Salvation by Jesus Christ alone ... agreeable to the rules of reason and the laws of justice ... : to which is added a short inquiry into the state of those men in a future life who never heard of Jesus Christ ... / by Tho. Staynoe.

SALVATION BY JESUS CHRIST ALONE .

The INTRODUCTION .

I. SAlvation implies in the very Notion of it , either the Prevention of some Mischief , to which we are obnoxious ; or a Deliverance from some Mischief , which we actually suffer . Now because it is our professed Design and Business at present to discourse of the Salvation of Mankind by our Saviour ; therefore , in order to our so doing , it will be proper first to consider , what Mischief it is from which they are saved . For the true Knowledge of the Occasion and Nature of the Mischief , will very much assist us in our Enquiries into the Nature and Justice of such Salvation .

We must know therefore , That when God , who made Man , and all Things beside , had placed Man in this lower World ; as he did provide for his Well-being by his Bounty , so he did provide for his greater Happiness by his Law . For by the first he only put all Creatures here in subjection to Man ; but by the last , he acquainted Man with his own Subjection to Himself . For it is an undoubted Truth , That it is a greater Happiness , to be a true Subject to God , than it is to be Tenant of the whole Earth , and a deputed Lord over all the Creatures in it .

Now , in order to some few Remarks , which we shall make upon God's first Law given to Man , and which will open a Way to our main Design ; it will be convenient , that we lay down the Law as it was given forth . Thus therefore it stands : Of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil , thou shalt not eat of it : For in the day that thou eatest thereof , thou shalt surely die ; or , as it is in the Original , dying thou shalt die : The Reduplication in that Language being equivalent to an Asseveration in ours . It has been a Doubt among Learned Men , whether this first Law be a Moral , or only a Positive Law . Now for the Resolution of such Doubt , it may not be improper to consider apart , First , What is expresly contained in the Law ; and , Secondly , What is implied under such Expression .

And first , If we only consider the express Words of the Law , which forbid the eating of the Fruit of the Tree specified ; the Law in such Case is therefore Positive , not Moral , because before the Prohibition there was no more Immorality in eating of that Tree , than of any other .

But then , secondly , If we farther consider , that tho' the Law , as to the particular Thing prohibited , was purely Arbitrary , and therefore so far forth only Positive ; yet that the Prohibition did imply in it a Moral Duty , grounded upon very equitable Considerations ; we may conclude , that under this express and Positive Law , there is implied and couched a Moral Law . For ,

First , God gave Man not only his Being , but also all Things for the necessary and convenient Support of such Being : and from thence we may by our Natural Reason inform our selves , that his so doing was a very equitable Consideration , why Man should be bound up in Gratitude ( and that is as much , as being bound up in Morality ) to acknowledge the Kindness and Bounty of his Great Benefactor .

Secondly , Man being bound in Gratitude to acknowledge the Kindness and Bounty ; we may truly add , that he was farther bound to acknowledge such Kindness and Bounty in such Way , as such his Benefactor should appoint .

Thirdly , God having made the Earth , and all Things in it ; he might grant as many , or as few of the Things so made , to Man , as he himself pleased : And therefore might except any one , or more of them , out of such Grant .

Fourthly , God having an undoubted Power of Reserving to himself what he pleased out of those Things , which he had made ; he might in Justice and Equity require , that Man should give one Testimony of his Gratitude , by abstaining from what he should please so to reserve .

Fifthly , God by singling out the Forbidden Tree from all the rest , and by so doing , reserving it to himself , had made that a standing Mark and Signal of his own rightful and supreme Dominion over the Whole ; as also , for the same Reason , of Man's Tenure and Subjection .

Sixthly , As we may suppose the Forbidden Tree to have stood in the midst of the Garden , from the Ninth Verse of the Second Chapter of Genesis ; so a Tree so placed was by its very Situation a very fit and proper Thing to be made use of for such a purpose ; because being ( in some measure at least ) equidistant from the Boundaries of the general Grant , it must for that Reason be most likely to present it self to Adam's View , to whatever Part of the Garden he moved ; and by so doing must constantly , or at least frequently put him in mind of the Nature of his Tenure , viz. that he held it of him , who had setled him in the Possession and Use of all the rest . So that , as the Law is Positive , if we only look upon the express Words of it ; so it is Moral , if we consider what is implied in it . And therefore , as the immediate and direct Transgression of the Law was the eating the forbidden Fruit ; so the couched Immorality of such Transgression was an Usurpation upon God's Prerogative in this lower World , and an Encroachment upon the reserved Rights and Demeans of the Supreme Lord . The Transgression of the express Law then was a Sin against God's Command : But the Transgression of the implied Law was a Sin against his Natural and Supreme Right . The first was a Sin , because it did what God had expresly forbid : The last was implicitly forbid , because it was a Sin ; and therefore was a Sin , tho' God did not expresly forbid it . The first was therefore only unlawful , because forbidden : The last was unlawful in it self .

To sum up all in a few Words : Tho' the Designation of the particular Thing , viz. the Tree in the midst of the Garden , was Arbitrary , and therefore Positive ; yet the Designation of Something was , as Just and Wise , so ( I may add ) Moral and Necessary too ; at least so far as it is so , that God's Supreme Right ought to be asserted and owned . For , so far forth the Prohibition given to Man , of eating of the Fruit of any Tree marked out , or of medling with any Thing else , is grounded upon the Antecedent and Eternal Rules of Reason and Justice , that is , of Morality .

And therefore , tho' the express Prohibition of the Law be only Positive ; yet the Reason of the Prohibition is at least so far Moral , as it is so , That Man , by some Means or other , should acknowledge God to be his Supreme Lord , and that he receives from him whatsoever he enjoys ; and that if God do expresly appoint the Way and Means of his so doing , he ought to do it by the Way and Means so appointed .

And I therefore say ( expresly ) because so far as the Words of the Law under our present Consideration do go , it is notorious , that what is expresly prohibited by it , is only Arbitrary and Positive : But that the Morality of the Prohibition is not expressed , but ( at the most ) but couched and implied .

By what has been spoken , we may learn ,

1. That the Sin expresly prohibited by the Law may therefore truly be esteemed a lesser Sin , because it is only a Sin against a Positive Law . For , such a Sin is a Sin only against God's Authority : Whereas a Sin that contains a Natural Immorality in it ( if I may so speak ) is a Sin both against God's Authority , and against his Purity and Holiness too .

2. That the express Penalty of the Law is only a Punishment threatned against the Transgression of the express Prohibition of the Law . For it does not look like Justice , to assign an express Punishment in the Law , for the Transgression of any Thing , which is not expresly contained in the Law .

3. Such Punishment so threatned against the Transgression of the express Law , is express , absolute , and peremtory . Adam then did therefore fatally suffer the Penalty of the Law , because he sinned against an express Prohibition , which was ratified by an absolute , peremptory , and express Threat . For God may therefore be thought to be obliged by his Truth to punish Adam's Transgression according to the express Threat of the Law , because he had passed his more solemn Word , that he would do so . And as he was obliged by his Truth to punish it as the Law had threatned ; so he was obliged to punish it , because it was a Sin : For so , undoubtedly , is the Transgression of any of God's Laws .

From hence it may be concluded , that we all die a temporal Death for Adam's Sin . For , as we were in the Loins of him in the day of his Transgression ; so God has not by any other Law assigned an Universal Mortality as the Punishment of Sin . And so speaks the Scripture ; In Adam all died .

4. As the Moral Law couched in the Positive Law is not express , so neither is there any express Punishment threatned to the Transgression of such couched Law . For while Man was in a State of Innocence , as there was no need that God should prescribe him any express Law to guide him in such Things , which were in their own Nature good ; because the dictates of his own reason were of themselves sufficient for such his guidance ( for Moral Goodness is nothing else , but the Dictates of right Reason employed about the Actions of Rational Creatures ) : So , for the same Reason , there was no occasion to threaten him in that Case with any express Penalty ; because the threatning of an express Penalty antecedent to the Commission of the Crime , can only be proper there , where there is an express Law commanding a Duty : Whereas Man had never by his Reason known , that it had been a Sin to eat of any Fruit , which kindly offer'd it self to his View , and natural Inclinations , if such Fruit had not been forbidden by some express Law . And therefore , for the same Reason , that it was necessary , that such Law should be express ; it was necessary , that the Penalty of such Law should be express too .

5. As the Sin against the Moral Duty , which is only implied in the Law ( were that Duty supposed to be express Law ) is greater than the Sin against the express , but Positive Law ; so ( were there a Punishment to be expresly assigned to such Sin ) it must in Justice be greater than the Punishment assigned to the less Sin , that is , to the Transgression of the Positive Law . The Punishment therefore assigned by the express Law to the Transgression of it , being only Death , and that too ( as appears from the Nineteenth Verse of the Third Chapter of Genesis ) a temporal Death ; our Reason , and that natural Sense we have of the Proportions of Justice , will assure us , that the Law , which forbids a greater Sin , than this Law does , must in Reason and Equity assign an heavier Punishment to such greater Sin .

6. Such heavier Punishment must suppose a Resurrection . For , a greater Punishment than Death cannot therefore be inflicted upon a dead Man , without a Resurrection ; because no Punishment at all can be so inflicted upon him . For where there is no Sensation , there can be no Punishment ; and a dead Man can have no Sensation , unless we could suppose him to be alive , and dead at the same time . This Head may meet with Objections ; but I shall wave them , and any Answer to them , at present ; and that too so much the rather , because it is notorious , that the Scriptures do lay the greater Punishment , that is , the Punishment greater than Death , not only beyond the Resurrection , but also beyond the last Judgment it-self .

7. Lastly : In such Places of Scripture , where the greater Punishment is threatned , it is not ( as the Punishment of the Transgression of the Positive Law was ) absolute and peremptory , but only conditional . And therefore if we except , first , the Sin against the Holy Ghost , ( whatever that be ; for it does not concern us to enquire at present ) ; and , secondly , The Refusing the Conditions of Salvation offered in a Saviour , that grand and comprehensive Sin , which either neglects or renounces the only Means appointed for Man's Salvation from all his other Sins ; I say , if we except these Two Cases ( if yet they be Two ) not only the future Punishment threatned against the Breach of this or that Law , but of any , or all , may ( as far as the Gospel-discoveries go ) be remitted .

Which may teach us to think , that the Punishment threatned in the Law given to Adam , was not a Punishment after a Resurrection , but a Punishment without a Resurrection . And that , not only because at that Time , when the Law was given to him , there was not only no Resurrection promised ; but no Saviour neither , by whom alone a Resurrection was to be brought to pass . To which we may add , That the Death threatned to Adam by the Law given to him , was ( as we have seen ) upon his Transgression of such Law , absolute and peremptory ; and that the Execution of such Threat is ( as the Scripture and our Experience tells us ) absolute and universal . Whereas the Threat of an eternal Death , as we are well assured , is , upon the Breach of God's Laws , only conditional . Now it looks hard to our Reason , that when only Death is threatned in the Law , and that Death at the very most but indefinite , to say , that the Death so threatned does imply a double Death , that is , both a Temporal and Eternal Death . And it looks harder yet , to say , that the Threat and Execution of one of the Deaths is absolute and universal ; but that the Threat and Execution of the other is only partial and conditional . For our Reason tells us , that neither any Threat nor Execution of Death can be both Absolute and Conditional ; both Universal and Particular too .

From the Whole we take notice , That tho God was obliged both by his Truth and Justice to execute the Threatning against the Transgression of the first Law ; because that Law being given to Man in his Innocence , ( that is , before he stood in need of a Saviour , and therefore before God had promised one ) the Threat of Punishment upon the Breach of the Law was ( as we have seen ) absolute and peremptory : Yet because the Revelation of a future and everlasting Punishment in the New Covenant , is rather made by way of Information , than by way of peremptory Threat , and absolute Denunciation ; therefore God is obliged to the Execution of such Penalty only by his Justice , but not at all by his Veracity .

If then there be a Means provided to satisfie such his Justice , without the rigorous Execution of such declared , and ( without such Means ) certain Penalty ; it will well enough follow , That such Penalty may be remitted , without any Prejudice either to his Justice , or to his Truth . And therefore , in what is to follow , we trust to make it good , That our Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST may and will justly save us from the Punishment peremptorily threatned to Adam , ( viz. the Loss of Life executed upon him and all Mankind ) by releasing us from it after we have suffer'd it ; and from a future and eternal Punishment ( expresly revealed in the New Testament to Christians , and probably also after the Fall of Adam , and the Promise of the Seed of the Woman , believed by the Patriarchs , and by God's Church among the Jews ) by preventing it .

CHAP. I.

The Scriptures do most expresly assert , That Mankind are redeemed by the Blood of JESUS CHRIST . It is not agreeable to the Divine Wisdom , or to the Method of his Proceedings in the like Cases , to employ greater Means to bring his Purposes to pass , where less may be sufficient . Punishment is the necessary Wages of Sin . An Objection to this Position answered .

AND as we have grounded what we have said in the Introduction upon the Revelations of God , which have acquainted us how Sin , and the Punishment of it , Death , entred into the World : So , in what is to follow concerning the Redemption of Mankind both from Sin and Punishment , we shall take our Rise from Revelation likewise : Not only because we had known nothing of the Matter , but by Revelation ; but also because , in the present Case , Revelation is undoubtedly the best Guide of our Reason . For , Reason must of necessity be guided best by that , without the Guidance of which , Reason it self is confessedly blind . And we are very sure , that it becomes all those , who acknowledge the Scriptures to be the Revelations of God ; I say , it becomes them , in modesty and deference to the Author , and in prudence for their own more certain Conduct , rather to endeavour to bring their Reason to comply with the Revelation , than to bring the Revelation to comply with their Reason . And therefore that we our selves may practise what we cannot but judge to be best in the Practice of others , we shall lay the Ground-work of all that is to follow , upon the Words of St. Peter , in the Fourth of the Acts and the Twelfth Verse ; Neither is there Salvation in any other : For there is no other Name under Heaven given among Men , whereby we must be saved . In which Words the Apostle , and he too at that time filled with the Holy-Ghost ( as appears by the Eighth Verse ) does expresly tell us ( for the Words do import so much ) That Men must be saved by JESUS CHRIST of Nazareth , ( consult the Tenth Verse ) and by no other .

For it is evident , that by Name in the Text is meant Jesus Christ himself ; because what he calls [ Name ] in one Part of the Verse , is opposed to [ any other ] in the other Part of the Verse : As in the Tenth Verse he tells us , that the impotent Man was made whole by the [ Name ] of Jesus Christ , in the beginning ; and that he was made whole by [ Him ] , that is , by Jesus Christ , in the latter end of the Verse .

Those who professedly and avowedly make it their Business to evacuate the Purchase of Our Saviour's Merits and Blood , do to that purpose start , if not an impertinent , yet a very sawcie Question ; which is , Whether or no God could not have saved sinful Man by some other Means , than by the Death of his Son ? And by that means would alter that very Question , ( which they alone have made a Question ) viz. Whether Jesus Christ died for the Sins of Men ? I say , they would alter it into another Question , neither fit to be disputed , nor possible to be determined by short-sighted Men ; viz. What God can do , and what God cannot do ? Whereas it is sufficient for us to take Things as we find them ; and if we find , that Things in the present Case are so ordered by God , and that he tells us , that they are so , as that sinful Man shall not obtain Redemption but only by the Merits and Death of Jesus Christ their Saviour : I say , if God tells us , and that too by repeated Declarations , that Things in the present Case are so ordered ; we ought to acquiesce in such his Declarations , and not employ our Vanity or Curiosity ( for it can in no sober Sense be call'd our Reason ) in enquiring Whether , much less in determining that they might or might not have been better ordered . But of this more hereafter .

At present therefore , and in the first place , we shall take the Matter of Fact to be just as the Scriptures have in most plain and express Words told us it is ; That Jesus Christ died for our Sins ; that he died to save Sinners , &c. And then , by comparing this Matter of Fact with other the Methods of the Divine Proceedings in the like Cases , see if it will not afford us a very plausible Argument of the Truth laid down , That there is not Salvation in any other .

Now if we carry our Observation through any other the Transactions of the Divine Love and Mercy , that do design to entitle Men to the same Salvation , we shall find , that God does never make use of extraordinary Means , where the ordinary are sufficient . And therefore , when the Lord himself appeared to Saul in his Journey to Damascus , we find , that the Design and Effect of that Vision was to refer him to Ananias for Instructions in his Duty . And so when the Angel appeared to Cornelius , the Business of his Message was only to direct him to Peter , that so Peter might by the ordinary Means of Grace direct him into the Way of Salvation . And when Men have Moses and the Prophets , it will therefore concern them in Duty and Interest to hear them , because in such Case God will not convince them by raising one from the Dead . In short , as it is not the Method of the Divine Proceedings , so neither is it of Wisdom it self , to let the Measure of the Means exceed in their Proportion to the designed End . And in any Case whatsoever , where less Cost or Labour is sufficient , there common Prudence will by no means allow , and much less approve our Drudgery or Profuseness . Now to bring what we have said to our present purpose :

Since our Saviour , for the Establishment of the Gospel-Covenant , did actually take upon him Our Flesh , and in that Flesh suffer ; it will afford us no slight Argument , that That Covenant could not have been established upon more easie Conditions ; because our common Reason does assure us , that all Excess of Performance in the Case would have been Superfluity : And our Religion and Modesty does forbid us to fasten any such Imputation upon the Divine Counsels and Actions . And here we may well put Abraham's Question , Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right ? And when by the purpose of his Mercy he determined to rescue faln Man from Sin and Misery , shall he reject the Son of his Bosom , and expose him to all sorts of Misery in this World , and to Violence and Barbarity in his Departure out of it ; when the Ransom might have been made at a cheaper Rate ? Certainly the Love of God is not so narrow and stinted , but that he both could and would have extended it to his lost Creatures , and yet at the same time not have removed it from his only and beloved Son , if Justice and Wisdom had allowed him so to do . But then , because he himself tells us , that he did otherwise ; and because we know , that what he tells us , must be true ; as well as , that what he does , is just and holy ; therefore the Conclusion , that fairly offers it self , is , That nothing less than the Incarnation , and Death of the Son of God could in Wisdom and Justice have brought about the designed Redemption . To which we shall in short add , That it is one of the certain Characters of the True God , that he brings his Purposes to pass by the best , wisest , and most proper Means .

And now having thus opened our Way to our main Design , by these few Reflexions on the Matter of Fact , as it is laid down most expresly in the Scriptures : We shall in what follows go on to consider the Merits of the Cause ; and that we shall do , by examining , Whether or no Mankind had not brought themselves into so forlorn a Condition by their Sin , that there does not appear in Justice any probable , or indeed any possible Way for their Salvation , but only by the Incarnation and Death of the Son of God .

And that there did not , will ( I presume ) appear , when we have considered and confirmed the following Propositions ; whereof the

First is , That Misery and Death , or , in one word , that Vengeance is , as the Just , so also the Necessary Wages of Sin .

And here , before we begin , to prevent , as much as possible , all Objections that may be started against what we shall deliver , we must desire the Reader to take notice , that we do at present only make it our Business to measure the Equity of the Punishment of Sin by the exact and rigorous Laws of Justice : That is , we do ( as we must , if we will do right ) conceive Things in that State , in which they had stood , had the Son of God never been designed for the Saviour of the World . For , because our Business at present is to enquire , what would have become of sinful Man , if the Son of God had not interposed for his Rescue ; therefore we stand obliged at present to take other Measures in accounting for the Proceedings of the Divine Justice , than what our Experience acquaints us with in this World . For while we live here , we come within the Compass , and so enjoy the Benefit of that Relaxation of the Law , which was the Purchase of our Saviour's Merits ; and therefore we cannot truly pass a Judgment upon the exact Proceedings of the Divine Justice , from the Contemplations of those Proceedings of Justice which we see in this World , and which , upon that account , come within the compass of that Relaxation . To know therefore , whether the Incarnation , Life , and Death of our Saviour were necessary for Man's Redemption , we must enquire , what had become of sinful Man , if the Son of God had not become his Saviour . And if upon that Enquiry it shall appear , that Vengeance without any Remedy had been his Portion ; then it will also appear ( at least ) a probable Conclusion ( for we shall adventure no farther , because we are utter Strangers to the unsearchable Depths of the Divine Wisdom ) That Mankind had brought themselves into so forlorn a Condition by their Sin , that there does not appear to us any possible or just Way for their Redemption , but only by the Incarnation , Life , and Death of their Revealed Saviour , the Son of God .

This Caution then being laid down , and well observed , the First Proposition , viz. That Punishment or Vengeance is the Just and Necessary Wages of Sin , will appear more easie and rational .

And for asserting the Truth of it , we lay it down in the

1. First place , That God is in his own Nature Holy . This does necessarily fall in with our very Notion of a God ; because it is a Contradiction to our very Conceptions of a Deity , to suppose any Wickedness or Turpitude in him .

2. We lay it down , secondly , That God loves himself . This will easily be allowed , for more Reasons than one ; both because the Notion is Natural and Universal , that all Living Things do so ; as also because God cannot but be supposed to be the most Noble and Adequate , as well as Natural Object ( if I may so speak ) of his own Love . Nay , some Men have streined this Point so far , as to tell us , that the great and infinite Complacency that God takes in himself , and in his own Perfections , would never have allowed him to condescend to his Work of Creation , and by that Means to have allowed any of his Love and Good-will to low , mean , and inferiour Creatures ( as the best of Creatures are , if compared to him ) if the Son , who is the Word of God , had not interposed upon that Occasion ; and so they make him a Mediator of Creation , as well as of Redemption . But laying that aside at present , as being nothing to our purpose ; it may suffice for our Design , that whatever Love God bears to his Creatures , it cannot be supposed , but that he not only loves , but that he does also chiefly , and in the first place , love himself .

These Two Things then being laid down , That God loves himself ; and , That he is in his Nature Holy ; the Inference that we shall make , before we proceed any farther , must be , That he cannot otherwise chuse but hate and abhor whatsoever is contrary to such his Nature : And , because all Sin and Wickedness is so ; that therefore he cannot chuse but hate and abhor all Sin and Wickedness . And hence it is , that the Scripture acquaints us , that the carnal mind is enmity with God ; that is , all Sin and Wickedness is so . For we may as rationally conceive , that a Man , who entertains and makes much of Sin , does love God ; as we may , that God , who in his Nature is Holy , can love Sin , which is directly contrary to such his Holiness . This Inference then , from the Two former Propositions , being thus in short laid down , and made good ; we go on , and add in the

3. Third place , That the Life and Happiness of all God's Creatures is only the Effect of the Divine Good-will and Pleasure . For undoubtedly , it was he that made us , and not we our-selves . And taking it for granted at present , that he did so ; I would in the next place enquire , Whether we did deserve such our Beings , or not ? If it be answered , That we did not ; then we have what we desire , and that is , that the great and first Blessing , that ever God bestowed upon us , was by him freely bestowed , without any possible Merit in us ; and therefore , that it was the free Effect of his Good-will and Pleasure . But if any Man shall be so silly , as to think , that he could deserve his Being of God ; then to make good such his Conceit , it will be expected ( and that too , for ever ; for the Expectation will never be answered ) that he should make it out , that Nothing may have Something of Merit in it ; and , that what as yet is not , may have wherewithal to lay an Obligation upon Omnipotence .

And as our Being was the free Effect of the Divine Good-will and Pleasure ; so also are all those Blessings which do attend it . For with our Beings he did also bestow upon us all those Faculties , which should entertain any other Thing whatsoever . And as he made our Faculties , so did he all Things else , which can possibly gratifie those Faculties . And that there is any Harmony or Agreement between those Faculties , and their Objects , is undoubtedly owing to him , who was the original Contriver and Author of both . And therefore in the

4. Fourth place , I would offer it to Consideration , That it is only the Exercise of God's Good-will towards us , that does indeed and truth make way for the Exercise of his Justice upon us ; Because we could never have undergone the Severity of the last , if we had never been made Partakers of the Bounty of the first : And therefore , when God does punish us for our Sins by his Justice , that Punishment does nothing else , but only strip us of something , which we had before received from his Mercy . And this , upon a serious Consideration , will appear to be true , whether the Punishment inflicted do deprive us of our Ease , Peace , Safety , or even of Life itself . For , what have we , that we did not receive ; since in him we live , and move , and have our Being ?

5. Fifthly , I would offer it to Consideration , Whether when God takes any Thing from us , which , upon the account of his Good-will and Pleasure , he had bestowed upon us ; I say , Whether in such a Case the true and just Reason , why he does so , is not , because we by our Sins have turned such his Good-will towards us , into his Displeasure against us ? For , if what he bestowed was the Effect of his Good-will ; and if ( as God made us holy and upright at first ) he cannot but continue the same Good-will towards us , so long as we continue as he made us : Then we may be assured , that so long as he continues such his Good-will towards us , so long he will continue the Effects of such his Good-will too . And if we were not assured of this , then it might be all one as to us , whether God were well-pleased with us , and loved us , or not . For , if the Loss of such good Things , which are the Effects of God's Good-will to us , may ( while we continue holy and innocent ) be once made consistent with such his Good-will ; then farewel to all Distinction as to the Justice of Rewards and Punishments : For , in such a Case it may be the same thing , whether we please God , or displease him ; because we may lose the Effects of his Favour , that is ( according to the Tenor of the last Head ) we may be punished as well for our Innocence , as for our Wickedness ; or , at the very best , we may be punished for Nothing . No! no! As God's Displeasure is contrary to his Good-will and Favour ; so the Effects and Consequences of that Displeasure must be contrary to the Effects and Consequences of such his Good-will and Favour too . This is the Voice of Nature , and this the Voice of Justice ; and therefore also this is the Voice of Truth . And then , as we shewed before , that all the good Things , that we do or can enjoy , did proceed purely and meerly from God's Good-will ; so I do now add , that our Sins do naturally turn that Good-will into Displeasure ; and then the Good-will ceasing , all those Emanations , that flowed from it , must in course cease also . And then , because where they cease , there the Sinner's Punishment does begin ; therefore we may now from the Whole begin to perceive , that the Punishment of Sin is not so arbitrarious a thing , as it is usually taken to be ; but that it does , when traced to the beginning , depend upon the same Necessity , by which God loves himself . For , if we sum up all our Discourse upon this Head from the beginning , we shall understand , That God loves himself ; That he is in his own Nature Holy ; That therefore he hates whatsoever is contrary to such his Nature ; That all Sin therefore is so , because it is contrary to his Holiness ; That the Effects of his Hatred must be contrary to those of his Love ; or , at the very best , That the Emanations of his Love must then be stopped , when that Love is turned into Hatred and Displeasure ; That when his Creatures lose those Emanations , then their Misery begins ; That all those Creatures must needs lose them , that lose that Love , from whence alone they do proceed ; and , That they lose that Love by their Sins ; because ( as we said before ) Sin , and Sin alone , does turn it into Hatred and Displeasure . So that ( if we may be allowd so to speak in Morality ) there is an essential Relation between Sin and Punishment ; and the Necessity of Punishment ( when narrowly scann'd ) is founded upon the eternal and immutable Laws of Truth , Holiness , and Justice .

But before we leave this Head , I would ( if that be possible ) make all a little plainer by an Instance : And that Instance shall be in that Punishment , which the first Sin brought upon the whole Race of Mankind . And I do the rather take my Instance there , because the Law was given and broken , and so the Penalty both threatned and incurred , when there was no Saviour to remit the rigorous but just Execution of such Penalty .

Now we are assured by the Reason of the Thing it-self ; ( as we have already discoursed ) But if that will not do , we are assured by God's Word , by his Promise , by his Oath , that he neither wills , nor delights in the death of a Sinner . And when he swears so to us , it would be both proper and modest in us to believe , that there is something in Sin , which does oblige God in Justice ( and that is the same thing with God , as to be obliged by Necessity ) to punish it with Death . And to this purpose we may take notice , that it is derogatory to God's Honour , for us to resolve any Punishment , which we suffer , into God's Will only , and not into his Justice . Because ( as we shall presently perceive ) when God wills the Death of a Sinner , he therefore only wills it , because Justice does require it , and that ( in the Nature of the Thing ) antecedently to such his Will . For , if the Death of a Man should be therefore just , only because God wills it , tho' the Man do not deserve it ; then it may be all one as to the Event , and that justly too , whether a Man were perfectly innocent , or the most profligate Miscreant upon the Face of the Earth . For , according to that Doctrine , which we now oppose , God might in such a Case justly will the Death of the Innocent , and save the Criminal alive . For , if the ultimate Resolution of the Justice of our Death be only into the Will of God , then nothing can hinder , but that God may justly slay a perfect Innocent . And so when God told Adam , that in the day of his Transgression he should surely die ; the Meaning of his Threat must have been , that he might have died , whether he had transgressed or not . But because we cannot without Blasphemy tax God's Law of such notorious Prevarication ; therefore we must determine , that the ultimate Resolution of Adam's Punishment in such Case , must be into the Desert of such Punishment by the Breach of the Law , and that God's willing his Death was a just Consequent of such his Desert . In short ; God wills such things only , which he can will justly ; and he , who will rationally , and truly account for the Proceedings of God , in that and such like Cases , must have a care to do it so , as to maintain the Harmony of all his Attributes . He must not magnifie his Power , no nor his Mercy so , as to impeach his Truth , Wisdom , and Justice : For he , who confounds the Events of Innocence and Guilt , will be found ( when his Opinion comes narrowly to be scanned ) to make God either a Favourer of Sin , or an Enemy of Righteousness . The Sum of all is , That when God tells us , that Death is the Wages of Sin , he does not therefore pass it into a Law , because it pleases him so to do ; but because it is just in it-self , that he should do so : And that if it had not been just in it-self , he had not upon that single Account willed it at all . So that upon the whole , it does remain a fixed and setled Truth , That Death is the Wages of Sin by the eternal and immutable Laws of Iustice and that it cannot be otherwise , so long as God loves himself , and so hates whatsoever is contrary to himself and to his Nature , as all Sin most undoubtedly is . And therefore when any Man sins against God , as by so doing , he does of necessity forfeit God's Favour ; so also by consequence , he does by necessity forfeit his own Life , which has nothing else to depend upon , but that Favour alone .

And as a Temporal Death upon Sin is necessary , because both threatned and incurred before the Promise of a Saviour ; so after the Saviour has laid down his Mediatorial Office , an Eternal Death will be found to be so too . I word it so , lest my Caution before this Head should by this time be forgot . Now , if it be not an Eternal Law of Justice , that Punishment is the necessary Reward of Sin ; then it may be all one , as to the Event , ( and that justly and finally too ) whether a Man depart this Life the best or the worst Man in the whole World . For , if there be not some Law of Justice , that shall at the last Day distinguish the Event of their contrary Courses , then nothing can : And if that Justice be not necessary ( let the Means , by which it is not so , be what they will ) the Difference between their Condition can be but casual , ( or at the very best , but arbitrary ) and so we must leave them both to a grand Perhaps ; which will be in effect to destroy all Religion and Justice .

There is one thing against this Discourse , of weight and moment ; which tho' I shall professedly answer in another Place , yet shall not go unmentioned here : And that is , That if the Punishment of Sin be absolutely just and necessary , then how came it to pass , that God did in his Counsel design , and in his Wisdom appoint a Saviour , in order to the Pa●don of Sin ? For , in Order of Nature the Design of Pardon must be antecedent to th● Design of sending a Saviour : And therefore if the Punishment of Sin be , as it is la● down , both just and necessary , God's Design of Pardon going counter to this Law , should seem to be unjust . For how could he just● design to pardon That , which in Justice an● Necessity he stood obliged to punish ?

Now to this several Things may be answered . As ,

1. First , That God did never design 〈◊〉 pardon Sin , but only in and through a Sav●our . And how far such his Design , unde● such a Restriction and Limitation , is ju●● is very much the Business of that part of th● Discourse , which in its Place is to follow , an● therefore must not be forestalled here .

2. That notwithstanding a Saviour , ye● God did never pardon any sinful Creature All the Sinners , that we know , are the fal● Angels and Men. What the Scriptures acquaint us with concerning the first , we know well enough : And among such Things , 〈◊〉 know also , that it gives us an Account 〈◊〉 the Punishment of their Sin . And as fo● Men ; those of them that shall be saved a● last , in consideration of their Saviour's Merits , do yet in this World suffer Losses an● Crosses , and Pains , and Diseases , and Death . All which are undoubted Punishments of Sin● And for the rest , who shall by a final Impenitence reject the Benefit of the Saviour's Purchase ( besides the Calamities which they suffer in common with the Good in this World ) the Scriptures do acquaint us sufficiently with their Doom in the next . So that if it may be an Argument , that Punishment is the necessary Reward of Sin , because all Sinners have , do , and shall suffer Punishment ; then God's designing of a Saviour for Mankind , in order to their Pardon , does not take off the Force of such Argument ; because , notwithstanding such his Design , and such Saviour , no Sinner whatsoever did , or ever will go unpunished .

3. But then , thirdly , It is a Mistake , that the Salvation of Man from Punishment was the immediate and direct Design in God's Counsel of sending a Saviour . For , as we shall see hereafter , [ See Chap. 12. ] the Business of our Saviour's Coming was to bring back Mankind to his Father's Kingdom , who had been drawn into a Revolt from his Dominion and Jurisdiction , by the Sollicitations of the Devil , and had thereby put a Slight upon the Authority of the King of all the World , and so , in some sense , lesned the Extent of his Kingdom . Now those whom our Saviour shall so bring back to their Allegiance , by restoring them to their lost Holiness , shall indeed be saved : But then their Salvation is a Consequence of their Return to Holiness ; and so was not properly the Design of God's sending a Saviour , but the Consequence of the Success of such Design .

CHAP. II.

The Gospel holds forth no such thing , as an Absolute or Unconditional Pardon ; no , nor yet an Arbitrary Pardon .

THe next and Second Proposition offered to be made good , in order to our main Design , is this ; That the Gospel holds out no such thing to us , as an absolute Forgiveness of Sin . Which Proposition I therefore lay down here , not only because it is introductive to some Things , which are to follow ; but also to obviate the Conceit of those Men , who think they do sufficiently wipe away the Merits of our Saviour in reference to the Pardon of our Sins , by telling us , that God may without any more ado pardon such our Sins by his Free Grace .

1. But , in the first place , we cannot but take notice , that what God may do , and what he has declared he will do , are Two very different and distinct Things . Though therefore it be supposed , that God may grant us an absolute Pardon ; yet if in those very Revelations , in which he has discovered to us his Intention of pardoning us , he does expresly tell us , that he will not do so ; it will be proper and modest in us , to acquiesce in what he so tells us , rather than to raise in our Imaginations conceited Possibilities , which do directly contradict such his Declarations .

2. But , secondly , He who brought us the Gospel-Dispensation , in order to the Pardon of our Sins , does in that Dispensation require our Repentance in order to such our Pardon . Now if Repentance be a Condition of the Pardon , then for that Reason alone the Pardon cannot be Absolute ; because an Absolute Pardon is an Inconditional Pardon , and it is impossible , that the same Pardon should be a Conditional , and an Inconditional Pardon too .

3. An Absolute Pardon of Sin fights directly against all that we have said under our last Head , concerning the Necessary Justice of Punishment : And therefore , till all that be wiped away , we may upon those Grounds deny , that there is any such sort of Pardon . For , it looks a little too harsh , and that too to Natural Reason , to tell us , that God will be reconciled to the Enemy of his Nature , and that upon the account of mere Mercy and Compassion ; and that , in order to his being so , he will throw away all Considerations of his Justice , which in this Case we may adventure to call his Natural Displeasure .

4. If we should suppose or allow such a thing as an Absolute Forgiveness ; then we must also allow , that it may be the same thing , whether a man has been the best , or the worst Man in the whole World . For an Absolute Forgiveness , in the Reason and Nature of it , may as well be extended to the one , as to the other . For , let what Reason soever be assigned , why it may not ; and that very Reason ( be it what it will ) will prove the Forgiveness not to be absolute . For , that Forgiveness cannot be so , that is limited or restrained by any Reason whatsoever .

5. An Absolute Pardon does throw a Slur upon God's Wisdom , no less than it does so upon his Justice . For , the Law being his , against which we have transgressed , and he having in that very Law threatned Vengeance upon such as shall transgress it ; if after the Transgression he should grant an absolute Pardon to such Transgression , he would by such a Pardon as much void and annul the Law , as he had by his Threatning established and confirmed it : And so it might come to the same pass , as to the final Event , whether he had made any Law or no. For , what is the Difference , not to make a Law , and not to execute it ? And therefore St. Paul , point-blank to our purpose tells us , in the Third to the Romans , the Fifth and Sixth Verses , That if God should not execute Vengeance , he would not only be unrighteous , but that also he could not judge the World . And we may add , that he would not only be unrighteous , but ( considering the Contrariety that would be between his Practice and his Law ) he would be unwise also . And therefore ,

6. Lastly , The last Judgment , and that Description that we meet with of it in Gods Word , do fully assure us , that he has no such Designs in his Counsels , as to throw away his Laws to gratifie his Enemies with Impunity .

From all which Reasons , and ( as we do believe ) from each of them in particular , it seems satisfactorily evident , that a Gospel-Pardon of Sin is no absolute Pardon : And that therefore , when God does in the Gospel promise Pardon of Sin , there must be some previous Conditions , that must be observed in order to such a Pardon . And what Share our Saviour has in the Performance and Accomplishment of such Conditions , we shall learn hereafter .

In the mean time , before we dismiss this Chapter , we must not dissemble , that it may be surmised , and therefore also , that it may be objected , That tho' there should be no alsolute Gospel-Pardon , that yet there may be an arbitrary Gospel-Pardon ; and that there are some Expressions in the New Testament , that lean that way , and may at least incline us to believe , that there is such a Thing . But because we are sure , that no Pardon can come from God , but what is just ; and because we know that Arbitrary Justice is only one Branch of Arbitrary Power , and therefore is in reality no Justice at all ( for it is only a resolute Determination of the Will , without any Reason for such Determination ) therefore we are sure , that it cannot belong to God . For all his Actions are limited and bounded by his Holiness , that is , by the Eternal Rules of Reason and Justice : And he only therefore wills what he pleases , because he neither does not can please to will any thing , but what is Just .

CHAP. III.

A Gospel-Salvation contains in it , 1. Pardon of Sin . 2. The Gift of Eternal Happiness . To these , Two other Things required : 1. An Expiation of Sin . 2. A Restitution to Holiness . Negatively , the several Ways how such Expiation cannot be made ; from whence an Inference of the Doctrine asserted , with some Practical Inferences .

HAving in the First Chapter made it good , that Misery and Death , that is , in one Word , that Vengeance is , as the just , so also the necessary Wages of Sin : And , in the Second , That the Gospel it self holds out no such thing to us as either an Absolute or Arbitrary Forgiveness of Sin : Our next Proposition must be , That because the Gospel in this very Case is the Revelation of God's Will , and because the Will and Counsel of God in that Gospel revealed is the Pardon and Salvation of Man ; that therefore Man's Sin is to be pardoned , tho' not by an absolute or arbitrary Forgiveness .

And then , because it must for that Reason be pardoned some way or other ; it will be our next Business to enquire , what that Way is . For , by such Enquiry it may perhaps appear to be a Gospel-Truth , and that too agreeable to Reason , That there is not Salvation in any other , but in Jesus Christ alone ; and , that there is no other Name under Heaven given among Men , whereby we must be saved .

And here , because the Gospel promises no absolute Pardon of Sin ; as we do from thence in the first place conclude , that the Pardon must be conditional ; so we must in the next place enquire , what that Condition , or what those Conditions are , upon which this Pardon is to be obtained .

Now , if in order to our more rational and satisfactory Resolution of this Enquiry , we do first look into the Gospel , there to inform our selves , what a Gospel-Salvation means ; we may from thence learn , that it does contain in it Two Things : Whereof the first is , Pardon of Sin ; and the second is , the Gift of Eternal Happiness . And in order to the obtaining of these Two Things ( as we shall see more fully in the farther Prosecution of this Matter ) Two other Things are in the Gospel required : 1. An Expiation of Sin ; and , 2. A Restitution to our lost Holiness . For , as we may conclude from our second Proposition , That ( tho' the Gospel does allow a Pardon , yet because it does not allow an absolute Pardon of Sin , that ) therefore something will be required in order to such a Pardon : So we may conclude from our first Proposition , That ( because Punishment for Sin is necessary ) therefore some Punishment ( be that what it will at present ) must be suffered for our Sin .

And then , if in the Progress of our Discourse it shall appear , that in Consideration of any such Punishment so suffered , the Gospel-Pardon of our Sins does afterwards ensue ; then such Pardon may be so far ascribed to such Punishment , as that our Guilt , and the Vengeance due to such our Guilt , may be truly esteemed to be expiated by it .

Now , in order to find out what Punishment it is , that can make such an Expiation , we shall first enquire , what Punishment cannot do it . And because Repentance does not so wholly consist in Action , but that it must have something of Suffering mixed with it ; therefore in pursuit of our Design , let our first Negative Proposition be this :

1. That our Repentance for our Sins can never make out an Expiation of our Sins . For , tho' Repentance for our Sins be a Gospel-Condition required of us , without which we shall never be made Partakers of the Benefit of the Gospel-Expiation ; yet , notwithstanding that , we neither do , nor can by our Repentance make out that Expiation for Sin , which is by the Gospel necessary for our Salvation . For , besides that there is no Man's Repentance so exact and compleat , as to free him from all Sin , while he lives ; and so after all he must remain a Sinner as long as he lives : I say , besides that , His very manner of going out of the World , and that is by Death , is a demonstrative Proof , that his Repentance has not made an Expiation for his Sins ; because we may most certainly conclude , that his Sins are not then expiated , and so neither pardoned , when God himself lays on the Penalty threatned in his Law with his own Hand . For when God gave his Law to Mankind in their universal Father and Representative Adam , we know , that he ratified such Law by the Penalty of Death ; and we know also , that every Man ( let him be as pemtent as can be supposed ) does still suffer that Penalty . And we may from thence also know , that for that Reason no Man's Repentance can so far expiate his Sin , as to free him from the Punishment threatned to it by the Law . And then from the whole we may conclude , That if any Man be saved because he is a true Penitent , he must be saved by some other Expiation , than by such his Repentance ; forasmuch as his Repentance can at the most but qualifie him to be made a Partaker of such Expiation .

2. As Man's Repentance for his Sin ( which we may call his voluntary Punishment for Sin ) cannot ; so neither can his professed Punishment ( which we may call his legal Punishment for Sin ) expiate his Sin , and so obtain for him a Gospel-forgiveness ; and that for this Reason , because there is such a Thing in the Gospel , as an eternal Punishment , allotted to Sin . And as under the last Head we found , that Reason did fall in with the Gospel , and that they both spake the same thing ; so also we shall find it here . For , it is certain , that the Punishment of sinful Man can therefore never expiate his Sin , because it can never purchase a just Release from Punishment ; and it is certain , that it cannot do that , if it may be justly continued to Eternity . And that it may be so , we may learn from hence , because the Law of Grace being God's Law , as well as the Law of Works , must for that Reason be just : And we are assured by this Law , as much as Words can assure us , that the Punishment which it denounces against those , who do not ful●●l the Conditions of it , is Eternal . And that it shall so prove , besides the express Words of the Law , we have this farther Reason ; which is , that the suffering the Punishment threatned by the Law to those , who neglect to perform the Conditions of the Law , can neither in Sense or Reason pass for the Performance of such Conditions so neglected ; and that the Neglect of this Law shall ( and that in Reason and Justice ) be repaid with an additional Vengeance for the refusal of the Mercy offered in it , ( which designs to free us from the Punishment of all our other Sins ) as well as with that Punishment , which is due to such Sins . For , it is Reason and Justice , that a more heinous Sin should be punished with a more grievous Judgment ; and it is Truth and Reason , that a Sinner does then become a more heinous Criminal , when to his Desert of Punishment , he adds a Neglect or Contempt of the easie Conditions of Pardon . And since by the Tenor of the Covenant of Grace , such Sinner is to suffer his Punishment after his Resurrection from the Dead , that is , not only after the Time limited for the Possibility of his Pardon is expired , but also after Death it self shall be destroyed ; as we may from thence conclude the certainty , so may we also the eternal Duration of his Punishment . For , as a Punishment due after the Day of Grace is past , will not be remitted ; so such Punishment , when Death is no more , cannot be determined . By which we may understand , that as Death is , without a Saviour , the just and necessary Wages of Sin , ( as we made it good in our first Chapter ) so also , that when such Death is sure ( by a Resurrection purchased by a Saviour ) to be taken away , in order to an happy and everlasting Life , ( and that too upon the easie , or , at worst , the very feasible Conditions of the Gospel ; ) yet if Men will neglect such Salvation , so placed within their reach , and so leave the eternal Life ( purchased for them in order to their Happiness ) exposed to the Vengeance , which is the just and necessary Reward of all their other Sins , and of such their Neglect ; they must impute it to their own Folly , if such Vengeance , in stead of Happiness , be the continued Companion of their eternal Life . For , in the Case so put , the Restoration from Death to Life comes from the Mercy of God ; the making that Life eternal , comes from the Mercy of God ; the Designing to make that eternal Life happy , comes from the Mercy of God ; The granting Means to Men ( and those no very hard ones neither ) of obtaining that Happiness , comes from the Mercy of God . But foolish Man defeats the Counsel of God , by an obstinate and unrelenting Perseverance in Sin ; and does in this Case , as he does in most others , turn the Blessing of God into a Curse upon himself ; that is , he makes that Life , which was designed for his eternal Happiness , an Occasion of the eternity of his Misery .

