you not be fully convinced by all this that the Father's Love to you is very great and if so will you not admire him for it You must * Joh. 5.23 honour the Son even as you honour the Father and you must adore bless love the Father even as you do the Son God forbid that I should go about to lessen your most thankful sense of what the Son and Spirit have done for you but yet know that these the Father as the first Cause doth work by 't is He who by them doth do so great things for you 'pray think high of their love but then think high of his love too Further I would persuade you to entertain good thoughts of the Father 'T is a temptation though not so usual which some gracious Persons lie under they can with more comfort think of the Son than of the Father they do not so much question the Love of the Son as of the Father they cannot deny but that the Son is indeed a very gracious Person for he came from heaven * Luke 19.10 to seek and to save what was lost to * 1 Tim. 1.15 save Sinners yea the chiefest of them c. hereupon they can in some comfortable manner encourage themselves to hope in him But as to the Father they are not so confident they are more jealous and suspicious and have a greater dread of him than they have either of the Son or of the Spirit Doth Satan assault any of you in this manner or do such thoughts as these prevail over you O be convinced of your mistake You have as great encouragement for faith and hope from the Father as you have from the Son for you hear 't was He who sent Christ and whatever Christ was or did all was but in pursuance of his good pleasure therefore have you any reason to think otherwise than well of him Surely * 1 Joh. 4.16 God is Love this very thing his sending of his Son represents him as full of Mercy Goodness and Grace the Sinner hath not the least cause to be jealous or afraid of him O when unbelief and hard thoughts of God the Father begin to rise beat them down by arguing thus was not He the first spring from which redeeming Grace did flow the great contriver and willer of man's recovery who set Christ on work but he who sent him into the world to be a Saviour but he who imploy'd his own Son for the good of Sinners but he O that you would labour to get your Faith encourag'd and strengthened as to the first Person and that it might rise up to the first Cause of all and there fix and terminate that your faith and hope may be in God as the Apostle expresses it 1 Pet. 1.21 Christ sayes Joh. 14.1 Let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God believe in me also and let me say he believe in Christ believe in God also as the fountain and original of all your happiness Christ to be loved for his ready submission to his Father in sending him 3. It calls upon us to love Christ greatly O how should the consideration of this endear Christ to every gracious heart God sent him but not against his will how willing was he to be sent upon the errand of your Salvation he freely consented to whatever the Father was pleased to put him upon for your good He very well knew before hand what would follow upon this sending what he was to undergo how he was to be abased if he do engage to redeem and save you yet notwithstanding this no sooner did the Father call him to it but he most readily and cheerfully obeyed O the infinite Love of Christ He came down from heaven that he might carry you up to heaven he that was a Son for your sake stooped to be a Servant that you of slaves might be made sons What had become of you if Christ had refused to come when the Father sent him O love the Lord Jesus let his Person be very dear and precious to you admit him into your hearts who was willing to take the whole business of your Salvation into his hands what Love can be enough for a Father sending and a Son coming 'T is true God sent him but his obedience to his Father was no diminution of his Love to you and 't is true in this Embassy he acted in a way of inferiority to his Father but 't was his pity to you which made him willing to put himself into such a state of subjection and inferiority for that did not proceed from his Nature before he had assumed yours but meerly from his dignation and gracious condescention and now after all this will you not love him how can you do otherwise than love him Suppose you had heard him as soon as ever God had signified his pleasure to him and said Son the fulness of time is come I must send thee down to earth to redeem man saying Father I am ready here I am send me whithersoever and about whatsoever thou pleasest to promote thy Glory and the good of Souls I am willing to go where-ever thou 'lt have me yea I le stick at nothing which thou shalt judge necessary for the preventing of the Sinners everlasting ruine Send me to be made Flesh I submit to lie in a Manger I submit to die upon a Cross I submit lay what Commands upon me thou pleasest to further the Salvation of Souls they shall all be obey'd Suppose I say you had heard Christ uttering such Words to his Father doubtless it would have wrought very much upon you your Hearts would have been all in flames of Love to him O wretched Creatures we know all this was spoken and done too by our Lord Jesus and yet how cold how weak is our Love to him Christ a Pattern herein for imitation 4. It calls upon you to imitate Christ in his carriage with respect o his being sent Thus never go till you be sent then go readily both of these were admirably done by our Lord Jesus He went not till he was sent before he would move one step he would have his Father 's Mission and Commission a great Mind he had to be at Redeeming Work his Heart was exceedingly set upon it yet he would stay till he was sent called authoriz'd thereunto by his Father But as soon as he was so called how readily and cheerfully did he engage * Heb. 10.7 Lo T come to do thy Will O God Now in this his deportment he hath set us an excellent copy to write after teaching us alwayes humbly to wait for a Call from God and when it comes let it be what it will faithfully to comply with it Whatever rank or station God hath set you in see that you therein * 1 Cor. 7.17.20 24. abide and that you meddle with no Work Employment Office Vndertaking further than as you are called thereunto
the clearing up of the Sense of the Words for whose labours I bless God and shall in this Work endeavour to make the best improvement of them but having done that there they leave off I hope I go further than so not satisfying my self barely to give the Sense and Meaning of the Text which is the proper work of an Expositor but also drawing out that Sense and making the best advantage of it for things Doctrinal and Practical which is the work of a Preacher I acknowledge also that some have particularly and fully wrote upon it in the way which I take as Mr. Elton Cowper Parr Streso Philips Binning to the 15 Verse but not so but that there is yet room for the industry of Others there are good gleanings in this large field yet left for them that shall come after I will not for my vindication fly to that common Maxime Good things we cannot hear or read too often 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but I desire so much right may be done me as to compare what I have now done with what others upon this Chapter have done before if I do no more than they I deserve the severest Censure but if I do the Reader then I hope will be so candid yea so just as to let me have his favourable Sentence I am conscious to my self of many weaknesses in the work but as to the charge of but doing that which was done before pardon me if in that I stand upon my vindication § 18. * Sumite matetiam vestris qui scribitis aequam Viribus versate din quid ferre recusent Quid valeant humeri He gave good advice to them that will be printing who counsell'd them to pitch upon such Subjects which might not be above their strength seriously to consider before they engaged whether they were able to go through with what they undertook I have duly weigh'd the mysteriousness and difficulties of the things which I am to write upon and the more I look into them the more I find them to be above me yet for all this I am not discouraged because I trust I shall have an higher strength than mine own to help me and to carry me through all of them Horat. so as that some benefit may accrue to Souls The way of the Lord is strength to the upright Prov. 10.29 he that hath Gods Call needs not to question Gods Help and if he will help the weakest Instrument shall be strong enough for the highest and hardest work * Retract l. 1. c. 25. Austine that great and blessed man tells us of himself he had begun a Comment upon this Epistle to the Romans but the difficuity of the matter he met with made him give over I have in what I have done encountred with some difficulties more are before me as to what is yet to be done but I bless the Lord I am not disheartened by them so as to think of giving over the work * 1 Sam. 30.6 But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God and in my present case I desire to do the same Difficulties in the way of service should but quicken our diligence and heighten our dependance upon God not take us off from doing our duty Yea further I am not without some discouragement as to my external condition the Sun as to bodily Health and some other Considerations is going off from me few plants are so situated as to have the Fore-noon and After-noon Sun too but that doth not quite discourage me neither May I but have the warm influences of the blessed Spirit and the Sun of righteousness with his sweet beams yet shining upon me I trust though outwardly I decline and decay I shall yet finish what I have begun § 19. The Chapter being commonly divided into three Parts I hop'd I should have finished one in each Volume and so have drawn the whole into three but these Four Verses taking up so much room I am forc'd to allot two Volumes to the First Part hoping to grasp the two other Parts in two more So that in my four days Journey as it were I have as yet gone but one of them but he that hath been with me in that will I trust be with me in the other also § 20. I must not be too bold with God in entitling him to what I do yet I would fain hope that 't is by his special Providence that I am engaged in this Undertaking wherein I should be exceedingly confirmed might I see these First Fruits now published owned and blessed by him to the profit of many and with what chearfulness should I go on if I might in my first setting out have such encouragement Till I be able about this to pass a better judgment than as yet I can it will be best for me for some little time to stay my hand which accordingly I resolve upon I am very loth to burthen the world with unprofitable Labours may I do good all that I shall do will be too little but without that that which I have already done is too much Well! Success and good Issues must be expected only of God and referred wholly to Him he hath enabled me to do something which if he please to bless it shall prosper but if he deny his blessing I have laboured in vain Now Reader for the helping on so great a mercy I beg thy Prayers yea thy best Prayers when thou art with God in secret remember me and the work in hand I earnestly entreat thee indeed I need all thy praying help wherein if thou beest wanting thou thy self maist be damnified thereby If thou wilt forget me I trust I shall not forget thee in my poor prayers that God will bless thee in the clearer revealing of Gospel mysteries to thee the fuller illumination of thy Understanding in Spiritual things the confirming and stablishing of thee in the great Truths of God the daily heightening and perfecting of thy Graces the sanctifying of all Helps and Means publick and private to the furtherance of thy salvation In a word that thou maist be the person in Christ Jesus living the spiritual Life and thereby that the No-condemnation and all the other branches of the precious Grace of God spoken of in these Verses yea in the whole Chapter may be all thine So for the present I leave thee remaining An unfeigned Wisher of thy Spiritual and Eternal Good THO JACOME The following Errata's partly the Printers and partly mine Own thou art desired Reader to correct as follows PAg. 2. l. 23. for No-condemnation r. Exemption from Condemnation P. 7. l. 32. r known P. 66. l. 34. r. God speaks P. 94. l. 21. r. restraining P. 123. Marg. r. Christiano P. 185. l. 25. dele some P. 190. l. 5. r. 2 Tim. 2.25 P. 208. l. 9. r. dominion and power P. 213. l. 3. r. this grief P. 233. l. 38. r. Jer. 32.17 P. 241. l. 18. r. Chrysostome P. 243. l. 4.
