but the pure glory of God that can make a man perfectly and fully happy so there is nothing but the pure Wrath of God that can make a man fully and perfectly miserable Reprobates shall not only sip of the top of Gods Cup but they shall drink the dregs of His Cup they shall not have at last one drop of Mercy nor one crumb of Comfort they have fill'd up their Life time with sin and God will fill up their Eternity with torments But Fourthly and lastly As Wrath to come is pure wrath so Wrath to come is everlasting Wrath Rev. 14. 11. And the smoak of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever Would to God saith one men would every where Chrysostom think and talk more of Hell and of that Eternity of Extremity that they shall never else be able to avoid or to abide See the Scriptures in the Margent The Damned saith 2 Thes 1. 8. Jude 9 6. Math. 25. 46. Isa 33. 14. c. Gregory shall suffer an end without end a death without death a decay without decay for their death ever liveth their end ever beginneth their decay never ceaseth they are ever healed to be new wounded and always repaired to be new devoured they are ever dying and never dead eternally broyling and never burnt up ever roaring in the pangs of death and never rid of those pangs for they shall have punishment without pitty misery without mercy sorrow without succour crying without comfort mischief without measure and torment without ease where the Worm dyeth not and the Fire is never quenched The Torments of the Damned shall continue as many Worlds as there be Stars in the Firmament as there be grains of Sand on the Sea-shore and as there be drops of Water found in the Sea and when these Worlds are ended the pains and torments of Hell shall not cease but begin a fresh and thus this Wheel shall turn round without end O! the folly and vanity the madness and baseness of poor wretched Sinners who expose themselves to everlasting torments for a few fleshly momentary pleasures O Sirs who can stand before his Indignation and who can abide in the fierceness of his Anger His fury is poured Nahâ—m 1. 6. out liky sire and the Rocks are thrown down by him Now how should these things work poor Sinners to flee from Wrath to come by fleeing to Christ Who alone is able to 1 Thes 1. 10. save them from Wrath to come Themistocles understanding that King Admcius was highly displeased with him he took up the Kings young Son in his Arms and so treated Plâ—tarch in viâ—a with the Father holding his Darling in his Bosom and by that means pacified his wrath Ah Sinners Sinners the King of Kings is highly offended with you and there is no way to appease his Wrath but by taking up Christ in your Arms and so present your suits to him But Thirdly If there be a Hell then don't let flie so fiercely â— against those faithful Ministers who seriously and conscientiously do all they can to prevent your droping into Hell don't call them legal Preachers who tell you that 2 Cor. 5 20. 2 Cor. 12. 15. Chrysostom Hom. 44. in Matth. there is a Hell and that there is no torments to Hellish torments if either you consider their extremity or eternity be not so hot nor so angry with those Embassadors of Christ who are willing to spend and be spent that they may keep you from running head-long to Hell To Look as he said that nothing but the eloquence of Tully could sufficiently set forth Tulleâ—'s eloquence so none can express these everlasting torments but he that is from everlasting to everlasting Millions of years multiplyed by millions make not up one minute to this Eâ—ernity but who considerâ—â—t who believes it c think of Hell saith one preserves a man from falling into it and saith the same Author Vtinam ubi que de Gehenna disseretur I could wish men would discourse much and oft of Hell It was a saying of Gregory Nyssâ—n who lived about thirteen hundred years ago He that do's but hear of Hell is without any further labour or study taken off from sinful pleasures But what Minister can say so now Surely mens hearts are grown worse since for how do most men run head-long to Hell and take a pleasure to dance hood-wicn't into everlasting burnings O had but the desperate Sinners of this day who swear and curse drink and drab and drown themselves in fleshly pleasures but one sight of this Hell how would it charm their mouths apale their spirits and strike fear and astonishment into their hearts I can't think that the high Transgessors of this day durst be so highly wicked as they are did they but either see or fore-see what they shall one day certainly feel except there be sound and serious repentance on their sides and pardoning grace on God's Bellarmine was of opinion that one glimps of Hell were enough to make a man not only turn Christian and sober but Monk too to live after the strictest rule that may be And yet he tells us of a certain Advocate of the Court of Rome who being at the point of death stirred up by them that were about him to repent and call upon God for mercy he with a constant countenance and without sign of any fear turned his speech to God and said Bellar. de arte moriendi l. 2. c. 10 Lord I have longed much to speak to thee not for my self but for my wife and children for I am hasting to Hell I am now a going to dwell with Devils neither is there any thing that I would have thee to do for me and this he spoke saith Bellarmine who was then present and heard it Animo tam tranquillo ac si de itinere ad villam loqueretur With as pacate serene and tranquil a mind as if he had been speaking of going to the next town or village Ah who can read or write such a relation without horrour and terrour But Fourthly If there be a Hell then do not fret