One thing more may be added to what has been said upon this Head , and then we shall apply it to our present Design ; and that is , That at that time , when the Punishment we now speak of shall come to be inflicted , our Saviour ( as the Scriptures tell us ) will have laid down his Mediatorial Office , and so Men must stand the Award of their own Deserts ; and then , if such their Deserts be Evil , we may be instructed from what was said in the First Chapter , that the Justice , which will overtake them , will be Justice without Mercy ; and that pure and unmix'd Vengeance will be their Portion , even such Vengeance which will only revenge upon them the Breach of the Covenants of their God , but will never so much as pretend to make up such Breach .

To our present purpose then : If the Punishment of Men for their own Sins shall , without the Interposition of a Saviour , be eternal ; and if this appear to be so by the Testimony of that very Gospel , ( in which , however , there is a Possibility of Salvation held forth ) and if Reason do vouch for the Truth of what the Gospel in this Case teaches ; and lastly , if an Eternity of Punishment be absolutely inconsistent with an Expiation of Sin by such Punishment ( for the last supposes the Sin to be cancelled , and the first supposes it to be continued ) : Then we may conclude , that the Punishment of Man for his Sin can no more exp●ate his Sin under this Head , than his Repentance ( as we there made it good ) could do so under the last . An● then , because there is no other possible Way for Mankind to expiate their Sin , but by their Repentance , or by their Punishment , w● do conclude , that there is no possible Way for them to make any Expiation of it at all .

3. As Man cannot expiate his Sin by any Punishment of his own ; neither by his Repentance , nor by his Death , whether Tempor● or Eternal : So neither can he expiate his Si● by the Death of any other Creature . This 〈◊〉 therefore add , because we may be apt to surmise , that what has been done already , may be done again . And we can hardly be ignorant , that the Lives of other Creatures have been offered to God , and that too by his own Appointment , for the Expiation of the Sin● of Men. And ( which is yet something more ) they have not only been offered by Man , but they have been also accepted by God , as a● effectual Expiation . And that they have bee● so , the History of the Jewish Religion , recorded in the Bible it self , may easily convince us .

But , notwithstanding all this ; yet he who shall look nearer into the Matter , and examine it more nicely , will be satisfied , 1. That all those Sacrifices ( tho' instituted by God himself ) were only Types and Shadows of that great Propitiatory Sacrifice , that was to expiate the Sins of the whole World . And therefore , tho' they may serve to inform us , that such a Sacrifice ought to be in order to the Expiation of Sins , and ( because they did prefigure such a Sacrifice ) they might over and above foretell , that such a Sacrifice should be ; yet because they themselves were but Types and Shadows , it is notorious , for that very Reason , that they were not the Reality and Substance ; and that therefore the Expiation did not belong to them . Take what we say in the Apostle's Words , and so it may be more satisfactory , in the Tenth to the Hebrews , and the beginning : For the Law having a Shadow of good Things to come , and not the very Image of the Things , can never with these Sacrifices , which they offered Year by Tear continually , make the Comers thereunto perfect : And after some other things to the same purpose , he concludes in the Fourth Verse , that it is impossible that the Blood of Bulls and Goats should take away Sins . And therefore , tho' it be freely granted , that a Remission of Sin did usually follow upon the offering of those Legal and Ritual Sacrifices ; yet from what has been said , it must be granted also , that such Remission did not proceed from the Consideration of any real Expiation , that was made by those Sacrifices ; but only from that Expiation , of which they were the Types , viz. from the Expiation made by the Lamb of God , which was slain from the Foundation of the World ; that is , the Merit of whose Death does extend it self from the Fall of Adam to the Consummation of a Things .

2. But , secondly , The Lives of the Creatures offered to God , as an expiatory Sacr●fice for Sin , can never make the Expiati● designed , because all those Lives are his as tecedent to such Offering . To attempt ther● fore to expiate our Sins by them , is no bette● than to offer to God what is his own already or ( for our Sins are in the Gospel calle● Debts ) it is to pay our Debts to God wi●● his own Money ; which , rightly considere● is so far from bringing us out of debt , that really increases our Debt , by the folly , if no also by the mockery of the Attempt . This 〈◊〉 God's own Argument to his People the Jew● in the Fiftieth Psalm : I will take no Bullock o● of thine House , nor He-goat out of thy Folds for every Beast of the Forest is mine , and 〈◊〉 are the Cattel upon a thousand Hills ; wit● more to the same purpose , relating to th● Insufficiency of their Legal Sacrifices for th● Expiation of Sins .

3. The Lives of the Creatures offered t● God for the Expiation of the Sins of Men can never make such Expiation ; because the are of far less Value , and that too not only in the Nature of the Thing , but also in th● Estimation of those that offer them , than th● Lives of those for whom they are offered Now it can never answer to the Rules of Justice , to pay our Creditor only an hundre● Pence , when we owe him an hundred Pounds . And he who shall think , that he can so discharge his Debt , may by the same Measures come in time to reckon , that he may discharge it for nothing .

I have spoken something the larger to these Things ( tho' perhaps it may seem needless ) partly because they have been a Part of God's own Instituted Worship ; partly because they are a Part of the Religious Worship of many Nations at this Day ; but chiefly , because they have a Relation to that great Sacrifice , which is the main Design of all our Discourse . And this our Design will still be farthered , if we consider in the

4. Fourth place , That as neither Man for himself , nor the Creatures , that are inferior to him , can make any Expiation for his Sins ; so neither can the Creatures above him . Now the most exalted Creatures that Revelation has acquainted us with ( and we know nothing in this Case , but what we have from Revelation ) are the Angels and Archangels : And we may be therefore satisfied , that those glorious Beings can never make an Expiation for the Sin of Man ; because it appears by the Revelations of God , that they can never make an Expiation for their own Sins . And therefore , as we are told in such Revelations , that some of them have sinned ; so we are in the same told , that those that have so done , are reserved in everlasting Chains , to the Judgment of the great Day . Now , our Natural Reason tells us , that no Creature can be so in love with Misery ( and surely everlasting Chains , and a fearful expectation of Judgment , do imply Misery ; for , the Devils believe and tremble : ) But , I say , our Natural Reason tells us , that no Creature can be so in love with Misery , as not to free it self from it , were it in its power so to do . And therefore the same Natural Reason does tell us , that the true Reason why the faln Angels do not do so , is because they cannot do so . And if they cannot expiate their own Sins , we may be pretty well satisfied , that they cannot expiate Sin at all : And we may be the rather so satisfied , because we are as sure , that they would in the Case employ their best Endeavours for themselves , as we are sure , that they love themselves best .

Besides , we know , that in the Case of Mankind , Death is threatned , as the Penalty for the Breach of the Law : And we may be pretty well satisfied , that without Death no Expiation can be made : For , without Blood there is no Remission . But , on the other side , we have some Reason to believe , that Angels are not liable to Death , at least , not to such a Death , to which Man is obnoxious ; and therefore , for this Reason , as well as the former , we may pretty rationally conclude , That the Angels are in no Capacity to expiate the Sins of Mankind , and that therefore they cannot do it .

One thing more I would add to this Head , before I leave it ; and that is this : That tho' the Angels are very glorious and exalted Creatures , and , by the Account we have of them in the Scriptures , are placed in a much higher Scale in the Creation than Man , and so are far above him ; yet still , because they are Creatures , they are therefore at as great a distance from God , as Man himself is : For , their Distance from him is infinite ; and there are , we know , no Degrees in Infinity . Now , because the Expiation of Sin is to be made to God , and to God alone ; and because there is an infinite Distance between God and Angels , as well as there is between God and Man : I say , for these Reasons , we can no more think the Interposition of an Angel effectual for making an Atonement and Expiation for Sin , than we can think the Interposition of a Man to be so . And if we should suppose a sort of Creatures a thousand , nay , ten thousand or more times as much above Angels , as Angels are above Men ; yet because , after such a Supposition , even this sort of Creatures are as much below God , as Man is ; and because the Expiation of Sin , if attempted by such Creatures , is to be made to God ; therefore we cannot think , that the Dignity of their Station can contribute any thing at all towards the making their attempted Expiation effectual . And we know , and that too by unquestionable Proof , that the Dignity of the faln Angels ( and among them , one of them Son of the Morning , whatever that signifies ; but we may be satisfied , that it signifies something excellent ) but , I say , we know , that the Dignity of the faln Angels did not so far avail them , but that God provided and accepted an Expiation for faln Man ; whereas he left them in the Hands of Justice , to attend the Events of their own Deserts . So that , for ought we can discover , either by Revelation or Reason , the Dignity of no Creature whatsoever does qualifie him to make an Expiation for those Sins which he shall commit against the Creator . For , in this Case , the Distance between the Party offended , and the Party offending , being infinite , there cannot possibly be any Mediation or Expiation , that can extend it self to both the Extremes . And therefore , we shall at last , from what has been said upon this Head , conclude , That no Creature , tho' never so much above Man , can ever make an Expiation to God for the Sins of Man .

5. Fifthly , and lastly : As no sinful Creature can ever by its Punishment expiate its own Sins , or the Sins of any other Creature ; so no innocent Creature can do the last , that is , no innocent Creature can ever expiate the Sins of any sinful Creature . For , in such a Case , it must , in order to its undergoing the Punishment justly , first take upon it the Sin willingly ; and so , by putting it self into the Place of the Sinner , must first be supposed to be such a Sinner it self , before it can undergo the Punishment due to its Sin . But then , when any Creature is supposed to lie under the Burden of such Sin , it is at the same time supposed to be in the same Condition with the Original Sinner himself : For , when the Punishment comes to be transferr'd from the last to the first , it is therefore so transferr'd , because the Law allows the Act of the Surety , by which he has owned and accepted the Sin to be his own : And then the Law in such a Case makes no difference between the Surety and the Principal . And if the Law makes no difference , then , as to the Business of Punishment , we may be therefore sure , that there is none , because both are Creatures , and both are Sinners . If therefore ( as we shewed before ) the Principal could not by his Punishment ( had he undergone it himself ) have expiated his Guilt ; then , for the self-same Reasons , the Surety will also be unable to expiate the self-same Guilt . So that the Conclusion of this Head will be , that as no sinful Creature is able to unload its self of its Sin by its Punishment ; so no Creature ( be it never so innocent ) will be able to do it , by being punished for its Fellow-Creature . And therefore , as we do not know , that any of the Blessed Angels , who retained their Innocence , did ever interpose for the Redemption of those that fell , so we do most assuredly know , that tho' they did interpose , the Event did not answer ; because we know , that the Condition of those that fell , does continue desperate : Nay , there do not want probable Reasons to persuade , that the faln Angels themselves do not interpose for their own Redemption in any kind , no not so much as by Prayer : Which , if it be true ; as it is a good Argument of their Despair , so it is a probable Argument , that they have no Mediator , in whose Name they may put up such their Prayers , and for whose sake they may with any probability hope , that they will be accepted . And yet all this while we have no Reason to doubt , but that That noble Charity , which must needs accompany a perfect and unspotted Innocence ( such as that of the Holy Angels is ) would be inclined to engage it self one way or other for the Redemption of their faln Brethren , did not their Prudence check and controul such a possible Inclination . And then , if such their Prudence do not consist in One of these Two Things , that is , that they either think or know , that such their Interposition would be either sawcie or vain ; we can hardly upon any other ground excuse their Neglect of such their Interposition .

In One Word ; The Scriptures have acquainted us , that some of the Angels have sinned , and that their Condition thereupon is become desperate : But the Scriptures have not acquainted us , that they have any Mediator to intercede with God in their behalf , or to make Expiation for their Sin . And , as we may be satisfied , that were an Expiation made , their Sin must in Justice be remitted ; so may we , that if any of the good Angels had taken upon himself to make such Expiation , he must , in order to his so doing , have taken upon himself the Sin ; and so he must have brought himself into the very same Condition with those that fell ; and that therefore he would have been just as unable as they , to free himself from such Condition . No! no! We do , or may know well enough , that Sin has Weight enough in it to crush both Men and Angels . Experience has acquainted us with the first ; and Revelation has assured us of both . And then the Conclusion is easie ; That he who in such a Case could relieve either , must for that Reason be more powerful than both . And when we come to make it out , that he who did so , was so , we shall then begin more plainly to perceive , that there is not Salvation in any other ; tho' most of what we have hitherto offered , has directly tended to the same Design .

But before we proceed any farther , we shall make some few Remarks upon what has been already laid down , that may have an Induence upon our Practice .

1. And first , From what has been offered , we may take notice of the great Malignity of Sin . For People would hardly sin so freely , if they thought Sin so deadly . And yet a little Reflection will tell us , that Sin has slain all Mankind from the time of Adam to the time of the Expiration of the last Man that died . We may think the Plague , the Sword , the Famine , great Destroyers : They are indeed the Beesoms of Destruction , and , where they come , make great Devastations among Mankind ; but when we have taken a View of the Desolations caused by them , and by all other Miseries and Mischiefs besides , we must know , that as Sin has been the Parent of them all , so has it been also of all those Calamities and Destructions , that all of them have produced : And because it has so , therefore we take notice in the

2. Second place , That God's Justice is no such trifling Thing , as is but too generally thought . For , there is no Sinner , who ever escaped being a Sufferer . For , if all the Miseries which we suffer in this World ( and those are neither few , nor light ) do come from our Sins , as most certainly they do ; then we may be easily satisfied , that even those Sinners , whom yet God does treat with the greatest Kindness of all others , do yet never go without the Marks of his Displeasure . And if he does correct his Children with Rods ( and we may be sure , that he never does that , but he does it with Justice too ) then , for the same Reason , we may believe , that he will chastise his Enemies with Scorpions . And upon this Account we should take care to hear the Rod , and who has appointed it ; and should make such good use of the Miseries which we suffer in this World , as to let them put us in mind to flee from the Wrath to come . For , if we will not hearken to God's Voice , when he chides us , we shall at last , when he comes to smite us , sink under the weight of his Hand ; and if we neglect his Displeasure , we shall fall under his Fury and Indignation .

3. If God in the greatest and highest Instance of his Mercy , with which he has acquainted us in his Gospel , has not allowed us an Absolute Pardon ; but has even in that his Covenant of Grace required Conditions of us , in order to our being made Partakers of that Pardon , which is the Purchase of our Saviour ; then it does highly concern us , that we take care to perform the Conditions on our Part , that so we be not excluded from the Benefits of such Purchase . For , tho' it be most certain , that we shall not be saved by our Repentance alone ; yet it is as certain , that we shall not be saved without it . No! He who has purchased our Ransom , has in such his Purchase provided for God's Honour , as well as for our Safety ; and , notwithstanding his Purchase , has taught us , that we shall forfeit the last , if we take no care of the first . Let us therefore look upon our selves , as we are in our selves , that is , as forlorn , miserable Wretches : Let us acknowledge our selves such to God : Let us quit our Sins , which have made us such : And ( as we have by such our Sins hitherto rebelled against him ) let us for the future resolve to comply with his Will , that is , to the uttermost of our Power , to obey his Laws : Let us be heartily sorry , that we have been so foolish , as ever to have done otherwise . And when we have done all this , then let us joyfully accept , and thankfully acknowledge the Designs of his Pity towards us , and the Provisions that he has made for our Safety in a Saviour . For , this is the Way to bring that Salvation , which he has pr●●●ded for Mankind , I say , to bring it home to our selves , and to make it our own . And I may add , that this is the only way for us to do so : For , as there is not Salvation in any other , but in Jesus Christ alone ; so there is not any possible Way for us to make our selves Partakers of this Salvation , but by Repentance .

4. Lastly , Because we have seen , that the Condition of the faln Angels is forlorn and desperate , for want of a Saviour to expiate their Sins ; therefore this Consideration should enhance and magnifie our Praise to God , that whereas he has in his Severity passed by those glorious and exalted Creatures , and so has left them to the Stroke of pure and unrelenting Justice ; yet he has not dealt so with us Men , weak and sinful Dust and Ashes . Lord , what is Man , that thou art thus mindful of him ? or the Son of Man , that thou so regardest him ? Therefore , Blessing , and Praise , and Honour , and Glory , be to him that sitteth on the Throne , and to the Lamb for evermore .

CHAP. IV.

That Person to whom alone the Expiation of Sin is by the Scriptures ascribed , is by the same Scriptures set forth to us , 1. As God ; 2. As Man ; 3. As God and Man united in one Person , or God Incarnate . No Man a competent Judge of all possible Unions . The Incarnation agreeable to the Sentiments of Mankind , and variously foretold , prefigured , and suggested in the Scriptures . Some Practical Inferences , somewhat enlarged .

HAving seen in the foregoing Chapter , that an Expiation for our Sin could neither be made by our selves , nor by any other Creature ; and that therefore he , who could make good such an Expiation , must be more than a mere Creature : It will be our next Business to search the Scriptures , in which ( as we shall see more fully hereafter ) the Expiation of Sin is set forth ; and there to see , what Character they give of him , who made such Expiation : For , by that Means only , we are likely to come to any true Knowledge and Information in this great Affair .

1. Now in such Scriptures we find , first , that That Person to whom this Expiation is there ascribed , is called God , the Son of God , the Word , the Only Begotten of the Father ; That he is there said to be with his Father before the World began ; That he laid the Foundations of the Earth , and that the Heaven are the Work of his Hand ; That he create● all Things that are in Heaven , and that are i● Earth , visible and invisible , whether they be Thrones , or Dominions , or Principalities , o● Powers ; That all Things were created 〈◊〉 him , and for him ; That he is before al● Things , and that by him all Things consist That to him is given all Power in Heave● and Earth ; with much more to the same Import and Purpose ; which we need not repe● at present , because if we believe so much ( and we all , at least , pretend to believe it fo● the Word of God ) we may from thence satisfie our selves , that he who has such a Character from God , must be the True an● Everlasting God : For so is the Maker o● Heaven and Earth ; and so is he , who ha● all Power in Heaven and Earth : For , such 〈◊〉 Description does imply in it Omniscience , an● Omnipotence , and such other Attributes , b● which we do ( tho' in other Words ) describ● the True God , both to our selves , and to al● others . But we shall pursue this no farther here , because it is not our professed Business at present : For we have only mentioned it , and confirmed it with some few Texts of Scripture , without quoting the Places , in order to our full and clear Explication of that Expiation which was made by our Saviour . And when we come to do that , we shall then more plainly perceive , that the Deity of our Saviour , and the Expiation made by him , do mutually prove and establish each other .

2. The Scriptures do acquaint us , That that very Person to whom they do ascribe the Expiation of Sin , was a true and real Man . For they give us an Account of his Conception , Nativity , Life , and Death : They acquaint us with his Conversation , and Manner of Life ; with his Natural Actions and Passions ; and each of them such , which are undoubted Arguments of an Humane Nature and Condition : Such are his Discourses , his Eating , Drinking , Sleeping , Grieving , and the like : By which Account of his Person , we may be as well satisfied of his Humanity under this Head , as we may be of his Deity under the last . And I may add , that ( if we do with Simplicity and Sincerity receive the Account of his Person and Character , that the Scriptures give us both in the one Case and in the other ) that we may be as well satisfied of his Deity under the last Head , as of his Humanity under this . But neither shall I at present pursue this Thing any further , because I must go on towards That , which is the present Design of it , and that is , the Expiation of Sin Therefore ,

3. Thirdly , The Scriptures do acquaint u● that That very Person , to whom they d● ascribe the Expiation of Sin , was God an● Man in Conjunction , or , in other Words , the he was God Incarnate . To this purpose the tell us in one place , That the Word was ma●● Flesh , and that he dwelt amongst us , or ( as 〈◊〉 is in the Original ) he tabernacled among us which was typified by the Feast of Tabern●cles under the Jewish Law , and by God's abode and residence in the Tabernacle of th● Sanctuary in the Jewish Commonwealth ( as h● been fully made out by Learned Men ) . We are told in another Place , that God was manifested in the Flesh ; and in a third , that in him that is , in Jesus Christ , dwells all the Fulness 〈◊〉 the Godhead bodily ; with several other Place● of the same import , and to the same purpose and design . Now because this Propositio● does comprehend the two former , ( for i● our Saviour be God Incarnate , there can be no doubt , but that he is God and Man ) and because our true understanding of the Doctrine of the Expiation , does mightily depend upon the Doctrine of the Incarnation ; and because , lastly , this Doctrine of the Incarnation is not only vigorously opposed by many among us , but also slighted , and even ridicul'd by not a few ; therefore we must a while make a Stand here , and examine , whether the Incarnation ( which we affirm to be revealed by the Scriptures ) will not stand the Test , and admit the Approbation of Reason ; or whether ( as is pretended ) it be so absurd , as to be easily confuted by Reason , or to be treated with Contempt and Derision .

And , in the first place , we cannot but take notice , that as Contempt and Derision is very seldom a Sign of Wisdom ; so it is so far from being so , when it is imployed about any thing which does appear to be the Revelation of God , that , in such a Case , we may certainly pronounce it to be Folly . For , let it ( for once ) be supposed , that some Men ( and yet those some have been very far the greater Number of Christians through all Ages , since the New Testament was recorded for the Word of God . ) But , I say , let it for once be supposed , that some Men have been mistaken in the Meaning of God's Revelations in the present Case : Yet because the obvious and literal Sense of such his Revelations does speak the same thing that they do ; that is , because that Book , which is on all Sides agreed to be the Word of God , does in plain and express Words tell us , that God was manifested in the Flesh , that the Word was made Flesh , and the like ; it must needs be insolent and soolish , to treat the literal and plain Meaning of such Propositions with Scorn and Derision : Because , in such a Case , should the Meaning be , what at first view it appears to be , it will 〈◊〉 but an ill Excuse for such a Treatment , to a● ledge , that Men thought otherwise ; and pe● haps it may be nothing better , but rath● worse , to alledge , that they knew otherwi●● No! where Things revealed , by what we o● selves confess to be the Word of God , 〈◊〉 plain , and categorical ; but more especiall where such Things have from the same Wo● of God a great deal of collateral Confir●tion ( as the Incarnation has ) in such Cas● if we doubt of the plain and literal Meanin● our best and most prudent way will be , to 〈◊〉 our Doubting be attended with Modesty a● Sobriety , and to let our Inquiry after anoth● Sense be sincere and diligent : And not upo● the Confidence of our own Presumption , 〈◊〉 upon the presumed Strength of our Natur● Reason , to reject That , which upon such 〈◊〉 Inquiry may prove a Truth . For , if we w● admit nothing for Truth , that is proposed 〈◊〉 us , as such , by Revelation , but what we ca● without such Revelation , discover to be so 〈◊〉 our Natural Reason ; all Revelation may , 〈◊〉 to us , be superseded : and so the Old Tes●ment , indited by the Spirit of God for th● Institution of the Jewish Religion , and t●● New Testament , indited by the same Spirit f●● the Institution of the Christian , might hav● very well been spared , and Natural Religic● which was in the World before either , mig● well enough have supplied the Place of Bo● Now this Consideration we have therefore offered in the first place , to check the Confidence of those , who lean so much to their own Understandings , that they will never allow Revelation to guide their Reason ; but , on the contrary , do so manage it by their uncouth Expositions , as to permit it to speak no Truth , but what their Natural Reason might have acquainted them with , without it .

But to proceed : To such Men , who therefore reject the Belief , because they deny the Possibility of the Incarnation , I would put this short Question , which is , Whether or no they are acquainted with the Nature of all possible Unions ? For , it is most certain , that the Reach of no Man's Understanding is so large , as to enable him where to fix the utmost Bounds of all such Unions , nor yet to account for the Manner how several of those Unions , with which yet it is acquainted , are made . And Instances might be given ( and those too not a few ) to make out what we have said . But tho' Humane Understanding is not acquainted with all possible Unions ; nor can account for many , with which yet it is acquainted ; yet that will be no good Argument , that therefore there are no such Unions . Alas ! our most refined and improved Reason falls short in its Knowledge of the greatest part of those Things , which yet are as surely known , as it is sure , that there is such a Thing as Omniscience , and such a Being as a God . And when we are once satisfied , that any Union , be it what it will , is revealed to us by Omniscience ; as we may by the same Means be satisfied in Reason , that there really is such an Union ; so we may be satisfied in Modesty , that the Knowledge and Discovery of such Union did exceed the Grasp of our Natural Understanding . Tho' therefore , in what follows , I do neither pretend to prove or to explain the Incarnation by Reason ; yet if any Thing shall be offered , by which the Expressions which the New Testament gives us of it , shall appear to be plain and literal , and that their Meaning is , what it seems to be ; it will be a sufficient Ground for our Belief of the Thing ; because those with whom we have to do in the present Argument , do not pretend to doubt the Truth , but only the Meaning of such Expressions .

1. In order then to the helping forward our Faith in the Union of God and Man in the Incarnation of our Saviour ; I would offer it to Consideration , That the Scriptures do instruct us , that there is a very intimate Union between Christ and his Church . And tho' Humane and unassisted Reason , taking its Measures from other Instances of the like Appearances , may be apt to conclude , that the Union of our Saviour with his Church is but a Political Union , such as is between a King and his Subjects , or the Head and Members of an ordinary Corporation ; yet a Christian's Reason , once truly enlightned , and so guided by Divine Revelation , will thereupon conclude it to be something nobler and better : And because it is informed , that he took part of the same Flesh and Blood with his Members , and because he their Head does influence such his Members by his Spirit , in order to their Spiritual Life ; that therefore there is between them , in some sense , a vital Union .

From whence we may , to our present purpose , conclude , That one Person may be vitally united to another , and that too at the greatest apparent Distances ; and that they may by that means become one , tho' our Senses , and our Natural , but unassisted Reason , do give us in quite contrary Informations . When the King of Syria sent a great Host , and enclosed Elisha in Dothan , in order to his Destruction , the Man of God , to encourage his desponding Servant , desired of the Lord to open his Eyes : and when that was done , he saw the Mountain full of Horses , and Chariots of Fire round about his Master . Now tho' one might well think ( and Natural Reason would be apt to incline one more than barely to think so ) that Fire is a Thing very discoverable to our Sight ; ( for perhaps nothing discovers it self to our Sight but Fire ) yet we see , that sometimes Revelation is required even for such a Discovery . But then , such a Revelation , when once made , does easily work a Conviction . And truly I cannot persuade my self , but that the Revelation of our Saviour's Union with his Church would do so too , would Christians but consider it with an honest and sincere Mind , and with a free and impartial Reason . For , tho' I am satisfied , that bare Reason could not have discovered it ; yet I cannot so well satisfie my self , that a diligent Use of our Reason will then let us dissent from it , when once Revelation has acquainted us with it .

2. But , secondly , I would have it considered , in order to the Assisting our Belief of the Union of God with Man in the Incarnation of our Saviour , whether or no the Apprehension of the possible Union of God with Man be not ( at least in some degree ) natural . For , that the Heathen in many Countries , and in several Ages , had such a Notion , ( and that too very ordinary and common ) might be made out from innumerable Instances out of their several Histories . But it will be the less needful to produce any from thence , because we are furnished with one out of the Acts of the Apostles : For there , in the Fourteenth Chapter , where we have an Account , that Paul and Barnabas cured the impotent Man who had been a Creeple from his Mothers Womb , we are likewise told , that the People lift up their Voices , and said , that the Gods are come down to us in the likeness of Men. And that we may not think , that such Apprehensions proceeded only from an Idolatrous Notion of the Deity , we may furnish our selves with Instances in abundance from the Old Testament , that the Worshippers of the true God had constantly the same Apprehensions : For , tho' God sometimes appeared to the Jews in Fire , as to Moses in the Bush ; and sometimes in a Cloud , as in the Tabernacle ; and sometimes in both together , as in the Wilderness , and in Mount Sinai : Yet his more constant and repeated Appearances to particular Persons , were in the Likeness of Man . So he appeared to Abraham , to Isaac , to Jacob , to Joshua , to Manoah , and to several others . And tho' it be freely confessed , that some of those Appearances were in reality but the Appearances of Angels ; yet it must be granted also , that such Angels were so united to those Bodies , in which they appeared , that they did in them exercise several Actions both of an Humane and Animal Life . By which we may be instructed , that an Angel may be so united to Man , that our Knowledge of that may help to lead us one Step farther towards our Belief , that Man may be united to God . It must be granted also , that tho' in several of the Instances laid down , the Union was only between a Man and an Angel ; yet ( which is close to our present purpose ) they who saw the Appearance , did almost constantly take it for the Appearance of God . So it seems to be in the Case of Joshua , in the Fifth Chapter of that Book : So it was in the Case of Manoah and his Wife , in the Thirteenth Chapter of Judges , where the Man tells his Wife , We shall certainly die , because we have seen God : And so undoubtedly it was in the Case of Abraham , when he entertained the Three Men , in the Eighteenth Chapter of Genesis ; for Abraham in his Behaviour and Discourse treats one of them as the Lord God himself ; and more particularly , in the Twenty fifth Verse , calls him , the Judge of all the Earth .

To our purpose then ; If it be certain , that Angels have appeared to Men in Humane Shape ; If it be certain , that under such Appearances they have done several Actions of the Humane Life , such as Talking , Walking , Eating , Drinking , and the like ; if it be probable , that God himself has so appeared , and under such Appearances has also done the same Things ; And , lastly , if it be certain , that most of those People , to whom such Appearances have been made , have constantly taken such Appearances for the Appearances of God in the Likeness of Man : I say , if these Things be so , as it is probable , by what has been said in short , that so they are ; then , as we may rationally look upon such Things as Presigurations of the Incarnation ; so may we also be so far from thinking the Incarnation an Absurdity , or an Impossibility , that we may be satisfied , that great , good , and wise Men have believed and thought otherwise , and that too upon such their own Experience ; to which they , who deny an Incarnation , neither do nor must pretend , unless they will by such their Pretences contradict themselves . Now , if Abraham , who had such an intimate Converse with God , and so was a much better Judge in the Case , than we can pretend to be , did not only acknowledge the Possibility , but the Reality of an Incarnation too , it may so much the less become us to deny it ; and that too the rather , because we may easily satisfie our selves , that he did so believe . And therefore I do not question , but that there is more in that Saying of our Saviour , than is usually taken to be , [ Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see my Day , and he saw it , and was glad . ]

3. I would take notice , in the third Place , That where the Scriptures do professedly give us the Account of Man's Creation , they do frequently inculcate it upon us , that God made Man after his own Image and Likeness ; I say , frequently , because I find it so delivered Six times in the Beginning of Genesis , and in Two Places , that is , both in the Twenty sixth and Twenty seventh Verses of the First Chapter , with an Ingemination : And an Ingemination does by the very way of Expression summon us to a more deliberate attention to , and observation of what is spoken . Now tho' we do not , with the Anthropomorphites , from such repeated Expressions conclude , that God has the Shape and Figure , or the Image and Likeness of a Man ; yet for all that , it will be impossible to conceive any Sense in the Words , if God may not be so like to Man , as Man is like to God : For the Likeness with reference to both must be the same ( be that Likeness at present what it will ) or else there can be no Likeness at all . And to say , that the Likeness consists in Holiness , is too frigid an Interpretation of such an inculcated and reiterated Expression , and does not very well agree with several Texts , where such Likeness is mentioned ; nor indeed does it seem to come up to the Import of the Expression . And I am therefore persuaded , that the Patriarchs apprehended , that there was something more in it , for the Reasons offered under the last Head . For , tho' Moses , who wrote the History of the Creation , lived after them ; yet it is not only possible , but also highly probable , that their Notion of the Thing might be derived down by Tradition from them to him : And we may be the rather satisfied , that so it was , because after the Flood , God does give it as a Reason to Noah , why that Man's blood shall be shed by Man , who sheds Mans Blood , because God made Man in his own Image . Now , ( considering the Longevity of Men in those Days ) as a Tradition from Adam to Noah , so a Tradition from Noah to Moses , is a very conceivable Thing , especially in such a Case , in which several of the intermediate Descendants might reasonably conceive , that they had had , at least , something like Experience in the Case , by conversing with God in the Likeness of Man .

To come up a little closer to that Point , at which we all this while do aim : As the Derivation of all Mankind from one sole Head and Fountain , which was the first Adam , was a Type , that all the Elect should by Regeneration derive from one sole Fountain , which was the second Adam ; and as the Promise , that the Seed of the Woman should break the Serpent's Head , contained in it a Prophetick Account of the Manner of the Saviour's Nativity : So the Expression of Man's being made after God's Image and Likeness , does to me seem to be a Proleptick Declaration of the Incarnation , and , when compared with several Places in the New Testament , may very fairly , at this time of day , be thought to be no very dark Prophecy , that God should be made in the Likeness of Man . For , if it were in the Counsel and Foreknowledge of God , that God should become Man , and be really united to an Humane Body ; then the Expression , that Man was made in the Image and Likeness of God , will , upon that account , not only be warrantable , but proper . For , when God made Adam , he made him ( if I may so speak ) by the Samplar in his own Mind : And I may the rather be allowed so to speak , because in the very Making of him God does seem to set himself a Pattern , when he says , Let us make Man in our Image , after our Likeness . And therefore before Man was made at all , and before our Saviour was made Man , the Expression of Making Man after our Likeness , and in our Image , may be thought only to give an honorary Precedence to our Saviour's Incarnation , though the Creation of Man was to have a temporary Precedence to the same Incarnation . And then the Import of the Expression , [ Let us make Man in our Image , after our Likeness ] will amount to thus much ; Let us make Man in that Image , and according to that Likeness , in which we our self in the Fulness of Time will converse among Men. And therefore , as Man in his Creation is said to be made in the Likeness of God ; so God in his Incarnation is said to be made in the Likeness of Man : So we read of God's sending his Son in the Likeness of sinful Flesh , in the Third Verse of the Eighth Chapter to the Romans ; and so again , in the Second to the Philippians , the Fifth , Sixth , Seventh , and Eighth Verses , the Apostle tells us , that Christ Jesus being in the Form of God , thought it no Robbery to be Equal with God , and was made in the Likeness of Man ; that is , in the same Apostle's Words , 1 Tim. 3. and the last Verse , God was manifested in the Flesh . And he who shall consider what Interpretation the Apostle , in the Second to the Hebrews and the Sixth Verse , puts upon the Sixth , Seventh , and Eighth Verses of the Eighth Psalm , and what Relation those Verses have to the Twenty sixth and Twenty eighth Verses of the First Chapter of Genesis , may be easily satisfied , that the Creation of Adam did prefigure our Saviour's Incarnation . And therefore it is remarkable to our purpose , what we meet with in the Twenty seventh Verse of the First Chapter of Genesis , that it is there twice said , that God created Man in his own Image ; but when the Text goes on to speak both of the Man and the Woman , it is barely said , that God created them . Agreeable to which , we may add what St. Paul says , in the First to the Corinthians , the Eleventh Chapter and Seventh Verse , where he tells us , That the Man is both the Image and Glory of God ; but then speaking of the Woman , he only says , that she is the Glory of the Man .

Now from the whole we argue , That God , in whose Image and Likeness Man was created , was made in the Likeness and Fashion of such created Man ; that is , that God , who at first created Man , was afterwards made in the same Likeness himself ; which , in other Words , is the same as , He became Man himself . Now there neither is , nor can be any doubt , but that That God , who became Man , was the Word of God also . Now then , if God made Man , and if the Word of God made Man ; and if God was made Man , and if the Word was made Flesh , that is , Man : Then we must first controul , not only the Account of the Creation given in the Scriptures , but the Account of the Incarnation too ; that is , we must in effect contradict the Old Testament and the New , before we can deny the Union of God with Man , that is before we can deny the Incarnation .

We might to all this add those several Passages in the Old Testament which ascribe to God the Parts of an Humane Body , such as Eyes , Ears , Nostrils , &c. or Humane Postures , Actions , Passions , and the like : Which ( tho' they are usually taken to be nothing more but condescending Expressions , suited to our feeble Capacities ) yet , from what has been said , may be conceived to carry in them a farther , and more mysterious Meaning , that is , to have a Regard to the Incarnation ● And that too so much the rather , because ( as Learned Men have observed ) it is probable , that since the Fall God has had no other Intercourse with Mankind , but by the Interposition of the Mediator . And then , if such Expressions are to be applied to the Mediator , ( tho' they do not expresly foretell indeed ) yet they may be thought to insinuate a future Incarnation .

To sum up all then in a few Words : As it is a Presumption to measure all Possibilities by the Standard of our own Reason ; so is it , to measure all possible Unions by the same Line : For there are actually several real Unions , which must be confessed to be so , which yet we should never have known , if we had not been made acquainted with them by Revelation . And where Divine Revelation ( and that too acknowledged by us for such ) does in as plain Words as can possibly be made use of , discover to us the Personal Union of God and Man ; and when it does moreover , by several Gradations , gently lead us ( if our Wilfulness or Conceitedness do not make us hang back ) I say , when the Revelations of God do gently lead us into such a Belief , how dare our short-sighted Reason contradict the Truth of the Discovery , or limit the Efficacy of Omnipotence ? Do not we know , that in him we live , and move , and have our being ? and that if he were not present with us , we could neither think , nor reason , nor perform any the ordinary Actions or Offices of Life ? And do we think his Power so restrained , that he cannot , when the Purposes of his insinite Mercy and Goodness invite him to it , I say , do we think , that he cannot more intimately unite himself to any of us , than he has done in the more familiar and ordinary Ways ? We believe , that he will do so in another World ; and it must be something very far out of our reach , which neither Eye hath seen , nor Ear heard , nor can enter into the Heart of Man to conceive . And yet we need not at all question , but that God can make a more intimate Union between himself and Man , than what will be requir'd to our designed Happiness : And therefore , when he tells us , that he has done so , it would be very proper for us to resign our shallow Reason , and to take his Word .

One Remark I would leave here , before 〈◊〉 leave off this Head ; and that is , That tho in the Instances produced it has appeared , that Angels often , and that ( at least probably ) God sometimes has appeared to Men in Humane Bodies ; and that they have in such Bodies exercised several Functions of an Humane Life and Nature ; and that therefore they were so united to such Bodies , that , to the Apprehensions of the Beholders , they were judged to be an Union of God and Man ; yet we do not all this while either assert , or pretend to maintain , that those Unions were such , or so intimate , as that which was exhibited to us in the Incarnation of our Saviour . For , we have not offered the several Instances of Divine Appearances to explain the Manner how the Union is made , but only to facilitate the Credibility of it . For , if we are once satisfied of the last , it is no great matter , tho' we are ignorant of the first . For , a reasonable Belief of the Possibility of the Thing , will wipe away all Arguments that shall pretend to maintain its Absurdity ; and the Possibility of it , when backed with several express and literal Revelations of its Certainty , will be abundantly sufficient to make our Belief of it certain . Those who pretend to go farther , and are not contented till they offer to others a nice Explication , how this , and other such like Mysteries are brought to pass , do only place themselves in the Dark , and ever after that stumble and founder at every Step they take . It is better in such Cases to be modest and wise ; and truly we shall therefore approve our selves wise , if we keep our selves modest . Alas ! we know not how any one Effect in Nature is produced , tho' such Things lie exposed to our narrowest Search and Disquisition . And if we are Strangers to the Methods of God's Working in these ordinary and obvious Things , with which we daily converse , why should we pretend to trace him in his deeper and more mysterious Counsels ; in such Things , which he has cover'd with a thicker Veil ; Things , that are hid from Principalities and Powers , and such as the Angels themselves desire to look into ? In such Cases then it is well enough with us , if we have sufficient Ground for our Faith , tho' we can discover nothing to gratifie our Curiosity . And our Faith in such Truths must then be stronger , and more firm , when we have not only the express and plain Word of God , that so Things are ; but when w● have also the concurrent Satisfaction of ou● own Reason , that so they may be . And i● any thing that has been said , may but only so far help our Faith in the Article of the Incarnation , then I hope that we shall no longe● question it , much less contradict and gain● say it , and least of all despise and ridicule it .

But tho' I would willingly hope , that wha● has already been offered may help to persuad● the Possibility , and therefore also the Cred● bility of the Incarnation ; yet I do not at a● question , but that a great many other Thing will fall in to confirm and ratifie such a Po●sibility . For , when we shall come to mak● out the Expiation made by our Saviour , w● shall then perceive such an Harmony an● Congruity between that Expiation and th● Incarnation , that we shall be satisfied , that a● those Revelations , which mention the one , d● at the same time confirm the other ; and tha● the Truth of each is therefore the more certain and firm , because the Support is mutual . Which they seem to be aware of , who endeavour to invalidate the Doctrine of the Incarnation ; because for that purpose they neverr boggle in their Attempts to evacuate an● make null the Doctrine of a Gospel-Redemption ; and break through a multitude of expres● Texts , not to say the Tenor of the whole Gospel , to make good such their Attempt . But we must leave the farther Prosecution of these Things to another Place , because when they are laid together , their Evidence and Reasonableness will appear more plain and satisfactory .

In the mean time , I would offer some Practical Considerations from what has been already laid down ; that so the Doctrine delivered may as well promote our Piety , as increase our Faith .

Now the Doctrine of our Saviour's Incarnation in order to our Redemption , does contain in it

1. First , Matter of Praise and Thanksgiving ; and ,

2. Directions how to pay such Praise and Thanksgiving , as we ought .

In our Prosecution of the First of which Things , I would desire all Christians seriously to consider , that they ought the more heartily and devoutly to praise God our Saviour , that he was pleased to take upon him our Flesh , in order to our Redemption , because our Condition , by reason of our Sins , was so desperate and forlorn , that neither our own Repentance , nor our own Punishment , no nor the Punishment or Interposition of the Angels , could ever have redeemed us from that Curse , which we , by such our Sins , had brought upon our selves . For , as for our selves , it is most certain , that we are less able to return to our Innocence , after we have sinned , than we were to retain our Innocence before we had lost it . For , every Sin ( as our sad Experience may easily inform us ) weakens our Ability to resist Sin ; and it is far more easie to preserve our Innocence , than to restore it : And then , when our Ability is made weaker , and our Business is become greater , we may easily judge , that such our Business is very likely to go undone . For which Reason , as well as for several others , formerly mentioned , we may be sure , that when we had once brought our selves into a sinful , and , for that Reason , into a miserable Condition ; we had , by the same Means , put it out of our Power to redeem our selves from such Sin , and from such Misery . And it is as certain , that no Man ever was or will be● able so to do , as it is certain , that all Men are Mortal : For , Death is the Wages of Sin . And as the Experiment has passed the Test , that Mankind cannot save it self from its Sin ; so it has as good as done so , that neither can the Angels save it : For if they could , then they would in Nature first have done such a Kindness for themselves . But the Condition of the faln Angels discovered to us by Revelation , assures us , that there is no Possibility for them to do such a Kindness for themselves ; and then Reason will tell us , that neither can they do it for Man . Herein then was the Love of our Saviour manifested , and mightily inhanced , that he was pleased to step in for our Rescue , when we can discover no other Way for our Escape . And , if there be not Salvation in any other , then we may be sure , that our greatest Praise and Acknowledgments are due to him , who alone could bring us Salvation , and who alone has brought it ; and so has not refused us that Mercy , which he alone was qualified to bestow .

2. We ought to magnifie and praise our Saviour , not only because he was pleased to undertake our Redemption , when he alone could make good such an Undertaking ; but that also , to make such his Undertaking good , he was pleased to take upon him our Nature , and to come down to us in that Nature . The Condescension of the Mercy ought to magnifie his Praise in our Mouths , and in our Hearts too ; and with Astonishment , and an humble Adoration , we may well cry out with the Psalmist , Lord , what is Man , that thou art thus mindful of him ? or the Son of Man , that thou so regardest him ? We know well enough , that God does every day stoop to the Relief of our Necessities : His Eye goes through the World , and all Things are under his Inspection and Care ; and he , who feedeth the young Ravens , that call upon him , and cloaths the very Grass of the Field with Ornament and Beauty , does also provide for the Support and Welfare of him , who is made after his own Image . But then this is the Care of his ordinary Providence : And because the Providence is ordinary , therefore also it is too generally neglected by us , an● the Familiarity of it does bring it into Contempt . But when he engages himself to fre● us from a greater Mischief than Famine 〈◊〉 Nakedness , that is , from our Sins , then , a● the Mercy is greater , so also is the Method , b● which he brings it to us , more wonderful an● astonishing . For , in this last Case , he doe● not only stoop to our Wants , but to our Co●dition also : And he , who would not execu●● his Judgments upon Sodom , till he came dow● to see , whether the Cry of their Sins were s● or no , would neither bestow his greatest Blessing without a personal Visit . He brough● the Salvation , which he designed to bestow and then appeared in the greatest Humility when he was about to display the Glory o● his most endearing Attribute . For , his Con●descension , then to take upon him the Form of a Servant , when he designed to become a Saviour ; nay , therefore to do the First , be● cause he designed to be the Last , was Mercy mixed with Sweetness ; and when he put on● our Condition , in order to the conveying such his Mercy to us , we stand bound in Gratitude to acknowledge the Condescension , as well as the Mercy . We receive the Favours of great Personages ( especially if they do them to us in Person , and not by Proxie ) with Deference and Respect : And tho' it may perhaps be but a Smile , or a gracious Nod ; yet because even such little Things bring along with them the Tokens of a condescending Kindness , they are therefore entertained with a joyful Welcome , as well as with an humble Acknowledgment . If therefore we would but behave our selves in proportion to our condescending God , as we do to our condescending Fellow-Creatures , we ought in reason to receive his Visit to us , that brings Salvation with it , not only with humble Acknowledgments , but with humble Adorations too . And when we find , that he does not disdain to take care in his own Person ( if I may so speak ) of our Happiness and Salvation , we should be officiously ambitious of setting forth his Honour and Praise , for such his Condescension , and for such his Care .