and who is in Christ Jesus He doth not say There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus (b) Non dicit quia non secundum carnem ambulamus sed qui non secundum c. ne faciat in hâc justificationis causâ primum esse quod secundarium est c. Muscul in Rom. Cap. 8. V. 4. p. 124. because they walk not after the Flesh c. but to them who walk not after the Flesh c. so that this is meerly descriptive of the person The heavenly and spiritual life is not the (c) Non propter novam aliquam qualitatem quam in nobis operata est gratia Spiritus Sancti extra condemnationem sumus sed propter solam gratiam Dei quam fide Christi apprehendimus Muscul Non causa justificationis sed conditio nota justificatorum Pareus See more Dub. 2. p. 773. Cause of Justification only 't is the note or evidence of justified persons And as to the union with Christ the fruits of the Spirit and the effects of grace and sanctification begun in us these do not unite us unto Christ onely they (a) Fructus Spiritus sive sanctificationis in nobis inchoatae effecta nos non inserunt Christo sed nos ei insitos esse declarant Beza declare us to be so united they are Evidences not Causes Wherever there is justification and the mystical union there is sanctification and holiness yet the latter is not the ground of the former as wherever life is there is sense and motion yet these are not the cause but onely the sign evidence and consequent of life There 's a vast (b) Sunt cohaerentes quidem sed diversae questiones quâ re eximamur omni condemnationi c. quinam in Christo eximuntur condemnationi ii videlicet qui se in Christo esse ex regenerationis fructibus ostendunt Beza difference betwixt who is justified and why or upon what grounds he is justified The holy walker is the justified person but he is not justified because of the holiness of his walking No this causal influence upon justification is wholly founded upon the merits of Christ applied by Faith This is the Protestant-Doctrine to which I shall have occasion from these two first Verses to speak more than once 4. The description is laid down not in the Negative only but in the Affirmative also 't is not only who walk not after the Flesh but 't is also who walk after the Spirit In order to the participation and evidence of the grace of the Gospel 't is not enough (c) Non sat est non ambulare secundum Carnem abstineré á malis non peccare sed oportet secundum Spiritum ambulare benè â—agere Qui enim non benè agit hoc saltem malum committit quod bonum omittit Corn. Mussus Ut intelligamus non sufficere ad evitandam omnem damnationem abstinere á Carnalibus sed oportere proficere in Spiritualibus Cajet not to be evil or not to do evil but there must be being good and doing good Meer Negatives will never justifie or save for a man may go so far upon bare restraing grace and besides God requires a great deal more As when the repentance is right there is not only a ceasing to do evil but there is also a learning to do well Isa 1.16 Psal 34.14 Depart from evil and do good So when the walking is right and evidential of gospel-Gospel-mercy there is in it both the absence of Sin and also the presence of Vertue and Grace A Religion made up of Nots is but an half-religion To be magis extra vitia quam cum virtutibus as the (d) Tacit. Hist Lib. 1. p. 323. ex Edit Lips Historian describes Galba rather free from vice than vertuous in the positive fruits and effects of vertue this is not sufficient 't is to be as a cake that is bak'd but on one side as the Metaphor is Hos 7.8 The first is well but the last is (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Eth. l. 4. c. 1. better as the Philosopher tells us The Gospel doth not only teach us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts but also to live soberly righteously godly in this present world T it 2.12 And it threatens not only those who bring forth evil fruit but also those who do not bring forth good fruit Matth. 3.10 'T is an expression of Theophylact upon the Words (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theop. Meer abstinence from Vice doth not crown but there must be also the participation of Virtue and of that which is Spiritual And (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in Vers 4. hujus Capitis Chrysostome upon the fourth Verse speaks to the same purpose You have in the description of the Text therefore the negative and the positive part of holiness and these two must go together for holiness is made up of both 1 Pet. 1.14 15. As obedient children not fashioning your selves according to the former lusts in your ignorance there 's the negative part But as he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation there 's the positive part As some read the Words this head cannot be grounded upon them for they onely put in the Negative not walking after the Flesh leaving out the Affirmative but after the Spirit So the Syriack so the Vulgar and the Expositors who follow it But generally the Greek Copies have it and the Syriack too brings it in v. 4 and why not here as well as there 'T is not put in onely as a (h) Non est dubium rectissimè tanquam interpretationem addi secundum Spiritum Qui enim non ambulat secundum Carnem necesse est ut ambulet secundum Spiritum medium enim in vitâ humanâ nullum est Contz in cap. 8. ad Rom. Quâ—â— true interpretation but 't is a part of the Text it self 5. The Apostle here brings in two Walkings and he supposes them to be contrary for he sets them in opposition one to the other who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit implying a contrariety betwixt these two walkings And so indeed there is the Flesh and Spirit are two contrary principles and therefore the Walkings which proceed from these contrary principles must needs be contrary too They are so contrary that they are incompatible and inconsistent in the same subject there may be Flesh and Spirit in the same person but there cannot be walking after both in the same person Therefore saith the Apostle Gal. 5.16 Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh as if he had said he that doth the one cannot do the other too He goes on v. 17. The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these two are contrary Contrary as to their Natures their Originals and which suits best with the scope of
hard as that the power of the Son of God cannot effect it and what can be so high as that the Obedience of the Son of God cannot merit it Had Christ been only the Son of Man then indeed Faith could not have bore up with such confidence but he being the Son of God also and having the Nature Essence Attributes of God how may Faith triumph as to the efficacy and meritoriousness of his obedience 'T was the blood of God which he shed Acts 20.28 O what a greatness and * Superest ut poena illa Fidejussoris nostri pretio dignitate atque merito foret infinita id quod allter fieri non potuit quam si Persona patiens foret ipsa infinita Nam ut Pèccati c. Vid. Thes Salmur de Christo Mediat parte 1. th 13. p. 246. infiniteness of Merit must needs result from the greatness and infiniteness of such a Person Heb. 9.13 14. If the blood of Bulls and of Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the Flesh How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your Conscience from dead works to serve the Living God 4. You may go boldly to the throne of Grace upon all occasions For you have God's own Son to lead you thither and to make way for you and not only so but this own Son improves all his interest in and with the Father for your good why are you afraid to go to God Heb. 4.14 16. Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens Jesus the Son of God c. let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need 5. You need not in the least question the prevalency of Christ's intercession Doth Christ intercede and shall he not prevail will not the Father hear such a Son Suppose he may deny you which he will not yet surely he will not deny his own and onely Son Christ upon this relation may ask any thing and he shall have it mark the connexion Psal 2.7 I will declare the decree the Lord hath said unto me thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee what follows now upon this why Vers 8. Ask of me and I shall give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession God thinks nothing too much for this Son when he asks it of him and 't is the same when he asks for you as when he asks for himself therefore fear not but that your Prayers shall be graciously answered Christ himself interceding for you when the Kings own Son carrys the Petition doubtless it shall be granted 6. This is the Person to whom you are mystically united and therefore his Glory and Greatness reflects a Glory and Greatness upon you You are in Christ not only as he is the Son of Man but as he is the Son of God also for the Vnion is terminated not in this or that Nature but in the whole Person the Apostle therefore takes special notice of this 1 Joh. 5.20 We know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true and we are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ O to be in this Son there 's the glory and safety of a believer I have done with this high and most Evangelical Truth The Lord Jesus is God's own Son upon which I have been somewhat large partly because of the excellency of the Argument it self and partly because of the great opposition made against it 2 Joh. 3. Grace be with you mercy and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of the Father in truth and love ROM 8.3 c. In the likeness of sinful Flesh CHAP. XII Of Christ's Incarnation and abasement in Flesh A Fourth General in the Words handled Why the Apostle is so express in the further adding of these Words to the former Five things laid down for the explication of them Flesh not taken here in the same sense with Flesh in what went before A double Synecdoche in the word Flesh Christ did not bring Flesh from Heaven with him but assum'd it here on Earth His sending in Flesh was not his taking a meer humane shape c. Likeness to be joyn'd not with Flesh but with sinful Flesh Two Propositions rais'd from the Words Of the First that Christ was sent in Flesh What his sending in Flesh imports this opened more strictly and more largely Of Marcion and Others who denied the verity of Christ's Incarnation and Body That proved as to both as also the verity of his whole Manhood Of his having a true Soul Of his submitting to the common adjuncts and infirmities of Flesh How the Humane Nature in Christ and in us differ His Incarnation not impossible not incredible The Reasons of it 1. That the Old-Testament Prophecies Promises Types might thereby receive their accomplishment 2. That Christ might be qualified for his Office as Mediator and the work of Redemption 3. Because it was the fittest and the best way in order to the redeeming of man Seven Propositions laid down for the due stating and opening of Christ's Incarnation As 1. That Christ who before was the eternal Son of God and had a praevious existence was made Flesh this made good against the SOCINIANS 2. That the Second Person only was incarnate 3. That this was not done till the fulness of time 4. That 't was not the divine Essence absolutely considered which assumed Flesh but that Essence considered as subsisting in the Second Person 5. That the Nature assuming was the Divine Nature 6. That the Humane Nature was so assum'd as to subsist in the Divine and that both of these Natures make but one Person where the Hypostatical Union is opened and prov'd 7. 