and if so then what would become of us what would become of our salvation then our faith would be in vain and our hope would be in vain and our hearing preaching praying and receiving would all be in vain yea then all our Religion would vanish into a mâ—re fancy also when a man's conscience is awakened to see his sin and misery and he shall find guilt to lay like a load upon his soul and when he shall see that divine justice is to be satisfied and divine wrath to be pacified and the curse to be born and the Law to be fulfilled and his nature to be renewed his heart to be changed and his sins to be pardoned or â—lsâ— his soul can never be saved how can such a person venture his soul his all upon one that is but a mâ—re crcature certainly a mere man is no Rock no City of refuge and no sure foundation for a man to build his faith and hope upon woe to that man that ever he was born that has no Jesus but a Socinian's Jesus to rest upon oh 't is sad trusting to one who is man but not God flesh but not spirit as you love the eternal safety of your precious souls and would be happy for ever as you would escape Hell and get to Heaven lean on none rest on none but that Jesus who is God-man who is very God and very man Apollinaris held that Christ took not the whole nature of man but a humane body only without a soul and that the Godhead was instead of a soul to the Manhood Also Eutyches who confounded the two natures of Christ and their properties c. Also Apelles and the Manichees who denied the true humane body and held him to have an aerial or imaginary body Though the popular sort deified Alexander the great yet having Plutarch in vita got a clap with an Arrow he said ye stile me Jupiter's son as if immortal sed hoc vulnus clamat esse hominem this blood that issues from the wound proves me in the issue a man this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the blood of man not of God and smelling the stench of his own flesh he asked his flatterers if the God's yielded such a scent so may it be said of Jesus Christ our Saviour though Myriads of Angels and Saints acclaim he is a God ergo immortal and a crew of Hereticks disclaim him to be man as the Marcionites averred that he had a phantastical body and Apelles who conceived that he had a sydereal substance yet the streams of blood following the arrow of death that struck him makes it good that he was perfect man of a reasonable soul and humane flesh subsisting And as this truth looks sowerly upon the above mentioned persons so it looks sowerly upon the Papists who by their Doctrine of the real presence of Christ's body in the Sacrament do overthrow one of the properties of his humane nature which is to be but in one place present at once This truth also looks sowerly upon the Lutherans or Ubiquitaries who teach that Christ's humane nature is in all places by vertue of the personal union c. I wonder that of all the old Errours swept down into this latter Age as into a sink of time this of the Socinians and Arrians should be held forth among the rest O sirs beware of their Doctrines shun their meetings and persons that come to you with the denial of the Divinity of Christ in their mouths this was John's Doctrine and Practise Irenaeus saith that after he was returned from his banishment and came to Ephesus he came to bathe himself and in the bath he found Cerinthus that said Christ had no being till he received it from the Virgin Mary upon the sight of whom John skipped out of the Bath and called his companions from thence saying let us go from this place lest the Bath should fall down upon us because Cerinthus is in it that is so great an enemy to God ye see his Doctrine see his words too 2 John 10 11. If any come to you having not this doctrine receive him not into your house neither bid him God speed For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds What that Doctrine was if you cast your eye upon the Scripture you shall find it to be the Doctrine of the Divinity of Christ shew no love where you owe nothing but hatred I hate every Psal 119. 113. false way saith David And I shall look upon Auxentius as upon a Devil so long as he is an Arrian said Hilarius We must shew no countenance nor give no encouragement to such as deny either â—ne divinity or humanity of Christ I have been the longer upon the Divinity and humanity of Christ 1. Because the times we live in require it 2. That poor weak staggering Christians may be strengthned established and setled in the truth as it is in Jesus 3. That I may give in my testimony and witness against all those who are poysoned and corrupted with Socinian and Arrian Principles which destroy the souls of men 4. That those in whose hands this book may fall may be the better furnished to make head against men of corrupt minds who by slight of hand and cunning craftiness lie in wait to deceive Eph. 4. 