3. We ought to praise our God , not only that he condescended to be united to our Nature , and so to take upon him our Condition , in order to our Redemption ; but his Praise ought still to be so much the more magnified , that he stooped to Sinners , as well as Creatures ; and that the grand Design of his Condescension , was the Saving of his Enemies . We stand at an infinite Distance from him , as we are his Creatures ; but we stand in an infinite Opposition to him , as we are Sinners . In the First Case we are capable of his Bounty ; but in the Last , we forfeit his Mercy ; and had he obliged us to stand the Award of our own Deserts , Vengeance had been , as our miserable , so our just Portion . Now our Natural Sense tells us , that a Favour to an Enemy is at least a double Favour : It requites Good for Evil , and does a Man a Benefit , even against his own Endeavours . Now he , who has so much Bowels of Mercy , as to relieve his Enemy ; as he has a very noble Temper , so he deserves a very noble Character . But still this Character must run higher , if he shall rescue his Enemy from that Mischief which he had pulled upon himself by his Enmity towards his Deliverer . And this is the Case of sinful Man with Relation to his Saviour : For our Sins had not only deserved , but had also provoked the Plagues of Justice ; they were Acts of Hostility against God , and carried in them Malice , as well as Ingratitude . And in such a Case , Reason and Justice will teach us to expect , that abused Omnipotence should vindicate it self with Severity of Vengeance . But the Condescension and Mercy of our Saviour has taught us otherwise , and may easily convince us , that the Hostilities of impotent Creatures do not always extinguish the Love of him that made them ; that he pities the Peevishness , and even Wilfulness of his Children ; and that he so considers their Weaknesses and Imperfections , that , in commiseration to their feeble Condition , he lets his Pity take place of his Severity , and is so far from dealing with them according to their Deserts , that he interposes for their Rescue ; for their Rescue from the Folly , and from the Vengeance of Sin ; and even stoops to the Lowness of their Condition as Creatures , that he may save them from the Misery of their Condition as Sinners . And because in doing so , he does many ways make the Wonder of his Love and Condescension appear still greater and greater ; therefore it will be our Duty more and more to magnifie him for such his Condescension , and for such his Love .

4. We ought to praise God our Saviour , as that for our Redemption he was pleased to condescend to our Condition , by being clothed with our Flesh ; so also , in that by being so clothed , he passed the faln Angels , and took not their Nature upon him . It is a Remark made by the Author to the Hebrews , that he took not on him the Nature of Angels , but he took on him the Seed of Abraham . I know well enough , that it is objected , That the Original imports , that he took not hold of the Angels , but he took hold of the Seed of Abraham ; and it is confessed , that the Greek will admit and approve such an Interpretation ; and ( which is more ) the Interpretation is close and proper so far as concerns the Language ; but then it is not full , so far as concerns the Context : For when we are told before , that he took part of the Flesh and Blood whereof his Children were made ; and when we are told immediately after the Words , that in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his Brethren , that he might be a merciful High-Priest ; we may easily allow , that he took on him the Nature of such his Children , and of such his Brethren . But that by the by , to assert and make good the Propriety and Validity of our English Translation , against the Adversaries of the Incarnation . But more directly to our purpose : Since the Son of God , the Saviour of Mankind , was pleased to interpose for the Redemption of faln Man , but did not do so for the Redemption of faln Angels ; it must be confessed , that the lost and forlorn Condition of the one , when compared to the restored Condition of the other , must needs afford a weighty Argument of Praise and Thanksgiving to Man , when he finds his own Safety and Welfare preferred by the Saviour , to that of Angels , and has not only a Possibility , but also the comfortable Hopes and ( if it be not his own Fault ) an Assurance of that Salvation , of which they must for ever despair . Now , Natural Reason might perhaps incline us to think , that the Rescue of the faln Angels by a Saviour might therefore have been a more honourable Purchase , because the Angels are a more noble Creature ; and the Dignity of such a Creature might seem to countenance the preference of such a Purchase . But in these Things our Reason is short-sighted , and we may easily judge amiss , because we judge in the Dark . Thus much , however , to our present purpose , we are sure of , and that is , that it is a greater Condescension to stoop to the Relief of an inferiour Creature ; and that where there is such a Condescension , there that Creature is obliged to the greater Gratitude . And this is confessedly our Case ; and therefore such Gratitude is undoubtedly our Duty . Let us therefore with Heart and Voice rejoice in this miraculous Salvation of our God ; the Salvation which old Simeon saw , and embraced before his Death ; the Salvation , which St. John , the Beloved Disciple , tells us , 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 : That is , in a few Words ; The Word of Life , the Son of God , the Saviour of the World , by his Incarnation made manifest to our Senses , and by the same Incarnation qualified to be our Sacrifice , our High-Priest , our Redeemer . To him therefore be Glory and Praise in all Churches of the Saints . Amen .

But that we may learn to praise him aright , both for the Greatness and Condescension of his Mercy too ; let us take these few , and following Rules , to guide us in our Practice of such Praises . For a verbal Thanksgiving is too poor an Offering for so superlative a Blessing ; and to praise God , who searches the Heart , with our Lips , when we do not do it with our Hearts , is in deed and truth to mock him . That we may not therefore increase our Sins , when we pretend to perform our Duty , we may do well to guide our Gratitude in the Case by these following Directions . And ,

1. Did our God condescend to take upon him our Flesh , that he might by his Instructions , by his Example , by his Life , and by his Death , purchase to himself a peculiar People , zealous of good Works , and so from a sinful and degenerous Condition , exalt us to a State of Holiness , and by consequence of Happiness ? Then we ought to meet our God in such his gracious Design ; and by lifting our Hearts towards Heaven , and so by setting them upon Heavenly Things , to endeavour to be holy , as he is holy . It is a noble Ambition , and complies with the Counsel and Design of his Incarnation : For it will engage our Souls in higher Flights of Duty , and render us fit Inhabitants of that Place , where Holiness is both the greatest Happiness , and the greatest Ornament . For , tho' some of God's Attributes are so peculiar to himself , that they are utterly incommunicable to any of his Creatures ; such are his Omnipotence , his Omniscience , and the like ; yet there are others , which he has not only proposed to our Imitation , but which also he has commanded us to imitate ; and such are his Love , his Mercy , his Justice , in one Word , his Holiness . And therefore he does require us to be holy , because he is holy . And it would be no hard matter to make it out , that his Holiness is his prime and leading Attribute , such as guides and conducts all the rest : And therefore tho' he be Omnipotent , yet for all that , he cannot do any thing that is unjust , because he is holy . Does God then allow , nay require us to imitate him in his prime and leading Attribute , and by stooping to our Nature , provoke us to exalt that Nature so far , as to make our selves like to him in those Things , for which his Praise is chiefly celebrated ? Then let us for once gratifie our Ambition the right way ; and tho' we are but Men , yet let us in this attempt to make our selves like to God , as he in his Incarnation was pleased to make himself like to us . The Attempt is great and generous , and worthy the Endeavours of our best Endowments , and most noble Faculties : For , if we chearfully cast off our Sins , and , by a constant and sincere Practice of Holiness , do make it our Business to be like our Saviour , holy and undefiled , as he our High-Priest was , we shall in some sense lift our selves above the Earth , even while we inhabit in it ; and tho' we cannot get up to Heaven , yet we shall , by that means , bring Heaven down into our Souls , and so shall in some measure anticipate our consummate Happiness . And since the grand Design of our Saviour's Humiliation in his Incarnation , was to engage us to this holy Ambition ; let us have a care , that we do not defeat such his Design , and our own greatest Hopes .

2. Did our Saviour , by taking our Flesh and Blood , and so uniting it to himself , consecrate our Nature to the great and noble Purposes of Holiness and Mercy ? And did he also , by so doing , so intimately unite us to himself , that we are Flesh of his Flesh , Bone of his Bone , and Members of his Body ? Then this should teach us , to have a more sacred and especial Care , by no means to pollute That , which he has so consecrated . And therefore what St. Paul says in the Case of Fornication , [ Shall I take the Members of Christ , and make them the Members of an Harlot ? God forbid , ] that we may say in all other like Cases ; Shall we take the Members of Christ , and make them the Members of a Drunkard , of an unclean , of an intemperate Person , or indeed of any other Sinner whatsoever ? God forbid . For , we should be ashamed to abuse our Bodies , which by his Incarnation are so nearly allied to his Body , that they are the same Flesh and Blood with it : I say , we should be ashamed to abuse them by such Practices , which we must needs know , his Soul abhors : And this our Shame should therefore be attended with the greater Confusion , because whereas he took upon him our Flesh , that in that Flesh he might work out our Salvation ; we , when we employ it in any Sin , do indeed employ it to its own utter Ruine and Damnation . Let us therefore have a care , that we be sober , chast , temperate ; because otherwise we bring a Scandal upon our greatest Friend and Benefactor : For , by abusing our own Bodies , when we our selves are Members of his Body , we do by the Slander of such our Doings abuse his Body also .

And here I take my self to be obliged to leave a Mark upon one Practice too too general among Christians ; and that is , That when they do professedly pretend to commemorate the Infinite Mercy of their Saviour's Incarnation , they are so far from doing it in a way agreeable to his Honour , that , instead of that , they do too commonly do it by Excesses , Surfeitings , and Drunkenness : And so when they pretend to offer to God , for their Saviour's Incarnation , the Praises of Men , by their Manner of doing it , do render themselves more vile than Beasts . Which Practice , as it is in it self profligately vile and wicked ; so it has brought such a Scandal upon the Duty by such its Wickedness , that not a few ( and those too devout and zealous Christians , tho' their Zeal and Devotion does indeed want Wisdom ) have leaped over into the other Extreme , and have utterly disallowed any Commemoration of the Infinite Blessing at all . So easily do foolish Men run into Extremes on both Sides , and leave the Golden Mean to be practised only by a few , that is , by the truly Wise .

3. Did our Saviour humble himself to our Nature and Condition , in order to the working out of our Salvation ? Then this should teach us to be like him in this very respect , and not to disdain to stoop to our Inferiours , when by such our Condescension we may any ways advantage their Welfare and real Interest . And for our doing so , we have in him the most noble Example , that ever yet the World was made acquainted with : For , in this Case we imitate the Condescension of our Lord and Master : Nay , when our Compassion stoops lowest , it only stoops to our Fellow-Creatures , those who are made of the same Lump of Clay with our selves , and those who ( as Things may fall out ) may be as helpful and useful to us again . So that when we condescend to relieve them , we do , by so doing , teach them to relieve us , if ever the same , or the like Miseries with theirs , should become our own . And we are as sure , that Things may so fall out , as we are sure , that we are Men. Now because our God did condescend to our Nature for the Relief of our Misery , when the Condescension and the Kindness was only His , and when the Benefit was only Ours ; shall not we the rather practise such a charitable Condescension , when by such our Practice we do commiserate at least our Own possible Condition ? Shall the Son of God , by taking upon himself our Nature , make our Condition His , in order to his more sensible Compassion of such our Condition , and shall not we condescend for the Relief of those of our own Kind ; which , after one Remove , is for the Relief of our selves ? For , if we be too proud in the Case to stoop to our Inferiours ; yet methinks we should not be too proud to imitate our God : And if the Infirmities of the one will not engage us to Condescension in order to Compassion ; yet one would in reason be apt to think , that the Example of the other might do such a thing . We ought therefore , in order to our Exaltation , to learn from him , that to do any good to our calamitous Brother , is not to debase our selves : For our Charity is not the less , but rather the more noble , for being extended to a thatched Cottage ; and a personal Visit to the meanest Man , where it is likely to prove beneficial to him , will always wear this Character . That it is a glorious Imitation of the Lord of Glory , who did not disdain a personal Visit to the meanest of his Creatures , whom he had endowed with Capacities of receiving that his inestimable Blessing , without which they must have been for ever miserable .

4. Did our Saviour not only come to us clothed in our Flesh , but did he also put on the Form of a Servant , in order to the Purchase of our Redemption ? Then this his Example should instruct us to do our very best Works with Meekness and Humility . We are very apt to think our ordinary Performances ( if in any degree Pious ) to be extraordinary good ; and not a few of us put such a Value upon our good Deeds , that we spoil that little Goodness that is in them , by our over-valuing them ; and our spiritual Pride , like the Fly in the Box of Ointment , robs them of their good Smell and Savour : But it must be confessed , that in so doing we do not imitate our Lord and Master , who was meek and lowly , and by his Self-denial ascribed such his Good Works , which could not be hid , entirely to God's Glory . Why ! what Graces we have , do confessedly come from God , the Author and Giver of every good thing ; and therefore to ascribe the Goodness of any thing we have , or of any thing we do , to our selves , is Usurpation and Robbery . For , we may as well ascribe to our selves our Natural , as we may our Spiritual Life : Both the one and the other derive from an higher Spring , and from a nobler Fountain . And he who has taught us by his Word to account our selves , when we have done all we can , but unprofitable Servants , has taught us by his Example to do more . For , He did exactly fulfil the Law , and his Obedience was perfect ; and yet , for all that , his Humility was great . And then , in Reason , because our Performances are less , our Humility ought to be greater . For , as Modesty should make us humble , when we do well ; so our Defect in so doing , should make us more so . And therefore our Saviour's Example , which shewed forth the greatest Humility in the Archievement of the greatest and noblest Performances , should oblige us , poor , impotent , defective Creatures , to a greater ( were that possible ) Humility .

5. Lastly , Did our Saviour come down in our Flesh to save Sinners , both from the Slavery and Filth of Sin , and from the Wages of Sin too ? Then this should engage our Endeavours to rescue Sinners from the Errour of their Ways , and to do as he did , that is , to bring them to God by the Ways of Holiness . This is a noble Lesson , and has our Saviour's Love and Good-will , as well as his Holiness , for its Pattern . For , a Man may be good and holy himself ; and yet Self-interest ( I mean an allowable Self-interest ) may be at the bottom of it : He may fear God's Vengeance , should he be wicked ; and so his Goodness may have an Eye to his Security . But he , who endeavours to reclaim another Sinner from the Errour of his Ways , mixes Charity with his Piety , by making anothers Welfare his Aim , and by making more People happy besides himself . Indeed , the Grand Business of our Saviour's coming into the World , was to redeem us from the Slavery and Dominion of Sin , ( for , if we be not redeemed from our Sins , it is utterly impossible that we should be redeemed from the Vengeance of them : ) And therefore he , who endeavours the Conversion of Sinners , imitates his Saviour in That , that was his chiefest and noblest Design . He endeavours to bring Rebel-Subjects under the Dominion of their first and rightful Lord : He endeavours to defeat the Designs of the Devil for their utter Destruction : He endeavours , as far as his little Sphere reaches , to restore the Creation to that Order and Harmony that God gave it , when he first made it . And in all this , he does that which is his greatest Glory ; for he copies out the gracious and merciful Work of the Lord of Glory .

CHAP. V.

The Son of God , by his Incarnation , accommodated his Condition for the making good the Expiation of Man's Sin .

IN order to our Vindication of the Counsel of God for the Salvation of sinful Man , so far forth as he has been pleased to make manifest such his Counsel by the Revelations of his Word ; we have made it out , that we had brought our selves into so forlorn a Condition by our Sins , that , so far as Reason guided by Revelation can discover , there was no possible Way left for our Redemption , but only by the Incarnation of the Son of God . And in pursuit of such our Design , we have in our last Chapter made it good , That the Son of God was very God and very Man ; God and Man united in one Person , or God Incarnate . That this is a Truth professedly and expresly declared in the Scriptures , and that too in such Words , that it is impossible to express any thing whatsoever more plainly or more fully . That what the Spirit so declares in the Scriptures , is in no wise disagreeable to our Natural Reason ; and that upon both Accounts in Conjunction , it is to be admitted into our Christian Belief . For , undoubtedly , whatever God speaks , that is not disagreeable to our Reason , ought by us so to be admitted .

Now because , in order to a Gospel-Salvation , a Gospel-Forgiveness is required ; and because , in order to a Gospel-Forgiveness , an Expiation is required ; and because we have already made it good , That no mere Creature can by any Means whatsoever make out such an Expiation : Therefore we shall , in what is now to follow , make it our Business to shew , That the Incarnation of the Son of God is ( as by the Scriptures , so also ) by Natural Reason , the most congruous Means , and the best accommodated , for the making good of such an Expiation . For , we may be very sure , that the All-wise God always makes use of the most proper Means to bring about the Designs of his Counsels : And we may be sure also , that where he himself tells us , that he makes use of any Means for the bringing any such his Designs to pass , that what in such a Case he tells us , is Truth . If therefore he tells us , that he employed the Incarnation of his Son for the Expiation of Sin , or that his Son was Incarnate in order to such Expiation ; we may , for that Reason alone , ( if yet there were no other ) be rationally satisfied , that such his Son's Incarnation was a proper Means of bringing to pass such an Expiation . For , the Methods of God's Proceedings in any Case whatsoever , are therefore Wise , because they are his : And if at any time we cannot discover the Wisdom of such Methods , it would be both modest and wise in us to impute the Want of such Discovery , not to the Impossibility of the Thing , but to the Short-sightedness of our own feeble and impotent Capacities . Now all this I therefore speak , not that I think that the Wisdom and Congruity of the Incarnation , in order to the Expiation of Sin , cannot be rationally accounted for , ( for , I hope , we shall by and by find it otherwise ) but only to check the Confidence of some , who make great Pretences to Reason , ( even such Pretences , that they do laboriously and industriously endeavour to bring down the most express Revelations of God to the Standard of such their Reason ) but seem to take no care to bring their Reason to an Accommodation with such Revelations .

But to return to our Design , which is to make it out , That the Incarnation of the Son of God is a Means wisely , as well as mercifully ordained for making good the Expiation of Sin : Let us first hear what the Spirit saith , who in the Fourth to the Ephesians , the Fourth and Fifth Verses , tells us , That when the Fulness of Time was come , God sent forth his Son , made of a Woman , made under the Law , ( that is , his Son was Incarnate , and was under the Law , and therefore made so , as to be obliged to be obedient to it ) to redeem them that were under the Law , that we might receive the Adoption of Sons . And when we are told in one place , That the Son of God was manifested for this very purpose , that he might destroy the Works of the Devil ; and in another , That he was manifest to take away Sin : And when to answer to , and explain the Meaning of these Places , we are assured from other Places , that at least one Way of his taking away Sins was by the Sacrifice of himself , as in the Twenty sixth Verse of the Ninth to the Hebrews ; and that he appeared for that very purpose , in the same Place : And when we add to all this , what we find in the Fifth Verse of the following Chapter , that God had prepared him a Body ; and in the Tenth Verse , that we are sanctified ( that is , our Sins are put away ) through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all , who ( as St. Peter speaks ) his own self bare our Sins in his own Body on a Tree : I say , when the Spirit of God does all along in the Scriptures expresly and categorically tell us , That our Saviour suffered in his Body , shed his Blood , lost his Humane Life for our Sins , for the Remission of Sin , for the Redemption of Sinners ; when it does in several Places compare his Death to the Expiatory Sacrifices under the Law ; when it calls him the Lamb of God , ( alluding to the Paschal Lamb ) that taketh away the Sins of the World ; when it tells us , that he is the Propitiation for our Sins , and the like ; It does by these , and such like Expressions ( as much as Words can do it ) acquaint us at the same time , that he suffered in his Body , and died to atone for and to expiate our Sins . And therefore all the uncouth and forced Interpretations of these and such like Texts ( which yet are a multitude ) that attempt to evacuate their plain Meaning , may as soon persuade an honest and sincere Man , that the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament are a Book full of Collusion and Prevarication , as they may , that Jesus Christ our Saviour did not die to expiate the Sins of Mankind . And were I not assured of God's Providence , I should be apt to fear , that the Devil might in time so bring Things about , that if he could upon Pretences of Reason wipe away that Part of the Bible that concerns our Saviour's Incarnation , and the Relation which that has to Man's Redemption , that he might at last raise his Hopes of blotting out the whole Christian Religion . For , to tell us , that our Saviour is only such a Man , as other Men are , but only conceived in a different , and therefore more wonderful manner ; to tell us , that he died patiently , tho' wrongfully , only that he might give us an Example of an exact Patience , and of an entire Submission to God's Providence ; to tell us , that he was slain a Sacrifice only to confirm the Covenant of Grace , but that there was no such Design in his Death , as to suffer for , or to expiate our Sins ; as it is a notorious Contradiction to , and not an Exposition of the Scriptures ; so , for that very Reason , it will appear to have a direct Tendency towards the overthrowing the Grand Design of the whole Book of God : All which , to them who shall scan the Scriptures exactly , is directed to , and does center in the Saviour , and that Redemption which he purchased for Mankind by his Death and Merits .

Having therefore thus in short taken notice of what the Scripture tells us , concerning the Expiation of Sin by the Susserings of our Saviour ; and having already made it out ,

1. That no Creature can by any means expiate the Sin of Mankind ; and ,

2. That our Saviour is God Incarnate , or God and Man united in One Person , we do , in pursuit of our main Design , lay it down in the

3. Third place , That the Way and Method of Man's Salvation ( as it is expresly and frequently laid down in the Scriptures , which is by the Sufferings and Death of the Son of God manifested in the Flesh ) is agreeable to right Reason , and exactly congruous to the Measures of Truth , and to the Rules of Justice . And , in order to our making this plain and clear , we take notice ,

1. That that Law , about the Transgression of which , and the Release from the Penalty of such Transgression , the Gospel-Forgiveness is only concerned , was given to Man . For , the Scriptures give us no Account of the Forgiveness of the Breach of any other Law , but only of that Law , which God had prescribed to Mankind . And therefore , tho' in the Scriptures we have several broad Hints of the Fall of the Angels ; and tho' our Reason tells us , that that which put them under the Displeasure of God , must needs be Sin in the general ; yet we are therefore ignorant what their Sin was , because we are ignorant what that Law was , against which they sinned .

2. We take notice , That as that Law , about which alone the Gospel-Forgiveness is concerned , was the Law given by God to Man ; so the Gospel takes no other or farther notice of the Transgression of that Law , than as that Law is broke by Man . From whence we infer in the

3. Third place , That that Punishment , which the Law threatens against those who transgress it , can only in Justice belong to those , to whom the Law was given and directed . For , they can never transgress a Law , who have no Law assigned them ; and they can never be justly punished , for the Transgression of the Law , who can never transgress the Law . The Law therefore , about which alone a Gospel-Forgiveness is concerned , being the Law given to Man , and transgressed by Man ; Man alone can justly suffer the Penalty of such Transgression . From whence we infer in the

4. Fourth place , That if any Penalty can ever justly expiate that Guilt , which is contracted by the Breach of the Law ; that Penalty , that must make such Expiation , must be a Penalty laid upon Man . And therefore our Common Sense of Justice will not allow us to think , that either Angels , which are ranked above Mankind ; nor Beasts , which are ranked below them , can by any Sufferings whatsoever expiate or atone for the Breach of such Law , which being given by God to Man , does so far forth concern Man alone . And tho' we have before made it out , that neither Angels on the one Hand , nor brute Beasts on the other , can expiate the Sin of Mankind , as both the one and the other are Creatures ; yet what we now say , is , that they cannot do it as they are different Creatures . For , it seems necessary , and that too in the Nature of the Thing it self , that Creatures so different should be under different Laws ; and that therefore neither their Obedience to , nor their Transgression of those several Laws , under which they are , should have any such Concern or Relation to one another , as that one sort of Creature should in any Case undergo the Penalty of the Transgressions of the other sort of Creature . And therefore , for the same Reason that we should look upon it as absurd and unjust , that a Man should suffer for the Sin of an Angel ; I say , for the same Reason , we should think it no less absurd and unjust , that an Angel should suffer for the Sin of a Man . The Thing might be made out in more Words : But it needs not .

Now these few Remarks being left by the way , to give Perspicuity and Strength to those Things which are to follow ; the Wisdom , Justice , Reasonableness , and Congruity of the Redemption of Mankind by the Sufferings and Death of our Saviour ( as that Redemption is expresly laid down in the Scriptures ) will appear from these following Considerations .

1. And first , Our Saviour , who by his Death and Sufferings undertook the Purchase of Man's Redemption , was as really and verily a Man himself , as were those , whom he undertook to redeem . This is evident , because he is all along in the New Testament called Man , the Son of Man , and the like , ( as we have made it out already . ) And this so far accommodates the Scripture-Account of the Purchase of Man's Salvation , to the Law , that ,

1. As the Law threatned the Punishment to Man alone , and to no other Creature ; so in the Purchase of the Redemption , Man alone suffered such Punishment , and no Creature besides .

2. And secondly , As it accommodates the Scripture-Account of the Purchase of Man's Redemption , to the Law ; because our Saviour , who suffered in order to such Purchase , was a Man : So it accommodates the Scripture-Account of the Purchase of Man's Redemption , to the Rules of Justice ; because our Saviour , who suffered in order to such Purchase , was an Innocent Man . It may perhaps at first sight look strange , when I say , that the Purchase of Redemption by the Death of an Innocent Man , is accommodated to the Rules of Justice : But the Wonder will then vanish , when I shall come to make it out , that tho' an Innocent Man cannot without his own Consent be justly punished ; yet that with such his Consent , he may be so punished . But because That belongs to another Place , therefore in this I pass it by . For , that that I design at present , is only to shew , that it is not agreeable to the Laws of Justice , that a Criminal against the Law should expiate another Man's Sin , by suffering the Penalty of the Law : Because the Penalty , which he suffers , being the just Demerit and Wages of his own Sin , he cannot , by undergoing the Punishment of his own Sin , add any such Desert to such his Punishment , as to make it meritorious of Impunity to any other Sinner . As therefore under the last Head we learnt , that he who by his Punishment expiates the Sin of another Man , must in Reason and Congruity be a Man himself ; so under this Head we may learn , that he must be an Innocent Man likewise . And so the Sufferings and Death of our Saviour for the Redemption of Mankind , will afford us a further Congruity to the Rules of Reason and Justice , in that that Saviour is exhibited to us in the Gospel , not only to be a Man , but also to be an Innocent Man .

3. The Wisdom , Justice , and Reasonableness of the Redemption of Mankind , by the Sufferings and Death of our Saviour , as that Saviour was a Man , will yet farther and more notoriously appear , if we consider the first Rise and Formation of Mankind according to that Account which the Scriptures give us of it : For , there we are told in general , that God did of one Blood make all Nations of Men , for to dwell on the Face of the whole Earth , in the Seventeenth Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles . And then , if we look back to the original Creation of Mankind , and there enquire more particularly how this was done ; we shall from thence be informed , that God first made Adam out of the Earth , and that after that he made Eve out of Adam , ( both of them extraordinary and miraculous Productions ) and that then , through all succeeding Generations , he formed all the rest of Mankind out of both , or such succeeding Pairs which proceeded from both , ( to an understanding Man as miraculous , tho' a more ordinary Production than that of the first Man and Woman . ) So that all Mankind are by the Scripture-Account of the Thing a continued Propagation of the Blood of Adam , branched out through the several Disseminations of all succeeding Men and Women , from his Days to this present Time . Now our Saviour , as he was Man , took part of this Flesh and Blood , ( so the Scripture ) and by doing so , became a Part of that Common Blood , out of which all the particular Men in the World are , and always have been made , as well as he . he stands therefore in as near a Relation to all Mankind , as can possibly be made by the same Flesh and Blood ; and that Relation may well be granted to be very near , because it is that very Relation , which the several Parts of a Thing ( by continued derivation the same ) have to one another . And so far the Relation of our Saviour to the rest of Mankind is in all Circumstances exactly the same with that Relation , which every other Man has to every other . But yet there is something peculiar to our Saviour in his becoming Man , which does not belong to any other Man whomsoever : And that is , that as the first Woman was formed only out of the Man , so our Saviour was formed only out of the Woman . And accordingly , the first Promise of Redemption , that God gave to Adam after he had sinned , was Prophetically worded , when he told him , that the Seed of the Woman should break the Serpent's Head . And therefore , as Adam is in the Scriptures called the first Man , because he was formed out of the Earth ; so our Saviour is called the second Man in the same Scriptures , because he was formed out of the Woman ; that is , he was the first Man after his Kind , as Adam was in his . To our present Purpose and Design then : As we cannot but take notice , that God's Counsel and merciful Purpose for the Redemption of Mankind was very early , ( for that Counsel must needs be so , that was in a manner Cotemporary to Man's first Sin , as the immediate Discovery of that Counsel to Man upon the Commission of that Sin does make it appear ) so some Glimpses of that Counsel do ( to me ) seem to shew forth themselves in the Scripture-Account of Man's Creation . For , when God tells us in his Word , that he has so ordered the Creation , Propagation , and Dissemination of Mankind , that tho' their Numbers are to us Innumerable , yet we do for all that know , that they all came from one single Fountain , that is , from one single Man ; and so , that they are all but so many Rivulets from that Fountain : And when , moreover , we are assured , that our Saviour is One of those Rivulets ; ( For , tho' our Saviour was only to be made of the Woman , yet because the Woman was made out of the Man , therefore our Saviour did by the Woman derive from the same one single Person with the rest of Mankind ) I say , when we consider all this , methinks it is no hard matter to conceive , that God himself does in his Word lay the Ground-work of Man's Redemption by a Saviour ( if I may be allowed so to word my self ) in that near and intimate Relation , which our Saviour , by becoming Man , has to all Mankind besides ; and that the Intimacy of such Relation consists in this , that the Saviour and all Mankind do derive from one single and common Fountain . And hence we are told in one Place , that as by Man came Death , ( there is the Sin of Adam , and the Wages of such Sin ) by Man came also the Resurrection of the Dead , ( there is the Redemption of our Saviour , and his Purchase . ) And more expresly still to our present Purpose , speaks the same Apostle in the same Chapter , ( the Fifteenth of the First to the Corinthians ) For as in Adam all died , so in Christ shall all be made alive : And to the same purpose again , in the Fifth to the Romans and the Eighteenth Verse , Therefore as by the Offence of one , Judgment came upon all Men to Condemnation ; even so by the Righteousness of one , the Free-gift came upon all Men unto Justification of Life . In all which Texts , and several others that might be named , it is notorious , that the Redemption of Mankind is so ascribed to the second Adam , the Man Christ Jesus , as the Sin and Death of Mankind is ascribed to the first Man Adam . And I do not at all question , but that those Hints , which the Scriptures do frequently offer to us , of our Saviour's taking the Humane Nature in order to our Redemption , of his taking Part of the same Flesh and Blood with us , of his being our Brother , and the like ; I say , I do not at all question , but that , when seriously considered , they may mightily assist and facilitate both our Conceptions and Belief of the Wisdom , Justice , Reasonableness , and Congruity of our Saviour's Incarnation , Death , Resurrection ; in one Word , of that Redemption , which he , by being made one with Mankind , by taking their Nature upon himself , has purchased form them : And may mightily conduce to the Removing of those Difficulties which the Enemies of the Cross of Christ have thrown as so many Stumbling-blocks in the Way of plain and honest Christians .

4. The Wisdom , Justice , Reasonableness , and Congruity of our Saviour's Incarnation , in order to his Purchase of Man's Redemption , does yet farther appear , in that by becoming Man , he put himself into a Capacity of suffering Death , that is , of suffering that Punishment , which the Law had denounced against those that should transgress it . For , it is a gross Mistake , and does indeed bring a Scandal upon God's Veracity , to affirm , That he threatens greater Vengeance in any Law , before the Transgression of it , than he will execute after the Transgression , that so he may the more effectually prevent such Transgression . For , God never yet threatned any peremptory and unconditional Punishment in any Law , which he has not , or , when the Time comes , he will not as certainly execute . In the Day thou eatest thereof , thou shalt surely die , says God . The Threatning , we see , is peremptory ; and the Execution , we find , is so too ; and therefore all Sinners die . And I cannot in the least doubt , but that , for the same Reason , an eternal Punishment will be the certain Vengeance upon a final Impenitence . But that is not so direct to my present purpose , and therefore here I pass it by . But , to confirm what I am now upon , I say , that God does not pardon the Death threatned in his Law against Sin , no not in Consideration of the Death of our Saviour ; and therefore , notwithstanding his Death , and that too in our stead , we see , that all Men , and even those who hope for Salvation by such his Death , do yet die . What therefore our Saviour in this Case has puchased for us , is not a Freedom , but a Release from Death : And therefore that Redemption from Death , which is the Purchase of his Blood , is to be accomplished ( after we have been dead ) by a Resurrection . A Resurrection then is to make good the Purchase of his Death ; and therefore his Death purchased for us not a Freedom , but a Release from our Death by such Resurrection . Now , as his Death was necessary for such a Purchase ; so his Incarnation was necessary in order to such his Death : And he was therefore made of the same Blood with all Mankind , that by shedding that Blood for Mankind , he might after his own Resurrection restore the Lives of all Men , which had been forfeited by Adam's Transgression . So that as his Death was the meritorious Expiation of Sin ; and as a Resurrection is the Fruit and Effect of such his Expiation : So his Incarnation was a necessary Forerunner of such his Death ; and therefore before he could possibly die for Man , and so purchase a Redemption of Man from Death , it was agreeable to the Laws of Wisdom , Justice , and Reason , that he should become Man himself .

But then , how his Death came to be of so valuable a Price , as to make so glorious a Purchase , we must leave to farther Enquiry . For , by that it will appear , that as it was necessary , that he should die the Death of a Man ; so it was necessary , that such his Humanity should be united to the Divinity : And by both it will appear , that God was manifested in the Flesh to destroy the Works of the Devil ; and that therefore , when the Scriptures tell us so much , they tell us no more than what is agreeable to Wisdom , Justice , and Reason .

CHAP. VI.

The Divinity of the Son of God necessary for the Expitation of Man's Sin , as well as his Humanity . Some Doctrinal Inferences . A general Proof , That as our Saviour did actually die , so , that he might justly die for the Expiation of Sin .

HAving therefore seen , that our Lord Jesus Christ was qualified by his Incarnation to make an Expiation for Sin by the Sacrifice of himself ; and that such his Qualification is agreeable to the Laws of Justice , and to the Rules of Reason , and Wisdom : Our next Enquiry must be , How such his Sacrifice came to be of such a Value , as to be justly sufficient to make good such an Expiation . For , because the Death of an Innocent Man ( if he be no more than a mere Man ) is but the Death of a Creature ; and because no Creature can by its Punishment in another Creature 's stead , expiate the Sin of that other Creature ; ( for if it could , then a Creature might by its own Punishment expiate its own Sin , both which we have already shewed to be impossible ; ) Therefore it was necessary , that as our Saviour , in order to his undertaking the Expiation of Sin , should be a real Man , a Creature ; so , that he should be more than a Creature , in order to the accomplishing of such his Undertaking . For , tho' by becoming Man , he did accommodate his Condition to his Design of undertaking an Expiation ( as we have just now seen ) yet , for all that , his Humanity had sunk under , but but had not taken away the Burden , had it not been supported by his Divinity . For , that that crushes both Angels and Men , ( and that too , while they cope against it only with their own Strength ) beyond the possibility of a Recovery , must , for the same Reason , have crushed him also , ( when once he had put himself in Man's stead , and by consequence into Man's Condition ) had he not been endowed with a Power superiour to both , to enable him to subdue and conquer it . And what Power , but that of God , can we think sufficient to conquer Sin and Death ; and that too , when they had got to such an heighth , as to have infected and over-run the whole Race of Mankind ? Can we think , that when the Contagion and Mischief had spread it self so wide , that even the best of Men ( and those whose Graces are chiefly celebrated by the Spirit of God himself ) could not preserve themselves from the overflowing Inundation ; I say , can we think , that in such a Case any one single Man ( were he no more than a Man ) could have saved himself from the universal Mischief , by the Strength of his own Resolution or Vertue ? And if in Reason we must think , that he could not ; then how can we in Reason think , that his Strength should be sufficient to rescue and save all the Rest ? No! Such Salvation belongs only to the Arm of God ; and He , who can save from Sin , Death , and Hell , and can over and above extend such Salvation over all the Earth , and that too through all the successive Generations of Mankind , that ever did , or ever shall live upon the Earth , must be God , and God alone . The Extensive Merit therefore of the Death and Sufferings of the Man Christ Jesus , derives it self from the Infinite Dignity of Jesus the Son of God . For , had not this Jesus been the Son of God , as well as the Son of Man , he had never been the Saviour of Man , And if there be not Salvation in any other , ( as in effect the whole Book of God does tell us ) it may seem inconceivable , how this Seed of the Woman should extend this Salvation , and so break the Serpent's Head , from the Days of Adam to the Consummation of all Things , unless all Things were in his Disposal , that is , unless he were God . No! He who considers the Thing seriously and wisely , may be satisfied not only by the Scriptures , but by his own Reason also , that there is the same Mercy , and the same Power required to redeem sinful Man , that was required to make Man ; and that He only , who did the first , can do the last . And therefore , as we are taught by God , that all Things were made by his Word ; so are we also , that this Word was made Flesh , and that by being so made , he became to us , after we were dead in Trespasses and Sins , the Word of Life . From all which , and a great deal more that might be offered , both from Reason , and from Revelation , ( some of which Things we have already spoken to , and some of which we shall have occasion to speak to hereafter ) we may be not only informed , but assured , That the great Merit of our Saviour's Expiation made for Sin by his Death and Passion , did arise from hence , that his Divinity was personally united to that Body , which underwent such Death ; or , that nothing less than the Death of the Son of God could expiate that Death , which the Law had denounced against the Sin of Man . But because these Thing will appear in a more full and clear Light , in the farther Prosecution of our Design ; therefore we here leave them for a while , and proceed .

For , it having appeared , as to Matter of Fact , and that too by most express Declarations of Scripture , that our Saviour was made an Expiatory Sacrifice for Sin ; and it having also appeared , that he did by his Incarnation accommodate his Condition to the making good of such Expiation , and that too in a Way very agreeable to our Natural Sense and Reason : The next Thing to be spoken to , is , the Matter of Right , or whether or no he could make such Expiation in Justice ? But before we proceed to speak to That , it will be proper that we make some Inferences of weight and moment , from what has been already spoken . And ,

1. By what has been said , it appears plainly , That tho' our Saviour made good the Purchase of our Redemption by his Death and Resurrection ; yet that such his Purchase shall not be fully made over to us , till our own Resurrection . That he made good the Purchase , his Resurrection is a Demonstration : For , because the Wages of Sin is Death , and because he died for our Sins , and not for his own , and because after such his Death he rose again , and because such his Resurrection was a Discharge from the Penalty of those Sins , for which he died ; I say , from all these Things it is evident , that he accomplished his designed Purchase , that is , he made good his Expiation by his Death and Resurrection . But then , on the other side , because it is most certain , that we are not redeemed from the Curse or Penalty of the Law , till we are redeemed from Death ; and because we are not redeemed from Death , till we rise from the Dead , that is , till our own Resurrection ; therefore it is as evident , that till such our Resurrection we are not put into the Possession of such his Purchase . And therefore ( strictly speaking ) no Man ( be he who he will ) is ●actually justified in this Life . For , because every Man that lives shall certainly die , and because Death is the Penalty threatned to Sin by the Law ; it therefore grates too hard upon our common Sense , to tell us , that any Man is then justified , when he is not only liable to the Vengeance of the Law , but when he is also sure in a little time to undergo such Vengeance . If therefore any Man be , according to a Gospel-estimate of Righteousness , a righteous or good Man , we may upon that Account say , ( and we shall say true ) that he is in a justifiable Condition ; but we cannot truly say , that he is a justified Person . Justification then in the Execution belongs to a future Life , and not to this . And when we shall come to discourse on the second Thing contained in a Gospel-Salvation , which is a Restitution to Holiness , and the Consequent of it , the Gift of Eternal Life , we shall then be more fully satisfied , that Justification cannot belong to any Man in this World , because no Man in this World is restored to that Holiness , which was lost by the Transgression of the Law ; and because no Man shall be compleatly and actually justified , till he be so restored .

2. Because the Expiation of our Sin by our Saviour , and by consequence the Pardon of Sin by God , is not Absolute , but Conditional ; and because some of those Conditions , upon which such Pardon does depend , are to be performed by us , such are our Repentance , Conversion , and the like ; and because , lastly , our Condition in this World is such , that there will of necessity be required Time for our Performance of such Conditions : Therefore we do conclude , that as our Saviour has purchased for us such Conditions , in order to our Redemption ; so has he also purchased for us a longer Term , in which we may perform such Conditions . For , it is evident , that the Denunciation of the Law upon the Transgression of it , is , [ In the Day thou eatest thereof , thou shalt surely die . ] And in strict Justice and Reason , the Punishment is then to be inflicted , when it becomes due ; and it then becomes due , so soon as the Law is broken : For , were it not due then , it would never become due at all . Now because we find , and that too by Experience , that notwithstanding not only Adam's Sin , but our own Sins too , we do not presently die ; but that God waits our Return , that he may be gracious to us ; and because we know , that such his Patience and Forbearance is therefore extended to us , that we may by our Repentance qualifie our selves to be made Partakers of that Expiation , which is made by our Saviour , ( for , there is not Salvation in any other ) therefore we do at last conclude , that the Grant of a Space for Repentance is the Purchase of our Saviour . For , it would have been the same thing for our Saviour to have made no Purchase for us at all , if such his Purchase had been clogged with such Conditions on our Part , which it was utterly impossible for us to perform : And it had been utterly impossible for us to make out our Repentance , and Amendment , if we had not been allowed a competent Time to make them out in .

And what we have said concerning God's allowing of a competent Time in which Sinners may perform the Conditions of the Covenant purchased by the Saviour , that we say also concerning the Means which are necessary for such their Performance : Such are his Word , the Succours and Assistance of his Spirit , his Sacraments , and whatever else does usually come under the Title of Means of Grace . For , it is not conceivable , that our Saviour should purchase for us the End , and yet leave us without the Means , which are necessary for the bringing about such End . But yet because the Means to enable us to perform the Conditions required of us in order to our Salvation , are not , nor indeed can possibly be that very Salvation , for which they are designed or employed as means ; and because , while we live in this World we are required , and it is necessary in it self , that we always have , and also employ such Means to the purpose of our Justification ; and lastly , because it is so far from being necessary , that it is neither proper , no nor wise , to employ any Means for any End already attained ; therefore what we observed under our last Head , will still remain true ; and that is , That no Man is actually justified in this Life .

3. From what has been said , we take notice , That tho' Afflictions in this Life are undoubtedly the Executions of Justice ; yet ( which is owing to our Saviour's Purchase ) there are always couched in such Afflictions Designs of Mercy . For tho' , as they look backward , they have an Eye to our Sins ; yet , as they look forward , they have an Eye to our Amendment , or , at least , to our Restraint . For , had we died for our Sins , according to the Law , we had been both immediately punished for our Sins past , and had by the same Means been prevented from ever sinning for the time to come . ( For , a Death without a Resurrection , had proved a sure and everlasting Prevention . ) But ( as we have seen ) our Life being continued in consideration of our Saviour's Purchase ( tho' Afflictions are laid upon us during the Reprieve ) and tho' such Afflictions do confessedly come from the Hand of Justice ; yet they are never laid on without a Design and Mixture of Mercy : And therefore , as they are the Punishments of Sins past , so they are designed as Means of Grace for the time to come : And by the wise Counsel of our merciful and gracious God are employed ( chiefly indeed for our future Reformation ) but at least for our future Restraint ; and so are one , and a great Branch too , of what we call Restraining Grace .

As therefore we took notice under our last Head , that the Reprieve of Man from the immediate Execution of the Sentence of the Law , was the Purchase of our Saviour , and that so Man's Life came to be continued , notwithstanding his Transgression ; so under this Head we may observe , that tho' Sin , during such Continuance of Life , cannot be restrained by Death ; yet the Just , Merciful , and All-wise God has not , even in such Circumstances , left it without all Restraint ; but has by Afflictions fitted such a Curb for it , which ( notwithstanding the Saviour's Purchase ) is an irrefragable Proof of his Justice : But tho' it be so , does in no wise encroach upon such Purchase , but rather promotes the Design of it . For , a Life continued in order to the Performance of those Conditions , by the Performance of which Man , in and through his Saviour , may obtain Salvation ; A Life , I say , continued to such a Purpose , is more likely to answer to such Purpose , if its Attempts after sinful Commissions be restrained , than it could be , were such Attempts left free and at large . For which Reason , such Restraint , tho' it be caused by Afflictions , does rather fall in with , than controul the Design of our Saviour's Purchase . And tho' it be confessed , that such Restraint is not so efficacious for the Prevention of future Sins , as Death without any Reprieve had been , ( for , in the last Case the Prevention had been necessary , whereas in the first it is at the most but possible ) yet it must be confessed also , that it is most wisely suited to the Circumstances of those , about whom it is employed ; and that for this Reason , Because all Restraint being designed either to keep or to make them Good , it is necessary , in order to either , that it be left to their own Choice , whether they will improve it to either , or both Designs , or no : For , there can be no Goodness at all , without such Freedom . By all which we may at last understand , that tho' Afflictions , as well as Death , are the Wages of Sin ; and tho' God does not let the reprieved Life of a Sinner pass on without the Tokens of his Displeasure , that is , in the present Case , without Afflictions ; yet that it is owing to our Saviour , that all such Afflictions are employed as Means of Preventing Grace : Whereas otherwise , the Prevention of Sin by a Death without a Reprieve , that is , a Death without a Saviour , and so without a Resurrection , had been no Means of Grace at all , but only pure and mere Punishment .

