words in the Scripture the nature of the thing it self concerning which they are used the uncontrolled use of that Expression in all sorts of Writers in expressing the same thing which the instances and examples of its meaning and intention among the Nations of the World is to deny that he dyed for us at all Neither will his dying for our Good or advantage only in what way or sense soever answer or make good or true the Assertion of his dying for us and our sins And this is evident in the Death of the Apostles and Martyrs they all dyed for our Good our advantage and benefit was one end of their sufferings in the will and appointment of God And yet it cannot be said that they dyed for us or our sins And if Christ dyed only for our Good though in a more effectual manner than they did yet this altereth not the kind of his dying for us nor can he thence be said properly according to the only due sense of that expression so to do I shall in this brief and hasty discourse add only one consideration more about the death of Christ to confirm the Truth pleaded for And that is that he is said in dying for sinners to bear their sins Isa. 53. 11. He shall bear their iniquities v. 12. He bare the sins of many explained v. 5. He was wounded for our Transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the Chastisement of our peace was upon him 1 Pet. 2. 24. Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the Tree c. This expression is purely Sacred It occurreth not directly in other Authors though the sense of it in other words do frequently They call it luere peccata that is delictorum supplicium ferre to bear the punishment of sins The meaning therefore of this phrase of speech is to be taken from the Scripture alone and principally from the Old Testament where it is originally used and from whence it is tranferred into the New Testament in the same sense and no other Let us consider some of the places Isa. 53. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used vers 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And our griefs he hath born them The word signifies properly to bear a Weight or a Burden as a man bears it on his shoulders bajulo porto And it is never used with respect unto sin but openly and plainly it signifies the undergoing of the punishment due unto it so it occurrs directly to our purpose Lam. 5. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our Fathers have sinned and are not and we have born their iniquities The punishment due to their sins And why a new sense should be forged for these words when they are spoken concerning Christ who can give a just reason Again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used to the same purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vers 12. And he bear the sin of many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is often used with respect unto sin sometimes with reference unto Gods actings about it and sometimes with reference unto mens concerns in it In the first way or when it denotes an act of God it signifies to lift up to take away or pardon sin and leaves the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where with it is joyned under its first signification of iniquity or the gâ—ilt of sin with respect unto punishment ensuing as its consequent For God pardoning the guilt of sin the removal of the punishment doth necessarily ensue Guilt containing an Obligation unto punishment In the latter way as it respects men or sinners it constantly denotes the bearing of the punishment of sin and gives that sense unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with respect unto the guilt of sin as its cause And hence ariseth the ambiguity of those words of Cain Gen. 14. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denotes an act of God if the words be spoken with reference in the first place to any acting of his towards Cain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 retains the sense of iniquity and the words are rightly rendered My sin is greater than to be fogiven If it respect Cain himself firstly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assumes the signification of Punishment and the words are to be rendred My punishment is greater than I can bear or is to be born by me This I say is the constant sense of this expression nor can any Instance to the contrary be produced Some may be mentioned in the confirmation of it Numb 14. 33. Your children shall wander in the Wilderness forty years 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and shall bear your Whoredoms v. 34. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye shâ—ll bear your in quities forty years that is the punishment due to your whoredoms and iniquities according to Gods Provideneial dâ—aling with them at that time Lev. 19. 8. He that eateth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall bear his iniquities How 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that sâ—ul shall be cut off To bâ— cut off for sin by the punishment of it and for its guilt is to bear in quity So Chap. â—0 16 17 18. for a man to bear his iniquity and to be killed slain or put to death for it are the same Ezek. 18. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the soul that sinneth it shall dye the Son shall not bear the sin of the Father To bear sin and to dye for sin are the same More Instances might be added all uniformity speaking the same sense of the words And as this sense is sufficiently indeed invincibly established by the invariable use of that Expression in the Scripture so the manner whereby it is affirmed that the Lord Christ bare our iniquities sets it absolutely free from all danger by Opposition For he bare our iniquities when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord made to meet on him or laid on him the iniquity of us all Isa. 53. 6. which words the LXX render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lord gave him up or delivered him unto our sins That is to be punished for them for other sense the words can have none He made him sin for us 2 Cor. 5. 21. so he bore our sins Isa. 53. 11. How in his own Body on the tree 1 Pet. 2. 24. that when he was and in his being stricken smitten afflicted wounded bruised slain so was the chastisement of our Peace upon him Wherefore to deny that the Lord Christ in his death and suffering for us underwent the punishment due to our sins what we had deserved that we might be delivered as it everts the great foundation of the Gospel so by an open perverting of the plain words of the Scripture because not suited in their sense and importance to the vain imaginations of men it gives no small countenance to Infidelity and Atheism FINIS
A Brief DECLARATION AND VINDICATION OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY As also of the Person and Satisfaction of CHRIST Accommodated to the Capacity and Use of such as may be in danger to be seduced and the establishment of the Truth John 5. 39. Search the Scriptures By J. Owen D. D. LONDON Printed by R. W. for Nath. Ponder at the Sign of the Peacock in Chancery-Lane near Fleetstreet 1669. Imprimatur Rob. Grove R. F. D. Episcop Lond. à Sac. Dom. Feb. 3. 1668 69. TO THE READER Christian Reader THis Small Treatise hath no other design but thy Good and establishment in the Truth And therefore as laying aside that Consideration alone I could desirously have been excused from the Labour of those Hours which were spent in its Composure so in the Work it self I admitted of no one thought but how the things treated of in it might and ought to be mannaged unto thy spiritual Benefit and Advantage Other designs most men have in writing what is to be exposed to publick view and lawfully may have so in this I have nothing but meerly thy Good I have neither been particularly provoked nor opposed by the Adversaries of the Truth here pleaded for nor have any need from any self respect to publish such a small plain discourse as this Love alone to the Truth and the welfare of thy soul have given Efficacy to their importunity who pressed me to this small service The matters here treated of are on all hands confessed to be of the greatest moment such as the Eternal welfare of the souls of men is immediately and directly concerned in This all those who believe the Sacred Truths here proposed and explained do unanimously profess and contend for nor is it denyed by those by whom they are opposed There is no need therefore to give thee any especial Reasons to evince thy concernment in these things nor the greatness of that concernment thereby to induce thee unto their serious consideration It were well indeed that these great sacred and mysterious Truths might without contention or controversies about them be left unto the Faith of Believers as proposed in the Scripture with that Explanation of them which in the ordinary Ministry and Dispensation of the Gospel is necessary and required Certainly these tremendous Mysteries are not by us willingly to be exposed or prostituted to the Cavils of every perverse querist and disputer those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose pretended Wisdom indeed ignorance darkness and folly God hath designed to confound and destroy in them and by them For my part I can assure thee Reader I have no mind to contend and dispute about these things which I humbly adore and believe as they are revealed It is the Importunity of Adversaries in their Attempts to draw and seduce the souls of men from the Truth and Simplicity of the Gospel in these great Fundamentals of it that alone can justifie any to debate upon or eristically to handle these awful Mysteries This renders it our Duty and that indispensibly in as much as we are required to contend earnestly for the Faith once delivered unto the Saints But yet also when this necessity is imposed on us we are by no means discharged from that humble Reverence of mind wherewith we ought alwayes to be conversant about them nor from that regard unto the way and manner of their Revelation in the Scripture which may preserve us from all unnecessary intermixture of litigious or exotick Phrases and Expressions in their Assertion and declaration I know our Adversaries would upon the matter decry any thing peculiarly Mysterious in these things although they are frequently and emphatically in the Scriptures affirmed so to be But whilest they deny the Mysteries of the things themselves which are such as every may become the glorious Being and Wisdom of God they are forced to aâ—sign such an aenigmatical sense unto the Words Expressions and Propositions wherein they are revealed and declared in the scripture as to turn almost the whole Gospel into an Allegory wherein nothing is properly expressed but in some kind of Allusion unto what is so elsewhere which irrational way of proceeding leaving nothing certain in what is or may be expressed by Word or Writing is covered over with a pretence of Right Reason which utterly refuseth to be so employed These things the Reader will find afterwards made manifest so far as the nature of this brief discourse will bear And I shall only desire these few things of him that intends its perusal First That he would not look on the subject here treated of as the matter of an ordinary Controversie in Religion Neque enim hic levia aut ludicra petuntur Praemia lectoris de vita animaeque salute Certatur They are things which immediately and directly in themselves concern the eternal salvation of the souls of men and their consideration ought alwayes to be attended with a due sense of