14. Sixthly As he that did feel and suffer the very torments of Hell though not after a hellish manner was God-man so the punishments that Christ did sustain for us must be referred only to the substance and not unto the circumstances of punishment The punishment which Christ endured if it be considered in its substance kind or nature so 't was the same with what the sinner himself should have undergone Now the punishment due to the sinner was death the curse of the Law c. now this Christ underwent for he was made a curse for us Gal. 3. 13. but if you consider the punishment which Christ endur'd with respect to certain circumstances adjuncts and accidents as the eternity of it desperation going along with it c. then I say it was not the same but equivalent Whether the work of man's redemption could have been wrought without the sufferings and humiliation of Christ is not determinable by men but that it was the most admirable way which wisdom justice and mercy could require cannot be denied And the reason is because though the enduring of the punishments as to the substance of them could and did agree with him as a surety yet the circumstances of those punishments could not have befallen him unless he had been a sinner and therefore every inordination in suffering was far from Christ and a perpetual duration of suffering could not befall him for the first of these had been contrary to the holiness and dignity of his person and the other had made void the end of his suretiship and Mediatorship which was so to suffer as yet to conquer and
Law he did come up to perfect and universal consâ—rmity to it he did whatever the Law enjoyns and he suffered whatever the Law threatens Christ by his active and passive obedience hath fulfilled the Law most exactly and completely Gal. 3. 13. As he was perfectly holy he did what the Law commanded and as he was made a curse he underwent what the Law threatned and all this he did and suffered in our steads and as our Surety what ever Christ did as our Surety he made it good to the full so that neither the righteous God nor yet the righteous Law could ever tax him with the least defect And this must be our great Plea our choice our sweet our safe our comfortable our acceptable Plea both in the day of our particular accounts when we die and in the great day of our account when a crucified Saviour shall judge the World Although sin as an act be transient yet in the guilt of it it lies in the Lord 's high Court of Justice filed upon record against the sinner and calling aloud for deserved punishment saying Man hath sinned and man must suffer for sin but now Christ hath suffered that plea is taken off Lo here saith the Lord the same Nature that sinned suffereth mine own Son being made flesh hath suffered death for sin in the flesh the thing is done the Law is satisfied and so non-suits the action and casts it out of the Court as unjust Thus whereas sin would have condemned us Christ hath condemned sin he hath weakned yea nullified and taken away sin in the guilt and condemning power of it by that abundant satisfaction that he hath given to the Justice of God by his active and passive Obedience so that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus for Rom. 8. 1 3. the blood of the Mediator out-cries the clamour of sin and this must be a Christians joy and triumph and plea in the great day of our Lord Jesus As Christ was made 2 Cor. 5. 21. sin for us so the Lord doth impute the sufferings of Christ to us that is he accepts of them on our behalf and puts them upon our account As if the Lord should say unto every particular believer My Son was thy Surety and stood in thy stead and suffered and satisfied and took away thy sins by his blood and that for thee in his blood I find a ransom for thy soul I do acknowledge my self satisfied for thee and satisfied towards thee and thou art delivered and discharged I forgive thee thy sins and am reconciled unto thee and will save thee and glorifie thee for my Sons sake in his blood thou hast Redemption the forgiveness of thy sins As when Simile a Surety satisfies the Creditor for a debt this is accounted to the Debtor and reckoned as a discharge to him in particular I am paid and you are discharged saith the Creditour so it is in this case I am paid saith God and you are discharged and I have no more to say to you but this Enter into the joy of your Lord Matth. 25. 21. The Fifth Plea that you are to make in order to the 5. Eccles 11. 9. cap. 12. 14. Mat. 12. 14. cap. 18 23. Luk. 16. 3. Rom. 14. 10. 2 Cor. 5. 10. Heb. 9. 27 cap. 13. 17. 1 Pet. 4 5. Ten Scriptures in the Margin that respects the account that you are to give up in the great day of the Lord is drawn from the imputed Righteousness of Christ to us the Justification of a Sinner in the sight of God upon the account of Christ's Righteousness imputed to him whereby the guilt of sin is removed and the person of the Sinner is accepted as righteous with the God of Heaven is that which I shall open to you distinctly in these following Branches First That the Grace of Justification in the sight of God is made up of Two parts 1. There is Forgiveness of the offences committed against the Lord 2. Acceptation of the person offending pronouncing him a righteous person and receiving him into favour again as if he had never offended This is most clear and evident in the blessed Scriptures First there is an Act of absolution and acquittal from the guilt of sin and freedom from the condemnation deserved by sin the desert of sin is an inseparable accident Rom. 8. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't is a forensick word relating to what is in use amongst men in their Courts of Judicature to condemn 'T is the sentence of a Judge decreeing a mulct or penalty to be inflicted upon the guilty Person or concomitant of it that can never be removed it may be truly said of the sins of a justified person that they deserve everlasting destruction but Justification is the freeing of a sinner from the guilt of his iniquity whereby he was actually bound over to condemnation as soon as any man doth sin there is a guilt upon him by which he is bound over to the wrath and curse of God and this guilt or obligation is inseparable from sin the sin doth deserve no less than everlasting damnation Now forgiveness of sin hath a peculiar respect to the guilt of sin and removal of that when the Lord forgives a man he doth discharge him of that obligation by which he was bound over to wrath and condemnation Rom. 8. 1. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus vers 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect it is God that justifieth vers 34. who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died Beloved the Lord is a holy and just God and he reveils his wrath from heaven against Rom. 1. 18. Gel. 3. 10. Râ—m 1. 32. Rom. 6. 23. all unrighteousness and there is a curse threatned to every transgression of the Law and when any man sinneth he is obnoxious unto the curse and God may inflict the same upon him but when God forgives sins he therein doth interpose as it were between the sin and the curse and between the obligation and the condemnation When the sinner sins God might say unto him sinner by your sinning you are now fallen into my hands of Justice and for your sins I may according to my righteous Law condemn and curse you for ever but such is my free my rich my sovereign grace that for Christ's sake I will spare you and pardon you and that curse Jer. 31. 20. and condemnation which you have deserved shall never fall upon you Oh! my bowels my bowels are yearning towards you and therefore I will have mercy mercy Jâ—b 33. 13 24 28 30. upon you and will deliver your souls from going down into the pit when the poor sinner is indicted and arraigned at God's bar and process is made against him and he found guilty of the violation of God's holy Law and accordingly judged guilty by God and adjudged to Job
or freedom whether he will damn the obstinate impenitent sinner or no Look as God cannot but love holiness where-ever he sees it so he cannot But loath and punish wickedness where-ever he beholds it neither will it stand with the infinite wisdom of God to admit of a dispensation or relaxation of the threatnings without satisfaction God had passed a peremptory doom and made a solemn declaration of it in his word that he that sinneth shall die the death and he will not he cannot break his word you know he had fore-ordained Jesus Christ and set him forth to take upon himself this burden to become a propitiation Rom. 3 35. 1 Pet. 1. 20. for sin through his blood and made known his mind concerning it in his written word plainly Isa Exigitur as Junius and some others read it 53. 7. If we read the words it is exacted or strictly required meaning the iniquity or punishment of us all vers 6. It is required at his hands he must answer it in our stead and so he is afflicted and this affliction reacheth even to the cutting him off vers 8. Therefore when Christ puts this work upon an ought and must be he lays the weight of all on the Scriptures thus it is written as you may see in the texts lately cited as if he should say God hath spoken it and his truth engageth him to see it done so God hath threatned to punish sin and his truth engageth him to see it done Oh sirs there is no standing before that God that is a consuming fire a just judg a holy God except I have Heb. 12 9. one to undertake for me that is mighty to save and mighty to satisfie divine justice and mighty to pacifie divine Isa 63. 1. wrath and mighty to bear the threatnings and mighty to forgive sin when God forgives sin he does it in a way of Isa 19. 20. righteousness 1 John 1. 9. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness he doth not say he is merciful but just to forgive us our sins because they are satisfied for and God's justice will not let him demand the same debt twice of the surety and of the debtor too it will never stand with the unspotted justice and righteousness of God to require such debts of us which Christ Rom. 3. 25. by shedding his most precious blood hath discharged for us Mark the maledictory sentence of death denounced by the Law against sinners was inflicted by God upon Christ this is that which the Prophet Esay positively asserts where he saith the chastisement that is the punishment called a chastisement because inflicted by a father and only for a Isa 53. 