4. Lastly , From what has been said , I take notice , that our Saviour , by his Expiation of Sin , did not purchase for us an Absolute Freedom from Death , so that by vertue of such his Expiation we should not die at all ; but only a Release from Death , so that after our Death we should be raised to Life again . This I spake to before ; and the thing is as certain , as it is certain , that all Men do die ; and therefore I shall speak no farther to it at present : Only one Quaere I would make upon it , and that is this ; Whether , because the Law required Death as the Punishment of Sin , and because our Saviour , for the Purchase of our Redemption , and for the fulfilling of the Law , was necessitated in his own Person to undergo Death ; I say , Whether upon this Account God , by a Mixture of Mercy and Severity , might allow his Expiation to extend no farther than only to release us from Death after we had suffered it , but not to prevent us from suffering it at all ? But , as I said before , I leave this as a Quaere , because the Scripture speaks nothing to it , and so the Resolution of it lies in the dark . Only I thought it not amiss to mention it , because it may help to instruct us in the very great Malignity of Sin : As most undoubtedly that must be very pernicious to God's Creatures , which is downright Enmity to him , who made them , and which is not wholly expiated by our Saviour himself .

However , the Wisdom and Harmony of God's Truth , Justice , and Mercy do seem to me , from what has been said , to shine forth very conspicuously in his Counsel for the Redemption of Mankind .

For , tho' God executes that Death upon Man fatally , which , upon his Transgression of the Law , he threatned peremptorily ; and so , notwithstanding the Death of our Saviour makes good the Truth of his Threat by the Execution of the Penalty : Yet for all that , he does not so execute such Penalty , but that he first allows Man a Reprieve for a time , to make himself a fit Subject for his Saviour's Purchase ; and , secondly , he grants him a Release from Death by a Resurrection , to capacitate him to be put into the actual Possession of such Purchase .

Again , tho' the Life of Man , continued in Consideration of his Saviour's Merits , be ever and anon overcast with Afflictions ; and tho' such Afflictions are a Punishment for his Sins , and so a Proof of God's Justice : Yet still those very Afflictions are , in Consideration of his Saviour , turned into Means of Grace , and so are a merciful Discipline to secure him from those Mischiefs , which otherwise might retard or defeat his Pursuit after the purchased Pardon and Inheritance .

These Remarks being left by the way , we proceed to the next thing proposed , and that is , Whether our Saviour , as he did in Fact , so also might in Justice and Right , die for the Sins of Mankind ? For , because the Scriptures do lay down the Matter of Fact not only in express Terms , but also in great variety of Expressions ; and because those who deny the Doctrine of the Expiation , do in this Case , as they do in most others , oppose Reason to Revelation : Therefore , as by what has been said already , we have made it out , that our Saviour did die for our Sins ; so , in what is to follow , we shall endeavour to make it out also , that he might so die . For , if the Matter of Fact be found to be the Declaration of God , we may be sure , that it will have the Approbation of Justice : For , Justice and Truth can never clash nor interfere . But however , before we begin , I cannot but take notice in the

1. First place , That the Redemption of Mankind by our Saviour , is one of those Things of God , which no Man knoweth , but the Spirit of God ; and that , upon that Account , it is not so proper a Subject for the Deliberations of Humane , that is , of short-sighted Reason . And my Warrant for so judging I therefore take to be good , because it was a Thing ( as the Scriptures themselves tell us ) that was hid from Principalities and Powers , from Ages and Generations , till it was made known by God to his Church , that is , to those who were chiefly , and , as to their own Persons , only concerned in it . And therefore we are very sure , that no Man , by the Sagacity of his own Reason , could ever have made any Discoveries of it .

2. I cannot but be satisfied , in the second place , that any Man of an ordinary or of an extraordinary Understanding , who is willing in honesty and sincerity of Heart to receive the Scriptures as the Revelations of God ; I say , I cannot but persuade my self , that such a Man ( and that too by the bare Conduct of his Common Sense ) would readily acknowledge and accept it for a Truth in those Scriptures revealed , that our Saviour suffered and died to expiate the Sins of Mankind : For , the Texts that assert it , are so often repeated , and , when compared , do so mutually not only confirm each others Truth , but also explain each others Meaning ; and the Management of the whole Thing is so exactly accounted for , and that through all the Stages and Periods of it , till our Saviour comes to offer his Sacrifice to God in the Heavens , the Place of his more peculiar Residence and Abode ( as the High-Priest did typically in the like Case do in the Holy of Holies , the more peculiar Discovery of God's Residence among the Jews under the Law : ) I say , all these Things are so categorically asserted and explained , and so critically accounted for in the Revelations of God , that I cannot as yet persuade my self , that Common Sense , and Common Sincerity will not oblige those to receive and believe them , who are willing to receive those Books , in which they are so laid down , for the Word of God .

3. Neither can I persuade my self , that Reason , if it be not spun too fine , ( and what is so , may easily break ) but , I say , I cannot persuade my self , that Reason , upon a sober Examination of the Matter , ( as it is laid down in the Scriptures ) can in any wise call in question the Justice of it . For , as it is there laid down , there are only three Persons more especially concerned in it , and those are , God , our Saviour , and Man . Let us therefore take the Sum of the Business in these Three Propositions , and then see , if our honest and natural Reason can discover any Injustice in it .

And , First , God does forgive our Sins in Consideration of our Saviour's Sufferings .

Secondly , Our Saviour did suffer in our stead , in order to the obtaining of such Forgiveness .

Thirdly , We do obtain such Forgiveness in Consideration of such his Suffering .

Now if we set our plain and honest Reason on work to examine , whether there be any Injustice in this whole Transaction ; that will readily tell us , that if there be any such Thing as Injustice in it , that Injustice must be attributed to some of the Persons concerned in it . For , in this Case , it is not sufficient to say , that the Transaction , either in the Whole , or in any Part of it , is unjust , unless we do particularly assign that Person engaged in it , to whom that Injustice does belong . For , all Injustice in Matters of Fact must be ascribed to some Person or other : And no Injustice , in any Matter of Fact whatsoever , can be truly ascribed to any Person whomsoever , if that Person be supposed to have nothing to do in that Matter of Fact . Now , in the Case , as it is put , there are ( as we observed just now ) no other Persons concerned , but God , our Saviour , and our selves . If therefore the Thing prove to be , as by the Revelations of God it will be found to prove , that we Sinners are reconciled to God by the Sufferings , Death , and Merit of our Saviour , and so are pardoned for our Sins ; then it will follow , that if there be any Injustice in the Case , that Injustice must be either ascribed to God , to our Saviour , or to our selves .

Now there cannot possibly be any Injustice in us , because we are purely passive in the Case : For , so far forth as we are forgiven , ( and that is as far as we are concerned ) most certainly we are so . And we may be very sure , that Reason will never tell any Man , that he is therefore a Criminal , because he receives a great Blessing from God ; and least of all will it tell him , that it is a Sin in him to receive from God the Pardon of his Sins .

And I dare not so far question the Modesty of any Christian , as to suppose , that they will fix any Injustice in the present Case , either upon God , or upon our Saviour : And therefore because no Injustice can be charged upon any of the Persons concerned in the whole Affair ; therefore , if we be but once satisfied , that God himself has told us in his Word , that the Affair was so managed , ( as most certainly so he has told us ) then the Conclusion at last must be , that there was no Injustice in it at all . I say , I am satisfied , that this would be the way of Reasoning to a sober and modest Christian ; and that this would be good and satisfactory , if Men would with Modesty and Humility bring their Rational Sentiments to comply with the Scriptures , and not industriously struggle to force the Scriptures to comply with their own prejudicate Opinions or Surmises . For , in a Thing of that Depth and Counsel , as is the Redemption of Mankind , I am sure it is much more safe , as well as more modest , to comply with the Declarations of God , whose Counsel and Work it is , ( and that too especially , where , as we have seen , a sober and modest Reason falls in with , and approves such his Declarations ) than by a more refined way of Reasoning , and a more tedious and intricate Deduction of Consequences , ( where any little Flaw or Mistake may spoil the whole Concatenation , and at long run determine in Deceit and Fallacy ) downright to controul and contradict such Declarations . For , God is our best and most sure Guide in all things : And then , when he professedly undertakes to be so , and that too in such Things , that our Natural Reason knows nothing of , without such his Guidance ; it would be the best Use that we can possibly make of such our Reason , in all such Cases to follow his Conduct . For , in this very Case , God has himself told us , that he has confounded the Wisdom of the Wise . For , Christ crucified was to the Jews a Stumbling-block , and to the Greeks Foolishness . And it has before our Days been thought very good Reason , that he therefore could not save others , because he could not save himself . Tho' I cannot persuade my self to doubt , but that That , and all other Methods of Reasoning , that attempt to make out the Injustice of his Suffering in our stead , or any other ways to evacuate the Merit and Purchase of his Blood , will in the conclusion prove frivolous and empty ; and that they will be found light , even in the Balance of Reason it self .

But to carry this Business a little farther : As we have made it out , that sober and sound Reason will warrant the Justice of Man's Redemption , if it was so managed , as we have laid it down ; so , that it was so managed , we may be as much assured by the Word of God , as we may of any other Thing contained in that Word . And hence we are told , that God made our Saviour to become Sin for us , who knew no Sin , 2 Cor. 5. ult. That he reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ , in the Eighteenth Verse of the same Chapter : He tells us also , that he was reconciling the World to himself , not imputing their Trespasses unto them , in the Verse immediately following . And that we may be assured , that God does all this in Consideration of our Saviour's Death and Passion , we are told in one Place , that he died for our Sins ; in another , that the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all Sin ; in a third , that being justified by his Blood , we shall be saved from Wrath through him . All which , with a great deal more to the same import , that might be alledged , amounts to thus much ; That our Saviour took upon himself our Sins , and in our stead died for them ; and that thereupon God pardoned such our Sins , and was reconciled to us . Now , because God himself tells us such a thing , and that too in as plain and express Words , as any thing can possibly be told in , we may be very sure , that what is so told , is plain and open Truth : And because at the same time he tells us , that what was so done , was done by himself ; we may moreover be sure , that what was so done , was just and right . However , thus far we are certain , that if in the present Case we will be contented to be determined by the Word of God , that then there neither are , nor can be any Laws of Justice , that can hinder our Saviour's Suffering in our stead , in order to our obtaining the Pardon of our Sins by such his Suffering .

The Answer then to what shall be alledged against such Justice , we shall defer to the next Chapter . Only before we break off here , we cannot but take notice , that the Doctrine of our Saviour's Expiation , as it has in part already , and will more fully hereafter appear to have more Truth in it , than what is alledged against it ; so also it will appear to have more Comfort . For , if there be no other Name , whereby we must be saved ; it must needs be very imprudent at least to refuse to admit our own Salvation in and by him : And it is a Doubt at least , whether they , who deny his Expiation , the Purchase of his Blood , and the Forgiveness of Sins in Consideration of his Death , do not so refuse it . And it is at least another Doubt , whether those , who refuse it upon such Considerations , do not refuse it altogether . The Scriptures do at least seem to tell us so : And they will give but an ill Account of their Prudence , who will so far hazard their Salvation , as to gratifie their Obstinacy in an Opinion , that does so palpably controul God's express Declarations .

CHAP. VII .

Answers to Three Objections . 1. The Punishment was in Justice only due to us , not to him . This Objection retorted upon the Socinians . 2. That his Death was but a Temporal Punishment ; but the Expiation pretended to be made , was of an Eternal Punishment . 3. The Absurdity , that God should suffer for the Satisfaction of his own Justice .

BUT notwithstanding the Multitudes of such Declarations in his Word , which do avowedly and professedly acquaint us with this great Truth ; yet for all that , it has met with many Adversaries : Who , as they have endeavoured by odd and very uncouth Interpretations to expound away the plain and categorical Assertions of such Declarations ; so have they also to back such their Expositions with Arguments taken from Natural Reason . Now it may be reasonably expected , that those Reasons should be very good , and well-grounded , which pretend to make good such an Interpretation of God's Word , which at first View is a downright Contradiction to such Word . And because all those Interpretations , which attempt to annul the Expiatory Sacrifice of our Saviour , are such ; therefore , before we proceed any farther , we cannot but take notice , that it looks presumptuous at least to pretend to measure , and much more is it so , to controul the Justice of the Divine Counsels and Actions , laid down expresly and frequently in his acknowledged Word , by so uncertain a Standard as Humane Reason ; because it is impossible , that such Reason should comprehend all Possibilities ; especially such , which are confessedly brought to pass by the more signal and extraordinary Power of an Omnipotent Arm. But however , because such Attempts have been made , we will consider some , and the chief too , of those Allegations which have been offered in opposition to those plain and express Discoveries , that God in his Word has made to Man , of the Method of his own Proceedings in the Forgiveness of their Sins .

1. And first , It is pleaded against the Justice of our Saviour's Suffering in order to the obtaining of our Pardon , That such Sufferings cannot therefore be just , because in Justice and Equity they are due to us , and not to him . For , since the Justice of the Punishment must arise from the Demerit of the Delinquent , the Punishment can in Justice be only laid on there , where the Demerit is lodged . And therefore , if our Saviour was not the Sinner , ( as most certainly he was not ) neither ought he in Justice to be the Sufferer . And to confirm this Way of Arguing , we have the Voice of God himself assuring us , that the Father shall not suffer for the Iniquity of the Son , nor the Son for the Iniquity of the Father , ( that is , one Soul shall not suffer for the Sins of another ) but the Soul that sinneth , that shall die , in the Eighteenth of Ezekiel . And , which is yet a great deal more , God does there appeal to the Sense of Mankind for the Equity and Justice of such his Proceedings . Now then , if every Sinner ought in Justice to bear his own Burden , how can it possibly be just , that the Punishment of our Sins should be laid upon another , who was in no wise guilty of those Sins ? And then , lastly , if the Vengeance due to our Sins could not in Justice be laid upon another ; then neither can it be true , that God does therefore remit such Vengeance to us , because our Saviour has suffered in our stead . And by consequence , the Forgiveness of our Sins cannot either in Reason or Justice depend upon our Saviour's Sufferings . And if it does not , then it must be a Mistake at least to affirm , that God's Forgiveness of our Sins is just and equal ; and yet at the same time to maintain , that he does forgive them in Consideration of our Saviour's Sufferings . The Objection ( you see ) looks plausible at the first sight ; but yet , when it comes to be strictly examined , will ( as will appear by and by ) signifie just nothing . For ,

1. There is no doubt made by any of Mankind , that we know of , but that in some Cases one may become a Surety for another ; and that if the Principal fails in the Performance of his just Obligations , the Surety ( so far as he stands bound for him ) is obliged in Justice to answer and make good such Obligations . This among Mankind is taken as a Thing granted in all those Pecuniary Obligations , which do relate to Commerce or Traffick : And therefore it is generally allowed , that he who is bound for the Payment of another Man's Debt , upon default of Payment in the original Debtor , does become Debtor himself , and , as such , is bound in Justice to make good the Debt to the Creditor .

Nay , we may go farther yet , and by doing so , may advance one Step nearer to our main Design . For , as all Mankind are agreed , that the Surety stands bound in Justice to pay the Debt , upon the Non-payment of the Principal Debtor , where such Debt is contracted by Commerce or Traffick ; so also they have the same Sense of the Surety's Obligations , where the Debt is contracted by the Principal Debtor's Crime or Delinquency . Now it is agreed on all Hands ( for Common Sense tells all Men so ) that a Debt contracted by a Crime is a Punishment , tho' it be but a pecuniary Punishment . And then , if a Surety , upon the Failure in the Principal , be bound in Justice to pay such a Debt ; it will be so far from being a Doubt , whether a Surety in such a Case may justly undergo the Punishment of the Criminal ; that in deed and truth he is bound , and that too in Justice and Honesty , to undergo it . From whence we conclude , in the first place , that it is so far from being absolutely true , that one Person cannot justly suffer the Punishment due to the Crimes of another ; that , on the contrary , it may so happen , that he may be bound , and that too in Conscience , to take upon himself such Punishment .

2. To which we add , in the second place , That in such a Case , where one Person undergoes the Punishment due to the Crimes of another , the Punishment so inflicted can so much the less be taxed of Injustice , if the Person , who undergoes it , do undertake it freely and willingly . And therefore , tho' it be true in Thesi , that is , in the general , that it is Injustice to punish an Innocent Man for the Fault of a Criminal ; yet in Hypothesi , or in a particular Matter of Fact , it may not be unjust so to do . And the Reason is , because any Punishment ( be it what it will ) can only be unjust with relation to that Person who undergoes such Punishment . For , if he does justly undergo it , then , let the Punishment be what it will , yet still it will be just . Now , where a Person does willingly , freely , and o● his own accord submit to a Punishment ; there the Punishment , tho' he did not by his Crimes deserve it , cannot therefore be thought unjust , because it would be an odd and unheard-of kind of Injustice to any Person , to injure him by fulfilling his own Desires , and by gratifying his Choice . If then we apply this to our Saviour's Sufferings , which he underwent in our stead , we may be informed by him himself , that he laid down his Life , and , that no Man took it from him ; that is , he laid it down willingly . And because he did so , therefore tho' God laid upon him , and accepted from him the Vengeance due to our Sins , in order to our Acquittance ; yet he did him no Injury by so doing , because he was willing , as our Surety and Proxy , to undergo and suffer such Vengeance . Indeed it is not to dissembled , that because the Sin was Ours , and not His , that God therefore might , and that justly too , have refused the Punishment to be his , and not ours . But then , withal , we must take notice , that tho' God might have done so ; yet that there was no Law of Justice , that either did or could oblige him so to do . And therefore , to clear that , or any other Doubt that may arise from what has been spoken upon this Head , we add ,

3. In the third place , That where that Person , who willingly suffers for another's Crime , has an undoubted Right and Title in all those Things , and an uncontroulable Power to dispose of all those Things , which are either damnified or lost by such his Sufferings : In such a Case , as there is no Injury done to his Person , by reason of his willingness to suffer ; so neither is there any Violence offered to any Law of Justice , by reason of such his undoubted Right , and absolute Power . Now at once to clear this Matter , and to bring it up to the Point we aim at , we must take notice , that our Saviour tells us himself , in the Tenth of St. John and the Eighteenth Verse , I have power to lay down my Life , and I have power to take it again . And Reason tells us the same Thing : For , because he made the Worlds , and because all things were created by him and for him , and because for these Reasons alone he is the Almighty God ; therefore there can be no question , but that he may justly challenge to himself that Power , which the Supreme God claims , as his most undoubted Prerogative , I kill , and I make alive . To which we may likewise add , that he is to be Judge both of Quick and Dead ( as even that Creed , which goes by the Name of the Apostles , and even our Adversaries too , in the present Case , do allow . ) Now it cannot in the least seem reasonable , that he should have the Power of Damning and Saving , who has not the Power of Life and Death : For , it must needs sound harsh to our Reason , to grant him the greater Power , and in the mean time to deny him the less . Taking it therefore for granted , that he had an absolute and uncontroulable Power to dispose of his Life as it seemed best to his own Wisdom ; if he was pleased so to dispose of such his Life , as to lay it down in our stead , and for our sakes , there could not possibly lie any Obligation of Justice upon God , to bind him up from accepting the Offer of such his Sacrifice ; because such a Power does in it self suppose , that there neither is , nor can be any Injury , that should forbid such an Offering . And we know well enough , that any thing may be lawfully done , against the doing of which there is no just Law . And therefore the Case of our Saviour , in the present Instance , does so far forth differ from all the Cases of all other imaginary Innocents in the World . For , tho' another Man be supposed to be Innocent , yet he has no such Power over his own Life , as to dispose of it as he himself shall please : And if he should by any Means destroy it without his own Demerit , it would be in him Self-murder , and that too , tho' he should offer it for a Criminal . But if he should so order his Life , as to deserve Death ; then that very Crime , that forfeits his Life , would spoil his Innocence too . And therefore should a Magistrate , who is invested with the lawful Power of the Sword , accept the Life of an Innocent in lieu of the forfeited Life of a Criminal , he would therefore become a Criminal himself ; because in such a Commutation he allows the Innocent Man to become a Criminal , by usurping upon the Prerogative of God himself . Which may serve to shew the Fraud and Deceit of that way of Arguing , which will not therefore allow it to be just , that our Saviour should offer his Life , as a Sacrifice for Sinners , because it cannot be justly allowed , that other Innocent Persons should do so : Whereas the Life , which our Saviour offered in the present Case , was entirely his own , and absolutely at his own disposal ; which yet cannot be truly affirmed of the Life of any other Innocent Person in the World ( if yet we should suppose such a Person ) from the Days of the Creation , to the Consummation of all Things . As therefore we learned by the last Head , that God might have refused to accept our Saviour's Death in our stead ; because the Life offered was not the same that was forfeited , but another : So , by what has been spoken under that Head , and this , we may now perceive , that there is no Reason in Law or Justice , why he might not accept it . For , if our Saviour might have become Surety for the Discharge of that Debt , which by the Tenor of the Law we owed to Justice , by our Transgression of the Law ; and if , upon our Inability to pay such Debt , so as to obtain our Acquittance , he was willing , and fully impowered to lay down his Life , in order to our Release and Discharge ; and if God might in Justice accept the Offering of such his Life for so gracious and merciful a Purpose : Then the whole Objection against the Justice of his Suffering in our stead , and for our sake , vanishes , and comes to nothing .

These Things I have pursued thus far , to put the whole Matter in a true Light , and to lay it down just as it is : Tho' I do frankly confess , that I do not think the Objection against our Saviour's Sufferings , taken from the Injustice of such Sufferings , to be of any force at all , no not upon those very Principles , upon which they go , who make it . For , they themselves allow our Saviour to be Innocent , and by consequence ( tho' they make Death a Natural Thing , which , by the way , is but an Heathen-Notion of it ; for it does not in the least agree with what the Scriptures teach us about it : ) But , I say , they themselves allow our Saviour to be innocent ; and therefore they must allow , that he did not deserve that Death , which he suffered . But then they tell us , that God did therefore permit him to undergo such a cruel and hard Treatment , that he might be an Example of Patience , Submission , and Resignation , to all Men , in any Circumstances , under which they should be brought by God's Providence ; and that he was slain a Sacrifice to ratifie and establish the New-Covenant , that God then made with Man in order to the Pardon of Sin . By which it is notorious , that they endeavour to vindicate God's Justice from those Ends and Designs of his Providence or Mercy , for which God delivered up his Son to a cruel and bloody Death , tho' he did not deserve such Death .

1. Now we are very well assured , in the first place , that our Saviour was delivered up to be crucified and slain , by the determinate Counsel and Foreknowledge of God . For so St. Peter expresly tells us , in the Second of the Acts and the Twenty third Verse . And again , we are told in the Fourth of the Acts the Twenty seventh and Twenty eighth Verses , that Herod , and Pontius Pilate , with the Gentiles , and the People of Israel , were gathered together , to do to him , whatsoever God's Hand and Counsel determined before to be done . We know also , that his Crucifixion was prophesied in the Old Testament , and that in sundry Places ; and that he himself does both foretell it in the New Testament , and does there also tell us , that it was plentifully foretold in the Old . And we know , lastly , that what was foretold some thousand Years before it was brought to pass , and then was so actually brought to pass , as it was foretold , must be foretold by God : The Certainty of the Event , in such a Case , being a Demonstration , that Omniscience gave forth the Prediction .

2. We are assured , in the second place , that our Saviour being perfectly Innocent , as having never transgressed the Law , could not possibly deserve the Death of the most hainous Malefactors , a Death attended with Agony and Torment , tho' he did suffer such a Death .

3. It is agreed , in the third place , between us and our Adversaries , That because our Saviour did willingly submit to the Counsel and Determination of God , in suffering such a Death ; that thereby God's Justice is sufficiently assoiled and vindicated ( to which we spake more largely just now ) and that by such his Submission he gave an Example to Mankind , under any Affliction , of an entire Resignation to the Counsel and Will of God , in all Cases whatsoever .

4. But then , in the last place , it may be reasonably demanded , how it comes to pass , that these self-same Sufferings , this self-same Death of our Saviour , do then become unjust , when they are affirmed to have been undergone by him for the Expiation of Man's Sin ? They were just , because he underwent them willingly ; and they were honourable , because they were exemplary ; and we are sure they were merciful and charitable , if they were expiatory : And then , shall what is just in it self , and honourable , because it is designed for an Example , or for any other End ; I say , shall such a Thing therefore become unjust , because it is over and above designed for a Charity and a Mercy ? The same Thing ( we know ) may be directed to more Ends and Purposes than one ; and those several Ends and Purposes may all be good and warrantable ; and where they are so , there ( if the Thing be good and just in it self ) we may in Reason rest satisfied , that one of those good Endswill no more vitiate and corrupt it , than any other End will . If therefore the Death of our Saviour were just without being design'd for an Expiation ; it will remain just still , tho' it be design'd for a● Expiation . For , Mercy and Compassio● ( which are undoubtedly included in such Expiation ) are most undoubtedly just and good Things , when they are designed and brought to pass by just and lawful Means . And therefore , when the Adversaries of the Expiation do tell us , that the Death of our Saviour was just and lawful , they do with the same Mouth-full of Breath contradict their own Objection against the Justice of the Expiation ; and do as good as tell us , that the Expiation is just and lawful too . When therefore Secinus , and his Followers , do in very tragical Expressions ( and some of those Expresnons so indecent and irreverent , to say no worse , as not fit to be mentioned ) exclaim against the Injustice of the Expiation ; it is notorious , that they quit their Reason , and fly to Harangue ; that is , they hope in this Case to prevail by their Rhetorick , rather than by their Arguments . For , I can hardly persuade my self to believe them so short-sighted , as not to perceive , that any Argument against the Justice of the Expiation does not contradict such their own Positions , which maintain the Justice of our Saviour's Death and Passion .

One Thing more I would remark , and then I shall proceed ; and that is , That because the Objection under this Head is only laid against the Justice , but not at all against the Value , Merit , or extensive Influence of our Saviour's Death ; therefore I have precisely stuck to the Matter of the present Objection , without mixing other Things with it relating to the Expiation ; that is , I have here only asserted the Justice of our Saviour's Death , in order to the Expiation of the Sins of Mankind .

2. The second Objection against our Saviour's Expiation of our Sins by his Death , stands thus : and that is , That tho' it should be granted , that he had Power over his own Life , that he was willing to lay down that Life , and that God was willing to accept it ; yet all this will amount but to part of Payment : For , first , the Death that we deserved by our Sins was Eternal ; but that which he suffered in our stead , was but Transient and Temporal . It is confessed , that as the Socinians do deny the Expiation , so do they also an Etern●ty of Punishment : But yet that does not at all take off from the ●orce of the Objection ; because if they , who maintain the Doctrine of the Expiation , do also assert an Eternity of Punishment , it is sufficient for their Confutation to shew , that their several Doctrines do contradict , and so overthrow each other . The Objection then being so far laid right , it goes on further , thus : The Sins of Mankind are the Sins of Many , of Thousands , of Millions , of Myriads , nay , of Multitudes of Myriads ; but the Death of our Saviour was only the Death of One : So that if either we consider the Extent of our Guilt , or the Malignity of it , it will by no means seem reasonable , and therefore neither just , that the single Death of our Saviour should be looked upon as a proportionats Expiation of it . Nor indeed would it , according to those who make the Objection ; who ( tho' the Apostle tells us in one Place , that in him dwells all the Fulness of the Godhead bodily ; and in another Place , that being in the Form of God , he thought it no Robbery to be equal with God ) will yet , in spite of these , and a Multitude of other express Declarations to the contrary , still allow our Saviour to be no more than a mere Man . Now it is freely confessed , that if the Case were so , then his single Death would be no valuable Compensation for the Death of all the Sinners in the World ; and much less would it be so for the eternal Death of such Sinners . But since the Scriptures have over and over told us , that his Death was such a Compensation ; and since such a Compensation cannot not exceed the Dignity of that Character , which the same Scriptures have given us of him , tho' their Way of Reasoning says otherwise ; I dare leave it to any sober Christian to judge , whether it does not more concern them to answer what the Scriptures do object to them , than it does us , in the present Case , to answer what they do object to us . For , if the Fulness of the Godhead dwelt in our Saviour bodily , and so was united to and with that Body ; then it will be no inconceivable Strain to imagine , that the Infinite Dignity of the Person suffering must needs add an immense Value to such his Sufferings , and by so doing must make them more than adequate to the Guilt of all Mankind . And tho' this of it self may be sufficient to stop the Mouth of the present Objection ; yet if we do but recollect some few Things , that have been spoken to , and made good already , we may still be farther satisfied , that the Objection against the Value of his Sufferings , in order to the Expiation of the Sins of Men , will be of no force at all . If we do consider therefore , that because our Saviour took on him the Nature of Man , and not of Angels , that he did therefore die for Men and not for Angels : If we consider , that the faln Angels are left without any hope of Escape from the Vengeance of the final Judgment , which Man is not : If we consider , that the Vengeance which the faln Angels shall then suffer , will never work out their Redemption , or Forgiveness ; and that for that very Reason , because that Vengeance shall be eternal : If we consider , that neither would eternal Vengeance work out the Salvation of any Man , for the same Reason : And lastly , If we consider , that notwithstanding the utter Impossibility of Man's satisfying the Divine Justice by his own Punishment : yet we are assured by the Voice of God , that some Men shall obtain Redemption by their Saviour's Blood , even Reminion of Sins : I say , if we con●●der all these Things , our Natural Reason will help us to conclude , that the Death of our Saviour , tho it were but the Death of One , and tho' it were but a temporal Death neither , yet will do that , which all the Eternal Deaths in the World could not do ; that is , it will reconcile Sinners to God , and from him obtain their Pardon ; and that upon that single Account , it is of more Value in his Signt , than the Death of Angels and Men ; and that therefore he , who suffered that Death , was infinitely greater than both . By which we may also understand , that if there be any Absurdity in the thing , that one Person , by his single and temporal Death , should satisfie the Divine Justice for the Sins and Demerits of so many ; they , who make the Objection , do make the Absurdity too ; because , in their Opinion concerning the Person suffering , they do degrade him below that Infinite Station and Dignity , in which the Scriptures do assure us , that he stands exalted .

3. The last Objection against our Saviour's Expiation of Sin , and that which does indeed rather attempt to prove the Impossibility , than the Injustice of the Thing , is this ; That if our Saviour be God himself , and if this very Saviour did die to reconcile Sinners to God ; then it will follow , That God suffered to reconcile Sinners to himself : Which , at at the very first sight , looks absurd .

1. And so it may indeed , to Humane Reason , which in many other Things , but more especially in the Things of God , is very often guided by dark and blind Measures . But still the Apostle twice tells us , in the Second to the Corinthians , chap. 5. ver. 18 , 19. That God was reconciling us , and reconciling the World to himself , and that he did this by Jesus Christ , whom yet the same Apostle in another Place calls , God over all , blessed for ever . Now , in the Contrivance and Enterprise of this Reconciliation , he was the first and principal Agent ; and so indeed the very Beginning of the Reconciliation came from the offended Person : Nay , it was he , who contrived the whole Method of Reconciliation ; ( for , it was hid from Ages and Generations , from Principalities and Powers , till God made it known to his Church . ) And that we may not think , that there is any Absurdity in this his doing , he does in this very Case , as far as our Circumstances will allow , command us to follow his Example . For , in the Eighteenth of St. Matthew and the Fifteenth Verse , he requires , that if our Brother offend us , we ( that is , we the Offended ) should go and tell him his Fault . So that , tho' the Injury be done , not by us , but to us ; yet we must make the first Step towards a Reconciliation . Now , a Man of a worldly Reason would in this Case be apt to cry out , What! must I begin to give my self Satisfaction ? Is this Sense or Justice ? Did not he do the Injury ? And is not the whole Reparation to come from him ? But , God's Thoughts are not as Man's Thoughts , nor his Ways as Man's Ways . And therefore , tho' your Enemy began the Injury ; yet , if he commands , you must begin the Reconciliation . And if God do not only begin the Reconciliation in the Case before us , but also suffer himself , that he may compleat it ; all the Inconvenience that will follow from it , will be , that God can do more than Man : For , he can do any thing , that is not unjust ; and any thing , that is not impossible . And , as we have already made it out , that it is not unjust ; so we shall go on farther , to make it out , that it is not impossible .

2. For , secondly , our Saviour being ( as we have already made it out ) a Middle Person between God and Man , a Mediator in his Person , as well as in his Office ; as he was not so Man , but that he was God ; so he was not so God , but that he was Man . And then , if we add , that as Man he suffered for the Sins of Man , so much may be allowed now , because so much has been proved already . And indeed , strictly and closely speaking , it was Man , not God , who suffered in the Person of our Saviour . For God , we are sure , is utterly , and in his own Nature , incapable of any such Thing , as that is , which we call Suffering . So far forth therefore as the Objection furmises , that we take God to have suffered ; so far the Objection is mistaken and laid wrong . But yet ,

3. Because God and Man were personally united in our Saviour , and so made up but one Christ ; therefore our Reason will tell us , that the Sufferings of such a Man must receive an immense Value from his Personal Union with God . Take the Thing in an Instance , and it will be much more plain , and satisfactory . A Man strikes a Prince . No one will say , that he strikes his Dignity , ( for the thing is impossible ) but only his Body . But yet to think , that the Injury and Malignity of the Stroke shall not be rated , as well by his Dignity , as by his Body , would be an Imagination , that an ordinary Reason would condemn of Weakness . And therefore , tho' the Bodies of all Men are made of the same Flesh and Blood , and so the wounding of a Prince is no greater a natural Hurt to him , than the wounding of a Peasant is to him , ( supposing their Wounds to be equal or alike ) yet we know , that the Difference of their Conditions shall make such a vast Difference in the Value of the Mischiefs done by the several Wounds ; that , in the first Case , the Fault of such Mischief shall be esteem'd Capital ; when perhaps in the last it shall hardly be thought Penal . The Sufferings therefore of the Man Christ Jesus might be sufficient for the Expiation of the Sins of Mankind , not because his Deity suffer'd with his Humanity ; but because he being IMMANUEL , his Deity gave an Infinite Value to the Sufferings of his Humanity , by being Intimately , because Personally , united to it . And therefore , as my Reason suggests to me the Certainty of the Union of his Deity with his Humanity , from the Expiation made by the Value of the Sufferings of his Humanity ; so from the Union of his Deity with his Humanity , it rather suggests to me , that he is One Person of the Deity , than that his Deity suffer'd for the accomplishing of such his Expiation . And I cannot but think , that the Arguments already offered will in a good measure warrant such a Suggestion : And therefore , to what has been already said , I add in the

4. Fourth place , That tho' the Expiation of the Sin of Man was one Design both of our Saviour's Incarnation and Sufferings ; yet that it was not the whole Design of such his Sufferings , and of such his Incarnation . For , he came to destroy the Works of the Devil ; the Kingdom , which the Devil had set up in this lower World ; to recover sinful Man from that Revolt that he had made from God , and so to restore him to his Duty and Allegiance to his Sovereign Lord and King ( as will appear more fully hereafter . ) And to this purpose , as it was necessary , that he should purchase to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works ; so it was necessary , that he should free such People from that State of Sin , in which they were in Bondage , and by doing both , establish a Kingdom of Holiness and Righteousness , in lieu of a Kingdom of Sin and Darkness . His grand Design then was the enlarging of his Father's Kingdom , by restoring to it what the Devil had torn off from him . And then , if for the accomplishing of such his Design , the Expiation of Man's Sin ; and if for the Expiation of Man's Sin his own Death was necessary ; it will be no great strain to conceive , that the Man Christ Jesus , united to the second Person in the Trinity , should do and suffer what he did , for the fulfilling the Will of God , by restoring and so enlarging his Kingdom , by subdu●ng his Arch-enemy , and by taking his usurped Dominion out of his Hand , and asserting it to himself . For , all this our Saviour did , when by those Methods , with which the eternal Wisdom has acquainted us in his Word , he builds up a Kingdom of Righteousness out of one of Rebellion and Wickedness : Which Kingdom , when his Work is fully accomplished , he will ( which was his main and grand Design ) resign up to God , the natural and rightful Lord of all Kingdom and Dominion : See 1 Cor. chap. 15. ver. 24. Tho' therefore our Apprehensions may be startled , when we undertake to conceive , that the Son of God , the Alpha and Omega , the Word of God , by whom he made the Worlds , should suffer to reconcile Man ( who had made himself his Enemy by Sin ) to himself , in order to Man's Pardon : Yet when we consider , that by the same Undertaking , he re-settled his Father's Kingdom , asserted his Honour and Dignity , displayed his Mercy , and in Conjunction with that maintained his Justice ; and that by doing all this , he exhibited God to the World , not only a faithful Creator , but also a gracious and loving Redeemer : I say , when all these Things are considered , our Wonder and our Incredulity may not only abate , but cease ; and we may be rationally satisfied , that it was as well worth our Saviour's Sufferings , to bring all these Things to pass , ( tho his Enemy Man had his Interest in it ) as it was for him to make Man at first .

Now , what we have said , is a sufficient Answer to the Objection , upon supposition , that any or every Sin is of so malignant a Nature , that the just Punishment of it shall be Eternal . But tho' there be such a Thing , as Eternal Punishment , most expresly asserted by the Scriptures , ( and therefore we do by no means question the Truth of it ) whatever the Socinians may pretend to the contrary ; yet perhaps it is not so certain , that the Scriptures do allot any such Punishment to any other Sin besides Unbelief , or ( which amounts to much the same Thing , tho' in other Words ) a final Impenitence . For , it is most certain , that all other Sins , if they be truly and heartily repented for , shall , in Consideration of our Saviour's Merits , be forgiven ; and it is as certain , that no Man shall undergo an eternal Punishment for those Sins , which shall be forgiven . If therefore we do assert , what is most true , that our Saviour did not die to save Unbelievers , or Impenitent Sinners ; and that they are the only Sinners , to whom eternal Punishments are assigned ; in such a Case , the Objection , that his temporal Punishment could not take away an eternal Punishment , would be of no force ; because , in such Case , eternal Punishment was not designed to be taken away . For , every Unbeliever , and Impenitent Person , shall suffer it , notwithstanding our Saviour's Death : And there do not want very good Probabilities ( and those too in no wise disagreeing to Scripture-Revelations ) that the Sins of those , whose Sins shall not be pardoned after the Resurrection , shall have just so much Punishment , as they do in Justice deserve , ( be that more or less ) but that such their Punishment shall not therefore be eternal , because such their Sins did deserve such eternal Punishment ; but because they refused and rejected those easie Means , which God had provided in a Saviour , by a due Use of which they might have escaped all Punishment whatsoever . Now , because it is absurd to imagine , that our Saviour under●ent Death to save those who should slight or reject that Salvation , which he purchased by his Death ; and because none but such , who do so , shall , by the Tenor of the Gospel , suffer eternal Punishment ; therefore it is no Objection against the Merit of our Saviour's Death , to say , that his temporal Death cannot expiate an eternal Punishment , because he did not suffer Death for any such Purpose ; and he did not do so , because he did not suffer Death for those , who alone shall suffer eternal Punishment ; that is , he did not suffer Death for those , who shall refuse and reject the only Means of Salvation , which he purchased for Mankind by his Death .

Much more might be offered upon this Occasion ; but this being sufficient in this Place , I shall therefore here add no more .

In the mean while , I do not question , but that the Value of our Saviour's Sufferings s●fficient to expiate the Guilt of any Sins , for whose Expiation such Sufferings were designed ; tho' such Guilt should be supposed or allowed to deserve eternal Punishment of it self .

And from the Whole , that has been spoken on this Subject , we do at last conclude , That a Release from the Vengeance due to Sin by the Law , and purchased for Man by his Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ , who for Man's sake made his Soul a Sacrifice for Sin , is a just and legal Pardon , and agreeable to the Measures of Right Reason , and to the Laws of Justice .

For , because the Pardon of Sin does imply in it a Desert of Punishment in the Party forgiven ; and because the laying the Punishment which he deserves , upon another , is in effect a Remission of that Punishment to him ; and because , lastly , a Remission of Punishment to the Party , which deserves such Punishment , may be truly accounted a Pardon of his Sin ; ( For , Pardon of Sin to any Party whomsoever , is neither more nor less , than the Releasing or Freeing him from the Punishment due to his Sin : ) Therefore , if , by what has been spoken , it has appeared , that the Punishment due to our Sins was , without any Injustice , translated upon another , and that upon such Translation it cannot justly be exa●●ed of us ; then it will follow , that so far forth as our Sin was pardoned , so far forth the Pardon was just .

And therefore , so far as we have hitherto gone , we may truly and rationally conclude , That that Method , in which the Gospel discovers our Salvation to be brought to pass , does exactly square to the Rules of Right Reason and Justice . For , so we have seen , that it does in the first thing , which a Gospel-Forgiveness does imply and contain in it ; and that is the Pardon of Sin .

CHAP. VIII .

Bare Pardon of Sin not sufficient for a Gospel-Salvation : Some Reasons offered for it . They , who are entitled to the Reward of the Law , must be entitled to the Obedience paid to the Law . Such Obedience must be perfect . Some Practical Reflections .

THo' we have hitherto asserted the Sufficiency of our Saviour's Sacrifice , for the Expiation and Pardon of Sin ; yet it must be confessed , that bare Pardon of Sin , upon any Considerations whatsoever , ( be those Considerations never so valuable ) yet can never in Reason or Justice make out a Gospel-Salvation . And therefore , we laid it down at the Beginning , that as , in order to a Gospel-Salvation , there was first required an Expiation , and , in consideration of such Expiation , a Pardon of Sin ; so there is also required a Restitution to Holiness , and the Gift of Eternal Happiness . For , because God's Law ( as every good Law besides ) does consist of Two Parts ; First , the Directive , or what it requires to be obey'd ; and , Secondly , the Vindictive , or what upon Disobedience it requires to be suffered : And because Sin is the Disobedience to , or Transgression of the Law : Therefore , so far as we have discoursed of the Justice of the Pardon of Sin , so far we have only discoursed of that Justice which concerns the Vindictive Part of the Law . But by doing that , we have not at all discoursed of that Justice , which concerns the Directive Part of the Law . And if , upon our neglect to follow such Directions , God does , for any Reasons whatsoever , forgive us the Penalty , which we incur by such our Neglect , and nothing more ; it must be confessed , that by such a way of Proceeding , all Care of the Directive , which is indeed the principal Part of the Law , is thrown away . For , because all Men are Sinners , that is , because none do obey the Law ; tho' God upon valuable Considerations do remit the Punishment to some , or all of those Sinners ; yet still it is certain , that the Duty enjoined by the Law remains undone by all . And I therefore say , it is certain , because it will notoriously appear by what follows , that the Pardon of Sin , that is , the Pardon of the Transgressionof the Law , ( tho' such Pardon be granted by God , and obtained by us , in Consideration of our Saviour's Suffering in our stead ) can never pass for the Performance of the Directions of the Law ; that is , can never pass for that Righteousness , which consists in an Obedience to such Directions ; and therefore ( as we shall see more fully hereafter ) can never be sufficient for our obtaining a Gospel-Salvation , which includes in it an eternal Holiness , and an eternal Happiness , as well as the Pardon of Sin .

Now , that the Pardon of our Transgression of the Law , can neither in Reason nor Justice pass for our Performance of the Directions of the Law , will appear notorious from these following Considerations .

1. Because Forgiveness does imply in the very Notion of it a Desert of Punishment ; and a Desert of Punishment does imply in it the Transgression of the Directions of the Law . For , no Man can be truly forgiven , who does not justly deserve to be punished ; and no Man can justly deserve to be punished , who does not transgress the Directions of the Law . Now , for the same Reason , and upon the same Account , to esteem a Man Innocent , and yet a Criminal , must needs be absurd , because it is a Contradiction . And then , because in Contradictions only one Part can be true ; therefore , so sure as we are , that he , who is truly forgiven , must be a Sinner , so sure we are also , that he neither is , nor can be truly supposed to be Innocent . And therefore , when God forgives , as it is supposed in Reason and Common Sense , that he does forgive Sins , and is so expressed in general in the Scriptures ; so it is supposed in the same Reason , and the same Common Sense , that he does forgive those Sins to Sinners . And therefore we cannot be supposed to have obeyed the Directions of the Law , upon the Account , that God does forgive us the Punishment threatned in the Law .

2. Nor can we be so , secondly , Because should we undergo the Punishment which the Law threatens ; yet we could not by so doing ever fulfil the Directions of the Law . For , it is notorious in it self , that the suffering what the Law threatens , is not the doing what the Law commands . Now , it is certain , that the Forgiveness of that Punishment , which we have deserved , can give us no better a Title to Obedience , than our suffering such Punishment could have done , had that Punishment not been forgiven . And it looks absurd at first view , that Guilt should consist in the neglect of Obedience , and that Punishment should be the Desert , and therefore in Justice the Effect of our Guilt ; and yet that Obedience should be the Effect of our Punishment : That is , that Guilt , after one Remove , should be the proper , and in a manner natural , because just Cause of Duty . But , we may be therefore sure , that it is no such matter , because we are told by God himself , that there is a Punishment after this Life , which shall be Eternal ; which yet would be impossible , if the suffering of Punishment were equivalent to a perfect Obedience to the Directions of the Law : Which , because for the Reason alledged , and for more , that might be alledged ; it cannot be , therefore neither can the Forgiveness of such Punishment be so . For , it is evident , that the Forgiveness of our Punishment can do no more towards the making us obedient , than the Punishment it self could do , should we undergo it . And therefore the Pardon of our Sins for the Sake of our Saviour's having suffered in our stead , does not of it self suppose us to have fulfilled the Directions of the Law .