'T is probable that if Adam had not fallen Christ had not been sent in the Flesh Of the Second Proposition That Christ was sent in the likeness yet but in the likeness of sinful Flesh Of the Sanctity of Christ's Humane Nature The Grounds thereof Use 1. To inform 1. Of the excellency of the Gospel and of the Christian Religion As also 2. Of the excellency of Christ's Flesh or Manhood Use 2. Wherein several Duty 's are urged upon Christians as namely 1. To give a full and firm assent to the Truth of Christ's Incarnation and also firmly to adhere to Christ as having assumed our Flesh where something is spoken against those who make little of a Christ in Flesh but are all for a Christ within 2. To be much in the study and contemplation of Christ incarnate 3. To adore the Mystery it self and also the Father and the Son in the Mystery 4. To endeavour after the powerful influence of it
God dreads it for the Hell that is in it me thinks all should dread it for the Hell that is procured by it Now therefore what 's your Course every mans Sentence shall be according to his Course where 't is an holy course it shall be the Sentence of Life where 't is the opposite course it shall be the Sentence of Death Bring it down to your selves do not you live in sin may be you are not Drunkards Swearers c. but is there not some other some secret way of wickedness in which you walk some bosom Lust hid and cherished do you endeavour after Vniversal Holiness these things must be enquired into for the No-Condemnation depends upon them Mistake me not I do not say if No Sin then No Condemnation as if to be Sinless was the condition of or way to the future blessedness God forbid I should go so high for then I should condemn every man in the World but this I say no allowed sin no reigning sin no presumptuous sin no course in sin and then 't is No-Condemnation That God who is just to punish for known and presumptuous sins is gracious also to pardon sins of infirmity So that upon the whole as ever you desire to see the Face of God with comfort to lift up your heads before your Judge at the Great day with joy to be freed from the Sentence of Condemnation I say as ever you desire these blessed things be holy live a godly life keep sin at a great distance do not allow your selves in it but rather condemn it that it may not condemn you If any think that the present good of sin preponderates the future evil of Condemnation or that they may live in sin and yet relye upon Gods mercy as if he would not condemn them for it I heartily beg of God that he will convince them of these soul-destroying mistakes that they may not persist in them till Condemnation it self will be a sad confutation to them Secondly 2. Dir. Condemn your selves and God will not condemn you Self-condemnation prevents Gods Condemnation There is a Self-condemnation which is judicial and penal which pains and torments but yet doth no good such was that of Cain and Judas O there is in some that condemnation from their own Consciences which is but a Prolepsis to the condemnation of God at the great day But then there is gracious and penitential self-condemnation such as that of David upon his numbring of the people and also upon his commission of other sins now this is that which I would urge upon you Where the Sinner upon the sense of the hainousness of sin condemns himself God will not condemn him too * 1 Cor. 11.31 If we would judge our selves we should not be judged of the Lord and so here as to Condemnation The penitent self judger is safe the * Luk. 18.14 self condemning Publican went away justified when the Sinner justifies God condemns but when he condemns then God justifies This signifies but little in the Courts of Men let the criminal person repent and judge himself never so much that 's nothing for all this the Law must be executed upon him but this always carries it in the Court of God O saith God there 's a Sinner but he is a penitent Sinner he hath sinned but he is angry with himself for it he arraigns and condemns himself for it well upon this I 'le acquit him he condemns below and therefore I 'le absolve above Thirdly 3 Dir. As you desire No-Condemnation speedily get your peace made with God through Christ Jesus A pacified God is never a condemning God First our Apostle saith * Rom. 5.1 Being justified by faith we have peace with God and then he infers There is now no Condemnation c. Your first work is to look after the atoning of God through the blood of Christ if it be not reconciliation it will be Condemnation Are God and you reconcil'd is your peace made with him you have a reprieve for some time but have you sued out your pardon is the breach which sin hath made healed and made up betwixt God and you O as Christ speaks * Math. 5.25 26. Agree with thine adversary quickly whilst thou art in the way with him lest at any time thy adversary deliver thee to the Judge c. this is a thing which admits of no procrastination Fourthly 4 Dir. Pray that it may be to you exemption from Condemnation You would have Others your Selves delivered from it but are you often with God and earnest with God about this matter Of all evils deprecate this as the greatest evil tell God you are willing he should do any thing with you burn cut lance modò in aeternum parcat if he will but save you from eternal misery This is the thing you should every day with the greatest ardency be begging of God Ah Lord do with us what thou pleasest but for thy mercy sake do not condemn us You are to pray daily that you may not * Luk. 22.40 enter into temptation surely much more that you may not enter into condemnation O be often upon your knees pleading with God and saying Lord Psal 30.9 what profit will there be in our blood why should such souls be lost forever what will follow upon our Condemnation but cursing and blaspheming of thy sacred name whereas if thou wilt pardon and save we shall bless adore and magnifie thy name forever If God give you an heart thus to pray for this mercy the mercy of mercies 't is to be hop'd he will not with-hold if from your 'T is good to pray now whilst prayer will do you good when the Sentence is once pass'd it will then do you no good at all Is it not much to be lamented that there are so few who go to God to plead with him about the everlasting concerns of their immortal souls many go from day to day from week to week nay from year to year without prayer let it be Salvation or Damnation 't is all one to them O this dreadful How seldom are the most of men at the throne of Grace beseeching the Lord for Christ Jesus his sake to deliver them from wrath will be very sad the end of the prayerless cannot be good Nay I have too just occasion to go higher there is a sort of persons amongst us who instead of humble serious calling upon God to free them from condemnation in their hellish imprecations they dare to call God to damn them O prodigious amazing astonishing profaneness I tremble to speak of it but O that it was not too common in our ears What do men defie God and even bid him do his worst is damnation a thing to be desired or wished for do they know what they say what if God should take them at their word and do that in his greatest wrath which they seem to wish for with the greatest
was willing to be condemned in you there is very much to deserve condemnation and yet you shall never be condemned here 's the admirable boundless infinite love of Christ VSE 4. Comfort to all in Christ Lastly The main tendency and drift of this Truth is Comfort to Believers and what a full breast of Consolation is here for such as are in Christ No condemnation to them this no condemnation is the ground of all Consolation what a word is here for Faith and Hope O magnae spei verbum as he crys out what a * Ut frustra sibi blanditur homo carnalis si de emendandâ vitâ nihil sollicitus huâ—us gratiae praetextu impunitatem sibi promittat Ita habent trepidae piorum conscientiae invictum propugnaculum quòd dum in Christo manent sciunt se esse extra omne damnationis periculum Calv. in loc mighty support is here for poor doubting and dejected Souls The great thing that such are afraid of is Condemnation but here 's that which secures them from it the assertion is very express and full and 't is grounded too upon a sure foundation there is now no Condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus O you that are in Christ as your thankfulness should be high so your joy should be high also and what will raise your joy if this will not 'Pray improve it upon all occasions and be chearful Set this against all the present evils you meet with God afflicts you but he will not condemn you why should you be troubled affliction becomes very tolerable upon No-condemnation what though it be sickness pain loss of Relations a low estate so long as the soul is safe and the main state secured there may be * 1 Pet. 4.12 fiery tryals here but there 's no * Mark 9.43 unquenchable fire to burn in hereafter O there 's comfort What are the comforts of this world if we shall be kept out of Heaven and what are the crosses of this world if we shall be kept out of Hell Take the wicked there 's condemnation at the bottom of all their good take the Saints there 's Salvation at the bottom of all their evil Again men condemn you ah but God will not condemn you this is but * 1 Cor. 4.3 mans day where you may have the worst of it but Gods day is coming and then all will go on your side O let it be a very little thing to you to be judged of man so long as God doth and will acquit You have Sin in you too much God knows yet 't is no condemnation and if sin it self it being pardoned and * Rev. 1.5 washed away by the blood of Christ if this I say shall not condemn you what then shall After Pauls sad complaints of sin yet he here says there 's no condemnation Condemn your selves for sin you do and so you should do provided this self-condemnation flow from Repentance not from Vnbelief but the great God by whose judicial Sentence your everlasting state shall be ordered will not condemn you for it 'T will