5 7. time of ourpeace was upon him and again he was oppressed and he was afflicted which according to the genuine sence of the Original is better rendred it was exacted to wit the punishment of our sin and he was afflicted or he answered to wit to the demand of the penalty The curse to Theod. disp l. 15. c. 5. which we are subject saith Theodorus he assumed upon himself of his own accord the death that was not due Gr. mer. l. 3. c. 13. to him he underwent that we might not undergo that death which was due to us saith Gregory he made himself Arnol. de sep verb Tr. 1. a debter for us who were debtors and therefore the Creditor exacts it from him saith Arnoldus Now God's justice being satisfied for our offences it cannot but remit those offences to us As the Creditor cannot demand that of the debtor which the surety hath already paid so neither can God exact the punishment of us which Christ hath suffered and therefore it is just with God to forgive us our sins It will be altogether needless to enquire whether it had been injustice in God to forgive without satisfaction St. Austin's determination is very solid there Aug. de Trinit l. 13. c. 10. wanted not to God another possible way and if it were unjust it were impossible but this of satisfaction was most agreeable to divine wisdom before God did decree this way it might be free to have used it or not but in decreeing this seemed most convenient and after it became When you are forgiven you are then released and for ever acquitted from any after reckonings with the justice of God divine Justice hath no more to say or do against you for remissa culpa remiâ—ttur paena if the fault be forgiven then also is the punishment forgiven nay let me speak with an holy and humble reverence God cannot in his justice punish when he hath pardoned necessary so that there can be no remission without it and however it might not have been unjust with God to have forgiven without it yet we are sure it is most just with him to forgive upon satisfaction Indeed the debt being paid by Christ God's very justice as I may say with reverence would trouble him if he should not give in the bond and give out an acquittance The believing penitent sinner may in an humble confidence sue out his pardon not only at the throne of grace but at the bar of justice in these or the like expressions Lord thou hast punished my sins in thy son wilt thou punish them in me thou hast accepted that suffering of thy son as the punishment of my sin therefore thou canst not in justice exact it of me for this were to punish twice for one offence which thy justice cannot but abhor Oh sirs God doth not pronounce men righteous when they are not but first he makes them so and then he pronounces them to be such so that if a man will be justified he must be able to produce such a compleat righteousness wherewith he may stand before the justice of God ah sinners the Lord is infinitely just as well as merciful and if ever your sins be pardoned it must be by an admirable contemperament or mixture of mercy and justice together it was one of the great ends of the Gospel-dispensation that God might exalt his justice in the justification of a sinner Rom. 3. 26. To declare Isay at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus But Thirdly The only matter of mans righteousness since the fall of Adam wherein he can appear with comfort before the Justice of God and consequently whereby alone he can be justified in his sight is the obedience and suffering of Jesus Christ the righteousness of the Mediatour there is not any other way imaginable how the Justice of God may be satisfied and we may have our sins pardoned in a way of justice but by the righteousness of the Son of God and therefore this is his name Jehovah-Tsidkenu the Lord our Righteousness this Jer. 23. 6. is his name that is this is the Prerogative of the Lord Jesus
vers 12. Yea surely God will not do wickedly neither will the Almighty pervert judgment It would be high injustice in a magistrate to punish the same offence twice and it would be high blasphemy for any to assert that ever God should be guilty of such injustice Whilst Christians set up a righteousness of their own and build not upon the Rom. 10. 3. righteousness of Christ how unsetled are they how miserably are they tossed up and down sometimes fearing and sometimes hoping sometimes supposing themselves in a good condition and anon seeing themselves upon the very brink of hell but now all is quiet and serene with that soul that builds upon the righteousness of Christ for he being justified by faith hath peace with God observe Rom. 5. 1. that noble description of Christ in that Isa 32. 2. And a man that is the man Christ Jesus shall be as a hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest as rivers of water in a dry place as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land When a man is clothed with the righteousness of Christ who is God man it is neither wind nor tempest it is neither drought nor weariness that can disturb the peace of his soul for Christ and his righteousness will be a hiding place a cover and rivers of water and the shadow of a great rock unto him for being at perfect peace with God he may well say with the Psalmist Isa 26. 