3. The Forgiveness of our Sins does imply nothing more in it , than our Freedom from that Vengeance , which the Law has threatned , and which we have deserved by our Transgression of the Directions of it ; and so does only free us from the vindictive Part of the Law : But does not , for that Reason , entitle us to those Rewards , which the Law promises to those who obey its Directions . Now , it is a very different Thing to be barely freed from the Vengeance of the Law , and to be entitled to the Promises of the Law ; because the Case may really so be put , as that a Man may obtain a Release in the First Case , and yet never be entitled to , or possess the Promise in the Last . And in all Cases ( let them be what they will ) yet still we are certain , that the First can only in Reason , nay , in Nature , belong to those , who have transgressed the Law ; and that the Last can only in strictness of Law belong to those , who have obeyed the Law : And therefore , that the First can be only Matter of Favour ; whereas the Last may be Matter of Right . Now , if there be any Difference in the Two Cases , then , let that Difference be lodged where it will , yet we are from thence assured , that the Cases are not the same ; and therefore , neither can the Forgiveness of our Sins upon the Account of our Saviour's suffering the Vengeance of the Law in our stead , be any Argument , that we have fulfilled the Directions of the Law .

And therefore , tho' it be affirmed by several Learned Men , that we are sufficiently entitled to Eternal Happiness by the bare Pardon of our Sins , in Consideration of our Saviour's Sufferings ; and that for this Reason , because when we are treated by God with Impunity , we are at the same time treated as Innocents ; and that he , who is treated as an Innocent by God himself , ( who cannot be mistaken in the Case ) must therefore needs be so .

Yet these Men , as they do not sufficiently distinguish between an Innocent and a Saint ; so neither do they between Impunity and a Reward . For , tho' our Saviour's Sufferings are meritorious of a Reward to himself , ( and so the Scriptures tell us ; ) yet they are only expiatory to us ; and that too in the Nature of the Thing . For , the utmost Design , the natural Tendency , and the only Business of an Expiation , is to obtain an Impunity for such , who have deserved , and therefore must in Justice , without such an Expiation , suffer Punishment . But neither Scripture , Reason , or Justice will tell us , that a Purchase of Impunity from the Vengeance due to the Transgressors of the Law , can be a Purchase of that Reward , that is only due to Obedience to the Law . In one Word , Reward and Punishment derive not only from different , but from contrary Principles : And Impunity has , and that too in the Nature of the Thing , a Respect or Relation only to Punishment , but none at all to Reward : And for that Reason , the meritorious Cause of Impunity can have no Concern with Reward neither . Since then the Death of our Saviour is the meritorious Cause of Pardon to those , who have transgressed the Law ; it is absurd in Nature and Reason to make it also the meritorious Cause of that Reward , which , as it supposes no need of Pardon , so does by the Law only belong to those , who have obeyed the Law . So that an Expiation does at the most but make a Man Innocent , but does nothing to make him a Saint : For it only cancels his Neglect of Duty , but does not do that Duty for him , which he has neglected .

By all which it appears ,

1. That Reward does in Propriety and Justice only belong to Obedience to the Law .

2. That Punishment does in Propriety and Justice only belong to the Transgression of the Law .

3. That Expiation has no Relation to the Reward of Obedience ; but that it only concerns that Punishment , which without such Expiation is in Justice due to Disobedience .

Now because God has taught us , not only that our Sins shall be forgiven in and through our Saviour ; but that also , in and through the same Saviour , we shall obtain a glorious Reward : And because ( as has appeared in general ) Reward does in Reason and Justice as properly belong to Duty and Obedience , as Forgiveness does to Expiation : Therefore our next Enquiry must be , upon what Obedience such Reward is grounded . For , we are very sure , that , because the Distribution of such Reward is lodged in God's Hand , therefore the Reward will be bestowed justly ; and because we are sure of that , therefore we are farther assured , that it will be conferr'd upon Duty and Obedience . And indeed , having in what went before seen what Provision God has made for the fulfilling the Vindictive Part of the Law , in order to the Possibility and Justice of Man's Salvation ; and being satisfied , that that Provision , which he has made for that purpose , will not also fulfil the Directive Part of the Law ; it must be our next Business to enquire , what Provision he has made for the fulfilling of such Directive Part. For ,

1. In the first place , We may therefore be certain , that it shall be fulfilled one way or other ; because the Law being God's , is in it self Holy , Just , and Good . And we know , ( and that too by the Light of Nature ) that it cannot be an indifferent Thing to the Ever-wise , and most Holy Law-giver , whether a Law , which is so , be obeyed , or not . For , that would be in effect to cast off all Regard to Duty , Holiness , and Righteousness . Nay , ( which is yet more ) because every just Law must for that Reason , even because it is just , design the Obedience of them , for whom it is made ; I say , because it must principally and in the first place design their Obedience , and not their Punishment , ( and therefore not their Forgiveness neither ) it would be in effect to contradict his own Design , in giving forth his Law . For , the Design of his Law being the Holiness of his Creatures , resulting from their Conformity to the Directions of such Law ; if he should so pardon their Neglect of such Conformity , ( that is , the Neglect of their Obedience ) as to make no Provision for such Obedience ; it is evident , that by so doing he would have no more Regard to the Directive Part of his own Law , than they have had ; and so the Manner of Forgiving the Transgression of the Law would unravel the main and principal Design of making the Law . But , we know very well , that such a Way of Proceeding is neither agreeable to Wisdom , nor to Holiness ; and therefore much less to Infinite Holiness and Wisdom . And therefore , if the Ever-Holy and Wise God gave up his beloved and only begotten Son to Death for the accomplishing the vindictive Part of the Law ; and if for the same purpose he punishes all Mankind , not only with many Miseries in this World , but also with Death in their going out of it : I say , if he does all this , ( which yet he himself tells us is his strange Work ) that so the vindictive Part of the Law may not fall to the Ground ; shall we think , that he will do less , or indeed shall we think , that he will not rather do more , to make good the main and grand , and , I may add , the more natural Design of his Law , which is the Holiness of his Creatures ? No! we are sure , that no Word of God shall return empty ; and that therefore his more solemn and express Declarations ( and such are his Laws ) shall be sure to have their Accomplishment , and shall be fulfilled in their due time , notwithstanding the counter-Endeavours of Hell and Wickedness . For , it shall not be in the Power of any Enemy to defeat the Counsels , or evacuate the main Design of that Law , which proceeds from Eternal and Essential Holiness , and which moreover is backed with Omnipotence . We may therefore very well be satisfied , that God has made Provision for the Performance and fulfilling of the Directions of the Law , as well as of the Vengeance of the Law .

2. And we may be satisfied , in the second place , that such his Provision does and must extend it self to Man , to whom the Law was given . For , it would be unreasonable to imagine the Design of any Law to be fulfilled , when such Law is not obeyed by any of those , for whom it was proclaimed , and to whom it was given . And therefore , because the Law was given to Man , and requires Obedience from Man , we cannot say , that the Design of the Law is fulfilled , unless Men do obey it .

3. We may be satisfied , in the third place , that no Man in this World ( except our Saviour alone ) has obeyed the Directions of the Law , from the Days of Adam's Transgression , to this very Day . And we may be satisfied moreover , from so long an Experience of the Thing , and from Reason grounded upon such Experience ; but , if both will not do , we may be satisfied from Scripture , that no Man ever will or shall pay a perfect Obedience to such Directions . Nay , it is notorious , that no Man does so , because we know , that every Man in this World is under the Curse of the Law ; and we know , that every Man is so , because we are assured , that every Man in his going out of the World shall undergo such Curse , that is , that every Man shall die . Now , Death being the Penalty expresly assigned by the Law to the Transgression of the Law ; we may be sure , that those , who are not only liable to such Penalty , but who shall also certainly undergo it , are Transgressors of the Law . And then , because that is the Case of all Men in this World , we may from hence also conclude , that all Men in this World are Transgressors of the Directive Part of the Law .

4. We may be satisfied , in the fourth place , ( both because it is the Object of each good Christian's Faith and Hope in particular , and because it is an express Revelation of the Will of God in general ) that some Men shall be saved ; that is , shall obtain an Eternal Happiness in another World ; tho' we know most assuredly , that all Men do transgress the Law in this World . Now , because it is impossible in Justice , and absurd in Reason , that Vengeance and Salvation should both be the Recompence of the Transgression of the Law ; and because , tho' all Men are Transgressors , and some of those Transgressors shall be pursued with Vengeance , yet others , upon the Account of their sincere , tho' imperfect Obedience , shall be rewarded with Salvation : Therefore we do infer in the

5. Fifth place , That those who shall be so rewarded , shall , in order to such their Reward , be then entitled to a perfect Obedience , when such Reward shall come to be bestowed : That this is a Truth laid down in the Covenant of Grace , the Covenant by which alone Men shall obtain Salvation : That Reason and Justice do fall in with such Covenant , in asserting and maintaining the same Truth ; and that therefore it is every way firm and good . For , it sounds harsh to our natural Sense of Justice , that without a perfect Obedience a Man should obtain that Reward , which in Justice and Reason can only be allotted to such Obedience . For , an Obedience that falls short of Perfection , is in truth and reality ( whatever it is called ) a Transgression : And so is so far from deserving a Reward , that it does indeed stand in need of a Pardon . For , the Defect of such Obedience is Sin ; and Sin mixed with any thing , corrupts the whole , and makes it unclean and impure ; and we know , that nothing that is so can enter into the Kingdom of God . And therefore , in order to his Salvation , St. Paul renounces his own Righteousness , which is of the Law , in the Third to the Philippians , and the Ninth Verse . Alas ! the very best of us in this World have our Failings and Imperfections ; and not only sinful Weaknesses , but sinful Wilfulnesses also : Nay , our very Righteousnesses are but filthy Rags : And then we may be satisfied , that we shall never in those Rags be admitted to the Marriage-Supper of the Lamb. When the Prodigal Son returned to his Father , the Father not only provided the Feast , but the Robe and the Ring too , to qualifie his Son to be a fit Guest for such a Feast .

Now from these Propositions , so laid down and confirmed , it may seem no very remote Consequence , that that Righteousness , to which those , who shall be saved , shall be entitled , in order to such their Salvation , shall be the Righteousness of that Person , whom the New Testament sets forth to be the Saviour of Mankind . For , their Salvation must in Justice and Reason depend upon their Obedience to the Law ; otherwise such Salvation can in no Sense be truly reckoned a Reward . And if that Obedience , to which such Reward is by the Law assigned , were entirely their own , then that Person , whom yet the Scriptures call their Saviour , could in no Sense be truly so called , because in such Case their Salvation would be their own legal Purchase , as being the Reward of their own Obedience . And lastly , to suppose the Saviour to be therefore their Saviour , because he bestows upon them Salvation , in Consideration of an Imperfect Obedience , that is , an Obedience which is so far from deserving Salvation , that it does indeed stand in need of a Pardon , is to suppose him to bestow the Reward there , where the Law does not lay it ; that is , upon Supposition that such Law is Just , it is to suppose him to be Unjust . From all which , the Conclusion at last must be , That since their Saviour must save them for their exact Obedience to the Law , ( if he save them justly ) and since we are sure , that he does save them justly , tho' they have paid no such Obedience ; that therefore the Method in which he saves them , is by entitling them to a perfect Obedience . Now , how that is done , will be our Business to make out ; as also , that the Manner of his doing it is just and righteous , and therefore reasonable . By which it will appear , that our present Way of Reasoning does not want its Weight , tho' perhaps it may at present seem too light to demand an Assent . But before we proceed to that , we shall offer a few Practical Reflections upon what has been already laid down .

1. And first , From what has been said , we may easily perceive , that God is not so fond of our Persons , or of our future and everlasting Happiness , as to provide for such our Happiness , by his own Neglect of his own Law . For , Heaven and Earth shall pass away ; but one Tittle of his Law shall not do so . Tho' therefore we can easily allow our selves to break his Law , and make light of his Commands ; yet we may therefore be sure , that he will not do so , because his Commands and his Laws are Holy . For , it is a foolish and vain Imagination to think , that essential Justice and Holiness , that is , in other Words , that God will put Slights upon himself , to gratifie those with Impunity , and much less with Glory and Immortality , who put Slights upon Holiness , by sinning against his Laws . The truth of it is , because we are fond of our selves , and very desirous of our own Happiness , we are ( ay! and the very best of us too ) too apt to think that God is so too ; and in this Case we are foolishly inclined to think him to be altogether such an one as our selves : And this makes us to entertain soft and easie Thoughts of his Mercy ; and in the mean time to have no due Regard to his Justice . But , if we would but consider , that both his Mercy and his Justice are guided by his Holiness ; and that as he will not punish us without our Demerit , so neither will he reward us unless we become righteous : I say , if we would but seriously consider this , it might be an effectual Means to engage us to look better to our Ways ; lest whilst we think we are on our Journey towards Happiness , we be found by Mistake to tread in the broad Road , that leads to Destruction .

2. From what has been said , we may learn where to seek and to find what we do all naturally desire , and that is Happiness . I say , we may learn , that it is only to be sought wisely , and to be found certainly in the Ways of Holiness . For , tho' our Sins may be expiated by the Death of our Saviour ; yet when we have made our selves Sinners , we are not sure that we shall be made Partakers of such Expiation , and so we are not sure of the Pardon of such our Sins ; and we are sure , that without returning to the Paths of Holiness , we shall not be made Partakers of such Expiation , and that therefore we shall only enjoy the Benefit of it , when we are found in such Paths . The most certain Means therefore of making our selves happy , will be by keeping our selves holy : For , so long as we do so , we keep our selves within the reach of the Gospel-Promises ; and tho' our Holiness be not in this World perfect , yet ( as we shall see shortly ) God will provide a way to make that and our Happiness perfect in another World .

3. By what has been said , we may learn , how it comes to pass , that we have no sincere and entire Happiness in this World ; and that is , because we have not here any sincere and entire Holiness . For , were we freed from all Sin , we should be also freed from all Misery . For , we mistake , if we do not think , that Crosses , Losles , Pains , Sickness , and Death , are all of them the Effects of our Sins : And we may be sure , that they therefore are so , because we are sure , that when our Sins are done away , all these Miseries shall be taken away too . No! Sin is mixed with our Life ; That spots , stains , and corrupts it ; and so Affliction and Misery come to be mixed with it too . And therefore , were Sin once banished out of this lower World , and true Righteousness planted in its Place ; were God's Will done in Earth , as it is done in Heaven ; his Kingdom would presently come , and the Glories and Beatitudes of Heaven would certainly flow in upon all those , who have arrived to a perfect , that is , to an Heavenly Holiness . Since therefore we may be so easily satisfied , that it is Sin , and Sin alone , that impairs our Happiness , and that too ( that Happiness which most of us love so well ) our Happiness in this World ; one would think , that this Consideration single , and by its self , should engage us to hate Sin , as much as we love such our Happiness ; and therefore also to endeavour to encrease our Happiness , by destroying our Sins .

4. If our Good Works are so full of Flaws and Imperfections , that , in order to our Salvation , it will be necessary , that we be entitled to a Perfect Obedience ; then this may instruct us , not to trust in them alone for our Salvation . For , tho' it be true , that we cannot be saved without them ; yet it is as true , that we cannot be saved by them alone ; because an Imperfect Cause can never produce a Perfect Effect . Such Salvation then , as the Gospel has taught us to hope and expect , God in our Saviour only can bestow ; but we can never by our Good Works deserve . And therefore , even he , who has wrought out such Salvation for us , has taught us ( when we have done the best we can ) still to confess our selves unprofitable Servants .

5. Lastly , If no Man's Obedience be perfect in this World , then it will but ill become us to boast of our Perfection here : Which in this latter Age has been the known Practice of several proud Seducers , and Enthusiasts ; who have therefore despised all other Christians , but those of their own Cast or Sect , as carnal and profane Creatures . A Pride hateful to God and Man , and such , which has constantly betrayed it self to come from that proud Spirit , ( which is the great Deceiver ) by the detected Falsities , Forgeries , and Villanies of its most celebrated Pretenders . Let us therefore have a care , that we be sober , and humble : Let us not be high-minded , but fear : And seeing there remaineth a Rest for the People of God , let us labour to enter into that Rest , lest any of us fall short , by reason , not only of our Unbelief , but of our Confidence also .

CHAP. IX .

Whose that Perfect Obedience is , in Consideration of which , Eternal Happiness is given to Man . That it is our Saviour's . Some Objections answered ; and the Doctrine of the Imputation asserted , 1. Against those , who acknowledge the Expiation ; 2. Against those , who deny it . This Doctrine agreeable to the Scriptures .

HAving laid it down in the former Chapter , that those who shall be rewarded with Eternal Happiness , shall be entitled to a Perfect Obedience , in order to such their Reward : Our next Business is to enquire , Whose that Perfect Obedience is , to which they shall be so entitled ; and whether they can obtain such Title according to the Rules of Reason , and the Laws of Justice .

1. And to satisfie this Enquiry , we lay it down , first , That as the Obedience of our Saviour to the Law , while he was in the Flesh , ( and so under the Law ) does alone in Justice deserve that Eternal Happiness , which is promised in the Gospel ; so the Imputation of such his Righteousness to Believers , is the only true and just Reason , why they shall be made Partakers of such Eternal Happiness . When the Apostle tells us , in the Fourth to the Galatians , the Fourth and Fifth Verses , That God sent forth his Son , made of a Woman , made under the Law , to redeem them that were under the Law ; he seems to insinuate at least , that our Saviour's being under the Law , was in such Saviour a requisite Condition in order to his working out of Man's Salvation . Now , had our Saviour been such a Man as other Men are , the Reward ( it is confessed ) had only concerned his own Obedience : But , because by taking upon him the Nature of Man , he obliged himself to obey that Law , which God had given to Man ; and because he took upon himself the Nature of Man , when he might have refused so to do ; and lastly , because he took it upon himself for Man's sake alone , and not for his own ; therefore for Man's sake alone , and not for his own , he put himself under an Obligation of obeying the Law . From all which , the least that can be inferred is , that Man was to reap some considerable Benefit and Advantage from such his Obedience .

It is usually alledged in this Place , That had he not obeyed the Law himself , he could not have been qualified to make an Expiation by his Death for the Transgression of others : And we may take notice , that they who offer this Allegation , do in effect tell us , that his persect Obedience to the Law , was nothing more , in order to Man's Salvation , than a previous Condition to sit and capacitate him to make such Expiation .

2. And therefore we offer it to Consideration , in the second place , That the Reward promised in a Saviour to those , who do confessedly pay but an imperfect Obedience to the Law , is greater than that Reward which was promised to Adam's perfect Obedience , without a Saviour . It is true , there is not in the Law given to Adam any express Promise at all : But then it is as true , that there is an implied Promise . For , when the Law does threaten his Transgression with Death , it does as good as promise Life to his Obedience . And indeed , there was no Occasion , much less any Necessity , that the Promise of the Reward ( which was Life ) should be express ; because the Law being given to Man in his Innocence , ( that is , while he was in actual Possession of the Reward ) he was by the Tenor of the Law secure of such Possession , if he did not forfeit it by his Transgression .

Now we therefore say , that the Reward promised in a Saviour to those , who do confessedly pay but an imperfect Obedience to the Law , is greater than that Reward which was promised to Adam's perfect Innocence ; because we are assured by the Gospel , that Eye hath not seen , nor Ear heard , nor can it enter into the Heart of Man to conceive , the Reward which God has prepared for those , who in a Saviour shall be saved . But we are sure , that no such Things can be truly said of the Reward promised to Man in his Innocence : For , he knew his Reward experimentally , and therefore it could not be to him Inconceivable .

Put we the Question then , How comes the Reward promised in the New Covenant , so far to differ from , and to exceed the Reward promised in the Old ? For , no doubt , there is therefore a good Reason for such Difference , because all God's Words and Actions proceed ( if I may be allowed so to speak ) from Essential Reason : And it is as certain , that they all proceed from Justice . Now , neither Justice nor Reason do tell us , that an Immense and Inconceivable Reward can be assigned to a broken and imperfect Obedience ; and , in the mean while , a less Reward be assigned to a perfect Obedience . Since therefore a less Reward was proposed to Adam's Obedience , ( had such his Obedience been perfect ) than what in a Saviour is proposed to a Christians imperfect Obedience ; it is notorious , that such different Rewards can neither in Justice nor Reason be assigned to the different Obediences , as such ; but that the Reward to the Christian must derive from his Saviour's Merits , as the Reward of Adam must have derived from his own . If therefore it be demanded , upon what Grounds the Christian's Reward does derive from his Saviour ; the only Answer that can be given , is , That it must derive either from his Saviour's Sufferings in his stead , or from his Saviour's Obedience in his stead . And then , because we have already made it out , that it cannot either in Justice or Reason , or indeed in Common Sense , derive from his Saviour's Sufferings ( which do and can , and that too in Nature , only relate to his Punishment , but not at all to his Reward ) therefore we do at last conclude , that that immense Reward which the Gospel assigns to the believing Christian , it does assign to him only in Consideration of his Saviour's Obedience .

Before we go any farther , we may from what has been said , observe , That the immense Value of our Saviour's Person and Dignity does shew forth it self , as well in the immense Value of his Obedience , as in the immense Value of his Death and Sufferings . For , as it is evident , that the Reward of his Obedience is inconceivably greater than the Reward of Adam's had been , ( had Adam been obedient ) so , for the same Reason , it is infinitely greater than the Obedience of any other Man , were that other only such a Man as Adam was . The Dignity therefore of the second Adam is inconceivably greater , than the Dignity of the first .

Now , as by what has been said , it has appeared , that the Obedience of our Saviour is the only Obedience , that is or can be entitled to a Gospel-Reward ; so , in what is to follow , we must make it our Business to shew , first , that Christian Believers may in Reason and Justice be entitled to such his Obedience , ( which is to be made good by Reason ; ) and , in the next place , that they shall actually be so , ( which is to be made good by Scripture . ) And then , if upon the whole Matter it shall appear , that they may be so entitled , and that in order to their Salvation , it is necessary that they be so ; then the Conclusion will be , That the Doctrine of the Imputation is therefore true , because the Salvation of Believers is certain . But then I would have it remarked , that I only say , that this Conclusion will follow , if our Reasons prove good . For , because the Salvation of Believers is generally agreed to be express Revelation ; but the Imputation in order to such Salvation , is not ; therefore , as our Reasons , and those Interpretations of the Scriptures which we bring to back them , may be found defective ; so , when once they appear so to be , I do profess in this Case , as in all others , that I shall willingly part with them ; because to me , express , and on all Sides acknowledged Revelations , do weigh a great deal more , than all Reasonings , and elaborate Deductions , or Interpretations whatsoever .

Now , to make it out , That our Saviour's Obedience may be justly and reasonably imputed , or assigned over to Believers , in order to their obtaining the Reward of such Obedience , I would take notice in the

1. First place , That it is a Thing in a manner generally agreed among Mankind , that one Man's Duty ( in many Cases at least ) may be done by another , and yet the Reward of such Duty shall be thought , and that too justly , to belong , not so much to him who did the Duty , as to him for whom it was done . The Thing is notorious in all Proxies , Deputations , and Substitutions whatsoever : And every Proctor , Attorney , Sollicitor , Factor , Journey-man , Apprentice , and Servant , is a Witness and Proof of it . For , all such Persons do , as such , act , not for themselves , but for others ; and the Benefits and Advantages which arise from such their Actions , do accrue to others ; and , which is more , and more to our purpose , are by the Common Sense of Mankind thought to do so justly . And tho' it be confessed , that in most , if not all the Cases mentioned , some Benefit does come to him , who actually does the Duty ; yet it is known also , that such Benefit becomes his Due , only by a collateral Contract ; but that it is neither the full , nor the direct Reward of the Duty done by him . For , the whole Right of such Reward is universally thought to belong to his Principal . And I do hardly believe , that any Man , tho' never so just and righteous , does then think that he wrongs his Journey-man , when he pays him his Wages agreed between them , tho' by so doing he does not allow him all that Profit , which he himself reaps by his Work . But if any Man , the better to maintain his Argument , shall resolve with himself to go against the ordinary Sense of Mankind in the Case , and shall pertinaciously affirm , that such Dealing is unjust ( as I am satisfied , that in some special Cases some Men are so resolved ) I shall not at present ( because I need not ) contend the Point with them ; but shall add in the

2. Second place , that which serves as well for our present Design , but what is more free from all Exception ; and that is , That if any Friend , purely of his Good-will , without any Expectation of Recompence or Reward , nay , with a fixed Resolution not to receive any ; I say , if such a Friend shall undertake and discharge the Duty of another ; whether his so doing may not so far be imputed to such other , as to entitle him to that Reward , which belongs to such Duty . To say , [ It cannot ] would go a great way towards the making of all Friendship useless , and would have a great tendency towards the rendring of all Peoples Lives forlorn and comfortless ; and , when throughly examined , would be found to contain so much Uncharitableness in it , that ( were there nothing else in the Case ) yet such an Opinion , purely upon the account of its Malignity , and ill-natur'd Influence upon Humane Affairs , may very well be thought not to contain that Justice in it , to which it pretends . And therefore , because a mutual and friendly Assistance of each other , in the Discharge of the several Duties that lie upon us ; and sometimes in the undertaking and performing each others Duties entirely , is very beneficial to Mankind in general ; and because Justice is so too ; therefore we shall rather conclude , that it is agreeable to Justice , than that it contradicts it , that one Man may , not only receive , but also have a Right to the Reward of that Duty , which yet is done for him by another . To which we shall add ,

3. In the third place , That when one Man is disabled from doing his Duty , and another , in Compassion to his Disability , does it for him ; there it will be so far from being unjust , that the disabled Person should receive the Reward of the Duty so done , that it would be uncharitable ( and all Uncharitableness is at least a Degree of Injustice ) to debar him of such Reward .

Now before we proceed any further , we do , in order to our main Design , from the Propositions already laid down and confirmed , conclude in the first place , That our Saviour being made of a Woman , made under the Law , that is , being Incarnate , and made Man , in order to qualifie himself , among other Things , to fulfil the Directions of the Law given to Man , might justly ( if he so designed and pleased ) do that Duty for other Men , which the Law laid upon them as their Duty ; and by doing such Duty in their stead , might entitle them to that Reward , which the Law had promised to those , who should obey it . For , the Reward , by the Tenor of the Law , becoming his Right , upon the Account of his Obedience , there can ( I think ) no doubt be made , but that he may , and that justly too , Assign over such his Right to whom he pleases ; and that he may so much the rather do so , because those , to whom he makes such Assignment , were utterly disabled , and that too without their own Personal Fault , to do such Duty themselves . And there can be the less doubt , that he might so do , because , had it not been for Man's Disability , and for Man's sake , there had been no Occasion , and much less any Necessity , that he should have been Incarnate , and so have been made Man himself ; that is , ( so far as we are concerned at present ) there had been neither Occasion nor Necessity that he should have brought himself under any Obligation of obeying the Law given to Man .

Now , if we add , to what has been spoken , that our Saviour will only assign over the Reward of his Obedience to those , who tho' they neither did nor could obey the Law , yet however were willing , and did testifie the Sincerity of their Willingness by their hearty Endeavours to have obeyed it ; and who moreover were heartily grieved and troubled , that they could not make good their Endeavours , ( which yet is really the Case between our Saviour , and all those , who shall be rewarded for his Righteousness : ) I say , if we add this Consideration to all the former , it may perhaps help to give us a more rational Satisfaction in the Case , and may convince us , that his Assignment of the Reward of his own Obedience , to such People , is an Act of Justice , as well as Pity ; because God , by putting his Creatures into Being , has ( and with all Reverence I desire to speak it ) instated them in a Right to such Things , without which they must needs be miserable , and which ( tho' they heartily endeavour it ) yet they cannot by their own utmost Powers supply themselves with .

From the Whole , we may rest satisfied , that the making over of that Happiness , which was the Reward of our Saviour's Obedience , to other Men , is no such absurd or unjust Thing , as it is but too generally taken to be . And I am pretty well assured , that some even of those Men , who have stiffly opposed it in the Case of Man's Salvation by our Saviour , yet both have and will allow it in other Cases , that run parallel with it ; and that therefore , in order to their taxing such a Way of Proceeding of Injustice , they do even contradict themselves .

It may perhaps be objected , That our Saviour , by assigning the Reward of his Obedience to any others , does by so doing dispossess himself of such Reward ; because , by making it over to them , he does in effect make it away from himself .

Which seeming Difficulty ( for so I shall only call it in this Place ) may be easily removed , if we do reflect back upon what has been said in this Chapter , concerning the Inconceivable Value of the Purchase made by our Saviour's Obedience , and the Inconceivable Dignity of his Person : And , when we have made such Reflection , shall go on farther to compare it with what has been spoken to , and made good , concerning the extensive Merit of his Expiation , in the beginning of the Sixth , and upon the Second Objection of the Seventh Chapters . For , by comparing what has been said in those two Places , with the Case now before us , and by applying the one to the other , it will be no hard matter so to resolve this seeming Difficulty , as that it shall not any longer appear to be any such Thing .

But to return : As it has appeared , that Men may obtain the Reward promised by the Law , in virtue of their Saviour's Obedience to the Law , whereas yet they have not obeyed the Law themselves ; so , if the Reward due to their Saviour's Obedience , can therefore only be justly transferred upon them , because their Saviour did obey the Law in their stead : Then the next Conclusion will be ,

2. That his Obedience to the Law must , in order to their receiving such Reward , be accounted as theirs ; that is , in other Words , his Obedience to the Law must be first imputed to them as theirs , before they can have a just Title to that Happiness , which is only the legal and just Reward of his Obedience . For , if one Man performs that , which it was another Man's Duty to do , but yet does not do it , or , which is more , professes that he does not do it for that other ; in such Case , that other can never in Justice either claim or receive the Reward belonging to such Performance ; because that Performance can never be made his , till it be made over by him , who was the Author of it . And , on the other side , it is no easie Matter to conceive , how one Man should make over the Reward due by Law to his own Obedience , to another ; if such his Obedience , to which alone such Reward is by the Law inseparably annexed , be not some way or other made over also ; And if such Obedience , in such a Case , must some way or other be made over ; the least that can be supposed , will be , that it must be made over by Imputation . For , the Merit of the Reward consisting in the Goodness or Holiness ( which you will ) of the Obedience ; and the just Gift of the Reward ( according to the Law ) depending upon the Merit of that Reward ; it is obvious to infer , that the Reward can only there be justly given , where the Merit is lodged ; and that the Merit is only lodged there , where the Holiness or Goodness of the Obedience is lodged : For , the Promise of the Reward is only made to the Obedience . If therefore Eternal Happiness ( the Reward of Obedience to the Law ) may be justly transferr'd to any Man , in Consideration of his Saviour's Obedience ; it will follow , that the Merit of such Reward must ( at least Imputatively ) be transferr'd also : And if the Merit of the Reward be transferr'd , then that , in which that Merit does alone consist ( and that is the Obedience ) must be transferred likewise .

And , upon the whole Matter , we do conclude , that that Part of the Gospel-Salvation , which consists in Eternal Happiness , ( which is the Reward of the Saviour's Obedience alone , in rigour of Law ) may by that Saviour be justly assigned over to Man , which was the First Thing which we undertook to make good : And , secondly , That to make good the Justice of such Assignment , that Obedience , to which alone such Reward does in Law belong , must ( at least imputatively ) be assigned over also .

It may be objected here , That I talk of the Law , when I should talk of the Gospel . For , tho' it be true , that the Reward promised by the Law to Obedience does only belong , and therefore can in Justice be only bestowed upon a perfect Obedience ; yet it is not true , that the Reward promised by the Gospel is so clogged or limited , but that by the Tenor of such Gospel it may belong to an Obedience that is not perfect , provided such Obedience be attended with Sincerity , and followed with Repentance .

Now , in answer to this Objection , it is freely granted ,

1. That the Promise of the Reward in the Gospel-Covenant is , as it is said to be ; that is , it stands engaged to Sincerity and Repentance ; and that therefore those Believers that are sincere in their Obedience , and penitent for their Failings , ( tho' neither their Obedience , nor their Repentance be absolutely perfect ) yet shall inherit such Promise .

2. But then , in the second place , it must be also acknowledged , that God has made and established that Promise of the New-Covenant in our Saviour , and in our Saviour alone . Now , the Business of our present Enquiry is not , what is the Promise of the Gospel , ( for in that we are agreed ; ) but upon what just and rational Consideration such Promise is founded . And since it is agreed in general , that it is founded in our Saviour ; all the Debate at present is , Whether the Promise of the Gospel-Reward be founded in that Saviour's Obedience , or in his Death ; or , in other Words , Whether the Promise of the Reward be not so grounded upon our Saviour's Obedience , as the Promise of Pardon is upon his Expiatory Sacrifice . And if those Reasons which we have already , or shall hereafter offer , do prove , that in Justice and Reason it is so ; then the Objection vanishes .

I may add , That the Objection only speaks to the Matter of Fact , that there is a Promise made in the Gospel to an Imperfect Obedience , which no one , so far as I know , denies ; ) But it does not speak , as to the Matter of Right and Justice , how such a Promise can be justly and reasonably made , without any Violence offered to the Law of Works , which is God's Law , as well as the Gospel is so : And we may be sure , that God's Laws do not either contradict each other , or controul any the Laws or Rules of true Justice or Reason .

That then , which is the only Thing which is at present maintained , is , That the Promise of the Reward in the Gospel to an Imperfect Obedience had never been made to Man at all , because it could not have been made justly , if the Law of Works given to Man had never been fulfilled by Man ; and that the Gospel-Promise was granted in Consideration that our Saviour fulfilled that Law . And to this , the Objection , so called , is really no Objection at all .

It is confessed indeed , that the Eternal Life promised to Believers in the Gospel , will be attended with an Happiness inconceivably greater , than the Eternal Life promised in the Law to Adam ; and it may be thereupon surmised , that the Reward promised in the Gospel has no Eye to the Obedience required in the Law ; and ( if it has not ) that then the Eternal Happiness of Believers cannot be the Purchase of our Saviour's Obedience to the Law .

To which I shall say no more at present , than this ; viz. That it is agreed , that our Saviour by his Death took away Death , the Curse of the Law , and made good such his Atchievement by a Resurrection . Now , the Life after the Resurrection is a Life in a Spiritual Body , not in a Natural , ( I speak the Apostle's Words : ) And our Natural Reason tells us , that a Life in a Spiritual Body , is a more refined and exalted Life , than a Life in a Natural Body ; and that in multitudes of Circumstances it must needs differ from it ; perhaps in so many , that it may be as inconceivable to us now , as the future Happiness of the Saints . And yet this refined and exalted Life is no good Argument , that it was not purchased by our Saviour's Death ; nor , that such his Death had no Eye to the Law of Works in such Purchase .

And so say we : Tho' the Happiness of the Blessed be greater , vastly greater , than what was by the Law of Works promised to Adam upon his Obedience ; yet that can never make it out , that such Happiness is not the Purchase of our Saviour's Obedience , or that such his Obedience was not an Obedience to the Law of Works . It may indeed convince us of the super-eminent Dignity of his Person , and of the inconceivable Value of that Reward , which by being purchased by him , derives such its Value from such his Dignity , as we observed before ; and which is directly to our present purpose , it may furthermore convince us , that the Reward of Believers is the Reward of their Saviour's Obedience made over to them ; but not a Reward that does or can belong to their own ( at the very best ) Imperfect Righteousness .

I know very well , that this Doctrine is denied by many Divines , and other Learned Men ; and those too , not only such , who do utterly deny , that God bestows Salvation upon Men in consideration of their Saviour's Merit and Purchase ; but even by the generality of those , who yet do ascribe the Salvation of Man to such Purchase and Merits . What Reasons they offer for such their Denial , we shall speak to hereafter : But , in the mean time , we shall go on to make good the Imputation , against each Party that denies it ; and after that , shall shew , that the Reasons of such their Denial have not that weight which they seem to have .

1. And first , we shall speak to them , who do not barely acknowledge , but even contend , that the Salvation of Man is obtained in Consideration of the Merits , that is , in Consideration of the Death of our Saviour .

And the Men of whom we now speak , do maintain , That in order to Man's Redemption , our Saviour died for Man's Sin ; and that , by such his Death , he puchased for Man a Freedom from that Vengeance , which is the just Wages of such Sin . Now , what they so maintain , we believe to be true , and are ready to join Hands with them to make it good , against all the Adversaries of the Cross of Christ . So far therefore we are agreed . But then , it may be demanded , How our Saviour can possibly suffer for Man's Sin , if the Sin of Man be not imputed to him ? For , in order to his suffering for Man's Sin , he must take upon him such Sin ; and the taking upon him Man's Sin , is the having Man's Sin accounted as his own ; that is , in effect , and in other Words , the having Man's Sin imputed to him . And then , on the other Side , how can Man have any Pretence of Benefit from his Saviour's Sufferings , if the Merit of such Sufferings be not imputed to Man ? For , without such Imputation , the Merit ( be it what it will ) can only belong to the Saviour himself .

It is evident therefore , by what has been said in short , but might be made out in more Words ) that they who assert the Expiation of Sin by our Saviour's suffering in Man's stead , do therefore entitle Man to the Benefit of such Expiation , because Man's Sin was imputed to his Saviour , and the Merit of his Saviour's Sufferings , at least , imputed to Man .

Things therefore standing thus in the Case of the Expiation , it may be reasonably and further demanded , Why our Saviour's Righteousness or Obedience may not as warrantably be imputed to Man , as Man's Sin may be imputed to his Saviour ? or , Why the Eternal Happiness , which is assigned as the Reward of Obedience by the Law , may not be bestowed upon Man in Consideration , that the Merit of his Saviour's Obedience is imputed to Man ; as well as a Release from Punishment may be granted to Man in Consideration that the Merits of his Saviour's Punishment are imputed to Man ? For , there is the very self-same Reason , why the Obedience of our Saviour should be imputed to Man , in order to Man's Salvation , that there is , that the Sin of Man should be imputed to our Saviour , in order to such Saviour's Condemnation : And there is the self-same Reason , why the Merit of our Saviour's Obedience should be imputed to Man , in order to Man's obtaining Eternal Life ; as there is , that the Merits of our Saviour's Sufferings should be imputed to Man , in order to Man's Release from Death . That is , Imputation is as reasonable and as justifiable in one Case , as in the other ; for they both stand upon one and the same Foot ; and for that Reason , he who throws down one , throws down both . And therefore , whoever rejects the Doctrine of the Imputation of our Saviour's Righteousness to Man , does , by so doing , reject the Imputation of Man's Sin to our Saviour , and all the Consequences of it : Or , in other Words , he who rejects the Doctrine of the Imputation , does , by so doing , reject the Doctrine of the Expiation likewise .

2. Those Men who do so far maintain Man's Salvation to depend upon the Merits of our Saviour's Death alone , as to deny Imputed Righteousness to have any thing to do in the Purchase of Salvation , do not seem to me sufficiently to consider , that there are Two Things contained in the Death of our Saviour ; 1. The Death it self ; and , 2. His Obedience to the Will of his Father , in submitting himself to such a Death . Now , because Death is , properly speaking , what he underwent for the Expiation of Man's Sin , ( for the Vindictive Part of the Law does expresly assign Death as the Punishment of Sin ) hence it is ( as I conceive ) that most of those who have discoursed of Man's Redemption for the Sake and Merit of our Saviour's Death , have placed the Merit of the Purchase only in such Death ; and in the mean time have wholly laid aside all Consideration of the Merit of that Obedience , which attended it . But because the Scriptures in the Case speak otherwise , and because we must needs be best instructed out of them , in any thing which concerns our Saviour ; therefore , laying aside at present all Schemes of Humane Reasoning or Contrivance , we shall entirely apply our selves to them for such Instruction . Take we notice therefore , that they inform us , that our Saviour was delivered to death by the determinate Counsel and Foreknowledge of God : So St. Peter tells us , in the Second of Acts , and Twenty third Verse ; and so we are told in other Places . From which we infer , that the Sufferings and Death of our Saviour was an Act of Obedience to the Will and Counsel of God . All which St. Paul gives us in a few Words , but those very full to our present Purpose , when he tells us , in the Second to the Philippians , the Eighth Verse , that Jesus Christ being found in fashion as a Man , humbled himself , and became obedient unto Death , even the Death of the Cross . Since therefore our Saviour's Death was , at least , one Branch of his Obedience to the Will of his Father ; that is , since his Obedience in the Scripture-Account was shewed in his Death , as well as in his Life ; and therefore Both , when in Conjunction , were one and the self-same thing : I would desire to know , upon what Ground , or by what Warrant , it can be imagined , and much less defended , that Man is saved for the sake of his Death , but that he is not saved for the sake of his Obedience . And I would so much the rather insist upon this Inquiry , because tho' it should be granted , that our Saviour's Death was meritorious of Man's Everlasting Happiness , ( and that is the present Case ) then , if we must make an Opposition between his Death and his Obedience , ( and to ascribe Man's Happiness to his Death , but not to his Obedience , does make such an Opposition ; ) but , I say , if there must be an Opposition made between them , it seems much more agreeable to Reason , nay indeed to common Sense , to ascribe such Merit to the Obedience of his Death , than to his Death . For , it is the Voice of Natural Justice , that Duty and Obedience may deserve a Reward ; but it is a Strain beyond Conceit , that Punishment should do so too : For , if that were allowed , then the suffering of Punishment for the Breach of the Law , might be justly meritorious of a Reward , as well as Obedience to the Command of the Law ; and so at long run it would come to the same Event to break the Law , as to keep it . But , because that cannot be allowed , therefore , if People will have an Opposition in the Case , where the Scripture has made none , we should rather ascribe Man's Eternal Happiness to the Obedience of our Saviour's Death , than to the Death it self . And then , if our Eternal Happiness may be ascribed to the Merit of our Saviour's Obedience in one Case , why may it not be so in more ? For , for the same Reason that a Believer may be interessed in the Obedience of his Death , he may be interessed in the Obedience of his Life too . Since then , in the present Case , it is allowed , that a Believer has his Interest by Imputation in the first Case ; it will follow , that he may , and ( considering what has already been said ) that he must have it so in the last . That is , in a few Words , That the Obedience of our Saviour both in his Life , and in his Death , must purchase for Man that Happiness , which by the Tenor of Justice is the proper and appropriated Reward of Obedience .

It being evident then , that for the same Reason , for which the Merits of our Saviour's Death may belong to Believers , the Merits of his Obedience may do so too ; and that both the one and the other do therefore belong to them , because they are imputed to them : Our next Business must be with those Men , who deny all Imputation whatsoever , and therefore neither allow the Merits of his Life or Death to have any thing to do in the Purchase of Man's Salvation .

And because we have already and largely discoursed of the Purchase made by his Death : Our only Business at present will be to enquire concerning the Purchase made by his Obedience . And because the Men , we have now to do with , do deny all Imputation of what our Saviour did or suffered whatsoever ; therefore we shall lay down , and attempt the Proof of this following Proposition : That that Righteousness , by which Believers shall be judged , and in consideration of which they shall obtain Salvation at the Resurrection , and the Great Day , shall be the Obedience of their Saviour , while he lived in the Flesh , imputed to such Believers .

1. In order to this , we take notice ; in the first place , That the Scriptures do tell us , That all Men shall be judged according to their Works , that is , according to their Obedience , or Disobedience in this Life .

2. We lay it down , in the second place , That all those who shall be adjudged to enjoy an Eternal Happiness , must , in order to that blessed Sentence , be first entitled to a perfect Righteousness . This , we reckon , is proved before .

3. We take notice , in the third place , That no Man , tho' never so righteous , yet ever did , does , or shall arrive at a perfect Righteousness in this Life .

The Question then , that remains to be resolved , is , How any Man shall come to be entitled to a perfect Righteousness , that so he may be entitled to Eternal Happiness ? And because no Man can warrantably say , how he shall not be , unless he do assign some Way how he shall be so entitled ; therefore they who in this Case deny all Imputation whatsoever , do tell us , that a perfect Holiness shall be bestowed by God upon Believers by Infusion ; that is , ( for so they must mean ) God shall by his Mercy and Free-Grace bestow such a Stock of Holiness upon Believers , as shall cleanse and fill all their Capacities , and so make them perfectly holy , and by consequence capable of Eternal Happiness .

1. Now tho' it be freely , granted , that God will in the next World bestow such an holy , God-like , and eternally-durable Frame of Spirit , upon all those who shall be saved , ( as we shall discourse more fully hereafter ) yet it is not in Consideration of such Holiness , that Believers do obtain that Eternal Happiness , which is the promised Reward of the Gospel . For , by what is to follow , it will , we presume , appear , that Salvation obtained in Consideration of our Saviour's Obedience imputed , is , First , Better accommodated to the Rules of Reason , and the Laws of Justice , than Salvation obtained in Consideration of an Holiness infused after a Resurrection : And , Secondly , That as it is better accommodated to the Rules of Reason , and to the Laws of Justice ; so , that it is so also to that Account which the Scripture gives us of this Matter .

1. For , the Obedience by which Believers are to be judged at the last Day , is that Obedience which was required of them in this World : And accordingly as Men have behaved themself here , so they shall receive the Reward of such their Behaviour there . So St. Paul , in the Second to the Corinthians , chap. 5. ver. 10. We shall all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ , that every one may receive the Things done in his Body , according to that he hath done , whether it be good or bad . By which we may understand , that the Distributions to be made by Justice upon a Resurrection have an Eye to the Lives of Men before their Death : And from thence we may infer , that they are not to be guided by an infused Holiness , which does ( even by those who plead for it ) not take place , till after the Resurrection . ( For , it is agreed on all Hands , that no Man's Holiness is perfect in this Life . ) Now , it does not look altogether so rational , nor so agreeable to the Measures of Justice , or the Revelations of Scripture , that a Man should be judged according to what he has done in the Body before his Death ; and yet , that he shall by the last Judicial Sentence be everlastingly rewarded for an Holiness infused by God after his Resurrection . And therefore , if we will adhere to Reason , Justice , and Revelation , we must conclude , that Believers do not after this Life obtain an everlasting Happiness in consideration of such an infused Holiness .