be so far from this that as some * Hinc fidelium peccata non prodibunt in judicium Quum enim in istâc vitâ per sententiam justificationis tecta sunt ablata ultimum illud judicium confirmatio erit manifestatio ejusdem sententiae non esset consentaneum ut in lucem denuo tum temporis proferantur Ames Med. lib. 1. cap. 41. Divines hold the sins of Believers shall not be so much as mentioned at the great day The Law is a condemning thing 't is so indeed in it self but 't is not so to you who are in Christ You must dye and be judged but welcome death welcome judgment so long as there is no condemnation why should you be afraid of these which will only let you see the accomplishment of what is here affirmed This is the happiness of you who are in Christ will you act faith upon it and take the comfort of it I would have you live and dye with this Cordial always by you there is therefore now no condemnation c. And let me add 't is not only your priviledge but your duty to rejoyce because of this 't is not only you may but you ought to be cheerful you cannot be otherwise unless you either distrust or disparage what is here spoken of The Sinner hath no reason to be jocund and merry for he is liable every moment to Condemnation the Saint hath no reason to be dejected and pensive for he is out of all danger of Condemnation The Sinner is secure as though there was no Hell and the Saint is sad and cast down as though there was no Heaven the good Lord convince the one and comfort the other I 'le close all with two words of advice 1. Get assurance in your own Souls that there is to you No Condemnation 'T is a sad thing to live under peradventures about this may be God will save and may be too God will damn to hang in doubtfulness 'twixt Heaven and Hell is a very uncomfortable state Were you but clear in your evidences about this Priviledge you could not but rejoyce Now in order to this do but make sure of your Vnion with Christ and that will assure you of No Condemnation 2. Let this Happiness be a great incentive to Holiness 'T is good to infer Duty from Mercy Are you secured from Condemnation what manner of persons should you be How should you differ from others here who shall so differ from others hereafter Though Sin shall not condemn you yet do you condemn it I 'le end with an allusion to that of our Saviour to the Woman taken in Adultery * Joh. 8.10 11. Woman saith Christ where are those thine accusers hath none condemned thee she said No man Lord. And Jesus said unto her Neither do I condemn thee go and Sin no more ROM 8.1 There is therefore now no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus c. CHAP. II. Of the Saints Vnion with Christ The Subject of the Proposition next opened What it is to be in Christ Jesus The difference betwixt Christs being in Believers and their being in Christ Vnion with Christ a great Mystery A threefold Vnion The Vnion of Three Persons in one Nature the Vnion of two Natures in one Person the Vnion of Persons where Persons and Natures are distinct This is Mystical Legal or Moral Scripture Resemblances by which the Mystical Union is shadowed out Its Properties 'T is a Sublime Real Spiritual Intimous Total Immediate Indissoluble Vnion Use 1. For Tryal whether we be in Christ A double distinction concerning this Vnion with Christ is either Material and Natural or Spiritual and Supernatural Either External and Visible or Internal and Invisible How it may be known whether we be really and savingly in Christ. Some Scriptures insisted upon for the Evidence of this Use 2.
upon Heart and Life So as 1. To be humble 2. Not to give way to Sin 3. Especially not to those sins which do more directly disparage and debase the Humane Nature 4. To love God and Christ 5. To be willing to do to suffer to be abased for Christ 6. To labour after a participation of the Divine Nature 7. To be highly thankful both for the Thing it self and also for the revelation of it Use 3. Of Comfort As 1. Christ in Flesh must needs be un effectual way for promoting God's Glory and the Sinners Good 2. In this God hath given out a very high demonstration of his Love 3. By this all the Promises are seal'd and all the great things of Faith and Hope made sure and credible Particularly 1. The Mystical Union 2. Communion with God Christ's special presence the inhabitation of the Spirit 3. The Communications of Grace from God 4. Our Sonship to God 5. The Resurrection of our Bodies 6. The Future Glory 4. God is now knowable and accessible 5. The Humane Nature highly dignify'd and advanc'd 6. Christ upon this is the more compassionate 7. There are few troubles of Conscience wherein this may not afford matter of ease and relief The Fourth General in the Words THis branch of the Words contains a Fourth Head in it which comes next to be opened Our Apostle having spoken of God's sending his own Son he goes on to shew in what manner he sent him and as to that he saith God sent him in the likeness of sinful flesh Here 's nothing in the Text but Wonders but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great things of God! the further we go the deeper the Waters are and still new matter offers it self to heighten our admiration 't was wonderful that God should send such a Son but that he should send such a Son in such a manner in Flesh yea in the likeness of sinful Flesh this is yet more wonderful O Christian stay alittle pause upon these Words get thy thoughts up thy heart elevated in the contemplation of what is here set before thee and then read one Why this Branch is added to what goes before In my entrance upon them it may be enquired why the Apostle is so particular and so express in this matter * Nonne satis erat dicere mittens Filium suum Hoc ipso verbo declaratum non fuisset istud magnum mysterium scituque dignissimum quomodo videlicet peccatum peccati damnavit Omnipotens similitudine â—arnis peccati peccatores à peccato liberans c. Corn. Mussus had it not been enough for him to have said God sent his own Son and so to have broke off but he must also add that God sent him in the likeness c To which I answer there was great reason for this amplification for the Apostle being here treating of such great mysteries of such high and glorious discoveries of the Wisdom Grace Love of God towards lost Sinners he thought in these he could not be too full or too express and he being to set down in a little room the whole model and platform of mans Salvation the good Spirit of God directed him to put in enough both for the setting forth of God's admirable Love Mercy c. and also for the encouragement of the Believers Faith with respect to the certainty compleatness and fulness of his Salvation Now Christ's incarnation and abasement in Man's Nature being so pertinent and proper and so necessary as to both of these ends therefore our Apostle will not pass that over without a particular mentioning of it And elsewhere you find him when he had spoken of Christ's mission presently to subjoyn Christ's incarnation also as Gal. 4.4 When the fulness of time was come God sent his Son made of a woman c. 'T was not only God's sending of Christ but his so sending of him viz. in Flesh yea in the likeness of sinful Flesh which puts such an emphasis and accent upon his own Grace and which doth give such full assurance to poor Creatures that they shall be effectually redeem'd and sav'd Upon these Considerations therefore besides the admirableness of the thing in it self Paul when he is upon such an Argument might very well superadde this to what preceded and he 's not satisfied with the once mentioning of it in the general but he repeats it and more particularly shows what use God made of Christ's Flesh or what good did by that redound to us for sin he condemned sin in the Flesh that is in the flesh of Christ The Explication of the Words For the clearing up the true meaning of the Words and the vindicating of them from those false interpretations which some of the old Hereticks put upon them I will lay down a Few Particulars 1. First that Flesh as here used concerning Christ carry's a quite other sense in it than what it did when it was spoken of before You had it Vers 1. Who walk not after the Flesh c. in this Verse what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh in which sense as 't is there used it occurs in many following Verses Now Flesh in these places is taken in a very different notion from Flesh in this for in them 't is taken morally and accidentally but here where Christ is concern'd in it 't is taken Physically and substantially in them it notes Man's nature as corrupted but here the very being and substance of the Humane nature or the verity of the Humane nature it self abstracted from any such adjunct and so 't is twice taken in this Verse 2. That Flesh in this application is not to be understood in its more narrow and limited sense but in its more general and comprehensive sense Here 's a double Synecdoche in the word as it signifies 1. the whole Body 2. the whole Man or the whole nature of man Flesh in its strict acceptation is but a part of the body and the body but a part of the Man but so you are not here to take it for Christ had a perfect entire compleat body and every thing as well as meer Flesh which is proper to a body for instance he had blood as well as Flesh therefore both are named Heb. 2.14 He also took part of the same i.e. of Flesh and blood and he had bones as well as flesh Luke 24.39 A Spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have Further Christ was not only clothed with Flesh as that is limited but to one part of Man but he assumed the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyrill Alexandr in Joh. p. 95. whole Nature of Man he had a Soul as well as a Body which two are the essential constitutive parts of Man What more common in Scripture than by Flesh to set forth Man in his whole entire humane Nature See Gen. 6.12 Psal 65.2 Isa 40.5 Joel 2.28 Luk. 3.6 Rom. 3.20 Joh. 17.2