their weight and importance Secondly Let him bring with him a due Reverence of the Majesty and Infinite incomprehensible nature of God as that which is not to be prostituted to the captious and sophistical scanning of men of corrupt minds but to be humbly adored according to the Revelation that he hath made of himself Thirdly That he be willing to submit his Soul and Conscience to the plain and obvious sense of Scripture Propositions and Testimonies without seeking out Evasions and pretenses for unbelief These Requests I cannot but judge equal and fear not the success where they are sincerely complyed withall I have only to add that in handling the Doctrine of the Satisfaction of Christ I have proceeded on that Principle which as it is fully confirmed in the Scripture so it hath constantly been maintained and adhered unto by the most of those who with Judgement and Success have managed these Controversies against the Socinians And this is that the Essential Holiness of God with his Justice or Righteousness as the Supream Governour of all did indispensibly require that sin should not absolutely go unpunished and that it should do so stands in a Repugnancy to those Holy Properties of his Nature This I say hath been alwayes constantly maintained by far the greatest number of them who have throughly understood the Controversie in this matter and have successfully engaged in it And as their Arguments for their Assertion are plainly unanswerable so the neglect of abiding by it is causelesly to forego one of the most fundamental and invincille Principles in our Cause He who first laboured in the defence of the Doctrine of the Satisfaction of Christ after Socinus had formed his imaginations about the salvation that he wrought and began to dispute about it was Covetus a Learned man who laid the foundation of his whole Disputation in the Justice of God necessarily requiring and indispensibly the punishment of sin And indeed the state of the Controversie as it is laid down by Socinus in his Book De Jesu
it respects the direct Revelation of God made by himself in the Scripture and the first proper general end thereof Let this be clearly confirmed by direct and positive divine Testimonies containing the declaration and Revelation of God concerning himself and faith is secured as to all its concerns For it hath both its proper formal object and is sufficiently enabled to be directive of divine Worship and Obedience The Explication of this Doctrine unto Edification suitable unto the Revelation mentioned is of another consideration And two things are incumbent on us to take care of therein First that what is affirmed and taught do directly tend unto the ends of the Revelation it self by informing and inlightning of the mind in the knowledge of the mysterie of it so far as in this life we are by Divine Assistance capable to comprehend it that is that faith may be increased strengthned and confirmed against temptations and oppositions of Satan and men of corrupt minds and that we may be distinctly directed unto and encouraged in the Obedience unto and Worship of God that are required of us Secondly That nothing be affirmed or taught herein that may beget or occasion any undue apprehensions concerning God or our Obedience unto him with respect unto the best highest securest Revelations that we have of him and our duty These things being done and secured the End of the Declaration of this Doctrine concerning God is attained In the declaration then of this Doctrine unto the Edification of the Church there is contained a farther Explanation of the things before asserted as proposed directly and in themselves as the object of our faith namely how God is one in respect of his Nature Substance Essence Godhead or Divineâ— Being How being Father Son and Holy Ghost he subsisteth in these three distinct persons or Hypostâ—sies and what are their mutual respects to each other by which as their peculiar properties giving them the manner of their subsistence they are distinguished one from another with sundry other things of the like necessary consequence unto the Revelation mentioned And herein as in the Application of all other Divine Truths and Mysteries whatever yea of all moral commanded duties use is to be made of such words and expressions as it may be are not literally and formally contained in the Scripture but only are unto our conceptions and apprehensions expository of what is so contained And to deny the Liberty yea the necessity hereof is to deny all interpretation of the Scripture all endeavours to express the sense of the words of it unto the understandings of one another which is in a word to render the Scripture it self altogether useless For if it be unlawful for me to speak or write what I conceive to be the sense of the words of the Scripture and the nature of the thing signified and expressed by them it is unlawful for me also to think or conceive in my mind what is the sense of the words or nature of the things which to say is to make brutes of our selves and to frustrate the whole design of God in giving unto us the great priviledge of his word Wherefore in the declaration of the Doctrine of the Trinity we may lawfully nay we must necessarily make use of other words phrases and expressions that what are Literally and Syllabically contained in the Scriptures but teach no other things Moreover whatever is so revealed in the Scripture is no less true and divine as to whatever necessarily followeth thereon than it is as unto that which is principally revealed and directly expressed For how far soever the lines be drawn and extended from truth nothing can follow and ensue but what is true also and that in the same kind of truth with that which it is derived and deduced from For if the principal Assertion be a truth of Divine Revelation so is also whatever is included therein and which may be rightly from thence collected Hence it follows that when the Scripture revealeth the Father Son and Holy Ghost to be one God seeing it necessarily and unavoidably follows thereon that they are one in Essence wherein alone it is possible they can be one and three in their distinct Subsistences wherein alone it is possible they can be three This is no less of Divine Revelation than the first principle from whence these things follow These being the respects which the Doctrine of the Trinity falls under the necessary method of 〈◊〉 and Reason in the beheving and declarâ—ing of it is plain and evident 1. The Revelation 〈◊〉 it is to be asserted and vindicated as it 〈◊〉 proposed to be believed for the ends mentioned Now this is as was declared that there is one God that this God is Father Son and Holy Ghost and so that the Father is God so is the Son so is the Holy Ghost This being received and admitted by faith the Explication of it is 2. To be insisted on and not taken into consideration untill the other be admitted And herein lyes the preposterous course of those who fallaciously and captiously go about to oppose this sacred truth They will alwayes begin their opposition not unto the Revelation of it but unto the Explanation of it which is used only for farther edification Their Disputes and Cavils shall be against the Trinity Essence Substance Persons Personality Respects Properties of the Divine Persons with the modes of expressing these things whilst the plain Scriptural Revelation of the things themselves from whence they are but explanatory deductions is not spoken to nor admitted unto confirmation By this means have they entangled many weak unstable souls who when they have met with things too high hard and difficult for them which in Divine Mysteries they may quickly do in the Explication of this Doctrine have suffered themselves to be taken off from a due consideration of the full and plain Revelation of the thing it self in Scripture until their temptations being made strong and their darkness increased it was too late for them to return unto it as bringing along with them the Cavils wherewith they were prepossessed rather than that Faith and Obedience which is required But yet all this while these Explanations so excepted against are indeed not of any Original consideration in this matter Let the direct express Revelations of the Doctrine be firmed they will follow of themselves nor will be excepted against by those who believe and receive it Let that be rejected and they will fall of themselves and never be contended for by those who did make use of them But of these things we shall treat again afterwards This therefore is the way the only way that we rationally can and that which in duty we ought to proceed in and by for the asserting and confirming of the Doctrine of the holy Trinity under consideration namely that we produce Divine Revelations or Testimonies wherein faith may safely rest and acquiesce that God is one that this one God
things consist 1 Tim. 3. 16. Without Controversie great is the Mysterie of godliness God was manifested in the flesh Tit. 2. 13. Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us Hebrewes the first throughout Chap. 3. 4. For every house is builded by some man but he that built all things is God 1 Pet. 1. 11. Searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signifie Chap. 3. 18 19. But Christ also hath once suffered for sinners being put to death in the flesh but quickned by the Spirit by which also he went and preached unto the Spirits in Prison which sometimes were disobedient when once the long suffering of God waited in the dayes of Noah 1 John 3. 16. Hereby we perceive the Love of God because he laid down his life for us Chap. 5. 20. And we are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ this is the true God and Eternal life Rev. 1. 8. I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending saith the Lord which is and which was and which is to come the Almighty Ver. 11. I am Alpha and Omega the first and the last and what thou seest write in a Book and I turned to see the voice that spake with me and being turned I saw seven Golden Candlesticks and in the midst of the seven Candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man Ver. 17. And when I saw him I fell at his feet as dead and he laid his right hand upon me saying unto me fear not I am the First and the Last Chap. 2. 