2. And , secondly , we may do well to take notice , that the Obedience of our Saviour to the Law , was the Obedience which was required of Man , and which was also paid by Man in this Life ; and that because such his Obedience was perfect , therefore the Reward assigned by the Law to Obedience , was in strictness of Law and Justice due to such his Obedience . If therefore his Obedience , while he was in the Flesh , may by any Means be so made over to Believers , as to be justly accounted theirs ; then there can be no doubt , but that their Right to the Reward appointed to such Obedience will be just and good too . And that it may be justly accounted theirs , we have , as we believe , made it good already . But an Holiness infused by God after a Resurrection , can in no Sense , nor in any Congruity be accounted , and much less can it be , an Obedience paid by Man ( while in the Body ) to the Law ; and therefore it cannot in any Sense , or in any Congruity , be such an Holiness , to which the Reward , allotted only to Obedience , can belong . And therefore , neither can Eternal Happiness be bestowed upon Believers , in consideration of such an infused Holiness . In one Word , Infused Holiness in order to Man's Salvation , does in no wise agree to that Account which the Scriptures give us of the Last Judgment ; and tho' it pretends to magnifie God's Mercy , yet it takes no care in the mean while to assert and vindicate his Justice ; but makes the whole Process of that great Assize to be arbitrary and illegal , whilst it opens a Way to Man's Happiness , by an Holiness , which has nothing to do with the Cause , upon which alone his Trial depends . For , a Reward conferr'd in another World , upon an Holiness infused in another World , does in no wise look back to , or pass a Judgment upon the Life that was led in this World . But because we know assuredly , and that by many express Testimonies of Scripture , that that will be the Work of the Last Day ; therefore , for that Reason alone , if yet there were no other , we cannot ascribe a future Happiness , the happy , just , and final Sentence of that Day , to such an infused Holiness . No! the Holiness , for which we are to be rewarded in a future Life , must be an Obedience practised in this Life . The Duty is laid upon Man by the Law here ; and the Reward stands engaged to the Performance of such Duty . And if the Righteousness of Man at the Resurrection be not an Obedience paid to the Law then , when the Law required such Obedience ; the Reward promised by the Law can in no wise belong to such Righteousness . And therefore , to fansie a Reward for an Holiness , in which the Law is not at all concerned , ( as it is not in an infused Holiness ) is to have no regard to the Law at all . For , Happiness bestowed in consideration of an infused Holiness , may as well be granted without the Law , as with it ; nay , indeed much better : Because , had there been no Law at all , then such a Management had not affronted the Law : Whereas the Law having been once setled , to bestow the Reward promised by the Law upon an Holiness , which has no Eye to the Law , ( as an infused Holiness has not ) is to slight and overlook the Law ; for it allows the Law to have nothing to do in the Allotment of such a Reward .

It may be plausibly objected in this Place , That while I vindicate the Cause which I undertake , against one Adversary , I give it up to another : Because , while I assert , That every Man shall at the last Day be judged according to his Behaviour in this World , I do in effect refer the Reward , that shall then be adjudged to Believers , to such their Behaviour ; that is , in the present Case , to their Obedience in this World : And that , because I do so , I therefore pull down with one Hand that which before I had set up with another , viz. the Imputation of their Saviour's Righteousness , in order to their Salvation .

1. But this Objection is grounded upon a Mistake ; which Mistake is , that the Objection supposes an Opposition between the imperfect Obedience of Believers , and the Imputation of their Saviour's Righteousness ; from which supposed Opposition , it infers , That if Salvation be bestowed upon them in consideration of the one , that it cannot for that Reason be bestowed in consideration of the other . And indeed , such a Supposition being granted , the Inference would be good .

2. But then , secondly , we do assert and maintain , That there is no such Opposition between the Imputation , and the imperfect Obedience of Believers , as that Salvation must be disjunctively bestowed in consideration of the one , in opposition to , and exclusive of the other . For , tho' we allow a Believer's imperfect Obedience to be a subordinate ; yet we do not allow it to be the meritorious Cause of Man's Salvation ; that is , tho' he shall have the Benefit of the Imputation , in consideration of his sincere , but imperfect Obedience ; yet he shall only obtain his Salvation in consideration of such Imputation . For , Justice only bestows the Reward there , where it is deserved ; and to bestow it elsewhere , may be called Mercy , or may be called Favour ; but cannot , either in propriety of Speech or Truth , be called Justice . Since therefore it is our present Business , to maintain that Method , in which God bestows not only Pardon of Sin , but over and above an eternal Happiness , to be just ; and since , in order to its being so , it must conform to his Law , which is so ; or else the Law cannot be fulfilled ; and since , lastly , the Law does not assign its Reward to an imperfect Obedience ; ( For , it requires a perfect , not an imperfect Obedience ; and its Reward can and does only belong to what it requires , not to what it does not require . ) Since , I say , the Case stands thus ; it is obvious to observe , First , That because the Reward is only bestowed upon the Saviour's , that is , upon a perfect Obedience , to which alone by the Law it does belong ; that therefore the Execution of the Law , in the Distribution of its Reward , is just : And , Secondly , That because ( as we have already proved ) such his perfect Obedience is justly imputed to Believers , in consideration of their sincere , tho' imperfect Obedience ; that therefore , as by his Obedience alone they are entitled to the Reward , so , according to the Tenor of the Gospel , by their own Obedience they are entitled to His. When therefore Believers come to be judged in another World , according to what they have done in this , the Enquiry shall not be , Whether by their Life led in this World , they have deserved an eternal Happiness in that ? ( for that needs no Enquiry , because it is most certain in it self , and confessed on all Sides , that they have not : ) But their Trial shall be , Whether their Obedience in this Life , tho' imperfect , ( and therefore in it self undeserving of eternal Happiness ) be such , as may so far entitle them to their Saviour's Purchase , as that his Obedience may be imputed to them , in order to their obtaining such Purchase .

I have therefore pursued this Thing the farther , because the Socinians do , as much as in them lies , vilifie the Imputation of our Saviour's Righteousness ; for by that Means they gain great Advantages , to run down the Doctrine of the Expiation . And yet too many of our own People do here close with them ; and do not , to me , seem to discern the mischievous Consequences that will fall upon the whole Doctrine of Redemption , if once our Saviour's Obedience be excluded from being the meritorious Cause of Man's Salvation . For , as to my self , I am at present very well satisfied , that if the Law had never been fulfilled by Obedience , the Breach of it had never been expiated by any Punishment inflicted for such Breach whatsoever . For , God's Design in promulging his Law was , that it should be obeyed . For , most certain it is , that it cannot be indifferent to him , whether we obey what the Law commands , or suffer what it threatens . No! his Design is , that we should be holy , and safe : Such a Design flows from his Nature , and is an Effect of his essential Bounty and Goodness , and therefore came from him freely , without the Invitation or Sollicitation of any Thing besides his own Propension or Inclination . But Judgment , that is , Punishment for the Breach of his Law , is his strange Work , that is , it does not come from him , as his Goodness and Bounty does , freely and spontaneously ; but is extorted from him by the Interposition and Provocation of Sin . To accomplish therefore the principal and more natural Design of his Law , it is necessary , that his Law should be obeyed ; for there is no other way of fulfilling of it . And therefore He who told us , that not one Jot or Tittle of it should fail ; told us likewise , that he came to fulfil it : Fulfil it , not only as the Antitype of it , but likewise as a Subject to it . The Law then was fulfilled by our Saviour's Obedience ; and by his Obedience alone : For all the rest of Mankind broke it . And had he not fulfilled it by obeying it , the Vengeance of it had always continued : For , it must have continued , so long as it was justly due ; and it must be justly due , so long as the Law remains broken , and not obeyed . We owe our Reward therefore to our Saviour's Obedience , as we do our Redemption to his Death . Nay , which is more , and more direct to our Text , because the Law must of necessity be obeyed , and because He alone did obey it ; therefore , for that Reason , as well as for several others , there is not Salvation in any other . I would desire them , whom it chiefly concerns , seriously to consider it .

And now having seen what Reason says to the Doctrine of our Saviour's Imputed Righteousness ; the next Thing to be enquired , because the next Thing proposed , will be to see , what the Scriptures say to it . In order to which , take we notice in the

1. First place , That our Saviour , at his Incarnation , did take upon him the same Flesh and Blood with us Men. For , because he , the Man Christ Jesus , and we , do both of us derive from one and the same single and common Stock , Adam ; and because we are several Propagations and Branches from that one Stock ; therefore we may be truly reckoned , because in reality so we are , the several and distinct Parcels of that common Flesh and Blood , out of which all Mankind are made . But tho' the Son of God became Man , in order to be the Saviour of Man ; and tho' he was made of the same Blood with all Men , in order to his becoming Man ; yet because we know , that the distinct Parcels of this common Flesh and Blood have , and that justly too , very different and sometimes contrary Allotments of Justice ; therefore we take notice ,

2. In the second place , That all those , who , according to his Gospel , are sincere and penitent , are secure of having the Communications of his Spirit . And then , tho' that Flesh and Blood , of which they with him are made Partakers , be common to all Mankind besides ; yet by such Communications it is so far particularized , ( if I may so speak ) as that in the estimation of the Gospel , those who enjoy such Communications do become a Part of himself . And hence it is , that such People are in the Scripture said to be Members of his Body , of his Flesh , and of his Bones ; and that he is so often , in the same Scriptures , called their Head . And we may know , that he himself does so account them , because he reckons those Kindnesses , which are done to his distressed People , as done unto himself . These Things then being so , how does the Scripture teach us to reason upon them in relation to our present Business ? Why , as Sin was the Transgression of Adam entailed upon all his Posterity , because the Covenant was made with him , and with all his Seed ; for , all Mankind ( as the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews speaks in the like Case ) were in the Loins of Adam in the Day of his Transgression : So Believers , in consideration of their Saviour , being regenerated by the Spirit , and so becoming the Children of God ; the Righteousness of such their Saviour does so belong to them , who are his Seed , [ See Isaiah 53. ver. 10. ] as Adam's Sin did to his . And therefore , in him they are the Sons of God , and the Heirs of the Covenant of Grace . And to this very purpose , and in this very manner too , ( if I be not very much mistaken ) the Apostle argues , in the Fifth to the Romans and the Nineteenth Verse : For , as by one Mans Disobedience many were made Sinners ; so by the Obedience of one shall many be made Righteous . And we may safely pronounce it , that the Parallel of the Apostle would be no Parallel at all , if the Obedience of Christ did not so affect Men in reference to their Righteousness , as the Disobedience of Adam did to their Corruption . And therefore , the same Apostle tells us , in the First to the Corinthians , chap. 1. ver. 30. That Christ is made to us Wisdom , and Righteousness , and Sanctification , and Redemption . And the same Apostle still , after he had renounced his own Righteousness , as well knowing , that it would not avail him for the Purchase of that Happiness which the Gospel promised , does confide only in that Righteousness , which is through Faith in Christ , in the Third to the Philippians , ver . 9. And in another Place , we are said to be made the Righteousness of God in him ; and , in the Prophet Jeremiah , he is twice called the Lord our Righteousness . Other Places might be produced , which , tho' they have been interpreted to a different Sense ; yet , by that Light which has been already offered , it does appear , that they do more than barely countenance what we now maintain , viz. That our Saviour's Obedience shall be made ours ; and how it shall be made so . For , what we have said concerning that Intimate Relation between him and his People , will be a sufficient Warrant for the Imputation of his Righteousness to them .

CHAP. X.

Some Objections answered , and some Practical Inferences made .

NOW besides those Objections , which lay directly in our Way ; and which we were therefore constrained to speak to , in order to clear and open our Passage in the Profecution of the present Argument ; there are some others , which lie against our whole Discourse , and which , because we have promised so to do , we must now speak to apart , and by themselves .

1. And first , it is objected against the Imputation of our Saviour's Righteousness , That such his Righteousness , which is meant in the present Case , is his Obedience to the Law , and that his Obedience to the Law does consist in the Conformity of his Actions to the Law . His Obedience therefore being lodged in his Actions , unless his Actions can be made ours , it is impossible , that his Obedience should be so . For , so long as the Actions of one Man are not the Actions of any other Man ; so long it must and will be true , that the Obedience , which is only paid by such Actions , and which is therefore undoubtedly lodged in such Actions , cannot be that others neither . This is the Substance of the Objection , which might be put in more Words ; but because I think the full Force of it is sufficiently expressed in what we have spoken , therefore it needs not .

1. Now , in order to clear this matter , we observe , first , That the Right which one Person has in a Thing , may be made over , or transferred to another Person , by the delivery of such Thing to him ; provided , that he who delivers it , do some way or other signifie , that it is his Mind , by such his Delivery , to transfer such his Right : Where we must take notice of Two Things ; First , That bare Delivery of the Thing , without such Signification , does not alter the Right in such Thing : For , in such Case , the Thing being only transfer'd naturally , but not legally , the Right in it is not transferred with it . Take the Thing in an Instance . A Man puts a Purse of Money into another Man's Hand , who stands by him , to hold it . In this Case , the Purse and Money is actually and naturally transferr'd from one Man to another ; but tho' it be naturally transferr'd , yet it is not ( for all that ) legally transferr'd : For , the Alteration of the Possession , does not in the Case alter the Right ; and so , tho the Money be removed from one Man to another , yet the Propriety in the Money is not . On the other Side , one Man by Deed of Gift , or some other legal and sufficient Conveyance , makes over his Right in the Purse of Money to another , but still keeps the Money in his own Possession : In such a Case , tho' the Money be not naturally , or locally , ( call it which you please ) transferr'd or made over to that other , yet it is legally so . For , tho' the Possession remain in the Donor ; yet the Right is transferr'd to , and therefore is in the Donee . The second Thing to be observed in this Case , is , that that Thing , whose Right is transferr'd by Delivery , must be something which is capable ( as our Law speaks ) of Manual Occupation . For , tho' the Right to some Things may be transferr'd by Delivery ; yet the Right to others cannot be so transferr'd .

2. Secondly , therefore , The Right in a Thing may be transferr'd from one Person to another by Deed , or any proper and legal Instrument of Conveyance there , where the Nature of the Thing is such , that the Thing it self cannot be transferr'd by Delivery . And such a Thing ( for Instance ) is a Privilege : For , we may bestow upon another a Privilege , which of Right belongs to our selves , and , by so doing , may give him a Right in such Privilege ; tho' we cannot so put him in the possession of it , as we can do of a Ring , or a Garment . Such a Thing then may be legally and rightfully transferr'd to another , tho' ( because it is not capable of Manual Occupation ) it cannot be transferr'd locally or naturally .

3. Thirdly , Where a Thing not capable of Manual Occupation does so inseparably by Law belong to one , that it cannot but do so , without Breach of the Law ; yet even such a Thing shall by Act of Law be so imputed to another , that that other shall receive the Benefits , or suffer the Mischiefs , which legally flow from such Thing , as if the Thing it self , which was the Cause of such Benefits or Mischiefs , had been his own . And such are the Actions of some Persons , when they stand in some sorts of Relations to other Persons . And , to come up a little closer to our present Design ; it is a known Practice in our own Law , the Law of England , that in some , if not many Cases , the Actions of the Wife shall be so reckoned the Actions of the Husband ; and , in some Cases , the Actions of the Husband shall be so reckoned the Actions of the Wise , that they shall , and that too by Law , receive the Advantages , and suffer the Disadvantages , of each others Actions . And I do the rather instance in this Case , ( tho' several others might be offered ) because we know , that the Scriptures do expresly tell us , that the Saviour is so the Head of his Body , the Church , as the Husband is the Head of the Wife .

These Things being laid down , in order to make plain what is now to follow ,

1. It is to be observed , in the first place , That the whole Transaction of Man's Salvation is managed by way of Covenant ; that is , it is managed in a judicial or legal , not in a natural way . This is as notorious , as it is , that the Transaction is carried on by mutual Obligations of the respective Parties engaged , by Promises , by Rewards , by Punishments , and the like . It appears likewise by the Sacraments , which are legal , not natural Conveyances of those Graces or Blessings , of which they are the Pledges . For , Water in Baptism does not naturally wash away Sin ; nor are the Bread and Wine natural Seals or Ratification of the Covenant in the Sacrament : They only give us a Title to the Benefits of it , as the Delivery of a Deed , a Turf , or a Wand , do to an Estate : That is , they are only legal Ways of Conveyance , and therefore do loudly proclaim a Covenant .

2. The Transaction of Man's Salvation being managed by way of Covenant , ( that is , in a legal or judicial , not in a natural way ) tho' it be granted , that the Obedience of one Man cannot naturally be made over to another ; yet it will not from thence follow , that it may not therefore be made over judicially , or in a legal way . Nay ! by what has been said already , it is notorious , that it may be so made over . And therefore , besides the Instance already offered between an Husband and Wife , ( which will in the Scripture-Account as well belong to our Saviour and Believers ) it is in some Cases the agreed Sense of Mankind , that he who does not hinder the bad Action of another , when it is in his Power , ( at least , when it is his Business , and so ought to be his Care so to do ) by not hindring it , does in Law make such bad Action his own : That is , the Action in Law shall be so imputed to him , as if he himself had done it ; and he shall accordingly be obnoxious to the just and legal Consequences of it . And then , if the ill Action of one Man may ( in a judicial way ) be justly imputed to another , and so be rated as that others ; then there can be no good Reason , why the good Actions of one Man may not be justly so rated and imputed likewise .

All therefore that the Objection offers , is , That one Man's Action ( be that Action Obedience , or what it will ) cannot naturally become or be made the Action of any other Man : But that it may not legally or judicially become so to all Intents and Purposes of Law , whether of Rewards or Punishments , as it does not affirm it , so , should it do so , it may , for the Reasons offered , be truly denied , because in deed and truth it is false .

But we shall have occasion to speak more to this Matter hereafter ; and therefore shall not pursue it any further here . Only one Remark I would leave upon it , and that is this : That it is too frequent a Practice , when Men discourse upon Points of Christian Doctrine , to treat of such Points rather as Natural Philosophers , than as Lawyers , or Divines : That is , that I may speak my Meaning as plain as I can , they fall upon the Nature of the Things , of which they discourse ; and so argue from their Natural Properties , Qualities , and Powers ; and from thence draw such Conclusions , which ( tho' they call them Theological ) yet have nothing to do with Divinity , or indeed with the Christian Religion . Whereas they should treat of those Things , which are concerned in Religion , in a legal and judicial way : They should examine , what Relation and Regard they have to that Holy Covenant ; how far they agree with , or differ from the Design and Purport of it ; and , by consequence , what Share they have , or what Influence they may or may not have , for the hindring or promoting , or accomplishing its Designs . The Case under our present Consideration will make my Meaning still plainer : For , they who tell us , that our Saviour's Obedience cannot be made over to Man , because it consists in Action , and because one Man's Action cannot , in the Nature of the Thing , be made over to another ; do only discourse of his Obedience in a natural Sense , that is , as Natural-Philosophers ; but do not discourse of it in a moral or judicial Sense , that is , as Divines , or Lawyers : And because they do not , therefore they start from the Business of Religion ; and so instead of discoursing of the Christian Covenant , they give us a Lecture concerning the Nature and Properties of Animal Motions and Powers : And , in the mean time , overlook that that is , or , at least , should be their Business , which is , the legal or judicial Consideration of such Obedience ; as , what Relation it has to the Law ; what Influence it has by Law upon the Person whose Obedience it is , or upon others ; how far the Merit and Desert of it may go , and the like . And , to come close to the Business we have been all this while upon , Because Imputation is an Act of Law , and not of Nature , to undertake to overthrow the Possibility of it by the Laws and Rules of natural Motions or Actions , is much the same thing , as to attempt to open a difficult Place of Scripture with a Knife , or a Saw : The Things are of different Natures ; and there is no Congruity in the Application of the one , for the Resolution of the other . And I am very well satisfied , that the Church of Christ had never been troubled with the Doctrine of Transubstantiation , if the Romish Priests had never heard of nor read either Aristotle , or his Commentators , concerning Substance and Accident . It was the jumbling of his Natural Philosophy , and Religion together , that produced the Monster . Nay , which is yet something more ; had they been trained up in any other sort of Natural Philosophy , they had been very well satisfied and contented without that new and uncouth Article of their Christian Faith . Other Instances might be produced to shew , that gross Fooleries and Corruptions have crept into Religion at this Door . Whereas a due Consideration , that the Christian Religion is a Covenant , and the treating of it as such , would acquaint us much better with the Nature , and engage us more effectually to the Duties of it . But this useful Remark being left in this place , we proceed .

2. The second Objection therefore against the Imputation of our Saviour's Obedience to Believers , in order to their obtaining the promised Reward of the Covenant , stands thus : That supposing , that our Saviour did provide for the Directive Part of the Law by his Obedience ; and that he did also fulfil the Vindictive Part by his Death : In such Case , there does therefore seem to be a Superfluity in his Provision ; because , should his Obedience alone be imputed to us , we should by that Means be entitled to a perfect Righteousness ; and then there had been no need of his Death to expiate our Sins , because then we should have had no Sins to be expiated . And that which may add some Strength to what is thus alledged , is this : That our Saviour paying that Obedience to the Law , while he was in the Flesh ; the Obedience so paid was paid before his Death ; and therefore , in the Course of Things , it should seem , that it might be imputed before his Death , and , in the Course of Justice , without it . For , when by such Imputation we were once entitled to his Righteousness , the Plea of his Death , in order to qualifie us for Happiness , must needs be useless and superfluous .

Now , tho' it may seem indeed , that Things might have gone so , if we only have a Regard to the Order of Time ; yet if we look to the Order of Reason and Justice , we shall easily perceive , that they could not . For , we cannot by any Estimation of Justice whatsoever be reckoned Righteous , so long as our Guilt lies upon us ; and , when once by our Sins we have made our selves guilty , such Guilt must needs lie upon us , till it be one way or other expiated . Now , because we have already and fully made it out , that it neither is , nor can be expiated any other way , than by the Death of our Saviour ; therefore the Death of such Saviour must , in the Order of Justice , first expiate such our Guilt , before we can possibly be entitled to a perfect Righteousness . For , who can put a clean thing into an unclean ? It is neither agreeable to the Methods of Wisdom or Justice , so to do : And therefore we may be sure , that it cannot be the Practice of the most Wise and Just God . No! we know well enough , because we are told so by the Spirit of God , that our Saviour first died for our Sins , and after that rose again for our Justification . And we know moreover , that when God had once given forth his Law , tho' , had an exact Obedience been paid to it , the Vengeance of it , which was only Conditionally threatned , had never been executed , ( for , the Justice and Execution of such Vengeance does entirely depend upon our Transgression ; ) yet after we had transgressed the Law , the Execution of such Vengeance was as necessary , as was the Happiness promised , if we had not transgressed it . For , Vengeance does , by the Tenor of the Law , stand in the same Relation to Sin , as Happiness does to Obedience . The first becomes our Due , in case we neglect our Duty ; the last , in case we perform it . And the Distribution both of the one and the other , must as necessarily follow , upon our Performance or Non-performance of those Conditions to which each of them do stand respectively engaged , as it is necessary for God to love Holiness , and hate Wickedness . One Part of the Law therefore is in Justice to be provided for , as well as the other . And then , if neither the Punishment of Man could fulfil the Law , on the one Hand ; nor the imperfect Obedience of Man , on the other ; and if our Saviour undertook for Man's sake to supply Man's Defects ; then there was the same Necessity in Justice , that he should fulfil the Vindictive Part of it , by his Death ; that there was , that he should fulfil the Directive Part of it , by his Obedience . And therefore , as neither his Obedience , not his Death , had been necessary , ( no , nor his Incarnation neither , upon which such his Death , and such his Obedience do depend : ) But , I say , as neither his Obedience nor his Death had been necessary , if Man had obeyed the Law himself ; so , upon Man's Transgression of the Law , they both became necessary : Because , as we have already seen , Man's Punishment is in Justice as necessary upon his Breach of the Law , as his Obedience was upon God's Promulgation of the Law . And therefore , when our Saviour undertook to save sinful Man , that is , Man who had transgressed the Directions of the Law , and Man who lay exposed to the Vengeance of the Law ; it was necessary , in order to his doing so justly , that he should have a Regard to one Part of the Law , as well as to the other ; that is , that he should fulfil the Vindictive by his Death , and the Directive by his Obedience . And had he not done both , one Part of the Law ( at least ) had been neglected , and so the Redemption had not been just . By which we may by this time understand , that there is no Superfluity in his providing for Man's Salvation , both by the Obedience of his Life , and by the Sufferings of his Death . For , that cannot in Reason be accounted Superfluous in the doing of any Thing whatsoever , without which such Thing cannot be done justly .

Now , as in our Answer to the former Objection , we made good not only the Possibility , but the Legality too of the Imputation of our Saviour's Righteousness ; so , in our Answer to this , we have shewed the conjunct Necessity both of the Imputation , and of his Death , in order to Man's Salvation . By all which , we may at last come to understand , that God in his Counsel for Man's Salvation , as he consulted his Mercy , so did not lay aside the Care of his Justice . For , the whole Transaction , as we have largely seen , was in him , Justice ; as it was to us , Mercy : Justice , as it fulfilled the whole Law ; Mercy , as it redeemed us from the Curse , and invested us in the Promise of the Law . A strange Mixture ! and ( had it not been discovered to us by Revelation ) by our Natural Reason not to be fathomed : But , as it is revealed , agreeable , as we have seen , to such Reason so assisted .

1. By which we may , in the first place , understand , That tho' Christ crucified be to the Jews a Stumbling-block , and to the Greeks foolishness ; yet to us he is ( and that notoriously ) the Wisdom of God , and the Power of God . For , his Wisdom and his Power can , we see , bring Things to pass beyond the reach of Angels and Devils , and therefore much more beyond the reach of short-sighted Man : And yet by his Light he can , because he has , instructed us , that such Things are not only the Effects of an Almighty Power , but of an Almighty Wisdom , of an Almighty Justice , and of an Almighty Mercy too . For , in the Business of Man's Salvation , as in all Things else , he does so display his Attributes , as that they never clash nor interfere . His Mercy does not fight against his Justice , nor his Justice against his Mercy ; and neither fights against his Wisdom . By the Revelation therefore of the Christian Religion God has admitted us to a nearer View of his Dealings with the Children of Men , and has , at least , communicated so much of his Counsel to us , as may assist us ( if we be not wanting to our selves ) to provide for our own everlasting Happiness and Security ; and to vindicate and assert his Justice and Mercy . Let us therefore thankfully receive the Mercy , as it is graciously offered ; and not pretend to regulate his Revelations by our feeble Reason ; but guide our Reason by his Revelations . For , we know , that he can do more than we can ; and therefore also we may know , that he can guide us better , than we can guide our selves . And because he has vouchsafed in Mercy so to do , it will but very ill sort with that Deference we owe him , to do , as too many now-a-days do , that is , to return from Revealed to Natural Religion , and so to walk in Paths , not only of our own chusing ; but , many times , of our own making too . For , since the Day-Star from on High hath visited us , it is our Duty , as to guide our Lives , so to guide our Faith by that Light which it affords us .

2. Since we can only be saved in Consideration of our Obedience to the Law , and since none of us have paid such Obedience ; and so , if we stand the Award of our own Deserts , we must needs fall short of Salvation : I say , since Things are so , we ought with Heart and Voice to praise our Saviour , who by an Infinite Condescension both obliged himself to obey the Law , and so intimately united us to himself , as to entitle us to his Obedience , by which we may be saved . For , as there is no other way of obtaining Salvation , but by Obedience ; so there is no other Name given but his , whereby we must be saved ; and therefore we may safely conclude , that that Obedience , by which we must be saved , is his . His Love to Righteousness then made his Obedience perfect ; and his Love to us made his Obedience ours ; and Both ( if we be not wanting to our selves ) will make our Condition happy and secure . And then surely our Security and Happiness , as they do very well deserve , so they do require a Thanksgiving . For , we therefore stand bound to be grateful to , and to love the Author of our Happiness , because we find , that we cannot but love our selves .

3. As we cannot be saved without our Saviour's Righteousness ; so , as we desire our own Safety , we should heartily endeavour to qualifie our selves to be made Partakers of such his Righteousness . And we may be sure , that our Desire , at least , after Righteousness , and our Good-will to entertain it , are necessary even for our obtaining the Imputation of it ; because it cannot in any Sense be ours , if we be not willing that it should be so . We must be therefore disabled to receive it , if we be unwilling to entertain it . So much Righteousness God requires of us , in order to our being entitled to a perfect Righteousness . I know , that some Divines do speak of Irresistible Grace , and that some few do defend it : That is , in a few Words , they make God , by the arbitrary Determinations of his own Pleasure , to bestow Grace upon some Men , whether they will or no , and even against their Inclinations . And , to make good what they so maintain , they instance in the Conversion of St. Paul , and such like Cases . But tho' St. Paul , and some others , have been converted by Miracle ; yet we know well enough , that Miracles wrought for the self-same purpose , have not always been attended with Success ; and that the Miracles even of our Saviour himself , and those too wrought before their Eyes , did fail of their designed Effect , and that , in a manner , upon the whole Nation of the Jews . And we know not the Hearts of Men , nor the inward , but real Preparations of Soul , that may duely qualifie them to admit God's Grace . But we do know , that St. Paul thought verily , that he ought to do as he did : And then , tho' he was defective in his Knowledge , yet because he acted according to such Knowledge , he was therefore honest and sincere in his Practice . And then , if God in pity to his Ignorance , and in approbation of his Sincerity , did reward that Sincerity with an extraordinary Direction for the guidance of his Practice ; we may from thence be taught , that his Grace was suited to St. Paul's Will . For , he willed that after the Miracle , which he willed before it ; that is , he willed that , which he took to be good . And indeed , we may as well think any other Creature to be capable of Righteousness , as we may think Man to be so without his own Will and Consent . Let us therefore take care , that we will and endeavour to obey God's Law , that is , to be righteous ; if we design , that God our Saviour should make us so : For , we cannot be like him , unless we are willing to be so . He therefore who would appear at the Wedding Supper of the Lamb , must take care to wash and cleanse himself from all Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit , in order to his putting on the Wedding-Garment . For , as they only shall be pronounced Blessed , who shall be found Righteous ; so they only shall be found so , who do sincerely desire and endeavour to be so .

CHAP. XI .

The First and General Proposition asserted from all that has been said : That the whole Doctrine of a Gospel-Salvation , as laid down in the Scriptures , is agreeable to the allowed Practices of Mankind in their Legal or Judicial Proceedings ; and is worded in the Scriptures accordingly .

AND now having gone so far , before we proceed any farther , we shall bring all that we have hitherto spoken , to our Design at the Beginning ; and by so doing , shall endeavour to make it out , That there is not Salvation in any other , but in Jesus Christ alone ; and , That there is no other Name under Heaven given among Men , whereby we must be saved .

1. And to do this , we shall first shew , That no other , but our Saviour alone , could so suffer for Sin , as to obtain a Release from the Penalty , which the Law had threatned against it : Or , which is much one and the same Thing , That no one , but our Saviour alone , could make an Expiation for the Sin of Man .

2. And , secondly , That no one , but our Saviour alone , could , by an exact Obedience to the Law , purchase that Reward , the Gift of Eternal Life , which the Law had promised to such Obedience .

1. Now , in order to our making good our first Proposition , we must examine , what Qualifications are absolutely necessary , in order to fit any one to make such Purchase ; and then enquire farther , Whether such Qualifications either do or can belong to any other , besides our Saviour alone .

1. Now the first and leading Qualification in him , who shall be fitted for the Purchase of a Release from the Penalty of the Law , which they have incurred , who transgress the Law , is , that he , who makes such a Purchase , must be one of the same Kind with them to whom the Law was given ; that is , in the present Case , must be a Man . For , the Law was given to Man , was broke by Man ; and therefore also the Breach of it , in the Congruity of Things , and by the Laws of Common Sense and Justice , is to be punished in Man . Now , tho' our Saviour was not the only Person in the World , who had this Qualification , ( for every Man besides is as real a Man , as he was ) yet he was the only Man among all Mankind , who by this Qualification was fitted for the effectual enterprising and bring to pass those other Things , which are absolutely necessary for the Purchase of the Release spoken of .

2. For , secondly , The next Qualification of him , who is fitted for the Purchase of a Release from the Penalty of the Law , is , that he must be an Innocent Man . He was to be a Lamb , without Spot or Blemish , and to answer to the Paschal Lamb , which in this , as in several other Things , was a Type of that Lamb of God , which should take away the Sins of the World . For he , who is qualified to suffer for others , in order to release those others from the Penalty of Sin , must not therefore be a Sinner himself ; because , if he be so , then he must by the Laws of Justice , and even according to the Tenor of that Law , which assigns such Penalty , suffer the Penalty for his own Sin : And he , who suffers the Penalty of the Law for his own Sin , cannot therefore suffer the Penalty of the Law for the Sin of others ; at least , in the present Case he cannot ; because the Penalty of the Law , upon the Transgression of it , being the loss of Life , his own Penalty exhausts the whole Stock or Possibility of his so suffering : For , he who has but one Life , ( and no Man has more ) can pay that Life but once : And therefore , if he lays it down for his own Sin , he must for that Reason have nothing remaining to lay down for the Sin of others .

3. He who is duely qualified to purchase for Mankind a Release from the Penalty of their Sins , must be a Man whose Life is of more value than the Lives of all the rest . And the Reason for it is plain and obvious , because we know , that the Lives of all the rest can make no such Purchase : And the Lives of all the rest cannot therefore make any such Purchase , because the Death of no single Man can make such a Purchase for himself . For , what no single Man's Death can do for himself , that the Death of all Men cannot do for all : For , there is just the same Proportion between all Men , and the Death of all ; that there is between one Man , and the Death of one . Besides , supposing a Man to be a Transgressor of the Law ; it looks very absurd to affirm , that the Death of such a Man , which is the Punishment of his Transgression , can be the Purchase of his Release from such Punishment : For then , the self-same Thing ( and that is his Death ) will bear a quite contrary Character ; for , it will be both the Wages of his Sin , and the Purchase of his Ransom ; that is , it will be the Vengeance of the Law , and the meritorious Cause of his Freedom from the same Vengeance . Every Sinner therefore against the Law , must be a Sufferer under the Vengeance of the Law ; and that Law , which adjudges those who transgress it , to Death , does not , by so doing , design to return them to Life : For , if it did , then , by inflicting its Sentence , it must design to revoke that Sentence , and , by making the Punishment a Release from the Punishment , must look like Trifling , and not like Justice .

The Loss of no Sinner's Life then is of Value sufficient to put a Period to the Execution of that Sentence , which the Law pronounces against those who do transgress it : And every Man's Death , in the Course of the Law , had been eternal , were there nothing else to remove it , but his own Strength , that is , in the present Case , but his own Death . For , if the Death of a dead Man can do nothing for him , we are sure , that no other of his Powers or Merits can : For , in the Case before us , he can have no other Merits of his own to restore him to Life , but the Merits of his Death ; and the Merits of his Death , as we have seen , are none at all . And to expect any Relief from a dead Man's Powers , is to expect Relief from no Powers at all ; for Death crushes all the Powers of all Men whom it seizes .

Now this being the Condition of all Men who die , because they are Sinners , we may from hence safely conclude , That if any Man , who is not a Sinner , shall undertake by his own Death to make good the Ransom of all the rest from Death , and after that , shall make good his Undertaking ; I say , if any Man shall do this ; we may be sure , that his Death , or his Life , ( which you will ) is therefore of more Value than the Life or Death of all the rest , because he does by it make that Purchase , which all the rest could not do by theirs . For , in the present Case , the Value of the Thing may be truly and justly estimated by the Possibility of the Purchase it can make ; because the Possibility of the Purchase depends upon the Allowance of the Great and Just God . And then when God is willing to release Man from Death , in Consideration of the Death of his Innocent Saviour ; and when he is not so , in Consideration of sinful Man 's own Death ; and when he does professedly declare such his Will in many Places of his Word , and by the repeated Attestations of Matter of Fact , whereby several People have been raised from the Dead , in the Name , and by the professed Power of the Saviour : I say , when we find all these Things to be so , ( as we do , or at least easily may find them so to be ) we may from the Whole conclude , That the Death of our Saviour is of more Value , than the Death of all Mankind ; because it can do that , which the Death of all the rest cannot do , and that too by the Allowance of God himself .

Now , from these Propositions , so laid down , we may therefore conclude , That there is not Salvation in any other , but only in our Saviour , set forth in the Gospel .

1. Because it was absolutely necessary in Justice , that the Law being broken by Man , the Punishment threatned by the Law should be inflicted upon Man . For , the Threatning of the Law has the same Eye , and the same necessary Relation to the Transgression of the Law , that the Reward has to the Obedience of the Law ; and either , the same necessary Relation to each , that it has to God's Holiness and Justice . And therefore , so necessary as it is , that God should be holy and just ; and so necessary as it is , that he should in his Laws be serious and true ; so necessary also it is that the Vengeance threatned by his Law should there take place , where the Duty commanded by the Law is not observed . Now because no Man , except our Saviour , could so undergo the Vengeance of the Law , as without such Saviour's Help to be ever freed from such Vengeance ; therefore we do from hence conclude , in the first place , That there is not Salvation in any other , but in our Saviour alone , as Salvation is taken for our Redemption from the Vengeance and Penalty of the Law .

2. Because no Man is qualified to suffer the Penalty of the Law so , as by such his Suffering to redeem others , that are Sinners against the Law , from their suffering for their Sin , unless he be Innocent himself ; and because no Man , except our Saviour , was ever Innocent , that is , no Man , except him alone , did ever fulfil the Law ; therefore no Sinner can be saved , as Salvation is taken for a Release from the Vengeance of the Law , but only by the Death of our Saviour , that is , by the Death of him , who was the only Innocent Person of all Mankind .

3. Since the Death of all Mankind ( because it is the Punishment threatned by the Law against the Transgressors of it ) is not of Value sufficient to expiate the Sin of Mankind , whether we consider their Punishment and their Guilt in the Gross or Lump , or whether we consider it in Parcels and Particulars ; and since Death is the necessary Punishment of the Law ; and since , lastly , if there be any Redemption purchased from such Penalty , it must , for the Reasons alledged , be made by a Death of more Value than all the Deaths of all Men : I say , from these Reasons in conjunction , we do conclude , That such a Death is necessary for Man's Redemption from the Curse of the Law . And then , whose Death that Death was , the Scriptures do sufficiently acquaint us ; for , they expresly and frequently tell us , that it was the Death of him , whom they set forth to us as our Saviour .

And from the Whole , we do infer , in the first place , that no other , but our Saviour alone , could so suffer for Sin , as to obtain a Release from the Penalty which the Law had threatned against it ; and that therefore there is no Salvation in any other ; and , that there is no other Name given under Heaven among Men , whereby we must be saved , as Salvation is taken for our Redemption from that Vengeance , which the Law threatens and executes upon the Transgressors of it .

2. The second Proposition therefore laid down at the Beginning , comes next in order to be made good ; and that is , That no one , but our Saviour alone , could , by an exact Obedience to the Law , purchase that Reward , Eternal Life , which the Law has promised to such Obedience . And to make this good in a few Words , we take notice , in the first place , That as the Law , by the same Tenor of Justice , does engage the promised Reward to the Obedience , as it does the threatned Vengeance to the Transgression of the Law ; so we may from thence infer , under this Head , That every Man , who will be Partaker of such Reward , must pay such Obedience ; as we did under the last , That every Man , who was guilty of such Transgression , must suffer such Vengeance . He therefore who does not obey the Law , does lose his Reward , as certainly , as he who transgresses it does pull upon himself his own Punishment . Now because , among all the Race of Mankind , no one , except our Saviour , has obeyed the Law ; therefore every Man besides him , when left to the Purchase of his own Obedience , has forfeited his Reward . No Man therefore does , upon his own Account , deserve such Reward . And then , because we know , that Justice does deal with Men according to their Deserts ; therefore , the Reward being Eternal Life , or Happiness , every Man , when left to himself , has lost such Happiness . That Part therefore of a Gospel-Salvation , which consists in Eternal Life , is not to be expected by any Man , but by the Saviour alone .

Now , that our Saviour obtained it for himself , is not questioned . And that it was the Gift of God to others , in Consideration of his Obedience to that Law , to which others , as well as himself , stood obliged , we have already , and at large made good . If therefore all other Mens obtaining Eternal Life , does not proceed from their own Obedience , but from their Saviour's ; then we may now begin to perceive , that there is not Salvation in any other , but in our Saviour alone ; and that too as Salvation is taken in the Gospel for the Gift of Eternal Life .

The Socinians , we know , who deny the Salvation of Man to be our Saviour's Purchase , do attempt to elude the Force and Evinence of that Text , which is the Subject of our present Discourse , and of several other express Places of Scripture , which assert the same Thing with it , by starting the Question , Whether or no God might not , by some other Means , have saved Mankind , had it pleased him so to do ? And by that Means have ( as we observed at the Beginning ) endeavour'd to alter the Controversie from Matter of Fact to Matter of Possibility ; and to engage others in that sawcy Dispute of what God can do , and of what God cannot do . Whereas it is sufficient for us to know , what God has done ; and abundantly sufficient , when he himself does furnish us with such Knowledge by his own express Word . And if what that Word tells us in the Case , be agreeable to our rational Sentiments , to that Light which he has afforded us to judge Things by ; if moreover it be agreeable to the Common Sense , that all Men have of Justice , ( and Justice and Reason in this Case are the same ; ) if that our Light , which confirms to us the Reasonableness and Justice of his Proceedings in the present Case , does by the same Measures guide all Governments , not only Christian , but others ; and if it be more than a shrewd Sign , that because Mankind do , and that too in their Laws and Judicial Proceedings , treat one another , for the most part , as God in the present Case does treat Mankind , that they are guided so to do by that Light , which he himself has afforded them : I say , if all these Things are so ; then it may , besides all that has hitherto been offered , make out the Conclusion , at least , very plausible ; That his Dealings with Mankind in and through a Saviour , as we have out of the Scriptures laid it down , are just and reasonable . Let us try the Matter in a sew Instances , which will direct our Meditations to a great many more , and see whether the Business be so , or no.

The Merits of our Saviour's Death , we say , and so do the Scriptures , are made over to us . We may add , but we need not , that they are so made over by his last Will and Testament . And , if we do add it , the Scriptures will bear us out in it .

The Merits of his Obedience also are , as we with the Scriptures say , made over to us .

By the first , we obtain Redemption from the Curse of the Law .

By the last , an Inheritance with the Saints in Light .

Now , what says the Light of Nature , when it discovers it self in the Practices of Mankind in the like Cases ?

1. Why , in the first place , The Father has served and obliged his Prince by a due Regard to his Laws , and to himself , and by a Defence of both from the disobedient Attempts , and rebellious or hostile Outrages of all others . In such Defence he has been a great Sufferer ; has lost his Estate , his Limb , perhaps his Life . The Son of this very Man , guided more by his own vicious Inclinations , than by his Father's Example , dips his Hand in Treason , and thereby forfeits his Life to the Law , and to his Prince . Suppose we now , that the Prince grants this Son his Life , in Consideration of the Father's Services and Merits , and so cancels the Demerits of the Son , by putting the Deserts of the Father in the Scale against them ; which , especially if the Father died in the Prince's Cause , is the ascribing or imputing ( which you will ) the good Deserts of one Man to another , who is utterly destitute of such Deserts . Now , such a Case as this being supposed ; will any Man accuse the Prince of Injustice , for the Grant of such a Pardon ? Was not the Injury done to himself ? And may he not remit such an Injury , by esteeming the great Services of the Father , and the Benefits that he himself received , and the Mischiefs which the Father sustained by such his Services , a sufficient Counterpoise to the Injury of the Son ? And may he not be satisfied , that the near Relation and dear Affection of the Father to the Son , may make the Son's Pardon a Gratification and Requital to him for all his own Services and Sufferings ? Surely these Things may be allowed among Men : And I do not at all question , but that these , or such like Things , have been practised in all Governments , and yet that their Justice has not been taxed for such their Practice . And yet I do assert and maintain , That the Pardon of Man's Sin in Consideration of his Saviour's Sufferings , does much more critically and nicely come up to the Rules of an exact Justice , than the Pardon of the Rebel in the present Instance does ; and I am well enough satisfied , that what has been already offered , will abundantly make good such an Assertion . But sawcie Man will not allow what his God says or does to be true and just ; tho' at the same time he will allow and approve the same , or the like Practices , in his Fellow-Creature .

2. But to proceed : Secondly , The Father , by his Labour and Toil of his Body , or by that of his Brains , purchases to himself an Estate . His Son enjoys his Share in it while the Father lives , and the whole of it after his Death . How comes the Father's Purchase to derive to the Son ? You will answer , By the Law . But the Question returns ; By what Act does the Law make the Father's Purchase to become the Son's ? Why , it may be replied , that as the Son descended from the Father , so it is but fit that his Estate should do so too . Well! be it so , or any thing else ; ( for more may be said in the Case . ) But still in the Case , the Father's Right being extinct by his Death , moves , that is , is transferr'd upon another : So that he comes rightfully to possess the Estate , who yet did not purchase it , nor earn it , nor perhaps do any one Act for the obtaining the Possession of it . Not only the Estate then , but the Right and Title to the Estate , which is undoubtedly lodged in the Purchase , and must be made good by it , is transferr'd from one Man to another , and that too not by or for any Action of Desert in the Man who enters ; but by an Act of Law , call it Imputation , Translation , or what you please . And , which is more , such a Translation both of Estate and Title is accounted just by all Mankind , generally speaking . For , it is not material in the Case , that some arbitrary and despotical Governments do in some few Instances vary from it ; because not only the rest of Mankind , but even they themselves , do , by their contrary Practice in other and more Cases , condemn their own Practice in this .