and in the following words was to set forth the excellency of the Gospel which he calls Godliness because its main sâ—ope and tendency is to that and how doth he do it why by the glorious mysteries held forth therein of some of which he there gives a particular enumeration As to the height and verity of which mysteries he saith Without controversie c. confessedly beyond all dispute or denial these are mysteries indeed 't is as if he had said I know the poor Heathens pretend to great and high mysteries but indeed they are so far from being high mysteries that they are no mysteries at all they being but the fancies of deluded men but saith he I 'le tell you of mysteries that are both real and sublime which are so beyond all contradiction Without controversie great is the mystery of Godliness c. But how doth he make that appear he makes it out in some instances and his first instance is in the Incarnation of the Son of God Without controversie great is the mystery of Godliness God was manifested in the flesh c. O there 's a mystery indeed a transcendent mystery one which all the Gentiles cannot parallel A very Learned * Jac. Gothofredus in 1 Tim. 3.15 16. in Critic vol. 7. p. 3770. c. Author in a very learned Discourse upon this whole Verse proves that Paul therein throughout had his eye upon the Gentile-Rites Customs pretentions to mysteries c. especially upon those amongst the Greeks and amongst them especially upon those in their Eleusinia sacra which above all others were in highest repute at that time when the Apostle wrote this Epistle Now therefore against them he sets down the great mysteries of the Gospel and Christianity which certainly were infinitely to be preferred before the other The making out of this was our Apostles design according to the Opinion of the forenamed Author in every branch of the Words but I 'le go no farther than the first that only suiting with the thing I am upon And there are in it four things to prove the thing in hand 1 As to Gospel-mysteries the true God was the object of them and concern'd in them but the Gentiles in their mysteries had to do with those which by nature were no Gods which were but called Gods as they are described Gal. 4.8 1 Cor. 8.5 2. In Gospel mysteries one God only was the object of them and Christians had to do with this one and only true God but the Gentiles in their mysteries had to do with variety and multiplicity of Gods and so indeed with no God for many Gods are no God 1 Cor. 8.5 6. Though there be that are called Gods whether in heaven or in earth as there be Gods many and Lords many But to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him 't is God one God manifested c. 3. In Gospel mysteries there 's a God as incarnate commemorated and remembred in them in the Gentile-mysteries it was not so In them they had some notions and made some commemorations of their Gods but how only as common benefactors as giving them bread and wine and corn c but they went no higher but now Christians under the Gospel they commemorate God as taking flesh and suffering in that flesh for their good O there 's mercy indeed a mystery indeed 4. Whereas the Gentiles in their mysteries pretended such and such apparitions of their Gods in opposition to these the Apostle sets down the great and glorious appearance and manifestation of Christ He was indeed manifested in the flesh for he was so manifested in the flesh as to be made flesh his was not an appearance only but a real assumption there 's a mystery indeed In these respects the Apostle advances the mysteries of the Gospel and of the Christian Religion above those which the blind Gentiles were such admirers of in their idolatrous way Well! we who know and believe these things what high thoughts should we have of the Gospel and of the Christian Religion how should we adore and magnifie God for his infinite mercy to us in bringing of us under that revelation and that Faith wherein this unparallel'd mystery of a Christ incarnate is made known and embrac'd Of the excellency of the Flesh and Manhood of Christ 2. Secondly this further informs us of the excellency and glory of Christ's Flesh and Manhood from the premises it clearly appears that that is and needs must be superlatively great Was Christ himself sent in flesh did God's own Son assume and so assume flesh O what a lustre and glory must there be upon that flesh or body which such a person doth so assume 'T is call'd after its being glorified in him a glorious body Phil. 3.21 but 't was a glorious body long before even from the first moment of its formation and assumption 'T is true its glory whilst 't was here on earth did not shine forth in its full brightness there was a vail and covering upon it during the state of Christ's Humiliation but yet even then 't was full of glory though the fulness of its glory did not appear as the Sun is very glorious even when 't is hid under a cloud And indeed 't was requisite not only from the state of his abasement but also from the weakness of those with whom he was to converse that here he should very much keep in its glory for we see when at his transfiguration he let it break forth in a more than ordinary manner the beholders thereof could not well bear it it fill'd them with consternation read Matth. 17.1 c. But yet upon its miraculous framing its unstain'd and unspotted sanctity its neer union with the Godhead even here I say its glory was exceeding great O what a sight will it be in heaven to see this body of Christ in all its splendor and to see him in this Flesh sitting at the right hand of God! As he was at first sent in it 't was but mean in external appearance and to meer sense but now he is ascended and hath carried it up with him and 't is plac'd at the right hand of God so 't is an Object so glorious that 't is fit only for a glorify'd eye to behold And doth the Body of Christ engross all this glory hath his Soul no part or share therein yes surely it may rather be ask'd hath not that the greatest share it being the better and nobler part and capable of that of which the Body is not If God prepare so excellent a body hee 'l be sure answerably to prepare as excellent a soul to dwell in that body as they that build stately houses will put in inhabitants that shall be answerable to them Imagine a Soul untouch'd and unblemish'd with sin fully and perfectly sanctify'd fill'd with grace
liv'd to see this and yet shall we doubt of the thing surely that would be sad The Ratriarchs and they who lived under the Law had but some dimmer discoveries of it here and there an obscure promise and that was all to them for a long time this was reveal'd but in types and shadows And it was too a great way off from them yet they saw the promises afar off and were persuaded of them as the Apostle tells us Heb. 11.13 and now when Christ is come when the thing is done shall we be doubting and questioning in our selves about it when our light is so clear shall our faith yet be weak Our Lord 's coming in Flesh to redeem Man was that great thing held forth in the Scriptures of the Old-Testament and they are full of it observe that passage Heb. 10.5 5 6 7. Wherefore when he cometh into the world be saith Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not but a body hast thou prepared me in burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure Then said I Lo I come in the Volume of the Book it is written of me to do thy will O God what doth Christ mean by the volume of the book I answer the whole body of the Old-Testament-Scriptures this was not written only in this or that particular Text but you have it all along interwoven into the body of those Scriptures now when the whole stream and current of the Scripture runs to this very thing shall we yet give but a languid assent about it Especially when we have the New-Testament-revelation superadded to the former the New Testament I say which gives us so full an account as to matter of fact in reference to the Conception Nativity Life Death of Christ which shews us how this and that Prophesie pointing to his Incarnation was fulfill'd which asserts it over and over again telling us expresly that the Word was made Flesh God was manifested in the Flesh c. shall we notwithstanding all this yet stagger in our faith about the truth of Christ's being sent in flesh O believe it and believe it steadily so as to look upon it as a thing without controversie Satan hath all along more or less made his assaults upon Christians in this as well as in other matters and no question he 'l do the same to you if it be possible to undermine and hinder your firm assent to it but let him not prevail Firmly to adhere to Christ as sent in flesh 2. But under this branch of Exhortation I am to urge not only firmness of assent but also firmness of adherence I mean this you must believe that Christ was sent in flesh so as to cleave and stick to him as sent in Flesh There are some amongst us whom therefore I cannot but look upon as most sadly deluded and most dangerously erring in the very Fundamentals of the Christian Religion who make little of a Christ in this notion they are all for a Christ within them but as to a Christ without them or a Christ in flesh as born of the Virgin Mary crucify'd at Jerusalem c. I say a Christ thus stated they decry and disregard O that from what I have heard and read I had not too just occasion for this charge T is highly necessary therefore that I should say something to antidote you against this venome that under the pretence of a Christ within you do not lose or overlook a Christ without In a sober sense we are for a Christ within as much as any viz. as he is formed in the Soul at the new birth Gal. 4.19 as he is united to and dwells in believers Col. 1.27 Rom. 8.10 but yet 't is a Christ without as incarnate whom we rely upon for life and salvation as he is so considered we eye him in the great acts of faith and ground all our hope and confidence upon him I have * p. 310. before told you that a Christ as formed in the heart is necessary to justification and salvation for he saves none but those who have this inward work but yet 't is a Christ as formed in the Virgins womb and as dying upon the Cross who is the proper efficient meritorious procuring Cause of Justification and Salvation These two must by no means be parted yet their efficiency or causal influence upon Sinners good is very different for by the one mercy is procur'd by the other 't is only apply'd the impetration is by the Christ without the application only is by the Christ within And therefore though you are to put an high value upon the latter and to endeavour to make sure of it as the way and condition of receiving benefit by Christ yet you are to know that 't is the former by which all is merited and therefore there the great stress of your Faith must lie 't is a Christ as taking flesh and dying in flesh that you must stick unto Matth. 1.21 She shall bring forth a Son and thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins Christ the Son of Mary was to save 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners c. the Apostle layes the meriting of Salvation upon a Christ without as coming into the world and not as coming into the heart he who died upon the Cross was slain suffer'd at Jerusalem hee 's the person whom God hath exalted to be Prince and Saviour Acts 5.30 31. The God of our Fathers raised up Jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a tree him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins surely where persons have not forfeited the very principles of Christianity this is a thing which needs no proof Indeed Christ in the Spirit will very little profit those who disregard him in the flesh But no more of this Paul hath a passage which I would a little open 2 Cor. 5.16 Henceforth saith he know we no man after the flesh yea though we have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more how know Christ no more after the flesh what doth he mean by this did he cast off all respects to him all relyance upon him as considered in his Flesh O no! all that he aims at is this he knew Christ no more after the flesh that is so as to have any further converse with him in a fleshly way he did not expect again to eat and drink with him as sometimes the Apostles had done all that external converse was now at an end Or he means that he did not look for any fleshly advantages by him as worldly honor preferment riches c. Or again that he did not know him as in the state of his former abasement and humiliation so the word flesh is sometimes taken more restrainedly