3. Psal 4. 6 7 8. I will lay me down in peace The peace and comfort of an awakened sinner can never stand firm and stable but upon the Basis of a positive righteousness When a sensible sinner casts his eye upon his own righteousness holiness fastings prayers tears humblings meltings he can find no place for the sole of his foot to rest firmly upon by reason of the spots and blots and blemishes that cleaves both to his graces and duties He knows that his prayers need pardon and that his tears need washing in the blood of the Lamb and that his very righteousness needs another's righteousness to secure him from condemnation If thou Lord shouldst mark iniquity O Lord who shall stand Psal 130. 3. Psal 1. 5. that is rectus in curia stand that is in judgment Extremity of justice he deprecateth he would not be dealt with in rigour and rage The best man's life is fuller of sins than the firmament is of stars or the furnace of sparks and therefore who can stand in judgment and not fall under the weight of thy just wrath which burneth as low as hell it self i. e. none can stand were the faults of the best man alive but written in his forehead he was never able to stand in judgment when a man comes to the Law for Justification it convinceth him of sin when he pleads his innocence that he is not so great a sinner as others are when he pleds his righteousness his duties his good meanings and his good desires the Law tells him that they are all weighed in the ballance of the sanctuary and found Dau. 5. 27. too light the Law tells him that the best of his duties will not save him and that the least of his sins will damn him the Law tells him that his own righteousnesses are as filthy rags do but defile him and that his best services do but witness against him The Law looks for perfect and personal obedience and because the sinner cannot come up to it it pronounceth him accursed and though the Gal. 3. 10. sinner sues hard for mercy yet the Law will shew him none no though he seeks it carefully with tears but Heb. 12. 17. now when the believing sinner casts his eye upon the righteousness of Christ he sees that righteousness to be a perfect and exact righteousness as perfect and exact as that of the Law yea it is the very righteousness of the Law though not performed by him yet by his surety the Lord his righteousness and upon this foundation he stands firm and rejoyces with joy unspeakable and full of glory The Saints of old have always placed their happiness peace and comfort in their perfect and compleat Justification rather than in their imperfect and incompleat sanctification as you may see by the Scriptures in the margent with Jer. 23. 6. 1 Pet. 1. 8. Luk. 7. 48 50. Rom. 4. 6 8. cap. 5. 1 3. Isa 38. 16 17. cap. 45. 24 25. Phil. 4. 7. many others that are scattered up and down in the blessed book of God That text is worthy to be written in letters of Gold Isa 61. 10. I will greatly rejoyce in the Lord saith the sound believer my soul shall be joyful in my God for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation He hath imputed and given unto me the perfect holiness and obedience of my blessed Saviour and made it mine he hath covered me all over from top to toe with the robe of righteousness as a bride groom decketh himself with ornaments and as a bride adorneth her self with her jewels Though a Christian's inherent righteousness be weak and imperfect â—maimed and stained blotted and blurred as it is yet it affords much comfort peace joy and rejoycing 1 Chron. 29. 9. Jâ—b 27. 4 5 6. Neh. 13. 14 22 31. Isa 38. 3. Prov. 21. 14. 2 Cor. 1. 12. 1 Pet. 3. 3. 4. cap. 5. 4. as you may see by comparing the Scriptures in the Margent together Job was much taken with his inherent righteousness Job 29. 14. I put on righteousness and it cloathed me my judgment was as a robe and a diadem unto me Look as sober modest comely apparel doth much set forth and adorn the body in the eyes of men so doth inherent grace inherent holiness inherent righteousness when it sparkles in the faces lips lives and good works of the Saints much more beautifie and adorn them in the eyes both of God and man Now if this garment of inherent righteousness that hath so many spots and rents in it will adorn us and joy us so much what a beauty and glory is that which the Lord our God hath put upon us in clothing us with the robe of his son's righteousness for by this means we shall recover more by Christ than we lost by Adam the robe of righteousness which we have gotten by Christ the second Adam is far more glorious than that which we were deprived of by the first Adam But Seventhly Then know for your comfort that you 7. Gal. 6. 14. have the highest reason in the world to rejoyce and triumph in Christ Jesus Phil. 3. 3. For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus we rejoyce in the person of Christ and we rejoyce in the righteousness of Christ 2 Cor. 2. 14. Now thanks be to God which always causeth us to triumph in Christ Deo gratias was ever in Paul â—s