Now to our Purpose : Shall the transferring not only of one Man's Estate to another , but even of the Right and Title in that Estate , be thought just between Men among themselves , and that too by that Light of Reason , which is confessedly given them by God ? And shall it at the same time be unlawful and unjust for God so to make over his Purchase , his Right and Title to any Thing , ( as he thinks fit ) to Mankind , as one Man may do to another ? Certainly he has as good a Right , and as full Power of disposing of what is his own , as any Man , or any Law of Man whatsoever . And therefore , when he tells us , that he does so in the Case under our present Consideration , it would become us in Modesty , in Reason , and ( because the Case does very much import our Welfare ) in Interest likewise , to believe his Word , and to approve his Doings : And that too more especially , because in those very Writings , in which the Conveyance is contained , he seems all along to word such his Conveyance in Law-Terms ; thereby giving us ( at least ) an Hint , that in the Transaction of Man's Salvation by our Saviour , he did in a great measure condescend to those Methods and Ways of Judicial Proceedings , that Men , by that Light of Reason which they received from him , had instituted among themselves . And therefore , when we had forsaken his Family , by revolting from that Duty , which we owed him , as his Natural Children ; as he calls himself our Father in Christ Jesus , so he calls us his Adopted Sons , upon his restoring us to such his Family ; and in order to the Renovation of our lost Title , he does esteem us to be Regenerate , that so by becoming again the Children of God , we may inherit the Kingdom of him our Father . So he calls us the Heirs of Salvation , and makes us a Title to the Purchase of our Saviour , by calling us his Brethren . He reckons us as Joint-Heirs with him , and discourses in several Places of our Inheritance . Now , when we are assured , by Multitudes of other Places of Scripture , that all these Appellations and Titles are given to us , not only in Terms in the like Cases made use of , at that Time , by the most celebrated Laws , but also in Consideration of our Saviour's Purchase ; I say , when we find Things so , and that too in the Book of God , wrote professedly on this Subject ; does it become us to think , that the Holy Ghost , the Indicter of these Things , did only word himself at random ? Or ought we not rather to think , that in so doing he had a Regard to those Legal Ways of Conveyances , which were established by Man's Reason and Sense of Justice in those Laws , which were then most current in the World ? We cannot , I am sure , we cannot rationally think so . For , why are we told , that we are bought with a Price ? Why are we told , that our Saviour purchased us with his Blood ? Why are we told , that we are redeemed , not with corruptible Things , as Silver and Gold ; but with the precious Blood of Christ ; but that our Redemption and Salvation did , as to the Justice and Equity of it , answer to those Legal Ways of transferring of Rights from Man to Man ? For , our Redemption was purchased by our Saviour , ( so it is expresly worded ) and by him therefore conveyed and made over to us , because otherwise it could in no Sense be called our Redemption . Indeed , a Purchase does , in the very import of the Word , imply the Acquisition of a Thing in a Legal way ; and by so doing , does , in the Nature of the Thing , imply also a Legal Power of making over such Thing to another . For , he can only legally sell , or otherwise give or convey , who has a Legal Right in the Thing sold , given , or conveyed . And he can only legally purchase , who pays a Legal Price . When therefore the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures does so word the Manner of God's bestowing and our receiving Salvation in and by our Saviour , as to do it in such Terms , which were at that time Terms of the most celebrated Law ( next to his own ) that ever yet was , or perhaps ever will be in the World ; and when he does so frequently , and almost constantly ; it would become us to believe and think , that he designed , and that too even by his manner of expressing the Thing , to insinuate to us , that the Salvation he all along speaks of , was bestowed in a way of Conveyance at that time familiar among Mankind ; in such a way , as was established both by their own Laws , and by their own Practice ; in such a way , that their best Reason , granted to them by himself , had set on foot : And that , upon this Account , his way of doing it so , as is by him expressed , ( and that too all along in that very Book , where he affords us the Discoveries of it ) is just , equitable , and legal . I do but run over these Things , and in a manner glance at them ; because I rather design to give an Hint to others more able so to do , than to pursue them my self . For , if a Man well-studied in the Civil Law ( a Law that will weigh with Mankind so long as good and sound Reason has a free Passage in the World : ) But , I say , would such a Man so throughly acquaint himself with the New-Covenant , the Covenant of Grace in Jesus Christ , as to be able exactly to compare it with that Law , which is the Business of his Profession ; I do not at all question , but that such a Comparison , judiciously managed , would go a great way in removing those Doubts which have been started by People of all Parties , concerning Man's Redemption . And because several Learned Men , I know , are very well versed in both those Laws ; I do the rather hope , that God will put it into the Heart of some of them , to bless the World with such a Christian and beneficial Piece of Learning . But this by the by . In the mean time , from what has been said in short , we may learn thus much ; That the Salvation of Man is the Purchase of the Son of God ; that the Benefit ( at least ) of such Purchase is by the Purchaser made over to Man ; that in Consideration of that Intimate Union that is between him and Man , by his taking upon him the same Flesh and Blood with Man , and by affording to Man the Communications of his Spirit , a Way is opened , as for the more congruous and equitable Way of such Conveyanee , on the one Side ; so , on the other Side , for the more congruous and equitable Way of Man's entring upon the Possession of such Purchase ; and that when the whole Thing is strictly sifted and examined , it will be found to be agreeable to the just and equitable Rules of Law , as well as to the express and plain Revelations of the Gospel . But I desist : Only I would offer an Inference or two , that may relate to our Practice , before I do so .

1. And first , If God spared not his own Son , when he had put himself into the Place of Sinners ; we may from thence conclude , that neither will he spare us , when we our selves are Sinners , and that too by our own default . For , besides that he was , and was so proclaimed by God himself , his only Son , in whom he was well pleased ; I say , besides that ; the Generosity , Charity , and Candor of such an Undertaking as our Saviour's was , ( by which he shewed more Tenderness to others , than to himself ) may be thought to be a very considerable Motive even to Justice it self , so far as is possible , to remit to him a great deal of that Rigour , and Severity , which Sin does deserve . And then , if notwithstanding such his Undertaking , yet he was fain to pay the uttermost Farthing , that is , to die ; how can we hope to escape , if we the Original , and therefore also the Principal Sinners , come under the Severity of so exact a Justice ? We may be sure , that the Portion of Vengeance allotted to us in such a Case , will not be less severe . For , if God so treated his Beloved , because interposing Son ; how do we think he will treat avowed and professed Rebels ? Or , as our Saviour himself speaks in the like Case , If these things are done in the green Tree , what shall be done in the dry ?

2. And as this Consideration may serve us for Caution ; so the next , that is , the second , may serve us for Consolation : And I shall give it in the Words of the Apostle , in the Eighth to the Romans , ver . 32. He , that spared not his own Son , but delivered him up for us all , how shall he not with him also freely give us all Things ? For , his delivering up his Son for our sakes to become Man , to lead an hard and uncomfortable Life , and to die a miserable and scandalous Death , that both by his Life and Death he might work out our Salvation , is such an exalted Evidence of God's Love to us , that Imagination it self can hardly conceive , that any thing can extinguish it , but our Ingratitude for it . And our Natural Reason and Common Sense may easily instruct us , that he , whosoever he be , that is ready and willing ( and that too even to Performance ) to do us the greatest Kindness , will not for that very Reason refuse us in a less . It concerns us therefore , as we would not reject the Kindness already offered , and as we would not exclude our selves from all future Love and Kindness , to make good our Gratitude , by receiving our Saviour , and that Salvation which he brings along with him , with a due Acknowledgment and Respect ; and to make good such our Respect , and such our Acknowledgment , by receiving him upon any , but more especially upon his own Terms . Let us therefore cast away our Sins , that we may receive him : Let us , by loving each other , practice our selves to love and receive him : Let us receive him , by receiving the Pledges of his Love , exhibited to us in the Sacrament of his most Blessed Body and Blood : And let us not think , that Christ crucified will profit us any thing , if we do not so receive him , as he requires , and therefore also so receive him as we ought . For , he does in effect refuse the Gift , who refuses the Instrument of Conveyance by which such Gift is to be signed and made over to him . And it is irrational and imprudent , to expect the Love of him , the Pledges of whose Love we do reject . Let us cast off therefore every evil Work , every Sin , that does beset us , and gird up the Loins of our Mind , ( as the Scripture speaks ) and do the Work of Christians in all Cases whatsoever ; that so at last we may receive the blessed Wages of such Work , through Jesus Christ our Lord , and only Saviour .

CHAP. XII .

That besides the Saviour's Righteousness imputed , God will after their Resurrection endow Believers with a perfect , inherent , and eternal Holiness . How the Saviour did fit and prepare Men for such an Holiness .

BY what has been hitherto discoursed , we have seen ,

1. That God in a Saviour has made Provision for the Expiation of Man's Sin , in order to save him from the Vengeance of the Law , the just Wages of such Sin .

2. We have seen , that he has not barely provided for Man's Escape from the Vengeance of the Law , by the Merits of his Saviour's Death ; but that he has also provided for his positive and future Happiness , by the Merit of his Saviour's Obedience .

3. But yet , in what is now to follow , we shall find , that his Mercy has not stopped here ; because , in the third place , he will , in and through our Saviour , endow Man with a perfect and inherent Holiness : By which I mean , such an holy , Angelical , and withal durable Frame of Spirit , that shall for ever secure him from all possible Sin , and shall for ever engage him in a vigorous and chearful Discharge of all holy Duties ; and in so doing , shall both accompany and secure his Happiness to all Eternity . For , tho' it be confessed , that Believers do by the Communications and Assistances of the Spirit arrive to a Degree of such an Holiness in this Life ; yet it must be confessed also , that it is but an imperfect Degree : For , it is not vigorous , nor uniform , nor constant ; but irresolute and weak ; and therefore has its frequent Intermissions and Failings . But , as we shall see more fully in what is to follow , the Holiness of the Saints in Glory is , like their Happiness , firm , lasting , and immutable ; and therefore will be found to be a Gift of God in Christ , that does vastly , if not infinitely , exceed the most refined Holiness of the very best Man in this Vale of Sin and Misery . It shall be the Business then of our present Undertaking , to make it good , that besides that Title , which Believers in another World shall have to their Saviour's Righteousness , in order to their future Happiness , that they themselves shall be endowed with a perfect , inherent , and indefectible Holiness , in order to the secure Eternity of such their Happiness .

Now , to put this Matter into a clear Light , that so we may be the more rationally satisfied in all that is to follow ; we lay it down , First , That God by his Almighty Power having made the World , and all particular Beings in it , has by virtue of such his Creation an undoubted Right and Title to the Dominion over all Things so by him created : And that therefore all his Creatures ought to be in Subjection to him , and to act according to the Determinations of his Will . And it is hardly to be doubted , but that all those Creatures , which by the Boundaries of their Creation are devoid of Understanding and Free-will , do constantly act ( according to those Impresses and Powers that God in their Formation has stamped upon them ) in a regular Subordination to such his Will . And the Scriptures do give us , not only frequent Hints , but also express Declarations , that so they do .

Now , as God created those lower Creatures , so did he the higher , and those which are endowed with more noble Faculties . And because , among such Creatures , upon whom he has bestowed an Understanding , to enable them to know his Will , and with a Will to enable them to chuse Obedience to such his Will , we are not acquainted with any other , but Angels , and Men ; and because our Design is only concerned about them , and chiefly about the latter ; therefore , directly to our present Purpose , we take notice ,

That some of the Angels , first ; and , by their Instigation , the first Man ; and ( because all Men ever since do derive from him in a Lineal Propagation ) therefore also all Mankind , by transgressing God's Will made known to them in his Laws , have revolted from their Allegiance to him , and have , by so doing , in effect renounced and disclaimed that their Subjection to his Dominion , which was ( if I may so speak ) his natural and essential Right . For , Wickedness is a professed and avowed Renunciation of that Subjection which Rational Creatures owe to their Holy and Rightful Lord and King , even the God that made them . And , for that Reason , it is an Encroachment upon his Anthority ; for it does lessen and contract the Extent of his Kingdom . For , because a Scepter of Righteousness is the Scepter of his Kingdom ; and because all those Laws , by which its Administration is executed , are in themselves Holy , Just , and Good ; it is , upon that Account , very obvious to conceive , that Wickedness , so far as it goes , does defeat such Administration , and overturn such Laws ; and by so doing , does diminish the Authority , and encroach upon the Jurisdiction and Dominion of the Rightful and Supreme Lord .

Now , from what has been thus spoken in short , we may easily understand , that the faln Angels having first revolted themselves , and by their Sin withdrawn their Allegiance and Subjection to their most Holy and Supreme Lord , did ( what other Rebels after their Example , and perhaps by their Instigation , have done to weak and short-sighted People ) by false Colours , and taking Delusions , invite Mankind into the same Revolt and Rebellion with themselves ; and , by so doing , draw away a Part of God's Kingdom and Dominion ; and , in opposition to his Holiness , that is , in opposition to God himself , set up a Kingdom of their own , a Kingdom of Darkness and Wickedness ; in plain English , a Kingdom made up of such Creatures , who by their Sin and Wickedness did rebel against and revolt from their Holy and Rightful Lord and King . All this , being Matter of Fact , is expresly discovered to us by the Revelations of God : And the History of Man's Fall , recorded in his Word , with the Account that we there meet with of the Devils Kingdom , of his Servants and Subjects , of his Slaves and Captives , of his Wars against the Holy Angels , the faithful Subjects of the True and Everliving King , do afford us a very lively Description of the Thing . And because no Christian , who is but tolerably acquainted with the Revelations of God in his Holy Word , can possibly be a Stranger to it ; therefore we have thought it less necessary to quote the several Texts , which by being put regularly together , will give us an exact and Historical Account of it . And indeed , we have so much the less need to do so , because we shall be farther and more fully satisfied in it by those Things which are to follow . Well then ! Things standing in this State , God was pleased to send his Son , his Beloved Son , made of a Woman , made under the Law , made Man , to be a Saviour , a Redeemer , a Light to Mankind ; that is , he sent him in Man's Nature , to guide and direct , to save and redeem Man from that Condition , into which he was brought by his Sin and Rebellion . What that Saviour did in order to the obtaining of such Salvation , we have seen already ; and what is to be done in order to the everlasting Continuance of such Salvation , is to be enquired now .

As therefore it was one Part of God's Counsel in sending his Son to Mankind , to expiate their Sins ; so it was another , and indeed the main and grand Design of such his Message , to rescue them from their Slavery to Sin , and from their Subjection to Satan ; and so to bring them back to his own Kingdom , and to resettle them under the Jurisdiction of his own most holy Dominion . For , it is a very great Mistake ( which , I am apt to believe , has proceeded chiefly from our oversondness of our selves ) to think , that God's chief Design in sending our Saviour , was to free us from the Vengeance due to our Sins ; thereby vainly imagining , that God has a greater Concern for our Impunity , than he has for our Holiness ; and that he had rather we should be safe , than that we should be good . Whereas our Reason will tell us , that God must needs love Holiness , as he loves himself , because he himself is ( if I may so speak ) Essential Holiness : And then the same Reason will tell us , that he must needs love himself better than he loves our Safety ; and that more especially , when we our selves , by slighting and neglecting of Holiness , had betrayed such our Safety . As therefore Man did , by his Compliance with the Devil , that is , by his Sin , expose himself to the Prosecutions of God's Vengeance ; and as he did , by the same Means , so far forth revolt from his Dominion , and withdraw himself from his Jurisdiction , as to become the Subject of Satan , and Slave of Sin , ( by which Means God was ousted of his Natural and Original Right to Man's Obedience , and his Subjects so far forth drawn of from their Allegiance to him , as to slight his Authority , by slighting his Laws , and to fight against him , by opposing his Holiness ; ) so , when the Hostilities were come to this pass , that Man did fight against God by his Sins , and that God did fight against Man by his Justice ; tho' God , in order to a Reconcilation , sent his Son into the World , and by him a Proclamation of Pardon to all who should return to their Duty ; yet our Reason , nay , our Common Sense will tell us , that the Restoration of God's just Right and Dominion by Man's Return to Holiness and Duty , is in it self a Point of greater moment , than Man's Pardon . And therefore , by the Tenor of that very Covenant , in which the Articles of Reconciliation are contained , it is stipulated , that Man shall first be obliged to repent and return , before God shall be obliged to forgive . And we know , that our Saviour himself , in that Prayer which he taught his Disciples , and in them all Christians , does put that Petition , [ Thy Kingdom come , ] before that , by which we pray , that God would forgive our Trespasses . Why , all the Nations of the Earth are before him , but as the Drop of the Bucket , or the small Dust of the Balance : And then , can we think , that his Honour and Natural Right is not to be consulted before Man's Safety ? It cannot be ; and because it cannot , therefore we do conclude , that tho' God did design the Pardon of Man's Sin by a Saviour ; yet for all that , the grand and principal Design of sending him , who was to be that Saviour , was the bringing Man from a State of Sin to a State of Holiness , the purchasing to himself a peculiar People , zealous of good Works ; or , as it is in the Fifth to the Ephesians , ver. 27. a glorious Church , not having Spot or Wrinkle , or any such Thing ; and thereby restoring to God so much of that Part of his Dominion , which , by the Temptation of the Devil , and by Man's Revolt , had been broke off from his Kingdom , and which was willing , upon the Gospel-Conditions , the Proclamation of Pardon , to be restored again to it .

Now , from what has been spoken , I would infer , That it is a great Mistake , to make the Sending of our Saviour in its first , principal , and grand Design , to be the Pardon of Sin . For , as Obedience to the Law is the first and principal Design of the Law ; and as Punishment is but a secondary Design of the Law , and is only grounded upon the Defeat of its grand and principal Design : So Pardon of Sin , in the very Nature of the Thing it self , depending only upon the Desert of Punishment , can therefore rise no higher than its Fountain , and therefore can at the most be but a secondary Cause of our Saviour's Coming .

And therefore , should we suppose God to pardon Sin , tho' in and through our Saviour , without any Regard had to the fulfilling of the Directive , that is , of the grand and principal Part of the Law ; we should , by that means , suppose him to break the Directive Part of the Law , in order to his contradicting the Vindictive Part ; that is , we should suppose him to break both Parts of the Law , in order to such a Pardon . For , Veracity is one Branch of Holiness ; and when God tells Man in his Law , that upon his Transgression he should surely die , as we may perceive by the manner of the Delivery , that the Denunciation is serious and solemn , not only because it is backed with an Asseveration , but because also it is incorporated into the Law ; so , to tell us , that God may by a Pardon ( that has no Regard to the Directive Part of the Law ) revoke such his solemn Threat and Asseveration , is in effect to say , that he may start from his Veracity ; and that is the same as to say , he may start from his Holiness ; or , in other Words , that he may himself break the first and principal Part of the Law , by remitting the Penalty of the last and less principal . For , Holiness is so refined a Thing , and so all of a Piece , ( if I may so speak ) that he who transgresses its Rules in any one Case , does , by so doing , forfeit his Title to the whole , and therefore is truly called Unholy .

And therefore , I cannot but wonder , that Men , after almost Six thousand Years Experience in the Case , in which , because all Men have been Sinners , therefore all Men have died ; I say , I cannot but wonder , that , after so long an Experience to the contrary , any Man should now think , that Men may be freed from the Curse of the Law , before they have fulfilled the Directions of it . For , methinks , by that Experience alone we may be instructed , that Men should never be blessed with Impunity , till they first return to their Duty ; and that they must first be obedient to the Law , before they shall be freed from the Vengeance of it .

But because some Things under this Head may bear a Dispute ; and because some others may seem hard to be understood ; therefore , to be more plain and open , and to offer something which is so , and which will as well conduce to my main Purpose and Design , I lay it down ,

1. First , That as it is asserted in the Gospel , and is generally agreed among all Christians , That an Eternal Life and Happiness is contained in that Salvation which the Gospel promises ; so is it , That whosoever shall be made Partakers of such Happiness and such Life , must be so perfectly Holy , as to be eternally free from all Sin . For , as without Holiness no Man shall see the Lord ; so , the Blessed in Glory are by all allowed , as to be eternally without Misery , so to be eternally without Sin . And we do not question , but that it may be made out , and that too by Force of Reason , without the Assistance of Revelation , that compleat Happiness ( and an Happiness that is not eternal , is not compleat ) and that too in the Nature of the Thing , is inconsistent with Sin , which does certainly and constantly bring Misery along with it , wheresoever it is permitted to come . And the Reason why I say , I do not question it , is , because what has Been done already , may be done again : And we know very well , that the Thing has been done already , and that too beyond all possible Contradiction . But because it is an allowed Thing , That where the Seat of eternal Happiness is , there nothing can either enter or remain but pure and unspotted Holiness ; therefore we shall spend no Time in the Proof of it ; but shall take it for granted , and so proceed to our

2. Second Proposition , which is , That the Holiness of those , who shall inherit eternal Life and Happiness , does not come from themselves , nor is either the Archievement or Fruit of their own Powers . This we may be sure of , because a clean Thing cannot come out of an unclean ; and all Men here are unclean , because all Men are Sinners . And since Man in his Innocence did not keep himself Holy , it is unreasonable to expect , that after the Fall , when Mens Abilities are lessened , that any Man should make himself so . And we are moreover assured , that no Man does make himself so , because all Men do die : And we are further assured , that no Man can carry any more of his own Holiness with him into another World , than what he was Owner of in this : And lastly , we are infallibly assured , that no Man can secure to himself an Holiness to Eternity , which he has not . From which Things run over in short , we may be satisfied , that that Holiness , which shall for ever attend those of Mankind , who shall be made Partakers of eternal Happiness , is not their own . The Thing might be made out in more Words ; but it needs not : And therefore ,

3. Since that Holiness , with which Men shall be endowed in Heaven , is not their own ; it must therefore be bestowed upon them by some other : To which we may add , That that other can be no other , but God . For , it may be very well presumed , that the very best of Creatures have no Holiness to spare , upon a Supposition , that one Creature could make over any of his own Holiness to another . For , upon such Supposition , whatever they should contribute towards the perfecting of another Creatures Holiness , would be so much pared off from their own ; and so a Defect of their own Holiness would be the Consequence of that other's Perfection ; and an Abatement , at least , if not the Loss of their own Happiness , a Consequence of such Defect . But then it is a vain Thing to conceive , that one Creature can make over its own inherent Holiness to another ; and it is as vain a Thing to think , that it can bestow on that other an Holiness , which it has not to bestow ; and it is certain , that it has no Holiness , but it s own . But neither shall I pursue this any farther , because I shall at one View offer a short Prospect of all that has been already laid down , in order to make it good , That our Saviour has made Provision , that Believers shall be endowed with an indefectible Holiness in a future and happy Life .

Take we notice therefore , That as a Gospel-Salvation does imply in it , not only the Pardon of Sin , but the Reward of Righteousness too ; so the Reward of Righteousness ( as the Gospel , and as he , who is both the Author of that Gospel , and of that Reward , does set it forth ) is to be eternal and everlasting . Now , tho' it should be granted , that Heaven and Happiness is in it self the just Reward of Duty and Obedience ; yet it cannot be so freely granted , that an Eternity of Happiness is so ; unless that Duty , or Obedience , to which that Happiness is assigned , be eternal also . And the Reason why such a Thing cannot be granted , is grounded upon Matter of Fact , and that Matter of Fact authorized by God's own Judicial Proceedings . For , we may safely affirm , that the faln Angels were once Holy ; and we may affirm it so much the more safely , because being in their Nature Creatures capable of so noble a qualification , there can no doubt be made , but that they came forth such out of the Hands of their most Holy Creator . Tho' therefore , while they remained Holy , that is , while they did their Duty , we do not question their Happiness ; yet we do maintain , that that Happiness then ceased , when their Holiness did so : And from thence we do conclude , that their Happiness was therefore not eternal , because their Holiness was not so . Now because such their Holiness , which was not eternal , was their Original , or their Natural , or their Personal Holiness , ( for you may call it which you please ) therefore we do farther conclude , that there is no Security , that any Creatures Personal or Natural Holiness shall be eternal .

If therefore we shall bring our present Business to this Case , and by comparing one with the other , take leave to judge of what may be , by having seen what has been ; we may take notice , that if our Saviour did nothing more for Man's Salvation , but only expunge the Guilt of his Sins , and so restore him again to his Original Innocence ; all this would warrant no more , than that Man should by this Means have been restored to that Innocence , or Holiness , of which Adam stood possessed before his Transgression . But that this Holiness should be lasting and eternal , we have not all this while any the least Ground of Warrant , no nor of Conjecture : Nav , we may rather conclude , that it would not be so ; because we know , to our Cost , that Adam's was not so . For , I would ask , Whether this Innocence , or Holiness , be sufficient to make Man happy ? If it be both answered , and granted , That it is ; then I would further demand , Whether it will secure that Happiness to Eternity ? If it will , then it must be something more than a Restoration of Man to a State of an Adamical Holiness ; for we are sure , that that first Holiness could do no such thing : If it will not , then it will not answer to a Gospel-Salvation , because such a Salvation does imply in it everlasting Happiness , and everlasting Happiness must ( as we have seen ) be attended with everlasting Holiness . In one Word therefore , if , as Man's Happiness does depend upon his Holiness , so his everlasting Happiness must depend upon his everlasting Holiness ; then we may well reckon , that that Holiness of Man , which shall accompany eternal Salvation , must be an indefectible Holiness , that shall never fail , and therefore whose Reward shall never cease .

And by this time , we hope , that the Truth of what we have laid down , and of what we designed to make good , may begin to appear ; which is ,

1. That the Chief Design of our Saviour's coming into the World , was to bring sinful Man to a State of perfect Holiness ; for , by that Man 's chief Happiness , and ( which is yet a great deal more ) God's original Dominion and Jurisdiction over Man , is provided for .

2. That an everlasting Holiness is required to an everlasting Happiness .

3. That such an Holiness is none of Man 's own , and that therefore ,

4. It must come from some other ; and that that other must be God .

Having therefore seen , by what has been said , that an everlasting Holiness is necessary , in order to Man 's everlasting Salvation , and that such Holiness must come from God : Let us proceed , and by that Light , which his Revelations have afforded us in this Case , enquire , what Provision God has made for the furnishing Man with such an Holiness , in order to such his Salvation . And ,

1. We are instructed by such Revelations , That God sent his Son , our Saviour , into the World , cloathed with the same Flesh with sinful Man , to instruct and direct him in the Ways of Holiness , by his Doctrine , and by his Example : That upon this Account he is called the Light of the World ; for he made our Duty plain and intelligible , took off that Veil from Mens Understandings , by which they were induced to believe , that Holiness did consist in outward Washings , in Ceremonies and Formalities , and such other or Modes or Gestures , which contained nothing of true Holiness in them , because they did not form our Spirits to God's Likeness , nor make us holy , as he is holy . And because he found Men laden with Sin , he did advise them to unburden themselves by Repentance , that so they might the more expeditely set about the Attainment of that Holiness , which he recommended to their Practice . And hence it was , that his Fore-runner , John the Baptist , first , and he himself , and his Apostles , afterwards , did all begin their great Work with an Exhortation therefore to Repent , because the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand . In a Word , in order to terrifie Men from their wicked Courses , and to invite them into the Paths of true Piety and Godliness , he did by his Threats acquaint them with a more express , grievous , and future Punishment ; and by his Promises , with a more express , happy , and future Reward , than either Natural Reason or Revelation had as yet discovered . These , with some other , were the Methods which our Saviour , when in the Flesh , took to persuade Men to add their own Endeavours to his , for their obtaining Salvation . And because these Things were designed for such a Purpose by him , and because they have in themselves a natural tendency to bring such Design to pass ; and because , lastly , the Salvation of Man does in the whole Oeconomy of it proceed from the Grace of God ; therefore these Things , when summed up together under one Denomination , are called Means of Grace . These therefore , and the like Means of Grace , and them too backed and confirmed by Miracles , our Saviour made use of , to engage Men to practise and attain that Holiness , by which alone they could in Justice be fitted for Salvation .

2. But then , secondly , we are instructed , both by God's Word , and by our own Experience , That all these Means made use of by our Saviour , did never yet produce that Holiness in any Man , which is to fit him for his designed Salvation . For , what from Weaknesses and Irresolutions from within , and what from Temptations from without ; what from the Temptations of the Devil , and what from his own wicked , habitual , and over-ruling Practices , every Man falls short of the Grace of God ; and his very best Practices being corrupted with Carelesness , or Inadvertency , or Wilfulness , ( and all of them Evil ) do not beget in him that Holiness , to which alone eternal Salvation can in Justice belong . It may be then demanded , How any Man comes to be saved ? To which I answer in the next , that is , the

3. Third place , That tho' the Means of Grace do not beget that Holiness in any Man in this Life , in Consideration of which he can in Justice obtain eternal Salvation ; yet we are assured , that the Means of Grace tendred in the Gospel , and made use of by Man , may , and often have this Effect , as to engage Men heartily to desire and wish for such an Holiness . This is what our Saviour calls hungring and thirsting after Righteousness : An hearty and sincere Desire to be what we ought to be ; and ( to make good the Sincerity of such our Desire ) an hearty and sincere Endeavour to be what we desire to be . For , no Man does or can heartily and sincerely desire any Thing , who does not also heartily endeavour to obtain it . Now , an hearty Desire , and an hearty Endeavour after Holiness , does ( if I may so speak ) open and enlarge the Soul to admit and receive such Holiness , whenever God shall be pleased to bestow it . And because every good and perfect Gift comes from above , from the Father of Light , we may be therefore sure , that Holiness , the best and most perfect Gift , whereof we are capable , does so too . And we are moreover sure in Reason , that God will more freely bestow his best Gift there , where it is most heartily desired , and therefore also most kindly received : And we are the more sure , that he will do so in the present Case , because the Will of Man must in this Case concur with the Grace of God ; or else it is impossible , that the Holiness to be bestowed should ever become his own . For , no Man can in Reason or Nature be holy against his own Will . He then , who by the Means of Grace has advanced so far as to hunger and thirst after Righteousness , shall be sure to be filled . We have his Promise for it , who is able to make it good ; and we have his Promise for it , whose Promise cannot fail . And then we cannot but be sensible , that he who is filled with Righteousness , cannot want that Holiness which accompanies Salvation . And truly , when I consider , how these lower good Things , the Blessings of Nature , which are confessedly the Bounties of the God of Nature , do freely flow in upon all his Creatures , where their natural Appetites or Wants do desire or require them , and ( where their Powers and Faculties are such ) in pursuit of such their Desires , they endeavour to obtain them ; it mightily inclines me to think , that his Blessing of Holiness will also there flow in , where the moral Appetites of his Rational Creatures do sincerely desire it ; and where they are so sensible of their Want of it , as to endeavour after it .

4. We proceed , and add , in the fourth place , That we are instructed , both by God's Word , and by our own Experience , that tho' a perfect Holiness may be heartily desired , and sincerely endeavoured after ; yet , that it is never attained by any Man in this Life ; and therefore so neither is a perfect Happiness . The Evidence for the first is , because all Men in this World are Sinners ; and the Evidence for the last is , because all Men in this World are Mortal . Now , as Sin is an infallible Confutation of a perfect Holiness ; so Mortality is an infallible Confutation of a perfect Happiness . We are therefore at last arrived thus far , that no Man shall arrive at a perfect Holiness , till he is translated to another World : And because it is difficult , if not impossible , to conceive , how any Man should arrive at a perfect Holiness in the Grave ; therefore we may go one Step farther , and add , that no Man shall attain to such an Holiness , till the Resurrection : And we may very fairly and rationally conjecture , ( I may say , infer ) That then the Faithful shall : For , we know , that by the Resurrection we shall be released from the Curse of the Law on the one Hand , and shall enter upon the Reward of Obedience and Holiness on the other .

5. And then , lastly , Because that Happiness , which our Saviour has purchased for Believers , is an eternal Happiness ; and because ( as we have seen ) it is impossible , that there should be any such Thing as an eternal Happiness , without an eternal Holiness ; and because to pretend to bestow an everlasting Happiness upon Man , and not an everlasting Holiness , without which such an Happiness is impossible , is to mock Man , and not to save him ; and because , lastly , we cannot without Blasphemy and Absurdity tax the Counsels and Purposes of our Saviour , in the Business of Man's Salvation , of such gross Prevarication : therefore we do at last conclude , That God in our Saviour will endow Believers , at or upon their Resurrection , with an Inherent , Immutable , and Eternal Holiness .

Now we have observed before , That the Punishment threatned by the Gospel against those , who shall refuse their Salvation by the Neglect of the Conditions of the Gospel , is greater than what was threatned against the Breach of the Law of Works , the Law given to Adam .

And that the Reward proposed by the Gospel to those , who shall admit the Conditions of it , is greater than what was by the Law proposed to Adam upon his Obedience .

And we have observed in this Chapter , That that Inherent and Indefectible Holiness , which is a Part of such Reward , is greater and nobler than Adam's Holiness before the Fall ; because it is more lasting than that of him , or indeed of the faln Angels .

Now it is certain , that the Degrees of the Punishments are by Justice proportioned to the Degrees of the several Sinners own Deserts . And it is certain , that the Rewards of eternal Life , and of an Indefectible Holiness , do in Justice exceed the Deserts of all that are saved , ( for they have been all Sinners . ) And then , what Grounds these Considerations may afford for the magnifying of God's Grace , and the Merits and Dignity of our Saviour's Purchase and Person , may be a Matter worthy our Meditations . But I shall not pursue it here , because tho' there be an Occasion for me to enlarge what has been said already ; yet I am unwilling to repeat .

CHAP. XIII .

By what Means Men shall be put into the Actual Possession of Eternal Life .

HAving thus far discoursed , First , Concerning the Pardon of Sin ; and , Secondly , Concerning the Gift of an Happy and Eternal Life , ( the Two Things in which a Gospel Salvation does consist : ) And having made it good , That Believers do obtain both the one and the other only in Consideration of our Saviour's Merits ; and that their so doing is agreeable to Reason and Justice : Two Things do still remain to be examined .

1. By what Way or Means they shall be put into the Possession of such Eternal Life ? And ,

2. Wherein the Happiness of such Life does consist ?

1. And in order to the Resolution of the first Thing , we lay it down , as a certain Truth , in the first place , That Man , in order to his entring upon the Possession of Eternal Life , must first rise from the Dead . For , all Men die , because all Men are Sinners : And because it is absurd so much as to imagine , that Man can enter upon the Possession of Eternal Life , while he remains under the Power of Death ; therefore , without any more ado , we shall take it for granted , that Man must be freed from that Death , which is brought upon him by his Sin , before he can obtain that Eternal Life , which is purchased for him by his Saviour .

2. We lay it down , in the second place , as a certain Truth , That because our Saviour underwent Death himself for the Expiation of Man's Sin ; and because our Saviour could not in Nature or Possibility be qualified to bestow upon Man the Purchase of such his Death , till he himself should rise from the Dead : That therefore , in order to Man's entring upon the Possession of an Eternal Life , it was necessary , that our Saviour himself , as well as Man , should first rise from the Dead .

3. We lay it down , in the Third place , That if the Merits of our Saviour's Death were of Value sufficient to make good the Expiation of Man's Sin ; that then , in Reason and Justice , he ought to rise again from the Dead . For , because , in the Case so put , he could have no Concern with Justice , but what was his own ; and because he himself had paid an exact Obedience to the Law ; and because Life is the Reward of such Obedience , as Death is the Wages of Disobedience ; Therefore , if we do allow him to have unloaded himself of the Sin of Man , which he had taken upon himself , by his Death ; we must , and do , by so doing , reinstate him in his own Right ; that is , we must allow , that he had a Right to be , and therefore in Justice ought to be restored to Life again . And therefore it is not at all to be questioned , but that our Saviour had never died at all , if he had never taken upon himself the Sins of other Men. But of this more by and by . In the mean while , these Things being laid down , we proceed , and ,

1. Observe in the first place , That our Saviour's Resurrection is almost constantly by the Scriptures of the New Testament ascribed to God the Father : And Multitudes of Texts might be quoted for it ; as , the Second of the Acts , ver. 24 , & 30. The Fifth Chapter of the same , ver. 26 , & 30. The Tenth , ver. 40. The Seventeenth , ver. 31. The Tenth to the Romans , ver . 9. The First to the Corinthians , chap. 6. ver. 14 , &c. We know well enough , that they , who make it their Business to degrade our Saviour below his most exalted Dignity and Station , do make use of these Texts for such their Purpose : But we know withal , that there are other Texts , tho' indeed not so many ; and some of them , when compared with their Context , not so Categorical ; which yet ascribe his Resurrection to himself . Such is that in the Second Chapter of St. John , v. 19. Destroy this Temple , and in three Days I will raise it up . And so again , in the Tenth of St. John , v. 18. No Man taketh it from me , but I lay it down of my self : I have power to lay it down , and I have power to take it again . Now , as we made it out just now , that after the Expiation finished he had a Right to rise from the Dead ; so we do not at all question , but that he had a Power to raise himself too . But tho' it should be allowed , ( as we do not at all question , and that too from several Things already laid down , and made good , but that it may be proved : ) But , I say , tho' it should be allowed , that he had both a Right and a Power to raise himself from the Dead ; yet notwithstanding that , it was not altogether so congruous or agreeable to the equitable Proceedings of Justice , that he should exercise such his Power , or put himself into the possession of such his Right , in the present Case . For , because he had submitted to offer his Life an Expiatory Sacrifice to the Divine Justice , for the Sin of Man ; he had by such his Submission so far resigned such his Right and Power into the Hand of God , as that , both by the Laws of Reason and Justice , as well as by the Rules of Decency and Congruity , God was now become the sole Judge of the Validity of such his Sacrifice , for the Accomplishment of the designed Expiation . And if God was the sole Judge of the Validity of his Sacrifice ; he had by the same Means the rightful ( and I may add , the sole ) Power of declaring such Validity : And because the Resurrection of our Saviour from the Dead , was in effect such a Declaration ; therefore we may now be satisfied , why the Holy Ghost does so very frequently , and in a manner constantly , ascribe the Resurrection of our Saviour in the Scriptures , to God alone . To which we may add , That the High-Priest under the Law ( who in this very Case was a Type of our Saviour ) was obliged once a Year to enter into the Holy of Holies , but ( as the Author to the Hebrews words it ) not without Blood , which he offered for himself , and for the Errors of the People . In which Case , it must be confessed , that the offering of the Blood to God was in order to his acceptance ; and that God's acceptance of the Blood , that is , of the Life of the Sacrifice , was the Ratification of that Expiation , that was made by such Sacrifice . And in deed and truth , our Saviour in the Business now before us , being both the Priest and the Sacrifice to God for the Sins of Man ; and his Resurrection being the first Testimony or Declaration of the Acceptance of such his Sacrifice : We cannot in any Congruity suppose , that such Testimony or Declaration should be ascribed to any other , but to God alone . And therefore , as all those Texts , which ascribe our Saviour's Resurrection to God , do in this Case speak strictly and properly ; so we may now , by what has been said , perceive , that they are no Prejudice to his Divinity ; because he having obliged himself to offer that Body , to which his Deity was united , a Sacrifice for Sin ; he had by the same Act obliged himself to expect from God the Approbation and Allowance of such his Sacrifice ; and therefore also to receive from him his Resurrection , which was an effectual Declaration of such Allowance : And therefore ,

2. I do offer it to Consideration , That the Resurrection of our Saviour from the Dead , was an undoubted Argument , that he had finished and compleated that Expiation , which he had undertaken to make by his Death for the Sins of Men. For , as we are assured by the Scriptures , that he was crucified , dead , and buried ; and so , that he died the Death of a Criminal : So we are assured by the same Scriptures , that he did not die for his own Crimes . For , it is utterly impossible , and that too in the Nature of the Thing , that he should die for his own Sins , who yet did no Sin , neither was Guile found in his Mouth ; that is , who had no Sins of his own to die for . Now , because we are taught by the Scriptures , and ( as we have already made it out ) because our Reason , guided by them , does fall in with them , and so both do tell us , that the Wages of Sin is Death ; that is , that there is a Natural Justice in the Case , that Death should be inflicted as the Punishment of Sin : And because we are assured by the same Natural Reason , that it must needs be unjust to inflict the same Punishment upon an Innocent Person , which is the just Punishment of a Criminal : I say , for this Reason , we may be satisfied , that our Saviour , tho' he was in himself a Lamb without Spot , yet did die for some Sins or others , ( be those Sins whose they will at present : ) And therefore because the Spirit of God has by his express Word told us , that he died for our Sins ; we may , upon his Testimony , rest satisfied , that so he did . Thus far therefore we have advanced towards our present Purpose and Argument ; That Death was what the Law threatned for our Sins , and that we being Sinners , and so having incurred the Vengeance threatned , our Saviour ( who , as we have shewed , had an absolute and uncontroulable Power to dispose of his own Life , as he himself pleased ) did put himself in our stead , became a Sacrifice for us , and so in his own Person suffered that Death , which we by our Sins had deserved . But then , to the making good of our present Proposition , we add , That as he suffered Death for the Expiation of our Sins ; so if he had not finished and compleated such Expiation , he had not rose again . For , so long as the Guilt remained , so long the Punishment was , and that too in Justice , to be continued . For , in such Case , there had been the same Reason for the Continuation of the Punishment , that there was for its first Infliction . And therefore , as it was first inflicted for a Guilt , so it must have been continued for the Continuation of such Guilt . From which we do infer , That if he was justly acquitted from the Continuation of the Punishment , then he was also acquitted from the Guilt ; and if he was justly acquitted from the Guilt , that then he had by his Punishment made a sufficient Expiation for it . And that he was acquitted from the Punishment due to the Guilt , and that he was justly acquitted too , the Resurrection singly and by it self will make out an undoubted and uncontroulable Argument . For , our natural and common Sense does assure us , that a Resurrection to Life is an Acquittance and Discharge from Death : And Reason will tell us , that because a Discharge from Death can only come from God , and because God cannot but be just ; therefore that Acquittance and Discharge , that is made by a Resurrection , must needs be just too . And therefore , from the Whole we may infer , That the Resurrection of our Saviour from that Death , which he suffered as the Punishment of our Sins , was a demonstrative Argument and Proof , that by his Death he had paid a sufficient Ransom , and had made a sufficient Expiation for such Sins . So that , strictly speaking , in his Death consisted the Punishment of our Sins ; in the Infinite Value of his Death consisted the Expiation of our Sins ; and in the Resurrection appears the full Proof and Evidence of such his Expiation .

Before we part with this Head , it may not be improper to take notice , that because his Death was of infinite Value , that therefore there was a sufficient Ransom paid for our Sins by that Death , so soon as it was suffered . For , it must be confessed , that the Ransom was then made , when the Debt was paid . And because that is Truth and Justice , we do from thence infer , That our Saviour might , and that justly too , have resumed his Life so soon as he had laid it down . And so he might ( for any thing that Justice can offer to the contrary ) have descended alive from the Cross , after he had once died upon it : Nor needed his Resurrection , in point of Justice , to have been deferred to the third Day , but might ( had God so pleased ) have been caused on the first . But tho' it might justly have been done so ; yet we do not find , that it was actually so done ; for the Scriptures tell us , that he did not rise till the third Day . From whence we observe , That as he died to save Man from Sin ; so he did for some time continue in a State of Death , to satisfie and assure us , that he did so die . And so as his Death had a regard to God's Justice ; so his Continuance so long under the Power of Death had a regard to our Faith . The first was the Purchase of our Salvation : The last was our Assurance of , and therefore also our Comfort in such a Purchase . By which we may understand , that his Love was expressed to us even in the Grave ; and tho' ( as the Psalmist speaks ) no Man remembreth God in the Pit ; yet we may hence learn , that even in the Pit our God both can , and has remembred us .

We may also under this Head take notice , That as our Saviour had never died at all ( as we observed before ) because he himself was perfectly Innocent , if he had not by his own Choice put himself in the stead , and so exposed himself to the Punishment of the Guilty ; so we may be confident , that he , whose Innocence was so singular and illustrious , as not to be in the least tarnished , whilst he inhabited in mortal Flesh and Blood , must , now that Flesh and Blood is spiritualized , ( see the First to the Corinthians , chap. 15. ver. 44. ) be rather the more free ( if that were possible ) from all possibility of Stain or Guilt . And we may be secure , that if his glorified Body shall ever live free from Sin , it shall for that single Reason , if yet there were no other , live free from Death too . So true is that of the Apostle , in the Sixth to the Romans , ver. 9. that Christ being raised from the Dead , dieth no more , Death hath no more Dominion over him : and that in the Revelations , I am he , that was dead , and am alive , and live for evermore . So that the Victory which our Saviour obtained over Death , by his Resurrection , cannot so well be looked upon as a single Conquest , since it is to extend it self to all Successions of Ages and Time ; and is to last , when Time shall be no more ; that is , for ever and ever .