of conformity and likeness to it so we may God may become very man but man cannot become very God he may be like to God by grace and holiness but that 's all thus we are to understand some passages of the * Factus est Deus Homo ut Homo fieret Deus Aug. de Nativ Divinitas Verbi aequalis Patri facta est particeps mortalitatis nostrae non de suo sed de nostro ut nos efficeremur participes Deitatis ejus non de nostro sed de ipsuis Aug. tom 3. p. 1051. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athan. de Incarn Verb. p. 108. l. 1. Antients which seem to be very high Now this is that which I would have you to labour after that as Christ hath taken of yours so you may receive of his as he was made like to you in what is proper to Man so you according to your capacity may be made like to him in what is proper to God Be thankful both for the thing it self and also for the revelation of it 7. Be thankful not in a common ordinary formal manner but in the most lively enlarged raised manner that is possible Where the mercy is high and great the thankfulness must bear some proportion to it Did Christ condescend to take your flesh for such gracious ends O where is your praising and magnifying of God should not the whole Soul be summon'd in to give its most united acknowledgement of so signal a mercy The Angels never reaped that advantage by his Incarnation which we do and yet as soon as ever that took place they were at praising-praising-work Luk. 2.13 14. Suddenly there was with the Angels a multitude of the heavenly Host praising God and saying Glory to God in the highest c. Good old Zachary began his Prophesie with thanksgiving Luk. 1.68 69. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people c. and Simeon upon the sight of Christ in the Flesh was transported with joy Luk. 2.29 c. Then took he him up in his arms and blessed God and said Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace according to thy word For mine eyes have seen thy Salvation Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel To move you to this thankfulness I can say no more than what I have already said let but that be consider'd and you will daily heartily with the most raised affections bless God for a Christ incarnate And as you should do this for the thing it self so also for the revelation of it in the Gospel where the mystery which was kept secret since the world began is now made manifest as the Apostle speaks Rom. 16.25 26. This we had never known if God had not there revealed it and the deeper is the mystery the higher is his mercy in the disclosing of it * Matth. 13.11 To you 't is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven to others 't is not so how little doth the greatest part of the world know of a God in Flesh Nature may discover a God but 't is Scripture only which discovers God-man now why is that revealed to you which is hid to so many Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight Matth. 11.26 Nay further you have the clear revelation of this what was hid in darker Prophesies and Types to the Fathers under the Old-Testament is how under the New made as evident to you as the light of the noon-day you do with * 2 Cor. 3 18◠open face behold the truth and glory of Christ's Manhood you live under the dayes of the Son of Man that which others expected and waited for and saw but †Heb. 11.13 afar off is now accomplished and made good to you Under the Law believers looked for the Son of God in flesh you under the Gospel look on the Son of God in flesh their language was I shall see him but not now I shall behold him but not nigh as Balaam prophesied Numb 24.17 but under the Gospel the language is That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life For the life was manifested and we have seen it c. 1 Joh. 1.1 2. I may say to you what Christ once did to his Disciples Luk. 10.23 24. Blessed are the eyes which see the things which ye see For I tell you that many Prophets and Kings have desir'd to see those things which ye see and have not seen them and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them O put the thing and the revelation thereof together how should God for both be magnified by us had we as many tongues as members was the whole body turn'd into this one member yet we should not be able for this high and glorious mercy sufficiently to speak out and celebrate the praises of the most high God as * Si certè omnia membra nostra verterentur in linguas ad rependendum tibi debitas laudes nequaquam sufficeret exiguitas nostra Aug. medit cap. 15. Austine pathetically expresses it So much for this Second Vse by way of Exhortation The third and last is for Comfort 3. Use The point in hand is every way as fruitful for Consolation as for Exhortation For Comfort◠to Believers Christ sent in flesh made flesh what abundance of matter is wrap'd up in this for the heightning of the true believers joy I have brought you to the very spring-head of divine Consolation O that you might feel it flowing forth and running into your Souls Abraham rejoyced to see Christ's day the day of his Incarnation he saw it and was glad Joh. 8.56 let me tell you you see that about it which he never saw will not you rejoyce and be glad Fear not said the Angel to the Shepherds for behold I bring you good tydings of great joy which shall be to all people what were these good tydings why Vnto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. Luk. 2.10 11. Christ born the Son of God incarnate good tydings indeed blessed be God that they were ever brought to our ears surely such tydings call for great joy If God would please to open your eyes to let you see what there is in a Christ sent in flesh to fix your thoughts upon it to help you to make the best improvement of it I cannot but assure my self that your hearts would be brimful of Comfort that your fears would vanish like the dark cloud before the bright-shining Sun that instead of your sad despondencies of Spirit you would triumph in Christ and lift up your heads with joy O how injurious are they to the Saints in their heavenly
glorying who would take away from them the Manhood of Christ since as 't is truly said * Nullus potest eo capite gloriari in quo asserit Naturam suam non haberi Leo Epist 11. No man can glory in that head in which he believes there is not his own Nature And how injurious are the Saints unto themselves who do so little meditate upon improve and draw comfort from Christ in this consideration Wherein doth Christ's Incarnation afford matter of Comfort to Believers If it be ask'd What is there in a Christ incarnate for the strengthning of the Faith the heightning of the comfort of God's Children give me leave to answer this Question in several particulars 1. There 's this in it certainly this must be an effectual and the most effectual way imaginable for the promoting of God's glory and the Sinners good This an effectual way to promote God's glory and the good of Sinners If Christ become Man that must be a very proper and powerful Means in order to these ends for besides the greatness of the thing in it self if it shall please God out of his abundant mercy to propound to himself the bringing about of such things he out of his infinite Wisdom will be sure to pitch upon such means as shall certainly reach them and therefore he pitching upon this unquestionably it shall attain what it was designed for Is not this then ground of joy and a great support to faith to consider that there is a way and such a way way found out as shall infallibly and effectually promote your good 2. In this you have in high demonstration of his * Nihil tam necessarium fuit ad erigendam spem nostram quam ut demonstraretur nobis quantum nos diligeret Deus Quid vero isto indicio manifestius quam quod Dei Filius Naturae nostrae dignatus est inire consortium Aug. de Trin. l. 13. Love yea the highest that was possible The highest demonstration of God's Love for there was in it ultimus divini amoris conatus infinite Love it self could go no higher than a Christ in Flesh Now this Love of God is the strongest the most heart-reviving cordial that can be given to a gracious person and answerable to the degree of that so is the degree of his comfort for evermore where God displayes his highest Love there he hath the highest comfort You that are such do you desire an evidence of this and would that chear you here you have one the very highest that God could give viz. his sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh All the Promises are seal'd by this 3. By this as hath been already observed under a former head all the promises are seal'd confirm'd and ratify'd Christ's Incarnation was not only one of the promises it self yea the grand Old-Testament promise but it was the seal and confirmation of all the rest When God would give Ahaz a sign for the incouraging of his faith as to the making good of a particular mercy promis'd what was that sign why Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and shall call his name Immanuel Isa 7.14 and so it is in all other respects The Promises indeed are confirmed several wayes but there is not any one thing which gives an higher confirmation to them than this Christ's being made Flesh What ever God hath promis'd 't is all sure now to be made good why because his great promise of the Incarnation of his Son than the which nothing could be more high and more improbable is exactly accomplished A Christ incarnate is Faith's highest security Saints you have no reason now to question either God's power for what cannot he do who can unite the Godhead and the Manhood what can be too hard for him who can make a Virgin to conceive or his mercy and willingness to do any thing for you for he that will send his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh what will he stick at what can come after that can