23. I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts and will give unto every one of you according to your works These are some of the places wherein the truth under consideration is revealed and declared some of the Divine Testimonies whereby it is confirmed and established which I have not at present enquired after but suddenly repeated as they came to mind Many more of the like nuture and importance may be added unto them and shall be so as occasion doth require Let now any one who owns the Scripture to be the Word of God to contain an infallible Revelation of the things proposed in it to be believed and who hath any conscience exercised towards God for the receiving and submitting unto what he declares and reveals take a view of these Testimonies and consider whether they do not sufficiently propose this Object of our faith Shall a few poor trifling Sophisms whose terms are scarcely understood by the most that amongst us make use of them according as they have found them framed by others be thought meet to be set up in opposition unto these multiplyed Testimonies of the Holy Ghost and to cast the Truth confirmed by them down from its credit and reputation in the consciences of men For my part I do not see in any thing but that the Testimonies given to the Godhead of Christ the Eternal Son of God are every way as clear and unquestionable as those are which testifie to the Being of God or that there is any God at all Were men acquainted with the Scriptures as they ought to be and as the most considering the means and advantages they have had might have been did they ponder and believe on what they 〈◊〉 or had any tenderness in their consciences as to that Reverence Obedience and Subjection of soul which God requires unto his Word it were utterly impossible that their faith in this matter should ever in the least be shaken by a few lewd Sophisms or loud clamours of men destitute of the truth and of the Spirit of it That we may now improve these Testimonies unto the end under design as the nature of this brief discourse will bear I shall first remove the general Answers which the Socinians give unto them and then manifest farther how incontrolable they are by giving an instance in the frivolous exceptions of the same Persons to One of them in particular And we are ready God assisting to maintain that there is not any one of them which doth not give a sufficient ground for faith to rest on in this matter concerning the Deity of Christ and that against all the Socinians in the world They say therefore commonly that we prove not by these testimonies what is by them denyed For they acknowledge Christ to be God and that because he is exalted unto that Glory and Authority that all creatures are put into subjection unto him and all both men and Angels are commanded to worship and adore him So that he is God by Office though he be not God by nature He is God but he is not the most high God And this last expression they have almost continually in their mouths He is not the most high God And commonly with great contempt and scorn they are ready to reproach them who have solidly confirmed the Doctrine of the Deity of Christ as ignorant of the state of controversie in that they have not proved him to be the most high God in subordination unto whom they acknowledge Christ to be God and that he ought to be worshipped with Divine and Religious worship But there cannot be any thing more empty and vain than these pretences And besides they accumulate in them their former Errors with the addition of new ones For First The name of the most high God is first ascribed unto God in Gen. 49. 18 19 22. denoting his Soveraignty and Dominion Now as other Attributes of God it is not distinctive of the subject but only desscriptive of it So are all other Excellencies of the nature of God It doth not intimate that there are other Gods only he is the most high or one over them all but only that the true God is most high that is indued with Soveraign Power Dominion and Authority over all To say then that Christ indeed is God but not the most high God is all one as to say he is God but not the most holy God or not the true God And so they have brought their Christ into the number of false Gods whilst they deny the true Christ who in his divine nature is over all God blessed for ever Rom. 9. 5. A phrase of speech perfectly expressing this Attribute of the most high God Secondly This Answer is suited only unto those testimonies which express the name of God with a correâ—ponding Power and Authority unto that name For in reference unto these alone can it be pleaded with any pretence of reason that he is a God by Office though that also be done very Futilously and impertinently But most of the Testimonies producâ—d speak directly unto his divine Excelâ—encies and properties which belong unto his nature necessarily and absolutely That he is Eternal Omnipotent Immense Omniscient Infinitely wise and that he is and worketh and produceth Effects suitable unto all these properties and such
is Father Son and holy Ghost So that the Father is God so also is the Son and the holy Ghost likewise and as such are to be believed in obeyed worshipped acknowledged as the first cause and last end of all our Lord and Reward If this be not admitted if somewhat of it be not particularly denyed we need not we have no warrant or ground to proceed any farther or at all to discourse about the Unity of the Divine Essence or the distinction of Persons We have not therefore any original contest in this matter with any but such as deny either God to be one or the Father to be God or the Son to be God or the Holy Ghost so to be If any deny either of these in particular we are ready to confirm it by sufficient Testimonies of Scripture or clear and undeniable Divine Revelation When this is evinced and vindicated we shall willingly proceed to manifest that the explications used of this Doctrine unto the Edification of the Church are according to truth and such as necessarily are required by the nature of the things themselves And this gives us the method of the small ensuing Discourse with the Reasons of it The first thing which we affirm to be delivered unto us by divine Revelation as the Object oâ— ouâ— Faith is that God is one I know that this may be uncontroulably evidenced by the â—ight of Reason it self unto as good and quiet an Assurance as the mind of man is capable of in any of its apprehensions whatever But I speak of it now as it is confirmed unto us by Divine Revelation How this Assertion of one God respects the Nature Essence or Divine Being of God shall be declared afterwards At present it is enough to represent the Testimonies that he is one only one And because we have no difference with our Adversaries distinctly about this matter I shall only name some few of them Deut. 6. 4. Hear O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord. A most pregnant Testimony and yet notwithstanding as I shall elsewhere manifest the Trinity it self in that one divine Essence is here asserted Isa. 44. 6 8. Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel and his Redeemer the Lord of Hosts I am the first and I am the last and besides me there is no God Is there a God besides me Yea there is no God I know not any In which also we may manifest that a plurality of Persons is included and expressed And although there be no more absolute and sacred truth than this that God is one yet it may be evinced that it is no where mentioned in the Scripture but that either in the words themselves or the context of the place a plurality of persons in that one sence is intimated Secondly It is proposed as the object of our Faith that the Father is God And herein as is pretended there is also an agreement between us and those who oppose the Doctrine of the Trinity But there is a mistake in this matter Their hypothesis as they call it or indeed presumptuous errour casts all the conceptions that are given us concerning God in the Scripture into disorder and confusion For the Father as he whom we worship is often called so only with reference unto his Son as the Son is so with reference to the Father He is the only begotten of the Father John 1. 14. But now is this Son had no praeexistence in his Divine nature before he was born of the Virgin there was no God the Father seventeen hundred years ago because there was no Son And on this ground did the Marcionites of old plainly deny the Father whom under the New Testament we Worship to be the God of the Old Testament who made the World and was Woâ—shipped from the foundation of it For it seems to follow that he whom we worship being the Father and on this supposition that the Son had no praexistence unto his incarnation he was not the Father under the Old Testament he is some other from him that was so revealed I know the folly of that inference yet how on this opinion of the sole existence of the Son in time Men can prove the Father to be God let others determine He who abideth in the doctrine of Christ he hath both the Father and the Son but whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the Doctrine of Christ he hath not God 2 John 9. Whoever denyes Christ the Son as the Son that is the eternal Son of God he loses the Father also and the true God he hath not God For that God which is not the Father and which ever was and was not the Father is not the true God Hence many of the Fathers even of the first Writers of the Church were forced unto great pains in the confirmation of this truth that the Father of Jesus Christ was he who made the World gave the Law spake by the Prophets and was the Author of the Old Testament and that against Men who professed themselves to be Christians And this bruitish apprehension of theirs arose from no other principle but this that the Son had only a temporal Existence and was not the Eternal Son of God But that I may not in this brief discourse digress unto other Controversies than what lyes directly before us and seeing the Adversaries of the truth we contend for do in words at least grant that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the true God or the only true God I shall not further shew the inconsistency of their hypothesis with this confession But take it for granted that to us there is one God the Father 1 Cor. 8. 6. See John 17. 3. So that he who is not the Father who was not so from Eternity whose paternity is not equally coexistent unto his Deity is no God unto us Thirdly It is asserted and believed by the Church that Jesus Christ is God the Eternal Son of God that is He is proposed declared and revealed unto us in the Scripture to be God that is to be served worshipped believed in obeyed as God upon the account of his own Divine excellencies And whereas we believe and know that he was Man that he was born lived and dyed as a Man it is declared that he is God also and that as God he did preexist in the form of God before his Incarnation which was effected by voluntary actings of his own which could not be without a preexistence in another nature This is proposed unto us to be believed upon Divine Testimony and by Divine Revelation And the sole enquiry in this matter is whether this be proposed in the Scripture as an Object of Faith and that which is indispensibly necessary for us to believe Let us then nakedly attend unto what the Scripture asserts in this matter and that in the order of the Books of it in some particular instances which at present occurr to mind as these that follow Psalm