3. As our Saviour , by his Resurrection , did so far subdue Death , as to obtain to himself a future and secure Immortality ; so also he did , by the same Resurrection , so far subdue Death , as to secure a future and glorious Resurrection to all those , who are so far planted into the likeness of his Death , as to be dead to Sin , and alive to God . For , if we live to him , while we live here ; we may , from his Resurrection , have a comfortable Assurance , that notwithstanding we die for a time , as he did ; yet we shall be raised again , and live with him for evermore . To this purpose , we must recollect , that when he died , he did not die for his own Sins , but for ours . And then , if in his Death he laid down his Life in our stead ; we may be easily satisfied , that it was in our stead that he took it up again at his Resurrection . For , if our Guilt had not been cancelled , and so our Debt discharged , by his Death ; then his Death ( as we observed under the last Head ) had been continued still . And as then we did conclude , that he had therefore satisfied the Debt , because he was released from the Penalty ; so now we do conclude , that because the Debt so discharged was ours , and not his own ; therefore the Benefit of the Release must redound to us , as well as to him . For , it must needs be unjust in the Creditor to detain us in Prison for that Debt , which our Surety has paid . And because we know , that the Creditor in the present Case is God himself ; and because we know also , that such a Creditor can do no Injustice ; therefore we know , that as when our Saviour laid down his Life , he laid it down in our stead ; so also , that when he took it up again , he took up with it the Lives of all those , who by the Conditions of the New Covenant shall have an Interest in such his Death . And therefore , as our Christianity does acquaint us , that they who live to Christ , do live by the Spirit ; so St. Paul , to our present purpose , does tell us , in the Eighth to the Romans , ver. 11. that if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead , do dwell in you ; he that raised up Christ from the dead , shall also quicken your mortal Bodies , by his Spirit , that dwelleth in you . In a Word , Christ is our Head , and we are his Members ; and because he , and we , do make up one Body ; and because , as Members of such his Body , we are quickned by his Spirit ; therefore we may confirm our own Resurrection by his . And therefore , as he is called the First-born from the Dead , in the First to the Colossians , ver. 18. so we are called the Children of the Resurrection , in the Twentieth of St. Luke , ver . 36. So that a good Man , from the Certainty of his Saviour's Resurrection from Death to Glory and Immortality , may safely conclude his own ; may lie down in his Grave as securely , as in his Bed ; and when the Morning of the Great Day shall down forth , may be more secure of rising again , and putting on his Body ; than he can be , that he shall rise on the Morrow-morning , and put on his Clothes : For , for the first he has the Security of Truth and Omnipotence ; but for the last he has only the Promises of his own Presumption , or ( at the very best ) but of his Hope .

4. As the Faithful shall , in Consideration of our Saviour's Death and Resurrection , obtain their own Resurrection from Death to Life ; so the Life , which by such their Resurrection they shall obtain , shall be Life Eternal . This is express Scripture ; and a Christian may therefore be satisfied in , and assured of its Truth . For , our Saviour himself tells us as much , when giving an Account of the Last Judgment , he closes such Account , in the Last Verse of the Twenty fifth Chapter of St. Matthew , with these Words ; [ And these shall go into everlasting Punishment : ] and then follows that , which is directly to our present Purpose , [ But the Righteous into Life Eternal . ]

And Reason tells us , that so it must needs be ; because where the Cause of all Death whatsoever is taken away , there the Possibility of Death must be taken away too ; unless we should imagine , that Death should be brought upon a Rational Creature , subject to Law , without any meritorious Cause of Death at all . But ( as we have often laid it down , and proved it already ) that cannot be supposed in the present Case ; because the Death , we now speak of , is supposed to come from God's Justice ; and the Justice of God cannot either truly , or rationally be supposed to inflict Death there , where there is no Desert of it . Now , we therefore know , that the meritorious Cause of Death is Sin , because we know , that the Wages of Sin is Death . If therefore , as we have already seen , the Sin of the Faithful be taken away by the Expiation , and if upon their Resurrection they obtain an indefectible Holiness ; the Inference will be , That the Cause of Death , Sin , will upon the first Account be cancelled , and blotted out ; and that , upon the last Account , it cannot be renewed or restored ; and that therefore , upon both Accounts in conjunction , Death , the Wages of Sin , can never more return . And then , when a Life restored is secured from all possible return of Death , we may be sure , that such Life so restored must be Eternal . And agreeable to what we now say , St. Paul tells us , in the Third to the Philippians , the last Verse , that our Saviour , whom we look for from Heaven , shall change our vile Body , that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious Body , according to the mighty working , whereby he is able even to subdue all Things unto himself . Now we know , that when our Saviour appeared to St. Paul , that is , to that very Apostle who tells us these Things , he does expresly affirm to King Agrippa , in the Twenty sixth of the Acts , that the Light of the Appearance was above the Brightness of the Sun , ( and yet the Context will tell us , that the Appearance was made about Mid-day . ) And perhaps our Saviour's Transfiguration on the Mount was a Proleptick Discovery of that Glory , with which his Body was to be cloathed upon his Ascent into Heaven , the Mount of God . But be that as it will ; yet to our Purpose : If the Bodies of the Saints shall be fashioned like unto his glorious Body , then it will be no improbable Conclusion , That they shall with that Glory put on an Immortal Frame and Constitution . And this Conclusion will then advance from Probable to Certain , when we know , that the same Apostle does acquaint us , not only , that our Body , which is sown in dishonour , shall be raised in glory ; but , over and above , that this Corruptible must put on Incorruption , and that this Mortal must put on Immortality . Much more might be offered on this Subject ; but , from what has been glanced at , we may now perceive , that our Body , in imitation of our Saviour's Body , shall after its Resurrection be indued with a glorious Frame , and an immortal Constitution ; that it shall be done by his Power , as it shall in Consideration of his Merit ; that the Power that shall do it , is able to subdue all Things to it self , that is , is Omnipotent . And then , where we have the Promise of Truth , and the Power of Omnipotence , to secure to us an Eternal Life ; there we can have no Reason to doubt the Eternity of such Life .

The Second Thing should now in Order follow , which is to shew , wherein the Happiness of such Eternal Life does consist . But before we speak to that , I shall lay down two or three Practical Considerations ; which , as they look back to what has been spoken already , so will be no improper Introduction to those Things which are to follow .

1. And first , We should be sensible of , and grateful for that blessed Provision , that our Lord and Saviour has made for our Everlasting Happiness and Security . And this we should so much the rather be , because , by what has been said , we may now understand , that such Provision does fully answer to our highest natural Desires and Inclinations . For , our Anxiety for our own Welfare will tell us , that among all the several Appetites , by which we pursue after our own Happiness , our Desire of Life does hold the first and chief Place with us . And the Reason is plain , because the Loss of Life must needs be followed by the Loss of all other Enjoyments whatsoever , that can in any wise conduce to our Happiness . And , as we are told by our Common Sense , that our grand and topping Appetite is that of Life ; so we are told by the same Common Sense , that Immortality is a sure Fence for that Life . If therefore God has graciously made Provision for the Gratification of this our most exalted Appetite , by securing to us a future Immortality ; and if , over and above , he has engaged to secure that very Immortality from the Loads and Incumbrances of all those Miseries , which do constantly attend our Mortal Life in this World : I say , if God has done so great Things for us , we ought to look upon our selves to be obliged in Gratitude to endeavour a Return ( as far as our slender Abilities go ) in some measure proportionate to the Almighty Bounty . For , if ever our Thanks be due to any one whomsoever ; then most certainly they must be so to him , who is willing , and able , and has promised to gratifie the utmost Pitch , and the most exalted Desires of our own Self-love .

2. Has God provided an Immortal and Secure Life for us in another World ? Then that should engage us not to set up for Happiness in this . For , tho' it be granted , that the Good Things of this Life are present , and at hand ; but that those of a better Life are lodged at a distance ; and so we are engaged in our Pursuit after the first by our Senses , but we can only pursue the last by our Faith or Hope : Yet , because our Experience , upon innumerable Repetitions , has constantly convinced us , that our Senses have alway deceived us , ( for , our highest and most exalted Enjoyments here do always determine in Emptiness and Dissatisfaction : ) I say , for this single Reason , ( if yet there were no other ) we should for the future rather seek for the Happiness we desire there , where our Faith tells us , it may be had ; than to repeat our Disappointments , by pursuing it there , where our Experience has convinced us , that it cannot . Alas ! a very little consideration may satisfie us , that in our Attempts after Happiness by the Pursuit of the Good Things of this Life , we always blunder ; and that too , whether we do , or do not obtain those Good Things , which we so pursue . For , if we do not , then we lose our desired Happiness by our Disappointment : But if we do , then either they must leave us , by reason of their slipperiness and uncertainty ; or we must leave them , by reason of our Mortality . And then , be it one , or be it t'other , the Case is much one and the same ; for , in both Cases , the expected Happiness vanishes . And because by this we may perceive , that we cannot be made happy by any Thing in this Life ; therefore ,

3. Let us be exhorted to seek our Happiness in a future Life ; that is , ( as has appeared ) to seek it there , where it may be had . For , if Happiness be to be had any where , undoubtedly it is to be had in the Favour and Presence of God ; who , as he is the undoubted Author of all Things , so for that Reason alone he is the undoubted Author of all that Happiness , which we can possibly reap from the Enjoyment of any Good whatsoever . Now , because the same Revelations , which have discovered to us a Future and Immortal Life , have also acquainted us , that that Life is lodged in the kind and favourable Presence of God , that is , in Heaven ; and because we know , that no unholy or impure Thing shall come into the Presence of him , who is of purer Eyes , than to behold Iniquity : Therefore , to the present Exhortation , let me add this Direction , and that is , That we pursue our future Glory and Immortality ( or Eternal Life hereafter ) by an holy Life here . For , the true and solid Reason , why there is no Misery nor Death in Heaven , is because there is no Sin nor Wickedness there . For , Death and Misery are so far forth the inseparable Companions of Sin and Wickedness , that , as where-ever we find the last , there we are sure to find the first ; so , where the first are not , there we may be sure , that the last are shut out . And therefore , because Mortality and Misery have no Place in Heaven , we may , for that Reason , stand confirmed , that Sin and Impiety have no Place there neither . If therefore we do in good earnest design to be lodged in those Regions of Happiness , we must first be sure to cast off our Sins , and to leave them behind us . For , so sure as Death is the Wages of Sin , so sure it is , that Immortality and Happiness shall not be the Portion of the Impenitent . And so long as God is in his own Nature Holy , and that is , so long as he is God , so long he must be displeased with all those , who are pleased with , and make much of Sin , the grand Enemy of such his Nature , because the grand Enemy of such his Holiness .

CHAP. XIV .

Wherein the Happiness of Eternal Life does consist . Several Reflections , and Considerations on what has been said , tending to promote an Holy Life .

HAving in the last Chapter shewed , by what Means we are put into the Possession of an Happy and Eternal Life , the Purchase of our Saviour's Merits : We must in this , according to our Promise , inquire wherein the Happiness of such Life does consist .

And , in answer to this Inquiry , we lay it down , in short ; That the Consummate Happiness of the Saints in Eternal Life , does consist in that Joy , Pleasure , and full Satisfaction , which results from their Loving the Lord their God with all their Heart , with all their Soul , with all their Strength , and with all their Mind ; and from their Enjoyment of God ( the Party beloved ) and his Love . I have chose to express the Love of the glorified Saints to God , in the Words of Scripture , because they seem to me to contain in them such an Intense Love , under so large and comprehensive an Expression , that , had I delivered it in other Words , I should more than have doubted , that I should have fallen short of the Thing . And I do believe , that such Caution will then appear to be no scrupulous Nicety , when we shall come seriously to weigh and consider those Things that follow .

1. And first , we take notice , what every one may easily be satisfied of by their own Experience , That we love our selves best , that is , before and beyond all other Persons , and all Things whatsoever . And there neither is , nor can be any doubt , but that such our Inclination is planted in us at our first Formation , by the Hand of God himself . And therefore neither does God ever require of us to slight or cast it away , but by such Motives , that will more than recompense all the Evil , that we do , or can suffer , by our so doing . And therefore he , who in the Cause of God and Goodness shall so far undervalue his own Welfare , as to part with that Welfare ( be it what it will ) for the sake of such Cause , may be sure of a Compensation from God's Hand , that shall repair his Damages with advantage , and that too , tho' what he so parts with be Life it self . And therefore it was a fixed and undoubted Persuasion in the Primitive Christians , that whosoever suffered Martyrdom for his Saviour's , and Religions sake , was certainly thereupon crowned with Glory ; and with them , to be a Martyr , and to be crowned , were equivalent Expressions ; for , they meant the same Thing , whether they made use of the one or of the other . So confident were they of the Truth of their Saviour's Promise , in the Nineteenth of St. Matthew , ver . 29. Every one that hath forsaken Houses , or Brethren , or Sisters , or Father , or Mother , or Wife , or Children , or Lands , for my Names sake , shall receive an hundred-fold , and shall inherit everlasting Life : and of that in the Tenth Chapter of the same Evangelist , ver. 39. He that loseth his Life for my sake , shall find it . By which we may understand , that God does so far allow our Self-love , the Work of his own Hand , that where , for his sake , we are willing to lay it aside in lesser Matters , there he has , in requital for our so doing , obliged himself to provide for the gratification of it in greater Matters .

Now , tho' it be confessed , that there is a Thing too frequently , and too kindly entertained among Mankind , which wears the Name of Self-love ; and which is not only commonly accounted , but which also really is in it self Criminal : Yet , if we narrowly look into such Crime , we shall find , that it is not therefore a Crime , because it is Self-love , but because it excludes our Love of others . It is indeed kind to it self , ( as all Self-love , and that too in the Nature of the Thing , must needs be ) but then it is kind to very few or none besides . And therefore the Viciousness of it consists , not so much in doing what it does , as in not doing what it ought to do : That is , the Self-love , so far as it is only Self-love , is innocent : But it then becomes a Sin , when it advances to Uncharitableness . For , every Man is allowed ( perhaps in a degree required ) to love himself ; but no Man is allowed , no not upon the Pretence of such his Love , to hate another . Nay , he may love himself best ; but by so doing , he must not shut out all others from any Share in his Love ; nor ( where his Circumstances and Condition , measured by the Standard of Common Humanity , or Christian Charity , will allow him so to do ) must he shut out others from the Proofs and Evidences , that he allows them such a Share . So that as we are satisfied by our own Sense of the Thing , ( and that is as great a Satisfaction , as we are capable of in any Case whatsoever ) that we love our selves best ; so , by what has been said , it may now appear , that we do not transgress any Duty of Morality or Religion by our so doing .

2. Our next Proposition must be , That as we love our selves best , so our Love of any Person or Thing besides is directed by and to our Self-love . For , we therefore love any Thing , because it does , or at least because we think it may conduce to our own Welfare and Happiness . For , all Love has in it a Mixture of Desire ; and then , as the Love of our selves is accompanied with a Desire of our own Welfare ; so , because we love our selves best , all our other Desires must , for that Reason , be in a subordination to that . And therefore , tho' our Love to other Men may engage us to do very great and considerable Kindnesses to such Men ; yet , for all that , we should not do so , did we not , by so doing , gratifie our selves . For , tho' it is confessed , that because our Kindnesses to them proceeded from our Love to them , that therefore we design to please and gratifie them by our Kindnesses ; yet it is full as true , that if their Pleasure and Gratification were not pleasant and grateful to our selves , we should leave those Kindnesses undone , by which we designed such their Pleasure and Gratification . And as it is thus notorious , that our Love to other Persons is finally resolved into the Love of our selves ; so it is as , if not more notorious , that our Love of Things is so . For , Things have no Sense of our Kindness to them ; and therefore our Kindness to them , were it for their sakes , would be irrational and absurd ; for there could no Account be given of it in Reason , or Nature . But because we our selves are capable of receiving a Benefit from Things , by our having a Sense of such Benefit ; and because we are capable of apprehending such our Benefit , before we do obtain them , as well as when we do possess and enjoy them ; therefore we may from thence be satisfied , that our Love , and therefore also our Desire of them , does spring from such our Apprehension of our own Benefit ; and we may be sure , that the Desire of such our own Benefit does come from our Self-love . So that now we may be as well convinced , that our Love to other Persons , or to Things , does proceed from our Self-love , under this Head ; as under the last we might , that we love our selves best .

3. Let our Third Proposition then be this : That we find in our selves , and that too by our own Sense ( I may say , Feeling ) of the Thing , such a Want of that , that will satisfie the Desires of our Self-love , that we are constrained by such our Self-love , ( that is , we are constrained by Nature ; for Self-love , as we have seen , is natural ; ) I say , we are constrained by Nature to seek for a Supply for such our Want from abroad ; that is , we are constrained to seek for it out of our selves . This might be abundantly proved from the great Variety of these our Wants , which can only be relieved by a Foreign Supply ; and those too , Wants , not only of our Bodies , but of our Minds ; without our obtaining of which , we do account our selves in a degree miserable ; at least , not so happy , as to gratifie our Self-love . But the Thing being Natural , and our Conviction of its Truth being so too , it needs not . And therefore I would have it here remarked , that my chief Aim in laying down this Proposition , is to adjust the Coherence , and by consequence the Proof of my main Design , which is to shew , wherein our Grand and Eternal Happiness does consist .

But yet ( because it may in some measure conduce to such our Design ) we shall , before we quit this Proposition , leave this Remark upon it : That it is not unlikely , if it be not certain , that God in our very Formation has so ordered our natural Frame and Constitution , that as the Desires of our Self-love cannot be answered nor supplied by our Self-sufficiency ; so , that such our Desires should carry our Thoughts abroad to seek such Supply elsewhere . Which is ( if I may so speak ) the first Step , to which we are obliged by Nature , in order to our seeking after God . And in the next place , That God has made all Things in this World , within the compass of our possible Purchase , so inadequate to the Desires of our Self-love , that when we do actually obtain such Things , our highest and most exalted Enjoyment of them does still fall short and does never fill or satisfie such our Desires . Which is the Second Natural Step to bring us to God .

4. This Remark then being left by the way ; let our Fourth Proposition be this : That the more we know , or believe , that other Persons or Things will answer to , and satisfie the Desires of our Self-love ; the greater Value we put upon them ; and the greater Value we put upon them , the more we love them . The Truth of which Proposition is as certain , as it is certain , that we desire to gratifie our Self-love : And it is as certain , that we desire to gratifie our Self-love , as it is certain , that we have such a Thing in us as Self-love . For , because our Self-love consists in a Desire of our own Gratification ; and because a Desire of our own Gratification contains in it a Love of those Persons or Things , from which we expect to receive such Gratification : I say , for these Reasons , to suppose , that we shall not love such Things or Persons in proportion to that Gratification , which we expect to receive from them , is to suppose us to contradict those very Desires , which yet at the same time we do professedly entertain . We shall therefore take our present Proposition for good and true , and that is , That we must needs love all Persons and Things according as we think or know , that they will answer to , or gratifie the Desires of our Self-love .

5. The natural and immediate Effect of our Love of any Person or Thing , is a Desire of possessing or enjoying the Person or Thing so loved . For , our Desire of any Person or Thing includes in it our present Want of such Thing or Person . Now , if such our Want were not at home , that is , in our selves , we need not seek abroad , or out of our selves , for a Supply of it . And because the Want , which in the present Case we feel in our selves , is fixed and immovable , and so cannot stir abroad ; therefore that , that must supply such Want , must be brought home to it . Our Supply then must be caused by the Union of that Thing or Person to our selves , which is to supply such Want . And when that Thing or Person is united to our selves , then , and not before , we may be said to possess or enjoy such Thing or Person .

I do believe , that the Truth of this Proposition may be doubted ; because we may be satisfied with the Assurance of our Friend's Kindness , tho' we do not enjoy his Company . And something very like it may be said of the Satisfaction that we take in several Things , tho' at a distance from us . But when it is considered , that tho' we do not enjoy the Company of our absent Friend , yet for all that , we do at that very time enjoy his Friendship ; and that tho' his Person be absent from us , yet that the Assurance of his Friendship is present with us , and lodged in our Breasts ; we may then begin to be satisfied , that so far forth as our Desires are gratified , or our Want supplied , so far forth that , which does so gratifie or supply them , is present with us , which is an assured Satisfaction of our Friend's Love and Kindness to us . But then we must take notice , that if our Desires do extend themselves farther ; as suppose , if our Love of him engages us to desire the Presence of his Person , as earnestly as the Assurance of his Friendship ; then , in such a Case , as our Desires and our Want are more than barely the Desire and Want of his Friendship and Kindness ; so such our greater Desire and Want cannot be supplied , but by the Presence and Enjoyment of his Person and Company . And therefore , strictly speaking , our Desire of his Company proceeds from our Love of his Person ; but our Desire of his Friendship proceeds from our Love of such Friendship , which is a Thing , and not a Person . But then it must be granted , that no Man can love another , but that , according to the Degree of such his Love , he must desire his Company too ; and that the want of his Company would be attended with an Affliction proportionate to the Degrees of his Love ; if the Absence of his Person were not in some measure compensated by the Assurance of his Friendship , which is present . And what is thus true of Persons , is so also of Things . For , we therefore desire any Thing , because we love it , and because we want it : And then the only way to supply such Want , and to gratifie such our Love , is , by bringing such Thing home into our own Possession , that is , within the reach of our Enjoyment . For , an hungry Man may as soon fill his Belly with the Meat that remains in the Market , while he tarries at home , as any Man's Love of any Thing or Person can be gratified , while that Person or Thing is out of the reach of his Possession or Enjoyment . For , as it is absurd to imagine , that any Man can love any Person or Thing , without any Desire to possess or enjoy them ; so it is equally absurd to think , that he can possess or enjoy them , while they are at a distance from him .

These Five Propositions I have laid down , as previous and introductory to the making out the Truth , which we now pursue ; and that is , That the Happiness of our Eternal Life will consist in that Pleasure and Satisfaction which we shall take in our Love and Enjoyment of God , and in his Love of us . For , it is obvious , because natural , for us to conceive , that all possible Happiness ( be that Happiness what it will ) must come from something that is grateful to our Inclinations , that is , from something which we love ; and therefore also from something , which ( if we want it ) we do also desire : That what we so want and desire , cannot make us happy , till we possess and enjoy it ; because till then our Desires are not fulfilled : That our Make and Frame is such , that we feel in our selves that we do want That , that must make us happy ; and that therefore , if we will obtain it , we must seek for it abroad , and out of our selves : And lastly , That our Self-love does , and that too necessarily , engage us to seek after such Thing : I say , these are natural and easie Truths , and ( as we shall perceive presently ) such , as will lead us into the Discovery of what at present we do only enquire after , viz. The Nature of our Eternal Happiness ; or , Wherein our Eternal Happiness shall consist .

And that we may from Enquiry advance to Discovery , I would offer it to Consideration , in the first place .

1. That when our Souls and Bodies shall be refined , by the Resurrection and Glorification of the last , and by the compleat Holiness of the first ; that then we shall have such a true Sense of the great and supereminent Value of Holiness , that we shall upon that Account love that above and beyond all Things besides . For then we shall perceive and know , that God therefore makes us holy , that so he may make us happy : That our Happiness begins , when our Holiness does ; and that it is then perfected , when our Holiness is so : That Holiness is the Perfection of God's Nature , and of our own : That where Holiness is in its most exalted Excellence and Perfection , it is the same Thing with Wisdom and Truth , with Omniscience and Omnipotence ; and that it is the true and only Fountain of all real and rational Happiness . And then , that which is the Fountain of all Happiness , and by consequence of our own Happiness , must , when once it appears so to us , be the Object of our greatest Love , as sure as it is , that we do love our selves best .

2. Where we find such Holiness ( which we shall be better acquainted with by our Glorification and compleat Sanctification ) in its greatest and most exalted Perfection and Excellence ; there our Love of such Holiness must in Nature and Reason , ( and our Reason will then be exactly refined and discerning ; ) I say , that where we find Holiness in its greatest and most exalted Perfection and Excellence , there our greatest and most intense Love of Holiness will be lodged . For , when we come to love Holiness for its own Excellence and Perfection ; then we shall be sure to love that Holiness most , which has the greatest and most exalted Excellence and Perfection .

3. This our greatest and most intense Love of the greatest and most perfect Holiness , will ( as we may rationally conceive ) be still augmented and increased , when we apprehend it as lodged in an Intelligent Being . For , our Love ( and that too in Nature ) to such a Being , is ( caeteris paribus ) greater than our Love of Things ; because such a Being is ( if I may so speak ) more congenerous and cognate to us , than Things are ; and we find the Harmony and Sympathy to be in Nature always greater there , where there is the nearest Cognation . The further Use which we make of this Proposition , besides that already laid down , is to unite our Love of God and our Love of Holiness together , and so to exhibit them under one View ; as indeed in God they are but one and the same Thing . And therefore , in what follows , we must alter our Phrase ; and what hitherto we have called our Love of Holiness , must hereafter be styled our Love of God .

4. Our Love of our most Holy God will still receive a considerable Addition of Increase , when we shall come to know , that his Holiness is not only most perfect and exalted ; but that it is also accompanied with all other Excellencies and Perfections , and that too in the highest and most perfect Degree . For , tho' God be One with his Holiness , and all other his Attributes ; yet it may be doubted at least , whether the Capacities even of glorified Creatures shall ever be so enlarged , as to apprehend his Beauties and Excellencies any otherwise , than by distinct and separate Conceptions : Nay , it may be more than doubted , whether those their Conceptions shall be adequate to those his ( to them ) several Beauties and Excellencies , which shall be the Objects of such their Conceptions . For , it is hard to conceive , that the glorified Capacities of Creatures shall be made Infinite by their Glorification ; and unless they be so , we are sure , that the most Seraphick Conceptions must needs fall short of the Dignity of their Object . And we know , that it is sufficient for any Creature to have its Creature-capacities ( when most enlarged and refined ) filled and satiated by Happiness . For , no Creature is capable of , and no Creature can desire more , than a full and compleat Happiness : And that Happiness is most certainly full and compleat , which is as much as he can contain .

5. The Increase of our Love to our most Holy God will still grow greater by our Assurance , that he loves us again . For , it is a Truth in Nature , That , as Love slighted or refused does by that Means grow cold , and so in time languishes and expires ; so , if it be kindly received , and answered by Love again , it therefore grows the warmer , because then its Hopes begin to turn into Happiness . And , as Love for Love between Mankind carries in it Gratitude and Requital ; so the Love of God for the Love of Man carries in it Recompence and Reward : And in both Cases it increases the Happiness and Delight . And then certainly it must be Infinite Happiness to be blessed with the Love of him , who is Infinitely Happy in himself , and the undoubted Author and Fountain of all possible Happiness to all others . For , all Love wishes well to the Party beloved at least ; and where its Power answers to its Wishes , does well too . And then , when once we are in possession of God's Love , we are therefore secure of our own Happiness , because we are secure , that all possible Happiness is within the Reach of his Power . And indeed , to suppose the glorified Saints love of God , and by consequence their Holiness to be perfect , and to suppose their Happiness not to be so , would be in effect to suppose the Creature , in its Love to God , to outdo God in his Love to the Creature . No! Perfect Holiness , where-ever it is , is a Ray of his leading and most beloved Attribute : And we can in Reason no more conceive , that God will not love such an Holiness , than we can conceive , that he does not love himself . And then we may be sure , that the Happiness of the Creature will in the final Issue ( and of that only we speak at present ) bear a Proportion to its Holiness .

6. The Increase of our Love to God will still grow greater and greater , when we come to find , as most certainly we shall so find it , that his Love of us will engage him to unite us more intimately to himself . The Union of the glorified Saints with God , is , it must be confessed , a great Mystery ; for so that must needs be , which neither Eye hath seen , nor Ear heard , nor can it enter into Man's Heart to conceive ; and which therefore he can much less express with his Tongue . But yet that such a Thing there will be , we may be satisfied by those Discoveries , that Revelation has afforded us of it in the general . For , it is most certain , by such Discoveries , that we shall at least so enjoy God , as we do our Friend ; we shall appear in his Presence ; in that Presence , where there is fulness of Joy ; and at his Right-hand , where there are Pleasures for evermore . It is true indeed , that the Nature and infinite Variety of all sorts of Unions ( and , among the rest , undoubtedly of those , which God has reserved for future Accomplishments , and for future Discovery ) are laid out of the Reach of all mortal Understandings . And therefore we shall rest our selves satisfied with what is certain ; or , at least , with what , by the help of Revelation , we may easily believe to be so : That the Union of the Blessed with God in Heaven will be such , as shall be sufficient for the mutual Communications of each others Love ; of the Love of the Creature in Duties and Praises offered up to God ; of the Love of God in the Effusions of such Joy and Delight , such agreeable Transports and Ecstasies , as shall fill the utmost Capacities of his Chosen ones ; and shall therefore exceed their Hopes and Wishes , because their first Knowledge of such their Happiness can only come from their Experience of it ; and that Experience alone will fully answer to , and gratifie their Self-love .

7. Lastly , The Love of the glorified Saints to God will be still further augmented , and indeed receive its full Complement and Perfection , by their Assurance , that all that Happiness , of which they stand possessed at present , shall be eternal . For , a Fear of a Failure for the future , may dash the Relish of the highest Enjoyment for the present ; and our Satisfaction in the Possession of any Good Thing ( be it what it will ) must needs be abated , if it be accompanied with a Doubt of its Continuance . But Happiness with Security must needs be compleat and perfect . Nay , it must be so much the more compleat and perfect ; because tho the Continuance of Happiness be future , yet the Assurance of such Continuance is present ; and by such Assurance we do in some Degree compendiously , and at the same time , enjoy both our present and our future Happiness . Now the Blessed in Glory may therefore be secure of the Eternity of their Happiness , because God's Love stands immutably engaged to their Holiness , forasmuch as such their Holiness is indefectible and eternal . For , where that is eternal , his Love most certainly is so too .

To conclude , in a few Words : Our Love of our selves makes us desire to be happy : But it must be our Love of something else , that must make us so . For , if the Love of our selves could of it self make us happy , then it could not for that Reason engage us to desire to be so . And nothing can conduce to our Happiness , much less can any thing compleat it , but what is entertained by our Love .

When therefore we fix our Love upon that , which will answer the Desires of our Self-love ; we may then be sure , that we love that , which may make us happy ; and when we come to possess and enjoy that , which we so love , we may be sure , that we shall be happy ; and if our Enjoyment of it be securely eternal , we may then be farther assured , that we shall be always so . And that our perfect Love of God , and our Enjoyment of his Love and Favour , will bring all these things to pass , we hope our foregoing Discourse has made good .

1. Now if the Happiness of our future State in Glory shall come from our Love of God , and his Love of us ; then this should teach us to have a care , that we do not make our selves unfit for the Happiness of Heaven , by our Uncharitableness whilst we live here upon Earth . For , the Love of God will hardly be perfected in that Man , who does not love his Neighbour . For , He who loveth not his Brother , whom he hath seen ; how shall he love God , whom he hath not seen ? And he , who does not love God here , how shall his Love to him be perfected hereafter ? For , that that is not , can never be made perfect . And , he whose Love to God shall never be made perfect , how shall he be ever made happy ? For , there can be no Happine●s , no not in Heaven it self , without our perfect Love of God . It is remarkable , that our Saviour , when he taught his Disciples to pray , ( tho' he taught them to pray for several Things ) yet annexes a Condition to that Petition alone , by which they were to b●g Forgiveness of their Sins ; and afterwards gives them a Reason for his so doing ; because if they forgive not Men their Trespasses , neither will their Father , who is in Heaven , forgive them their Trespasses . By which we may understand , that as we shall not be admitted into Heaven , unless we be made like to God ; and as we shall not be admitted into Heaven , unless God does forgive us our Sins ; so neither shall we be admitted into Heaven , unless we be in this like to God , that we do forgive their Sins to others . In one Word , the malicious , ill-natur'd , and uncharitable Man is one of the worst Companions in the World : For , he is very apt to do it always ; and for the most part actually does make all People uneasie , where he comes ; and from thence we may be satisfied , that he is very unlikely to come in for a Share of that Happiness , which consists in Love . And for that Reason , we may be satisfied also , that till he lays aside his Uncharitableness , it will be impossible , that he should be made Partaker of the Happiness of the Blessed .

2. If our eternal Happiness must come from our ardent and eternal Love of God and Holiness ; then we should have a care , that we do not place our Religion , and by consequence our Hopes of eternal Happiness , in such Things , which have no real Holiness in them . For , it is a very great Mistake , ( which yet perhaps runs thro all Sorts of Christians ) to think , that such Things , that are not good and holy , will for ever make them happy . For , too many People do place not only their Religion , but their Zeal for it too , in such little , and in themselves insignificant Observances and Practices , which may be done , or may be let alone ; and yet all the while they themselves be never the more either religious or holy . For , what Holiness ( for Instance ) can the Confession of the Sinner , or the Absolution of the Priest , confer upon that Man , who has no other Design in his Confession , but that he may go on to sin upon a new Score , and so continue his Sin with a better Relish , and with the less Reluctance ? Or , What Holiness can the strict Observance of the Sabbath beget in that Man , who therefore only obliges himself to a greater Severity upon that Day , that he may by that Means compound with his Conscience for his fraudulent Dealings , or his profligate and vicious Life , all the rest of the Week ? Or , How can any Man be the more holy , because he lists himself under this or that Party or Sect ; when all the while he takes no care to do what God commands , or to avoid what God forbids ? No! no! Holiness is a real Thing , tho' it be not the Object of our Senses : And this Thing only lodges in that Heart , which by an humble Obedience conforms it self to God's Will , and which , by hearkning to his Voice , is conformed to his Likeness . And if any Man thinks to become Holy by any other Means , he does but deceive his own Soul , and by a fond and foolish Imagination exclude himself from that Happiness , which shall only be bestowed upon those , who shall be made like to him , who is most happy ; that is , who shall be holy , as he is holy . All they then who would make themselves happy , must take care , that they make themselves holy . They must , I say , do so ; and they must be pleased , that they have so done . For , he only loves God , who delights in Holiness ; and he only shall be happy , who loves God .

3. Since it has appeared , that our most consummate Happiness does come from our perfect Love of Holiness ; and since perfect and unmixed Happiness is most certainly our Aim : we do from thence conclude , That Holiness ought in Prudence to be our Practice . For , as it is a Short-sightedness , and ( at least ) a Degree of Folly , not to seek our Happiness there , where it may be found ; so not to seek it there , where we are truly , because rationally informed , that it may be found , is Madness . For , that Man may well be taxed of Frenzie , who will not take that Way to Happiness , to which he is directed by such Advice , which is inculcated by the joint Suggestions of Revelation and Reason , that is , by the ordinary and extraordinary Light , that God holds out to direct him in such Way .

Now , to set home this Exhortation , by convincing Men , that the true and rational Way to their Happiness is by Holiness , ( besides all that has hitherto been offered ) I would propose to their serious Consideration these Things following .

1. That that Religion , which has been confirmed by Prophecies from the Foundation of the World , before it was revealed ; and which , when , and after it was revealed , was confirmed by Multitudes of other Miracles , and by the Resurrection of him from the Dead , who did reveal it ; must as certainly have God for its Author , as it is certain , that such Miracles and such Predictions could only come from God .

2. The Christian Religion , and no other Religion , either truly or falsely so called , is the Religion which has this Character , and therefore has God for its Author .

3. That Religion , which has God for its Author , must needs be a true Religion .

4. That Religion , which has God for its Author , must needs be an holy Religion .

5. Since it is one of the greatest Businesses of Religion to instruct Men how to serve God ; the true Religion must , even because it is true , instruct Men how to serve God truly .

6. He who truly serves God , who is most holy , must do so by living holily .

7. He who lives holily , pleases God : For , he complies with the Instructions of that Religion , of which God is the Author .

8. He who pleases God , by complying with the Instructions of that Religion , of which God is the Author , shall not fall short of the End , that God intended in his Institution of Religion .

Now it is most certain , that God instituted Religion for the Sake and Benefit of Man ; and it as certain , that God wills the Happiness of Man : And therefore it is rational to infer , That God instituted Religion to direct Man in the true Way to Happiness ; and that Way ( we have seen ) is Holiness .

1. From all which I would infer , First , that which is to my present Design , That the only Way for us to obtain Happiness , is by our Practice of Holiness : And , what is not indeed so direct to my purpose , but yet of good use ,

2. That the best and surest Way of guiding our Enquiries after the True Religion , will be to keep our Eye , all the while we are so employed , stedfaitly fixed upon Holiness . For , we can much better tell what is good and honest , than we can tell what is true . Our Knowledge of the first therefore may prove a very good Guide to us in our Search after the last . To which I would add ,

3. That to talk of Truth and Certainty , and much more of Infallibility in Religion , when the Determinations and Resolutions of such Certainty or Infallibility are mischievous or pernicious to the real Happiness of Mankind , or any other ways wicked , is Nonsense and Banter ; and is in deed and truth an Imposition upon Mens Understandings , in order to damnifie the honest and real Interests , and true Happiness of Mankind . But to return to our Design .

That Men may be the more heartily engaged to believe what has been said , and to practise what they shall so believe ; I shall still go on to press the present Exhortation more home , by advising them to try the Experiment , whether the Doctrine now delivered ( which is , That our Happiness must come from our Practice and Love of Holiness ) be true or no. The Proposal is fair and reasonable ; and there is no Man who has not one way or other made a great many Experiments in the Case : For , our constant Desire of Happiness will always be putting us upon such Experiments . And I dare be bold to say , before we proceed any farther , that if any Man's Trial has succeeded , his Success does fall in with my Proposal , and back the present Exhortation .

Now , because our Happiness cannot ( as we have seen ) so much as be supposed to be lodged abroad ; but if it be our Happiness , it must , for that Reason , be lodged within us , at home , and in our own possession ; therefore , to engage Men to entertain our present Exhortation the more heartily , and by confequence to make the Trial of the proposed Experiment the more willingly ; I would desire them , by a serious Reflection , to consider , whether all Wickedness does not constantly bring Misery along with it into that Breast , where it self is entertained . For , if we suppose a Man to be wicked , we must at the same time , for the most part , ( for , there is but one excepted Case ) suppose , that he knows that he is so . And when that is once supposed , such a Supposition will acquaint us with these following Truths : That he will have one Thought employed upon God's Law , which commands his Duty ; and another Thought upon his own Actions , which transgress that Law ; and a third Thought , which shall , by comparing the one with the other , discover the Disagreement , nay the Contrariety , that is between the Law , and such his Actions . Now , here are already Thoughts disagreeing and fighting with each other , and by that Means a Civil War raised in his Breast ; the Effects of which , in all Cases , are sure to be not only mischievous , but calamitous . Let us then see a little farther , and let us suppose ( what will yet be more than supposed , for it will be certain : ) But , I say , let us suppose , that when by one Thought the Man has discovered the Contrariety between his own Actions , and the Directive Part of the Law , that thereupon he bestows another Thought upon the Vindictive Part of the Law , ( and such a Chain of Thoughts is very natural ) and that by another Thought he applies such Vindictive Part of the Law , that is , the Threat of the Law , to his own Actions , and , by consequence , to his own dear Self . And when this is once done , then we may begin to be satissied , that Multitudes of other Thoughts will presently rise in his Breast , and those too filled with Doubt , and Fear , and Shame , and Grief , and all those other troublesom , vexatious , and tormenting Passions , which are the natural Effects that follow upon the Contemplation of our own Guilt . Now , when all these boysterous and vexatious Thoughts do oppose themselves against , and make violent Assaults upon a Man's natural Desire of Ease , Content , and Happiness , what a Storm and Tempest must they , by so doing , raise in that Soul , where they all meet , and where they all rage and contend ? The poor Man , in this Case , will ( in the Words of the Prophet ) be like the troubled Sea , when it cannot rest , whose Waters cast up Mire and Dirt : That is , Filth and Wickedness is the Cause of his Disquiet ; and Tumult , Confusion , and Agony are the Effects of such Filth and Wickedness : For , there is no Peace to the Wicked , saith God ; and we may be sure , that what God saith , is true : For , when our own Thoughts do tell us , that the Miseries which they bring upon us , they do therefore so bring , because we have offended and displeased our God ; they do , by so doing , add one great Misery to all our other Miseries . For , in all other Afflictions we have still a Place of Refuge left ; and , like a City besieged , tho' all our Communications with the Comforts of this World be hindred and intercepted , yet our Intercourse with Heaven is still left free and open , and in God we have a sure Retreat . But when our Misery springs from our own Wickedness , we do at the same time lose our Happiness , and our Hopes of Relief too ; because our Misery comes from his Hand , who has all Relief and all Happiness in his own disposal .

I have described these Things in a plain , familiar , and natural Way , because I would have People convinced of their Truth , without the Trouble or Expence of a Trial. ( For , tho' I would have them try , whether Goodness will not make them happy ; yet I would not have them try , whether Wickedness will not make them miserable . ) For , the Experiment in this Case will be too dear and costly . And that must needs be so , which destroys our Peace , by robbing us of the Peace of God . And if Men are but in some moderate Degree satisfied of the Truth of these Things , it may be hoped , ( and God grant that our Hope do not deceive us ) that they will by that means be engaged to try , whether Holiness will make them happy , or no. For , now they have a fair and farther Probability of Success to invite them to such a Trial ; because Holiness and Wickedness being contrary the one to the other , our Reason will teach us more than barely to conjecture , that they must produce contrary Effects . For , if ( as we have seen ) Misery , Confusion , and Agony are sure to be the Effects of Wickedness ; it may the more reasonably be expected , that the Effects of Holiness should be Joy and Happiness ; and therefore it may be the more reasonably expected also , that Men should be persuaded to pursue their Happiness by the Practice of Holiness .

And it may be farther expected yet , that Men should be so persuaded , because ( which yet may seem strange ) there is hardly any wicked Man , tho' he be ranked among those whom the World do commonly account Profligate ) but who yet has so much Knowledge of the Comforts of Holiness , as might ( would he but use his natural Reason in the Case ) engage him to attempt the Encrease of such his Comforts , by becoming holy . For , tho' he be guilty of many , perhaps of most Sins ; yet he cannot be guilty of all . For , Sin is not only an Absurdity in it self , and a downright Contradiction to all sober Reason ; but it is in many Cases a Contradiction also to it self . For , one Sin shall stand in such opposition to another , that it shall in a manner be impossible for both of them to be Retainers to the same Man . For , it is as impossible to conceive , that a professed and profligate Debauchée ( while he is what he is ) should be an Hypocrite , as it is , that he should proclaim and conceal his Wickedness at one and the self-same time . And yet , even such a Debauchée , thus abandoned to all sorts of Vices , as far as Possibility and his own profligate Inclinations will permit , shall value himself for his Forbearance of that Vice , from which yet he does not therefore forbear , because it is a Vice , but because ( should he admit it to his Practice ) it would thwart and controul his other many and beloved Vices . And we cannot but sometimes observe , that some Men , who heartily hug Covetousness , and all those Vices which drudge under its Direction , such as are Extortion , Oppression , Fraud , Lying , Perjury , and all manner of Uncharitableness , shall yet raise a Comfort to themselves , because they are sober , and free from Drunkenness . These Things , as strange as they are , yet are too often found to be true . And the present Use that we make of them , is this : That very wicked Men , and even such , whose Vices are very numerous and very black , shall yet , for all that , perceive such a Beauty and Excellency only in abstaining from other Vices , which are not their own . that they shall gather Comfort to themselves from such their Abstinence ; and that therefore even such Men are not utterly void of all Sense , that the Practice of Vertue is a pleasant and comfortable Thing ; and that , by consequence , there is an Happiness which does attend and follow it . And then , if it be so true , that Holiness or Vertue ( for Vertue and Practical Holiness are one and the same Thing ; ) But , I say , if it be so true , that Holiness has Happiness for its Companion and Follower ; that the most wicked Men are sensible of it , and that all other Men do confess it ; then it is hoped , that the present Exhortation will be admitted , and that is , That all Men would try to make themselves happy , by making themselves holy . And it will be a very hard Case , if Men will not put themselves to the trouble of trying that Experiment , which their own Sense of the Thing , and the Sense of all other Men besides , will tell them must needs succeed ; and which , when it does succeed , must needs make them happy .

And thus far the present Exhortation is more professedly directed to those , who are in a manner utter Strangers to the Ways of God , and so have need of a Guide to enter them into the right Way .

To all others , I have but One or Two Things to say , and so shall conclude the whole Matter .

1. And first , Because I do suppose them not to be wholly Strangers to Holiness , therefore I would advise them to look back to their own Experience in the Case : And tho' perhaps that Experience may not be much ; yet , such as it is , I am very confident , that their own Reflections will tell them , that whenever they did any Duty heartily and sincerely , they did not go without all Comsort , that they had so done : That when they have done as they ought , their Condition has been as they desired : That when their Actions have been guided by their Conscience , and their Conscience has been guided by God's Law , they have thereupon been blessed with calm and comfortable Reflections : That a diligent and constant Discharge of their Duty has therefore kept their Souls at peace with themselves , because they have then been satisfied , that God has been at peace with their Souls . Now , such Comforts and smaller Happinesses as these , because they have always accompanied and been proportionate to their fainter Love of Holiness , have given in sufficient Evidence , that their Happiness shall then be perfect and compleat , when their Holiness shall be so : And by having so done , may inforce our present Exhortation , which is , That by growing in Grace , and by improving in the Love of God and Goodness , they should fit themselves for an eternal Happiness . For , by what has been said , they may now begin to be satisfied , that when their Saviour requires of them to love the Lord their God with all their Hearts , with all their Souls , with all their Strength , and with all their Minds , he does in effect require of them to love their own Souls ; since it is by this time notorious , that what in this Case is their Duty , will prove not only their true Way to Happiness , but that it will also put them into the actual Possession of such Happiness .

2. I would add , in the second place , That if we do not sincerely love Holiness , and by consequence desire it , we shall never attain to the Perfection of it : And if we fall short of a perfect Holiness , we shall by consequence fall short of Eternal Happiness . For , our Saviour will not bestow a perfect Holiness there , where it is not desired ; and it cannot be desired there , where it is not loved . We must therefore fit our selves to be made perfectly holy , as well as he is willing to make us so . For , as we have seen already , that those only who hunger and thirst after Righteousness , shall be satisfied ; so we shall here add , That those only who are so satisfied , shall be blessed .