be so great as that * Rom. 8.32 He that spared not his own Son how shall he not with him give us all things Well therefore might the Apostle say All the promises of God in him in Christ are yea and in him Amen c. 2 Cor. 1.20 A very great and precious Truth here lies before me All the great objects of the Christians Faith and Hope are by Christ's Incarnation made sure and credible This proved by Instancâ—s which there-I would fain speak more fully unto 't is this that all the excellent Objects of the Christians Faith and Hope are made credible nay sure and certain upon the Incarnation of the Son of God This I 'le endeavour to make out in some Instances As the Mystical Vnion 1. There 's first the mystical union betwixt Christ and Believers a very great mystery as you have heard Christ in believers and one with them what can be more wonderful yet 't is sure there is such a thing and we may be assured of it for 't is made credible and certain by that which I am upon The Hypostatical Vnion ascertains the Mystical Vnion the union of Persons is not so much as the Personal Vnion he that hath thus united our Manhood to his Godhead in one Person why may he not mystically unite our persons to his Person this latter union not being so high as the former As 't is said * Heb. 7 7. the less is blessed of the better so I may here say the less is confirmed by the greater if Christ had not come so near us in the taking of our Nature the mystical union might have been more doubtful but now there 's no room for doubting Observe that place Heb. 2.11 Both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one there 's the union in the same common Nature for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren there 's the near relation or the mystical union grounded upon the former Communion with God Christ's special presence the inhabitation of the Spirit 2. There 's Communion with God Christ's special presence in the Soul the inhabitation of the Spirit All very high and glorious things so high that the poor creature knows not how to believe them yet they also are very credible and certain upon Christ's Incarnation 'T is more for God to be made man then 't is for God to converse with man God manifested in the flesh is more than God manifesting himself to flesh Moreover Christ in our flesh laid the foundation of the Creatures Communion with God and removed that which hindred it namely distance and enmity these two stood in the sinners way as to this blessed communion but Christ removed them both and so brought it about 'T is observable the Apostle having spoken of the Incarnation of Christ 1 Joh. 1.1 2 3. presently he adds and truly our
which some understand that of David Psal 51.16 Thou desirest not Sacrifice else would I give it c. so the Adulterer Levit. 20.10 the Idolater and so in several other cases Here now was a limitation set by God himself and therefore here could be no expiation in the external and ordinary way indeed upon repentance there might be the doing away of the moral guilt which made the offender lyable to God and to eternal death but as to political guilt which made the offender lyable to temporal death that if publick and known could not by Sacrifices be taken off when therefore you hear so much spoken of the virtue and efficacy of the old Sacrifices as expiatory you must alwayes understand it according to this stating of it 3. Those Sacrifices may be considered absolutely or relatively Absolutely and in themselves and so their expiation reached only to some sins and to the removal of some guilt viz. that which was ritual and ceremonial Relatively with respect to Christ who was typified by them and so by virtue of his great Sacrifice to come which they prefigur'd to persons duly qualified their expiation was general of all sins and of all guilt I mean of all moral guilt before God though not of all political guilt before Men But though there be this difficuly as to the type as to the antitype there 's none by Christ's offering up of himself to be sure all sins are expiated even the greatest are wash'd away by his blood none can stand before his infinite merit and satisfaction former Sacrifices were weak but Christ the grand Sacrifice he is strong * Heb. 7.25 able to save to the utmost all that come to God through him He is not only a Sin-offering to remove the guilt of lesser sins but a Trespass-offering to remove the guilt of the greatest sins therefore as he is set forth by the former in the Text so by the latter in Isa 53.10 Where final impenitency and unbelief do not hinder the death of Christ is sufficient to acquit from all guilt by it all who perform the Gospel-conditions have a full and universal discharge Application I have now gone through the several things necessary to be spoken unto for the explaining and confirming of the Point the Vse follows Vse 1. Of Information Was Christ a Sacrifice for sin and did he thereby condemn sin I shall from hence infer something 1. by way of Information 2. of Exhortation 3. of Consolation 1. Of the truth of Christ's Satisfaction First for Information and so this great Truth may be useful in the informing of our judgements in sundry particulars As 1. We learn from it the truth of Christ's satisfaction Here amongst many others is a very considerable Argument to prove that Christ did really satisfie Gods Justice for Mans sin which therefore all who write upon and for the verity of his Satisfaction do in special insist upon with great evidence and advantage to the Cause which they defend And indeed it carry's such light and conviction in it as that the grand Opposer of this Satisfaction was more troubled to get off from it than from any other Argument whatsoever for when he came to answer COVETVS arguing for it from the legal Sacrifices as prefiguring Christ he was forc'd to say c * Socin de Servat p. 2. c. 9. in quo major vis esse videtur in which head of Testimonies there seems to be greater strength than in any of the former And the annual great Expiation being urg'd as to that he saith ‖ Ibid. c. 12. difficilis sanè nodus solvendus restat one hard knot remains to be untyed 't was an hard knot indeed which he might endeavour to loose but could not The word Satisfaction 't is very true we have not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expressly * De Servat p. 3. c. 6. Ego quidem etiamsi non semel sed saepe id in sacris monumentis Scriptum extaret non idcirco tamen ita rem prorsus se habere crederem ut vos opinamini in so many letters and syllables in the whole Bible but the thing we have yea as to that the Scripture is so copious and full that 't is not in any one other thing more copious and full But suppose we had there the Word as well as the Thing what would that signifie to those with whom I have now to do when SOCINVS is so bold as to say For my part although I should find that meaning Christ's Satisfaction asserted in Scripture not once but often yet I should not therefore believe the thing to be as Dissenters do hold wherein he comes but little short of what his friend SMALCIUS dared to speak concerning the Incarnation of the Son of God of which you had an account before 'T is not for me here to launch out into that vast Controversie of Christ's satisfaction in the opening stating proving defending of which so many Volumes have been written I must confine my self to that one thing which lies before me And there 's enough in it to stablish you in the belief of what we contend for for was Christ truly and properly a Sacrifice for sin were our sins the meritorious cause of his sufferings did he put himself into the Sinners stead taking his guilt upon him and undergoing that punishment which he should have undergone did he die shed his blood that he might thereby atone God and expiate sin all of which have been proved out of the unerring Word and doth not all this amount to a demonstration of the truth of Christ's satisfying the Justice of God for Sin do we mean any thing by his Satisfaction but these things and are not they clear enough from Scripture-light The truth is all the other Arguments brought for the proof of Christ's Satisfaction I say all of them do either run into or fall under this one of his being a Sacrifice for sin If God would pardon sin be appeased towards the Creature c. absolutely and without the intervention of any Satisfaction why did he appoint Sacrifices under the Law why must so many Creatures die why must so much blood be spilt quorsum perditio haec he whose * Psal 145.9 tender mercies are over all his works who hath pity and goodness for all that he hath made would he unnecessarily or meerly to shew his absolute dominion have ordered so many Creatures to be killed slaughtered destroyed from day to day why did he so peremptorily stand upon this that †Heb. 9.22 without shedding of blood there should be no remission But I go higher if God had not required satisfaction why must * Si non fuisset peccatum non necesse fuerat Filium Dei agnum fieri necâ—opus fuerat â—um in carne positum jugulari sed mansisset hoc quod erat in principio Deus Verbum Verum quoniam introiit pecatum in mundum peccati autem
the Gospel answers to the hyssop under the Law Well! after our Saviours being an offering for sin as we have nothing further to do but only through Grace enabling of us * Vid. Cameron Misc p. 529. to perform these Evangelical conditions so nothing less than that will serve our turn for a share and interest in the great effects and fruits thereof Frequent application to be made to this Sacrifice 6. Sixthly you are not to rest in some one single application of your selves or in the first application of your selves at your first believing to this great Sacrifice for expiation and remission but you are to repeat and renew it daily For though 't is true all the guilt of believers is removed thereby yet that is done in this method 't is removed as 't is contracted and as the benefit of it is accordingly drawn forth by the fresh applications of it O do not rest in what you did at your first Conversion but be you every day applying your selves to a sacrific'd Christ new guilt must have new pardons and daily sins call for daily expiations 'T is observable that Christ is set forth not only by the yearly expiatory Sacrifices or by those that were but seldom offered but also by the daily Sacrifices Joh. 1.29 Behold the Lamb of God c. We should not lie down in our beds at night before we have applyed our selves to a dying Christ for the cleansing of our persons from the guilt of the sins of the day past Yea we should never go to God in duty but we should revive upon our thoughts and make use of this Sacrifice Under the Law the blood was to be sprinkled even upon the Mercy-seat Levit. 