made hath an usual distribution in the Scripture into the Heavens and the Earth and all things contained in them as Acts 4. 24. Lord thou art God which hast made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and all that in them is that is the world the making whereof is expresly assigned unto the Son Heb. 1. 10. Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the Earth and the Heavens are the works of thine hands And the Apostle Paul to secure our understandings in this matter instanceth in the most noble parts of the creation and which if any might seem to be excepted from being made by him Col. 1. 16. For by him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers all things were created by him and for him The Socinians say indeed that he made Angels to be Thrones and Principalities that is he gave them their Order but not their Being which is expresly contrary to the words of the Text so that a man knows not well what to say to these persons who at their pleasure cast off the authority of God in his word By him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth What now can be required to secure our faith in this matter In what words possible could a divine Revelation of the Eternal Power and Godhead of the Son of God be made more plain and clear unto the Sons of men Or how could the truth of any thing more evidently be represented unto their minds If we understand not the mind of God and Intention of the Holy Ghost in this matter we may utterly despair ever to come to an acquaintance with any thing that God reveals unto us or indeed with any thing else that is expressed or is to be expressed by words It is directly said that the Word that is Christ as is acknowledged by all was with God distinct from him and was God one with him that he was so in the begining before the Creation that he made all things the world all things in Heaven and in Earth and if he be not God who is The summ is All the waies whereby we may know God are his Name his Properties and his works But they are all here ascribed by the Holy Ghost to the Son to the Word and he therefore is God or we know neither who nor what God is But say the Socinians these things are quite otherwise and the words have another sense in them than you imagine What is it I pray we bring none to them we impose no sense upon them we strain not any word in them from besides or beyond its native genuine signification its constant application in the Scripture and common use amongst men What then is this latent sense that is intended and is discoverable only by themselves let us hear them coyning and 〈◊〉 this sense of theirs First They say that by in the begining is not meant of the beginning of all things or the creation of them but the beginning of the preaching of the Gospel But why so I pray Where ever these words are else used in the Scripture they denote the beginning of all things or Eternity absolutely or an Existence preceding their creation In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth Gen. 1. 1. I was set up from everlasting from the begining ere ever the earth was Prov. 8. 23. Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the Earth Heb. 1. 10. And besides these words are never used absolutely any where for the beginning of the Gospel There is mention made indeed of the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ Mark 1. 1. which is referred to the preaching of John Baptist. But in the beginning absolutely is never so used or applied And they must meet with men of no small inclination unto them who will upon their desire in a matter of so great importance forego the sense of words which is natural and proper fixed by its constant use in the Scripture when applyed in the same kind for that which is forced and strained and not once exemplified in the whole book of God But the words they say are to be restrained to the subject matter treated of Well what is that subject matter the new creation by the Preaching of the Gospel But this is plainly false nor will the words allow any such sense nor the context nor is any thing offered to give evidence unto this corrupt perverting of the words unless it be a farther perverting of other testimonies no less clear than this For what is according to this Interpretation the meaning of those words in the beginning was the Word that is when John Baptist preached and said this is the Lamb of God which was signally the beginning of the Gospel then he was That is he was when he was no doubt of it And is not this a notable way of interpreting of Scripture which these great pretenders to a Dictatorship in Reason indeed Hucksters in Sophistry do make use of But to go on with them in this supposition how was he then with God the Word was with God That is say they he was then known only to God before John Baptist preached him in the begining But what shall compell us to admit of this uncouth sense and Exposition He was with God that is he was known to God alone What is their singular herein concerning how many things may the same be affirmed Besides it is absolutely false He was known to the Angel Gabriel who came to his Mother with the Message of his Incarnation Luke 1. 35. He was known to the two Angels which appeared to the Shepherds upon his birth Luke 2. To all the Heavenly Host assembled to give praise and glory to God on the Account of his Nativity as those who came to worship him and to pay him the homage due unto him Luke 2. 10 13 14. He was known to his Mother the Blessed Virgin and to Joseph and Zachariah and to Elizabeth to Simeon and Anna to John Baptist and probably to many more to whom Simeon and Anna spake of him Luke 2. 38. So that the sense pretended to be wrung out and extorted from these words against their proper meaning and intendment is indeed false and frivolous and belongs not at all unto them But let this pass What shall we say to the next words And the word was God Give us leave without disturbance from you but to believe this expression which comprizeth a Revelation of God proposed to us on purpose that we should believe it and there will be as was said an end of this difference and debate Yea but say they these words have another sense also Strange I they seem to be so plain and positive that it is impossible any other sense should be fixed on them but only this that the Word was in the beginning and was God
said to do in the foregoing testimonies I say therefore unto this part of our Cause as unto the other that unless we will cast off all Reverence of God and in a king of Atheism which as I suppose the prevailing wickedness of this Age hath not yet arrived unto say that the Scriptures were written on purpose to deceive us and to lead us into mistakes about and misapprehensions of what it proposeth unto us we must acknowledge the Holy Ghost to be a substance a person God yet distinct from the Father and the Son For to tell us that he will come unto us that he will be our Comforter that he will teach us lead us guide us that he spake of old in and by the Prophets that they were moved by him acted by him that he searcheth the deep things of God works as he will that he appointeth to himself Ministers in the Church In a word to declare in places innumerable what he hath done what he doth what he will do what he sayes and speaks how he acts and proceeds what his will is and to warn us that we grieve him not sin not against him with things innumerable of the like nature and all this while to oblige us to believe that he is not a person an helper a comforter a searcher a willer but a quality in some especial operations of God or his power and vertue in them were to distract men not to instruct them and leave them no certain conclusion but this that there is nothing certain in the whole Book of God And of no other tendency are these and the like imaginations of our Adversaries in this matter But let us briefly consider what is objected in general unto the truth we have confirmed First They say the Holy Spirit is said to be given to be sent to be bestowed on men and to be promised unto them and therefore it cannot be that he should be God for how can any of these things be spoken of God I answer As these Expressions do not prove him to be God nor did ever any produce them to that purpose yet they undeniably prove him to be a person or an intellingent voluntary Agent concerning whom they are spoken and affirmed For how can the power of God or a quality as they speak be said to be sent to be given to be bestowed on men so that these very Expressions are destructive to their imaginations Secondly He who is God equal in nature and being with the Father may be promised sent and given with respect unto the holy dispensation and condescension wherein he hath undertaken the Office of being our Comforter and Sanctifier Thirdly The communications distributions impartings divisions of the spirit which they mention as they respect the Object of them Or those on whom they were or are bestowed denote only works gifts operations and effects of the spirit the rule whereof is expressed 1 Cor. 12. 7. He workeeth them in whom he will and as he will And whether these and the like exceptions taken from Actings and operations which are plainly interpreted and explained in sundry places of Scripture and evidently enough in the particular places where they are used are sufficient to impeach the truth of the Revelation before declared all who have a due reverence of God his word and truths will easily understand and discern These things being declared in the Scripture concerning the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost it is moreover Revealed and these three are one that is one God joyntly to be worshipped feared adored believed in and obeyed in order unto eternal life For although this doth absolutely and necessarily follow from what is declared and hath been spoken concerning the one God or onenesâ— of the Derty yet for the confirmation of our faith and that we may not by the distinct consideration of the three be taken off from the one it is particularly declared that these three are one that one the one and same God But whereas as was said before this can no otherwise be the testimonies given thereunto are not so frequently multiplyed as they are unto those other heads of this truth which through the craft of Satan and the pride of men might be more lyable to exceptions But yet they are clear full and distinctly sufficient for faith to acquiesce in immediately without any other expositions interpretations or arguments beyond our understanding of the naked importance of the words Such are they of the Father the Son John 10. 30. I and my Father are one Father Son and Spirit Joh. 5. 7. three that bare witness in Heaven Father Son and Spirit and these three are one Mat. 28. 19. Baptizing them in the name of the Father Son and Spirit For if those into whose name we are Baptized be not one in nature we are by our Baptism engaged into the Service and Worship of more Gods than one For as being Baptized or sacredly initiated into or in the name of any one doth Sacramentally bind us unto a holy and Religious obedience unto him and in all things to the avowing of him as the God whose we are and whom we serve as here we are in the Name of the Father Son and Spirit so if they are not one God the Blasphemous consequence before mentioned must unavoidably be admitted which it also doth upon the Socinian principle who whilest of all others they seem to contend most for one God are indeed direct polutheists by owning others with Religious respect due to God alone which are not so Once more it is revealed also that these three are distinct among themselves by certain peculiar Relative properties if I may yet use these terms So that they are distinct living divine intelligent voluntary principles of operation or working and that in and by internal acts one towards another and in acts that outwardly respect the Creation and the several parts of it Now this distinction originally lyeth in this that the Father begetteth the Son and the Son is begotten of the Father and the Holy Spirit proceedeth from both of them The manner of these things so far as they may be expressed unto our Edification shall afterwards be spoken to At present it sufficeth for the satisfaction and confirmation of our faith that the distinctions named are clearly revealed in the Scripture and are proposed to be its proper object in this matter Psalm 2. 7. Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Matth. 16. 16. Thou art Christ the Son of the living God Joh. 1. 14. We saw his Glory the glory of the only begotten of the Father Ver. 18. No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father he hath revealed him John 5. 26. For as the Father hath life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself 1 Joh. 5. 20. The Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding Joh. 14. 26.
the Personal Union The Divine and humane nature in Christ have but one personal subsistence and so are but one Christ one distinct personal principle of all Operations of all that he did or doth as Mediator And this undeniably follows from what is declared in the Testimonies mentioned For the Word could not be made flesh nor could he take on him the seed of Abraham nor could the mighty God be a Child born and given unto us nor could God shed his blood for his Church but that the two natures so directly expressed must be united in one Person for otherwise as they are two natures still they would be two Persons also 2. Each nature thus united in Christ is entire and preserves unto it self its own natural properties For he is no less perfect God for being made Man nor no less a true perfect Man consisting of soul and body with all their essential parts by that natures being taken into subsistence with the Son of God His Divine nature still continues Immense Omniscient Omnipotent infinite in Holiness c. his bumane nature finite limited and before its Glorification subject to all infirmities of life and death that the same nature in others absolutely considered is obnoxious unto 3. In each of these natures he acts suitably unto the essential properties and principles of that nature As God he made all things upholds all things by the word of his Power fills Heaven and Earth c. As man he lived hungred suffered dyed rose ascended into Heaven Yet by reason of the Union of both these natures in the same Person not only his own Person is said to do all these things but the Person expressed by the name which he hath on the account of one nature is said to do that which he did only in the other So God is said to redeem his Church with his own blood and to lay down his life for us and the Son of Man to be in Heaven when he was in the Earth All because of the unity of his Person as was declared And these things do all of them directly and undeniably flow from what is revealed concerning his Person as before is declared Of the Satisfaction of CHRIST THE last thing to be enquired into upon occasion of the late opposition to the great fundamental Truths of the Gospel is the satisfaction of Christ. And the Doctrine hereof is such as I eonceive needs rather to be explained than vindicated For it being the Center wherein most if not all the Lines of Gospel Promises and Precepts do meet and the great medium of all our Communion with God in Faith and Obedience the great distinction between the Religion of Christians and that of all others in the world it will easily on a due proposal be assented unto by all who would be esteemed Disciples of Jesus Christ. And whether a parcel of insipid Cavils may be thought sufficient to obliterate the Revelation of it men of sober minds will judge and discern For the term of Satisfaction we contend not about it It doth indeed properly express and connote that great Effâ—ct of the Death of Christ which in the cause before us we plead for But yet because it belongs rather to the Explanation of the Truth contended for then is used expresly in the Revelation of it and because the right understanding of the Word it self depends on some notions of Law that as yet we need not take into consideration I shall not in this entrance of our discourse insist precisely upon it but leave it as the natural conclusion of what we shall find expresly declared in the Scripture Neither do I say this as though I did decline the Word or the right use of it or what is properly signified by it but do only cast it into its proper place answerable unto our method and design in the whole of this brieâ— discourse I know some have taken a new way of expressing and declaring the Doctrine concerning the Mediation of Christ with the causes and ends of his death which they think more rational than that usually insisted on But as what I have yet heard of or seen in that kind hath been not only unscriptural but also very irrational and most remote from that accuracy whereunto they pretend who make use of it so if they shall publish their conceptions it is not improbable but that they may meet with a Scholastical Examination by some hand or other Our present work as hath been often declared is for the establishment of the Faith of them who may be attempted if not brought into danger to be seduced by the slights of some who lye in wait to deceive and the clamours of others who openly drive the same design What therefore the Scripture plainly and clearly reveals in this matter is the subject of our present enquiry And either in so doing as occasion shall be offered we shall obviate or in the close of it remove those Sophisms that the Sacred Truth now proposed to consideration hath been attempted withal The summ of what the Scripture reveals about this great truth commonly called the satisfaction of Christ may be reduced unto these ensuing heads 1. That Adam being made upright sinned against God and all mankind all his posterity in him Gen. 1. 27. So God created man in hit own Image in the Image of God created he him Male and Female created he them Gen. 3. 11. And he said who told thee that thou wast naked Hast thou eaten of the Tree whreof I commandeded thee that then shouldst not eat Eccles. 7. 29. Lo this only have I found that God made man upright but he hath sought out many inventions Rom. 5. 12. Wherefore as by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Ver. 18. Therefore by the offence of one judgement came upon all men to condemnation Ver. 19. By one mans disobedience many were made sinners 2. That by this Sin of our first Parents all men are brought into an Estate of Sin and Apostacy from God and of an enmity unto him Gen. 6. 5. God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the Earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually Psal. 51. 5. Behold I was sâ—â—â—pen in iniquity and in sin did my Mother conceive me Rom. 3. 23. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God Rom. 8. 7. The carnal mind is enmity against God fâ—r it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be Ephes. 4. 18. Having the understanding darkned being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart Chap. 2. 1. Col. 2. 13. Thirdly That in this state all men continue in sin against God nor of themselves can do otherwise Rom. 3. 10 11 12. There is none righteous no not one there is none
Scripture Testimony for his good will towards Men. O the infamous portraicture this Doctrine draws of the Infinite Goodness is this your retribution O injurious Satisfactionists Answ. This is but a bold Repetition of what in other words was mentioned before over and over Wherein the Love of God in this matter consisted and what is the obligation on us unto thankfulness and obedience hath been before also declared And we are not to be moved in Fundamental Truths by vain exclamations of weak and unstable Men. It is said 9. That Gods Justice is satisfied for sins past present and to come whereby God and Christ have lost both their power of injâ—yning Godliness and prerogative of punishing disobedience for what is once paid is not revokable and if punishment should arrest any for their debts it argues a breach on God or Christs part or eâ—se that it hath not been sufficiently solved and the penalty compleat sustained by another Answ. The intention of this pretended consequence of our Doctrine is that upon a supposition of satisfaction made by Christ there is no solid foundation remaining for the prescription of Faith Repentance and Obedience on the one hand or of punishing them who refuse so to obey believe or repent on the other The Reason of this Inference insinuated seems to be this that sin being satisfied for cannot be called again to an Account For the former part of the pretended consequence namely that on this supposition there is no foundation left for the prescription of Godliness I cannot discern any thing in the least looking towards the confirmation of it in the words of the Objection laid down But these things are quite otherwise as is manifest unto them that read and obey the Gospel For 1. Christs satisfaction for sins acquits not the creature of that dependance on God and duty which he owes to God which notwithstanding that God may Justly and doth prescribe unto him suitable to his own Nature Holiness and Will The whole of our regard unto God doth not lye in an acquitment from sin It is moreover required of us as a necessary and indispensible consequence of the Relation wherein we stand unto him that we live to him and obey him whether sin be satisfied for or no. The manner and measure hereof are to be regulated by his prescriptions which are suited to his own Wisdom and our condition And they are now referred to the heads mentioned of Faith Repentance and new Obedience 2. The Satisfaction made for sin being not made by the sinner himself there must of necessity be a Rule Order and law-Constitution how the sinner may come to be interested in it and made partaker of it For the consequent of the Freedom of one by the suffering of another is not natural or necessary but must proceed and arise from a Law-Constitution Compact and Agreement Now the way Constituted and Appointed is that of Faith or believing as explained in the Scripture If Men believe not they are no less liable to the punishment due to their sins than if no satisfaction at all were made for sinners And whereas it is added forgetting that every one must Appear before the Judgement seat of Christ to receive according to things done in the body Yea and every one must give an Account of himself to God closing all with this but many more are the gross absurdities and Blasphemies that are the genuine fruits of this so confidently believed Doctrine of satisfaction I say it is 3. Certain that we must all Appear before the Judgement seat of Christ to receive according to the things done in the body and therefore Wo will be unto them at the great day who are not able to plead the Attonement made for their sins by the