16.14 God sits upon a Throne of Mercy but even that requires the blood of Christ no mercy from him no acceptance with him can be expected but upon the intervention of this Sacrifice God and Christ to be admired and adored upon this 7. Seventhly Upon this Sacrifice and what followed thereupon God and Christ are highly to be admired and adored by you This holy admiration hath been already again again press'd upon you under the foregoing gracious acts mention'd in the Text but surely that which is now before us doth as much deserve and call for it as they or any other whatsoever Is God to be admired because he sent his own Son because he sent this Son in flesh yea in the likeness of sinful flesh and is he not to be admired also for his making of him to be a Sacrifice for sin and for the condemning of sin in his flesh doubtless he is What Christ a Sacrifice a Sacrifice for such as we such great things brought about thereby O what matter is here to draw out admiration what so great so wonderful as this how much are the highest thoughts the most raised affections below the greatness of this mystery It hath my Brethren been largely set before you now I would ask How are your hearts affected with it 't is very sad if we can hear of such stupendious mercy and yet be but little wrought upon under the hearing of it Pray fancy to your selves what the Angels thought of this what frame they were in when they saw the Son of God hanging and dying upon the Cross as an expiatory Sacrifice Oh you may well suppose that it fill'd them with astonishment they were even amaz'd at this strange and wonderful spectacle never such wondring in Heaven as when the Lord Jesus was thus suffering on earth now shall that be little to you which was so great to them shall they thus admire and will you who were most concern'd in the thing and the greatest gainers by it be stupid and unaffected In Christ's being a Sacrifice God on his part hath display'd and advanc'd all his Attributes yea they by this have received their utmost advancement infinite Wisdom Justice Holiness Mercy could go no higher than a Christ crucifi'd and on your part by this your work is done your happiness being every way secur'd and your misery fully prevented by this you are reconcil'd to God and God to you condemning-sin is condemn'd it-self all its guilt expiated the righteousness of the Law fulfill'd c. by a strange and unthought-of method God hath fetch'd the greatest good out of the greatest evil by Christ's dying you live all which being considered is there not sufficient ground why you and all should admire and adore God And amongst other things pray in special admire his love his transcendent superlative matchless love what manner of love was this that God should give his Son to be a sacrifice for you 1 Joh. 4.10 Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins Rom. 5.8 But God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Had not Christ been a person infinitely dear to God the thing had not been so much but that he should devote him to be sacrific'd whom he so dearly lov'd there 's the incomprehensibleness of his love 'T is reported of the PHOENICIANS that in their Sacrifices they did not use to Sacrifice an enemy or a stranger but * Porphyr do Abstin l. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some one that they had a special love for this I 'm sure was done by God in his giving of the Son of his love to be a Sacrifice for us therefore what admiration can be high enough for him When * Gen. 22.10 c. Abrahaham had the knife in his hand and was just going to offer his Son Isaac God stop'd his hand and provided a cheaper Sacrifice for him this was more than what he did for his own Son him he would have to be offered up and would admit of no other Sacrifice and when the hand of Justice was lifted up ready to destroy us then God to secure us interpos'd and found out a Sacrifice of propitiation not a Ram but his only begotten Son O the heights bredths lengths depths of his love And must not Christ be admired also surely yes was not his love too admirable as well as the Fathers Oh well might the Apostle say Gal. 2.20 Who loved me and gave himself for me Eph. 5.2 And walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour Vers 25. as Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it Rev. 1.5 Vnto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood this was loving indeed When the * Joh. 11.36 JEWS saw Jesus weeping over LAZARVS they said Behold how he loved him but alas what was Christs weeping over him to his dying for us what was the shedding of a few tears to the shedding of his blood how may we come with a more emphatical Behold behold how he
pleasing to God Phil. 4.18 But to do good and to communicate forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleas'd Heb. 13.16 And to summe up all holiness of heart and life that 's an excellent Sacrifice excelling all the old Law Sacrifices whatsoever 1 Sam. 15.22 Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord Behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams Micah 6.6 7 8. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God shall I come before him with burnt-offerings with calves of a year old Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousands of rivers of oyl shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God The * Vis Deos propitiare bonus esto Satis illos coluit quisquis imitatus est Senec. Ep. 9.5 Non immolationibus sanguine multo colendus est Deus sed mente purâ bono honestóque proposito Idem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Porphyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 2. p. 62. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Rhet. l. 3. with many more in Stuck de Sacrif p. 153. col 2. Saubert de Sac. c. 1. p. 4. HEATHENS themselves upon the light of Nature look'd upon moral goodness as the best and most acceptable Sacrifice I 'me sure Evangelical Holiness is so The wickedness of the Jews made God even to abhorre and slight the Sacrifices which were instituted by himself as we find Isa 1.11 c. Isa 66.3 Jer. 6.20 7.21 c. Amos 5.21 22. if we live in sin we may offer this and that to God but 't is all nothing nay that makes all our Sacrifices an abomination to him Prov. 15.8 Oh live the holy life keep the heart pure mortifie whatever is evil do good shun all excesses be heavenly in your affections in all things act in complyance with God's Nature and Will c. this will please him more than the most costly oblations which you can bring to him These are the Sacrifices which now under the Gospel we are to offer and surely we should offer them with all readiness and faithfulness our Lord having submitted to the bloody Sacrifice of himself on the Cross and left us none but these easie and delightful Sacrifices how reareadily should we close with them But so much for this Vse A third shall put an end to this Subject and that is of Comfort Was Christ a Sacrifice for sin Vse 3. For Comfort to Believers did he thereby condemn sin what doth this Truth drop but honey and sweetness to them who are in Christ I say to them who are in Christ for they are the persons only who can lay hold upon the grace contain'd in it as the non-condemnation of the person in the first verse so the condemnation of sin in this belongs only to such You that are in the number of these to you I bring glad tydings matter of great joy out of the bitter comes sweet for Christ to do die as a Sacrifice this was bitter to him but 't is sweet to you his death passion and whole humilation speak nothing to you but consolation Oh did Believers especially such as are under a troubled spirit but better understand and better improve this sin-condemning Sacrifice they would certainly have more of inward peace and comfort than now they have I must not in fist upon the particular and full drawing out of that consolatory matter which it affords therefore shall conclude with a brief review only of what the Text offers And so 1. here 's a Sacrifice for sin All men in ADAM having sinned wilfully after that they had receiv'd the knowledge of the truth there might have been no Sacrifice for their sin to allude to that Heb. 10.26 but the gracious God notwithstanding all this was pleas'd to admit of a Sacrifice yea himself to find out and ordain that Sacrifice here 's matter of comfort 2. Christ himself was this Sacrifice And if so how pleasing must it needs be to God! Eph. 5.2 and hath given himself for us an offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour I tell you there was infinitely more in this one Sacrifice to please God than there is in all your sins put them all together to displease God If Christ be the Sacrifice there must be an infinite efficacy and merit in it from the dignity of his person an infiniteness of merit must needs result if he will die and shed his blood what can be too high for you surely too there 's more in his Offering to save you than there is in Sin to damn you If he be the Sacrifice no question but the Father did accept of it and indeed of this he hath given sufficient evidence to the world not only by his carriage towards the Saints but also and chiefly by his carriage towards Christ himself for whereas of old he was wont to testifie his acceptation of the Sacrifices by consuming them by fire from heaven Gen. 15.17 Levit. 9.24 Judg. 6.21 2 Chron. 7.1 here with respect to Christ's Sacrifice he testify'd his acceptance in an higher way viz. by raising him from the dead taking him up to heaven re-admiting him into his presence and setting him at his Son had he not been well-pleased with his person and oblation Oh there 's a convincing evidence of this in his going to the Father Joh. 16.8 10. By this Sacrifice thus accepted you are made perfect as you have often heard out of Heb. 10.14 18. there 's nothing now to be done by Christ or by you but only to apply and improve what he hath already done is not this ground of strong consolation And know further for your comfort that the vertue of Christ's Offering is as great now as it was at the first his blood is as effectual with God for your good now as it was when it was just running warm from his veins and * Adeò magnum est hoc Sacrificium ut quamvis unum sit semel oblatum sufficiat ad aeternitatem Anselm so it shall be to the end of the world And that he may make the best of it he is entred into the holy place where 't is his business to present and plead the merit thereof he back 's his oblation on earth with his intercession in heaven and what can be spoken higher for your support comfort he that was the Sacrifice here is the Advocate there 3. By this Sacrifice Sin was condemn'd Sin condemn'd what a word is that that which would have condemned you and which only can condemn you that is by Christ condemn'd it-self condemning sin is condemn'd by a condemned Saviour And