blood of Christ and an Evidence of their interest therein by their faith and obedience or the things done and wrought in them and by them whilst they were in the body here in this World And this it would better become these persons to betake themselves unto the consideration of than to exercise themselves unto an unparallel'd confidence in reproaching those with absurdities and blasphemies who believe the Deity and Satisfaction of Jesus Christ the Son of the living God who dyed for us which is the ground and bottom of all our Expectation of a blessed life and immortality to come The removal of these Objections against the Truth scattered of late up and down in the hands of all sorts of Men may suffice for our present purpose If any amongst these Men who judge that they have an ability to mannage the opposition against the Truth as declared by us with such pleas Arguments and exceptions as may pretend an interest in appearing Reason they shall God assisting be attended unto With men given up to a spirit of railing or reviling though it be no small honour to be reproached by them who reject with scorn the eternal Deity of the Son of God and the Satisfactory Attonement he made for the sins of Men no Person of Sobriety will contend And I shall further only desire the Reader to take notice that though these few sheets were written in few hours upon the desire and for the satisfaction of some private Friends and therefore contain meerly an expression of present thoughts without the least design or diversion of mind towards accuracy or Ornament yet the Author is so far confident that the Truth and nothing else is proposed and confirmed in them that he fears not but that an opposition to what is here declared will be removed and the Truth reinforced in such a way and manner as may not be to its disadvantage FINIS An Appendix THE preceding Discourse as hath been declared was written for the Use of Ordinary Christians or such as might be in danger to be seduced or any way entangled in their minds by the late attempts against the Truths pleaded for For those to whom the dispensation of the Gospel is committed are debtors both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians both to the Wise and to the unwise Rom. 1. 14. It was therefore thought meet to insist only on things necessary and such as their faith is immediately concerned in and not to immix therewithall any such Arguments or Considerations as might not by reason of the Terms wherein they are expressed be obvious to their Capacity and Understanding Unto Plainness and Perspicuity Brevity was also required by such as judged this work necessary That design we hope is answered and now discharged in some usesul measure But yet because many of our Arguments on the head of the satisfaction of Christ depend upon the genuine signification and notion of the Words and Terms wherein the Doctrine of it is delivered which for the Reasons before mentioned could not conveniently be discussed in the foregoing discourse I shall here in some few Instances give an Account of what farther confirmation the Truth might receive by a due Explanation of them And
I shall mention here but few of them because a large Dissertation concerning them all is intended in another way First For the Term of satisfaction it self It is granted that in this matter it is not found in the Scripture That is it is not so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Syllabically but it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the thing it self intended is asserted in it beyond all Modest contradiction Neither indeed is there in the Hebrew Language any word that doth adequately answer unto it no nor yet in the Greek As it is used in this cause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is properly sponsio or fide jussio in its actual discharge maketh the nearest approach unto it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used to the same purpose But there are Words and Phrases both in the Old Testament and in the New that are equipollent unto it and express the matter or thing intended by it As in the Old are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This last word we render satisfaction Numb 35. 32 33. where God denyes that any compensation Sacred or Civil shall be received to free a Murderer from the punishment due unto him which properly expresseth what we intend Thou shalt admit of no satisfaction for the life of a Murderer In the New Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Verbs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are of the same importance and some of them accommodated to express the thing intended beyond that which hath obtained in vulgar use For that which we intended hereby is the Voluntary Obedience unto Death and the Passion or suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ God and Man whereby and wherein he offered himself through the Eternal Spirit for a propitiatory Sacrifice that he might fulfill the Law or answer all its universal Postulata and as our Sponsor undertaking our Cause when we were under the sentence of condemnation underwent the punishment due to us from the Justice of God being transferred on him whereby haveing made a perfect and absolute Propitiation or Attonement for our sins he procured for us deliverance from death and the Curse and a Right unto life everlacting Now this is more properly expressed by some of the words before mentioned than by that of Satisfaction which yet nevertheless as usually explained is comprehensive and no way unsuited to the matter intended by it In general men by this word understand either reparationem offensae or solutionem debiti either Reparation made for offence given unto any or the payment of a debt Debitum is either oriminale or pecuniarium that is either the obnoxiousness of a man to punishment for crimes or the guilt of them in answer to that justice and Law which he is necessarily liable and subject unto or unto a payment or compensation by and of money or what is valued by it which last consideration neither in it self nor in any reasonings from an Analogie unto it can in this matter have any proper place Satisfaction is the effect of the doing or suffering what is required for the answering of his charge against faults or sins who hath Right Authority and Power to require exact and inflict punishment for them Some of the Schoolment define it by voluntaris radditio aequivalentis indebiti of which more elsewhere The true meaning of to satisfie or make satisfaction is tantum facere aut pati quantum satis sit juste irato ad vindictam This satisfaction is impleaded as inconsistent with free Remission of Sins how causlesly we have seen It is so far from it that it is necessary to make way for it in case of a Righteous law transgressed and the publick Order of the Universal Governour and Government of all disturbed And this God directs unto Lev. 4. 31. The Priest shall make an Attonement for him and it shall be forgiven him This Attonement was a Legal Satisfaction and it is by God himself premised to Remission or Pardon And Paul prayes Philemon to forgive Onesimus though he took upon himself to make satisfaction for all the wrong or dammage that he had sustained Epist. v. 18 19. And when God was displeased with the friends of Job he prescribes a way to them or what they shall do and what they shall get done for them that they might be accepted and pardoned Job 42. 7 8. The Lord said unto Eliphaz my wrath is kindled against thee and against thy two friends therefore take unto you now seven Bullocks and seven Ramms and go to my servant Job and offer up for your selves a burnt offering and my servant Job shall pray for you for him I will accept lest I deal with you after your folly He plainly enjoyneth an Attonement that he might Freely pardon them And both these namely satisfaction and pardon with their order and consistency were solemnly represented by the great Institution of the Sacrifice of the Scape Goat For after all the sins of the people were put upon him or the punishment of them transferred unto him in a Type and Representation with quod in ejus caput-sit the Formal Reason of all Sacrifices propitiatory he was sent away with them denoting the oblation or forgiveness of sin after a Translation made of its punishment Lev. 16. 21 22. And whereas it is not expresly said that that Goat suffered or was slain but was either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hircus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Goat sent away or was sent to a Rock called Azazel in the Wilderness as Vatablus and Oleaster with some others think which is not probable seeing though it might then be done whilest the people were in the Wilderness of Sinai yet could not by reason of its distance when the people were setled in Canaan be annually observed it was from the poverty of the Types whereof no one could fully represent that Grace which it had particular respect unto What therefore was wanting in that Goat was supplyed in the other which was slain as a sin offering v. 11. 15. Neither doth it follow that on the supposition of the satisfaction pleaded for the Freedom Pardon or Acquitment of the person originally guilty and liable to punishment must immediately and ipso facto ensue It is not of the nature of every solution or satisfaction that deliverance must ipso facto follow And the Reason of it is because this satisfaction by a succedaneous substitution of one to undergo punishment for another must be founded in a voluntary compact and Agreement For there is required unto it a Relaxation of the Law though not as unto the punishment to be inflicted yet as unto the person to be punished And it is otherwise in personal guilt than in pecuniary debts In these the Debt it self is solely intended the person only obliged with reference thereunto In the other the person is firstly and principally under the Obligation And therefore when a pecuniary debs is paid by whomsoever it be paid the Obligation of the person
himself unto payment ceaseth ipso facto But in things criminal the guilty person himself being firstly immediately and intentionally under the Obligation unto punishment when there is introduced by compact a vicarious solution in the fubstitution of another to suffer though he suffer the same absolutely which those should have done for whom he suffers yet because of the Acceptation of his person to suffer which might have been refused and could not be admitted without some Relaxation of the Law Deliverance of the guilty persons cannot ensue ipso facto but by the intervention of the Terms fixed on in the Covenant or Agreement for an admittance of the substitution It appears from what hath been spoken that in this matter of Satisfaction God is not considered as a Creditor and sin as a debt and the Law as an obligation to the payment of that Debt and the Lord Christ as paying it though these notions may have been used by some for the Illustration of the whole matter and that not without countenance from sundry expressions in the Scripture to the same purpose But God is considered as the infinitely holy and righteous Author of the Law and Supream Governour of all mankind according to the Tenor and Sanction of it Man is considered as a sinner a transgressor of that Law and thereby obnoxious and liable to the punishment constituted in it and by it answerably unto the Justice and Holiness of its Author The Substitution of Christ was meerly Voluntary on the part of God and of himself undertaking to be a Sponsor to answer for the sins of men by undergoing the punishment due unto them That to this End there was a Relaxation of the Law as to the persons that were to suffer though not as to what was to be suffered Without the former the Substitution mentioned could not have been admitted And on supposition of the latter the suffering of Christ could not have had the nature of punishment properly so called For punishment relates to the Justice and Righteousness in Government of him that exacts it and inflicts it And this the Justice of God doth not but by the Law Nor could the Law be any way satisfied or fulfilled by the suffering of Christ if antecedently thereunto its obligation or power of obliging unto the penalty constituted in its Sanction unto sin was relaxed dissolved or dispensed withall Nor was it agreeable to Justice nor would the nature of the things themselves admit of it that another punishment should be inflicted on Christ than what we had deserved nor could our sin be the impulsive cause of his death nor could we have had any benefit thereby And this may suffice to be added unto what was spoken before as to the nature of satisfaction so far as the brevity of the discourse whereunto we are confined will bear or the use whereunto it is designed doth require Secondly The Nature of the Doctrine contended for being declared and cleared we may in one or two instances manifest how evidently it is revealed and how fully it may be confirmed or vindicated It is then in the Scripture declared that Christ dyed for us that he dyed for our sins and that we are thereby delivered This is the foundation of Christian Religion as such Without the faith and acknowledgement of it we are not Christians Neither is it in these general terms at all denyed by the Socinians It remains therefore that we consider 1. How this is revealed and affirmed in the Scripture and 2. What is the true meaning of the Expressions and Propositions wherein it is revealed and affirmed for in them as in sundry others we affirm that the satisfaction pleaded for is contained 1. Christ is said to dye to give himself to be delivered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. for us for his sheep for the life of the world for sinners John 6. 51. Chap. 10. 15. Rom. 5. 6. 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. Gal. 2. 20. Heb. 2. 9. Moreover he is said to dye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for sins 1 Cor. 15. 3. Gal. 1. 4. The End whereof every where expressed in the Gospel is that we might be freed delivered and saved These things as was said are agreed unto and acknowleded 2. The meaning and importance we say of these Exprâ—ssions is that Christ dyed in our Room Place or Stead undergoing the Death or Punishment which we should have undergone in the way and manner before declared And this is the satisfaction we plead for It remains therefore that from the Scripture the nature of the things treated of the proper signification and constant use of the. Expressions mentioned the Exemplification of them in the Customs and Usages of the Nations of the World we do evince and manifest that what we have laid down is the true and proper sense of the words wherein this Revelation of Christs dying for us is expressed so that they who deny Christ to have dyed for us in this sense do indeed deny that he properly dyed for us at all what ever benefits they grant that by his death we may obtain First We may consider the Use of this Expression in the Scripture either indefinitely or in particular Instances Only we must take this along with us that dying for sins and Transgressions being added unto dying for sinners or persons maketh the substitution of one in the room and stead of another more evident than when the dying of one for another only is mentioned For whereas all Predicates are regulated by their subjects and it is ridiculous to say that one dyeth in the stead of sins the meaning can be no other but the bearing or answering of the sins of the sinner in whose stead any one dyeth And this is in the Scripture declared to be the sense of that Expression as we shall see afterwards Let us therefore consider some Instances John 11. 50. The words of Caiaphas Counsel are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is expedient for us that one man should dye for the people and that the whole Nation perish not which is expressed again Chap. 18. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perish for the people Caiaphas feared that if Christ were spared the people would be destroyed by the Romans The way to free them he thought was by the destruction of Christ him therefore he devoted to death in lieu of the People As He Vnum pro multis dabitur Caput One head shall be given for many Not unlike the Speech of Otho the Emperour in Xiphilin when he slew himself to preserve his Army For when they would have perswaded him to renew the war after the defeat of some of his Forces and offered to lay down their lives to secure him he replyed that he would not adding this Reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is far better and more just that one should perish or dye for all than that many should perish for one that is One in the stead of many that they may go free
or as another speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eurip. Let one be given up to dye in the stead of all Joh. 13. 38. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They are the words of St. Peter unto Christ I will lay down my life for thee To free thee I will expose my own head to danger my life to death that thou maist live and I dye It is plain that he intended the same thing with the celebrated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of old who exposed their own lives 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for one another such were Damon and Pythias Orestes Pylades Nisur Eurialus Whence is that saying of Seneca Succurram perituro sed ut ipse nâ—n peream nisi si futurus ero magni hominis aut magnae rei merces I will relieve or succour one that is ready to perish yet so as that I perish not my self unless thereby I be taken in lieu of some great man or great matter For a great man a man of great worth and usefulness I could perish or dye in his stead that he might live and go free We have a great Example also of the importance of this Expression in those words of David concerning Absolom 2 Sam. 18. 33. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who will grant me to dye I for thee or in thy stead My Son Absolom It was never doubted but that David wished that he had dyed in the stead of his Son and to have undergone the death which he did to have preserved him alive As to the same purpose though in another sense Mâ—zentius in Virgil expresseth himself when his Son Lausus interposing bâ—tween him and danger in Battel was slain by Aeneas Tantane me tenuit vivendi nate voluptas Vt pro me hostili paterer succedere dextrae Quem genui tuane haec genitor per vulnera servor Morte tuâ vivam Hast thou O Son fallen under the Enemies hand in my stead am I saved by thy wounds do I live by thy death And the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by David doth signifie when applyed unto persons either a succession or a substitution still the coming of one into the Place and Room of another When one succeeded to another in Government it is expressed by that word 2 Sam. 10. 1. 1 Kings 7. 7. Chap. 19. 16. In other cases it denotes a substitution So Jehu tells his Gurad that if any one of them let any of Baals Priests escape 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Kings 10. 24. his life should go in the stead of the life that he had suffered to escape And this answereth unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek which is also used in this matter and ever denotes either equality contrariety or substitution The two former senses can here have no place the latter alone hath So it is said that Archelaus reigned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 2. 1 2. In the room or stead of Herod his Father So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 5. 38. is an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth And this word also is used in expressing the death of Christ for us He came 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 20. 28. To give his life a ransome for many that is in their stead to dye So the words are used again Mark 10. 45. And both these notes of a succedaneous substitution are joined together 1 Tim. 2. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to buy any thing to purchase or procure any thing with the price of ones life So Tigranes in Xenophon when Cyrus askt him what he would give or do for the liberty of his Wife whom he had taken prisoner answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will purchase her liberty with my life or the price of my soul. Whereon the Woman being freed affirmed afterwards that she considered none in the company but him who said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he would purchase my liberty with his own life And these things are added on the occasion of the Instances mentioned in the Scripture whence it appears that this expression of dying for another hath no other sense or meaning but only dying instead of another undergoing the death that he should undergo that he might go free And in this matter of Christs dying for us add that he so dyed for us as that he also dyed for our sins that is either to bear their punishment or to expiate their guilt for other sense the words cannot admit and he that pretends to give any other sense of them than that contended for which implyes the whole of what lyes in the Doctrine of Satisfaction erit mihi magnus Apollo even he who was the Author of all ambiguous Oracles of old And this is the common sense of mori pro alio and pati pro alio or pro alio discrimen capitis subire a substitution is still denoted by that expression which sufficeth us in this whole cause for we know both into whose room he came and what they were to suffâ—r Thus Entellus killing and sacrificing an Ox to Eryx in the stead of Dares whom he was ready to have slain when he was taken from him expresseth himself Hanc tibi Eryx meliorem animam pro morte Daretis Persolvo He offered the Ox a better Sacrifice in the stead of Dares taken from him So Fratrem Pollux alternà morte redemit And they speak so not only with respect unto death but where ever any thing of Durance or suffering is intended So the Angry Master in the Comoedian Verberibus Caesum te Dave in pistrinum dedam usque ad necem Eâ lege atque omine ut si inde te exemerim ego pro te molam He threatned his Servant to cast him into Prison to be macerated to death with labour and that with this engagement that if he ever let him out he would grind for him that is in his stead Wherefore without offering Violence to the common means of Understanding things amongst men another sense cannot be affixed to these words The Nature of the thing it self will admit of no other Exposition than that given unto it and it hath been manifoldly exemplified among the Nations of the world For suppose a man guilty of any crime and on the account thereof to be exposed unto Danger from God or man in a way of Justice Wrath or Vengeance and when he is ready to be given up unto suffering according unto his demerit another should tender himself to dye for him that he might be freed let an appeal be made to the common Reason and Understandings of all men whether the intention of this his dying for another be not that he substitutes himself in his stead to undergo what he should have done however the translation of punishment from one to another may be brought about and asserted For at present we treat not of the Right but of the fact or the thing it self And to deny this
to be the case as to the sufferings of Christ is as far as I can understand to subvert the whole Gospel Moreover as was said this harh been variously exemplified among the Nations of the world whose actings in such cases because they excellently shadow out the general notion of the death of Christ for others for sinners and are appealed unto directly by the Apostle to this purpose Rom. 5. 7 8. I shall in a few Instances reflect upon Not to insist on the voluntary surrogations of private Persons one into the Room of another mutually to undergo dangers and death for one another as before mentioned I shall only remember some publick Transactions in reference unto communities in Nations Cities or Armies Nothing is more celebrated amongst the Ancients than this that when they supposed themselves in Danger from the Anger and displeasure of their Gods by reason of any guilt or crimes among them some one person should either devote himself or be devoted by the people to dye for them and therein to be made as it were an expiatory Sacrifice For where sin is the cause and God is the object respected the making of satisfaction by undergoing punishment and expiating of sin by a propitiatory Sacrifice are but various expressions of the same thing Now those whoso devoted themselves as was said to dye in the stead of others or to expiate their sins and turn away the Anger of the God they feared by their death designed two things in what they did First That the Evils which were impendent on the people and feared might fall on themselves so that the people might go free Secondly That all good things which themselves desired might be conferred on the People which things have a notable shaddow in them of the great expiatory Sacrifice concerning which we treat and expound the Expressions wherein it is declared The Instance of the Decii is known of whom the Poet Plebeiae Deciorum animae plebeia fuerunt Nomina pro totis legionibuâ— hitamâ—n pro Omnibus auxiliis atque omni plehe Latins Sufficiunt Diis infernis The two Decii Father and Son in imminent dangers of the people devoted themselves at several times unto Death and Destruction And saith he sufficiunt Diis infernis they satisfied for the whole people adding the Reason whence so it might be Pluris enim Decii quam qui servantur ab illis They were more to be valued than all that were saved by them And the great Historian doth excellently describe both the Actions and Expectations of the one and the other in what they did The Father when the Roman Army commanded by himself and Titus Mâ—nlius was near a total ruine by the Latines called for the publick Priest and caused him with the usual solemn Ceremonies to devote him to death for the deliverance and safety of the Army after which making his requests to his Gods dii quorum est potestas nostrorum hostiumque the gods that had power over them and their Adversaries as he supposed he cast himself into death by the swords of the Enemy Conspectus ab utraque acie aliquanto augustior humano visu sicut coelo missus piaculum omnis Deorum irae qui pestem ab suis aversam in hostes ferret He was looked on by both Armies as one more August than a man as one sent from Heaven to be a piacular Sacrifice to appease the Anger of the gods and to transferre destruction from their own Army to the Enemies Liv. Hist. 8. His Son in like manner in a great and dangerous battel against the Galls and Samnites wherein he commanded in Chief devoting himself as his Father had done added unto the former solemn deprecations prae se agere sese formidinem ac fugam caedemque ac cruorem coel stium infernorum iras lib. 11. That he carryed away before him from those for whom he devoted himself fear and flight slaughter and blood the anger of the Coelestial and Infernal gods And as they did in this devoting of themselves design averuncare malum deûm iras lustrare pâ—pulum aut exercitum piaculum fieri or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expiare crimina scelus reatum or to remove all evil from others by taking it on themselves in their stead so also they thought they might and intended in what did to covenant and contract for the good things they desired So did these Decii and so is Menaeceus reported to have done when he devoted himself for the City of Thebes in danger to be destroyed by the Argives So Papinius introduceth him treating his gods Armorum superi tuque ô quifunere tanto Indulges mihi Phoebe mori date gaudia Thebis Quae pepegi toto quae sanguine prodi gus emi He reckoned that he had not only repelled all death and danger from Thebes by his own but that he had purchased joy in peace and liberty for the people And where there was none in publick calamities that did voluntarily devote themselves the people were wont to take some obnoxious person to make him exercraâ—le and to lay on him according to their superstition all the wrath of their Gods and so give him up to Destruction Such the Apostle alludes unto Rom. 9. 3. 1 Cor. 4. 9 13. So the Massilians were wont to explate their City by taking a Person devoted imprecating on his head all the evil that the City was obnoxious unto casting him into the Sea with thâ—se words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be thou our expiatory Sacrifice To which purpose were the solemn words that many used in their expiatory Sacrifices as Herodotus testâ—fieth of the Aegyptians bringing their Offerings saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they laid these imprecations on their heads that if any Evil were happening towards the Sacrificer or all Egypt let it be all turned and laid on this devoted head And the persons whom they thus dealt withall and made execrate were commonly of the vilest of the people or such as had rendred themselves detestable by their own crimes whence was the complaint of the Mother of Mâ—naeceus upon her Sons devoting himself Lustralemne feris ego te puer inclyte Thebis Dâ—votumque caput vilis seu mater alebam I have recounted these Instances to evince the common intention sense and understanding of that expression of one dying for another and to manifest by Examples what is the sense of mankind about any ones being devoted and substituted in the Room of others to deliver them from death and danger the consideration whereof added to the constant use of the words mentioned in the Scripture is sufficient to fâ—â—nd and confirm this conclusion That whereas it is frâ—quently affirmed in the Scripture thâ—ir Christ dyed for us and for our sins c. to deny that he dyed and suffered in our stead undergoing the death whereunto we were obnoxious and the punishment due to our sins is if we respect in what we say or believe the constant use of those